NOTES 139 



in Othello, jealousy ; in Romeo and Juliet, love ; in Lear, in- 

 gratitude ; in Julius Ccesar, political faddism ; in Antony 

 and Cleopatra, political profligacy ; and in Coriolanus, pride. 

 His Hamlet and Timon may almost be looked upon as being 

 medical textbooks. Timon was probably the result of some 

 form of enterosepsis, and Hamlet that of excessive introspection 

 — both of which produce pathological results. Shakespeare's 

 comedies and some of his histories each has a prime lesson to 

 impart, and the greatest of them figures in Caliban the monstrous 

 stupidity of the mass of humanity. The masterpiece of Cer- 

 vantes is possibly by itself superior to any particular work of 

 Shakespeare, just as perhaps Dr. Faustus may be considered. 

 It states in immortal figures two extremes of the mind, 

 idealism and realism — two qualities which are constantly in 

 conflict, and which must yet always work together. There 

 was never a book with such wisdom, with more humour, and 

 with so much unutterable pathos — the extreme type of pathos 

 which lies in the shattering of high ideals. 



The degenerate criticism of the day affects to deride the 

 intention and in its small way looks only upon the artistry 

 of the surface ; and indeed it is true that all these great works 

 are immortal not only because of their didactic intention but 

 also because of their art of presentment ; but the latter is only 

 the servant of the former and not its master — as the weaker 

 critics think. For the authors knew men — that their brains 

 can be reached only through their eyes and their ears. Why 

 are not such works more common ? Because the man who can 

 unite the wisdom to see great truth with the capacity for con- 

 structing great art exists only a few times in a whole phase of 

 civilisation. What a supreme art was the art of these men. 

 In order to study it in the full we should do precisely what our 

 schoolmasters warn us against, and that is, if possible, read 

 the books in translation ; for the artistry of the surface then 

 becomes invisible and leaves us with the art of the spirit within. 

 The supreme beauty of the statue lies in the pose, the form and 

 the muscles, and not in the skin. So in these works the chief 

 art is in that of the construction and not of the language — 

 though seldom do we read eulogies of the former. It is not 

 possible that either the Iliad or the Odyssey could have been 

 written by more than one man, because it is inconceivable that 

 two men or a committee of men could ever have made such 



