96 LITERATURE AND DRAMA 



less to his intellect. If we leave the mere principles of art am 

 consider other kinds of knowledge, such as the history of art, the 

 literature of art, the lives of artists, and so forth, the average artist 

 certainly stands at no advantage over the connoisseur. 



Besides skill and knowledge there is a third qualification 

 which a man must have who would judge soundly of any art. He 

 must be capable of deriving intense pleasure from what the art 

 produces. He must really enjoy that particular kind of beauty 

 the delight a man feels in looking at a picture, in hearing 

 music, in seeing acting, is a proof that he possesses at least the 

 rudiments of that sense which, when duly cultivated, may enable 

 him to be a good critic of the given art. Here, again, the artist 

 seems at first to stand at great advantage. The mere choice of 

 his profession proves that, far from being indifferent to the con- 

 templation of the works in question, he so loves them that he is 

 willing to spend his life in trying to acquire the power to produce 

 these good things. Yet other men can show that they love 

 beauty. The professed critic may say that he, no less than the 

 artist, gives his life to the contemplation of art. Many buyers 

 of pictures buy them because they enjoy them. And the price 

 they give is evidence, so far as it goes, that the enjoyment must 

 be considerable. And, indeed, there are fortunately thousands 

 of men and women, neither artists nor critics, who find a con- 

 siderable portion of their happiness in the enjoyment of some 

 form of art. The first impulse which made the artist choose his 

 profession was probably due to an enjoyment keener than that 

 of any among this crowd ; but, as life wears on, the use of this 

 fine art-sense of his to make bread numbs the nerves. Praise, 

 blame, hope, fear, rivalry, habit, the influence of his set all 

 these things warp his art-sense, and many of them lessen the 

 pleasure he derives from art. Whereas the layman keeps his 

 art-sense fresh. The pettiness of life cannot taint the pleasure 

 he takes in beauty. It is, indeed, true that the regular and 

 wise use of any faculty tends to its improvement. This is that 

 cultivation by which taste becomes good taste. But here, again, 

 the layman has some advantage. The artist almost invariably 

 becomes a specialist. And his taste, no less than his execution, 

 is thereby specialised. He attaches overwhelming importance 

 to some few qualities of which he is an unrivalled judge. To 



