resuscitating forgotten scenes of the past because of the form of a branch which he involuntarily recalls. (Locke, whom Ruskin admired and read, and on whose work (Essay on the Human Understanding) he modelled the plan of Modern Painters, had already expressed the same idea when dealing with 'involuntary perceptions.') It is certain that Ruskin's influence on Proust was only possible because there was a strong affinity between them. They had the same acuteness of perception, the same remarkable receptivity, the same powerful visual memory, and the same capacity for being more attracted by irrational beauty than by intellectual truth. Proust, by far the more intellectual of the two, nevertheless puts aside his intelligence as it were, and seeks chiefly that kind of beauty which mere intelligence can neither produce nor analyse. It is this characteristic in Proust which causes him, though he disagrees with all the doctrines of Ruskin and has nothing in common with him in the world of action which he regards as a thoroughly inadequate mode of expression,' to feel the irresistible spell of Ruskin's artistic vision and the captivating though irrational beauty of his words. Finally, this unmistakable influence exercised by Ruskin over Proust seems to bring together in a rather unexpected way two currents of literature which otherwise are very remote from each other in our thoughts-namely, the school of Victorian socialistic and moral literature headed by Carlyle and Ruskin and the much more subtle psychological writings of post-war France. It also brings a new tribute to the name of Ruskin by showing that his work, 'l'esthétique d'un homme du nord spiritualiste et protestant,' as Taine called it, has, more than a generation later, been very differently judged and revaluated by a greater mind than Taine's. J. MURRAY. CORRESPONDENCE ILLIAM BLAKE AND SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' To the Editor of THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER. DEAR SIR.-M. Herbert Waght's interesting and just article on Flake and Revacics seems n a few points to lend support (doubtless unintended to the popular misconceptions of the doctrines of The Discourses, which are not dogmas like those of Biake. Mr. Wagit seems to suggest that Reynolds was the champion of the fond style of the Venetians and Flemings; Blake of Michael Angeio. As a matter of fact, Reynoids depreciates them, both when *cramental' and characteristic,' and places Michael Angelo as the master of al masters-superior to the whole world.' Ruskin was the first to appreciate the Venetians. (2) Reyacids, no less than Blake, enforces a firm and determined outine." (3) Mr. Wright appears to oppose Reynolds to Wordsworth upon the matter of generalisation.' It is true that Reynolds shared the indifference to detail and to the humble which afflicted his age; but the real core of his practice and of his doctrine of generalisation is the search for essential, typical, characteristic, and universally valid truth; and of this Wordsworth gave an even more perfect description than Reynolds in his words to Aubrey de Vere: He should have left his pencil behind, and embodied in verse, not all he had noted, but what he best remembered of the scene; he would then have presented us with its soul.' (4) On the main issue of inspiration' and 'well-directed labour' it should be remembered that Blake directed his labours well, and that Reynolds had genius of a high order; Ruskin (I think justly) calls him 'the Prince of Portrait Painters.' If he felt it wise to warn the young students at the Academy to work and not trust to every unmatured impulse, he was not repeating, but combating, the cant of the age, which was all for 'genius,' as much as the cant of ours is all for 'spontaneity ’— which is either a name for knowledge immediately available (however acquired) or for incompetence (however glozed). Lastly, it is no disparagement of Blake's genius, nor derogation of Reynolds's, to say that Blake lacked and Reynolds possessed critical judgment as well. Die Tat ist stets entscheidend.' I am, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, DELMAR HARMOOD BANNER. GENERAL LIbrtanty UNIY, OF MICH: THE By CARROL ROMER The Chinese Problem through Chinese Eyes: Sun Yat-sen and the Three People's Principles (concluded) By THE REV. IVAN D. ROSS 661 678 On Laws Governing the Use of Armed Force By THE REV. EDWARD SHILLITO 739 The Growth of the Reading Public (1780-1800) LONDON: CONSTABLE & CO. LTD., ORANGE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE, W.C.2. PARIS: MESSAGERIES HACHETTF. III, Rue Reaumur. Registered for Canadian Magarine Post. Price 3/-. NEW YORK: LEONARD SCOTT PUBLICATION CO. Annual Subscription 36/- (Prepaid), Post free. Readers are invited to refer to the Classified List of Advertisements which appears at the end of the Review. This List gives particulars of goods and services, and the names of prominent firms providing them. My reason for writing this article is the introduction of the Road Traffic Bill by the Minister of Transport.1 This Bill is published in the form of a Blue-book, and the prefatory memorandum by the Minister states that it is circulated for discussion with a view to obtaining the greatest possible measure of general agreement and that the Government are in no way committed to the Bill Plainly, there is a doubt in the mind of the Minister as to whether it meets the case, and the trouble is that at a transitional stage in the development of traffic it is not clear what that case is. I am also very much impressed with the great importance of the solution of the traffic problem; everyone is intimately concerned, and efficient transport is the lifestream of the modern community. In this article I have endeavoured to cover a larg 1 It was announced while this article was in the press that the Ministry of Transport is to be abolished, but this does not affect this article, as his duties will of course be carried on by another Government department. 621 VOL. CI-No. 603 SS |