t happiness
is very evenly distributed among all classes and conditions. It is
the result of sober reflection on my experience of life. Think of it
a moment. The bulk of men are neither rich nor poor, taking into
consideration their habits and needs; they live in much content, despite
social imperfections and injustices, despite the ills of nature.
Above and below are classes of extreme characterisation; I believe the
happiness assignable to those who are the lowest stratum of civilisation
is, relatively speaking, no whit less than that we may attribute to the
thin stratum of the surface, using the surface to mean the excessively
rich. It is a paradox, but anyone capable of thinking may be assured of
its truth. The life of the very poorest is a struggle to support their
bodies; the richest, relieved of that one anxiety, are overwhelmed with
such a mass of artificial troubles that their few moments of genuine
repose do not exceed those vouchsafed to their antipodes. You would urge
the sufferings of the criminal class under punishment? I balance against
it the misery of the rich under the scourge of their own excesses. It
is a mistake due to mere thoughtlessness, or ignorance, to imagine the
labouring, or even the destitute, population as ceaselessly groaning
beneath the burden of their existence. Go along the poorest street in
the East End of London, and you will hear as much laughter, witness as
much gaiety, as in any thoroughfare of the West. Laughter and gaiety
of a miserable kind? I speak of it as relative to the habits and
capabilities of the people. A being of superior intelligence regarding
humanity with an eye of perfect understanding would discover that life
was enjoyed every bit as much in the slum as in the palace.'

'You would consider it fair to balance excessive suffering of the body
in one class against excessive mental suffering in another?'

'Undoubtedly. It is a fair application of my theory. But let me preach
a little longer. It is my belief that, though this equality of
distribution remains a fact, the sum total of happiness in nations is
seriously diminishing. Not only on account of the growth of population;
the poor have more to suffer, the rich less of true enjoyment, the mass
of comfortable people fall into an ever-increasing anxiety. A Radical
will tell you that this is a transitional state. Possibly, if we
accept the Radical theories of progress. I held them once in a very
light-hearted way; I