Essays on Life 



sometimes dispossess its tenants. It is in 

 this residuum that those who fight place their 

 hope and trust. 



Or perhaps ^Eschylus squared the leading 

 critics of his time. When one comes to think 

 of it, he must have done so, for how is it con- 

 ceivable that such plays should have had such 

 runs if he had not ? I met a lady one year in 

 Switzerland who had some parrots that always 

 travelled with her and were the idols of her 

 life. These parrots would not let any one 

 read aloud in their presence, unless they heard 

 their own names introduced from time to time. 

 If these were freely interpolated into the text 

 they would remain as still as stones, for they 

 thought the reading was about themselves. If 

 it was not about them it could not be allowed. 

 The leaders of literature are like these parrots ; 

 they do not look at what a man writes, nor 

 if they did would they understand it much 

 better than the parrots do ; but they like the 

 sound of their own names, and if these are 

 freely interpolated in a tone they take as 

 friendly, they may even give ear to an outsider. 

 Otherwise they will scream him off if they can. 



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