romance.

With these pages before one's eyes, must one not needs believe that
things of the mind are a prime concern of our day? Who are the
purchasers of these volumes ever pouring from the press? How is it
possible for so great a commerce to flourish save as a consequence of
national eagerness in this intellectual domain? Surely one must take for
granted that throughout the land, in town and country, private libraries
are growing apace; that by the people at large a great deal of time is
devoted to reading; that literary ambition is one of the commonest spurs
to effort?

It is the truth. All this may be said of contemporary England. But is
it enough to set one's mind at ease regarding the outlook of our
civilization?

Two things must be remembered. However considerable this literary
traffic, regarded by itself, it is relatively of small extent. And, in
the second place, literary activity is by no means an invariable proof of
that mental attitude which marks the truly civilized man.

Lay aside the "literary organ," which appears once a week, and take up
the newspaper, which comes forth every day, morning and evening. Here
you get the true proportion of things. Read your daily news-sheet--that
which costs threepence or that which costs a halfpenny--and muse upon the
impression it leaves. It may be that a few books are "noticed"; granting
that the "notice" is in any way noticeable, compare the space it occupies
with that devoted to the material interests of life: you have a gauge of
the real importance of intellectual endeavour to the people at large. No,
the public which reads, in any sense of the word worth considering, is
very, very small; the public which would feel no lack if all
book-printing ceased to-morrow, is enormous. These announcements of
learned works which strike one as so encouraging, are addressed, as a
matter of fact, to a few thousand persons, scattered all over the English-
speaking world. Many of the most valuable books slowly achieve the sale
of