Here's a passage from the Exploits and Triumphs of Paul Morphy. It is a beautiful description of common people being wooed by the powers of the human intellect. It occurred in Paris, Autumn of 1859. Morphy had just finished his blindfold display against eight antagonists.
...Forthwith commenced such a scene as I scarcely hope again to witness. Morphy stepped from the armchair in which he had been almost immovable for ten consecutive hours, without having tasted a morsel of any thing, even water, during the whole of the period; yet as fresh, apparently, as when he sat down. The English and Americans, of whom there were scores present, set up stentorian Anglo-Saxon cheers, and made a simultaneous rush at our hero. The waiters of the Cafe had formed a conspiracy to carry Morphy in triumph on their shoulders, but the multitude was so compact, they could not get near him, and finally, had to abandon the attempt. Great bearded fellows grasped his hands, and almost shook his arms out of the sockets, and it was nearly half an hour before we could get out of the Cafe. A well-known citizen of New York, Thomas Bryan, Esq., got on one side of him and M. de Riviere on the other, and "Le Pere Morel,"-body and soul for our hero-fought a passage through the crowd by main strength, and we finally got into the street. There the scene was repeated; the multitude was greater out of doors than in the café, and the shouting, if possible, more deafening. Morphy, Messrs. Bryan and De Riviere and myself, made for the Palais Royal, but the crowd still followed us, and when we got to the guardhouse of the Imperial Guard, sergeants de ville and soldiers came running to see whether a new revolution was on the tapis. We rushed into the Restaurant Foy, up stairs, and into a private room; whilst, as we subsequently learned, the landlord made anxious inquiries as to the cause of all this excitement. Having done our duty to a capital supper, we got off by a back street, and thus avoided the crowd, who, we were informed, awaited our reappearance in the quadrangle of the Palais Royal. 163-164
Just read "Morphy A Modern Perspective" by Valeri Beim. Was very impressed by the manner Morphy handled his games and how he lost winning positions.Loved it!. Morphy plays so simple yet accurate in most times.It gives me the motivation to play better.