Keats. Shakespeare.-Johnson.-Word it how we may, the

doctrine is startling and needs justification.-Sir William

Hamilton's objection to it.-Sir William Hamilton's view

naturally follows from his division of the mental states.-State-

ment of his doctrine.-Refutation of his doctrine, as to the

chronological order of our feelings.-It follows that Hamilton,

who believes in the existence of Hidden Thought, ought much

more to believe in the reality of Hidden Feeling.-Locke's

answer to Hamilton by anticipation.-Locke's argument suc-

cessful against Hamilton's, but really unsound, and refuted by

Watts.-Hamilton's own arguments in proof of Hidden Thought

used to prove the existence of Hidden Feeling.-Here we come

to the prime difference between Pleasure and Pain-the one

unconscious, the other conscious.-Summary.-Continuation of

the summary in a statement of the relation of Hidden Pleasure

to Art.-The most vital of all the elements of Art.-How the

know-not-what is distinct from the Dramatic and the Beautiful.

-Examples of the Dramatic which are neither beautiful nor

weird.-Examples of the Beautiful which are neither dramatic

nor weird. Examples of the Weird or Poetical, which are

neither dramatic nor beautiful.-How the Weird or know-not-

what combines with the Dramatic and the Beautiful, and is the

chief constant of art.-A caution to the reader as to the use of

terms in this chapter..

Page 109

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ETHICS OF ART.

Retrospect of the argument. The discussion hitherto has been re-
stricted to Psychology, and to Psychology belongs an inquiry
into the Ethics of Art.-The question of supreme interest in
Art relates to Ethics.-On the importance of Art.-How Art
endures and flourishes.-The memorial character of Art; illus-
trated in the least important of the Arts.-The art of the
potter-imperishable.-Summary statement of the greatness of
Art.-The immense intellect expended in Art illustrated in the
case of Milton.-The character of Milton-his many accom-
plishments. But is the influence of Art as beneficial as power-
ful?-The question much mooted.-Doubts expressed even by

men of poetical temperament.-These doubts important even if

unreasonable. The value to be attached to assertion apart from

argument. Examples of assertion combined with false argu-

ment.-Vitality of assertion.-On the assertion that Art is a

poison. The condemnation of Art is but part of the condem-

nation passed upon all Pleasure.—The asceticism of human

nature, and the egotism of Pleasure.-What we are to under-

stand by the moral influence of Art.-Sermonising Art often

the reverse of what it professes to be.-The influence and posi-

tion of Richardson.-That moral sermons do not constitute the

moral force of Art.-The silent influence of Richardson shown

in M. D'Arblay.-The conscious morality of Art of little mo-

ment.-How Art must be rooted in the moral sense of a nation.

-History of Pictorial Art in England-how it flourished-

how it declined.-Rise of the Drama, and how it flourished.-

Treating of secular subjects-And much insisting on its mo-

rality-How at length it offended the moral sense of the nation,

and fell into disrepute.-Something to be said for the Puritans.

-Recapitulation of the argument.-As the Drama decayed

in immorality, Painting, ostentatious of its morality, began

to revive.-Hogarth and his moralities.-How Mr. Ruskin de-

monstrated the moral purpose of Art.-The lesson as to the

connection between taste and conscience. —What are the precise

moral bearings of Art?-The temper with which such an in-

quiry should be approached.-Complexity of the moral forces,

and difliculty of measuring their comparative influences.—

Division of the inquiry into the ethics of Art.-General influ-

ence of Art.-Special influence of it at special times.-The

inquiry to be ranged under three heads

Page 143

CHAPTER XV.

THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE.

Is it right to pursue Pleasure?-On the grossness of the Pleasure fos-
tered by Art.-The frequent lewdness of Art is not to be denied.
-Classical Art especially at fault.-Christian Art little behind-
hand in its indecency.-Examples from the comedy of the Re-
storation, as Wycherley.-And again Sir John Vanburgh.-The
sin inexcusable, because, being shameless, it is opposed to the

xi

most prevailing quality of Art-its Sense of Mystery.-False

pleas in defence very often put forward.-But why should we

expect Art to be faultless, and what is to be said in palliation of

its enormities?-Palliated by the customs and habits of parti-

cular times and places.-Sometimes the objection makes an

offence where in reality here it's none.-The statement of the

objection makes the objection.-But the nude statues that pro-

claim their own nudity have no defence.-All Art is not to be

condemned for the offences of some of its specimens, any more

than law, freedom, and religion are to be condemned for the

crimes which have been committed in their names.-But is

Pleasure in the abstract a fit object of pursuit ?-Distinction be-

tween ultimate and immediate aim.-That the Artist is no friend

to virtue. But on the other hand all morality is not virtue.--

The distinction between the Life according to Nature and the

Life according to Conscience, with especial reference to Bishop

Butler's argument, which identifies Conscience with Nature.-

Art cherishes instinctive goodness, and makes no appeal to the

Conscience. But the philosophers say that Natural Impulse is

inferior to Conscience as the rule of life. From righteousness

which is of the law, Art, like the Gospel, would set man free.--

Nor is this to disparage the sense of duty in its proper place.—

The contrast between Duty and Pleasure, Principle and Impulse,

illustrated by the example of Milton.-Mr. Masson describes

Milton as, unlike poets, ruled throughout his life and even in

hot youth by a sense of duty.-In point of fact, however, there

was in Milton a predominance of Sensibility over Principle.—

Proofs of it in his youthful character.-Further proofs in his

oratorical exercises-and in his tolerance-also in his poetry.-—

No Dogmatism in his earlier poems, but pure Sensibility.-

Milton's view of Poetry corroborates the argument.-Re-

Page 179

capitulation of the argument

CHAPTER XVI.

