ARTAND
THOUGHT
249
themselvesinthe treatment
oftaskswhich
religion,
commerce,or
societymayimpose.
Thusinthecon-
crete arts, these last
will leave their impress.
No
art,
unless
it be the most formal
music,willconsist
purelyofaestheticelements.
Norneedwedesireit,
ordismissthe
adventitious intereststhatstylemay
yield. Only,atitscentre,the
aestheticelement
—
^the
artitself—must
bedistinguishablythere.
Butsinceartitselfisthusalanguageandathought
apart, it will
most
often be those to whom that
languageisdeadandthosepreferencesunintelligible
whowillaskforanexplanationofitinterms
ofthe
logical reason. And the interpretation most likely
to
satisfythemwillbeonewhichexhibitsartprecisely
asthe outcomeofthe
aforesaid influences, religious,
practical,andsocial. Fortheseareofanaturetobe
readilydiscerned: they
aretheschoolinwhichthe
reason was broughtup, forwhich it is fitted, over
which it feels
control. Thusthe natureof artistic
preferencesassuch
—
^therootofthe wholematter
—
isleftunillumined. Andsoclosely,inthefactstobe
observed, arethe aesthetic
purposeand itsoccasion
intertwined,
thatthetwo,ifnotidentified,arealmost
infalliblyconfused.
Thisistheresult
foramindthat
—
^perhapsunwit-
tingly—Slacksaspontaneous
senseofart. Butwhat
of the artist? Even
from this source little
light
has filtered through. The artist,
or lover of art.
