,,essays ,,by ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson ,merrill's ,english ,texts ,,selected ,,and ,,edited1 ,,with ,,introduction ,,and ,,notes1 ,,by ,,edna ,h4,l4 ,,turpin1 ,,author ,,of ,,stories ,,from ,,american ,,history1 ,,classic ,,fables1 ,,famous ,,painters1 ,,etc4 ,,new ,,york ,,charles ,e4 ,,merrill ,,co4 #aijg ,,contents ,,introduction ,,life ,,of ,,emerson ,,critical ,,opinions ,,chronological ,,list ,,of ,,principal ,,works ,,the ,,american ,,scholar ,,compensation ,,self ,,reliance ,,friendship ,,heroism ,,manners ,,gifts ,,nature ,,shakespeare2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,poet ,,prudence ,,circles ,,notes ,,publishers' ,,note ,merrill's ,english ,texts ,this series of books will include in complete editions those masterpieces of ,english ,literature that are best adapted for the use of schools and colleges4 ,the editors of the several volumes will be chosen for their special qualifications in connection with the texts to be issued under their individual supervision1 but familiarity with the practical needs of the classroom1 no less than sound scholarship1 will characterize the editing of every book in the series4 ,in connection with each text1 a critical and historical introduction1 including a sketch of the life of the author and his relation to the thought of his time1 critical opinions of the work in question chosen from the great body of ,english criticism1 and1 where possible1 a portrait of the author1 will be given4 ,ample explanatory notes of such passages in the text as call for special attention will be supplied1 but irrelevant annotation and explanations of the obvious will be rigidly excluded4 ,,charles ,e4 ,,merrill ,,co4 ,,life ,,of ,,emerson ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson was born in ,boston1 ,may #be1 #ahjc4 ,he was descended from a long line of ,new ,england ministers1 men of refinement and education4 ,as a school-boy he was quiet and retiring1 reading a great deal1 but not paying much attention to his lessons4 ,he entered ,harvard at the early age of fourteen1 but never attained a high rank there1 although he took a prize for an essay on ,socrates1 and was made class poet after several others had declined4 ,next to his reserve and the faultless propriety of his conduct1 his contemporaries at college seemed most impressed by the great maturity of his mind4 ,emerson appears never to have been really a boy4 ,he was always serene and thoughtful1 impressing all who knew him with that spirituality which was his most distinguishing characteristic4 ,after graduating from college he taught school for a time1 and then entered the ,harvard ,divinity ,school under ,dr4 ,channing1 the great ,unitarian preacher4 ,although he was not strong enough to attend all the lectures of the divinity course1 the college authorities deemed the name ,emerson sufficient passport to the ministry4 ,he was accordingly approbated to preach by the ,middlesex ,association of ,ministers on ,october #aj1 #ahbf4 ,as a preacher1 ,emerson was interesting1 though not particularly original4 ,his talent seems to have been in giving new meaning to the old truths of religion4 ,one of his hearers has said3 ,in looking back on his preaching ,i find he has impressed truths to which ,i always assented in such a manner as to make them appear new1 like a clearer revelation4 ,although his sermons were always couched in scriptural language1 they were touched with the light of that genius which avoids the conventional and commonplace4 ,in his other pastoral duties ,emerson was not quite so successful4 ,it is characteristic of his deep humanity and his dislike for all fuss and commonplace that he appeared to least advantage at a funeral4 ,a connoisseur in such matters1 an old sexton1 once remarked that on such occasions he did not appear at ease at all4 ,to tell the truth1 in my opinion1 that young man was not born to be a minister4 ,emerson did not long remain a minister4 ,in #ahcb he preached a sermon in which he announced certain views in regard to the communion service which were disapproved by a large part of his congregation4 ,he found it impossible to continue preaching1 and1 with the most friendly feelings on both sides1 he parted from his congregation4 ,a few months later 7#ahcc7 he went to ,europe for a short year of travel4 ,while abroad1 he visited ,walter ,savage ,landor1 ,coleridge and ,wordsworth1 and ,thomas ,carlyle4 ,this visit to ,carlyle was to both men a most interesting experience4 ,they parted feeling that they had much intellectually in common4 ,this belief fostered a sympathy which1 by the time they had discovered how different they really were1 had grown so strong a habit that they always kept up their intimacy4 ,this year of travel opened ,emerson's eyes to many things of which he had previously been ignorant2 he had profited by detachment from the concerns of a limited community and an isolated church4 ,after his return he began to find his true field of activity in the lecture-hall1 and delivered a number of addresses in ,boston and its vicinity4 ,while thus coming before the open public on the lecture platform1 he was all the time preparing the treatise which was to embody all the quintessential elements of his philosophical doctrine4 ,this was the essay ,nature1 which was published in #ahcf4 ,by its conception of external ,nature as an incarnation of the ,divine ,mind it struck the fundamental principle of ,emerson's religious belief4 ,the essay had a very small circulation at first1 though later it became widely known4 ,in the winter of #ahcf ,emerson followed up his discourse on ,nature by a course of twelve lectures on the ,philosophy of ,history1 a considerable portion of which eventually became embodied in his essays4 ,the next year 7#ahcg7 was the year of the delivery of the ,man ,thinking1 or the ,american ,scholar address before the ,phi ,beta ,kappa ,society at ,cambridge4 ,this society1 composed of the first twenty-five men in each class graduating from college1 has annual meetings which have called forth the best efforts of many distinguished scholars and thinkers4 ,emerson's address was listened to with the most profound interest4 ,it declared a sort of intellectual independence for ,america4 ,henceforth we were to be emancipated from clogging foreign influences1 and a national literature was to expand under the fostering care of the ,republic4 ,these two discourses1 ,nature and ,the ,american ,scholar1 strike the keynote of ,emerson's philosophical1 poetical1 and moral teachings4 ,in fact he had1 as every great teacher has1 only a limited number of principles and theories to teach4 ,these principles of life can all be enumerated in twenty words--self-reliance1 culture1 intellectual and moral independence1 the divinity of nature and man1 the necessity of labor1 and high ideals4 ,emerson spent the latter part of his life in lecturing and in literary work4 ,his son1 ,dr4 ,edward ,emerson1 gave an interesting account of how these lectures were constructed4 ,all through his life he kept a journal4 ,this book1 he said1 was his ',savings ,bank4' ,the thoughts thus received and garnered in his journals were indexed1 and a great many of them appeared in his published works4 ,they were religiously set down just as they came1 in no order except chronological1 but later they were grouped1 enlarged or pruned1 illustrated1 worked into a lecture or discourse1 and1 after having in this capacity undergone repeated testing and rearranging1 were finally carefully sifted and more rigidly pruned1 and were printed as essays4 ,besides his essays and lectures ,emerson left some poetry in which is embodied those thoughts which were to him too deep for prose expression4 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes in speaking of this says3 ,emerson wrote occasionally in verse from his school-days until he had reached the age which used to be known as the grand climacteric1 sixty-three4444 ,his poems are not and hardly can become popular2 they are not meant to be liked by the many1 but to be dearly loved and cherished by the few4444 ,his occasional lawlessness in technical construction1 his somewhat fantastic expressions1 his enigmatic obscurities hardly detract from the pleasant surprise his verses so often bring with them4444 ,the poetic license which we allow in the verse of ,emerson is more than excused by the noble spirit which makes us forget its occasional blemishes1 sometimes to be pleased with them as characteristic of the writer4 ,emerson was always a striking figure in the intellectual life of ,america4 ,his discourses were above all things inspiring4 ,through them many were induced to strive for a higher self-culture4 ,his influence can be discerned in all the literary movements of the time4 ,he was the central figure of the so-called transcendental school which was so prominent fifty years ago1 although he always rather held aloof from any enthusiastic participation in the movement4 ,emerson lived a quiet life in ,concord1 ,massachusetts4 ,he was a first-rate neighbor and one who always kept his fences up4 ,he traveled extensively on his lecturing tours1 even going as far as ,england4 ,in ,english ,traits he has recorded his impressions of what he saw of ,english life and manners4 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes has described him in this wise3 ,his personal appearance was that of the typical ,new ,englander of college-bred ancestry4 ,tall1 spare1 slender1 with sloping shoulders1 slightly stooping in his later years1 with light hair and eyes1 the scholar's complexion1 the prominent1 somewhat arched nose which belongs to many of the ,new ,england sub-species1 thin lips1 suggestive of delicacy1 but having nothing like primness1 still less of the rigidity which is often noticeable in the generation succeeding next to that of the men in their shirt-sleeves1 he would have been noticed anywhere as one evidently a scholarly thinker astray from the alcove or the study1 which were his natural habitats4 ,his voice was very sweet1 and penetrating without any loudness or mark of effort4 ,his enunciation was beautifully clear1 but he often hesitated as if waiting for the right word to present itself4 ,his manner was very quiet1 his smile was pleasant1 but he did not like explosive laughter any better than ,hawthorne did4 ,none who met him can fail to recall that serene and kindly presence1 in which there was mingled a certain spiritual remoteness with the most benignant human welcome to all who were privileged to enjoy his companionship4 ,emerson died ,april #bg1 #ahhb1 after a few days' illness from pneumonia4 ,dr4 ,garnett in his excellent biography says3 ,seldom had 'the reaper whose name is ,death' gathered such illustrious harvest as between ,december #ahhj and ,april #ahhb4 ,in the first month of this period ,george ,eliot passed away1 in the ensuing ,february ,carlyle followed2 in ,april ,lord ,beaconsfield died1 deplored by his party1 nor unregretted by his country2 in ,february of the following year ,longfellow was carried to the tomb2 in ,april ,rossetti was laid to rest by the sea1 and the pavement of ,westminster ,abbey was disturbed to receive the dust of ,darwin4 ,and now ,emerson lay down in death beside the painter of man and the searcher of nature1 the ,english-,oriental statesman1 the poet of the plain man and the poet of the artist1 and the prophet whose name is indissolubly linked with his own4 ,all these men passed into eternity laden with the spoils of ,time1 but of none of them could it be said1 as of ,emerson1 that the most shining intellectual glory and the most potent intellectual force of a continent had departed along with him4 ,,critical ,,opinions ,,of ,,emerson ,,and ,,his ,,writings4 ,matthew ,arnold1 in an address on ,emerson delivered in ,boston1 gave an excellent estimate of the rank we should accord to him in the great hierarchy of letters4 ,some1 perhaps1 will think that ,arnold was unappreciative and cold1 but dispassionate readers will be inclined to agree with his judgment of our great ,american4 ,after a review of the poetical works of ,emerson the ,english critic draws his conclusions as follows3 ,i do not then place ,emerson among the great poets4 ,but ,i go farther1 and say that ,i do not place him among the great writers1 the great men of letters4 ,who are the great men of letters8 ,they are men like ,cicero1 ,plato1 ,bacon1 ,pascal1 ,swift1 ,voltaire--writers with1 in the first place1 a genius and instinct for style4444 ,brilliant and powerful passages in a man's writings do not prove his possession of it4 ,emerson has passages of noble and pathetic eloquence2 he has passages of shrewd and felicitous wit2 he has crisp epigram2 he has passages of exquisitely touched observation of nature4 ,yet he is not a great writer4444 ,carlyle formulates perfectly the defects of his friend's poetic and literary productions when he says3 ',for me it is too ethereal1 speculative1 theoretic2 ,i will have all things condense themselves1 take shape and body1 if they are to have my sympathy4' 444 4444 ,not with the ,miltons and ,grays1 not with the ,platos and ,spinozas1 not with the ,swifts and ,voltaires1 not with the ,montaignes and ,addisons1 can we rank ,emerson4 ,no man could see this clearer than ,emerson himself4 ',alas1 my friend1' he writes in reply to ,carlyle1 who had exhorted him to creative work1--',alas1 my friend1 ,i can do no such gay thing as you say4 ,i do not belong to the poets1 but only to a low department of literature1--the reporters2 suburban men4' ,he deprecated his friend's praise2 praise 'generous to a fault' he calls it2 praise 'generous to the shaming of me1--cold1 fastidious1 ebbing person that ,i am4' ,after all this unfavorable criticism ,arnold begins to praise4 ,quoting passages from the ,essays1 he adds3 ,this is tonic indeed6 ,and let no one object that it is too general2 that more practical1 positive direction is what we want4444 ,yes1 truly1 his insight is admirable2 his truth is precious4 ,yet the secret of his effect is not even in these2 it is in his temper4 ,it is in the hopeful1 serene1 beautiful temper wherewith these1 in ,emerson1 are indissolubly united2 in which they work and have their being4444 ,one can scarcely overrate the importance of holding fast to happiness and hope4 ,it gives to ,emerson's work an invaluable virtue4 ,as ,wordsworth's poetry is1 in my judgment1 the most important done in verse1 in our language1 during the present century1 so ,emerson's ,essays are1 ,i think1 the most important work done in prose4444 ,but by his conviction that in the life of the spirit is happiness1 and by his hope that this life of the spirit will come more and more to be sanely understood1 and to prevail1 and to work for happiness1--by this conviction and hope ,emerson was great1 and he will surely prove in the end to have been right in them4444 ,you cannot prize him too much1 nor heed him too diligently4 ,herman ,grimm1 a ,german critic of great influence in his own country1 did much to obtain a hearing for ,emerson's works in ,germany4 ,at first the ,germans could not understand the unusual ,english1 the unaccustomed turns of phrase which are so characteristic of ,emerson's style4 ,macaulay gives them no difficulty2 even ,carlyle is comprehended4 ,but in ,emerson's writings the broad turnpike is suddenly changed into a hazardous sandy foot-path4 ,his thoughts and his style are ,american4 ,he is not writing for ,berlin1 but for the people of ,massachusetts4444 ,it is an art to rise above what we have been taught4444 ,all great men are seen to possess this freedom4 ,they derive their standard from their own natures1 and their observations on life are so natural and spontaneous that it would seem as if the most illiterate person with a scrap of common-sense would have made the same4444 ,we become wiser with them1 and know not how the difficult appears easy and the involved plain4 ,emerson possesses this noble manner of communicating himself4 ,he inspires me with courage and confidence4 ,he has read and seen but conceals the labor4 ,i meet in his works plenty of familiar facts1 but he does not employ them to figure up anew the old worn-out problems3 each stands on a new spot and serves for new combinations4 ,from everything he sees the direct line issuing which connects it with the focus of life4444 4444 ,emerson's theory is that of the 'sovereignty of the individual4' ,to discover what a young man is good for1 and to equip him for the path he is to strike out in life1 regardless of any other consideration1 is the great duty to which he calls attention4 ,he makes men self-reliant4 ,he reveals to the eyes of the idealist the magnificent results of practical activity1 and unfolds before the realist the grandeur of the ideal world of thought4 ,no man is to allow himself1 through prejudice1 to make a mistake in choosing the task to which he will devote his life4 ,emerson's essays are1 as it were1 printed sermons--all having this same text4444 ,the wealth and harmony of his language overpowered and entranced me anew4 ,but even now ,i cannot say wherein the secret of his influence lies4 ,what he has written is like life itself--the unbroken thread ever lengthened through the addition of the small events which make up each day's experience4 ,froude in his famous ,life of ,carlyle gives an interesting description of ,emerson's visit to the ,carlyles in ,scotland3 ,the ,carlyles were sitting alone at dinner on a ,sunday afternoon at the end of ,august when a ,dumfries carriage drove to the door1 and there stepped out of it a young ,american then unknown to fame1 but whose influence in his own country equals that of ,carlyle in ours1 and whose name stands connected with his wherever the ,english language is spoken4 ,emerson1 the younger of the two1 had just broken his ,unitarian fetters1 and was looking out around him like a young eagle longing for light4 ,he had read ,carlyle's articles and had discerned with the instinct of genius that here was a voice speaking real and fiery convictions1 and no longer echoes and conventionalisms4 ,he had come to ,europe to study its social and spiritual phenomena2 and to the young ,emerson as to the old ,goethe1 the most important of them appeared to be ,carlyle4444 ,the acquaintance then begun to their mutual pleasure ripened into a deep friendship1 which has remained unclouded in spite of wide divergences of opinion throughout their working lives4 ,carlyle wrote to his mother after ,emerson had left3 ,our third happiness was the arrival of a certain young unknown friend named ,emerson1 from ,boston1 in the ,united ,states1 who turned aside so far from his ,british1 ,french1 and ,italian travels to see me here6 ,he had an introduction from ,mill and a ,frenchman 7,baron d',eichthal's nephew7 whom ,john knew at ,rome4 ,of course1 we could do no other than welcome him2 the rather as he seemed to be one of the most lovable creatures in himself we had ever looked on4 ,he stayed till next day with us1 and talked and heard to his heart's content1 and left us all really sad to part with him4 ,in #ahda ,carlyle wrote to ,john ,sterling a few words apropos of the recent publication of ,emerson's essays in ,england3 ,i love ,emerson's book1 not for its detached opinions1 not even for the scheme of the general world he has framed for himself1 or any eminence of talent he has expressed that with1 but simply because it is his own book2 because there is a tone of veracity1 an unmistakable air of its being his1 and a real utterance of a human soul1 not a mere echo of such4 ,i consider it1 in that sense1 highly remarkable1 rare1 very rare1 in these days of ours4 ,ach ,gott6 ,it is frightful to live among echoes4 ,the few that read the book1 ,i imagine1 will get benefit of it4 ,to ,america1 ,i sometimes say that ,emerson1 such as he is1 seems to me like a kind of ,new ,era4 ,john ,morley1 the acute ,english critic1 has made an analytic study of ,emerson's style1 which may reconcile the reader to some of its exasperating peculiarities4 ,one of the traits that every critic notes in ,emerson's writing is that it is so abrupt1 so sudden in its transitions1 so discontinuous1 so inconsecutive4 ,dislike of a sentence that drags made him unconscious of the quality that ,french critics name coulant4 ,everything is thrown in just as it comes1 and sometimes the pell-mell is enough to persuade us that ,pope did not exaggerate when he said that no one qualification is so likely to make a good writer as the power of rejecting his own thoughts4444 ,apart from his difficult staccato1 ,emerson is not free from secondary faults4 ,he uses words that are not only odd1 but vicious in construction2 he is sometimes oblique and he is often clumsy2 and there is a visible feeling after epigrams that do not always come4 ,when people say that ,emerson's style must be good and admirable because it fits his thought1 they forget that though it is well that a robe should fit1 there is still something to be said about its cut and fashion4444 ,yet1 as happens to all fine minds1 there came to ,emerson ways of expression deeply marked with character4 ,on every page there is set the strong stamp of sincerity1 and the attraction of a certain artlessness2 the most awkward sentence rings true2 and there is often a pure and simple note that touches us more than if it were the perfection of elaborated melody4 ,the uncouth procession of the periods discloses the travail of the thought1 and that1 too1 is a kind of eloquence4 ,an honest reader easily forgives the rude jolt or unexpected start when it shows a thinker faithfully working his way along arduous and unworn tracks4 ,even at the roughest1 ,emerson often interjects a delightful cadence4 ,as he says of ,landor1 his sentences are cubes which will stand firm1 place them how or where you will4 ,he criticised ,swedenborg for being superfluously explanatory1 and having an exaggerated feeling of the ignorance of men4 ',men take truths of this nature1' said ,emerson1 'very fast2' and his own style does no doubt very boldly take this capacity for granted in us4 ,in 'choice and pith of diction1' again1 of which ,mr4 ,lowell speaks1 he hits the mark with a felicity that is almost his own in this generation4 ,he is terse1 concentrated1 and free from the important blunder of mistaking intellectual dawdling for meditation4 ,nor in fine does his abruptness ever impede a true urbanity4 ,the accent is homely and the apparel plain1 but his bearing has a friendliness1 a courtesy1 a hospitable humanity1 which goes nearer to our hearts than either literary decoration or rhetorical unction4 ,that modest and lenient fellow-feeling which gave such charm to his companionship breathes in his gravest writing1 and prevents us from finding any page of it cold or hard or dry4 ,e4,p4 ,whipple1 the well-known ,american critic1 wrote soon after ,emerson's death3 ,but 'sweetness and light' are precious and inspiring only so far as they express the essential sweetness of the disposition of the thinker1 and the essential illuminating power of his intelligence4 ,emerson's greatness came from his character4 ,sweetness and light streamed