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and surely the nations which have brought their product to the highest external perfection need to be studied the most.
It seems safe to rest on two propositions which seem irrefutable: first, that all advances towards a world-literature must be based on principles which have formed the foundation of every detached literature; and secondly, that these principles are something apart from the laws of science or invention or business, and not less worthy than these of life-long study.
It was the supremely practical Napoleon Bonaparte who placed literature above science; as containing above all things the essence of human intellect.
‘J'aime les sciences mathematiques et physiques; chacune d'elles est une belle application partielle de l'esprit humain; mais les lettres, c'est l'esprit humain lui-meme; c'est l‘éducation de l‘âme.’
Boston, Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1892.
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