It is not astonishing, therefore, when THE spirit is carried away by the
magnificence of its own ideas,

Not touch'd but rapt, not waken'd but inspir'd,

that the frail body, which is the natural victim of pain, disease, and
death, should not always be able to follow the mind in its aspiring
flights, but should be as imperfect as if it belonged only to an
ordinary soul.

BESIDES, might not Providence intend to humble human pride, by
presenting to our eyes so mortifying a view of the weakness and
infirmity of even his best work? Perhaps man, who is already but a
little lower than the angels, might, like the revolted spirits, totally
have shaken off obedience and submission to his Creator, had not God
wisely tempered human excellence with a certain consciousness of its own
imperfection. But though this inevitable alloy of weakness may
frequently be found in the best characters, yet how can that be the
source of triumph and exaltation to any, which, if properly weighed,
must be the deepest motive of humiliation to all? A good-natured man
will be so far from rejoicing, that he will be secretly troubled,
whenever he reads that the greatest Roman moralist was tainted with
avarice, and the greatest British philosopher with venality.

IT is remarked by Pope, in his Essay on Criticism, that,

Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss.

But I apprehend it does not therefore follow that to judge, is more
difficult than to write. If this were the case, the critic would be
superior to the poet, whereas it appears to be directly the contrary.
"The critic, (says the great champion of Shakespeare,) but fashions the
body of a work, the poet must add the soul, which gives force and
direction to its actions and gestures." It should seem that the reason
why so many more judge wrong, than write ill, is because the number of
readers is beyond all proportion greater than the number of writers.
Every man who reads, is in some measure a critic, and, with very common
abilities, may point out real faults and material errors in a very well
written book; but it by no means follows that he is able to write any
thing comparable to the work which he is capable of censuring. And
unless the numbers of those who write, and of those who judge, were more
equal, the calculation seems not to be quite fair.

A CAPACITY for relishing works of genius is the indubitable sign of a
good taste. But if a proper disposition and ability to enjoy the