must be able to make a world of his own, and live in it, before he can make one for others. When he has evolved such a world out of his individual consciousness, and has peopled it with the creations of his fancy, he can turn its "airy substance" into reality for all time.
"Shakespeare's world is real; so real that there
are not wanting certain literary impostors who
grudge him its reality, and strive to dispossess him
of his own. Walter Scott's world is real; so real
that you have built him a shrine here in Edinburgh,
crowded with sculptured figures of men and
women, most of whom never existed save in his
teeming fancy. What a tribute to the power of
Imagination is that beautiful monument in the
centre of Princes Street, with all the forms evoked
from one great mind, lifted high above us, who
consider ourselves 'real' people!"
The lecturer proceeded to deplore acts of vandalism
such as that which caused "the pitiful ruin
of Loch Katrine" in supplying Glasgow with water.
Further on she lamented the gradual disappearance
of "that idealistic and romantic spirit" which has
helped to make Scotland's history such a brilliant
chronicle of heroism and honor.
In her powerful peroration the novelist graphically told of modern wonders which were imagined when the world was young.
"What, after all, is Imagination? It is a great
