Know, too, that I
have derived some of the titles of works herein recorded from a singular
and rare work of M. John Christianus Klotz, published in Latin at Leipsic,
in the year 1751. To these I have added many others. The Biographical
Dictionary of Bayle is a mine from which I have often quarried, and
discovered there many rare treasures. Our own learned literary historian,
Mr. Isaac Disraeli, has recorded the woes of many of our English writers
in his book entitled "The Calamities of Authors" and also in his
"Curiosities of Literature." From these works I have derived some
information. There is a work by Menkenius, "Analecta de Calamitate
Literatorum"; another by Pierius Valerianus, "De Infelicitate
Literatorum"; another by Spizelius, "Infelix Literatus"; and last but not
least Peignot's "Dictionnaire Critique, Litteraire et Bibliographique, des
Livres condamnes au Feu" which will furnish thee with further information
concerning the woes of authors, if thine appetite be not already sated._
_And if there be any of Folly's crowd who read this book--of those, I
mean, who work and toil by light of midnight lamp, weaving from their
brains page upon page of lore and learning, wearing their lives out, all
for the sake of an ungrateful public, which cares little for their labour
and scarcely stops to thank the toiler for his pains--if there be any of
you who read these pages, it will be as pleasant to you to feel safe and
free from the stern critics' modes of former days, as it is to watch the
storms and tempests of the sea from the secure retreat of your study
chair.
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