shall cease
to be studied, arts will no longer flourish, and we shall again relapse
into barbarism.

The fire of the artist's own genius operating upon these materials which
have been thus diligently collected, will enable him to make new
combinations, perhaps, superior to what had ever before been in the
possession of the art. As in the mixture of the variety of metals, which
are said to have been melted and run together at the burning of Corinth,
a new and till then unknown metal was produced equal in value to any of
those that had contributed to its composition. And though a curious
refiner may come with his crucibles, analyse and separate its various
component parts, yet Corinthian brass would still hold its rank amongst
the most beautiful and valuable of metals.

We have hitherto considered the advantages of imitation as it tends to
form the taste, and as a practice by which a spark of that genius may be
caught which illumines these noble works, that ought always to be present
to our thoughts.

We come now to speak of another kind of imitation; the borrowing a
particular thought, an action, attitude, or figure, and transplanting it
into your own work: this will either come under the charge of plagiarism,
or be warrantable, and deserve commendation, according to the address
with which it is performed. There is some difference likewise whether it
is upon the ancients or the moderns that these depredations are made. It
is generally allowed that no man need be ashamed of copying the ancients:
their works are considered as a magazine of common property, always open
to the public, whence every man has a right to what materials he pleases;
and if he has the art of using them, they are supposed to become to all
intents and purposes his own property.

The collection which Raffaelle made of the thoughts of the ancients with
so much trouble, is a proof of his opinion on this subject. Such
collections may be made with much more ease, by means of an art scarce
known in his time; I mean that of engraving, by which, at an easy rate,
every man may now avail himself of the inventions of antiquity.

It must be acknowledged that the works of the moderns are more the
property of their authors; he who borrows an idea from an artist, or
perhaps from a modern, not his contemporary, and so accommodates it to
his own work that it makes a part of it, with no seam or joining
appearing, can hardly be charged with plagiarism; poets p