Why, the "Sermon on the Mount" alone, practised to the letter, would
produce a general destruction. Church and State, and the whole economic
system upon which society is based, would melt away before it like an
iceberg under a tropical sun. I don't mind discussing the religion of
the future as a subject of interesting speculation; but, depend upon it,
we had better let well alone. It seems to me that we--at least those of
us who are well off--have nothing to complain of. Let us trust to the
silent forces of evolution. See how much they have lately done for us in
the matter of art. What can be pleasanter than this gentle process of
aesthetic development which our higher faculties are undergoing? With
due deference to Mr Rollestone, I think we shall be far better employed
in cultivating our taste, than in probing our own organisms in the hope
of discovering forces which may enable us to apply a perfectly
unpractical system of morality, to a society which has every reason to be
satisfied with the normal progress it is making.

_Mrs Gloring_. Indeed, Mr Rollestone, I agree with you a great deal more
than with Mr Fussle. I should like to call out a higher moral force in
myself--but I should never have the courage to undergo all the ordeals
you say it would involve; I am too weak to try.

_Lord Fondleton_. Of course you are,--don't! You are much nicer as you
are. Why, Rollestone, you would make all the women detestable if you
could have your way.

_Rollestone_. I don't think there is any immediate cause for alarm on
that score.

_Mrs Allmash_ [_rising_]. Dearest Augusta, I am afraid I must run away:
thank you _so_ much, for _such_ a treat. [_All rise_] Mrs Gloring, we