A

suggested by a cadence is a joyous one, opportunity is given
for pleasurable sympathy,' &c.], the feelings of beauty yielded
by poetry are feelings remotely re-representative; not only
in the sense that they are initiated by ideas or representations,
but also in the sense that the sentiments indirectly aroused
are representative, often in a high degree.
And in prose
fiction, where the vehicle used yields no appreciable sensu- -
ous gratification, this re-representativeness of the feelings
awakened is complete. A condition to æsthetic pleasure in
these higher ranges of it, as in the lower, is that there shall be
excited great masses and varieties of the elements out of which
the emotions are compounded, while none of them shall be✔
excited in undue degrees. A large volume of emotion with-
out painful intensity in any part, is the effect which a success-
ful drama, or poem, or novel, produces. It is true that
success is often measured by the intensity of the resulting
feeling-especially pitiful feeling; though even here the effect
may be lost if this feeling is over-taxed by too continuous an
appeal. But noting such cases, it must still be held that
æsthetic pleasure, properly so called, is the highest when the
emotional consciousness has not only breadth and mass, but
a variety such as leaves behind no satiety or exhaustion.'1

The most perfect form of æsthetic excitement is, according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, that which is caused by a union of the three orders-sensational, perceptional, and emotional-of æsthetic gratifica

tion.

'Of course, the most perfect form of æsthetic excitement is reached when these three orders of sensational, perceptional, and emotional gratification are given, by the fullest actions of

1 Ib. p. 642.

the respective faculties, with the least deduction caused by painful excess of action.'1

This decision has an interesting bearing upon the character of the Drama. The view which it embodies is in entire agreement with an opinion of Aristotle, which is expressed in the course of his discussion in the Poetics of the relative merits of Tragedy and Epic as forms of poetry. In this passage' he decides in favour of Tragedy on the ground that it has all that Epic has, and a very considerable addition in music and scenic accessories and it is music,' he adds, which gives the greatest vividness to the combination of pleasurable emotions produced by Tragedy.' It also supports the view which I have taken of the drama as a composite art,' in the course of which I have put forward the contention that the perfecting of stage-presentation (which is so marked a feature of the modern drama) does not necessarily involve any loss of artistic dignity. This contention is based upon the opinion that the line of progress of the drama lies in the direction of increased actuality, since the perfecting of its simulation of the real, and the corresponding intensity of the æsthetic sensations which it arouses, form its characteristic merit as a branch of art.

The following passage-which immediately succeeds the sentences quoted above-has a significant bearing upon a question which is discussed in the chapter on 1 Ib. p. 645. 2 1462".

3 See chapter x.

'Authority in Literature.' The opinion is there expressed that the ultimate test of merit in literature must be the 'general sense' of mankind, as opposed to the test of artistic excellence which is embodied in the doctrine of 'art for art's sake.' It will be seen that Mr. Herbert Spencer here applies the same test as a means of deciding the final value of works of art.

'Such an æsthetic excitement is rarely experienced, for the reason that works of art rarely possess all the required characters. Very generally a rendering that is artistic in one respect, goes along with a rendering that is in other respects inartistic. And where the technique is satisfactory, it does not commonly happen that the emotion appealed to is of a high order. Measuring æsthetic sentiments and the correlative works of art by the above standards, we find ourselves compelled to relegate to a comparatively inferior place, much that now stands highest. Beginning with the epic of the Greeks and their representations in sculpture of kindred stories, which appeal to feelings of egoistic and egoaltruistic kinds; passing through middle-age literature, similarly pervaded by inferior sentiments, and through the pictures of the old masters, which by the ideas and feelings they excite very rarely compensate for the disagreeable shocks they give to perceptions cultivated by the study of appearances; down to many admired works of modern art, which, good in technique, are low in the emotions they express and arouse, such as the battle scenes of Vernet and the pieces of Gerôme, which alternate between the sensual and the sanguinary-we see that in one or other of the required attributes, they nearly all fall short of the forms of art corresponding to the highest forms of æsthetic feeling."1

1 Ib. p. 645-6.

It remains to notice one further point which is suggested by Mr. Herbert Spencer's account of the origin of æsthetic sentiments. The demand for the limitation of the hours of labour, and for the provision of extended opportunities for mental culture, which together form one of the foremost of the ideals of modern democracy, receives a new significance when we recognize the biological basis for the connection between art and leisure. For scientific analysis makes it plain that æsthetic enjoyment, whether in the individual or in the community, is only possible. when there is 'an organization so superior that the energies have not to be wholly expended in the fulfilment of material requirements from hour to hour."1 Esthetic activity, therefore, depends directly upon the economic management of the physical and mental faculties and since political, social, and biological development alike tend to produce this result, it is clear that, with the progress of humanity, art and literature will occupy an increasingly important place in the life of man. Democracy, therefore, instead of destroying, must tend to foster art.

CHAPTER I

PLATO CONSIDERS LITERATURE AS A VEHICLE

OF KNOWLEDGE

If we cast about for a convenient starting point from which to approach an inquiry into the nature and methods of literature, we could scarcely do better than select the famous saying of Descartes, Cogito ergo sum. But whereas originally man derived the sensations which constitute his being exclusively from the direct action of material existences, he now derives them in part from the previous sensations of other men preserved and embodied in custom, literature and art. From this point of view-that is to say, if we regard man primarily as a sentient being-literature is an element in human life which is of ever-increasing importance.

But literature had existed for a long time, and had attained a high state of development, before it won any permanent recognition as chief among our secondary sources of sensation. The first conscious acknowledgment in literature of its own existence, as a serious contributor to the sum total of human life, marks the commencement of criticism; and this