Date: 1767

"In order therefore to relish and to judge of the production of Genius and to Art, there must be an internal perceptive power, exquisitely sensible to all the impressions which such productions are capable of making on a susceptible mind."

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"A Painter therefore of true Genius, having his fancy strongly impressed and wholly occupied by the most lively conceptions of the objects of which he intends to express the resemblance, has immediate recourse to his pencil, and attempts, by the dexterous use of colours, to sketch out those perfe...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"Some persons indeed have few ideas except such as are derived from sensation; they seldom ruminate upon, revolve, and compare the impressions made upon their minds, unless at the time they are made, or while they are recent in their remembrance: hence they become incapable of tracing those relat...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"A Poet, on the other hand, who is possessed of original Genius, feels in the strongest manner every impression made upon the mind, by the influence of external objects on the senses, or by reflection on those ideas which are treasured up in the repository of the memory, and is consequently quali...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"But there is another kind of ALLEGORICAL fable, in which there is very little regard shewn to probability. Its object also is instruction; though it does not endeavour to instruct by real or probable actions; but wrapt in a veil of exaggerated, yet delicate and apposite fiction, is studious at o...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"In the mean time we may observe, that as the hand of Nature hath stamped different minds with a different kind and degree of Originality, giving each a particular bent to one certain object or pursuit; original Authors will pursue the track marked out by Nature, by faithfully following which the...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)