In bad periods the most appalling buildings and poems are constructed on principles just as fine as in good periods; all the people involved in destroying the achievements of the preceding good epoch feel they are improving on them; and the bloodless youth of such inferior periods take just as much pride in their young blood as do the new generations of all other eras. And each time it is like a miracle when after such a shallow, fading period all at once there comes a small upward surge.