Show THE PENALTY OF GENIUS why thomas carlyle thought it set its possessor apart mr thomas henderson of marlow sends the follow ing extract from a let ter of carlyle s written when he was a bachelor to a fr end of his named david hope who was disappointed in a love affair with a literary lady it may interest ome of our readers just now she was a person of genius it I 1 mistake not and much as I 1 admire not to say idol ze that characteristic in a mistress a sweetheart as we call it I 1 confess I 1 hould pause be fore recommending it to any honest man in a wife these women of genius clr are the very d 1 when you take them on a wrong tack I 1 know very well that I 1 myself it ever I 1 marry which seems possible at best am to have one of them for my help mate and I 1 expect nothing but that our life will be the most turbulent in congruous thin on earth a mixture of honey and wormwood the sweetest and the bitterest or as it were at one time the clearest sunshiny er in nature then whirlwinds and sleet and frost the thunder and lightning and furious storms all mingled together in the same season and the sunshine always in the smallest quan city judge how you would have rel dished this and sing with a cheerful heart E en let the bonny lass gang the extract affords matter for mel anchovy contrast with carlyle s sent ments after the death of his helpmate westminster gazette |