528 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



Both movements allied themselves accordingly with a 

 fresh study of nature ; the former by embracing the 

 experimental, mathematical, and latterly also the statis- 

 tical methods of the natural sciences ; the latter by 

 finding in nature a source of poetry and inspiration. 

 In this direction the second movement acquired depth 

 and substance through the poetical genius of Words- 

 worth, who, together with the great masters of landscape 

 painting, inspired what is usually called the Victorian 

 school of Poetry and Art. Both movements the 

 Kealistic as well as the Idealistic elaborated their own 

 logic and metaphysic : the former stood in this respect 

 on more independent ground, although it was, in the 

 popular opinion, erroneously identified with the French 

 positivism of Auguste Comte ; the latter had already in 

 Coleridge, and still more in Carlyle, pointed to German 

 Idealism, and had, in Sir William Hamilton, assimilated 

 a considerable portion of its doctrines. Mill, through 

 his logical and political writings, exercised for a time a 

 considerable influence on the studies of Oxford, where 

 his clear and dispassionate analysis was hailed by many 

 as a refreshing breeze after the perplexities into which 

 Newman and the Tractarian movement had plunged 

 many youthful and ardent souls. But the profounder 

 working out of the philosophical problem, true to the 

 traditions of Oxford learning, was found in an his- 

 torical study of those speculations which stood in im- 

 mediate connection with the classical systems of Plato 

 and Aristotle. The influence of these systems was 

 prominent in German Idealism, notably in Hegel. Mansel 

 brought to Oxford the spirit of Hamilton's philosophy, 



