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Hereditary Genius
3
throughout the whole historical period of human existence, their number
does not amount to more than 400, and yet a considerable proportion of
them will be found to be interrelated.
Another grade of ability with which I deal is that which includes numerous
highly eminent, and all the illustrious names of modern English history,
whose immediate descendants are living among us, whose histories are
popularly known, and whose relationships may readily be traced by the help
of biographical dictionaries, peerages, and similar books of reference. “
A third and lower grade is that of the English Judges, massed together as
a whole, for the purpose of the prefatory statistical inquiry of which I have
already spoken. No one doubts that many of the ablest intellects of our race
are to be found among the Judges; nevertheless the average ability of a
Judge cannot be rated as equal to that of the lower of the two grades I
have described.
I trust the reader will make, allowance for a large and somewhat
important class of omissions I have felt myself compelled to make when
treating of the eminent men of modern days. I am prevented by a sense of
decorum from quoting names of their relations in contemporary life who are
not recognised as public characters, although their abilities may be highly
appreciated in private life. Still less consistent with decorum would it have
been, to introduce the names of female relatives that stand in the same
category. My case is so overpoweringly strong, that I am perfectly able to
prove my point without having recourse to this class of evidence.
Nevertheless, the reader should bear in mind that it exists; and I beg he will
do me the justice of allowing that I have not overlooked the whole of the
evidence that does not appear in my pages. I am deeply conscious of the
imperfection of my work, but my sins are those of omission, not of
commission.
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