comparing them together; only premising, that these two passages are patterns of the manner in which the metaphor should be used, and of the method of preserving it unmixed with any other idea, and not continuing it too far. "Our minds represent to us those tombs to which we are approaching; where, though the brass and marble remain, yet the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the imagery moulders away. How much the constitution of our bodies are concerned in this, and whether the temper of the brain makes this difference, that in some, it retains the characters drawn on it like marble, in others like freestone, and in others little better than sand, I shall not here enquire; though it may seem probable, that the constitution of the body does sometimes influence the memory; since we sometimes find a disease quite strip the mind of all its ideas; and the flames of a fever, in a few days, CALCINE all those images to dust and confusion, which seemed to be as lasting as if graved in marble."* With Essay concerning Human Understanding, ch. x. sect. 5. All With respect to the truth of this observation of POPE, experience abundantly evinceth, that the three great faculties of the soul here spoken of, are seldom found united in the same person. There have yet existed but a few transcendent geniuses, who have been singularly blest with this rare assemblage of different talents. that I can at present recollect, who have at once enjoyed, in full vigor, a sublime and splendid imagination, a solid and profound understanding, an exact and tenacious memory, are Herodotus, Plato, Tully, Livy, Tacitus, Galilæo, Bacon, Des Cartes, Malebranche, Milton, Burnet of the Charter-house, Berkeley, and Montesquieu. Bacon, in his Novum Organum, divides the human genius into two sorts: "Men of dry distinct heads, cool imaginations, and keen application; they easily apprehend the differences of things, are masters in controversy, and excel in confutation; and these are the most common. The second sort of men, of warm fancies, elevated thought, and wide knowledge; they instantly perceive the resemblances of things, and are poets or masters in science, invent arts, and strike out new light wherever they carry their views." I 2 Sudgement wit views."* This general observation has in it all that acuteness, comprehension and knowledge of man, which so eminently distinguished this philosopher. 6. One science only will one genius fit; But oft in those confin'd to single parts.† When Tully attempted poetry, he became as ridiculous as Bolingbroke when he attempted philosophy and divinity. We look in vain for that genius which produced the Dissertation on Parties, in the tedious philosophical works; of which it is no exaggerated satire to say, that the reasoning of them is sophistical and inconclusive, the style diffuse and verbose, and the learning seemingly contained in them not drawn from the originals, but picked up and purloined from French critics and translations; and particularly from Bayle, from Rapin, and Thomassin, (as perhaps may be one day minutely shewn,) together with the assistances which our Cudworth and and Stanley happily afforded a writer confessedly ignorant of the Greek tongue, who has yet the insufferable * arrogance to vilify and censure, and to think he can confute, the best writers in that best language. I 3 When * I cannot forbear subjoining a passage of an excellent writer, and accomplished scholar, which is so very apposite to the present purpose, that one would think the author had Bolingbroke in his eye, if his valuable work had not been pub. lished before the world was blessed with the First Philosophy, "He who pretends to discuss the sentiments of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, or any one of the ancient philosophers, or even to cite and translate him, (except in trite and obvious sentiments,) without accurately knowing the Greek tongue in general; the nice differences of many words, apparently synonymous; the peculiar style of the author whom he presumes to handle; the new-coined words, and new significations given to old words, used by such author and his sect, the whole philosophy of such sect; together with the connections and dependencies of its several parts, whether logical, ethical, or physical; he, I say, that, without this previous preparation, attempts what I have said, will shoot in the dark; will be liable to perpetual blunders; will explain, and praise, and censure, merely by chance; and though HE MAY POSSIBLY TO FOOLS AP PEAR AS A WISE MAN, WILL CERTAINLY AMONG THE WISE EVER RASS FOR A FOOL. Such a man's intellect comprehends ancient philosophy, as his eye comprehends a distant prospect. He may see, perhaps, enough to know mountains from plains, and seas from woods; but for an accurate discernment of particu lars, and their character, this, without farther helps, 'tis impossible he should attain." HERMES, by HARRIS: Book ii. chap iii. p. 270. ́ When Fontaine (whose tales indicated a truly comic genius) brought a comedy on the stage, it was received with a contempt equally unexpected and deserved. Terence has left us no tragedy; and the Mourning Bride of Congreve, notwithstanding the praises bestowed on it by POPE in the Dunciad,* is certainly a despicable performance; the plot is unnaturally intricate, and overcharged with incidents; the sentiments trite, and the language turgid and bombast. Heemskirk and Teniers could not succeed in a serious and sublime subject of history-painting. The latter, it is well known, designed cartoons for tapestry, representing the history of the Turriani of Lombardy. Both the composition and the expression are extremely indifferent; and certain nicer virtuosi have remarked, that in the serious pieces of Titian himself, even in one of his Last Suppers, a circumstance of the Ridicu lous and the Familiar is introduced, which suits not with the dignity of his subject. Hogarth's picture of Richard III. is pure, and unmixed with any dissimilar and degrading circumstances, and * B. iii. v. 310. In the notes. |