Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-06-06
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WHAT IT COSTS TO WRITE WELL.

Excellence is not matured in day, and
the cost of it is an old story. The beginning
of Plato's "Republic," it is said, was found in
an old tablet written over III variety Of
ways Addison we are told, wore out the pa
tience of his printer frequently, when nearly
whole impression of the Spectator was
worked of, he would stop the press to insert
some new proposition. Lambs most sportive
essays were the result of most intense brain
labor he used to spend week at time in
celebrating a single humorous letter to q
friend. Tennyson is reported to have writ.
ten "Come into the Garden, Maud" more
than fifty times over before it pleased him
and "Locksley Hail." the first draught Of
which was written in two days, he spent the
better part of six weeks, for eight hours day,
in altering and polishing. Dickens, when he
intended to write a Christmas story, shut
himself up for six weeks, living the life of a
hermit, and came out as haggard as muir.
derer.
Balzac, after he had thought out thorough.
ly one of his philosophical romances, and
amassed his materials in a most laborious
manner, retired to his study, and from that
time until his book went to press, society saw
him no more When he appeared among
his friends, be looked, said his publisher, in
the popular phrase, like his own ghost. The
manuscript was afterward altered and copied,
when it passed into the hands of the printer,
from whose slips the book was re. written the
third time. Again it went into the hands
of the prnter-two, three, and sometimes four
separate proofs being required before the au-
thor's leave could be got to send the perpet.
ually rewritten book to press at last to have
it done. He was literally the terror of all
the printers and editors.
Moore thought it quick work if he wrote
seventy lines of "Lalla Rookh" IN week.
Kinglake's "Eothen," we are told, was re.
written FIVE or six times, and was kept in the
authors writing desk almost as long as
Wordsworth kept "White Doe Of Rylsome, ="
and kept like that, to be taken out for review
and correction almost every day. Button 8
STORY of Nature" cost him fifty years of Ia
Dor before he sent it to the printer. "He
composed it in singular M inner, writing on
large-sized paper, in which as in ledger, FIVE
distinct columns were ruled. In the first col
umn he wrote down the first thought; in the
second he corrected, enlarged and pruned it
and 80 on until he reached the fifth column,
within which he finally wrote the results Of
his labor But even after this he would COM
pose sentence twenty times, and once de-
voted fourteen hours to finding the proper
word to round of a period" John Foster Of
ten spent hours on single sentence. Ten
years elapsed between the commencement of
Goldsmith's "Traveler" and its completion.
La Rochefoucauld spent fifteen years iu pre-.
pairing his little book of Misunderstanding
some of them, Segaris says, nearly thirty
times. We all know how Sheridan polished
his wit aud finished his jokes, the same things
being found on different bits of paper, differ
emily expressed. Rogers showed Crabbe Rob-
inson a note to his Italy" which he said
took him two weeks to write. 1t consists of
q very few lines.