Nothing is more common than to find men whose works are now totally
neglected, mentioned with praises by their contemporaries, as the
oracles of their age, and the legislators of science. Curiosity is
naturally excited, their volumes after long inquiry are found, but
seldom reward the labour of the search. Every period of time has
produced these bubbles of artificial fame, which are kept up a while by
the breath of fashion, and then break at once, and are annihilated. The
learned often bewail the loss of ancient writers whose characters have
survived their works; but, perhaps, if we could now retrieve them, we
should find them only the Granvilles, Montagues, Stepneys, and
Sheffields of their time, and wonder by what infatuation or caprice they
could be raised to notice.
It cannot, however, be denied, that many have sunk into oblivion, whom
it were unjust to number with this despicable class. Various kinds of
literary fame seem destined to various measures of duration. Some spread
into exuberance with a very speedy growth, but soon wither and decay;
some rise more slowly, but last long. Parnassus has its flowers of
transient fragrance, as well as its oaks of towering height, and its
laurels of eternal verdure.
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