,,cobwebs ,,of ,,thought    by          
,,arachne    ,london                    
,,contents4      ,,chapter      ,i4     
,,our ,,ignorance ,,of ,,ourselves      
,,ii4 ,,contrasts    ,,iii4             
,,maeterlinck ,,on ,,hamlet     ,,iv4   
,,an ,,impossible ,,philosophy      ,v4 
,,impressions ,,of ,,george ,,sand      
,,motto4      ,the first philosophers1  
whether ,chaldeans or ,egyptians1 said  
there  must be something within us which
 produces our thought4 ,that something  
must be very subtle3 it is breath2 it is
 fire1 it is ether2 it is a             
quintessence2 it is a slender likeness2 
it is an intelechia2 it is a  number2 it
 is harmony2 lastly1 according to the   
divine ,plato1 it is a  compound of the 
same and the other6 ,it is atoms which  
think in us1  said ,epicurus after      
,democritus4 ,but1 my friend1 how does  
an atom  think8 ,acknowledge that thou  
knowest nothing of the matter4          
--,,voltaire4          ,i4        ,,our 
,,ignorance ,,of ,,ourselves4           

,self-,analysis1 apart from its         
scientific uses1 has seldom rewarded    
those who have practised it4 ,to probe  
into the inner world of motive  and     
desire has proved of small benefit to   
any one1 whether hermit1  monk or nun1  
indeed it has been altogether           
mischievous in result1  unless the mind 
that probed1 was especially healthy4    
,bitter has been  the dissatisfaction1  
both with the process1 and with what    
came of it1  for being miserably        
superficial it could lead to no real    
knowledge of  self1 but simply centred  
self on self1 producing instead of      
self-knowledge1 self-consciousness1 and 
often the beginnings of mental  disease4
    ,for fruitful self analysis it is   
apparently necessary then to have a     
clear1 definite aim outside self--such  
as achieving the gain of some  special  
piece of knowledge1 and we find such    
definite aims in  psychology1 and       
certain systems of philosophy--,greek1  
,english1 and  ,german1 in ,plato       

,locke1 ,kant1 and in the meditations of
 ,descartes1 and  many others4          
,self-analysis is the basis of          
psychological knowledge1  but the       
science has been chiefly used to explain
 the methods by which  we obtain        
knowledge of the outer world in relation
 to ourselves4 ,when  a philosopher     
centres self on self1 in order to know  
self as a result  of introspection1 the 
results have been disastrous1 and have  
contributed nothing to knowledge1       
properly so-called4 ,if religious       
self-examination has its dangers1 so    
also has philosophical  self-analysis   
for its own sake4 ,it is a fascinating  
study for those  who care for thought   
for thought's sake--the so-called       
,hamlets of the  world1 who are for ever
 revolving round the axes of their own  
ideas  and dreams1 and who never        
progress towards any clear issue4       
,amiel's  ,vie ,intime is a study of    
this kind4 ,it adds nothing to any clear
  knowledge of self1 absorbing and      

interesting as the record is4 ,it is    
suggestive to a great degree1 and in    
that lies its value1 but it is as       
vague1 as it is sad4 ,it appeals deeply 
to those who live apart in a  world of  
their own1 in thoughtful imaginative    
reverie1 but its effects  on the mind   
were deplored even by ,amiel himself in 
words which are  acutely pathetic4 ,the 
pain which consumed him arose from the  
concentration of self on self4 ,self was
 monopolised by self1                   
self-consciousness was produced1 though 
without a touch of selfish  egoism4     
,out of this self-conscious             
introspection1 grew that sterility of   
soul  and mind1 that dwindling of       
capacity1 and individuality1 which      
,amiel  felt was taking place within    
him4 ,a constant1 aimless1 inevitable   
habit of self-introspection was killing 
his mental life1 before the  end came   
physically4    ,another philosophical   
victim to the same habit was ,john      
,stuart ,mill1  at one time of his life4

 ,his father analysed almost everything1
 except  himself1 and ,john ,stuart     
,mill had grown up in this logical      
atmosphere  of analysis1 and to much    
profit as his works show4 ,but when he  
turned  the microscope on his own states
 of feeling1 and on the aims of his     
life1 the result was melancholia--almost
 disease of mind4 ,his grandly          
developed faculty of analysis when      
devoted to definite knowledge  outside  
himself1 produced splendid results1 as  
in his ,logic1 and his  ,essays1 but    
when he analysed himself1 he gained no  
additional  knowledge1 but a strange    
morbid horror that all possible musical 
changes might be exhausted1 and that    
there might be no means of  creating    
fresh ones4 ,he also feared that should 
all the reforms he1  and others1 worked 
for1 be accomplished1 the lives of the  
reformers  would become meaningless and 
blank1 since they were working for      
means1  not ends in themselves4 ,out of 
this hopeless mental condition there    

was only one outlet possible1 and that  
was to leave self-analysis of  this sort
 alone for ever1 and to throw himself   
into its direct  contrary1 the          
unconscious life of the emotions4 ,john 
,stuart ,mill did  this1 and it saved   
him4 ,in ,wordsworth's poetry he found  
sanity and  healing4 ,happily for him   
that was not the age of ,browning's     
,fifine at  the ,fair4 ,had he fallen in
 with dialectical analysis in the garb  
of  poetry1 it must have killed him6    
,and yet ,know thyself has always been  
considered supremely excellent  advice1 
as true for our time1 as for the age of 
,socrates4 ,it certainly  is disregarded
 by most of us1 as fully as it was by   
many of the  ,greeks1 whom ,socrates    
interrogated so ruthlessly4 ,is there   
then a sort  of self-analysis1 which can
 be carried out for its own sake1 and   
which  can be1 at the same time1 of     
vital use8 ,is all self-analysis when   
practised for its own sake necessarily  
harmful1 and unprofitable8 ,it  is time 

to ask these questions if we are ever to
 know how to analyse  ourselves with    
profit1 if we are ever to know          
ourselves4 ,and we none  of us do4 ,as  
students1 we are content with every     
other knowledge but  this4 ,after all   
the self probing of the religious and   
philosophical1  during long centuries1  
what have we learned8 ,truly to         
ourselves1 we  are enigmas4 ,to know    
everything else except the self that    
knows1 what  a strange position6 ,but it
 is our condition4 ,the one thing that  
we do  not know--that we feel as if we  
never could know is the ,self in us4    
,our characters1 our powers1 our        
natures1 our being--what are they8 ,our 
faculties--what can we do8 ,and what can
 we not do8 ,what is the reason  of this
 faculty1 or that want of faculty8 ,we  
have never reached an  understanding of 
ourselves1 which makes us not only know1
 but perceive  what we are capable of   
knowing2 which makes us aware1 not only 
that we  can do something1 but why we   

can do it4 ,we are an unknown quantity  
to  ourselves4 ,we can calculate on a   
given action in a machine1 but we       
cannot calculate on our own1 much less  
on our moods4 ,if we would but  take    
half the trouble to understand ourselves
 that we take to study a  science or    
art--if we could learn to depend on the 
sequence of our own  thoughts as an     
engineer can on the sequence of         
movements in his steam  engine--if we   
could dig1 and penetrate into the depths
 of our own  being1 as a miner          
penetrates into a seam of coal--we might
 then  cultivate with some profit our   
own special lines of thought1 our own   
gifts1 that portion of individuality1   
which we each possess4 ,but it is  so   
difficult to get to know it--we are     
always on the surface of  ourselves4    
,what power will unearth our self and   
make us really know  what we are and    
what we can do8 ,it is because we do not
 know  ourselves1 that we fail so       
hopelessly to give the things which are 

of  incalculably real worth to the      
world1 such as fresh individuality1 and 
reality of character4 ,among millions of
 beings how few exist who  possess      
strong original minds6 ,we are not      
individual for the most  part1 and we   
are not real4 ,our lives are buried     
lives2 we are  unconscious absorbers1   
and reproducers1 under other words of   
that  which we have imbibed elsewhere4  
,we need not only fresh expressions of  
old statements1 but actually new ideas1 
and new conceptions4 7,the  fresh       
subjects people talk about1 are really  
fresh conceptions of  subjects47 ,we    
shall never get this bloom of freshness1
 and this sense  of reality and         
individuality of view unless we         
cultivate their  soil--to have fresh    
ideas1 we must encourage the right      
atmosphere in  which alone they can     
live4 ,we must not let our own          
personality1  however slight1 be        
suppressed1 or be discouraged1 or       
interfered with  by a more powerful1 or 

a more excellent personality4           
,individuality is so weak and pliable a 
thing in most of us that it is  very    
easily checked--it requires watchfulness
 and care1 and not to be  overborne1 for
 the smallest individual thought of a   
mind of any  originality1 is more worth 
to the world than any re-expression of  
the  thought of some other mind1 however
 great4    ,even the best hundred books 
may have a disastrous effect upon us4   
,they may kill some aspirations1 if they
 kindle others4 ,persons of  mature age 
may surely at some time have made the   
discovery that much  has been lost      
through the dominating influence of a   
superior mind4  ,many persons1 for      
instance1 have felt the great influence 
of ,carlyle1  and ,ruskin1 in their     
youth4 ,carlyle could do incalculable   
good to some  minds by his ethics of    
work1 but irremediable harm to others2  
minds  have actually become stunted and 
sterile through that part of his        
teaching1 which was unsuited to them4   

,carlyle's temperament checked  their   
proper development4 ,youth has a        
beautiful capacity for trust and        
belief1 and it accepts everything as    
equal in goodness and truth from  an    
author it reverences4 ,the young do not 
know enough of themselves1  and they do 
not trust enough to their own instincts 
to discriminate4  ,they are dominated   
and unconsciously suppressed4 ,ruskin1  
in his  ethical views of art1 and       
strange doctrines about some old        
masters1  has done nearly as much harm  
to susceptible minds as ,carlyle4       
,ruskin  restricted and perverted their 
art ideals on certain lines as ,carlyle 
crushed ethical discrimination4 ,mind   
have been kept imprisoned for  years1   
and their development on the lines      
nature intended them to  take1 has been 
arrested1 by the want of belief in their
 own  initiative4 ,what was inevitable  
for ,ruskin's unique mind was yet wrong 
for readers1 who agreed to all his      
theories under the influence of his     

fascinating personality1 and through the
 power of his individuality4  ,in life1 
we sometimes find we have made a series 
of mistakes of this  sort1 before at    
last we get glimmerings of what we were 
intended to  be1 and we learn at last   
the need of having known ourselves1 and 
the  vital necessity of cultivating the 
atmosphere and colour of that mind  of  
ours1 which has been used merely as a   
tool to know everything else4           
,spiritualists and ,theosophists talk of
 a ,dominant ,self1 and an ,astral      
body1 and of gleams of heavensent       
insight4 ,gleams of insight and  dreams 
do come to us1 and teach us truths1     
which never can be  proved1 and without 
some such intuitions the soul of man    
would indeed  be poor1      ,the soul   
that rises with us1 our life's star1    
,hath had elsewhere its setting1    ,and
 cometh from afar4    ,but the value of 
the intuitions is relative to the soul  
which has  them2 they cannot be conveyed
 to any one else1 or demonstrated2 they 

can never become ,truths valid to all   
minds4 ,and these last are the  truths  
we want if we would make some orderly   
progress towards a given  issue4 ,and so
 we resort after all1 to science1 to see
 if it can solve  the intellectual      
riddle of our being4 ,what can it do for
 us8 ,if we  would really know          
ourselves1 we want a depth of           
self-analysis2 not a  pitiful search for
 motives1 not the superficial probings  
of a  moralist1 not the boundless1      
limitless1 self-absorbed speculations on
  the nature of self of the philosopher1
 not the sympathetic noting of  each    
emotion that crosses the horizon of the 
soul--the introspection  of the ,poet2  
these will never teach us the reason why
 we think and  feel on certain lines1   
and not on others--these will never     
explain to  us what the mind is1 that is
 in us--what that strange thing is1     
which  we have tried so vainly to       
understand4 ,and without this knowledge 
how  worthless is the work of the       

