Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/86

 light the meanest philosopher, though all his possessions are his lamp or his cell, is more truly valuable than he, whose name ecchoes to the shout of the million, and who stands in all the glare of admiration. In this light, though poverty and contemptuous neglect are all the wages of his good will from mankind, yet the rectitude of his intention is an ample recompence, and self applause for the present, and the alluring prospect of fame for futurity reward his labours. The perspective of life brightens, when terminated by an object so charming. Every intermediate image of want, banishment, or sorrow, receives a lustre from its distant influence. With this in view, the patriot, philosopher, and poet, have often looked with calmness on disgrace and famine, and rested on their straw with chear-