Infancy, or the management of children a didactic poem, in six books. The sixth edition. To which are added poems not before published. By Hugh Downman |
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On GENIUS.
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 | Infancy, or the management of children |  |
213
On GENIUS.
Say, what is Genius? with the human form
Is it connate? or is it gain'd by years,
Like the corporeal efforts? Its prime food
Is vivid inclination to excell.
By emulative warmth, and love of fame
Its growth is cherish'd, industry and toil
Clothe it in strength and beauty. Oft its powers
Torpidly slumber, till a fervid ray
Impell'd by chance, awakens them to life.
Is it connate? or is it gain'd by years,
Like the corporeal efforts? Its prime food
Is vivid inclination to excell.
By emulative warmth, and love of fame
Its growth is cherish'd, industry and toil
Clothe it in strength and beauty. Oft its powers
Torpidly slumber, till a fervid ray
Impell'd by chance, awakens them to life.
Yet we affirm that nature must adapt
Each fibril, bearing to the source of soul
External impulses; must to the brain
Impart its happy texture, to receive,
Retain, renew, associate, or reject
Those multiform impressions, which each sense
Thither conveys. Else, strong desire would fail,
No works, but those of hebetude appear,
Or phantoms of inanity. The brain
Completely moulded, its auxiliar nerves
With quickest sensibility endued,
We the foundation trace, tho nice, yet sure,
On which, colleaguing with attentive care,
Incumbent o'er his many-colour'd mass,
His vast collection of ideal stores,
Genius those structures elevates, which strike
The admiring eye, and claim immortal praise.
Each fibril, bearing to the source of soul
External impulses; must to the brain
Impart its happy texture, to receive,
Retain, renew, associate, or reject
Those multiform impressions, which each sense
Thither conveys. Else, strong desire would fail,
214
Or phantoms of inanity. The brain
Completely moulded, its auxiliar nerves
With quickest sensibility endued,
We the foundation trace, tho nice, yet sure,
On which, colleaguing with attentive care,
Incumbent o'er his many-colour'd mass,
His vast collection of ideal stores,
Genius those structures elevates, which strike
The admiring eye, and claim immortal praise.
For now, unknown at first, by due degrees
The qualities are his, which only stamp
His mental frame and character exact,
Judgment, and taste, and elegance.—Observe
Where youthful rapture gazes on the page
Of fairy poesy; seizing the pen,
He tries, he fails; again, again he tries,
As often fails; yet eagerly pursues
His daring plan, to equal, to surpass
His favorite prototypes, and round his brow
Twine laurel wreathes. He darts his curious eye
O'er nature's face, examines, and compares
The copy with the original, acquires
Himself ideas new; abstracts, combines,
Assimilates, and modifies them all
A thousand different ways; a stile, a grace,
A manner of his own at length he boasts,
And scorns weak imitation. These are toils,
The free indeed, and the spontaneous toils
Which nurture Genius, and which constitute
His finest pleasures.—Why, with strong desire,
With seeming equal ardour in the chace,
Does excellence another's grasp elude?
Because his nerves, or that ethereal, pure,
Elastic fluid which pervades the nerves,
Have diverse modes of action, are unfit
Impressions fine, or vigorous, to convey
To the warm seat of thought; or else because
The brain not duly textured, only feels
Sensations blunt or faint, with efforts faint
Reflected, and confused. From nature then
Alone is genius sprung, at least she gives
That mechanism of parts, to which he owes
The very capability of life.
The qualities are his, which only stamp
His mental frame and character exact,
Judgment, and taste, and elegance.—Observe
Where youthful rapture gazes on the page
Of fairy poesy; seizing the pen,
He tries, he fails; again, again he tries,
As often fails; yet eagerly pursues
His daring plan, to equal, to surpass
His favorite prototypes, and round his brow
Twine laurel wreathes. He darts his curious eye
O'er nature's face, examines, and compares
215
Himself ideas new; abstracts, combines,
Assimilates, and modifies them all
A thousand different ways; a stile, a grace,
A manner of his own at length he boasts,
And scorns weak imitation. These are toils,
The free indeed, and the spontaneous toils
Which nurture Genius, and which constitute
His finest pleasures.—Why, with strong desire,
With seeming equal ardour in the chace,
Does excellence another's grasp elude?
Because his nerves, or that ethereal, pure,
Elastic fluid which pervades the nerves,
Have diverse modes of action, are unfit
Impressions fine, or vigorous, to convey
To the warm seat of thought; or else because
The brain not duly textured, only feels
Sensations blunt or faint, with efforts faint
Reflected, and confused. From nature then
Alone is genius sprung, at least she gives
That mechanism of parts, to which he owes
The very capability of life.
