New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-06-28
LOVE AND GENIUS.
HALF A DOZEN FAMOUS RoMANCEs.
UNHAPPY LOVES OF MEN OF GENIUS BY Th .SI.
Hitchcock I2mo, PIP. 212. Harper q Bfotiers

| UNHAPPY LOVES OF MEN OF GENIUS. ny adtIars
| Hitchcock 12mo, PIP 212. Harper az Dfo'h0''
No doubt there is and always Will be a deep interest
In the love affairs OF men and women OF genius anu
therefore the writer Of these sketches was sure OF MS
ground. His halfdozcn papers are moreover asio0
ably written. with light touch and while theS are
necessarily superficial and fragmentary' they Prese
the salient ponst OF the romances concerned AS re
CARDS the choice OF the subjects, however, there 'e
mains something TO be objected Mr.. Hitchcock mas
dealt with six cases, and II hardly be maintaned
that they arc typical fairly Illustrative OF Ills
subject namely, unhappy love. The Instances CHOSEN
are those OF Gibbon and suzanne Curchod, DE- JOHNSON
and Mrs. Thrae Goethe and Charlotte Won s'@n'
Mozart and Aloysla Weber, Cavour and the UNKNOWN
and Irving and Mrs. Carlyle Now it Is to be oo-
served that I'm four out OF these six the ccum-
stances werc such as to render II very doubtful whether
what could truly called love existed on more than
ono sde while regards the other two doubts OF an
other kind equally apparent Leu us Degm Us Mr.
Hitchcock begins. with Gibbon and the girl who was
10 be Madame Necker 1t is on the face Of the fact
exceedingly doubtful whether the historian ever expert
crced the passion OF love in his whole lifetime.
Nothing in hts known spondencc with Mademolsee
Curchod suggests that he really loved her. HIS an
nouncement Of the decision which separated them was
perfectly cold bOoded composition, cvincng no genuine
| sentiment and in itself disproval Of his amorous
| pretenslons. The lady undoubtedly loved this I'M
worthy and falthess swain, but Gibbon was devoted
10 literature The truth Is that men OF genius arc
often incapable Of doing justice to any woman's az
lection OF their absorption In the pursuit whose
| results bring them fame and honor. Whether ths
incapacity is but form OF selfshness Is an inter
estng question but can hardly be considered here.
| Gbbon himself was certainly not severe sufferer
from the paternal prohibition, and his fancy Tor 1t
could have been no more, quickly passed and left no
enduring impression. There is nothing to show that
| he at any time regretted not having married the
| Curchod or that her brilliant position as Madame
| Necker caused him moments melancholy. lie TOO
| had become famous and with a far more lasting re-
| nown and It is by no means clear that such wife
| would have helped him. The case Of Dr. Johnson
and Mrs Thrale Of quite another kind. In fact it
Is only by accepting several gratuous assumptions that
II can DO regarded having any OF the aspects OF
love affair." while the probabilities are heavily against
| that view OF it, The whole theory easily accepted
by Mr.. Hitchcock rests upon the circumstance that
| Johnson disapproved Mrs Thrales marriage with
Pozzi and behaved about IT with characteristic bear
| shness But this fact will not Justify the inference
that Johnson was in love with Mrs Tlrale and we do
| not believe that this was the case johnson had
lived under her roof loved and honored guest during
the greater part Of eighteen years. lie was old
enough to be her father when he met her first and
| her behavior toward him that Of an afectionate
| daughter. AS for him, fond he was Of material
comfort, and accustomed he to play the big
bow-wow," nothing natural than that he
should have felt his extruson from the streatham
paradise keeny or that he should have resented the
appearance OF Piozz whom he regarded as the cause
| of all the trouble.
| Johnson moreover was thoroughly insular in his
dislike of foreigners in fact he could hardly tolerate
those British subjects who happened TO be born north
of the Tweed the Irish Channel. Pozz was
an italian and Roman Catholic, and therefore doubly
and trcby objectionable to the Doctor. Altogether
the for his attitude toward the marriage are
such as completely TO explain it without
b,-n ~ Ac N
Charlotte Won stein, IT, as seems most probable. this
was a PlatOnic friendship, demur may again be made
to its classification with unhappy loves. Goethe was
VIGOROUSLY tickle and he did not long rest content with
the uplifting but passioness association Charlotte was
woman enough TO feel and resent his infdely, which
indeed took shape coarse and Gallons as to cast
suspicion upon the genuineness Of those lofty views
which he expressed in his written works But in any
case there little evidence Of nfecity on his part
His ache was quickly cured, and apparently never
returned. As TO Mozart and Aloysia Weber, surely
that least the side of the musician. and quite
probably on that Of the lady Also of what
is vugarly termed calf-love" Mozart was full o.
extremes given to hyperbole and extravaganza
changcful and romantic. 1t may be that he cared
more for AlOysa Weber than she did for him. but
even supposng that TO have been the it does not
follow that his heart in any danger OF break
Ing. The difference between this kind of love affair
and real passion is equal to that between shadow and
brought forward to Illustrate this distinction.
Mr.. Hitchcock discusses next Cavour and the I'm
known and here We have OneSlded.
mutilaed affair." though the love OF the woman was
unquestlonaby deep, sincere and enduring Indeed
this Unknown recalls curlousIy that Spanish Nun who's,
letters have down to us from the sixteenth
century fraugnt with passion volcanic 1t was
unfortunate. Cavour when he met the Unknown had
not entered public life. but his vocation then
controlling him. lie had not room and enough
for a great love in his life. That life was prededicated
to his country, and all its energies morgaged.
Therefore though be entered upon the adventure SYM
patheticaly and with sincerity. he began TO cool
and the warmth which then left him never returned
The Unknown continued TO worship at the shrine she
had set up for herself, and perhaps she derived
much consolation from this cult Of imaginary Cavour
as she could have done from union with the real
For his career was lead him far from daance and
the pleasures Of domesticity. Mr.. Htchcocks last
example OF unhappy loves is that of
Irving and Mrs. Carlyle. Here we have
an was loved by two men Of great Intellectual |
force, OF whom achieved great reputation and |
the other died mad after failing wholly In his
In such circumstances 1t must be very hard TO |
tell where the significance Of the illustration appears
Jane Welsh Carlyle not, if judge from the
opinions OF those who knew her Intimately excluding
her husband whose eulOgnm upon her after her death
Is certainly not a reasoned composition, q woman OF
a very anectionate nature She married Carlyle. rs |
she herself declared, for ambition, perhaps because
Irving. whom she then liked more had put himself |
out of reach by contracting unsuitable marriage. |
But events showed that probably woman could
have happy with Irving, In whose brain the seeds
Of insanity lay long before he conceived the thoroughly
mad idea OF the gift OF tongues ON the other hand
there IS ground for the belief that Carlyle did himself
serious injustice in his frenzy OF selfreproach after
his wife's DEATH and that he really was much kinder
and better husband than hi represented himself.
There is obvious exaggeration in what a too literal
public has taken pied de Ia lerc' and sooner or
later this will be generally recognized. Irving and
Jane Welsh, at all events, surely not better
assorted couple than Carlyle and Jane Welsh and II
The latter had married the former she would I'm all
probability have been far less happy than she actually