CRITICISM AND THE MAN 85 



and elusive, harder to define and bring out, than its 

 scientific or moral or other values. It resides in a 

 certain vitality and genuineness of expression ; we 

 have a sense of having come face to face with some- 

 thing real and alive in the man, and not, as is so often 

 the case, with something assumed or put on. There 

 is always an original inherent quality and ilavor, as 

 in natural products. The language is not the mere 

 garment of the thought, it is the very texture and 

 substance. In all true literature something more 

 than mind and erudition speak, — a man speaks ; 

 a vital personality is imminent, — a Charles Lamb, 

 a Wordsworth, a Carlyle, a Huxley, an Emerson, a 

 Thoreau, a Lowell, — all distinct types of intelli- 

 gence speaking through character. 



Self-expression within certain limits is as impor- 

 tant in criticism as in any other form of literature. 



The French critic Ferdinand Brunetiere says that 

 the truly personal way of seeing and feeling, which is 

 a merit of the poet and the novelist, is a fault in the 

 critic, because the critical function is mainly a judi- 

 cial one. 



In every man there is the common humanity, a 

 measure of the pure reason which he shares with all ; 

 then there are the race traits, the family traits, the 

 bias of his times, the bent given by his training and 

 surroundings, and his own special stamp and make- 

 up, — what we call his idiosyncrasy. All these 

 things will play a part in his view of any matter. 

 His success as a critic is when his humanity, his pure 

 intelligence, furnishes the light which is only colored 



