His witches, fairies, and enchanted isle,
Bid us no longer at our nurses smile;
Of lost historians we almost complain,
Nor think it the creation of his brain.
Epistle to the Right Honourable George, Lord Lansdowne. 1712, ll. 295-302 and 313-20.
JOSEPH ADDISON, 1714
(1672-1719)
Our critics do not seem sensible that there is more beauty in the works of a great genius who is ignorant of the rules of art, than in those of a little genius who knows and observes them. It is of these men of genius that Terence speaks in opposition to the little artificial cavillers of his time:
Quorum æmulari exoptat negligentiam
Potius quam istorum obscuram diligentiam.