Art, on the other hand, is a familiar spirit.

Through the windows of the senses she finds her way into the very soul of man, and makes for herself a home there.
But it is to his humanity, not to his individuality, that she whispers, for she speaks in that universal tongue which all can understand.
Examples are not wanting to substantiate theory.

It is no mere coincidence that the two most impersonal nations of Europe and Asia respectively, the French and the Japanese, are at the same time the most artistic.

Even politeness, which, as we have seen, distinguishes both, is itself but a form of art,--the social art of living agreeably with one's fellows.
This impersonality comes out with all the more prominence when we pass from the consideration of art in itself to the spirit which actuates that art, and especially when we compare their spirit with our own.
The mainsprings of Far Eastern art may be said to be three: Nature, Religion, and Humor.

Incongruous collection that they are, all three witness to the same trait.