The tittle of this book will disclose at once the critical theory underlying these essays; they are studies in the discipline which literature imposes on those who cultivate it as art, and their doctrine is that language as a medium of expression has certain limitations which the writer must respect, and that the psychology of his audience limits him also in what he must say, if he would gain a wide hearing and keep it. Contents: decency in literature; originality in literature; cult of the natural and contemporary; characters proper to literature.