The passions that hurry him along may be less enduring than his earthly frame; the objects he strives to grasp may fade and shrink before his love or his hope can perish; but they are not vain without cause. Man was made' subject to vanity,' and in the designs of an omnipotent Ruler such vanity cannot be without its beneficient and everlasting results.

DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE RELIGIOUS

WORLD.

'J'AI dû me prouver à moi-même que je faisais une chose bonne et utile en pensant librement et en disant librement ce que je pense, et je n'y ai réussi que quand j'ai vu avec évidence combien l'idée que la piété se fait du monde est incomplète et défectueuse.' E. RENAN.

'Les hommes ne reçoivent point la vérité de leurs ennemis, et leurs amis ne la leur offrent guère; c'est pour cela que je l'ai dite.'-DE TOCQUEVILLE.

97

DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE RELIGIOUS

WORLD.

A

LITTLE thing may lead to great discoveries, and the consideration of some trifling point will often carry one on to questions of deep interest; all trifles having a basis of important reality.

I found this to be the case when looking for reasons that could account for the almost total extinction of Epic poetry in the present day. In reflecting upon that symptom of modern feeling, I met with similar characteristics of more serious change; of alteration that bore upon the highest concerns of man; and some which perplexed me exceedingly, because they could hardly be admitted without the contradiction of venerable opinions, and the risk of high treason towards those which have long been held sacred.

It is so much my dread to add the least impetus to the prevailing habit of doubt, that if I thought the problem in question could escape the notice of any thoughtful person, I would refrain from touching upon it; but, believing that, in one shape or other, it confronts us at every turn, I am persuaded that it is wiser to face its difficulties than to endeavour to hide or deny them. Unless we know the real weight of these difficulties, we shall be in danger of attributing to them far more than

H

they truly have, when at last ignorance starts on perceiving what bigotry labours to keep out of sight.

Thinkers, to whom alone I address these pages, will not charge me with presumption because I submit to their judgement thoughts which have scarcely satisfied my own; they will see that in dealing most imperfectly with a subject above my powers, though very congenial to my tastes, it is with the hope that my attempt may serve as a stepping stone for more powerful intellects, and invite that correction from clearer insight which I do so unfeignedly desire.

In any uncertainty it is always found that a fair statement of difficulties forms a useful preliminary to later decisions. If in this essay I speak decisively, it will be but a figure of speech, for the sake of placing my ill-defined notions in distinctness, not from the wish to impose them upon other minds as wholly just. Even errors, plainly uttered, will be suggestive of truth when they are brought before a competent judge; and if I can succeed in making clear what I now think about one of the greatest enigmas of spiritual life, I may hope to stimulate an abler brain to tell us. -more than we have yet been told-what we ought to think.

The rare appearance and obscure life of any poem bearing the name of epic, during the last twenty or thirty years, will not, I suppose, bring into question the truth of my premise, that epic poetry is nearly extinct. And though, if I remember rightly, it was the fashion, up to the last ten years, for critics to accompany their admiration as reviewers, with the wish that our greatest living poet would place himself on the highest ground of poetical fame by a completed epic, yet of late years. even that official piece of advice has been silenced. By what? By the dreary impression of failure which