191^] on The Romantic Revival 271 



But the critic bids us pause. He asks us whether we are sure of 

 inspiration in the future, as in the past. We cannot prophesy : hut 

 we may at least draw our hopes from the principles which are 

 attested by the past. And if the question is asked whether tne 

 poetry of the future is likely to be as good as that of the past, I 

 think we may say that there is no reason why it should not. But, 

 while we record our hope, it is only fair to say that there is no lack of 

 gloomy-minded critics who shake their heads over all who dare to 

 hope. In their judgment the world of letters is always on the 

 decline. 



Such folk will probably remind us of the opinion of Macaulay. 

 which was that as civilisation advances poetry will decline. Though 

 some would not accept so depressing a statement of the question, 

 they might argue that with advancing knowledge the realm of 

 imagination is necessarily narrowed, and to that degree the kingdom 

 of poetry diminished. Science encroaches on the domain of fancy ; 

 and poesy, like a bird no longer free to stretch her wings, grows 

 silent in her cage. The captive muse disdains to use her harp. 



But is this picture an adequate or true description of the matter ? 

 Is it a fact that the advance of science narrows the domain of 

 imagination ? The analogy of the argument is faulty. It presup- 

 poses a limited territory shared between the two powers, science and 

 song. If this is a correct picture, it follows of course that the larger 

 the territory annexed by science the smaller is the area left to poetry. 

 But the true picture is of another sort. Both scienee and poetry are 

 as travellers exploring together the great infinite which surrounds 

 them. Year by year science adds new territory to the domain of 

 things known and so extends its circling border into the realm of the 

 great unknown ; but the wider her borders grow, the longer is the 

 frontier line which separates the known from the unknown, and the 

 greater is the realm which imagination may claim as lier heritage. Or, 

 to put it in another way, as knowdedge increases our sense of the 

 infinite grows. In the days of men's ignorance their minds did not 

 travel far. Imagination did not penetrate deeply into the gloomy 

 wood which surrounded her dwelling. But as knowledge extends 

 her borders the world is found to be greater : the infinite means far 

 more to us than it did to our forefathers. AVe are as those who have 

 climbed higher, and the prospect is wider and the field of mystery 

 which spreads beyond is greater and more marvellous than ever. 

 In short, as I contemplate and rejoice in the conquests of science, 

 the picture which I see grows larger and nobler. I seem to see 

 science unfolding the gates of knowledge and saying to the children 

 of fancy, " I have swept the wide spaces where the stars are shining, 

 and I have seen their colour and the fashion of their being ; I have 

 weighed them in the balance, and I have marked their birth and 

 their decay. I have pierced into the fabric of the universe and I have 

 flung the elements of worlds upon my spectroscope. I have Ijroken 



