"_Flatter comme un caniche_, I did not wish; although in this way I could no doubt have all the young men at once on my side; but I was unwilling to buy popularity by concessions of this kind. It is better to lose the campaign (and I believe I have lost it) than win by this subterfuge. I dreamed of a sombre, savage and great figure, only half emerged from barbarism, strong, _méchant_ and honest, and nevertheless doomed to perish because it is always in advance of the future. I dreamed of a strange parallel to Pugatchev. And my young contemporaries shake their heads and tell me, '_Vous êtes foutu_, old fellow. You have insulted us. Your Arkady is far better. It's a pity you haven't worked him out a little more.' There is nothing left for me but, in the words of the gipsy song, 'to take off my hat with a very low bow.'" What, then, is Bazarov? Various writers have agreed in seeing in him only "criticism, pitiless, barren, and overwhelming analysis, and the spirit of absolute negation," but this is an error. Representing the creed which has produced the militant type of Revolutionist in every capital of Europe, _he is the bare mind of Science first applied to Politics_. His own immediate origin is German Science interpreted by that spirit of logical intensity, Russian fanaticism, or devotion to the Idea, which is perhaps the distinguishing genius of the Slav. But he represents the roots of the modern Revolutionary movements in thought as well as in politics, rather than the branches springing from those roots. Inasmuch as the early work of the pure scientific spirit, knowing itself to be fettered by the superstitions, the confusions, the sentimentalities of the Past, was necessarily destructive, Bazarov's primary duty was to Destroy. In his essence, however, he stands for _the sceptical conscience of modern Science_. His watchword is _Reality_, and not Negation, as everybody in pious horror hastened to assert Turgenev, whose first and last advice to young writers was, "You need truth, remorseless truth, as regards your own sensations," was indeed moved to declare, "Except Bazarov's views on Art, I share almost all his convictions." The crude materialism of the 'sixties was not the basis of the scientific spirit, it was merely its passing expression; and the early Nihilists who denounced Art, the Family and Social Institutions were simply freeing themselves from traditions preparatory to a struggle that was inevitable. Again, though Bazarov is a Democrat, perhaps his kinship with the people is best proved by the contempt he feels for them. He stands forward essentially as an Individual, with the "isms" that can aid him, mere tools in his hand; Socialist, Communist or Individualist, in his necessary phases he fought this century against the tyranny of centralized Governments, and next century he will be fighting against the stupid tyranny of the Mass. Looking at Bazarov however, as a type that has played its part