I do not think so ill of the present
generation, as to suppose that its present favour necessarily infers
future condemnation.
_Captain._ Were all to act on such principles, the public would be
inundated.
_Author_ Once more, my dear son, beware of cant. You speak as if the
public were obliged to read books merely because they are printed--
your friends the booksellers would thank you to make the proposition
good. The most serious grievance attending such inundations as you
talk of, is, that they make rags dear. The multiplicity of
publications does the present age no harm, and may greatly advantage
that which is to succeed us.
_Captain._ I do not see how that is to happen.
_Author._ The complaints in the time of Elizabeth and James, of the
alarming fertility of the press, were as loud as they are at present--
yet look at the shore over which the inundation of that age flowed,
and it resembles now the Rich Strand of the Faery Queen--
----"Besrrew'd all with rich array,
Of pearl and precious stones of great assay;
And all the gravel mix'd with golden ore."
Believe me, that even in the most neglected works of the present age,
the next may discover treasures.
_Captain._ Some books will defy all alchemy.
_Author._ They will be but few in number; since, as for the writers,
who are possessed of no merit at all, unless indeed they publish their
works at their own expense, like Sir Richard Blackmore, their power of
annoying the public will be soon limited by the difficulty of finding
undertaking booksellers.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48