"Now if the human understanding be, essentially and originally, a <i>tabula rasa</i>, susceptible of impression from the occurrence of every casual object, then the ideas it receives thereby will be the fountain, and, as it were, the materials of all its future proficiencies; and the number and excellence of these will constantly keep pace with the number and order, perspicuity and facility of those."
A Dissertation Upon Genius
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1755).<br>
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See <u>A Dissertation Upon Genius: or, an Attempt to Shew, That the Several Instances of Distinction, and Degrees of Superiority in the Human Genius Are Not, Fundamentally, the Result of Nature, but the Effect of Acquisition. By William Sharpe</u>. (London: Printed for C. Bathurst, 1755). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/N9787">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;