The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1894-02-15
MISERIEs OF THE GREAT.
Nero had bullying :eyes and was ve


by the gloom of insanity.
| Julius Cesar had weak digestion and
was subject to epileptic fits.
Cervantes was always poor and con-
stantly annoyed by his creditors.
Milton was blind in his old age and
often lacked the comforts of life.
Mary was rendered unhappy by her
marriage with Philip of Spain.
Peter the Great was half crazy most
Of his life through drink and rage.
Lie Sage was poor all his life. In old
age he was dependent on his son.
Mohammed was an epileptic and his
visions were those of a diseased mind.
Gibbon had the govt. He became so
stout that he could not dress himself.
Bacon was avaricious, and his greed
for money finally led to his disgrace.
Tasso was miserably poor most of his
days. His miseries finally drove him
mad.
Selden was once committed to prison
for his attacks on the divine rights of
kings.
Palestrina lived in extreme poverty
most of his days, and finally died in
great want.
Charlemagne had an ulcer in his leg
that gave him much annoyance for
many years.
johnson was near>sighted and his face
much disdgured by scars resulting from
scrofula
Coke was quarrelsome and passed his
life in almost continual war with his
associates.
Byron was club footed and the fact
was source of constant misery to him
all his life
Dante passed most of his life as an ex
lie frou the only city in which he cared
to live.
Newton's great regret was lack of
time to complete the work he had laid
out for his life task.
Edward l. of England was annoyed by
his great height His subjects dubbed
him Long Shanks.
Nine. Sevigne wanted to be very
beautiful, and often lamented her lack
of personal charms.
Vondel, the great Dutch, dramatist.
was poor all his life, and was finally
buried by charity
Voltaire was rendered miserable by
his envy of those more fortunately situ>
ated than himself.
George ". was greatly vexed for
years by carbuncles en- his face, caused
by secret drinking.
Mary Queen of Scots became bald in
middle life and was forced to hide the
hlemish with wig.
Hayden had scolding wife. He
finally was compelled to leave her in
order to secure little peace.
Leonardo Da Vinci was made misera-
able by his amours, and was finally
poisoned by one of his mistresses.
Charles XII. of Sweden was ungov-
ernably rash. He often regretted his
impetuosity, but never reformed it.
Sterne was kept in constant vexation
by the reviewers, who could not look
with favor ON anything he wrote.
Churchill was very.restive under crit
icism, and was constantly in a rage
about some hostile notice of his poems.
Socrates was greatly annoyed by the
ISLANDERS of his enemies, who accused
him of being possessed by deyil
Galileo suffered imprisonment on ac-
count of his devotion to science. His
old age was darkened by great poverty.
Bunyan passed twelve years in jail,
and during that time supported himself
while writing "Pilgrim's Progress"
Corneille would have died of want had
not Louis XIV accidently heard of his
condition and sent him sum of money.
Roger Bacon's love of philosophy
proved his bane, for all his life he was
suspected of familiar intercourse with
the devil.
Bach's eyes failed completely in his
later years and his last work. the Art of
Fugue, remains unfinished on that &C
COUNT.
Henry VIII. was for years troubled
with constantly recurring carbuncles
Their number and yirulence finally
killed him.
Disraeli the author of the "Curiosities
of LITERATURE ruined his eyes by his
indefatigable studies and became almost
blind.
Louis XVIII. was very fat, and much
ashamed of his infirmity, as he knew he
it subjected him to constant ridicule in
Paris.
Handel became blind in his old age.
but the fact did not prevent his contin-
uing the series of oratorios that made
him immortal.
Alexander the Great had a hereditary
tendency of drunkenness that imbitter-
ed his whole life. His father was very
Incorporate.
Mozart, in spite of his wonderful gen
ius, was often in great poverty. He
literally died of want and was buried in
the potter's field.
Philip LIE Bel of France was one of the
ugliest men of his time and conscious of
the fact. The name was applied to him
in ridicule.
La Fontaine found his heavy, course
appearance serious disadvantage. He
| once said. stT do wish [ looked like a