Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-03-05
A Few Facts About Celebrated Men.

Some literary men make good men of bust
ness. According to Pope, the principal object
of Shakespeare in cultivating literature was to &C.
cure an honest independence. He succeeded 90
well in the accomplishment of this purpose that,
at comparatively early age, he had realized a
sufficient competency to enable him to retire to
his native town of Stratford -upon-Avon. Chau-
Ger was in early life soldier, and afterwerd a
commissioner of customs and inspector of woods
and crown lands. Spenser was secretary to the
Lord Deputy of Ireland, and is said to be shrewd
and sagacious in the management of affairs.-
Milton was secretary to the Council of State du
ring the Commonwealth, and gave abundant ev
idence of his energy and usefulness in that Of
fee. Sir Isaac Newton was most efficient
Master of the Mint. Wordsworth was distrib.
utor of stamps; and Sir Walter Scott clerk to
the Court of Session-both uniting genius for
poetry, with punctual ard practical habits as
men of business. Ricardo was no less Gistin-
guished as sagacious banker than lucid ex-
FOUNDER of the principles of political economy.
Grote, the moet profound historian of Greece, is
also a London banker. John Stuart Mill not
surpassed by any living thinker in profoundness
of speculation, lately retired from the exami
ner's department in the East India COMPANY.
with the admiration of his colleagues for the
rare ability with which he had conducted the
business of his department. Alexander Murray,
the distinguished lnguist, learned to write BY
scribling his letters on an olG wool-card with
the end of burnt leather stem. Professor
Moor, when young man, being too poor to
purchase Newton's "Principa," borrowed the
book, and copied the whole OF it with his own
hand. William Oobbett made himself master Of
English Grammar when he was private sol
dier on the pay of sixpence day. The edge
OF his berth, or that of his guard-bed, was bis
seat to study in; bit of board lying on his lap
was his writing table; and the evening light Of
the ire his substitute for candle or oil.e i.liA
Even advanced age, in many interesting ca.
ses has not proved fatal to literary success. Sir
Henry Spelman was between fifty and sixty
when he begun the study of science. Franklin
was fifty before he fully engaged in the research
es of natural philosophy which have made his
name immortal. Boccaccio was thirty five when
be entered upon his literary career and Al6eri
was forty-six when he commenced the study of
Greek. DR.. Arnold learned German at forty,
for the sake OF reading Niebuhr in the origininal
James Watt, at about the same age, while work
ing at his trade of an instrument maker in Glas-
gov, made himself acquainted with the French,
German and Italian, in order to peruse the VAL
liable works in those languages on mechanical
philosophy. Handel was forty y-eight before he
published any OF his great works.
Nor are the examples of rare occurrence in
which apparently natural defects, in early life,
have been overcome by subsequent study and
devotion to knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton,
when at school, stood at the bottom of the low.
ermost form but one. Barrow, the great En-
gsh divine and mathematician, when boy at
the Charter-house school, was notorious for his
idleness and Indifference to study. Adam Clarke,
in his boyhood, was proclaimed by his father to
be grievous Ounce. Even Dean Swift made q
disastrous failure at the university. Sheridan
was presented by his mother to tutor as an in
corrigible Ounce. Walter Scott was dull boy
at his lessons, and while student at the Edin-
burgh University, received his sentence from
Professor Dalzell, the celebrated Greek scholar,
that "Dunce he was, and Ounce be would re-
main." Chatterton was returned on his moth
er's hands as ''fool, of whom nothing could be
made" Wellington never gave any indications
of talent until he was brought into the field OF
practical effort, and was described by his strong
minded mother, who thought him little better
than an idiot, as fit only to be 'food for pow
dar -