Of course there will come moods of discouragement to all authors, when they will ask themselves, as even Tennyson confesses that he was tempted to do, what, after all, it amounts to?  The author must beware of rating his own possibilities too high.  In looking back at one’s own life, in trying to trace what are the things that have had a deep and permanent influence on one’s character, how rarely is it possible to point to a particular book, and say, “That book gave me the message I most needed, made me take the right turn, gave me the requisite bias, the momentous impulse”?  We tend to want to do things on too large a scale, to affect great masses of people, to influence numerous hearts.  An author should be more than content if he finds he has made a difference to a handful of people, or given innocent pleasure to a small company.  Only to those whose heart is high, whose patience is inexhaustible, whose vigour is great, whose emotion is passionate, is it given to make a deep mark upon the age; and there is needed too the magical charm of personality, overflowing in “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.”  But we can all take a hand in the great game; and if the leading parts are denied us, if we are told off to sit among a row of supers, drinking and whispering on a bench, while the great characters soliloquize, let us be sure that we drain our empty cup with zest, and do our whispering with intentness; not striving to divert attention to ourselves, but contributing with all our might to the naturalness, the effectiveness of the scene.

XI

THE CRITICISM OF OTHERS

I was staying the other day in the house of an old friend, a public man, who is a deeply interesting character, energetic, able, vigorous, with very definite limitations.  The only male guest in the house, it so happened, was also an old friend of mine, a serious man.  One night, when we were all three in the smoking-room, our host rose, and excused himself, saying that he had some letters to write.  When he was gone, I said to my serious friend:  “What an interesting fellow our host is!  He is almost more interesting because of the qualities that he does not possess, than because of the qualities that he does possess.”  My companion, who is remarkable for his power of blunt statement, looked at me gravely, and said:  “If you propose to discuss our host, you must find some one else to conduct the argument; he is my friend, whom I esteem and love, and I am not in a position to criticise him.”  I laughed, and said:  “Well, he is my friend, too, and I esteem and love him; and that is the very reason why I should like to discuss him.  Nothing that either you or I could say would make me love him less; but I wish to understand him.  I have a very clear impression of him, and I have no doubt you have a very clear impression too; yet we should probably differ about him in many points, and I should like to see what light you could throw upon his character.”  My companion said:  “No; it is inconsistent with my idea of loyalty to criticise my friends.  Besides, you know I am an old-fashioned person, and I disapprove of criticising people altogether.  I think it is a violation of the ninth commandment; I do not think we are justified in bearing false witness against our neighbour.”