Impressions 



perfection of word-painting. To change its 

 setting is to mar its beauty. 



From whom Job and Jeremiah, Solomon and 

 the author of "Ecclesiastes" quoted — if they 

 did quote — ^probably no one will ever know; 

 but later literati have quoted them, and they 

 have, in turn, been quoted, with such changes in 

 each case as gave the latest version the appear- 

 ance of a new-bom thought. The original ver- 

 sion and the latest may be widely different in 

 form; but there is — ^unfortunately for most 

 claimants to originality — an unbroken series 

 of versions in literature, from dim antiquity 

 until to-day. 



A large proportion of the good things now 

 offered are cunningly adapted appropriations, 

 and he appears to be the most successful "au- 

 thor" who most skillfully conceals the sources 

 of his material. The reason is not hard to find. 

 The literary man is too much concerned with 

 books and too little with the fountain-head of 

 inspiration — ^Nature. 



Books that are the outgrowth of older books 

 may have their place, and poems that tell the 

 same story greater poets have already told 

 may please the reader; but is it quite fair to 



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