AN INTELLECTUAL MONSTROSITY. 243 



gently importuned, is in the predicament of a sensitive and noble 

 animal under the stings of a number of busy insects ; for as soon as 

 they discover his vulnerable parts, they contrive to suck him of all 

 they want ; and when their curiosity is satisfied, it is not an un- 

 frequent occurrence that the talented being is left to unmerited 

 neglect, particularly if some butterfly of fashion flutters about, 

 decorated with an extrinsic garb of superiority. And this arises 

 because the intellectual monstrosity has soared too high for their 

 weak mental vision. They gazed for a short time, but could not 

 continue to do so, as their heads felt confused and dizzy. But if 

 good manners shield our monstrosity from such impertinence, he is 

 sure to be forgotten, or, what amounts to the same, uncared for as 

 soon as the company separates. 



What is worthy of remark, is the fact that, when an intellectual 

 monstrosity visits the tables of the great, it is not a matter of choice 

 with himself as to whether he will lecture or not. He is expected 

 to use his best endeavours, for his hospitable host assures him that 

 " the party anticipate the pleasure of hearing him," &c. It is, 

 however, of some importance, that the philosopher thus forcibly 

 exhibited should have knowledge of human nature ; for although 

 he is expected to display his particular talent, yet should he be 

 so deficient in worldly tactics as to begin to communicate his 

 subject before any of the party have had their usual skirmishes, 

 they become restless and inattentive, because it is obvious that 

 " the curious creature" has been made acquainted with what would 

 be expected from him, and they experience a kind of moral degra- 

 dation, from a consciousness that they are acting improperly and 

 unjustly to a man of worth. There is nothing so humiliating as 

 being detected in some intentional act of insincerity : it is like the 

 sudden exposure of heartless hypocrisy ; and as in the one case the 

 blush is no surety of any subsequent moral consistency, sc in the 

 other the self-reproof which those of a party may feel does not in- 

 duce them to treat such a person with marked kindness and atten- 

 tion. The probability, however, is that the intellectual monstrosity 

 will have roused their indignation at the assumed discovery of their 

 using hira as a convenience, or as a something to amuse them for a 

 time from his newness — that they may, under the effects of their 

 curdled passion, spurt poison on the innocent offender, and charge 

 him with an over-weening vanity, or, with impotent anger, declare 

 him to be deficient in that elevated intelligence which enables a 

 possessor to communicate knowledge without making it appear 

 anything like an obligation. 



VOL. VII., NO. xxn. I I 



