Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

A Dissertation on Anecdotes

London

Printed for C. and G. Kearsley, and J. Murray

1793

"It is curious to observe the first dawn of genius breaking on the mind. Sometimes a man of genius, in his first effusions, is so far from revealing his future powers, that, on the contrary, no reasonable hope can be formed of his success."

It is curious to observe the first dawn of genius breaking on the mind. Sometimes a man of genius, in his first effusions, is so far from revealing his future powers, that, on the contrary, no reasonable hope can be formed of his success. In the violent struggle of his mind, he may give a wrong direction to his talents; as Swift, in two pindaric odes, which have been unfortunately preserved in his works. Sometimes a man of genius displays no talents, even among those who are able to decide on them; his genius, like Aeneas, is veiled by a cloud, and remains unperceived by his associates. This was the case of Goldsmith; who was so far from displaying a fine genius, that even his literary companions, before the publication of his beautiful poems, regarded him as a compiler for the Booksellers, not as a writer for men of taste. Sometimes, when a writer displays an early genuis, it is not expressed with all its force. Several have began versifiers, and concluded poets; and perhaps this is no unjust idea of Pope.
(pp. 32-3)

Light::Dawn Motion::Struggle

ECCO-TCP

Only 1 entry in ESTC (1793).

A Dissertation on Anecdotes; by the Author of Curiosities of Literature. (London: Printed for C. and G. Kearsley, and J. Murray, 1793). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>

04/29/2014