Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/147

 Author:Voltaire has finely described the hardships a man must encounter, who writes for the public. I need make no apology for the length of the quotation.

' fate, my dear Le Fevre, is too strongly marked to permit your retiring. The bee must toil in making honey, the silk-worm must spin, and the philosopher must dissect them, and you are born to sing of their labours. You must be a poet, and a scholar, even though your inclinations should resist; nature is too strong for inclination. But hope not, my friend, to find tranquillity in the employment you are going to pursue. The rout of genius is not less obstructed with disappointment, than that of ambition.