The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-04-09
RRITrYN pY cKANcE.
origin Of Famous Books-Poverty d spt
20 Authorship.

20 Auihprahith
There are some celebrated books
which have been produced under such
circumstances that they owe their exis-
tence primarily to u happy combination
OF events, for which the author was not
Responsible, says the New York MGR
curry. In most OF. II not all, the In
stances enumerated below It Is morally
certain that but for tho fortuitoua con-
Junction OF circumstances the author
would never have conceived the design
which he afterward executed and the
world would have been correspondlngly
poorer.
It Is. Of course. obvious that II IA
nous author like Victor Hugo, who as
q child was extremely delicate. had died
IN infancy there would have been no
Les Miserables" and that II Laurence
from the mill dam. into which he fell,
there would have been no 'rristram
Shapdy," Equally obvious ia 1t that
many books would never have existed
X the events which they. deseTibe had
NOT happened. But there are several
Interesting examples apart from these.
Such was the case with Creasy's ''De-
clslve Battle OF the World" that store
house or Interest to oil boys. The author
states that the idea OF this work was
suggested to him by reading foot note
In Italian relating to the battle OF
Tours, OF which the great constitutions
al historian said that, had the Issue of
the battle been otherwise. the history
OF the world must have been essentially
varied. TT was the perus& of this
note" to use Sir Edward Creasy's own
words, chat ArSt led me to the consid-
Grafton OF my present subject; and
thus 1t appears that but Tor a passing
reelection made by Hailam, Creasys
book would never have seen the light.
Another case In point is THE Pill
griin's Progress" The world undoubt-
eddy owes the existence Of that work to
the Imprisonment Of its author. The
dream which suggested the allegory to
Bunyan was dreamed in prison; the en-
consignment which he received to pros
ecute his labors was given by a prison.
err; and his enforced idieness gave him
that leisure Indispensable to the execu-
.tioR OF his design. 'The History Of the
World" q book OF some importance In
It's day, was written by Sir Walter Raj
eigh, to while away the tedIum OF a
long imprisonment.
IT Is not generally recognized that the
production Of Paradise Lost" depended
upon the combination OF two events
the authors blindness and the fall Of
the protectorate; yet such Is the. case.
This work, though conceived in early
life, was not taken up I'll blindness
overlook the poet and made impossible
two other undertakings dearer to his
heart-the compilation of Latin die
tionary and the history Of his own conn
try. Yet even the loss OF sight did not
distract his thoughts from public at
fairs and II was only the fall Of the
commonwealth, which deprived him at
once Of office, public duties and income,
that stimulated him to vigorously car
ry his masterpiece to completion. Thus,
had not the restoration taken place.
Milton would have had no leisure to ex-
ecute his conception, or had his eye
sight not failed him he would rather
have devoted his energies to compiling
a Latin dictionary than to writing an
epic. In this instance the poets loss
was the worlds gain.
Poverty has at all times been q fine
spur to authorship. Thackeray was first
led to take up novel writing for a living,
as by his own confession had he had In
dependent means he would never have
written at all. Or. johnson was gem
ius whose necessity has increased the
sum Of human pleasure, of which truth
one example VIII suffice The entertain
ing "Rasselas' was written In the ev-
enlnGs of single week, with the sole
object Of defraying the cost OF his
mothers burial and paying of her few
outstanding debts. 1t has been stated
In the newspapers that Uncle Toms
Cabin" was written In order to enable
the authoress to obtain silk dress.
The existence OF the Waverly novels
hung for awhile in the balance. The
first of the series 'Waverly," was writ
ten by Sir Walter Scott anonymously
as an experiment. 1t is very possible
that, had its reception been adverse, the
subsequent books would never have
been written.
We are indebted to the enterprise OF
the publishers for Moore's Italia
poet when Messrs. LOngmans approach
ed him with an offer OF 1000 pounds for
a poetical production, the subject to be
chosen by the author. With such an in-
ducement--for Moore was compare
lively Door mamie buried himself In
a country house In Derbyshire, satura-
ted his mind with oriental facts aRd i'm.
agery, and produced a work SO true
to nature that It was translated into
Persian and sung in the streets Of 1spa-
han.
Many Instances could also be given
OF chance sight or sound Which has
resulted In a well-known composition.
The sight OF pIowman pboddlng his
homewRrd way. while Gray sat alone In
the churchyard Of Stoke Pogis inspired
his Immortal "Elegy:" the sound of
bell on a winters night gave Poe an
Idea which he expressed in THE Bells"