"Bankers and merchants call that the fluctuation of exchanges," said[Pg 27] Mr. Bassett; and with this remark he rose from the table, and the party broke up. "While we were looking at the audience there came half a dozen raps behind the curtain, as if two pieces of wood had been knocked together; and a moment after the rapping had stopped, the curtain was drawn aside. It was a common sort of curtain, and did not open in the middle like some of ours, or roll up like others; it was pulled aside as if it ran on a wire, and when it was out of sight we saw the stage set to represent a garden with lots of flower-pots and bushes. The stage was very small compared with an American one, and not more than ten or twelve feet deep; but it was set quite well, though not so elaborately as we would arrange it. The orchestra was in a couple of little boxes over the stage, one on each side, and each box contained six persons, three singers and three guitar-players. This is the regulation orchestra and chorus, so they say, in all the Japanese theatres, but it is sometimes differently made up. If a theatre is small and poor, it may have only two performers in each box, and sometimes one box may be empty, but this is not often. By and by we breakfasted. After which, my precious horse not having finished his corn, I spread my blanket and let myself doze, but was soon awakened by the shouts of my companions laughing at me for laughing so piteously in my sleep. After a few encouraging words I walked on along the solitary, deserted road, leaving the canal on the right, until a by-way took me to the bank of the Meuse, opposite the Netherland frontier village Eysden. I entered a deserted inn. After shouting for a long time, the inn-keeper appeared, looked shyly at me, remaining constantly close by the door of his room. His attitude showed that he was prepared to fly at the slightest suspicious movement on my part; but as soon as I had convinced him that I was a Netherland journalist, he became more friendly, and called his wife and daughters, so that I might tell them all I knew. They were very desirous to know how the war went ... in the Netherlands, and whether we were fighting the Germans or the English? It was very difficult to make them understand that they were under a misapprehension, but when I had at last succeeded in this, I started in my turn to ask them what they thought of my intention to go farther. With regard to the Nicomachean Ethics, I think Teichmüller has proved this much, that it was written before Aristotle had read the Laws or knew of its existence. But this does not prove that he wrote it during Plato¡¯s lifetime, since the Laws was not published until after Plato¡¯s death, possibly not until several years after. And, published or not, Aristotle may very well have remained ignorant of its existence until his return to Athens, which, according to the tradition, took place about 336 B.C. Teichmüller does, indeed, suppose that Aristotle spent some time in Athens between his flight from Mityl¨ºn¨º and his engagement as tutor to Alexander (Literarische Fehden, p. 261). But this theory, besides its purely conjectural character, would still allow the possibility of Aristotle¡¯s having remained unacquainted with the Laws up to the age of forty. And it is obvious that the passages which Teichmüller interprets as replies to Aristotle¡¯s criticisms admit of more than one alternative explanation. They may have originated in doubts and difficulties which spontaneously suggested themselves to Plato in the course of his independent reflections; or, granting that there is a polemic reference, it may have been provoked by some other critic, or by the spoken criticisms of Aristotle himself. For the supposition that Aristotle wrote his Ethics at the early age of thirty-two or thirty-three seems to me so improbable that we should not accept it except under pressure of the strongest evidence. That a work of such matured thought and observation should have been produced by so young a man is, so far as I know, a phenomenon unparalleled in thexxii history of literature. And to this we must add the further circumstance that the Greek mind was not particularly remarkable for precocity in any field except war and statesmanship. We do, indeed, find instances of comparatively juvenile authorship, but none, I believe, of a Greek writer, whether poet, historian, or philosopher, who reached the full maturity of his powers before a considerably advanced period of middle age. That the Ethics is very imperfect I fully admit, and have expressly maintained against its numerous admirers in the course of this work. But, although imperfect, it is not crude. It contains as good a discussion of the subject undertaken as Aristotle was ever capable of giving, and its limitations are not those of an unripe intellect, but of an intellect at all times comparatively unsuited for the treatment of practical problems, and narrowed still further by the requirements of an elaborate speculative