his dialogue on Oratory he makes Crassus say, that one of the first

and most important precepts is to choose a proper model for our

imitation. Hoc fit primum in preceptis meis ut demonstremus quem

imitemur.

When I speak of the habitual imitation and continued study of

masters, it is not to be understood that I advise any endeavour to

copy the exact peculiar colour and complexion of another man's

mind; the success of such an attempt must always be like his who

imitates exactly the air, manner, and gestures of him whom he

admires. His model may be excellent, but the copy will be

ridiculous; this ridicule does not arise from his having imitated,

but from his not having chosen the right mode of imitation.

It is a necessary and warrantable pride to disdain to walk

servilely behind any individual, however elevated his rank. The

true and liberal ground of imitation is an open field, where,

though he who precedes has had the advantage of starting before

you, yet it is enough to pursue his course; you need not tread in

his footsteps, and you certainly have a right to outstrip him if

you can.

N or, whilst I recommend studying the art from artists, can I be

supposed to mean that nature is to be neglected? I take this study

in aid and not in exclusion of the other. Nature is, and must be,

the fountain which alone is inexhaustible; and from which all

excellences must originally flow.

The great use of studying our predecessors is to open the mind, to

shorten our labour, and to give us the result of the selection made

by those great minds of what is grand or beautiful in nature: her

rich stores are all spread out before us; but it is an art, and no

easy art, to know how or what to choose, and how to attain and

secure the object of our choice.