A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS. 545 



certain number of cases the particular 'trade' or 'business' of the father 

 is not specified. 



The group which I have denominated 'Crafts' is closely related to 

 that of 'Trade/ and in many cases it is difficult or impossible to decide 

 whether an occupation should be entered under one or the other head. 

 But, speaking generally, there is a very clear distinction between the 

 two groups. The trade avocations are essentially commercial, and 

 for success they involve, above all, financial ability; the crafts are 

 essentially manual, and success here involves more of the qualities of 

 the artist than of the tradesman. Just as the banker is the typical 

 representative of commercial transactions, so the carpenter stands at 

 the head of the crafts. There seems to be something peculiar in the 

 life or aptitudes of the carpenter especially favorable to the production 

 of intellectual children, for this association has occurred as many as 13 

 times, while there are 4 builders. No other craft approaches the car- 

 penter in this respect; there are 5 shoemakers, 5 cloth-workers, 5 

 weavers (all belonging to the early phase of industrial development be- 

 fore factories), 5 goldsmiths and jewelers, 4 blacksmiths, while many 

 other handicrafts are mentioned once or twice. 



Finally, we reach the group of parents engaged in some unskilled 

 work, and, therefore, belonging to the very lowest social class. It 

 is the smallest of all the groups, and, though including some notable 

 persons, it can scarcely be said to be a preeminently distinguished 

 group. As many as 8 of the parents were common soldiers, the rest 

 mostly agricultural laborers. 



It may be interesting to inquire whether our eminent men, when 

 grouped according to the station and avocation of their fathers, show 

 any marked group-characters; whether, in other words, the occupation 

 of the father exercises an influence on the nature and direction of the 

 intellectual aptitudes of the son. To some extent it does exercise such 

 an influence. It is true that there are eminent men of very various 

 kinds in all of these groups. But there is yet a clearly visible tendency 

 for certain kinds of ability to fall into certain groups. It is not surpris- 

 ing that there should be a tendency for the son to follow the profession 

 of the father. Nor is it surprising that a great number of statesmen 

 should be found in the upper class group. Men of letters are yielded 

 by every class, perhaps especially by the clergy, but Shakespeare 

 and, it is probable, Milton belonged to families of yeomen. The sons 

 of lawyers, one notes, even to a greater extent than the eminent men 

 of 'upper class' birth, eventually find themselves in the House of Lords, 

 and not always as lawyers. The two groups of Army and Medicine are 

 numerically identical, but in other respects very unlike. The sons 

 of army men form a very brilliant and versatile group, and include a 

 large proportion of great soldiers; the sons of doctors do not show a 



VOL. LVIII.— 35 



