Yet the best natural Parts in the World are capable of much
Improvement by a due Cultivation.

_Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam,
Rectique cultus Pectora roborant._

Horat.

The Spectator's golden Scales, let down from Heaven to discover
the true Weight and Value of Things, expresses this Matter in a
Way which at once shews, a _Genius_, and its Cultivation. "There
is a Saying among the _Scots_, that an Ounce of Mother-Wit, is
worth a Pound of Clergy. I was sensible of the Truth of this
Saying, when I saw the difference between the Weight of natural
Parts and that of Learning. I observ'd that it was an hundred
Times heavier than before, when I put Learning into the same
Scale with it."

It has been observ'd, of an _English_ Author, that he would be
all _Genius_. He would reap the Fruits of Art, but without the
Study and Pains of it. The _Limæ Labor_ is what he cannot easily
digest. We have as many Instances of Originals, this way, as any
Nation can produce. Men, who without the help of Learning, by the
meer Force of natural Ability, have produced Works which were the
Delight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder of
Posterity. It has been a Question, whether Learning would have
improved or spoiled them. There appears somewhat so nobly Wild
and Extravagant in these great _Genij_, as charms infinitely
more, than all the Turn and Polishing which enters into the