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Hereditary Genius
11
most brilliant of starlight nights there are never so many as 4,000 stars
visible to the naked eye at the same time; yet we feel it to be an
extraordinary distinction to a star to be accounted as the brightest in the
sky. This, be it remembered, is my narrowest area of selection. I propose to
introduce no name whatever into my lists of kinsmen (unless it be marked
off from the rest by brackets) that is less distinguished.
The mass of those with whom I deal are far more rigidly selected—many
are as one in a million, and not a few as one of many millions. I use the
term “illustrious “when speaking of these. They are men whom the whole
intelligent part of the nation mourns when they die; who have, or deserve to
have, a public funeral; and who rank in future ages as historical characters.
Permit me to add a word upon the meaning of a million, being a number so
enormous as to be difficult to conceive. It is well to have a standard by
which to realize it. Mine will be understood by many Londoners; it is as
follows:— One summer day I passed the afternoon in Bushey Park to see
the magnificent spectacle of its avenue of horse-chestnut trees, a mile long,
in full flower. As the hours passed by, it occurred to me to try to count the
number of spikes of flowers facing the drive on one side of the long
avenue—I mean all the spikes that were visible in full sunshine on one side
of the road. Accordingly, I fixed upon a tree of average bulk and flower,
and drew imaginary lines—first halving the tree, then quartering, and so on,
until I arrived at a subdivision that was not too large to allow of my counting
the spikes of flowers it included. I did this with three different trees, and
arrived at pretty much the same result: as well as I recollect, the three
estimates were as nine, ten, and eleven. Then I counted the trees in the
avenue, and, multiplying all together, I found the spikes to be just about
100,000 in
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