INTRODUCTION. 



Such definitions must be left to the reader himself, if 

 in course of the perusal of these volumes he finds it 

 necessary to form abstract theories on these points. 

 Any definition given now would inevitably involve us in 

 controversies, which would be embarrassing and con- 

 fusing. I rely upon the general and undefined sense of 

 the word Thought, assuming that every one will connect 

 some intelligible meaning with it, some meaning which 

 will enable him to understand the very general pro- 

 position with which we started, the existence of an s. 

 inner or hidden world behind the world of external outer and 



inner world 



events and facts, the continually changing nature of undefined. 

 this inner world, and the connection and reaction be- 

 tween the two worlds. Whether in time and in im- 

 portance the outer or the inner world is the first, 

 whether within the latter equal value attaches to the 

 clearer province of Eeason, i.e., defined Thought, to the 

 obscurer regions of Feeling and Imagination, and to the 

 unconscious world of Impulse, these are questions which 

 it is not necessary to answer at present. As it was 

 enough to point to the existence of the two worlds of 

 Life and Thought, so it will be enough to notice that 

 thought does not mean merely defined, clear, methodical 9. 



Many mean- 



thought, but likewise the great region of desire, impulse, 1 

 feeling, and imagination, all of which play, we must 

 admit, a great part in the inner life of the soul as well 

 as in that of the outer world. 



Thought. 



outcome of his narrative, the im- 

 pression which he leaves on the 

 mind of the reader when he has 

 perused the work. History is not 

 mainly a science which proceeds 

 by analysis ; it is the attempt to 



collect and arrange in a living pic- 

 ture an enormous mass of detail. 

 Too rigid definitions, like lines 

 which are too hard and marked, 

 spoil the total effect. 



