HUGUENOT INFLUENCE 211 



their geuial aud lovable temperament always became a 



wholesome quality iu a life that was far too sombre aud 



grim aud gloomy wheu the Puritan had it to himself. 



Where the French were, there was the wise admixture of 



grave and gay, the enjoyment of life. And these much 



needed elements entered into the New England social a High Type 



development, aud far exceeded climate in altering the New 



Euglander aud creating on our continent a new type, 



comprising the best qualities of Protestant English and 



Protestant French — the best type of American perhaps 



yet to be found. Certain it is that New England character 



cannot be explained without the presence of the French 



blood. 



In an exceedingly interesting article on " The Brain of 

 the Nation," M. Gustave Michaud says that the immi- • 

 grants who peojDled New England during the seventeenth 

 century may be roughly divided into two categories : 

 those who emigrated because they wished to imjirove 

 their position through the acquisition of property, aud 

 those who wished above all to enjoy religious liberty. 

 The latter contained among them an unusual number of 

 men of talent. Lombroso has demonstrated the close 

 connection which exists between exalted religious ideas 

 and ideals and the nervous temperament characteristic 

 of genius. In our country examples of that connection 

 are abundant. Henry Clay, Lowell, Bancroft, Park- 

 man, Samuel F. B. Morse, Cyrus W. Field, were sons of 

 clergymen. Cooper, Howells and Whittier were sons of 

 Quakers. Agassiz was the sou of a Swiss pastor, himself 

 of Huguenot descent. The Huguenots — in America still 

 more than in England — were a hotbed of talent. Aud " 

 study reveals the curious influence which the blood of 

 thousands of Huguenots who were among the very fii-st 

 settlers of South Carolina, now exerts upon the intellec- 

 tuality of the state. 



