On the record
The realisme impitoyable which good critics find in a most characteristic part of the literature of the nineteenth century, is to be found also in its politics.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “The realisme impitoyable which good critics find in a most characteristic part of the literature of the nineteenth…”
Editor's note · Context
He notes that the stark realism found in 19th-century literature is also reflected in its political landscape.
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More from Walter Bagehot
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.
The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.
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