ht. Generally he does not plan his work beforehand. When at
work he must be unmolested. In composition, he loves to change off, now
producing poetry, now plays and essays, as his mood may direct. He
writes with great ease and swiftness; and the many books which he has
composed testify that he cannot justly be accused of indolence. He
attributes his facility of expression to the discrimination which he has
always exercised in the choice of books. In early boyhood he was
already disgusted with Florian's sickly "Guillaume Tell," while
Washington Irving's "Sketch-book" delighted him very much; he was also
deeply impressed by the perusal of Homer's immortal epics. He adopted
authorship when twenty-five years of age, and has followed it
successfully ever since. Until then he was especially fond of composing
music and of drawing and painting, but he lacked the time to perfect
himself in these accomplishments. Yet, even to-day, he practices both
arts occasionally as a pastime and for recreation.

The evening finds Dr. Johann Fastenrath, the poet, who writes as elegant
Spanish as he does German, and who is as well-known in Madrid as he is
in Cologne on the Rhine, at the writing-table. He never makes a skeleton
beforehand of essays in his mother-tongue; but for compositions in
French or Spanish he invariably makes an outline. One peculiarity which
he has is to scribble his poems upon little scraps of paper. When
writing prose in Spanish he divides the manuscript-paper in halves, so
as to be able to make additions and to lengthen any particular sentence,
for in the Spanish language artfully long periods are considered
especially beautiful. He does not regard literary composition as work,
and conceives poems faster than he can write them down. When he is at
work absolute quiet must reign about him; he cannot bear noise of any
kind. During the winter he works day for day at home, but in the summer
he tolerates confinement no longer, and whenever he composes at this
time it is always in the open air. From autumn till spring he writes
from six to seven hours a day.

Adolf Streckfusz, a German novelist, prefers to write in the afternoon
and evening, and attains the greatest speed in composition at night. He
makes no plan beforehand, but revises his manuscript at least twice
after completion. He often allows the cigar which he smokes when at work
to go out, but lights it mechanically from time to time, so that the
floor of his study is