Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) WHAT NOT A PROPHETIC COMEDY BY ROSE MACAULAY AUTHOR OF "NON-COMBATANTS," "THE MAKING OF A BIGOT," ETC. LONDON CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD. 1918 TO CIVIL SERVANTS I HAVE KNOWN * * * * * "Wisdom is very unpleasant to the unlearned: he that is without understanding will not remain with her. She will lie upon him as a mighty stone of trial; and he will cast her from him ere it be long. For wisdom is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many.... "Desire not a multitude of unprofitable children...." Jesus, Son of Sirach, _c._ B.C. 150. * * * * * "It's domestickness of spirit, selvishnesse, which is the great let to Armies, Religions, and Kingdomes good." W. GREENHILL, 1643. * * * * * "It has come to a fine thing if people cannot live in their homes without being interfered with by the police.... You are upsetting the country altogether with your Food Orders and What Not." DEFENDANT IN A FOOD-HOARDING CASE, _January, 1918._ NOTE. As this book was written during the war, and intended prophetically, its delay until some months after the armistice calls for a word of explanation. The book was ready for publication in November, 1918, when it was discovered that a slight alteration in the text was essential, to safeguard it against one of the laws of the realm. As the edition was already bound, this alteration has naturally taken a considerable time. However, as the date of the happenings described in "What Not" is unspecified, it may still be regarded as a prophecy, not yet disproved. R. M. _March, 1919_ APOLOGY