Leland--Strutt--Cotgrave--Henry Wharton--Robert Heron--Collins--William
Cole--Homeric victims--Joshua Barnes--An example of unrequited
toil--Borgarutius--Pays.
We have still a list far too long of literary martyrs whose works have
proved fatal to them, and yet whose names have not appeared in the
foregoing chapters. These are they who have sacrificed their lives,
their health and fortunes, for the sake of their works, and who had
no sympathy with the saying of a professional hack writer, "Till fame
appears to be worth more than money, I shall always prefer money to
fame." For the labours of their lives they have received no compensation
at all. Health, eyesight, and even life itself have been devoted to
the service of mankind, who have shown themselves somewhat ungrateful
recipients of their bounty.
Some of the more illustrious scholars indeed enjoy a posthumous
fame,--their names are still honoured; their works are still read and
studied by the learned,--but what countless multitudes are those who
have sacrificed their all, and yet slumber in nameless graves, the ocean
of oblivion having long since washed out the footprints they hoped to
leave upon the shifting sands of Time! Of these we have no record; let
us enumerate a few of the scholars of an elder age whose books proved
fatal to them, and whose sorrows and early deaths were brought on by
their devotion to literature.
What antiquary has not been grateful to Leland, the father of English
archaeology! He possessed that ardent love for the records of the past
which must inspire the heart and the pen of every true antiquary; that
accurate learning and indefatigable spirit of research without which
the historian, however zealous, must inevitably err; and that sturdy
patriotism which led him to prefer the study of the past glories of his
own to those of any other people or land. His _Cygnea Cantio_ will live
as long as the silvery Thames, whose glories he loved to sing, pursues
its beauteous way through the loveliest vales of England. While his
royal patron, Henry VIII., lived, all went well; after the death of that
monarch his anxieties and troubles began. His pension became smaller,
and at length ceased. No one seemed to appreciate his toil. He became
melancholy and morose, and the effect of nightly vigils and years of
toil began to tell upon his constitution. At length his mind gave way,
ere yet the middle stage of life was passed; and although many other
famous antiquaries have followed his steps and profited by his writings
and his example, English scholars will ever mourn the sad and painful
end of unhappy Leland.
Another antiquary was scarcely more fortunate. Strutt, the author of
_English Sports and Pastimes_, whose works every student of the manners
and customs of our forefathers has read and delighted in, passed his
days in poverty and obscurity, and often received no recompense for
the works which are now so valuable. At least he had his early wish
gratified,--"I will strive to leave my name behind me in the world,
if not in the splendour that some have, at least with some marks of
assiduity and study which shall never be wanting in me."
Randle Cotgrave, the compiler of one of the most valuable dictionaries
of early English words, lost his eyesight through laboriously studying
ancient MSS. in his pursuit of knowledge. The sixteen volumes of MS.
preserved in the Lambeth Library of English literature killed their
author, Henry Wharton, before he reached his thirtieth year. By the
indiscreet exertion of his mind, in protracted and incessant literary
labours, poor Robert Heron destroyed his health, and after years of toil
spent in producing volumes so numerous and so varied as to stagger one
to contemplate, ended his days in Newgate. In his pathetic appeal for
help to the Literary Fund, wherein he enumerates the labours of his
life, he wrote, "I shudder at the thought of perishing in gaol." And yet
that was the fate of Heron, a man of amazing industry and vast learning
and ability, a martyr to literature.
