benefactor; for, of course, the excess of
wealth would be applied to the good of the community, in the relief of
taxation, the adornment of cities, or the establishment of libraries
and art-galleries. It would no doubt be objected that the great
historic houses of the aristocracy could not be maintained on such an
income; five thousand pounds a year would hardly pay the servants on a
great estate, and provide the upkeep of a mansion. But in this case
the State would become the custodian of such houses, which would be
treated as national palaces. It is by no means improbable that their
present owners would be glad to be rid of them on generous terms, which
provided for a nominal ownership and an occasional occupation. However
this may be, it is certain that the rich would profit by the change,
for their chance of getting the most and best out of life would be much
increased by the limit put upon cupidity and ostentation.

CHAPTER III

GETTING A LIVING, AND LIVING

Getting the best and most out of life, I take to be the most rational
object of human existence. Even religion, although it affects to scorn
the phrase, admits the fact; for no man would be religious unless he
were convinced that he thereby added something to his store of
happiness. It is a matter of temperament whether a man treats religion
as a panacea for his mortal troubles, or the 'Open Sesame' of brighter
worlds, but it is quite certain that he regards it as a means of
happiness. I cannot doubt that the anchorites, ascetics, and
cloistered nuns of mediaeval times were happy in their own way,
although it was in a fashion that appears to us highly foolish and
absurd. Even a St. Stylites had his consolations; he was kept warm
upon his pillar by the comfortable sense of his superiority to his
wicked fellow-creatures.

To get the best out of life there must be some adequate fulfilment of
one's best self. Man is a bundle of tastes and appetites, some lofty,
and some ignoble, but all crying out for satisfaction. Wisdom lies in
the discernment of essentials; in just discrimination between false and
true tastes. Man has been a long time upon the earth, and he has spent
his time for the most part in one ceaseless experiment, viz., how he
may become a satisfactory creature in his own eyes. All civilisations
converge upon this point; and we maybe sure that, in their lonely hours
of meditation, the fantastic warder on the great wall of China, an