The  only  person  who  turns  towards  Christianity  is  the
Count,  a  superstitious  fool  and  dotard,  and  the  fear  of
death  is  his  main  motive.  The  morality  or  theory  of
ethics  which  pervades  this  congeries  of  clever  essays,
of  social  putrescence  and  a  few  noble  lyrics,  is  Rousseau-
ism  :  we  need  heed  nothing  but  the  unalloyed  motive
which  comes  from  our  human  impulse,  which  is  called
heart,  or  nature,  or  some  other  fine  name  ;  it  is  sentimen-
talism  running  rampant  and  uncontrolled.  There  is  no
sin  but  only  folly  or  unwisdom.  Moral  remorse  is
absurd  :  why  not,  when  there  is  no  objective  law  of
righteousness  and  no  personal  God  who  is  going  to  judge
the  quick  and  the  dead  ?  Principles  are  a  mere  supple-
ment to  mode  of  living,  morality  a  mere  human  creation.
"  O  how  unnecessary  is  the  severity  of  morals,  since
nature  in  her  beautiful  manner  moulds  us  into  that  which
we  are  to  be  !  "

The  apotheosis  of  culture  and  the  implied  apotheosis
of  self  cannot  be  carried  much  further.  What  utter  per-
version have  we  here  of  the  transcendent  value  of  the
human  soul  !  What  of  the  millions  of  plain  people  who
cannot  attain  to  such  culture  ?  Are  they  mere  hewers  of
wood  and  drawers  of  water,  to  till  the  lands  and  pay
tithes  and  taxes  that  the  few  heroes  of  culture  may  strut
as  peacocks  among  the  highborn  and  wellborn  ?  Or  is  the
belief  in  a  righteousness  willed  by  the  God  of  Eternity  a
mere  Hebraism  as  Matthew  Arnold,  a  later  high-priest  of
culture,  would  have  us  believe  ?  —  We  pass  on  to  another
noted  pantheist.
