266 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



of a Man. But la this, as In other refpeds, Man differs very much 

 from Man ; for fome have the love and tafte for Beauty in a very 

 fmall degree ; others, whom Nature has formed of her beft clay, 

 and Heaven bellowed on them a more than ordinary portion of the 

 Celeftial Fire, have it in a very high degree. Of fuch Men the Ima- 

 ginations are filled with the moft beautiful fcenes of Nature and Art, 

 Men and Manners. If it be the Beauty of the vifible kind which 

 captivates thofe Minds, and if their Imaginations are carried into 

 works, then have we Painters, Sculptors, and Poets of an inferior 

 kind, I mean defcriptive Poets. If it be the Beauty of Sounds, then 

 have we Muficians. But, if the turn of Mind be towards Beauties 

 of a higher kind, fuch as thofe of Sentiments, Manners, and Ac- 

 tions, then are produced Heroic and Tragic Poets, Painters, Sculp- 

 tors, and Muficians of the higheft order, who exprefs in their 

 compofitions what is mod fublime and exalted in fentiment and 

 ehafa£ler. The capacity of performing in thefe feveral Arts is what 

 we call Genius ; and the perception of Beauty in them, and the ca- 

 pacity of diftinguifliing true Beauty from falfe and afFedted, is what 

 we call Tajle, 



Nor is it to be wondered at, that Intelled, which is the feat of 

 the Fair and the Beautiful, fliould make this difference betwixt the 

 Pkantafia of Man and Brute ; for Intelledt being the governing 

 power in our Nature, every thing elfe is made fubfervient to it, ac- 

 cording to a general Law of Nature, by which all inferior things are 

 made for the ufe of what is fuperior and more excellent. Thus, in 

 Animals, we find that the vegetable part of their compofition, being 

 lefs excellent than the animal part, is fo formed and modelled, as to 

 be accommodated to the purpofes of the more excellent Life, and, 

 for that reafon, is in many refpects different from the fame Life in 

 the mere Vegetable, as I have elfewhere obferved *. Now, the 



Beaii- 



* Page 210. 



