and we read even of authors at the solemn hour of dissolution having been the prey of those whose moral obliquity did not prevent the lawless indulgence of the passion. Sir William Dugdale possessed the minutes of King James's Life, written by Camden, till within a fortnight of his demise; as also, Camden's own Memoirs, which he had from Hacket, the author of the "Life of Bishop Williams;" 99 66 who," adds the chronicler Aubrey, "did filch it from Mr. Camden as he lay a dying!" It is stated that the renowned Pinelli Collection was the product of skill in an art which lies more in the hand than the head; and Sir Robert Saville, writing to the founder of the Bodleian Library, appointing an interview for Sir Robert Cotton, cautions him that, "if he held any book so dear that he would be loath to lose it, he should not let Sir Thomas out of his sight, but set the book aside beforehand."-a precaution adopted by a friend of Bishop Moore. One calling on him found him busy in hiding his best books, and locking up as many as he could; on inquiring the reason of his odd occupation, the bibliopolist replied, "The Bishop of Ely dines with me today!" We will now subjoin a few instances of poetical imitations, or similarities, which we find collated by D'Israeli. We have already alluded to the great Grecian Epic Poet, as being of pre-eminent original genius; but it has been justly remarked by Scott, in his Introduction to the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, that it is fairly matter of speculation whether Homer is entitled to be considered so altogether beyond the reach of suspicion as an imitative poet, since it is unreasonable to suppose that the rich maturity of the divine art in which he became so eminently distinguished, could have sprung into full-grown existence all at once-it being far more probable that even he possessed a certain standard of design in the ruder attempts of preceding writers. In his beautiful "Ode to Adversity," Gray thus apostrophises, "Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and torturing hour The expressions employed in the foregoing have been deemed amenable to poetical criticism by Wakefield, but probably he has after all been permitted to enjoy his opinion undisturbed, as we find Milton adopts very similar language: "When the scourge Inexorably, and the torturing hour Perhaps Shakspeare's prolific muse has been more laid under contribution by literary filchers than any other writer of modern times; for instance it is apparent that Pope's oft-quoted lines, "Honor and shame from no condition rise, Act well your part, there all the honor lies," were but another rendering of the same thought, expressed not less forcibly, by the great dramatic bard— "From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, The place is dignified by the doer's deed." Pope wrote "The proper study of mankind is man;" but Charron, said it before him. Byron, in Childe Harold, has the image of a broken mirror to show how a broken heart multiplies images of sorrow. But the same simile is in Burton. Giordano Bruns said that the first people of the world should rather be called the youngsters than the ancients. Lord Bacon (a great plagiarist) makes use of the very same idea. Gray sings beautifully about "full many a gem of purest ray serene,” and many a flower, concealed in the mine and in the sea. But Bishop Hall first wrote the whole sentiment in prose. Addison speaks of the stars "forever singing as they shine." Sir Thomas Browne talks of "the singing constella tions;" though both have followed the idea expressed in the Scripture. Shelly speaks of Death and his brother Sleep. The expression was Sir Thomas Browne's. Rogers has doubtless availed himself of Gray's beautiful stanza, in his Elegy: "The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed- No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed;" for in his pleasing little poem, "The Wish," he presents us with the following: "The swallow oft beneath my thatch Shall twitter from her clay-built nest; And share my meal, a welcome guest." Goldsmith's well-known lines: "Man wants but little here below, were evidently stolen from Dr. Young, who, in his " Thoughts," says, "Man wants but little, nor that little long." Night That hackneyed line in Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope,"— "Like angel visits, few and far between ;" . is borrowed almost literally from Blair's " Grave," where we have "its visits, Like those of angels, short and far between;""* * Wilmott contends that this beautiful conceit originated with Norris of Benton, in his poem, entitled, "The Parting." The stanza reads: "How fading are the joys we dote upon; Like apparitions seen and gone; Moore has been charged with liberal plagiarisms upon Beranger, as well as being a close copyist of some of his other cotemporaries in vernacular verse, a detailed account of which was given in Blackwood, some years ago, exhibiting a series of specifications amounting to sixty-five! Even Tennyson has, in his "Miller's Daughter," proved himself but a paraphrastic translator of Anacreon, while he also has but marred the expressive lines of Byron, "Who hath not proved how feebly words essay Tennyson's love song runs thus, "How many full-sailed verse express, Of thy swan-like stateliness, The luxuriant symmetry Of thy floating gracefulness, Sir Walter Scott was always esteemed an original writer, but Lord Jeffrey, in reviewing his works, said: “Even in him, the traces of imitation are obvious and abundant." But to return again a moment to Pope and some of his contemporaries; we ought to mention that his editors charge. him with "a palpable plagiarism from Flatman, an obscure But those who soonest take their flight, Like angels' visits short and bright; rhymer of Charles II.'s time, in his sublime ode, 'The Dying Christian to his Soul.'" Many of his expressions, as well as ideas, in his "Essay on Man," were abstracted from Milton; and against his celebrated "Essay on Criticism," Lady Wortley Montague has preferred a far more serious accusation: she writes, "I admired Mr. Pope's 'Essay on Criticism,' at first very much, because I had not then read any of the ancient critics, and did not know that it was all stolen." The fine moral poem of the "Hermit," by Parnell, is taken from Martin Luther's tale of a hermit, who murmured against the decrees of Divine Providence. What Sterne has not plagiarized, we shall not stay to notice, notwithstanding he counterfeited most excellent coin. He has been charged with pilfering from Burton, Rabelais, Montaigne, Bayle, and others; his seventh posthumous sermon is in a great part cribbed, word for word, from a previous divine, yclept Leightenhouse, 1697. Another instance of close resemblance occurs in Gray's celebrated "Elegy," so remarkable is the analogy, that one is constrained to suspect it to be a free rendering from Lucretius. "For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn, No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envious kiss to share." There is a slight parallel between the foregoing and the beautiful bursts of pathos in Thomson, which we subjoin; but even these lines are said to be an imitation of a passage in the "Iliad :" "In vain for him th' officious wife prepares The fire fair blazing, and the vestment warm : In vain his little children, peeping out Nor wife, nor children more shall he behold, |