The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-04-13
Habits of Authors.

When Dickens laid out for himself Q
system Of literary work and forced him.
self into rigid adherence to it, spending
just so many hours daily at his desk
whether in the mood or not, and whether
accomplishing anything or not ploddinp
away at composition in as matter. .of. fact
a manner as la5orcr would shovel at an
embankment,-hc set an excellent exam-
| pie for all writers,b but one which major.
ity of them would fpd it impossible to i'm.
itate. No greater diversity, no sharper
contrast can be found than appears in the
modes of composition, the requirements
as to surroundings, state of feeling, and
necessary conditions for freedom in work
ing Of different authors, as shown by their
own statements or those oftheir biogra.
pliers and personal friends.
Walter Scott felt no special need OF re.
considering or revising what he had writ.
ten but having dashed off novel or poem
he sent off one after another in rapid
succession such as had not been heard OF
before his day. Where would the Wav-
erly novels have been, and should we ever
have had :hc long list if he had been SUBJ
Jected to the test which Alcott, in his
concord Days lays down in his "code
OF composition ?"-to wit; "Burn every
scrap that stands not the test of all moods
Of composition such lack longevity.
What is left gains immensely, Such is
the law. Very little of what is thought
admirable at the writing holds good over
night Sleep on your writing; take a
walk over it; review it Of an afternoon !;
digest it after a meal let it sleep in your
drawer twclvemonth."
The impulaive habit belongs to some
writers whom we should least suspect OF
it. If there has been ono woman writer
in America who was pre-. eminent for a
strong masculine understanding, critical
insight coolness and impartiality n her
judgments, and the power to put her own
personality aside,t was Margaret Fuller /;
yet, Of her, when especially employed as
critic on the New York Tribnne, Mr.,
Greeley complained that she could only
write "when in the vein," and although
ucW DOOhS utl htttullOU, uuu
the utmost promptness was desirable, she
waited day after day to feel in the right
mood for writing, and her criticisms were
consequently sometimes too late She
did in fact, distrust herself in writing
her pen was "non-c conductor" she said /;
she was subject to pain, and affected by
the most subtitle influences sometimes
wrote in bed, apd believed that she
"could understand anything better when
she was ill.," Her Summer on the
Lakes" seems to have been written under
more tranqulizing circumstances, and af.
ter moro orderly way than was usual
with her. Every day." she says, 81
rose and attended to the many little calls
which are always on me- Then
about eleven, would sit down to write
at my window, close to which is the ap.
ple.tree lately full Of blossoms and now Of
yellow birds. Opposite me was Del Sar-
to's Madonna : behind me Silenus hold.
ing in his arms the infant Pan | felt
very content with my pen, my daily bou.
quet and my yellow birds. About five
would 90 out and walk till dark"
Another woman, Of the highest distinc-
tion in science, Mrs. Somerville, gives us
in that modest. straightforward way
which makes her narrative so charming,
on account of her habit of writing. Alb
struse as were her subjects, she did not
find it necessary to seclude herself She
had a singular power Of abstraction, which
made her independent of outward cir
cumstances." She rose early, she says,
and made the needtul arrangements for
her family, then wrote, subject to inter.
ruptions of visitors, who had "come to
spend few hours" with her, However
learned by habit to leave a subject and
resume it again at once, like putting a
mark into book | might have been
reading" In another place she says 81
had, and still have, determined persever.
ance, but | soon found that it was in vain
to occupy my mind beyond a certain
time. l grew tired, and did moro harm
than good so if | met with difficult
point, left it, took my work OF
some amusing book. and resumed it when
my mind was fresh" She took for this
recreation poetry, and afterward novels. y
Tile Aldine.