The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-05-10
About the he'd.

H L . .
About the He'd.
A Spanish minister signalized his &C.
cession to power by going straightway
to bed and staying there, lest he should
be expected to do something. No
English minister ever adopted that
ignoble expedient to escape performing
his duties; but Walpole relates that
| William Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle
once held counsel together in bed.
Pitt had the goue, and, rs was his
custom when SO afflicted ,"lay under a
pile of bed-clothes in n freless room.
The Duke, who was terribly afraid of
catching cold, first sat down upon
another bed as the wagmest place
available, drew his legs iSto it as he
grew colder, and at last tairly lodged
himself under the bed-clothes. Some.
body coming in suddenly beheld "the
two ministers in bed at the two ends of
the room, while Pitts long nose and
black beard, unshavod for some time,
added to the grotesque nature Of the
scene,"
Tho great Commoner was abed and
asleep when Wyndham and others Of
bis colleagues burst into his room and
shook their chief out of his siumbers
to tell him there was mutiny in tho
fleet, that the Admiral was Il prisoner
on board his own ship. and in danger
of death. Sitting up Ill bed. Pitt asked
for pen, ink and paper, and wrote:
:If the Admiral is not released, fire
upon the ship from the batteries;' and
turned over on his pillow, and was in q
sound sleep few minutes later.
When, in 1914, the military affairs of
the allies looked somewhat unpromis-
ing, it was around the bed of General
Knesbech, at Barsur- Aube, that tho
Emperors of Russia and Austria, the
King of Prussia, Hardonborg, Vol.
kousky, Schwartzenberg, Mctternich,
RadetskY, Diebitsch, Nesselrode, and
Uastlereagh held their council tf war:
and the issue of the campaign culmi-
mating i'll the occupation of Paris was
virtually decided by Castlereagh in
sisting upon the Immediate transfer
encc OF waVering Bernadotte's battalions
TO Blucher's command, and taking the
response bility upon his own shoulders.
1t was in bed, at the little inn ut
Waterloo, that wellington received tho
terrible casualty-list of tho memorable
18th Ct june; and as name after name
fell from DR., Hume's lips, he threw
himself back on the pillow and groaned
out: "What victory is not too dearly
purchased at such cost2" WELLINGTON.
who possessed the faculty of sleeping
at will, held that when iG was time to
turn over it was time to turn out.
Napoleon. man of another tempera-
ment, provided for wakefulness by
keeping the returns of his army under
his pillow, to DO conned and considered
|swhen tired hature's sweet .restorer re-
fusod to share his t'beu malestIcM. =
One of Johnsou's earliest ventures in
book-making was the translating of
Lobo's Voyage to AbYssinia," whicn
put fifty dollars into his pocket. Lying
III bed, he dictated sheet after sheet to
his friend Hector, who carried them off
to the printer without waiting for john
son to look over them,
When the fit was on him, Rousseau
remained ia bed, carefully drawing his
curtains to keep out the daylight, and
gave himself up to the fascinating
delights of composition.
In bed, Paesiello composed his
"Barbiere di Seviglia" and ''La Moli-
nara" One at least OF Rossini's operas
was composed under the Same condi-
tions.
Swift, fond rs he was of lying IN bed
OF q morning thinking of wit for the
day, wrote to his friend Sheridan:
"Pray do not employ your time in Ioll-
ing abed till noon to read Homer"
Better, perhaps, do TINT than initiate
George w., and lie ID bed devouring
newspapers the best part of the day.
Many very clever people, however, have
secuted the idea of health, wealth and
wisdom coming of early rising.
Macauley read much in bed, and
anxious to keep up his German, I'm
posed upon himself the task of per,lsing
twenty pages of Schiller every day
before getting up.
Maule won his senior -wrnngleship by
'studying hard, long after ordinary folk
were up and about, snugly esconeed
under the blankets.
John Foster thought his sermons out
in bed; methodlcal Anthony Trollope
regularly read for IN hour before rising;
and Mary Somerville made it O rule not
10 get up before twelve or one. although
she began work at eight; reading, writ.
ing, and calculating hard-with her pct
sparrow upon her arm-four or five
hours every day, but those four or five
hours were spent in bed.