350 On National Character. 
is to procure the means of subsistence, and 
to injure their neighbours; we come next 
to the point at which the human faculties 
begin to unfold, and the man to appear ; 
when the malignant passions, which he had 
nursed in a state of barbarism, now. give 
way, and he begins to seek for rank and 
consequence among civilized nations... In 
this stage of civilization are the Russians, the 
Negroes, the Mexicans and the Peruvians. 
Dr. Clarke in his account of the Russians, 
lately published, describes their imitative 
powers as most astonishingly great. A paint- 
ing of the most exquisite art, they copy with 
so much accuracy, that even with a good judge 
it passes for the original ; and this capacity ” 
for imitation embraces every object, whether 
of the most exquisite or of the rudest struc- 
ture ; but they invent nothing. Many. Rus- 
sian youths have been instructed by the best 
masters in their own nation, and in foreign 
universities; but there has never yet been a 
book written by a Russian, worth translating 
into another language, or the smallest im- 
provement made by them in any art or sci- 
ence. Their judgment is weak; give them a 
written description, and they would not com- 
prehend it ; but place before them a model, 
and they will without hesitation undertake to 
