The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1877-01-24
MISCELLANY.
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thHt Hc alc tucoStxlon{} tudtOtcA l9E 0uf tl-
est literary productions to the plysical in-
firinities 81 the authors. We might o. course
find philosophical OK PLANTATION Of the fact IN
the objective tendency Of strength and the
subjective quality of weakness. The strong
are unwilling to undergo the peculiar trials of
sedentary labor aud surrender themselves to
the solitude which continued literary work re-
quires. They naturally take to some labor
which will give outlet to large shore Of their
superabundant vitality. The physically weak
tho malformed-on the other hand, prefer a
sedentary occupation and solitude. They are
commonly subjective in thoughts and acts and
have peculiar relish in indulging the fam
ces that come to them when alone. This
condition is favorable to literary labor that
is not. Therefore it is not surprising that
these should have strong bent toward liter
airy works. Many, it is true, who begin life
under unfavorable circumstances, and wero
exceedingly puny and unpromsing, grew to
be men of powerful frames and great physi-
cal strength. Such was the case with Sir
Walter Scott. He was exceedingly delicate
when young and the literary bent of his mind
was mainly due to that fact. Afterward he
developed into a man of large size and great
strength. His lameness, which continued all his
life, implanted in his nature an invincible love
of solitude, and his dog was frequently the
only companion he cared for during whole
days. The same is true of Byron. His club
foot was the great torment of his life. In re-
ferring to it, his friend Tom Moore said
1.-THE embittering circumstances Of his life
which haunted him like a curse, and as he
persuaded himself, counterbalanced all the
blessings showered on him. was the thrilling
deformity of his foot' He was remarkably
sensitive about it and the slightest reference
to deformity gave him pain. His friend Bel
cher sought to soothe him ON one occasion by
referring to the mind which nature had so
lavishly bestowed upon him, but he replied IN
sadness
"Ah my dear friend, if this touching his
forehead) places me above the rest of man.
kind, that (pointing to his FOOT places me far
below them.' Moore himself was puny and
sickly in yonth. When student at Trinity
College, in Dublin, his face, form and man
ner were decidedly girlisll, and Robert En-
met, who was a fiery patriot among tho stu
dents at the time, and had many Of them or
ganized, never asked Moore to do more than
play few national airs. His small stature
and delicate frame would have made him lu-
dicrous as a soldier. Dean Swift was dropsi-
cal for long time. -Four years before he died
he became insane through softening OF the
brain, and expired I" a driyeller and show"
Alexander Pope was puny weakling In
youth, while in matured life he was dwar-
fish little man with deformed frame in which
pain often ran riot. He was rarely exempt
from physical suffering. The historian Glib
bon, who wrote The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, was very feeble in youth, and
not expected to live from month to month";
He was the only one Of seven children who
survived infancy. His head was so large as
to appear almost deformity and give rise to
the impression that he had hydrocephalic
aiment. When attending college he became
convert to Catholicism, and his parents,
who were very wealthy, strenuously object
eQ tneIctOs lney tuIcdtcutu W uteihhciit
him if he would not leave the Mother Church,
and he was finally induced TO do SO. He be-
came, however, rabid atheist, like Boiling
broke, Frederick the Great, yoltaire, Ross
eau, etc., and remained such to his dying day.
When travelling upon the continent "a story
we shall tell to show how corpulent he had
become) he met lady of whom he became
greatly enamored and took a convenient oc-
casion to fall on his knees before her, protest
ing his love and devotion and asking her to
become his wife. She emphatically declined
to do any such thing and commanded him to
RISE Still he remained on his knees before
her, not moving muscle. She repeat tho
command, but to no purpose--he was as mo-
tionless as log. Finally she became alarm
ed, and to pacify her he had to go to tho ex-
IRENE Of protesting that he was 80 corpulent
TOO fat-to get up without assistance.
coachman was called, and 1t required the unit
cd strength of both to get Mr.. Gibbon to his
feet. Akenside, the poet, whose father was
butcher, was severely Injured and rendered
permanently lame by q clever falling upon
one of his feet while in his fathers shop one