become what is called a man of genius. His genius will be accounted more or less splendid in proportion to the variety and singularity of the combinations which he forms. Thus the first efforts of a young poet, orator, mechanic, or other artist, are often as defective as can well be conceived; but by perseverance and welldirected exertions; his imagination becomes fertile, his judgment accurate, and his more mature productions are denominated works of genius.

Our duty with regard to the imagination is obvious. As imagination is nearly equivalent to invention in every department of art or of science, the possession of it in a state of fertility and vigour must be attended with advantages proportioned to the utility or excellence of the art in which it is exerted. A man who contrives an improvement in agriculture, by which a spot of ground is made to afford, with no more labour than formerly, a double quantity of the productions necessary to the subsistence of man, affords the means of increasing the measure of intelligence and of reason that exist in this world; for as a greater quantity of food can now be procured, a greater number of intelligent beings will be brought into the world, and will find subsistence in it; or if the numbers of mankind are not increased, yet the greater faci lity with which the necessaries of life may be

procured, will enable multitudes of persons to devote a larger portion of time than formerly to the pursuits of science and the improvement of their faculties. It is impossible to calculate,

or even perhaps to conceive, how much intelligence, and how many enlightened minds, the first contriver of the plough, or of the fishing net, have produced in the world. It is, therefore, every man's duty to cultivate his inventive powers, that he may be enabled to labour with success in the discovery of what is truly valuable. It is also his duty to cultivate those powers of fancy, by which truth and reason are communicated and diffused with clearness and energy. Thus wherever he comes, although he make no books, and deliver no orations, yet his conversation at least will diffuse good sense and knowledge, and all who associate with him will become, in some measure, enlightened and wise as he is.

To regulate well the wanderings of imagina-tion is also an important part of our duty. To build what are called castles in the air, or visionary fabrics of felicity, is often a favourite amusement of the young and the happy. But much time is thus uselessly consumed, and a disgust is often acquired for the serious and humble occupations of real life. The best security against these evils, as well as against the melancholy images

of calamity and care which sometimes take possession of the memory, and unhinge the voluntary power or self-command of the mind, consists of cultivating the understanding in a high degree, and of learning to act upon the maxims of sound wisdom. He who is fully satisfied that there is nothing truly valuable but a discerning and vigorous mind, and that there is nothing truly unfortunate but error and weakness, will not be apt to lose his self-command, by indulging in dreams either of pleasure or of misery. If at any time, however, a man of sense shall perceive that his understanding is in any degree led captive, it becomes instantly his duty to seek the obvious remedy for so serious an evil. This remedy consists of diversified and active occupation, by which the attention is turned to new objects, and the memory is enabled to present various images to the mind.

CHAP. III.

OF ARRANGEMENT, AND THE FORMATION OF
LANGUAGE.

ARRANGEMENT is that exertion of intellect by which, upon perceiving an object possessed of a peculiar quality, we voluntarily recollect all the other objects which resemble it in that re spect, and endeavour to fix the fact of their re, semblance in the memory. In arranging objects, we either give little attention to their per manent and important qualities, and are only solicitous to produce new and unexpected groups of ideas; in which case we are said to exert imagination: Or we endeavour to arrange objects according to their real and obvious qualities, which is called Philosophical Arrangement, and has the acquisition of knowledge for its end. Of this last kind of arrangement, I now mean to take notice.

The universe consists of a vast variety of indi vidual objects, many of which are continually changing their forms, and every one of which

differs in some circumstance from all the rest. Amidst such a diversity, it would be in possible, without arrangement, for men either to acquire or to convey to each other any valuable knowledge; for every separate object, and every change which that object undergoes, would be a separate subject of study, and would require to be separately fixed in the memory. At every step we should encounter new difficulties; for no advantage could be derived from experience, as the next object would be no less new than the preceding one. To surmount these difficulties, we endeavour to find out qualities in objects in which they resemble or differ from each other, and we arrange them into classes; that is, we do one of two things; we either make an effort of the mind to lodge them as it were close together in the memory, that the train of ideas may, by association, for the future present them all at the same time; or, more frequently, we endeavour to fix in the memory the fact, that various natural objects possess a particular common quality; and for the future we satisfy ourselves. with remembering this fact, and think no more of the objects themselves. Thus the astronomer finds means to count the stars, by arranging them into what are called constellations, according to their situation in the heavens; he recollects the constellations, though he forget the individual stars of which they consist. The bota