I
believe that a religion, thus received, may give the life
an external decorum, but will never open the fountains of
holiness in the soul.
'One often thinks of Hamlet as the true representative of
idealism in its excess. Yet if, in his short life, man be
liable to some excess, should we not rather prefer to have
the will palsied like Hamlet, by a deep-searching tendency and
desire for poetic perfection, than to have it enlightened
by worldly sagacity, as in the case of Julius Caesar, or made
intense by pride alone, as in that of Coriolanus?
'After all, I believe it is absurd to attempt to speak on
these subjects within the limits of a letter. I will try to
say what I mean in print some day. Yet one word as to "the
material," in man. Is it not the object of all philosophy,
as well as of religion and poetry, to prevent its prevalence?
Must not those who see most truly be ever making statements
of the truth to combat this sluggishness, or worldliness?
What else are sages, poets, preachers, born to do? Men go an
undulating course,--sometimes on the hill, sometimes in the
valley.
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