single ideas. The copyist is, however, commonly guilty of all the lowest forms of imitation, in addition to that which distinguishes himself.

When only the general tone and bearing of an author's ideas are seized upon as hints to something greater, or to a fuller or more beautiful development of the same, we may have derivative excellence of a high grade. This variety holds also the relation to the improvement of single ideas, that a whole has to its constituent parts. Imitation of this kind merits the highest approbation, and has been practiced by all the greatest improvers of art, as well as by reformers in morals and religion. Such imitators follow the spirit, and not the letter of their model; they follow him to the springs of inspiration, and there revealing richer sources for themselves, create entirely new works. Thus, Dante imitated Virgil, and produced such a poem as Virgil never conceived of. Thus, Burns imitated Ferguson, and Coleridge, Bowles, and each called into being a style of poetry, to which their models never dared aspire. Such imitation may be safely recommended. It is the steadiest and surest guide to original excellence, if pursued in connection with that faithful self-analysis, of which we have already spoken. Suppose for example, that after a careful examination of himself, in view of the pursuit, one decides upon the work of history. In accordance with this kind of imitation he would read various historians, for the purpose of observing their methods and

spirit. He will compare their merits, and prefer the one who, on the whole, comes nearest to his own views of history. He will adopt a similar method in subordination to the requisitions of his own design, and the distinctive features of his own character. He will then read and re-read that author, until he has fully comprehended the spirit of his work, which he will analyse as if it were his own, rejecting what he thinks improper or at least unsuitable for himself and his design, and adopting, extending, and modifying what he finds appropriate to his purpose. He is thus guided by the hand of his predecessor a part of the way, and enabled to continue his advance where his guide can go no farther.

In a similar way may one proceed in the formation of style. Far from copying that of his master, he will criticise it, and distinguish carefully that which answers his own purpose from what does not: and in what he adopts, will introduce such modifications as to make it proper to himself, his object in working, and the general laws of composition directing his choice and discrimination. The advantage obtained in such a method is that which example possesses over bare precept, and is not only consistent with, but even conducive to the truest intellectual independence. It is a proper, a highly commendable use of the experience of our predecessors.

In concluding these remarks upon Originality and Imitation, I would remind the student that his praise

will not be according to the greatness of his subject, but to his conception of it, and the merits of his execution. There is no need to transgress the bounds of native ability in order to find a subject capable of excellence. A horse, or a dog, by Landseer, is a greater work than a historical group by a middling hand: a bust from the chisel of Powers is worth more than many a full length statue: well written fiction will earn more fame, and do more good, than a poorly written history. Wolfe has won by one little song that universal praise which Joel Barlow failed to secure by an epic. Success is not always within command; but the most likely way to secure it is not by grasping at what already appears great, but by doing in the best manner what one is best qualified to do.

CHAPTER VI.

INVENTION.

WITHIN itself the mind possesses the powers and character of its thinking, and the elements of thought; from without must be acquired all the material of its fabrics. Invention can, in no case, consist in bringing forth from the uninformed intellect creations radically new; and as little can the term be applied to the mere imitation of nature, or of the productions of other artists. Being derived from invenio, to find out, it must be distinguished from creation, inasmuch as while the latter implies the power of bringing into existence, invention means only the finding out of what is suitable for a given purpose. To create, can never be said of the human mind, otherwise than figuratively. It is the peculiar power of God. To invent, or find out, among his creatures, that material, which answers the purpose of our shaping minds, is the nearest approach to creation admitted to human intellect.

Invention is to art as discovery to science; the one brings forth into light what was previously unknown, but makes no other use of it than to enlarge the classified list of similar things; the former takes up the already known, the probable or the possible, and combining their elements in new shape, makes them answer the purpose of uttering some original design. Nor is new material necessary to the expression of new ideas; the old already constitutes a well known language, of great flexibility in the hands of genius, while the entirely new would be strange and unmeaning as an unknown tongue. The same elements, and the same general subject, may convey an endless diversity of ideas, as thus modified by the inventive faculty of various artists. Thus the fable of Medea becomes a very different thing, and teaches a different lesson, according as it is wrought up by Euripides, Seneca, or Corneille, and there can be little doubt that the Medea of Ennius presented features unlike either of them; and after all the hands through which it has come, if any other shall use the same subject for the expression of a nobler idea, he shall enjoy the honors of invention as truly as if it had never been handled before. Such is the endless diversity of colors assumed by the same materials presented in the light of various minds. At the same time, it must be admitted that the use of an old basis is more largely granted to the orator than to the poet, and that the remodeling of a