ABSTRACT
As undergraduate and graduate at Harvard, despite his later assessment, Santayana had a good time, to judge only from his many activities and memberships. He was poet, essayist, cartoonist, editor, and actor; friend to good friends, traveller, and excellent student. Santayana's Scepticism and Animal Faith may be seen as an extension and variation on James's idea of "natural causes." Santayana's full assessment of Royce appeared only later in the form of the intellectual portrait in Character and Opinion in the United States. That portrait may be seen as his least orderly and least successful essay, a view he confirms in a defensive letter on the subject to Robert Bridges in 1924. Royce had also supported Santayana's candidacy, writing to Eliot that although Palmer had reservations, James and Munsterberg supported not only his retention but advancement to assistant professor.
