The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1852-05-19
NUMBER 4.


1t is singular circumstance that
many men Of genius have exhibited OBJ
vious marks of human frailty. Pope
was an epicure and would lie in bed at
Lord Bolingbroke's for days, unless he
was told there were stewed lampreys for
dinner, when he rose instantly and came
to the table Even Sir Isaac Newton
gave credit to the idle nonsense of judi
cial astrology-he who first calculated
the distance of the stars, and revealed
the laws ofmotion by which the Supreme
Being organised and keeps in their orbits
unnumbered worldshe who had revealed
the mysteries of the stars themselves-D Dry
den, Sir Isaac Newton's contemporary, be-
lieved in the same absurdity. The great
Duke of Marlborough. when visited by
Prince Eugene on the night before d
battle, when no doubt the two generals
were in consultation upon mea sure that
might decide the fate of an empire. was
heard to call his servant to account for
lighting up four candles in his tent upon
the occasion, and was once actually seen
on horseback darning his own gloves
Hobbies, who wrote the " lie viathann q
deist in creed. had most eX traordinary
belief in spirits and apparitions. Locke,
the philosopher. the matter of fact Locke,
who wrote, and in fact established the
decision of things by the rule itself-hc
delighted in romances and revellcd in
works of fiction What was the great
Lord Nerulam Alas too truly, I" the
wisest. greatest. meancst of mankind"
As for Martin Luther, the reformer, he
was SO passionate and unchristian-like,
that he struck his friends, Melancthon
in particular, and perhaps would have
burned him as readily as an inquisitOr in
those days would have burned hereto,
in the paroxysms of hi ia ge
Cardinal Richclieu, the minister of
great empire, believed in the calculation
of natiyites Sir Thomas Moore burn-
cd the hereto to whom in his writings
he gave full liberty of conscience AL
cxander the Great was drunkard. and
slew his friends in his cups Caesar sui
lied the glory of his talents by the de-
sire ofgoyerning his country despotically.
and died the victim of his ambition.
though one of the wisest, most accom-
plished. and humane Of conquerors. But
we are travelling too far back for exam
pies, which should be taken from later
times Tasso believed in his good angel.
and was often observed to converse with
what he fancied was spirit or demon,
which he declared he saw. Raphael the
most gifted artist the world ever pos
sessed, died at the age of thirty-seven.
his constitution weakened by his rregu-
lar living DR. Samuel johnson was no.
toriously superstitious Sir Christopher
Wren, who built St Paul's Cathedral,
was believer in dreams He had
pleursy once, being in Paris, and dream
ed that he was in place where palm
trees trees grew. and that woman in a
romantic dress gave him some dates.
The next day he sent for some dates, in
full belief Of their revealed virtues. and
they cured him DIR. HALEY had the
same superstitious belief Melancthon
believed in dreams or apparitions, and
used to say that one came to him in his
study, and told him to bid Guyteus, his
friend. to 60 away for some time, as the
Inqusiton sought his life. His friend
went away in consequence, and thus. by
accident really saved his life Addison
was fond of the bottle, and is said to
have shortened his days by it. Burns,
the poet, was hard drinker and there
can be no doubt wore out his constitu-
tion by his convivaility. Goldsmith was
a gambler. and the victim of the fraud
ulcnt Prior was the dupe of COM
mon woman, whom he believed to be an
angel Garrick was as vain as any woman,
and equally loved Aattery. Knellers
vanity was such that nothing was too
gross for him to swallow