For though naked and bare-faced vanity; though an active exertion of
little arts, and the most unremitting perseverance in them; though
party, cabal, and intrigue; though accidental advantages, and even
whimsical circumstances; may conspire to make a very moderate genius
the idol of the implicit multitude: works that lean upon such fickle
props, that stand upon such a false foundation, will not be long able
to support themselves against the injuries of time. Such buildings
begin to totter almost as soon as their scaffolding is struck.
But if you find it necessary to comply with the humour of your age;
the writing best calculated to please a false taste is what has
something of the air of good writing, without being really so. For
to the vulgar eye the specious is more striking than the genuine. The
best writing is apt to be too plain, too simple, too unaffected, and
too delicate to stir the callous organs of the generality of critics,
who see nothing but the tawdry glare of tinsel; and are deaf to every
thing but what is shockingly noisy to a true ear.
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