from him because they were in him4 ,in everything he thought1 wrote1 and did1 we feel the presence of a personality as vigorous and brave as it was sweet1 and the particular radical thought he at any time expressed derived its power to animate and illuminate other minds from the might of the manhood1 which was felt to be within and behind it4 ,to 'sweetness and light' he therefore added the prime quality of fearless manliness4 ,if the force of ,emerson's character was thus inextricably blended with the force of all his faculties of intellect and imagination1 and the refinement of all his sentiments1 we have still to account for the peculiarities of his genius1 and to answer the question1 why do we instinctively apply the epithet ',emersonian' to every characteristic passage in his writings8 ,we are told that he was the last in a long line of clergymen1 his ancestors1 and that the modern doctrine of heredity accounts for the impressive emphasis he laid on the moral sentiment2 but that does not solve the puzzle why he unmistakably differed in his nature and genius from all other ,emersons4 ,an imaginary genealogical chart of descent connecting him with ,confucius or ,gautama would be more satisfactory4 ,what distinguishes the ,emerson was his exceptional genius and character1 that something in him which separated him from all other ,emersons1 as it separated him from all other eminent men of letters1 and impressed every intelligent reader with the feeling that he was not only 'original but aboriginal4' ,some traits of his mind and character may be traced back to his ancestors1 but what doctrine of heredity can give us the genesis of his genius8 ,indeed1 the safest course to pursue is to quote his own words1 and despairingly confess that it is the nature of genius 'to spring1 like the rainbow daughter of ,wonder1 from the invisible1 to abolish the past1 and refuse all history4' ,,chronological ,,list ,,of ,,emerson',s ,,principal ,,works4 ,nature #ahcf ,essays 7,first ,series7 #ahda ,essays 7,second ,series7 #ahdd ,poems #ahdg ,miscellanies #ahdi ,representative ,men #ahej ,english ,traits #ahef ,conduct of ,life #ahfj ,society and ,solitude #ahgj ,correspondence of ,thomas ,carlyle and ,r4,w4 ,emerson #ahhc ,,the ,,american ,,scholar4 ,this address was delivered at ,cambridge in #ahcg1 before the ,harvard ,chapter of the ,phi ,beta ,kappa ,society1 a college fraternity composed of the first twenty-five men in each graduating class4 ,the society has annual meetings1 which have been the occasion for addresses from the most distinguished scholars and thinkers of the day4 ,,mr4 ,,president ,,and ,,gentlemen1 ,i greet you on the recommencement of our literary year4 ,our anniversary is one of hope1 and1 perhaps1 not enough of labor4 ,we do not meet for games of strength#a or skill1 for the recitation of histories1 tragedies1 and odes1 like the ancient ,greeks2 for parliaments of love and poesy1 like the ,troubadours2#b nor for the advancement of science1 like our co-temporaries in the ,british and ,european capitals4 ,thus far1 our holiday has been simply a friendly sign of the survival of the love of letters amongst a people too busy to give to letters any more4 ,as such it is precious as the sign of an indestructible instinct4 ,perhaps the time is already come when it ought to be1 and will be1 something else2 when the sluggard intellect of this continent will look from under its iron lids and fill the postponed expectation of the world with something better than the exertions of mechanical skill4 ,our day of dependence1 our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands1 draws to a close4 ,the millions that around us are rushing into life cannot always be fed on the sere remains of foreign harvests4#c ,events1 actions arise that must be sung1 that will sing themselves4 ,who can doubt that poetry will revive and lead in a new age1 as the star in the constellation ,harp1 which now flames in our zenith1 astronomers announce1 shall one day be the pole-star#d for a thousand years8 ,in the light of this hope ,i accept the topic which not only usage but the nature of our association seem to prescribe to this day1--the ,,american ,,scholar4 ,year by year we come up hither to read one more chapter of his biography4 ,let us inquire what new lights1 new events1 and more days have thrown on his character1 his duties1 and his hopes4 ,it is one of those fables which out of an unknown antiquity convey an unlooked-for wisdom1 that the gods1 in the beginning1 divided ,man into men1 that he might be more helpful to himself2 just as the hand was divided into fingers1 the better to answer its end4#e ,the old fable covers a doctrine ever new and sublime2 that there is ,one ,man1--present to all particular men only partially1 or through one faculty2 and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man4 ,man is not a farmer1 or a professor1 or an engineer1 but he is all4 ,man is priest1 and scholar1 and statesman1 and producer1 and soldier4 ,in the divided or social state these functions are parceled out to individuals1 each of whom aims to do his stint#f of the joint work1 whilst each other performs his4 ,the fable implies that the individual1 to possess himself1 must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers4 ,but1 unfortunately1 this original unit1 this fountain of power1 has been so distributed to multitudes1 has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out1 that it is spilled into drops1 and cannot be gathered4 ,the state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk and strut about so many walking monsters1--a good finger1 a neck1 a stomach1 an elbow1 but never a man4 ,man is thus metamorphosed into a thing1 into many things4 ,the planter1 who is ,man sent out into the field to gather food1 is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry4 ,he sees his bushel and his cart1 and nothing beyond1 and sinks into the farmer1 instead of ,man on the farm4 ,the tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work1 but is ridden#g by the routine of his craft1 and the soul is subject to dollars4 ,the priest becomes a form2 the attorney a statute-book2 the mechanic a machine2 the sailor a rope of the ship4 ,in this distribution of functions the scholar is the delegated intellect4 ,in the right state he is ,man ,thinking4 ,in the degenerate state1 when the victim of society1 he tends to become a mere thinker1 or1 still worse1 the parrot of other men's thinking4 ,in this view of him1 as ,man ,thinking1 the whole theory of his office is contained4 ,him ,nature solicits with all her placid1 all her monitory pictures4#h ,him the past instructs4 ,him the future invites4 ,is not indeed every man a student1 and do not all things exist for the student's behoof8 ,and1 finally1 is not the true scholar the only true master8 ,but as the old oracle said1 ,all things have two handles3 ,beware of the wrong one4#i ,in life1 too often1 the scholar errs with mankind and forfeits his privilege4 ,let us see him in his school1 and consider him in reference to the main influences he receives4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i4 ,the first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature4 ,every day1 the sun2#aj and1 after sunset1 ,night and her stars4 ,ever the winds blow2 ever the grass grows4 ,every day1 men and women1 conversing1 beholding and beholden4#aa ,the scholar must needs stand wistful and admiring before this great spectacle4 ,he must settle its value in his mind4 ,what is nature to him8 ,there is never a beginning1 there is never an end1 to the inexplicable continuity of this web of ,god1 but always circular power returning into itself4#ab ,therein it resembles his own spirit1 whose beginning1 whose ending1 he never can find1--so entire1 so boundless4 ,far too as her splendors shine1 system on system shooting like rays1 upward1 downward1 without center1 without circumference1--in the mass and in the particle1 ,nature hastens to render account of herself to the mind4 ,classification begins4 ,to the young mind everything is individual1 stands by itself4 ,by and by it finds how to join two things and see in them one nature2 then three1 then three thousand2 and so1 tyrannized over by its own unifying instinct1 it goes on tying things together1 diminishing anomalies1 discovering roots running under ground whereby contrary and remote things cohere and flower out from one stem4 ,it presently learns that since the dawn of history there has been a constant accumulation and classifying of facts4 ,but what is classification but the perceiving that these objects are not chaotic1 and are not foreign1 but have a law which is also a law of the human mind8 ,the astronomer discovers that geometry1 a pure abstraction of the human mind1 is the measure of planetary motion4 ,the chemist finds proportions and intelligible method throughout matter2 and science is nothing but the finding of analogy1 identity1 in the most remote parts4 ,the ambitious soul sits down before each refractory fact2 one after another reduces all strange constitutions1 all new powers1 to their class and their law1 and goes on forever to animate the last fiber of organization1 the outskirts of nature1 by insight4 ,thus to him1 to this school-boy under the bending dome of day1 is suggested that he and it proceed from one ,root2 one is leaf and one is flower2 relation1 sympathy1 stirring in every vein4 ,and what is that root8 ,is not that the soul of his soul8--,a thought too bold8--,a dream too wild8 ,yet when this spiritual light shall have revealed the law of more earthly natures1--when he has learned to worship the soul1 and to see that the natural philosophy that now is1 is only the first gropings of its gigantic hand1--he shall look forward to an ever-expanding knowledge as to a becoming creator4#ac ,he shall see that nature is the opposite of the soul1 answering to it part for part4 ,one is seal and one is print4 ,its beauty is the beauty of his own mind4 ,its laws are the laws of his own mind4 ,nature then becomes to him the measure of his attainments4 ,so much of nature as he is ignorant of1 so much of his own mind does he not yet possess4 ,and1 in fine1 the ancient precept1 ,know thyself1#ad and the modern precept1 ,study nature1 become at last one maxim4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,ii4 ,the next great influence into the spirit of the scholar is the mind of the ,past1--in whatever form1 whether of literature1 of art1 of institutions1 that mind is inscribed4 ,books are the best type of the influence of the past1 and perhaps we shall get at the truth1--learn the amount of this influence more conveniently1--by considering their value alone4 ,the theory of books is noble4 ,the scholar of the first age received into him the world around2 brooded thereon2 gave it the new arrangement of his own mind1 and uttered it again4 ,it came into him life2 it went out from him truth4 ,it came to him short-lived actions2 it went out from him immortal thoughts4 ,it came to him business2 it went from him poetry4 ,it was dead fact2 now1 it is quick thought4 ,it can stand1 and it can go4 ,it now endures1 it now flies1 it now inspires4#ae ,precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued1 so high does it soar1 so long does it sing4 ,or1 ,i might say1 it depends on how far the process had gone1 of transmuting life into truth4 ,in proportion to the completeness of the distillation1 so will the purity and imperishableness of the product be4 ,but none is quite perfect4 ,as no air-pump can by any means make a perfect vacuum1#af so neither can any artist entirely exclude the conventional1 the local1 the perishable from his book1 or write a book of pure thought1 that shall be as efficient1 in all respects1 to a remote posterity1 as to contemporaries1 or rather to the second age4 ,each age1 it is found1 must write its own books2 or rather1 each generation for the next succeeding4 ,the books of an older period will not fit this4 ,yet hence arises a grave mischief4 ,the sacredness which attaches to the act of creation1 the act of thought1 is instantly transferred to the record4 ,the poet chanting was felt to be a divine man4 ,henceforth the chant is divine also4 ,the writer was a just and wise spirit4 ,henceforward it is settled the book is perfect2 as love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue4 ,instantly the book becomes noxious4#ag ,the guide is a tyrant4 ,we sought a brother1 and lo1 a governor4 ,the sluggish and perverted mind of the multitude1 always slow to open to the incursions of ,reason1 having once so opened1 having once received this book1 stands upon it1 and makes an outcry if it is disparaged4 ,colleges are built on it4 ,books are written on it by thinkers1 not by ,man ,thinking1 by men of talent1 that is1 who start wrong1 who set out from accepted dogmas1 not from their own sight of principles4 ,meek young men grow up in libraries1 believing it their duty to accept the views which ,cicero1 which ,locke1#ah which ,bacon1#ai have given2 forgetful that ,cicero1 ,locke and ,bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books4 ,hence1 instead of ,man ,thinking1 we have the bookworm4 ,hence the book-learned class1 who value books1 as such2 not as related to nature and the human constitution1 but as making a sort of ,third ,estate#bj with the world and soul4 ,hence the restorers of readings1#ba the emendators1#bb the bibliomaniacs#bc of all degrees4 ,this is bad2 this is worse than it seems4 ,books are the best of things1 well used2 abused1 among the worst4 ,what is the right use8 ,what is the one end which all means go to effect8 ,they are for nothing but to inspire4#bd ,i had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit1 and made a satellite instead of a system4 ,the one thing in the world of value is the active soul1--the soul1 free1 sovereign1 active4 ,this every man is entitled to2 this every man contains within him1 although in almost all men obstructed1 and as yet unborn4 ,the soul active sees absolute truth and utters truth1 or creates4 ,in this action it is genius2 not the privilege of here and there a favorite1 but the sound estate of every man4#be ,in its essence it is progressive4 ,the book1 the college1 the school of art1 the institution of any kind1 stop with some past utterance of genius4 ,this is good1 say they1--let us hold by this4 ,they pin me down4#bf ,they look backward and not forward4 ,but genius always looks forward4 ,the eyes of man are set in his forehead1 not in his hindhead4 ,man hopes4 ,genius creates4 ,to create1--to create1--is the proof of a divine presence4 ,whatever talents may be1 if the man create not1 the pure efflux of the ,deity is not his2#bg--;cinders and smoke there may be1 but not yet flame4 ,there are creative manners1 there are creative actions1 and creative words2 manners1 actions1 words1 that is1 indicative of no custom or authority1 but springing spontaneous from the mind's own sense of good and fair4 ,on the other part1 instead of being its own seer1 let it receive always from another mind its truth1 though it were in torrents of light1 without periods of solitude1 inquest1 and self-recovery2 and a fatal disservice#bh is done4 ,genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over-influence4#bi ,the literature of every nation bear me witness4 ,the ,english dramatic poets have ,shakespearized now for two hundred years4#cj ,undoubtedly there is a right way of reading1 so it be sternly subordinated4 ,man ,thinking must not be subdued by his instruments4 ,books are for the scholar's idle times4 ,when he can read ,god directly1 the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings4#ca ,but when the intervals of darkness come1 as come they must1--when the soul seeth not1 when the sun is hid and the stars withdraw their shining1--we repair to the lamps which were kindled by their ray1 to guide our steps to the ,east again1 where the dawn is4#cb ,we hear1 that we may speak4 ,the ,arabian proverb says1 ,a fig-tree1 looking on a fig-tree1 becometh fruitful4 ,it is remarkable1 the character of the pleasure we derive from the best books4 ,they impress us ever with the conviction that one nature wrote and the same reads4 ,we read the verses of one of the great ,english poets1 of ,chaucer1#cc of ,marvell1#cd of ,dryden1#ce with the most modern joy1--with a pleasure1 ,i mean1 which is in great part caused by the abstraction of all time from their verses4 ,there is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise1 when this poet1 who lived in some past world1 two or three hundred years ago1 says that which lies close to my own soul1 that which ,i also had well-nigh thought and said4 ,but for the evidence thence afforded to the philosophical doctrine of the identity of all minds1 we should suppose some pre-established harmony1 some foresight of souls that were to be1 and some preparation of stores for their future wants1 like the fact observed in insects1 who lay up food before death for the young grub they shall never see4 ,i would not be hurried by any love of system1 by any exaggeration of instincts1 to underrate the ,book4 ,we all know that as the human body can be nourished on any food1 though it were boiled grass and the broth of shoes1 so the human mind can be fed by any knowledge4 ,and great and heroic men have existed who had almost no other information than by the printed page4 ,i only would say that it needs a strong head to bear that diet4 ,one must be an inventor to read well4 ,as the proverb says1 ,he that would bring home the wealth of the ,indies must carry out the wealth of the ,indies4 ,there is then creative reading as well as creative writing4 ,when the mind is braced by labor and invention1 the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion4 ,every sentence is doubly significant1 and the sense of our author is as broad as the world4 ,we then see1 what is always true1 that as the seer's hour of vision is short and rare among heavy days and months1 so is its record1 perchance1 the least part of his volume4 ,the discerning will read1 in his ,plato#cf or ,shakespeare1 only that least part1--only the authentic utterances of the oracle2--all the rest he rejects1 were it never so many times ,plato's and ,shakespeare's4 ,of course there is a portion of reading quite indispensable to a wise man4 ,history and exact science he must learn by laborious reading4 ,colleges1 in like manner1 have their indispensable office1--to teach elements4 ,but they can only highly serve us when they aim not to drill1 but to create2 when they gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls1 and by the concentrated fires set the hearts of their youth on flame4 ,thought and knowledge are natures in which apparatus and pretension avail nothing4 ,gowns#cg and pecuniary foundations1#ch though of towns of gold1 can never countervail the least sentence or syllable of wit4#ci ,forget this1 and our ,american colleges will recede in their public importance1 whilst they grow richer every year4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,iii4 ,there goes in the world a notion that the scholar should be a recluse1 a valetudinarian1#dj--;as unfit for any handiwork or public labor as a penknife for an axe4 ,the so-called practical men sneer at speculative men1 as if1 because they speculate or see1 they could do nothing4 ,i have heard it said that the clergy--who are always1 more universally than any other class1 the scholars of their day--are addressed as women2 that the rough1 spontaneous conversation of men they do not hear1 but only a mincing#da and diluted speech4 ,they are often virtually disfranchised2 and indeed there are advocates for their celibacy4 ,as far as this is true of the studious classes1 it is not just and wise4 ,action is with the scholar subordinate1 but it is essential4 ,without it he is not yet man4 ,without it thought can never ripen into truth4 ,whilst the world hangs before the eye as a cloud of beauty1 we cannot even see its beauty4 ,inaction is cowardice1 but there can be no scholar without the heroic mind4 ,the preamble#db of thought1 the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious1 is action4 ,only so much do ,i know1 as ,i have lived4 ,instantly we know whose words are loaded with life1 and whose not4 ,the world--this shadow of the soul1 or other me1 lies wide around4 ,its attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself4 ,i launch eagerly into this resounding tumult4 ,i grasp the hands of those next me1 and take my place in the ring to suffer and to work1 taught by an instinct that so shall the dumb abyss#dc be vocal with speech4 ,i pierce its order2 ,i dissipate its fear2#dd ,i dispose of it within the circuit of my expanding life4 ,so much only of life as ,i know by experience1 so much of the wilderness have ,i vanquished and planted1 or so far have ,i extended my being1 my dominion4 ,i do not see how any man can afford1 for the sake of his nerves and his nap1 to spare any action in which he can partake4 ,it is pearls and rubies to his discourse4 ,drudgery1 calamity1 exasperation1 want1 are instructors in eloquence and wisdom4 ,the true scholar grudges every opportunity of action passed by1 as a loss of power4 ,it is the raw material out of which the intellect molds her splendid products4 ,a strange process too1 this by which experience is converted into thought1 as a mulberry-leaf is converted into satin4#de ,the manufacture goes forward at all hours4 ,the actions and events of our childhood and youth are now matters of calmest observation4 ,they lie like fair pictures in the air4 ,not so with our recent actions1--with the business which we now have in hand4 ,on this we are quite unable to speculate4 ,our affections as yet circulate through it4 ,we no more feel or know it than we feel the feet1 or the hand1 or the brain of our body4 ,the new deed is yet a part of life1--remains for a time immersed in our unconscious life4 ,in some contemplative hour it detaches itself from the life like a ripe fruit1#df to become a thought of the mind4 ,instantly it is raised1 transfigured2 the corruptible has put on incorruption4#dg ,henceforth it is an object of beauty1 however base its origin and neighborhood4 ,observe1 too1 the impossibility of antedating this act4 ,in its grub state it cannot fly1 it cannot shine1 it is a dull grub4 ,but suddenly1 without observation1 the selfsame thing unfurls beautiful wings1 and is an angel of wisdom4 ,so is there no fact1 no event1 in our private history1 which shall not1 sooner or later1 lose its adhesive1 inert form1 and astonish us by soaring from our body into the empyrean4#dh ,cradle and infancy1 school and playground1 the fear of boys1 and dogs1 and ferules1#di the love of little maids and berries1 and many another fact that once filled the whole sky1 are gone already2 friend and relative1 profession and party1 town and country1 nation and world1 must also soar and sing4#ej ,of course1 he who has put forth his total strength in fit actions has the richest return of wisdom4 ,i will not shut myself out of this globe of action1 and transplant an oak into a flower-pot1 there to hunger