Coleridge expresses it, << the trade of authorship ;" and the
amount of the advice is, — that, for the sake of his own
happiness and respectability, every man should adopt some



LETTERS. 13

trade or profession, and should make literature a subordi-
nate pursuit. On this advice, I understand you to ask,
prst^ whether it is naturally to be interpreted, as extending
to cases such as yours; and, second j if so, what is my
judgment on such advice so extended 1 As to my judgment
upon this advice, supposing it addressed to men of your age
and situation, you will easily collect, from all which I shall
say, that I think it as bad as can well be given.
Waiving this, however, and to consider your other ques-
tion — ^in what sense, and with what restrictions, the whole
chapter is to be interpreted — that is a point which I find
it no easy matter to settle. Mr. Coleridge, who does not
usuaUy offend by laxity and indedaion of purpose, has, in
this instance, allowed the very objects of his advice to shift
and fluctuate before him ; and, from the beginning to the
end, nothing is firmly constructed for the apprehension to
grasp, nor are the grounds of judgment steadily maintaraed.
