er proposed, and carried my papers to a
third, who assured me that poetry was entirely out of his way; and asked
me if I had got never a piece of secret history, thrown into a series
of letters, or a volume of adventures, such as those of Robinson Crusoe,
and Colonel Jack, or a collection of Conundrums, wherewith to entertain
the plantations. Being quite unfurnished for this dealer, I had recourse
to another with as little success; and I verily believe, was rejected by
the whole trade.

"I was afterwards persuaded to offer myself as a translator, and
accordingly repaired to a person who was said to entertain numbers of
that class in his pay; he assured me, he had already a great deal of
that work on his hands, which he did not know what to do with; observed
that translations were a mere drug, that branch of literature being
overstocked with an inundation of authors from North Britain; and asked
what I would expect per sheet for rendering the Latin classics into
English. That I might not make myself too cheap, I determined to set a
high price upon my qualifications, and demanded half-a-guinea for every
translated sheet. "Half-a-guinea!" cried he, staring at me; then paused
a little, and said, he had no occasion for my service at present. I
found my error, and, resolving to make amends, fell one-half in my
demand; upon which he stared at me and told me his hands were full. I
attempted others without finding employment, and was actually reduced
to a very uncomfortable prospect, when I bethought myself of offering my
talents to the printers of half-penny ballads and other such occasional
essays, as are hawked about the streets. With this in view I applied to
one of the most noted and vociferous of this tribe, who directed me to a
person whom I found entertaining a whole crowd of them with gin, bread,
and cheese; he carried me into a little back parlour, very neatly
furnished, where I signified my desire of being enrolled among
his writers; and was asked what kind of composition I professed.
Understanding that my inclination leaned towards poetry, he expressed
his satisfaction, telling me one of his poets had lost his senses, and
was confined in Bedlam, and the other was become dozed with drinking
drams; so that he had not done anything tolerable these many weeks. When
I proposed that we should enter into terms of agreement, he gave me to
understand that his bargains were always conditional, and his authors
paid in proportio