Note 28 — INTRODUCTION.

Is it necessary to say that I am speaking of general currents of thought and not of the position of a man at the polling booth? An author may be personally a liberal and still his work may connect itself with a stream of opinion which is not in favour of liberalism. Again, one and the same man may fall in with different movements in different parts of his career. Actual life throws a peculiar light on the past: certain questions are placed prominently in view and certain others are thrown into the shade by it, so that the individual worker has to find his path within relatively narrow limits.