to support. We may add, that it must have a fable, too, which
necessarily requires invention, one of the rarest qualities of the human
mind. It would surprise us, if we were to examine the thing critically,
how few good original stories there are in the world. The most
celebrated borrow from each other, and are content with some new turn,
some corrective, addition, or embellishment. Many of the most celebrated
writers in that way can claim no other merit. I do not think La Fontaine
has one original story. And if we pursue him to those who were his
originals, the Italian writers of tales and novels, we shall find most
even of them drawing from antiquity, or borrowing from the Eastern
world, or adopting and decorating the little popular stories they found
current and traditionary in their country. Sometimes they laid the
foundation of their tale in real fact. Even after all their borrowing
from so many funds, they are still far from opulent. How few stories has
Boccace which are tolerable, and how much fewer are there which you
would desire to read twice! But this general difficulty is greatly
increased, when we come to the drama. Here a fable is essential,--a
fable which is to be conducted with rapidity, clearness, consistency,
and surprise, without any, or certainly with very little, aid from
narrative. This is the reason that generally nothing is more dull in
telling than the plot of a play. It is seldom or never a good story in
itself; and in this particular, some of the greatest writers, both in
ancient and modern theatres, have failed in the most miserable manner.
It is well a play has still so many requisites to complete it, that,
though the writer should not succeed in these particulars, and therefore
should be so far from perfection, there are still enough left in which
he may please, at less expense of labor to himself, and perhaps, too,
with more real advantage to his auditory. It is, indeed, very difficult
happily to excite the passions and draw the characters of men; but our
nature leads us more directly to such paintings than to the invention of
a story. We are imitative animals; and we are more naturally led to
imitate the exertions of character and passion than to observe and
describe a series of events, and to discover those relations and
dependencies in them which will please. Nothing can be more rare than
this quality. Herein, as I believe, consists the difference between the
inventive and the descriptiv