Still, the aristocracy of letters exists: and in it, if nowhere else,
titles, social advantages, and commercial success alike count for
nothing; while Royalty itself sits in the Court of the Gentiles. And I
am afraid we must include in the crowd not only those affable
politicians who from time to time open a Public Library and oblige us
with their views upon literature, little realizing what Hecuba is to
them, and still less what they are to Hecuba, but also those affable
teachers of religion, philosophy, and science, who condescend
occasionally to amble through the garden of the Muses, and rearrange
its labels for us while drawing our attention to the rapid
deterioration of the flowerbeds. The author of _The Citizen of the
World_ once compared the profession of letters in England to a Persian
army, "where there are many pioneers, several suttlers, numberless
servants, women and children in abundance, and but few soldiers." Were
he alive to-day he would be forced to include the Volunteers.