The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.
§ 34. William Wallace
Of the numerous writers who represent a type of thought similar to Green’s in origin and outlook only a few can be mentioned here. In 1874, the year in which Green’s “introductions” to Hume were published, there appeared, also, The Logic of Hegel, translated from the latter’s Encyclopaedia by William Wallace, who afterwards succeeded to Green’s chair of moral philosophy at Oxford. A second edition of this work, in which the introductory matter was considerably extended, was issued in 1892; and this was followed, in 1894, by Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind, and, in 1898 (after the author’s death), by Lectures and Essays on Natural Theology and Ethics. Wallace devoted himself more directly than his associates to the elucidation of Hegel’s thought; but it may be doubted whether he himself adhered any more closely than they did to the details of the dialectic. The prolegomena and introductory essays, by which his translations were prefaced, are not merely explanatory of difficulties. They have often the character of original interpretations; they approach the subject from different points of view and show a rare power of selecting essential factors. Wallace had wide intellectual sympathies and found matter of agreement with philosophers of different schools; but all, in his hands, led towards a central idealism. His work consisted in pointing out the various avenues of approach to the temple of idealism, rather than in unveiling its mysteries.