moralist2 of what practical use is it   
for  him to endeavour to alter a man's  
character1 when he does not even  know  
the ingredients that constitute         
character1 still less the cause  why    
character is good or bad4 ,mr4 ,robert  
,buchanan said in one of his  essays3 ,i
 can advance no scientific knowledge for
 seeing a great  genius in ,robert      
,browning1 or a fine painstaking talent 
in ,george  ,eliot1 for thinking ,george
 ,meredith almost alone in his power of 
expressing personal passion1 and ,walt  
,whitman supreme in his power of        
conveying moral stimulation4 ,i can take
 a skeleton to pieces  scientifically1  
but not a living soul4 ,i am helpless   
before ,mr4  ,swinburne1 or any         
authentic poet1 but quite at my ease    
before ,macaulay  or ,professor ,aytoun4
 ,mr4 ,buchanan could presumably take   
the last two  to pieces and analyse them
 as if they were skeletons2 but before  
,swinburne1 the living soul1 he is      
helpless4 ,now we want a scientific     

reason for all this2 we want to analyse1
 not the skeleton1 that has  been done  
often enough1 but the living soul4 ,we  
want to know the  ingredients of        
character that constituted ,mr4         
,buchanan's preferences4  ,what         
composition gave him his special temper 
and character8 ,why did  his mind tend  
towards ,robert ,browning1 and away from
 ,george ,eliot8 ,why  in short did his 
mind work in the way it did8 ,the more  
original the  mind1 the more its        
investigation would repay us4 ,but it   
must be  self-investigation2 what we    
want are facts of mind1 mental data and 
in  order to get them1 we must          
investigate the living mind ,all the    
usual  explanations of ,temperament1    
,nature1 ,heredity1 ,education are the  
same  difficulties1 expressed in        
different words4 ,heredity is a         
circumstance1 which has to be reckoned  
with1 but we have to  investigate1 not  
circumstances1 but results4 ,here is a  
living complex  mind1 no matter how ,i  

inherit it1 here it is2 now then1 how   
does it  work1 what can ,i do with it8  
,and then comes the further inevitable  
question--,what is it8 ,what is this    
thing1 this me1 which tends to feel  and
 act in a certain direction--to admire  
spontaneously1 this1 and to  despise    
with as perfect ease1 that4 ,what we    
need for scientific  investigation into 
the ,,me is to utilise minds so as to   
form a living  laboratory ,mind         
vivisection without torture1 cruelty or 
the knife4  ,what we want to know       
definitely from science is3 ,how does   
this thing  which ,i call my mind work8 
,science regards mind as the sum of     
sensations1 which are the necessary     
results of antecedent causes4 ,it       
endeavours to know how and in what way  
these sensations can be trained  and    
perfected4 ,nearly twenty years ago1 a  
writer in the ,psychological  ,journal  
,mind#a ,mr4 ,j4 ,jacobs1 attempted to  
form a ,society for the  purpose of     
experimental psychology4 ,thinkers and  

scientific men have  carried out this   
work1 but the general public has not    
been greatly  interested or interested  
for any length of time4 ,no such society
  exists among the ,english public4 ,the
 greater number of enthusiastic         
students is to be found in ,italy and   
,america4 ,but ,germany has  furnished  
great individual workers1 such as       
,fechner1 ,helmholtz1 and  ,wundt4      
,collective investigation was necessary 
to separate individual  peculiarities   
from general laws4 ,science of course   
aims at changing  the study of          
individual minds_/into a valid science  
of mind4 ,mr4 ,j4  ,jacobs wished a     
,society to be organised for the purpose
 of measuring  mind1 measuring our      
senses1 and for testing our mental      
powers as  accurately as weight and     
height are tested now1 and also for     
experimenting on will practice4 ,he     
believed it possible to train the  will 
on one thing until we got it perfectly  
under control1 and in so  doing we      

should modify character immensely4 ,if  
this proved possible1  we ought to      
persevere until conduct becomes an art1 
education a  principle1 and mind is     
known as a science is known4 ,mr4       
,jacobs wanted  systematic enquiries to 
be made into powers of attention1 such  
as ,can  we listen and read at the same 
time1 and reproduce what we have read   
and heard4 ,and into the faculties of   
observation and memory1 with  after     
images1 and the capacity for following  
trains of reasoning1  c41 c41 ,when we  
read a novel1 do we actually have       
pictures of the  scenes before our      
minds8 ,mr4 ,jacobs wished for enquiries
 into every  kind of intelligence       
ordinary and extraordinary2 out of all  
ingredients of character1 out of early  
impressions1 out of classified  emotions
 to build up an answer to the question3 
,is there a science  of mind8 ,since he 
wrote1 much has been done in experiment 
by the  scientific4 ,children's minds   
are constantly being investigated1 and  

the results given to the public4 ,mr4   
,galton has to some extent  popularised 
this sort of investigation4 ,but it is  
still generally  unpopular4 ,novelists1 
and artists1 leisured people1 women1    
everyone  could be of use1 if they would
 investigate themselves1 or offer their 
minds for investigation4 ,but after all 
that the scientific ,french1  ,german1  
,american1 ,italian1 and ,english       
workers have done1 we are as  yet only  
on the threshold of mind knowledge--of  
what we might know--if  we had ardour   
enough to push self-analysis in to the  
remotest corner  of the brain1 noting   
down1 comparing1 tabulating the most    
involuntary  and ethereal sublimities   
that appear to flit through the mind1   
the  most subtle emotion that hardly    
finds expression in language4 ,we must  
push on and on till we arrive at the    
knowledge of a mind science4 ,our       
scientific enquirers want1 as we all do1
 more ardour1 they are dulled  by a     
cold1 uninterested public4              

,psychologists now seem to despair of   
obtaining any large results from the    
science4 ,mr4 ,e4,w4 ,scripture in  ,the
 ,new ,psychology says1 in #ahig1 ,it   
cannot dissect the mind with a  scalpel1
 it cannot hope to find a startling     
principle of mental life4  ,if          
psychological experiment could be       
presented somewhat apart from its       
technicalities1 and if minds could play 
freely round its discoveries1  how much 
more interesting it would be felt to be 
by the general  public6 ,the great      
experimental worker1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,mck      
,cattell has given#b  some clear idea of
 the results he obtained by analysing   
and measuring  sensations4 ,the physical
 processes1 which accompany sensations  
of  sound and light for instance1 unlike
 as they must be to sensations1  being  
facts of matter in motion1 yet share    
with them this  characteristic1 that    
sensations also have each an order in   
time1 the  mental processes can be      
measured1 equally with the physical4 ,of

 course  measuring sensations is only   
measuring the outside of the mind--but  
it produces among others one very       
suggestive result3 that as time is      
relative1 if all things moved much more 
slowly or quickly than at  present1 we  
should not feel any change at all4 ,but 
if our objective  measures of time moved
 twice as fast1 whilst physiological    
movements  and mental processes went on 
at the same rate as now1 the days of our
  years would be seven score1 instead of
 three score years and ten1 yet  we     
should not be any the older1 or live any
 the longer4 ,if on the  other hand the 
rate of our physiological and mental    
motions was  doubled and we lived       
exactly as many years as before1 we     
should feel  as if we lived twice as    
long and were twice as old as now4 ,this
 is a  suggestion for ,mr4 ,well's      
,anticipations ,is evolution leading us 
in  this direction or the other8 ,is it 
retarding or quickening the  molecular  
arrangements of the nervous system8 ,are

 we becoming more  delicately balanced  
so that physical changes proceed more   
quickly as  thoughts become more        
comprehensive1 feelings more intense1   
and will1  stronger4 ,does the time it  
needs to think1 feel1 and will become   
less8 ,and we may add are the physical  
and mental processes of the  intelligent
 brain1 quicker1 or slower than the     
unintelligent8 ,for if  it is the       
sensitive quick witted organisation1    
which is destined to  live twice as long
 as it does now1 how will it bear the   
burden of such  added years8 ,leaving   
aside inquiries into ,time1 and ,space  
,sense--7and  what enormous faculty our 
minds must have that can supply         
these7--let  us go on to ,mr4 ,j4       
,mc,keen ,cattell's analysis of         
memory--which is  perhaps the most      
interesting of all to the student of    
mind--the  analysis of memory1 attention
 and association of ideas4 ,just as the 
eye can only see 7attend to7 a certain  
number of vibrations1 for if  the       

requisite amount is added to1 the result
 is blankness1 darkness1  so the mind   
can only attend to a certain amount of  
complexity--add to  the complexity and  
attention ceases1 but1 a certain degree 
of  complexity is necessary to produce  
any conscious attention at all4 ,in     
experiments with a ,metronome and the   
ticking of a watch1 it is found  the    
attention at certain intervals gets     
weaker--from #b to #c seconds4  ,the    
impression produced by the ticking of   
the watch is less distinct1  it seems to
 disappear and then is heard again4     
,this is not from  fatigue in the sense 
organ1 but apparently represents a      
natural  rhythm in consciousness or     
attention1 which interferes with the    
accuracy of attention4 ,what a          
suggestive fact this is6 ,have we not   
all  at times1 felt an inexplicable     
difficulty in listening and attending   
to certain speakers1 which may perhaps  
be explained by a difference  between   
the rhythm of our own consciousness1 and

 that of the voice of  the speaker4 ,in 
,association of ,ideas the time that it 
takes for one  idea to suggest another  
has been determined1 but of course1 it  
must be  the average time1 for people   
differ enormously in the speed in which 
ideas occur to them4 ,it is impossible  
to allude here to more points1  but in  
the same interesting article ,mr4 ,mck  
,cattell considers it  proved that      
experimental methods can be applied to  
the study of mind1  and that the        
positive results are significant1 and he
 hopes1 one  day1 we shall have as      
accurate and complete a knowledge of    
mind as we  have of the physical world4 
,beyond this knowledge of mind as a     
machine1 the ,psychologist goeth not4   
,he ends1 and what do we know more  as  
to what mind is8 ,philosophy properly   
so-called1 begins here or  ought to     
begin4 ,in science we experiment widely 
and constantly with  mind and arrive at 
some knowledge of its workings and      
capacities2 we  learn occupation with   

the mind itself as a subject for        
observation1  and we practise a         
self-analysis1 which adds to the sum of 
general  knowledge4 ,through this study 
we know more about our senses and their 
faculties1 more of our own tendencies   
and idiosyncrasies1 and in what         
direction they tend4 ,we are on the way 
to solve some such problems as3  the    
influences of early impressions1 the    
ingredients of character1  the varying  
susceptibility to mental anguish1 the   
conquest of the  will1 and many another4
 ,these are beginnings--there is much   
more to  attain to1 if we would know    
mind even scientifically1 for we have   
only  attacked its breast works1 but we 
are on the right road1 as we  believe1  
towards this most interesting of all    
sciences--,mind ,science4  ,from        
,philosophy we do not as yet know       
definitely that mind is1 or  what it is1
 or why it is4 ,the psychologist accepts
 the word mind1 but  it is not accepted 
as a philosophical term2 it is called   

