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Notes to his clothes. Was this design? Probably not; but merely the feeling of analogy thoughtlessly
suggesting this device, which being so suggested was retained and carried on, because it flattered
or fell in with the original feeling. The tide of passion, when strong, overflows and gradually
insinuates itself into all nooks and corners of the mind. Invention (of the best kind) I therefore do
not think so distinct a thing from feeling as some are apt to imagine. The springs of pure feeling
will rise and fill the moulds of fancy that are fit to receive it. There are some striking coincidences
of colour in well-composed pictures, as in a straggling weed in the foreground streaked with blue
or red to answer to a blue or red drapery, to the tone of the flesh or an opening in the sky:—not
that this was intended, or done by the rule (for then it would presently become affected and
ridiculous), but the eye, being imbued with a certain colour, repeats and varies it from a natural
sense of harmony, a secret craving and appetite for beauty, which in the same manner soothes and
gratifies the eye of taste, though the cause is not understood. Tact, finesse, is nothing but the being
completely aware of the feeling belonging to certain situations, passions, etc., and the being
consequently sensible to their slightest indications or movements in others. One of the most
remarkable instances of this sort of faculty is the following story, told of Lord Shaftesbury, the
grandfather of the author of the Characteristics. He had been to dine with Lady Clarendon and her
daughter, who was at that time privately married to the Duke of York (afterwards James II.), and
as he returned home with another nobleman who had accompanied him, he suddenly turned to
him, and said, ‘Depend upon it, the Duke has married Hyde’s daughter.’ His companion could not
comprehend what he meant; but on explaining himself, he said, ‘Her mother behaved to her with
an attention and a marked respect that it is impossible to account for in any other way; and I am
sure of it.’ His conjecture shortly afterwards proved to be the truth. This was carrying the prophetic
spirit of common sense as far as it could go.

Sentiment has the same source as that here pointed out. Thus the Ranz des Vaches, which
has such an effect on the minds of the Swiss peasantry, when its well-known sound is
heard, does not merely recall to them the idea of their country, but has associated with it
a thousand nameless ideas, numberless touches of private affection, of early hope,
romantic adventure and national pride, all which rush in (with mingled currents) to
swell the tide of fond remembrance, and make them languish or die for home. What a
fine instrument the human heart is! Who shall touch it? Who shall fathom it? Who shall
‘sound it from Its lowest note to the top of its compass?’ Who shall put his hand among
the strings, and explain their wayward music? The heart alone, when touched by
sympathy, trembles and responds to their hidden meaning!

Genius or originality is, for the most part, some strong quality in the mind, answering to and
bringing out some new and striking quality in nature.
Imagination is, more properly, the power of carrying on a given feeling into other situations,
which must be done best according to the hold which the feeling itself has taken of the mind. In
new and unknown combinations the impression must act by sympathy, and not by rule, but there
can be no sympathy where there is no passion, no original interest. The personal interest may in
some cases oppress and circumscribe the imaginative faculty, as in the instance of Rousseau: but
in general the strength and consistency of the imagination will be in proportion to the strength
and depth of feeling; and it is rarely that a man even of lofty genius will be able to do more than
carry on his own feelings and character, or some prominent and ruling passion, into fictitious and
uncommon situations. Milton has by allusion embodied a great part of his political and personal
history in the chief characters and incidents of Paradise Lost. He has, no doubt, wonderfully

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