360

FIRST LECTURE

(1st draft)

ON ART

_p 1st evening

p 1st half

p Introduction. I shall talk about art from the viewpoint of the materialist] conception of history. What is art? What is the materialist conception of history?

p In any exact inq[uiry] it is essential to adhere to a strictly defined terminology. And at the same time this is almost impossible, because when we embark upon a sub[ject] we do not know it as well as at the end of our inquiry. Consequently the inquiry itself gives, and should give, a new, more exact and therefore clearer meaning to the terminology. Thus, we begin with a certain preliminary, provisional terminology, which we shall later replace with a final one.

_p What is our provisional definition of art to be? Inhisfamfous] book What Is Art? Count Tolstoy, you will remember, cites many definit[ions] of art which seem to him mutually contradictory, and he finds them all unsatisfactory. Actually, the definitions he cites are by no means as different from one another, and by no means as erroneuos as Tolstoy thinks. But let us assume that he is completely] right, and see which definition he himself gives.

You will remember it, gentlemen.

TOLSTOY’S DEFINITION

p Art is a means of human intercourse. The^ thing that distinguisnes this means of intercourse [from intercourse] through words is that with the help of words one man communicates to another his thoughts (my italics); while with the help of art people communicate their emotions to one another (p. 75).

p The activity of art is based on the fact that a person who receives by hearing or by sight the expression of another person’s emotion is capable of experiencing the same emotion. It is on this ability of people to be infected by the emotions of others that the activity of art is based. 76. Art begins when a man, with a view to conveying to others an emotion he has experienced, re-evokes it in himself and expresses it in certain outward signs. 77.

p It would be easy to show that this definition has a great deal in common with Hegel’s. But this is not important. I accept this 361 definition as a provisional one and make one amendment only.

p Art expresses people’s emotions, words express their thoughts.  This distinction simply means that art expresses these emotions through images, concretely, whereas words express them abstractly. But words are necessary to art as well, for example: poetry, whose medium is words.  Conversely, eloquence also conveys feelings, but it is not art.

_p Art is activity in which people convey their emotions to one another by means of live images.

p Let us proceed further. Tolstoy wr[ites]:

p “Always, in every period and in every human society, there is a religious consciousness, common to all the members of that society, of what is good and bad, and it is this religious consciousness that determines the value of the emotions conveyed by art."

p Let us also accept this definition] for the time being, or at least remember it in order to test it against the facts later, and turn to the definition of the materialist] view of history.

p What is the materialist] conception] of history? Indirect explanation, just as there is indirect proof. I shall first remind you of the idealist conception of history and then show how the materialist conception of the same differs from it.

p The ideal[ist] conception] of hist[ory] consists] in the belief that the development of thought and knowledge is the final and ultimate cause of the development of mankind. The domlinance] of this view in the eighteenth century, whence it passed into the nineteenth. It was held by Augluste] Comte and Saint-Simon. Saint-Simon’s view of the origin of the soctial] system of Ancient Greece.

p Greece is of special importance here, because, in Saint-Simon’s opinion, c’est chez les Grecs que 1’esprit humain a commence a s’occuper serieusement de 1’organisation sociale.  [361•*  But how did the Greeks’ soclial] organisation] arise? With them le systeme religieux avait servi de base au systeme politique.... Le second avait ete fait a 1’imitation du premier.  [361•**  Proof.  The Olympus of the Greeks was a republican assembly et les constitutions nationales de tous les peuples grecs, quoique differentes entre elles, avaient toutes cela de commun qu’elles etaient republicaines, pp. 140-42 (Memoire sur la science de rhomme).  [361•*** 

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p Thus, the political] system of the Greeks was the result of their religious views. But this is not all. Religious views stem from scientific concepts (a scientific world system). Consequently, everything depends on these ideas. It was this that determined the practical programme, to which Saint-Simon adhered basically throughout ... of people are conditioned by their econom[ic] relations, which in their turn are determined by the state of social productive forces. Many of you will be familiar, of course, with the famous passage, so often quoted by so many people, from Marx’s preface to his book Zur Kritik der politischen Oekonomie. Pp. X-XI of the Russ[ian] translation.^^98^^ I shall read it here in order to refresh the memories of all those present. Thus, it is not people’s consciousness that determines the forms of their being, but their social being that determines the forms of their consciousness. Such is the general viewpoint of the modern materialist on hum[an] society and on history. We shall now take a look at art from this point of view.

