On Genius. 421 
tellect which are usually remembered with 
disgust. An appetite for knowledge being 
once communicated to the mind, it will 
eagerly seize upon all the mental food which 
comes in its way, and make the most of what 
is offered to it. Another case, quoted by the 
same writer, is that of the Abbé la Caille, 
one of the first astronomers of hisage. He 
was the son of a parish clerk, who sent him 
every evening to ring the church bell. Du- 
ring this lonely occupation, the boy’s chief 
pleasure was in watching the stars from the 
steeple; an employment in which he took 
such delight, that he often staid beyond the 
hour appointed by his father, and was severely 
punished when he returned home. Mr. D’ 
Israeli finds here an example of instinctive 
Genius, operating in spite of obstacles. On 
the contrary, it seems to me that no circum- 
stances could have been more likely to kindle, 
in a youth of sensibility, a fondness for 
watching the motions and appearances of the 
heavenly bodies than those in which the 
young La Caille was placed. They were, 
in fact, no other than those, to which histo- 
rians have perpetually ascribed the early pro- 
ficiency of the Chaldean priests in astronomy ; 
retirement, silence, and the enjoyment of a 
clear, unbroken horizon. These associations 
