Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1881 - Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers

'' Virginibtis Pjtc7'isqncr 15
was better in every way than William Shake-
speare. If there were more people of his honesty,
this would be about the staple of lay criticism.
It is not taste that is plentiful, but courage that
is rare. And what have we in place } How
many, who think no otherwise than the young
painter, have we not heard disbursing second-
hand hyperboles } Have you never turned sick
at heart, O best of critics ! when some of your
own sweet adjectives were returned on you
before a gaping audience } Enthusiasm about
art is become a function of the average female
being, which she performs with precision and a
sort of haunting sprightliness, like an ingenious
and well-regulated machine. Sometimes, alas !
the calmest man is carried away in the tor-
rent, bandies adjectives with the best, and out-
Herods Herod for some shameful moments.
When you 'remember that, you will be tempted
to put things strongly, and say you will marry
no one who is not like George the Second,