76 INTRODUCTION. 



almost entirely to the novel field of social and economic 

 problems. But against this there was a young growth 

 of ideas springing up in the poetic literature of the 

 nation. It is the freshness of individual thought as 

 clothed in the poetic language of Shelley and Words- 

 worth, maturing and deepening in the works of Tennyson 

 and Browning, which strikes us as the most original phase 

 of English thought in this century, whether we compare 

 it with Continental thought of the same period, or with 

 English thought of the previous age. 

 26. And lastly, we might be tempted to make the great 



Goethe's ' 



Faust 're- WO rk of the greatest mind of the early part of our period, 



present*- J * 



thought of Goethe's ' Faust,' the centre and beginning of our survey, 

 lry- singling it out as a comprehensive embodiment, as the 

 classical expression of nineteenth - century doubts and 

 aspirations, leading us if we try to understand it 

 now into the bewildering labyrinth of philosophy, now 

 into the cheerful expanse of natural science, and again 

 into the hidden depths of individual life, of religious 

 faith with its mysteries of sin and redemption. 



But from whatsoever point we may start on our journey, 

 from whatsoever easily reached eminence we may cast a 

 first eager glance across the wide country which we wish 

 to explore, there is one feature which impresses itself 

 alike upon our minds from the very beginning. It is not 



^sebut'of a countr y of repose and restfulness, of healthy industry 

 and quiet work, of gradual development, of ripening 

 crops, of sowing or ingathering; it does not present the 

 aspect of a happy division of labour, of successful co- 

 operation, of peaceful regulation of employment. It looks 

 more like a land which has lately been disturbed by 



