The times., 1901-04-28
LITTLE BIG MEN.
Some Historical Differences Between
Brains and Stature.
Grom the Saturday Evening Post.)

Vrom the Saturday Evening Post)
One of the natural instincts Of men is
| that curiosity which MI .eel reSaTdlnS the
| personal appearance o. those persons who
| have stood mentally high above their fell
| lows. Whenever we read or hear OF great
| man, and especially when we are familiar
| with his history. we unconScl Dusty form a
| picture of his looks and stature TO which
| the contrast of the actual man is often
| very disappointing. Often we refuse TO
| substitute the strange, unsatiSfying reality
for our own fond creation. especially II the
great man is found to be small one-the
intellectual giant physical dwarf. As a
rule we Overestimate the height and bulk
of our heroes, and endOw them If attrac-
| tive, with superhuman beauty or, II hate
full with ugly and repulsive looks. 1t was
| this feeling which made the people at Var
mouth. England when Nelson delicate IN
| body ana insignificant IN appearance, was
passing over the quay to take command OF
his first ship, eXclaim: why make that
little fellow captain2'
| Italy, in 1896. the Italians were greatly
surprised at his personal appearance. ms
short stature, his pale face, the sickiy
| thinness Of his frail body which seemed
| consumed by the fires of his genius. but
was in reality made of muscles OF steel
seized the imagination of the people by the
! contrast they presented to his dazzling
| feats of arms. II was a novel and start
ling experience to find that direct and PEN
etrating glance, that abrupt, imperious
! gesture that lacOniC speech and peremp-
| tory and absolute tone-all which bespoke
| the man born to cOmmand-assOciated
with such a dwarfish and attenuated
| frame.
| When a man of extraordinary intellect
ual and moral ability is endowed with a
giant body; when great power of thought,
ability to govern. or magnetic elOqUencS
| is encased in a powerful frame-the union
gives, as we ali know, commanding infiu-
ence. Constantine at the head of his
army or on the throne erected for him at
! the Ecunenical Council at Nice; Charlie
nagne, the son OF a gianteSS. towering
| above all his courtiers, with a high dome
of head, eyes, large and sparkling, and
| genius to fuse and mold the heteroge-
neouS, chaotic elements of Europe into a
great empire; William the Conqueror, a
man of great stature and fullness of per-
| son, majestic in appearance whether
| standing or sitting: Peter the Great
| founder of civilized Russia; and George
! Washington, commander of our Revolu-
| tionary army-all these men satisfied that
instinct which loves to see an imposing
| appearance associated with intellectual
| power and official authority.
Among Americans in whom greatness
of body has been linked with greatness of
| mind were DR.. Mason and DIR. Olin, the
| powerful pulpit orators; General Scott;
Jeremiah Mason. in his day the fore
most lawyer of New England, who was
| six feet seven inches in height, and well
| prOpOrtiOned; and, most remarkable of
all, the great lawyer and statesman, Dan
| iel Webster. Few men in the worlds his
! tory have more deeply impressed their
! fellows by the union Of mental greatness
| with physical than this giant of the bar
and the Senate. II many otner great men
| have shamed their worshippers on a near
| approach-if their comparatively pygmy
| bodies have given the lie to their intel
! lectual pretensions, their souls being
| physiognomicaily slandered by their
! bodies-it was not so with him. Whoever
| looked upon this son of the Granite
| State" with his massive. strongly-knit
| frame, his broad, beeIing brows. his deep
| set, brooding, black eyes and "Mirabeau
/ name of hair felt instantaneously that
| an intellectual Titan stood before him. In
| his voice. his step, and his bearing there
was a grandeur that took the imagina
| tion by storm.
Facts. however show beyond a doubt
that necessary connection between the
| size or shape Of the body and the strength
! of the mind is purely imaginary, yet
many persist in thinking differently.
| Spence in his Anecdotes" relates that
| Alexander Pope, the pygmy poet, was one
day with Sir Godfrey Kncller, the cele-
! brated portrait painter, when his neigh
| Dor, Guinea slave-trader, came in.
