t we must as far as possible choose a course which leads us in the
direction of the thoughts that we conceive to be noble and true. We
may make mistakes, we may wander sadly from the way, but I believe that
it is our duty, our best hope, to try and perceive what it is that God
is trying to teach us. Now, our choice must be to a great extent a
matter of temperament. Some men like work, activity, influence,
relations with others. Well, if they sincerely believe that they are
meant to pursue these things, it is their duty to do so. Others, like
myself, seem to be gifted with a sensitiveness of perception, an
appreciation of beauty in many forms. I cannot believe that such an
organisation is given me fortuitously, and that I am merely meant to
suppress it. Of course the same argument could be used sophistically
by a man with strong sensual passions and appetites, who could
similarly urge that he must be intended to gratify them. But such
gratification leads both to personal disaster and to the increase of
unhappiness in the race. Such instincts as I recognise in myself seem
to me to do neither. I believe that poets, artists, and musicians, to
say nothing of religious teachers, have effected almost more for the
welfare of the race than statesmen, patriots, and philanthropists. Of
course the necessary work of the world has got to be done; but my own
belief is that a good deal more than is necessary is done, because
people pursue luxury rather than simplicity. I recognise to the full
the duty of work; but, to be quite honest, I think that a serious man
who will preach simplicity, disseminate ideas, suggest possibilities of
intellectual and artistic pleasure, can do a very real work. Such a
man must be disinterested; he must not desire fame or influence; he
must be content if he can sow the seeds of beauty in a few minds._

"_Now the Maudle and Postlethwaite school are not concerned with
anything of the kind. They merely desire to make a sort of brightly
polished mirror of their minds, capable of reflecting all sorts of
beautiful effects, and this is an essentially effeminate thing to do,
because it exalts the appreciation of sensation above all other aims;
that is the pursuit of artistic luxury, and it is, as you say, quite
inconsistent with good citizenship. But I do not think that my own
theory is in the least inconsistent with good citizenship. I have no
admiration for the citizenship the end of which is to m