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Art. XLIII. The Woman of Genius. In 3 Vols. 16s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1821.
BY those who have made the mind of man the subject of particular study and contemplation, various have been the definitions given to us, of that singular and brilliant constitution of its faculties, called genius. Little is to be comprehended by persons in general, a position which may be constantly evinced in [470] its frequent misapplication to those but little entitled to lay claim to it, but who, perhaps, with a small share of talent or mental acquirement, are thus ignorantly stamped its children. Without here entering into a close but unnecessary examination of the point in question, we may state our acceptation of its being a natural gift, and however irregular and wild may be its ebullitions, uncultivated by art, and unobserved by a well regulated understanding, we may decide it to be the finest display of intellectual excellence with which Heaven has thought proper to endow its highly gifted creatures. Where a treasure is of price, wide is the responsibility of consequence attached to it, and large the risks attending it.
Hence the frequent aberrations from right principle, but too palpably evident in those endowed with genius, and hence its wild and extravagant perversions; excellent, and admirable, and lovely, and sublime, when submitted to the mild dominion of religion and virtue; treacherous, and deceitful, and rebellious, and alarming, when left to its own tumultuous and wildly extravagant conceptions.
Genius in a woman is a more dangerous possession than in a man; inasmuch as its display has less of propriety in it, and the singularity which it too frequently assumes to itself is repugnant to the best feelings of a female, which bid her shrink from the eye of observation, and concentrate her happiness in retirement. Yet we are far from withholding from our female companions the truth, that this rich boon of nature is frequently, perhaps as frequently, their birth-right as that of their lords, and of course the concession follows, that whatever talent is thus entrusted to their guardianship, it is their duty to improve to the uttermost. But still their task is difficult, and one in which the utmost delicacy and caution is requisite. Our contemplations have frequently rested on this subject, and on having a book laid before us, bearing a title coinciding with these reflections, and promising to introduce us to a 'woman of genius,' we opened it with something of a prepossession that we should be pleased with its contents. We have read the work through, and we confess ourselves to have been disappointed.
The heroine, Edith Avondel, who, of course, is the highly gifted female in question, does not at all meet the idea we have formed of the personification of this high-wrought excellence of the mind. Her person, which in symmetry of form, delicacy of material, and matchless turn of feature, surpasses the most finished specimens of the finest Grecian chisel, is such as we very rarely meet in mortal union with the highest attribute of intellectual perfection; and the melancholy calmness and general cold quiescence of muscle, which are the prominent [471] characteristics of this beauteous figure, give us more the idea of Shakspeare's [sic] love-lorn Juliet, who sat 'like patience on a monument,' than of the lightning flashes, and ever varying glowings of imagination; the bright sparklings of fancy, which, however subject to regulation, yet still conspicuously elicit themselves from the eye of genius. It is true that Edith Avondel had been a sufferer - an injured - a cruel sufferer, and there is a mystery hanging over her, which involves her in constant uneasiness, and naturally occasions much abstraction from minor subjects of interest and eccentricity of manner towards others. But against these she has the panoply of the Christian to support her, and subordinately the friendship and protection of the amiable Dr and Mrs Balloden to soothe and alleviate her distresses, and which one should imagine, operating on a heart of such exquisite feeling, might have produced a manner less chilling than her's is represented to be; and particularly ought it to have saved her from the Pharasaical [sic] self-sufficiency which we are more than once told renders her calmly conscious of her own decided superiority.
The story, which our limits will not allow of our giving in detail, is improbable, and interwoven with such high-flown expressions of sentimental love, that we should scarcely recommend it to the romantic and susceptible girl; but there is nothing exceptionable in religious principles, on the contrary, the heroine is uniformly tenacious of her Christian faith. The subordinate characters are of a common cast, some of them well drawn, others as is frequent, over-wrought and caricatured.
On the whole, we would submit to the judicious mother whether or not she shall pass it on to the younger individuals of her family circle, or return it to the library without offering it to their perusal. [complete]
Provided by Julie A. Shaffer, January 2000
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