The conditions imposed upon the game are
strict, uniform, and mechanical. Yet those who have made of chess a life-
long study are ready to confess their complete ignorance of the
fundamental merits of particular moves; one game does not resemble
another; and from the most commonplace of developments there may spring
up, on the sudden, wild romantic possibilities and situations that are
like miracles. If these surprising flowers of fancy grow on the chess-
board, how shall we set a limit to the possibilities of human life, which
is chess, with variety and uncertainty many million times increased? It
is prudent, therefore, to say little of the laws which govern the course
of human history, to avoid, except for pastime, the discussion of
tendencies and movements, and to speak chiefly of men and books. If an
author can be exhibited as the effect of certain causes (and I do not
deny that some authors can plausibly be so exhibited) he loses his virtue
as an author. He thought of himself as a cause, a surprising intruder
upon the routine of the world, an original creator. I think that he is
right, and that the profitable study of a man is the study which regards
him as an oddity, not a quiddity.
A general statement of the law that governs literary history may perhaps
be borrowed from the most unreasonable of the arts--the art of dress. One
of the powerful rulers of men, and therefore of books, is Fashion, and
the fluctuations of literary fashion make up a great part of literary
history.
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