4 8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



vivid realization and reproduction of the creations of others, but also 

 by original inventions, the recital of which brought the lad a high re- 

 nown among his companions, and, spite of poverty, he succeeded in 

 publishing his first novel by the age of twenty-two. Another striking 

 instance is Lytton, who published poems at fifteen and produced his 

 first novel by twenty-two. Among foreign novelists we have Balzac, 

 who, when a schoolboy, excogitated a theory of the will, and began to 

 publish novels soon after twenty ; and Hoffmann, who was a marvel of 

 boyish cleverness, and who began to write novels soon after leaving 

 school. 



Among lady novelists instances of precocity are Charlotte Bronte 

 and her sister, who, as soon as they could read and write, began to in- 

 vent and act little plays of their own. By the age of fourteen Char- 

 lotte had put together a number of stories as well as poems and plays. 

 But it was not till the age of thirty that she prepared her first con- 

 siderable novel, " The Professor." Emily, who was two years younger 

 than her sister, completed her " Wuthering Heights " about the same 

 time. Another instance is Miss Burney. As a child she was remark- 

 able ; she taught herself to read and write, and became an incessant 

 scribbler of verse and prose. She was not much more than fifteen 

 when she planned the story of "Evelina," though it was not actually 

 written till some years later, and only published when she was twenty- 

 six. 



Taking twenty-eight novelists, I find that in twenty-one cases, that 

 is, in three cases out of four, there is evidence of imaginative power 

 showing itself before twenty. Sometimes this evidence is of a curious 

 character, as in the case of Richardson, who at the age of thirteen 

 displayed his skill in letter-writing by acting as confidential secretary 

 to three of his girl acquaintances, inditing or correcting their answers 

 to the epistolary effusions of their lovers. 



Novelists exhibit much diversity of habit with respect to the date 

 of their first appearance before the public. In a list of thirty-two 

 names two published their first work before twenty ; seven between 

 twenty and twenty-five ; nine between twenty -five and thirty ; seven 

 between thirty and forty ; and seven after forty. It may be observed 

 that names of world-wide reputation appear in each group except the 

 first. Thus Dickens and Hawthorne fall under the first of the four 

 divisions ; George Sand, Thackeray, and Victor Hugo under the sec- 

 ond ; Fielding, Goldsmith, and George Eliot under the third ; and 

 Defoe, Richardson, Sterne, Scott, and Cervantes under the last. 



The date at which the first notable work appears varies in very 

 much the same way. In a series of thirty-one names, three produce 

 a work of note before twenty-five ; nine more before thirty ; twelve 

 more before forty ; and seven after forty. 



The most remarkable examples of late development are Defoe, who, 

 after devoting the best part of his life to political polemics, suddenly 



