1 791' O^' POETICAL GENIUS. 179 



imagination, he muftyiv/, — he mnft have fenfibility, — 

 he muil have the mens divhi'wr. This I conceive to be 

 the. meaning of the term. The expreffion is general ; 

 mens divinior, a very divine mind, a more than ufually 

 divine mind. Hov/ comes that to fignify fenfibility? 

 and is not the meaning too arbitrary ? By attending 

 to the following particulars we fhall perhaps judge 

 otherwife : 



ill, What is it that exalts a mind, or makes it, fo 

 to fay, divine ? Is it not fuch fenfibility as flows out 

 in exquifite feeling or fine afFeftion ? All, or moil 

 men, have fenfibility to the circumfhances that befal 

 themfelves ; but he whofe mind is fo fufceptible as to 

 be as deeply aftefted with what befals others, and with 

 imaginary events, as other perfons are v/ith real, may 

 be faid to have fine fenfibility, or the mens divinior. 



2d, The poet, in this paflage, fpeaks like a critic : 

 at any rate he is not to be fufpe£led of writing loofely. 

 He ufually diftinguiflies very accurately, and exprefles 

 himfelf very corredlly. He is not to be fufpefted of 

 diftinclions v/ithout difference, or of ufing words that 

 have no meaning, or are redundant. The difference, 

 for example, between the ingenium and os magna /:- 

 naturum is diftinftly marked. Is it fair, then, to fup- 

 pofe that he means no more by the mens divinior than 

 by the ingenium? By every rule of candid criticifm 

 we muit fuppofe that he means fomething different ; 

 and not only fo, but fomething effential. He is making 

 an important enumeration : what is this fecond parti- 

 cular in his enumeration ? This leads us to remark, 



3dly, That the poet, in other parts of his work;^, 

 where he delivers critical doclrines, dwells very parti- 

 cularly on fenfibility. He fays explicitly, in his epiil'.e 

 to the Pifost that without tliis it is impoffible to enter 

 into liuman paffions and afieclions, fo as to imitate 

 them, and fo as to move other perfons. *' S/ vis me 

 ** fiere., (fays he,) dokmlum cjl primum ipji iihi." Now, 

 as the meaning of a writer is always belt known by 

 Y 2 



