Short Studies on Great Subjects

Short Studies on Great Subjects is James Anthony Froude's volume, with pieces titled The Book of Job, Spinoza, The Dissolution of the Monasteries, Homer and Reynard the Fox. A discussion of what history teaches says that, first, it is a voice for ever sounding across the centuries the laws of right and wrong. The discussion adds that opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.

Another lesson of History is that we should draw no horoscopes and should expect little, and the passage says Luther would have gone to work with less heart, could he have foreseen the Thirty Years' War. A discussion of Spinoza says nothing is likely to be brought to light which will further illustrate Spinoza's philosophy. A discussion of the Fox's doings names possibilities: that something solid may be found in them to justify success, or else that the just thing was not always the strong thing.