and pine2 nor trust the revenue of some single faculty1 and exhaust one vein of thought1 much like those ,savoyards1#ea who1 getting their livelihood by carving shepherds1 shepherdesses1 and smoking ,dutchmen1 for all ,europe1 went out one day to the mountain to find stock1 and discovered that they had whittled up the last of their pine-trees4 ,authors we have1 in numbers1 who have written out their vein1 and who1 moved by a commendable prudence1 sail for ,greece or ,palestine1 follow the trapper into the prairie1 or ramble round ,algiers1 to replenish their merchantable stock4 ,if it were only for a vocabulary1 the scholar would be covetous of action4 ,life is our dictionary4#eb ,years are well spent in country labors2 in town2 in the insight into trades and manufactures2 in frank intercourse with many men and women2 in science2 in art2 to the one end of mastering in all their facts a language by which to illustrate and embody our perceptions4 ,i learn immediately from any speaker how much he has already lived1 through the poverty or the splendor of his speech4 ,life lies behind us as the quarry from whence we get tiles and copestones for the masonry of to-day4 ,this is the way to learn grammar4 ,colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made4 ,but the final value of action1 like that of books1 and better than books1 is that it is a resource4 ,that great principle of ,undulation in nature1 that shows itself in the inspiring and expiring of the breath2 in desire and satiety2 in the ebb and flow of the sea2 in day and night2 in heat and cold2 and1 as yet more deeply ingrained in every atom and every fluid1 is known to us under the name of ,polarity1--these fits of easy transmission and reflection1 as ,newton#ec called them1 are the law of nature because they are the law of spirit4 ,the mind now thinks1 now acts1 and each fit reproduces the other4 ,when the artist has exhausted his materials1 when the fancy no longer paints1 when thoughts are no longer apprehended and books are a weariness1--he has always the resource to live4 ,character is higher than intellect4 ,thinking is the function4 ,living is the functionary4 ,the stream retreats to its source4 ,a great soul will be strong to live1 as well as strong to think4 ,does he lack organ or medium to impart his truth8 ,he can still fall back on this elemental force of living them4 ,this is a total act4 ,thinking is a partial act4 ,let the grandeur of justice shine in his affairs4 ,let the beauty of affection cheer his lowly roof4 ,those far from fame1 who dwell and act with him1 will feel the force of his constitution in the doings and passages of the day better than it can be measured by any public and designed display4 ,time shall teach him that the scholar loses no hour which the man lives4 ,herein he unfolds the sacred germ of his instinct1 screened from influence4 ,what is lost in seemliness is gained in strength4 ,not out of those on whom systems of education have exhausted their culture comes the helpful giant to destroy the old or to build the new1 but out of unhandselled#ed savage nature2 out of terrible ,druids#ee and ,berserkers#ef come at last ,alfred#eg and ,shakespeare4 ,i hear therefore with joy whatever is beginning to be said of the dignity and necessity of labor to every citizen4 ,there is virtue yet in the hoe and the spade1#eh for learned as well as for unlearned hands4 ,and labor is everywhere welcome2 always we are invited to work2 only be this limitation observed1 that a man shall not for the sake of wider activity sacrifice any opinion to the popular judgments and modes of action4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have now spoken of the education of the scholar by nature1 by books1 and by action4 ,it remains to say somewhat of his duties4 ,they are such as become ,man ,thinking4 ,they may all be comprised in self-trust4 ,the office of the scholar is to cheer1 to raise1 and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances4 ,he plies the slow1 unhonored1 and unpaid task of observation4 ,flamsteed#ei and ,herschel1#fj in their glazed observatories1 may catalogue the stars with the praise of all men1 and1 the results being splendid and useful1 honor is sure4 ,but he1 in his private observatory1 cataloguing obscure and nebulous#fa stars of the human mind1 which as yet no man has thought of as such1--watching days and months sometimes for a few facts2 correcting still his old records1--must relinquish display and immediate fame4 ,in the long period of his preparation he must betray often an ignorance and shiftlessness in popular arts1 incurring the disdain of the able who shoulder him aside4 ,long he must stammer in his speech2 often forego the living for the dead4 ,worse yet1 he must accept--how often6--poverty and solitude4 ,for the ease and pleasure of treading the old road1 accepting the fashions1 the education1 the religion of society1 he takes the cross of making his own1 and1 of course1 the self-accusation1 the faint heart1 the frequent uncertainty and loss of time1 which are the nettles and tangling vines in the way of the self-relying and self-directed2 and the state of virtual hostility in which he seems to stand to society1 and especially to educated society4 ,for all this loss and scorn1 what offset8 ,he is to find consolation in exercising the highest functions of human nature4 ,he is one who raises himself from private considerations and breathes and lives on public and illustrious thoughts4 ,he is the world's eye4 ,he is the world's heart4 ,he is to resist the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism1 by preserving and communicating heroic sentiments1 noble biographies1 melodious verse1 and the conclusions of history4 ,whatsoever oracles the human heart1 in all emergencies1 in all solemn hours1 has uttered as its commentary on the world of actions1--these he shall receive and impart4 ,and whatsoever new verdict ,reason from her inviolable seat pronounces on the passing men and events of to-day1--this he shall hear and promulgate4 ,these being his functions1 it becomes him to feel all confidence in himself1 and to defer never to the popular cry4 ,he and he only knows the world4 ,the world of any moment is the merest appearance4 ,some great decorum1 some fetich#fb of a government1 some ephemeral trade1 or war1 or man1 is cried up#fc by half mankind and cried down by the other half1 as if all depended on this particular up or down4 ,the odds are that the whole question is not worth the poorest thought which the scholar has lost in listening to the controversy4 ,let him not quit his belief that a popgun is a popgun1 though the ancient and honorable#fd of the earth affirm it to be the crack of doom4 ,in silence1 in steadiness1 in severe abstraction1 let him hold by himself2 add observation to observation1 patient of neglect1 patient of reproach1 and bide his own time1--happy enough if he can satisfy himself alone that this day he has seen something truly4 ,success treads on every right step4 ,for the instinct is sure that prompts him to tell his brother what he thinks4 ,he then learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind he has descended into the secrets of all minds4 ,he learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts is master to that extent of all men whose language he speaks1 and of all into whose language his own can be translated4 ,the poet1 in utter solitude remembering his spontaneous thoughts and recording them1 is found to have recorded that which men in cities vast find true for them also4 ,the orator distrusts at first the fitness of his frank confessions1 his want of knowledge of the persons he addresses1 until he finds that he is the complement#fe of his hearers2--that they drink his words because he fulfills for them their own nature2 the deeper he dives into his privatest1 secretest presentiment1 to his wonder he finds this is the most acceptable1 most public and universally true4 ,the people delight in it2 the better part of every man feels--,this is my music2 this is myself4 ,in self-trust all the virtues are comprehended4 ,free should the scholar be1--free and brave4 ,free even to the definition of freedom1 without any hindrance that does not arise out of his own constitution4 ,brave2 for fear is a thing which a scholar by his very function puts behind him4 ,fear always springs from ignorance4 ,it is a shame to him if his tranquility1 amid dangerous times1 arise from the presumption that like children and women his is a protected class2 or if he seek a temporary peace by the diversion of his thoughts from politics or vexed questions1 hiding his head like an ostrich in the flowering bushes1 peeping into microscopes1 and turning rhymes1 as a boy whistles to keep his courage up4 ,so is the danger a danger still2 so is the fear worse4 ,manlike let him turn and face it4 ,let him look into its eye and search its nature1 inspect its origin1--see the whelping of this lion1--which lies no great way back2 he will then find in himself a perfect comprehension of its nature and extent2 he will have made his hands meet on the other side1 and can henceforth defy it and pass on superior4 ,the world is his who can see through its pretension4 ,what deafness1 what stone-blind custom1 what overgrown error you behold is there only by sufferance1--by your sufferance4 ,see it to be a lie1 and you have already dealt it its mortal blow4 ,yes1 we are the cowed1--we the trustless4 ,it is a mischievous notion that we are come late into nature2 that the world was finished a long time ago4 ,as the world was plastic and fluid in the hands of ,god1 so it is ever to so much of his attributes as we bring to it4 ,to ignorance and sin it is flint4 ,they adapt themselves to it as they may2 but in proportion as a man has any thing in him divine1 the firmament flows before him and takes his signet#ff and form4 ,not he is great who can alter matter1 but he who can alter my state of mind4 ,they are the kings of the world who give the color of their present thought to all nature and all art1 and persuade men1 by the cheerful serenity of their carrying the matter1 that this thing which they do is the apple which the ages have desired to pluck1 now at last ripe1 and inviting nations to the harvest4 ,the great man makes the great thing4 ,wherever ,macdonald#fg sits1 there is the head of the table4 ,linnus#fh makes botany the most alluring of studies1 and wins it from the farmer and the herb-woman3 ,davy1#fi chemistry2 and ,cuvier1#gj fossils4 ,the day is always his who works in it with serenity and great aims4 ,the unstable estimates of men crowd to him whose mind is filled with a truth1 as the heaped waves of the ,atlantic follow the moon4#ga ,for this self-trust1 the reason is deeper than can be fathomed1--darker than can be enlightened4 ,i might not carry with me the feeling of my audience in stating my own belief4 ,but ,i have already shown the ground of my hope1 in adverting to the doctrine that man is one4 ,i believe man has been wronged2 he has wronged himself4 ,he has almost lost the light that can lead him back to his prerogatives4 ,men are become of no account4 ,men in history1 men in the world of to-day1 are bugs1 are spawn1 and are called the mass and the herd4 ,in a century1 in a millennium1 one or two men2#gb that is to say1 one or two approximations to the right state of every man4 ,all the rest behold in the hero or the poet their own green and crude being1--ripened2 yes1 and are content to be less1 so that may attain to its full stature4 ,what a testimony1 full of grandeur1 full of pity1 is borne to the demands of his own nature1 by the poor clansman1 the poor partisan1 who rejoices in the glory of his chief6 ,the poor and the low find some amends to their immense moral capacity1 for their acquiescence in a political and social inferiority4#gc ,they are content to be brushed like flies from the path of a great person1 so that justice shall be done by him to that common nature which it is the dearest desire of all to see enlarged and glorified4 ,they sun themselves in the great man's light1 and feel it to be their own element4 ,they cast the dignity of man from their downtrod selves upon the shoulders of a hero1 and will perish to add one drop of blood to make that great heart beat1 those giant sinews combat and conquer4 ,he lives for us1 and we live in him4 ,men such as they#gd are very naturally seek money or power2 and power because it is as good as money1--the spoils1 so called1 of office4 ,and why not8 ,for they aspire to the highest1 and this1 in their sleep-walking1 they dream is highest4 ,wake them and they shall quit the false good and leap to the true1 and leave governments to clerks and desks4 ,this revolution is to be wrought by the gradual domestication of the idea of ,culture4 ,the main enterprise of the world for splendor1 for extent1 is the upbuilding of a man4 ,here are the materials strewn along the ground4 ,the private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy1 more formidable to its enemy1 more sweet and serene in its influence to its friend1 than any kingdom in history4 ,for a man1 rightly viewed1 comprehendeth#ge the particular natures of all men4 ,each philosopher1 each bard1 each actor has only done for me1 as by a delegate1 what one day ,i can do for myself4 ,the books which once we valued more than the apple of the eye1 we have quite exhausted4 ,what is that but saying that we have come up with the point of view which the universal mind took through the eyes of one scribe2 we have been that man1 and have passed on4 ,first1 one1 then another1 we drain all cisterns1 and waxing greater by all these supplies1 we crave a better and a more abundant food4 ,the man has never lived that can feed us ever4 ,the human mind cannot be enshrined in a person who shall set a barrier on any one side to this unbounded1 unboundable empire4 ,it is one central fire1 which1 flaming now out of the lips of ,etna1 lightens the capes of ,sicily1 and now out of the throat of ,vesuvius1 illuminates the towers and vineyards of ,naples4 ,it is one light which beams out of a thousand stars4 ,it is one soul which animates all men4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but ,i have dwelt perhaps tediously upon this abstraction of the ,scholar4 ,i ought not to delay longer to add what ,i have to say of nearer reference to the time and to this country4 ,historically1 there is thought to be a difference in the ideas which predominate over successive epochs1 and there are data for marking the genius of the ,classic1 of the ,romantic1 and now of the ,reflective or ,philosophical age4#gf ,with the views ,i have intimated of the oneness or the identity of the mind through all individuals1 ,i do not much dwell on these differences4 ,in fact1 ,i believe each individual passes through all three4 ,the boy is a ,greek2 the youth1 romantic2 the adult1 reflective4 ,i deny not1 however1 that a revolution in the leading idea may be distinctly enough traced4 ,our age is bewailed as the age of ,introversion4#gg ,must that needs be evil8 ,we1 it seems1 are critical4 ,we are embarrassed with second thoughts4#gh ,we cannot enjoy anything for hankering to know whereof the pleasure consists4 ,we are lined with eyes4 ,we see with our feet4 ,the time is infected with ,hamlet's unhappiness1-- ,sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought4#gi ,is it so bad then8 ,sight is the last thing to be pitied4 ,would we be blind8 ,do we fear lest we should outsee nature and ,god1 and drink truth dry8 ,i look upon the discontent of the literary class as a mere announcement of the fact that they find themselves not in the state of mind of their fathers1 and regret the coming state as untried2 as a boy dreads the water before he has learned that he can swim4 ,if there is any period one would desire to be born in1 is it not the age of ,revolution2 when the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared2 when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope2 when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era8 ,this time1 like all times1 is a very good one1 if we but know what to do with it4 ,i read with some joy of the auspicious signs of the coming days1 as they glimmer already through poetry and art1 through philosophy and science1 through church and state4 ,one of these signs is the fact that the same movement#hj which effected the elevation of what was called the lowest class in the state assumed in literature a very marked and as benign an aspect4 ,instead of the sublime and beautiful1 the near1 the low1 the common1 was explored and poetized4 ,that which had been negligently trodden under foot by those who were harnessing and provisioning themselves for long journeys into far countries1 is suddenly found to be richer than all foreign parts4 ,the literature of the poor1 the feelings of the child1 the philosophy of the street1 the meaning of household life1 are the topics of the time4 ,it is a great stride4 ,it is a sign--is it not8--of new vigor when the extremities are made active1 when currents of warm life run into the hands and the feet4 ,i ask not for the great1 the remote1 the romantic2 what is doing in ,italy or ,arabia2 what is ,greek art1 or ,provenal minstrelsy2 ,i embrace the common1 ,i explore and sit at the feet of the familiar1 the low4 ,give me insight into to-day1 and you may have the antique and future worlds4 ,what would we really know the meaning of8 ,the meal in the firkin2 the milk in the pan2 the ballad in the street2 the news of the boat2 the glance of the eye2 the form and the gait of the body2--show me the ultimate reason of these matters2 show me the sublime presence of the highest spiritual cause lurking1 as always it does lurk1 in these suburbs and extremities of nature2 let me see every trifle bristling with the polarity that ranges it instantly on an eternal law2#ha and the shop1 the plow1 and the ledger referred to the like cause by which light undulates and poets sing2--and the world lies no longer a dull miscellany and lumber-room1 but has form and order3 there is no trifle1 there is no puzzle1 but one design unites and animates the farthest pinnacle and the lowest trench4 ,this idea has inspired the genius of ,goldsmith1#hb ,burns1#hc ,cowper1#hd and1 in a newer time1 of ,goethe1#he ,wordsworth1#hf and ,carlyle4#hg ,this idea they have differently followed and with various success4 ,in contrast with their writing1 the style of ,pope1#hh of ,johnson1#hi of ,gibbon1#ij looks cold and pedantic4 ,this writing is blood-warm4 ,man is surprised to find that things near are not less beautiful and wondrous than things remote4 ,the near explains the far4 ,the drop is a small ocean4 ,a man is related to all nature4 ,this perception of the worth of the vulgar is fruitful in discoveries4 ,goethe1 in this very thing the most modern of the moderns1 has shown us1 as none ever did1 the genius of the ancients4 ,there is one man of genius who has done much for this philosophy of life1 whose literary value has never yet been rightly estimated3--,i mean ,emanuel ,swedenborg4#ia ,the most imaginative of men1 yet writing with the precision of a mathematician1 he endeavored to engraft a purely philosophical ,ethics on the popular ,christianity of his time4 ,such an attempt of course must have difficulty which no genius could surmount4 ,but he saw and showed the connexion between nature and the affections of the soul4 ,he pierced the emblematic or spiritual character of the visible1 audible1 tangible world4 ,especially did his shade-loving muse hover over and interpret the lower parts of nature2 he showed the mysterious bond that allies moral evil to the foul material forms1 and has given in epical parables a theory of insanity1 of beasts1 of unclean and fearful things4 ,another sign of our times1 also marked by an analogous political movement1 is the new importance given to the single person4 ,everything that tends to insulate the individual--to surround him with barriers of natural respect1 so that each man shall feel the world is his1 and man shall treat with man as a sovereign state with a sovereign state--tends to true union as well as greatness4 ,i learned1 said the melancholy ,pestalozzi1#ib that no man in ,god's wide earth is either willing or able to help any other man4 ,help must come from the bosom alone4 ,the scholar is that man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time1 all the contributions of the past1 all the hopes of the future4 ,he must be an university of knowledges4 ,if there be one lesson more than another that should pierce his ear1 it is--,the world is nothing1 the man is all2 in yourself is the law of all nature1 and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends2 in yourself slumbers the whole of ,reason2 it is for you to know all2 it is for you to dare all4 ,mr4 ,president and ,gentlemen1 this confidence in the unsearched might of man belongs1 by all motives1 by all prophecy1 by all preparation1 to the ,american ,scholar4 ,we have listened too long to the courtly muses of ,europe4 ,the spirit of the ,american freeman is already suspected to be timid1 imitative1 tame4 ,public and private avarice make the air we breathe thick and fat4 ,the scholar is decent1 indolent1 complaisant4 ,see already the tragic consequence4 ,the mind of this country1 taught to aim at low objects1 eats upon itself4 ,there is no work for any one but the decorous and the complaisant4 ,young men of the fairest promise1 who begin life upon our shores1 inflated by the mountain winds1 shined upon by all the stars of ,god1 find the earth below not in unison with these1 but are hindered from action by the disgust which the principles on which business is managed inspire1 and turn drudges1 or die of disgust1 some of them suicides4 ,what is the remedy8 ,they did not yet see1 and thousands of young men as hopeful now crowding to the barriers for the career do not yet see1 that if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts1 and there abide1 the huge world will come round to him4 ,patience1--patience2 with the shades of all the good and great for company2 and for solace the perspective of your own infinite life2 and for work the study and the communication of principles1 the making those instincts prevalent1 the conversion of the world4 ,is it not the chief disgrace in the world1 not to be an unit2 not to be reckoned one character2 not to yield that peculiar fruit which each man was created to bear1 but to be reckoned in the gross1 in the hundred1 or the thousand1 of the party1 the section1 to which we belong2 and our opinion predicted geographically1 as the north1 or the south8 ,not so1 brothers and friends1--please ,god1 ours shall not be so4 ,we will walk on our own feet2 we will work with our own hands2 we will speak our own minds4 ,then shall man be no longer a name for pity1 for doubt1 and for sensual indulgence4 ,the dread of man and the love of man shall be a wall of defense and a wreath of joy around all4 ,a nation of men will for the first time exist1 because each believes himself inspired by the ,divine ,soul which also inspires all men4 ,,compensation4#ic ,the wings