"Always scribble, scribble, scribble..."
“Another d-mn’d thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?'”
I assume that Edward Gibbon has low name recognition today, 228 years after his death and 248 years after the publication of the first volume of The Decline & Fall of The Roman Empire, but the reaction of the Duke of Gloucester to Gibbon’s presentation of his labors makes me laugh and is worth remembering.
In my mind, I picture Gibbons as a sensitive and earnest writer, in style and speech an eccentric Jane Austen secondary character. He sprawls amongst Roman ruins, brooding over the fate of empire and the course of history. After long struggle, he wrestles passions, insights and language into 400 pages on the ruin of empire and the course of history…
Eager for notice, he presents this book to the King’s brother, His Royal Highness, William the Duke of Gloucester, at the duke’s court.
In 1778, this kind of audience was the equal of a New York Times book review. The Duke’s favorable comment would prime sales…
Unfortunately, the Duke airily dismissed Gibbon’s genius.
“Another d-mn’d thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?'”
In my mind the scene fades amid the guffaws of the Duke’s court, before a crestfallen Gibbon retreats to his lair….
Of course, maybe that’s not how it all happened at all. Did the Duke, instead, deliver his line with self-deprecation? Or maybe the Duke was drunk? Maybe Gibbon laughed along in good humor. The moment’s essence is lost to history.
Regardless, it’s a story to which any writer or creator can relate. The worry lurks that what ever you have poured your heart and time into won’t be quite good enough at the end of the day. The elite willl dismiss your labors with a glance and a giggle.
I choose, however, to take some more positive lessons from this story.
First, the Duke’s reaction is a reminder to not take it all too seriously. Find and embrace the humor in your creation, and try not care too much about the crowd’s opinion.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I take the story in the imperative, as an order that any creator must follow.
It’s not “scribble, scribble, scribble”, but “Scribble! Scribble! And then Scribble some more!”
As Steven Pressfield might say, turn pro and keep scribbling away!
(And, if that’s not enough, consider that Gibbon’s reception at the hands of the Duke of Glouceter was better than Robert Castell’s fate, another cautionary tale for creators. At least Gibbon’s creative impulse did not lead to death by smallpox in a debtor’s prison.)