THE LITERARY LABOURS OF GENIUS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1249, 6 February 1896, Page 9

THE LITERARY LABOURS OF GENIUS.

THE PRICE OF FAME. Pope, when translating Homer, considered from fifty to one hundred lines to be a fair day's work. The completion of the Iliad require 1 over three years. Fox spoke without apparent forethought, and once said that he never wasted an hour in preparing to speak before such a body as the English Commons.

Borke spent at least eighteen months in reading, writing and study for his great speech on Warren Hastings. All his orations were prepared with great care. Thackeray would produce, under pressure, a novel in six or eight months. He did not like to work, and, as he stated, only did so under compulsion. The composition of the first part of Goethe's " Faust "was done at odd intervals during nearly twenty years ; the preparation of the second part continued over twenty-six. Sheridan is said to have finished " The Rivals '* in six weeks. The story is commonly believed to have been true, and the incidents to have occurred in his own experience. Prescott, being almost blind, required ten years to prepare " Ferdinand and Isabella"; the "Conquest of Mexico" required six years, and the " Conquest of Peru," four. Balzac considered that ho was wasting time if he devoted more than six months to any one of his longer stories. He frequently finished a novel in less than three.

De Quincy commonly wrote one of his essays in a week. He never hurried himself, and wrote slowly to avoid what to him was the disgraceful task of revision. Steele is said to have written the " Conscious Lovers" in seven weeks, and afterward spent as much more time in recasting the play, the better to adapt it to the stage. Watts required but a few minutes, as a general thing, to produce a hymn. His paraphrases of the Psalms were - done at odd moments and in the intervals of other business.

Dumas pere often finished a novel in less than a month. Some of his more pretentious works, however, required from four to six months, in order to complete and revise them properly. Chaucer's biographer says that about five years were consumed in the composition of the " Canterbury Tales/' This, of course, comprised the necessary time for making the revisions. Hood wrote " The Bridge of Sighs " in, it is said, a single afternoon. Another account declares it to have been written in a day and that much time was subsequently spent in revising it. Douglas Jerrold is said to have devoted but a few hours to the preparation of each one of his " Caudle Lectures."

Shelley spent between one and two years on Queen Mab. He wrote very slowly, and was particular in the choice of words, his manuscript showing frequent erasures and substitutions.

Allison is said to have consumed twentyfour years in the preparation of his History of Europe, but many important literary enterprises were also carried on by him during this time. Hobbes spent two years in the preparation of his " Leviathan." It is said to have been printed just as it came from hid hands, with scarcely any erasure or change in the manuscript. Bunyan took the otherwise unemployed hours of three years to finish " Pilgrim's Progress," which was written almost entirely in Bedford gaol. The " Holy War " required but one year. The manuscript of Gray's "Elegy" remained in the author's hands seven years, receiving touches here and there, and would not have been printed then had not a copy loaned to a friend been printed. Wolfe is said to have written " The Burial of Sir John Moore " in one evening, directly after the news had been brought of the defeat at Corunna and the death of the gallant British officer. Dryden worked irregularly, but considered that his daily task ought to comprise from 100 to 400 lines of verse. Coleridge required a week to produce each one of his remarkable lectures on Shakespeare. Like many other authors, he consumed more time in revision than in actual composition.

Byron spent the leisure hours of nearly four years in the preparation of the first two cantos of " Childe Harold."

Locke is said to have spent over six years in the preparation of his essay on the " Human Understanding." Francis Jeffrey commonly spent two or three weeks on each one of his articles in the Edinburgh Review. Grote is reported to have spent fifteen years in the work of preparing and writing his " History of Greece." Spenser, from first to last, consumed four years of tolerably steady labour in the preparation of the " Faerie Queen." Mulhall, the great statistician, devoted neai'ly thirty years to the preparation of his" Dictionary of Statistics." Goldsmith wrote " The Vicar of Wakefield " in six weeks. It is said to have been a story of his own recollections. Charles Lamb would write one of his essays in an evening, after a day spent at his desk in the East India Office.

