New-York tribune., 1896-10-18
THE PURSUIT or BEA TTN.
HOW IT Is FOLLOWED BY SOME AMERI-
CAN CRITICS.

THE SENSE OF BEAuTY. Being the Outlines Of
ASshec "ga pic * hf25y s cbes by fGs 45nar sTs san o
ASPECTS or FICTION ANDOTnER VENTURES
IN CRITICISM: by Brander Matthews oc-
iavo. PIP. @a'. Harper Brothers.
THE LISTENER ~ THE TOWN. BY Joseph Ed
gar ChambcrlIn Duodccimo. PIP vi ii,. Bos-
tom Copeland Day.
THE LISTENER IN THE COUNTY, by Joseph
Boston: Copeland & Day
1t may be assumed AT the outset that those
who write books Of aesthetic philosophy. ~
critical and contemDlative dissertation.
chiefly aiming at the discovery of beauty. The
-ssayist in all times has talked on tho whole,
for the pleasure of talking. We may bc lecurcd
By him, what he has to say may make FOR
righteousness. but heauty. delight. tho rapture
OF noble things, Is his goal Even the realistic
novelist protests that his book is n work 81 art.
and works Of art ar" universally supposed to
bc in themselves sources - ioy no matter what
horrors i'9' may preserve for our clihcaiion
We are reminded of al this hy tn appearance
Of several small volumes W. which some Ameri
can writer's set out to adorn certain themes. to
discover what is beautiful I'm certain objects or
ideas and to interpret them vita an air thar
will carry a sensation of pleasure to the mind
Of the reader Thus Mr .;anrnyara writes of
the inspiration which n feels He dscouiscs
on iofty plane. IN lofty language. Thurs Mr
Brander Matthews walks dcloatelv ~ Agas
through the courts of literature and essays 10
mix his learning with his wit Thus finally. Mr.
Joseph Edgar Chamhariin proses ambitiously
about Poetry ana Cabbage." and writes tn
biography ~ ''The Man "" Did owe" They all
try to sooth, and refresh tho mind Mi san
iavana makes us .hink ~ how Walter raicr
sorigh, Ia elucidatc tho Platonic idea Mr.. Cham
berlin has hts prototype three million leagues
away. IN Charles Lamb. SIR Matth.v vs recalls
the essays of-but no. SIR Matthews does not
recall anybody Mr. Matthews is himself.
Mr.. Santayana exhibits ~ many aIgns ~
sincere belief in the object Of his analysis that
it would be unfair to cite lapse Of hi. some
thing so characteristic ~ Ia invalidatc all his
most praiscwo orthy aspira lions Rut what a to
b. thought Of q devote" Of beauty who IL cap
able Of a passage like tho following? NO form
i'm itself gives pain. although some forms give
pain by causing n shock of surprise even when
they are really beautiful. az If "A mother found
a fine bull pup IN her child's era lie. when h"r
pain would not bc aesthetic in ita nature Is
thcr" anything aesthetic In this figure II is
dcfonsibl. enough 50 much mere logic. but
when We are dlscoursinc " beauty sup
posed to have minds in "a state of becoming
refinement and iust IN so far as Mr. ~aniayaua
Is insensiblc To y hat IS b"ic in his delcalc al
lusion to bull pups he is insensihle To the true
significance Of beauty His book is pitched ~
a key of high abstraction. but h. show curious
inadcquacy in the prcscnc. of what II truly up
lif,inS. Possibly al the root ~ what h" has
written his perception is "a fine as hs desire.
but his style Is fogfS and such tangible
thoughts az make their through 1t are hard
~ outline and n,otcria1 of .Dl Beatlty he tells
us in n definition which is not a definition al
all. is pleasure regarded as the quality Of
thing" our delight IN an object Is Incorporated.
so to speak. with that object. The coroIlary Of
this hypothesis has been pointed out before.
Tn. Venus de Milo may he dream Of lowell
rcss for one generation and al image of gro
tesque hidco,sncss for the next. MIR. Santayana
cannot avoid this conclusion. II beauty Is to
reside in the eye ~ the bchoder as has again
and again been surmised then all the beauty
in the world may he extinguIshed some day by
a racial evolution and this, while 1t may be
sound etaphysics. Is pure nonsense In the
world OF actual life and actual beauty. The
truth IL that beauty il like the Immortality of
the soul. We may prate about it forever. but
il remains utterly illusve. mystery cternally
beyond our KEN and what Mr. Santayana ought
to do, instead Of winnowing the wind, Is 10
acknowledge this fact ana keep SHent-unieSs
he has something suggestive TO say. something
that since II cannot explain beauty may at least
help us to appreciate beauty more. He is really
unified To do this We say II in no impatience
with his book, which IL earnest and thoughtful,
but because he manifests temperament at
| variance with ali that means the divinity OF
! things.
What Mr. Santayana is really on the brink Of.
| and never sees Is the unexplaina5e poetic in
stinct latent I'm every SOUL an Instinct which we
coll poetic for lack Of a better name, but that
means more definitely stated. the response of
what Is divine in man to what Is divine In his
| world II Mr.. Santayana retorts that this is
pure hypothesis. We have only To remind him
that all our ideas about beauty are hypothetical.
| We can offer no positive statements on the sub
1ect We can only accept ~ we accept the
wind God alone knows whence IL comes and
whittier II goes. We may talk about 1t. describe
II as best We may pass our feelings about
| II 20 our fellow-rrcn. II is crime to write a
book about beauty. but to obfusticate our sense