The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-02-17
pRODIGIOUs MEMORIES.
glo-entinc's Great Feat-Other Wonder
fui Feats.
from Golden Hours. ]

L
from Golden Hours.
There have been instances Of men
and women who possessed prodigious
memories, and among the foremost OF
these stands Magliabechi, who was
born in Florence, Italy, in 1869.
He was a poor boy, with SO little edu-
cation that he could barely read and
write, yet he spent all his time reading
all the books he could lay hands on.
He remembered not only the sense OF
what he read, but also the entire con-
tents of the book word for word, and
often the very manner Of spelling.
William Woodfall, an Englishjourn-
alist Of the eighteenth century, used to
get through g long debate in the House
Of Commons without making a single
note, and afterward write out full aud
faithful account of the proceedings,
which sometimes extended to sixteen
columns.
Doctor Johnson, the Ursa Major OF
English literature, had prodlglous
memory, and at one period Of his life
employed it like Woodfall in reporting
parliamentary debates. Once, when
Doctor Hawkesworth read to him a
poem which he intended to publish,
asked his opinion of it, ''Why, SIR"
said Johnson, 'I cannot well determine
on a first hearing. Read it again"
Hawke5worth complied. the next
morning the subject of the poem being
resumed Johnson said he had but one
objection to it-that he doubted its
originality; and to prove his statement
repeated the wb de poem, with the ex-
ception of few lines, which so alarmed
Hawkesworth that ne declared he
would never again rad anything ofhis
composing tc Johnson, who, he said,
had a memo.y which would convict
any author of plagiarism.
vOLTAIRE ASTONISUED.
4 somewhat similar story is told OF
La Note, F:erchman, to whom Vol
tsire read tragedy, in five acts.
"Your tragedy is excellent" said La
Motto, iexcept that you have allowed
yourself to borrow from the second
scene in the fourth act, and, to prove
it, T shall rv@!;c this same scene, which
pleased ME so much when first heard
it that I committed it to memory"
And thereupon he repeated, word for
word, the whole scene.
Voltaire and the company present
were astonished. After La Motto had en-
joyed himself awhile at their expense
he said:
MAKE yourself easy, sir; the scene is
your own. But While you were read
ing it, it struck ne as 50 beautiful that
r could not resist the pleasure Of COM
mitting it to memory
Cardinal Mezzofanti used his wonder-
ful memory in mastering languages,
and was so successful that he could
speak ffty-two with hardly any trace
of foreign accent.
Professor Porson Of Oxford, the great
Greek scholar, had an astonishing
memory, even in his youth. When
ne was boy at school another boy bor-
rowed his copy of Horace, and, when
about to return it, he dexterously sub
stituted an Ovid in its stead. When
the master called upon young Porson
to read and corstrue from Horace, he
walked up to the desk and began to
rattle off the text and translation until
the master, stopping him, said:
"Why, Porson, you seem to be read
ing from one side Of the page and !
from the other. Let me see your
book"
To the astonishment he found it was
Ovid. Not in the least disconcert ed,
Person went on to the end.
At another time, upon q visit TO a
gentleman's house, he treated the guests
to a translation, without book, of an
Italian tale he had just read, and al
though there were above thirty names
in the book, be mentioned every one Of
them.
! WHOLE NEWSPAPER COMMITTED.
George Frederick Cooke, the TRACE
dian, committed to memory the whole
contents Of a newspaper in eight hours.
But his feat was eclipsed by that of
man who waited on a Dutch minister
Of state to display his memory. AS a
proof he took up newspaper which
happened to be lying on the table, and,
after reading it through repeated its en-
tire contents.
1.-THE persons present were astonished
at this remarkable feat, what was their
amazement when he repeated the whole
thing backward.
The Emperor Claudius is said to have
retained in his memory all of Homer,
Sallust, Demosthenes and Aristotle's
metaphysics. Tully and Seneca never
forgot anything. Cyrus is said to have
known the names of all bis soldiers;
and Nitliridates, who ruled over twen-
ty-two Kingdoms and tribes, could ad-
dress them all in their own language
without an interpreter.
Coming down to more recent times,
Joseph Scaliger said he learned Homer
in ten days, and all the Geek poets in
four months; and Lord Gre,'E lille knew
the Greek Testament from the begin
ming Of Matthew 10 the end of Revela-
tions.
Lord M&caulcy is said TO have had q
pro6igious memory, and certainly any