Show WHIMS OF NOTED AUTHORS Nearly Allen of Letters Had Their Distinctive Caprices Habits and fancies of famous authors arc a fruitful source of Investigation for the student of literary curiosities Balzac affected a monkish habit when writing 1 garment so wholly at variance va-riance with his lax code of morals as to be In a measure grotesque This robe was necessary before he could settle down to continuous work and then he labored with tremendous energy I en-ergy Dickens was uneasy and incapable in-capable of satisfactory composition un less l he was seated at a certain table When he was In Paris and Bologne In l 3855 and JS5G engaged In writing wIILng Little Dorrit he carried this table with him having been compelled to abandon the attempt to work at the novel until his I favorite unti piece of furl ture wag sent to him from England The prolific Southey had also a favorite desk and though author of 109 novels I and Innumerable articles and reviews he could not write n sentence unless I he was seated at that particular desk with his beloved books and familiar articles of library furniture around him h BUt a singular fancy stranger than foregoing was that of Bacon who drew Inspiration from Im1plralon frOI the fumes of n bottlo of claret poured on earth which had been freshly upturned SOME GROTESQUE NOTIONS Johnson ridiculed all such fancies aa unworthy of any sensible man and declared de-clared that If 0 person were capable of writing at all he could write under any conditions if he set himself doggedly I to Il Presumably the good doctor would have attributed Lord Orrerys literary l industry while suffering from gout not so much to the efllcacy of the attack as an Intellectual stimulus as to the fact that the gout compelled tho noble author to Indulge in a sedentary occupation DC Quince Is authority for the statement that James Hogg the Ettrick shepherd and Graham the author au-thor of VTho Sabbath were unable to versify with any degree of facility unless they sat down with boots and spurs on This must have produced a lively sense of riding Pegasus In n manner less Imaginary than literal One of the two poets named Is likely to have Imitated the others whim just as John Phillips an English poet whose I existence Is now known only to special students oC minor English literature during the Cromwelllan and restoration restora-tion periods certainly copied the fan cot c-ot Isaok Vosclus the Dutch scholar 1 having his hair combed by a servant serv-ant while mcdltatlnghls works George Wither whose poems written about the same time are spirjtuaWn subject I and treatment records that he was obliged to watch and fast while engaged en-gaged l In poetical compositions His Inspiration I vanished If he touched meat or drink even If I take a glass of wine I cannot write a Mnc he says MADE THEMSELVES RIDICULOUS Dickens was D great walker and n keen observer during his pedestrian cxerclsj but exercise was the primary Impulse i thalfitartcd him to cover miles of streets and roads Coleridge however how-ever told Halt that he never composed com-posed so readily as when walking over uneven ground or making his way through l coppice with nIl twigs brushing his face The meditative Wordsworth thought out most of his later poems while walking to and fro but he preferred a straight gravel path where he could wander mecharlcally heedless any obstruction or Impediment Impedi-ment These are different In kind from those caprices of costume such as a Buttons helplessness without 0 spotless spot-less shirt and starch c frill A leading lead-ing modern novelist WroteIn a variety of uniforms and rnatque ado dresses according as the chaTictr was military or historical he could only get into the propel vein by wearing the costume of the leading character in the period trLarted Dryden Indulged a peculiar I fancy In having himself bled at frequent fre-quent Intervals and he ate raw meat believing1 that It strengthened his Irnag natlon This however was a less harmful stimulant than wns used by so many famous authors De Qulncey and Coleridge were the two chief writers writ-ers addicted to opium but Bishop Hors ley Dean Miner Shadwell the poet and that precious Imposter George Psalmanazar wcro addicted t to the drug THEY ALL TIPPLED The use of wine In the eighteenth century was so general that practically all the authors who flourished then wen drinkers One Is surprised how ever to find Blackstone slttln down to write his Commentaries fortified with a bottle of port before him Voltaire was an Inveterate coffee drinker while engaged In writing and overindulgence In that beverage during a protracted literary effort was the proximate cause of his death Schiller also drank coffee cof-fee to thaw the frost out of his wits but he fancied Imbibing the in fusion whilo Healed with his feet In hot water This ho believed Htlmu hated Ills Imagination in sluggish moods and he refreshed it during work by copious drafts from a flask of Rhenish wine Montaignes amiable partiality for the companionship o his cat Is a famous instance of 3 writers whim We can imagine the studious essayist stroking his feline pet with one hand while with the other be penned the witty and wise results of his reading and meditation Hobbes the philosopher philoso-pher Indulged In ton or twelve pipes with a candle during the time he sat at his desk each day but so many authors au-thors have been dependent on tobacco since the illtreated Sir Walter Raleigh Introduced the Nicotian weed to Europe Eu-rope that their enumeration Is Impracticable Imprac-ticable Tennyson It I will he rcmem bcvedi was an Inveterate smoker among tho latterday poels CREATURES OF CAPRICE SeruMona and the conditions of weather wore believed by many authors to have affected their Imagination and facility of expression Even the and expreBIon the sane philosophic osophic Milton declared that he never could compose anything to his satisfaction fact n jOxcopt In the period between tho vernal and autumnal exqulnoxes This was his season of Inspiration and Poetry flowed spontaneously Thomson who sang of The Seasons Collins and Gray convinced themselves that their muses wore subject to exactly the same influences as Miltons What probably gave rise to such fancies as have been alluded to might be worthy of investigation i by the student of psychology I is known that obedience to some little superstition relative to going to sleep will cure sleeplessness Perhaps some fortunate composition at a particular time or place or under some peculiar circumstances I pecular clrcumstnccs may havo Induced the belief that the Indqcel beleC recurrence or l reproduction of the conditions might be essential to the best work But wo do not learn that Bunyan over wanted I to be sent back to Bedford jail In order to renew the literary inspiration which I gave birth to The Pilgrims Progress I Nor did Cervantes care to return to the wretchedness of the Spanish dungeon In which he wrote Don Quixote In deed In the last analysis most of the whims of authors may be traced to some fonn of personal luxury or sybar I itic Indulgence Philadelphia Press I |