Hence beautiful Allusions, surprizing Metaphors and
admirable Sentiments are always ready at hand: And while the Fancy is
full of Images collected from innumerable Objects and their different
Qualities, Relations and Habitudes, it can at pleasure dress a common
Notion in a strange, but becoming Garb; by which, as before observ'd,
the same Thought will appear a new one, to the great Delight and
Wonder of the Hearer. What we call Genius results from this particular
happy Complexion in the first Formation of the Person that enjoys it,
and is Nature's Gift, but diversify'd by various specifick Characters
and Limitations, as its active Fire is blended and allay'd by
different Proportions of Phlegm, or reduc'd and regulated by the
Contrast of opposite Ferments. Therefore as there happens in the
Composition of a facetious Genius a greater or less, tho still an
inferior degree of Judgment and Prudence, and different Kinds
of Instincts and Passions, one Man of Wit will be vary'd and
distinguish'd from another. That Distinction that seems common to
Persons of this Denomination, is an inferior Degree of Wisdom and
Discretion; and tho these two Qualities, Wit and Discretion, are
almost incapable of a friendly Agreement, and will not, but with great
Difficulty, be work'd together and incorporated in the Constitution of
any Individual; yet this Observation is not so conspicuous in any, as
in those, whose native Complexion comes the nearest to a Subversion
and Absence of Mind, tho it should never degenerate into that
distemper'd Elevation of the Spirits: Nothing is more common, than to
see Persons of this Class always Think Right, and always Act Wrong;
admirable for the richness, delicacy, and brightness of their
Imaginations, and at the same Time to be pity'd for their want
of Prudence and common Sense; abounding with excellent Maxims and
instructive Sentiments, which however are not of the least Use to
themselves in the Conduct of their Lives.
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