INTRODUCTION. 15 



New World. As this New World grows not only in 

 numbers and national wealth, but also in mental depth, 

 as it becomes more and more intellectualised and 

 spiritualised, so it will no doubt experience the desire of 

 recording its own inner life and culture, emphasising the 

 peculiarities which distinguish it as a whole from our 

 civilisation. But the tendencies of this new culture are 

 to me vague and enigmatical, and I frankly admit that 

 I am unable to say anything definite on this subject. Con- 

 vinced as I am that in human affairs all outer life is the 

 vessel which contains an inner substance, the shell which 

 envelops a growing kernel, I am, nevertheless, unable in 

 this case to penetrate to either, and must therefore content 

 myself with taking notice of this vast new element of 

 nineteenth-century culture only where it comes into 

 immediate contact with European thought, which has 

 indeed been powerfully influenced by it. And of Euro- 25. 

 pean thought itself I am forced to select likewise only German, 



J and English 



the central portion, the thought embodied in French, ^ 

 German, and English Literature. I have to admit that 

 Italian, Scandinavian, and Russian influences are all 

 around this centre, sometimes penetrating far into it ; 

 but here again languages unknown and interests foreign 

 to me have made it impossible to identify myself ever so 

 superficially with the new life that is contained in them. 

 I must therefore here also confine myself to very im- 

 perfect and casual notices, which make no attempt to 

 do justice to the subject. 



The subject before us, then, is European Thought i.e., 

 the thought of France, Germany, and England during the 

 greater part of the nineteenth century. Circumscribed as 



the present 

 work. 



