Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1864-02-22
Beckford.

plFblisi, IN another column, entitled +" Ioe1 !
Mirage Of Wealth" 1t is a brief out
line sketch OF the lie Of that hayward
and eccentric child of genius, William
Beckford. Gifted with the neblest pow
ers, and the possessor of almost fabulous
riches. be prostitnted the one 70 ignoble
n1rposes. and lavished the other, IN
more than regal profnslon 10 apPease,
| rather than satiate, an inordinate aduia
| ton of SELF. Alas! unloying and IN
loved, this pampered pet OF fortune
this sublimest of egotists- this glorious
dreamer survived the shipwreck of his
colossal wealth. He lived. to behold
Fonthin Abbey-the labor Of 8 lifetime
the gorgeous fabric Of avlsion realized
the grandest OF wasted
! treasure and perverted genius the world
had ever known, as blighted and ruined
as,himse1G. d~ismantled. and decayinG IN
the hands o~f>strangers. Deserted and
despised in adversely by the parasites
who had basked in the tickle sunshine OF
his brighter days, this high born heir Of
Im~illions-this erfing, weak, misguided
Lgenius-this wretched, purblind sells
idolater skunk from the Implying gaze ok
a world he had only made to marvel,
and, dying in comparative pennry, LETT
but one legacy of value to his kinda
name, which is asynonyme for folly and
a beacon disclosing the breakers on which
a barque, so richly freighted, had been
SO rudely shattered.
Few men have possessed such and SC
/, varied powers as Bedford, and fewe,
!, still have bestowed upon their gifts sucf
: ~assiduous culture, mer ely-D berry them
D "Besides Latin and Greek" says one c
his. biograpAers, " be spoke Eve moder
! languages aud wrote three with facilit
It and elegance. lie read Persian and Al
abic, designed with great skill, and stuc
e led the Science Of music under the gre'
Mozart"
We do not know who wrote the artie
a prrhisnr e kuuy, buvPs strikes rus
: worthy Of remark, that its author b:
y. wholly forgotten to mention the on
e. substantial monument Ut Beckford's e
or niGs-tho only work Of his, which,
10 dependeAt OF his foily-stlE keeps
nr ia me alive. he fails to- tell US, as
or should have done, that William Beckfo.
was the author Of 'Vathek-perha
~ the finest Of Oriental romances- Dyr
w was enthusiastic in its praise. He say
For correctness Of costume, beauty
description, and p5wer of imaginatic
NJ 'Vathek,' far surpasses ali European i
itations. As an eastern tale, evsn "R
J. %selas'> must bow before it; his hap
Galley will not bear a comparison w
the Hall of Eb!is." This superb rtoalal
was composed at q single sitting, aad Y
originally written in the French, of VIII
hat its style is a model. For three days
erai two nights, without an interval Of II
did Beckford pursue his ~self.appoin
vas task, and a serious illness ensued it's c.
ant. p~leti0n~ This marvellous feat-unl,
nd alleled in literary annals-was the p
- formance Of one, who had not then
tanned his twentieth year. 'Vath
the completed and published, the pen,
, l" author welded with such wondr
ma grace and poTer, was thrown capricio
ula, ~ aside, nor resumed again, until ha
Was century had elapsed. In 1885, he D
7"o' 'lished his ."Recollections of an Exc
A.b sion to the Monasteries Of Alcobaca
/ in Batalha," which be had taken in I
together with an epistolary record o:
observations in Italy, Spain and Portu
! If between the years 1850 and 1894. II
18th works, however, added nought to his
as erary reputation. 1t seems that r
ford possessed a cheerful temper vi
outliVed all his reverses. While F
ONT hill was being built, the tower cal
re- fire and was marty destroved a,d