of ,time are black and white1 ,pied with morning and with night4 ,mountain tall and ocean deep ,trembling balance duly keep4 ,in changing moon1 in tidal wave1 ,glows the feud of ,want and ,have4 ,gauge of more and less through space ,electric star and pencil plays4 ,the lonely ,earth amid the balls ,that hurry through the eternal halls1 ,a makeweight flying to the void1 ,supplemental asteroid1 ,or compensatory spark1 ,shoots across the neutral ,dark4 ,man's the elm1 and ,wealth the vine1 ,stanch and strong the tendrils twine2 ,through the frail ringlets thee deceive1 ,none from its stock that vine can reave4 ,fear not1 then1 thou child infirm1 ,there's no god dare wrong a worm4 ,laurel crowns cleave to deserts1 ,and power to him who power exerts2 ,hast not thy share8 ,on winged feet1 ,lo6 it rushes thee to meet2 ,and all that ,nature made thy own1 ,floating in air or pent in stone1 ,will rive the hills and swim the sea1 ,and1 like thy shadow1 follow thee4 ,ever since ,i was a boy1 ,i have wished to write a discourse on ,compensation3 for it seemed to me when very young1 that on this subject life was ahead of theology1 and the people knew more than the preachers taught4 ,the documents1#id too1 from which the doctrine is to be drawn1 charmed my fancy by their endless variety1 and lay always before me1 even in sleep2 for they are the tools in our hands1 the bread in our basket1 the transactions of the street1 the farm1 and the dwelling-house1 greetings1 relations1 debts and credits1 the influence of character1 the nature and endowment of all men4 ,it seemed to me1 also1 that in it might be shown men a ray of divinity1 the present action of the soul of this world1 clean from all vestige of tradition1 and so the heart of man might be bathed by an inundation of eternal love1 conversing with that which he knows was always and always must be1 because it really is now4 ,it appeared1 moreover1 that if this doctrine could be stated in terms with any resemblance to those bright intuitions in which this truth is sometimes revealed to us1 it would be a star in many dark hours and crooked passages in our journey that would not suffer us to lose our way4 ,i was lately confirmed in these desires by hearing a sermon at church4 ,the preacher1 a man esteemed for his orthodoxy1 unfolded in the ordinary manner the doctrine of the ,last ,judgment4 ,he assumed that judgment is not executed in this world2 that the wicked are successful2 that the good are miserable2#ie and then urged from reason and from ,scripture a compensation to be made to both parties in the next life4 ,no offense appeared to be taken by the congregation at this doctrine4 ,as far as ,i could observe1 when the meeting broke up1 they separated without remark on the sermon4 ,yet what was the import of this teaching8 ,what did the preacher mean by saying that the good are miserable in the present life8 ,was it that houses and lands1 offices1 wine1 horses1 dress1 luxury1 are had by unprincipled men1 whilst the saints are poor and despised2 and that a compensation is to be made to these last hereafter1 by giving them the like gratifications another day1--bank stock and doubloons1#if venison and champagne8 ,this must be the compensation intended2 for what else8 ,is it that they are to have leave to pray and praise8 to love and serve men8 ,why1 that they can do now4 ,the legitimate inference the disciple would draw was3 ,we are to have such a good time as the sinners have now2 or1 to push it to its extreme import3 ,you sin now2 we shall sin by and by2 we would sin now1 if we could2 not being successful1 we expect our revenue to-morrow4 ,the fallacy lay in the immense concession that the bad are successful2 that justice is not done now4 ,the blindness of the preacher consisted in deferring to the base estimate of the market of what constitutes a manly success1 instead of confronting and convicting the world from the truth2 announcing the presence of the soul2 the omnipotence of the will3 and so establishing the standard of good and ill1 of success and falsehood4 ,i find a similar base tone in the popular religious works of the day1 and the same doctrines assumed by the literary men when occasionally they treat the related topics4 ,i think that our popular theology has gained in decorum1 and not in principle1 over the superstitions it has displaced4 ,but men are better than this theology4 ,their daily life gives it the lie4 ,every ingenuous and aspiring soul leaves the doctrine behind him in his own experience2 and all men feel sometimes the falsehood which they cannot demonstrate4 ,for men are wiser than they know4 ,that which they hear in schools and pulpits without afterthought1 if said in conversation1 would probably be questioned in silence4 ,if a man dogmatize in a mixed company on ,providence and the divine laws1 he is answered by a silence which conveys well enough to an observer the dissatisfaction of the hearer1 but his incapacity to make his own statement4 ,i shall attempt in this and the following chapter to record some facts that indicate the path of the law of ,compensation2 happy beyond my expectation1 if ,i shall truly draw the smallest arc of this circle4 ,,polarity1#ig or action and reaction1 we meet in every part of nature2 in darkness and light2 in heat and cold2 in the ebb and flow of waters2 in male and female2 in the inspiration and expiration of plants and animals2 in the equation of quantity and quality in the fluids of the animal body2 in the systole and diastole#ih of the heart2 in the undulations of fluids1 and of sound2 in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity2 in electricity1 galvanism1 and chemical affinity4 ,superinduce magnetism at one end of a needle2 the opposite magnetism takes place at the other end4 ,if the south attracts1 the north repels4 ,to empty here1 you must condense there4 ,an inevitable dualism bisects nature1 so that each thing is a half1 and suggests another thing to make it whole2 as1 spirit1 matter2 man1 woman2 odd1 even2 subjective1 objective2 in1 out2 upper1 under2 motion1 rest2 yea1 nay4 ,whilst the world is thus dual1 so is every one of its parts4 ,the entire system of things gets represented in every particle4 ,there is somewhat that resembles the ebb and flow of the sea1 day and night1 man and woman1 in a single needle of the pine1 in a kernel of corn1 in each individual of every animal tribe4 ,the reaction1 so grand in the elements1 is repeated within these small boundaries4 ,for example1 in the animal kingdom the physiologist has observed that no creatures are favorites1 but a certain compensation balances every gift and every defect4 ,a surplusage given to one part is paid out of a reduction from another part of the same creature4 ,if the head and neck are enlarged1 the trunk and extremities are cut short4 ,the theory of the mechanic forces is another example4 ,what we gain in power is lost in time2 and the converse4 ,the periodic or compensating errors of the planets is another instance4 ,the influences of climate and soil in political history is another4 ,the cold climate invigorates4 ,the barren soil does not breed fevers1 crocodiles1 tigers1 or scorpions4 ,the same dualism underlies the nature and condition of man4 ,every excess causes a defect2 every defect an excess4 ,every sweet hath its sour2 every evil its good4 ,every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse4 ,it is to answer for its moderation with its life4 ,for every grain of wit there is a grain of folly4 ,for everything you have missed1 you have gained something else2 and for everything you gain1 you lose something4 ,if riches increase1 they are increased#ii that use them4 ,if the gatherer gathers too much1 nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest1 swells the estate1 but kills the owner4 ,nature hates monopolies and exceptions4 ,the waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing1 than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves4 ,there is always some leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing1 the strong1 the rich1 the fortunate1 substantially on the same ground with all others4 ,is a man too strong and fierce for society1 and by temper and position a bad citizen1--a morose ruffian1 with a dash of the pirate in him2--nature sends him a troop of pretty sons and daughters1 who are getting along in the dame's classes at the village school1 and love and fear for them smooths his grim scowl to courtesy4 ,thus she contrives to intenerate#ajj the granite and felspar1 takes the boar out and puts the lamb in1 and keeps her balance true4 ,the farmer imagines power and place are fine things4 ,but the ,president has paid dear for his ,white ,house4#aja ,it has commonly cost him all his peace1 and the best of his many attributes4 ,to preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before the world1 he is content to eat dust#ajb before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne4 ,or1 do men desire the more substantial and permanent grandeur of genius8 ,neither has this an immunity4 ,he who by force of will or of thought1 is great1 and overlooks#ajc thousands1 has the charges of that eminence4 ,with every influx of light comes new danger4 ,has he light8 he must bear witness to the light1 and always outrun that sympathy which gives him such keen satisfaction1 by his fidelity to new revelations of the incessant soul4 ,he must hate father and mother1 wife and child4 ,has he all that the world loves and admires and covets8--he must cast behind him their admiration1 and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth1 and become a by-word and a hissing4 ,this law writes the laws of cities and nations4 ,it is in vain to build or plot or combine against it4 ,things refuse to be mismanaged long4 ,res nolunt diu male administrari4#ajd ,though no checks to a new evil appear1 the checks exist1 and will appear4 ,if the government is cruel1 the governor's life is not safe4 ,if you tax too high1 the revenue will yield nothing4 ,if you make the criminal code sanguinary1 juries will not convict4 ,if the law is too mild1 private vengeance comes in4 ,if the government is a terrific democracy1 the pressure is resisted by an overcharge of energy in the citizen1 and life glows with a fiercer flame4 ,the true life and satisfactions of man seem to elude the utmost rigors or felicities of condition1 and to establish themselves with great indifferency under all varieties of circumstances4 ,under all governments the influence of character remains the same1--in ,turkey and in ,new ,england about alike4 ,under the primeval despots of ,egypt1 history honestly confesses that man must have been as free as culture could make him4 ,these appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles4 ,everything in nature contains all the powers of nature4 ,everything is made of one hidden stuff2 as the naturalist sees one type under every metamorphosis1 and regards a horse as a running man1 a fish as a swimming man1 a bird as a flying man1 a tree as a rooted man4 ,each new form repeats not only the main character of the type1 but part for part all the details1 all the aims1 furtherances1 hindrances1 energies1 and whole system of every other4 ,every occupation1 trade1 art1 transaction1 is a compend of the world and a correlative of every other4 ,each one is an entire emblem of human life2 of its good and ill1 its trials1 its enemies1 its course and its end4 ,and each one must somehow accommodate the whole man1 and recite all his destiny4 ,the world globes itself in a drop of dew4#aje ,the microscope cannot find the animalcule which is less perfect for being little4#ajf ,eyes1 ears1 taste1 smell1 motion1 resistance1 appetite1 and organs of reproduction that take hold on eternity1--all find room to consist in the small creature4 ,so do we put our life into every act4 ,the true doctrine of omnipresence is1 that ,god reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb4#ajg ,the value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point4 ,if the good is there1 so is the evil2 if the affinity1 so the repulsion2 if the force1 so the limitation4 ,thus is the universe alive4 ,all things are moral4 ,that soul1 which within us is a sentiment1 outside of us is a law4 ,we feel its inspiration2 out there in history we can see its fatal strength4 ,it is in the world1 and the world was made by it4 ,justice is not postponed4 ,a perfect equity adjusts its balance in all parts of life4 ,greek3 ,hoi kyboi ,dios aei eupiptousi1#ajh--the dice of ,god are always loaded4 ,the world looks like a multiplication table1 or a mathematical equation1 which1 turn it how you will1 balances itself4 ,take what figure you will1 its exact value1 nor more nor less1 still returns to you4 ,every secret is told1 every crime is punished1 every virtue rewarded1 every wrong redressed1 in silence and certainty4 ,what we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears4 ,if you see smoke1 there must be fire4 ,if you see a hand or limb1 you know that the trunk to which it belongs is there behind4 ,every act rewards itself1 or1 in other words1 integrates itself1 in a twofold manner2 first1 in the thing1 or in real nature2 and secondly1 in the circumstance1 or in apparent nature4 ,men call the circumstance the retribution4 ,the causal retribution is in the thing1 and is seen by the soul4 ,the retribution in the circumstance is seen by the understanding2 it is inseparable from the thing1 but is often spread over a long time1 and so does not become distinct until after many years4 ,the specific stripes may follow late after the offense1 but they follow because they accompany it4 ,crime and punishment grow out of one stem4 ,punishment is a fruit that unsuspected ripens within the flower of the pleasure which concealed it4 ,cause and effect1 means and ends1 seed and fruit1 cannot be severed2 for the effect already blooms in the cause1 the end prexists in the means1 the fruit in the seed4 ,whilst thus the world will be whole1 and refuses to be disparted1 we seek to act partially1 to sunder1 to appropriate2 for example1--to gratify the senses1 we sever the pleasure of the senses from the needs of the character4 ,the ingenuity of man has always been dedicated to the solution of one problem1--how to detach the sensual sweet1 the sensual strong1 the sensual bright1 etc41 from the moral sweet1 the moral deep1 the moral fair2 that is1 again1 to contrive to cut clean off this upper surface so thin as to leave it bottomless2 to get a one end1 without an other end4 ,the soul says1 ,eat2 the body would feast4 ,the soul says1 ,the man and woman shall be one flesh and one soul2 the body would join the flesh only4 ,the soul says1 ,have dominion over all things to the ends of virtue2 the body would have the power over things to its own ends4 ,the soul strives amain#aji to live and work through all things4 ,it would be the only fact4 ,all things shall be added unto it1--power1 pleasure1 knowledge1 beauty4 ,the particular man aims to be somebody2 to set up for himself2 to truck and higgle for a private good2 and1 in particulars1 to ride1 that he may ride2 to dress1 that he may be dressed2 to eat1 that he may eat2 and to govern1 that he may be seen4 ,men seek to be great2 they would have offices1 wealth1 power1 and fame4 ,they think that to be great is to possess one side of nature1--the sweet1 without the other side1--the bitter4 ,this dividing and detaching is steadily counteracted4 ,up to this day1 it must be owned1 no projector has had the smallest success4 ,the parted water reunites behind our hand4 ,pleasure is taken out of pleasant things1 profit out of profitable things1 power out of strong things1 as soon as we seek to separate them from the whole4 ,we can no more have things and get the sensual good1 by itself1 than we can get an inside that shall have no outside1 or a light without a shadow4 ,drive out nature with a fork1 she comes running back4#aaj ,life invests itself with inevitable conditions1 which the unwise seek to dodge1 which one and another brags that he does not know2 that they do not touch him2--but the brag is on his lips1 the conditions are in his soul4 ,if he escapes them in one part1 they attack him in another more vital part4 ,if he has escaped them in form1 and in the appearance1 it is because he has resisted his life1 and fled from himself1 and the retribution is so much death4 ,so signal is the failure of all attempts to make this separation of the good from the tax1 that the experiment would not be tried1--since to try it is to be mad1--but for the circumstance1 that when the disease began in the will1 of rebellion and separation1 the intellect is at once infected1 so that the man ceases to see ,god whole in each object1 but is able to see the sensual allurement of an object1 and not see the sensual hurt2 he sees the mermaid's head1 but not the dragon's tail2 and thinks he can cut off that which he would have1 from that which he would not have4 ,how secret art thou who dwellest in the highest heavens in silence1 ,o thou only great ,god1 sprinkling with an unwearied ,providence certain penal blindnesses upon such as have unbridled desires6#aaa ,the human soul is true to these facts in the painting of fable1 of history1 of law1 of proverbs1 of conversation4 ,it finds a tongue in literature unawares4 ,thus the ,greeks called ,jupiter1#aab ,supreme ,mind2 but having traditionally ascribed to him many base actions1 they involuntarily made amends to reason1 by tying up the hands#aac of so bad a god4 ,he is made as helpless as a king of ,england4#aad ,prometheus#aae knows one secret which ,jove must bargain for2 ,minerva1#aaf another4 ,he cannot get his own thunders2 ,minerva keeps the key of them4 ,of all the gods1 ,i only know the keys ,that ope the solid doors within whose vaults ,his thunders sleep4 ,a plain confession of the in-working of the ,all1 and of its moral aim4 ,the ,indian mythology ends in the same ethics2 and it would seem impossible for any fable to be invented to get any currency which was not moral4 ,aurora#aag forgot to ask youth for her lover1 and though ,tithonus is immortal1 he is old1 ,achilles#aah is not quite invulnerable2 the sacred waters did not wash the heel by which ,thetis held him4 ,siegfried1#aai in the ,niebelungen1 is not quite immortal1 for a leaf fell on his back whilst he was bathing in the dragon's blood1 and that spot which it covered is mortal4 ,and so it must be4 ,there is a crack in everything ,god has made4 ,it would seem1 there is always this vindictive circumstance stealing in at unawares1 even into the wild poesy in which the human fancy attempted to make bold holiday1 and to shake itself free of the old laws1--this back-stroke1 this kick of the gun1 certifying that the law is fatal2 that in nature nothing can be given1 all things are sold4 ,this is that ancient doctrine of ,nemesis1#abj who keeps watch in the universe1 and lets no offense go unchastised4 ,the ,furies1#aba they said1 are attendants on justice1 and if the sun in heaven should transgress his path1 they would punish him4 ,the poets related that stone walls1 and iron swords1 and leathern thongs had an occult sympathy with the wrongs of their owners2 that the belt which ,ajax gave ,hector#abb dragged the ,trojan hero over the field at the wheels of the car of ,achilles1 and the sword which ,hector gave ,ajax was that on whose point ,ajax fell4 ,they recorded1 that when the ,thasians#abc erected a statue to ,theagenes1 a victor in the games1 one of his rivals went to it by night1 and endeavored to throw it down by repeated blows1 until at last he moved it from its pedestal1 and was crushed to death beneath its fall4 ,this voice of fable has in it somewhat divine4 ,it came from thought above the will of the writer4 ,that is the best part of each writer1 which has nothing private in it2#abd that which he does not know1 that which flowed out of his constitution1 and not from his too active invention2 that which in the study of a single artist you might not easily find1 but in the study of many1 you would abstract as the spirit of them all4 ,phidias it is not1 but the work of man in that early ,hellenic#abe world1 that ,i would know4 ,the name and circumstance of ,phidias1 however convenient for history1 embarrass when we come to the highest criticism4 ,we are to see that which man was tending to do in a given period1 and was hindered1 or1 if you will1 modified in doing1 by the interfering volitions of ,phidias1 of ,dante1 of ,shakespeare1 the organ whereby man at the moment wrought4 ,still more striking is the expression of this fact in the proverbs of all nations1 which are always the literature of reason1 or the statements of an absolute truth1 without qualification4 ,proverbs1 like the sacred books of each nation1 are the sanctuary of the intuitions4 ,that which the droning world1 chained to appearances1 will not allow the realist to say in his own words1 it will suffer him to say in proverbs without contradiction4 ,and this law of laws which the pulpit1 the senate1 and the college deny1 is hourly preached in all markets and workshops by flights of proverbs1 whose teaching is as true and as omnipresent as that of birds and flies4 ,all things are double1 one against another4--,tit for tat2#abf an eye for an eye2 a tooth for a tooth2 blood for blood2 measure for measure2 love for love4--,give and it shall be given you4--- ,he that watereth shall be watered himself4--,what will you have8 quoth ,god2 pay for it and take it4--,nothing venture1 nothing have4--,thou shalt be paid exactly for what thou hast done1 no more1 no less4--,who doth not work shall not eat4--,harm watch1 harm catch4--,curses always recoil on the head of him who imprecates them4--,if you put a chain around the neck of a slave1 the other end fastens itself around your own4--,bad counsel confounds the adviser4--,the ,devil is an ass4 ,it is thus written1 because it is thus in life4 ,our action is overmastered and characterized above our will by the law of nature4 ,we aim at a petty end quite aside from the public good1 but our act arranges itself by irresistible magnetism in a line with the poles of the world4 ,a man cannot speak but he judges himself4 ,with his will1 or against his will1 he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word4 ,every opinion reacts on him who utters it4 ,it is a thread-ball thrown at a mark1 but the other end remains in the thrower's bag4 ,or1 rather1 it is a harpoon hurled at the whale1 unwinding1 as it flies1 a coil of cord in the boat1 and if the harpoon is not good1 or not well thrown1 it will go nigh to cut the steersman in twain1 or to sink the boat4 ,you cannot do wrong without suffering wrong4 ,no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him1 said ,burke4#abg ,the exclusive in fashionable life does not see that he excludes himself from enjoyment in the attempt to appropriate it4 ,the exclusionist in religion does not see that he shuts the door of heaven on himself1 in striving to shut out others4 ,treat men as pawns#abh and ninepins1 and you shall suffer as well as they4 ,if you leave out their heart1 you shall lose your own4 ,the senses would make things