I conclude, therefore, that the poet was right in saying that, in order to comprehend human character,
"I needs must blend the quality of man
With quality of God, and so assist
Mere human sight to understand my Life."A
A: A Bean-Stripe—Ferishtah's Fancies.
But it was a profound error, which contained in it the destruction of morality and religion, as well as of knowledge, to make "the quality of God" a love that excludes reason, and the quality of man an intellect incapable of knowing truth. Such in-congruous elements could never be combined into the unity of a character. A love that was mere emotion could not yield a motive for morality, or a principle of religion. A philosophy of life which is based on agnosticism is an explicit self-contradiction, which can help no one. We must appeal from Browning the philosopher to Browning the poet.