good for the soul? Pray, then, for me, that I may
have a little peace,--some green and flowery spot, 'mid which
my thoughts may rest; yet not upon fallacy, but only upon
something genuine. I am deeply homesick, yet where is that
home? If not on earth, why should we look to heaven? I would
fain truly live wherever I must abide, and bear with full
energy on my lot, whatever it is. He, who alone knoweth,
will affirm that. I have tried to work whole-hearted from an
earnest faith. Yet my hand is often languid, and my heart is
slow. I would be gone; but whither? I know not; if I cannot
make this spot of ground yield the corn and roses, famine must
be my lot forever and ever, surely.'

* * * * *

'I remember how at a similar time of perplexity, when there
were none to counsel, hardly one to sympathize, and when the
conflicting wishes of so many whom I loved pressed the aching
heart on every side, after months of groping and fruitless
thought, the merest trifle precipitated the whole mass; all
became clear as crystal, and I saw of what use the tedious
preparation had been, by the deep content I felt in the
result.'

* * * * *

'Beethoven! Tasso! It is well to think of you! What sufferings
from baseness, from coldness! How rare and momentary were the
flashes of joy, of confidence and tenderness, in these noblest
lives! Yet could not their genius be repressed. The Eternal
Justice lives. O, Father, teach the spirit the meaning of
sorrow, and light up the generous fires of love and hope and
faith, without which I cannot live!'

* * * * *

'What signifies it that Thou dost always give me to drink more
deeply of the inner fountains? And why do I seek a reason for
these repulsions and strange arrangements of my mortal lot,
when I always gain from them a deeper love for all men, and a
deeper trust in Thee? Wonderful are thy ways! But lead me the
darkest and the coldest as Thou wilt.'

* * * * *

'Please, good Genius of my life, to make me very patient,
resolute, gentle, while no less ardent; and after having tried
me well, please present, at the end of some thousand years
or so, a sphere of congenial and consecutive labors; of
heart-felt, heart-filling wish