MENTAL APTITUDES. 175 



at his different stages of life, we find almost an absolute corre- 

 spondence. Whatever changes in their order might be made that 

 would bring them into closer accordance with our hypothetical 

 changes of character, such changes would certainly be small. 



POETS ESTIMATED BY PUBLIC EDUCATORS. 



When we come to compare these men as to their relative mental 

 ability instead of in the relationship of their mental aptitudes we 

 find a somewhat different state of affairs. To get a fair estimate 

 I arranged these eight poets in alphabetical order and asked a num- 

 ber of prominent educators to rearrange them according to their 

 intellectual greatness. An average of these estimates places these 

 men in the following order: 



EIGHT POETS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR GREATNESS. 



1 Goethe 39-53 



2 Dante ( i2O-f-x) 3 



3 Milton 45 



4 Schiller 36-43 



5 Byron 32-33-54 



6 Burns 38 



7 Pope 47 



8 Longfellow 31-26-27 



The most marked change in this arrangement as compared to the 

 previous one is the rise of Goethe and the fall of Pope. The other 

 changes are comparatively insignificant and are not more than 

 would be expected from comparatively small differences in the men- 

 tal activity of their parents. It remains to be seen if we can find a 

 sufficient explanation for these two changes. 