If the materialist] conception of history is right in general, then it is also right as applied to art, i.e., in other words, it explains the facts which are known to us from the history of the art of different peoples. The history of art is a colosfsal] sphere. To analyse the whole history of art in two evenings is impossible. It is necessary to select. I shall examine: 1) the art of hunting tribes, 2) the period in France from the age of Louis XIV up to and including the emergence of romanticism, i.e., covering almost two centuries. This is enough. But the main point is that here we have two fundamentally different periods: 1) a hunting society in which there are no classes; 2) a highly developed civilisted] socfiety] in which there were classes and a bitter struggle between these classes.

THE ART OP HUNTING TRIBES

p Why exactly am I choosing^ hunting tribes? Anyone who has grasped the essence of the materialist] conception of history will find it easy to answer this question. The state of the productive forces is the determining feature of classification. In hunting tribes these forces are less developed than in pastoral and still less than in agricultural tribes.

Of the hunting tribes the Australians are perhaps lower than all the others. Not long ago they were portrayed as semi-apes.  And they are also the best known. Let us take a*look^r/at’ their art.

DANCES

p Today no one would call a young man who dances the waltz or the mazurka beautifully a great artist. But today dancing in general is not particularly important. Its importance is limited 363 to the fact that it helps to bring together young people of both sexes, which often has matrimonial consequences. What dancing expresses today is mainly grace.  Grace is a pleasant enough quality, but does not belong to those characteristics without wh[ich] society could not exist. The primitive dancer reveals more than just grace. The dances of the Australians, for example, express all the important social qualities of both the man and the woman. Female dances: the^woman shows how she climbs a tree to catch an opossum; how she dives for shell-fish; how she pulls up the roots of certain nutritious plants, or how she feeds her children, or even (a satir[ical] dance) how she quarrels with her husband. There are also love dances, but more about them below.

p Male dances: the dance of the scullers; the kangaroo dance; a dance showing the stealing of cattle from the white men, etc. They dance at harvest time, [they dance] after a successful hunt. These are the so-called miming dances. There is no need to explain their link with the mode of production: it is clear, obvious. Here the’ economic factor stares you straight in the eye. There are other dances that also have a close and obvious connection with the Australians’ way of life: the imitation of various animals. Here the connection with the economy is also clear. He who can imitate an animal well, knows its habits, and he who knows its habits well, will be a good hunter.

p Gymnastic dances. The corroboris are inter-tribal dances in which up to 400 people sometimes take part. They dance, for ex[ample], after making peace, at night, in the light of the moon. Sometimes these gymnastic dances are performed at harvest time, after a successful hunt, etc. The gymnastic dances are often performed by both sexes. The agile warrior dances best. Finally, there are invocatory dances. It is assumed that the spirit enjoys watching the dance. These dances bear no direct relation to the economy. But, firstly, we shall see that the spirit is often begged to bestow purely material things. And secondly, what sort of dance does the spirit like? The one that the Australian likes. Here the indirect relation to the economy is obvious. But these dances are rare.  An observation for Tolstoy. Here art expresses people’s view of what is good and what is bad, but, generally speaking, these views are not religious.

p Let us now turn to another art—ornamentation. What are the ornamental motifs? There are two kinds: i) nature; 2) technology. It is now recognised that Australian decoration of weapons is very often [a portrayal of] an animal’s outer covering: the hair of a kangaroo, the skin of a snake or lizard; another hypothesis—Liibke: from technology; sometimes a map of this or that area is sketched crudely on an Australian’s club. Then a symbol of ownership appears in the form of decoration. Since private ownership is little developed, the sign is one of tribal ownership. Each tribe 364 has its own symbol—the kobong (the Americ[an] tote m): the kangaroo, the kite, etc.

p It is interesting that in hunting tribes plants are never used as ornamental motifs.

p Technology. Many primitive tribes decorate their utensils with so-call[ed] textile designs. Why? Holmes explains this as follows: the art of pottery is younger than basket-weaving, the woven basket is older than the pot. The portrayal of a fillet on, say, an axe handle is also explained in the same way. Textile-weaving plays the same role of supplying ornamental motifs. In general, according to Lübke, primitive art can be divided into periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and so on.

p Ornaments include decoration of the body, so-called cosmetics: painting, tattooing and cicatrising.

