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EEV. CHANCELLOR LIAS, M.A., ON 



those of other countries, is simply not the fact. Germany, indeed, 

 comes decidedly behind other countries in many branches of 

 science. Kepler, for instance, guessed the true meaning of the 

 periodic times of the planets of our system, but Newton proved the 

 laws which governed their motions. Millions of calculations based 

 on his discoveries have been made, and proved correct. And 

 in many branches of research, medical science in particular, 

 GeiTiiany has sj)eculated and theorised, while England and other 

 countries have made discoveries. Of Germany as the home of 

 metaphysics, I shall speak presently. I will now briefly conclude 

 my review of her claims to superiority in literature. 



As I have already said, we have only to point to Shakespeare 

 to make it clear that our literature is second to none. And 

 intellectual giants such as Milton, Dryden, Gray, Wordsworth, 

 Tennyson, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley in the domain of 

 poetry and philosophy, support our claim to the first place 

 in modem hterature. In the novel, Walter Scott, Dickens, 

 Thackeray, and George Eliot have no superiors, and, I must think, 

 few equals, in foreign countries, and some of Bulwer Lytton's 

 works are quite on a level with the best productions of those 

 already named. I have not met with any German name worthy to 

 be mentioned beside theirs. And they are supported by a crowd 

 of poets, historians, orators, and general thinkers, which may 

 also claim the first place in their respective spheres. Goethe and 

 Schiller are the most prominent writers in German literature. 

 The Faust of the former stands first among his works. I fear 

 I can scarcely accord to him so high a place as he has of late 

 occupied in English eyes. That sin has been the unsuspected 

 cause of all the higher morality of mankind, by necessitating 

 resistance to temptation and triumph over evil, and by enhancing 

 the glory of sacrifice, is, I think, undoubted. Yet I have always 

 felt that, though the sin which is the leading feature in Faust 

 must be included in the general law just enunciated, it is about 

 the ver}' worst instance of that law which could be selected 

 for illustration. To corrupt the virtue of a trustful young girl 

 is about the basest form of sin which can be conceived, especially 

 when it is the work of a man of experience. And the second 

 part of Faust has alwaj'S seemed to me a welter of confusion. 

 That, however, may be my own fault. I have read, but I confess 

 I have not studied it. Wilhdm Meister filled me with disgust at 

 the cold-blooded and cynical indifference to morality displayed 

 by the hero, as well as the childish imbecility of some of the 



