The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-11-03
AGE AND rnE ISrELLEcr.
The Time Of Life at which the Best Work
Has Been Done.

gfhLQLuhT bCuuglI JUN 0NVA hAAt fASSfNJ
and dux; Walter ever sloyenly, confused,
and dolt. In due time John became Bail
lie John Of Hunter square, and Walter
becams Sir Walter Scott Of the universe.
The quickest and completest Of all the veg
etables Ia the cabbage" This slowly de.
yelopedes Walter Scott Of the universe"
was 81 when he made his frst draft Of
"Wayerly.r aud - when he rewrote and
published 1t. Nearly ever one Of these
tales which conferred immortality upon
him was composed alter he had reached
the age OF 40. He wrote the "Heart OF
Midlothian" at AZ; the bride OF Lam;
mermoor, ""A Legend Of Montrose." and
"lyanhoe" at 4S; the "Pirate" and rev
eril OF the Peak" at 30; the SFsles O. tne
Crusaders" at 81, and the "ChronicieS OF
the Canongate" at 81. u,.,o.
Carlysleiwas AZ when no puoiisned inc
"French Revolution" the first WORK OF ,I DIS
to which he formally put his name. me
publication Of this work was, Il is true, de-
tayed, owing to the burning Of the manu-
scyipt Of one volume through the careless
nessof Mrs, Taylor, to whom It had been
loaned by John Stuart Mill; but II that
misbap had not occurred, Carlyle would
have been over 40 before his work could
have appeared. His Cromwell" was pub
Iished when he was 80; the first two
voIntnes 81 his Frederick the i6rea"
when he was 63, another two when he
was 81, and the last two when he was ~.
swift was 50 when he published "Gulli-
ver,s Travels, !" and certainly did no work
on 1t before be was 81. Tennyson had
reached so when his idyls, "Elaine,"
"Viyien," and "Guinevere" were pub.
lished, and was about 90 when he COM
pleted the series with "Gareth and Lyp.
ette." Macauley was As when he issued
NE first and second volume Of his "Hls.
tory Of England and the third and
fourth did not appear till he was %. Coco
as are the essays OF his early manhood,
they pale when compared with this work
OF his mature years.
John Stuart Mill was So when his essay
"0n Liberty was published. and 81 when
he gave US that on "Utilitarianism " Mil
ton was certainly more than 81 when he
began to compose his Paradise Lost" He
was SO when he sold It to Simmons, the
bookseller. George Elliot composed Mid.
dlemarch" between the Of 40 and 81, and
sIncethen "Daniel Deronda." Bacon was
50 before he. published his great work,
"The Noyum Organum," Cowper was
over so when he wrote "John Gilpin" and
the seTusk," and Defoe So when he pub
lished Robinson Crusoe." Darwin pub.
Iished his "origin OF Species" when %, and
his "Descent OF Man" when CO. Grote
wrote the largest part OF his History OF
Greece" between the ages Of 81 and 81.
and Hallam occupied nearly the same
period OF life with his "IntroducIion to
the Literature Of Europe" The two works
by which Thomas Hood has survived the
grave, "The Bridge Of Signs" and THE
Song Of the Shirt, "were composed when
he was 6, and on sick bed from which be
never rose. AZ. al, 4
Longfellow gave us "Hiawatha" when
As; "Tales OF a Wayside Inn" when 56,
and since then has been as prolific as he
has been excellent. We need only men.
lion bis translation Of Dante's .'Dtyina
Comedia," and,his exquisite poem, "Mori-
turf Salutamus." "fhe Autocrat oil the
Breakfast Table" was published when
Holmes was 4S, and "Songs. in Many
KEYS" when he was So. Washington
Irving completed "Tales OF the Alham-
bra" at 40, published "Mahomet" at 81,
and the'"Life OF George Washington"
after that age. Prescott wrote, we believe,
the CONQUEST OF Mexico" between the
ages OF Al and AZ, and the "Colquest Of
Peru" between AZ and 81. Motley COM
pleted the History Of the United Neither
lands" at SO, and after that began the his
tory OF John OF Barneveld," which he
published when he was 60. as.. ID
Frenchmen have produced very re.
maIkable books long after the MONDAY OF
life. Laplace did IAN extraordinary
amount Of mathematical work after three
score and ten, and Victor Hugo scarcely
''got under way" before he was 80. He
published Napoleon the Little" at So;
Lies Chatiments" at 81; LES Miserables"
at 81; the "Toilers Of the Sea" at 81; "The
Man Who Lsughsn at 81, and the Annals
Of Terrible Year" at 70, The great ply
sicist and mathematician, Ampere, did
not begin to devote his attention to the
phenomena OF electro.magnetism till he
was As, and it was from 81 to SO that he
published his "0bservations," work
characterized, as has been said, by PRO.
found thought and extraordinary philos.
optical sagacity." Racine Was so when
he wrote his drama Of Esther" and 81,
that OF "Athalie," the finest production OF
his genius and masterpiece of dramatic
eloquence. Theirs was Is when he com.
pleted his Consulate and EMPIRE" and
OhsteRubriand 63 wnen he published his
"E,udes." 5tta 'ia .rlf
Ceryantes had passed his 5Sth year be-
fore he published the first part OF "Don
Quixote," and was 6S when he issued the
second part. He and Shakespeare died on
the same day.
Cicero composed most OF his philo:
sophical treatises between the ages of So
aud 90. Calico published bis Dialogue
on the Two Principal Systems oil the
World" at Gs; the dialogue on Local
Motion" at "a, the age at which he discov-
cred the moons diurnal filtration.
Goethe and Kant, two OF the greatest
minds that ever lived, did, in view OF their
later works, scarcely anything till they
had passed the age OF 45. Kant was moth
ing but professor till 81, when he pub
lished his "Critique Of Pure Reason" on
which he had begun work len years be-
fore. When o. he issued his "Critique Of
Practical reason" and his "Critique on
Judgment" was published two years later.
But the most conspicuous.literary example
of fertility at an advanced age Ia Goethe.
At As he published Hermann and Doro-
thea" and at SO his immortal "Faust."
"If Goethe" says Carlyle. chad died In
1908 1.-THE year when Faust appeared) he
would have achieved a greater renown
than any other man Of letters; but he was
destined to live twenty.six years longer.
years OF labor and productiyeness.n In
1900, when SO, he published Elective Al
tinities," and in 1881, at the age Of 50,
Helena" the second part Of "Faust."
.pa Population Iof the Earth.
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