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Hereditary Genius
227
TABLE II.¹
DEGREES OF KINSHIP
A
B
C
D
Name of the
degree
Corresponding letters
Father
4 F.
...
...
...
4
20
100
20
Brother
8 B.
...
...
...
8
40
150
26
Son
9 S.
...
...
...
9
45
100
45
Grandfather
1 G.
0 g.
...
...
1
5
200
2.5
Uncle
1 U.
0 u.
...
1
5
400
1.25
Nephew
9 N.
1 n.
...
...
10
50
400
12.5
Grandson
1 P.
0 p.
...
...
1
5
200
2.5
Great-
grandfather
0 GF.
0 gF.
0 GF.
0 gF.
0
0
400
0
Great-uncle
1 GB.
0 gB.
0 GB.
0 gB.
1
5
800
6
First-cousin
0 US.
0 uS.
0 US.
0 uS.
0
0
800
0
Great-nephew
2 NS.
0 nS.
0 NS.
0 nS.
3
10
800
1
Great-
grandson
0 PS.
0 pS.
0 PS.
0 pS.
0
0
400
0
All more remote
1
...
...
...
1
5
...
...
The results of Table II are surprising. It appears that, if we except
the kindred of Coleridge and Wordsworth, who have shown various
kinds of ability, almost all the relations are in the first degree. Poets
are clearly not founders of families. The reason is, I think, simple, and
it applies to artists generally. To be a great artist, requires a rare and,
so to speak, unnatural correlation of qualities. A poet, besides his
genius, must have the severity and stedfast earnestness of those
whose dispositions afford few temptations to pleasure, and he must,
at the same time, have the utmost delight in the exercise of his senses
and affections. This is a rare character, only to be formed by some
happy accident, and is therefore unstable in inheritance. Usually,
people who have strong sensuous tastes go utterly astray and fail in
life, and this tendency is clearly shown by numerous instances
mentioned in the following appendix, who have inherited the
dangerous part of a poet's character and not his other qualities that
redeem and control it.
1
See, for explanation, the foot-note to the similar table on p. 61.
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