Stupid are born with Faculties Equal to other Men Only they have not Cultivated them
because they thought it not worth the trouble>
[P 194] . . . obscurity. . . is one source of the sublime.
[That] liberty of imagination is cramped by . . . rules; . . . smothered. . . by too much judgment; .
. . [are] notions not only groundless, but pernicious.
Condemns & laughs at>
[P 195] . . . scarce a poet is to be found, . . . whose latter works are not as replete with. . .
imagination, as those [of] his more youthful days.
To understand literally these metaphors. . . seems. . . absurd. . . .
Revelation Plato was in Earnest. Milton was in Earnest. They believd that God did
Visit Man Really & Truly & not as Reynolds pretends
[P 196] [idea absurd that a winged genius] did really inform him in a whisper what he was to
write; . . .
How very Anxious Reynolds is to Disprove & Contemn Spiritual Perception
[P 197] It is supposed that. . . under the name of genius great works are produced. . . . without
our being under the least obligation to reason, precept, or experience.
. . . scarce state these opinions without exposing their absurdity; yet. . . constantly in the mouths
of. . . artists.
Begin Page 659
[P 198] . . . prevalent opinion. . . considers the principles of taste. . . as having less solid
foundations, than. . . they really have. . . . [and imagines taste of too high origin] to submit to the
authority of all earthly tribunal.
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