The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-12-15


most at any time; SO could Crabbe-
but with this difference Scott always,
and Crabbe seldom, wrote well. / re-
member" said he, "taking breakfast
one morning with Rogers, Moore and
Crabbe; the conversation turned on
Byron's poetic moods; Crabbe said
that, however it might be with Lord
Byron, as for himself he could write
as well at one time as another. But, ;"
said Irving, with twinkle of humor at
recalling the incident, "Crabbe has
written a great deal that nobody can
read %
He mentioned that while living in
Paris, he went long period without
being able to write. {" / sat down re-
peatedly," said he, "with pen and ink,
but could invent nothing worth putting
on paper. At length / told my friend
Tom Moore, who dropped in one morn
ing, that now, after long waiting, 1 had
the mood, and would hold it, and would
work it out as it would last, until / had
wrung my brain dry. So l began to
write shortly after breakfast and con-
tinued, without noticing how the time
was passing, until Moore came in
again at four in the afternoon-when
l had completely covered the table with
freshly-written sheets. / kept the
mood almost without interruption for
six weeks" 'ii.g tfi .-sse Il
Iasked which of his books was the
result of this frenzy; he replied,
"Bracebride Hall.'' ia
"None of your works." I remarked,
"are more charming than the Biogra-
ply of Goldsmith"
"Yet that was written,"' said he,
seven more rapidly than the other"
He then added:
"When I have been engaged on a
continuous word, have often been
obliged to rise in the middle of the
night, light my lamp, and write an hour
or two, to relieve my mind; and now
that write no more, am sometimes
compelled to get up in the same way to
read"
Sometimes, also, as the last Idle
wilde letter mentions, he gets up to
shave
When 1 was in Spain," he re-
marked, Searching the old chronicles,
and engaged on the Life of Columbus
| often wrote fourteen or fifteen hours
out of the twenty-four."
He said that whenever he had forced
his mind unwilliEgly to work, the pro-
duet was worthless, and he invariably
threw it away and began again, "for,' .
as he observed, "an essay or chapter
that has been hanan,ered Out, is seldom
good for anything. An authors right
time to work is when his mind is aglow
when his Imagination is kindled-these
are the precious moments let him wait
until they come, but when they have
come, let him make the most of them.
HIS LAST WORK.
I referred to his last and greatest
work, the Life of Washington, and
asked if he felt on fnishin9jt, any sucf
sensation as Gibbon is said to have ex
perienced over the last sheet of the
! Decline and Fall. He replied that tbt
whole work had engrossed his mind tt
such degree, that, before he was
aware, he had written himself into fee
BILE health; that he feared, in the
midst of his labor, that it would breal
him down before he could end it; tha
when at last the final pages were writ
ten, he gave the manuscript to his neph
ew to be conducted through the press
and threw himself back upon his red
cushioned lounge with an indescribabl,
feeling of relief! He added that tn,
great fatigue of mind, throughout tn,
whole task, had resulted from the car,
and pains required in the constructor,
and arrangement of materials, and no
, in the mere literary composition of tn
| successive chapters.
NO MORE BOOKS.
On the parlor wall hung the engrav
ing of Faed's picture of "Scott AM
his Contemporaries )" / alluded to it a
presenting a group of his forme
friends.
eyes," said he, 81 know every maj
: of. them but three; and now they ar
all gone %
"Are the portraits good % l In
quired.
"Scott's head" he replied, els we
D drawn, though the expression lack
: something of SCOTS force; Campbell
. is tolerable; Lockheart's is the wors
r Lockheart" said he, "was a man {
k very delicate organization, but be ha
more manly look than in the pie
v ture."
!; "You should write one more book,
t l limited.
d "What is that"
n "Your "reminiscences of those liters
d ry friends
"Ah," he exclaimed " it is too lat
now! 1 shall never take the pc
). again; / have so entirely given u
, writing, that even my best friend
:. letters lie unanswered. | must hav
= rest. No more books now!' T
v AHAPPY OLD BACHELOR
g He referred to the visit the week bt
S fore from Mr.. Willis, whose letter h
), had just been reading in the HON
e Journal.
e :" i am most glad," said he, "ths
Mr.. Willis remembered my nieces
= they are my housekeepers and nurses
l. they take such good care of me th;
If really / am the most fortunate ol
= bachelor in the world Yes," he r