Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/13

 give up all the reasonable aims of life for it. There are indeed some advantages accruing from a Gen­ius to Poetry, and they are all I can think of: the agreeable power of self-amusement when a man is idle or alone; the privilege of being admitted into the best company; and the freedom of say­ing as many careless things as other people, without being so severely remark'd upon.

I believe, if any one, early in his life, should contemplate the dangerous fate of authors, he would scarce be of their number on any consideration. The life of a Wit is a warfare upon earth; and the present spirit of the world is such, that to attempt to serve it (any way) one must have the constancy of a martyr, and a resolution to suffer for its sake. I confess it was want of considerati­on that made me an author; I writ because it amused me; I corrected because it was as plea­sant to me to correct as to write; and I publish'd because I was told I might please such as it was a credit to please. To what degree I have done this, I am really ignorant; I had too much fondness for my productions to judge of them at first, and too much judgment to be pleas'd with them at last. But I have reason to think they can have no reputation which will conti­nue long, or which deserves to do so: for they have always fallen short not only of what I Rh