He has unhappily many companions, whose names appear upon that mournful
roll of luckless authors. There is the unfortunate poet Collins, who was
driven insane by the disappointment attending his unremunerative toil,
and the want of public appreciation of his verses. William Cole, the
writer of fifty volumes in MS. of the _Athenae Cantabrigienses_, founded
upon the same principle as the _Athenae Oxonienses_ of Anthony Wood,
lived to see his hopes of fame die, and yet to feel that he could not
abandon his self-imposed task, as that would be death to him. Homer,
too, has had some victims; and if he has suffered from translation,
he has revenged himself on his translators. A learned writer, Joshua
Barnes, Professor of Greek at Cambridge, devoted his whole energy to the
task, and ended his days in abject poverty, disgusted with the scanty
rewards his great industry and scholarship had attained. A more humble
translator, a chemist of Reading, published an English version of the
_Iliad_. The fascination of the work drew him away from his business,
and caused his ruin. A clergyman died a few years ago who had devoted
many years to a learned Biblical Commentary; it was the work of his
life, and contained the results of much original research. After his
death his effects were sold, and with them the precious MS., the result
of so many hours of patient labour; this MS. realised three shillings
and sixpence!
Fatal indeed have their works and love of literature proved to be to
many a luckless author. No wonder that many of them have vowed, like
Borgarutius, that they would write no more nor spend their life-blood
for the sake of so fickle a mistress, or so thankless a public. This
author was so troubled by the difficulties he encountered in printing
his book on Anatomy, that he made the rash vow that he would never
publish anything more; but, like many other authors, he broke his word.
Poets are especially liable to this change of intention, as La Fontaine
observes:--
"O! combien l'homme est inconstant, divers,
Foible, léger, tenant mal sa parole,
J'avois juré, même en assez beaux vers,
De renouncer à tout Conte frivole.
Depuis deux jours j'ai fait cette promesse
Puis fiez-vous à Rimeur qui répond
D'un seul moment. Dieu ne fit la sagesse
Pour les cerveaux qui hantent les neuf Soeurs."
In these days of omnivorous readers, the position of authors has
decidedly improved. We no longer see the half-starved poets bartering
their sonnets for a meal; learned scholars pining in Newgate; nor is
"half the pay of a scavenger" [Footnote: A remark of Granger--vide
_Calamities of Authors_, p. 85.] considered sufficient remuneration for
recondite treatises. It has been the fashion of authors of all ages
to complain bitterly of their own times. Bayle calls it an epidemical
disease in the republic of letters, and poets seem especially liable to
this complaint. Usually those who are most favoured by fortune bewail
their fate with vehemence; while poor and unfortunate authors write
cheerfully. To judge from his writings one would imagine that Balzac
pined in poverty; whereas he was living in the greatest luxury,
surrounded by friends who enjoyed his hospitality. Oftentimes this
language of complaint is a sign of the ingratitude of authors towards
their age, rather than a testimony of the ingratitude of the age towards
authors. Thus did the French poet Pays abuse his fate: "I was born
under a certain star, whose malignity cannot be overcome; and I am so
persuaded of the power of this malevolent star, that I accuse it of all
misfortunes, and I never lay the fault upon anybody." He has courted
Fortune in vain. She will have nought to do with his addresses, and it
would be just as foolish to afflict oneself because of an eclipse of the
sun or moon, as to be grieved on account of the changes which Fortune is
pleased to cause. Many other writers speak in the same fretful strain.
There is now work in the vast field of literature for all who have the
taste, ability, and requisite knowledge; and few authors now find their
books fatal to them--except perhaps to their reputation, when they
deserve the critics' censures. The writers of novels certainly have
no cause to complain of the unkindness of the public and their lack of
appreciation, and the vast numbers of novels which are produced every
year would have certainly astonished the readers of thirty or forty
years ago.
For the production of learned works which appeal only to a few
scholars, modern authors have the aid of the Clarendon Press and other
institutions which are subsidised by the Universities for the purpose of
publishing such works. But in spite of all the advantages which modern
authors enjoy, the great demand for literature of all kinds, the justice
and fair dealing of publishers, the adequate remuneration which is
usually received for their works, the favourable laws of copyright--in
spite of all these and other advantages, the lamentable woes of authors
have not yet ceased. The leaders of literature can hold their own, and
prosper well; but the men who stand in the second, third, or fourth rank
in the great literary army, have still cause to bewail the unkindness of
the blind goddess who contrives to see sufficiently to avoid all their
approaches to her.
