The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-04-12
AGE AND THE INTELLECT.

AGE AND THE INTELLECT.
The Time of Life at Which the Best
Work Has Been Done.
From the Boston Courier. ..
t'The richer nature" Gays Carlyle,
'fthe harder and slower its development.
Two boys were once of class IN the
Edinburg Grammar School-John ever
trim, precise and dux; Walter ever
slovenly, confused and dolt. In due
time John became Bailie John of Hunter
Square, and Walter became Sir Walter
Scott of the university. The quickest and
completest Of all the vegetables is the
cabbage" This slowly Developed Sir
Walter Scott of the university" was 81
when he made his first draft of "Waver--
iy," and was 43 when he rewrote and
published it. Nearly every one OF those
tales, which conferred immortality upon
him, was composed after he had reached
the age of 46. He wrote the Heart OF
Midlothian at Al: the bride of Lam
mermoor," "a Legend of Montrose"
and "Ivanhoe" at As; the pirate" and
"Peveril of the Peak" at so; the s'Tales
of the Crusaders" at 81, at the 'Chroni-
cles of the Canongate" at 81.
Carlyle was forty-two 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, owing to
the burning of the manuscript Of one
volume 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 40 when his work could have APP
peared. His "Cromwelp' was published
when he was fifty, the first two volumes
Of his Frederick the Great" when he
was IS, another two when he was 81,
was SO when he published "Gul-
liver's Travels" and certainly no work
on it before he was 81. Tennyson was
so when his idyls "Elaine," ''Vivien."
and 'Guinivere" were published, and
was about G2 when be completed the
series with "Gareth and Bynette." Ma
cauley was 4S when be issued the first
and second volumes of his History Of
England" and the third and fourth did
not appear till he was IS. Good as are
the essays of MS early manhood, they
pale when compared with this work of
bis mature years.
John Stuart Mill was SO when his es-
say "On Liberty" was published, and IS
when he gave us that on "Utilitarian-
ism" Milton was certainly more than
81 when he began to compose his para
disc Lost" He was 50 when he sold it
to Simmons, the bookseller. George
Eliot composed "Middlemarch" between
the ages of 46 and 81, and after that
Daniel Deronda" Bacon was so be-
fore he published his great work, "The
Novum Orsanum' Cowper was over
so when he wrote "John Gilpin" and
'sThe Task" and Defoe IS when he pub
lished Robinson Cru ;oe." Darwin pub
lshed his "Origin Of Species when 80,
and his "Descent Of Man" when 62.
Grote wrote the larger port of his "His-
tory of Greece" between the ages OF 81
and 81, and Hallam occupied nearly the
same period of life with his "lntroduc-
ton to the Literature of Europe" The
two works by which Thomas Hood has
survived the grave, The Hrid az o.
we're composed when he was IS, and on
sick bed from which he never rose
4S, "rales of Wayside Inn" when 5S,
apd after that was as prolific as he was
excellent. We need only mention his
translation of Dante's ''Divina Come
f da; an Sa5 ns e1a"'S.eI RUe Autoerat
Of the Breakfast Table" was published
when Holmes was 4S, and ''Tongs il
Many Keys when he was So. Wash
inyton Irving completed italics OF AL
hambra" at 46, published "Mahomes' at
81 and "The Life of George Washington
after that age. Prescott wrote, we be-
lieve, '"Che Conquest of Mexico" be-
tween the ages of 45 and 46, and THE
Conquest of Peru between AZ and II.
| Motley completed ''The History OF the
United Netherland" at So, and after that
| 7eid," which he published when he
was 80.
Frenchmen have produced very, re-
markable books long after the mondays
of life. Laplace did an extraordinary
amount of mathematical work after
three score and ten, and Victor Hugo
scarcely "got under way" before he was
so. He published "NapoleoE the
Little" at 80. lies Chaliments" at 81,
lies Miserables" at 81, ''The To1lers OF
the Sea" at 50, 1.-THE Man Who Laughs"
at 67, and 1.-THE Annals of a Terrib
Year" at 70. The great physicist and
mathematician Ampere did not begin to
devote his attention 70 the phenomena
it was from 81 to SO that he
published his "Observations," work
characterized as has been said, by pro-
found thought and extraordinary
philosophical sagacity." Racine was so
when he wrote his drama of Esther, So
that of Athalie, the finest production of
his genius, and a masterpiece Of drama
tic eloquence. Theirs was IS when he
completed hiss Consulate and EMPIRE"
and Chateaubriand 63 when he published
his "Etuces."
Cervantes had passed his 5Sth year
before he published the first part of
''Don Quixote," and was 70 when he
issued the second pert. He and Shakes
peare died on the same day.