112 THE NEW ERA 



Through the world's press and the telegraph a new 

 thought or a new invention can now reach a thousand 

 million within a week. This is a new era. 



Next, the world hegan to be knit together once 

 more. The Dutch and Portuguese linked Europe 

 with the Indies, China, and Japan. The Spaniards 

 found America. The English followed them every- 

 where. The markets were stored with spices from 

 the Levant, ivories from India, silks from China, and 

 so on. The world was prodigiously stimulated and 

 sparkling. Literature was finer than it had been in 

 Borne. And on top of all this came the wonderful 

 news of the great attack on the Papacy. The Refor- 

 mation was in part — though it was not so meant by 

 Luther, who was very human — a sour reaction against 

 the new humanism. It checked development over 

 a large area, particularly because it led to long and 

 truculent wars. But it was a great and necessary 

 event. It freed the mind from one tyranny and 

 taught the right of rebellion against tradition. 

 Witness its effect in England. It blighted the land 

 for a time with its Puritanism, yet it was these very 

 Puritans who discovered that the people are the 

 King's master. 



I do not propose to follow the evolution of modern 

 civilization any further in this sketchy way. Let us 

 rather cast up the accounts of the whole process. 



In art one may doubt if the world will ever again 

 reach the highest Greek and medieval standards, much 

 less surpass them. That is not a sign of loss of 

 power, and it is foolish to flatter ourselves that we 

 are rising higher by opening new and eccentric paths 

 (Futurism, Cubism, etc.). Great art — or periods of 

 great art — belong to the early phases of civilizations. 



