"
He could not see it. He said he was engaged on an essay upon the
famous quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus of St. Vincent de
Lerins. This was the more provoking because he showed himself able
to do better things if he had liked.
I was then at work upon my burlesque, "The Impatient Griselda,"
and was sometimes at my wits' end for a piece of business or a
situation; he gave me many suggestions, all of which were marked by
excellent good sense. Nevertheless I could not prevail with him to put
philosophy on one side, and was obliged to leave him to himself.
For a long time, as I have said, his choice of subjects continued to
be such as I could not approve. He was continually studying scientific
and metaphysical writers, in the hope of either finding or making
for himself philosopher's stone in the shape of a system which
should go on all fours under all circumstances, instead of being
liable to be upset at every touch and turn, as every system yet
promulgated has turned out to be.
He kept to the pursuit of this will-o'-the-wisp so long that I
gave up hope, and set him down as another fly that had been caught, as
it were, by a piece of paper daubed over with some sticky stuff that
had not even the merit of being sweet, but to my surprise he at last
declared that he was satisfied, and had found what he wanted.
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