The Elements Of Genius: Genius-making

An individual witn a faudaüiR spint ot cm ulotion, soes men &taniii)g uponan eminenc which he s '(Jelerniinëd to reacli. líe appie ciates.the nature and necesfiily of the exerlion, and sots himeelí" at worlc uiíh anear nest ossidiiity.tiiat never tires norfaints. A íi.-et lie fiibor.s Ji.ko n prisoner u-hb is to f Ijrottö j therrauite dungeon wal! vvilh n noli or a kniíe; he conccals ever}' stroke fro the public eye, lest bis friends and ueighbors shotild lntig-h at Ijïs tortoise ftop. líe goos on; every inch is gained by a pninfül eöbrf. He bends every opposinor circumstance . f.o h'ia service: lie Jays eetge to every obslade nnd carries : it ap one would carry a redoubt, and turns it against the next obsíruction. A fteep overhanging rock blocksup his pathaud threatens him wilh destruction. ile must ecale tiiisor never ascent? a nother inch. lears roJJ on and hnd kim cutting Jus winning wny up the precipitous bulwark: efeodiij' he kecps bis eye to the top until the last inch tg Snished; and when he proudly planta his foot upon the vanquished rock, he rinds him se!f the lord of n fortress which comrrmmls evsry othor post Ihat intervenes beUveen hirn and the sümmit-goal of fiis ambition. Every obsiacle he meets serves only to increasc his npvvnrd gradation. He" ronches 'the top, mul as he wipes hië brow'and casts lus eye down hís w'ridmg path, he eees that aïj ihe obstacles he encouniered were like friendly, thongh frowning giants that lifted him from one step to onother til] he reacbed the goal. Did Fortunn, Cvance, ,or Natiye Gonius help him up the eminenoe? No: fortune vvae hibfirst foe; and he fought with her at every inch, and dragged her with him to ihe top, a doeile prisoner. What did chance do for him in the outfet? It was a phantom, that struck its black wings in his face, and rolled rocks íd his path at every step. He braced op his heart and bearded the providence of fafej and allied himsêlfto. a, more avaiiable auxiliary, {he commoti providence of God - But hehad native getntis on his side? Yes: but it was a genius which he begat hisnself: it was the legitímate oíTspring of his own f&culties; which he beüeved and pfoved were ble lo produce this altribule of the Intellectual soul. He had a inind and fo haséverv other man; and that mind has just so mny faculties and nö. more . True they were. weak at Srst; nml he knew it, and his fellows mighl have ïaujrhed at hiin for it; but herifound by experiment that these facultiee, like.ihose of ;very other man, were endowed wíth a sus sceptibility of cultivation and a eápacity of 'irength suficient for any emerge'rjcy orammein. He dared not teil the world so; br it wóuld have been disrespectfu] to the royil blood of genius, and he vvould have been ienounced a hereric to the estabiislied faith. 3ut he went to work in secret, as every man sobliged to do; and he wns' half way up ïhe ïminence before the world knew it. From hat point to the apex of bis carcer, he was ïalled and crovvned a genius. The prerogaúvcs of this title are fixed with precióion, drid the ceremonies of the coronation are the same now es were under the dynasty of Mt. Olympue. The modern process is something ifter lliis fashion: A man, called a biogmpler, is 6Gnt after the Genius, with all the niachinery invqnted!for -he operation . As soon as the candidate for mmortalky has ceased .to clinib, the biogra)her, or raher biotaplier,: sets to work mijrht wA main. Ho knows his task and perfomis ttoa. He etnkes into the base of tlie emincnce, and diga away every foot print of lii.ïero's ascent; he tears away the rocks he caled, and the shrubs hegrasped. Ile cutg tway the acclivity, and sIiowb the man standnj upon the jutting edge of a perpendicular nountnm, steep and inaccessible as the side )f Gibraltar. One etroke more, and hie work s done; it is the crowning touch of the ipotheosis; he writes upon the forehead of his inresisling victim,.Va:;VMr, nonfit,n plaring Bpitalf, then, turning to the world, exclaims, 2cce homo! This is the Iiistory of genius, given in the anguageof common life; this is the process )f genius maJcing, which has fiïïea the world viih the graven images of deified intellect, irhich only serve to overawe ibe pe'ople.-Pis gross injustice, the whole of t. This rocess etnbotlies all the elemente of the anientapolheosis. It digs an immense chasin etween man ond man, and breaks up the high oad between Vhe incipient and terminating mits of his intelleclual capacity. In tliis i 'y, the monumpnts of industry and on which great and good men designed as i ,-ay.iiiarka to highcr altitude of iulcüeclual eminence, are turned intosteep, impasible barriers wliich eircumscnbe one's sphere of