ousness_. As an Englishman,
he holds as birthright the true Piety, the true Morals. That he has
"gone wrong" is, alas, undeniable, but never--even when leering most
satirically--did he deny his creed. When, at public dinners and
elsewhere, he tuned his voice to the note of edification, this man did
not utter the lie of the hypocrite he _meant every word he said_.
Uttering high sentiments, he spoke, not as an individual, but as an
Englishman, and most thoroughly did he believe that all who heard him
owed in their hearts allegiance to the same faith. He is, if you like, a
Pharisee--but do not misunderstand; his Pharisaism has nothing personal.
That would be quite another kind of man; existing, to be sure, in
England, but not as a national type. No; he is a Pharisee in the minor
degree with regard to those of his countrymen who differ from him in
dogma; he is Pharisee absolute with regard to the foreigner. And there
he stands, representing an Empire.

The word hypocrisy is perhaps most of all applied to our behaviour in
matters of sexual morality, and here with specially flagrant misuse.
Multitudes of Englishmen have thrown aside the national religious dogma,
but very few indeed have abandoned the conviction that the rules of
morality publicly upheld in England are the best known in the world. Any
one interested in doing so can but too easily demonstrate that English
social life is no purer than that of most other countries. Scandals of
peculiar grossness, at no long intervals, give rich opportunity to the
scoffer. The streets of our great towns nightly present an exhibition
the like of which cannot be seen elsewhere in the world. Despite all
this, your average Englishman takes for granted his country's moral
superiority, and loses no chance of proclaiming it at the expense of
other peoples. To call him hypocrite, is simply not to know the man. He
may, for his own part, be gross-minded and lax of life; that has nothing
to do with the matter; _he believes in virtue_. Tell him that English
morality is mere lip-service, and he will blaze with as honest anger as
man ever felt. He is a monument of self-righteousness, again not
personal but national.

XXI.

I make use of the present tense, but am I speaking truly of present
England? Such powerful agencies of change have been at work during the
last thirty years; and it is difficult, nay impossible, to ascertain in
what degree they have affected the national