The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-04-12

| AGE AND THE MTELLBCT:
| Tho Time 81 Ire at which the Bes,
Work Has Been Done:
From the Boston Courier.
"The richer nature,n says Carlyle,
''the harder and slower itsdevelopment.
Two boys were once of q class in, the
Edinburg Grammar SchooI-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 quickestand
completest Of all the vegetables is the
cabbage" This slowly developed "Sir
Walter Scott of the university" was 81
when he made bis first draft of "Waver-
1y," 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 4S; the "Pirate" and
"Peveril of the Peak" at So; the ''Tales
of the Crusaders" at 81, at the "Chroni-
Giles of the Canongate" at 81.
Carlyle was forty.two when he pub
lished the "French Revolution" the
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
reared. His "Cromwelp was published
when he was fifty, the first two volumes
of his Frederick the Great" when he
was 63, another two when he was 81,
and the last two when he was So. Swift
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 81 when he completed the
series with "Gareth and Lynette." Ma
cauley was 4S when he issued the first
and second volumes Of his History of
not appear till he was IS. Good 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 es-
say ''On Liberty" was published, and Sc
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 SO when he sold it
to Simmons, the bookseller. George
Eliot composed .'Middlemarch" between
the ages of 4G and 81, and alter that
:!Daniel Deronda." Bacon was 50 be-
fore he published his great work, ''The
Novum Organum." Cowper was over
1.-THE Task" and Defoe So when he pub
lished Robinson Cru ,oe." Darwin pub
lished his "Origin of Species" when so,
and his sDescent Of Man. when 81.
Grote wrote the larger port of his "His-
tory Of Greece" between the ages of 81
and 62, and Hallam occupied nearly the
same period of life with his s'Introduc-
ton to the Literature of Europe" The
two works by which Thomas Hood has
survived the grave, "The Bridge OF
Sighs'' and ''The Song of the Shirt"
were composed when he was 46, and on
sick bed from which he never rose.
Longfellow gave us ''Hiawatha" when
IS, "Iales of a Wayside Inn" when IS,
and after that was as prolific as he was
excellent. We need only mention his
dia," and his exquisite poem. "Mori-
of the Breakfast Table" was published
when Holmes was 4S, and "Tongs in
Many Keys" when he was IS. Wash
inyton Irving completed TALES OF Al
hambra" at 46, published "Mahome." at
81 and ''The Life of George Washington"
after that age. Prescott wrote. we be-
lieve, '"fhe Conquest of Mexico be-
tween the ages of As and 46, and ''The
Conquest of Peru" between AZ and ii.
Motley completed ''The History OF the
United Netherland" at So, and after that
began the history of "John Of Barne-
7eid," which he published when he
was 60.
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 Napoleon the
Little" at so. lies Chaliments" at 81,
''Les Miserables" at 81, ''The Tollers OF
the Sea" at 81, "The Man Who Lau.,s''
at g., and 1.-The Annals of Terrib
Year" at 20. The great physicist and
mathematician Ampere did not begin to
devote his attention 10 the phonomena
of electromagnetic till he was As, and
it was from 81 to IS 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, 50
that of Athalie, the finest production of
his genius, and a masterpiece OF drama
tic eloquence. Theirs was Is when he
completed his consulate and Empire"
aud 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
MOO Aio1 IN tho dow