IDEA OF LAW IX POETRY 7^3 



ancient Scholasticism, we received the teaching of Erasmus and his 

 fellow Humanists, so that when Luther, with all his violent Tertullian- 

 like hatred of Greek poetry and philosophy, poured himself forth in 

 a flood of rebellion against the old regime, carrying on the tide of his 

 enthusiasm all that Germanic element in the English nation which, 

 nearly two centuries before, had been stirred by the preaching of 

 Wycliffe, we were saved by the strength of our dykes from the sub- 

 merging of invaluable elements in our life and history. Yet this 

 did not pi-event the spirit of the Reformation from penetrating the 

 inmost recesses of the national character, or from finding vivid forms 

 of expression in the greatest works of English poetry. I need say 

 nothing, for the fact is obvious, of its influence on the composition of 

 Paradise Lost; but its presence in the plays of Shakespeare, though 

 more subtly disguised, is equally unmistakable. I do not think that 

 any one can read with attention either Hamlet, Macbeth, or Measure 

 for Measure, without perceiving how powerful was the conflict in 

 England between the selfish, egotistic, material principle of life, 

 deliberately advocated by such an illustrious representative of the 

 Italian Renaissance as Machiavelli, and the principle of Conscience, 

 which was the prime spiritual cause of the Reformation. 



From all this it seems to follow, first, that the " rules,''' or " for- 

 eign laws," of which Pope speaks with respect in the Essay on Criti- 

 cism, are only one of many elements that have combined to determine 

 the course of our national art and culture; and that, if English poetry, 

 like the poetry of other nations, is a mirror of our national character 

 and history, then the great fundamental law under which the genius of 

 the English poet must act, in order to produce any lasting work, is 

 the knowledge both of what mav be called the Balance of Power 

 between the constituent element? of our imagination, and also of 

 the method of fusing these contrary principles into a harmonious 

 whole. 



In practice \ve find this to have been the aim of all the most repre- 

 sentative English masters, not alone in the art of poetry but in the 

 art of painting. '' The summit of excellence." says Sir Joshua Rey- 

 nolds in his Fifth Discourse, " seems to be an assemblage of con- 

 trary qualities, but mixed in such proportion thai no one part is 

 found to counteract the others. How hard this is to be attained 

 in e\ery art. those onlv know who have made the greatest progress in 

 their respective professions." So hard, indeed, is it. that one notices 

 throughout Sir Joshua's teaching a perhaps excessive tendency to 

 insist on the necessity of often suppressing elements of life, valuable 

 in themselves, for the sake of harmonious effect. For example he 

 says: "'A statue in which you endeavor to unite stately dignity, 

 youthful elegance, and stern valor, must surely possess none of these 

 to an eminent degree. TTenee it appear? that there is much difficult v 



