the salon, they all
congratulated the Mignon family on the hopes which Desplein encouraged.
The conversation, in which the Modeste of her letters was once more in
the ascendant, turned naturally on the man whose genius, unfortunately
for his fame, was appreciable only by the faculty and men of science.
Gobenheim contributed a phrase which is the sacred chrism of genius as
interpreted in these days by public economists and bankers,--

"He makes a mint of money."

"They say he is very grasping," added Canalis.

The praises which Modeste showered on Desplein had annoyed the poet.
Vanity acts like a woman,--they both think they are defrauded when love
or praise is bestowed on others. Voltaire was jealous of the wit of a
roue whom Paris admired for two days; and even a duchess takes offence
at a look bestowed upon her maid. The avarice excited by these two
sentiments is such that a fraction of them given to the poor is thought
robbery.

"Do you think, monsieur," said Modeste, smiling, "that we should judge
genius by ordinary standards?"

"Perhaps we ought first of all to define the man of genius," replied
Canalis. "One of the conditions of genius is invention,--invention of a
form, a system, a force. Napoleon was an inventor, apart from his other
conditions of genius. He invented his method of making war. Walter Scott
is an inventor, Linnaeus is an inventor, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire and
Cuvier are inventors. Such men are men of genius of the first rank. They
renew, increase, or modify both science and art. But Desplein is merely
a man whose vast talent consists in properly applying laws already
known; in observing, by means of a natural gift, the limits laid down
for each temperament, and the time appointed by Nature for an operation.
He has not founded, like Hippocrates, the science itself. He has
invented no system, as did Galen, Broussais, and Rasori. He is merely an
executive genius, like Moscheles on the piano, Paganini on the violin,
or Farinelli on his own larynx,--men who have developed enormous
faculties, but who have not created music. You must permit me to
discriminate between Beethoven and la Catalani: to one belongs the
immortal crown of genius and of martyrdom, to the other innumerable
five-franc pieces; one we can pay in coin, but the world remains
throughout all time a debtor to the other. Each day increases our debt
to Moliere, but Baron's comedies have been overpaid."

"I think you make the prerogativ