St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-04
THE LABoRs OF GENIUS.

The great Pleto whose thoughts seemed to
come so easy, is said TO have toiled over bis
manuscripts, working with slow and tedious
elaboration. The opening sentence Of ''The
Republic" ON the authors tablets was found
10 be written in some thirteen different YER
sions. When death called him from his
work the great philosopher was engaged at
his desk ''eombing aud curling and weaving
and unweaYing his writings after variety Of
fashions"
The celebrated French critic, Sainte-Beuve
was accustomed % devote six days 10 the
Preparation Of a single one of his weekly ar
icles. large portion OF his time was pas
sed in the retirement Of his chamber, TO
which, on such occasions, no individual
with the exception of his favorite servant
was allowed 10 enter under any circumstan-
ces whatever Here be wrote those critical
papers which carried captive the heart Of
France, and filed with wonder the cultivated
mind everywhere.
The historian Glbbon, in speaking OF the
manner in which be wrote his Decline and
Fall Of the Roman Empire" said: Many,
experiments were made before I could hit
he middle tone between a dull tone and a
II
compose the first chapter, and twice the sec
ond and third, before was tolerably satisfied
with their effect" Lamb toiled laboriously
over his essays. These papers, which long
ago became classics in the English language,
which are repletc with the most delicate fan
cies, were composed with the most exacting
nicely. Yet their author Is regarded thu
world over a. possessed OF genius Of q high
order La Rochefoucauld was occupied for
the space of fifteen years in preparing for
publication his little work called ''Maxims, -
rewriting many Of them over thirty tries.
The great Balzac, after he had made plan
OF a novel. and bad, after the most llborious
research, gathered together the materlaSS
which be was 20 embody in IL, woulJ Jock
himself in his private apartment. shut out all
the light OF day aud then, By the aid Of his
study lamp. he would toll day and night over
the work before him. His servants, knowing
so well his peculiar habits, would attend TO
his every want, bringing him the necessary
food and drink with which 10 sustain his
physical needs, aud thus be wouldtoil on and
on. until finally, with his task completed, as
he thought, he would come forth from bis re-
tirement looking more dead than alive. But
invariably his task would no: be altogether
| satisfactory TO him, after all, for again he
would seek the seelusion Of his chamber to
rearrange and make more perfect that which
I he had before supposed wholly complete.
Then, too, when in the hands Of the printer.
nc would be a apt as not to alter, in one
way and another, the manuscript, until both
printer and publisher were on the verge of
despair. Kinglake's beautiful s1Eothen'' was
rewritten half dozen times before it was
given 10 publisher Tor consideration. Ten
nyson's song, Come Into the Garden,
Maud, - was rewritten some fifty times before
it gave complete satisfaction 10 the author.
Coming to the gifted Addison, whose die
ton is fun OF such gruce aud simplicity, so
much so as 10 create envy, yet admiration,
in the mind Of every writer who has four
ished since his day, We find that the great
author wrote with the most painful delibera-
lion. 1t is narrated that the press was
stopped again and again, after whole edi-
ton OF the Spectator had been thrown OF. in
order that its suthor might maze a slight
change In q sentence.