Date: 1767

"Whether this quality is to be ascribed to the cause above-mentioned in particular; or whether it is the effect of that fiery impetuosity of Imagination, which, breaking through the legal restraints of criticism, or overleaping the mounds of authority and custom, sometimes loses sight of the Just...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"Ordinary minds seldom rise above the dull uniform tenor of common sentiments, like those animals that are condemned to creep on the ground all the days of their life; but the most lawless excursions of an original Genius, like the flight of an eagle, are towering, though devious; its path, as th...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"The quality of which we are treating, wherever it is discovered, will afford such a delicious entertainment to the mind, that it can scarce be ever satisfied with a banquet so exquisitely prepared; satiety being prevented by a succession of dainties, ever various and every new."

— 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)

Date: 1767

"These topics will, for the most part, be very extraordinary, and altogether unexpected; but they will constantly produce the intended effect. They will operate upon the mind by surprise; they will strike like lightening, and penetrate the heart at once."

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"Thus the Poet, having by the force of Imagination formed lively images of the objects he proposes to describe, thinks only of expressing his ideas in smooth and harmonious numbers; the Painter, having the same vivid conception of every object, is wholly intent on exhibiting a representation of t...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"This fervor and enthusiasm of passion, may be termed the inspiration of Music; and is the principal quality which gives it such an irresistible empire over the human heart."

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"A Genius for Architecture truly ORIGINAL, will, by the native force and plastic power of Imagination, strike out for itself new and surprising Models in this Art; and, by its combining faculty, will select out of the infinite variety of ideal forms that float in the mind, those of the Grand and ...

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Date: 1767

"He is perhaps the first Poet who hath arisen in this infant state of society; by which means he enjoys the undivided empire of Imagination without a rival."

— Duff, William (1732-1815)