The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-20


fore that Tom Moore's mental weak |
ness, which ended in softening of the |
brain and imbecility was manifest at |
a little earlier age than Emerson's. |
Moore quit writing at Sc with the larg- |
est work of his life, THE History of |
Ireland" in four volumes. His most |
brilliant period was the early two years |
from So to 81. This was the time of
"Lalla Rookh," when he was striving
for money and a name. Hugo, in Fra
nes, was then writing novels against
Scott, and Moore undertook "Lalla
Roolth'' in competition with his poem
"Rokeby." Scott seemed to be the
standard of the world. Nearly thirty
years earlier than with Emerson and
Moore Tasso's mental malady set in.
He had just finished "Gerusalemme Lii
berta" at 32.
Hazlitt, Coleridge. De Quincy and
De Maupassant show us the penalty
men pay who stimulate their energies
to excess Coleridge in his closing years
produced nothing. He had recovered
somewhat from his opium habit, though
not entirely. The power of brilliant
conversation. however, he retained to
the last, though his talks We're much
interrupted, says Leigh Hunt. and in
Il feebler voice than formerly. De
quincy seems to have borne up under
opium and laudanum better than Cole
ridge, and the long series of articles
which he contributed to Blackwoods
shortly before his death are about as
good as anything he did at an earlier
date These articles We're written af-
ter a long absence from work, and
though there was no gradual decline
in De QuincyS power or sudden falling
off toward the close, while this period
of idleness lasted he appears to have
lost his mental grip and then suddenly
to have regained it, Chaucer expert
enced somewhat similar weakness
just prior to his last revival Hazlitt
was a little beyond so when he wrote
his Life of Napoleon" and was then
going swiftly down hill He made
some sDurts that recalled his old time
splendor, but the book was disappoint-
ing. Dissipation and despair had done
their work. De Maupassant gave way
little earlier than Hazlitt, and very
suddenly, at Al but up to this time
there was no indication of weakness.
He lived two years more and died not
| long ago, an imbecile in an insane asy-
| lum.
| SHAKESPEARE'S PRIME
Shakespeare is thought to have been
on his highest level from 40 to AZ, when
he wrote "Othello," Lear" and Mac
| beth" Hamlet" introduced this peri
cd and Julius Caesar" followed it,
THE Tempest" was done at 4S. Moli-
ere is also most efficient just about this
time, LIE Hartuffe" having been writ
ten between the middle of his forty
first and that of his forty-second year.
Schiller's "Wallenstein," which is con-
ceded to place him nearer Shakespeare
than either of his other dramas, was
done a little before 4O about the age
when Shakespeare was engaged on
Hamlet" and "Othello." His lung
trouble developed at this time and
killed him six years later In the sha-
dow of death his mind was clear and
strong-likely more so than at any
other time. MANY things" he said
then, ARE growing plain and clear to
/ my understanding"
Chaucer began late and made an al
most unbroken ascent from As to g.
| when he finished the Canterbury
Tales" Before 70 there was a per-
ceptible decline. The labor expended
on Canterbury" seems to have broken
his health, as on it's completion he be-
came physically weak and remained
so to the end. But it is worth noting
that on his deathbed Chaucers mind
gathered new strength, and while ir
his last sickness at 72 some of his bes
verses We're written. Fourteen years
beyond this Humboldt is putting the
finishing strokes to his Cosmos" He
conceived the plan of this bSok way
along in the 7O's and finished it MOI
Go, OBJ
possibly most vigorous at 5S. 1t was
at that age he gave his celebrated lee.
lures in Berlin lasting six months, OF
the physical description of the world
At 5S Cervantes finished up the frs
part of Don Quixote" and did nothing
so good afterward. He lived nine year.
longer Humboldt goes twenty-sever
. years beyond this, which is precisely
the whole length of Chaucer's poetic
life.
CONCERNING ANGELO.
No one has outdone Michael Angelo
in old age. Humboldt ceased at S5
but we find Angelo reaching fou
years further on and touching th
verge of 80. At II he drew the design
for the rebuilding of st. Peters anc
superintended that work till he was s!
years, when he died. And during tn
first four years that he gave to thi
design, which has been a revelation
of genius to all that have seen it, h
: painted his masterpiece. THE Con
version of st. Paul" In the ten year
preceding he did THE Martyrdom o
st. Paul. and "rhe Last Judgment.
The last thirty years of Angeles lif
are really the best of it. He died il
harness at nearly 80, with the strang
!. regret that he should have fallen s.
young. Titan lived to a greater ag
than Michael Angelo, almost reaching
his one hundredth year. The though
of death never troubled Titan. TT
= so far Off" he said, there will b
= = plenty of time to think of it by an
by" He thought he was quite youn
= at so and promised himself twent
= = more years of hard labor. At IS he fin
= ished his "Martyrdom of st. Lorenzo,
. the last of that long list of great paint
= inGs that Titan executed. At so h
set to work on The Last Supper" bu
= had not gone far-about one year
:, when he saw that his ideal was escap
: ing him. The old man turned from hi
, | work in despair but afterward re
|, sumed it, and was 81 years old whe
. he finished that picture. 1t is called
), masterpiece, but Titan himself did nc
- think so.
Stradivarius made his last violin i
), 1886, when he was 81. His sight faile
= at So, but still he made fiddles. At al
c most 100 this man, who had neve
known rest and who at the same tim
n had never worked excessively, sper