Caufe may be faid to be, because it really is, contiguous to its Effect. And two things or ideas. cannot be affociated by Custom, fo as that the one. fhall introduce the other into the mind; unless they have, once and again, or once at least, been in company together, or thought of at the fame time.

CHAP.

С НА Р. III.

Remarks on Genius.

B &

Y Memory, we acquire knowledge. By Imagination, we invent; that is, produce arrangements of ideas and objects that were never fo arranged before.

By Imagination, alfo, in certain cafes, we are enabled to judge, because qualified to form diftinet ideas of thofe things in nature, art, and fcience, which exercise our reafon, or call forth our affections.

For, in conformity with modern language, I afcribed to Imagination two diftinct, though congenial faculties: "first, the power of appre"hending or conceiving ideas, fimply as they "are in themfelves, without any view to their

reality and fecondly, the power of combining "into new forms, or affemblages, thofe thoughts, "ideas, or notions, which we may have derived from experience or from information."

ἐσ

pur

The talent of invention, applied to usefu! pofes, is called Genius. Imagination, united with fome other mental powers, and operating merely as a percipient faculty, in conveying fuitVOL. I.

N

able

able impreffions of what is elegant, fublime, or beautiful in art and nature is called Taste.

I mean not to enter, with any degree of minutenefs, into the analysis of Tafte and Genius. Nor is it neceffary that I fhould. That matter has been fully and accurately difcuffed by an abler hand; I mean, by the learned Dr. Gerard: to whose writings and conversation, (for he was my master in philofophy,) and to whofe friendship on many occafions in life, I am happy in this opportunity of declaring, that I am deeply indebted.

The remarks I have to offer, on Genius and Tafte (which in a difcourfe on Imagination cannot be entirely overlooked) shall be brief, few, and chiefly of a practical nature.

To qualify the human mind for invention, that is, for forming new and useful arrangements, of things, or of ideas, experience, and good fenfe, as well as imagination, are neceffary. In dreams, and in disease, imagination often operates with aftonishing vivacity: but that is not Genius, because it is not regulated by knowledge or judgment, and tends to no useful purpose *

I mention this, with a view to combat an opinion, as old at leaft as the age of Horace, and not uncommon in modern times ;-that Genius, especially poetical genius, is nothing more than a certain warmth of fancy, or enthusiasm of mind, which is all-fufficient in itfelf, and ftands in no need of judgment, or good fenfe, to give it direction and regularity. Under the influence of this idle conceit, Horace tells us, that fome of the poets of his time fhut themfelves up in cells,

This phrafe must be taken with fome grains of allowance. See An Efay on Dreaming.

avoiding

avoiding the fcenes of obfervation and bufinefs, and when they fhewed themselves in publick, affected a total difregard to the customs of the world: as if ignorance, rufticity, and madness could qualify them for inftructing or entertaining mankind. But Horace teaches a different doctrine. He declares Good Senfe to be the fource of all good writing and recommends it to the man of genius, to ftudy nature, to mingle in fociety, and to make himself acquainted with the manners and characters of men, and with the various ways in which they express their paffions and fentiments *.

And indeed, if we were to recollect particulars,. the history of literature, as well as the nature of the thing, would bear teftimony to the poet's determination. Arts and fciences owe their improvement, and genius its moft illuftrious difplays, not to monks, and hermits, and half-witted enthufiafts, but to fuch men as Homer, Socrates, Xenophon, Sophocles, Demofthenes, Cicero, Cefar, Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton, Clarendon, Addison, Lyttleton: men, who studied life and manners, as well as books; who took part in the bufinefs of fociety; and gave proof of the foundest judgment, as well as of a moft comprehenfive mind.

Two things may be remarked concerning Geius: first, that it is not a common, but rather a rare accomplishment; and fecondly, that it appears in different degrees, and under a great variety of forms.

1. It is not a common, but rather a rare endowment. All men are teachable; but few poffefs the power of useful invention. Such is the

Hor. Ar. Poet. 295---318.

N 2

will

will of our Creator. And it is right that it should be fo. Life has oft been likened to a warfare : and civil fociety may in this refpect be compared to an army; that in it there must be some to contrive and command, but that far the greater number have nothing to do but to obey. If every man were an inventor and a projector, there would be fuch a multiplicity of rivalships and jarring interefts, and fuch a spirit would predominate of independence and of pride, as could not fail to introduce confufion into human affairs; and many of the lower employments of life, which are effential to the general welfare, would be totally abandoned. For if all men were equal in abilities, they would all afpire to an equality of condition; a ftate of things, which is proved by the experience of every age to be unattainable; and of which, if we confider how neceffary fubordination is to public good, we fhall be fatisfied, that, if it could be attained, it would not be expedient. As Providence has made us differ in the form of our bodies; and some are swift, and others unwieldy, fome weak, and others ftrong; it would seem to be no less the intention of Providence, that we should differ in the capacity of our minds: for thus we are the better qualified to difcharge, with pleasure to ourselves, and with benefit to the publick, the duties belonging to the different profeffions that take place in fociety.

2. Genius appears in various degrees, and in a great variety of forms. As to its degrees :-how vaft the difference between the author of the Iliad,. and him that compofed the odes that bear the name of Anacreon! To thofe who invent arts and fciences, or make a discovery of new truths by investigation (for many important truths are difcovered by accident) the highest honours are

due