its bearing, yet corresponds better with existing tendencies.
Thus sometimes artistic, philosophic, and, in general, literary crazes
suddenly arise and are as quickly forgotten. But it also happens that
such crazes, having arisen in consequence of special reasons
accidentally favoring to their establishment, correspond in such a
degree to the views of life spread in society, and especially in
literary circles, that they are maintained for a long time. As far back
as in the time of Rome, it was remarked that often books have their own
very strange fates: consisting in failure notwithstanding their high
merits, and in enormous undeserved success notwithstanding their
triviality. The saying arose: "pro captu lectoris habent sua fata
libelli"--_i.e._, that the fate of books depends on the understanding of
those who read them. There was harmony between Shakespeare's writings
and the view of life of those amongst whom his fame arose. And this fame
has been, and still is, maintained owing to Shakespeare's works
continuing to correspond to the life concept of those who support this
fame.

Until the end of the eighteenth century Shakespeare not only failed to
gain any special fame in England, but was valued less than his
contemporary dramatists: Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and others. His
fame originated in Germany, and thence was transferred to England. This
happened for the following reason:

Art, especially dramatic art, demanding for its realization great
preparations, outlays, and labor, was always religious, _i.e._, its
object was to stimulate in men a clearer conception of that relation of
man to God which had, at that time, been attained by the leading men of
the circles interested in art.

So it was bound to be from its own nature, and so, as a matter of fact,
has it always been among all nations--Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese,
Greeks--commencing in some remote period of human life. And it has
always happened that, with the coarsening of religious forms, art has
more and more diverged from its original object (according to which it
could be regarded as an important function--almost an act of worship),
and, instead of serving religious objects, it strove for worldly aims,
seeking to satisfy the demands of the crowd or of the powerful, _i.e._,
the aims of recreation and amusement. This deviation of art from its
true and high vocation took place everywhere, and even in connection
with Christianity.

The first manifes