CHAPTER XXIV.
Literature an avenue to glory.—An intellectual nobility not chimerical, but created by public opinion.—Literary honours of various nations.—Local associations with the memory of the man of genius. 248
CHAPTER XXV.
Influence of authors on society, and of society on authors. —National tastes a source of literary prejudices.—True genius always the organ of its nation.—Master-writers preserve the distinct national character.—Genius the organ of the state of the age.—Causes of its suppression in a people.—Often invented, but neglected.—The natural gradations of genius.—Men of genius produce their usefulness in privacy—The public mind is now the creation of the public writer.—Politicians affect to deny this principle.—Authors stand between the governors and the governed.—A view of the solitary author in his study.—They create an epoch in history.—Influence of popular authors.—The immortality of thought.—The family of genius illustrated by their genealogy. 258
LITERARY MISCELLANIES.
Miscellanists 281
Prefaces 286
Style 291
Goldsmith and Johnson 294
Self-characters 295