CONCLUSION It is somewhat unfortunate that the nature of our task demanded a critical survey of the different theories advanced in the first part of this dissertation. The impression such a survey will leave behind is quite different from that which a mere appreciation of the value of Brownson's critical writings would have given. We say 'unfortunate,' because we are thus forced to read into these writings a system of critical principles and of aesthetics which Brownson most probably never formulated for himself as a whole. Moreover the constructive portions of the criticism have to a great extent only the weight of the writer's personal opinion, as is the case with so many essays on art, and some of the opposition to Brownson's theories rests therefore merely on personal views. If Brownson had set down for himself a complete set of aesthetic and critical principles and had taken such a system for his point of departure, then he would be indeed accountable for the ideas underlying every critical statement he made, and blameworthy in the greatest degree for any contradictions that statements made at different times might involve. But just these contradictions-they are rather exaggerations of different viewpoints-shows us something of Brownson the man; namely, the absorbing enthusiasm with which he pursued any cause that he thought worth pursuing, and which seemed to control his entire being at such moments. Then, the views we have unfolded point on the one hand to a reaction in Brownson against that phase of Transcendentalism which almost deified external nature, while on the other hand a second phase of it, the doctrine of God's revealing Himself immediately. to the mind in intuition, apparently stuck to him at all times, and influenced much of his thinking. His concern for the betterment of society and for the uplift of the lower classes shows him to have been fully alive to the justice of the agitations going on in the United States and especially in England at his time. He was not satisfied with reveling in abstract theories, however, and earnestly pleaded for practical application, an example of which we see in his sociological concep tion of literature. In his views on religion and morality we see the descendant of the austere, religious New Englander of the century before. Brownson had been brought up away from city life; and he thus inherited all the deep anxiety of the early settlers regarding the future life, and received from them the deep conviction that the religious question is paramount and that it is one of continuous concern and interest. One feature of the critical views of Brownson, which the nature of our work did not allow us to emphasize as we would really like to do, we shall again mention by way of a departing word, though we risk repeating ourselves. Brownson ever stood up firmly for anything he considered to be most conducive to the good of mankind. In denouncing the writings which he thought subversive of the good of man, he knew no fear, and his zeal for his cause often resulted in statements that were over-stressed and exaggerated. His outstanding viewpoint was that of literature as a powerful agent in moulding the thought of readers. He recognized keenly the living force of the written word, its permanent and wide-spread influence for good or evil. For this Brownson cannot be commended too much. This side of literature is only too often not merely neglected but spurned and ridiculed. As a consequence so many theories of literature-as of art-spring up, which regard almost altogether the form; and art is thus given the freest scope to indulge in all possible sentiments and sensations. Such theories confound enlightenment with untrammeled barbarism of the spirit, and do not succeed in gaining the appreciation for art that is really desired by its votaries. If art is to lift man for the time being out of the confinement of daily routine, and give him higher enjoyments, these must be able to satisfy the higher cravings of the soul, for it is the soul that looks to art for relief and enjoyment. How far from its mark, then, that art lies which under the plea of doing service to the mind of man injects into this mind the poisons that kill its higher life! Would that all critics, and not only some, could catch the spirit of Brownson, and that all writers would have before their eyes continually the sublime position that real art occupies in the life of man! 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