New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-05
AGE AND THE INTELLECT
from The BOfknn CO,frikr


From The Boston Courier.
1.-THE hcher nature says Carlyle. inc harner
M slower Its development. Two boys were once
of class In the Edinburgh Grammar School; John
ever trim. precise and dnx; Walter ever sloyeniy
confused and dot. In due time John became bai,Iie
Walter Scott OF the Universe. The quickest ana
completest OF all veactabcs is the cabbage. I'M, In.
verse" thrty:four when he made his first draft Of
"Waverley.' and forty-tbree when be re-wrote ana
pm olished IT. Nearly everyone Of those tales when
conferred immortality upon him was conpose1 aI,er
he had reached the age Of fortysix. He wrote me
- Heart OF Mid-Lothinn' at forty-seven the br'ue
Of Lammsrm9,or IA Legend Of MSni nG P ANN
eril OF the Peak" at nifty; the Tales Of the Crl.
saders" az Nifty and the "Chroniclcs OF the
Canongate" Mt fifty seven. =,
Carlylo was forty-two when be published the
French Revolution" the first work Of his 10 when
be formally put his name. The publication OF TINS
WORK was 1t is true, delayed owing TO the burning
of the Ms. Of one volume through the carelessness
of Mrs. Taylor to whom II had boen loaned by
John stuart Mil but if that mshap had not DC.
his work could have appeared. HIS " Cromwell"
was published when he was nifty; the hrst TWO
volumes of his Frederick the Great" when he was
sixty-three another two when he was slXty-seven,
and the last two when he WAS sxty-nlne S"itf
was tfiv-nine when be published GulliveTs
travels" and certainly did 10 work on II before he
his first idyis. End" Elaine" VivieD." and
Gulnevere" were published. and was about sixty
and Lynette" Macaulay was forty-eight when he
issued the first AID second volumes of his History
of England and the third and fourth did not ap-
pear tlii ne was fiiy-tvc. Good AS are the essays
of his early manhood, they pale when compared
with this work of his mature wears.
John Stuart Mil was fry-three when his essay
"On Liberty" was published and frtyslx when
he gave us that on Ciiiltariamsm." Milton was
certainly more than ffty-four when he began to
compose nj; Parsdise LOST e was Was nfynI0e
Eliot composed " Middlemarch" between the age
of forty-six and ffty-one aud since then " Daniel
Deronda." Bacon was fifty;nine before he pub.
listed his great work, The Novum Organum."
Cow per WAS over fifty when he wrote John Gil
pm" and the Task :" and Deioe lifty-eight when
he published Robinson CTIsOe" Darwin pub
lshed his Origin OF Species when fifty. and his
Descent of Man" when slxty-fwo. Grote wrote
the larger part of his History Of Greece between
the ages OF hftytwO and s!Xty-two. and HaIlam 90
cupied nearly the sane period of life with bis
Introduction to the Literature OF Europe" The
two works by which l homas Hood has survived the
the Shirt" were composed when he was forty-six,
snc on sck-bed from which be never rose.
LongielIow gave u. illaTaiba wv when forty
and since then mas been rs prolific as he has been
excellent We need only mention his translation
o od Mor,iDn Sa1,amms The Autoclf Of
the Breakfast Table was published when Holmes
was forty-eigbt. and Songs Many Keys when
fifty-iiy,. Washington Irving completed Tales of
the Alhambra" at foIty-hine. published " Na-
homet at sxty-seven, ami the . Life of George
Washington" after that age; Prescott wrote, we
believe. the Conquest Of Mexico" between the
ages If f,rty-One and fOrty-seyen. and the Con
quest oi Peru between torty-Seyen and ffty-ouc.
Motley Completed the History OF the United
Netheilauds' az iifty-ihree. and after that began
the history of John of Barn eveid, which lie pub
lished when he was sixty.
Erenchmen have produced very remarkable books
long after the nOon-day % life. Laplace did an
tIaOrdinary amount of mathelnatical work after
three score and ten, and Victor Hugo scarcely goi
uuder way before he wa, fifty. He published
" NaDOpDu Il IuIfIIEeuts'
at ifty-one; Les Miserables" at ffty-seven; the
" loiler> OF the Sea at sixty-iouI; The Man VINO
Laughs" at sixty seven and she :" Annals of "A Ter
rible Year" at seventy The great phy sicist and
mathematician, AmpeIe, did not begin 10 devote
his attention to the p.euom,,na OF eeciro-magnet-
ism TIL he was forty live. aud II from tityone
to ifty-three that he pu0iished ls "OJseryat0ns."
a work characterized. as has been said, by "pro.
found thought and extraordinary philosophical
drama Of Either" and ffiy-two that of
"Atlalie" the finest production Of h,s ccuiu7. and
Il masterpiece OF dramatic eiOquence. IGicrs was
sixty-tye when he competed his " Consulate ami
Empire and CEa!eaUbriaAd sixty three, When he
published his "iEUde,"
CIvartc> had pass Il his f.ty-eichth year Acforc
be published IT, iir,t pa!1 "a e Don (lNN''e,' aud
WIS s.Nty-eish, wen 49, l,Lod the second part. ii
ana aSe-peale died or the same day.
Cicero composed most his philosophical treaiSe5
between the ages OF htty-cight and s,Xn-twU.
Oalco published his dialogue on The Two Prin
" dialogue on Local Motion" at seyenty-tour the
age al which ne discovered the moons dIurnal
llDTdilOn.
Goethe and Kant, two Of the greatest minds that
ever lived. did IN view OF their later works, scarcely
anything till they had passed he a@e OF iortyiive
Kant was nothing bur professor TIL hity-seyen,
when he published his "CritIque If Pure Reason" |
on which he had begun work ten years before |
When sixty-fOuT be issued bis "CrIuquc OF Practical
Reason and his " CrltIqle on Judgment" pub !
lished two years later Dut the most corspicuouS |
literary example OF IeljIHy AT al advanced age Is
Goclhr. Al foIiy.egtt lie published Hermann
aud DorOthea," aud at fftJ six his immoria,
" Faust" III Goethe says Carlyle, mad died In !
1906. tthe year when Faust appeared he would |
have achieved grrater renOwn than any other man
OF letters but he was destined 10 1--we twenty-slX |
years longer, years OF labor and prOductlyeness."
In 1909, when fiiy-mne, he published " Elective |
Afiinlues" and in 1881, at the age of eighty-two
- Helena the second part of " Faust