New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-07-05
De Qui.cey and His Opium Propessities.

Little more than fourteen years ago, says
a recent English writer, there passed from
among US man who held high and very
peculiar position in English literature. For
seventy three years De Quincy had been
carrying on an operation which, tor went OF
better term, we must describe as lvlng,
but which would be more fifty described by
some mode of speech indicating an existence
on the confines Of dreamland and reality.
In 1921 he first published the work with
which his name is most commonly asso'
ciated, and at certain intervals ne gave
tokens to mankind of his continued pres
ence on earth. What his life may have
been in the intervals seems to have been at
times unknown even to his trends he
began by disappearing from school and from
his family, and seems to have fallen into the
habit of temporary ecllpses. At enc mo-
ment he dropped upon his acquaintance
from the clouds; at another he would van
ish into utter darkness for weeks or months
together. One day he came to dine with
Christopher NOrth-so We are told IN the
professors life-was detained for the night
by heavy storm OF rain, and prolonged
his impromptu visit for year. During
that period his habits must have been
rather amazing to a well regulated house
hold. His wants, indeed, were simple. and,
in one sense, regular; particular JOINT OF
mutton. cut according to certain math-
emarical formula, and an ounce OF lau-
danum made him happy for q DAY. But
il the hours when ordinary beings are
awake, he was generally to DE found
stretched in profound opium SLUMP upon
rug before the fire, and 1t was only
about two or three in the morning that he
gave uneouivOcal symptoms OF vitality,
and suddenly gushed forth IN streams Of
wondrOus elouuence to the supper parties
detained for the purpose OF witnessing the
display. This is the most distinct glimpse
l have caught Of the living De Quincy.
Between these irregular appaTluons we are
lastly given to understand that his life was
so strange that its details would be lncredl-
bic. What these incredible details may
have been have no means OF knowing. 1t
is enough that he was strange, unsub-
stantial being, fitting uncertainty about in
the twilight regions of society, emerging I
by fits and starts into visibility, afflicted
with general vagueness as to the ordinary
duties of mankind, and always and every
where taking much more opium than was
good for him. He tells US, indeed, that
he broke off his overnasterlng habit by
vigorous Efforts, as he tells us that opium is
a cure for most serious evils, and especially
saved HIM from an early death by consump-
ton. 1t is plain enough. however, that he
never really refrained for any length OF
time; and perhaps we should congratulate
ourselves on a propensity, unfortunate, 1t
may be, tor the victim, but leading to the
confessions" as one collateral result. The
only part Of De Quinceys career in which
we may conceive ourselves to be treading
the firm ground of fact is the early period
described in his various photographed
writings. If we could evaporate the gor
geous rhetoric and the ditiuse discussions of
irrelevant topics, of which they are chiefly
composed, We might perhaps come upon a
residium Of solid dates and facts. Setting
aside, however, the difficulty OF discrim-
mating the facts from fancies, we should not
learn much that is of importance. That he
was the son of rich merchant, who left
him an orphan at an early age; that he lived
in suburb now swallowed up by the ad
vance of Manchester; that he was sent to
school, and proved so bright that he became
prodigy of Greek scholarship; that he
Quarreled with his guardians, ran away to
Wales, and afterward led for time a
strange, incognitO existence among outcasts
and thievish attorneys in London, is pretty |
near all that we are told. From other |
sources, it seems that he ought to have |
taken brilliant degree at Oxford in the |
same year with Sir Robert Peel, but that he |
decamped in sudden panic before the |
end Of the examination. II is plain |
enough that before his opium excuses |
he was the victim of a morbid tenn.
permanent and little calculated TO struggle |
with the prosaic hardships of life. He |
gives thanks himself for four circumstances. |
He rejoices that his lot was cast in a rustic
solitude; that that solitude was in England;
that his '.infant feelings were nodded by
the gentlest of sisters" instead of 'horrid
pugilistic brothers," and that he and his
we're members of "a pure, holy and" 1.-THE
last epithet should be duly emphasized |
una gnifcent church" The thanksgiving
is characteristic, for it indicates his native
conviction that his admiration was due to
the intrinsic merits of the place and circum-
stances Of his birth, and not to the accident
that they were his own. Il would be USE
less to inquire whether more bracing at.
mosphere and less retired spot might have
been more favorable to his talents; but we
may trace the influence OF these conditions
Of his early life upon his subsequent career