might excel in genius, and yet be likely not to be long
remembered! All this is labour which never meets the eye. It is quicker
work, with special pleading and poignant periods, to fill sheets with
generalising principles; those bird's-eye views of philosophy for the
_nonce_ seem as if things were seen clearer when at a distance and _en
masse_, and require little knowledge of the individual parts. Such _an
art of writing_ may resemble the famous Lullian method, by which the
_doctor illuminatus_ enabled any one to invent arguments by a machine!
Two tables, one of _attributes_, and the other of _subjects_, worked
about circularly in a frame, and placed correlatively to one another
produced certain combinations; the number of _questions_ multiplied as
they were worked! So that here was a mechanical invention by which they
might dispute without end, and write on without any particular knowledge
of their subject!

But the painstaking gentry, when heaven sends them genius enough, are
the most instructive sort, and they are those to whom we shall appeal
while time and truth can meet together. A well-read writer, with good
taste, is one who has the command of the wit of other men;[280] he
searches where knowledge is to be found; and though he may not himself
excel in invention, his ingenuity may compose one of those agreeable
books, the _deliciae_ of literature, that will outlast the fading meteors
of his day. Epicurus is said to have borrowed from no writer in his
three hundred inspired volumes, while Plutarch, Seneca, and the elder
Pliny made such free use of their libraries; and it has happened that
Epicurus, with his unsubstantial nothingness, has "melted into thin
air," while the solid treasures have buoyed themselves up amidst the
wrecks of nations.

On this subject of quotation, literary politics,--for the commonwealth
has its policy and its cabinet-secrets,--are more concerned than the
reader suspects. Authorities in matters of fact are often called for; in
matters of opinion, indeed, which perhaps are of more importance, no one
requires any authority. But too open and generous a revelation of the
chapter and the page of the original quoted has often proved detrimental
to the legitimate honours of the quoter. They are unfairly appropriated
by the next comer; the quoter is never quoted, but the authority he has
afforded is produced by his successor with the air of an original
research. I have seen MSS. thus confidently