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Untitled Article
and he funs in debt . His external appearance ceases to be fashionable , and his patrons cut him . Driven by necessity , and ill in health , he takes to writing against time , and publishes an absurd or dull work . Those who have been his readers fall off , and the publishers become shy of him . The purses of those he is known
to are drawn upon , till their owners become wearied , and then the public is appealed to on the behalf of an unfortunate man of letters . Stories are trumped up of the wretched payment he has received , and the impossibility of his living upon it . Subscriptions are perchance raised , and he is once more placed beyond
difficulties , but it is rare that the bad habits are conquered which first caused the difficulties . Have I overcharged the picture ? I believe not , I could have drawn it still more disgusting , without infringing truth , and moreover have cited numerous names in evidence . Shall such men be pitied or condemned ? Condemned ,
will be the reply of rigid justice . If they inflicted evil upon themselves alone , they might perchance be pitied , but they hold high stations , they are before all men ' s eyes , and the evil of their example is an hundred-fold mischievous . Rigid justice must be executed upon them , for the benefit of the community . They shall not be allowed to plead their talents as an excuse : it
shall only be held as an aggravation of punishment . c Unto whom much is given , from him much shall be required . ' It is a matter of importance for the public at large to take up , at least in the case of popular writers . Those who lackey the vices and the footsteps of the great , may be left to the punishment which their own baseness is sure to entail upon them . But in the case of popular writers , great intellect should not be held as a palliation
for the want of morality . The possession of intellect gives the power of judgment , and he who aspires to be a teacher should be bound to keep his ' scutcheon blotless . He , whose morality is impeached , should be shorn from the list of the nation ' s counsellors . Trust him not , even though his intellect be like that of a god ; he will use it only the more surely to deceive . Let the public rigidly exact virtue in their leaders , and the leaders will conform to the required standard . +
And who are so fitting for the leaders of a nation , as the writers of a nation ? Were the writers of talent awake to their true interest , they would join together in a holy bond , for the guidance and instruction of the nation , which might lead it to a state of unexampled prosperity , and the writers might thus acquire a power far beyond that of any government , nay they
might at no distant period be themselves the government . While contemplating such a magnificent result , we are lost in wonder at the petty objects upon which their desires are fixed . In the majority of cases it is no matter of surprise , for petty men ever seek petty ends ; but there are some , whose intellects are fitted fpr better things , who yet plunge headlong into degradation , and f
Untitled Article
3 ( HF On the Morality of Authors .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1833, page 308, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2614/page/20/
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