1 8 Concerning Kingsleys in Genej'al i 



that period of his life, very deeply imbued with 

 the liberal sentiments which were then rousing the 

 enthusiasm of half the young men in Europe. 

 Remain a quiet spectator of the fierce conflict 

 round him he could not. The only reward, how- 

 ever, that he received for his devotion to the 

 goddess of Liberty was a musket-ball in the biceps 

 of his left arm, received when he was engaged in 

 assisting fellow-worshippers in the service of taking 

 up paving-stones and so on to build a barricade. 



We all know the dictum of a famous statesman 

 that ' not to be a Radical before the age of 30 is a 

 sign of a hard heart, but that to be one after is the 

 sign of a soft head.' If George Kingsley's heart 

 was politically extremely soft before 30, his head 

 certainly grew to a corresponding degree of political 

 hardness afterwards. To many of the people who 

 knew him only in his later life, when he would often 

 speak with a bitter cynicism with regard to all 

 questions of political reform, the statement that he 

 once lent his aid to the building of an altar to the 

 unknown goddess in the streets of Paris would 

 have been a surprise. His furious denunciations of 

 Radicalism were simply highly amusing to those who 

 knew of his early leanings that way, and knew his 

 undying spirit of intolerance of oppression in any form. 



But it was, after all, with him as with others : — 



'"Forward" rang the voices then, and of the many mine was one. 

 Let us hush this cry of " Forward " till ten thousand years 

 have gone.' 



