And for that reason there must always be a new philosophy, couched in the language of the age, sympathetic with its hopes and fears, conscious of its beliefs, more or less sensible of its problems--as indeed we may be confident there always will be. But, perhaps, the warrior in that battle against illusion and prejudice, against the sloth which takes things as they are and the poorness of spirit which is satisfied with first appearances, will not do wisely to disdain the past. He will not indeed equip himself with rusty swords and clumsy artillery from the old arsenals. But he will not disdain the lessons of the past,--its methods and principles of tactics and strategy. Recognising perhaps some defects and inequalities in the methods and aims of thought most familiar to him and current in his vicinity, he may go abroad for other samples, even though they be not in all respects worth his adoption. And so without taking Hegel as omniscient, or pledging himself to every word of the master, he may think from his own experience that there is much in the system that will be helpful, when duly estimated and assimilated, to others. There is--and few can be so bigoted__ or so positive-minded as to regret it--there is unquestionably a growing interest in English-speaking countries in what may be roughly called philosophy--the attempt, unprejudiced by political, scientific, or ecclesiastical dogma, to solve the questions as to what the world really is, and what man's place and function is. 'The burthen of the mystery, the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world' is felt--felt widely and sometimes felt deeply. To the direct lightening of that burthen and that mystery it is the privilege of our profoundest thinkers and our far-seeing poets and artists to contribute. To the translator of Hegel there falls the humbler task of making accessible, if it may be, something of one of the later attempts at a solution of the enigma of life and existence,--an attempt which for a time dazzled some of the keenest intellects of its age, and which has at least impressed many others with the conviction, born of momentary flashes from it of vast illuminant power, that--_si sic omnia_--there was here concealed a key to many puzzles, and a guard against many illusions likely to beset the inquirer after truth. [Footnote 1: A book by V. Knauer published last year (_Hauptprobleme der Philosophie_), a series of popular lectures, gives one-sixth of its space to the 'Atomistic of Will' by the Austrian poet Hamerling.] [Footnote 2: Hegel's _Briefe_, ii. 349.] [Footnote 3: J. Volkelt, _Vorträge zur Einführung in die Philosophie der Gegenwart_ (München 1892): F. Paulsen, _Einleitung in die Philosophie_ (Berlin 1892).] [Footnote 4: E. v. Hartmann, _Kritische Wanderungen_, p. 74.] CHAPTER III. ENGLISH PHILOSOPHY AND HEGEL.