Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-04-07
AGE AND THE ryrELLEcT.

1.-The richer a nature" says Carlyle, "the
harder and slower its development" Two
boys were once Of class in the Edinburgh
Grammer School, John ever prim, precise and
dux; Walter ever slovcnly, confused and dolt
In due time John became Baltic John Of Hunter
Square and Walter became Sir Walter Scott
Of the universe. The quickest and completest
Of all the vegetables is the cabbage" This
slowly developed "Sir Walter Scott of the uni
verse" was 80 when he made his first draft Of
"Waverly" and a when he rcwrote and pub
lished it. Nearly every one of those tales,
which conferred Immortality upon him, was
composed after he had reached the age of 40
Carlyle was ~ when he published the
"French Revolution the first work Of his to
which he formally put his name. The publ
cation OF this work was, ii is true, delayed
owing to the burning Of the manuscript Of one
volume, through the carelessness of Mrs. Tay-
Tor, to whom il had been loaned by John Stu
art Mill; but II that mishap had not occurred
Carlyle would have been over 30 before his
work could have appeared. His Cromwell"
was published when he was so, the frs, two
volumes Of his "Fredrck the Great" when he
was 90, another two when he was o., and the
last two when he was 90. Swift was 20 when
he published "Gulliver's Travels" and Ger.
tainly did no work on it before he was 81
Tennyson was so when his idyls "Elaine, ="
"Niven' and Guinivere" were published
and was about o. when he completed the
series with "Gareth and Lynette." Macaulay
was as when he issued the first and second
volumes Of his "Histoy Of England" and the
third and fourth did no, appear till he was S.
Good as are the essays Of his early manhood
they pale when compared with this work of
his mature year
John Stuart Mill was s. when his essay Con
RI
us that on "Utilitarianism. Milton was Ger.
iainly more than 81 when he began to compose
his Paradise Lost" He was 50 when he
sold 1t to Simmons the bookseller. George
Eliot composed "Middlemarchn between the
ages OF 40 and 81, and after that Daniel
Deronda. Bacon was 50 before he published
his great work, 1.-THE Novum Organum -
Cowper was over so when he wrote "John
Gilpin" and "The Task, and Defoe IS when
he published " Robinson Crusoe." Darwin
published his Origin of Species" when 90,
and his Descent OF Man" when o. Grote
wrote the larger part OF his "History of
Greece between the ages of 81 and o., and
Hailam occupied nearly the same period of
life with his Introduction to the Literature
OF Europe" The two works by which Thomas
Hood has survived the grave, "The Bridge of
signs and "Thc Song of the Shirt, were
composed when he was 40, and on a sick bed
from which he never rose.
Longfellow gave us "Hiawatha" when as,
"Tales OF Wayside Inn" when IS, and after
that was as prolific he was excellent. We
need only mention his translation Of Dante's
"Divinia Commedia, " and his exquisite poem,
"Morituh Salutamus" "The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table" was published when Holmes
was 4S, and "Songs in Many Keys" when he
was S.. Washington Irving completed Tales
Of the Alhambra" at 40, published "Mahomet"
at o. and "The Life Of George Washington
after that age. Prescott wrote, we believe,
1.-THE Conquest of Mexico between the ages
Of as and AZ, and "The Conques, Of Peru
between A, and Il. Motley comnleted ,sThe