p Schweinfurth: all mothers all over the world try to develop in their children the anatomical features of their tribe.

p There are grounds for thinking that in painting himself man is seeking to imitate an animal. The same applies to hair. But there can be no doubt that the colour of the skin is important here too. Dark-skinned people paint themselves white. Often painting, for ex[ample], when a member of the tribe dies, indicates the degree of kinship. The Dinka tribes recognise one another by the pattern. Often with cicatrising as well the lines correspond to age, in southeast Australia ages themselves are often called after the pattern of the cicatrices.

p Here too boasting of skill plays a part: an Australian’s loincloth is made of 300 rabbit tails. The meaning is clear. Women usually like that which makes a warrior frightening and skilful. The aim of decoration is to please the opposite sex. On Flinders Island, near Tasmania, the young men nearly revolted when the local colonial administration forbade them to paint themselves red; the girls will not love us, they said.

p Decoration also includes operations performed on the teeth.  They are sometimes ground, and in Africa the upper incisors are sometimes extracted. Why? Schweinfurth replies: because this makes people resemble ruminants, which they almost idolise (Au coeur de I’Afrique, t. I, p. 147. Paris, 1875). Among the Dinkas only the men tattoo themselves; this reflects the first division of labour: the divUsion] between man and woman. The same is also seen in clothing, the man regards all clothing as shameful: it is worthy only of women, they say. Schweinfurth, who dressed as a European, was nicknamed the Turkish woman by the Dinkas. The most precious metal for the Dinkas is iron, and women wear enormous weights as decorations.

p The Batokas and the pelele (lip ring). (Exploration du Zambeze.) David and Charles Livingstone describe how they asked an old chief why women wore the pelele.  "Why?" he exclaimed. "Men 365 have beards, but women have none, and if they did not have the pelele instead, they would be ugly."

p Finally, Captain Speke describes (Les Sources du Nil) how he saw a thief having his face painted white.  The natives there have great contempt for white men.

p Poetry: Sprachlicher Ausdruck von ausseren oder inneren Erscheinungen in asthetisch wirksamer Form zu asthetischem Zwecke.  [365•* 

_p The song of the Botocudos: Heute haben wir gute Jagd; wir todteten ein Thier; jetzt haben wir zu essen; Fleisch ist gut; Branntwein ist gut  [365•**  (recorded by Ehrenreich).

_p Or: the leader is fearless! The leader knows no fear, etc.

p Australians.  Always sing. Example:

_p The Narrinyeri are coming,
The Narrinyeri are coming,
They will soon be here!
They are carrying a kangaroo
And marching quickly.
The Narrinyeri are coming,
The Narrinyeri are coming.

p An Australian hunting song:

_p The kangaroo ran quickly,
But I was quicker.
The kangaroo is fat:
I ate it.
Oh, kangaroo, kangaroo!

p A fighting song:

_p Stab him in the forehead,
Stab him in the chest,
Stab him in the stomach,
Stab him in the heart,
Stab him in the shoulder,
etc.

p Sometimes they mock their enemies:

p What legs!
What legs!
You long-legged kangaroo!

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_p Funeral song, sung during the burial of a member of one of the sout’iwest Australian tribes:

_p The young women sing: Oh, my young brother!

p The old women: Oh, my young son!

_p Together: We shall never, never see you again!

p Their songs come from the stomach, not from the heart.

p Our lyrical poetry says a lot about love.  We do not know as yet of a single love song among the hunting tribes. In the same way there is no place for love of nature either. We know of only one Eskimo song about the clouds round a mountain top. And here too there is, in fact, no poetic love of nature: I see a large mountain surrounded by clouds; it is big, it is surrounded by clouds, etc. The poverty of content is such that the tribe often does not understand the words of the song it is singing. Obviously the main thing here is melody and rhythm. In general, at this stage lyrics imply music rather than poetry.

p The epos. Poetry is said to begin with the epos.  This was so with the Greeks known to history, but [not with] the primitive peoples. Their epic stories usually extol bravery, courage and stamina. The Eskimo tale about Kagzakzuk.  He was a poor man and suffered a great deal from his rich fellow tribesmen. One day a spirit came to him in the form of a wolf, wound his tail round him, and banged him on the ground three times, etc. Having become strong and killed bears, he revenged himself on his oppressors by killing or mutilating them. He spared only the poor, because the poor loved and pitied him. A reflection of the emergent struggle between rich and poor.

p Drama. Aleutian drama seen by members of Krusenstern’s expedition. One Aleutian, armed with a bow, represented a hunter, another a bird. One expresses by his body movements his joy at having discovered such a beautiful bird, but he dare not kill it. The other imitates the bird’s movements and tries to escape from the hunter. The hunter eventually shoots. The bird staggers, beats its wings and falls. The hunter dances with joy. But then he regrets having killed such a beautiful bird. The bird suddenly turns into a lovely woman and falls into his arms.

