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.