SOCIOLOGY AND HERO-WORSHIP 



highest possible estimate of the value of in- 

 dividual initiative, I may cite the illustrious 

 example of Mr. Freeman. Of all the historians 

 now living, Mr. Freeman is the most thoroughly 

 filled with the scientific spirit, and he has done 

 more than any other to raise the study of his- 

 tory on to a higher level than it has ever before 

 occupied. His writings in great part read like 

 an elaborate commentary on the doctrine of 

 evolution, a commentary the more valuable, 

 in one sense, in that Mr. Freeman owns no 

 especial allegiance to Mr. Spencer or to any 

 general evolutionary philosophy. Yet this great 

 historian, whose opinions are determined every- 

 where by the sociological study of institutions, 

 turns out to be at the same time as ardent a 

 hero-worshipper as Carlyle himself, and 

 vastly more intelligent. 



October, 1 880. 



