OF THE NAMES OF PICTURES 205 



for the contemplation of a small spirit like mine. 

 I can only grovel before it as before a mystery. 

 The fact that to-day everybody is competent to 

 write a novel, and does, is often adduced in proof 

 of the high standard of modern education. But 

 surely this is nothing to the learning indicated by 

 these novelists' chapter - headings. And their 

 prodigality ! Here is a first chapter four thou- 

 sand words long which is concerned with the 

 meeting of the hero and heroine in a railway 

 carriage. Nothing whatever is established beyond 

 this certainly important fact. Both are described. 

 Paddington Station is also unerringly portrayed, 

 and the destination of the heroine is indicated. 

 But with the exit of the train from the terminus 

 the chapter closes. And with what does it begin ? 

 A passage from the Shi King. If I knew what 

 the Shi King was it would be enough for me. I 

 would presume upon no further acquaintance, for 

 I know my own level and I am not man enough 

 for that kind of thing. This lady, however, treats 

 the Shi King with a high hand. Needing an 

 appropriate quotation for her first chapter, she has 

 only to reflect for a moment and her complete 

 knowledge of the Shi King affords her the 

 absolutely right words. For the next stage of 

 her story she borrows from Emerson, for the 

 next from Boulmier (three lines from a virelai), 



