I quote it only to soften the
harsher judgment of the world, ever eager to condemn what it cannot
comprehend; yet must it by no means be made to apologize for any sin.
While I am willing to be known as believing that genius can be governed
by no conventional laws, but is ever a law unto itself, I am also in the
full belief of the independent moral power of every individual to
regulate his own acts according to the purest code of morality. But to
the quotation, which, with the above remarks, the reader would find
pertinent to time and place had he turned over the historical pages
having a bearing on this romance which I have.
"The strong seductions and fierce trials of the heart of genius who
shall estimate? * * * What does an ordinary mind know of the inner storm
and whirlwind, as it were, of restlessness; the craving after excitement
and high action; the inability to calm the breast and repose in fixity;
the wild beatings and widowed longings after sympathy? * * * It is the
severe lot of genius that its blessedness should be its bane; _that that
wherein its heavenly franchise gives it to excel mankind is the point
wherein it should be cursed above its brethren_!"
More I might quote; but these few extracts are sufficient for my
purpose; and I hasten to conclude this chapter with what may to the
general reader appear more relevant.
* * * * *
Not many years ago the Bell Tavern, as it was ever named, was razed to
its foundation, and a new building erected on the spot where it stood.
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