CHAPTER II 



CHANGE 



THERE is no thinking man but has been impressed 

 with the changefulness of life ; and in the 

 literature of all races this has been a fruitful theme 

 for lamentation, satire and cynicism. Not only 

 do birth and death ceaselessly change the com- 

 position of our society not only does each one 

 of us pass from the cradle to the grave through 

 the transforming corridors of the " Seven Ages " 

 but our minds, that claim to possess timeless 

 excellencies, are as shifting and changeable as 

 the wind. How long can a love keep its light 

 burning, or a grief maintain the shadow that it 

 has cast ? And, being by nature changeful, we 

 take an instinctive pleasure in the changes of our 

 thoughts. Any mood that is prolonged fatigues 

 us : gaiety may become more tiresome than 

 sadness, and it is not only kind-hearted sympathy 

 that interests us in the sudden changes that 

 are wrought by great calamities, or by the mis- 

 fortunes of our friends. The essence of the 

 ludicrous lies in contrast, in the sudden trans- 

 formation that it occasions in our moods. And 

 what charm does contrast lend to the drama ! 

 How delightful the change from Hero's tragedy 

 to the antics of the city watch from the law- 

 courts of Venice to the moonlit bank on which 

 Lorenzo and Jessica sit and make love ! With 

 what enchantment does Euripides suddenly veil 



