284 



Such a bridge, however, can scarcely be- 

 come an object of imitation, though it might 

 without impropriety be suffered to remain; 

 and the reason of this difference is very o-fo- 

 viousv Indolence, or economy, or a fond- 

 ness for what we have long been acquainted 

 with, may be admitted as excuses for- allow- 

 ing any object to stand in its actual state ; 

 fxartieutarly where from time and accident 

 it had acquired a picturesque character; 

 but to imitate the incongruous parts which 

 had been added from necessity to a well 

 connected design, and make a new piece of 

 patch-work, — though it might prove that 

 the artist had some skill in copying,* would 



* The following anecdote is a curious instance, how a 

 talent for exact imitation may be misapplied. In the course 

 of a very long passage to China, the Chaplain's cassock had 

 been so often patched and mended, that it was necessary 

 to have a new one. It was therefore sent to a tailor at 

 Canton, that he might make another by it. The Chinese 

 are famous for the exactness of their imitations, and this 

 / tailor gave a proof of it in the new cassock ; for he so accu- 

 rately copied every patch and darn of the old one, that, ex- 

 cept by the freshness of the new stuff, it was impossible to 

 tell one from the other. 



