angels described by Dante,
who give scarcely a sign of life and yet illuminate by their very
presence the fearful darkness of hell; or those beautiful Greek
sarcophagi upon which fair and graceful scenes are depicted upon a
background of desolation. These "pastorals" of religious faith have a
strangely archaic atmosphere, and I venture to think that my readers will
enjoy the contemplation of such virgin minds, untouched by science, in
their swift and effortless communings with the divine.

The mental profundities of the _moujik_ exhale sweetness and faith like
mystic flowers opening under the breath of the Holy Spirit. In them, as
in the celebrated _Psychomachy_ of Prudence, the Christian virtues meet
with the shadows of forgotten gods, Holy Faith is linked to Idolatry,
Humility and Pride go hand in hand, and Libertinism seeks shelter beneath
the veils of Modesty.

This thirst for the Supreme Good will in time find its appeasement in the
just reforms brought by an organised democracy to a long-suffering
people. Some day it may be that order, liberty and happiness shall
prevail in the Muscovite countries, and their inhabitants no longer need
to seek salvation by fleeing from reality. Then there will exist on
earth a new paradise, wherein God, to use Saint Theresa's expression,
shall henceforth "take His delight."

CHAPTER I

THE NEGATIVISTS

The most propitious and fertile soil in which collective mania can grow
is that of unhappiness. Famine, unjust taxation, unemployment,
persecution by local authorities, and so on, frequently lead to a dull
hatred for the existing social, moral and religious order, which the
simple-minded peasant takes to be the direct cause of his misfortunes.

Thus it was that the Negativists denied everything--God, the Devil,
heaven, hell, the law, and the power of the Tsar. They taught that
there is no such thing as right, religion, property, marriage, family
or family duties. All those have been invented by man, and it is man
who has created God, the Devil, and the Tsar.

In the record of the proceedings taken against one of the principal
upholders of this sect, we find the following curious conversation
between him and the judge.

"Your religion?"

"I have none."

"In what God do you believe?"

"In none. Your God is your own, like the Devil, for you have created
both. They belong to you, like the Tsar, the priests, and the
officials."

These people believe neithe