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kind are born with equal capacities, or that they are not? On the one side, common opinion, if not common sense, leads us to believe an original inequality. On the other, so infinite the number of circumstances which, from the first, contribute to form the mind, which circumstances are far from being always discoverable, that probably no one can demonstrate, that there must be any native disparity. And if it should be decided, that such inequality exists, it would promote pride and check diligence; if, that all minds are equal, it would lead many to unsuccessful attempts. We may say, then, respecting this question, there is little hope of deciding it, and little advantage to be expected from its decision. Whether Genius is the result of particular situations in life, and of the nameless and countless circumstances that act upon the mind, or whether it is only developed by these circumstances ;-our business is not with such unpromising queries, but with the means by which Genius is reared, or by which it is developed. Genius may languish while deciding upon its own origin; or it may become the subject of admiration by its success, without abstruse speculation respecting the causes which have produced it.

Neither shall I attempt, on this occasion, to shew, by logical definition, what Genius is. Any thing short of that apprehension which we form of Genius, when we behold living examples, or when we contemplate their achievements, is short of an adequate definition. The idea fully conceived begets an enthusiasm which no one ever felt from reading. "Genius is that aptitude of the mind by which a person is formed to excel in some science, art or employment." Biography, history, the works of the learned, these, if consulted, combine to give us a just conception of Genius. Probably Genius is at those times best defined to our understandings, when we admire it most. It is the intellectual image of that Being whose attributes we

may then conceive ourselves best to understand, when with most reverence we bow down and adore.

Having in our minds, then, not a tame and pitiful abstraction, but such a conception of Genius as is gained from a contemplation of those splendid personages who have illumined and moved the world; the interesting, the practical enquiry is, What are the Aids of Genius? How far can those intellectual phenomena be thus accounted for? Laudable zeal has been shewn in investigating the material world; great success has resulted; much interest is felt in understanding those laws by which atoms and systems are regulated. We feel a natural pleasure in admiring greatness, and we have as searching a curiosity to enquire into the objects which give us interest. It is not, therefore, a cause of astonishment, that we love to admire the lights of the firmament, or that we extend our curiosity to the laws by which they stand or move. Yet these are inert

matter. Mind produced them. Mind sustains and moves them. For the residence and happiness of mind they were created. Mind should, therefore, be contemplated with greater interest than matter. The causes by which Genius is, undeniably, either produced or rendered conspicuous, form a subject still more worthy of our enquiry, than the revolutions of the planets.

To enlarge, however, upon all the means by which Genius is excited and matured, would be traversing a field too wide for our present purpose. It is probably too common an impression, that education, implying in that term no more than the advantages of books, study and instructors, is all that is requisite for the encouragement, direction and developement of talent. There are other aids which deserve far more consideration than they generally receive. Were it admitted, that study and application constitute the principal means of improving Genius, and preparing it for its most successful exertions; still we have advanced by no means to

the most important instructions relative to this subject, until we have shewn the causes which lead Genius to this application. Of those who have the characteristicks of Genius, how few comparatively give themselves to that application, or make that use of the means of improvement within their reach, which is necessary to bring their talents into successful and conspicuous exercise. Some of the most important aids of Genius are therefore to be sought in those exciting causes, which bend Genius towards its appropriate objects, and inspire it with an ardour to avail itself of its advantages.

It has indeed been a very pleasing, as it has been a very useful, and certainly a very frequent exercise, to dwell upon the aid which talent receives from books and instructors. It never can, and it never ought to be eradicated from the mind, that the student, who rivets his attention to authors of classick fame, and endeavours to grow learned and great by the study of their excellence, and who sometimes in his zeal even leaves prudence behind, until experience obliges him to resume her for the companion of his exertions; that this student is employing a most effectual aid of Genius. And if by education be implied all that may be signified by that term, it may be said to include all the essential means of encouraging talent. For mankind are in reality educated, that is, their minds are excited, expanded and informed, by a thousand circumstances not generally regarded. In the cradle, as well as in the academy, circumstances may operate to forward or retard, to cultivate or blast, the growth of Genius.

It is time to confine our remarks to our principal object to those Aids of Genius, which although very essential, are apt, either wholly or in part, to escape our observation.

A most essential aid of Genius, yet not sufficiently considered, is to have great objects in view. Sublimity of Genius is the effect, as much as it is the cause,

of aiming at elevated attainments. To fix the mind upon trifling objects, will produce a trifling mind; and it is not for us to say, how much of what is called Genius, is the effect of steadily contemplating, and ardently pursuing, degrees of excellence worthy of the human understanding. It was not without a knowledge of the nature of man, that the Astronomer in Rasselas, who imagined, that he governed the winds and presided over the powers of nature, is made to be profound in his science. Even this partial derangement might conduce to a vigorous acquisition of knowledge, by confining his attention to the subject in which he supposed himself to have so important a part and so great a responsibility. If what has been asserted be true, that there is no great Genius without a tincture of madness," it must have a reference to the enthusiasm excited in such, by the real or imaginary grandeur of the objects which they contemplate and pursue. Every day evinces the necessity of adapting the degrees of our zeal to the importance of our objects. We do, therefore, acquire the habit, though not so far as we ought, of proportioning our ardour to our objects. If then our objects be great, our exertions will naturally correspond; and by such exertions, Genius will be invigorated. We ought ever to have perfection in our eye, although we may not expect fully to attain it. In morals and in science, we shall approximate nearer perfection by aiming at it, than if we studied lower degrees of excellence. We are influenced by motives; and may, indeed, with as much ease, and more satisfaction, attain great objects as small, by pursuing

them.

That to have great objects in view calls forth Genius and exalts it, is readily conceived from the consideration, that great characters are the product of great occasions. When there is occasion for war, chieftains are not, for any long time, wanting. When the publick mind may be under the direction of eloquence, there

are enough to discern it, and orators are a natural and almost necessary growth. When the publick are disposed to bestow the meed of praise on poets and other literary men, an Augustan band of Geniuses make their appearance. A publick enemy produces a crowd of able patriots; and when freemen become too licentious for liberty, some Cæsar aims at the prize of empire ; his object expands his mind and inspires diligence, and his efforts become successful. Cæsar might have been a pirate or a robber with less objects presented to him. And who will say, that our late Michael Martin, the robber (I speak without abating his depravity) might not have been a Cæsar, with Pompey, Cicero and Cato for his rivals or opposers, and the Roman dominion for his proposed booty. There is reason to believe, that in every age, if not in every nation and clime, there are materials enough for the production of the loftiest Genius in any department, if those great objects adapted to call it forth, are presented to the mind, under circumstances which favour their attainment.

If having great and noble designs in view be such an excitement to the constant application and encouragement of talent; it will be readily inferred, that it is an advantage, where these objects are proposed in early life. Then Genius may feed upon its most nourishing food, and grow great by the animation, the industry, the fortitude and the hope, which its object produces. I trust it will be unnecessary to say, that the object or objects proposed should be as good as they are great. But I may illustrate this and other parts of our subject, by examples of Genius, without respect to their moral qualifications. The same means may bring forward a destructive or a useful Genius; as nutritious and noxious vegetation are matured by the warmth of the same sun. Were we furnished with a biography, sufficiently minute, of the few who have transmitted to us the fame of their Genius; we

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