Page:The Civilization of Christendom (1893).djvu/283

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IX.

LUXURY AND REFINEMENT.[1]


There is a great deal to be said in favour of devoting our moral attention rather to subjects of everyday practice than to unique examples of heroism. We all agree, indeed, that a morality is unsound which omits our daily conduct, but it may be doubted whether we fully perceive either the depth and thoroughness of which commonplace duties are capable, or the hazards which attend a strained admiration for striking achievement. It might even be urged that the figure implied in our current phrases

  1. Delivered at Essex Hall for the London Ethical Society.