LITERARY SPENDTHRIFTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17534, 29 March 1919, Page 9

LITERARY SPENDTHRIFTS

MADE VAST SUMS, BUT GAVE ALL AWAY I The elder Dumas probably made mors mbnev by his pen than any writer who ever lived, and he spent the money he .earned with equal freedom. It is-even said that he kept a dish of gold, us others at tha-t period might have kept a bowl of punch, for his friends to dip into and help themselves. He placed no value upon money, and would gn a t a handful of loose coins away to a beggar. Certainly his friends never appeaiexJ to him in vain. He was generous to " & fault. . Just suoh another by nature was Goldsmith. Whilst he was studying medicine at Leyden he lost all the money his uncle had provided at the gamb-hng-table, and a fellow student and countryman, Ellis, thinking he would be utterly, ruined if he stayed in the town, offered him his fare back to Ireland. This Goldsmith accepted, but was immediately struck with the idea that he ought to show gratitude to His uncle for much. kindness, and so, the tulip mania being at its height, he expended the whole of s money in bulbs. '.'■■' Again reduced to poverty, h* starred on foot for a tour through Europe with one clean shirt f a flute, ajnd a guinea as provision for his journey! His unofficial epitaph was that he was the be3t loved and most "trusted" man in Loadqn, for he died in <$ebt to all his friends arid mourned -by all the-beggars and Cadgers of the town. SIR WALTER'S EXTRAVAGARCE. ') It is a big Btpp from Goldsmith to Scott, for they are as dissimilar as two men of genius can be. But Scott, although canny like all his countrymen, Was a very lavish spender of money. He made prodigious sums by his writings, but during the years of his greatest , prosperity, say, 1811 to 1825, he spent it faster than he made it, and was often paid for his work before it was finished. He made the mistake ofj imagining that ihe had an inexhaustible gold-mine in hia brain on which he could count for unfailing supplies. • ■ j . The amount he spent upon Abbot<*- / £ord was prodigious. The building and furnishing of this shrine of aenius be came a mania with him, and even the land on which it stands was \ acquired piecemeal at ridiculous cost. The great H&arbnial residence was built at fabaiI'Ous expense, and then Scott set himself to fill it with antiquarian a»d historical relics, for which he gave any price whioh was asked. The place'be• came a show where he entertained the greatest men of Europe with princely/ hospitality. • The story of his herMo struggle >fco pay his debts is too well known to need recapitulation. £60;000 FOR PICTURES. ■ ' •''.■'►• '.'■"■ • • George Mori and, whose "Interior oV a_ Stable" is one of the treasures of th* National Gallery, was a terrible spendthrift;. Dealers literally sat upon the doorstep whilst he painted and carried off the canvases wet from the easel, aid' for a time h« made a very big income, But he lived lavishly, kept a dozan horses, was surrounded by a horde of sponging comrades, and, after being imprisoned several times for debt, dr;d 1 miserably at an early age. ! Lawrence was in most respects the rery opposite of Morland, being a m&n of polished and gentle manners, but he was equally capable of earning fabulous fees and also spending his income foolishly. He was .always in pecuniary straits, although half the aristocracy were clambering up. his steps to sit for one of his gorgeous canvases. He couM never resist anything which he thought beautiful, and it is said that on drawings by the old masters he spent no Ipss than £60,000.