■672 Mr. Arthur C. Benson on Vulgarity [May 12, 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 

 Friday, May 12, 1916. 



Sir James Crichton-Browne, J.P. M.D. LL.D. F.R.S., 

 Treasurer and Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Arthur C. Benson, C.V.O. LL.D., Master of 

 Magdalene College, Cambridge. 



Vulgarity. 



Mr. Benson said that he wished to take a word in common use, the 

 word " vulgarity," which covered a large number of kindred phenomena, 

 and to attempt to analyse it. He quoted the story of the mullet at 

 the dinner-party in "Monte Christo" as a good instance of the 

 unashamed glory of emphasising one's magnificence among less 

 fortunate persons. But there was a certain good humour often to 

 be found in combination with such vulgarity, and frank if complacent 

 ostentation was at least better than the vulgarity Avhich finds no 

 intrinsic interest in things apart from the fact that others find them 

 interesting. 



Vulgarity, he said, in its true aspect has no sense of beauty except 

 the beauty which is marketable, and is thus a foe to all progress, because 

 progress can only be attained by those who mistrust the verdict of 

 the world. The vulgar man despises the past and defies the future ; 

 he is late with his applause, and is never comfortable till he sees 

 •others applauding too. 



Mr. Benson indicated Plato and Dr. Johnson as instances of 

 minds where there seemed no least admixture of vulgarity. But 

 turning to the poets and comparing Shelley and Keats with Byron, 

 it was clear that Shelley had no touch of the quality, that Keats had 

 just a superficial wash of it from his early associations, but that 

 Byron was deeply tainted by it, and his life poisoned by stupendous 

 vanity and selfish sensitiveness. 



Vulgarity is not, however, a fault of breeding only. It is not 

 ii bad standard of taste so much as an excessive admiration of the 

 wrong qualities, a sacred deference for the opinion of the majority. 



The opposite of vulgarity is not refinement or fastidiousness, but 

 generosity or disinterestedness. Vulgarity stands for self-confidence 

 and insolence. It exploits men and it ignores God. But it is useless 

 to make a frontal attack upon it ; positive virtues are the things to 

 iiim at. Life and hope are the indestructible things, better than the 

 most eloquent analysis of faults and failures. 



[A. C. B.] 



