Excerpt from Guesses at the Riddle of Existence: And Other Essays on Kindred Subjects Of the papers in this volume three have appeared before; two in the North American Review, one in the Forum, to the editors of which, respectively, the writer's thanks are due for their courtesy in permitting the republication. The writer has also once or twice drawn on previous papers of his own. For such of the essays as have appeared in print some inquiries have been made. Those who desire to read them again are probably of the same mind as the writer, and with him believe that there is no longer any use in clinging to the untenable or in shutting our eyes to that which cannot be honestly denied. The educated world, and to a great extent the uneducated world also, has got beyond the point at which frank dealing with a traditional creed can be regarded as a wanton disturbance of faith. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This highly original contribution to Canadian intellectual history examines the course of critical inquiry and its relationship to the assertion of moral authority in English-Canadian thought during the Victorian era.