gives of its meaning, is very superior
to the ancient explanation preserved for us by Plutarch.[1] He
connects the expression with _Pan_ the personification of Nature;[2]
and observes that fear is innate in every living thing, and, in fact,
tends to its preservation, but that it is apt to come into play
without due cause, and that man is especially exposed to it. The chief
feature of this _Panie Terror_ is that there is no clear notion of any
definite danger bound up with it; that it presumes rather than knows
that danger exists; and that, in case of need, it pleads fright itself
as the reason for being afraid.

[Footnote 1: _De Iside et Osiride_ ch. 14.]

[Footnote 2: _De Sapientia Veterum_, C. 6. _Natura enim rerum omnibus
viventibus indidit mentum ac formidinem, vitae atque essentiae suae
conservatricem, ac mala ingruentia vitantem et depellentem. Verumtamen
eaden natura modum tenere nescia est: sed timoribus salutaribus semper
vanos et innanes admiscet; adeo ut omnia (si intus conspici darentur)
Panicis terroribus plenissima sint praesertim humana_.]

CHAPTER V.

THE AGES OF LIFE.

There is a very fine saying of Voltaire's to the effect that every age
of life has its own peculiar mental character, and that a man will
feel completely unhappy if his mind is not in accordance with his
years:--

_Qui n'a pas l'esprit de son age,
De son age atout le malheur_.

It will, therefore, be a fitting close to our speculations upon the
nature of happiness, if we glance at the chances which the various
periods of life produce in us.

Our whole life long it is _the present_, and the present alone, that
we actually possess: the only difference is that at the beginning of
life we look forward to a long future, and that towards the end we
look back upon a long past; also that our temperament, but not our
character, undergoes certain well-known changes, which make _the
present_ wear a different color at each period of life.

I have elsewhere stated that in childhood we are more given to using
our _intellect_ than our _will_; and I have explained why this is
so.[1] It is just for this reason that the first quarter of life is so
happy: as we look back upon it in after years, it seems a sort of lost
paradise. In childhood our relations with others are limited, our
wants are few,--in a word, there is little stimulus for the will;
and so our chief concern is the extension of our knowledge. The
intellect--like the b