intense longing for it (which alone
would have sufficed to make him an Idealist) he united a fondness for
observation, a love of the actual in nature, and a susceptibility to
deep impressions from and interest in the objects of sense, which would
have seemed to mark him out for a Realist. But is not this the
true stale of the mind, instead of being; one which should excite
astonishment? Is it not one-sidedness rather than many-sidedness that
should be regarded as strange? Is it not as much an evidence of disease
as the preponderance of one element or function in the physical
constitution?

_26th._--I have been thinking more about this many-sidedness of Goethe.
It is by no means that _versatility_ which distinguishes so many
second-rate geniuses, which inclines to the selection of many pursuits,
but seldom permits the attainment of distinguished excellence in one.
It was one and the same principle acting throughout, the striving after
unity. It was this which made him seek to idealise the actual, and
to actualise the Ideal. The former he attempted by searching in each
outward object for the law which governed its existence and of which its
outward development was but an imperfect symbol, the latter by giving
form and consistency to the creations of his own fancy. Thus _the one_
was ever-present to him, and he sought it not in one path, among the
objects of one science alone, but everywhere in nature and out. In all
that was genuine nature he knew that it was to be found; that it was
_not_ to be found in the acquired and the artificial was perhaps the
reason of his aversion for them. This aversion he carried so far that
even acquired virtue was distasteful to him. Whatever may be thought
of such a distaste esthetically, we must think that, morally, it was
carrying his principle rather to an extreme. I have just come across a
plan of study which I formed some months ago and I could not but smile
to see how nothing of it has been accomplished. I was to divide my
attention between philosophy, language (not languages), and poetry. The
former I was to study by topics; e.g., take the subject of perception,
write out my own ideas upon it, if I had any, and then read those
of other people. In studying language, or rather ethnography, I
intended--1. To take the Hebrew roots, trace all the derivatives and
related words first in that language, then in others. 2. To examine
words relating to the spiritual, with a view to discover the