xanber a DoGWOOb wttb /IDontatGue 



wisdom ; and he that writes of it but rev- 

 erently and nicely lets go the better half 

 of it." That is very true; the trouble, 

 however, comes later, when this so-called 

 *' better part " crowds out everything else 

 and makes life appear all folly or worse. 

 Even in mere literature, written for the 

 sake of verbal art and the turning of ele- 

 gant phrases, this thing, which begins as 

 but the '* recognition of evil," has a way 

 of expanding and opening until it swallows 

 up every other perception of life. It is 

 as Montaigne says of the lackey : '* Give 

 him the privilege of speaking for you, and 

 he is not clever in the least if he does n't 

 usurp your place and give you his." 

 ' He says : ** My nature chooses my lan- 

 guage for me " ; but his nature had been 

 domesticated by the strong force of educ- 

 tion. The wild beast in him showed 

 itself only in the way he had of playing 

 with a subject, as a cat with a mouse, be- 

 fore he fell upon it tooth and claw to make 

 a meal of it. Every reader must envy 

 him his unbroken leisure, which enabled 

 him to work without taking account of 

 265 



