“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money,” declared Dr Johnson.
Boswell did not like the maxim and explained it away as an example of Johnson’s lazy nature. “Numerous instances to refute this will occur to all who are versed in the history of
literature,” he puffed.
If they were numerous in the 18th century, they are legion now. Take the contributors to the Huffington Post. They sided with Boswell, as they blogged away. The thought of payment never entered their pure minds. I wonder how they felt today when they heard that Arianne Huffington had taken the website, the fruit of their unpaid labour, and sold it for $315 million. Light-headed? Dunder-headed? Bone-headed?
People write for all kinds of reasons, and there are many good and interesting bloggers, whom no editor will ever pay but are worth reading nevertheless.
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