, 1870-05-22
IMITATION AND PLAGIARISM

tory. In the lAtter instance, the reverend
thief was rewarded by fat living, as token
Of gratitude from patron who read the book,
before the robbery waa discovered
Ihe commonest form OF r1AgiArism-real
or apparent-is, Of course, that Of poetical
image THIS ia, in naany cases, merely Aoci-
as accidental For instance, where Heztick
sayg:
First 70 the babies OF the eyes,
And charms them With their luilAb!eB-n
"or those babies In your eyes,
In their crystal nunnes,cs-"
Do he remember 2, TIE u same Iln phrase y Bon
'"Mchemist."
Nj. Charles Readc, too, in the :. Qoister
and tho Hearth speaks OF Gerard and Mar
ga1et "reading babies in each others eyes"
It is so pretty phrase that one hopes its re-
c1.r1enco wks accidental
One occasionally. however, recognizes
term which bears obviously more than an ac-
cidental resemblance to another. Thus, the
following ia clearly plagiarism. Everybody
knows Sucking exquisite Gnea:
81" Her feet beneath her pett!coat,
Like little mice, stole IN and out,
As II they feared the Light
Sec how HeErick sulgarlzes and spoils it:
- Her ptctty feet
Liz snatit . did creep
A little ont, aud then,
AZ 3M they played At bopeeR,
Here, again, il sin brought home to the
reverend author OF the sNight Thoughts"
Speaking of the Eun he calls him, in i very
coa1se and unpoetjca1 way,
"Rude drunkatl, rising rosy from the maln.-
lie must have remembered Wither's Ines-
And An een the su9, which yoa might guess
By bis drunken 1cIy faec no less"
Many apparent p!agia1isms OF the presont
dag nrise from our habit Of perpetunlly read
ing. CleAtncsa OF head and memory give way
under its pcEnicious infiuancc. We no longer
think our own thoughts, because We are al
WAYS occupied with tue thoughts Of others:
and, il VIC want to write, We have to pick our
own out Of the mass Of other peoples thoughts
floating about in that vast tank-a man = brain.
Nov. ~ Lord Foppiugton 80 justly remarks,
II think that mnn Of parts MAJ, very well
occupy himself with his own thoughts" And
, Carlyle-scein the least encumberel with su-
nertlnous reading. There is no internal evi-
dence in Dickens books to sl,nw that he has
ever read anything except Suo1lctt.
Sometimes. too, 4 book appears which has
remarkable success, aud gets all the credit Of
ideas :: thus the - Pilgrims ProGress,' which
worked its way upwards. unlike the general
run Of boolr. Now, nearly all the leatling ill.,
cidcnts in Christians journey arc founded on
book ot tho fourteenth century: by ono De
is written both ways. Tlis work had a great
popularity. It WAS translated into English,
certainly early in tho fifteenth century;
and | think there cannot be doubt
that tho story, 70 captivating, 30 readily
problem OF tile, never quite died ont Of
mems minds, aud that some Of the fragments
were heard by john BuDyan, porhaps, in his
childhood, This does not, however, detract in
. the erallest degree from Ito genius. and even
from the originality, OF our noble a1lesory,
An instance, which do not remember to
lsavo seen noticed, Of what believe to be tho
/ germ Of one of the most original aud beautiful
/ Of modern nove1s-hingsleys ''Hypatia us
taken from passage in Fieldiug's Journey
! from this World to the Next"
Da!thazar il Jew and au Ale1anllrian. ue
| remembers tho massacre Of tic Jews by the
Cf1isti1us. He was iu love with uypatia, the
] beautifn! and accomplished daughter Of poor
i philosopher. He might have married her, in
srise Of her poverty :; but she was murdered
! valuable jewel which he had presented to her.
| Tie idea Of Sheridan'e famous play, " The
Critic" appears to havo been borrowed from
Fieldings :. Tumble-lown Dick." There, tho
poet, assemble for the rehearsal OF Fust;ans
new rlay, making remarks on tho conduct
| Of the I.iece exactly IN the eamc way Al Sheri-
dams characters. Isnt this, again. may have
been borrowed from Il ,chestcrs - Rehearsal"
MIR. Charles Ecadc seems to understand, a.
; -cenes and incidents, and making thcm serve
! lis own purpose. Thus, soune scenes Of tho
"Cloistcr and the Hearth" aro taken almost
literally from Erasmus This is quito lcgti-
mate. The "Gollo4uia furnish q picture Of
who would wfito Of the tincs Of Erasmus must
borrow from tho pages Of Erasmus.
