"In this manner, as a master-builder has his materials prepared by inferiour workmen, or as a history painter is provided with his colours by the labour of others, so the faculty of invention often receives the entire ideas which it  exhibits, from the inferiour faculties, and employs itself only in applying and arrangeing them."
An Essay on Genius
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1774).<br>
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<u>An Essay on Genius. By Alexander Gerard, D.D. Professor of Divinity in King's College, Aberdeen.</u> (London: Printed for W. Strahan; T. Cadell, and W. Creech at Edinburgh 1774). &lt;<a href="http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ECCO&userGroupName=viva_uva&tabID=T001&docId=CW3315407235&type=multipage&contentSet=ECCOArticles&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE">Link to ECCO</a>&gt;