216
Earlier, or later, whether chance excite,
Or inclination fire, she to the bard
Imparts his numbers, she harmonious sounds
To masters of the lyre, to painters tints
Of loveliest hue, and bright ideal grace.
She fixes deep, and she diversifies
The thoughts of men, and stretches out the bounds
They ne'er can pass. Her stamina to change,
Transcends all mortal skill; else Johnson's strains,
Had vied with Shakespear's, Whitehead's equall'd Gray's.
We must be what we can, not what we will.
Leisure, and opportunity, and chance,
And ardent emulation, nought avail
To raise up genius, if the organic tone
By nature is denied. The general race,
In science, and each art they cultivate,
Haply by unremitting labour taught,
May partially excell.—But how unlike
Is genius? and how rarely shines reveal'd
His dazzling aspect!—In four thousand years,
One Homer, and one Shakespear have arisen.
Virgil himself, is but of second rate,
Compared with them. One Newton time hath seen
In his vast journey. Yet the scale abounds
With numerous gradations. In the realms
Of swarthy Afric, mediocrity
Itself is genius; far beneath that point
Myriads are fix'd, till scarcely intellect
Exceeds the Oran Outang's.—All depends
Join'd with the swift transmissive power of nerve,
On the sensorial energy of brain,
Its shape, and size, and weight, proportionate
To the whole frame. Largely with this supplied,
Had a still larger volume been assign'd,
Half-reasoning elephants had reason'd quite.
A trifling weight haply the balance turn'd
Between a Tully, and a Catiline,
A Marius, and Metellus.—Nature's hand
Is visible throughout; no force of art,
No labour, cultivation, fervid hope,
Industrious effort, can avert the blight
Of her frugality.—Yet in its birth,
Genius may be extinguish'd by disease,
Strangled by poverty, sunk in the dust
By stern oppression, or by indolence
Cursed with perpetual barrenness of mind.
Or inclination fire, she to the bard
Imparts his numbers, she harmonious sounds
To masters of the lyre, to painters tints
Of loveliest hue, and bright ideal grace.
She fixes deep, and she diversifies
The thoughts of men, and stretches out the bounds
They ne'er can pass. Her stamina to change,
Transcends all mortal skill; else Johnson's strains,
Had vied with Shakespear's, Whitehead's equall'd Gray's.
We must be what we can, not what we will.
Leisure, and opportunity, and chance,
And ardent emulation, nought avail
To raise up genius, if the organic tone
By nature is denied. The general race,
In science, and each art they cultivate,
Haply by unremitting labour taught,
May partially excell.—But how unlike
Is genius? and how rarely shines reveal'd
His dazzling aspect!—In four thousand years,
One Homer, and one Shakespear have arisen.
Virgil himself, is but of second rate,
Compared with them. One Newton time hath seen
217
With numerous gradations. In the realms
Of swarthy Afric, mediocrity
Itself is genius; far beneath that point
Myriads are fix'd, till scarcely intellect
Exceeds the Oran Outang's.—All depends
Join'd with the swift transmissive power of nerve,
On the sensorial energy of brain,
Its shape, and size, and weight, proportionate
To the whole frame. Largely with this supplied,
Had a still larger volume been assign'd,
Half-reasoning elephants had reason'd quite.
A trifling weight haply the balance turn'd
Between a Tully, and a Catiline,
A Marius, and Metellus.—Nature's hand
Is visible throughout; no force of art,
No labour, cultivation, fervid hope,
Industrious effort, can avert the blight
Of her frugality.—Yet in its birth,
Genius may be extinguish'd by disease,
Strangled by poverty, sunk in the dust
By stern oppression, or by indolence
Cursed with perpetual barrenness of mind.
218
But give the tone of brain, the nerves which bear
Faithful impressions strong; give the mild sun
Of opportunity to dart its rays;
Give leisure, curious search, the strenuous thought
Aiming at worth superlative, give time
Which solely perfects wisdom; and the form
Of Genius will arise, on eagle wing
To soar to heaven, or with a lynx's eye
To penetrate the abyss, to associate all
The charms of beauty, grasp the true sublime,
Add novel tints to fancy's rainbow dress;
Or separate the clouds by error spread,
Till all the gloom is vanquish'd, and the light
Of intellectual day wide-blazing streams.
Faithful impressions strong; give the mild sun
Of opportunity to dart its rays;
Give leisure, curious search, the strenuous thought
Aiming at worth superlative, give time
Which solely perfects wisdom; and the form
Of Genius will arise, on eagle wing
To soar to heaven, or with a lynx's eye
To penetrate the abyss, to associate all
The charms of beauty, grasp the true sublime,
Add novel tints to fancy's rainbow dress;
Or separate the clouds by error spread,
Till all the gloom is vanquish'd, and the light
Of intellectual day wide-blazing streams.
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