a hero, and another of a moment when his fire would turn to
gentleness, and another of his love for some beauty of his time,
and yet another tell how the rivalry of a spiritual beauty made
him tire of love; and so from iteration and persistent dwelling
on a few heroes, their imaginative images found echoes in life,
and other heroes arose, continuing their tradition of chivalry.

That such types are of the highest importance, and have the most
ennobling influence on a country, cannot be denied. It was this
idea led Whitman to exploit himself as the typical American. He
felt that what he termed a "stock personality" was needed to
elevate and harmonize the incongruous human elements in the States.
English literature has always been more sympathetic with actual
beings than with ideal types, and cannot help us much. A man who
loves Dickens, for example, may grow to have a great tolerance for
the grotesque characters which are the outcome of the social order
in England, but he will not be assisted in the conception of a
higher humanity: and this is true of very many English writers
who lack a fundamental philosophy, and are content to take man as
he seems to be for the moment, rather than as the pilgrim of eternity--
as one who is flesh today but who may hereafter grow divine, and
who may shine at last like the stars of the morning, triumphant among
the sons of God.

Mr. Standish O'Grady, in his notable epic of Cuculain, was in our
time the first to treat the Celtic tradition worthily. He has
contributed one hero who awaits equal comrades, if indeed the tales
of the Red Branch do not absorb the thoughts of many imaginative
writers, and Cuculain remain the typical hero of the Gael, becoming
to every boy who reads the story a revelation of what his own spirit is.