[30]
Fill with clearness every human brain:
Faith and hope in every bosom reign!"
[29] Carl Michael Bellman, the Swedish Beranger (1740-1795), whose
wanton music resounded through the latter half of the eighteenth
century, would, no doubt, by many be called a great poet. But his
Bacchanalian strain, though at times exquisite and captivating,
lacks the universality of sentiment and that depth of resonance of
which greatness can alone be predicated. Both his wild mirth and his
sombre melancholy exhale the aroma of ardent spirits.
[30] This line reads literally: "Guard them both; they are willingly
reconciled."
He was, in fact, never very orthodox; and if he had belonged to the
American branch of his denomination would surely have been tried for
heresy. Rarely has a deadlier foe of priestly obscurantism and mediaeval
mysteries worn the episcopal robes. With doctrinal subtleties and
ingenious hair-splitting he had no patience; conduct was with him the
main, if not the only, thing to be considered.
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