Страница 59 из 88

In this way arose Feudal Socialism: half lamentation, half

lampoon; half echo of the past, half menace of the future; at

times, by its bitter, witty and incisive criticism, striking the

bourgeoisie to the very heart's core; but always ludicrous in its

effect, through total incapacity to comprehend the march of

modern history.

The aristocracy, in order to rally the people to them, waved the

proletarian alms-bag in front for a banner. But the people, so

often as it joined them, saw on their hindquarters the old feudal

coats of arms, and deserted with loud and irreverent laughter.

One section of the French Legitimists and "Young England"

exhibited this spectacle.