PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS OF EDUCATION 77 



always appearing and always reminding you of unity 

 in variety. So in painting; what is called "truth to 

 nature" is the intellectual element coming in, and 

 truth to nature depends entirely upon the intellectual 

 culture of the person to whom art is addressed. If you 

 are in Australia, you may get credit for being a good 

 artist I mean among the natives if you can draw 

 a kangaroo after a fashion. But, among men of higher 

 civilisation, the intellectual knowledge we possess 

 brings its criticism into our appreciation of works of 

 art, and we are obliged to satisfy it, as well as the mere 

 sense of beauty in colour and in outline. And so, the 

 higher the culture and information of those whom art 

 addresses, the more exact and precise must be what we 

 call its "truth to nature." 



If we turn to literature, the same thing is true, and 

 you find works of literature which may be said to be 

 pure art. A little song of Shakespeare or of Goethe is 

 pure art; it is exquisitely beautiful, although its intel- 

 lectual content may be nothing. A series of pictures is 

 made to pass before your mind by the meaning of words, 

 and the effect is a melody of ideas. Nevertheless, the 

 great mass of the literature we esteem is valued, not 

 merely because of having artistic form, but because of 

 its intellectual content; and the value is the higher the 

 more precise, distinct, and true is that intellectual con- 

 tent. And, if you will let me for a moment speak of the 

 very highest forms of literature, do we not regard them 

 as highest simply because the more we know the truer 

 they seem, and the more competent we are to appre- 

 ciate beauty the more beautiful they are ? No man ever 

 understands Shakespeare until he is old, though the 

 youngest may admire him, the reason being that he 

 satisfies the artistic instinct of the youngest and har- 



