APPENDIX A LUI 



village — the gateway of a great imknown wilderness. Though the stress 

 of life was very great and the people had to be practical, yet they 

 could take an interest in Latin discussions on philosophical questions. 

 Jolliet was no worse a canoe-man because of his knowledge of Latin — 

 nor, 2,000 years before that, was Socrates less staunch a foot soldier 

 at Potidea and Deliuni because of his devotion to moral philosophy. 



And yet those who wished to confine the Koyal Society of Canada 

 within the limits of the Eoyal Society of London were not altogether 

 without reason. There is undouTjted truth in Lord Beaconsfield's 

 remark, when offering a baronetcy to Tennyson, " that it is in the nature 

 of things that the tests of merit cannot be so precise in literature as 

 in science," and, as Lord Macaulay says, '"' the province of literature is 

 a debatable land." What may be possible in a highly centralized coun- 

 try like France is out of the question in a decentralized country like 

 Canada, where local patriotisms still obstruct that organic unity which 

 we all hope will be realized in future years. The appraisal of current 

 literature, especially of poetry, is, fortunately, not one of the functions 

 of our Society; for no institution ever has been devised which could 

 so isolate itself from the time-spirit enveloping it as to anticipate the 

 literary judgments of even the next succeeding generation. Posterity 

 is the only infallible Judge ; for, although, as Pope tells us, 



Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind, 



the ripening of those seeds is retarded or prevented by the dominating 

 spirit of the age. It took seven years to sell the first edition of 1,300 

 copies of "Paradise Lost," and Milton received ten pounds for his 

 share; but the nation was then in the full tide of reaction against the 

 Puritans, and Butler's " Hudibras " was the popular poem of the period. 

 No conceivable Academy would have crowned " Paradise Lost " then, 

 or for two generations after. "All men," as Cicero says, " by a certain 

 hidden faculty approve or condemn works of art or letters," but they 

 do so infallibly, only after the mists of the age clear away. Great 

 works in poetry originate independently of stimulation or reward. 



Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 



(That last infirmity of noble mind) 



To scorn delights, and live laborious days. 



The passion of creative art will neither be encouraged nor discour- 

 aged. Most of the greatest works in Literature were written before 

 copyright was thought of. Dante could not help writing his great 



