The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-07 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. GEORGE HENRY
LEWES.

Mr. George Henry Lewes died on Saturday evening. He
was born in London in 1817, and contributed largely to
literature. Of late years he has been engaged exclusively in
scientific pursuit. A " History of Philosophy from Thales
to Comte," and "The Life and Works of Goethe," are among
his best known works.—ln noticing the death of Mr. Lewes,
The Times, in a lender, remarks :

The death of Mr. George Henry Lewes, the well-
known author of 'The Lif,, and Works of Goethe,"
will cause much sorrow to his many friends. Looking
to his age, they might reasonably have hoped that,
notwithstanding his far from robust health, he would
live to produce some work even more worthy of his fine
and varied talents than anything which he had hitherto
accomplished. Many men of letters and savants have
done their best after 61,the age which Mr. Lewes had just
passed. In his latest books no symptom of decline of
powers was observable; and there was the promise of
success to be achieved in the paths of science and
philosophy upon which he had entered with new
ardour. A wide circle of readers, who did not enjoy
his friendship or know the charm of his conversation,
and who never even dipped into his recent works,
will feel that a master of the craft of letters has
dropped out of the ranks. His hand was not in
late years so often to be detected in the periodi-
cal literature of the day as it once was. He
had turned his back on itght and trivial themes, and
he addressed himself, in grave books, to the select few
who are interested in the most abstruse problems of
philosophy and physiology. But it has not been for-
gotten how long and well he tugged at the oar in
journalism and the best magazine literature of the
country. Mr. Lewes's friends will admit that his
name would have been on more lips to-day had his
nature been narrower than it was, his sympathies and
pursuits fewer than they were
Men who give the best fruits of their minds to the
fugitive literature of the day must count upon paying
a heavy penalty. They write for immediate effect, and
not to catch the ear of posterity; and they must not
murmur if they have just the reward for which they
strive, neither less nor more. It would be folly to-
hope that the gourd which springs up at once will
endure as the slow-growing oak does. Mr. Lewes
lavished much of his best work on journals and maga-
zines, and it is inevitable that what he wrote thus for
passing emergencies should be buried in oblivion. But
he gave here and there an impulse which will perhaps
last lcng after him. He did much, for example—and
actors should not forget it—to extol the importance
of the drama and theatre. He himself had assi-
duously studied the actor's art both practically and
theoretically. He had written for the stage with
sac •ess • he was an actor of some merit; and he had
pondered over the technicalities of the art so carefully
that he might have given useful hints to Lemaitre, or
his own favourites, Edmund Kean and Rachel. And
this knowledge he used wisely and well, for he de-
lighted to maintain that acting had a graver aspect,
worthy of attention, and that it was a noble art as
well as a source of popular amusement. His earnest
and intelligent labours on behalf of the drama have
some chance of being long held, as they merit, in
grateful remembrance.