On Genius. 393 
Ay one of the greatest of our modern poets 
in describing the Apollo Belvidere. 
In his delicate form 
—_——_—_—______——-are expressed _ 
All that ideal beauty ever blessed 
The mind with, in its most unearthly mood ; 
When each conception was a heavenly guesi— 
A ray of immortality—and stood, 
Starlike, around, until they gathered to a God.(k) 
Whatever an artist feels strongly becomes 
virtually his own. The wider and more va- 
rious his associations with the productions of 
other men, as well as with the works of na- 
ture, the better. Acute sensibility to the sub- 
lime and beautiful, which depends, I conceive, 
under the guiding hand of education, on a 
strong original susceptibility of tempera- 
ment, is indeed the principle of Genius; but 
without abundance of materials to work upon, 
it must soon exhaust its inventions and dis- 
cover barrenness and penury. He, therefore, 
who has the widest range of associations, and 
the most extensive acquaintance with the 
master-productions of Genius in every age— 
if he deeply feels the impressions, which they 
leave, and makes them his own—is most 
likely to be distinguished by richness and 
(4) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto IV. 162, 
3D 
