CHAPTER IV.
Misfortunes, says the proverb, never come singly. There is a philosophy underlying these simple expressions of the quaint wisdom of our ancestors, and in this instance the esoteric meaning doubtless is that the combination of circumstances that make matters ripe for the birth of one event also prepares for that of others of a similar kind. How often does it happen—or has it happened, as I must now say—that after centuries of preparation two inventors, whether in the field of theory or practice, have hit upon the same idea at almost precisely the same moment!
To moralise is the privilege of age, but I must not abuse it or tax your patience too far. The efforts of ages had prepared the blow, the hour was ripe, and now it fell; not here or there, but in every quarter at once, with a suddenness which paralysed the efforts of those who might have been expected to venture something in defence of their country, their families, nay, of themselves.
