This is true of the recent past.

How far it may be true of the immediate present it would be hazardous to say, for it is impossible to see present-day facts in such perspective as to get a fair conception of their relative proportions.
So far, nothing has been said of the Maecenas function of the well-to-do, which is habitually dwelt on at some length by writers and speakers who treat of the development of culture and of social structure.

This leisure-class function is not without an important bearing on the higher and on the spread of knowledge and culture.

The manner and the degree in which the class furthers learning through patronage of this kind is sufficiently familiar.

It has been frequently presented in affectionate and effective terms by spokesmen whose familiarity with the topic fits them to bring home to their hearers the profound significance of this cultural factor.