Common Observation And A Plain Understanding Is

From A Slight, Undetermined Drawing, Where The Ideas Of The Composition And Character Are Just Touched Upon, The Imagination Supplies More Than The Painter Himself, Probably, Could Produce. And We Accordingly Often Find That The Finished Work Disappoints The Expectation That Was Raised From The Sketch.

Martial Music Has Sudden And Strongly Marked Transitions From One Note To Another Which That Style Of Music Requires; While In That Which Is Intended To Move The Softer Passions, The Notes Imperceptibly Melt Into One Another.

But Young Men Have Not Only This Frivolous Ambition Of Being Thought Masters Of Execution, Inciting Them On The One Hand, But Also Their Natural Sloth Tempting Them On The Other. They Are Terrified At The Prospect Before Them, Of The Toil Required To Attain Exactness. The Impetuosity Of Youth Is Disgusted At The Slow Approaches Of A Regular Siege, And Desires, From Mere Impatience Of Labour, To Take The Citadel By Storm. They Wish To Find Some Shorter Path To Excellence, And Hope To Obtain The Reward Of Eminence By Other Means, Than Those Which The Indispensable Rules Of Art Have Prescribed.

Poetry Operates By Raising Our Curiosity, Engaging The Mind By Degrees To Take An Interest In The Event, Keeping That Event Suspended, And Surprising At Last With An Unexpected Catastrophe.

One Inconvenience... May Attend Bold And Arduous Attempts: Frequent Failure May Discourage. This Evil, However, Is Not More Pernicious Than The Slow Proficiency Which Is The Natural Consequence Of Too Easy Tasks.