cs. But as callings are
necessary, Rousseau is in favour of slavery. 'The sciences have
destroyed the human race. The theatre is corrupting, money fatal, and
the state ought to impose a religion under the penalty of death.'"

"What!" said they, "here is the pontiff of democracy."

All the champions of reform had copied him; and they procured the
_Examen du Socialisme_, by Morant.

The first chapter explained the doctrine of Saint-Simon.

At the top the Father, at the same time Pope and Emperor. Abolition of
inheritance; all property movable and immovable forming a social fund,
which should be worked on a hierarchical basis. The manufacturers are to
govern the public fortune. But there is nothing to be afraid of; they
will have as a leader the "one who loves the most."

One thing is lacking: woman. On the advent of woman depends the
salvation of the world.

"I do not understand."

"Nor I."

And they turned to Fourierism:

"'All misfortunes come from constraint. Let the attraction be free, and
harmony will be established.

"'In our souls are shut up a dozen leading passions: five egoistical,
four animistic, and three distributive. The first class have reference
to individuals, the second to groups, the last to groups of groups, or
series, of which the whole forms a phalanx, a society of eighteen
hundred persons dwelling in a palace. Every morning carriages convey the
workers into the country, and bring them back in the evening. Standards
are carried, festivities are held, cakes are eaten. Every woman, if she
desires it, can have three men--the husband, the lover, and the
procreator. For celibates, the Bayadere system is established----'"

"That fits me!" said Bouvard. And he lost himself in dreams of the
harmonious world.

"'By the restoration of climatures, the earth will become more
beautiful; by the crossing of races, human life will become longer. The
clouds will be guided as the thunderbolt is now: it will rain at night
in the cities so that they will be clean. Ships will cross the polar
seas, thawed beneath the Aurora Borealis. For everything is produced by
the conjunction of two fluids, male and female, gushing out from the
poles, and the northern lights are a symptom of the blending of the
planets--a prolific emission.'"

"This is beyond me!" said Pecuchet.

After Saint-Simon and Fourier the problem resolves itself into questions
of wages.

Louis Blanc, in the interests of the working class, wi