Gerard, Alexander (1728-1795)

An Essay on Genius

London and Edinburgh

Printed for W. Strahan, T.Cadell, and W. Creech

1774

"It is judgment that perceives when imagination deviates from the paths which lead to the end proposed; it is owing to this perception, that imagination is recalled from its wanderings, and made to set out anew in the right road; and it is the frequent exercise of judgment in this employment, that gives imagination an habitual regularity and correctness."

It was already shown, That regularity of imagination is an essential constituent of genius; that this regularity consists in a capacity of keeping the end of a work steadily in view, and a propensity to subordinate the parts to that end; and that, though it be primarily founded in a particular turn of the imagination, it is promoted by the exercise of judgment, and could not, without this, attain tolerable perfection. It is judgment that perceives when imagination deviates from the paths which lead to the end proposed; it is owing to this perception, that imagination is recalled from its wanderings, and made to set out anew in the right road; and it is the frequent exercise of judgment in this employment, that gives imagination an habitual regularity and correctness. This excellence of imagination must therefore have a great dependence both on the degree and on the kind of judgment which a person possesses.
(II.x, p. 313)

Motion::Wandering Geography::Road

Reading in C-H Lion

Only 1 entry in ESTC (1774).

An Essay on Genius. By Alexander Gerard, D.D. Professor of Divinity in King's College, Aberdeen. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; T. Cadell, and W. Creech at Edinburgh 1774). <Link to ECCO>

06/27/2013