said he, 'that lie so fresh and green before thee, amid with which the
whole face of the ocean appears spotted as far as thou canst see, are
more in number than the sands on the sea-shore: there are myriads of
islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching further than
thine eye, or even thine imagination can extend itself. These are the
mansions of good men after death, who, according to the degree and kinds
of virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among those several
islands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds and degrees,
suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are settled in
them: every island is a paradise accommodated to its respective
inhabitants. Are not these, O Mirza, habitations worth contending for?
Does life appear miserable that gives thee opportunities of earning such
a reward? Is death to be feared that will convey thee to so happy an
existence? Think not man was made in vain, who has such an Eternity
reserved for him.' I gazed with inexpressible pleasure on these happy
islands. At length, said I, 'Show me now, I beseech thee, the secrets
that lie hid under those dark clouds which cover the ocean on the other
side of the rock of adamant.' The genius making me no answer, I turned
about to address myself to him a second time, but I found that he had
left me; I then turned again to the vision which I had been so long
contemplating: but instead of the rolling tide, the arched bridge, and
the happy islands, I saw nothing but the long hollow valley of Bagdad,
with oxen, sheep, and camels grazing upon the sides of it."

GENIUS.

--_Cui mens divinior_, _atque os_
_Magna sonaturum des nominis hujus honorem_.

HOR., _Sat._ i. 4, 43.

On him confer the poet's sacred name,
Whose lofty voice declares the heavenly flame.

There is no character more frequently given to a writer than that of
being a genius. I have heard many a little sonneteer called a fine
genius. There is not a heroic scribbler in the nation that has not his
admirers who think him a great genius; and as for your smatterers in
tragedy, there is scarce a man among them who is not cried up by one or
other for a prodigious genius.

My design in this paper is to consider what is properly a great genius,
and to throw some thoughts together on so uncommon a subject.

Among great geniuses those few draw the admiration of all the world upon
them, and stand up as the p