The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-10

4
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work to do; aud it was during furious,
blocking storm which shut him indoors
that he portrayed so wildly the mise
rieS of Sir Eustace Gray.
Men of genius, with some exceptions,
are men of moods. Although Anthony
Trollope, who wrote with his watch be-
fore him one thousand words an hour
day after day, Knocked at the idea OF
an authors being subject to moods and
waiting until he is in the vein, or in
spired to write, before putting his
thoughts on paper-saying that shoe
maker might as well wait for moods
yet it is certain that almost all the
great writers have had oftentimes to
wait for inspiration. Especially true
| was this of Milton, Gray, Coleridge and
| Campbell. Even Alexander Pope, VINO
| had usually the facility of veteran
practitioner, complains in one of his
| letters that he had been waiting three
| weeks for his imagination; and his
| habit was to take instant advantage OF
| it when it came. Thackeray would
| sometimes scribble page after page OF
manuscript, only to tear them all up.
| Counting his mood in his way for an
| hour or two, when it Respondents 1t
| did very, suddenly sometimes-he would
/ dash off a dozen or more. pages at
sitting Hawthornes moods were cap
| ricious in the extreme Weeks would
pass in which his muse was as shy as
himself, and he could write scarcely a
paragraph which he thought wortn
preserving. Lowell, when he had any
literary work to do, used to walk about
the house talking to himself. He would
sometimes keep this up for days, and
then suddenly retire to his den.
When he reappeared the poem or essay
was done. ,..~
| Far different from the practice of
these writer's was that of the poet of
Rydal Mount. Although, when at his
best, the king of British poets since
Milton, Wordsworth wrote a deal OF
dreary verse. Soaring at times to the
4 highest heavens of invention, he at
Others crawled on all tours. DR.. john
son. who wrote rapidly, but made many
| corrections in his manuscript, ridiculed
| the belief of Gray that he could write
only in happy moments--a belief which,
of course, may be mere excuse for in
dolence But johnson, though colos-
sal worker, putting forth enormous
; logged energy, was yet most emphati'
| cally a man of moods, and had long
| spells of idleness. These We're mainly
constitutional. due to his scrofulous
disorder and hypochondriacal gloom
from the paralyzing effects of which
he. nobly struggled to escape. Alfred ds
Musset, when asked for copy for thu
Z Revue des Deux Mondes, would reply
Send me htIy francs and a D0ttle
. | brandy, or you will have none" Mex
= morning the proverbe required woul
: be finished, and the brandy also.
: In former days authors spent goo
: deal of midnight oil upon their produc
q tions; but to-day they wisely economic
: health and strenth, as we'll as money
q by using the morning hours and sun
= light. Schiller was a night worker, an
y so was George Sand, r. Lady of tn
y manor during the day devoted to he
guests, making preserves and doin
needlework, she took up her pen only ii
q | the hours Of darkness. 1t was at
. O'clock in the morning. when the cha
e teau was fast asleep, that her geniu
: awoke and gave to the world Con
suelo" Leila" and scores of other fas
a cinating works. Thomson, the poet o
III the seasons, wrote unseasonably a
> night, with a bowl of punch on thu
a table. There were two great imagina
a tive writer's, however Of ''the older
- time" who believed that the best worE
can be done. not in ''the midnight's
- chill and murk,' but under the health.
\ est conditions of fresh air, early hours
daylight and temperance-not absti.
nence. One of these was the author Of
Faust; the other, the creator Of
; ''Iyanhoe." Scott sat down at his desi
promptly at 6 o'clock every morning
and when the family were assembled
at breakfast had already, as he used
to say, broken the backbone of his
= work for the day. Victor Hugo, Dumas
; the younger and Lamartine We're also
: earyl risers. Balzac retired to rest ev.
!, cry evening at 6, rose at midnight, ant
I wrote till in the morning. After
breakfasting he resumed his pen till ;
> o'clock, after which walk for two
= hours and dinner at brought him agar
to his bedtime. DR.. Albert Barnes
t wrote the entire sixteen volumes of his
:. popular Notes on the New Testament
S between the hours of S and in the
= morning, when most writer's are hug.
S ging their pillows.
How is the best work done by au.
thors-under pressure, or slowly and de-
liberately, with great painstaking and
care? No sweeping rule can be laid
Il down on the subject of universal APP
plication. All directions for writing
must have respect to personal idiosyn-
crasies. While some men are paralyzed
d by hurry others work best and fastest
under pressure. Scores of writers car
Il testify that hurry and severe compress.
q sion form an instant, imperious sum-
mons that brooks no delay, not infre-
: quently furnishing the flint and stee
for eliciting sudden scntillations OF