The central thread of the book is Coleridge's life-long search--in Professor Willey's words, "for a mind not passive but active; a will not frozen in necessity, but free and responsible; an Imagination not decorative but creative in the highest sense; and a God not identified or confused with Nature, but at once transcendent and redemptive." Basil Willey's rich understanding of Coleridge, and his lucid analysis of the complex philosophical issues in his work, will make this book invaluable to readers interested in English intellectual history.

The late Professor Basil Willey's important and influential inquiry into the history of religious and moral ideas in the nineteenth century

Originally published in 1946, this volume contains the text of an inaugural lecture delivered by Basil Willey on his accession to the King Edward VII Professorship of English Literature in the University of Cambridge. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Arthur Quiller-Couch, known to his friends as 'Q'.