Everybody who has rsAl ''Hard Cash" re-
members, however, the great sceuo where tho
heavy 1nerrhantlnan runs down and crushos
! -Vrr II.
same thing is aonc by a merchantmau in =
! novel some thirty years old, called Paul Peri
! Nink,c." There, however, the pirate is a
! French prvatcer. OF cou1sc, tho idea may
! have l,ccn original with 10th noyelists.
! Isaid above that there is nothing in Ch1rles
| Dickens to show &hat that author had over
reati anything but smollett. Perhaps. how
! ever. he has ro1d Fielding as we'll.
Whcn be makes Mr.. rickwitk pass = few
| months in tho Fleet prison, did it occur to him
| how many worthless had preceded him Did
he have IN his mind CAPTAIN Booth. NJ. Tom
| FAthom, and 1Ir. Hcartfrecs Az these CHAR
! ncters arc in Fielding anu Snlollett.
| Writers, too, repeat themselves \ great
| sinner In this respect is Oliver Goldsmith.
SION Of him THUS, in the . Mis:sllanaous
Essays (&yi.}, he speaks Of our daa ;nssE.
| Anna Amelia Nclhelmina C11olina. In
the Citizen Of tho World xvi, he -ays,
"You shall see my little giri. Carolina Wilhsl-
nina Amelia Tbbs;' ana in tho ..yisa5 Of
! nina Amelia skeegs." Again, in the Ess,ys-
"Mr. Groean, tlls is always the cAse when
you find me in spirits. Its
seldom that am in spirits, but this is alwavs
the CAGE" And, in "sl,e Stoops to Conquer"
rpirits. il Tn TO havs my soo3. let il conc
OF itsclf, not 10 keep dinsing, dingins it into
| one So
And ono more: In Essay xiv he describes
n Scotch marriage. Miss jenny Hastiuga
ln sure. was avery agreeable sort of man.
They parted; and nov
keep separate garrets in RoseuaEy-lsne."
This was tco good to be thrown away in an es-
stured %sn b. sr: IN sass ~ Tue sod
lady, I'VE had a sweet little couple set on
from this few days ago.
The Eett1eman, for tailor, sure, was rs fine
aspokcn tailor as evcr blew froth from = full
ROT. There was, OF my knowledge.
Miss Grace Feg. thit married ter f1thcr's .
footman. .Nack a,1ay! Snc and hoz husband
soon 1mrtei aud they now keep separate eel
lars in Hedge-lane
Compare; too, The '. History Of tho Man in
"yicsr of. Wakefield" Tie san,e ilea runs
through both, ro-eibly because POOR Gold
sraith i rcseonal experience occurs in both
sllaksrcare, as might havo been expected
seldom reTeats the eame thought. Here, how.
ever. is IN Instance:
Men. er,i manners liz y nrass; sne'r virtues
We write In wateE.7@~ Hen. Sll."ir..s,
Compare tho preceding passage with ''Julius
fTsar,' ill.,, 2:
"Thr evil that men 10 tive. after them,
The got.l Ia OFT lntcrre.t with thelr bones
Sometimes single t1ea Rezves With autho
after authcr Thus, the subsidiary, not tn
| loading. idea OF Don Qnixote WAS tlat Of
single. minded. courageous gentleman, on
with whom duty was alS,ya all otles consider
, or, snd clnvalruus faith were the necessary At
: | tributes of = knight. Tic leading 41ca-
which We arc apt to lose sight of--w4
| tho eueardiration of these very qualities Il
! his craze. Don oui1ote, however, Is ou
r civcn birth to Captain Shsnly, to Laatenau
. fismataso, to Captain RolauI dc Caxton; an
. TO the greatest Of all, Colonel Seweomc-
e trace uis influence, too. all through hinSales
in tis Major Scott, in Frank Leigh, IN Eaphas
{ Walter nalcigh. ..--.--.-
I II has alwa-s been \ favorite anusene:
+ with readers to trace out rcsemblAnees a
u o1gins-to find the source Of An ine'den
s .he frst conception OF character, U
.tesi ef M Ma'R No s'sRass SRso1 "a rs
s Eenius to owe something. shakespeare create
VI Ices than l,o rcnpnldea. He took story ~
recast it In so marvellous shape A. no long
20 TO be recognized. He found character, din
=, ehAdowy, eodilcss; he gave it back to II
ID world dn, clear, sharely, snd bright. So. III;
y mooelief shares and fashions hss clay into
ut rough resemblance OF hts conceptions: as
as the sculptor taking It, With few touches
I'd his ds1terons fnSers gives it back an Antinol
or Venus. For the highest lind Of art is
I'd ! represent or to describe the most 6nishi
il productions OF nature.
to ChAucer did much tho same thing. vi
= Two exceptions. the story Of " To2szo," II