47 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



this be, there is certainly more of moral suggestiveness in the thought 

 that intellectual distinction is the reward of a strenuous adolescence 

 and manhood than in the supposition that it can be reached by the 

 stripling at a bound through sheer force of native talent. And it 

 may not improbably have been a lively perception of this ethical sig- 

 nificance which fostered in the classic mind so wide-spread a disbelief 

 in early promises of great intellectual power. We find a typical ex- 

 pression of this sentiment in the saying of Quintilian : "Ulud ingeni- 

 orum velut prsecox genus non temere umquam pervenit ad frugem." 

 That is to say, the early blossom of talent is rarely followed by the 

 fruit of great achievement. 



It is evident that this saying embodies something like a general 

 theory of the relation between rank of talent and rate of develop- 

 ment. Where superior intellectual ability shows itself at an early 

 date, it is of the sort that reaches its full stature early, and so never 

 attains to the greatest height. On the other hand, genius of the finer 

 order declares itself more slowly. 



In order to estimate the soundness of this view, two lines of inquiry 

 would be necessary. We should need to ask, first of all, what pro- 

 portion of those who had shown marked precocity have afterward re- 

 deemed the promise of their youth ; and, secondly, what number of 

 those who have unquestionably obtained a place among the great 

 were previously distinguished by precocity. 



These two lines of investigation are, however, in a measure dis- 

 tinct. It may turn out that a large proportion of clever children 

 never attain to anything but mediocrity in later life, and yet that the 

 majority of great men have been remarkable as children. Hence, we 

 may confine ourselves in the present essay to the second branch of the 

 above inquiry, the retrogressive search for signs of precocity in the 

 early life of those who have attained distinction. 



It is to be remarked that even the limited inquiry to which we 

 propose to confine ourselves here is a complex one. It includes, at 

 least, two distinct questions namely, first, whether men of genius 

 have, in the majority of cases, displayed marked ability at an early 

 age ; and, secondly, whether they have reached their full maturity of 

 power and highest achievement early or late. It is specially impor- 

 tant to distinguish these two points, because they are apt to be con- 

 fused under the shifting significance of the word " precocious." 



I shall confine myself, then, at the outset to the question how far, 

 or in what proportion of cases, recognized intellectual eminence has 

 been preceded by youthful distinction and superiority to others. And 

 in order to narrow the inquiry still further, I propose to deal exclu- 

 sively with those who have reached eminence in some branch of art or 

 of literature. This will exclude those who have displayed genius in 

 the region of practical affairs, such as the statesman, the soldier, and 

 the ecclesiastic. 



