Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/134

 how great should his encouragement be, who is capable of conferring it not only upon the most deserving, but even upon the age in which he lives?

this honest ambition of being admired by posterity, cannot be gratified without continual efforts in the present age to deserve it. For if the rewards of genius are improperly directed; if those who are capable of supporting the honour of the times by their writings, prefer opulence to fame; if the stage should be shut to writers of merit, and open only to interest or intrigue. If such should happen to be the vile complexion of the times, the very virtues of the age will be forgotten by posterity; and nothing remembered, except our filling a chasm in the registers of time, or having served to continue the species.