general on this subject, that whatever
degree of superiority the reasoning Faculty ought ultimately to possess
in the sphere of Composition, we are not to consider this Power as
acting the same part in the work of a Poet, which it should always act
in that of a Philosopher. In the performance of the latter, an appeal to
reason is formally stated, and is carried on by the process of connected
argumentation; whereas in that of the former the Judgment is
_principally_ employed in the disposition of materials[57]. Thus the
Philosopher and the Poet are equally entitled to the character of
judicious, when the arguments of the one are just and conclusive, and
when the images of the other are apposite and natural.

[Footnote 57: In the Epopee we judge of the Genius of the Poet,
by the variety and excellence of those materials with which
Imagination enricheth his subject. His Judgment appears in the
disposition of particular images, and in the general relation
which every subordinate part bears to the principal action of the
Poem. Thus it is the business of this Faculty, as an ingenious
Critic says, "Considerer comme un corps qui no devoit pas avoir
des membres de natures differentes, et independens les uns des
autres." Bossu du Poem. Epiq. Liv. II. ch. 2. It is true indeed,
that Tragedy is rather an address to the passions than to the
imagination of mankind. To the latter however we must refer all
those finer strokes of poetic painting, which actuate so forcibly
the affections and the heart. We may, in short, easily conceive
the importance of a warm imagination to the Dramatic Poet, by
reflecting upon the coldness and indifference with which we peruse
those pieces, which are not enlivened by the sallies of this
Faculty when it is properly corrected. Though we must acknowledge
that Passion seldom adopts the images of description, yet it must
be owned at the same time, that neither can a person who wants
imagination feel with sensibility the impulse of the Passions.
A Poet may even merit a great encomium who excels in painting the
effects, and in copying the language of Passion, though the
Disposition of his work may be otherwise irregular and faulty.
Thus Aristotle says of a celebrated dramatic Poet, +Kai Ho Euripides
ei kai ta alla me eu oikonomei, alla TRAGIKOTATOS ge ton Poieton
phainetai.+ De Poet. c. 13. Upon the whole t