,consciousness1 ,being1 ,ego1 and       
anything else but mind4                 
,notwithstanding1  we all feel what we  
mean by the word4 ,though the senses    
divide the  non-ego1 the world outside  
us1 into five separate parcels1 things  
seen1 things heard1 things smelt1 things
 touched1 things tasted1  there is a    
faculty of unifying1 a sensation of     
unity in us1 which  makes us conscious  
of all these separate sensations as     
forming a  whole in any object which    
comes into our consciousness4 ,kant has 
given this unifying faculty1 or         
sensation1 a long name1 which does  not 
make it any clearer4 ,what is this inner
 power1 which unifies  sensations and   
how does it come8 ,in some way the mind 
supplies it to  its mental states or    
consciousness4 ,and within us this      
unifying  faculty1 which we call ,mind1 
is felt through the infinite number of  
modifications of sensations or mental   
states1 for we are aware that  what we  
call a mind exists in us4 ,it is this   

consciousness of unity in  complexity1  
which makes memory and identity         
possible4 ,the exploded  idea of mental 
substance and its attributes1 held by   
the ,school men1  was probably suggested
 to them by the consciousness of this   
mental  unity4 ,in our mentality there  
is something which makes each one say   
,my mind1 not ,my minds4 ,now it is this
 unity of sensations1 which  is lost1   
and the mind with it1 if the ego is     
divided as ,professor ,w4  ,james       
divides it into many egos such as--the  
inner self--the complex  self--the      
social self--the intellectual self--and 
so on4 ,for how does  that help us8 ,it 
is the same unknown quantity in         
different  circumstances4 ,the self that
 ponders in thought1 knows itself as the
  same that talks in society4 ,the      
strange power of being able to analyse  
ourselves at all is one of the strangest
 things about us4 ,what a world  of     
difference lies between the unconscious 
self of the animal and this  conscious  

self of man6 ,professor ,james'         
brilliantly written chapter of          
investigation into the self leaves us   
amused rather than enlightened4         
,against all arguments to the contrary1 
we should refuse to give up the  word   
mind1 whether it is considered vague or 
defective in any or every  way4 ,mind in
 all its complexity1 is what we have to 
investigate  scientifically4 ,mind in   
all its complexity is what the          
philosopher has  to explain1 not mind1  
analysed into simple acts of            
consciousness4 ,the  hypnotist talks of 
double1 treble and quadruple            
personalities with  totally different   
characteristics under suggestion1 but it
 helps us  little for we have not yet   
defined mind on its sane and normal     
sides4  ,considering the acuteness and  
the sanity of the ,french mind1 it is   
somewhat strange that the ,french       
psychologists should devote  themselves 
chiefly to the study of the insane and  
hysterical4  ,philosophy1 though it     

gives us soaring thoughts1 grand        
speculations1  and metaphysical schemes1
 from ,spinoza1 ,kant1 ,hegel1 and      
,schopenhauer1  to ,herbert ,spencer1   
and ,mr4 ,mallock1 cannot give us any   
knowledge in  which they mutually agree4
 ,mr4 ,mallock sums up philosophy as a  
necessity to the mind4 ,we must believe 
in some theory of mind1 some  religion1 
some philosophy1 else life is dreary and
 unlivable4 ,this  appears to be the    
result of his book ,the ,veil of the    
,temple1 and  this is simply the        
doctrine of utility4 ,but no            
philosopher1 can tell  us why mind works
 on certain lines and not on others1    
because they  cannot tell us definitely 
that they know what mind is4 ,mind is a 
function of ,matter3 ,matter is a       
function of thought3 ,mind is  ,noumenon
 the unseen and unknown1 as contrasted  
with ,phenomena the seen  and known2 the
 universe1 the creation of the mind2 the
 mind1 the  product of the universe4    
,all these ideas and many others so     

widely  differing can none of them      
receive a demonstrable proof2--these    
contrary statements show how far we are 
from possessing any real  knowledge of  
what mind is4 ,after all that has been  
written1 elaborated  and imagined1 do we
 actually know more than ,omar ,khayam  
knew8      ,there was the door to which 
,i found no key2    ,there was the veil 
through which ,i could not see2    ,some
 little talk awhile of ,me and ,thee    
,there was--and then no more of ,thee   
and ,me4    ,philosophy is still        
powerless to tell us what mind is2 the  
self1 the  ego always vanishes as we    
seem to be nearing it1 it always eludes 
our  deepest probings--we only          
demonstrate our failure in regard to our
  knowledge of it4 ,all this is true1   
but should we therefore despair8 ,if  we
 are born with the record on the brain  
of the inexorable desire to  know1 the  
very failure should stimulate us to     
further1 and greater1  and more fruitful
 questionings4          ,,ii4           

,,contrasts4      ,,carlyle1 ,,george   
,,eliot1 ,,mazzini1 ,,browning1    ,all 
contrasts drawn between writers1 and    
thinkers should have for aim  the       
setting forth of some striking and      
fundamental difference in  thought1 and 
it would be hard to find anywhere a     
greater and a more  vivid contrast than 
that between ,carlyle and ,george       
,eliot4 ,for ,george  ,eliot's          
philosophy was centred in the well-being
 of the ,race4    ,carlyle's was summed 
up in the worth of the ,individual4     
,george ,eliot teaches in prose and     
still more in poetry that  ,personality1
 with its hopes1 loves1 faiths1         
aspirations1 must all be  relinquished1 
and its agonies and pains endured1      
should ,humanity gain  by the sacrifice 
and the endurance4    ,she considers the
 ,individual as part of collective      
humanity1 and that  he does not live for
 himself1 he has no continuance of      
personal life1  he has no permanence1   
except as a living influence on the     

,race4 ,this  is the ,positivist creed1 
the ,racial ,creed4    ,beyond the      
influence that it exerts1 spiritual     
personality is doomed4  ,it is not      
humanity in ,god but humanity in itself 
which is to exist  from age to age1     
solely in the memory of succeeding      
generations4      ,oh may ,i join the   
,choir ,invisible    ,of those immortal 
dead1 who live again    ,in minds made  
better by their presence4    ,permanence
 and continuance and immortality are in 
the race alone4  ,george ,eliot's strong
 accentuation of the race is the ,gospel
 of  annihilation to the individual4    
,yet the most personal and imaginative  
of poets has treated this lofty altruism
 in his strange1 sad1  beautiful poem of
 ,the ,pilgrims1 with a fervour greater 
even than  that of ,george ,eliot4      
,here are two stanzas3      ,and ye     
shall die before your thrones be won4   
,yea1 and the changed world and the     
liberal sun    ,shall move and shine    
without us and we lie    ,dead2 but if  

she too move on earth and live1    ,but 
if the old world with the old irons     
rent1    ,laugh and give thanks1 shall  
we not be content8    ,nay we shall     
rather live1 we shall not die1    ,life 
being so little and ,death so good to   
give4      ,pass on then and pass by us1
 and let us be4    ,for what life think 
ye after life to see8    ,and if the    
world fare better will ye know8    ,and 
if men triumph1 who shall seek you and  
say8      ,enough of light is this for  
one life's span4    ,that all men born  
are mortal1 but not ,man3    ,and we men
 bring death lives by night to sow1     
,that man may reap and eat and live by  
day4                                    
--,,swinburne4    ,turning from the     
moral grandeur of self-abnegation that  
fills the  philosophy of humanity1 we   
feel the contrast of strong human       
personality1 which animates us with an  
inspiring sensation as we  listen to the
 prophet of individualism4    ,few can  
have read ,carlyle's writings in their  

youth1 without having  experienced an   
indescribable and irresistible          
stimulation1 to  accomplish some real   
work1 to make some strenuous endeavour  
before  the night cometh4 ,carlyle's    
contempt for sloth1 stings2 his bitter  
words are a tonic1 they scourge1        
encourage1 and at times plead with      
poetic fervour4 ,think of living4 ,thy  
life wert thou the pitifullest  of all  
the sons of earth is no idle dream1 but 
a solemn reality4 ,it  is thy own2 it is
 all thou hast to front ,eternity with4 
,work then  like a star unhasting and   
unresting4    ,the man's soul1 naked    
through sloth1 or clothed through works1
 has to  meet its doom1 and to bear it  
as it best can4 ,for ,carlyle ignored   
the  collective view of mankind1 the    
single soul had to prostrate itself     
before the ,supreme ,power4 ,this       
,supreme ,power was almost as vague 7to 
him7 as ,george ,eliot's ,permanent     
,influence is to us4 ,for ,carlyle did  
not believe that the ,soul could enter  

into any relations with ,god1  and in   
the sight of ,god it was nothing4 ,there
 is nothing singular in  this4 ,the     
religious1 but independent-minded       
,joubert thought it was  not hard to    
know ,god1 provided one did not force   
oneself to define  ,him1 and deprecated 
bringing into the domain of reason1 that
 which  belongs to our innermost        
feeling4    ,this very well represented 
,carlyle's view1 but it occupies but a  
small  place in his writings4 ,all his  
books1 his letters1 pamphlets1          
histories1 essays show his profound     
living belief in the worth of           
individual men1 as the salt of the      
earth1 and the young are always  greatly
 influenced by strong personalities4    
,but the mature mind that  struggles    
after catholicity of taste1 and wide    
admiration1 receives  some rude shocks  
from ,carlyle's treatment of humanity1  
as ,dr4 ,garnett  has well shown in his 
excellent biography of ,carlyle2 indeed 
it has  led with some to the parting of 

the ways4 ,for the hopes and            
inspirations of poet1 reformer1 teacher1
 became in great part to him  as the    
idle chatter of apes and the talk of    
,fools4    ,mazzini's world-wide        
sympathies1 his life of many deaths for 
his  country1 were unintelligible to    
,carlyle1 who also described1 as a      
sawdust kind of talk1 ,john ,stuart     
,mill's expression of belief and        
interest in reforming and raising the   
whole social mass of toiling  millions4 
,bracing and stimulating1 as is         
,carlyle's strong1 stern doctrine of    
independence1 of work1 and of adherence 
to ,truth for its own sake1 we  feel the
 loss his character sustained1 through  
the contempt that grew  upon him for the
 greater part of humanity4 ,the ,nemesis
 of contempt was  shown in his inability
 at last to see even in individuals1 the
  greatest things4 ,physical force came 
to be admired by him for itself4  ,from 
hero-worship1 he passed to strong       
rulers1 and saviours of  society4       

,the worth of the individual1 withered  
and changed1 and ,carlyle's hopes       
rested finally on strength alone1 just  
as ,george ,eliot's thoughts  centred on
 the influence human beings exercised on
 each other1 and  there is extraordinary
 beauty in this idea4 ,how striking is  
her  conception of the good we all      
receive from even the simplest lives1 if
  they have been true lives4 ,the       
growing good of the world is partly     
dependent upon unhistoric acts2 and that
 things are not so ill with  you and me 
as they might have been1 is half owing  
to the number who  lived faithfully a   
hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs4
 ,but some  who read her books feel an  
underlying tone of sadness--a melancholy
  whisper as of a finality1 an          
inevitable end to all future            
development1  even of the greatest      
personalities4 ,many other writers have 
believed  that men live in the world's  
memory only by what they have done in   
the  world1 but ,george ,eliot is       

definite that this memory is all1 that  
personality has no other chance of      
surviving4 ,her hopes rested on  being3 
,the sweet presence of a good diffused1 
,and in diffusion ever more intense1    
,so shall ,i join the ,choir ,invisible 
,whose music is the gladness of the     
world4    ,both ,george ,eliot and      
,carlyle over accentuated one the race1 
the other  the individual4    ,mazzini's
 place in thought was exactly between   
the two4    ,he believed in ,god and    
,collective ,humanity4 ,humanity in     
,god4 ,he  said3 ,we cannot relate      
ourselves to the ,divine1 but through   
collective humanity4 ,mr4 ,carlyle      
comprehends only the individual2 the    
true sense of the unity of the race     
escapes him4 ,he sympathises with  men1 
but it is with the separate life of each
 man1 and not their  collective life4#c 
,collective labour1 according to an     
educational plan1 designed by           
,providence1 was1 ,mazzini believed1 the
 only possible development of           

,humanity4    ,he could never have      
trusted in any good and effective       
development from  ,humanity alone4      
,nationality1 he reverenced1 and widened
 the idea1 until it embraced  the whole 
world4 ,he said it was the mission1 the 
special vocation of  all who felt the   
mutual responsibility of men4 ,but      
nationality of  ,italy meant to         
,carlyle1 only the glory of having      
produced ,dante and  ,columbus1 and he  
cared for them not for the national     
thought they  interpreted1 but as       
gigantic men4 ,mazzini cared for the    
progressive  history of mankind1        
,carlyle for the ,biography of great    
men4    ,carlyle's sadness unending     
sadness1 came1 ,mazzini thought from    
looking at human life only from the     
individual point of view4 ,and a  poem  
by ,browning1 ,cleon would have afforded
 him another example of  the            
disenchantment and discouragement of    
life1 from individualism4    ,browning  
was as great an individualist as        

