But, on the whole, the best work is done
in speed and glow, and derives from that swift handling a unity, a
curve, that nothing else can give. What matters is to have a clear
sense of structure, and that, at all events, cannot be secured by
poky and fretful treatment. That is where intellectual grasp comes
in. But, even so, it all depends upon what one likes, and I confess
that I like large handling better than perfection of detail."
"I believe," I said, "that we really all agree. We all believe in
largeness and vitality as the essential qualities. But in the
lesser kinds of art there is a delicacy and a perfection which are
appropriate. An attention to minutiae which the graving of a gem or
the making of a sonnet demands is out of place in a cathedral or an
epic. We none of us would approve of hasty, slovenly, clumsy work
anywhere; all that is to be demanded is that such irregularity as
can be detected should not be inappropriate irregularity. What we
disagree about is only the precise amount of finish which is
appropriate to the particular work.
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