For these brave, but often disheartened, toilers that noble institution,
the Royal Literary Fund, has accomplished great things. During a period
of more than a century it has carried on its beneficent work, relieving
poor struggling authors when poverty and sickness have laid them low;
and it has proved itself to be a "nursing mother" to the wives and
children of literary martyrs who have been quite unable to provide for
the wants of their distressed families. We have already alluded to the
foundation of the Royal Literary Fund, which arose from the feelings of
pity and regret excited by the death of Floyer Sydenham in a debtors'
prison. It is unnecessary to record its history, its noble career of
unobtrusive usefulness in saving from ruin and ministering consolation
to those unhappy authors who have been wounded in the world's warfare,
and who, but for the Literary Fund, would have been left to perish on
the hard battlefield of life. Since its foundation £115,677 has been
spent in 4,332 grants to distressed authors. All book-lovers will, we
doubt not, seek to help forward this noble work, and will endeavour
to prevent, as far as possible, any more distressing cases of literary
martyrdom, which have so often stained the sad pages of our literary
history.
In order to diminish the woes of authors and to help the maimed and
wounded warriors in the service of Literature, we should like to rear a
large Literary College, where those who have borne the burden and heat
of the day may rest secure from all anxieties and worldly worries when
the evening shadows of life fall around. Possibly the authorities of the
Royal Literary Fund might be able to accomplish this grand enterprise.
In imagination we seem to see a noble building like an Oxford College,
or the Charterhouse, wherein the veterans of Literature can live and
work and end their days, free from the perplexities and difficulties
to which poverty and distress have so long accustomed them. There is
a Library, rich with the choicest works. The Historian, the Poet, the
Divine, the Scientist, can here pursue their studies, and breathe forth
inspired thoughts which the _res angusta domi_ have so long stifled. In
society congenial to their tastes, far from "the madding crowd's ignoble
strife," they may succeed in accomplishing their life's work, and their
happiness would be the happiness of the community.
If this be but a dream, it is a pleasant one. But if all book-lovers
would unite for the purpose of founding such a Literary College, it
might be possible for the dream to be realised. Then the woes of future
generations of authors might be effectually diminished, and Fatal Books
have less unhappy victims.
INDEX.
Abélard, Canon of Notre Dame.
Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, astrologer.
Alexandre, Noel, Church historian.
Anderton, William, Jacobite printer.
Aretino, Pietro, satirist.
Arlotto of Padua, historian.
Arnold of Brescia, disciple of Abélard.
Arthington, pamphleteer.
Ascoli, Cecco d', poet.
Athos, Monks of Mount, Quietists.
Audra, Joseph, historian.
Bacon, Roger, philosopher.
Balzac, pretended poverty of.
Barnes, Joshua, translator.
Baronius, Caesar, Church historian.
Barrai, L'Abbé, his opinion of Fénélon.
Barrow, pamphleteer.
Bastwick, pamphleteer, attacked Laud.
Bède, Noël, controversialist.
Bekker, Balthazar, opponent of demoniacal possession.
Berruyer, Isaac Joseph, Jesuit historian.
Beverland, Adrian, poet.
Biddle, John, Socinian and Unitarian.
Billard, Pierre, satirised Jesuits.
Boccalini, Trajan, Italian satirist.
Bogarutius, anatomist.
Bohun, censor.
Bonfadio, Jacopo, Genoese historian.
Borri, Joseph Francis, charlatan.
Boursier, Jean Laurent, controversialist.
Bruccioli, Antonio, translator.
Bruno, Jordano, philosopher and atheist.
Bruto, John Michael, Florentine historian.
Buchanan, George, poet.
Burton, attacked Laud.
Bussy, Roger Rabutin de, satirist.
Campanella, Thomas, philosopher and atheist.
Carlyle, Thomas, an example of energy.
Carpzov, Samuel Benedict, libelled Rüdiger.
Carranza, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Toledo.
Cartwright, pamphleteer.
Castell, Edmund, polyglot.
Caveirac, L'Abbé, Jesuit defender.
