532 BELLES-LETTRES 



disposed to call simply "literature/' writings not planned primarily 

 to convey information, but to arouse sensations of beauty, writings 

 whose virtue is to awaken to new life. 



The term "belles-lettres" envelops us with the atmosphere of the 

 beau monde; it smacks of spice and sweetmeats; it has the aroma of 

 concocted scent; it instills the sentiments of the dra wing-room; it 

 suggests curtsies and cushions, snuff and point-device; it demands 

 as concomitants of its being luxury and ease; it is exclusive in its 

 appeal. We prefer the term "literature" because, without restriction, 

 it offers its riches to all in need, because it is the noble helpmeet of 

 democracy. Its fragrance is of the outer air, its graces those of nature 

 herself. Its beauty is not of the sort that merely kindles the fancies of 

 the polite; it rejuvenates the hearts of all mankind. We now speak 

 of literature as of religion in a larger sense than our ancestors: we 

 acknowledge both universal in inspiration, though diversified in 

 creed, found in all lands, in all ages, in all degrees of civilization, alike 

 in essence, varying only in revelation, in understanding. We discover 

 fundamental agreement the universe over in literary standards be- 

 cause of the common human emotions that make the whole world kin. 



The spirit of literature, moreover, does not lodge in books alone. 

 It did not arise with print or parchment or rune or hieroglyph. It 

 arose the first time that one human being consciously strove to convey 

 feelings to another in words chosen to create a desired effect. The 

 spirit of literature found expression long before any instrument of 

 record was used to body it forth. By this spirit even the commonest 

 of folk, who strive not to fathom its agency, nay. can hardly spell its 

 name, the simplest of people that tread the earth, are profoundly 

 stirred, for it is the spirit of their poetic tradition, the soul of their 

 imaginative life. 



Speaking of the charming songs of Roumania that Mile. Vacaresco 

 first collected and rewrote, that accomplished lady remarks in her 

 preface: " Avant de m'etre reveles ils ont plane sur la vie des genera- 

 tions sans nombre." "Planer sur la vie" truly an expressive 

 phrase! "Planer" -how can it be rendered in English speech? 

 One must use a sentence in default of a satisfactory single word. This 

 poetry in Roumania. like popular literature in every land that is 

 a permanent power, "filleth all round about and will not easily 

 away." 



But you say: "We are not concerned with this primordial force, 

 with what you are pleased to call the spirit of literature. That is as 

 intangible as the electric current that propels our cars and gives us 

 heat and light. Pray, treat the embodied forms in which it appears." 

 A reasonable request, in truth, at which one cannot demur! Yet 

 not now would I attempt to enumerate in systematic order the vari- 

 ous literatures of civilization, or to state the conditions of their rise 



