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276

Epictetus was, indeed, a philosopher, Terence, and Phœdrus were poets, and many of the most eminent artists at Rome were slaves ; but they were philoso-phers, and poets, and artists before they became slaves ; or belonging to a people extolled, and rever-ed for their ingenuity and heroism, they still possess-ed a certain elevation of mind, which rendered them capable of acquiring science, of cultivating the no-bler powers of the soul, and displaying the beauties of imagination, and taste, even if an enslaved con-dition.*

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  * Two or three other remarks in Mr. Jefferson's illustra-tions of the great defect of genius in the blacks may deserve some notice.  " Many of them, says he, have been brought up to the handicraft arts, and all have lived in countries where the arts and sciences have been cultivated to a considerable degree, and have had before their eyes samples of the best works from abroad."--I have often seen these handicraft artists, their black-smiths, coopers, house carpenters and others.  But, except in a few instances, their whole design in learning these arts was to do the coarse work on their master's plantations, the competent skill for which they acquired from artists who were nearly as coarse workmen as themselves.  And what is intended in this remark, "that all of them have had before their eyes samples of the best works from abroad," I can hardly conceive.  Does the writer mean statues, pictures, or household furniture ?  I believe few of them have seen the most exquisite productions in any of these departments ; and those who have, I presume, have con-templated them with the same eyes with which other coach-men, hostlers, and footmen view them.  And why are these
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  Having bestowed so much attention on this quali-ty, which Mr. White, supported by the authority of Mr. Jefferson, supposes to constitute an essential distinction between the negro and the white man,

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exquisite works of genius said to be from abroad?  If the in-genious whites have never yet produced them at home, why are the poor negroes degraded from their rank in the scale of ration-ality, because their enslaved genius has not towered above that of their masters?
  " Misery, continues Mr. Jefferson, is often the parent of the most affecting touches of poetry.  Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry."--When misery falls on such men as Dodd, or Young, who possess minds toned to the finest sensibilities and adorned with refined taste, and a culti-vated imagination, their sorrows will often wake the most affecting strains of the pensive muse : but when have we seen the miseries of Newgate or the gallies produce a poet?
  "Love," he adds, "is the peculiar œstrum of the poet. Their love is ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the im-agination."  With what fine tints can imagination invest the rags, the dirt, or the nakedness so often seen in a quarter of negro labourers?  Besides, to awaken the exquisite sentiments of a delicate love, and to surround it with all the enchantment of the imagination, this passion requires to be placed under cer-tain moral restraints which are seldom formed in the coarse familiarity, and promiscuous intercourse permitted, and too often encouraged among the American slaves.  Yet have I, not unfrequently, seen, among these slaves, the most delicate and durable attachments take place between the sexes, where a good moral education, united with the virtuous, and amiable example of their masters and mistresses, have concurred to cultivate the heart, and produce a certain reserve and refine-ment in their manners.
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