WHIMS OF GREAT MEN.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 25 June 1904, Page 13

WHIMS OF GREAT MEN.

Study tho private lives of nil truly great men, both present and past. It i« not difllciilt to determine that nil of them, to a greater or less degree, furnished material of tho " odd and eccentric" kind. Cardinal Richelieu found pletmnrc ftiul nmusemont in 'jumping nntl leaping with boys. Oliver Cromwell woinoHines coat a«ido his Puritnn gravity and played at blinchmui'l bull with his daughtcix and attendants ; Henri Quutro delighted to go about in disguise with tho peasantry. Cowper occupied a givat deal of his time in making bird-cages and in feeding and curing foe his hares. Dr. Johnson was so fond of his cats that ho would even go out himself to buy oysters for them, his (servants being too proud to di> so. (Joetho dcbniscd doRH, but ho kent a tamo snake, tiray expressed tho wish to bo a i ways on a sofa loading new novels, and Fenton, tho eminent scholar, died from pheer inactivity ; ho ros~ lute, mid when he had risen sat down to his books and nHnors. A woman who waited upon him in his lodgings said that he would he abed and be fed with a apoon. Contrary to this, was tho example of Sir Walter Scott, who wrolo nil his finest works befovo bieakfust. Spinoza delighted to set spiders lighting, and wofilcf laugh immoderately at beholdints their insect warfare, and Anthony Maglmbeeolii, the famous librarian to the Duke of Tuscany, took a great interest in tho spiders which thronged his apartments, and while sitting nniong his mountain of books would cautiou visitors "not to hurt uuy spiders." When ho felt that he needed a little activity, the gro.it logician, Samuel Clarke, would leap over tablts and chair*, and it was not. infrequent that tho upholsterer had 1 to bo called in to repuu damages. Tycuo Uraho diverted hiniseif with polishing • glasses for spcetacks Former President Cleveland would quit talking politics any tinio to go fishing; and so it was with" Paley, tho nul^ior'of " Natural Theology," who was so much given to angling that he had his portrait painted with rod and line in hand. Louis XVI., of sad memory, amused hiimetf picking lopks, while Snlvatnre Rosa performed in extempore comedies, taking tho character of a mountebank in the streets of Rome. Charles ll. 's most innocent amusement consisted in feeding tho ducks in St. James's Park, and in rearing numbers of those beautiful spaniels which still hear his namo. Ifc was difficult for Beethoven to be free from a cold, from tho fact that bo delighted in .splashing in cold water at all times of tho day, swamping his chamber until the water 00/.cd throngh the Hiring to the rooms beneath. He would also walk out in tho dewy fields without stockings or shoes. Shelley could spend an entire day floating little- paper boats on any water ho chanced to bo near. Poor "Goldsmith's "oddities and eccentricities" wcic chiefly dandyisms, and th* &lory of his p.»nchblossom coat is. known the world over. Montaigne had an alorsion for Friday, and, whilo he preferred odd numbers, lie would not sit down to a table with thirteen people. Friday was always a black day in Myron's calendar, but Byron believed in omens, dreams, supernatural appearances, apparitions, presentiments, and till such. He Miceumbod before tho weakest prejudices, and afforded proof that even tho strongest intellects have always their weak wide. Hobbcs did not believe in God, but ho kept a lisjht burning: in his bedroom all iiight, being afraid of tho dark. Rousseau was, another who was afraid of the dark, and the approach of night brought only terror to liim. Before retiring r,l night, Sir Samuel jßoinilly always looked under tho bed, to see if any o'ue was concealed there. lie dreaded to sea night come. Great M.urioiK have boen afraid of thunder. Cir-sar wua almostthrown into convulsions by it, and St. Thomas Aquinas suffered gieatly in thunder.sloinis. Q>ieen Kli/abeth, Tallo.yr.uid, and others could not bear to have the word ''death" uttered in their presence. Marshal Sa.xe, who overthrew aiuiies. fled at bight of a cat. — Kansas City, U.A