THE OLD WORLD MOANS AND TOPES—1871
Intellectually and politically, the period when this poem was written was for all Europe a time of restlessness. The war of 1870 had upset the old order of things in continental affairs, and religious belief had, for many, not as yet reconciled itself to the disturbing influence of the new thought of Darwin and Spencer. In the present poem Stevenson offers as a prescription to cure the ills of the time a renewed faith in the nobility of mankind itself, thus coming into accord with the conviction of that ruggedly fine old Scotsman to whom, politically, he was opposed, but who still so greatly aroused his admiration. For was it not Stevenson's compatriot, Thomas Carlyle, who said: "There is one godlike thing, the essence of all that ever was or ever will be godlike in this world: the veneration done to Human Worth by the hearts of men."
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