118 INDOOR STUDIES 



his countrymen that "by the Ilissus there was 

 no Wragg, poor thing," will his countrymen much 

 concern themselves whether there was or not? 

 When the burden of his indictment of the English 

 Liberals is that they have worked only for political 

 expansion, and have done little or nothing for the 

 need of beauty, the need of social life and man- 

 ners, and the need of iatellect and knowledge, will 

 the English Liberals feel convicted by the charge? 

 "When he says of the Pilgrim fathers that Shake- 

 speare and Virgil would have found their company 

 intolerable, is Puritanism discredited in the eye of 

 English Puritans? Indeed, literary standards, ap- 

 plied to politics or religion, are apt to be ineifec- 

 tual with all except a very limited circle of artistic 

 spirits. 



Whether it be a matter for regret or for congrat- 

 ulation, there can be little doubt that man and all 

 his faculties are becoming more and more special- 

 ized, more and more differentiated; the quality of 

 unique individual genius is more and more valued, 

 so that we are wandering farther and farther from 

 the unity, the simplicity, and the repose of the an- 

 tique world. 



This fact may afford the best of reasons for the 

 appearance of such a man as Arnold, who opposes 

 so squarely and fairly this tendency, and who draws 

 such fresh courage and strength from the classic 

 standards. But it accounts in a measure for the gen- 

 eral expression of distaste with which his teachings 

 have been received. Still, he has shown us very 



