Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-07-22
The Favorite Recreatfons of Men Who
Have Become Famous.

Have Become Famous.
Many eminent men have agreed with
Voltaire that amusement is the first
necessity of civilized man. "Vive la
bagatelle |" was Dean Swift's favorite
motto. He understood the value of
tritles. Man grows strong by rest as
well as toll. Talleyrand, in the inter
walls of ministerial work, played whist
Rohault, a Cartesian philosopher of
the seventeenth century, wandered
from shop to shop to observe the me-
chanics at labor. Goldsmith tells us
of a famous painter whose delight,
during his confinement in prison for
debt, consisted in drawing the faces of
his creditors in caricature. King Louis
MIL. of France spent much of his
time in catching small birds or making
jets-d'eau with quills. 1t is said Of
George Herbert that 1.-The one delight
Of his life in the way of recreation was
music, setting and singing his own
hymns and anthems to viol and lutte. "
Sir Joshua Reynolds used to amuse
himself in his last days with tame
bird The favorite recreations of tho
late Field marshal Count Won Moltko
were chess and whist, which he rarely
missed playing after dinner He was
also an authority on the culture of
roses, and possessed one of the finest
and most unique collections in Ger
many. Sir William Temple relaxed
his mind from the affairs of state by
clipping his apricots or cultivating his
tulips. Gardening was an exercise in
which he much indulged. Other
great men have also loved gardening !;
it was Martin Luther's favorite amuse-
ment. Archbishop Whately was seen
to most advantage at Redesdale, his
country seat near Dublin, gardening,
tree cutting. grating and romping
with his children and dogs. With him,
as with many eminent men, Bismarck,
Sir Walter Scott, Hogarth, Rubens,
Henry Irving, and others, dogs were
great favorites We all know how
Cowper cheered his melancholy hours
with the gambols of his pet hares.
Tiny, Puss and Bess." While Kepler
worked out the secret Of the heavenly
bodies, going over his calculations
sixty times, he now and then turned
aside to write almanacs for his daily
bread. So the weary worker took his
recreation. 1t used to be pet amuse-
ment with Moliere, the French dramat-
ist, to ensconce himself in the corner
of a BARRIERS shop and there silently
watch the air, gestures and grimaces
of the village politicians, who in those
days, before coffee houses were intro
duced into France, used to congregate
in this place of resort. The fruits of
this study may be easily discerned in
those original sketches of character,
from the middle and lower classes,
with which his pieces everywhere
abound, and which made his plays so
popular among his countryman. Kant,
the celebrated German philosopher,
found his only relaxation in daily
walks, during which he studied the
phenomena of nature. Some of the
most learned writer's have found their
relaxation in composing works on odd
subjects. Doctor johnson some ewhere
observes that it seems to have been in
all ages the pride of art to show how it
could exalt the low and amplify the
little. To this ambition perhaps we
owe the frogs of Homer, the bees of
Virgil, the butterfly of Sponsor. the
quincunx of Sir Thomas Browne, and
the little celandine" of Wordsworth.