Page:Life of Edmond Malone.djvu/71

Rh upon a forlorn hope, and like him not unfrequently be rewarded by success.

Few difficulties were encountered by Malone in his new sphere of residence but what London connections readily overcame. He was proud to meet her celebrities—happy to receive their civilities—happier still in not being destined to mount to eminence through the rugged paths of penury, tracked as hunters do wounded animals by the pain and suffering commonly attendant upon friendless adventurers in letters.

In commencing the subject of study, he judiciously resolved to begin at the beginning; to trace out in the first instance the chronology of the poet’s plays. A temporary diffidence, however, overcame him. He imagined that something of ridicule or prejudice might attach to one whose recent profession had been so dissimilar. Happily it occurred to him to consult Lord Charlemont, whose taste in letters he found reason to respect; and his lordship’s approval was immediately given. It is the first letter which I have met with in their correspondence, and forms a fair example of what it continued for twenty years.

Marino, August 18th, 1777. —I cannot give you a stronger proof of my approbation of the subject which procured me the pleasure of your letter than by thus sitting down to answer it, though scarcely able to write from the effects of a disagreeable nervous complaint in my head and eyes. That some wise ones may smile at your lucubrations, I doubt not; but let them smile. There is nothing more despicable than their censure. For surely that wisdom may be accounted folly which would cut off one principal source of innocent amusement from a state which seems to stand in need of every