AbstractsPhilosophy & Theology

Every man is to a greater or less degree a product of the influences surrounding his life. The more commonplace minds of the race, no doubt, are chiefly affected; and occasionally we find a man or woman of so keen an intellect, so striking an individuality, that it is difficult to trace the influence of his age upon him. Rather he becomes a power in forming the opinions of the next generation, stands in advance of his own period. Of this individualistic type if George Meredith, one of the greatest of the nineteenth century writers, if not foremost among them.