I cannot help adding that some of the greatest names of antiquity,

and those who have most distinguished themselves in works of genius

and imagination, were equally eminent for their critical skill.

Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Horace; and among the moderns,

Boileau, Corneille, Pope, and Dryden, are at least instances of

genius not being destroyed by attention or subjection to rules and

science. I should hope, therefore, that the natural consequence

likewise of what has been said would be to excite in you a desire

of knowing the principles and conduct of the great masters of our

art, and respect and veneration for them when known.