Spanish and Italian Genius by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtle, without being at / all acute; hence there is so much humour and so little wit in their / literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, / profound, and sensual, but not subtle; hence what they think to be humorous / is merely witty.

To estimate a man like Vico, or any great man who has made discoveries and / committed errors, you ought to say to yourself -- "He did so and so in the / year 1720, a Papist, at Naples. Now, what would he not have done if he had / lived now, and could have availed himself of all our vast acquisitions in / physical science?"