Democratic Tendencies in the 19th C

Democratic Tendencies in the Nineteenth Century as Revealed in England and American Literature. An effort to analyze and interpret the life of our people in our own century is almost as presumptious an undertaking as that to penetrate the secrets of our own hearts. Self-love proverbially stands in the way of self-knowledge: we are too near ourselves no doubt

to see ourselves clearly; and we recognize something of the same difficult nearness when we turn and face the century we have just left behind us in the calendar though for good or ill we carry it onward with us in our blood. We are bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh, and can make no pretense to disintested judgement. Yet self-examination is often fascinating and sometimes salutary; and an honest effort to bring

This page is not transcribed, please help transcribe this page

This page is not transcribed, please help transcribe this page

This page is not transcribed, please help transcribe this page