Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/124

114 He had before this time procured a captain’s commiſſion in the lord Lucas’s regiment, by the intereſt of lord Cutts, to whom he dedicated his Chriſtian Hero, and who likewiſe appointed him his ſecretary: His next appearance as a writer, was in the office of Gazetteer, in which he obſerves in the ſame apology for himſelf, he worked faithfully, according to order, without ever erring againſt the rule obſerved by all miniſters, to keep that paper very innocent, and inſipid. The reproaches he heard every Gazette-day againſt the writer of it, inſpired him with a fortitude of being remarkably negligent of what people ſaid, which he did not deſerve. In endeavouring to acquire this negligence, he certainly acted a prudent part, and gained the moſt important and leading advantage, with which every author ſhould ſet out.

Whoever writes for the public, is ſure to draw down envy on himſelf from ſome quarter or other, and they who are reſolved never to be pleaſed, conſider him as too aſſuming, and diſcover their reſentment by contempt. How miſerable is the ſtate of an author! It is his misfortune in common with the fair ſex,

If he happens to be a ſucceſsful writer, his friends who become then proud of his acquaintance, flatter him, and by ſoothing his vanity teach him to overrate his importance, and while he graſps at univerſal fame, he loſes by too vigorous an effort, what he had acquired by diligence and application: If he pleaſes too little, that is, if his works are not read, he is in a fair way of being a great loſer by his attempt to pleaſe. Mr.