Page:The Novels and Other Works of Lyof N. Tolstoï-v20.djvu/15

Rh enter the army, the army would cease, and the millions of armed men which are now devouring like caterpillars would return to their peaceful vocations and bring prosperity to the tormented land.

His plea against the use of intoxicants is as chivalrous and convincing as anything that he has ever written. Possibly the believer in a moderate use of light wines will charge him with fanatic extravagance, but no one can doubt his zeal or his genuineness of conviction.

Taking the volume as a whole, though not free from a certain necessary fragmentariness, its consistency and its vitality—its inherent power to interest—will be found no less marked than previous volumes, though they be more coherent. It represents the present activity of the count, who, having passed his seventy-first birthday, still takes an intelligent and lively interest in whatever affects the welfare of humanity; like a prophet he sends forth his clarion voice against the oppressions of power and the dangerous teaching of a pseudo-Christianity. In this respect the volume excels in interest all the others, just as a man's personality must be superior to what he produces. It is a sort of epitome of the life of a man who towers head and shoulders above the great men of his own country, and either now does, or is destined to, wield a greater influence than any other man of the century.

The translations in the present volume are due to several hands, but a large number of them have been made by Mr. Aylmer Maude of England, who is a personal friend of Count Tolstoï, and in immediate touch with his industrial, religious, and social activities. Many of the articles thus furnished have been from sources otherwise unattainable.