Chapter I: Front Matter

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* * * * *

MARTIN SECKER'S SERIES OF MODERN MONOGRAPHS

J.M. SYNGE By P.P. Howe
HENRIK IBSEN By R. Ellis Roberts
WALTER PATER By Edward Thomas
THOMAS HARDY By Lascelles Abercrombie
GEORGE GISSING By Frank Swinnerton
WALT WHITMAN By Basil de Sélincourt
WILLIAM MORRIS By John Drinkwater
A.C. SWINBURNE By Edward Thomas

Each volume Demy Octavo, Cloth Gilt, with a Frontispiece in Photogravure. Price 7s. 6d. net

_The Athenæum_ says: "We congratulate the publisher."

_The Spectator_ says: "Mr. Secker's excellent series of critical
studies."

_The Yorkshire Observer_ says: "Mr. Secker's admirable series."

_The Manchester Courier_ says: "This excellent series."

_The Illustrated London News_ says: "Mr. Martin Secker's series
of critical studies does justice to the publisher's sense of
pleasant format. The volumes are a delight to eye and hand, and
make a welcome addition to the bookshelf."

MARTIN SECKER PUBLISHER NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET ADELPHI

AUTUMN BOOKS

The Complete Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann. 6 vols. 5s.
net each.

Vie de Bohème: A Patch of Romantic Paris. By Orlo Williams.
15s. net.

The Art of Silhouette. By Desmond Coke. 10s. net.

Walt Whitman: A Critical Study. By Basil de Sélincourt. 7s.
6d. net.

Walter Pater: A Critical Study. By Edward Thomas. 7s. 6d. net.

Speculative Dialogues. By Lascelles Abercrombie. 5s. net.

Dramatic Portraits. By P.P. Howe. 5s. net.

PERSONALITY IN LITERATURE

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_

MODERNISM AND ROMANCE

PERSONALITY IN LITERATURE

BY R.A. SCOTT-JAMES

LONDON: MARTIN SECKER NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET ADELPHI

_First published 1913_

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH.

CONTENTS

PART ONE: LITERATURE AND ART
PAGE
THE DEGRADATION OF BEAUTY 3

LITERATURE A FINE ART 14

PASSIONS SPIN THE PLOT 42

THE POPULAR TASTE 55

PART TWO: LITERATURE AND MODERN LIFE

TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY 81

PROFESSIONAL POLITICS 96

SPECIALISM IN RELIGION 103

SPECIALISM IN WAR 109

SPECIALISM IN LITERATURE 115

PHILOSOPHY AND JUSTICE 121

PART THREE: LITERATURE AND MEN

BERNARD SHAW 131

H.G. WELLS 151

ARNOLD BENNETT 170

GILBERT CHESTERTON 187

SOME MODERN POETS 196

J.M. SYNGE 222

THE SHRAMANA EKAI KAWAGUCHI 226

FRANCIS THOMPSON 235