XXVIII. 



GENIUS AND TALENT. 



About fifty years ago it used to be the fashion 

 among men of letters to draw invidious distinc- 

 tions between genius and talent, very much to the 

 disadvantage of the last-named highly respectable 

 and desirable attribute. Now all comparisons, as 

 everybody well knows, are naturally odious; but 

 the comparison between the two particular forms 

 of ability — being usually drawn by the people 

 who considered themselves to possess genius in 

 the strictest sense, while most of their contempor- 

 aries possessed only that inferior article, talent — 

 was of course a peculiarly offensive one. The 

 genius, it used to be said, needed no driving of 

 his lofty Pegasus ; the steeds that drew his lordly 

 chariot could move as they liked of their own 

 accord, and were sure to lead him in the end, 

 without any guidance on his own part, to some 

 splendid, glorious, or dazzling conclusion. Mere 

 talent must pore over and ponder its humble 

 work; but genius, noble genius, could afford to 

 disregard such human weaknesses as conscien- 

 tious labor, and to pour its unpremeditated lay 



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