THE MEANING OF THE ESTHETIC IMPULSE, 243 



he knows is good, and yet the code of his time and place may insist 

 that it is evil. It is this condemnation which raises the feeling of 

 rebellious protest in the artist, and it is for the removal of this 

 constraint for which I plead. No one would condemn the representa- 

 tions of a pornographic mind more unsparingly than myself ; but 

 in my paper I spoke quite clearly of an art that was true to itself 

 and to its vision of Eeality. If an artist can say that what he 

 represents is true and good, we have no right to condemn his work ; 

 setting our vision above his ; judging, and refusing to be judged 

 ourselves. 



The omission of much that could have been said, and the inclusion 

 of much that could have been said differently, was due to the scope 

 of the paper. One started from a philosophical standpoint, and 

 moved towards a theistic one. Fundamentally this last is Christian, 

 I believe ; but had one reversed the line of argument its form might 

 have been very different, though it would have led, I am firmly 

 convinced, to the same conclusion. I trust these notes may remove 

 some misconceptions : in excuse of their hurried nature I can only 

 plead a press of work. May I, in conclusion, thank you for a very 

 patient hearing and for your kind words about my paper ? 



