that a character appears perfect; but that which constitutes the individuality of each person being always some singularity, this singularity affords an opening to ridicule; man, therefore, who fears ridicule above everything, endeavors, as much as possible, to remove the appearance of all that may signalize him in any manner, whether it be good or bad. This sort of effaced nature, in however good taste it may seem to be, has also enough of the ridiculous about it; but few have a sufficiently delicate tact to seize its absurdities. Ridicule has this peculiarity-it is essentially attached to goodness, but not to power. Power has something fierce and triumphant about it which puts ridicule to death; besides, men of frivolous mind respect the wisdom of the flesh, according to the expression of a moralist of the sixteenth century; and we are astonished to discover all the depth of personal interest in those who appeared incapable of pursuing an idea or a feeling, when nothing could result from either, advantageous to their calculations of fortune or of vanity. Frivolity of understanding does not lead men to neglect the affairs of this world. We find, on the contrary, a much more noble carelessness, in this respect, in serious characters than in men of a trivial nature; for their levity in most cases only consists in the contempt of general ideas, for the purpose of more close attention to their personal concerns. There is sometimes a species of wickedness in men of wit; but genius is almost always full of goodness. Wickedness does not arise from a superfluity of understanding, but from a deficiency. If we could talk upon ideas, we should leave persons at rest; if we believed that we could excel others by our natural talents, we should not wish to level the walk that we are ambitious to command. There are common and moderate minds disguised under a poignant and malicious style of sarcasm; but true superiority is radiant with good feeling as well as with lofty thoughts. The habit of intellectual employment inspires an enlightened benevolence towards men and things. We no longer cling to ourselves as privileged beings, when we know much of the destiny of man; we are not offended with every event as if it were unexampled; and as justice consists only in the custom of considering the mutual relations of men under a general point of view, comprehensiveness of understanding serves to detach us from selfish calculations. We have ranged in thought over our own existence as well as that of others, when we have given ourselves up to the contemplation of the uni verse. Another great disadvantage of ignorance, in the present times, is that it renders us entirely incapable of having an opinion of our own upon the larger portion of subjects which require reflection; consequently, when this or that manner of thinking becomes fashionable from the ascendency of events, the greater part of mankind believe that these words, "all the world acts, or thinks, in this manner," ought to influence every claim of reason or of conscience. In the idle class of society, it is almost impossible to have any soul without the cultivation of the mind. Formerly, nature was sufficient to instruct man, and to expand his imagination; but since thought, that fading shadow of feeling, has turned all things into abstractions, it is necessary to have a great deal of knowledge to have any good sentiment. Our choice is no longer balanced between the bursts of the soul, devoid of instruction, and philosophical studies, but between the importunate noise of common and frivolous society, and that language which has been held by men of real genius from age to age, even to our own times. How then can we, without the knowledge of languages, without the habit of reading, communicate with these men who are no more, and whom we feel so thoroughly our friends, our fellow-citizens, and our allies? We must be mean and narrow of soul to refuse such noble enjoyments. Those only, who fill their lives with good actions can dispense with study: the ignorance of idle men proves their aridness of soul, as well as their frivolity of understanding. After all, there yet remains something truly beautiful and moral, which ignorance and emptiness cannot enjoy: this is the union of all thinking men, from one end of Europe to the other. Often they have no mutual relations; often they are dispersed to a great distance from each other; but when they meet, a word is enough for recognition. It is not this religion, or that opinion, or such a sort of study; it is the veneration of truth that forms their bond of union. Sometimes, like miners, they dig into the foundations of the earth, to penetrate the mysteries of the world of darkness in the bosom of eternal night; sometimes they mount to the summit of Chimborazo, to discover, at the loftiest point of the globe, some hitherto unknown phenomena; sometimes they study the languages of the East, to find in them the primitive history of man; sometimes they journey to Jerusalem, to call forth from the holy ruins a spark, which reanimates religion and poetry; in a word, they truly are the people of God; they who do not yet despair of the human race, and wish to preserve to man the dominion of reflection. The Germans merit our especial gratitude in this respect. Ignorance and indifference, as to literature and the fine arts, is shameful with them; and their example proves, that, in our days, the cultivation of the understanding preserves, in the independent classes of society, some sentiments and some principles. The direction of literature and philosophy was not good in France during the last part of the eighteenth century; but, if we may so express ourselves, the direction of ignorance is still more formidable; for no book does harm to him who reads every book. If idle men of the world, on the contrary, are busy for a few moments, the work they meet with is an event in their heads, like that of a stranger's arrival in the desert; and when this work contains dangerous sophistries, they have no arguments to oppose to it. The discovery of printing is truly fatal for those who only read by halves, or by hazard; for knowledge, like the spear of Telephus, ought to cure the wounds which it has inflicted. Ignorance, in the midst of the refinements of society, is the most hateful of all mixtures: it makes us, in some respects, like the vulgar, who value intrigue and cunning alone; it leads us to look but for good living and physical enjoyments; to make use of a little wit, in order to destroy a great deal of soul; to boast of our ignorance; to demand applause for what we do not feel; in a word, to unite a limited understanding with a hard heart, to such a degree, as to be deprived of that looking upwards to heaven, which Ovid has recorded as the noblest attribute of human nature: "Os homini sublime dedit; cœlumque tueri "He, who to man a form erect has given, Bade his exalted looks be fix'd on heaven." PART IV. RELIGION AND ENTHUSIASM. CHAPTER I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS UPON RELIGION IN GERMANY. THE nations of German extraction are all naturally religious ; and the zealousness of this feeling has given occasion to many wars among them. Nevertheless, in Germany, above all other countries, the bias of mind leans more towards enthusiasm than fanaticism. The sectarian spirit must manifest itself under a variety of forms, in a country where the activity of thought is most observable; but, in general, they do not mix theological discussions with human passions, and the different opinions in regard to religion seldom wander out of that ideal world which enjoys a profound peace. For a long time they were occupied, as I shall show in the following chapter, with the inquiry into the doctrines of Christianity; but for the last twenty years, since the writings of Kant have had great influence upon the public mind, there have prevailed a liberty and a comprehensiveness in the manner of considering religion, which neither require nor, reject any form of worship in particular, but which derive froın heavenly things the ruling principle of existence. Many persons think that the religion of the Germans is too indefinite, and that it is better to rally round the standard of a more positive and severe mode of worship. Lessing says, in |