nfully asked whether this was fit work for the author
of the _Earthly Paradise_. Many liberal-minded people indeed regretted
the diversion of his activities, but the question whether he was wasting
them is one that needs consideration; and to judge him fairly we must
look at the problem from his side and postulate that Socialism (whether
he interpreted its theories aright or not) did pursue practical ideals.
If Aeschylus was more proud of fighting at Marathon than of writing
tragedies--if Socrates claimed respect as much for his firmness as a
juryman as for his philosophic method--surely Morris might believe that
his duty to his countrymen called him to leave his study and his
workshop to take an active part in public affairs. He might be more
prone to error than those who had trained themselves to political life,
but he faced the problems honestly and sacrificed his comfort for the
common good.

Criticism took a still more personal turn in the hands of those who
pointed out that Morris himself occupied the position of a capitalist
employer, and who asked him to live up to his creed by divesting himself
of his property and taking his place in the ranks of the proletariat.
This argument is dealt with by Mr. Mackail,[54] who describes the steps
which Morris took to admit his foremen to sharing the profits of the
business, and defends him against the charge of inconsistency. Morris
may not have thought out the question in all its aspects, but much of
the criticism passed upon him was even more illogical and depended on
far too narrow and illiterate a use of the word Socialism. He knew as
well as his critics that no new millennium could be introduced by merely
taking the wealth of the rich and dividing it into equal portions among
the poor.

[Note 54: _Life of Morris_, by J. W. Mackail, vol. ii, pp. 133-9.]

However reluctant Morris might be to leave his own work for public
agitation, he plunged into the Socialist campaign with characteristic
energy. For two or three years he was constantly devoting his Sundays to
open-air speech-making, his evenings to thinly-attended meetings in
stuffy rooms in all the poorer parts of London; and, at the call of
comrades, he often travelled into the provinces, and even as far as
Scotland, to lend a hand. And he spent time and money prodigally in
supporting journals which were to spread the special doctrines of his
form of Socialism. Nor was it only the indifference and the hostility of