PREFACE. 



TN the Middle Ages the old world had passed, 

 ' and the vision of a new world came near to 

 the eager and passionate hearts of many peoples. 

 Lincoln and Wells, Amiens and Chartres, Florence 

 and Assisi tell us of the glory of that vision ; and 

 bear witness of its flight : for with Gilbert, Galileo, 

 Harvey and Newton the Middle Ages themselves 

 became a phantom, and again the spirit of a 

 new world appeared. Thus in the phases of 

 time the world dies and is born again ; fulfilling 

 greater destinies. But the new are born in the 

 cold bed of the elder worlds, and the young life 

 is chilled, or a lustier offspring turns unnaturally 

 to curse the dead ; so in their decrepitude lay 

 the Middle Ages upon modern life ; and the Middle 

 Ages were accursed, until certain pious men sought 

 to reanimate their vestments and their formulas, 

 and to set the hands back on the dial of the 



