, 1879-05-24

Among tho csnrEra which sometimes fpeon-
sldcrate,y, and oftenur from aptto or JEALOUSY,
arc brought against popular authors, noue is
more common ind moro generally untounded
than tint OF plagiarism. Tho originality which
aome critics demand-thnt IL, au absolute inEtia-
Ion Of what is essentially new-is an impostt-
bilty. To attain to 1t, u Hrtcr must make a
tuau!a rasa OF his brain; he must plaee himself
in the condition Of the first man, unl ignore all
tho ldeps which he owes to bis contcm porarIcs
and tic generations before him. Ltks tho Greek
hero, he must shut bis eyes, closc his nostrils,
and seal hts ears with wn1 lest he catch tho In.
fectlon OF other meu's thought; or butter still,
he should be shut up from childhood, like
Miranda, In q desert lslaud, with no companion
but Ualiba,. Unfortunately, or rather for
tuuatcly, ho lives IN the great ocean Of human
thought, and cannot, II be would, bo
unaffected, by It's contact, Gentua
does not spend It's time In forever spiu
ming cobwebs out OF It's own bowels; It is
essentially receptive md paaslye In Its nature,
and. 30 far from being pure inventor, Is con-
tinually irupregaatlng ftsclf with the thoughts
aud feelings Of othcrs. As writer in tic
saturday Ifteiev says: at gathers Tho flying
sccds Of It's time, and adds to them the seeds
which 1t duriYes from books, 1t ia ltcenly sus-
coptiblo to every human influence, md It's power
lIcs, not III creating Its own fuel, but In tannng
Its collected fuel Into tIasne.n "Ortgtnaltty,"
exclaimed Goethe, "wiat do they mean by III
Very little OF mo would b. loft, II could but
say what owo to my great predecessors and
conteNap pogariea."
The very training which every writer under
goes-to which ho IL universally advised TO
subject hmsclf-is. inevitably destructive OF
perfect originality. Why Il he told to give bis
days ind nights to tho great masters OF lItcra-
tusc, unless that c may saturate hfs mind with
their ldeas and splrlt, and "form to theirs tho
relish Ut hs aoul"t And Is 1t strange that after
years spcnt 10 imbutng his mind with their ex-
eellcnces, and In catching their tclscitlcs
OF thought md expression, these thoughts,
images, aud phrases should give the prcyaii-
lug tune to h[s own productions, THAT tlesa
borrowed Ideas should bcc0mo so iuextrscably
mingled with hts own teo,ngs u1ld mental opera
ions 80 rs 10 Make almost part VI himself,
aud to be With difficulty distinguished from t,!s
own eentlIncntss All WHtors worth raadIrt aTe
moro or less--.wllllngly or neutrality-suspicious.
rectiontsts, Their inatera! Il mostly old; thetr
originality lies !u The uay they uss tt,-in other
coloFs; ret une Is in au Aston or Church, nn-
other cyhausts hts genius upon tho stgn-tost OF
country tavern. W. 1aik OF eTha&ipt writer's;
but, Rtrtctly speaking man can crc1ta nothing,
-ho can only cotnb8s. Memory Is the prinia
fouutbn Of thought; and hence tho anclen.s
called II the mother Of the Nine Muses.. Tho
most conscientious wE!ter cannot help 6slng To-
le6tea 10 others; bis brain Ia full Of old maso-
rial that has lost liz labels. A. our modern
,naehiaes have theis roots In the graves OF for
gotten inventors 10 our whole literature has
hlossomsd out Of = boundlsas antiquity. EYen