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p Australian drama. An orchestra of 100 women, up to 500 spectators. Scene I. The actors portray a herd of cows; they are lying and chewing their fodder. [Scene] II. A group of warriors appears, steals up to the herd and attacks it, kills the cows, skins them, etc. Scene III. The appearance of the white men; their battle with the savages; the victory of the latter. The spectacle of the battle stirred both the audience and the actors so much that the play almost turned into a real fight.

p Such is primitive art. Let us see to what extent our knowledge of it confirms or changes the definition wh[ich] we borrowed from Tolstoy.

_p Art is a means of human intercourse. It is intercourse by means of images. It expresses that which primitive people thought was good. This consciousness of what is good, contrary to Tolstoy, is not a religious consciousness. It is determined either directly by the economy and technology of production or by the soc[ial] needs and relations wh[ich] develop on this soil. Finally, we would note that human intercourse should be understood with a reservation: "stab him in the side”; Kagzagzuk and"Barong’s stories about the hare.

_p 1st evening

p 2nd half

p “The kangaroo was fat; I ate it" or sweet are the peas that tiie white men eat. This is lyricism of the stomach. And concerning this lyricism we may, perhaps, be told that here the "economic factor" holds complete sway. But is this the case ina more developed society? Let us see.

p Let us turn from hunting society to civilisation, from the eucalyptus forests of Australia to one of the Paris salons which appeared in the first half of the seventeenth century in imitation of Madame de Rambouillet’s famous salon.

p In the most fashionable salons of that time there was little talk about politics, the main, almost exclus[ive] interest being literature. What lit[erary] wor[ks] did the salon people of that time discuss? Example. In 1610 Honore d’Urfe’s novel Astrée appeared and immediately became extremely famous. The characters in this novel are divided into three classes (the action takes place in Gaul in the fourth century A.D.): 1) druids and vestal virgins; 2) knights and nymphs; 3) shepherds and shepherdesses. The shepherds and shepherdesses are the lowest class, as it were, the common people of the imaginary country wh[ichl d’Urfé portrays. But they are a very refined people. Addressing Astree in the preface, the author says:

p “Si Ton te reproche que tu ne paries pas le langage des villageois et que ni toi, ni ta troupe ne sentez guere les brebis et les chevres, reponds leur, ma bergere, que tu n’es pas ni celles qui 368 to suivent des ces bergeres necessiteuses qui, pour gagner leur vie, conduisent des troupeaux aux paturages; raais quo vous n’avez pris cette condition que pour vivre plus doucement et sans contrainte."  [368•* 

p As you see, the author is most contemptuous of the econom[ic] factor; his heroes are shepherds by inclination, and not by econom[ic] necessity. Their herds give them little work; they engage in love for the most part. One of the characters, Celadon, whose name became a common noun, writes the Twelve Commandments of love, wh[ich] the others hasten to obey. Here are a few of these commandments:

p /. II faut aimer a Vexces. II. N’aimer qu’une seule personne. III. N’avoir point d’autre passion que son amour.... IV. Defendre sa bergere.  [368•** 

_p I repeat, this novel was extremely popular. Whole generations revelled in it. The famous fable writer La Fontaine said of it:

p Etant petit garcon je lisais ce roman,

p Et je le Us encore ay ant la barbe grise.  [368•*** 

p Obviously it corresponded to the mood. This can be seen from the fact that there were many such novels and that they enjoyed great popularity for a very long time. In 1654 Madeleine de Scudery’s equally famous novel Clélie came out, which became a real textbook of gallantry. It contained the famous Carte du Tendre. Problem: how to get from the town of Nouvelle amitie to the town of Tendre? There are three of them: let us take Tendre sur Estime. You go like this: Grand Esprit, Jolis Vers, Billet galant, Billet doux, Sincerite, Grand Coeur, Generosite, Probite, Exactitude, Respect et Bonte. Most pleasant of all is Tendre sur Inclination (2-e Tendre sur Reconnaissance).  [368•**** 

