On Genius. 389 
Suppose two children newly born. Their 
future talents and character, will, no doubt, 
be in a great measure the result of their 
education; but not entirely so. The child, 
which receives most pleasure from its per- 
ceptions, will be most curious and interested 
in examining the structure and learning 
the properties of the different objects from 
which they proceed, and associate the strong- 
est feelings of delight with the kindness of 
its nurse and parents. Hence its intellect, 
in the natural course of things, will be most 
exercised, its domestic and social affections 
warmest, and its moral perceptions most 
vivid. The infant, on the other hand, which 
is less susceptible of pleasure and pain, will 
be comparatively dull and uninterested in the 
scenes and occupations of opening life; its 
sensations of delight being fewer and less 
powerful, itsintellectual faculties will be less 
developed, its affections and its moral asso- 
ciations less vivid and efficacious. Epuca- 
Empire ; and into this difference of circumstances the speaker resolves 
the whole question of the decline of oratory. His concluding words are 
remarkable: “ Credite, optimi, et in quantum opus est, disertissimi viri, 
si aut vos prioribus seeculis, aut isti, quos miramur, his nati essent, ac 
Deus aliquis vitas vestras, vestra tempora, repente mutasset, nec vobis 
summa illa laus et gloria in eloquentia, neque illis modus et tempera 
mentum, defuisset. Nunc, quoniam nemo eodem tempore adsequi potest 
magnam famam et magnam quietem, bono seculi sui quisque, citra 
obtrectationem alterius, utatur,”—De causis corrupt, Eloquent. c. 41. 
