36 ON THE NATURE OF VALUE. which they only served to hide with their com- brous splendour. We may apply to the ri- gorous exaction of a uniform sense, from the terms employed in discussions of this nature, what an eloquent writer has said of the detec- tion of a fallacy in a fundamental maxim. « To discover error in axioms,” says he, “or in first principles grounded on facts, is like the breaking of a charm. The enchanted castle, the steep rock, the burning lake disappear: and the paths that lead to truth, which we imagined to be so long, so embarrassed, and so difficult, show as they are, short, open, and easy * ” #% Of the True Use of Retirement and Study, by Lord Bolingbroke.