And under all this vast illusion of the cosmopolitan planet,
with its empires and its Reuter's agency, the real life of man
goes on concerned with this tree or that temple, with this harvest
or that drinking-song, totally uncomprehended, totally untouched.
And it watches from its splendid parochialism, possibly with a smile
of amusement, motor-car civilization going its triumphant way,
outstripping time, consuming space, seeing all and seeing nothing,
roaring on at last to the capture of the solar system, only to find
the sun cockney and the stars suburban.
IV. Mr. Bernard Shaw
In the glad old days, before the rise of modern morbidities,
when genial old Ibsen filled the world with wholesome joy, and the
kindly tales of the forgotten Emile Zola kept our firesides merry
and pure, it used to be thought a disadvantage to be misunderstood.
It may be doubted whether it is always or even generally a disadvantage.
The man who is misunderstood has always this advantage over his enemies,
that they do not know his weak point or his plan of campaign.
They go out against a bird with nets and against a fish with arrows.
There are several modern examples of this situation. Mr. Chamberlain,
for instance, is a very good one.
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