Without Prejudice | Page 7

the
planets inhabited? Should girls have more liberty? Should they propose?
or wear crinolines? Why not have an unlimited paper currency? or a
decimal system and coinage? or a one-pound note? Should we abolish
the Lords? or preserve the Commons? Why not euthanasia? Should
dramatic critics write plays? Who built the Pyramids? Are the English
the Lost Ten Tribes? Should we send missions to the heathen? How
long will our coal hold out? Who executed Charles I.? Are the tablets
of Tel-el-Amarna trustworthy? are hieroglyphic readers? Will war ever
die? or people live to a hundred? The best moustache-forcer, bicycle,
typewriter, and system of shorthand or of teaching the blind? Was Sam
Weller possible? Who was the original of Becky Sharp? Of Dodo?
Does tea hurt? Do gutta-percha shoes? or cork soles? Shall we
disestablish the church? or tolerate a reredos in St. Paul's? Is Euclid
played out? Is there a fourth dimension of space? Which is the real old
Curiosity Shop? Is the Continental man better educated than the Briton?
Why can't we square the circle? or solve equations to the nth degree? or
colour-print in England? What is the use of South Kensington? Is
paraffin good for baldness? or eucalyptus for influenza? How many
elements are there? Should cousins marry? or the House be adjourned
on Derby Day? Do water-colours fade? Will the ether theory live? or
Stanley's reputation? Is Free Trade fair? Is a Free Press? Is fox-hunting
cruel? or pigeon-shooting? How about the Queen's staghounds? Should
not each railway station bear its name in big letters? and have better
refreshments? Should we permit sky-signs? Limits of advertisement.
Preservation of historic buildings and beautiful views v. utilitarianism.
Is the coinage ugly? Should we not get letters on Sunday? Who really
wrote the "Marseillaise"? Are examinations any real test? Promotion in
the Army or the Civil Service. Is logic or mathematics the primal
science? and what is the best system of symbolic logic? Should curates
be paid more and archbishops less? Should postmen knock? or combine?
Are they under military régime? or underpaid? Should Board School
children be taught religion? The future of China and Japan. Is
Anglo-Indian society immoral? Style or matter? Have we one
personality or many?--with a hundred other questions of psychology

and ethics. A graduated income tax--with a hundred other questions of
political economy. Asphalt for horses. Will the French republic endure?
Will America have an aristocracy? Shall Welsh perish? Is Platonic love
possible? Did Shakespeare write "Coriolanus"? Is there a skull in
Holbein's "Ambassadors"? What is the meaning of Dryden's line, "He
was and is the Captain of the Test"? or of the horny projection under
the left wing of the sub-parasite of the third leg of a black-beetle? Was
Orme poisoned? Are there fresh-water jelly-fishes? Is physiognomy
true? or phrenology? or graphology? or cheiromancy? If so, what are
their laws? Opinions on Guelphs and Ghibellines, fasting displays,
infanticide, the genealogy of the peerage, the origin of public-house
signs, Siberia, the author of Junius, of the Sibylline Books, werewolves,
dyeing one's hair, coffin-ships, standing armies, the mediaeval
monasteries, Church Brotherhoods, state insurance of the poor,
promiscuous almsgiving, the rights of animals, the C. D. Acts, the
Kernoozer Club, emigration, book-plates, the Psychical Society,
Kindergarten, Henry George, Positivism, Chevalier's Coster,
colour-blindness, Total Abstinence, Arbitration, the best hundred books,
Local Option, Women's Rights, the Wandering Jew, the Flying
Dutchman, the Neanderthal skull, the Early Closing movement, the
Prince of Wales, and the Tonic Sol-fa notation. Is there an English
hexameter? Is a perfect translation impossible? Will the coloured races
conquer? Is consumption curable? Is celibacy possible? Can novels be
really dramatised? Is the French school of acting superior to ours?
Should literary men be offered peerages? or refuse them? Should
quack-doctors be prosecuted? Should critics practise without a license?
Are the poor happier or unhappier than the rich? or is Paley right? Did
Paley steal his celebrated watch? Did Milton steal from Vondel? Is the
Salon dead in England? Should duelling be revived? What is the right
thing in dados, hall-lamps, dressing-gowns, etc.? Should ladies smoke?
Is there a Ghetto in England? Anti-Semitism. Why should London wait?
or German waiters? Mr. Stead's revival of pilgrimages. Is Grimm's Law
universal? The abuses of the Civil Service; of the Pension List. Dr.
Barnardo. Grievances of match-girls; of elementary teachers. Are our
police reliable? Is Stevenson's Scotch accurate? Is our lifeboat service
efficient? The Eastern Question. What is an English fairy-tale? What
are the spots on the sun? Have they anything to do with commercial

crises? Should we spoil the Court if we spared the Black Rod? or the
City if we spared the Lord Mayor? Is chloroforming dangerous? Should
armorial bearings be taxed? or a tradesman's holiday use of his cart?
Should classical texts be Bowdlerised for school-boys? Is