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THE SUSSEX MUSE. 251
costly form of dietary. " No sane mind in a sane body," he declares, " resolves upon a real crime." To remove poverty, to cure disease, to substitute sympathy for force, to abolish war, to knit together the whole creation in a golden chain of love— such was Shelley's aim. Peace, simplicity of life, natural delights, are linked to the common effort for the common good in order to bring about " a state of society where all the energies of man shall be directed to the production of his solid happiness." It is more than a century since Shelley was born, and we are still far from the realisation of his vision. Yet whoever pities and tries to save a dumb creature from torment; whoever pities and tries to help a poor brother or an oppressed sister ; whoever tries to bring a gleam of gladness into the face of an overwrought child ; whoever offers passive resistance to a wrong; whoever tries to secure rights for those to whom they are denied; whoever recognises the sacredness of life ; whoever helps to spread knowledge and to make wisdom and culture, not the privilege of the few, but the common heritage of all; whoever recognises the brotherhood of man in any form, is helping to bring us nearer to Shelley's vision of the future, the time when— |
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