84 Ellen Key- its own image, with a fertile chaos of thoughts, moods, and inspirations. They awaken and warm us, they fascinate by the multiplicity of view-points, by the fire and glow of tempera- ment and the enthusiastic manner of expres- sion. Nothing is easier than to point out inconsistencies, exaggerations, and contradic- tions in such natures, but, at the same time, nothing is more vain than to imagine with such criticism to have sounded the depths of their spirit. . . . Cold-blooded criticism cannot efface the living impression of the burning sincerity of their intentions or the music of their words. As her lectures have generally been pub- lished in book form_, their contents will be treated in the chapter that deals with her authorship. They have usually been con- sidered at length in the press. Enthusiastic praise and bitter abuse have crossed swords about her ever since 1889, and thus it is likely to be, as long as she appears before the public. In some people's imagination Ellen Key is pictured as worldly and ambitious, eager for activity, desirous of a following. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The de- velopment of her feeling of duty, the broaden- ing out of sympathy for her fellow-men, for their needs and sufferings, are the results of