self. The author of
"Markheim," as he tells us in his essay on "A College Magazine,"
taught himself to write by playing the sedulous ape to many masters;
and this method may be recommended to aspirants with an imitative ear.
But there can be no general rule; because, although in the process of
pure reason all men rightly minded think alike, each man differs from
every other in the process of emotion.

This is the reason why style, besides being (as we asserted at the
outset) an absolute quality, possessed or not possessed by any
literary utterance, is also in every case a quality personal to
the author who attains it. In this regard, Buffon was right in
stating that style is a phase of the man himself. Any work that is
accomplished by the intellect alone belongs to man in general rather
than to one man in particular; but any work that is accomplished by
the sensibilities incorporates those profounder qualities by virtue
of which each man stands distinct from every other. By studying the
structure of an author's work, we can estimate his intellect: by
studying the style, we can estimate that subtler entity which is the
man himself.

=Methods and Materials.=--At the close of our study of the materials
and methods of fiction, it is advisable that we should consider in
general the relation between form and content,--the respective value
of methods and materials. Primarily, there are two groups of worthy
fiction,--that which is great mainly on account of its content, and
that which is great mainly on account of its form. It would be unwise,
of course, to overestimate the single and inherent value of either
material or method. Some comparison, however, may be made between the
merits of the one group and the other.

=Content and Form.=--In the first place, it must be noted that, as far
as the general reader is concerned, the appeal of any work of fiction
depends far more upon its content than upon its form. The average
reader knows little and cares less about the technical methods of the
art. What he demands above all is interesting subject-matter. He
seeks, in the popular phrase, "a good story"; he wishes to be told
interesting things about interesting people; and he does not feel
especially concerned about the question whether or not these things
are told him in an interesting way. The matter, rather than the
manner, is the element that most allures him.

There are many reasons that tempt the critic to accept without
r