cultivated his physical organs. I defy a boy to write a single intelligible line without introducing sensible objects; or to read a single paragraph of any author, and understand it, without having previously stored his mind with sensible ideas. Here must begin his "obstinate application:" reading may succeed this; and writing, according to Pope, though a violator of his own canon, should come last, and should not commence before five and twenty. Will any one question, after reading this opinion of Quinctilian, whether the doctrine of Genius is not most adverse to the cultivation of the mind ; whether it does not discourage the exercise of powers which may only lie dormant ? and too precipitately confine itself to the nurture of more promising parts? The diamond is commonly concealed in an earthy matrix; and the light reflected by a glittering stone, is not always a proof of intrinsic value. Even Quinctilian himself, as if to perfect the confusion and mysticism of this doctrine, says, "illud ingeniorum velut precox genus non pervenit ad frugem." That early unseasonable kind of understanding, bears little fruit.-If we consider the powers to reside in sense, then all is clear again; then the business of education becomes rational, obvious, and full of hope. But there is another evil, at which we rapidly glanced in the beginning of this Essay, that follows from placing Genius in an innate power of the mind, instead of considering it as the result of a proper cultivation of the senses.-Emulation is repressed, and slavish imitation is encouraged. For example, amongst other absurdities, every perfect epic poem must now contain twelve or twentyfour books; although no better reason can be given for it, than that the works of Homer and Virgil consist of that number; and,. if we are told the truth, twenty-four is the legitimate number, to which the Æneid itself would have been extended, had the life of Virgil been spared.-And every regular dramatic production must, according to the statuteable rules of Criticism, contain five acts. "Neve minor, neu sit quinto productior actu Even much of the detail of composition is fixed by the high sanction of precedent. As Homer had provided Achilles with a richly embossed, and historically descriptive shield, Virgil could do no less for Æneas; whilst Milton furnishes one every way worthy of Satan, the hero of his Poem. In Architecture there must be neither more nor less than five orders: and modern perfection in all its labours, is placed in closeness of resemblance to early examples. This is unworthy the character of intelligence.-Where reason has not proclaimed a law, mankind should be free-and feel themselves free. What Iuvenal says of fortune, may, with equal truth, be affirmed of Genius. Nos te, Nos facimus, Fortuna, Deam, cœloque locamus. except that we bring the idol from heaven, and place it in the mind; and bind ourselves, and our children after us, to worship the fictitious creature of our own imagination. If I did not fear the charge of burdening this Essay with quotations and authorities, to which the subject has already led me, perhaps, too far, I might cite part of the second section of Longinus, and some lines from Horace, to shew with what reluctance those writers yielded to the doctrine of Genius;—and even whilst they, in a subdued tone, admit the existence of this power of the mind, they both concur, Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Some time ago mankind were amused with the doctrine of faculties, which seem to be twin-sisters of Genius. Every thing depended upon a faculty. As Watts justly ridicules it, a burning glass possest an ustorious faculty; and a wedge was indebted to a cleaving faculty for its mechanical action; one man had a faculty of speaking, and another a faculty of learning Greek. We now hear of nothing but Genius. One man has a Genius for poetry, another a Genius for eloquence, a third a Genius for the fine arts; we have also mechanical and chemical Geniuses. It is quite preposterous to hear of this family of Geniuses; and it will be well for the rising generation, when they are all buried in the same tomb, where rest the departed faculties in peace. The only genuine instance of Genius that I have ever seen recorded, is that of Fo or Fohi, one of the greatest philosophers of the Chinese Empire; who in the words of an elegant historian, is said, "as soon as he was born to have stood upright; to have walked seven steps without assistance; and, pointing to the heavens with one hand, and to the earth with the other, to have cried aloud," in the appropriate language of a Genius: "in the heavens and the earth, there is no one but myself who deserves to be honoured." Though some historians say, that this Genius lived almost a century, the object of idolatry, yet, I think I have somewhere read, that, immediately after putting in his high and undisputed claim, he instantly expired, as if the atmosphere of this world, were too chilling for the finer sensibilities of Genius. From the conclusions drawn in the course of this Essay, we may deduce some important, practical instruction, to direct the education of the mind; whilst at the same time, we cannot fail to discover from them, the erroneous principles upon which existing systems are founded; and the reason why so little solid knowledge is acquired under them. Children are taught as if there was but one power of the mind-memory. Rules are learnt, and operations performed, and passages repeated, without once calling in the aid of Judgment to understand them. I have been acquainted with more than one student, who, after be had quitted the University with his degree, could not put a quadratic equation into terms, because that depended upon judgment; but when put into terms for him, could solve it easily; because that process is mechanical; and one I remember, a Senior Wrangler, and a profound mathematician, who was conspicuously remarkable for his deficiency of judgment; whilst in the rules of analytics he was most expert. This jejune, impracticable kind of learning, is even fatal to memory itself; whose power it calls into such frequent use. It unfits it for every object or association but that upon which it has been exercised; as a horse, long practiced to one pace, can, with difficulty, be brought to any other. And in our best Schools we see memory, which ought to be the companion of judgment, and the handmaid of knowledge, ever laboriously working by herself, and complaining, like Sisyphus, that the task which she had just performed, returns con |