POTTERISM

A TRAGI-FARCICAL TRACT

BY ROSE MACAULAY

Author of 'What Not,' etc.

1920

TO THE UNSENTIMENTAL PRECISIANS IN THOUGHT, WHO HAVE, ON THIS CONFUSED,INACCURATE, AND EMOTIONAL PLANET, NO FIT HABITATION

'They contract a Habit of talking loosely and confusedly.'—J. CLARKE.

'My dear friend, clear your mind of cant…. Don't think foolishly.'
SAMUEL JOHNSON.

'On the whole we are
Not intelligent—
No, no, no, not intelligent.'—W.S. GILBERT.

'Truth may perhaps come to the price of a Pearle, that sheweth best byday; But it will not rise to the price of a Diamond or Carbuncle, thatsheweth best in varied lights. A mixture of a Lie doth ever addePleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men'smindes Vaine Opinions, Blattering Hopes, False Valuations, Imaginationsas one would, and the like, but it would leave the Mindes of a Number ofMen poore shrunken Things, full of Melancholy and Indisposition andunpleasing to themselves?'—FRANCIS BACON.

'What is it that smears the windows of the senses? Thought, convention,self-interest…. We see the narrow world our windows show us not initself, but in relation to our own needs, moods, and preferences … forthe universe of the natural man is strictly egocentric…. Unless wehappen to be artists—and then but rarely—we never know the "thing seen"in its purity; never from birth to death, look at it with disinterestedeyes…. It is disinterestedness, the saint's and poet's love of thingsfor their own sakes … which is the condition of all real knowledge….When … the verb "to have" is ejected from the centre of yourconsciousness … your attitude to life will cease to be commercial andbecome artistic. Then the guardian at the gate, scrutinising and sortingthe incoming impressions, will no longer ask, "What use is this tome?"… You see things at last as the artist does, for their sake, notfor your own.'—EVELYN UNDERHILL.

PART I.—TOLD BY R.M.

I. POTTERS II. ANTI-POTTERS III. OPPORTUNITY IV. JANE AND CLARE

PART II.—TOLD BY GIDEON

I. SPINNING II. DINING WITH THE HOBARTS III. SEEING JANE

PART III.—TOLD BY LELIA YORKE

I. THE TERRIBLE TRAGEDY ON THE STAIRS II. AN AWFUL SUSPICION

PART IV.—TOLD BY KATHERINE VARICK

A BRANCH OF STUDY

PART V.—TOLD BY JUKE

GIVING ADVICE

PART VI.—TOLD BY R.M.

I. THE END OF A POTTER MELODRAMA II. ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED III. THE PRECISIAN AT WAR WITH THE WORLD IV. RUNNING AWAY V. A PLACARD FOR THE PRESS

PART I:

TOLD BY R.M.

CHAPTER I

POTTERS

Johnny and Jane Potter, being twins, went through Oxford together. Johnnycame up from Rugby and

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