ill live forever."

It is said of one of Longfellow's poems that it was written in four
weeks, but that he spent six months in correcting and cutting it down.
Longfellow was a very careful writer. He wrote and rewrote, and laid his
work by and later revised it. He often consulted his friends about his
productions before they were given to the world. Thus he sent his work
out as perfect as great care and a brilliant intellect could make it.
The poet's pleasant surroundings must have acted as a stimulus upon his
mind. His library was a long room in the northeastern corner of the
lower floor in the so-called Craigie House, once the residence of
General Washington. It was walled with handsome bookcases, rich in
choice works. The poet's usual seat here was at a little high table by
the north window, looking upon the garden. Some of his work was done
while he was standing at this table, which reached then to his breast.

Emerson wrote with great care, and would not only revise his manuscript
carefully, but frequently rewrite the article upon the proof-sheets.

John Owen was twenty years on his "Commentary on the Epistle of the
Hebrews."

The celebrated French critic, Sainte-Beuve, was accustomed to devote six
days to the preparation of a single one of his weekly articles. A large
portion of his time was passed in the retirement of his chamber, to
which, on such occasions, no one--with the exception of his favorite
servant--was allowed to enter under any circumstances whatever. Here he
wrote those critical papers which carried captive the heart of France,
and filled with wonder cultivated minds everywhere.

The historian Gibbon, in speaking of the manner in which he wrote his
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," said: "Many experiments were
made before I could hit the middle tone between a dull tone and a
rhetorical declamation. Three times did I compose the first chapter, and
twice the second and third, before I was tolerably satisfied with their
effect." Gibbon spent twenty years on his immortal book Lamb toiled
most laboriously over his essays. These papers, which long ago took
their place in the English classical language and which are replete with
the most delicate fancies, were composed with the most exacting nicety,
yet their author is regarded the world over as possessed of genius of a
high order.

La Rochefoucauld was occupied for the space of fifteen years in
preparing for publication his little work called