The Tragedy of Talent

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17758, 30 January 1926, Page 17

The Tragedy of Talent

Writers who were Neglected.

MANY brilliant and talented writers have passed through years of neglect, their ■worth and genius unrecognised by the public. Thus Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, after a brief period of popular favour in Edinburgh literary circles, •went back to the plough. After the failure, of his farming adventure at Ellisland. hr became an exciseman. and died at Dumfries in povrrtv and neglect Thomas Chatterton, the youthful poet, finding his work was unrecognts-' rd. committed, suicide in 1770, at the earl ag;e of eighteen. Thus has genius suffered at the hands of an unfeeling public. Authors in the ok! days, before any copyright laws, were in existence to protect their interests, suffered because their works were exploited and pirated by unscrupulous printers. Many suffered poverty and obscurity in their

lifetime, while after their death publishers made fortunes out of their writings. Many authors and poets of bygone days would be’ amazed if they could come back and see the sumptuous editions of their works, published and widely read long after they were dead! Then poets and writers had to depend, in “the good old days,” on the patronage of the wealthy. Nash, the Elizabethan writer, whom Isaac Disraeli describes as “a creature of genius, of famine and despair.” proclaimed hitnself to the world as “Pierce Pennilesse,” and confessed that lie “ sat up late and rose early, contended with cold and conversed with scarcitie,” while he. beheld petty tradesmen making money and rejoicing in plenty. Then Stowe, the learned antiquary, after devoting all his life to the study of the monuments of antiquity in England. making a tremendous collection

of valuable manuscripts during his lifetime, found himself in his old age forced to collect aim*!. .... m

Neglected by the great city in which he lived, at the age of eight}' he was granted letters patent by the King “ to ask, gather, and take the alms of all our loving subjects.” •One city' parish contributed the magnificent sum of seven and sixpence, so we must conclude that the response was not encouraging. Poor Myles Davies, a Welsh clergyman who turned author, tells us how he hawked his own books, under conditions that would have daunted most men. Round the houses of the mighty he went, not only receiving the insolence of porters and lackeys, but having to stand disgusting treatment from his lordship. In one case, they squirted orange water over the persistent author. Disappointed genius is one of the saddest things in human life! Some have accepted their disappointments with great humility, and sometimes a great sense of humour. Some sadly disappointed authors have broken out in a violent abuse of friends and foes alike. Such a man was the orator, Ilenlev, whose famous 44 Universal Academy ” amused London in the eighteenth century. Authors, like other workers, suffer oftentimes from maladies due to the nature of their craft. The thinking

faculty sometimes becomes deranged through excessive study, and sedentary habits affect the physical health. The result is a host of hypochondriac troubles and nervous ones as well. Henry Carey, immortalised by his famous song, 44 Sally in Our Alley,” died bv his own hand, and was found dead with a solitary halfpenny in his pocket. Jefferies died of consumption without seeing the recognition he deserved be-

cause of his unrivalled knowledge of the English countryside.