"_All original art is self-regulated, and no original art can be regulated
from without; it carries its own counterpoise, and does not receive it
from elsewhere._"--TAINE.
"_If you want to tell good Gothic, see if it has the sort of roughness and
largeness and nonchalance, mixed in places with the exquisite tenderness
which seems always to be the sign manual of the broad vision and massy
power of men who can see_ past _the work they are doing, and betray here
and there something like disdain for it._"--RUSKIN.
"_Formerly, during the period termed classic, when literature was governed
by recognized rules, he was considered the best poet who had composed the
most perfect work, the most beautiful poem, the most intelligible, the
most agreeable to read, the most complete in every respect,--the Æneid,
the Gerusalemme, a fine tragedy. To-day something else is wanted. For us
the greatest poet is he who in his works most stimulates the reader's
imagination and reflection, who excites him the most himself to poetize.
The greatest poet is not he who has done the best, it is he who suggests
the most; he, not all of whose meaning is at first obvious, and who leaves
you much to desire, to explain, to study, much to complete in your
turn._"--SAINTE-BEUVE.