with whom eccentricity is respected. In "Society" the force of
individuality now runs beneath the surface of observable varieties of
costume, taking a subterranean course with an impulse to avoid
everything that would give rise to comment. But the conformity of
"Society" in small things is only a mask. Du Maurier's real weakness in
satire was that he did not quite perceive this. He was inclined to
accept appearances for realities, with the consequence that the record
he transmits of late Victorian Society obscures the quite feverish
genius of that age.


§4

It has often been remarked that the comparative failure of du Maurier's
successors seems the result of a difficulty in drawing "a lady"
unmistakably. We can forgive much to the artist who brought the English
lady, by many accounted the finest in the world, into real existence in
modern comic art. We shall have to forgive him for turning into a lady
every woman who was not middle-aged. Du Maurier's picture of Society was
largely falsified by his inability to appreciate variety in feminine
genius. But we are quite prepared to believe that his treatment of the
dainty parlour-maid, for instance, helped to confirm that tradition of
refinement in table service which is the pleasant feature of English
home life. All the servants shown in his pictures are ladies, and this
before the fashion had made any headway of engaging ladies as servants.
And we cannot help feeling such delightful child-life as he represents
could only have retained its characteristics under the wing of the
beautiful women who nurse it in his pictures.

[Illustration: "The Cilician Pirates"