,carlyle2 he stood as far  apart from   
belief in ,collective ,humanity1 and    
,democracy as ,carlyle  did1 though in  
,italy1 he felt the thrill of its       
nationality1 as  ,carlyle did not4 ,but 
,mazzini might have said also truly of  
,browning1  that1 with the exception of 
,italy1 he sympathised with the separate
  life of each man and not with their   
collective life4 ,the sadness  ,mazzini 
attributed to ,carlyle's strong         
individualistic point of view1  ought   
logically then to have been the heritage
 of ,browning also4 ,if  ,mazzini's     
explanation was the true one1 it is     
another proof of the  difficulty of     
tabulating humanity1 or of making a     
science of human  nature4 ,for the      
,individualist ,browning1 far from being
 remarkable for  sadness1 was the       
greatest of optimists amongst ,english  
poets4 ,he had a  far wider range of    
sympathies1 than ,carlyle1 for failure  
attracted  him1 as much as victory1 the 
,conquered equally with the ,conqueror1 

indeed every shade of character         
interested him4 ,perhaps he expresses   
through ,cleon some of his own strongest
 feelings1 his insistence on  the worth 
of individuality1 his craving for deeper
 joy1 fuller life  than this world      
gives1 and his horror of the destruction
 of  personality4 ,cleon1 the ,greek    
,artist1 is indeed the other side to    
the poetic altruism of ,the ,pilgrims   
and ,the ,choir ,invisible4 ,never  was 
the yearning for ,personal ,continuance 
more vividly and more  humanly          
presented4 ,the ,greek ,artist1 without 
any knowledge of1 or  belief in         
,immortality1 hungers after it4         
,browning represents him as  writing to 
and arguing with the ,king1 who has     
said3      ,my life444444    ,dies      
altogether with my brain1 and arm1444444
    4444triumph ,thou1 who dost not go4 
,and ,cleon says if ,sappho and schylus 
survive because we sing her  songs1 and 
read his plays1 let them come1 drink    
from thy cup1 speak  in my place4       

,instead of rejoicing in his works      
surviving he feels the horror of the    
contrast1 the life within his works1 the
 decay within his heart4 ,he  compares  
his sense of joy growing more acute and 
his soul's power and  insight more      
enlarged and keen1 while his bodily     
powers decay4 ,his  hairs fall more and 
more1 his hand shakes1 and the heavy    
years  increase4    ,he realises3--     
,the horror quickening4444    ,the      
consummation coming past escape1        
,when ,i shall know most1 and yet least 
enjoy--    ,when all my works wherein ,i
 prove my worth1    ,being present still
 to mock me in men's mouths1    ,alive  
still1 in the phrase of such as thou1   
,i1 ,i1 the feeling1 thinking1 acting   
man1    ,the man who loved his life so  
over much1    ,shall sleep in my ,urn4 4
 4 ,it is so horrible4    ,he imagines  
in his need some future state may be    
revealed by ,zeus4      ,unlimited in   
capability    ,for joy1 as this is in   
desire for joy1    ,to seek which the   

joy hunger forces us3    ,he speculates 
that this life may have been made       
straight1 to make  sweet the life at    
large4    ,and that we are3 freed by the
 throbbing impulse we call ,death4 ,but 
he ends by fearing that were it possible
 ,zeus must have revealed it4    ,this  
passionate pathetic longing for joy1 and
 life beyond death finds  an echo in    
many hearts1 which yet can admire the   
grand altruism of  ,the ,pilgrims and   
the selfless spirit of the ,impersonal  
,martyr4 ,after  considering all this   
clash of thought1 it seems as if it all 
resolved  itself into the individual    
temperament which settles and modifies  
and  adapts to itself the forms of our  
philosophies and religions1 our  ,hopes 
and ,faiths1 and ,despairs4    ,for from
 whence comes the real power thinkers   
possess over us8 ,it is  not in their   
forms of thought1 as ,matthew ,arnold   
said most truly1 but  in the tendencies1
 in the spirit which led them to adopt  
those  formulas4 ,every thinker has some

 secret1 an exact object at which he    
aims1 which is the cause of all his     
work1 and the reason of his  attraction 
to some readers1 and his repulsion to   
others4    ,what was the secret aim then
 in ,george ,eliot which made her       
believe so  firmly in the permanent     
influence of ,humanity1 and in the      
annihilation  of personal existence8    
,was the tendency of temperament        
developed by  her life and              
circumstances8    ,what was it that     
developed so strong an ,individualism in
 ,carlyle and  ,browning and awoke in   
,browning such unlimited hope1 and in   
,carlyle  such unending sadness8    ,why
 did the darkness and the storm of his  
life give ,mazzini so  passionate a     
belief in ,humanity1 and such an        
intimate faith in ,god8  ,these and     
such-like are the problems we should    
have in our minds as we  study the works
 of ,great ,writers1 if we would        
penetrate into the  innermost core of   
their nature1 in short1 if we would     

really  understand them4          ,,iii4
        ,,maeterlinck ,,on ,,hamlet4    
,maeterlinck1 in his first essay1 ,the  
,treasure of the ,humble1 is1           
undoubtedly1 mystical4 ,he does not     
argue1 or define1 or explain1 he        
asserts1 but even in that book and far  
more so in his second1 ,wisdom  and     
,destiny1 it is real life which absorbs 
him as ,alfred de ,sutro his  translator
 points out4 ,in this book he endeavours
 in all simplicity  to tell what he     
sees4 ,he is a ,seer4    ,maeterlinck's 
aim is to show that contrary to the     
usual idea1 what we  call ,fate1        
,destiny1 is not something apart from   
ourselves1 which  exercises power over  
us1 but is the product of our own souls4
    ,he takes many examples to prove    
this1 of which ,hamlet is one4 ,man1    
said ,maeterlinck1 is his own ,fate in  
an inner sense2 he is superior to  all  
circumstances1 when he refuses to be    
conquered by them4 ,when his  soul is   
wise and has initiative power1 it cannot

 be conquered by  external events1 and  
happiness is inevitable to such a soul4 
,maeterlinck asks3 ,where do we find the
 fatality in ,hamlet8 ,would the  evil  
of ,claudius and ,queen ,gertrude have  
spread its influence if a  wise man had 
been in the ,palace8 ,if a dominant1 all
 powerful soul--a  ,jesus--had been in  
,hamlet's palace at ,elsinore1 would the
 tragedy of  four deaths have happened8 
,can you conceive any wise man living in
 the  unnatural gloom that overhung     
,elsinore8 ,is not every action of      
,hamlet  induced by a fanatical impulse1
 which tells him that duty consists in  
revenge alone8 ,and revenge never can be
 a duty4 ,hamlet thinks much1  continues
 ,maeterlinck1 but is by no means wise4 
,destiny can withstand  lofty thoughts  
but not simple1 good1 tender and loyal  
thoughts4 ,we  only triumph over destiny
 by doing the reverse of the evil she   
would  have us commit4 ,no tragedy is   
inevitable4 ,but at ,elsinore no one had
  vision--no one saw--hence the         

catastrophe4 ,the soul that saw would   
have made others see4 ,because of       
,hamlet's pitiful blindness1 ,laertes1  
,ophelia1 the ,king1 ,queen1 and ,hamlet
 die4 ,was his blindness  inevitable8 ,a
 single thought had sufficed to arrest  
all the forces of  murder4 ,hamlet's    
ignorance puts the seal on his          
unhappiness1 and his  shadow lay on     
,horatio1 who lacked the courage to     
shake himself free4  ,had there been one
 brave soul to cry out the truth1 the   
history of  ,elsinore had not been      
shrouded in horror4 ,all depended not on
 destiny1  but on the wisdom of the     
wisest1 and this ,hamlet was2 therefore 
he was  the centre of the drama of      
,elsinore1 for he had no one wiser than 
himself on whom to depend4              
,maeterlinck's doctrine of the soul and 
its power over ,destiny is very         
captivating1 but it is doubtful if he   
was fortunate in his choice of  ,hamlet 
as an example of ignorance and          
blindness1 and of failure to  conquer   

fate1 through lack of soul-power4       
,how ,hamlet should have acted is not   
told us1 but that it was his duty  to   
have given up revenge is clearly        
suggested4 ,we might1 perhaps1 sum  up  
,hamlet's right course1 from the hints  
,maeterlinck has given us1 in  a        
sentence4 ,had he relinquished all idea 
of revenge and forgiven his  uncle and  
mother1 he would have ennobled his soul1
 gained inward  happiness1 spread a     
gracious calm around and have so deeply 
influenced  his wicked relations1 that  
they would have become repentant and    
reformed4 ,thus his evil ,destiny would 
have been averted and we should  have   
had no tragedy of ,hamlet4 ,this        
explanation sounds rather  conventional 
and tract-like put into ordinary        
language1 but1 indeed1  ,maeterlinck's  
doctrine might be compressed into a     
syllogism3--      ,all the wise are     
serene1      ,hamlet was not serene1    
,hamlet was not wise4    ,that is the   
simple syllogism by which ,maeterlinck  

tests human nature4  ,but ,hamlet's     
nature cannot be packed into a          
syllogism4 ,a ,theorist1 who  tries to  
fit into his theory a peculiar nature   
cannot always afford to  understand that
 nature4 ,the external event that froze 
,hamlet's soul  with horror1 and        
deprived it of transforming power was a 
supernatural event1 not disease1        
accident1 or sudden death6 ,the  mandate
 laid on his soul was a supernatural    
mandate1 and as ,judge ,webb  said in a 
suggestive and interesting paper3 ,the  
,genuine text of  ,shakespeare1 ,october
 number of the ,national ,review1 #aijc1
 it was  utterly impossible for that    
soul to perform it1 or it might be      
added1  to cast it aside4 ,he was       
betrayed by the apparition into         
consequences  as deep as those into     
which ,macbeth was betrayed by the      
instruments of  darkness--the witches4  
,we cannot reason about ,maeterlinck's  
thought  that if expressed would have   
arrested all the forces of murder       

because we do not know what the thought 
was1 nor can any one gauge or  estimate 
rightly the power of ,hamlet's soul to  
conquer external  events1 without taking
 into careful account that the ,vision  
from  another world came to ,hamlet1    
when he was outraged at the re-marriage 
of his mother and full of emotion that  
the sudden death of his father  called  
forth in his meditative mind4#d ,but    
,maeterlinck never refers  to anything  
of this sort4 ,he does not seem to      
realise what the effects  of the vision 
must have been on a complicated         
character--on a great  gentleman in whom
 the courtier's1 scholar's eye1 tongue1 
sword1 were  all united4 ,hamlet was not
 an example of the normal type of the   
irresolute man--but the mandate laid    
upon his nature1 it could not  perform4 
,the vision was his destiny--for        
,destiny lay in the nature of  the      
mandate1 as well as the nature of the   
man1 and unhappiness was  inevitable2   
yet ,maeterlinck says1 ,no tragedy is   

inevitable1 the wise  man can be        
superior to all circumstances by the    
initiative of the  soul4 ,to be able to 
curb the blind force of instinct is to  
be able to  curb external destiny4 ,did 
not ,hamlet curb his instincts of love  
for  ,ophelia1 and love for books and   
philosophy1 under pressure of the  great
 commandment laid upon him8 ,he could   
not curb the power of his  intellect--it
 was too subtle and supreme1 but he     
concealed all else4  ,yet ,hamlet could 
not escape his ,destiny1 by curbing his 
instincts4 ,the  initiative of his soul 
worked against the duty he had to       
perform4 ,and  it was through his       
simple1 tender1 good1 thoughts of1 and  
love for  his father that he kept to his
 task1 and could not withstand his      
complicated destiny4 ,maeterlinck is    
surely wrong1 too1 in saying  ,hamlet   
was moved by a fanatical impulse to     
revenge for he spent his  life in       
weighing pros1 and cons1 and in         
combating the idea that he  must fulfil 

