Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-11-21
l[Price Two cents.
GBe 1aiIg Sgn,
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 81. 1854.

IUESOA1s NOV EMBEh XIf 1904
PEcULIARIrIEs OF CELEBRATED AuTHoRs.
Racine composed his verses while walking
about, reciting them in a loud voice. One
day, when thus working at his play Of NTH
ridates, in the Tuilleries Gardens crowd of
workmen gathered around him, attracted by
his gestures they took him to be mailman
about to throw himself into the basin. On
his return home from such walks he would
write down, scene by scene, at first in prose,
and when he had thus written it out, he
would exclaim, Z" My tragedy is done ~ con-
sidering the dressing of the acts in verse as a
very small affair.
Magliabecchia, the learned librarian to the
Duke of Tuscany, the contrary, never
stirred abroad, but lived amidst books and
upon books. They were his bed, board, and
washing. He passed eight-and forty years in
their midst, only twice i'll the course of his
life venturing beyond the walls of Florence
once to go two leagues off, and the other time
three and half leagues, by order ofthe Grand
Duke He was an extremely frugal man,
living upon eggs, bread, and water. in great o
moderation. fa stsf4
Luther, when studying, always had his dog
lying at his feet; dog he had brought from
Watburg, and of which he was very fond. An
ivory cruciix stood on the table before him,
and hewalls of his study were stuck round
with caricatures of the Pope. He worked at
his desk for days together without going out;
but when fatigued, and the ideas began to
stagnate in his brain, he would take his flute
or his guitar with him into the porch, and
there execute some musical fantasy, (for he
was slSilful musician, } when the ideas would ,
flow upon him as fresh as flowers after sum z
mer's rain. Music was his inyariable solace n
at such times. Indeed Luther did not hest
tate to say that, after theology music was the
first of arts. IS Music" said he, is the art
of the prophets it is the only art which, like
theology, can calm the agitation of the soul,
and put the Devil to fight" Next to music,
if not before it, Luther loved children and
flowers. The great gnarled man had heart
as tender as a woman's. ao3
Calvin studied i'll his bed. Every morning,
at or 6 clock, he had books, manuscripts,
and papers carried to him there, and he work
ed on, for hours together. If he had occasion
to go out, ON his, return he undressed and went
to bed again to continue his studies In his
later years he dictated his writings to secreta-
ries. He rarely corrected anything. The
sentences issued complete from his mouth If
he felt his facility Of composition leaving him,
he forthwith quilted his bed, gave up writing
and composing, and went about his outdoor
duties, for days, weeks, and months, together.
But,as soon as he felt the inspiration fall upon
secretary set to work forthwith.
Rousseau wrote his works early in the
morning LIE Sage at midday; Byron at MD
night. Hardouin rose at in the morning,
and wrote till late at night.
Aristotle was tremendous worker ; he took
little sleep, and was constantly retrenching it.
He had contrvanee by which he awoke
early, and to awake was with him to COM
mence work. Demosthenes passed three
Al. Al. l. Ii
ing to overcome the defects of his voice. There
he read, studied, and acclaimed.
Rabeais composed his life of Gargantua at
Bellay, in the company OF Roman Cardinals,
aud under the eyes of the Bishop of Paris. La
Fontaine wrote his fables chiefly under the
shade of tree, and sometimes by the side of
Racine and Boileau. Pascal wrote most of his
| Thoughts on little scraps of paper, at his by
! moments. Fenelon wrote his Telemachus in
the palace Of Versailles, at the court of the
Grand Monarque, when dischargIng the
duties of tutor to the Dauphin. That book
so thoroughly democratic should have issued
from such source, and be written by priest
may seem surprising. De Quincy first pro-.
mulgated his notion OF universal freedom ss
person and trade, and Of throwing all taxes
on the land-the germ, perhaps, OF the French
Revolution-in the boudoir of Madame de !
Pompadour.
Bacon knelt down before composing his
great hymn, and prayed for light from heaven.
Pope never could compose well without first
declaiming for some time at the top of his
voice, and thus rousing his nervous system to 4
its fullest activity.
The life Of Leibnitz was one Of reading,
writing, and meditation. That was the Sc
cret OF his prodigious knowledge. After an
attack of govt, he confined himself to diet
Of bread and milk. Often, he slept in chair,
and rarely went to bed till after midnight
Sometimes he was months without quitting
his seat, where he slept by night and wrote
by day. He had an ulcer in his right leg,
which prevented his walking about, even had
he wished to do so.-Eli=G Cooks Journal. g
Power OF THE WI1L.-Let a man CAREFUL
ly study his own character and he will see
that he possesses an inward force, called Volt
ton, cadable of doing, if properly trained,
what he had not the least idea it could ac-
complsh. We have never given the credit to
this principle that it deserves. A recent Ger
man writer, in a modest little volume which
the translator calls I" Dietetics of the SOUL"
but which we think could more appropriately
be called " Dietetics Of the Mind, gives
host of valuable suggestions on this subject.
There is no truth more generally impressed on
the whole phenomena of the human mind,
than that man can be what he wills-that is,
SO far as his mental or physical qualities do
not throw up an impossible barrier. What
men of stern will and resolute discrimination
have accomplished in times past, almost seems
to warrant the belief that we are capable of
overcoming even what appear to be physical
impossibilities. Few persons would have be-
lieyed that the stammering Demosthenes could n
have ever become graceful and accomplished
orator and no one, we think, would have
picked out subaltern Of Corsica as the fu-
ture ruler Of almost the whole of Europe.
These examples, however, only partially in
innate what we mean by the power of the
will. In a closer and more personal sense is
its power fully realized There are people
who can stop their pulsation by simple eff
fort of the will and instances have been re-
lated where this power has been SO far exer-
cised that the person was supposed to have
been dead. Others have cured themselves of y
severe complaints by violent exercise Of the
yolition, and physicians, in many instances,
rely upon a cheerful, hopeful frame of mind
in their patients, as one of the most impor-
tant agents in effecting restoration to health.
A man. who will cultivate this power of his
mind, by foregoing any particular injurious
habit, and suffer his will to acquire sufficient
force to control it, will be surprised, in short
time, to see the strength of the regulating
power he has within, if he is only disposed to
avail himself of it. There is too much dis
position to tell men that they cannot act thus
or thus. If you would have man achieve
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