94 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



independent currents of thought and endeavour. The 

 first consisted in a reaction, in an effort to stem the 

 tide ; the second and more important movement con- 

 sisted in a universal resolve to do better, more methodi- 

 cally and in a more orderly manner, what had been 

 done in storm and haste in the earlier stage of the 

 great revolutionary movement. This was to be achieved 

 by deeper thinking, more extensive learning, by popular 

 education, as well as by higher academic teaching. At 

 the same time, especially in Germany, a novel concep- 

 tion of the ideals of art and poetry, a fresh spiritual 

 impulse, produced a great mass of poetical and artistic 

 creation. The two points in which the new light was 

 collected, the foci from which it spread into far regions, 

 are the life and work of Goethe and the divine creations 

 of Beethoven. 



When Lange wrote, the Ideal which had guided poets 

 and thinkers half a century earlier appeared unrealisable, 

 not only through speculation but also through science. 

 But the expression which that Ideal had found in poetry 

 and art had not perished ; it was realised and per- 

 petuated for all time in the artistic productions of that 

 age. If the faith and hope which had animated the 

 earlier generation had disappeared, the great creations 

 had not disappeared ; they stood there as lasting monu- 

 ments of the workings of a deeper spirit. Hence it was 

 not unnatural that many deeper- seeking and thinking 

 minds should turn for refreshment and spiritual support 

 to those great creations. This explains the very wide- 

 spread interest which has more recently been taken in 

 the works and personality of Goethe ; how it is that his 



