A CRITICISM OF LIFE? 327 



we feel convinced that Wordsworth is a classic, it does not 

 greatly signify what other nations now think about him. As 

 nothing can confer world-wide celebrity on an inferior poet, 

 however popular at home, so nothing can prevent a classic 

 from attaining his right place in the long run. There is 

 something slightly ridiculous in waiting upon French opinion, 

 and expressing gratitude to M. Henry Cochin or to any other 

 foreign critic for a sensible remark upon Shakespeare. How- 

 ever, as the question has been started whether Wordsworth is 

 likely to become a poet of cosmopolitan fame, it is worth 

 while to consider what these chances are. Mr. Arnold, com- 

 paring him with the acknowledged masters of the art in 

 Europe, comes to the conclusion that he has * left a body of 

 poetical work superior in power, in interest, in the qualities 

 which give enduring freshness, to that which any of the 

 others has left.' What these qualities are we have already 

 seen. It is the superior depth, genuineness, sincerity, and 

 truth of Wordsworth's humanity, the solid and abiding 

 vigour of his grasp upon the realities of existence, upon the 

 joys that cannot be taken from us, upon t^he goods of life 

 which suffer no deduction by chance and change, and are 

 independent of all accidents of fortune, that render Words- 

 worth's poems indestructible. He is always found upon the 

 side of that which stimulates the stored-up moral forces of 

 mankind. If I remember rightly, he says that he meant 

 his works ' to console the afflicted, to add sunshine to day- 

 light, by making the happy happier, to teach the young 

 and the gracious of every age to see, to think, and feel, and 

 therefore to become more actively and securely virtuous.' 

 This promise he has kept. When he touches the antique, it 

 is to draw from classic myth or history a lesson weighty with 

 wisdom applicable to our present experience. ' Laodamia ' 

 has no magic to compete with the ' Bride of Corinth ' ; but 

 we rise from its perusal with passions purified by terror and 

 compassion. * Dion ' closes on this note : 



Him only pleasure leads, and peace attends, 

 Him, only him, the shield of Jove defends, 

 Whose means are fair and spotless a.s h.is ends. 



