NATURE'S INSURGENT SON 3 



To which Polyxenes replies : 



* Say there be 



Yet nature is made better by no mean, 

 But nature makes that mean : so, over that art, 

 Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art 

 That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry 

 A gentle scion to the wildest stock ; 

 And make conceive a bark of baser kind 

 By bud of nobler race ; this is an art 

 Which does mend nature, change it, rather : but 

 The art itself is nature.' 



The larger proportion of so-called educated people 

 even at the present day have not got beyond Perdita's 

 view of Nature. They regard the territory of Nature 

 as a limited one, the play-ground or sport of all sorts 

 of non-natural demons and fairies, spirits and occult 

 agencies. Apart from any definite scheme or concep- 

 tion of these operations, they personify Nature and 

 attribute a variety of virtues and tendencies to her for 

 which there is no justification. We are told, according 

 to the fancy of the speaker, that such a course is in 

 accordance with Nature ; that another course is con- 

 trary to Nature; we are urged to return to Nature and 

 we are also urged to resist Nature. We hear that 

 Nature will find a remedy for every ill, that Nature is 

 just, that Nature is cruel, that Nature is sweet and our 

 loving mother. On the one hand Man is regarded as 

 outside of and opposed to Nature, and his dealings are 

 contrasted favourably or unfavourably with those of 

 Nature. On the other hand we are informed that Man 

 must after all submit to Nature and that it is useless 

 to oppose her. These contradictory views are in fact 

 fragments of various systems of philosophy of various 

 ages in which the word ' Nature ' has been assigned 

 equally various limitations and extensions. Without 

 attempting to discuss the history and justification of 



B 2 



