" Whether he actually carried
out his intention, or what impression the reading of the book made
upon him, we are nowhere told, though, if the impression had been as
profound as his Autobiography suggests, we should naturally have
expected some hint of it. In his _Prometheus_, indeed, as we have
seen, there are suggestions of Spinozistic pantheism, but these may
easily have been derived from other sources, and, moreover, in the
passage quoted, the pantheistic conceptions of Spinoza are not
specifically emphasised. We know, also, that in preparing his thesis
for the Doctorate of Laws he had consulted Spinoza's _Tractatus
Theologico-Politicus_, and the scathing criticism on the perversions
of the teaching of Christ in that treatise may have suggested certain
passages in a poem presently to be noted.[172] Yet, so far as his own
contemporary testimony goes, we are led to conclude that in his
retrospect he has assigned to an earlier period experiences which were
of gradual growth, and which only at a later date were realised with
the vividness he ascribes to them. If we turn to his actual life
during the same period, it is equally hard to trace in it the results
of the tranquillising influence which he ascribes to Spinoza.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265