inspiring as anything that could be found in the billion-fold pages of fiction. "Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die." The considerations urged upon him by his father are nothing to the royal soul of Jonathan. To so great a man an earthly kingdom is not of first-class importance. "And Jonathan

answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What has he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him; whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame." Every line of the history palpitates with life. Just notice also the meeting in the wilderness of Ziph, when Jonathan, having sought out David, "strengthened his hands in God.' Such scenes must have been, and must continue to be, of profound interest to the nine choirs of angels. Fiction can add nothing to them except, it may be, to develop and organise them into a dramatic sequence and unity.

15. Of David and Nabal.-No less interesting, though in a very different way, is the passage between David and the churl, Nabal. David and his followers are still fugitives from Saul. As such they might have been excused if they had levied supplies by force from the people amongst whom they were wandering. But David had no such thoughts. He was much more willing to

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give than to take, like all true men; and it appears that he had actually conferred benefits upon Nabal by protecting his sheep-shearers in the fields. Being, however, in want of food for his men, he sends a gracious message to Nabal: "Peace be to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast." We have refrained from hurting thee in any way, "wherefore let the young men (my messengers) find favour in thine eyes, for we come in a good day; give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David." A more reasonable and modest, yet, withal, princely message could not have been sent; but listen to Nabal's reply: Who is David and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days who break away, every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?" How complete the contrast between David and him a noble person, on the whole, in contact with the basest of churls. The historic Nabal is perhaps a more interesting picture than the fictional Thersites. If Nabal himself be fictional, a great merit of the composition would be that it so strongly gives the impression of authentic history. And one might go through the whole history of the great Hebrew hero, and bring out fact after fact which would vie with the best fiction in interest.

16. Of Elijah.-Think again of the natural interest which pervades the story of Elijah, even if we eliminate the miraculous element. Take, for example, that meeting of his with Ahab. "It came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but

thou and thy father's house in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim." Except, perhaps, in the way of expanding it a little, what can fiction of any kind, either in rhyme or paint, do to improve upon the scene? Or take that incident: "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a message unto Elijah, saying: So let the gods do unto me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time." What concentrated hatred, what intensity of dramatic force, in this brief passage, although the writer was, apparently, only trying to set down the simple facts of the case. Or take this tremendous passage: "The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, King of Israel behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he has gone down to possess it. thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession ? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab saith unto Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy! And he answered, I have found thee because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." Think of the dramatic living force of a scene like this. Beside it, I think that Iliads and Odysseys must take an inferior place. Or take the parting between Elijah and Elisha: "And it came to pass when they still went on and talked "—what Epic or Dramatic Poet may write a dialogue suitable for the occasion?" that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into

And

Heaven.1 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof; and he saw him no more, and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces." Taking this passage to be fictional, the imagination which it displays is so vital and magnificent that it impresses us with all the strength of fact. There is no more vital passage in Homer. I don't think that Dante saw anything so sublime even in his Ninth Heaven.

17. Fiction is most emotive when it graphically renders great fact. Or, turning to the New Testament, take the Baptist in the presence of Herod, and listen to his unflinching declaration of the marriage law; or think of him in the lonely mountain prison; or read the brief account of the Herodias banquet; or behold the majestic man summoned to secret execution; and I think we shall find ourselves forced to the conclusion that fact is, on the whole, more impressive than fiction; and that fiction consequently will be most powerful -i.e., most emotive-when it very graphically renders great fact, or gives us inventions and imaginations which are strictly true to the spirit of nature. Yet we have Swinburne telling us in print that "Art takes no care of fact," and Reynolds declaring that whoever would paint a picture as a picture should be, must show us Nature "elevated and improved." How is a poet or a painter to work upon a scene with any chance of success at all unless he regard the facts primarily?

18. Aristotle errs on this subject.-Aristotle, I think, is not equal to himself when he writes on this subject. It is evident, says he, "that it is not the province of a poet to relate things which have happened, but such things as are possible

1 How poor, again, is Blake's representation of this scene!

according to probability, or which would necessarily have happened" (perhaps there is a false rendering here?); "for an historian and a poet do not differ from each other because the one writes in verse and the other in prose; for the History of Herodotus might be written in verse, and yet it would be no less a history with metre than without metre. But they differ in this, that the one speaks of things that have happened, and the other of such things as might have happened." 1 The distinction drawn is, I think, quite arbitrary, and falls to pieces in view of the instances quoted. And it might be added that "what might have happened" is only valid as poetry in the degree of its probability or truth to nature, unless the subject be one within the realm of pure imagination, which has canons of its own.

19. Incident in the life of St Peter.-Glance also at an incident in the life of the Apostle Peter. In his great love to his Master, he thinks and says that he is prepared to go forth with him to prison and to death. Then comes the sequelthe Denial; Christ looking at him in the high priest's house; then the shame, the tears, and the great after-life. Fiction cannot possibly excel fact in noble interest; and yet, quoth Mr Swinburne, " Art takes no care of fact!"

20. Incidents in the life of Christ.—And if it be almost impossible for poetry or art to create greater scenes than may be found in the lives I have mentioned, it is scarcely probable that they will ever succeed in giving an adequate rendering to scenes in the life of Christ. Great pictures of some of them have doubtlessly been painted. Holman Hunt's "Finding of Christ in the Temple," for instance, is a noble and delightful picture; but shall we be rash enough to say that this picture,

1 Poetics,' chap. ix.