of all persons2 of women1 of children1 of the poor4 ,the vulgar proverb1 ,i will get it from his purse or get it from his skin1 is sound philosophy4 ,all infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished4 ,they are punished by fear4 ,whilst ,i stand in simple relations to my fellow-man1 ,i have no displeasure in meeting him4 ,we meet as water meets water1 or as two currents of air mix1 with perfect diffusion and interpenetration of nature4 ,but as soon as there is any departure from simplicity1 and attempt at halfness1 or good for me that is not good for him1 my neighbor feels the wrong2 he shrinks from me as far as ,i have shrunk from him2 his eyes no longer seek mine2 there is war between us2 there is hate in him and fear in me4 ,all the old abuses in society1 universal and particular1 all unjust accumulations of property and power1 are avenged in the same manner4 ,fear is an instructor of great sagacity1 and the herald of all revolutions4 ,one thing he teaches1 that there is rottenness where he appears4 ,he is a carrion crow1 and though you see not well what he hovers for1 there is death somewhere4 ,our property is timid1 our laws are timid1 our cultivated classes are timid4 ,fear for ages has boded and mowed and gibbered over government and property4 ,that obscene#abi bird is not there for nothing4 ,he indicates great wrongs which must be revised4 ,of the like nature is that expectation of change which instantly follows the suspension of our voluntary activity4 ,the terror of cloudless noon1 the emerald of ,polycrates1#acj the awe of prosperity1 the instinct which leads every generous soul to impose on itself tasks of a noble asceticism and vicarious virtue1 are the tremblings of the balance of justice through the heart and mind of man4 ,experienced men of the world know very well that it is best to pay scot and lot#aca as they go along1 and that a man often pays dear for a small frugality4 ,the borrower runs in his own debt4 ,has a man gained anything who has received a hundred favors and rendered none8 ,has he gained by borrowing1 through indolence or cunning1 his neighbor's wares1 or horses1 or money8 ,there arises on the deed the instant acknowledgment of benefit on the one part1 and of debt on the other2 that is1 of superiority and inferiority4 ,the transaction remains in the memory of himself and his neighbor2 and every new transaction alters1 according to its nature1 their relation to each other4 ,he may soon come to see that he had better have broken his own bones than to have ridden in his neighbor's coach1 and that the highest price he can pay for a thing is to ask for it4 ,a wise man will extend this lesson to all parts of life1 and know that it is the part of prudence to face every claimant1 and pay every just demand on your time1 your talents1 or your heart4 ,always pay2 for1 first or last1 you must pay your entire debt4 ,persons and events may stand for a time between you and justice1 but it is only a postponement4 ,you must pay at last your own debt4 ,if you are wise1 you will dread a prosperity which only loads you with more4 ,benefit is the end of nature4 ,but for every benefit which you receive1 a tax is levied4 ,he is great who confers the most benefits4 ,he is base--and that is the one base thing in the universe--to receive favors and render none4 ,in the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them1 or only seldom4#acb ,but the benefit we receive must be rendered again1 line for line1 deed for deed1 cent for cent1 to somebody4 ,beware of too much good staying in your hand4 ,it will fast corrupt and worm worms4#acc ,pay it away quickly in some sort4 ,labor is watched over by the same pitiless laws4 ,cheapest1 say the prudent1 is the dearest labor4 ,what we buy in a broom1 a mat1 a wagon1 a knife1 is some application of good sense to a common want4 ,it is best to pay in your land a skillful gardener1 or to buy good sense applied to gardening2 in your sailor1 good sense applied to navigation2 in the house1 good sense applied to cooking1 sewing1 serving2 in your agent1 good sense applied to accounts and affairs4 ,so do you multiply your presence1 or spread yourself throughout your estate4 ,but because of the dual constitution of things1 in labor as in life there can be no cheating4 ,the thief steals from himself4 ,the swindler swindles himself4 ,for the real price of labor is knowledge and virtue1 whereof wealth and credit are signs4 ,these signs1 like paper money1 may be counterfeited or stolen1 but that which they represent1 namely1 knowledge and virtue1 cannot be counterfeited or stolen4 ,these ends of labor cannot be answered but by real exertions of the mind1 and in obedience to pure motives4 ,the cheat1 the defaulter1 the gambler1 cannot extort the knowledge of material and moral nature which his honest care and pains yield to the operative4 ,the law of nature is1 ,do the thing1 and you shall have the power3 but they who do not the thing have not the power4 ,human labor1 through all its forms1 from the sharpening of a stake to the construction of a city or an epic1 is one immense illustration of the perfect compensation of the universe4 ,the absolute balance of ,give and ,take1 the doctrine that everything has its price1--and if that price is not paid1 not that thing but something else is obtained1 and that it is impossible to get anything without its price1--is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budgets of states1 in the laws of light and darkness1 in all the action and reaction of nature4 ,i cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees implicated in those processes with which he is conversant1 the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel edge1 which are measured out by his plumb and foot rule1 which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop bill as in the history of a state1--do recommend to him his trade1 and though seldom named1 exalt his business to his imagination4 ,the league between virtue and nature engages all things to assume a hostile front to vice4 ,the beautiful laws and substances of the world persecute and whip the traitor4 ,he finds that things are arranged for truth and benefit1 but there is no den in the wide world to hide a rogue4 ,commit a crime1#acd and the earth is made of glass4 ,commit a crime1 and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground1 such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole4 ,you cannot recall the spoken word1#ace you cannot wipe out the foot-track1 you cannot draw up the ladder1 so as to leave no inlet or clew4 ,some damning circumstance always transpires4 ,the laws and substances of nature--water1 snow1 wind1 gravitation--become penalties to the thief4 ,on the other hand1 the law holds with equal sureness for all right action4 ,love1 and you shall be loved4 ,all love is mathematically just1 as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation4 ,the good man has absolute good1 which like fire turns everything to its own nature1 so that you cannot do him any harm2 but as the royal armies sent against ,napoleon1 when he approached1 cast down their colors and from enemies became friends1 so disasters of all kinds1 as sickness1 offense1 poverty1 prove benefactors3-- ,winds blow and waters roll ,strength to the brave1 and power and deity1 ,yet in themselves are nothing4 ,the good are befriended even by weakness and defect4 ,as no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him1 so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him4 ,the stag in the fable#acf admired his horns and blamed his feet1 but when the hunter came1 his feet saved him1 and afterwards1 caught in the thicket1 his horns destroyed him4 ,every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults4 ,as no man thoroughly understands a truth until he has contended against it1 so no man has a thorough acquaintance with the hindrances or talents of men1 until he has suffered from the one1 and seen the triumph of the other over his own want of the same4 ,has he a defect of temper that unfits him to live in society8 ,thereby he is driven to entertain himself alone1 and acquire habits of self-help2 and thus1 like the wounded oyster1 he mends his shell with pearl4 ,our strength grows out of our weakness4 ,the indignation which arms itself with secret forces does not awaken until we are pricked and stung and sorely assailed4 ,a great man is always willing to be little4 ,whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages1 he goes to sleep4 ,when he is punished1 tormented1 defeated1 he has a chance to learn something2 he has been put on his wits1 on his manhood2 he has gained facts2 learns his ignorance2 is cured of the insanity of conceit2 has got moderation and real skill4 ,the wise man throws himself on the side of his assailants4 ,it is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point4 ,the wound cicatrizes and falls off from him like a dead skin1 and when they would triumph1 lo6 he has passed on invulnerable4 ,blame is safer than praise4 ,i hate to be defended in a newspaper4 ,as long as all that is said is said against me1 ,i feel a certain assurance of success4 ,but as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken for me1 ,i feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies4 ,in general1 every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor4 ,as the ,sandwich ,islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself1 so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist4 ,the same guards which protect us from disaster1 defect1 and enmity1 defend us1 if we will1 from selfishness and fraud4 ,bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions1 nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom4 ,men suffer all their life long1 under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated4 ,but it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself1#acg as for a thing to be and not to be at the same time4 ,there is a third silent party to all our bargains4 ,the nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfillment of every contract1 so that honest service cannot come to loss4 ,if you serve an ungrateful master1 serve him the more4 ,put ,god in your debt4 ,every stroke shall be repaid4 ,the longer the payment is withholden1#ach the better for you2 for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer4 ,the history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature1 to make water run up hill1 to twist a rope of sand4 ,it makes no difference whether the actors be many or one1 a tyrant or a mob4 ,a mob#aci is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving themselves of reason1 and traversing its work4 ,the mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast4 ,its fit hour of activity is night4 ,its actions are insane like its whole constitution2 it persecutes a principle2 it would whip a right2 it would tar and feather justice1 by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons of those who have these4 ,it resembles the prank of boys1 who run with fire engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars4 ,the inviolate spirit turns their spite against the wrongdoers4 ,the martyr cannot be dishonored4 ,every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame2 every prison1 a more illustrious abode2 every burned book or house enlightens the world2 every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side4 ,hours of sanity and consideration are always arriving to communities1 as to individuals1 when the truth is seen1 and the martyrs are justified4 ,thus do all things preach the indifferency of circumstances4 ,the man is all4 ,everything has two sides1 a good and an evil4 ,every advantage has its tax4 ,i learn to be content4 ,but the doctrine of compensation is not the doctrine of indifferency4 ,the thoughtless say1 on hearing these representations1 ,what boots it to do well8 there is one event to good and evil2 if ,i gain any good1 ,i must pay for it2 if ,i lose any good1 ,i gain some other2 all actions are indifferent4 ,there is a deeper fact in the soul than compensation1 to wit1 its own nature4 ,the soul is not a compensation1 but a life4 ,the soul is4 ,under all this running sea of circumstance1 whose waters ebb and flow with perfect balance1 lies the aboriginal abyss of real ,being4 ,essence1 or ,god1 is not a relation1 or a part1 but the whole4 ,being is the vast affirmative1 excluding negation1 self-balanced1 and swallowing up all relations1 parts1 and times within itself4 ,nature1 truth1 virtue1 are the influx from thence4 ,vice is the absence or departure of the same4 ,nothing1 ,falsehood1 may indeed stand as the great ,night or shade1 on which1 as a background1 the living universe paints itself forth1 but no fact is begotten by it2 it cannot work1 for it is not4 ,it cannot work any good2 it cannot work any harm4 ,it is harm inasmuch as it is worse not to be than to be4 ,we feel defrauded of the retribution due to evil acts1 because the criminal adheres to his vice and contumacy1 and does not come to a crisis or judgment anywhere in visible nature4 ,there is no stunning confutation of his nonsense before men and angels4 ,has he therefore outwitted the law8 ,inasmuch as he carries the malignity and the lie with him1 he so far deceases from nature4 ,in some manner there will be a demonstration of the wrong to the understanding also2 but should we not see it1 this deadly deduction makes square the eternal account4 ,neither can it be said1 on the other hand1 that the gain of rectitude must be bought by any loss4 ,there is no penalty to virtue2 no penalty to wisdom2 they are proper additions of being4 ,in a virtuous action1 ,i properly am2 in a virtuous act1 ,i add to the world2 ,i plant into deserts conquered from ,chaos and ,nothing1 and see the darkness receding on the limits of the horizon4 ,there can be no excess to love2 none to knowledge2 none to beauty1 when these attributes are considered in the purest sense4 ,the soul refuses limits1 and always affirms an ,optimism1#adj never a ,pessimism4 ,man's life is a progress1 and not a station4 ,his instinct is trust4 ,our instinct uses more and less in application to man1 of the presence of the soul1 and not of its absence2 the brave man is greater than the coward2 the true1 the benevolent1 the wise1 is more a man1 and not less1 than the fool and knave4 ,there is no tax on the good of virtue2 for that is the incoming of ,god himself1 or absolute existence without any comparative4 ,material good has its tax1 and if it came without desert or sweat1 has no root in me1 and the next wind will blow it away4 ,but all the good of nature is the soul's1 and may be had1 if paid for in nature's lawful coin1 that is1 by labor which the heart and the head allow4 ,i no longer wish to meet a good ,i do not earn2 for example1 to find a pot of buried gold1 knowing that it brings with it new burdens4 ,i do not wish more external goods1--neither possessions1 nor honors1 nor powers1 nor persons4 ,the gain is apparent2 the tax is certain4 ,but there is no tax on the knowledge that the compensation exists1 and that it is not desirable to dig up treasure4 ,herein ,i rejoice with a serene eternal peace4 ,i contract the boundaries of possible mischief4 ,i learn the wisdom of ,st4 ,bernard1#ada--,nothing can1 work me damage except myself2 the harm1 that ,i sustain ,i carry about with me1 and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault4 ,in the nature of the soul is the compensation for the inequalities of condition4 ,the radical tragedy of nature seems to be the distinction of ,more and ,less4 ,how can ,less not feel the pain2 how not feel indignation or malevolence towards ,more8 ,look at those who have less faculty1 and one feels sad1 and knows not well what to make of it4 ,he almost shuns their eye2 he fears they will upbraid ,god4 ,what should they do8 ,it seems a great injustice4 ,but see the facts nearly1 and these mountainous inequalities vanish4 ,love reduces them1 as the sun melts the iceberg in the sea4 ,the heart and soul of all men being one1 this bitterness of ,his and ,mine ceases4 ,his is mine4 ,i am my brother1 and my brother is me4 ,if ,i feel overshadowed and outdone by great neighbors1 ,i can yet love2 ,i can still receive2 and he that loveth maketh his own the grandeur he loves4 ,thereby ,i make the discovery that my brother is my guardian1 acting for me with the friendliest designs1 and the estate ,i so admired and envied is my own4 ,it is the nature of the soul to appropriate all things4 ,jesus#adb and ,shakespeare are fragments of the soul1 and by love ,i conquer and incorporate them in my own conscious domain4 ,his#adc virtue1--is not that mine8 ,his wit1--if it cannot be made mine1 it is not wit4 ,such1 also1 is the natural history of calamity4 ,the changes which break up at short intervals the prosperity of men are advertisements of a nature whose law is growth4 ,every soul is by this intrinsic necessity quitting its whole system of things1 its friends1 and home1 and laws1 and faith1 as the shellfish crawls out of its beautiful but stony case1 because it no longer admits of its growth1 and slowly forms a new house4 ,in proportion to the vigor of the individual1 these revolutions are frequent1 until in some happier mind they are incessant1 and all worldly relations hang very loosely about him1 becoming1 as it were1 a transparent fluid membrane through which the living form is seen1 and not1 as in most men1 an indurated heterogeneous fabric of many dates1 and of no settled character1 in which the man is imprisoned4 ,then there can be enlargement1 and the man of to-day scarcely recognizes the man of yesterday4 ,and such should be the outward biography of man in time1 a putting off of dead circumstances day by day1 as he renews his raiment day by day4 ,but to us1 in our lapsed estate1 resting1 not advancing1 resisting1 not coperating with the divine expansion1 this growth comes by shocks4 ,we cannot part with our friend4 ,we cannot let our angels go4 ,we do not see that they only go out1 that archangels may come in4 ,we are idolaters of the old4 ,we do not believe in the riches of the soul1 in its proper eternity and omnipresence4 ,we do not believe there is any force in to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful yesterday4 ,we linger in the ruins of the old tent1 where once we had bread and shelter and organs1 nor believe that the spirit can feed1 cover1 and nerve us again4 ,we cannot again find aught so dear1 so sweet1 so graceful4 ,but we sit and weep in vain4 ,the voice of the ,almighty saith1 ,up and onward forevermore6 ,we cannot stay amid the ruins4 ,neither will we rely on the new2 and so we walk ever with reverted eyes1 like those monsters who look backwards4 ,and yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also1 after long intervals of time4 ,a fever1 a mutilation1 a cruel disappointment1 a loss of wealth1 a loss of friends1 seems at the moment unpaid loss1 and unpayable4 ,but the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts4 ,the death of a dear friend1 wife1 brother1 lover1 which seemed nothing but privation1 somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius2 for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life1 terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed1 breaks up a wonted occupation1 or a household1 or style of living1 and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character4 ,it permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances1 and the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years2 and the man or woman who would have remained a sunny garden flower1 with no room for its roots and too much sunshine for its head1 by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener1 is made the banyan#add of the forest1 yielding shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men4 ,,self-,,reliance ,ne te qusiveris extra4#ade ,man is his own star2 and the soul that can ,render an honest and a perfect man1 ,commands all light1 all influence1 all fate2 ,nothing to him falls early or too late4 ,our acts our angels are1 or good or ill1 ,our fatal shadows that walk by us still4#adf 99 99 99 99 99 ,cast the bantling on the rocks1 ,suckle him with the she-wolf's teat2 ,wintered with the hawk and fox1 ,power and speed be hands and feet4#adg ,i read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional4 ,the soul always hears an admonition in such lines1 let the subject be what it may4 ,the sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain4 ,to believe your own thought1 to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men1--that is genius4#adh ,speak your latent conviction1 and it shall be the universal sense2#adi for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost1--and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the ,last ,judgment4 ,familiar as the voice of the mind is to each1 the highest merit we ascribe to ,moses1 ,plato1#aej and ,milton#aea is1 that they set at naught books and traditions1 and spoke not what men1 but what they thought4 ,a man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within1 more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages4 ,yet he dismisses without notice his thought1 because it is his4 ,in every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts3#aeb they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty4 ,great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this4 ,they teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when#aec the whole cry of voices is on the other side4 ,else1 to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time1 and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another4 ,there is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance2 that imitation is suicide2#aed that he must take himself for better1 for worse1 as his portion2 that though the wide universe is full of good1 no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till4 ,the power which resides in him is new in nature1 and none but he knows what that is which he can do1 nor does he know until he has tried4 ,not for nothing one face1 one character1 one fact1 makes much impression on him1 and another none4 ,this sculpture in the memory is not without prestablished harmony4 ,the eye was placed where one ray should fall1 that it might testify of that particular ray4 ,we but half express ourselves1#aee and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents4 ,it may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues1 so it be faithfully imparted1 but ,god will not have his work made manifest by cowards4 ,a man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best2 but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace4 ,it is a deliverance which does not deliver4 ,in the attempt his genius deserts him2 no muse befriends2 no invention1 no hope4 ,trust thyself3#aef every heart vibrates to that iron string4 ,accept the place the divine providence has found for you1 the society of your contemporaries1 the connection of events4 ,great men have always done so1 and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age1 betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart1 working through their hands1 predominating in all their being4 ,and we are now men1 and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny2 and not minors and invalids in a protected corner1 not cowards fleeing before a revolution1 but guides1 redeemers1 and benefactors1 obeying the ,almighty effort1 and advancing on ,chaos#aeg and the ,dark4 ,what pretty oracles nature yields us on this text1 in the face and behavior of children1 babes1 and even brutes6 ,that divided and rebel mind1 that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose1 these#aeh have not4 ,their mind being whole1 their eye is as yet unconquered1 and when we look in their faces we are disconcerted4 ,infancy conforms to nobody3 all conform to it1 so that one babe commonly makes four or five#aei out of the adults who prattle and play to it4 ,so ,god has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm1 and made it enviable and gracious and its claims not to be put by1 if it will stand by itself4 ,do not think the youth has no force1 because he cannot speak to you and me4 ,hark6 in the next room his voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic4 ,it seems he knows how to speak to his contemporaries4 ,bashful or bold1 then1 he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary4 ,the nonchalance#afj of boys who are sure of a dinner1 and would disdain as much as a lord to do or say aught to conciliate one1 is the healthy attitude of human nature4 ,a boy is in the parlor what the pit is in the playhouse2#afa independent1 irresponsible1 looking out from his corner on such people and facts as pass by1 he tries and sentences them on their merits1 in the swift1 summary way of boys1 as good1 bad1 interesting1 silly1 eloquent1 troublesome4 ,he cumbers himself never about consequences about interests2 he gives an independent1 genuine verdict4 ,you must court him3 he does not court you4 ,but the man is1 as it were1 clapped into jail by his consciousness4 ,as soon as he has once acted or spoken with clat#afb he is a committed person1 watched by the sympathy or the hatred of hundreds1 whose affections must now enter into his account4 ,there is no ,lethe#afc for this4 ,ah1 that he could pass again into his neutrality6 ,who#afd can thus avoid all pledges1 and having observed1 observe again from the same unaffected1 unbiased1 unbribable1 unaffrighted innocence1 must always be formidable4 ,he would utter opinions on all passing affairs1 which being seen to be not private1 but necessary1 would sink like darts into the ear of men1 and put them in fear4 ,these are the voices which we hear in solitude1 but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world4 ,society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members4 ,society is a joint-stock company1 in which the members agree1 for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder1 to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater4 ,the virtue in most request is conformity4 ,self-reliance is its aversion4 ,it loves not realities and creators1 but names and customs4 ,whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist4#afe ,he who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness1 but must explore if it be goodness4#aff ,nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind4 ,absolve you to yourself1 and you shall have the suffrage#afg of the world4 ,i remember an answer which when quite young ,i was prompted to make to a valued adviser1 who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church4 ,on my saying1 ,what have ,i to do with the sacredness of traditions1 if ,i live wholly from within8 my friend suggested3 ,but these impulses may be from below1 not from above4 ,i replied3 ,they do not seem to me to be such2 but if ,i am the ,devil's child1 ,i will live then from the ,devil4 ,no law can be sacred to me but that of my nature4 ,good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this2#afh the only right is what is after my constitution1 the only wrong what is against it4 ,a man is to carry himself in the presence of all opposition1 as if everything were titular and ephemeral but he4 ,i am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names1 to large societies and dead institutions4 ,every decent and well-spoken individual affects and sways me more than is right4 ,i ought to go upright and vital1 and speak the rude truth in all ways4 ,if malice and vanity wear the coat of philanthropy1 shall that pass8 ,if an angry bigot assumes this bountiful cause of ,abolition1 and comes to me with his last news from ,barbadoes1#afi why should ,i not say to him3 ,go love thy infant2 love thy wood-chopper3 be good-natured and modest3 have that grace2 and never varnish your hard1 uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off4 ,thy love afar is spite at home4 ,rough and graceless would be such greeting1 but truth is handsomer than the affectation of love4 ,your goodness must have some edge to it1--else it is none4 ,the doctrine of hatred must be preached as the counteraction of the doctrine of love when that pules and whines4 ,i shun father and mother and wife and brother1 when my genius calls me4 ,i would write on the lintels of the door-post1 ,whim4#agj ,i hope it is somewhat better than whim at last1 but we cannot spend the day in explanation4 ,expect me not to show cause why ,i seek or why ,i exclude company4 ,then1 again1 do not tell me1 as a good man did to-day1 of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations4 ,are they my poor8 ,i tell thee1 thou foolish philanthropist1 that ,i grudge the dollar1 the dime1 the cent1 ,i give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom ,i do not belong4 ,there is a class of persons to whom by all spiritual affinity ,i am bought and sold2 for them ,i will go to prison1 if need be2 but your miscellaneous popular charities2 the education at college of fools2 the building of meeting-houses to the vain end to which many now stand2 alms to sots2 and the thousand-fold ,relief ,societies2--though ,i confess with shame ,i sometimes succumb and give the dollar1 it is a wicked dollar which by and by ,i shall have the manhood to withhold4 ,virtues are1 in the popular estimate1 rather the exception than the rule4 ,there is the man and his virtues4 ,men do what is called a good action1 as some piece of courage or charity1 much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade4 ,their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world1--as invalids and the insane pay a high board4 ,their virtues are penances4 ,i do not wish to expiate1 but to live4 ,my life is for itself and not for a spectacle4 ,i much prefer that it should be of a lower strain1 so it be genuine and equal1 than that it should be glittering and unsteady4 ,i wish it to be sound and sweet1 and not to need diet and bleeding4#aga ,i ask primary evidence that you are a man1 and refuse this appeal from the man to his actions4 ,i know that for myself it makes no difference whether ,i do or forbear those actions which are reckoned excellent4 ,i cannot consent to pay for a privilege where ,i have intrinsic right4 ,few and mean as my gifts may be1 ,i actually am1 and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony4 ,what ,i must do is all that concerns me1 not what the people think4 ,this rule1 equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life1 may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness4 ,it is the harder1 because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it4 ,it is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion2 it is easy in solitude to live after our own2 but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude4#agb ,the objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is1 that it scatters your force4 ,it loses your time and blurs the impression of your character4 ,if you maintain a dead church1 contribute to a dead ,bible-society1 vote with a great party either for the government or against it1 spread your table like base housekeepers1--under all these screens ,i have difficulty to detect the precise#agc man you are4 ,and1 of course1 so much force is withdrawn from your proper life4 ,but do your work1 and ,i shall know you4#agd ,do your work1 and you shall reinforce yourself4 ,a man must consider what a blindman's-buff is this game of conformity4 ,if ,i know your sect1 ,i anticipate your argument4 ,i hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church4 ,do ,i not know beforehand that not possibly can he say a new and spontaneous word8 ,do ,i not know that1 with#age all this ostentation of examining the grounds of the institution1 he will do no such thing8 ,do ,i not know that he is pledged to himself not to look but at one side1--the permitted side1 not as a man1 but as a parish minister8 ,he is a retained attorney1 and these airs of the bench#agf are the emptiest affectation4 ,well1 most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief1#agg and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion4#agh ,this conformity makes them not false in a few particulars1 authors of a few lies1 but false in all particulars4 ,their every truth is not quite true4 ,their two is not the real two1 their four not the real four2 so that every word they say chagrins us1 and we know not where to begin to set them right4 ,meantime nature is not slow to equip us in the prison-uniform of the party to which we adhere4 ,we come to wear one cut of face and figure1 and acquire by degrees the gentlest asinine expression4 ,there is a mortifying experience in particular which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history2 ,i mean the foolish face of praise1 the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us4 ,the muscles1 not spontaneously moved1 but moved by a low usurping willfulness1 grow tight about the outline of the face with the most disagreeable sensation4 ,for nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure4#agi ,and therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face4 ,the bystanders look askance on him in the public street or in the friend's parlor4 ,if this aversation had its origin in contempt and resistance like his own1 he might well go home with a sad countenance2 but the sour faces of the multitude1 like their sweet faces1 have no deep cause1 but are put on and off as the wind blows and a newspaper directs4#ahj ,yet is the discontent of the multitude more formidable than that of the senate and the college4 ,it is easy enough for a firm man who knows the world to brook the rage of the cultivated classes4 ,their rage is decorous and prudent1 for they are timid as being very vulnerable themselves4 ,but when to their feminine rage the indignation of the people is added1 when the ignorant and the poor are aroused1 when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow1 it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment4 ,the other terror#aha that scares us from self-trust is our consistency2#ahb a reverence for our past act or word1 because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit#ahc than our past acts1 and we are loth to disappoint them4 ,but why should you keep your head over your shoulder8 ,why drag about this corpse of your memory1 lest you contradict somewhat#ahd you have stated in this or that public place8 ,suppose you should contradict yourself2 what then8 ,it seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone1 scarcely even in acts of pure memory1 but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present1 and live ever in a new day4 ,in your metaphysics you have denied personality to the ,deity2 yet when the devout motions of the soul come1 yield to them heart and life1 though they should clothe ,god with shape and color4 ,leave your theory1 as ,joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot1 and flee4#ahe ,a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds1 adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines4 ,with consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do4 ,he may as well concern himself with the shadow on the wall4 ,speak what you think now in hard words1 and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again1 though it contradict everything you said to-day4--,ah1 so you shall be sure to be misunderstood4--,is it so bad1 then1 to be misunderstood8 ,pythagoras#ahf was misunderstood1 and ,socrates1#ahg and ,jesus1 and ,luther1#ahh and ,copernicus1#ahi and ,galileo1#aij and ,newton1#aia and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh4 ,to be great is to be misunderstood4 ,i suppose no man can violate his nature4 ,all the sallies of his will are rounded in by the law of his being1 as the inequalities of ,andes#aib and ,himmaleh#aic are insignificant in the curve of the sphere4 ,nor does it matter how you gauge and try him4 ,a character is like an acrostic or ,alexandrian stanza2#aid--read it forward1 backward1 or across1 it still spells the same thing4 ,in this pleasing1 contrite wood-life which ,god allows me1 let me record day by day my honest thought without prospect or retrospect1 and1 ,i cannot doubt1 it will be found symmetrical1 though ,i mean it not1 and see it not4 ,my book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects4 ,the swallow over my window should interweave that thread or straw he carries in his bill into my web also4 ,we pass for what we are4 ,character teaches above our wills4 ,men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions1 and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment4 ,there will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions1 so they be each honest and natural in their hour4 ,for of one will1 the actions will be harmonious1 however unlike they seem4 ,these varieties are lost sight of at a little distance1 at a little height of thought4 ,one tendency unites them all4 ,the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks4#aie ,see the line from a sufficient distance1 and it straightens itself to the average tendency4 ,your genuine action will explain itself1 and will explain your other genuine actions4 ,your conformity explains nothing4 ,act singly1 and what you have already done singly will justify you now4 ,greatness appeals to the future4 ,if ,i can be firm enough to-day to do right1 and scorn eyes1#aif ,i must have done so much right before as to defend me now4 ,be it how it will1 do right now4 ,always scorn appearances1 and you always may4 ,the force of character is cumulative4 ,all the foregone days of virtue work their health into this4 ,what makes the majesty of the heroes of the senate and the field1 which so fills the imagination8 ,the consciousness of a train of great days and victories behind4 ,they shed an united light on the advancing actor4 ,he is attended as by a visible escort of angels4 ,that is it which throws thunder into ,chatham's#aig voice1 and dignity into ,washington's port1 and ,america into ,adams's#aih eye4 ,honor is venerable to us because it is no ephemeris4 ,it is always ancient virtue4 ,we worship it to-day because it is not of to-day4 ,we love it and pay it homage1 because it is not a trap for our love and homage1 but is self-dependent1 self-derived1 and therefore of an old immaculate pedigree1 even if shown in a young person4 ,i hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency4 ,let the words be gazetted and ridiculous henceforward4 ,instead of the gong for dinner1 let us hear a whistle from the ,spartan#aii fife4 ,let us never bow and apologize more4 ,a great man is coming to eat at my house4 ,i do not wish to please him2 ,i wish that he should wish to please me4 ,i will stand here for humanity1 and though ,i would make it kind1 ,i would make it true4 ,let us affront and reprimand the smooth mediocrity and squalid contentment of the times1 and hurl in the face of custom1 and trade1 and office1 the fact which is the upshot of all history1 that there is a great responsible ,thinker and ,actor working wherever a man works2 that a true man belongs to no other time or place1 but is the center of things4 ,where he is1 there is nature4 ,he measures you1 and all men1 and all events4 ,ordinarily1 everybody in society reminds us of somewhat else1 or of some other person4 ,character1 reality1 reminds you of nothing else2 it takes place of the whole creation4 ,the man must be so much1 that he must make all circumstances indifferent4 ,every true man is a cause1 a country1 and an age2 requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his design2--and posterity seem to follow his steps as a train of clients4 ,a man ,csar#bjj is born1 and for ages after we have a ,roman ,empire4 ,christ is born1 and millions of minds so grow and cleave to his genius1 that he is confounded with virtue and the possible of man4 ,an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man2 as ,monachism1 of the hermit ,antony2#bja the ,reformation1 of ,luther2 ,quakerism1 of ,fox2#bjb ,methodism1 of ,wesley2#bjc ,abolition1 of ,clarkson4#bjd ,scipio1#bje ,milton called the height of ,rome2 and all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons4 ,let a man then know his worth1 and keep things under his feet4 ,let him not peep or steal1 or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy1 a bastard1 or an interloper1 in the world which exists for him4 ,but the man in the street1 finding no worth in himself which corresponds to the force which built a tower or sculptured a marble god1 feels poor when he looks on these4 ,to him a palace1 a statue1 a costly book1 have an alien and forbidding air1 much like a gay equipage1 and seem to say like that1 ,who are you1 ,sir8 ,yet they all are his1 suitors for his notice1 petitioners to his faculties that they will come out and take possession4 ,the picture waits for my verdict3 it is not to command me1 but ,i am to settle its claims to praise4 ,that popular fable of the sot who was picked up dead drunk in the street1 carried to the duke's house1 washed and dressed and laid in the duke's bed1 and1 on his waking1 treated with all obsequious ceremony like the duke1 and assured that he had been insane1#bjf owes its popularity to the fact that it symbolizes so well the state of man1 who is in the world a sort of sot1 but now and then wakes up1 exercises his reason1 and finds himself a true prince4 ,our reading is mendicant and sycophantic4 ,in history1 our imagination plays us false4 ,kingdom and lordship1 power and estate1 are a gaudier vocabulary than private ,john and ,edward in a small house and common day's work2 but the things of life are the same to both2 the sum total of both is the same4 ,why all this deference to ,alfred1#bjg and ,scanderbeg1#bjh and ,gustavus8#bji ,suppose they were virtuous2 did they wear out virtue8 ,as great a stake depends on your private act to-day1 as followed their public and renowned steps4 ,when private men shall act with original views1 the luster will be transferred from the actions of kings to those of gentlemen4 ,the world has been instructed by its kings1 who have so magnetized the eyes of nations4 ,it has been taught by this colossal symbol the mutual reverence that is due from man to man4 ,the joyful loyalty with which men have everywhere suffered the king1 the noble1 or the great proprietor to walk among them by a law of his own1 make his own scale of men and things1 and reverse theirs1 pay for benefits not with money but with honor1 and represent the law in his person1 was the hieroglyphic#baj by which they obscurely signified their consciousness of their own right and comeliness1 the right of every man4 ,the magnetism which all original action exerts is explained when we inquire the reason of self-trust4 ,who is the ,trustee8 ,what is the aboriginal ,self1 on which a universal reliance may be grounded8 ,what is the nature and power of that science-baffling star1 without parallax1#baa without calculable elements1 which shoots a ray of beauty even into trivial and impure actions1 if the least mark of independence appear8 ,the inquiry leads us to that source1 at once the essence of genius1 of virtue1 and of life1 which we call ,spontaneity or ,instinct4 ,we denote this primary wisdom as ,intuition1 whilst all later teachings are tuitions4 ,in that deep force1 the last fact behind which analysis cannot go1 all things find their common origin4 ,for the sense of being which in calm hours rises1 we know not how1 in the soul1 is not diverse from things1 from space1 from light1 from time1 from man1 but one with them1 and proceeds obviously from the same source whence their life and being also proceed4 ,we first share the life by which things exist1 and afterwards see them as appearances in nature1 and forget that we have shared their cause4 ,here is the fountain of action and of thought4 ,here are the lungs of that inspiration which giveth man wisdom1 and which cannot be denied without impiety and atheism4 ,we lie in the lap of immense intelligence1 which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity4 ,when we discern justice1 when we discern truth1 we do nothing of ourselves1 but allow a passage to its beams4 ,if we ask whence this comes1 if we seek to pry into the soul that causes1 all philosophy is at fault4 ,its presence or its absence is all we can affirm4 ,every man discriminates between the voluntary acts of his mind1 and his involuntary perceptions1 and knows that to his involuntary perceptions a perfect faith is due4 ,he may err in the expression of them1 but he knows that these things are so1 like day and night1 not to be disputed4 ,my willful actions and acquisitions are but roving2--the idlest reverie1 the faintest native emotion1 command my curiosity and respect4 ,thoughtless people contradict as readily the statement of perceptions as of opinions1 or rather much more readily2 for1 they do not distinguish between perception and notion4 ,they fancy that ,i choose to see this or that thing4 ,but perception is not whimsical1 it is fatal4 ,if ,i see a trait1 my children will see it after me1 and in course of time1 all mankind1--although it may chance that no one has seen it before me4 ,for my perception of it is as much a fact as the sun4 ,the relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure1 that it is profane to seek to interpose helps4 ,it must be that when ,god speaketh he should communicate1 not one thing1 but all things2 should fill the world with his voice2 should scatter forth light1 nature1 time1 souls1 from the center of the present thought2 and new date and new create the whole4 ,whenever a mind is simple1 and receives a divine wisdom1 old things pass away1--means1 teachers1 texts1 temples1 fall2 it lives now1 and absorbs past and future into the present hour4 ,all things are made sacred by relation to it1--one as much as another4 ,all things are dissolved to their center by their cause1 and1 in the universal miracle1 petty and particular miracles disappear4 ,if1 therefore1 a man claims to know and speak of ,god1 and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old moldered nation in another country1 in another world1 believe him not4 ,is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion8 ,is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being8#bab ,whence1 then1 this worship of the past8#bac ,the centuries are conspirators against the sanity and authority of the soul4 ,time and space are but physiological colors which the eye makes1 but the soul is light2 where it is1 is day2 where it was1 is night2 and history is an impertinence and an injury1 if it be anything more than a cheerful apologue or parable of my being and becoming4 ,man is timid and apologetic2 he is no longer upright2 he dares not say ,i think1 ,i am1 but quotes some saint or sage4 ,he is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose4 ,these roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones2 they are for what they are2 they exist with ,god to-day4 ,there is no time to them4 ,there is simply the rose2 it is perfect in every moment of its existence4 ,before a leaf-bud has burst1 its whole life acts2 in the full-blown flower there is no more2 in the leafless root there is no less4 ,its nature is satisfied1 and it satisfies nature1 in all moments alike4 ,but man postpones1 or remembers2 he does not live in the present1 but with a reverted eye laments the past1 or1 heedless of the riches that surround him1 stands on tiptoe to foresee the future4 ,he cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present1 above time4 ,this should be plain enough4 ,yet see what strong intellects dare not yet hear ,god himself1 unless he speak the phraseology of ,i know not what ,david1 or ,jeremiah1 or ,paul4 ,we shall not always set so great a price on a few texts1 on a few lives4#bad ,we are like children who repeat by rote the sentences of grandames and tutors1 and1 as they grow older1 of the men and talents and characters they chance to see1--painfully recollecting the exact words they spoke2 afterwards1 when they come into the point of view which those had who uttered those saying1 they understand them1 and are willing to let the words go2 for1 at any time1 they can use words as good when occasion comes4 ,if we live truly1 we shall see truly4 ,it is as easy for the strong man to be strong1 as it is for the weak to be weak4 ,when we have new perception1 we shall gladly disburden the memory of its hoarded treasures as old rubbish4 ,when a man lives with ,god1 his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn4 ,and now at last the highest truth on this subject remains unsaid2 probably cannot be said2 for all that we say is the far-off remembering of the intuition4 ,that thought1 by what ,i can now nearest approach to say it1 is this4 ,when good is near you1 when you have life in yourself1 it is not by any known or accustomed way2 you shall not discern the footprints of any other2 you shall not see the face of man2 you shall not hear any name2--the way1 the thought1 the good1 shall be wholly strange and new4 ,it shall exclude example and experience4 ,you take the way from man1 not to man4 ,all persons that ever existed are its forgotten ministers4 ,fear and hope are alike beneath it4 ,there is somewhat low even in hope4 ,in the hour of vision1 there is nothing that can be called gratitude1 nor properly joy4 ,the soul raised over passion beholds identity and eternal causation1 perceives the self-existence of ,truth and ,right1 and calms itself with knowing that all things go well4 ,vast spaces of nature1 the ,atlantic ,ocean1 the ,south ,sea1--long intervals of time1 years1 centuries1--are of no account4 ,this which ,i think and feel underlay every former state of life and circumstances1 as it does underlie my present1 and what is called life1 and what is called death4 ,life only avails1 not the having lived4 ,power ceases in the instant of repose2 it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state1 in the shooting of the gulf1 in the darting to an aim4 ,this one fact the world hates1 that the soul becomes2 for that forever degrades the past1 turns all riches to poverty1 all reputation to shame1 confounds the saint with the rogue1 shoves ,jesus and ,judas#bae equally aside4 ,why1 then1 do we prate of self-reliance8 ,inasmuch as the soul is present1 there will be power not confident but agent4#baf ,to talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking4 ,speak rather of that which relies1 because it works and is4 ,who has more obedience than ,i masters me1 though he should not raise his finger4 ,round him ,i must revolve by the gravitation of spirits4 ,we fancy it rhetoric1 when we speak of eminent virtue4 ,we do not yet see that virtue is ,height1 and that a man or a company of men1 plastic and permeable to principles1 by the law of nature must overpower and ride all cities1 nations1 kings1 rich men1 poets1 who are not4 ,this is the ultimate fact which we so quickly reach on this1 as on every topic1 the resolution of all into the ever-blessed ,,one4 ,self-existence is the attribute of the ,supreme ,cause1 and it constitutes the measure of good by the degree in which it enters into all lower forms4 ,all things real are so by so much virtue as they contain4 ,commerce1 husbandry1 hunting1 whaling1 war eloquence1 personal weight1 are somewhat1 and engage my respect as examples of its presence and impure action4 ,i see the same law working in nature for conservation and growth4 ,power is in nature the essential measure of right4 ,nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms which cannot help itself4 ,the genesis and maturation of a planet1 its poise and orbit1 the bended tree recovering itself from the strong wind1 the vital resources of every animal and vegetable1 are demonstrations of the self-sufficing1 and therefore self-relying soul4 ,thus all concentrates3 let us not rove2 let us sit at home with the cause4 ,let us stun and astonish the intruding rabble of men and books and institutions1 by a simple declaration of the divine fact4 ,bid the invaders take the shoes from off their feet1 for ,god is here within4#bag ,let our simplicity judge them1 and our docility to our own law demonstrate the poverty of nature and fortune beside our native riches4 ,but now we are a mob4 ,man does not stand in awe of man1 nor is his genius admonished to stay at home to put itself in communication with the internal ocean1 but it goes abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of other men4 ,we must go alone4 ,i like the silent church before the service begins1 better than any preaching4 ,how far off1 how cool1 how chaste the persons look1 begirt each one with a precinct or sanctuary6 ,so let us always sit4 ,why should we assume the faults of our friend1 or wife1 or father1 or child1 because they sit around our hearth1 or are said to have the same blood8 ,all men have my blood1 and ,i have all men's4#bah ,not for that will ,i adopt their petulance or folly1 even to the extent of being ashamed of it4 ,but your isolation must not be mechanical1 but spiritual1 that is1 must be elevation4 ,at times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles4 ,friend1 client1 child1 sickness1 fear1 want1 charity1 all knock at once at thy closet door1 and say1 ,come out unto us4 ,but keep thy state2 come not into their confusion4 ,the power men possess to annoy men1 ,i give them by a weak curiosity4 ,no man can come near me but through my act4 ,what we love that we have1 but by desire we bereave ourselves of the love4 ,if we cannot at once rise to the sanctities of obedience and faith1 let us at least resist our temptations2 let us enter into the state of war1 and wake ,thor and ,woden1#bai courage and constancy1 in our ,saxon breasts4 ,this is to be done in our smooth times by speaking the truth4 ,check this lying hospitality and lying affection4 ,live no longer to the expectation of these deceived and deceiving people with whom we converse4 ,say to them1 ,o father1 ,o mother1 ,o wife1 ,o brother1 ,o friend1 ,i have lived with you after appearances hitherto4 ,henceforward ,i am the truth's4 ,be it known unto you that henceforward ,i obey no law less than the eternal law4 ,i will have no covenants but proximities4#bbj ,i shall endeavor to nourish my parents1 to support my family1 to be the chaste husband of one wife1--but these relations ,i must fill after a new and unprecedented way4 ,i appeal from your customs4 ,i must be myself4 ,i cannot break myself any longer for you1 or you4#bba ,if you can love me for what ,i am1 we shall be the happier4 ,if you cannot1 ,i will still seek to deserve that you should4 ,i will not hide my tastes or aversions4 ,i will so trust that what is deep is holy1 that ,i will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me1 and the heart appoints4 ,if you are noble1 ,i will love you2 if you are not1 ,i will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions4 ,if you are true1 but not in the same truth with me1 cleave to your companions2 ,i will seek my own4 ,i do this not selfishly1 but humbly and truly4 ,it is alike your interest1 and mine1 and all men's however long we have dwelt in lies1 to live in truth4 ,does this sound harsh to-day8 ,you will soon love what is dictated by your nature as well as mine1 and1 if we follow the truth1 it will bring us out safe at last4#bbb ,but so may you give these friends pain4 ,yes1 but ,i cannot sell my liberty and my power1 to save their sensibility4 ,besides1 all persons have their moments of reason1 when they look out into the region of absolute truth2 then will they justify me1 and do the same thing4 ,the populace think that your rejection of popular standards is a rejection of all standard1 and mere antinomianism2#bbc and the bold sensualist will use the name of philosophy to gild his crimes4 ,but the law of consciousness abides4 ,there are two confessionals1 in one or the other of which we must be shriven4 ,you may fulfill your round of duties by clearing yourself in the direct1 or in the reflex way4 ,consider whether you have satisfied your relations to father1 mother1 cousin1 neighbor1 town1 cat1 and dog2 whether any of these can upbraid you4 ,but ,i may also neglect this reflex standard1 and absolve me to myself4 ,i have my own stern claims and perfect circle4 ,it denies the name of duty to many offices that are called duties4 ,but if ,i can discharge its debts1 it enables me to dispense with the popular code4 ,if any one imagines that this law is lax1 let him keep its commandment one day4 ,and truly it demands something godlike in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity1 and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster4 ,high be his heart1 faithful his will1 clear his sight1 that he may in good earnest be doctrine1 society1 law1 to himself1 that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others6 ,if any man consider the present aspects of what is called by distinction society1 he will see the need of these ethics4 ,the sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn out1 and we are become timorous1 desponding whimperers4 ,we are afraid of truth1 afraid of fortune1 afraid of death1 and afraid of each other4 ,our age yields no great and perfect persons4 ,we want men and women who shall renovate life and our social state1 but we see that most natures are insolvent1 cannot satisfy their own wants1 have an ambition out of all proportion to their practical force1#bbd and do lean and beg day and night continually4 ,our housekeeping is mendicant1 our arts1 our occupations1 our marriages1 our religion1 we have not chosen1 but society has chosen for us4 ,we are parlor soldiers4 ,we shun the rugged battle of fate1 where strength is born4 ,if our young men miscarry in their first enterprises1 they lose all heart4 ,if the young merchant fails1 men say he is ruined4 ,if the finest genius studies at one of our colleges1 and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of ,boston or ,new ,york1 it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened1 and in complaining the rest of his life4 ,a sturdy lad from ,new ,hampshire or ,vermont1 who in turn tries all the professions1 who teams it1 farms it1#bbe peddles1 keeps a school1 preaches1 edits a newspaper1 goes to ,congress1 buys a township1 and so forth1 in successive years1 and always1 like a cat1 falls on his feet1 is worth a hundred of these city dolls4 ,he walks abreast with his days1 and feels no shame in not studying a profession1 for he does not postpone his life1 but lives already4 ,he has not one chance1 but a hundred chances4 ,let a ,stoic#bbf open the resources of man1 and tell men they are not leaning willows1 but can and must detach themselves2 that with the exercise of self-trust1 new powers shall appear2 that a man is the word made flesh1#bbg born to shed healing to the nations1#bbh that he should be ashamed of our compassion1 and that the moment he acts from himself1 tossing the laws1 the books1 idolatries and customs out of the window1 we pity him no more1 but thank and revere him1--and that teacher shall restore the life of man to splendor1 and make his name dear to all history4 ,it is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men2 in their religion2 in their education2 in their pursuits2 their modes of living2 their association2 in their property2 in their speculative views4 #a4 ,in what prayers do men allow themselves6#bbi ,that which they call a holy office is not so much as brave and manly4 ,prayer looks abroad and asks for some foreign addition to come through some foreign virtue1 and loses itself in endless mazes of natural and supernatural1 and mediatorial and miraculous4 ,prayer that craves a particular commodity1--anything less than all good1--is vicious4 ,prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view4 ,it is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul4#bcj ,it is the spirit of ,god pronouncing his works good4 ,but prayer as a means to effect a private end is meanness and theft4 ,it supposes dualism and not unity in nature and consciousness4 ,as soon as the man is at one with ,god1 he will not beg4 ,he will then see prayer in all action4 ,the prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it1 the prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar1 are true prayers heard throughout nature1 though for cheap ends4 ,caratach1#bca in ,fletcher's ,bonduca1 when admonished to inquire the mind of the god ,audate1 replies1-- ,his hidden meaning lies in our endeavors2 ,our valors are our best gods4 ,another sort of false prayers are our regrets4 ,discontent is the want of self-reliance2 it is infirmity of will4 ,regret calamities1 if you can thereby help the sufferer2 if not1 attend your own work1 and already the evil begins to be repaired4 ,our sympathy is just as base4 ,we come to them who weep foolishly1 and sit down and cry for company1 instead of imparting to them truth and health in rough electric shocks1 putting them once more in communication with their own reason4 ,the secret of fortune is joy in our hands4 ,welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man4 ,for him all doors are flung wide3 him all tongues greet1 all honors crown1 all eyes follow with desire4 ,our love goes out to him and embraces him1 because he did not need it4 ,we solicitously and apologetically caress and celebrate him1 because he held on his way and scorned our disapprobation4 ,the gods love him because men hated him4 ,to the persevering mortal1 said ,zoroaster1#bcb the blessed ,immortals are swift4 ,as men's prayers are a disease of the will1 so are their creeds a disease of the intellect4 ,they say with those foolish ,israelites1 ,let not ,god speak to us1 lest we die4 ,speak thou1 speak any man with us1 and we will obey4#bcc ,everywhere ,i am hindered of meeting ,god in my brother1 because he has shut his own temple doors1 and recites fables merely of his brother's1 or his brother's brother's ,god4 ,every new mind is a new classification4 ,if it prove a mind of uncommon activity and power1 a ,locke1#bcd a ,lavoisier1#bce a ,hutton1#bcf a ,betham1#bcg a ,fourier1#bch it imposes its classification on other men1 and lo6 a new system4 ,in proportion to the depth of the thought1 and so to the number of the objects it touches and brings within reach of the pupil1 is his complacency4 ,but chiefly is this apparent in creeds and churches1 which are also classifications of some powerful mind acting on the elemental thought of duty1 and man's relation to the ,highest4 ,such is ,calvinism1#bci ,quakerism1#bdj ,swedenborgism4#bda ,the pupil takes the same delight in subordinating everything to the new terminology1 as a girl who has just learned botany in seeing a new earth and new seasons thereby4 ,it will happen for a time1 that the pupil will find his intellectual power has grown by the study of his master's mind4 ,but in all unbalanced minds1 the classification is idolized1 passes for the end1 and not for a speedily exhaustible means1 so that the walls of the system blend to their eye in the remote horizon with the walls of the universe2 the luminaries of heaven seem to them hung on the arch their master built4 ,they cannot imagine how you aliens have any right to see1--how you can see2 ,it must be somehow that you stole the light from us4 ,they do not yet perceive that light1 unsystematic1 indomitable1 will break into any cabin1 even into theirs4 ,let them chirp awhile and call it their own4 ,if they are honest and do well1 presently their neat new pinfold will be too strait and low1 will crack1 will lean1 will rot and vanish1 and the immortal light1 all young and joyful1 million-orbed1 million-colored1 will beam over the universe as on the first morning4 #b4 ,it is for want of self-culture that the superstition of ,traveling1 whose idols are ,italy1 ,england1 ,egypt1 retains its fascination for all educated ,americans4 ,they who made ,england1 ,italy1 or ,greece venerable in the imagination did so by sticking fast where they were1 like an axis of the earth4 ,in manly hours1 we feel that duty is our place4 ,the soul is no traveler2 the wise man stays at home1 and when his necessities1 his duties1 on any occasion call him from his house1 or into foreign lands1 he is at home still2 and shall make men sensible by the expression of his countenance1 that he goes the missionary of wisdom and virtue1 and visits cities and men like a sovereign1 and not like an interloper or a valet4 ,i have no churlish objection to the circumnavigation of the globe1 for the purposes of art1 of study1 and benevolence1 so that the man is first domesticated1 or does not go abroad with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows4 ,he who travels to be amused1 or to get somewhat which he does not carry1#bdb travels away from himself1 and grows old even in youth among old things4 ,in ,thebes1#bdc in ,palmyra1#bdd his will and mind have become old and dilapidated as they4 ,he carries ruins to ruins4 ,traveling is a fool's paradise4 ,our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places4 ,at home ,i dream that at ,naples1 at ,rome1 ,i can be intoxicated with beauty1 and lose my sadness4 ,i pack my trunk1 embrace my friends1 embark on the sea1 and at last wake up in ,naples1 and there beside me is the stern fact1 the sad self1 unrelenting1 identical1 that ,i fled from4#bde ,i seek the ,vatican1#bdf and the palaces4 ,i affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions1 but ,i am not intoxicated4 ,my giant goes with me wherever ,i go4 #c4 ,but the rage of traveling is a symptom of a deeper unsoundness affecting the whole intellectual action4 ,the intellect is vagabond1 and our system of education fosters restlessness4 ,our minds travel when our bodies are forced to stay at home4 ,we imitate2 and what is imitation but the traveling of the mind8 ,our houses are built with foreign taste2 our shelves are garnished with foreign ornaments2 our opinions1 our tastes1 our faculties1 lean1 and follow the ,past and the ,distant4 ,the soul created the arts wherever they have flourished4 ,it was in his own mind that the artist sought his model4 ,it was an application of his own thought to the thing to be done and the conditions to be observed4 ,and why need we copy the ,doric#bdg or the ,gothic#bdh model8 ,beauty1 convenience1 grandeur of thought1 and quaint expression are as near to us as to any1 and if the ,american artist will study with hope and love the precise thing to be done by him considering the climate1 the soil1 the length of the day1 the wants of the people1 the habit and form of the government1 he will create a house in which all these will find themselves fitted1 and taste and sentiment will be satisfied also4 ,insist on yourself2 never imitate4#bdi ,your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation2 but of the adopted talent of another1 you have only an extemporaneous1 half possession4 ,that which each can do best1 none but his ,maker can teach him4 ,no man yet knows what it is1 nor can1 till that person has exhibited it4 ,where is the master who could have taught ,shakespeare8#bej ,where is the master who could have instructed ,franklin1#bea or ,washington1 or ,bacon1#beb or ,newton8#bec ,every great man is a unique4 ,the ,scipionism of ,scipio#bed is precisely that part he could not borrow4 ,shakespeare will never be made by the study of ,shakespeare4 ,do that which is assigned to you1 and you cannot hope too much or dare too much4 ,there is at this moment for you an utterance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of ,phidias1#bee or trowel of the ,egyptians1#bef or the pen of ,moses1#beg or ,dante1#beh but different from all these4 ,not possibly will the soul all rich1 all eloquent1 with thousand-cloven tongue1 deign to repeat itself2 but if you can hear what these patriarchs say1 surely you can reply to them in the same pitch of voice2 for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature4 ,abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life1 obey thy heart1 and thou shalt reproduce the ,foreworld#bei again4 #d4 ,as our ,religion1 our ,education1 our ,art look abroad1 so does our spirit of society4 ,all men plume themselves on the improvement of society1 and no man improves4 ,society never advances4 ,it recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other4 ,it undergoes continual changes2 it is barbarous1 it is civilized1 it is ,christianized1 it is rich1 it is scientific2 but this change is not amelioration4 ,for everything that is given1 something is taken4 ,society acquires new arts1 and loses old instincts4 ,what a contrast between the well-clad1 reading1 writing1 thinking ,american1 with a watch1 a pencil1 and a bill of exchange in his pocket1 and the naked ,new ,zealander1#bfj whose property is a club1 a spear1 a mat1 and an undivided twentieth of a shed to sleep under6 ,but compare the health of the two men1 and you shall see that the white man has lost his aboriginal strength4 ,if the traveler tell us truly1 strike the savage with a broad ax1 and in a day or two the flesh shall unite and heal as if you struck the blow into soft pitch1 and the same blow shall send the white to his grave4 ,the civilized man has built a coach1 but has lost the use of his feet4 ,he is supported on crutches1 but lacks so much support of muscle4 ,he has a fine ,geneva#bfa watch1 but he