Page:The Complete Works of Henry George Volume 3.djvu/125

 PROPERTY IN LAND.

��THE PROPHET OF SAN FRANCISCO.

BY THE DUKE OP ARGYLL.

r INHERE are some advantages in being a citizen even J_ a very humble citizen in the Republic of Letters. If any man has ever written anything on matters of seri- ous concern, which others have read with interest, he will very soon find himself in contact with curious diversities of mind. Subtle sources of sympathy will open up before him in contrast with sources, not less subtle, of antipathy, and both of them are often interesting and instructive in the highest degree.

A good many years ago a friend of mine, whose opinion I greatly value, was kind enough to tell me of his approval of a little book which I had then lately published. As he was a man of pure taste, and naturally much more inclined to criticism than assent, his approval gave me pleasure. But being a man also very "honest and outspoken, he took care to explain that his approval was not unqualified. He liked the whole book except one chapter, " in which," he added, " it seems to me there is a good deal of nonsense."

There was no need to ask him what that chapter was. I knew it very welL It could be none other than a chapter

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