On Genius. 395 
that can he said to be original and striking.”’ 
No man, on the other hand, ever possessed 
a greater power of invention and stood less 
in need of foreign assistance than Raffaelle ; 
yet the works of this great painter evince his 
familiarity with the productions of preceding 
artists, and instances might be adduced of 
his not disdaining to borrow. By this ex- 
tensive and exact acquaintance with the 
works of art, he greatly enriched the circle 
of his associations; and he made the beautiful 
creations of other minds his own, by intensely 
feeling their loveliness, and imbibing it, as it 
were, into the very essence of his Genius. 
It may be regarded as something like a 
confirmation of the foregoing views, that the 
history of most men of Genius shews them 
to have been imbued with a very high degree 
of sensibility to all great and sublime truths— 
to all generous and exalted moral sentiments— 
and usually also to the beauty and grandeur 
of the natural world. Education may do 
much to repress and pervert the natural sen- 
sibility ; habits of recluse and abstract spe- 
culation may contract the heart; the passions, 
interests and prejudices of the world may 
have nearly dried up the native fountain of in- 
spiration :—but they must still retain a sym- 
pathy with the natural affections of the hu- 
