the great literary
minds of the earlier half of the century in England. Under the lead of
Coleridge and Wordsworth, and influenced by German thought and literature,
a remarkable movement was then developed in English literature. The outcome
of that movement has been surpassed only by that of the age of Shakspere.
Freshness of thought, love of nature, profound humanitarian convictions,
and spontaneity wedded to great largeness of ideas, characterize this
period and its noble work. Such an age is almost invariably followed by an
age of re-action, criticism, realism and analysis. An instinctive demand
for a portrayal of the more positive side of life, and the influence of
science, have developed a new literary school. For doctrine it teaches
agnosticism, and in method it cares mainly for art and beauty of form.
Towards the development of the new school George Eliot has been a leading
influence, though her sympathies have not gone with all its tendencies and
results.

If Wordsworth exaggerated the importance of the intuitive and personal,
George Eliot equally exaggerated the value of the historic and hereditary.
It was desirable, however, that the relations of life to the past should be
brought out more distinctly by a literary development of their relations to
the present, and that the influence of social heredity should be seen as
affecting life on all sides. Tradition is a large and persistent element in
the better life of the race, while the past certainly has a powerful
influence over the present. This fact was neglected by Wordsworth, and
especially is it neglected by the intuitive philosophies. They ignore the
lessons of the past, and assume that a new and perfect world is to be
evolved from the depths of consciousness. That to think a better world is
to create a better world, they seem to take for granted, while the fact is
that the truer life is the result of a painful and long-continued struggle
against adverse conditions. What has been, persists in remaining, and the
past, with all its narrowness and prejudices, continues to influence men
more powerfully than does clear thought or regard for the truth. Emotion
and sentiment cling about what has become sacred with age. Channels for
thought and activity having once been made, it is very difficult to abandon
them for untried paths approved even by reason.

The historic view is one of much importance, and is likely to be overlooked
by the poets and novelists. It is a