A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS. 



379 



Centlivre, Cowley, Edgeworth, Eliot, Ferrier, Gaskell, Godwin, Inchbald, Jameson, 

 Martineau, Mitford, Montague, More, Morgan, Newcastle, Opie, Radcliffe. 

 Women of Science. — Somerville. 



It may be asked how these 902 persons of preeminent intellectual 

 ability have been distributed through the course of English history. I 

 find that from the fourth to the eleventh centuries, inclusive, there 

 are only 14 men of sufficient distinction to appear in my lists. From 

 that date onwards (reckoning by the date of birth) we find that the 

 twelfth century yields 10, the thirteenth 9, the fourteenth 16, the fif- 

 teenth 31, the sixteenth 156, the seventeenth 182, the eighteenth 352, 

 the nineteenth 132. It is probable that the estimate most nearly corre- 

 sponds to the actual facts as regards the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 centuries. Before that time our information is usually too scanty, so 

 that many men of notable ability have passed away without record. In 

 the nineteenth century, on the other hand, the material has been too 

 copious, and the national biographers have probably tended to become 

 unduly appreciative of every faint manifestation of intellectual ability. 

 The extraordinary productiveness of the eighteenth century is very 

 remarkable. In order to realize the significance of the facts, however, 

 a century is too long a period. Distributing our persons of genius 

 into half -century periods, I find that the following groups are formed: 



1101-1150 

 4 



1401-1450 

 6 



1151-1200 

 6 



1451-1500 

 25 



1201-1250 

 2 



1501-1550 

 49 



1251-1300 



7 



1551-1600 

 107 



1301-1350 

 6 



1601-1650 

 107 



1701-1750 

 129 



1751-1800 

 223 



1801-1850 

 131 



1351-1400 

 10 



1651-1700 

 75 



Only one individual belongs to the second half of the nineteenth 

 century. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the record for the 

 first half of the nineteenth century is still incomplete. Taking the 

 experience of the previous century as a basis, it may be estimated that 

 some 40 per cent, at least of the eminent persons belonging to the first 

 half of the nineteenth century are still alive. This would raise that 

 half-century to the first place, but it may be pointed out that the 

 increase on the previous half -century would be small, and also that the 

 result must be discounted by the inevitable tendency to overestimate 

 the men of our own time. When we bear in mind that the activities 

 of the individuals in each of these groups really fall, on the whole, 

 into the succeeding group, certain interesting points are suggested. 

 We note how the waves of Humanism and Keformation, when striking 

 the shores of Britain, have stirred intellectual activity, and have been 

 prolonged and intensified in the delayed English Eenaissance. We see 

 how this fermentation has been continued in the political movements 