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p This "map of tenderness" was a subject of great interest to the salon visitors of that time. The distance between this map and Australian poetry is very great. The word poitrine  [369•*  was not allowed to be uttered in the salon. It was improper. Why? Because it reminded one of the dish poitrine de veau.  [369•**  So the economy of France at that time did not influence literature? Not directly. But Sancho Panza asked Don Quixote where the wandering knights got the money to go on their travels. Likewise one’might ask: where did the salon cavaliers and ladies who studied the "map of tenderness" get the money to live?

p It was no accident that Honore d’Urfe warned the reader that his heroes were shepherds by inclination, and not by necessity. He understood that if they had come from the real people, they would not have been able to engage in what they did in the novel. Consequently, the existence of such ideals requires the existence of a class th[at] could live without working. In other words, it requires the division of society into classes. This division is conditioned by econom[ic\ causes. Thus, economics continues to act here too, but it does not act directly: it merely creates a situation in which people can indulge in dreams and passions, as our Nekrasov says.

p But the division of society into classes has existed for a long time and still exists today. There are still people in France today who live without working; why did economically rich France show a passionate interest in the novels of d’Urfe and Scudery only at a certain period of its development?

p Whenever we are confronted with such a question, we must find out what was the mood of the preceding age.

p What was the preceding age in France? It was the age of the religious wars which reached their height in the famous St. Bartholomew’s Night (24 Auglust], 1572). Manners had become quite savage, and as a reaction preciosite appeared.

p This may seem far-fetched. Two authors: 1) Morillot, Le Roman en France, 2) G. Lanson, author of the famous History of Literature in France.

p Morillot (pp. 17-18): "Rien n’incline plus les esprits a la pastorale que les revolutions et les troubles civils. An sortir des horreurs de la Ligue on devait naturellement s’eprendre d’un ideal de politesse et de douceur; les compagnons du Bearnais en introduisant a la cour les grossieretes des camps, rendaient plus pressant le besoin d’une reforme dans la langue et dans les moeurs. C’est 1’epoque ou Catherine de Vivonne cesse d’aller aux assem- 370 blées du Louvre et reunit chez elle une societe d’elite qui raettra toute sa gloire a parler purement”, etc.  [370•*  Lanson: "On ne saurait dire a quel point 1’ignorance, la grossierete, la brutalite etaient venues, apres quarante ans de guerres civiles, a la cour et dans la noblesse. Les dames telles que la marquise de Rambouillet, furent les institutrices do la haute societe; elles firent de la galanterie et de la politesse les freins du temperament; elles substituerent peu a peu des plaisirs et des gouts intellectuels aux passions et aux jouissances brutales. Les gens de lettres aiderent les dames a parfaire leur oeuvre: la condition des uns et des autres en devenait meilleure.... G’est un contre-sens que d’y (in the novels) chercher ... la peinture du monde reel: ce sont des manuels de civilite”, etc., p. 376, ed. 1896.  [370•** 

_p As you see, this literature is a class literature; the literature of a certain class at a certain stage of its development and in certain historical conditions. Préciosité could not last for long. It concerned externals.  It was ridiculed by Boileau and Moliere. But the literature which ousted the novels of d’Urfe and Scudery was also a class literature. Let us take tragedy. Corneilie. Racine.

p Choice of subjects.

p Main characters: kings and heroes. This was a reflection of the limited monarchy. Moreover, at that time the bourgeoisie played a subordinate role, it was not on the bourgeoisie that the destiny of the state depended, and this destiny is of great social interest.

p Psychology of the hero. Strong will. What is the reason for this? The psychology of the upper class at that time. "Even in the women of that time there was little femininity,” says Lanson, "they lived more with their heads, than their hearts.” The influence of the preceding period was felt here too: "struggle and strife lead to a coarsening of manners, hut they temper character”. The same Lanson in another passage continues: "The generation 371 which grew up amid memories of the terrible past and amid the still troubled present, the people of the age of the Thirty Years’ War and the plots against Richelieu, were notable for their strong and even coarse nature ... their romantic heroism met their burning need for effort and activity.” In the second half of the seventeenth century, when the monarchy of Louis XIV finally triumphed, the characters of the heroes change: in Racine the main place "dans cette vie de cour, apres le soin de plaire au roi, la seule affaire est 1’amour, dont le monarque donne 1’ exemple.... Get amour s’empara de la tragedie".  [371•*  Racine’s tragedy is the tragedy of true passion. Consequently, this is a reflection of the psychology of the upper class.

