General  Eemarks.— In  the  present  Chapter,  whilst
completing  our  sketch  of  the  historical  preparation  for  the
advent  of  an  important  new  Science,  we  pass  on  from  a
review  of  the  disheartening  conditions  which  at  first  con-
fronted this  study,  with  the  disabilities  which  they  involved,
to  deal  with  a  much  more  attractive  subject.  We  are  now
to  make  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  men  who,  notwith-
standing these  adverse  circumstances,  contrived  to  lend  to
Comparative  Eeligion  its  first  genuine  impulse.  AVe  have
seen  how,  as  the  ^years  slipped  by,  the  situation  gradually
improved.  By  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,
indeed,  not  only  had  the  more  serious  difficulties  of  earlier
days  been  surmounted,  but  effective  inducements  were  being
held  out  to  those  who  had  courage  sufficient  to  inaugurate
this  new  departure,  and  who  were  prepared  to  show  them-
selves diligent  in  promoting  its  interests.  We  are  now  to
concentrate  our  attention  upon  the  Actors — or  more  strictly,
meanwhile,  upon  the  Supernumeraries  of  the  Stage — who
essayed  to  play  their  individual  parts  in  a  very  fascinating
Drama;  and  we  are  to  seek  to  estimate  the  measure  of
success  which  crowned  their  painstaking  labours.  Let  us
then  glance  backward  for  a  little,  as  we  scan  closely  the
pages  of  history  in  our  search  for  outstanding  and  repre-
sentative names.  Our  survey  will  cover  the  period  embraced
within  the  first  eighteen  Christian  centuries, — during  which,
as  it  has  already  been  shown,  the  Science  of  Comparative
Eeligion  was  still  a  thing  of  the  future.  Our  investigation,
as  we  trace  the  steps  by  which  the  foundations  of  a  new
Science  were  unwittingly  being  laid,  will  be  found  to  dis-
close to  us  the  particulars  of  a  quite  enchanting  story,  and
the  stages  in  the  development  of  a  genuine  romance.
