72 Mr. Walter Besant [April 25, 



which might have been said thousands of years ago, may be said to 

 day with even greater force and truth. That world which exists not, 

 but is an invention or an imitation — that world in which the shadows 

 and shapes of men move about before our eyes as real as if they were 

 actually living and speaking among us, is like a great theatre acces- 

 sible to all of every sort, on whose stage are enacted, at our own 

 sweet will, whenever we please to command them, the most beautiful 

 plays : it is, as every theatre should be, the school in which manners 

 are learned : here the majority of reading mankind learn nearly all 

 that they know of life and manners, of philosophy and art ; even of 

 science and religion. The modern novel converts abstract ideas into 

 living models ; it gives ideas, it strengthens faith, it preaches a higher 

 morality than is seen in the actual world ; it commands the emotions 

 of pity, admiration, and terror ; it creates and keeps alive the sense 

 of sympathy ; it is the universal teacher ; it is the only book which 

 the great mass of reading mankind ever do read ; it is the only way 

 in which people can learn what other men and women are like ; it 

 redeems their lives from dulness, puts thoughts, desires, knowledge, 

 and even ambitions into their hearts ; it teaches them to talk, and 

 enriches their speech with epigrams, anecdotes and illustrations. It 

 is an unfailing source of delight to millions, happily not too critical. 

 Why, out of all the books taken down from the shelves of the public 

 libraries, four-fifths are novels, and of all those that are bought nine- 

 tenths are novels. Compared with this tremendous engine of popular 

 influence, what are all the other Arts put together? Can we not 

 alter the old maxim, and say with truth, Let him who pleases make 

 the laws if I may write the novels ? 



As for the field with which this Art of Fiction occupies itself, it 

 is, if you please, nothing less than the whole of Humanity. The 

 novelist studies men and women ; he is concerned with their actions 

 and their thoughts, their errors and their follies, their greatness and 

 their meanness ; the countless forms of beauty and constantly varying 

 moods to be seen among them ; the forces which act upon them ; the 

 passions, prejudices, hopes and fears which pull them this way and 

 that. He has to do, above all and before all, with men and women. 

 No one, for instance, among novelists, can be called a landscape 

 painter, or a painter of sea-pieces, or a painter of fruit and flowers, 

 save only in strict subordination to the group of characters with 

 whom he is dealing 



It is, therefore, the especial characteristic of this Art, that, since 

 it deals exclusively with men and women, it not only requires of its 

 followers, but also creates in readers, that sentiment which is destined 

 to be a most mighty engine in deepening and widening the civiliza- 

 tion of the world. We call it Sympathy, but it means a good deal 

 more than was formerly understood by the word. It means, in fact, 

 what Professor Secley once called the Enthusiasm of Humanity, and it 

 first appeared, I think, about a hundred and fifty years ago, when 

 the modern novel came into existence. You will find it, for instance, 



