d sorrow.' To witness
this spectacle with appropriate emotions is the aim of all culture;
and of these emotions poetry like Wordsworth's is a great nourisher
and stimulant. He sees nature full of sentiment and excitement; he
sees men and women as parts of nature, passionate, excited, in
strange grouping and connection with the grandeur and beauty of the
natural world:--images, in his own words, 'of men suffering; amid
awful forms and powers.'

Certainly the real secret of Wordsworth has never been better expressed.
After having read and reread Mr. Pater's essay--for it requires
re-reading--one returns to the poet's work with a new sense of joy and
wonder, and with something of eager and impassioned expectation. And
perhaps this might be roughly taken as the test or touchstone of the
finest criticism.

Finally, one cannot help noticing the delicate instinct that has gone to
fashion the brief epilogue that ends this delightful volume. The
difference between the classical and romantic spirits in art has often,
and with much over-emphasis, been discussed. But with what a light sure
touch does Mr. Pater write of it! How subtle and certain are his
distinctions! If imaginative prose be really the special art of this
century, Mr. Pater must rank amongst our century's most characteristic
artists. In certain things he stands almost alone. The age has produced
wonderful prose styles, turbid with individualism, and violent with
excess of rhetoric. But in Mr. Pater, as in Cardinal Newman, we find the
union of personality with perfection. He has no rival in his own sphere,
and he has escaped disciples. And this, not because he has not been
imitated, but because in art so fine as his there is something that, in
its essence, is inimitable.

_Appreciations_, _with an Essay on Style_. By Walter Pater, Fellow of
Brasenose College. (Macmillan and Co.)

SENTENTIAE
(_Extracted from Reviews_)

Perhaps he will write poetry some day. If he does we would earnestly
appeal to him to give up calling a cock 'proud chanticleer.' Few
synonyms are so depressing.

A young writer can gain more from the study of a literary poet than from
the study of a lyrist.

I have seen many audiences more interesting than the actors, and have
often heard better dialogue in the _foyer_ than I have on the stage.

The Dramatic College might take up the education of spectators as well as
that of players, and t