fit primum in preceptis meis ut demonstremus quem imitemur_.

When I speak of the habitual imitation and continued study of masters, it
is not to be understood that I advise any endeavour to copy the exact
peculiar colour and complexion of another man's mind; the success of such
an attempt must always be like his who imitates exactly the air, manner,
and gestures of him whom he admires. His model may be excellent, but the
copy will be ridiculous; this ridicule does not arise from his having
imitated, but from his not having chosen the right mode of imitation.

It is a necessary and warrantable pride to disdain to walk servilely
behind any individual, however elevated his rank. The true and liberal
ground of imitation is an open field, where, though he who precedes has
had the advantage of starting before you, yet it is enough to pursue his
course; you need not tread in his footsteps, and you certainly have a
right to outstrip him if you can.

Nor, whilst I recommend studying the art from artists, can I be supposed
to mean that nature is to be neglected? I take this study in aid and not
in exclusion of the other. Nature is, and must be, the fountain which
alone is inexhaustible; and from which all excellences must originally
flow.

The great use of studying our predecessors is to open the mind, to
shorten our labour, and to give us the result of the selection made by
those great minds of what is grand or beautiful in nature: her rich
stores are all spread out before us; but it is an art, and no easy art,
to know how or what to choose, and how to attain and secure the object of
our choice.