They do not expect any evil to themselves particularly for permitting it or sharing in it, but they cannot get out of their heads the idea that some one or more of the number will come to harm if the thing is done.
Bagehot describes the psychological reasoning behind the avoidance of certain superstitions in social settings.
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But, above all things, they were frightened of 'the world;' the spectacle of nature filled them with awe and dread.
He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.
Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.
No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
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