Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1863-02-28
Prominent Aathors.

~. Prominent Authors. .aHGrR4u
Mr. Saunders, the author of "Mosaits,
names the following Illustrations of the
| striking contrast that often exists between
The disposition of authors and the general
one of their productions i-"Burton, the
author of the Anatomy Of Melancholy, :,
was extremely fAcetious in company aud
he most ascetic poet of our own day, lord
Byron, was one of the most brilliant and
Humorous OF associates when he mingled
with the world That Singular writer,
Robert Burton, is said be Anthony Wood,
% have composed his ANATOMY in order
10 divelt his Heancholy' So great was
Ahe demand for his .boUksj v hen first pub.
lished, that the bookseller is said to have
seguired an estate 10y IT,, Iu The, Intervals
of his labors, he was the most facetious
companion in the University, When he
felt depression coming upon him, he used
to relieve his melancholy by going 10 the
foot of the bridge and listening to the
coarse ribaldry of the bargemen, which sell
dom failed to throw him into fit Of laugh
! ter The Comforts Of Human Life by H.
Heron, were written il a prison, nnder the
most distressing circumstances. 'The Mis-
cries Of Human Life,1 by Bercsford, were,
on the contrary, composed in drawing
room, where the author was surrounded by
all the good things Of This world. A stiik
ing contrast win often be found to exist be-
hween authors and their works, tnelan.
choly writers being Usually the most jocu
! lar and lively in society, and humoriSts in
theory the ftiost ltgdbfiods Of animals in
practice. A man of letters is often q mau
with two Dstures--one book nature, the
other human nature. These two often
| clash sadly .. Homer had sdch an iustint
tive aversion TO music, that it Is reported
| he could not be prevailed upon even 10
walk, along the banks Of a murmuring
! brook yet tradition also asserts that be
sang his own ballads. Seneca wrote in
praise of poverty, on table formed Of SOL
id gold, with millions let out at usury.+
Sterne was very selfish man., yet, as
writer, excelled in pathos and charty--at
one time beating bis wife, at another,
wasting bis sympa' HES over a dead donkey.
Salust,, who SO eloquently declaims against
the RIGHTEOUSNESS of age, was repeatedly &C,
cused in the senate Of public and habtual
debaucheries Steele wrote exeellently on
temperance when he was sober. Johnson's
ESSAYS On polteness are admirable, yet bis
'You lie sir = and You don't understand
the question sirn were the common charac-
teristics of his coloquies. Young, whose
gloomy fancy cast such sombre tinges on
life, was ia society brisk, lively man, con
tinually peliug his hearers with puerile
puns. Mrs Carter, fresh from the stern,
dark grauduer Of the Night Thoughts, ex
pressed her amSzement at his hippsncy =
'Madnm me, said be, there is much difference
between writing and talking The same
poets favorite theme was the nothipgpess
of worldly things his fnvorile pursuit was
rank and riches. Had Mrs Carter motto
ed this incongruiiy, he might have added,
Madame, there is much difference between
writing ddactic poems and leading didac.
tic lives Bacon, the most comprehensive
aud forward looking of modern iatelleets,
and 10 feeling one of the most benevolent,
was meanly aud coniemptibIy ambitious of
place /; and while teaching morals, we 6Od
him taking bribes Moore, 10 bis Utopia,
declares that no man ought to be punished
for his religions belief, yet be is found to
be among the active prosecutors of the OPP
pouenis of bis own. Rossesu with the
same pen we find giving versions to Psalms,
and the most infamous of epigrams." /.
at appears that Miss Braddon, the au
thor of Lady Audley's Secret, FIRST took
liking tc mhsic, tried it, and was pro-
nounced a failure then essayed ANAL
part on the stage, aud ditto, ditto and
fnalIy collapsed into pen and ink, and with
great difficulty got small sketch, called
The Artists Story passed for the Welcome
Guest. Subsequently she undertook to di'
vuIge Lady Audiey's Secret, and was so
successful IN attracting the public atteu-
zion, that she now takes her place beside
George Elliot, and the authoress of East
Lynne.5 .Aay publisher will give her Two
thousand pounds % writea book, andT-not
too fine point on it---her fortunes made.
From the time when Milton got five pounds
for Paradise Lost, down to the success Of
Lady Audley's Secret Publishers have
been wretchedly slow TO detect genius. -
We know how 'WayerlY' was rejected,
buried for years in trunk, and how event.
ually it hung Gre; how Byron was con.
demned by Brougham and Jeffrey, aud how
Dickens had to ,implore old Black, as a fa-
.vor, to. admit his Sketches by Boz into
the Evening Chronicle We have read
Currer Bells own tale about the rejection
Of Jane Eyre, by scores OF wiseaeres; and
Mrs Beecher Stowe has recorded the snub-
biDgs which Uncle Toms Cabin had to
undergo before any one could be got to
print It. Thackeray once thought Of burn.
ing 'VaRity Fair !; and now we have Miss
Braddon. who was pronounced failure by
everybody, aud in every thing, bursting out
upon the town hke meteor"