' AMARYLLIS AT THE FAIR ' 289 



self-consciousness which makes the reader pretty sure 

 that these things are not yet part of the writer's natural 

 armour, but are like javelins used for the moment's 

 purpose, a little feverishly, as in this : 



' I would infinitely rather be a tallow-chandler, with a 

 good, steady income and no thought, than an author ; 

 at the first opportunity I mean to go into the tallow 

 business.' 



Or in this : 



' Some noble physicians have tried the effect of drugs 

 upon themselves in order to advance their art ; for this 

 they have received Gold Medals, and are alluded to as 

 Benefactors of Mankind. 



' I have tried the effects of forty prescriptions upon 

 My Person. With the various combinations, patent 

 medicines, and so forth, the total would, I verily believe, 

 reach eighty drugs. 



' Consequently, it is clear I ought to receive eighty gold 

 medals. I am a Benefactor eighty times multiplied ; the 

 incarnation of virtue ; a sort of Buddha. Kiss my knees, 

 ye slaves ! 



* I have a complaisant feeling as I walk about that I 

 have thus done more good than any man living. 



' I am still very ill.' 



It is best of all where it is least verbal, where it lurks 

 and gives a glow to whole pages, as in the description of 

 Iden's dinner. It is, however, let us admit, an armour 

 which he is assuming against the world, now that increas- 

 ing poverty and illness have denied him the Downs, and 

 oncoming age has denied him the dream. For there are 

 two ways of opposing the world — by poetry, by en- 

 thusiasm, when a man believes in his dream, in spite 

 of the contradictions of life ; and by humour, when he 

 smiles at the contrast between himself and the Other 

 Dreamer whose dreams came true. 



19 



