UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. 



379 



sand-fold formations of Nature and life without 

 desire. Artistic gift, according to Schopenhauer, 

 is the power of divesting things from their acci- 

 dental surroundings, of discovering in the contin- 

 ual change of individual phenomena the lasting 

 essence of the type. Genius proper is the high- 

 est degree of this intuitive knowledge, which asks 

 no more for the how and the when and the 

 where, but merely for the what. This " what " 

 Schopenhauer identifies with the idea in Plato's 

 sense. The Platonic idea he considers to be the 

 last stage of objectivated (I again apologize for 

 the barbarous formation) will previous to its 

 becoming phenomenon. The idea lies beyond 

 time, space, and causality, and is, therefore, not 

 observable by our senses ; but this does not pre- 

 clude its metaphysical reality, a reality quite as 

 undeniable and almost as tangible as the indi- 

 vidual phenomena which are its subdivisions. 

 Nature herself is continually struggling for the 

 embodiment of this ideal type, but attains it 

 rarely or never. How, then, can art hope to real- 

 ize this archetypal beauty of form ? 



" People believe by imitating Nature. But how 

 can the artist know the works of Nature that are 

 beautiful and worthy of imitation among those that 

 are not, unless his anticipation of the beautiful 

 precedes experience? Moreover, has Nature ever 

 produced a perfectly beautiful human being ? It 

 has been said that the artist must collect the beau- 

 tiful single parts of various individuals, and com- 

 pose with them a beautiful whole — a perverse and 

 thoughtless opinion. For we ask again, How is 

 he to recognize that such forms are beautiful and 

 others the reverse \ A -posteriori and from mere 



experience the recognition of the beautiful is im- 

 possible ; it must always be at least partly a prion. 

 . . . The fact of our appreciating human beauty 

 on seeing it, and of the artist recognizing it with 

 such distinctness as to be able to reproduce it 

 without ever having seen it, and to surpass Nature 

 herself— this fact is explained by the other fact 

 that we ourselves are that will, the adequate ob- 

 jectivation of which in its highest development 

 is thus appreciated or discovered. . . . True 

 genius discovers in the single phenomenon its 

 idea, lie understands the half-uttered words of 

 Nature, and himself pronounces clearly her stam- 

 mered utterance. He impresses the type of Beauty, 

 vainly attempted by her in thousand-fold forma- 

 tions, on his hard marble, and places it before Na- 

 ture, saying, as it were, ' See here what it was 

 thy desire to express.' " 



This is one of the two passages which the 

 greatest artist among poets, Goethe, especially 

 admired in the work of the greatest poet among 

 philosophers. This testimonial alone ought to be 

 sufficient to protect Schopenhauer from the sus- 

 picion of exaggerated idealism in art. He does 

 not undervalue the necessity in artistic produc- 

 tion of experience external and internal, of real- 

 ism, as we should say ; but this realism ought 

 always to be illumined by the supernal light of 

 ideal intuition. Neither does he confine his re- 

 quirement of a typical background to representa- 

 tions of the beautiful or harmonious proper. Sir 

 John Falstaff or Mrs. Gamp are realizations of 

 Platonic ideas, no less than the Madouua della 

 Sedia or the Venus of Milo. 



— Fortnightly Review. 



UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. 1 



IT is to be regretted that Captain Warren 

 should have thought fit to give up so much 

 of his book upon the exploration of Jerusalem to 

 the narration of personal grievances and by-gone 

 difficulties, early slights suffered at the hands of 

 indifferent boards and secretaries at home, vexa- 

 tious opposition and jealous interference on the 



1 TTndersronnd Jerusalem : An Account of some of 

 the Principal Difficulties encountered in its Exploration, 

 and the Results obtained, etc. By Charles Warren, Cap- 

 tain E. E., F. G. S., etc. London : Eichard Bentley & Son. 

 1876. 



part of pashas, consuls, or rival investigators on 

 the spot. The history of a praiseworthy and in 

 many respects a noble work is marred by these 

 discordant tones. Whatever may have been the 

 " grievance " which Captain Warren claims as 

 an Englishman's birthright, it must be idle to 

 discuss wrongs of six or seven years' standing ; 

 while by harping upon these he wastes the op. 

 portunity of doing justice to his own real achieve- 

 ments, and to the substantial gains secured by 

 the enterprise under his control. If the solid re- 

 sults of the Palestine Exploration Fund have thus 



