Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-03-25
DIFFICULT AUTHORSHIP.

How Some of the Most Noted Litterateurs
Worked While Victims of Disease.
Heinrich Heine, the sweetest singer
Germany has ever produced, wrote his
'.Romancero" under circumstances of
great suffering. When paralyzed and
nearly blind, he wrote woven web of
satire and pathos, in which he spared
nothing, not even his own racked and
anguished frame ''My body" he
said, ''has gone to rack and ruin, so
that almost nothing is left but my
voice, and my bed reminds me of the
melodious grave of the enchanter Mer-
lin, which is in the forest of Broce-
Gande, in Brittany, beneath lofty oaks,
whose tropical branches blaze up like
green flame to the sky. All, colleague
Merlin. | envy you those trees and
their fresh waving boughs, for no green
leaf rustles here in my mattress grave
"a grave without rest, death without
the privileges of the dead who have no
need to write either letters or books.
l have been measured for my coffin
some time ago, and my obituary writ
ten, but die so slowly that this be-
comes tedious affair for myself, as
well as for my friends. Patience, how
ever; there is an end to everything.
One morning you will find the book
closed where the puppet-show of my
humOr so often amused YOU" One
night, indeed, it was so, but not nntil
he had endured his mattress grave"
for eight long, weary years. One night
he moved into that last and best bed,
where 1.-The weary are at rest. "
1t has been contended that when the
disease of which the sufferer is dying
is consumption, or some disease which,
between paroxysms of pain, leaves
spaces of ease and rest, it is nothing
wonderful that good work should be
done. Some of the best of Paley's
works were written under such condi-
tions, and some of the best of Sheiley's.
Crabb Robinson said that Goethe never
had an affliction which he did not turn
into a poem. Mr.. Philip Gilbert Ham
ertOn has noted very peculiar effect
which the act of composition had upon
Wordsworth. When engaged in COM
posing ''The White Doe of Rylstone,"
he received wound in his foot, and
observed that the continuation of his
literary labors increased the irritation
of the wound, whereas by suspending
his work he could diminish it. Absb-
lutte rest produced perfect cure. In
connection with this incident he re-
marked that poetic excitement, accom-
panied by protracted labor in compost
bodily arrangement. He preserved
himself from permanently injurious
consequences by excellent habit of life.
1t is curious that times of illness,
when the eyes swim and the head
shakes, are oftentimes rich in sugges-
ton. If the mind is naturally poetic,
the hours of illness are by no means
wasted. Such was the condition of
Mr. Green, the historian, who literally
died in harness. Few pages in literary
history are so touching as the preface
in which Mr. Green tells the history of
the making of 1.-The Conquest of En-
gland" When he had finished the
fourth volume of his History Of the
English People, there was pause in
the advance of the lung disease which
afflicted him. Eager for fresh
work, he began to shape new
plans, but early in the spring of
1881 he fell i'll again. ''In the extremity
of ruin and defeat he found q higher
fidelity and a perfect strength. Most
men give up their work when their end
comes near, but Mr. Green is said to
have worked all the harder because his
days were numbered, and strove TO
maintain and diffuse as much light as
possible before the coming OF the night.
Ind bo cI Of hn SC
quest of England was begun" and the
night came before it was finished" The;
death of Mark Pattison was equally:
sad, for in one of his last letters he
wrote: ''It is hard to feel my physicaT
powers ebbing away. while my inteF
lectual powers were never more vigoE-
Gus. | have gathered with infinite
pains the materials for my great work,
but they will all be wasted, fer shalsI
not live to finish it, and no one else
wiz find the clew."
Blindness would seem an iusuperabIe
drawback to writing, yet Prescott the
historian of Mexico and Peru, over
came the difficulty into which ne was
plunged by the failure of his sight.
While a student in Harvard College,
one of his felloW-students threw crust
of bread at him, which struck one of
his eyes and deprived it almost wholly
Of sight. while the other was sympa-
thetically affected. When writing a
history of Spain, his eye gave way, and
prevented him from reading. His ltA
rary enthusiasm, however, was too
strong to be quenched even by this
calamity. He engaged a reader, die
lated copious notes, and from these
notes constructed his history, making
in his mind the necessary corrections.
HGrper's Bazaar
mfr. Smith, is ague catching, JUST
like the measles?" mo, my little
deah. What made you think sogs'
''Coz, when you was here the othtr