y. The
modern mind is forced towards the future by a certain sense of fatigue,
not unmixed with terror, with which it regards the past. It is propelled
towards the coming time; it is, in the exact words of the popular
phrase, knocked into the middle of next week. And the goad which drives
it on thus eagerly is not an affectation for futurity Futurity does not
exist, because it is still future. Rather it is a fear of the past; a
fear not merely of the evil in the past, but of the good in the past
also. The brain breaks down under the unbearable virtue of mankind.
There have been so many flaming faiths that we cannot hold; so many
harsh heroisms that we cannot imitate; so many great efforts of
monumental building or of military glory which seem to us at once
sublime and pathetic. The future is a refuge from the fierce competition
of our forefathers. The older generation, not the younger, is knocking
at our door. It is agreeable to escape, as Henley said, into the Street
of By-and-Bye, where stands the Hostelry of Never. It is pleasant to
play with children, especially unborn children. The future is a blank
wall on which every man can write his own name as large as he likes;
the past I find already covered with illegible scribbles, such as Plato,
Isaiah, Shakespeare, Michael Angelo, Napoleon. I can make the future as
narrow as myself; the past is obliged to be as broad and turbulent as
humanity. And the upshot of this modern attitude is really this: that
men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They
look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.

Now in history there is no Revolution that is not a Restoration. Among
the many things that leave me doubtful about the modern habit of fixing
eyes on the future, none is stronger than this: that all the men in
history who have really done anything with the future have had their
eyes fixed upon the past. I need not mention the Renaissance, the very
word proves my case. The originality of Michael Angelo and Shakespeare
began with the digging up of old vases and manuscripts. The mildness of
poets absolutely arose out of the mildness of antiquaries. So the great
mediaeval revival was a memory of the Roman Empire. So the Reformation
looked back to the Bible and Bible times. So the modern Catholic
movement has looked back to patristic times. But that modern movement
which many would count the most anarchic of all is in this sense the
most con