PENALTIES OF GENIUS.
Genius .and ill-health, it would seem, often go hand in hand. At any rate,' most of the greatest deeds that the world has performed have been ac* complished by men physically infirm., Darwin suffered so acutely from nervous exhaustion that he could only work for two hours a day at the most. Thackeray was frequently ill; Johnson' nearly always in poor health, 1 Dickens at the age of fifty-five was an. old man, ivith shattered nerves; whilst Sir Walter Scott, £ subject to spasms, was a chronic invalid during the later years of his life, and died at the age of fifty-nine.
. Milton, William Morris, and Charles Keane, the actor, all were slaves to gout, and Milton was further handicapped 'by being blind. The poet Keats died of consumption when still quite young. ' Elizabeth $ Barrett Browning w>as an invalid for the grater part of her life.
Insanity claimed Deane Swift; whilst Rosseau, Cowper, and King George 111. all were insane during periods of their life.
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Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 329, 10 July 1914, Page 6
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167PENALTIES OF GENIUS. Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 329, 10 July 1914, Page 6
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