suasion of the depth of popular folly, you thereby know at least some negative propositions about the man himself. You can say with confidence what are the characteristics which were thoroughly antipathetic to him, even though it may be difficult to describe accurately the characteristics which he positively embodied.
Another point is, it would seem, too plain to need much emphasis. The author of Romeo and Juliet was, I suppose, capable of Romeo's passion. We may 'doubt that the sun is fire' but can hardly doubt that Shakespeare could love. In this case, it seems to me, the power of intuition is identical with the emotional power. A man would surely have been unable to find the most memorable utterance in literature of passions of which he was not himself abnormally susceptible. It may be right to describe a poet's power as marvellous, but why should we hold it to be miraculous? I agree with Pope's common-sense remark about Heloisa's 'well-sung woes'; 'he best can paint 'em who can feel 'em most.' Surely that is the obvious explanation, and I am unable to see why there should be any difficulty in receiving it. When the blind poet, Blacklock, described scenery which he had never seen, wise critics
