The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1860-01-27
VOLUME VII.---N0. SO.
CELEBRATED AUTHORS.

DIR. Johnson preferred conversation 10
books, and owned that he had hardly read
n single book through, declaring tha. the
perpetual task Of reading: was as bad as
slavery in the mine, or labor at the oar
Byron was an exceedingly rapid writer
and composer. lie produced the whole CT
the bride of Abydos' in a single night.
and it is said without even mending his
pen. The pen is now preserved in the
British Museum.
Pope never could compo.c we'll without
first drclaiming for some timo at the top of
his voice, and thus rousing his nervous
system to the fullest activity. He says,
'the things have written quickest have
always pleased me best
A friend once said TO Moore, the poet,
that his verses must slip Of hi* tongue as if
ty magic. "Why, sir replied Moore, "that
line cost me hours, days and weeks Of at
triton before it would come
1t cost Lord Lyttleton twenty years to.
write the Life and History of Henry IL
-Gibbon was twelve years in completing
his "Declinc and Fall ofthc Roman Empire
and Adam Smith occupied ten years in
producing his wealth of Natonis.'
Calvin studied in his bed Every morn
ing,at five or six o'clock, he had book,
manuscript and paper brought to him there
and he worked on for hours together. If
he had occasion to go out, on his return he
undressed and went to bed again, there to
resume his studies.
Bacon could only compose in small!
study {; he fancied that contrcted room
helped him to conaense his thoughts, and
always invested the ceremony Of writing
with soIemnity. lie knelt down before
composing his great works, and prayed for
light from Heaven.
Balzac, the finest writer in French prose
who gives vast majesty and harmony to
his periods, has been known to bestow
week upon single page Of composition,
and was never satisfied with the first pro-
duc,ion Of his thou ghts.
Martin Luther's literary labors we're
enormous, during an interval of less that
thirty years, he published seven hundred
and fifty volumes some were pamphlets,
but the most we're large and elaborate
treaties. lie was very fond of his dog
which was ever by his side.
The Comforts Of Human Life by R.
Heron, were written in prison under the
most distressing circumstances. The Mis-
cries of Human Life by BeresE'rl, were,
on the contrary, composed in drawing
room, where the author was surrounded by
every luxury.
Steele wrote excellently on temperance
when lie was sober: Salust, who declaim-
cd so cloquently against the licentiousness ss
of the age, was bimsslfa habitual debauch-
ee. Johnson's essay on politeness is ad-
mirable, but he himself was perfect boor.
Young's gloomy verses give ones the blues.
but he was brisk. lively man.
We find the depressed and melancholy
Cowper, VIII, passed SO many days of
religious dependency and doubt, devoting
the hours Of night to the production of tho
mirtb- provoking story of'John 0ilpin.'
All the friends Of Sterne knew him to
be a most selfish man, yet, MS a writer, he
excelIed in pathos and charity. AT one
time beating his wife, at another wasting
his sympathcs over dead donkey. So
Seneca wrote in praises Of poverty, on q
table of solid gold, with millions let out at
usuIy. "a
1t is n remarkable fact that the mass of
poetry which gave Burns his principal
fame burst from him in very short space
of time, not exceeding fifteen months. It
was sudden ,impetuous flow, which seemed
| soon to exhaust itself. #h
Lord Brougliam bns At last begun to dis