272 MATERIAL PROGRESS 



philosophic thought. It is a truism that riches 

 do not give happiness : neither can they mitigate 

 the terrors of death : a wise man will surely prefer 

 to them the careful training of his own mind. 

 But it must be remembered that, although wealth 

 may in itself be vanity, its pursuit gratifies the 

 provident instinct and is therefore exceedingly 

 pleasurable. And from the desire for riches have 

 arisen new standards of ambition which may 

 at first blush appear sordid, but have in effect 

 conduced to human benefit. We are impressed 

 by wealth almost as much as by birth or breeding. 

 We are coming to respect success in industry or 

 in commerce more than the authority of a king or 

 the antiquity of an institution. The East still 

 admires the capricious despotism of a strong ruler; 

 but " Bluff King Hal " or " Good Queen Bess " 

 would, we feel, be unacceptable anachronisms 

 in England of the present day. We wonder what 

 the Somersetshire peasants can have seen in 

 Monmouth that they should have shed their 

 blood for him. The House of Lords, the Estab- 

 lished Church, are no longer secure in popular 

 veneration. Material ambitions may appear an 

 unworthy substitute for feelings of reverence and 

 loyalty. But they make for freedom, and the 

 spread of culture. In the pursuit of wealth 

 artificial class barriers are levelled : success is 

 open to the poorest, and the difference between 

 the lower and the upper classes of the people is 

 seen to be one of circumstances not of essence. The 

 poor may accordingly copy the rich in dress and 

 in manners : dress they must imitate in cheaper 

 materials, but in manners they may be and are 

 becoming of the finest. Culture is, then, be- 

 coming the heritage of all, not the privilege of a 

 few. 



These feelings of emulation may bear bitter 



