The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-10-27
AGES OF AUTHORS
Forty Years or Younger.

sense pecause OF her young writer's. L
J is impossible to write well before th
sge of forty" M. Renan is bette
Judge OF the condition of letters in hi
own country than anyone on this side o.
the Atlantic. He is man of wide cul-
ture and an author who, as a philosi phi
cal writer, occupies a high position il
the world of book making. French
literature is not what il was quarter O,
century ago. Compare the writer's o
today with those of that period. No
one, not all of them, is equal to Balzao OF
Hugo. And Dumas, the elder, is beyond
their reach. The gulf between the two il
would be hard to measure.
But is that other assertion made
by M. Renan, that it is impossible tc
write we'll before one Is 40 years of age
strictly true? This is one OF those ques.
ons which 1t is easy to determine, be.
cause it is not difficult matter to array
facts and draw conclusions. Undoubted-
ly the strength of a mantle full fruit.
ion of his mental powers-reaches its
climax, as rule, during the decade be.
tween the age of 40 and so. It is also
true that many of the worlds greatest
literary treasures were written after the
author had reached his 50th year. In
some cases even the Goth mile post on
the journey to the grave had been passed.
But it 8 not true that as a general rule
authors have been unable to accomplis h
great results before the age of 40. Let us
take retrospective glance over the
history of literature. 1t will be interest.
ing and instructive.
Cervantes, the great Spaniard was so
years of age when he finished Don
Quixote. He wrote it during an inprs
onment.
Dante was also so years old when he
com pleted his Commedia.
| Manzoni, Italy's greatest novel writer,
wrote The Betrothed when he was 43.
In Germany, Goethe wrote, his Sorrows
OF Werther when he was 90. The de.
hshtful book made the young author fam
ous at once. He wrote his celebrated
drama Goetez Won Bsrlichingen when he
! was "a; his Iphegenie at 80, Egmont at so,
| Wilhelm Meister at Al, ana his majestic
dramatic poem, Faust, when he was 56. He
had been planning Faust in his mind for
many years previous, but it was put in
form and completed when the great Ger
man philosopher and poet had passed the
meridian of life.
Schiller was l9 when he wrote The Rob
bers, and 26 when he composed Don
Carlos.
Lessing was 81 when he wrote the great
critique, The Laocoon; 43 when he wrote
his tragedy, Emelia Golotti; 46 when he
gave 20 the world his charming comedy,
Minna Won Bernheim.
Heinrich Heine, wit, poet, satirist and
philosopher, composed his first lyrics at
22-his Youthful Sorrows. At 26 he wrote
his celebrated Reisebilder-Pictures of
Travel.
We come nov to the authors OF NJ.
Remains own ncountry-FTance. Moliere,
the greatest of French dramatists, gave to
the world his plays ut the following age:
Les Precieusee Ridicules at 81, L'Ecole des
Femtnes at 40, Tartuffe at ~ and lie Mis-
anthrope, his masterpiece, at d5.
Racine, another great dramatist, ex
ceiling in the field of tragedy, wrote An
dromaque when he was %, Iphegenie en-
Aulids at 35, Phaedre AT 3S and his best
tragedy, Athalie, at 81.
Corneille, great poet and dramctist,
wrote Nellie at %, the Cid at 81, a per.
feet work, and at 81 he wrote his finest
tragedy, Polyeucte.
Voltaire was "a when he composed
Gdipe and SO when he wrote Zaire.
Rosseau wrote not much of any impor-
tance before he was 81 and then it was an
essay for prize offered by the academy
at Dijor, which he won and became cele-
brated. H penned his Julie at 45 and
his Heloise at AZ.
Victor Hugo wrote volume OF odes
and ballads at 20, Marion de L'Orme at
20, Ruy Bias at SO, Les Miserables, his
greatest work, at 60, and the Toilers of
the Sea at sc.
Dumas, the elder, was % when he wrote
The Three Musketeers and AZ when he
wrote the Count of Monte Cristo.
Balzac gave to France his Physiology
of Marriage at 81, and his Comedie HUI
maine, including Pers Goriot, Cousin
Pons, Eugenie Grandet, ETC., after he was
35.
lie Sage composed his Gil Bias at the
age of AZ.
The history of English literature shows
a ripening of genius at very early age.
It ia interesting TO read Nj. Ia ne's his
tory of English literature if only to find
a Frenohman's reasons for this remark
able blossoming of the higher forms of
the intellect. Carlyle wrote Sartor Re-
sa1tus at 80, the French Revolution at AZ.
Robert Burns is an exception to all
rules. He was divine genius. Shake
speare is also an exception. Hs likewise
wrote his oor Maillie's Elegy and John
Barleycorn at 19, and all of mis- best work
WAS done before he was %.
At the age of 20 Shakespeare wrote
his Lucrece. His Venus and Adonis was
composed at an earlier age. When he
had reached 80, many OF lis best dramas
had been written, Richard Ill, Merchant
of Venice, Midsummer Nights Dream,
Richard III, and Ais Well That Ends
Well. At 40 he wrote Hamlet.
Bacon was 40 when he wrote the Wis
dom of the Ancients, and past 60 when
he finished his Noyum Organum.
Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, Sc; The
Traveller, 36; The Good Natured Man, 80;
Roman History, Il; She Stoops to Con-
quer, A; History of Animated Nature, 46.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 40; The SEN
timental Journey, 55.
Fielding, Love in Several Mosques, 20;
Joseph Andrews, So; Jonathan Wild, 36;
Tom Jones, ~.
Byron wrote Childe Harold when he
was %.
Milton l., Alleu ro III PenserosoI Comma |