Is kindness, then, so dainty a flower, That it grows alone in one chosen bower? Hast thou not many a brother dear, With thee to hope, and with thee to fear, Owning a common Father’s aid, Resting alike in a common shade? Yes, friends may be kind, and vales may be green, And brooks may sparkle along between; But it is not Friendship’s kindest look, Nor loveliest vale, nor clearest brook, That can tell the tale which is written for me On each old face and well-known tree.’” ‘“_July 28._――This stagnant effusion was enough for one day, and I must not put off any longer,” etc. ‘“_Sept. 9, 1832._――Also I am getting to be a sawney, and not to like the dreary prospects which you[348] and I have proposed to ourselves. But this is only a feeling; depend upon it, I will not shrink, if I buy my constancy at the expense of a permanent separation from home.” ‘“_Sept. 27._――As to my sawney feelings, I own that home does make me a sawney, and that the first _Eclogue_ runs in my head absurdly; but there is more in the prospect of becoming an ecclesiastical agitator than in――_At nos hinc, alii_,” etc. ‘And this introduces us to a side of his character on which we have as yet scarcely touched: the fertility, buoyancy, boldness, and versatility of his mind. It has been left unnoticed, partly because no one who was ever so little acquainted with the author, or who would read ever so cursorily the book before us, could well overlook it, partly because the peculiarities on which we have dwelt seem to have exercised a far deeper influence in making him what he was. Both the Journal and the Occasional Thoughts, though principally interesting as showing the processes by which his character and opinions formed themselves, and the depth of thought and determination of purpose on which they were based, cannot but in part show those too; but in the Letters we are flooded with the pointed suggestions, the bold historical views of a keen-sighted politician, the vigorous statements and earnest queries of one who was seeking and contending for divine Truth, and the ingenious hints, on questions of taste or science, of a man of genius who thought nothing unworthy to employ his powers which could be pressed into the service of religion….