Newton spent over eight years in experiments and the collection of data for his " Principles of Natural Philosophy." Young wrote his " Night Thoughts " in less than six weeks, as a means of comforting himself under his bereavement. Machiavelli was many years in gathering material for " The Prince," but the actual work of writing was done in six months.

Baxter, it is said, kept the manuscript of the " Saint's Everlasting Rest" in his hands for thirteen years, revising and condensing. Bryant is said to have written " Thanatopsis "in a week. The work of translating " Homer" consumed four or five of his best years. Hazlitt, after the necessary work of preparation had been concluded, wrote one lecture a week of the series " Lectures on Authors."

Fielding is said to have written " Tom Jones "in three months. The work was written as a satire on one of Richardson's novels.

Montgomery, the famous hymn writer, required but a single afternoon to prepare one of his magnificent paraphrases of the Psalms. Hannah More is said to have written one of her " Essays on Female Education "in two weeks. She did not spend much time in revision.

Macaulay, from the inception of the plan to the time when the work was cut short, spent eight or nine years on his " History of England."

Wordsworth would write one or two sonnets every day. When engaged on "The Excursion " he produced from 150 to 200 lines a day. Cowper required three days for the production of "John Gilpin." He revised the work very carefully, almost rewriting many of its lines. Longfellow turned out about one volume of poems a year for many years ; nearly four years were required for his translation of " Dante."

Hume spent fifteen years in collecting materials and writing his " History of England," and two years more in revising and correcting it. Cooper is said to have written " The Spy "in less than six months. Most of his stories were founded on legends well known in his neighbourhood. Cariyle, it is said, required about ten months to complete " Heroes and Hero Worship." This time comprised also that of the necessary reading. Tennyson required two or three years to produce one of his longer poems, although the work of revision consumed a greater part of the time. Sterne is reported to have spent nine months in writing " Tristram Shandy," the work being frequently interrupted by other literary engagements. Johnson, it is said, wrote his "Rasselas" in the evenings of one week, in order, by the sale of the manuscript, to defray the funeral expenses of his mother.

De Foe is said to have written " Robinson Crusoe" in six months. Ho wrote rapidly, as may be judged from the immense quantity of his political writings. Cowley wrote very rapidly. Most of his short poems were each composed in a day or less. He often wrote and finished a poem in a single forenoon. Addison usually prepared one of his essays in a day. Bulwer Ly tton usually composed a novel in about six months. Dumas fils usually required about six months to write a story. Motley took six years to write " The Rise of the Dutch Republic." Robertson required six years to prepare his " History of Charles V." Samuel Butler required two and onehalf years to finish his " Hudibras." Sputhey is said to have written " Thalaba the Destroyer" in six months. Eugene Sue required eighteen months to reproduce the " Wandering Jew." Campbell composed his poem, " The Battle of Hohenlinden," in a single day. Mrs Browning commonly wrote one of her short poems at a single sitting. Tasso required between five and six years to write his " Jerusalem Delivered." Mrs Hemans commonly devoted two or three days to a short story or poem. Schiller is said, by one of his biographers, to have finished "The Robbers" in a month. Swift employed the odd hours of over two years in work on the " Tale of a Tub." Thompson required three years of time to write, revise, and finish " The Seasons." Dante began his poem, " The Divine Comedy," almost thirty years before he finished it. Holland is said to have spent the leisure hours of over three years in writing " Kathrina,"

Hawthorne spent from six months to a year in the composition of each of his romances. Hallani consumed thirteen years in collecting the materials for his " Literature of Europe." Richardson, the novelist, generally devoted two or three years to the composition of a novel. Jeremy Taylor commonly took the last three days of the week to finish his sermon for Sunday. ' % Sir Thomas' More devoted the leisure hours of over three years to the writing of his " Utopia." Lord Brougham commonly spent three or four weeks in study before writing a great speech. Von Ranke is said to have devoted nearly thirty years to his great work, " The Lives of the Popes." George Eliot is said to have written " Middlemarch " in four months. Some doubt is thrown upon this statement by the fact that she commonly worked slowly, writing with great care and deliberation, and making few erasures after her work was done. —St. Louis Globe ! Democrat.