Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1872-02-24

he Poets aud the Question of Longevity.
The Saturday Reuicto says, In its character
istlc way;
Parents have for good many centuries been
disgustcd when their sons plunged into metre
instead OF taking TO the counting-house; but
they have never, we suspect made full use of
the argument from the deleterious influence
Of the pursuit upon human life. Poetry, we
should be inclined TO say, from q cursory In
spectlon Of the most accessible facts, Is al
most a. destructive as those trades which are
proposed 10 be the subjects Of Parliamentary
Interference. II 10 as bad as rnLor-grindlng,
Looking through any list Of English poets,
the number Of early deaths Is startling. Burns,
and Bryon, and Shelley, aud Keats, and Chat
terton, will occur at once. To the list OF those
who died before nfty we may add Spencer,
Thomson, Collins, aud Goldsmith. Shak-
speare managed Just TO get beyond his ilitleth
year, and Pope and Gray got halfway from
atty 70 sixty but an aged poet Is an exccp-
ton Of tho proyerblal kind.
Milton lived to n respectable age; but then
he long refrained IRON indulgence In this
dangerous practice In favor OF the superior
1--WE speak from q sanitary point of view)
pursuit Of political life. He did not long sur
vive the recurrence to his earlier pursuits.
CoWper lived TO near seventy; but Il drove
him mad. Dryden reached the same age
without the same penalty; and Wordsworth,
by dint Of regular country life, survived all
his contemporaries and attained the re-
spectacle age Of eighty. The Ouly wonder,
In tho last case, Is that man OF so sound a
constitution, and placed under such favorable
circumstances, did not live TO confuto Sir @.
Cornewal Lewis; he isroally case OF prcina-
ture death; and we suspect that the ode on
the IntimAtions Of Immortality" took ton
years out Of his life, while his other inspired
moments may account for the remaining
period. Besides which, two years In the
lakes cannot be counted for more than ono In
London. Dryden alone remains to confront
Us; and II must be confessed that Drydon's
poetry comes very close 10 the borders Of
prose.
BywEy OF contrast, let US suggest the names
Of few speculative philosophers among Eng
llsh writer's of reputation. We lind that
Bacon and Hume lived 10 he o.; Berkeley 10
be 90; Locke, ~; Reid, 50; and Hobbies, 81.
Among the German metaphysicians, Kant
died at 81, aud Schelllng at 10, while Hcgel
was premRturoly cut oil at 81. In France,
Malebrancho lived, in spite Of a delicate con-
stitutiOn, 10 be ~, aud then had 10 be killed
by an encounter with his brother metaphy-
stefan, Berkeley. Descartes, II Is true, died al
about the age Of Shakespeare; but Descartes
was naturally delicate whereas we can hardly
doubt that Shakespeare had q fne cOnstltu'
ton. II they had exchanged pursuits, no one
can say that Shakespeare might not have
riValed Hobbies, and Descartes persisted as
carly as Keats. SplnOZa, again, died at ~
but De Quincy very properly argues from this
and other circumstances that lie must have
been murdered. Lot US hope for the credit Of
philosophy that such was the case. At any
rate, though the shOrtest-lIyed OF metaphy-
siclans, he would have had very fair tenure
Of life for poet.
We have not INDUCED In any profound re-
searches; but we have had the curiosity to
determine the average age Of the English
poets contained In short list at the end Of
tho Golden Treasury" The result comes out
precisely SO, which, according 10 q German
authority, Is Just that Of the most unhealthy
of all professions. The average, however, Is
materially increased by the admission Of such
unreasonably lOng-liyed people as Rogers and
and Mrs. Barbauld, and other minor poets
A still shorter list Of metaphysicians gives al
average Of 6S years, or a length OF life supe
riSr even 10 that OF the clergy but we admit
that II would be desirable 10 base any theory
on wider collection Of facts.