It is impossible that it should be
otherwise. Among a set of people whose profession it is to do
always, and in all things, precisely what their neighbours do, the
man who makes his living by doing what other people cannot do,
must always be a marked figure. Look at modern society. It cannot
toil nor spin; it can hardly put together ten words in a
grammatical sequence. But it can clothe itself. The man of letters
can both toil and write good English, but his taste in tailoring
frequently leaves much to be desired. If he would put himself in
the hands of Poole, and hold his tongue, he might almost pass for
a member of society. But he must needs talk, and his speech
bewrayeth him for a Galilean. There are wits in society, both many
and keen, who can say something original, cutting and neatly
turned, upon almost any subject, with an easy superiority which
makes the hair of the learned man stand erect upon his head. The
chief characteristic of him who lives by his brains is, that he is
not only able to talk consecutively upon some subject, but that he
actually does so, which, in society, is accounted a monstrous
crime against manners. Let him write what he wants to say, and
print it; society will either not understand him at all, or will
read his works with a dictionary in the secrecy of its own
chamber.
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