CONCLUDING REMARKS. 299 



from ache or pain, and thoroughly acquainted with its 

 business so far, but with much yet to be reminded of. 

 A creature which finds itself and its surroundings not 

 so unlike those of its parents about the time of their 

 begetting it, as to be compelled to recognise that it 

 never yet was in any such position, is a creature in the 

 heyday of life. A creature which begins to be aware 

 of itself is one which is beginning to recognise that the 

 situation is a new one. 



It is the young and fair, then, who are the truly old 

 and the truly experienced ; it is they who alone have a 

 trustworthy memory to guide them ; they alone know 

 things as they are, and it is from them that, as we 

 grow older, we must study if we would still cling to 

 truth. The whole charm of youth lies in its advantage 

 over age in respect of experience, and where this has 

 for some reason failed, or been misapplied, the charm is 

 broken. When we say that we are getting old, we should 

 say rather that we are getting new or young, and are 

 suffering from inexperience, which drives us into doing 

 things which we do not understand, and lands us, even- 

 tually, in the utter impotence of death. The kingdom 

 of heaven is the kingdom of little children. 



A living creature bereft of all memory dies. If be- 

 reft of a great part of memory, it swoons or sleeps ; and 

 when its memory returns, we say it has returned to life. 



Life and death, then, should be memory and forget- 

 fulness, for we are dead to all that we have forgotten. 



Life is that property of matter whereby it can re- 

 member. Matter which can remember is living ; matter 

 which cannot remember is dead. 



