John de Medici was a Cardinal at fifteen, and, according to
Guicciardini, baffled with his statecraft Ferdinand of Aragon himself.
He was Pope as Leo X. at thirty-seven. Luther robbed even him of his
richest province at thirty-five. Take Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley;
they worked with young brains. Ignatius was only thirty when he made his
pilgrimage and wrote the "Spiritual Exercises." Pascal wrote a great
work at sixteen, and died at thirty-seven, the greatest of Frenchmen.
"Ah, that fatal thirty-seven, which reminds me of Byron, greater even as
a man than a writer. Was it experience that guided the pencil of Raphael
when he painted the palaces of Rome? He, too, died at thirty-seven.
Richelieu was Secretary of State at thirty-one. Well then, there were
Bolingbroke and Pitt, both ministers before other men left off cricket.
Grotius was in great practice at seventeen, and Attorney-General at
twenty-four. And Acquaviva; Acquaviva was General of the Jesuits, ruled
every Cabinet in Europe, and colonised America before he was
thirty-seven. What a career!" exclaimed the stranger; rising from his
chair and walking up and down the room; "the secret sway of Europe! That
was indeed a position! But it is needless to multiply instances! The
history of Heroes is the history of Youth.
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