But though these were finished with infinite
rapidity, he found that they constituted a very precarious means of
subsistence. The time of dinner often came, before the production that was
to purchase it was completed; and when completed, it was frequently
several days before it could find a purchaser. And his copy money and his
taylor's bill were too little proportioned to one another.
He now recollected, what in the gaiety of hope he had forgotten, that
_many a flower_ only blows, with its sweetness to refresh the _air
of a desert_. He recollected many instances of works, raised by the
breath of fashion to the very pinnacle of reputation, that sunk as soon
again. He recollected instances scarcely fewer, of works, exquisite in
their composition, pregnant with beauties almost divine, that had passed
from the press without notice. Many had been revived by the cooler and
more deliberate judgment of a future age; and more had been lost for ever.
The instance of Chatterton, as a proof that the universal patronage of
genius was by no means the virtue of his contemporaries, flashed in his
face. And he looked forward to the same fate at no great distance, as his
own.
To Mr. Godfrey however, fortune was in one degree more propitious. Damon
was among the few whose judgment was not guided by the dictate of fashion.
Having met accidentally with the performance we have mentioned, he was
struck with its beauties.
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