66 
The essayist then indicated the growth of the higher nature of 
King Lear, from the time when he so blindly wrongs his youngest 
daughter, to the time when she comes again as a very angel into 
his life. True he goes mad, but for all his madness, he sees the 
folly of the past, and he becomes content to go into bondage, 
for he has been freed from a bondage stronger than walls of 
stone can make, even from the captivity of self-love and selfish 
aims. So Lear passes away, a better man than at the beginning 
of the play, the very opposite of Macbeth. He has developed in 
character. Macbeth has degenerated. 
I have thus, concluded the essayist, presented to you these two 
great Shakesperian characters, the one representing to my mind 
the descent, and the other the rise of human nature. Here we 
see the depth of our great poet’s conception and the height of 
his apprehension. And I have only to say, in conclusion, in the 
words of Bowrmg— 
Ws Such is man! a soil which breeds, 
Or sweetest flowers, or vilest weeds : 
Flowers lovely as the morning’s light— 
Weeds deadly as the aconite ; 
Just as his heart is trained to bear 
The poisonous weed, or flow’ret fair.”’ 
MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
By E. RAWORTH, President of the Harrogate Literary Society. 
October 20th, 1891. 
Synopsis not available or procurable. 
ILLUSIONS. 
By J. H. HUDSON, B.A. October 27th, 1891. 
The writer introduced the subject by a short account of the 
processes involved in perception, distinguishing between the 
presentative and the representative elements which combine to 
form the complete perception. A hollow mask with the inside 
painted like the outside was shown. The concave side ‘was 
placed so that no shadow fell inside, and when fixedly gazed at, 
it appeared to be a human face in relief. This was used to show 
that the presentative elements do not always call up the appro- 
priate representative elements, but that the mind interprets each 
