'Tis ungracious, perhaps, to regret what is gone for ever, when so much is given in return. A humour we have, that is entirely new; and allotments that shall win back Astraea. Our Labor Program stands for evidence that the Board School, at least, has done enduring work; and the useless race of poets is fast dying out. Though we no longer conjecture what song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, yet many a prize (of guineas galore) awaits the competitor who will stoop, week by week, to more practical research. 'Le monde marche,' as Renan hath it, 'vers une sorte d'americanisme. . . . Peut-être la vulgarité générale sera-t-elle un jour la condition du bonheur des élus. Nous n'avons pas le droit d'être fort difficiles.' We will be very facile, then, since needs must; remembering the good old proverb that 'scornful dogs eat dirty puddings.' But, ere we show Terminus the door, at least let us fling one stone at the shrieking sulphureous houses of damnation erected as temples in his honour, and dignified with his name! There, 'mid clangour, dirt, and pestilence of crowding humanity, the very spirit of worry and unrest sits embodied.
