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Page 41
"It would kill me," I said, "to hear any more of these lectures, and if
I had to listen to much of our polite friend's conversation, I should go
out of my mind. I would rather fall into the hands of the cragmen! I
would rather have a stand-up fight than be slowly stifled with
interesting information. But where do these unhappy people come from?"
"A few come from universities," said Amroth, "but they are not as a rule
really learned men. They are more the sort of people who subscribe to
libraries, and belong to local literary societies, and go into a good
many subjects on their own account. But really learned men are almost
always more aware of their ignorance than of their knowledge, and
recognise the vitality of life, even if they do not always exhibit it.
But come, we are losing time, and we must go further afield."
XXII
We went some considerable distance, after leaving our intellectual
friends, through very beautiful wooded country, and as we went we talked
with much animation about the intellectual life and its dangers. It had
always, I confess, appeared to me a harmless life enough; not very
effective, perhaps, and possibly liable to encourage a man in a trivial
sort of self-conceit; but I had always looked upon that as an
instinctive kind of self-respect, which kept an intellectual person from
dwelling too sorely upon the sense of ineffectiveness; as an addiction
not more serious in its effects upon character than the practice of
playing golf, a thing in which a leisurely person might immerse himself,
and cultivate a decent sense of self-importance. But Amroth showed me
that the danger of it lay in the tendency to consider the intellect to
be the basis of all life and progress. "The intellectual man," he said,
"is inclined to confuse his own acute perception of the movement of
thought with the originating impulse of that movement. But of course
thought is a thing which ebbs and flows, like public opinion, according
to its own laws, and is not originated but only perceived by men of
intellectual ability. The danger of it is a particularly arid sort of
self-conceit. It is as if the Lady of Shalott were to suppose that she
created life by observing and rendering it in her magic web, whereas her
devotion to her task simply isolates her from the contact with other
minds and hearts, which is the one thing worth having. That is, of
course, the danger of the artist as well as of the philosopher. They
both stand aside from the throng, and are so much absorbed in the aspect
of thought and emotion that they do not realise that they are separated
from it. They are consequently spared, when they come here, the
punishment which falls upon those who have mixed greedily, selfishly,
and cruelly with life, of which you will have a sight before long. But
that place of punishment is not nearly so sad or depressing a place as
the paradise of delight, and the paradise of intellect, because the
sufferers have no desire to stay there, can repent and feel ashamed, and
therefore can suffer, which is always hopeful. But the artistic and
intellectual have really starved their capacity for suffering, the one
by treating all emotion as spectacular, and the other by treating it as
a puerile interruption to serious things. It takes people a long time to
work their way out of self-satisfaction! But there is another curious
place I wish you to visit. It is a dreadful place in a way, but by no
means consciously unhappy," and Amroth pointed to a great building which
stood on a slope of the hill above the forest, with a wide and beautiful
view from it. Before very long we came to a high stone wall with a gate
carefully guarded. Here Amroth said a few words to a porter, and we went
up through a beautiful terraced park. In the park we saw little knots of
people walking aimlessly about, and a few more solitary figures. But in
each case they were accompanied by people whom I saw to be warders. We
passed indeed close to an elderly man, rather fantastically dressed, who
looked possessed with a kind of flighty cheerfulness. He was talking to
himself with odd, emphatic gestures, as if he were ticking off the
points of a speech. He came up to us and made us an effusive greeting,
praising the situation and convenience of the place, and wishing us a
pleasant sojourn. He then was silent for a moment, and added, "Now there
is a matter of some importance on which I should like your opinion." At
this the warder who was with him, a strong, stolid-looking man, with an
expression at once slightly contemptuous and obviously kind, held up his
hand and said, "You will, no doubt, sir, remember that you have
undertaken--" "Not a word, not a word," said our friend; "of course you
are right! I have really nothing to say to these gentlemen."
We went up to the building, which now became visible, with its long and
stately front of stone. Here again we were admitted with some
precaution, and after a few minutes there came a tall and
benevolent-looking man, to whom Amroth spoke at some length. The man
then came up to me, said that he was very glad to welcome me, and that
he would be delighted to show us the place.
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