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LADY BYRON TO H. C. R.

'BRIGHTON, NOV. 15,1854.

'The thoughts of all this public and private suffering have taken the
life out of my pen when I tried to write on matters which would otherwise
have been most interesting to me: these seemed the shadows, that the
stern reality. It is good, however, to be drawn out of scenes in which
one is absorbed most unprofitably, and to have one's natural interests
revived by such a letter as I have to thank you for, as well as its
predecessor. You touch upon the very points which do interest me the
most, habitually. The change of form, and enlargement of design, in "The
Prospective" had led me to express to one of the promoters of that object
my desire to contribute. The religious crisis is instant; but the man
for it? The next best thing, if, as I believe, he is not to be found in
England, is an association of such men as are to edit the new periodical.
An address delivered by Freeman Clarke at Boston, last May, makes me
think him better fitted for a leader than any other of the religious
"Free-thinkers." I wish I could send you my one copy; but you do not
need, it, and others do. His object is the same as that of the "Alliance
Universelle:" only he is still more free from "partialism" (his own word)
in his aspirations and practical suggestions with respect to an ultimate
"Christian synthesis." He so far adopts Comte's theory as to speak of
religion itself under three successive aspects, historically,--1. Thesis;
2. Antithesis; 3. Synthesis. I made his acquaintance in England; and he
inspired confidence at once by his brave independence (incomptis
capillis) and self-unconsciousness. J. J. Tayler's address of last month
follows in the same path,--all in favour of the "irenics," instead of
polemics.

'The answer which you gave me so fully and distinctly to the questions I
proposed for your consideration was of value in turning to my view
certain aspects of the case which I had not before observed. I had begun
a second attack on your patience, when all was forgotten in the news of
the day.'

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LADY BYRON TO H. C. R.

'BRIGHTON, Dec. 25, 1854.

'With J. J. Tayler, though almost a stranger to him, I have a peculiar
reason for sympathising. A book of his was a treasure to my daughter on
her death-bed. {320a}

'I must confess to intolerance of opinion as to these two points,--eternal