, 1869-03-28
uMCALCULATING MINDS.

Arithmetic, (which. as bloerapher Of
Beethoven remarks, Is 30 closely akin to the
kclent1fc part Of mu.ic, and N which Moz,rt
especially excelled, never came home 10 the
composer Of !" Fidello" and Ct the "Choral
Fantasia" We arc etold that Beethoven used
to make long accounts On his TlndoE-shut-
tiers uElug lines Of 2, some yards In length.
to find ont how much twice fly made; and
that his calculations Of how many dorins
went to oLe hundred dncsta occupied several
shutters In his house near Vienna "Sone
collector hss an autograph OF Beethoven's,
With corrections By tradesman. Beethoven
ordered hi. cook to buy a number Of little
with the prices attached, aud the total added
mp below hut the tradetuAu, at whose
chop the things were bought, fouad mis-
takes In the summing mp. aCd corrected them,
not Nithout some severe reflections, We
may suppose, on the great :compo.er's
One may, nevertheless, suzm!se that the
tradesman possibly tampered with the sew
tral Items Of ps1cc*, as well IS coFTectedn
the sum total; especially If there vas an ua-
ders11ndiu2 between him and the cook for
readers OF Beethoyen's letters will remember
composers outbursts Of wrath at the ser
wants who wasted his substance md yexed
his righteous soul. That he WAS deficient Ii
cassing up accounts, however. and that he
wns conscious Of the deficiency, and sought
10 supply It, appeats from his noting down
In his tiaIy an elementary work on mescau-
tile reckoning, apparently with the design Of
making p,actical study OF It, and SO Of
sparlng his shutters.
Sydney Smith, in a paragraph Of his me-
morisl sketch Of Cir James Mcintosh. i1-
TENDED to snoE how uttellS unfit WAS that
ness Of life, says that be was well aware
that guinea rep1ese nted quantity Of shil-
1in9s, and would barter for quantity of
cloth "but The accurate number Of the baser
coin, or the Just measurement of the manu-
factured article. to which he was entitled for
possible to teach him" Hence his life is
described IS oder1tc an example ct the au-
cleut and melancholy struggle Of genius
With the difficulties Of existence. As wisely
as sententiously Is 1t said BY EplcharmuI,
that the Life OF man stands decidedly In need
more or less embarrassed circumstances
partly traced by his sou to a sheer
| 1hcapaclky on his part to understand any
| subject that was reduced to fgurea. His
hloeraphe1 declares it to hayc been NO alec
| tatlon when he profeHsed hluiself entirely )
| Incompetent to deal with the simplest ques-
| ton Of arithmetic; the very commonest sum
was bewllderment 10 him and he Is said
to have learned addition In order to fis him
\ self for his place In a public Office. afr.
Thornton HINT calls It q born incapacity,
the notes Of music OF. the col3ts Of the
| prism md remarks Of bis father that, per-
| peina1ly seproached with. 1t, aud very con-
tcious Of his mistakes, he took the deficiency =
greatly to heat, and came to regard himself
Is sort Of Idiot in the handling Of figures
tAted for many subjects which he cou!d
handle very we'll when they were explained
to him in another form. Those who hare
read his autobiography will remember
| a passage IN which he explains how, at
Chnst's Hospital, all the schools being then
age OF fifteen In the grammar school and not
know his multiplication table ; (which" he
goes on to say, WAS the case with myself. Nor
| do Know II 10 this day ! Shades Of Horace
Walpolc and Lord Lytteltou coms to my
assistance, and enable nc to bear the CON
fession but 60 1t Is. The faalt WAS not my
fault at the time but ought to have re-
paired 1t when went ont In the world ; anl
great Is the mischief which it has done me"
With regard to the shades invoked BY
Leontiua, mention may he m1de Of story
told By Ma1oue, Of Warbnrton, observing OF
Dowdeswell succeeding Lyttelsou as Chan
ccllor Of the Exchequer, that there was :
curious contrast between the two ministers
The one Just turned ont, Lord Lyttelton,
never in his life could learn that two and
two made four; while the. other kuew
nothing else" Malone adds. that Lystelton
though the accounts were all written dow1
In words instead Of figures, made such I
miserable figure himself when he attempted
on the usual day, to represent the state Q
the uation and 10 demand a supply, thst al
hts friends were E5eatiy distressed f3r him
nothing Of mathematics, which his tutor
the ce.cbSnted Sind sandcrsou, advised h'u
toSg3yo up rs utterly aud hopcfcssly beyont
his powers-the prince Of polite letter writ
ers assurts one correspondent after another
Lady Ossory, tor instance, he writes: :.
