478 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



between six and eight. His -first poems date from the sixteenth year, 

 and by twenty-two he sounded in his " Gotz von Berlichingen " the new 

 national note in German drama. Among French poets Alfred de Mus- 

 set, who had excited the envy of his comrades at school by his quick- 

 ness, composed poems at fourteen. Perhaps, however, the most valu- 

 able example among French poets is Victor Hugo, who was called an 

 " enfant sublime," began as a school-boy to write poems, both transla- 

 tions and original compositions, by sixteen produced finished works of 

 lasting value, and by twenty-five was the acknowledged leader of the 

 Romantic movement. 



Among our own poets one can find instances of precocity which in 

 no wise fall behind those just quoted. Beginning with the sixteenth 

 century we have Beaumont, who was called by Wordsworth the eager 

 child, and who seems to have composed tragedies at the age of twelve. 

 Next comes the name of Cowley. In his tenth year he wrote an epical 

 romance, which, according to an eminent living critic, though marked 

 by faults of immaturity, is enriched by considerable merits, and is " the 

 most astonishing feat of imaginative precocity on record." He fol- 

 lowed up this first effort so well that he was famous before fifteen. 

 Coming to the last century the name of Pope at once arrests our atten- 

 tion. When a child he was a skilled satirist. At twelve he took upon 

 him the responsibilities of self-tuition, and at the same age produced 

 what have been described as the "beautiful and touching" stanzas on 

 " Solitude." Of the present century poets Byron and Coleridge are the 

 most famous examples. Byron, w 7 ho was deeply in love before ten, 

 wrote before fifteen poems which bear the stamp of genius, and by 

 twenty-one made himself famous by his brilliant satire, " English Bards 

 and Scotch Reviewers." Coleridge was " filled with poetry and " (odd 

 assortment) "metaphysics" at fifteen ; and at sixteen he had produced 

 poems bearing the unmistakable marks of genius. 



Our poetesses do not lag far behind their brothers. At least w 7 e 

 have two names to set against the list of male precocities. One of 

 these, indeed Elizabeth Barrett Browning ranks among the phe- 

 nomenal instances of early intellectual prowess. At eight she read 

 Homer in Greek, and at the same age began to write poetry. At 

 eleven or twelve she wrote an epic, which her father printed. And 

 before fifteen she produced works which attest true genius.* Mrs. 

 Hemans, the other poetess referred to, was a clever, self-taught child, 

 and published a volume of poems at the age of fourteen. 



In order to ascertain what proportion of the world's singers gave 

 early promise of their vocal powers, I have gone through fifty-two 

 records of modern poets. Of these, thirty-nine, that is to say three 

 out of four, were distinctly precocious. Many of them began to ver- 

 sify in early youth. A large proportion betrayed as children a strong 



* I ana indebted to Mr. Leslie Stephen for some of the facts relating to Mrc. 

 Browning. 



