form of a monastic to that of a social brotherhood. With
the passage of years, this socialistic idea expanded in the
mind of Wiliam Morris, until the feelings which he had
first entertained toward a small circle of personal friends ex-
tended so as to embrace the world, its work and its
interests. Then, he declared himself in revolt against
existing authorities; demanding a condition of society in
which there should be "neither rich nor poor, neither
master nor master's man, neither idle nor overworked, in
which all men should live in equality of condition, and
would manage thei affairs unwastefully, with the full
consciousness that harm to one would mean harm to all:
the realization at last of the meaning of the word:
COMMONWEALTH."
                          Such an evolution of thought
was a direct result of Morris's study of the art and citizen-
ship of the Middle Ages, just as evidently as his first idea
of a religious brotherhKood proceeded from an ardent study
of the story of the knights of the Round Table. The
former fact he acknowledged during the course of a debate
on Socialism, which occurred at Cambridge, in 1884. His
statement is as follows.
                          "I have come thoroughly to
understand the manner of work under which the art of
the Middle Ages was done, and that it is the only manner
of work whic can turn out popular art; only to discover
that it is impossible to work in that manner in this profit-
grinding society. So on all sides I am driven toward
revolution as the only hope, and I am growing clearer and
clearer on the speedy advent of it in a very obvious form."
                          The successive steps of his
study and the specific accomplishments which gave him
claim to the recognition and gratitude of many sorts and
conditions of men are interesting and significant. His
individuality and fearlessness asserted themselves in his
first choice of a profession; for having received his bacca-
laureate degree, he sorely disappointed his family by bind-


O


WVILLIAM MORRIS