I  inclose  one  sheet  of  a  letter  from  Lady  Byron,  containing  strictures
upon  my  "  Lecture  on  Wordsworth."  They  are  erroneous,  because  she  mis
understands  my  meaning,  which  I  had  not  sufficiently  developed.  I  main
tain  that  the  localizing  of  Deity  of  which  he  speaks  was  only  that  which  an
affectionate  imagination  does  in  reference  to  the  presence  of  any  loved  per
son  ;  an  act  which  has  only  reference  to  his  or  her  own  mode  of  conceiving
that  presence — as  when  a  relic  or  keepsake  is  preserved,  or  a  chair  felt  to  be
Bacred.  An  enlarged  mind  in  such  a  case  localizes  safely,  because  it  is  in  no
danger  of  confounding  its  own  modes  of  viewing  and  realizing  with  an  actual
presence  there.  It  knows  that  there  is  a  presence,  but  only  suggested,  not
inherent.  A  limited  intellect  confuses  its  own  necessary  helps  with  an  actual
something  external  to  itself,  and  the  spirit  of  the  loved  one  is  supposed  to  be
there.  So  in  Wordsworth's  High-Churchism,  I  maintain  it  was  due  in  him
only  to  the  poet's  creative  power.  He  felt  a  relief  in  as-sociating  God,  the
personal,  with  definite  places  and  acts  ;  but  Wordsworth  never  merged  God's
indefinite  in  those  conceptions :  vulgar  High-Churchism  does.
