The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-05-21
HABITS OF AUTHORS.

| always have curious interest Tor thost
| who acknowledge their sceptre. Th'
following scraps will go little wa.
toward gratifying it
BYRON.
" At Distati," says Moore, =" his life
was passed IL tbs same reg gular round O
habits into which he fiat+'rslly fell.
| These habits included very late h0urt
and semi-starvatiOn, assisted by smok
ing cigars and chewing tobacco, and by
green tea in the evening without mill
or sugdr. Like Balzac, he avoided
meat and wine, and so gave less natural
brain-food room for more active pldy.
SCHILLER.
Schiller was a night-worker and 6
coffee driDker. &ud Used to work on
champagne. Not only so. out he used
an artificial stimulus altogether peculiar
to himself he found it impossible, ac-
cordjng to the well known anecdO to
work except In q room filed with the
scent of rotten apples, which he kept IL
a drawer of his WHITING table, III order
to keep up his necessary mental atmOs-
phere. Shelley's practice of continually
munching bread while composing is not
a mere trivial gossip when taken in con-
nection with more striking and intelligi-
bic attempts to fui1 the digestion by
way of exciting the brain, dn0 when it
IS remembered that his delicate and nj
most f. Ininine organization might re-
quire far less to throw it off the ba ance
than naturally stronger frames.
GOETHE.
There are, however, two great imag-
e j. ~,
believers in tire plainest doctrine that
the highest and freest work can be done
under the healthiest conditions Of fresh
air, early hours, daylight, and temper
anee--wl1icb does not mean abstinence
have always claimed for their own. One
of these is Goethe. He and Balzac are at
precisely opposite poles in their way
of working. Here is the account of
Goethe's days at Weimar, according to
Mr. G.. Fl. Lew6s. He rose at seven.
Till eleven he walked without Interrupt
ton. 4 cuP of chocolate was then
brought, and he worked OH until one.
At two he dined. " His appetite was
immense. Even on the days when he
complained of not being hungry he ate
much more than most men.
He sat long while over his wine chat
ting gaylv, for he never dined alone.
He was fond of wine, and
drank daily his two or three bottles"
There was nc dess rt-BalZac's princi-
pie mesl-or coffee. Ihon he went to
the theatre, where q glass of punch was
brought him at 6. or else he received
friends at home. By ten o'clock he was
in bed, where he slept soundly. "Like
he had talent for sleep
ing" No man Of business or dictionary
maker could make a more healthy ar
of his hours.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
The following instance of imaginative
work triGmphantly carried on under
Tue most admirably healthy conditions |
is that of Scott. He used to finish the !
principal part OF his days work before |
breakfast, and when even busiest, |
seldom worked as late as noon. And |
The end Of that apparently most admir- |
ably healthy working life We also know. !
'Ivauhoe," aud the "Bride of Lqmmer-
moor" were dictated under the terrible |
stimulus of physical pain, which wrunR |
yroans from between the words. The |
very two novels wherein the creative !
power of the arch-master of romance |
shows itself strongly were composed in |
The midst of literal birth-thrOes. It |
was then he made ,he grimmest of all .
bad puns. When his audible suffering
itled every pause, NAY, Willie, ad
iressing Laidlaw, Who wrote for him
lud impIored him to rest, only see that
jhe doors are iaat. / would fain keep |
Ill the cry as well as all the wool to
ourselves; but 10 giving over work, that
,an only be when I am in woOlon.
Herker is accused by De Qaincey in
lirect terms OF having broken down
DrematUrely because he "1ed life of
most exemplary temperance.
Surely if he had been a druukard or an
he might have contrived to
Weather the point of sixty years"
This is putting things pretty strongly,
1ut it is said of man of great imagina
i've power by man of great imaginative
power, and may, therefore. be taken
Is the opinion of an expert, all the more
honest because he is preiudiced. The
rue working life Of Scott, who helped
lature by no artificial means, lasted for
10 more than twelve yearF. from the
of "Waverlv" till the year
n which his genius was putiuto harness;
% that Of the two men, Scott and Bal
.ac, who began literary life at nearly
he same age, and were both remaI nable
or splendid constitutions, the man who
wed abnormalIy beat the man who
ived healthily by full eight years of
God work, and kept his imagination in
ull vigOr to the end.
DIR. JOHNSON.
Johnsou-whO, whatever may be
hought OF his imaginative powers, was
mother type-struck eff his "Rambles
nd IdIers," at a heat, when the sum-
aops of the press forbade his Incidence
o put off his work for another moment;
10 did not give himself even a minute
o read over his papers before they
vent to the printers. He would not
ave written ''Rasselas. " except for the
Lecessity of paying for his mothers
nneral; and yet he was a labOrious
yorker where the imagination was not
VICTOR HUGO.
Victor Hugo is said to have locked
p his clothes while writing 'NOtre
)arle," so that he might not escape
rom it till the last word was writlen.
q such cases the so-cnlled pleasures
i lulaglDHllDu IOOk bIuB UNITY llht tLb |
aims of stone. breaking.
THE BEST TINE FOR LITERARY LABOR.
That night and not morning is most
appropriate to imaginative work is sup
,orted by a general consent among
hose who have followed instinct in this
natter. Upon this question, which can
carceIy be called vexed, Charles Lamb
) the classical authority. "No true
,oem ever owed its birth TO the suns
ight. The mild internal light, that re-
eals the fine shapings of poetry, like
res on the domestic hearth, goes ont
q the sunshine. Millions morning
ymn in Paradise, We would hold
ood wager, was penned at midnight;
I'D Taylor's rich description of sun
ise smells decidedly OF the taper"
TREES AS RAIN PRODUCERS Eighty
ears ago the Arabs cut down the trees
long the valley of the Nile in Upper
lgypt for many miles toward Arabia.
his has been followed by marked
ecrease of rain in the district. A con-
-ary effect has been produced in lower
,gypt from the extensive planting of
-ees by the pasha. in Cairo and Alex
ndria the fall of rain has been in
reaeed. In feet a French scientist as
ar+s confidently fhat sucb 10 the avail