Page:The reflections of Lichtenberg.djvu/136

 for imitation commonly fails as soon as the hand that guides him is withdrawn. To do exactly the opposite is also a mode of imitation, and the definition of imitation should by rights include both kinds. Rousseau is right in calling accent the soul of speech. We often think people stupid, and on examination find that it is only weak intonation that gives them this air of stupidity. As accent falls away in the process of writing, the reader has to be directed to it by being shown more clearly, in the turn of the sentence, where the accent belongs. It is this that distinguishes ordinary talk from a letter, and this too that ought to distinguish a merely printed speech from one actually delivered. To adapt the verse to the thought is a very difficult art, and the neglect of it is no small element in the ridiculous. The two stand to each other just as in ordinary life a man’s way of living stands to his office. As we have to thank men for so many rare inventions in the art of poetry, all having their origin in the procreative impulsethe ideals of the girls, for example,it seems a pity that the passionate girl may not write of the handsome youth, as she very well could if it were allowed. Thus it is that manly beauty has not yet been drawn by the bands which alone could draw it with adequate ardour.