system. Now to work out this system must have demanded considerably more labour and independent thought than one can suppose even an Aristotle to have found time for before thirty-three; while the experience of life shown in the Ethics is such as study, so far from supplying, would, on the contrary, have delayed. Moreover, the Rhetoric, which was confessedly written before the Ethics, exhibits the same qualities in about an equal degree, and therefore, on Teichmüller¡¯s theory, testifies to a still more extraordinary precocity. And there is the further circumstance that while Aristotle is known to have begun his public career as a teacher of rhetoric, his earliest productions seem to have been of a rather diffuse and declamatory character, quite opposed to the severe concision which marks the style both of the Rhetoric and of the Ethics. In addition to these general considerations, one may mention that in axxiii well-known passage of the Ethics, referring to a question of logical method (I., iv.), Plato is spoken of in the imperfect tense, which would seem to imply that he was no longer living when it was written. Speaking from memory, I should even be inclined to doubt whether the mention of a living writer by name at all is consistent with Aristotle¡¯s standard of literary etiquette. and a suit-case, and catch the four-o'clock train--but I couldn't ¡°They may go anywhere,¡± Dick declared. The elections were now carried on with all the fire and zeal of the two parties. The Tories boasted of their successful efforts to stem the tide of expenditure for the war, to staunch the flow of blood, and restore all the blessings of peace. The Whigs, on the contrary, made the most of their opposition to the Treaty of Commerce, which they represented as designed to sacrifice our trade to the insane regard now shown to the French. To show their interest in trade, they wore locks of wool in their hats; and the Tories, to show their attachment to the Restoration and the Crown, wore green twigs of oak. Never was shown more completely the want of logical reason in the populace, for whilst they were declaring their zeal for the Protestant succession, and whilst burning in effigy on the 18th of November¡ªQueen Bess's day¡ªthe Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender, they sent up a powerful majority of the men who were secretly growing more and more favourable to the Pretender's return. Never, indeed, had the chances of his restoration appeared so great. General Stanhope, on the close of the elections, told the Hanoverian minister that the majority was against them, and that if things continued ever so short a time on the present footing, the Elector would not come to the Crown unless he came with an army. Accession of George II.¡ªCharacters of the King and Queen¡ªAdroit Tactics of Walpole¡ªRise and Fall of Compton¡ªAttitude of the Opposition¡ªCongress of Soissons¡ªCauses of Dispute with Spain¡ªStanhope's successful Negotiations with King Philip¡ªRetirement of Townshend¡ªWalpole Supreme¡ªPeace Abroad and at Home¡ªWalpole's System of Wholesale Bribery and Corruption¡ªThe Public Prisons¡ªDuel between Pulteney and Lord Hervey¡ªThe Excise Scheme¡ªGreat Outcry¡ªWithdrawal of the Bill¡ªWalpole's Vengeance¡ªAttack on the Septennial Act¡ªWyndham's Speech¡ªDepression of the Opposition¡ªDefinitive Peace of Vienna¡ªGin Act¡ªThe Porteous Riots¡ªThe Prince of Wales and the Opposition¡ªApplication for an Increase of his Allowance¡ªBirth of George III.¡ªDeath of Queen Caroline¡ªAttempt to Reduce the Army¡ªDisputes with Spain¡ª"Jenkins' Ear"¡ªWalpole's Negotiations¡ªSecession of the Opposition¡ªFurther Difficulties with Spain¡ªDeclaration of War¡ªPrivateers and Reprisals¡ªVernon's Victory¡ªFrederick invades Silesia¡ªAssistance of England¡ªParliament Meets¡ªSandys' Motion¡ªWalpole's Defence¡ªDisasters of Maria Theresa¡ªShe throws herself on the Magyars¡ªMisfortunes of the English Fleets¡ªVernon Repulsed from Carthagena¡ªPower slips from the Hands of Walpole¡ªHis Last Battles¡ªThe Chippenham Election Petition¡ªHis Fall. Am I right? Naomi began now decidedly to improve. She put on flesh, and showed a faint interest in life. Towards the end of April she was able to come downstairs. She was obviously much better, and old Mrs. Backfield hinted that she was even better than she looked. Reuben watched over her anxiously, delighted to notice day by[Pg 109] day fresh signs of strength. She began to do little things for the children, she even seemed proud of them. They were splendid children, but it was the first time that she had realised it. She helped the scholastic elders with their sums and made frocks for the little girls. She even allowed baby Mathilda to wear Fanny's shoes. Mary looked with a fearful wildness at Calverley, as she comprehended his meaning; but Byles said quickly, HoMEÑÞÎèENTER NUMBET 004www.cxcnc.net.cn fj12366.com.cn shsfbz.com.cn jack0109.com.cn zhongtonggroup.com.cn 156009.com.cn www.fangzhensi.com.cn www.songyoo.com.cn www.taocuiba.com.cn www.dglgedu.cn