the duty laid upon him4 ,so unfanatical 
was he that he even  doubted at times   
whether the apparition was his father's 
spirit4 ,but  supposing there had been  
one brave soul to cry out the truth     
7,maeterlinck does not say what the     
truth was72 we will suppose that        
,hamlet had resolved to forgive fully   
and generously1 would he1 then1  have   
gained the fortitude and serenity1 which
 ,maeterlinck evidently  means by inner 
happiness8 ,not if he kept a shred of   
his inner nature4  ,hamlet saw no course
 clear enough to satisfy his            
understanding4  ,could such a nature be 
serene8 ,but was it unwise8 ,judicious1 
wise1 and  witty when at ease2 he could 
not escape the dark moods that made him 
indifferent to the visible world4    ,if
 ,o,edipus had had the inner refuge of a
 ,marcus ,aurelius1 what could  ,destiny
 have done to him8 asks ,maeterlinck4   
,fate we suppose would  have had no     
power over him1 if he had calmly        
reasoned over the  terrible             

circumstances in which he found himself 
involved1 and if he  preserved his      
equanimity to the end1 as ,m4 ,aurelius 
would have done4  ,does this prove more 
than that the two men may have had very 
different  temperaments8 ,but1          
individuality cannot be made to agree   
with theory1  and can be tabulated in no
 science book of humanity4 ,when        
,maeterlinck says1 ,hamlet's ignorance  
puts the seal on his  unhappiness1 we   
may well ask ignorance of what8 ,was it 
ignorance of  the power of will8        
,certainly his intellect was greater    
than his will4  ,he would have been     
greater had he been less great4 ,the    
concentration of all the interests that 
belong to humanity was in  ,hamlet4     
,except the gifts of serenity and       
calmness1 what did he lack8  ,and       
because he was not inwardly serene1     
,maeterlinck considers him  blind and   
ignorant4 ,it is strange to connect     
blindness and ignorance  with a wit of  
intellectual keenness1 an imagination of

 a poet1 and the  unflinching           
questioning of the philosopher4         
,maeterlinck says3 ,hamlet  thinks much 
but is by no means wise4 ,how does      
,hamlet show he had not  the wisdom of  
life8 ,maeterlinck1 no doubt1 would     
dwell on his varying  moods1 his subtle 
melancholy1 his nature baffled by a     
supernatural  command4 ,if he was not   
wise how strange he should have said so 
many  words of truest wisdom both of    
,life and ,death1 ,if it be now1 'tis   
not  to come2 if it be not to come1 it  
will be now2 if it be not now1 yet  it  
will come2 the readiness is all4 ,we    
feel that ,hamlet was a being  with     
springs of thought and feeling and      
action deeper than we can  search4 ,but 
the elements in his nature could not    
resolve themselves  into an inner life  
of calm4 ,therefore1 according to       
,maeterlinck1 he  was not wise1 for he  
could not conquer his inner             
fatality--destiny in  himself4          
,maeterlinck's ideas are very beautiful1

 and he writes  delightfully1 but his   
test of wisdom is questionable1 for     
,hamlet's  thoughts have captured and   
invaded and influenced the best minds   
and  experiences of thinkers for        
centuries1 ,how many a ,shakespearean   
reader  has felt that ,hamlet is one of 
the very wisest of men as well as one   
of the most lovable and attractive6 ,not
 his ignorance1 but his wisdom  has     
borne the test of study and time4 ,he   
did not bear the tragedy of  life when  
the supernatural entered it1 with an    
unshaken soul1 but  ourselves and the   
realities of life become clearer to us1 
the more we  read his thoughts4 ,if it  
is we who are ,hamlet1 as ,hazlitt said1
 it  is a great tribute to his          
universality--but a greater one to      
ourselves4 ,indeed1 we learn wisdom1 not
 only from the lucubrations of  the     
serene and calm1 or from ,hamlet1       
magnificent in thought1 acute and       
playful1 but also from ,hamlet in his   
mortal struggles1 in his deep           

questionings1 and his melancholy4       
,for wisdom dwells not in the light     
alone      ,but in the darkness and the 
cloud4          ,,iv4        ,,an       
,,impossible ,,philosophy4              
,philosophers talk of a philosophy of   
art1 ancient and modern4 ,but this  is  
unnecessary4 ,art is always art1 or     
never art1 as the case may be2  whether 
it is art in the days of ,pheidias and  
,praxitiles1 of ,rafael1  or of ,turner1
 or whether it is not art as in the days
 of its  degeneration in ,greece and    
,italy4 ,the outward expression of      
course1  changes1 but it changes through
 individual and national aptitudes1 not 
from ,chronology4 ,that indispensable   
and indescribable thing which is  of the
 essence of art1 is the same in all     
times and countries2 for art  is ever   
young1 there is no old1 no new1 and here
 is its essential  difference from      
science4 ,in its essence1 art is neither
 ancient or  modern1 because it is      
incapable of progress1 it is the        

expression of  an illimitable idea4 ,we 
find before the ,christian ,era more    
beautiful  sculpture than after it4 ,ah6
 ,victor ,hugo says in his ,william     
,shakespeare1 ,you call yourself ,dante1
 well6 ,but that one calls  himself     
,homer4 ,the beauty of art consists in  
not being susceptible of  improvement4  
,a chef d'oeuvre exists once and for    
ever4 ,the first  ,poet who arrives1    
arrives at the summit4 ,from ,pheidias  
to ,rembrandt  there is no onward       
movement4 ,a ,savant may out-lustre a   
,savant1 a ,poet  never throws a ,poet  
into the shade4 ,hippocrates is outrun1 
,archimides1  ,paracelsus1 ,copernicus1 
,galileo1 ,newton1 ,la ,place1 ,pindar  
not2  ,pheidias not4 ,pascal1 the       
,savant1 is out-run1 ,pascal1 the       
,writer1 not4  ,there is movement in    
art1 but not progress4 ,the ,frescoes of
 the  ,sistine ,chapel are absolutely   
nothing to the ,metopes of the          
,parthenon4  ,retrace your steps as much
 as you like from the ,palace of        

,versailles  to the ,castle of          
,heidelberg4 ,from the ,castle of       
,heidelberg to the  ,notre ,dame of     
,paris4 ,from the ,notre ,dame to the   
,alhambra4 ,from the  ,alhambra to ,st4 
,sophia4 ,from ,st4 ,sophia to the      
,coliseum4 ,from the  ,coliseum to the  
,propyleans4 ,you may recede with ages1 
you do not  recede in art4 ,the         
,pyramids and the ,iliad stand on a fore
 plan4  ,masterpieces have the same     
level--the ,absolute4 ,once the         
,absolute is  reached1 all is reached4  
,and ,schopenhauer says1 ,only true     
works of  art have eternal youth and    
enduring power like nature and life     
themselves4 ,for they belong to no age1 
but to humanity--they cannot  grow old1 
but appear to us ever fresh and new1    
down to the latest  ages4 ,let us       
disclaim then any such word as ,modern  
in relation to  art1 particularly in    
relation to a philosophy which has to do
 with the  principle and essence of art4
 ,is a ,philosophy of ,art possible8    

,there  must be some who will think it  
is impossible4 ,have we a philosophy    
that explains such an apparently simple 
thing as how one knows  anything--or of 
simple consciousness8 ,every philosopher
 that has  attempted to explain         
consciousness or how we know1 takes     
refuge in  assumptions4 ,at any         
,philosophical ,society1 if you ask for 
the  explanation of simple              
,consciousness1 the avalanche of        
answers1 each  differing from the other1
 will bewilder you4 ,we know the outward
  appearance of an object1 of which we  
say that we know it1 but what is  it in 
itself8 ,of that we are as much in the  
dark as we are of the  mind that knows4 
,we say1 each of us--,i know1 but in    
philosophy we are  not clear whether    
there is a thing that knows4 ,we know we
 are  conscious1 but we know nothing but
 that bare fact4 ,we do not know how  an
 object swims into our consciousness4   
,we do not know in the  scientific      
meaning of knowledge1 how we come to    

know any object4 ,our  abysmal ignorance
 is this1 that1 of the thing known1 and 
of that which  knows1 and of the process
 of knowing1 we know nothing4 ,who can  
tell us  how the movement of matter in  
the brain causes what we call thought4  
,is it a cause1 or merely a concurrence8
 ,when we can know this much1  then art 
may have a philosophy in which we can   
all agree4 ,but1 what  signs are there  
of even the beginnings of agreement8    
,certainly art is  not known as we know 
a science--perhaps we do not wish it    
ever to be  so4 ,and the process of art 
is as indescribable as the process of   
knowing4 ,the advance we have made in   
philosophy seems to be this1 that       
whereas one philosopher after another   
according to his temperament has        
thought he knew and has supplied us with
 hypotheses1 and with  successive clues 
to the mystery of ,being1 and with many 
systems of  thought1 we know now that   
none of them were adequate to supply    
even  initial steps1 and so1 for the    

most part1 we fall back on the          
knowledge that comes to us from living1 
from being1 from knowing  appearances1  
from action1 and from feeling2 on that  
position in short  which ,schopenhauer  
thought so despicable in a human being1 
i4e41  ,refuge in the common sense      
attitude1 and practically the giving up 
of  philosophy4 ,the outcome of all the 
brain work on philosophy1 since the     
time of the ,greeks1 is that despair has
 entered into our minds of ever         
achieving any knowledge of the ,real1   
beneath and beyond ,phenomena1  of a    
knowledge which commands assent4 ,can   
even a ,hegel write a  convincing       
,philosophy of ,art--which implies a    
philosophy of complex  knowing and      
feeling2 the feeling or emotion1 or     
sensation1 which  vibrates in music and 
colour and poetry4 ,could ,hegel himself
 answer  this objection3 that poetry    
eludes all tests--that that which you   
can  thoroughly explain in any way is   
not poetry1 as ,swinburne has said8 ,it 

is the inexplicable1 then1 which lies at
 the essence of art and it is  this1    
which if there is to be a ,philosophy of
 ,art must be its object4  ,the         
,inexplicable must be the object for the
 thinker with his orderly  sequences1   
his logical search for causes and       
results4 ,it is not that  artistic      
feeling is too subtle as a subject2 it  
is that we cannot get  hold of it at    
all4 ,it is where8 ,here1 in our        
emotion1 our feeling1 our  imagination2 
it flies from us and it comes again4    
,we do not ask for a philosophy of      
artistic creations 7whatever they  may  
be1 in music1 painting1 or poetry71 for 
a ,philosophy of ,art must  be a        
philosophy of the artistic faculty that 
creates1 and that  admires and          
understands and is absorbed in the      
creations4 ,philosophy  of ,art is the  
philosophy of the creative--receptive   
qualities4 ,we feel  these qualities1   
but we are not able to explain them1 we 
cannot even  help another to feel them4 

