ABSTRACT
A distinguished woman of letters, long resident abroad, came lately to a friend of mine in London and explained her wish to learn how 'the young' in England were now thinking. She herself had always been advanced in thought, if not revolutionary, and was steeled against possible shocks. My friend dauntlessly collected a bevy of young and representative lions, and the parties met. Unfortunately I know only the barest outline of what took place. The elderly revolutionary fixed on the most attractive and audacious-looking of the group and asked him what author had now most influence with the rising generation of intellectuals. He said without hesitation, 'Aristotle'; and the chief reason he gave for Aristotle's supreme value was that, in his greatest philosophical and aesthetic effects, he never relied on the element of wonder. I believe the evening was not on the whole a success.
