The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-05-20
Suicida OIL. w. Herbert.

contemporary remarks that when a man of
genius and cultivated mind commits desperate
Az act as to rush unprepared into the presence OF
his Supreme Judge, the spectacle not only appals
rs, but has tendency to persuade those whose
religious faith is not firmly grounded. that suicide
may be allowable in some cases.
We do not SEQ why such an exhibition ought to
produce such result. 1t is true that mankind
entertain blind idolatry of genius and cultiva-
ted mind" but it 10 quite true that great intel
lectusl development is not always or even gene
rally accompanied by high moral qualities aud a
well-baianced character. Thackeray, in his lecture
on Swift, after paying homage to his vast genius,
asks signihcautly-"But would you have liked to
live with him 7" Indeed every lecture of the great
satirist upon the eminent humcrists of England
shows US that 3 man may be a great author, or a
hne poet, or u magnificent writer, and yet, as a
man. be small, selfish, aud utterly unworthy the re
spsct and confidence of his fellows. The most pop
ular novelist of the age, Charles Dickens, whose
pages are sparkling aud delightful, whose sent
iments are so pure and noble, is, personally pre-.
tenti0us, sycophantic, and what ia more i'm portant
deficient 10 the great virtue of truth, his Notes
on America sbundanty prove. DR.. Mackay, the
really charming poet, who has lately visited the
South, has just given us a touch of his moral DUAL
tty In the London illustrated News, and Sir Ed
ward L. 8ulwer, who describes virtue 80 beauti-
fully in his more recent novels, has exhibited a
degree OF brutal selbshness and inhumass sp 30 his
wife that would disgrace London coal hsavss.
In the long list OF wits aud scboiars that graces
the annals VI literature, Ii is to find the mo
raj qualities in harmonious proportion with the
Intellectual. On the contrary, the splendid qua.
litiss OF the mind are often accompanied by posi
tive deformities or great deficiencies of the heart
Some Of the grandest iDtellects that England has
produced In shs council and the field, have been
men beneath the ordinary average of virtue
Look at Bacon, Marlborough, and hosts of others
Her literary men have been especially character
lied by what are called the "eccentricities of 20.
MUS" or something worse. Sir Walter Scott,
though not exempt from the frailties Of humanity
was man, and one whom all men could respect.
But the power and cultivation of the intellect can
not change the moral nature common to universal
humanity. 1t is easier to describe good deeds than
TO perform them. Hence We should not attach
undue importance or weight to the alterations or
immoraiities Of men OF genius, who are as liable
to fall Is other men, perhaps from their ardent
temperament, little more so.
The late Henry VIM Herbert Is described by the
New York Express a man of fpe intellect and
accomplishments, hut Of an unbalanced mind. yio-
lent temper, and 90 unkind TO his first wife that
It Is believed that unhappiness shortened her ex.
istsDoe. 1t 10 not remarkable that such man
should commit suicide; that . nature, swayed by
every gust Of passion, and incapable OF seitre-
straiet should rush uucailed into the presence of
the Great Judge. Intellect has no more power to
change the heart than the body; IL can no more
make man generous, pure, brave, forgving, chari-
table, II be does not possess these qualities than
IL can add feature to his eountenanee or a cubit
TO bis stature.