ormed and acquired. For the Turn that
Education, Company, Business, the Taste of the Age, and above
all, Principles of vitious or virtuous Manners, give to a Man's
natural Capacities, is what chiefly forms his _Genius_. Thus we
say of some, they have a rude unpolish'd _Genius_; of others,
they have a fine, polite _Genius_. The manner of applying the
natural Powers of the Mind, is what alone may produce the most
different and opposite _Genij_. Libertine Principles, and
Virtuous Morals, may form the Genius of a _Rake_, from the same
natural Capacity, out of which Virtuous Principles might have
form'd an _Hero_.

There is certainly in our natural Capacities themselves, a
Fitness for some Things, and Unfitness for others. Thus whatever
great Capacities a Man may have, if he is naturally timorous, or
a Coward, he never can have a Warlike _Genius_. If a Man has not
a good Judgment, how great soever his Wit may be, or polite his
Manners, he never will have the _Genius_ of a Statesman. Just as
strong Sounds and brisk Measures can never touch the softer
Passions. Yet as the Art and Skill of the Composer, is required
to the _Genius_ of Musick, so is a Knowledge of the Force and
Power of the natural Capacity, and a judicious Application of it
to the best and most proper Purposes, what forms a _Genius_ for
any Thing. This is the effect of Care, Experience and a right
Improvement of every Advantage that offers. On this Observation
_Horace_ founded his Rules for a Poetical _Genius_.

_Versate diu quid sere recusent
Quid valeant humeri._
And,
_Ego nec studium sine divite vena,
Nec rude quid profit video ingenium._

_To speak my Thoughts, I hardly know
What witless Art, or artless Wit can do._

The same Observation in another kind is elegantly described by
Mr. _Waller_.

_Great_ Julius _on the Mountains bred,
A Flock perhaps, or Herd had led.
He that the World subdued, had been
But the best Wrestler on the Green.
'Tis Art and Knowledge that draw forth
The hidden Seeds of Native Worth.
They blow those Sparks, and make 'em rise
Into such Flames as touch the Skies._

The High and Martial Spirit of _Casar_ would have inclined and
fitted him, to gain the Prize of Wrestling above any Country
Sport. But it was the Circumstance of his own Birth and Fortune,
the State and Condition of the Commonwealth, and the Concurrence
of