eful to those who have pointed out the audacious
misrepresentations of my real opinion in comparative mythology, and
have rebuked the flippant tone of some of my eager critics' [i. 26,
27].

I must here confess to the belief that no gentleman or honest man ever
_consciously_ misrepresents the ideas of an opponent. If it is not too
flippant an illustration, I would say that no bowler ever throws
consciously and wilfully; his action, however, may unconsciously develop
into a throw. There would be no pleasure in argument, cricket, or any
other sport if we knowingly cheated. Thus it is always _unconsciously_
that adversaries pervert, garble, and misrepresent each other's opinions;
unconsciously, not 'audaciously.' If people would start from the major
premise that misrepresentations, if such exist, are unconscious errors,
much trouble would be spared.

Positions which I never held

Thus Mr. Max Muller never dreamed of 'audaciously misrepresenting' me
when, in four lines, he made two statements about my opinions and my
materials which are at the opposite pole from the accurate (i. 12): 'When
I speak of the Vedic Rishis as primitive, I do not mean what Mr. A. Lang
means when he calls his savages primitive.' But I have stated again and
again that I _don't_ call my savages 'primitive.' Thus 'contemporary
savages may be degraded, they certainly are not primitive.' {93a} 'One
thing about the past of [contemporary] savages we do know: it must have
been a long past.' {93b} 'We do not wish to call savages primitive.'
{93c} All this was written in reply to the very proper caution of Dr.
Fairbairn that 'savages are not primitive.' Of course they are not; that
is of the essence of my theory. I regret the use of the word 'primitive'
even in Primitive Culture. Savages, as a rule, are _earlier_, more
backward than civilised races, as, of course, Mr. Max Muller admits,
where language is concerned. {94} Now, after devoting several pages to
showing in detail how very far from primitive even the Australian tribes
are, might I (if I were ill-natured) not say that Mr. Max Muller
'audaciously misrepresents' me when he avers that I 'call my savages
primitive'? But he never dreamed of misrepresenting me; he only happened
not to understand my position. However, as he complains in his own case,
'it is not pleasant to have to defend positions which one never held' (i.
26), and, indeed, I shall defend no such position.