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