I think an education is beneficial but whether it takes an education to be successful in the arts is a whole other question.

For the sake of argument and illustration I will presume that certain articles of ordinary diet however beneficial in youth are prejudicial in advanced life like beans to a horse whose common ordinary food is hay and corn.

The accumulation of skill and science which has been directed to diminish the difficulty of producing manufactured goods has not been beneficial to that country alone in which it is concentrated distant kingdoms have participated in its advantages.