“The curse of versatility”

    “It is possible the student of Political Economy
    Might otherwise have cultivated Fame,
    And the Scientist whose energies are given to Astronomy
    May sacrifice a literary name. 
    In the Royal Academician may be buried a facility
    For prosecuting Chemical Research,
    But he knows that if he truckles to the Curse of Versatility,
    Competitors will leave him in the lurch.

    “If an eminent physician should develop a proclivity
    For singing on the operatic stage,
    He will find that though his patients may apparently forgive
      it, he
    Will temporal’ly cease to be the rage,
    And the lawyer who depreciates his logical ability
    And covets a poetical renown,
    Will discover on his Circuit that the Curse of Versatility
    Has limited the office of his gown.

    “The costermonger yonder, if he had the opportunity,
    Might rival the political career
    Of the orator who poses as the pride of the community,
    The Radical Hereditary Peer. 
    And the genius who fattens on a chronic inability
    To widen the horizon of his brain,
    May be stupider than others whom the Curse of Versatility
    Has fettered with a mediocre chain.

    “Should a Civil Servant woo the panegyrics of Society,
    And hanker after posthumous applause,
    It may happen that possession of a prodigal variety
    Of talents will invalidate his cause. 
    He must learn to put a tether on his cerebral agility,
    And focus all his energies of aim
    On one isolated idol, or the Curse of Versatility
    Will drag him from the pinnacle of Fame.

    “Though the Curse may be upon ns, and condemn us for Eternity
    To jostle with the ordinary horde;
    Though we grovel at the shrine of the professional fraternity
    Who harp upon one solitary chord;
    Still...we face the situation with an imperturbability
    Of spirit, from the knowledge that we owe
    To the witchery that lingers in the Curse of Versatility
    The balance of our happiness below.”

Of course, to some temperaments variety will appeal; whilst others revel in monotony.  The latter are like a District Railway train, going perpetually round and round the same Inner Circle.  As far as my experience goes, the former are the more interesting people to meet.

To persons of my time of life, the last verse of “Forty years on” has a tendency to linger in the memory.  It runs—­

    “Forty years on, growing older and older,
    Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
    Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
    What will it help you that once you were strong?”