This bracketing of Huxley with Zola is decidedly unfair, and the juxtaposition of Koch the famous physiologist and of Mr. George Moore--already known for his realistic romances--borders on the grotesque. _Piccadilly_ is, of course, the brilliant novel by Laurence Oliphant, diplomatist, man of the world and mystic, who became the disciple of the American "prophet" Harris, spiritualist and founder of the "Brotherhood of the New Life"; and Blavatsky is the amazing Russian lady who brought a new religion from the Far East as another woman, Mrs. Eddy, brought another from the Far West. Madame Blavatsky is no more, but Mrs. Besant is still very much with us, and Theosophy and Christian Science are firmly established in a country which, as the French cynic remarked, boasts a hundred and fifty religions but only one sauce. [Illustration: LAST NEWS FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD MEDIUM: "The spirit of the late Mr. Jones is present." JONES'S WIDOW (_with emotion_): "I hope you are happy, Jones!" JONES (_raps out_): "Far happier than I ever was on earth!" JONES'S WIDOW: "Oh, Jones! Then you must be in Heaven!" JONES: "_On the contrary!_"] [Illustration: THE PASSION FOR OLD CHINA HUSBAND: "I think you might _let me_ nurse that teapot a little _now_, Margery! You've had it to yourself all the _morning_ you know!"] [Sidenote: _The Æsthetic Movement_] [Illustration: AFFILIATING AN ÆSTHETE _Pilcox, a promising young Pharmaceutical Chemist, has modelled from memory an Heroic Group, in which Mrs. Cimabue Brown is represented as the Muse of this Century, crowning Postlethwaite and Maudle as the Twin Gods of its Poetry and Art._ POSTLETHWAITE: "No loftiah theme has evah employed the sculptah's chisel!" MAUDLE: "Distinctly so. Only work on in _this_ reverent spirit, Mr. Pilcox, and you will achieve the _Truly Great_!" MRS. CIMABUE BROWN: "Nay, you _have_ achieved it! Oh, my young friend, do you not know that you are a HEAVEN-BORN GENIUS?" POOR PILCOX: "I do!" (Gives up his pestle and mortar, and becomes a hopeless Nincompoop for life.)] [Sidenote: _The Chief Æsthete_]