Ceaselessly  she  works,  pressing  ever  for  the  improvement  of  the
type.  If  man  should  fail  her,  she  will  create  some  other  being ;
but  that  she  has  failed  with  man  I  am  loath  to  admit,  nor  do  I
see  any  evidence  of  it.  It  would  be  good  for  us,'  he  added
thoughtfully,  '  if  we  were  to  take  a  lesson  from  Nature  in  this
respect,  and  cease  to  be  so  wrapped  up  in  individuals,  to  allow  our
interests  to  go  out  to  the  race.  We  should  all  attain  more  happi-
ness, especially  if  we  ceased  to  care  so  exclusively  for  the  individual
I.  Happiness  is  usually  a  negative  thing.  Happiness  is  the  absence
of  unhappiness. '

Apart  from  religion  and  ethics,  much  might  be  written  of
Meredith's  political  faith,  though  of  course  that  is  of  a  piece  with
his  whole  philosophy.  Mr.  Chesterton  has  studied  him  as  a  reformer,
and  Mrs.  M.  Sturge  Henderson,  as  we  all  know,  has  even  written
a  book  which  deals  with  him  chiefly  as  a  reformer.  In  Mrs.
Henderson's  article  on  '  The  Forward  View  '  (Westminster  Gazette,
February  12,  1908),  she  gives  the  pith  of  her  able  and  painstaking
work.  A  few  brief  passages  from  the  article  in  question  will  help
to  give  completeness   to   the  present  chapter  in   which    I   hope   no


326  GEORGE    MEREDITH

vital  feature  of  Meredith's  teaching  has  been  passed  untouched.
