It was, in fact, a shining
meteor. It made us aware that something higher existed than anything
whereof that feeble literary epoch had a notion. The first two acts
are truly a masterpiece of exposition, from which one learned much
and can always learn."
[163] Nothing can be droller than the occasional translation by
Vischer of a sentence of Lessing into his own jargon.
[164] Eckermann, Gespraeche mit Goethe, III. 229.
ROUSSEAU AND THE SENTIMENTALISTS.[165]
"We have had the great professor and founder of the philosophy of Vanity
in England. As I had good opportunities of knowing his proceedings almost
from day to day, he left no doubt in my mind that he entertained no
principle either to influence his heart or to guide his understanding but
vanity; with this vice he was possessed to a degree little short of
madness. Benevolence to the whole species, and want of feeling for every
individual with whom the professors come in contact, form the character
of the new philosophy. Setting up for an unsocial independence, this
their hero of vanity refuses the just price of common labor, as well as
the tribute which opulence owes to genius, and which, when paid, honors
the giver and the receiver, and then pleads his beggary as an excuse for
his crimes.
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