Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-12-24
Age and the Intellect,


" The richer a nature" says Carlyle,
" the harder and slower its develop
meRt. Two boys were once of class
in the Edinburgh Grammar School;
John ever trim, precise and dux; Wal
ter ever slovenly, confused and dolt. In
due time John became Baillie John of
Hunter-suuare, and Walt ,r became Sir
Walter Scott Of the Universe. The
quickest and completest of all vegeta.
bles is the cabbage" This slowly de-
veloped " Sir Walter Scott of the Uni
verse" was thirty-four when lie made
his first draft of - Waverly," and forty
three when he re-wrote and published
it. Nearly every one of those tales
which conferred Immortality upon him
was composed after he had reached the
age of forty-six.
Carlyle was fortytwo when he pub
lished the " French Revolution" the
first work of his to which he formally
put his name. The publication of this
work was, it is true, delayed, owning
to the burning of the MS. of zone vol
nme through the carelessness of Mrs.
Taylor, to whom it had been loaned by
John stuart Mill; but if that mishap
had not occurred, Carlyle would have
been over forty before his work could
have appeared. His " CROMWELL was
published when he was fifty; the first
two volumes OF his Frederick the
Great" when he was sixty-three, another
two when he WAS sixty.seven, and the
last two when he was sixty nine. Swift
was iifty-nine when he published
Gulliver's Travels" and certainly
did no work on it before lie was fifty
seven. Tennyson had reached fifty
when his first idyls, Enid" v" Elaine"
" Vivian, land &C uinevere" were pub
lished, and was about sixty-two when
he completed the series with "Gareth
and Lynette." Mlcauley was forty
eight when he issued the first and
second volumes of his " History of Eng
land" and the third and fourth did not
appear till he was tifty-fve.
john stuart Mill was tifty-three when
his essay " On Liberty" was published,
and tifty-six when he gave US that on
" Utilitarianism." Milton was certainly
more than tiftyfour when he began to
compose his Paradise Lost" He
was fifty nine when he cold it to Sim
mons the book seller. George Elliot
composed Middlemarch' between the
age of forty.six and tifty-one. and since
then Daniel Deronda." Bacon was
fifty. nine when he published his great
work, 1.-The Novum Organum." Cow
per was over fifty when he wrote John
Gilpin," and the "Task;" and Defoe
fifty eight when he published his Rob
inson Crusoe.' Darwin published his
q" Origin of Species" when fifty, and his
Descent OF Man when sixty.two.
Longfellow gave us Hiawatha"
when forty.eight; "Tales of a Wayside
Inn" when fiftysix, and since then has
been as prolific as he has been excellent.
Washington Irving completed "Tales
of the ,Alhambra" at forty-nine, pub
lished Mahomet" at sixty.seven, and
the Life OF George Washington" after
that age. Prescott wrote, we believe,
the Conquest of Mexico" between the
ages of forty one and forty seven, and
- Conquest of Peru" between forty
seven and fifty-one. Motley completed
the " History of the United Neither
lands" at tifty-three, and after that be-
gan the history of John of Barne-
yeld,' which was published when lie
was sixty.
Frenchmen have produced very re-
markable books long after the MONDAY
of life. Laplace did an extraordinary
amount of mathematical work after
three-score years and ten, and Victor
Hugo scarcely "got under way be-
fore he was fifty. Racine was fifty
when he wrote his drama of Esther"
and at tfty-two, that of Athalie," the
finest production of his genius, and a
masterpiece of dramatic eloquence.
Tnie1s WAS sixtyiive when he COM
pleted his Consulate and Empire"
and Chateaubriand sixty-three when he
publ shed his " E.udes. "-Boston Coz.
rier.