imself peculiarly exempted from conforming to rules of any kind
whatever[87], and we can suppose this opinion to have proceeded
originally from no other foundation than his knowledge of the practice
of former authors.

[Footnote 87: Vide supra, p. 57.]

I am sufficiently aware, my Lord, that some readers may object to the
preceding theory, that it is probable, if Pindar had been of opinion
that Lyric Poetry in his time stood in need of material emendations, the
same fertility of invention which enabled him to reach the heighth of
excellence in this art, without however altering its original
principles; that this would have led him likewise to invent new rules,
and to supply the deficiencies of his Predecessors. I will venture to
affirm, that this is the only species of invention, in which we have
seldom reason to expect that an Original Genius will attempt to excel.

It hath often been observed, that the earliest productions of a Great
Genius are generally the most remarkable for wildness and inequality.
A sublime imagination is always reaching at something great and
astonishing. Sometimes it seizeth the object of its pursuit, and at
others, like a person dizzy with the heighth of his station, it staggers
and falls headlong. When the mind of such a person ripens, and his
judgment arrives at its full maturity, we have reason to expect that the
strain of his competition will be more confident and masterly; but his
imagination, cramped by the rules which have been formerly laid down,
will be still desirous of _breaking_ the _old fetters_, rather than
felicitous of _inventing new ones_. Though therefore it must be
acknowledged that the same Faculty which is able to invent characters,
and to _colour_ sentiment may likewise discover the rules and principles
of an Art, yet we have no ground to hope that it will often be employed
to effectuate a purpose which an Author may consider as in some measure
prejudicial.

To compensate for the blemishes formerly mentioned, the writings of
Pindar abound with the most instructive moral sentiments, as well as
with the most exquisite beauties of descriptive poetry. The Poet often
throws in a reflection of this kind in the most natural manner, as it
seems to arise spontaneously from the subject. Thus he prepares the mind
to hear of the catastrophe of Tlepolemus by an exclamation perfectly
apposite, and appropriated to the occasion.

+Amphi d' andro-
pon phresin amplakiai
An