208 Mr. Arthur C. Benson [Jan. 26, 



and acts, a significance which is not bounded by his mortal span of 

 life, that he is guided, inspired, encouraged by a divine spirit whose 

 dictates he endeavours to obey, even when they appear to be at 

 variance with his own convenience, his own direct interest, his own 

 material desires. The rehgious temperament works mainly in what 

 may be called the ethical region, and its aim is right conduct, the 

 practice of virtue. 



The artistic temperament is in many ways closely akin to the 

 religious temperament. There is the same sense of being in a certain 

 relation with a spiritual power, but the message of the spirit appears 

 to the artistic nature to come mainly through a certain quality in 

 things, which we call beauty, which meets us at every turn, in field 

 and wood, in mountain and plain, in stately buildings, in the bearing 

 of gracious persons, and in the representation of these things, whether 

 through the medium of painting, or of sculpture, or of music, or 

 of words. The artistic temperament is probably commoner than is 

 generally supposed, because it is as a rule imagined that it implies a 

 certain degree of productiveness ; and a person is not commonly held to 

 be artistic, unless he tends to write books, to dabble with pigments, or 

 to gravitate towards musical instruments. But there are many people 

 of artistic nature, who are strongly affected by beauty in certain 

 forms, and who yet have no productive outlet for their visions. Some- 

 times these are tranquil and contented people, to whom things of 

 beauty are a source of serene and joyful refreshment ; but very often 

 they are discontented and fastidious natures, who are conscious of 

 subtle perceptions, and tend to believe themselves to be more interest- 

 ing than others are inclined to admit, who are strongly conscious of 

 dreariness and dissatisfaction, with an underlying feeling that they 

 are not understood or appreciated. 



Walter Pater was a supreme instance of the artistic tempera- 

 ment. He was conscious, at an age when most children are entirely 

 absorbed in material things, of the appeal of beauty to his spirit, 

 even before he could have given it a name. The life of one so 

 constituted cannot be an entirely happy thing, because fineness of 

 perception, in a world where much is hard, painful and dark, carries 

 a certain shadow with it. But Pater had the supreme happiness of 

 devotion to a particular kind of artistic work, the art of beautiful 

 expression. One who embarks upon such a pursuit cannot indeed 

 ever wholly satisfy himself ; his performance can never be so perfect 

 as his conception. But he tastes of many joys by the way, the joy 

 of perception, the joy of dreams, the joy of creation, the joy of 

 congenial labour. Through misunderstanding and appreciation alike, 

 through misrepresentation and admiration, this man held his steady 

 way, and his life may inspire us to be faithful to light, and not to be 

 disobedient to the heavenly vision. 



The name Pater appears to be Dutch in origin, but though we 

 may be apt to see !a certain Dutch element in Pater's work, the 