Cinelli, John Giovanni, satirist.
Clarke, Samuel, philosopher and theologian.
Cole, William, author of _Athenae Cantabrigienses_.
Collins, poet.
Coppinger, pamphleteer.
Cotgrave, Randle, lexicographer.
Cowell, Dr., supporter of absolute monarchy.
Cowley, Abraham, dramatist.
Crébillon, the younger, dramatist.
Danchet, Antoine, dramatist.
Darigrand, author of _L'Anti-Financier_.
Darrell, John, cleric and demonologist.
Dassy, satirist.
David, Francis, theologian.
Dee, Dr., alchemist.
Defoe, Daniel, satirical writer.
Deforges, poet.
Delaune, author of _A Plea for the Nonconformists_.
Diderot, Denis, collaborateur of D'Alembert.
Doleman, printer.
Dolet, Etienne, printer and author.
Dominis, Antonio de, Archbishop of Spalatro.
Dort, Synod of, some of its proceedings.
Dryander, _nom-de-plume_ of Enzinas.
Dryander, John, brother of Enzinas.
Dupin, Louis Elias, Church historian.
Durosoi, editor.
Edzardt, Sebastian, theologian.
Enzinas, Spanish translator, 23.
Estienne, _see_ Stephanus.
Falkemberg, John de, fanatic.
Felbinger, Jeremiah, Unitarian.
Fénélon, François de la Mothe, Archbishop of Cambrai.
Fisher, John, Bishop of Rochester, opponent of royal divorce.
Fontaine, Nicolas, collaborateur of Le Maistre.
Francus, Nicholas, poet.
Fraser, "Catalogue," censor.
Frischlin, Nicodemus, poet.
Froullé, Jacques, bookseller.
Fust, John, printer.
Gacon, François, poet and satirist.
Galileo, "father of experimental philosophy."
Génébrard, Gilbert, controversialist.
Giannone, Peter, Italian historian.
Godonesche, Nicolas, engraver.
Grafton, Richard, printer of Coverdale's Bible.
Grandier, Urban, curé of London, opponent of celibacy of clergy.
Greenwood, pamphleteer.
Grotius, historian.
Hacket, pamphleteer.
Hales, John, pamphleteer.
Harsnett, Bishop, the exposer of Darrell.
Hartley, exorcist, friend of Darrell.
Haudicquer, genealogist.
Hélot, poet.
Hemmerlin, Felix, satirist.
Heron, Robert, voluminous author.
_Histriomastix_.
Homeric victims.
Huss, John, reformer and martyr, his writings.
Johnson, Samuel, divine, author of _Julian the Apostate_.
Keats, poet, _Endymion_ cruelly reviewed.
Kelly, Edward, necromancer, friend of Dr. Dee.
Kuhlmann, Quirinus, "Prince of Fanatics".
La Beaumelle, Laurence de, _Memoirs of Madame de Maintenon_.
La Grange, poet.
La Peyrère, Isaac de, ethnologist.
Le Courayer, Pierre François Canon of St. Augustine.
Leighton, Dr., author of _Syon's Plea against Prelacy_.
Leland, archaeologist.
Le Maistre, Louis, Jansenist and translator.
Lenoir, Jean, Canon of Séez, political writer.
Liesvelt, Jacob van, Dutch printer.
Lilburne, "Honest John," bookseller and author.
Linguet, Simon, political writer, de Lisle de Sales, philosopher.
Liszinski Cazimir, Polish atheist.
Literary College, ideal.
Literary Fund, Royal.
Lufftius, John, printer of Würtemburg.
Lyra, Nicholas de, commentator, ruins his printers.
Lyser, John, advocate of polygamy.
Maffei, Raphael, his epigram on Valla.
Maggi, Jerome, Venetian statesman.
Maintenon, Madame de, Memoirs.
Mariana, John, Spanish historian.
Marolles, L'Abbé de, translator.
Marot, Clement, poet, versifier of Psalms.
Marprelate, Martin, _nom-de-plume_ of various Puritan authors.
