Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1884-01-10
Genius and Sensitiycncss.


Every man of genius feels at times
n sense OF loneliness more or less. 1t
caused Byron much misery; John Stu
art Mill suffered from it for years; and
Dickens, when near the end, complain
ed that he had missed someone he
had never seen. The ideal of such
men is seldom realized. Unknown to
themselves they create creature in
their heart and brain whom they eager
ly seek in flesh and blood, and too often
in vain. 1t does not follow-indeed, it
seldom happens-that the ideal con-
ception of the man of genius is per-
feet creature, or one like unto himself,
but generally of contrary nature and
possessing the very qualities most
wanting in him.
Some few have found this ideal, and
| always in the form of woman; others
have found her only TO lose her, like
Walter Scott and Byron; not few
have found her in the wife of another
man, like Petrarch and Sterne; others
have fondly imagined that they have
found her, but, too late, have discover
ed their mistake. These last are they
whose married lives have proved fail
ures. The wives of men of genius sep
arated from their husbands are long
and fearful list. Who is to blamep
Certainly not the wives, for they are
human and very feminine; and rs for
their husbands, they are more than hui
man; so let not us men sit in judgment
upon them.
Byron had all the restlcssness and
contempt for the world peculiar TO
Burns. Their natures were much alike.
The peer and the peasant unite in the
temperament of the poet. Byron was
very near being the most unfortunate
man who ever lived. He endured the
misery of dcformity, OF disappointed
love, OF calumny, and Of genius. He
only wanted Burns poverty to make
him the most unhappy man ever born.
Any one of these misfortunes would be
as much as an ordinary being could
well bear; but when we think OF them
conferred in one man, and of the pain
tul senSitiVcncss of genius TO such in
iiuences, we wonder that Byron was so
good u man that he was.
With men OF genius, Sensitivcncss is
Il perfect diseases indeed, it is this very
quality which enables them to feel and
express those emotions which escape
other men. Sonsitiveuess is an inno-
cent and amiablc sclf-love, and must
not he confounded with seliishness. A
selfish man is sensitive, but only for
himself; but II sensitive man has much
sympathy for others. The two quail
ties always go together, and are large
ly developed in women and men of
genius. Many women have as much
sympathy rs men OF genius, but they
exercise it with greater strictness and
partially. Thus women have little or
no sympathy for evil doors; men of &C.
MUS frequently have.
Speaking OF calumny, it is Il thing TO
which man of genius is particularly
liable, especially an unknown man. Peo-
pie see that he is often unhappy, and
uncertain and strange in his humor and
ways-in short, he is different from
themselves; and, not knowing the
cause, they are SO kind rs to invent
one, always taking great care that it
shall be 10 the mans dIscredit. Said
Bulwer Lytton, with tears in his eyes,
'.Men calumniate me, yet | would die
to serve them. The fact is we love to
see each o'her come and fall down
heavily. CitcdJO EYP.