Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/412

 our English merchants once and for ever above those on the Continent; that the unceasing and selfish desire for money has blinded the eyes of our fellow-countrymen to their duties as members of the greatest Empire the world has ever seen; that patriotism, which prompted men of old to lay down their lives, is a dead-letter to-day.

Perhaps this is hardly a question for the student of social life in England, especially in a sketch that deals only with material progress, as far as it can be treated apart from the influence of religion, literature, and art, with which it is inextricably mingled. But it would be inconsistent with the English character, as briefly noted in these pages, to end with a note of pessimism. Similar crises have occurred in our social history before, if in a lesser degree, and Englishmen have ever weathered the storm, even as their Anglo-Saxon ancestors had done before them. And even now, in spite of the accusations of luxury, of commercial immorality and of want of ready patriotism, there are gleams of something higher, signs of a larger humanity than ever before, and of a more perfect brotherhood.