"The mines of Fancy not having been opened before his time, are left to be digged by him; and the treasures they contain become his own, by a right derived from the first discovery. The whole system of nature, and the whole region of fiction, yet unexplored by others, is subjected to his survey, from which he culls those rich spoils, which adorn his compositions, and render them original."
An Essay on Original Genius
2 entries in ESTC (1767).<br>
<br>
Text from William Duff, <u>An Essay on Original Genius; and its Various Modes of Exertion in Philosophy and the Fine Arts, Particularly in Poetry</u> (London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, 1767). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T58836a">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;