p Is this really so? Is there any way of verifying what I am saying? There is, and a very reliable one. It is the attitude to Shakespeare at that time in England and France.

p After the Restoration in England the aristocracy began to regard Shakespeare unfavourably and turned instead to French tragedy. Shakespeare was defended by "the gods".

p This attitude in England to Shakespeare continued into the eighteenth centtury] as well. Hume says of him that his dramatic genius was overrated for the same reason that deformed and disproportionate bodies seem larger than they are “(ignorance of all conduct”).

p Gibbon also admired French tragedy, and this admir[ation] diminished his respect for Shakespeare, whom he had been taught to worship from childhood. Most characteristic is the attitude of Pope; Pope regretted that Shakespeare wrote "to the people" and without the patronage of the upper class “(without the patronage from the better sort”). In Pope’s opinion, Shakespeare would have written better if he had enjoyed the patronage of the king and court. Even Garrick (the actor) strove to ennoble Shakespeare: he omitted the gravediggers’ scene in Hamlet and gave King Lear a happy ending. And it is interesting that the class character of this attitude to Shakespeare was well understood by the nonaristocratic theatre public. Garrick admitted that in adapting Shakespeare he was incurring the risk of having benches thrown at him by the crowd. So that Garrick’s French correspondents complimented him on the courage with which he ventured to make these alterations. Car je connais la populace anglaise...,  [371•**  one of them adds.

_p In France in the eighteenth century the bourgeoisie’s reaction against the nobility began, which produced anglomania and admiration of Shakespeare.

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p What have the following to say in this connection:

p Voltaire: 25 août, 1776. His note read by D’Alembert at a meeting of the Academy.

p Hamlet is full of the most vulgar scenes. Example: the sentry in Scene I says that all is quiet and he has not heard a mouse stirring. How can one permit oneself to use such expressions? Voltaire exclaims. One can speak like that in the barracks, but not in the theatre and not before a nation which is accustomed to express itself nobly (noblement) and before which one must speak likewise. What would Shakespeare’s invasion of the French stage mean?

p “Just imagine, gentlemen,” Voltaire says, "Louis XIV in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles palace, surrounded by his magnificent courtiers; and when he is there, a farcical jester (gille), covered in rags, pushes aside the throng of heroes, great men and beautiful women that form this court, and invites them to abanpon Moliere, Corneille and Racine for a street entertainer who occasionally manages a few clever tricks. What reception would the jester be given?"

p Voltaire is a conservative here, although he himself was aware that the old academic dictionary was too aristocratic and shortly before his death suggested that the Academy should change it; but he found Shakespeare too democratic.

_p Diderot, who advised actors to abandon pomposity and to speak and move naturally: "But,” objected Madame du Borland, "we’ll have Agrippina on the stage talking like a fishwife!"

p Finally, yet another testimony from Victor Hugo. According to him:

p L’idiome,
Peuple et noblesse, etait I’image du royaume;
La poesie etait la monarchic, un mot
Etait un due et pair on n’etait qu’un grimaud.  [372•* 

The same taste made itself felt, for example, in the layout of gardens. In this connection 1 shall remind you of an idea of Taine’s, which he expressed in one of his earliest works, the Voyage aux Pyrenees, and which he did not, unfortunately, develop fully. Taine says that "/es choses nous plaisent par contrasts et que pour Les ames differentes, les choses belles sont differences’".  [372•**  He explains this idea as follows: a person who is forced to stand to attention all the time thinks that a sitting position is better than all the others. How is this idea used to explain the French aristo- 373 crats’ love of Le Notre’s gardens? Like this: we like unembellished and uncultivated nature because we are children of the town, where such nature does not exist. We like it by contrast. But they had just emerged from mediaeval barbarity and the privations of long wars and were therefore bound to find nature of this kind uninteresting; their idea of it was linked with the idea of privations, and moreover nul jardin n’est mieux fait pour se montrer en grand costume et en grande compagnie, pour faire la reverence, pour causer, pour noner des intrigues de galanterie et d’affaires.  [373•*