are, indeed, rare among the productions of nature, and occasions of bringing them into full exertion

than occur in modern Europe, where the employ ments of men are more subdivided. Many of the greatest warriors of antiquity excelled in literature and in oratory. That they had the minds of great poets also, will be admitted, when the qualities are justly appreciated which are necessary to excite, combine, and command the active energies of a great body of men, to rouse that enthusiasm which sustains fatigue, hunger, and the inclemencies of the elements, and which triumphs over the fear of death, the most powerful instinct of our nature.

The authority of Cieero may be appealed to in favour of the close connexion between the poet and the orator. Est enim finitimus oratori poeta, numeris adstrictior paulo, verborum autem licen tia liberior, &c.-De Orator. Lib. i. c. 16. See also lib. iii. c. 7.-It, is true, the example of Cieero may be quoted against his opinion. His attempts in verse, which are praised by Plutarch, do not seem to have met the approbation of Juvenal, or of some others. Cicero probably did not take sufficient time to learn the art of the poet; but that he had the afflatus necessary to poetical excel lence, may be abundantly proved from his compositions in prose. On the other hand, nothing is more clear, than that in the character of a great poet, all the mental qualities of an orator are included. It is said by Quinetilian, of Homer, Omnibus eloquentiæ partibus exemplum et ortum dedit, lib. i. 47. The study of Homer is, therefore, recommended to the orator as of the first impor tance. Of the two sublime poets in our own language, who are hardly inferior to Homer, Shakespeare and Milton, a similar recommendation may be given. It is scarcely necessary to mention how much an acquaintance with them has availed the great orator, who is now the pride and or nament of the English bar, a character that may

are rarer still. But safe and salutary occupations may be found for men of genius in every direction, while the useful and ornamental arts remain to be cultivated, while the sciences remain to be studied and to be extended, and the principles of science to be applied to the correction and improvement of art. In the temperament of sensibility, which is, in truth, the temperament of general talents, the principal object of discipline and instruction, is, as has already been mentioned, to strengthen the self-command; and this may be promoted by the direction of the studies, more effectually perhaps than has been generally understood.

If these observations be founded in truth, they

be appealed to with singular propriety, when we are contending for the universality of genius.

The identity, or at least the great similarity, of the talents necessary to excellence in poetry, ora tory, painting, and war, will be admitted by some, who will be inclined to dispute the extension of the position to science or natural knowledge. On this occasion I may quote the following observations of sir William Jones, whose own example will, however, far exceed in weight the authority

of his precepts. "Abul Ola had so tiourishing a

reputation, that several persons of uncommon ge nius were ambitious of learning the art of poetry from so able an instructor. His most illustrious scholars were Feleki and Khakani, who were no less eminent for their Persian compositions, than for their skill in every branch of pure and mixed mathematics, and particularly in astronomy; a striking proof that.a sublime poet may become master of any kind of learning which he chooses to profess; since a fine imagination, a lively wit, an easy and copious style, cannot possibly obstruct the acquisition of any science whatever; but must necessarily assist him in his studies, and shorten his labour."

Sir William Jones's Works, vol. ii. p. 317.

may lead to practical consequences of some importance. It has been too much the custom to consider the possession of poetical talents as excluding the possibility of application to the severer branches of study, and as in some degree incapacitating the possessor from attaining those habits, and from bestowing that attention, which are necessary to success in the details of business, and in the engagements of active life. It has been common for persons conscious of such talents, to look with a sort of disdain on other kinds of intellectual excellence, and to consider themselves as in some degree absolved from those rules of prudence by which humbler minds are restricted. They are too much disposed to abandon themselves to their own sensations, and to suffer life to pass away without regular exertion or settled purpose.