,the capacity comes from within4 ,in    
ourselves is a nameless response to     
,beauty4 ,all art is an expression  of  
the artist thrown out towards a         
reproduction of some intuitive ,idea    
within1 and what artist has ever        
satisfied his inward aspiration8 ,why   
tell us that harmonies of art may be    
traced down to the simplest  lines1 and1
 that at the root1 lies an aim of       
edification8 ,simplify the  lines1 as we
 will1 let the basis of edification lie 
at the root of all  beauty1 still the   
initial question remains unanswered4    
,why do certain  lines in a poem1 curves
 of beauty in a statue1 colour in a     
picture1  produce in us the feelings of 
beauty and delight8 ,why does           
edification1 if it is such1 produce in  
me1 the sense of a nameless  beauty8    
,there is that in us which we call the  
sense or ,idea of beauty1 and we        
recognise it in works of art4 ,what     
causes it in us8 ,it is a sentiment1    
but it is more than a sentiment4 ,it is 

indissolubly connected with  expression1
 but it is more than expression4 ,it    
raises all kinds of  associations1 but  
it is more than associations4 ,it       
thrills the nerves1  it stimulates the  
intellect1 but it is more than a thrill1
 and other  than the intellect2 it is   
treatment1 but who can give laws for it8
 ,the  answer which explained the sense 
of beauty that we feel in works of  art 
would go straight to the revelation of  
the essence of beauty4 ,all  that       
sthetic teachers tell us is1 that       
certain lines and colours and           
arrangements are harmonious1 and the    
philosopher fails in telling us  why    
they are harmonious4 ,does ,hegel8 ,even
 if we are told there is an  ,idea in us
 which is also an ,idea in ,nature1 and1
 therefore1 we can  understand the      
,idea1 because ,we are ,it1 does that   
throw light on what  the ,idea really   
is8 ,we are the human side of nature1   
and have the same  human difficulty as  
before in interpreting the ,idea4 ,yet  

there is one  philosopher1 as many      
readers must have felt1 who has brought 
us nearer  to the interpretation of the 
artistic attitude1 than any other1 and  
this is ,schopenhauer on what we may    
call his mystical side in his book  of  
,will and ,idea4 ,perhaps most          
philosophers have erred in too rigid  an
 exclusion of feeling and imagination4  
,it is impossible to help  feeling that 
his philosophy is largely moulded and   
created by his  feeling for art--and by 
his oriental mysticism4 ,he can be      
curiously  prosaic at the same time1 and
 this is another proof of the infinite  
complexity of the mind3--he can be      
inartistic and unpoetic so that he      
almost staggers us1 as in his           
unillumining remarks on ,landscape ,art4
  ,vegetation1 according to             
,schopenhauer's theory1 is on a lower   
grade of  ,will ,objectification or     
,manifestation1 than men and animals    
are1 and  landscape painting is1        
therefore1 altogether on a different    

plane4  ,through his theories he loses  
the power of seeing that art is         
concerned with treatment1 with          
conception and expression1 that beauty  
depends not on the object1 but on the   
treatment of the object4    ,but if we  
turn to his mystical theory of the      
,unconscious1 we do get a  beautiful    
description of the absorption1 that is1 
of the essence of  the artistic nature4 
,he shows how the artist loses his own  
personality  in the object of           
contemplation1 so completely that he    
identifies  himself mentally with it4   
,schopenhauer describes the artistic    
mind  when it is affected by the        
beautiful and the sublime4 ,by losing   
all  sense of individuality and         
personality the artist is so possessed  
by  his object of thought and vision    
that he is absorbed in it and feels  the
 ,idea1 which it represents4 ,this      
theory put into ordinary language1  is  
that the artist has in him the sense of 
a great ,idea1 such as  ,beauty1 and in 

his power of vision into objects of     
beauty he lives in  the sense of        
,beauty1 which they represent4 ,they    
represent to him the  ,idea of ,beauty  
itself4 ,he lives in the ,idea1 is      
isolated in it1  absorbed in it1 and by 
the privilege of genius can keep the    
sense of  the inner world of beauty and 
can produce beautiful works of art4     
,with joy and innocence1 his whole soul 
absorbed in the beautiful forms  which  
he creates1 he represents the ideas     
within him1 and he loses the  sense of  
life and consciousness and ,will1 which1
 according to  ,schopenhauer1 is to be  
freed from constant demands1 and        
strivings4 ,he  is no longer bound to   
the wheel of desire--he has no personal 
interests--no subjectivity4    ,he is a 
pure will-less1 time-less subject of    
knowledge of pure  knowing1 which means 
complete absorption4 ,he excites and    
suggests in  others the knowledge of the
 ,ideas1 which1 beautiful objects       
represent4  ,thus1 through the works of 

,genius1 others may reach an exalted    
frame  of mind1 for1 indeed1 if we had  
not some artistic capacity for seeing   
and feeling the ,ideas which works of   
art represent1 we should be  incapable  
of feeling or enjoying them4 ,perhaps1  
to make this abstract  thought clearer1 
it would be well to endeavour to find   
some examples  which will illustrate    
,schopenhauer's meaning4 ,and           
,shakespeare offers  us incomparable    
examples4 ,in his great tragedies--such 
as ,othello1 for  instance--we feel the 
knowledge or ,idea of ,life1 in all its 
varied  human manifestations4 ,life1    
manifold1 diverse1 and abundant--and all
  felt intuitively from within4 ,into   
his creations1 ,shakespeare pours  wide 
and overflowing knowledge of life2 there
 is nothing narrow or  shut in1 in his  
conceptions1 but every character is     
alive in the great  sense1 illustrating 
no narrow precept or trite morality1 no 
cut and  dried scheme of a petty        
out-look on life1 but the great morals  

of life  itself1 as varied1 as          
intangible and as inexplicable4 ,he     
represents  this sense of varied life as
 manifested or objectified in his       
creations1 i4e41 his characters4 ,in    
,othello1 for instance1 we have         
suggestions of love and jealousy that go
 down to the very depth of the  heart1  
through imaginative insight4 ,and what  
we are brought close to1  is the vivid  
intense life of feeling that            
,shakespeare's creations  hold1 and that
 we1 ourselves1 are capable of holding  
in our own  hearts4 ,in this            
presentation1 ,shakespeare flashes the  
sense of life  with all its complexities
 of heart and brain into us4 ,he does   
not  stand1 as it were aside1 as a      
commentator on the faults or weaknesses 
of his characters1 but he wafts us out  
of our circumscribed lives1 out  of our 
limitation of thought1 we know not how1 
into an atmosphere  quivering with      
passion1 and felt by us all the keener1 
because we  recognise that the ,poet    

never thought about us at all4 ,he      
excites  our sympathies by his own      
intuitions into the clashing ideas1     
which he  represents in the tragedy of a
 passionately loving and a jealous      
nature4 ,we learn truths1 not of fact1  
but of life1 focussed and  arranged as  
an artist arranges them1 and permeated  
with that strange  sense of wonder which
 only ,life can give4 ,we feel the      
suggestion of an  inevitable dim        
something beyond1 to explain the        
unexplainable1 the  tragedy of          
character1 and the tragedy of           
circumstance4    ,these make the great  
crises which break up lives4 ,but the   
play goes on  with all the wild force of
 life itself4 ,we feel the ,idea of     
jealousv  forming itself in the noble   
nature of ,othello1 and bringing with it
  anguish1 the bitterer throes of life1 
those intense and hopeless  moments when
 struggle only makes the coil close     
tighter round the  victim4 ,and after we
 have felt these1 no nature remains     

quite the same  as before4 ,there has   
entered into us a power of imaginative  
sympathy  which ,art alone can inspire  
and only when it most inwardly reveals  
,life itself4 ,of all things1 the ,too  
late and the ,might have been  are the  
most sorrowful1 and the divine          
possibility1 cruelly realised  too late1
 gives the sharpest edge to ,othello's  
mental agony1 when the  whole truth of  
,desdemona's life--an objectification of
 loyalty1  love1 and purity--is only    
revealed to him as she lies there dead  
before him1 killed by his own hand4 ,all
 that it means rushes then like  a      
torrent on his soul2 when ,othello falls
 on the bed1 by ,desdemona's  body1 the 
remorse and love that rend him with     
their talons are beyond  even           
,shakespeare's power of expression4     
,with groans scarcely uttered1 ,othello 
gives the only outlet possible  to the  
blinding1 scathing storm of passions    
within him4 ,there is one  touch1 and   
only the intuitive artist of humanity   

and of life could  have known it1 and   
given it--only one touch of consolation 
that could  be left him1 and it comes to
 ,othello as he is dying6 ,i kiss'd     
thee1  'ere ,i kill'd thee4    ,he      
fastens on this as a starving man       
fastens on a crumb of bread4    ,why is 
this so true as to be almost            
intolerable--and yet so beautiful8  ,the
 characters have art necessities4       
,schiller said ,art has its  categorical
 ,imperatives--its must1 and            
,shakespeare's characters  fulfil them4 
,we feel how inevitable is their fate4  
,they make their own  tragedy4 ,the     
,poet compresses a ,life ,tragedy into a
 few pages of  manuscript4 ,he1 with the
 great sense and ,idea of ,human ,life  
in him1  has to choose what he will     
portray1 and the greater an artist the  
more  unerring is his selection4 ,then  
begins his own absorption in the        
characters4 ,conception and expression  
come to him and come nobly and          
spontaneously--and so spontaneous is his

 touch--so completely is he  absorbed   
in1 and one with his characters--that it
 makes our rush of  sympathy as         
spontaneous as his own4    ,we feel the 
,identification of ,shakespeare with    
,othello--with  ,iago--with ,desdemona  
,he is them all4 ,he1 ,william          
,shakespeare1 is  the                   
will-less--time-less--subject of        
knowledge1 living in pure  knowing and  
absorbed in the creations that represent
 his varied and  his intuitive knowledge
 of the great ,idea of ,life4 ,and he   
excites and  suggests in us the same    
absorption in his creations--that is1 if
 we  have the capacity to feel it4      
,it is a land of marvel and of mystery  
when all personal interests and  all    
consciousness of individual temperaments
 are lost1 fall off from  us1 and       
nothing remains1 nothing exists to us   
but the love1 the  betrayal1 the agony1 
and the struggles of the noble nature1  
that dies  upon a kiss4 ,we are so much 
part of it1 we become so possessed by   

it1  that we do not even know or feel   
that we are knowing or feeling4         
,shakespeare is ,othello--and so are we1
 for the time being4  ,shakespeare had  
the insight and power of genius1 and so 
could retain  and reproduce his vision  
into the inner life4 ,we alas6 often    
cannot2  when the play is over we become
 again1 a link in the chain that binds  
us to the ordinary world of             
consciousness2 the veil of illusion has 
fallen again between us and real vision1
 we are again among the  shadows1 with  
some general impressions more or less   
blurred1 but the  vivid vision of the   
,poet which made us feel in the         
manifestations he  created1 the very    
,idea of ,life itself--has faded from   
us1 we are no  longer in the ,ideal     
world which is the real world4    ,we   
will take one other example1 not of a   
play1 but of a picture4 ,the  ,ascending
 ,christ for instance at the ,pitti     
,palace1 ,florence1 by ,fra             
,bartolomeo4    ,it is well enough      

known1 with the rapt faces of the four  
evangelists1  two on either side1 gazing
 at their ,master1 with more of love for
 ,him  than of understanding even then1 
in their expression4 ,and the two       
lovely little angels beneath1 oblivious 
of everything but the  medallion they   
are holding1 as is the way with old     
,masters4 ,it is the  ,christ alone that
 rivets our attention4 ,the majestic1   
noble form1 and  the sad1 grave1        
beautiful eyes1 revealing the ,victor   
over ,life and  ,death1 as ,he leaves   
the earth1 triumphant indeed1 but with  
the  solitariness of triumph of the     
,divine ,man1 ,who knows now the awful  
sorrow of humanity4 ,it is ,life human  
and divine in the ,artist's  ,conception
 or ,idea4 ,how absorbed must he have   
been in his  representation of this idea
 since he could suggest1 and that       
spontaneously1 such problems of         
unutterable thoughts in those divine    
eyes4 ,the whole vision of humanity1 as 
it might be in the mind of  ,christ1 and

 as it was felt in the artist's vision1 
is flashed into our  own minds--it is an
 artistic inspiration4 ,art suggests1 it
 does not  explain4 ,a picture focusses 
into a few inches of space a whole drama
  of life and thought4 ,we read it      
there1 we feel it1 and with no          
conscious effort1 for this is the gift  
of ,genius4    ,and our absorption in a 
work of genius is untouched even by     
consideration of technique4 ,the methods
 of conveying the impression  may be    
noted afterwards1 and we may delight in 
form and colour1 and  light and shade4  
,but it is the result of all these that 
the art  lover feels so spontaneously   
and unconsciously4 ,learned art critics 
and dealers will study the size of ears1
 the length of noses1 the  breadth of   
thumbs1 the manner of curving the little
 finger in order to  make sure of the   
authenticity of the artist4 ,it is more 
important to  them than the enjoyment of
 the work of art itself4 ,the lover of  
art  has a receptive nature1 so that he 

