New-York daily tribune., 1856-01-15

challenged for llm on mat RrOund. DNs toin 40
the whole drift Of Mr.. Lewes's book. Mr.. Lewes
takes the utmost possible pains to siur this grand
iniauity Of Goethe over, under the old excuse OF
genius and 30 forth. No doubt he was q stuPen-
dous genius, and all that; but be was also very
vulgar sepsualst. Here he was not heroic, what
ever he might have been elsewhere. Cheerfully
conceding bis many -sidedness," insist, by Mr..
Lewes's own showing, upon naming one OF these
rides very lcentious one. With many an eA-
ated side to his great and original character, he
vet decisiyey exhibited licentiOus side also. 1
should never dream of insisting upon this, II Mr..
Lewes had not tried, with that fine, ford auc-
tioneer manner of bis, to befog the whole subject
and pass off what every uDsophisticated intel-
gence pronounces damaged crockery, as 90 much
superceIestial Sevres porcelain Genius, says
Mr.. Lewes, "has sn orbit Of its own. Some
"times il disregards domestic duties and minor
"morsls, in obeying the law of its own move
"ment. Hence genius and morality are not
"always synonymous neither are they antagonis.
"tic. Genius is good and great, and seeks to
"make life harmonious; but the slenderest ac-
"quaintance with biography tells us that genius is
mot always found respecting minor morals"
The plain English of all this is, that adultery is
the privilege of genius. 1t must be viewed in this
light, since the admirers Of Goethe vindicate it in
him, and men do not vndicate infrmities but priv
ileges. If it be a privilege Of genius, then, who
dispenses it ! The divine law holds the same lam
guage toward all men, We have had no amper
or more authentic edition it than that issued at
Sinai, and no exception was there made in behalf
Of genius Society does not tolerate the excep-
ton. Witness Sterne. Witness Byron. Ii fol-
lows, then, that the privilege is assumed BY the
genius himself And, as this assumption can be
authenticated only by bis genius IL follows farther
that some decided affinity be presumed to exist
between genius and adultery. In which case do
not sec what can hinder adultery becoming in
the end the unmistakable sign and prOOfOf genius
Certainly that were frightful expansion Of the
sphere OF genius, and one which l am sure Mr..
Lewes could not contemplate. But the whole
doctrine is to the last degree as faacious az it is
revolving. Marriage claims no arbitrary sanctity.
1t inheres in the very constitution of creation.
Because God is infinite Form as well as infinite
Substance, or perfect Wisdom no less than perfect
Love, bis creature is bound to exhibit the duality
of male and female; and because Love and Wis
dom, or substance and form, are most distinctly
ONE in God, the true relation Of the sexes is OF
necessity cODjugal-tbe male becoming more and
more a husband to all eternity, and the female
more and more wife. OF course nothing can be
easier than for men of genius to deride these laws
and pOOhpooh every reasonable consequence Of
their habitual infractiOn. But men of genius are
the very last men you would resort to for reli.
able Judgment on any point of practical interest.
The faculty of imagination, the inventive faculty,
is immensely developed in the man Of genius, and
he embodies bis inspirations in forms which often
remain permanent blessing to mankind But
otherwise your man of genius is a very poor crea-
ture, for the most part. His rational faculty is
generally Of the slenderest, and he is commonly
given to drink or opium, or some other vice which
degrades him below the ordinary social level, and
entities him to the name at best Of an inspired
idiot. You seldom find man of genius above
taking aims. Nothing is cOmmOner than to find a
carpenter or tailor feeling himself degraded by
such a necessity. You may discover any amount
of pride or selfish vanity In the man of genius but
extremely little of true humanity, or of that sent-
timent which makes one revolt from claiming an
exemption from the common law Of his kind. No
person but an undenable sneak desires to see in
himself title to human or divine regard above
that which all his fellows possess. Yet it is the
rarest thing, according to Mr.. Lewess statement,
to find man of genius respecting the obligations
hood sufficient to accept from God or man the
treatment dealt cut to ordinary mortals. The fact
is so, whatever becomes of Mr.. Lewess puerile
twaddle in justification of it; and what is the con-
sequence of the factl Why, that the man of
genius is generally, in all social or personal re-
CARDS, an unmitgated nuisance. lie borrows
money, without stint, Of every chsnce.friend whom
the stupid admiration of his genius may throw in
his way. He violates, as Mr.. Lewes says, every
domestic obligation and every duty of the minor
morals, until the partition which separates him
from the most commonplace knavery grows
speskaby thin. And finally after life Of bound
less selfdOlatry, STEPPED TO the eyes in the indu
gence of every petty personal vanity and lust, he
dies, leaving behind him a cons spicuous lesson of
the danger man incurs when he would place his
dignity in the possession Of some private insp
ton, rather than in the participation of that CON-
mon and healthy reason which is Gods greatest
gift to the race
i would not give fg, consequently, for the
opinion of a whole parliament Of men Of genius
on any question Of practice. Simply because they
are men Of genius, men of great natural gifts, men
of inspiration, they are apt to be diseased men or
to lack harmonious and balanced endowments. In
so far as my action is inspired, in 80 far am ra
tionally degraded A mans orderly inspiration
the inspiration which comes to him from Gods
exclusively rationale that is to say, il is primarily
through his affections, and thence through his intel
lect to his action leading him. above all things to
be good man, that is, good husband, a good
father, good citizen. But the inspiration which
is primarily or chiefly addressed to the intellect
and which lifts the subject to surprising achieve,
ments, is attended by the greatest possible danger
to ones manhood being almost sure to lead him
by the broad and easy paths of self-conceit and
self-indulgence into every Improbable company
at the end Let no reader of Mr.. Lewess book,
then, give too much weight to his vapid and dis
reputable philosophy. At all events let him not
fortfy himself in the insane fancy that any amount
of genius short of insanity will give a man im-
munity in the practical disregard Of moral Obliga.
ton. For far saner intellects than either Goethe
or his bographer, and men Of heart as well, have
been permitted to glance behind the scenes; and
they tell us that every contemner of Gods blessed
ordinance of marriage, whether such contempt be
exhibited in the way of lcentious indulgence, or
in the base and cowardly arts of conjugai tyranny,
is sure 10 bring lid in an ultimate dehasement hnfh