JUNE 109 



that there are indeed three heads under the three 

 hats, and thus we breathe again. 



The poet sometimes gives vent to an untenable 

 theory, but the gardener and Lamia, of course, 

 cannot be expected to set him right, and dear 

 little Veronica adores him far too much to do so. 

 He is bold enough to justify in the name of 

 restraint the bald and simple verse which is held 

 by some of our later poets to be one with the 

 true stuff. I cannot quite go with him here. 

 Restraint is, no doubt, an admirable quality, but 

 one ceases to admire it when it is inevitable. 

 It is difficult to esteem the restraint of a gagged 

 man who refrains from using bad language. The 

 restraint and nothing more of which we see so 

 much is a poor thing as a quality of verse, and 

 it is difficult to perceive how I'dme agitde of a 

 great poet in its moment of wildest frenzy could 

 be "controlled by the serenity of the mind." 

 Rigorous self-criticism is an essential, but I think 

 that it would follow, not accompany, the frenzy. 

 A poet must feel much in order to make his readers 

 feel a little ; he must weep many tears to ensure 

 that they shall weep a few. When a poet places 

 us in a situation where tears are obviously in- 

 dicated, I fancy we are justified in blaming him 

 if they do not come. If we accuse him not of 

 restraint, but, like the gagged man, of want of 

 power, I think we could make good our opinion. 

 I do not for a moment mean to disparage the poet's 

 admiration of restraint as a beautiful and a neces- 

 sary quality in verse, but merely to contend that 

 most of the restraint that would call itself by that 



