244 DEMOCRATIC ART 



the right subjects to be handled delivered from pedantry and 

 blind reactionary fervour delivered from dependence upon 

 aristocratic and ecclesiastical authority sharing the emanci- 

 pation of the intellect by modern science and the enfranchise- 

 ment of the individual by new political conceptions the 

 artist is brought immediately face toface with the wonderful 

 world of men and things he has to interpret and to recreate. 

 The whole of nature, seen for the first time with sane eyes, 

 the whole of humanity, liberated for the first time from caste 

 and class distinctions, invite his sympathy. Now dawns upon 

 his mind the beauty, the divinity, which lies enfolded in the 

 simplest folk, the commonest objects presented to his senses. 

 He perceives the dignity of humble occupations, the grace inhe- 

 rent in each kind of labour well performed. He discovers that 

 love is a deity in the cottage no less than in king's chambers ; 

 not with the supercilious condescension of Tasso's ' Arninta ' 

 or Guarini's ' Pastor Fido,' but with a reverent recognition of 

 the prcesens deus in the heart of every man and woman. In 

 order to make Florizel and Perdita charming, it is no longer 

 necessary that they should be prince and princess in disguise ; 

 nor need the tale of ' Daphnis and Chloe ' now be written 

 with that lame conclusion of lost children restored to wealthy 

 high-born parents. Heroism steps forth from the tent of 

 Achilles ; chivalry descends from the arm-gaunt charger of 

 the knight ; loyalty is seen to be no mere devotion to a 

 dynasty ; passionate friendship quits the brotherhood of 

 Pylades and the dear embraces of Peirithous. None of these 

 high virtues are lost to us. On the contrary, we find them 

 everywhere. They are brought within reach, instead of being 

 relegated to some remote region in the past, or deemed the 

 special property of privileged classes. The engine-driver 

 steering his train at night over perilous viaducts, the life-boat 

 man^the member of a fire-brigade assailing houses toppling 

 to their ruin among flames ; these are found to be no less 

 heroic than Theseus grappling the Minotaur in Cretan 

 labyrinths. And so it is with the chivalrous respect for 

 womanhood and weakness, with loyal self-dedication to a 

 principle or cause, with comradeship uniting men in brother- 





