The Norman turn seems most germane to the matter
here immediately in hand; on the other hand, the Celtic turn, or some
degree of it, some degree of its quick perceptive instinct, seems
necessary to account for the full difference between the German
nature and ours. Even in Germans of genius or talent the want of
quick light tact, of instinctive perception of the impropriety or
impossibility of certain things, is singularly remarkable. Herr
Gervinus's prodigious discovery about Handel being an Englishman and
Shakspeare a German, the incredible mare's-nest Goethe finds in
looking for the origin of Byron's Manfred,--these are things from
which no deliberate care or reflection can save a man; only an
instinct can save him from them, an instinct that they are absurd;
who can imagine Charles Lamb making Herr Gervinus's blunder, or
Shakspeare making Goethe's? but from the sheer German nature this
intuitive tact seems something so alien, that even genius fails to
give it. And yet just what constitutes special power and genius in a
man seems often to be his blending with the basis of his national
temperament, some additional gift or grace not proper to that
temperament; Shakspeare's greatness is thus in his blending an
openness and flexibility of spirit, not English, with the English
basis; Addison's, in his blending a moderation and delicacy, not
English, with the English basis; Burke's in his blending a largeness
of view and richness of thought, not English, with the English basis.
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