It is neither blood nor rain that has made England, but hope--the thing all those dead men have desired. France was not France because she was made to be by the skulls of the Celts or by the sun of Gaul. France was France because she chose. '_George Bernard Shaw._' FEBRUARY 27th A man must be partly a one-idead man because he is a one-weaponed man--and he is flung naked into the fight. In short, he must (as the books on Success say) give 'his best'; and what a small part of a man 'his best' is! His second and third best are often much better. If he is the first violin he must fiddle for life; he must not remember that he is a fine fourth bagpipe, a fair fifteenth billiard-cue, a foil, a fountain-pen, a hand at whist, a gun, and an image of God. '_What's Wrong with the World._' FEBRUARY 28th The wise man will follow a star, low and large and fierce in the heavens, but the nearer he comes to it the smaller and smaller it will grow, till he finds it the humble lantern over some little inn or stable. Not till we know the high things shall we know how lovely they are. '_William Blake._' MARCH March 1st _ST. DAVID'S DAY_ My eyes are void with vision; I sing but I cannot speak; I hide in the vaporous caverns like a creature wild and weak; But for ever my harps are tuned and for ever my songs are sung, And I answer my tyrants ever in an unknown tongue. When the blue men broke in the battle with the Roman or the Dane, In the cracks of my ghastly uplands they gathered like ghosts again. Some say I am still a Druid, some say my spirit shows Catholic, Puritan, Pagan; but no man knows. Mother of God's good witches, of all white mystery, Whatever else I am seeking, I seek for thee. For the old harp better fitted and swung on a stronger thong, We, that shall sing for ever; O hear our song! '_The Seven Swords._' MARCH 2nd It may be a very limited aim in morality to shoot a 'many-faced and fickle traitor,' but at least it is a better aim than to be a many-faced and fickle traitor, which is a simple summary of a good many modern systems from Mr. d'Annunzio's downwards. '_The Defendant._' MARCH 3rd A man may easily be forgiven for not doing this or that incidental act of charity, especially when the question is as genuinely difficult and dubious as is the case of mendicity. But there is something quite pestilently Pecksniffian about shrinking from a hard task on the plea that it is not hard enough. If a man will really try talking to the ten beggars who come to his door he will soon find out whether it is really so much easier than the labour of writing a cheque for a hospital. '_What's Wrong with the World._' MARCH 4th