succeeding to the order and perfection of to-day, rudeness to
civilisation, ignorance to knowledge. I already foresee in
imagination nations, strange in form, complexion, and costume,
overwhelming Europe--like the Goths, Huns, Vandals, Lombards,
Saracens of old--destroying our cities and palaces, burning our
libraries, devastating all that is beautiful. I foresee in all
countries wars, domestic and foreign, factions and heresies which
will profane all things human and divine; famines, plagues, and
floods; the universe approaching an end, world-wide confusion, and
the return of things to their original chaos." [Footnote: It is
characteristic of the age that in the last sentence the author goes
beyond the issue and contemplates the possibility which still
haunted men's minds that the end of the world might not be far off.]

But having conducted us to this pessimistic conclusion Le Roy finds
it repugnant, and is unwilling to acquiesce in it. Like an
embarrassed dramatist he escapes from the knot which he has tied by
introducing the deus ex machina.

"However much these things proceed according to the fatal law of the
world, and have their natural causes, yet events depend principally
on Divine Providence which is superior to nature and alone knows the
predetermined times of events." That is to say, it depends, after
all, on Providence whether the argument from past experience is
valid. Who knows whether the modern age may not prove the exception
to the law which has hitherto prevailed? Let us act as if it would.

This is the practical moral that Le Roy enforces in the last book of
his dissertation. We must not allow ourselves to be paralysed or
dismayed by the destinies of past civilisations, but must work hard