3-082-090 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Sir J. R. Seeley, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, 1895. 'To have been a centre of theological controversy, and again a centre of political debate, is no small achievement for a single author, and when to this is added the vigorous discussion of the science of history which the late Professor initiated, we may very well claim for him a large share in the literature of the last thirty years. The Professor's idea that his books "Ecce Homo" and "The Expansion of England" were kindred works was, one may safely say, a phantasy of a somewhat fantastic brain; nevertheless both books had an enormous influence...Should Imperial Federation ever become an accomplished fact, the name of Sir John Seeley will be written very large in its records...Still greater, perhaps, is Professor Seeley's third claim to a position in literature - his professorship at Cambridge, with its accompanying work...His somewhat paradoxical plea that history to be accurate must be dull was largely due to disappointment at the reception of the "Stein," which enjoyed but little of the popularity of "Ecce Homo".' From "Illustrated London News", 1895.