Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-11-18
ABOUT GENIUS"


er which strikes one in perusing the
lives of great men in any of the ave-
nues which lead to distinction, it is the
life of unceasing toll they lead, coupled
with such attention to details as less
gifted men would have scorned. To
hear some people talk of a man of ge.
MUS, one would think that the general
had to grasp his sword and lead his
men to victory, and that the author had
but to take up his pen and the work
which is to charm thousands would
flow readily from it, But in the one
case the years of toll expended in train
ing these soldiers, in mastering the
science of maneuvring them, and in at
tending to camp details, are forgotten;
and in the other, il we follow the au-
thor to his desk, we shall probably
find. by the blotted and interlined man
uscript, the knitted brow, aud the fire.
quent reference to books, that the work
is not produced in 30 easy manner as
had been supposed. The case of Sir
Walter Scott may be advanced in op-
position to this, for some of his books
were penned as fast as his quill could
'trot' over the page. But then we
must remember the years of prepara-
tion he had gone through (thirty- four
years having passed over his head when
be wrote his Lay, and forty three years
when 'Waverley' was published) to ac-
complish such n result, during which
he had stepped his soul in archaeology
cal lore, border legends, and ballads.
and studied character with unwavering
minutencss. Sir Walter SCOTS rapid
method of working has been mention
ed az fact which might be quoted
against our theory; but nothing could
exceed his care when getting up sub
ject. For example, when writing 'Roke-
by he visited MIR. Merritt, and said he
wanted "a good robbers cave, and an
old church of the right sort That
gentleman says:
1--WE rode out in quest of these, and
he found what he wanted in the an
cient slate quarries of Brignall and the
ruined abbey of Egglestone. observ-
ed him noting even the peculiar little
wild flowers and herbs that, as it hap
pened, grew around and on the side of
bold cri- near his intended cave of
Guy Denzil; and could not help saw
ing that, as he was not to be upon oath
for his work, daisies, violets, and prim-
roses would be as poetical as any of the
humble plants he was examining. I
laughed, in short, at his scrupulous-
ness; but I understood him when he
replied that 'in Nature herself no two
scenes are exactly alike, and that who
ever copied truly what was before his
eyes would possess the same variety in
his descriptions, and would exhibit, ap-
parently, an imagination as boundless
as the range of Nature in the scenes he
recorded: whereas, whoever trusted to
imagination would soon find his own
nature circumscribed and contracted to
a few favorite images, and the repeti.
tion Of these would sooner or lat er pro,
duce that very monotony and barren
ness which had always haunted descrip.
tive poetry in the hands of any but the
patient worshiPers of truth.
Lockhart was astonished to find tha,
even during trip in which he accom-.
panied Sir Walter into Lanarkshire
the latter continued his literary labors
Wherever he slept-whether in the no
ble mansion or in the shabbiest Of coun
try inns. and whether the work wa
done after retiring to rest at night o
before an early start in the morning
he very rarely mounted the carriag
again without having packet of TIL
well-known aspect ready sealed an,
, corded. and addressed to his printer il
London
!. At a banquet given in Liverpool I
} Charles Dickens. in April, 1869, he sal
that all he could claim in establishin
the relations which existed betwee
, himself and his readers was constar
| fidelity to hard word; aud be remarke
{ that his literary fellows knew very We
how true it is il all art, that whs
seems the easiest done is oftentimes II
/ most difficult tn do, and that the small
q est truth may come of the greatest pain
This Was exemplified in himself in n r,
markable degree, rs the following inc
dent, related by Mr.. Mundella. NJ.
n at public meeting as Sheffield, We,
iafser, viii show. A distinguished q