A MODERN SYMPOSIUM
BY
G. LOWES DICKINSON
"LIFE LIKE A DOME OF MANY-COLOURED GLASS
STAINS THE WHITE RADIANCE OF ETERNITY"
LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD
MUSEUM STREET
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1905
REPRINTED 1930
REPRINTED 1934
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
UNWIN BROTHERS LTD., WOKING
FRATRUM SOCIETATI
FRATRUM MINIMUS
THE SPEAKERS
LORD CANTILUPE
A TORY
ALFRED REMENHAM
A LIBERAL
REUBEN MENDOZA
A CONSERVATIVE
GEORGE ALLISON
A SOCIALIST
ANGUS MACCARTHY
AN ANARCHIST
HENRY MARTIN
A PROFESSOR
CHARLES WILSON
A MAN OF SCIENCE
ARTHUR ELLIS
A JOURNALIST
PHILIP AUDUBON
A MAN OF BUSINESS
AUBREY CORYAT
A POET
SIR JOHN HARINGTON
A GENTLEMAN OF LEISURE
WILLIAM WOODMAN
A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
GEOFFRY VIVIAN
A MAN OF LETTERS
A MODERN SYMPOSIUM
OME of my readers may have heard of a club known as the Seekers. Itis now extinct; but in its day it was famous, and included a number ofmen prominent in politics or in the professions. We used to meet oncea fortnight on the Saturday night, in London during the winter, but inthe summer usually at the country house of one or other of the members,where we would spend the week-end together. The member in whose housethe meeting was held was chairman for the evening; and after the paperhad been read it was his duty to call upon the members to speak in whatorder he thought best. On the occasion of the discussion which I am torecord, the meeting was held in my own house, where I now write, on theNorth Downs. The company was an interesting one. There was Remenham,then Prime Minister, and his great antagonist Mendoza, both of whomwere members of our society. For we aimed at combining the mostopposite elements, and were usually able, by a happy traditioninherited from our founder, to hold them suspended in a temporaryharmony. Then there was Cantilupe, who had recently retired frompublic life, and whose name, perhaps, is already beginning to beforgotten. Of younger men we had Allison, who, though still engaged inbusiness, was already active in his socialist propaganda. AngusMacCarthy, too, was there, a man whose tragic end at Saint Petersburgis still fresh in our minds. And there were others of less note;Wilson, the biologist, Professor Martin, Coryat, the poet, and one ortwo more who will be mentioned in their place.
After dinner, the time of year being June, and the weather unusuallywarm, we adjourned to the terrace for our coffee and cigars. The airwas so pleasant and the prospect so beautiful, the whole weald ofSu