arts, and you have the explanation of the fact that that which is a mere commonplace in the eyes of the man on your right, is a 'joy for ever' in the eyes of the man on your left. Our senses are, of course, infinitely subtilised by usethe eyes and ears of the mature man who has read and thought are quite different from what they were in his youth. And as they become more subtle, they grow proportionately more exacting. Ever since the time of Zeuxis, painting has discovered new manners of representing the universe, each manner more intense with the succeeding centuries. Titian's colour, which would have dazzled Parrhasius, is already sombre in our eyes. In the same way, ever since the time of the Assyrian potter man has sought to paint in words Nature's infinite diversity. What we call 'impressionism' in art is nothing but the very natural desire to make the life-blood of things course through the fibres of the paper under the printed page. It is possible, as Mr. Balfour says, that 'this amazing musical development has added little to the felicity of mankind.' But what recked Baudelaire of benefits to the human race? His business was with Art. In his eyesas in ours-the sacred character of a work of art lies in the fact that it represents (or better still suggests) the prodigious efforts of human genius lying behind it. In all ages, in all countries, the immutable light of Beauty has appeared to the artist; every age contributes to the widening of the furtive fugitive rays from the matchless vision. As M. Bergson has so well observed, there is between ourselves and nature, nay, between ourselves and our own consciousness, a veil. With the ordinary man it is dense, impenetrable almost, but with the poet wellnigh transparent. T Art, then, should aim first of all at soaking off the labels that long habit has imposed on things, should set aside all commonplace and well-worn generalities, in order to show us things as they are, to reveal nature to us. Let us then be grateful to Baudelaire and the line of his great followers, since they have been able to suggest to us new combinations of words, colours, and sounds such as literature, painting and music were incapable of expressing before them. BOOKS OF REFERENCE1 ASSELINEAU, Charles. BARBEY D'AUREVILLY. BOURGET, PAUL. BRUNETIÈRE, F. CHARBONNEL, VICTOR. FAGUET, EMILE. LEMAÎTRE, JULES. LIONNET, J. MALLARMÉ, STÉPHANE. GENERAL Bibliog. romantique. (A. de Vigny, Gautier, Borel, Bertrand, etc.) 181172. Les œuvres et les hommes. 1860-95. Les dernières colonnes de l'église, 1903. 1860-95. Fifteen vols. Essais de psychol. contemporaine. 4° édition. 1885. Nouveaux Essais de psychol. contemporaine. 1886. Nouveaux essais de critique littéraire. 1895. Les mystiques dans la litt. présente. Etudes littéraires du 19° siècle. 1887. Questions at issue. 1893. Les Contemporains. 1886-99. Seven vols. L'Evolution des idées chez quelques-uns de nos contemporains. 1904. 1 This list only aims at mentioning those works which were of most use to us. A comprehensive bibliography of this subject would require a volume to itself. The best books to read are those of the authors themselves; in these days of cheap reprints these masterpieces are within the reach of all. Reference has also been made to the obituary notices in the Journal des Débats, the Figaro, and the Temps, and the valuable bibliographies of Thième. HARPER, G. M. TURQUET, A. ASSELINEAU. CLARETIE, J. MAXIME DU CAMP. THEOPHILE GAUTIER T. Gautier. 1890. (Les grands écrivains français.) SPOELBERCH DE LOVEN. Histoire des œuvres de T. Gautier. GRELÉ, EUGÈNE. BUET, CHARLES. LEPELLETIER, E. SÉCHÉ ET BERTAUT. V. de l'Isle Adam. 1910. Bibliog., BARBEY D'AUREVILLY Barbey d'Aurevilly, sa vie et son œuvre, d'après sa correspondance inédite. 1902. Two vols. Médaillons et camées. 1885. |