Rise of Genius. At morn and evening, on yon giddy steep, Research can scarcely modify and range 81 91 Its Progress. The same gay prospects kindle warm desire 101 We'll mark the change which years succeeding bring, The passions which from youth and manhood spring. -When first our frame the strength of youth And novelty on every object blooms; [assumes, When knowledge first unrolls her endless page, The curious mind then roves with quick surprise, Bends on each scene her momentary sight, 112 119 -The wandering memory thro' the fields of lore With thoughts and images augments her store: Then Fancy fluttering in the morning beam, Combines her pictures, gives to Hope her dream: Then Judgment slumbering, we are led astray And follow Fiction in her pathless way; We love to listen to some dreadful tale Which Mystery darkens with her magic veil. Progress of Genius. We love to hear of ruins and of halls Thro' which some dead-man's voice with shuddering accents calls. When years revolving riper knowledge bring Nor feel the tangles of Delusion's chain. And shews the haunt where lurking Folly lies. 130 140 Taste. Then no new conquests kindle our desires > 150 159 Chill o'er the senses noiseless stupors creep And arm'd with sanctions acts without controul; * Definitions often rather confuse than enlighten the mind. The arbitrary terms of metaphysical and logical writers, require a train of reasoning before we can observe the basis on which they are founded. It may, however, tend to place taste in a clearer view than we can by the measures of poetry, if we select from some approved authors, the most satisfactory definitions of taste. "Imagination united with some other mental powers, and operating as a precipient faculty, in conveying suitable impressions Genius superior to Taste. It takes from Genius a reflected ray, As Cynthia brightens from the source of day. 170 of what is elegant, sublime, or beautiful, in art or nature, is called Taste." This definition of Beattie has left unmentioned those mental powers united and operating with imagination; it has also confined taste to the discernment of what is elegant or beautiful, without noticing its rejection of what is faulty and improper---it is, therefore, in this respect incomplete--"Taste (according to the classical writer of Fitzosborne's letters) is nothing more than an universal sense of beauty, rendered more exquisite by genius, and more correct by cultivation." This definition, though not equal to the former, contains one beautiful remark; which is, that taste is rendered more exquisite by genius and more correct by cultivation. A much more complete definition of taste than either of these, is given by Rollin. "Taste (says he) with reference to the reading of authors and composition, is a clear and distinct discerning of all the beauty, truth, and justness of the thoughts and expressions which compose a discourse. It distinguishes what is conformable to eloquence and propriety in every character, and whilst, with a delicate and exquisite sagacity, it notes the graces, turns, manners, and expressions most likely to please, it perceives also all the defects which produce the contrary effect, and distinguishes precisely wherein those defects consist, and how far they are removed from the strict rules of art and the real beauties of nature. This happy faculty, |