Excerpt from The North American Review, Vol. 39 The author before us introduces the second part of the Life of Schiller with comments on the condition of the Man of Letters, eloquently expressed, but only, we think, partially true. We doubt that men who devote themselves to Litera ture are burdened with more misery than their fellows. From two causes they seem to be so -we seek to learn more of their lives than of those of any other class, and thence become acquainted with their particular portion of the common suffer ing of humanity; and, secondly, our gratitude to them as benefactors or entertainers, sharpens our sympathy. But even if their pangs, from a deeper sensibility, be keener, so are their pleasures from the same cause. Not that we regard this as a solution of the question. Such a balancing of the account of life gives a very imperfect result; and, indeed, would not only annihilate all gradation in human existence, but would level man, as to the quantum of happiness, to the degree of the brute animal, of whom it can with truth be said, that though the circle of his enjoyments is much narrower than that of man, he suffers proportionally less pain This esti mate of happiness is as fallacious as that of pecuniary profit, which should infer equality in the net gains of two merchants, because the income of each is to his outlay as five is to six, without looking to the difference in the amount of their re Spective capitals. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.