Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-05-24
Eccentric Characters.

ty, because proving them to be simply
men and not demi-gods. Thus Sir Wal
ter Raleigh in his best days was con
summate dandy, and, it is said, appeared
at court with six thousand dollars worth
of diamonds in his shoes, while his sword
hilt and baldric were studded with pre-
q cious stones of great value. Bruyere
whose written lines we're all aglow with
4 poetry and wit, was coarse, heavy and
: : vulgarly stupid in society, and as a co
temporary declares, was in consequence
, the subject of many a practical joke.
Next there occurs TO us the great philos-
osopher, Descartes, who had perfect
passion for wigs, not unlike Sir Richard
Steele, who would sometimes spend for
ty guineas on "a black peruke. Cor
, nellie, the French Shakespeare, spoke
in language so ungrammatical as to
> mortify his friends constantly, while his
conversation was the acme of stupidity.
What was said of Descartes might ap-
ply also to him, viz: that he had re-
ceived his intellectual wealth from ma
ture in solid bars, not in current coin.
Who ever thinks of Goldsmith without
calling up that irrepressible peach col
= ored coat? 1t is as immortal as its
master, and one never forgets the Ger
man flute that fed and lodged the timer
ant in his wanderings over half OF Eu-
rope. Yet the man who wrote The
Deserted Village" Citizen of the
World, ? etc, rcouldn t talk, it is said,
"any more than parrot 9e
According to johnson, Pope had such
a high opinion of himself as to think he
was one of the pivotsi of the system Of
the world; the little, deformed satirist
was pride pcrsonifed. Vanity builds
its nest and matches its brood in high
places. Napoleon prided himself on
the smallness of his hands and feet.
Sir Walter Scott was prouder OF being
sheriff of Selkirkshire than of his repu-
tation as the author Of "Waverly. =
Byron was vain to excess; vain of his
genius, his rank, and vain even of his
vices What contrasts present them
selves, as the panorama of the mind un-
rolls the imprint of memory. Dryden,
the illustrious poet, was yet all that he
described himself to be- " Slow in con-
versation, dull in humor, saturnine and
reserved. ," The trite saying that no
man is hero to his valet has abundant
illustration. The Count de Grammont
once surprised Cardinal Richelieu jump
ing with his servant to see which could
leap the highest and by joining in the
ridiculous sport, and permitting the
Cardinal to beat him few inches, he
gained his fixed friendship and great
political prefermentl Salvador Rosa
was full of fun and frolic, often played
in impromptu comedies, and was more
than once detected by his friends in the
streets of Rome dressed as a mounte-
bank. Mediocrity is ever valuable, and
conversational deficiencies are well
known, nor was the great master of En-
glish literature himself ignorant of the
fact, as he used to declare that he had
good bank at home, but didn't carry
small change with him.
The favorite recreation of Petavius,
the learned Jesuit, was, after application
to study and writing for hours, to twirl
his chair steadily for FIVE or ten minutes.
That profound divine, Samuel Clark,
after becoming weary over his books,
would often place the chairs and tables
in row. and be discovered jumping
over them consecutively back and forth
Cujas, the famous lawyer, studied lying
upon the focr with his books about him.
Odd enough, most certainly, are the
fances of genius. Spinoza took a
strange and absorbing delight in seeing
spiders fight, returning to this strange
amusement frequently during the day.
while singular contrast and yet partial |
resemblance was seen in Magliabeecht |
the famous librarian of the Duke of
Tuscany. He was passionately fond of |
spiders, fed and protected them, had his
room filled with them, and would not |
permit them to be disturbed. He was q
profound student, yet hourly returned to
his strange pets, as q relaxation and
amusement. Moses Mendelssohn, called
the Jewish Socrates, passed hours to-
gether counting the tiles oa a ne ghbor-
ing roof, an occupation which he
found very composing and quietlng,
mentally and physically. Cowper, while
prey to the deepest melancholy, sort
of monomania, indeed, wrote that famous
burlesque, John Gilpin, and passed his
leisure hours in making bird cages and
breeding rabbits
Nina, the justly famous Swiss painter,
always had q room full Of cats, and one
upon his shoulder while he was drawing
Even DR.. Johnson, the blunt old philoso
pher, petted his cat constantly, and kept
it with him at night, when "he made it
quite comfortable at the foot of the
bed. On the contrary, it will be re-
membered that Henry III Of France
could not remain in room with a cat.
Sometimes the idiosyncracies of great
men are repulsive; for instance, Goethe,
the noblest German of them all, had a !
fondness for snakes, and petted tame !
adder, while at the same time, he had q /
most unacoountable aversion to dogs,
which was exhibited whenever he saw /
one. Erasmus, the profound scholar and ,
philosopher, was terrified and would al I
most faint at the sight Of fish. Thorn i
sons greatest delight was to saunter in I
his garden and eat ripe peaches off the
trellises, with his hands IN. his pockets,
az inyariable practice in the fruit sea- I
son, and Gray said he should like to
pass his life on q sofa, residing French /
novels. The cynical but profound !
Rochefoucanld, sought inspiration in raw /
onions, and our own Choate, like DR.. \
Shaw. the naturalist, would drink ten q
cups of strong tea at a sitting. Thaok- \
cray felt so sensitive at the diminutive t
character Of his nose, that he never for i
got to present full face to you when :
talking, and on all occasions to avoid a
exposing his profile. Lamb suffered so +
as 10 nearly stumble over his haleuttered !
sentences, yet the pen Of Ella glided l
like a fairy wand, as it recorded lines i