Employment for Them, their several Biass and Capacity be not
consulted, but the roving _Genius_ mew'd up in a Closet, and
confounded among Books: And the studious and thoughtful _Genius_
sent to wander about the World, and be perfectly scattered and
dissipated, for want of proper Application and closer
Confinement. Whereas, one such a Family wisely educated, and
dispos'd in the World, would prove an extensive Blessing to
Mankind, and appear with a distinguished Glory; was the proper
_Genius_ of every Child first cultivated, and he then put into a
Way of Life that would suit his Taste.

_Genius_ is a part of natural Constitution, not acquir'd, but
born with us. Yet it is capable of Cultivation and Improvement.
It has been a common Question, whether a Man be born a Poet or
made one? but both must concur. Nature and Art must contribute
their Shares to compleat the Character. Limbs alone will not make
a Dancer, or a Wrestler. Nor will _Genius_ alone make a good
Poet; nor the meer Strength of natural Abilities make a
considerable Artist of any kind. Good Rules, and these reduc'd to
Practice, are necessary to this End. And Use and Exercise in
this, as well as in all other Cases, are a second Nature. And,
oftentimes, the second Nature makes a prodigious Improvement of
the Force and Vigour of the first.

It has been long ago determined by the great Masters of Letters,
that good Sense is the chief Qualification of a good Writer.

_Scribendi certe sapere est & Principium & Fons._

Horat.