BEFOEE GENIUS 141 



books are produced that are a mere skin of elegant 

 words blown up by copious literary gas. 



In imaginative works, especially, much depends 

 upon the quality of mere weight. A stern, mate- 

 rial inertia is indispensable. It is like the immo- 

 bility and power of resistance of a piece of ordnance, 

 upon which the force and efficacy of the projectile 

 finally depend. In the most daring flights of the 

 master, there is still something which remains in- 

 different and uncommitted, and which acts as re- 

 serve power, making the man always superior to his 

 work. He must always leave the impression that 

 if be wanted to pull harder or fly higher he could 

 easily do so. In Homer there is much that is not 

 directly available for Homer's purposes as poet. 

 This is his personality — the real Homer — which 

 lies deeper than his talents and skill, and which 

 works through these by indirections. This gives 

 the authority; this is the unseen backer, which 

 makes every promise good. 



What depths can a man sound but his own, or 

 what heights explore? "We carry within us," says 

 Sir Thomas Browne, "the wonders we seek with- 

 out us." 



Indeed, there is a strict moral or ethical depend- 

 ence of the capacity to conceive or project great 

 things upon the capacity to be or do them. It is 

 as true as any law of hydraulics or statics, that the 

 workmanship of a man can never rise above the level 

 of his character. He can never adequately say or 

 do anything greater than he himself is. There is 



