The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-03-26
OF WRITER'S BOOKS.
The PARENTAGE OF CHEAT Mry
HAyELocK ELLIS.
The Imagination of DuIlness" by WALTZ,
Slaekbvrn Harte-An Incident Re-
garding Amclio Rives.

Many books have been written about
gcnius and within the last few months.
under the inspiring influence OF Lam
hroso. an attempt has been made TO mca-
sure accurately the physical capacity OF
Esnius. Little attention has been given
however TO the interesting study Of the
elements that so TO the making Of genius.
10 what we may cali its etology. and
which must be sought for only before
birth. How did the shiftless STAFFORD
tradesman come 20 be Shakespeare's
father, and Micawber the father NJ
Dickens? To what extent can the facts
OF the parentage OF genius be reduced
20 lowY l limit myself here TO a small
but interesting group Of facts bearing
upon a single aspect OF the matter.
Taking first the Eve English poets whose
supremacy during the last quarter Of a
century is universally acknowledged
Tcnnyson, Browning, ~Swinburnc. Rosetti.
and Morris, let us inquire what races
or combinations Of races. have entered
into these men.
Inc Iennysons." write Lord Tennvson.
come from a Danish part Of England.
an ancestor Of my mother. a Fauvel or de
fauVel. is French. Taken altogether we
nave a predominantly Scandinavian stock.
n.hshhg with Lincolnshire people. but
WIN a Foreign Huguenot strain"
With Swinburne. also, the foundation
is scandinavian. tempered by a consi-
Her@ole infusion of Celtic and French
blood.
William Morris is a Welsh borderer. and
win the Welsh blood predominating. but
ms paternal grandmother came from the
Angio-Danish county Of Nottingham.
The Rosettis were an Italian family.
with an admixture of northern blood.
and Rosetti himself is English only on the
side OF one grandparent. and has hence
only twenty-five per cent. OF English
blood.
Browning. with a basis of Saxon stock.
Is modined by an intermiXture on the
one HAND of the old dark British race:
his grandfather married a West Indian
Creole. and his father married Sarianna
Niedemann, whose father was German
and her mother Scotch. II the Browning
race had consciously conspired to make
a cumulative series Of trials in cross
breeding, they could hardly nave chosen
a more crucial series of experiments, and
the final result certainly could not have
been more successful.
When we turn from these fine poets 10
contemporary writers whose claim to
very high rank is not universally con-
coded, II Is no longer easy to choose. and
one is liable TO the charge Of admitting
only those cases which seem 10 support
a theory. 1 will bring forward a small
but very varied group containing the
best known English living imaginative
writer's beyond those already mentioned)
OF whose ancestry l have detailed knowl-
edge. There Is. however, no reason TO
suppose that the addition of other names
Of equal rank would alter the character
OF results. The list includes Mr.. Coven-
try Patnore, Mr.. Austin DobsOn, the Hon.
Roden Noel, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mr..
Walter Pater, Mr.. Barring Gould and Mr..
Thomas Hardy. Here. too, not one of
The persons cited can be said to be Of
pure English race, while only four or
I'VE of the two groups can be said 10 be
predominantiy English. a more extended
investigation would bring out the same
result still more clearly. England is at
the present time rich in poets. A general
knowledge Of a considerable number of
them enables me TO say that very few
indeed are Of even fairly pure English
blood; the majority are largely, or pre-
dOminantly, of Irish, Gaelic, Welsh. or
Cornish race, as a single glance, without
any inquiry, is often enough to reveal.
II we turn TO the rich and varied genius
OF France we shall find similar results
brought out in a more remarkable way.
Here We see the interaction of numerous
distinct races. tempered by the comming-
ling Of remote foreign elements, from the
negro blood. which II Is easy TO trace in
the faces Of Alexander DuIras 20 the Iro-
Quois blood in FIaubert. Hugo belonged
On the fathers side TO he Germanic
race Of Lorraine, on the mothers
side TO the Breton race. lola
has Italian, French and Greek blood
IN his veins; and Ibsen is IF mixed Scan
dlnavlan, Scotch and German descent.
ROusard. that brilliant child of the
French Renaissance. came Of Hungarian
or Bulgarian stock allied with the no.
blest families Of France. The Russian
Pushkin had Abysinnlan negro blood in
his veins.
While we have found that among twelve
eminent British writer's no less than ten
show more or less traces Of foreigl.
blood. and not one can be said to be pure
English, out OF every ten DISTINGUISHED
British scientific men five were pure En-
glish and only one had foreign blood.
Among successful politicians. again, mix
ture Of race appears TO be still less com
mon. Now. you must know that l ara
a Scotchnan." said Mr.. Gladstone, pure
Scotch. In fact, no family can be purer
than ours AS a matter Of fact,
Gladstone unites the Saxon Lowlander OF
the south of Scotland with the typical
Highlander Of the north. two utterly dis
tinct races.
Looking at the matter somewhat broad
iy, there has been since the dawn OF
European history a fusion OF a fair, en-
ergetic race with darker races OF an ear
Her civilization. and the outcome has been
the strongest and most variously gifted
breed OF men that the world has seen.
Wherever the races have remained
comparatively pure, we seldom ind any
high or energetic civilization. and never
any fine Towering Of genius. Britain has
been especially exposed to the influence
OF this race intermixture, and 10 IL is
due all that is finest in English magma
i've genius.