The body of acknowledged truth, out of which this early Victorian literature ...

The body of acknowledged truth, out of which this early Victorian literature speaks, appears, at first sight, to consist of little more than all those dogmas which a victorious middle class had imposed on the nation. There is not much in it which the Complete English Tradesman could not understand, and still less that he would not approve; as he could not understand Browning, Browning had to wait outside.

But to take the height of the Victorian classics we must view them from the waste land of dreary goodness, useful information, and tired humor, stretching all about them, and no one who has survived the exploration will underrate the

genius which could raise

such a fabric on such foundations.

The world desired to be instructed: it was given Grote and Thirlwall, Milman and Macaulay, Lyell's Principles of Geology, Mill's Logic, Mill's Political Economy; to be elevated: it had Past and Present, Modern Painters, and In Memoriam; it asked for theology and got Newman, for education and got Arnold.

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