does not concern himself much1 with     
these considerations1 he does not even  
compare pictures4 ,all that  may come   
afterwards1 if he is a student1 as well 
as a lover4 ,but1 at  all events1 at    
first1 he will find a response simply in
 his own soul  to the picture1 which    
represents to him an idea4 ,his own     
personality  and individuality leave    
him2 unconsciously he is possessed4     
,instead of  getting to understand it1  
and attacking a work of art as if it    
were a  mathematical problem1 he        
discovers that the picture is possessing
 him1  and that is what ,schopenhauer   
means4 ,art has dmonic power1 it takes  
hold of us wholly1 and in proportion to 
our faculty of receptiveness  we        
understand it more or less fully4       
,architecture can hold us in this  way1 
sculpture can1 a great city can with its
 architecture and  associations         
combined4 ,rome does4 ,the very essence 
of the artistic  quality hangs round the
 old walls of ,rome4 ,rome itself can   

teach us1  enter into us1 possess us in 
a way of its own4 ,the great bond of    
similarity between all the arts is their
 having this possessing  power1 this    
revelation of ideas1 in whatever form   
they are expressed4  ,rafael in the     
exquisite outline of the peasant girl's 
face1 saw  without conscious effort the 
vision of maternity1 as the perfect     
form of the ,madonna della ,seggiola    
rose before him4 ,this is               
idealism--seeing the idea in the object 
of contemplation4 ,and the  spectator1  
gazing at the picture1 also without     
consciousness of  effort1 is moved into 
a passionate tenderness1 which he knows 
not  whether he has given to heavenly   
beauty or earthly charm2 he feels       
motherhood1 and to quote again ,mr4     
,henry ,james in ,the ,madonna of the   
,future1 he is intoxicated with the     
fragrance of the tenderest  blossom of  
maternity that ever bloomed on earth4   
,critics may question  its manner1      
method and style2 but the art lover     

feels its graceful  humanity1 he does   
not praise1 or qualify1 or measure or   
explain1 or  account for--he is one with
 its loveliness--one with the purity and
  the truth of the ideal which it       
represents4    ,this may explain        
something of the attitude towards art in
  ,schopenhauer's philosophy1 though to 
reproduce and exemplify thought  is     
always difficult1 and abstract          
philosophical thought is especially  so4
 ,the real comprehension of a           
philosopher's mind depends mainly on    
how far we are able to get into the     
atmosphere of his thought2 it  depends  
upon affinity in fact1 and this is why  
philosophy must be the  study1 mainly1  
of the lonely thinker4 ,explainers and  
lecturers  necessarily intrude their own
 individualities into their             
explanations1  which have to be         
discounted4 ,yet when discounted1       
certain  individualities do help us in  
philosophy1 and even in poetry4 ,some   
minds may be more akin with the         

philosopher's or poet's than are our    
own1 and a thought will become more     
vivid and clear to us1 and a poem  more 
lovely1 when we understand it or view   
it1 through a mind to which  it appeals 
directly1 and to us through that other4 
,and now1 after  endeavouring to grapple
 with ,schopenhauer's theory of art1    
what does  it come to at last8 ,is it   
more than this that the philosopher     
explains  it as unconscious absorption  
in the manifestation of an ,idea1 and   
that  it is a refuge from life and its  
woes ,we may have felt all that he  has 
described1 and1 for a philosopher1      
,schopenhauer has a great gift  of      
expression1 indeed the love of art and  
literature glows on almost  every page  
of his book4 ,but his theory is surely  
scarcely more than a  re-statement of   
what we feel1 and if we ask whence comes
 the  artistic quality--from the heart  
or the nerves--or the brain2--what is   
the philosophical definition of the     
compulsion in art2 how does  philosophy 

account for its strange compelling1     
unique1 possessing1  power--we get no   
answer at all1 it eludes all tests4 ,we 
get no  explanation of what the strange 
insight is which we find in the man of  
,genius1 or of the faculty that gives   
the capacity for absorption and  that   
excites it in us4 ,the genesis of this  
wonderful faculty remains  unknown to   
us1 undefined4 ,unconsciousness is a    
necessary ingredient in  it1 according  
to ,schopenhauer1 and this helps us to  
realise the  difficulty of expressing   
it4 ,what thinker will reduce the       
quality to  intellectual symbols8 ,until
 that is done1 however1 ,philosophy of  
,art  must remain a philosophy of the   
,undefined1 and the ,undefinable6       
,v4        ,,impressions ,,of ,,george  
,,sand4      ,perhaps the keynote to the
 charm of ,george ,sand's art is given  
in her  preface to her exquisite novel  
,la ,derniere ,aldini4 ,here is none of 
the accuracy and patience of the        
scientific enquirer into the  mysterious

 mixture man1 which we find in ,george  
,eliot's preface to  ,middlemarch4      
,indeed these prefaces sum up the       
remarkably differing  characteristics of
 the two writers4 ,george ,eliot is     
occupied with the  function of knowledge
 in regard to the ardently willing soul4
 ,she  explains in her preface that the 
aim of her book is to trace the fate  of
 the ,saint4 ,theresas of a past age1 in
 the ordinary environment and           
circumstances of our time4 ,the problem 
was1 how were detachment of  mind and   
spiritual longing and love to find their
 developments in a  modern prosaic      
setting4 ,george ,eliot brought to bear 
on this enquiry  all her great powers of
 observation1 discrimination and        
thought4 ,each  page of the novel       
reveals the conscious endeavour of the  
born thinker  to express in artistic    
form some conception that would help to 
clear  the outlook on which the answer  
to the problem depended4 ,george ,sand1 
who had also her philosophising1 and her

 analysing moods1 was yet  capable of   
feeling that novels may be romances4    
,she could write under  the sway of pure
 emotion and apart from theory4 ,george 
,eliot never  regarded her novels as    
mere romances4 ,romances1 said ,george  
,sand in  her preface1 are always       
'fantasies1' and these fantasies of the 
imagination are like the clouds which   
pass4 ,whence come the clouds and       
whither do they go8 ,in wandering about 
the ,forest of ,fontainebleau  tte  tte 
with my son ,i have dreamed of          
everything else but this  book4 ,this   
book which ,i wrote that evening in the 
little inn1 and  which ,i forgot the    
next morning1 that ,i might occupy      
myself only with  the flowers and the   
butterflies4 ,i could tell you exactly  
every  expedition we made1 each         
amusement we had1 but ,i can not tell   
you why  my spirit went that evening to 
,venice4 ,i could easily find a good    
reason1 but it will be more sincere to  
confess that ,i do not remember  it4    

,the mind of ,george ,sand1 instead of  
being engaged with a problem1 was  like 
an olian harp breathed upon by every    
azure breath1      ,that under heaven is
 blown    ,to harmonies and hues        
beneath1    ,as tender as its own4      
,so responsive was she that she gave    
back in wealth of sentiment and  idea1  
the beauty wafted to her by the forest  
winds4 ,so instinct with  emotion1 so   
alive and receptive and creative that a 
passing impulse  resulted in a work of  
art of the touching beauty of ,la       
,derniere  ,aldini4 ,so unanalytic of   
self1 that she could not remember the   
driving impulse that caused her to write
 the novel4 ,impulses like  clouds come 
and go1 and the artist soul is the sure 
recipient of them4  ,it sees and follows
 the gleam--it feels the mystic         
influences4 ,this  is the foundation of 
that inexplicable thing inspiration1    
genius4 ,this  receptive-creative       
faculty is the gift ,george ,sand       
received1 and this  preface is the      

keynote to it4    ,it is this gift1     
which is power1 and in ,george ,sand it 
is a liberating  power2 it freed her own
 soul1 and it freed the souls of others4
 ,she  herself felt--and she made       
readers feel1 as in ,lelia1 that outward
  limitations and hindering             
circumstances were as nothing compared  
to  the great fact of freedom within1   
freedom of heart and soul and mind  from
 the enthralment of the actual4 ,we are 
free2--it is a great  thing to be as    
sure and as proud of it as ,st4 ,paul   
was of having been  ,free born4 ,some of
 us achieve freedom with sorrow and with
 bitter  tears and with great           
effort--sometimes with spasmodic effort1
 and  ,george ,sand obtained inward     
freedom in that way4    ,but however    
obtained1 the first time a mind feels   
conscious of it1 it  is a revelation1   
and it may come as an influence from an 
artist soul4  ,george ,sand had l'esprit
 libre et vari4 ,george ,eliot l'esprit 
fort et pesant4 ,george ,sand was       

widely1 wisely1 and eminently human4    
,she felt deep down in her heart all the
 social troubles and problems  of her   
day--and created some herself6 ,but she 
was true to the artist  soul in her--to 
the belief in an ideal4 ,art was dormant
 when she wrote  disquisitions1 and     
sometimes her social disquisitions are  
very long  treatises4 ,but her art was  
not dormant when from her inmost soul   
she  sketched the fate of the ,berri    
peasant whom she loved so well4 ,in the 
introduction to that simple delightful  
,idyll ,la ,mare au ,diable1  which     
should be read by all social reformers  
and by all who really  care for the poor
 and the causes of poverty1 she conveys 
her  conceptions of the mission of art  
towards the oppressed unhappy  labourer2
 oppressed and unhappy1 because with    
form robust and  muscular1 with eyes to 
see1 and thoughts that might be         
cultivated to  understand the beauty and
 harmony of colour and sounds1 delicacy 
of  tone and grace of outline1 in a     

word1 the mysterious beauty of the      
world1 he1 the peasant of ,berri1 has   
never under stood the mystery of  the   
beautiful and his child will never      
understand it2 the result of  excessive 
toil1 and extreme poverty4 ,imperfect   
and condemned to  eternal childhood1    
,george ,sand recounts his life1        
touching gently his  errors1 and with   
deep sympathy entering into his trials  
and griefs4  ,and a deeper ignorance1   
she adds1 is one that is born of        
knowledge  which has stifled the sense  
of beauty4 ,the ,berri peasant has no   
monopoly in ignorance of beauty1 and    
intimate knowledge of toil and  extreme 
poverty1 but not many of us feel with   
the peasant's fate1 as  ,george ,sand   
felt it4 ,she never ceased to care for  
the cause of social  progress1 just as  
she was always heart and soul an artist4
 ,george  ,eliot has written words to   
the reader about the ruined villages on 
the ,rhone4 ,in ,the ,mill on the       
,floss1 she writes1 and again the       

remarkable difference between the two   
writers appears as forcibly as  in the  
two prefaces4 ,these dead tinted1       
hollow-eyed skeletons of  villages on   
the ,rhone1 oppress me with the feeling 
that human  life--very much of it--is a 
narrow ugly grovelling existence1 which 
even calamity does not elevate1 but     
rather tends to exhibit in all its  bare
 vulgarity of conception1 and ,i have a 
cruel conviction that the  lives1 of    
which these ruins are the traces were   
part of a gross sum of  obscure vitality
 that will be swept into the same       
oblivion with the  generations of ants  
and beavers4 ,george ,eliot saw in      
imagination  these unhappy and oppressed
 peasants with clear1 unsparing eyes4   
,she  was right in calling her          
conviction ,cruel1 for she saw merely   
the  outside of the sordid lives of     
oppressive narrowness1 which seemed to  
irritate her1 these lives of dull men   
and women out of keeping with  the earth
 on which they lived4 ,she never alluded

