Authorship as a Profession
Joanne Shattock, Joanne Wilkes, Katherine Newey, Valerie R. Sanders · 2021
Sir Walter Scott used to dwell with marked emphasis on the precariousness of literature as a profession or means of subsistence. “It sometimes happens, that there may be remarked among them a smile of complacence, or a strut of elevation; but if these favorites of fortune are carefully watched for a few days, they seldom fail to show the transitoriness of human felicity; the crest falls, the gaiety is ended, and there appear evident tokens of a successful rival, or a fickle patron.” There are some reasons for which they may seem particularly qualified for a military life. Some indeed there are, who by often changing sides in controversy, may give just suspicion of their fidelity, and whom the author should think likely to desert for the pleasure of desertion, or for a farthing a month advanced in their pay. .