o overbearing and rebellious spirits; but to keep in
love is also a business of some importance, to which both man and wife
must bring kindness and goodwill. The true love story commences at the
altar, when there lies before the married pair a most beautiful contest
of wisdom and generosity, and a life-long struggle towards an
unattainable ideal. Unattainable? Ay, surely unattainable, from the very
fact that they are two instead of one.

"Of making books there is no end," complained the Preacher; and did not
perceive how highly he was praising letters as an occupation. There is
no end, indeed, to making books or experiments, or to travel or to
gathering wealth. Problem gives rise to problem. We may study for ever,
and we are never as learned as we would. We have never made a statue
worthy of our dreams. And when we have discovered a continent, or
crossed a chain of mountains, it is only to find another ocean or
another plain upon the farther side. In the infinite universe there is
room for our swiftest diligence and to spare. It is not like the works
of Carlyle, which can be read to an end. Even in a corner of it, in a
private park, or in the neighbourhood of a single hamlet, the weather
and the seasons keep so deftly changing that although we walk there for
a lifetime there will be always something new to startle and delight us.

There is only one wish realisable on the earth; only one thing that can
be perfectly attained: Death. And from a variety of circumstances we
have no one to tell us whether it be worth attaining.

A strange picture we make on our way to our Chimaeras, ceaselessly
marching, grudging ourselves the time for rest; indefatigable,
adventurous pioneers. It is true that we shall never reach the goal; it
is even more than probable that there is no such place; and if we live
for centuries and were endowed with the powers of a god, we should find
ourselves not much nearer what we wanted at the end. O toiling hands of
mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling ye know not whither! Soon, soon,
it seems to you, you must come forth on some conspicuous hilltop, and
but a little way farther, against the setting sun, descry the spires of
El Dorado. Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel
hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to
labour.

VII

THE ENGLISH ADMIRALS

"Whether it be wise in men to do such