Here's a reminder, from a review by the estimable Michael Dirda, that the freelancer's lot has frequently been a hard one, especially if the freelancer involved is anything like Thomas De Quincey, author of the celebrated Confessions of An English Opium Eater: "An opium addict, an alcoholic in all but name, and a man who spent years dodging creditors, constantly moving from one rented room to another. What money he didn't spend on laudanum - his preferred opium-alcohol mixture - he spent on buying thousands of books, many of them pricey and rare. For years he rented Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's old home in the Lake District, and essentially used it to store his library and papers. Though from an upper-middle-class family and exceptionally well educated in Latin and Greek, De Quincey nonetheless dropped out of Oxford ... and was regularly shamed by public announcements of his nonpayment of bills. He contributed to multiple magazines, Blackwood's being the best known, and sooner or later quarreled with nearly all his editors...." And yet! An eloquent, courageous, and affectionate man, loved by many. And still remembered.
