sonal misfortunes; but Leopardi, whose unutterable despair arose solely from his personal misfortunes, or rather from his moral inability to cope with them,—for Joubert, who suffered as much, has left a trail of heavenly light upon his path,—Leopardi alone lays bare for us the
"Tears that spring and increase
In the barren places of mirth,"
with an appalling accuracy from which we are glad to turn away our shocked and troubled eyes.
It is a humiliating fact that, notwithstanding our avaricious greed for novelties, we are forced, when sincere, to confess that "les anciens out tout dit," and that it is probable the contending schools of thought have always held the same relative positions they do now: optimism glittering in the front ranks as a deservedly popular favorite; pessimism speaking with a still, persistent voice to those who, unluckily for themselves, have the leisure and the intelligence to attend. Schopenhauer hated the Jews with all his heart for being such stubborn optimists, and it is true that their records bear ample witness to the strong hold they took on the pleasures and the profits
