GENIUS AND PRECOCITY. 481 



struck into the path of fiction at the age of forty-four, and only gave 

 his " Robinson Crusoe " to the world eleven years later ; Richardson, 

 who published his first fiction when fifty-one ; Sterne, who, after pass- 

 ing many contented years in the seclusion of a country rectory, tried 

 his luck as a novelist by publishing " Tristram Shandy " at the age of 

 forty-six ; and Cervantes, who, after years of active service, followed 

 out an early impulse to letters in his thirty-sixth year, and produced 

 his masterpiece at the mature age of fifty-seven. 



Scholars, Historians, Critics. In this rather miscellaneous 

 group we have a number of first-rate instances of precocity. Grotius 

 has been pronounced one of the greatest of prodigies in this respect. 

 At nine he wrote good Latin verses ; at twelve he was ripe for the 

 university ; at fifteen he was editing the encyclopedic treatise of Ca- 

 pella ; and at seventeen did excellent scholarly work. Our own Por- 

 son, the son of a parish clerk, at a very early date attracted notice by 

 his exceptional powers of acquisition. At nine he could extract the 

 cube root of a number by a process of mental arithmetic. Before fif- 

 teen he was able to repeat the whole of Horace, Yirgil, and many parts 

 of Livy, Cicero, etc. His productive work began later (twenty-four). 

 Niebuhr resembles Porson in being the son of poor parents, and having 

 a predilection at first for mathematics. At seven he was regarded as 

 a marvel of boyish erudition. Among our own historians, Macaulay 

 and Thirlwall are distinguished by precocity. Macaulay, whose ex- 

 traordinary power of retention is well known, showed a decided bent 

 toward literature as a child. Before eight he had given a presage of 

 his historical work by putting together a compendium of universal his- 

 tory. By the same date he had written a romance, and soon after 

 composed long poems. Thirlwall is a still more wonderful example. 

 The son of a clergyman, he was taught Latin at three, and by four 

 could read Greek with a fluency which astonished his family. He 

 began to write at seven, and at twelve appeared before the world in a 

 volume entitled "Primitive," which contained essays, and poems on 

 various subjects, grave and gay. Soon after twelve, when at Charter- 

 house, he wrote elaborate letters in Latin, showing extraordinary read- 

 ing and critical judgment. 



If now we inquire what proportion of the class were distinguished 

 for intellectual prococity, we reach the following results : Out of thirty- 

 six cases, thirty, or five sixths, are said to have been distinguished by 

 preternatural ability, either in childhood or in early youth. So far as 

 I can ascertain, about one half of these betrayed at an early age the 

 precise direction of their future mental activity. This applies, for ex- 

 ample, to Gibbon, De Quincey, Hazlitt, and Lessing. The others 

 either proved themselves quick all-round learners, or evinced excep- 

 tional intellectual strength in some other direction e. g., mathemat- 

 ics or poetry. 



It becomes a very different question if we inquire into the age at 



VOL. XXIX. 31 



