PHILOSOPHY OF A MAN OF LETTERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 86, 4 January 1908, Page 13

PHILOSOPHY OF A MAN OF LETTERS.

"I'eoplo to-day are mostly absorbed in current literature, or scionco, or pleasuro. They have 110 opportunity of chewing the cud," said Mr. Thcodoro Watts-Dunton to Mr. Albert Dawson, who has a long and most interesting account of an interview with "the lirsfc critic of our timo," in tho "Christian Commonwealth."

Air. Watts-Dunton doe 3 not read as much modern b'olles-lottros ii 3 lie used to reud, but ho i 3 fully abreast of tho latest results of scientific onquiry. "Wo live," ho said, "in a marvellous timo. Almost ovory day v.'e have somo amazing revelation of what I tried to bring out in 'Aylwin' and 'The Coming of Love'—the spirituality of matter. In fact, 1 there is no flood matter at all, and every physical body sheds its num. Cohesion and life appear to be synonymous terms. That is what makes nature so fascinating, wliilo tho results of astronomic research aro overwhelming. Confronted as wo are by tho phenomena of tho universe—and they becoino vnoro ami more marvellous —I wonder wo can tisid timo to read literaturo at all."

"Tho whole tendency of philosophy and scicnco is to give a spiritual interpretation of tho universe?" ventured tbo interviewer.

"i'Jxactly—spirituality- and optimism, thoy are tho dominant notes of all my work," was the reply. "Wo don't get any noarer to tho sccrot of tho wnvjuxA.?" .

"Shall wo ovor? Can we, as Goetho says, jump oif our own shadows? ,It is a contradiction in'terms to suppose that wo can do that." ■ .

"Porhaps wo —tho sum-total of consciousness—aro tho' explanation of tho universe, or tho only explanation there-is?" •

"I incline to tho great Hegelian philosophy.". ■ ■ ■ ■

"Have you observed tho steady rise of Socialism?"

"I foresaw that long ago. When I camo up from the country I was aghast at tho misery of tho London poor, and I was a slummor, as lias been said, . before slumming became fasliionablo. . . For yca'l'3 I .havo been prophesying that the! extravaganco,' tho' brutal ignoranco, tho s'olfishness, and.the display on tho part of tho vulgar rich would cat into tho heart of tho British public. Tho wealthy classos, revelling.,in luxury, while other peoplo aro wanting bread, starv•ingl As I used to say to. Morris, tho caso is not .like that of the old Greeks; in this country rich and poor belong to tho same race. Will'the peoplo stand.it? Ihave long been asking. Tho contrast would not-bo so striking if tho plutocrats-would only keep their, wealth' to themselves; if they would only do as tho old Romans did, conceal it. A Roman was very shy about displaying his wealth, knowing how powerful is onvy in tho human Constitution, i But to-day rich people flaunt their wealth in tho face of the poor, especially in America. ; Hence tho Socialist movement, and it is a tremendous phenomenon. '

"Vou sco, owing to the peculiar courso of British history, wo have no noblesso at all. People think that the' marrying of the younger sons of the nobility to brewers' daughters and persons of that kind began about a century ago. As a" matter of fact, it began shortly after the Norman Conquest. . . . With the introduction of tho law of primogeniture, the. younger sons of tho barons, being commoners,' had. oither to go into tho Church or the army, or marry into tho bourgeoisie. The consequence is that tho nation is an absolato mixture."