V

THE FUTURE

357

better than Mr. Wells does, I declare that hisaccount contains no more than the element oftruth which is proper to a caricature. Heunder-estimates altogether their possibilities—how they may yet become temples of Brahmawhich even Siva will respect. But Clissold ,taken altogether, is a great achievement, a hugeand meaty egg from a glorious hen, an abun-dant outpouring of an ingenious, truthful, andgenerous spirit.

Though we talk about pure art as neverbefore, this is not a good age for pure artists;nor is it a good one for classical perfections.Our most pregnant writers to-day are full ofimperfections; they expose themselves to judge-ment; they do not look to be immortal. Forthese reasons, perhaps, we, their contemporaries,do them and the debt we owe them less thanjustice. What a debt every intelligent beingowes to Bernard Shaw ! What a debt also toH. G. Wells , whose mind seems to have grownup alongside his readers’, so that, in successivephases, he has delighted us and guided ourimaginations from boyhood to maturity.