an woful arithmetictan. and never coult
learn my multiplication table" a couple o
years later. he made tho sane avowal to tn
same correspondent: IT Is la:e, II be sure
TO learn economy, but must do It. thougl
say tho multiplication table. Well! before
come 10 the rule Of three it viii be all uver
and then an onolus vii serve to pay h
ferryman. HoE he will stare 4 cry. NJ
stay, eanuot give you that; It IL Quec
still, Horace Being by this time within fi1
years Of becoming an octogeuarian, we hay
him re!teratipg the ayowAl, and hnplng 500
to be released from "business for which
hare no talent; and It is too late for me- t
learn the multiplication table" In zubs
IN dgures and calculations on every transat
tion.'' And once more--to Marshal Cows
this time-"I, who could never learn th
. multiplication table, WAS not intended I
. transact leases, negotiate for lowering inte
ct on MORTGAGES, &C."
Il It ia edifyine. TO End NJ. Pspys, clerk
The Acta OF the Admiralty though he By
! noting down In bis dtary the laudable effort
> be made to ground himself in ahthmeti
: not, however, without ult1mate designs Q
mathematics. "Comes Mr.. Cooper, ma,
Al II - x.11 tn fvr
: "aiter III honr's being with him At arltl
: metique, my first attempt being to lesrn II
=. MULTIPLICATION table; then we parted Il
= | tomorrow" Succeeding entries report pr
l gre<s. And It would seem that, At any rat
. Mr. Pep5s gained interest enough IN etphe
+ dear to him. Bis wife is set to learn flsur
r before lore. "This evening begun |
enter my wife In arlth1netique and 81
: takes It very we'll + and hope shall brir
: her TO understand many fuc things
: Ard month or tive later Te hare thi, cnt,
: wife and all the afternoon at arithmetiau
k and the Is come to do addition, subtractio
d snd multiplication very we'll" In effect, bo
Air. and Mistress Samuel hsd evidently ,
lnborn or inbred ineapaelty for becomi!
1 ready reekoners, which did not yer h1
l. Rousseau Il did yex to md Ill bis aztthmet
l. cal letsons thrown, away on Therese. 81
t could not put two s1d two together, In sp.
!. Of ali hts didactic endeavors. - E'le ne col
3 matt pas m seul clidrc, ,malRrc tous les sol
l. que i'af p1is pour les lui moat1er. Etle
), salt III compter 1'arcent nj le pri1 d'aucu
l. chose" The hesrt Of Leigh Hunt wou
!, have warmed, OF, at least, have softene
+ towards her on this account-he Of whom !
d arc assured by \ writer in the Cor74hU Nag
b sins that " he had been .en unable TO IL
1t three md sixpcncc IN + drawer full oil hal
o. crowns and shillit2s, since he could not s
Il the 'si1penee.'' 1t vas this, among 9th
characteristic detaik, that inclined son
people TO declare him tho po.ilive origin
Of H11old skimpolt. Educated Tor The mee
a cal profession, Ar. Sldmpo!e cou'esses
h hRve been "atxays me1e Child In point
te weights and measures" and never 10 ha
a. known anything about them, except th
ae they di:pnsted him. "See. my dear III
% Srmn ezop," he altily exclalms, taking
y handful Of loose silver and hzlfpeuce fro
u bis pocket, when owning himself Innocent
I the e1ate of kolyeucy, "thefe's 20 lnu
r | An- ho1