That is why Stendhal, that impertinent, teasing, even repugnant mind (whose impertinences are, nevertheless, usefully thought-provoking), came close to the truth, much closer than many other people, when he said: "The beautiful is neither more nor less then the promise of happiness".

There are also people who having once read Bossuet and Racine, think they have got the history of literature at their fingertips.

Happily from time to time knights errant step into lists - critics, art collectors, lovers of the art, curious-minded idlers - who assert that neither Raphael nor Racine has every secret, that minor poets have something to be said for them, substantial and delightful things to their credit, and finally that, however much we may like general beauty, which is expressed by classical poets and artist, we nonetheless make a mistake to neglect particular beauty, the beauty of circumstance, the description of manners.