art an& /iDoneg 



artists. What we miss in the way of that 

 fine, tenuous dream-film on which the old- 

 time masters lived, we gain in roast beef 

 and potatoes, ham and eggs, pate de foie 

 gras, and plum-pudding. We have no 

 trouble about what the coming generations 

 are going to think of us. Give us present 

 vogue, a pull at the horn of plenty, stir 

 up in our behalf a roaring advertisement, 

 guarantee the box-receipts, and you may 

 have all that posterity could possibly 

 award to our memory on the score of high 

 artistic accomplishment. 



Well, you may say, had n't the Greeks 

 a like view? Live for the present, was 

 their constant cry. True enough ; but note 

 the difference: Their theory of life did 

 not affect the substance of their art. They 

 did live for the current moment; but into 

 their art they dashed the last refinement 

 of leisurely and conscientious labor, the 

 highest power of idealization. And after 

 them the great Latin masters did likewise ; 

 so did the giants of the Renaissance and 

 the founders of modern art and letters. A 

 conscientious regard for the sacredness of 

 167 



