ading him, in the same fashion in which he supposed himself to
have refuted Bishop Berkeley's theory of the non-existence of matter.
If we except the so-called English Platonists, or rather Neo-Platonists,
who never understood their master, and the writings of Coleridge,
who was to some extent a kindred spirit, Plato has left no permanent
impression on English literature.

7. Human life and conduct are affected by ideals in the same way that
they are affected by the examples of eminent men. Neither the one nor
the other are immediately applicable to practice, but there is a virtue
flowing from them which tends to raise individuals above the common
routine of society or trade, and to elevate States above the mere
interests of commerce or the necessities of self-defence. Like the
ideals of art they are partly framed by the omission of particulars;
they require to be viewed at a certain distance, and are apt to fade
away if we attempt to approach them. They gain an imaginary distinctness
when embodied in a State or in a system of philosophy, but they still
remain the visions of 'a world unrealized.' More striking and obvious to
the ordinary mind are the examples of great men, who have served their
own generation and are remembered in another. Even in our own family
circle there may have been some one, a woman, or even a child, in
whose face has shone forth a goodness more than human. The ideal then
approaches nearer to us, and we fondly cling to it. The ideal of the
past, whether of our own past lives or of former states of society, has
a singular fascination for the minds of many. Too late we learn that
such ideals cannot be recalled, though the recollection of them may
have a humanizing influence on other times. But the abstractions of
philosophy are to most persons cold and vacant; they give light without
warmth; they are like the full moon in the heavens when there are no
stars appearing. Men cannot live by thought alone; the world of sense is
always breaking in upon them. They are for the most part confined to a
corner of earth, and see but a little way beyond their own home or place
of abode; they 'do not lift up their eyes to the hills'; they are not
awake when the dawn appears. But in Plato we have reached a height from
which a man may look into the distance and behold the future of the
world and of philosophy. The ideal of the State and of the life of
the philosopher; the ideal of an education continuing through li