All this is faithfully rendered in the essays of that time; we unsuspectingly give ourselves away.
After this, for those who are going to write at all, comes the "viewy" stage, and this is full of interest.

We are so dogmatic, so defiant, so secure in our persuasions.

It is impossible to believe that they will ever alter.

Yet who has lived through this phase of abounding activity and has not found that, at first with the shock of disappointment, and afterwards without regret, a memorial cross had to be set by our wayside, here and there, marking the place of rest for our most enthusiastic convictions.

In the end one comes to be glad of it, for if it means anything it means a growth in the truth.
The criticism of essays is one of the choice opportunities which education offers, for then the contact of mind with mind is so close that truth can be told under form of criticism, which as exhortation would have been less easily accepted.