 to any possible  explanatory causes1   
such as excessive toil and extreme      
poverty1 which  if she had realised1 as 
,george ,sand realised them1 would have 
brought  the tender touch of sympathy   
with individual lives and griefs that we
  find so often in ,george ,eliot's     
novels4 ,but ,george ,sand could never  
have written of any peasants as part of 
a gross sum of obscure  vitality1       
because she could never have felt       
towards them in that way4  ,she was too 
imaginative and tender4 ,she did not    
look at the peasantry  en masse--but    
individually1 and loved the ,berri      
peasants  individually1 as they loved   
and adored her4 ,her artistic sense and 
her  humanity illumined her view of     
them1 and she saw their latent          
possibilities1 and knew why they were   
only latent4 ,she knew indeed1  many--if
 not all kinds of humanity4 ,once it is 
recorded she said to  ,pere ,lacordaire1
 ,you have lived with ,saints and       
,angels4 ,i have lived  with men and    

women1 and ,i could tell you 7and we may
 well think she  could7 some things you 
do not know4 ,she had indeed run through
 the  gamut of feeling1 and it was in   
one of those moments when her           
experiences of life were overwhelming   
her--that she exclaimed ,j'ai  trop bu  
la vie4 ,but her gift of genius kept her
 always vivifying4 ,she  never          
depresses4 ,from her first years at     
,nohant to the end of her long  life1   
she was always alive4 ,in the political 
troubles of #ahdh1 when  she wrote of   
herself as navr jusqu 'au fond de l'ame 
par les orages  exterieurs1 and as      
trying to find in solitude if not calm  
and  philosophy1 at least a faith in    
ideas1 her soul shrank from blood shed  
on both sides4 ,it needed a ,dante1 she 
thought1 with his nerves1 and  temper1  
and tears to write a drama full of      
groans and tortures4 ,it  needed a soul 
tempered with iron1 and with fire1 to   
linger in the  imagination over horrors 
of a symbolic ,hell1 when before one's  

very  eyes is the purgatory of          
desolation on the earth4 ,but as a      
weaker  and gentler artist1 ,george     
,sand saw what her mission was in those 
evil times2--it was to distract the     
imagination from them1 towards  tenderer
 sentiments of confidence1 of           
friendship1 and of kindness4  ,her      
political and social hopes and aims were
 always dear to her1 but  to interpret  
nature1 to live the quiet life of the   
affections were the  phases of her      
middle life4 ,and so she wrote a sweet  
song in prose1  one of the most         
delightful of her ,bergeries1 ,la       
,petite ,fadette4 ,it  was her          
contribution to the hatreds and         
agitations of the time--she  gave a     
refuge to the souls that could accept   
it--an ,ideal of calmness  and innocence
 and reverie4 ,la ,petite ,fadette and  
,le ,meunier  d',angibault reveal her   
fascinating intelligence and her idyllic
  imagination4 ,le ,meunier             
d',angibault1 she tells us1 was the     

result of  a walk1 a meeting1 a day of  
leisure1 an hour of far niente1 followed
  by ,reverie1 that play of the         
imagination which1 clothes with beauty  
and perfects1 and interprets1 the       
isolated and small events and facts  of 
life4 ,there are books of hers in early 
life that are simply                    
self-revelations--outpourings of her    
indignations4 ,she is not at her  best  
in these4 ,indiana1 written in her age  
of revolt1 is too  obviously a pamphlet 
to reveal her passionate hatred of      
marriage4 ,in  it she looked on marriage
 as un malheur insupportable4 ,but      
,consuelo1 ,la ,comtesse de ,rudolstadt1
 ,lettres d'un voyageur1  ,lelia1       
,spiridion1 ,valvdre1 ,valentine1       
,history of her ,life and  letters1 and 
many other books reveal her agonies and 
agitations1 her  hope and power1 her    
love of beauty both outward and inward  
as  represented in ,consuelo herself1   
who is contrasted with the mere         
beautiful animal ,anzoleto1 the artist  

in his lowest form4 ,he cared  only for 
physical loveliness1 he was a great     
child1 who needed nothing  but          
amusement1 emotion and beauty4 ,but     
,george ,sand herself felt the  delight 
of existence4 ,she says of ,joy ,it is  
the great uplifter of  men1 the great   
upholder4 ,for life to be fruitful1 life
 must be felt as  a blessing4 ,in all   
she wrote we feel the rare charm of     
perfect ease  and naturalness1 combined 
with the cadences of beauty4 ,we never  
feel  that she is posing4 ,and yet the  
author of the bitter attack ,lui et     
elle1 accused her of continual posing4  
,edonard de ,musset wrote with  an      
envenomed pen1 7but we must remember he 
was defending a brother71  in that      
strange literary duel between him and   
,george ,sand4 ,alfred de  ,musset had  
accused her of assuming the maternal    
pose towards poets  and musicians who   
adored her1 whilst she absorbed their   
loves and  lives and then deserted them4
 ,it is certainly very striking how her 

strong vitality seemed to sway and      
overpower some of those with whom  she  
came in contact4 ,she was the oak1 and  
the others were the ivy4  ,when they    
were torn apart1 the oak was scarred but
 not irreparably  injured1 it was the   
ivy that was destroyed4 ,in1 ,elle et   
,lui1 ,george  ,sand claims that hers   
was a protecting love for the wayward1  
gifted  child of art1 the poet whose    
ingratitude she bore with1 whose nerves 
she soothed1 and whom she cared for and 
nursed in illness4 ,kindly time  throws 
a softening veil over the acutest       
differences1 and the clash of           
temperaments1 even where they remain    
inexplicable4 ,but the answer to        
,alfred de ,musset's reproaches must be 
looked for not in one book1 but  in the 
whole tenor of her life4 ,does this show
 that her maternal  attitude was a pose4
 ,it is often said that women are born  
wives or  born mothers4 ,george ,sand   
was undeniably a born mother4 ,mrs4     
,oliphant resembled her in this respect4

 ,they both show the deep  passion of   
maternity in books and autobiographies  
and letters4 ,both  were devoted to     
their children1 there was no company    
they cared for in  comparison1 and they 
spared neither trouble or time in their 
interests4 ,but ,george ,sand cared     
much1 not only for her children but  for
 the peasants--for the poor and         
oppressed4 ,yes1 and for the poets1  the
 painters--the singers and the          
musicians1 with their temperaments  of  
genius1 their loves1 jealousies1 and    
their shattered nerves4 ,for  upwards of
 six years she treated ,chopin with a   
mother's care2 she had  the passion of  
maternity in her towards them all1 with 
whatever  feelings it may have been     
complicated in her life of manifold     
experiences and with her artist         
temperament4 ,she may have leant        
heavily on it at times1 it may have     
served as a weapon of defence when  she 
was attacked1 and used thus it may well 
have suggested a pose4  ,but however    

used1 whatever the purpose--that the    
maternal instinct was  strong in her    
there is no denying4 ,to explain        
definitely her social  and personal     
moral standards requires a biography    
that has not yet  been written4         
,socially she had a hatred of feudalism1
 of religious and  military despotism4  
,she sympathised with and helped the    
aspirations  towards a wider1 a more    
humane view of a social system1 and     
fraternal  equality and social liberty  
were to her holy doctrines4 ,perhaps    
fully  to understand ,george ,sand from 
within may require the genius of a      
,french mind and one of her own         
generation2 for the ,french of the      
present day neither study her1 or appear
 to care much for her books4  ,her      
letters should aid in giving a          
discriminating record of her  intense   
and intricate life as viewed from       
within1 and the ideas on  which that    
life was lived4 ,what then were the     
leading principles1 and  what was the   

force in ,george ,sand1 which while     
conquering life and  harmonising it     
enabled her to realise herself8 ,if     
heredity influences  moral standards the
 mystery certainly is whence ,george    
,eliot derived  not her morality1 but   
her fire of insurgency4 ,it is not      
difficult to  account for it in ,george 
,sand when we remember her mother's life
 and  temperament1 and her own early    
years4 ,her father was a good soldier1  
but had also many literary gifts4       
,george ,sand herself said3 ,character  
is hereditary1 if my readers wish to    
know me1 they must know my  father4     
,george ,eliot's creed and pervading    
view of life was the  supreme           
responsibility of it1 and the           
inevitableness of the struggles  of the 
spirit warring against the senses4 ,her 
ideal is attainment  through great      
trial4 ,george ,sand1 the born hater of 
conventions1  developed life into a     
harmony4 ,we feel ultimately in her1 a  
sense of  peculiar serenity and peace1  

of self realisation1 more akin perhaps  
to  ,plato's ideal of a character in    
harmony with itself1 whose various      
impulses are so attuned that they form  
practically a single desire and  this   
desire satisfies all the forces of the  
nature4 ,what was this  desire that was 
involved in the whole aim or system of  
,george ,sand's  life8 ,the ethical poet
 who affirmed emphatically that conduct 
was  three-fourths of life1 expressed   
the highest admiration of ,george       
,sand's aims and ethics1 and according  
to ,matthew ,arnold1 her ruling  idea   
was1 that this ordinary human life of   
love and suffering was  destined to be  
raised1 into an ideal life1 and that    
ideal life is  our real life4 ,matthew  
,arnold has written one of his most     
beautiful  and eloquent and touching    
essays in this record of his impressions
 and  estimate of ,george ,sand4 ,well  
does he say that her passions and her   
errors have been abundantly talked of4  
,she left them behind her1 and  men's   

memory of them will leave them behind   
also4    ,there will remain the sense of
 benefit and stimulus from that large   
and frank nature1 that large and pure   
utterance4 ,matthew ,arnold gives  three
 principal elements in her strain4      
,instead of the hopeless echo  of       
unrealised ideas we hear from her the   
evolution of character3 #a1  ,through   
agony1 and revolt2 #b1 ,through         
consolation from nature and  beauty2 #c1
 ,through sense of the ,divine 7',je fus
 toujours tourment des  choses divines'7
 and social renewal1 she passes into the
 great life  motif of her existence2    
that the sentiment of the ideal life is 
none  other than man's normal life as we
 shall one day know it4 ,matthew        
,arnold saw ,george ,sand in his        
enthusiastic youth when she was in the  
serenity and dignity of middle age at   
,nohant4    ,browning came across her in
 her journalistic career in ,paris1 and 
he  was not touched with the same       
admiration4    ,mr4 ,chesterton suggests

 in his biography of the poet that      
,browning was  conventional by          
nature--and through the greatness of his
 brain he  developed4 ,he certainly     
developed on many sides1 but his        
development  did not include admiration 
for ,george ,sand and her circle4 ,it   
was  social tone1 his biographer        
believes1 more than opinions1 which     
created this strong aversion in the     
author of ,the ,statue and the  ,bust4  
,but ,mrs4 ,browning1 though her life   
had been mainly one long seclusion  on  
her sofa1 was unhampered by these       
conventional barriers4 ,what she  felt  
was the attraction of the massive and   
fascinating brain and heart  of the     
great ,french woman1 what she heard was 
that eloquent voice1  what she saw was  
that noble1 that speaking head4 ,she had
 warm1 quick  sympathies and intuitional
 appreciations of genius4 ,in regard to 
so  wide and so complicated a character 
as ,george ,sand's1 we cannot be        
astonished at finding very different    

judgments and impressions2 indeed  we   
are prepared to feel in all of them some
 note of inadequacy and of              
incompleteness4 ,but in our relation to 
her as a ,great ,writer1 of this1  as   
readers1 we are assured1 we know that it
 is no common matter to  have come into 
contact with so gifted and great a      
nature1 with a  genius that possessed a 
current of true and living ideas1 and   
which  produced amid the inspiration of 
them4          ,,notes3        #a3      
#ahhf4 ,mind ,vol4 #aa4 ,the need of a  
,society for experimental  ,psychology4 
#b3 #ahhh4 ,mind ,vol4 #ac4 ,the        
,psychological ,laboratory at ,leipsic4 
#c3 ,essays4 ,on the genius and tendency
 of the writings of ,thomas  ,carlyle4  
,the ,camelot ,series4    #d3 ,see      
supplementary notice of ,hamlet in      
,charles ,knight's ,pictorial  ,edition 
of ,shakespeare4