But it may
as well be admitted that he began at this time to show what may
euphemistically be styled his paganism, in the relish which he evinced
for jests of doubtful propriety. He was indeed as far as possible from
being a prude; many years later, when he was a bishop and a great
ecclesiastical dignitary, he wrote to his friend the poet Franzen:
"I thank God that I can yet, at times, be merry and give vent to my
mirth in prose and verse. I don't scruple to make a good joke even
though its subject be the bridal bed. All prudery--and frequently
the clerical dignity is, in social intercourse, nothing else--I
detest and despise."
His inability to restrain his wit in this particular direction has done
some injury to his memory. Not that his fancy had any taint of
uncleanness. It was open and cheerful as the sunlight; and as the
sunlight played brightly over all things without fastidious
discrimination. There was a rich, and healthy humanity about him which
manifested itself in an impartial, all-embracing delight in the glow and
color of mere sensuous existence.
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