Lost Lights.

Patea Mail, 13 January 1882, Page 3

Lost Lights.

So poor old Draper is really dead. He was one of those wonderful “ all round ” men who do not in any one department rise to the height of genius, and yet influence current thought more directly and tangibly than most specialists. To compare Draper with Helmholtz in science, or Hume in the philosophy of history, would be unkind ; yet he has reached wider audiences, and probably will be regretted by men who have scarcely heard of either of these. There is hardly a village where his little red book on the conflict between religion and science has not been eagerly read, and helped students to a clear view of the extent to which popular notions have changed during the last four centuries. His history of the intellectual development of Europe is profound ; it is more than brilliant, for it is readable and popular, and has been read by Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Poles, and Russians, in their several languages. This is a fearful ordeal to pass through ; but the book came out of it all with honor. Draper was born in 1811, and his “ legend ” may be read in “ Men of the Time.”

William Rathbone Greg, better known as “ W.R. G.,” went over to the majority in November. He was a Government clerk, and wrote the “ Creed of Christendom,” a most impartial and powerful piece of free-thought writing. He was a brilliant essayist, and well-known to thousands of New Zealand readers. Born 1809.