"Nephew'' said Sir Godfrey you have
! the honor Of seeing the two greatest men
| in the world. Kneller, a small man bod
! lily, had a very good opinion Of himself,
! as well as Of his little friend, Pope, and
| was hardly prepared for the reply: 1
| don't know how great men you may be,
! but ] don't like your looks. ] have often
| bought a man much better than both Of
you, all muscles and bones, for ten
| guineas."
It is a singular fact that. while nothing
| would seem to be easier than 10 ascertain
| the exact size Of great men, yet IL is
| really difficult, and often impossible, TO
| do so How long did the grand mon
] arch, Louis XIV, pass for large man.
| being described as such by courtiers and
| historiansi Yet the measurement of his
| skeleton some years after his death re-
| vealed that he was under the average
| size. Napoleon III, while on the throne.
| was depicted as majestic in figure; we
now know that he was very short-little
| more than five feet high-
| Indeed, far the larger part of the men
| who have ruled the world either intellec-
| tualIy or with the sword, have been men
| of small stature. Aristotle, the Greek
| philosopher. who for 2.0JU years main
| tanned despotic sway over the world of
| thought, was a slender man with spindle
! ShankS small eyes, and a Shrll, STAN
! mering speech. In the great Council of
| Nice. consisting Of 1900 delegates the
most potent spirit, who after long and
| fierce disputes carried the Council with
him, was AthaudSiuS, a man Of very
| small statuTe-''a dwarf rather than a
man, says Dean Stanley, but of almost
/ angelic beauty OF face and expression
| In his little body dwelt a mighty soul.
| Combining subtlety of thought and pow
er Of elOquence with resOiuteness Of will,
| intensity Of conviction and intrepidity of
spirit, he fought single-handed and for
half a century the great battle Of ortho-
| dOXy, having no friend but God and
| DEATH and today the creed of Athana-
sius is substantially the creed Of Christen-
dom.
l Gregory VII. the UlSntleSt ana naugntl-
| est Of the Roman P0ntiffs. who de-
thToned soVereigns at his will was a
diminutiye man; and so were Canute the
Great, and the great COnde. Noltaire, the
literary autOcrat of the eighteenth century
| and the most brilliant wit Of the ages
| was one of the thinnest and most spectral
| Of human beings. Two Of the most pO-
| tent spirits that directed the storm Of
the French Revolution. RObeSpierre and
| Marat, were far below the average stat
ure. The former an incarnation of will.
J who by the sheer force Of his intellect
| sWayed the multitude and the national
| assembly at his pleasure, was but five
| feet and two or three inches high, and
the latter was less than FIVE feet. Many
| Of the most eminent FrenChmen Of the
nineteenth centurN-i-a Place, Poisson,
Fourier Theirs, GuiZot-were small spare
| SDiTtualiZed beings, who could distinctly
| of essay yists; DR.. Watts, the hymnist; the
sickly SCarrOn, who. in reference to his
il-health and Insignificant stature, called
| himself IAN abridgment of human mis-
| cries." Alexander Pope. who wore three
pairs OF stockings TO plump out his legs TO
| q decent size, and also wore stays; Camp
bell. the author OF 'Hohenlinden." "a
pretty little delicate ladylike nnical gen
| tieman;" Thomas De Quincy. the
| Opium -eater''-were all dwariish men.
| Suwarrow, the greatest Of Russian gen.
| erals; Frederick the Great; David Car
rick, the wonderful actor, and Alexander
| Hamilton, whom Talleyrand pronounced
one Of the three greatest men he had ever
! known. were slender and below the mid
die height The brave General Marion
| was in stature Of the smallest size, thin
as well as low" and DR.. Kane who sur
passed all his Arctic companions in BRAY
| ing toTrid heat and polar cold, was but
five feet six in height, and weighed at
| his best but lbs pounds. But more dwarf
that phenomenon OF the eighteenth cen
tuTy, the Able Gallant, Of Naples. Per