and may be a mannerist, an oddity, but can not be purely original. For he is incapable of distinguishing his own single self from any ingredient of the incoherent aggregate which he calls by that name.

Originality, then, has this merit-it is the stamp which marks the coinage of the individual mind. Any thing in a different style must be a counterfeit, a forgery upon some other intellect. It is, therefore, not only an excellence where found, but the attainment of it is a duty, imperative upon every one who feels that he has a message from his Creator to his fellow men.

CHAPTER V.

OF IMITATION.

FROM what has now been said of Originality, it will readily be inferred that Imitation is not to be recommended without some important restrictions. In its common acceptation it is a great evil, standing in the way of the imitator's improvement, while it effects nothing toward the farther development of the model. Being the offspring of a blind admiration, which fails to distinguish the false from the true, and is directed to its object only by the finger of popular applause, it can not coëxist with a profound self-knowledge; but effectually obstructs the way to such attainment, and demands of its victims the perpetual dependence of childhood. Yet obvious though its weakness, it is the commonest of things. Any time we choose to cast a glance upon the ranks of art, we may behold thousands laboring in this profitless field; carried away by admiration of some already high in popular favor, and without inquiring as to the nature of their endowments, intellectual or physical, or the circumstances of their existence, perverting all their powers in order to render

themselves as nearly as possible facsimiles of him whom they admire. In which course, should they succeed to the utmost of their wishes, they only serve to make their idol trite; fortunate if they do not render him ridiculous. For, strange as it may appear, admiring imitators cling to the faults of their models, more distinctly than to their virtues. Of all mere imitators, scarcely one can be mentioned as having, in any age, risen to either usefulness or honorable renown; while, doubtless, many, who otherwise might have contributed to the benefit of society, have thus been rendered entirely unfruitful. Why is it that, for at least one hundred and fifty years after Homer, the annals of Greece present not one name of distinction in poetry? That period was not devoid of intellect, nor of literary attempts; but the glory of Homer had so dazzled all who immediately succeeded him, that they could behold nothing in life or nature, save images of his productions. Nor, until the bold hand of Archilochus dared to break the fetters of imitation, did Greece perceive the dawn of another day of literature. And where is now the fame or the works of the Cyclic poets? Two thousand years ago they were already among the most recondite of antiquarian lore. Nearer our own time the charm of the fictions of Sir Walter Scott called forth a multitude of would-be-romancers, who for at least twenty years assailed the public on all sides with lifeless portraits of his creations. But of all who followed in his train, did one succeed in touching the

hem of his garment? Already the greater number of them are entirely forgotten, and if any one has risen to an enviable grade of distinction, it is by qualities in which he is not an imitator. In the meanwhile, minds of good ability have been squandered in these foolish efforts, and their own duties are left undone.

Imitation is a hopeless business, especially the imitation of a man of great celebrity-and few think of imitating any other. None can comprehend the higher excellencies of a mind superior to his own. What he imitates must therefore be something less than the best, and very probably, the faults of his model. And whoever, with a high degree of intellectual power, has made a vigorous use of his means, has rendered more difficult the task of arriving at distinction, to all who come after him with similar endowments. A man of celebrity has generally, in the course of earning his reputation, pretty well exhausted his proper field. Even Byron, whose talents were great, and whose career was short, began to flag before he died. Had he lived longer, some other path must have been opened, in order to keep up his popularity. The old mine was nearly wrought out, and Byron himself perceived that farther fame must be pursued by other means. What then must be the disadvantage to a young writer, who enters, at his first step, upon a field thus exhausted. In order to succeed, he must be possessed of genius of the same kind, to a much higher degree than his original. But we have no reason to

believe that the Creator has so constituted any two minds that, in following accurately the bent of their own idiocrasy, they can thus interfere. The imitator, then, gratuitously assumes a difficulty, in rejecting his own proper strength, in attempting to counterfeit feelings, tastes, and views, of which he has but an imperfect conception, becomes stiff and unnatural, the distinction of his model only making his detection the more certain, and his failure the more conspicuous. But disgrace is the smallest evil attendant upon such a course: while aiming at what only another can accomplish, those talents of his own, which the Almighty gave to be the guide and instrument of his usefulness, are running to waste; years and energies are spent to no purpose, while those very things which he could do well are entirely neglected. Life is not given to be squandered so, nor is art an empty play-a mere means of obtaining a notoriety among our fellow men. It must effect something of which we shall not be ashamed before that God by whom all genius is conferred.

Imitation is the fault, not only of those who imitate, but also of critics, so called, who teach and recommend the practice. Indeed, the critics are generally most to blame. For the excellence already produced being the only basis of their rules, they can guide to nothing but its reproduction; and generally, not conceiving of anything farther, they especially inculcate the practice, and advise the most enslaving habits of preparation