The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-06-21
HAHNVILLE, LOUISIANA SATURDAY, JUNE 81. 1884.

1 .
Milton was noted for his power of men,
DRY, and knew all of Homer. At the
curt of Frederick the Great was an
Englishman poss s3ed of prodigious
m mory. Concealed by Frederick be-
hind screen he heard Voltaiye read to
the King one of his long poems. I'M
agIne the fiery Frenchman's astonish-
ment and righteous wrath, when, upon
meeting the EnglishmaIf soon after he
claimed the poem, and in support of his
claim recite the poem entire.
Person, the most learned Englishman
known, never forgot. He knew not
only every word of Il schlus, Sophocles,
Eurpides, and many other Greek and
Latin authors, but could tell instantly
where in their works certain words
could be found, in what sentence of the
paragraph. what para raph, on what
part OF the page. Nor was it possible
to bewilder him.
Macaulay's memory was extraordi
nary naturally, aud was so carefully
trained and cultivated that it became
simple and easy to remember, and in.
deed almost impos .ible to forget. When
but child, when with his father
making a call, while the elder people
were talking he entertained himself by
reading SCOTS Lay of the | a t Min
strel, which was lying on table. On
his return home he recited as many
cantos to his mother as she had the
patience or time to listen to. He on g
said that if by any species of vandalism
''Pilgrim's Progress and paradise
Lost should be destroyed, he would
undertake to reproduce them exactly
from memory. Carlyle's memory was
equally as tenacious.
When Mozart was but fourteen wears
of age he heard the beautiful Miserere.
at the Sistine Chapel, at Rome. He de-
termined to make himself master of it.
He seated himself IN corner of the
chapel and listened attentively, then
went home, wrote it down and sung it
at concert the next day. Rome was
electrified, for the copying of the music
had been strictly forbidden. The Pope,
hearing of it, ask to have the musical
prodigy presented to him. But for this
tax imposed on that most delicate and
sensitive organ, the car, Mozart after
wards paid in k2enest suffering, and
Beethoven, for Similar conduct, paid ma
ture the forfeit of in urable deafness.
But johnson could not only repeat
every word he wrote. but every word
he read. The stoIy of Magliabecci. the
Florentine librarian, and the request of
the French Duke is well known to every
one. Magliabecci was called a uni
versal index, both of titles and matter.n
Scott and DR.. johnson were also famous
for great memory.
Great lawyers, according to a certain
close observer, recolleet principles only;
exact lawyers, eases, and can repeat de-
elsie MS by the hour in the very words of
the book. The former SAYS this OBJ
server, make the best advocat $; the
latter the best judges.
While all things prove the necessity
for memory to be ercised in the ed1
cation of Teople, before reason and
fancy can be brought for h; such mar
vels of memory a herein related are
uncommon. They are gifts. Yet any
one may cultivate the memory to a GER
tain degree of faithfulness and accuracy
and by obeying certa n laws, and fol-
lowing certain rules--for this Ike ey-
erything ese is governed by laws-may
remember as tenaciously as Hamlet
prom sed to remember the ghost: ''as
long as memory holds place in this
distracted globe, -
Emerson very well says that there
are some things any one can REMEMBER.
By this he means. most likely, debts,
taxes, gas bills, injuries and insults,
and which disproves the assertions of
those who insist that memory, 'qhe
fond sdeceiver," treasures only the
pleasurable. One NEST remarkable
thing is that even those who claim every
and vir,ue in the dec
aogue will plead guilty to defective
memory. To all such we point out the
excellent advice and rules of Thomas
Fuller:
"tirst influx thy mind with what
thou desirest to remember. 0Yerbur-
den not thy memory to make so faith
full servant slave. Have as much
reason as a camel, to rise when thou
hast thy full load. Memory is like a
purse, if it be so overloaded that it can
not shut, all will drop out. Above all,
marshal thy notions into a handsome
method. &C ece'dnd Leader.