rchant, he was in the habit of
spending his leisure hours in the evening in the production of poetry,
and, strange though it may seem, his best poems were made after a hard
day's work. Now, since he has retired from business and is in prosperous
circumstances, he versifies whenever and wherever he wants to, in the
evening as well as in the daytime. He writes his poems with a lead
pencil, and polishes them for weeks before they are published. He works
with great ease, and is a ready improviser; but he never writes against
his inclination.

Brander Matthews does his work between breakfast and lunch, as a rule;
and works at night only occasionally. He makes elaborate notes, and then
writes at white heat, revising at his leisure.

Andre Theuriet, the Parisian novelist, makes an outline of his work
first; he delineates each chapter of his novel, indicating the
situations, personages, dialogues, and so on. Thereupon the novel soon
assumes a definite form. Theuriet spends six hours a day at his
writing-desk, but always in the morning. He does not believe in night
work. In the afternoon he revises the work of the previous day. During
working hours the author drinks two cups of tea and smokes one or two
pipes of tobacco. Theuriet retires early in the evening, between ten
and eleven o'clock, and rises in the morning at a quarter before six.
This regular mode of life explains why the novelist is able to write so
much, and is a key to the productiveness which has astonished his
contemporaries.

Paul Lindau, another German novelist, critic, and journalist, dictates a
great deal, sometimes without inclination, and sometimes after hasty
lead-pencil sketches. When he writes himself only one manuscript is
made. He incessantly smokes cigarettes while at work. Only when he has
labored uninterruptedly a long time does he refresh himself with coffee,
tea, wine, and water. As a rule, Lindau writes with ease. He declares
that dictating tires him out more than if he should write himself, but
by dictation he is enabled to do twice as much work as he could
otherwise accomplish. Generally, he writes for from four to five hours a
day, but sometimes he has spent ten or even eleven hours in literary
work.

A. v. Winterfeld, the German humorist, devotes the day only to literary
work. His original manuscript is committed to the press, for he never
copies what he has written. He composes with great ease and swiftness,
and spends four hours a day a