ABSTRACT
If, however, VII, Illusion, is brought forward as the end of art we have a view which can be discussed on its own merits. Those who admire imitation are already on the way to such a view, and a picture which is merely regarded as a substitute for what might actually be seen is producing an illusion. It is only a further step to demand that the illusion shall be one of a more exciting, more inaccessible, or more congenial environment than the ordinary. On this theory Art is ‘the quickest way out of Manchester’; and one can ‘lose oneself in a novel’, or ‘forget one's troubles at the play’ as easily as in drink.
