The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1897-02-02
~ pEcuhIARu1Es OF GENIUS.
ITS Eolatlons to Madness In Eosed
People.

genius there Is q mixture OIL Insanity
However this may be, the fact ie-
mains that the majority of the most
highly -gifted and the specially talent
ed have not only been more remark
able in their whims and cccantricities
than the average mankind; nut IN 100
many instances have their luminous
intellccts been ultimately clouded by
madness.
The connection between poetry and
insanity has often been OF am intimate
kind. Tasso. the Italian poet, and
Camoens, the Portuguese, both dled
mad, Burns suffered from dellrium;
and y hrs hnen said that Shelley oon.d
not have been pronounced entirely
sane.
,.vwper was subject to lunacy, and
poor Collins Is said to have run through
the aisles of Chichester Cathedral q
howling madman." Chatterton, the
marvellous boy-poet, committed sui
eide in fit Of mental arrangement at
the early age of seventeen; and even
Pope suffered as hypochondriaG.
The charge OF insanity was brought
against Sophocles, The great Greek
poet, though his works were produced
as an evidence OF soundness of mind.
Byron once remarked of himself, Il
see myself terminating my days like
Swift, q grinning idiot" and he actual
ly enumerated several of his maternal
relatives who had died by their own
hands.
Lee. the dramatist, while an inmate
OF Bedllm, probably with view to
proving that he was fit and proper
person to belong to such an institution,
wrote a tragery in no fewer than twen-
ty-five acts!
Rousseau was, like Lamb, subject to
flts of lunacy, and Cervantes himself
more mad than his own hero, Don
Quixote. 1t has even been said by
Father Prout that the great Newton
was mad when he commented on the
Revelations. Baron Napier, the in
ventor of lcgarithms which have since
probably contributed to send others
crazy, himself became ultimately mad
also.
Southey outlived his intellectual facul-
tics. as did also Dean Swift, who, prob
ably in anticipation Of approaching
madness, devoted his last remaining
sanity to the founding of an asylum
for idiots.
Even among The highly talented who
have not exhibited traits of positive in
sanity, their peculiar whims and crazes
have been sufficiently pronounced to
mark them as greatly different to ordi-
nary mcrtals. These crazes and idio-
syncracies in great men have often
taken very queer forms.
The famous Dr.. Watts, who was ply
sically but very little man, indulged
in the extra ordinary notion just be-
fore he died That his swelling proper
tions were becoming a matter OF in
convenience to him, and that there was
no door in his house which was suffi-
GENTLY large to allow him to pass
through without squeezing.
Am illusion of a still more wonderful
nature was entertained by Dr. Simon
Browne, preacher and controversi-
allst of some note in his own day, who
for long held the belief that he "had
Gnnihilated X him the thinking sub
stance" and that he was utterly divest.
ed of consciousness. He wGs porpetu-
ally haunted by this curious illusion,
even while furnishing the completest
refutation OF 1t in the active vigor OF
his mind. and by writing most able
tracts and producing most la.borious
compilations.
Thomas GainsIborOugh, the painter,
seems to have been hauntcd by ra.htr
grim delusion for some years before
his death, and was under the impress
sion that he had not long to live. On
one occasion he took Sheridan by the
hand. and exacted from him solemn
promise that he would attend his fu-
neral; on the required promise being
given, he Immediately became as jovlal
as ever.
But one of the most remarkable jn-
stances of genius being united to queer
idiosyncracy was that of William
Blake. He not only believed that he
had lived before. but his mind was one
mass of weird and curious fancies. He
believer that he could, by an effort of
the will. summon into his presence
those who had been dead thousands of
years. and he would produce most
striking portraits from these imaginary
sitters.
Among other curious productions
from his PENCIL was The magnified ghos
OF flea, which he averred had appear
ed to him in a vision. On one occasion,
this extraordinary man positively de-
clarcd that he had witnessed fairy's
ANhNi al III iNo ShiNN4ib Gnu utoSihpNu
the dead fairy being laid on single
Iose-leaf and buried amid sweet songs
from the tiny followers.
Mozart. the great composer, habit
uaily exhibited ccccntricities which In
cny leceor mortal without his wonder
ful genius. would have caused him to
be regarded as fit candidate for an
Csylum. 1t Is more than probable that
his facous Requiem WCN!d never have
been prcdrced hut fer the morbid fancy
which possessed him that the myster-
ioug patron WHO ordered it was an
om!ssary from the her world.
Men OF genius and talent have often
chN%n an Inconsistency whish may be
described as little short of insanity.
The poet Dante was wanderer from
vile and children, yet passed the whole
OF reckless life in morbid brooding
over and nursing his dream OF ideal
love.
In the same manner, Petrarch who
would not suffer his only daughter to
live with him, spent thirty-two years
cn his molomHnlaeal passion for Laura
who was alre'dy q W,fe and the mother
OF several children, and who moreover
created his insane love with proper dis
Cain.
L1urCnee SEN? | rs Leea reproaoh-
cd for prefcrriRg to whine over dead
es5' 10 relieving the wants of dis
trossod mother. AlfeIi. the Italian
,r.,.1 a. -,