KECENT PHASES OF LITEEAEY CEITICISM 117 



we never get rid of them. Political equality brings 

 to the foreground many unhandsome human traits, 

 the loud, the mediocre, the insolent, etc. All the 

 more must we fix attention upon the true, the noble, 

 the heroic, the disinterested. The rule of temper- 

 ance, of good taste, of right reason, antedates any 

 and every social condition. Democracy cannot ab- 

 rogate fundamental principles. The essential condi- 

 tions of life are not changed, but arbitrary, accidental 

 conditions are modified. One still needs food and 

 raiment and shelter and transportation; he is still 

 subject to the old hindrances and discouragements 

 within himself. 



We must give the terms good taste, right reason 

 a broader scope ; that is all. The principles of good 

 taste when applied to art are not fixed and absolute, 

 like those of mathematics or the exact sciences. 

 They are vital and elastic. They imply a certain 

 fitness and consistency. Shakespeare shocked the 

 classic taste of the French critics. He violated the 

 unities and mixed prose and poetry. But what was 

 good taste in Shakespeare — that is, in keeping with 

 his spirit and aim — might be bad taste in Eacine. 

 What is permissible to an elemental poet like Whit- 

 man would jar in a refined poet like Longfellow. 

 But bad taste in Whitman, that is, things not in 

 keeping with the ideal he has before him, jar the 

 same as in any other poet. He has many lines and 

 passages and whole poems that set the teeth of many 

 readers on edge, that are yet in perfect keeping with 

 his plan and spirit. They go with the poet of the 



