The following Discourse [on art, by Sir Joshua Reynolds] is particularly Interesting to Blockheads as it endeavours to prove that There is No such thing as Inspiration & that any Man of a plain Understanding may by Thieving from Others become a Mich Angelo.

It is naught but pain and regret when we think of the things and people we will never have, the opportunities we may never get. But to pine for those we have had and loved and once held but will never clasp again, it is torture of an unbearable degree. It is the worst pain possible. Enough to drive you away from yourself...