Tremendous pest, abhorred by men and gods,
Hideous her voice, and with less terrors roar
The whelps of lions in the midnight hour.
His bookseller usually received the magazines and reviews on the evening before their general publication, and had the good nature to indulge the Aspirant after literary distinction, with a previous of these arbiters of destiny.
No sooner had the bugle of the guard announced the arrival of the mail, than, with hurried step and nervous solicitude, a visit was paid to the bookseller. Alas! the poor author’s fame had not yet reached the cognizance of those, whose determination was to fix its value. Another month succeeded, and yet another, and a similar disappointment and mortification was experienced. At length, in the latter part of the monthly catalogue of one of these Lunar oracles, the following remark appeared.—
“This is a work not entirely without merit, but it is evidently the production of a youthful author, who will write better when he shall have read more.”
Nothing was to be done but to put it up, and say no more about it. The only perplexity was to settle matters with the bookseller, who, after producing accurate accounts of advertisements, paper, printing, and cancels, was enabled to pay the author the sum of thirteen shillings and eightpence!
Before we change the scene from provincial to metropolitan booksellers, something is to be said of an individual, mentioned in our notes under the appellation of the Dirty Bookseller.
Our friend, in his youthful rambles, on some occasion or other, found himself in a country town, where his curiosity was attracted by the sight of some books at the window of a shop of humble appearance, in the corner of a street. A temptation of this kind was, through the whole of his life, irresistible. He accordingly entered, and found a round faced, mean looking, old man, with a small table before him, examining some catalogues, and surrounded by book-shelves, on which were some very curious and very scarce volumes. The old man with a small capital had watched his opportunity, and by purchasing the libraries of deceased clergymen and private gentlemen in his neighbourhood, and by living with the most parsimonious frugality, had gradually accumulated very considerable property.