When Bagehot issued his work on the English Constitution, it was hailed by the critics as the most wonderful and philosophical dissertation on the subject in any language or from any pen. John Stuart Mill used to say that of all great subjects much remained to be written, and that especially was this true of the English Constitution. Bagehot's work, although affording the conclusion that monarchy in England exists as a logical necessity, is so unbiased in its premises, so logical and clear in its deductions, that this manifest fairness, although leading one to conclusions distasteful to a republican mind, must endear him to his readers. Dealing with a subject somewhat dry in its details, he invests inanimate objects with so much light that they become realities. In the highest sense he combines popularity and scholarship. Spinoza's philosophy may be traced both to the influence of Bacon, his predecessor, and to Descartes, his contemporary. Its combination of positivism with the enthusiasm of piety characterizes his philosophy as unique in itself, for while treating man from a purely mechanical standpoint, it asserts that the mechanism itself is entirely divine. Spinoza was a voluntary martyr in the cause of Free Thought. He was at the same time both Pantheist and Monist, yet sincere in his devotion to nature and the God of nature. His religion naturally made him a Monist, while his philosophy led him to express the Pantheism that the lover of God in Nature cannot avoid. While he renounced his Judaism and entered the ranks of the Christian philosophers, he never received baptism. He may be ranked among the greatest of the German mystics, whose work had such profound influence upon the dogmatic Christianity of a later day. The epithet conferred on him, namely, "God-intoxicated," summarizes his whole attitude and the character of his philosophy better than any lengthy dissertation. When Schopenhauer began to write, he declared himself a true disciple of Kant, but he modifies and adapts Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" to such an extent that he reaches the attitude of opposition. This attitude he manifests throughout all his writings. He is truly an Apostle of Protest, but in spite of his positivist contradictions and his materialistic pantheism, he opens up a mine of suggestions to the literary and philosophical student. In spite of the apparent tragedy due to the conflict within him, we cannot help gathering from Schopenhauer an immensity of what is true, what is good and what is excellent. One thing especially noticeable about his writings is that while German philosophers are often ponderous and in fact nebulous, Schopenhauer is always clear, original, and readable.