THOU SHALT NOT PKEAOH 145 



has embodied in the sum of his works the greatest 

 number of the greatest ideas ; " but he is an artist 

 only by virtue of having embodied these ideas in an 

 imaginative form. If they run through his work as 

 homilies or intellectual propositions, or lie upon it 

 as moral reflections, they are not within the vital 

 sphere of art. 



Art is not thought, but will, impulse, intuition ; 

 not ideas, but ideality. None knew this better than 

 Euskin. No great artist can be cornered with the 

 question, " What for ? " What is creation for ? 

 What are you and I for ? The catechism answers 

 promptly enough, and the artist does not contradict 

 it. But of necessity his answer is not so dogmatic ; or 

 rather, he does not give a direct answer at all, but lets 

 the epitome of life which he brings answer for him. 

 He is not to exhibit the forces of life harnessed to a 

 purpose and tilling some man's private domain, but 

 he is to show them in spontaneous play and fusion, 

 obeying no law but their own, and working to uni- 

 versal ends. His work is finally for our edification. 

 If it be also for our reproof, he must conceal his pur- 

 pose so well that we do not suspect it. He must let 

 the laws of life alone speak for him. Sainte-Beuve 

 has a passage bearing upon this subject which is ad- 

 mirable. He had been censured as a critic for being 

 too lax in his dealings with the morality of works of 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Let me 

 quote his reply : " If there are some readers (and I 

 think I know some) who would prefer to see me 

 censure it oftener and more roundly, I beg them to 