Melanchthon, reformer, works published by Peucer.
Molinos, Michael, Spanish theologian.
Montague, Lord, victim of Reginald Pole's book.
Montanus, Arius, translator of Polyglot Bible.
Montgomery, James, poet.
Morin, Jean, printer.
Morin, Simon, fanatic.
Nogaret, novelist.
Nordemann, follower of Kuhlmann.
Ochino, Bernardino, a Franciscan, advocate of polygamy.
Ockham, William of, "The Invincible Doctor".
Ockley, Simon, Vicar of Swavesey.
Ovid, poet, exiled by Caesar.
Page, printer of Stubbs' pamphlet.
Palearius, Antonius, "Inquisitionis Detractator."
Pallavicino, Ferrante, Italian satirist.
Palmieri, Matteo, Italian historian.
Pannartz, printer.
Paolo, Fra, _see_ Sarpi.
Pasquier, his Letters quoted.
Pasquinades, origin of term.
Pays, French poet, quoted.
Penry, pamphleteer.
Petit, Pierre, poet.
Peucer, Caspar, doctor of medicine and Calvinist.
Pole, Sir Geoffrey, arrested by Henry VIII., escapes.
Pole, Reginald, denounced Henry VIII.
Primi, John Baptist, Count of St. Majole, historian.
Prynne, William, author of _Histriomastix_.
Quesnal, Pasquier, translator and theologian.
Quietism.
Reboul, Italian pamphleteer.
Reinking, Theodore, historian, condemned to eat his book.
Richer, Edmund, political essayist.
Ritson, Joseph, antiquary.
Rosières, François de, Archdeacon of Toul, historian.
Rothe, John, pretended prophet.
Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, satirist.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, philosopher.
Rudbeck, Swedish historian.
Rudiger. John Christopher, biographer.
Sacy, de, _see_ Le Maistre.
Salisbury, Countess of, victim of Pole's book.
Sarpi, Pietro, Venetian historian.
Savonarola, Florentine preacher.
Scaliger, his criticism of Dolet.
Schweynheym, printer.
Scioppius, Caspar, satirist.
Selden, John, author of _De Decimis_.
Servetus, Michael, scientist and theologian, persecuted by Calvin.
Sidney, Algernon, his manuscript a witness against him.
Starkie, Nicholas, household possessed by devils, _see_ Darrell.
Stephanus or Stephens, Robert, Parisian printer.
Stephens, Henry, son of above, printer.
Strutt, author of _English Sports and Pastimes_.
Stubbs, John, opponent of Elizabeth's marriage.
Sydenham, Floyer, translator.
Théophile, poet.
Thou, de, French historian.
Thou, Frederick Augustus de, son of above.
Toland, John, freethinker.
Tutchin, John, editor of _Observator_, persecuted by Jeffreys.
Tyndale, William, translator of Bible and controversialist.
Udal, Nicholas, part author of Marprelate pamphlets.
_Unigenitus_, Papal Bull.
Urseus, Anthony, becomes insane through loss of book.
Valla, Lorenzo, Roman satirist.
Vanini, Lucilio, philosopher and atheist.
Villanovanus, _nom-de-plume_ of Servetus.
Virgil, Bishop of Salisbury, cosmologist.
Vizetelly, publisher.
Volaterranus, _see_ Maffei.
Voltaire, François Arouet de, satirical poem.
Wecchiettus, Jerome, theologian.
Wechel, Christian, Parisian printer.
Wechel, Andrew, son of above.
Weiser, Caspar, Swedish poet.
Wentworth, Peter, pamphleteer.
Wharton, Henry, died of overwork.
Whitchurch, Edward, printer.
Willenberg, Samuel Friedrich, advocate of polygamy.
Williams, John, poet.
Woolston, Thomas, freethinker.
Yorke, Sir John, imprisoned for Roman Catholic play performed in his
house.
End of Project Gutenberg's Books Fatal to Their Authors, by P. H. Ditchfield