...arise, to equal any of the ancients ; abating only for the language. For great contem- 35 poraries whet and cultivate each other ; and mutual borrowing,...learning, as it does of the civil government. But suppose that Homer and Virgil were the only of 5 their species, and that Nature was so much worn out...

...or Wordsworth and Coleridge. 'Great contemporaries whet and cultivate each other', Dryden observes; 'and mutual borrowing, and commerce, makes the common riches of learning, as it does of the civil government.'7 Influence as inundation, influence as whetstone: the two metaphors mark opposite poles...

...kind of literary competition. Dryden writes of the power of 'emulation' to serve as the 'Spur of Wit': 'Great Contemporaries whet and cultivate each other:...Common Riches of Learning, as it does of the Civil Government.'3 When conversation took literary form it was often cast in essentially social genres....