THE WORLD OF FICTION.

The means which Art employs.-The pleasure of Falsehood asserted
by the Poets and others.-Art is sometimes distinctly accused of
mendacity. This, however, the view chiefly of prosers.—Story of

Wordsworth and Collier.--But even the Poets have sometimes held
the same view, or something like it.—And having granted the
falsity of Art, they find a difficulty in justifying it.-Sir Philip
Sidney's defence.—But Art is nothing if not true.—And indeed
the highest truths are capable of expression only in the form of
fiction.-Mathematical Fictions.-Grammatical Fictions.-Legal
Fictions.-Philosophical Fictions and Abstract Ideas.-Fictions
of Art have an advantage over those of Philosophy.-The Fic-
tions of Sense.-Religious Fictions, Isaiah xvi. 2.-The whole
world of Thought is a world more or less of Fiction.-And these
Fictions are not falsehoods, but faltering expressions of truth.—
A further sense, however, in which Art is accused of being fic-
titious; namely, because it is not Reality.—Thus, for example,
it sometimes fails of Orthodoxy.-If it fails of Orthodoxy it is
not therefore irreligious, but is sometimes reformatory.—The
broadest statement of the fact that Art is fictitious.-Curious
contradiction of opinions on this subject.-The modern theory
that living in the Art world unfits us for the actual world.—
This theory, however, is usually stated so timidly as to be of
small importance.-The ancient theory, as set forth by Aristotle
by way of protest against Plato.-Curious antagonism between
the ancient and the modern theories, which in the points of
attack and of defence change places.-On the fictitious foretaste
of Emotion, and its influence on Emotion ever afterwards.—
The contrariety between Art and Life not to be denied.-The
double tendency of Art.-Sometimes it reflects the life of a
period-Sometimes it fails to express what historians would
regard as the dominant life of the Time.-The Minnesingers
have not a single war song.-The epic of the Crusades is pro-
duced by the least crusading people.—A parallel illustration in
an anecdote of Goethe.-Yet another illustration in the influence
of town on town-bred poets-as Milton.-On London in the
days of Milton.-London influences and Milton's poetry anti-
pathetic.-Milton's proximity to the Mermaid Tavern-and
the wits that flourished there.-Milton's father.-A passing
glance at other men of thought who then lived in the metropolis.
Summary of the most important influences which then stirred
the town.-Turn from the life of the town to the life of Milton's
poetry. The gist of the argument.-Illustrated in the law of
colours, and the eye's creation of colour.-Summary of the
argument
Page 209

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ETHICAL CURRENT.

The difficulty of understanding one's own time.-The opinions of
Elizabethans on the Elizabethan age. The opinions of con-
temporaries on the present age. There is but one settled
opinion as to the English character.-The beauty of the
English race is alone undisputed.-Mr. Matthew Arnold's
opinion as to the master current of our times, that it is critical.
-How far the thinking of the present time may fairly be
described as critical.-All the great thinking movements of
modern times are critical.-What, then, is the characteristic
movement of our time?-The answer to be given diffidently.-
The saying of Tennyson, and how the saying may be varied.-
The relation of the individual to the mass of men.-The glori-
fication of private life.—The assertion that the decay of heroism
and individuality of character is due to Commerce-Met by
reference to the history of Venice.-In Venice of the Middle
Ages we can see a picture of England-and hear all the modern
cries. The constitutional and commercial polity of Venice.-
The Venetian funds-and their points of resemblance to the
English funds.-How the loans were raised-and how they
were regarded in Europe.-In the Venice of the Middle Ages
we are in the centre of commercial polity-and the assertion
that Commerce is destructive character may be supported by
the fact that Venice soon decayed. The true cause of the
decline of Venice.-An illustration of the weakness of Venice

in being a lackland government.-The lesson to us which is

implied in this history.-For Venice, absorbed in Commerce,

was famous for the force of character of its citizens.-Their

social and wordly standing.-In the Doges we have a series of

remarkable characters, such as no other monarchy or pre-

sidency can show-and in presence of such men it must be

denied that Commerce enfeebles character.-That the position

and character of the individual is altered in modern society

is due to a variety of causes, as, for example, to the prevalence of

law-and again to the diffusion of knowledge.-Montalembert

thinks the Monks among the greatest of men.-They are

certainly not to be depreciated.-They did a great work-but