freedom can be secured; for the
world loves freedom, even when it
is too slothful or too cowardly to
pay the price which it exacts. That
admiration arises, however, from a
sound instinct, -- the instinct which
makes us love both power and self-@
sacrifice, even when the first is ill-@
directed and the second wasted. The
vast majority of men are content to
do their work quietly and in obscur-
ity, with no disclosure of originality,
freshness, or force; they obey law,
conform to custom, respect the con-
ventionalities of their age; they ap-
pear to be lacking in representative
quality; they are, apparently, the
faithful and uninteresting drudges of
society. There are, it is true, a host of
commonplace persons, in every gen-
eration, who perform uninteresting
tasks in a mechanical spirit; but it

[[220]]

p219 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p220w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p221

v?