Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1896 — Current Condensation. [ARTICLE]

Current Condensation.

Dr. Adam Clarke devoted nearly a quarter of a centiiry to his “Commentary.” Mary Cowden Clarge spent sixteen years on the “Concordance to Shakspeare.” Raphael enjoyed a life of 37 years, from 1483 to 1520. His period of active work covered about fifteen years. The life of Murillo lasted from 1618 to 1652, but most of his great paintings were executed in less than ten years. Mulhall, the noted statistician, spent over forty years in accumulating the material for his one volume of statistics.

Gibbon’s massive history occupied over twenty years of his life. Compared with this, his other works are insignificant. Emerson was born in 1803, and died in,'lßß2. ills literary life continued from 1841 to his death, a period of for-ty-one years. Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519, over forty years of his life being devoted to the practice of Ids profession as an artist. t The famous Prince Eugene lived from 1663 to 1736, a period of seventythree years. His military career lasted about twenty-five years. ’ .' ... 1,.-,.., - The life of Chaucer covered a period of 72 years, from 1328 to 1400. His literary career was from 1384 to 1398, a period of fourteen years. Edmund Spenser lived about 47 years, from 1552 toTS9P.- His literary efforts. Including the writings of “The Faerie Queene,” covered about fourteen years. The life of Palestrina lasted from 1540 to 1594. but most of the great musical works by which he is now remembered were executed in about thirteen years. Although the Duke of Wellington dived- from- 1769, “the year of great babies,” to 1852, his reputation was made in one day on the field of Waterloo.

Schiller lived but forty-six years, and the poems which have made his name immortal were written between 1781 and the date of his death in ISOS, a period of twenty-four years. Wagner lived from 1813 to ISB3. Hls active labors in the production of the operas Which have made his name known throughout the world were confined to about thirty years. For several centuries the purse was always worn fastened to the girdle. A cut purse got its name from the fact that rather than take the time to loose the purse from the belt; where it was secured by .buckles, one eut the straps. There is a Spanish proverb that on “Tuesday one should neither travel nor marry,” and this superstition is so ingrained that, even in Madrid, there are never any weddings on Tuesday, and the trains are almost empty.

Spectacles were fashionable In the sixteenth century They were-' costly, the usual price being an equivalent of $5. It was believed that the larger the lenses and the heavier the rims the greater the dignity added to the wearer’s ftppearance. An inclosed park of about 100,600’ acres is proposed by bertain English naturalists and sportsmen for the preservation of South African mammals, such as the giraffe, zebra, eland, gnu, kooddo and other antelopes that are now threatened with extermination.