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MaRchG, 1852J \:/ : ^' ^ lS^ ^h:^: ^^^ ....
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Marchg, 1852j \:/ : ^' ^ Ls^ ^H:^: ^^^ ....
MaRchG , 1852 J \ : / : ^' ^ lS ^ ^ h : ^ : ^^^ . / ' : ' ' ^
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THE AtHEN / EUlW iNStlTUTE J ^ or ^ utjbors ftnlf ^ rttstg , 30 , SACKVILLE STREET , LONDON . . TVest companionship of men requires some particular bonds nf union ; some natural basis and some common object which induce concentration ; and the promoters of this undertaking nave based their arrangements on the peculiar position and circumstances of Literary Men arid Artists . In dealing with mental workers , that is , men who are more interested m the works themselves which they pursue than in the commercial results , it became peculiarly necessary to adopt snecial arrangements . The prospect of profit and pecuniary benefit is sufficient with commercial men to attract attention and command support . literary men , as it is well known , nrofess themselves particularly ignorant of figures arid calculations and they have neither the confidence nor the caution , as regards pecuniary' transactions * of business men . To such a class the common appeals fall dead ; and , whilst Lawyers and Doctors , Clergymen arid Traders , arid even Soldiers and Sailors , have founded Associations and Assurance Offices , the Literary Men have gone listlessly on , united by no common bond , arid assisted by no mutual Institutions . The true reason of this maybe , that eve * y literary and artistic man passes through an ordeal that teaches hirii to be entirely self-reliant ; and the very moderation of his desires induces him to endure evils which business riien have been habituated to avoid or overcome . Of their superior intelligence and aptitude for the most onerous offices arid duties of life there can be no doubt j and there can be no impediment , but their own want of resolution , to their founding a noble Institution . Most of the evils suffered by Literary Men arise from their not being organized as a profession . The barrister and the attorney , the clergyman arid the military and naval officer , have the advantages of an established profession ; they have their associations and institutions ; their rank is definitely settled ; their united efforts have a national importance ; and the road to social honours ia smoothed and opened to them . Yet Literature and Art are professions—distinct callings , and have the fullest right , from the mental cultivation and natural endowments of their professors , to be ranked among the liberal professions . Authorship has become a separate and distinct occupation . Our country alone demarids that six or seven hundred volumes , in the shape of newspapers * be published every week ; the literature of past times ana of foreigri regions , re-adapted to our tastes , are clamorously demanded- by _ a reading nation ; and educational arid professional works are in constant demand . Every transaction of life passes under the pen of the author , or is illustrated by the" artist ; arid every species of authorship is in demand . If it be asked , What are the advantages of a profession P we can only ask in reply , WEat are the advantages of association ? which we take-to be so numerousTthat we cannot "venture to recapitulate then ! here . The advantages of an organized pror fession may be seen ^ in the law ; which , mighty as it now is , penetrating all the offices of the state , and the ministration of the Government , yet in the Third Edward ' s tiine wias riot in existence , the professors of this branch of learning being then , and even subsequently , as vaguely situated as the professors of literature are at the present day ; When they became organized , royal bounty bestowed houses and lands on them ; and noble professors made endowments ; and now the gloiy of the greatest is reflected on the meanest ; in national movements their united voice is heard ; their rank is recognised in society , and they are a class almost especially set apart to receive honours and offices . If it be objected , that the genius of past times is different to our own ; that may be admitted , and yet the advantages of organizing literature into a profession not be impugned . The advantages of , and , indeed , the necessities for , association increase with increasing civilization ; , and to repudiate this advantage , when all other classes are eagerly seeking it , is to neglect our own , and cause it to descend in the social scale . To effect some reform in such an anomalous state , though on no sufficient basis , seems to have occurred to many literary men . In general , however , these efforts have proceeded no further than the founding an alms-fund ; whilst the most important object should be , to found such an institution as would cement the interests of the class , and ultimately lead to the organizing literature as a profession . The literary man may feel grateful for benevolent intentions , but his pride and selt-respeot should lead him rather to elevate and consolidate t ; corpa to which he belongs , in the same effective manner that has characterised the proceedings of the lawyers . It seemed to the promoters of the present Institution , that in order to oiFoot this object it was necessary to form an Institution that would call forth the efforts of the literary man on his own behalf ; and collect into a corporate body the professors of literature and art ; and for this purpose the Athenooum Institute is founded . To the extraneous aid of the possessors of rank and wealth , we are awaro objections are made ; but , though they are not without cogency , they do not seem to us conclusive . We think literature has a right to ask the assistance of theao other two great powora of society , booauso it ao materially assists them , and because m many of its branches it has no other mode of . being ^ paid by aooiety . The severely scientific , the highly imaginative , the profoundly legislative authors , do not produce promptly marketable , though they produce priceleaa works . Jiii Uiujo , Wordsworth , Bentham , could not have existed had tnoy depended on the first product of their works : they would luivo perished before an acknowledging world had given them j > reau . Yet their works have made the fortunes and the reputation of legmlatora and capitalists , and roflnod the minda of prmcos and poors , JhI ' T 1 ' ?™ of ft naUon > < " > d the mouldora of tho national flontimont , should bo cared for as much as thoao who mako and administer its laws . win ! Tj tlie i fle reas () n » . Literature may aeok an honourablo alliance tint ! « i u \ Woalth , and rooeivo thoir aid without do Krada' ° "! ! " without subservience . It is desirable that the throe T tf « . 4 lowers oom « to a liberal and mutual underatanding . lion ' ° 'u ' i ? > aml arfc / hrtV 0 doil ° everything for oivilizafor { li ? w i 18 timo fc »«* civilized society ahould do something oruJnL ? v Y ¦ ° * * Position prevents their amaaaing tho oidinary roturna of akill and labour . him j » i •?* litorftry man works for something more than T' ? T Produces ^ omothtag more oflbotivo than a , mere piooo for S « W . ' U ° tho b" » oflt Of tho nublio . The publisher paya for iil moroftntll « valu « , but the public should reward tho author DuniHli ? pu i SO 0 " efI > oot 5 aH ai ° y tllko « P ° thomsolvoa to Tl . « t ^ . ftn ovil tendency . imnorJ ^ f i i , » propQflod , it ia hoped , will moot tho two {™™ P ° infcs of the oaao , and rooonoilo the olaims of Uteraindonen ^ O 1 , . flti ? « waiatanoo , with that aelf-supporting independence wbioU » UouW ch « ract © ri » o * U intellectual men .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031852/page/23/
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