AUTHORSHIP UNDER DIFICULTIES.

Inangahua Times, Volume 701, Issue 701, 16 August 1878, Page 2

AUTHORSHIP UNDER DIFICULTIES.

It is carious that two of tho m'cal --"it historical works in tho world wcm written wbilo their authors wcro in exile — tho ' History of tho Ploisopennesian War,' by Thucydidcs » tho * History of tho Rebellion/ by Lord Clarendon. Fortesotto, tho Oliiof Juotioe in Henry Vt.'s reign, wrote his great work on tho la.va of England under tho samo ciroumstances. Locko w.is a rcfugco in If A land when ho penned his memorable 1 Lot' or concerning Toleration,' ami put tho finishing touches to his immortal ' Kssny on tho Human Understanding.' Lord BollingbroUo hnl also ' loft his country for his country's good ' whou lvi was ongagod on tho works by whieii ho will bo host roiuombcrod, Everybody knows Dante's sad talc, and his miser* ablo wanderings from city to city while tho' Diviuc Comedy ' was in course of production, Still moro melancholy is it to roviow tho formidable array of great works which, wore composed within 'ln wulls of ft prison, First como tho ' Pilgrim's 'Progress 1 and ' Don Q uxo!e •/ tho ono writton in Bedford Gnol, tho other in a squalid dungoon in Sprin. Hir Woltor Raleigh's • History of tho Wo-M' was oomposod in tho Tower. Goo;-,;.) Buchanan oseculod his brilliant Ijsilin version of the Psalms while incarconi'.i \\ in Portugal. Tasso' wrote somo nhim lovoliostof his sonnets in a madhouse, and Christopher Smart his ' Son^ to David I—-one1 — -one of tho most oloq'tent snored lyrics in our languago— whilo undergoing confinement in another plie<\ Poor Nathaniol Leo, tho dramatist it s- ; d to havo revolved some of his tragedies in lucid intervals within tho walls of a lu:vitio asylum. Plau'us fabricated sonic <f his comedies iv a bakehouse. The fir mi Descartes, Derni. tho Italian poet, nnd Boyso tho onco weU-!«no\Vn antho--of ' Tho Deity/ usually wrolo wl.i'o lying in bed. Tt<>olcf'»i* meditated lii ; •'Koclesiastioul. Polity ' while rocking t'io cradlo of his child f nnd ltich;»r.:.soi» slowly olrtborntod his romnnof^ tinvma; 0^ oonif ositors of his printin i ofR u\ Byron composed tho greaier pnrt of ' ijnrV whilo ougagod at his toilet table, nnd his ' Pro^ lo«uo at tho Opening of Drury-lano Thoat-rc ' in a stage coaoh. AToore'n yy^ goons Eastern ramaneo ' 1/illn H«« ; ii," was written in a coiwige blocked n,i wiili snow, with an English winter rofirinji; round it. Burns dreamed ono of hi-t lyric's, and wroto it down just as it came io hiiu in his sleep. Tartini's ' Dovil'i So:n^^^ whs another inspiration from nnd so also was Coleridge's 'KubU — -Cassoll's Family Mng.-« no."