possible. In the world's earlier days, conceptions of art were of the loftiest and purest order.
"The thoughts of the 'old world' period are
written in well-nigh indelible characters. The
colossal architecture of the temples of ancient
Egypt, and that marvelous imaginative creation, the
Sphinx, with its immutable face of mingled scorn
and pity; the beautiful classic forms of old Greece
and Rome,—these are all visible evidences of
spiritual aspiration and endeavor; moreover, they
are the expression of a broad, reposeful strength—a
dignified consciousness of power. The glorious
poetry of the Hebrew Scriptures, the swing and
rush of Homer's 'Iliad,' the stately simplicity and
profundity of Plato—these also belong to what we
know of the youth of the world. And they are
still a part of the world's most precious possessions.
We, in our day, can do nothing so great. We
have neither the imagination to conceive such
work, nor the calm force necessary to execute it.
The artists of a former time labored with sustained
and passionate, yet tranquil, energy; we can only
produce imitations of the greater models with a
vast amount of spasmodic hurry and clamor. So,
perchance, we shall leave to future generations little
more than an echo of 'much ado about nothing.'
For truly we live at present under a veritable
scourge of mere noise. No king, no statesman, no
general, no thinker, no writer is allowed to follow
the course of his duty or work without the shrieking
comment of all sorts and conditions of uninstructed
and misguided persons. . . ."
Imagination is an artist's first necessary. The
poet, the painter, the sculptor, or the musician
