CRITICISM AND THE MAN 103 



that, of two poets of equal power, the voice of one 

 moves him more than that of the other. Something 

 as subtle and vital and hard to analyze as the flavor 

 of a fruit, and analogous to it, makes him prefer 

 this poet to that. One may see clearly the superi- 

 ority of Milton over Wordsworth, and yet cleave to 

 the latter. How beautiful is " Lycidas," yet it left 

 Dr. Johnson cold and critical. There is much more 

 of a cry — a real cry of the heart — in Arnold's 

 " Thyrsis." One feels that the passion is real in one, 

 and assumed in the other. Is " Lycidas " therefore 

 less a creative work ? The affirmative side of the 

 question is not without support. Johnson under- 

 valued some of Gray's best work ; the touch of sym- 

 pathy was lacking. This touch of sympathy does not 

 wait upon the critical judgment, but often underruns 

 and outruns it. It is said that Miss Martineau 

 found "Tom Jones" dull reading, that Charlotte 

 Bronte cared not for Jane Austen, and that Thack- 

 eray placed Cooper above Scott, — all, no doubt, 

 from a lack of the quickening touch of sympathy. 



As a rule, we have more sympathy with the au- 

 thors of our own country than with those of another. 

 Few Englishmen can do justice to Victor Hugo, and 

 even to some Frenchmen he is a " gigantic blusterer." 

 It is equally hard for a Frenchman to appreciate 

 Carlyle, and how absurd seems Voltaire's verdict 

 upon Shakespeare, — "a drunken savage " ! 



The French mind is preeminently a critical mind, 

 yet in France there are and have been as many schools 

 of criticism as of poetry or philosophy or romance. 