But though men of genius are generally prone to indolence, with them indolence and unhappiness are in a more especial manner allied. The unbidden splendors of imagination may indeed at times irradiate the gloom which inactivity produces; but such visions, though bright, are transient, and serve to cast the realities of life into deeper shade. In bestowing great talents, nature seems very generally to have imposed on the possessor the neces sity of exertion, if he would escape wretchedness. Better for him than sloth, toils the most painful, or adventures the most hazardous. Happier to him than idleness, were the condition of the peasant, earning with incessant labour his seanty food; or that of the sailor, though hanging on the yard-arm, and wrestling with the hurricane.

These observations might be amply illustrated by the biography of men of genius of every denomination, and more especially by the biography of the poets. Of this last description of men, few seem to have enjoyed the usual portion of happiness that falls to the lot of humanity, those excepted who have cultivated poetry as an elegant amusement in the hours of relaxation from other occupations, or the small number who have en

gaged with success in the greater or more arduous attempts of the muse, in which all the faculties of the mind have been fully and permanently employed. Even taste, virtue, and comparative independence, do not seem capable of bestowing on men of genius peace and tranquillity, without such occupation as may give regular and healthful exercise to the faculties of body and mind. The amiable Shenstone has left us the records of his imprudence, of his indolence, and of his unhappiness, amidst the shades of the Leasowes*; and the vir tues, the learning, and the genius of Gray, equal to the loftiest attempts of the epic muse, failed to procure him in the academic bowers of Cambridge, that tranquillity and that respect, which less fastidiousness of taste, and greater constancy and vi gour of exertion, would have doubtless obtained.

It is more necessary that men of genius should be aware of the importance of self-command, and of exertion, because their indolence is peculiarly exposed, not merely to unhappiness, but to diseases of mind, and to errors of conduct, which are gene rally fatal. This interesting subject deserves a par ticular investigation; but we must content ourselves with one or two cursory remarks. Relief is sometimes sought from the melancholy of indolence in practices, which for a time sooth and gratify the sensations, but which in the end involve the sufferer in darker gloom. To command the exter nal circumstances by which happiness is affected, is not in human power; but there are various substances in nature which operate on the system of the nerves, so as to give a fictitious gaiety to the ideas of imagination, and to alter the effect of the external impressions which we receive. Opium is chiefly employed for this purpose by the disciples of Mahomet and the inhabitants of Asia; but al kohol, the principle of intoxication in vinous and spirituous liquors, is preferred in Europe, and is

* See his letters, which, as a display of the ef fects of poetical idleness, are highly instructive.

universally used in the Christian world*. Under the various wounds to which indolent sensibility is exposed, and under the gloomy apprehensions respecting futurity to which it is so often a prey, how strong is the temptation to have recourse to an antidote by which the pain of these wounds is suspended, by which the heart is exhilarated, vi

* There are a great number of other substances, which may be considered under this point of view -tobacco, tea, and coffee, are of the number. These substances essentially differ from each other in their qualities, and an inquiry into the particular effects of each on the health, morals, and happiness of those who use them, would be curious and useful. The effects of wine and of opium on the temperament of sensibility, the editor intended to have discussed in this place, at some length; but he found the subject too extensive and too professional to be introduced with propriety. The difficulty of abandoning any of these narcoties (if we may so term them) when inclination is strengthened by habit, is well known. Johnson, in his distresses, had experienced the cheering but treacherous influence of wine, and by a powerful effort abandoned it. He was obliged, however, to use tea as a substitute, and this was the solace to which he constantly had recourse under his habitual melancholy. The praises of wine form many of the most beautiful lyrics of the poets of Greece and Rome, and of modern Europe. Whether opium, which produces visions still more eestatic, has been the theme of the eastern poets, I do not know. Wine is drunk in small quantities at a tine, in company, where, for a time, it promotes harmony and social affection. Opium is swallowed by the Asiatics in full doses at once, and the inebriate retires to the solitary indulgence of his delirious imaginations. Hence the wine-drinker appears in a superior light to the imbiber of opium, a distinction which he owes more to the form than to the quality of s liquor,