fails of the skill to tell the hour by the sun4 ,a ,greenwich nautical almanac#bfb he has1 and so being sure of the information when he wants it1 the man in the street does not know a star in the sky4 ,the solstice#bfc he does not observe2 the equinox he knows as little2 and the whole bright calendar of the year is without a dial in his mind4 ,his notebooks impair his memory2 his libraries overload his wit2 the insurance office increases the number of accidents2 and it may be a question whether machinery does not encumber2 whether we have not lost by refinement some energy1 by a ,christianity entrenched in establishments and forms1 some vigor of wild virtue4 ,for every ,stoic was a ,stoic2 but in ,christendom where is the ,christian8 ,there is no more deviation in the moral standard than in the standard of height or bulk4 ,no greater men are now than ever were4 ,a singular equality may be observed between great men of the first and of the last ages2 nor can all the science1 art1 religion1 and philosophy of the nineteenth century avail to educate greater men than ,plutarch's#bfd heroes1 three or four and twenty centuries ago4 ,not in time is the race progressive4 ,phocion1#bfe ,socrates1 ,anaxagoras1#bff ,diogenes1#bfg are great men1 but they leave no class4 ,he who is really of their class will not be called by their name1 but will be his own man1 and1 in his turn1 the founder of a sect4 ,the arts and inventions of each period are only its costume1 and do not invigorate men4 ,the harm of the improved machinery may compensate its good4 ,hudson#bfh and ,bering#bfi accomplished so much in their fishing boats1 as to astonish ,parry#bgj and ,franklin1#bga whose equipment exhausted the resources of science and art4 ,galileo1 with an opera-glass1 discovered a more splendid series of celestial phenomena than any one since4 ,columbus#bgb found the ,new ,world in an undecked boat4 ,it is curious to see the periodical disuse and perishing of means and machinery1 which were introduced with loud laudation a few years or centuries before4 ,the great genius returns to essential man4 ,we reckoned the improvements of the art of war among the triumphs of science1 and yet ,napoleon#bgc conquered ,europe by the bivouac1 which consisted of falling back on naked valor1 and disencumbering it of all aids4 ,the ,emperor held it impossible to make a perfect army1 says ,las ,casas1#bgd without abolishing our arms1 magazines1 commissaries1 and carriages1 until1 in imitation of the ,roman custom1 the soldier should receive his supply of corn1 grind it in his handmill1 and bake his bread himself4 ,society is a wave4 ,the wave moves onward1 but the water of which it is composed does not4 ,the same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge4 ,its unity is only phenomenal4 ,the persons who make up a nation to-day1 next year die1 and their experience with them4 ,and so the reliance on ,property1 including the reliance on governments which protect it1 is the want of self-reliance4 ,men have looked away from themselves and at things so long1 that they have come to esteem the religious1 learned1 and civil institutions as guards of property1 and they deprecate assaults on these1 because they feel them to be assaults on property4 ,they measure their esteem of each other by what each has1 and not by what each is4 ,but a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property1 out of new respect for his nature4 ,especially he hates what he has1 if he see that it is accidental1--came to him by inheritance1 or gift1 or crime2 then he feels that it is not having2 it does not belong to him1 has no root in him1 and merely lies there1 because no revolution or no robber takes it away4 ,but that which a man is1 does always by necessity acquire1 and what the man acquires is living property1 which does not wait the beck of rulers1 or mobs1 or revolutions1 or fire1 or storm1 or bankruptcies1 but perpetually renews itself wherever the man breathes4 ,thy lot or portion of life1 said the ,caliph ,ali1#bge is seeking after thee2 therefore be at rest from seeking after it4 ,our dependence on these foreign goods leads us to our slavish respect for numbers4 ,the political parties meet in numerous conventions2 the greater the concourse1 and with each new uproar of announcement1 ,the delegation from ,essex6#bgf ,the ,democrats from ,new ,hampshire6 ,the ,whigs of ,maine6 the young patriot feels himself stronger than before by a new thousand of eyes and arms4 ,in like manner the reformers summon conventions1 and vote and resolve in multitude4 ,not so1 ,o friends6 will the god deign to enter and inhabit you1 but by a method precisely the reverse4 ,it is only as a man puts off all foreign support1 and stands alone1 that ,i see him to be strong and to prevail4 ,he is weaker by every recruit to his banner4 ,is not a man better than a town8 ,ask nothing of men1 and in the endless mutation1 thou only firm column must presently appear the upholder of all that surrounds thee4 ,he who knows that power is inborn1 that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere1 and so perceiving1 throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought1 instantly rights himself1 stands in the erect position1 commands his limbs1 works miracles2 just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head4 ,so use all that is called ,fortune4#bgg ,most men gamble with her1 and gain all1 and lose all1 as her wheel rolls4 ,but do thou leave as unlawful these winnings1 and deal with ,cause and ,effect1 the chancelors of ,god4 ,in the ,will work and acquire1 and thou hast chained the wheel of ,chance1 and shalt sit hereafter out of fear from her rotations4 ,a political victory1 a rise of rents1 the recovery of your sick1 or the return of your absent friend1 or some other favorable event1 raises your spirits1 and you think good days are preparing for you4 ,do not believe it4 ,nothing can bring you peace but yourself4 ,nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles4 ,,friendship4#bgh #a4 ,we have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken4 ,barring all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world1 the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether4 ,how many persons we meet in houses1 whom we scarcely speak to1 whom yet we honor1 and who honor us6 ,how many we see in the street1 or sit with in church1 whom1 though silently1 we warmly rejoice to be with6 ,read the language of these wandering eyebeams4 ,the heart knoweth4 #b4 ,the effect of the indulgence of this human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration4 ,in poetry1 and in common speech1 the emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt toward others1 are likened to the material effects of fire2 so swift1 or much more swift1 more active1 more cheering are these fine inward irradiations4 ,from the highest degree of passionate love1 to the lowest degree of good will1 they make the sweetness of life4 #c4 ,our intellectual and active powers increase with our affection4 ,the scholar sits down to write1 and all his years of meditation do not furnish him with one good thought or happy expression2 but it is necessary to write a letter to a friend1 and1 forthwith1 troops of gentle thoughts invest themselves1 on every hand1 with chosen words4 ,see in any house where virtue and self-respect abide1 the palpitation which the approach of a stranger causes4 ,a commended stranger is expected and announced1 and an uneasiness between pleasure and pain invades all the hearts of a household4 ,his arrival almost brings fear to the good hearts that would welcome him4 ,the house is dusted1 all things fly into their places1 the old coat is exchanged for the new1 and they must get up a dinner if they can4 ,of a commended stranger1 only the good report is told by others1 only the good and new is heard by us4 ,he stands to us for humanity4 ,he is1 what we wish4 ,having imagined and invested him1 we ask how we should stand related in conversation and action with such a man1 and are uneasy with fear4 ,the same idea exalts conversation with him4 ,we talk better than we are wont4 ,we have the nimblest fancy1 a richer memory1 and our dumb devil has taken leave for the time4 ,for long hours we can continue a series of sincere1 graceful1 rich communications1 drawn from the oldest1 secretest experience1 so that they who sit by1 of our own kinsfolk and acquaintance1 shall feel a lively surprise at our unusual powers4 ,but as soon as the stranger begins to intrude his partialities1 his definitions1 his defects1 into the conversation1 it is all over4 ,he has heard the first1 the last and best1 he will ever hear from us4 ,he is no stranger now4 ,vulgarity1 ignorance1 misapprehension1 are old acquaintances4 ,now1 when he comes1 he may get the order1 the dress1 and the dinner1 but the throbbing of the heart1 and the communications of the soul1 no more4 #d4 ,what is so pleasant as these jets of affection which relume#bgi a young world for me again8 ,what is so delicious as a just and firm encounter of two1 in a thought1 in a feeling8 ,how beautiful1 on their approach to this beating heart1 the steps and forms of the gifted and the true6 ,the moment we indulge our affections1 the earth is metamorphosed2 there is no winter1 and no night2 all tragedies1 all ennuis vanish2 all duties even2 nothing fills the proceeding eternity but the forms all radiant of beloved persons4 ,let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its friend1 and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years4 #e4 ,i awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends1 the old and the new4 ,shall ,i not call ,god1 the ,beautiful1 who daily showeth himself so to me in his gifts8 ,i chide society1 ,i embrace solitude1 and yet ,i am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise1 the lovely1 and the noble-minded1 as from time to time they pass my gate4#bhj ,who hears me1 who understands me1 becomes mine1--a possession for all time4 ,nor is nature so poor1 but she gives me this joy several times1 and thus we weave social threads of our own1 a new web of relations2 and1 as many thoughts in succession substantiate themselves1 we shall by-and-by stand in a new world of our own creation1 and no longer strangers and pilgrims is a traditionary globe4 ,my friends have come#bha to me unsought4 ,the great ,god gave them to me4 ,by oldest right1 by the divine affinity of virtue with itself1 ,i find them1 or rather1 not ,i1 but the ,deity in me and in them1 both deride and cancel the thick walls of individual character1 relation1 age1 sex and circumstance1 at which he usually connives1 and now makes many one4 ,high thanks ,i owe you1 excellent lovers1 who carry out the world for me to new and noble depths1 and enlarge the meaning of all my thoughts4 ,these are new poetry of the first ,bard#bhb--poetry without stop--hymn1 ode and epic1#bhc poetry still flowing1 ,apollo#bhd and the ,muses#bhe chanting still4 ,will these two separate themselves from me again1 or some of them8 ,i know not1 but ,i fear it not2 for my relation to them is so pure1 that we hold by simple affinity1 and the ,genius#bhf of my life being thus social1 the same affinity will exert its energy on whomsoever is as noble as these men and women1 wherever ,i may be4 #f4 ,i confess to an extreme tenderness of nature on this point4 ,it is almost dangerous to me to crush the sweet poison1#bhg of misused wine of the affections4 ,a new person is to me a great event1 and hinders me from sleep4 ,i have had such fine fancies lately about two or three persons1 as have given me delicious hours1 but the joy ends in the day3 it yields no fruit4 ,thought is not born of it2 my action is very little modified4 ,i must feel pride in my friend's accomplishments as if they were mine1 and a property in his virtues4 ,i feel as warmly when he is praised1 as the lover when he hears applause of his engaged maiden4 ,we over-estimate the conscience of our friend4 ,his goodness seems better than our goodness1 his nature finer1 his temptations less4 ,everything that is his1--his name1 his form1 his dress1 books and instruments1--fancy enhances4 ,our own thought sounds new and larger from his mouth4 #g4 ,yet the systole and diastole#bhh of the heart are not without their analogy in the ebb and flow of love4 ,friendship1 like the immortality#bhi of the soul1 is too good to be believed4 ,the lover1 beholding his maiden1 half knows that she is not verily that which he worships2 and in the golden hour of friendship1 we are surprised with shades of suspicion and unbelief4 ,we doubt that we bestow on our hero the virtues in which he shines1 and afterward worship the form to which we have ascribed this divine inhabitation4 ,in strictness1 the soul does not respect men as it respects itself4 ,in strict science1 all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness4 ,shall we fear to cool our love by mining for the metaphysical foundation of this ,elysian temple8#bij ,shall ,i not be as real as the things ,i see8 ,if ,i am1 ,i shall not fear to know them for what they are4 ,their essence is not less beautiful than their appearance1 though it needs finer organs for its apprehension4 ,the root of the plant is not unsightly to science1 though for chaplets and festoons we cut the stem short4 ,and ,i must hazard the production of the bald fact amid these pleasing reveries1 though it should prove an ,egyptian skull at our banquet4#bia ,a man who stands united with his thought1 conceives magnificently to himself4 ,he is conscious of a universal success1#bib even though bought by uniform particular failures4 ,no advantages1 no powers1 no gold or force can be any match for him4 ,i cannot choose but rely on my own poverty1 more than on your wealth4 ,i cannot make your consciousness tantamount to mine4 ,only the star dazzles2 the planet has a faint1 moon-like ray4 ,i hear what you say of the admirable parts and tried temper of the party you praise1 but ,i see well that for all his purple cloaks ,i shall not like him1 unless he is at least a poor ,greek like me4 ,i cannot deny it1 ,o friend1 that the vast shadow of the ,phenomenal includes thee1 also1 in its pied and painted immensity1--thee1 also1 compared with whom all else is shadow4 ,thou art not ,being1 as ,truth is1 as ,justice is1--thou art not my soul1 but a picture and effigy of that4 ,thou hast come to me lately1 and already thou art seizing thy hat and cloak4 ,it is not that the soul puts forth friends1 as the tree puts forth leaves1 and presently1 by the germination of new buds1 extrudes the old leaf8#bic ,the law of nature is alternation forevermore4 ,each electrical state superinduces the opposite4 ,the soul environs itself with friends1 that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude2 and it goes alone1 for a season1 that it may exalt its conversation or society4 ,this method betrays itself along the whole history of our personal relations4 ,the instinct of affection revives the hope of union with our mates1 and the returning sense of insulation recalls us from the chase4 ,thus every man passes his life in the search after friendship1 and if he should record his true sentiment1 he might write a letter like this1 to each new candidate for his love3-- ,,dear ,,friend3-- ,if ,i was sure of thee1 sure of thy capacity1 sure to match my mood with thine1 ,i should never think again of trifles1 in relation to thy comings and goings4 ,i am not very wise2 my moods are quite attainable2 and ,i respect thy genius2 it is to me as yet unfathomed2 yet dare ,i not presume in thee a perfect intelligence of me1 and so thou art to me a delicious torment4 ,thine ever1 or never4 #h4 ,yet these uneasy pleasures and fine pains are for curiosity1 and not for life4 ,they are not to be indulged4 ,this is to weave cobweb1 and not cloth4 ,our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions1 because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams1#bid instead of the tough fiber of the human heart4 ,the laws of friendship are great1 austere1 and eternal1 of one web with the laws of nature and of morals4 ,but we have aimed at a swift and petty benefit1 to suck a sudden sweetness4 ,we snatch at the slowest fruit in the whole garden of ,god1 which many summers and many winters must ripen4 ,we seek our friend not sacredly but with an adulterate passion which would appropriate him to ourselves4 ,in vain4 ,we are armed all over with subtle antagonisms1 which1 as soon as we meet1 begin to play1 and translate all poetry into stale prose4 ,almost all people descend to meet4 ,all association must be a compromise1 and1 what is worst1 the very flower and aroma of the flower of each of the beautiful natures disappears as they approach each other4 ,what a perpetual disappointment is actual society1 even of the virtuous and gifted6 ,after interviews have been compassed with long foresight1 we must be tormented presently by baffled blows1 by sudden1 unseasonable apathies1 by epilepsies of wit and of animal spirits1 in the heyday of friendship and thought4 ,our faculties do not play us true1 and both parties are relieved by solitude4 #i4 ,i ought to be equal to every relation4 ,it makes no difference how many friends ,i have1 and what content ,i can find in conversing with each1 if there be one to whom ,i am not equal4 ,if ,i have shrunk unequal from one contest instantly1 the joy ,i find in all the rest becomes mean and cowardly4 ,i should hate myself1 if then ,i made my other friends my asylum4 ,the valiant warrior#bie famoused for fight1 ,after a hundred victories1 once foiled1 ,is from the book of honor razed quite1 ,and all the rest forgot for which he toiled4 #aj4 ,our impatience is thus sharply rebuked4 ,bashfulness and apathy are a tough husk in which a delicate organization is protected from premature ripening4 ,it would be lost if it knew itself before any of the best souls were yet ripe enough to know and own it4 ,respect the naturlangsamkeit#bif which hardens the ruby in a million years1 and works in duration1 in which ,alps and ,andes come and go as rainbows4 ,the good spirit of our life has no heaven which is the price of rashness4 ,love1 which is the essence of ,god1 is not for levity1 but for the total worth of man4 ,let us not have this childish luxury in our regards1 but the austerest worth2 let us approach our friend with an audacious trust in the truth of his heart1 in the breadth1 impossible to be overturned1 of his foundations4 #aa4 ,the attractions of this subject are not to be resisted1 and ,i leave1 for the time1 all account of subordinate social benefit1 to speak of that select and sacred relation which is a kind of absolute1 and which even leaves the language of love suspicious and common1 so much is this purer1 and nothing is so much divine4 #ab4 ,i do not wish to treat friendships daintily1 but with roughest courage4 ,when they are real1 they are not glass threads or frost-work1 but the solidest thing we know4 ,for now1 after so many ages of experience1 what do we know of nature1 or of ourselves8 ,not one step has man taken toward the solution of the problem of his destiny4 ,in one condemnation of folly stand the whole universe of men4 ,but the sweet sincerity of joy and peace1 which ,i draw from this alliance with my brother's soul1 is the nut itself whereof all nature and all thought is but the husk and shell4 ,happy is the house that shelters a friend6 ,it might well be built1 like a festal bower or arch1 to entertain him a single day4 ,happier1 if he know the solemnity of that relation1 and honor its law6 ,he who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up1 like an ,olympian1#big to the great games1 where the first-born of the world are the competitors4 ,he proposes himself for contest where ,time1 ,want1 ,danger are in the lists1 and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of his beauty from the wear and tear of all these4 ,the gifts of fortune may be present or absent1 but all the hap in that contest depends on intrinsic nobleness1 and the contempt of trifles4 ,there are two elements that go to the composition of friendship1 each so sovereign1 that ,i can detect no superiority in either1 no reason why either should be first named4 ,one is ,truth4 ,a friend is a person with whom ,i may be sincere4 ,before him1 ,i may think aloud4 ,i am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal that ,i may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation1 courtesy1 and second thought1 which men never put off1 and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness1 with which one chemical atom meets another4 ,sincerity is the luxury allowed1 but diadems and authority1 only to the highest rank1 that being permitted to speak truth as having none above it to court or conform unto4 ,every man alone is sincere4 ,at the entrance of a second person1 hypocrisy begins4 ,we parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments1 by gossip1 by amusements1 by affairs4 ,we cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds4 ,i knew a man who1#bih under a certain religious frenzy1 cast off this drapery1 and omitting all compliments and commonplace1 spoke to the conscience of every person he encountered1 and that with great insight and beauty4 ,at first he was resisted1 and all men agreed he was mad4 ,but persisting1 as indeed he could not help doing1 for some time in this course1 he attained to the advantage of bringing every man of his acquaintance into true relations with him4 ,no man would think of speaking falsely with him1 or of putting him off with any chat of markets or reading-rooms4 ,but every man was constrained by so much sincerity to the like plain dealing and what love of nature1 what poetry1 what symbol of truth he had1 he did certainly show him4 ,but to most of us society shows not its face and eye1 but its side and its back4 ,to stand in true relations with men in a false age1 is worth a fit of insanity1 is it not8 ,we can seldom go erect4 ,almost every man we meet requires some civility1--requires to be humored2 he has some fame1 some talent1 some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned1 and which spoils all conversation with him4 ,but a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity1 but me4 ,my friend gives me entertainment without requiring any stipulation on my part4 ,a friend1 therefore1 is a sort of paradox#bii in nature4 ,i who alone am1 ,i who see nothing in nature whose existence ,i can affirm with equal evidence to my own1 behold now the semblance of my being in all its height1 variety and curiosity1 reiterated in a foreign form2 so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature4 #ac4 ,the other element of friendship is tenderness4 ,we are holden to men by every sort of tie1 by blood1 by pride1 by fear1 by hope1 by lucre1 by lust1 by hate1 by admiration1 by every circumstance and badge and trifle1 but we can scarce believe that so much character can subsist in another as to draw us by love4 ,can another be so blessed1 and we so pure1 that we can offer him tenderness8 ,when a man becomes dear to me1 ,i have touched the goal of fortune4 ,i find very little written directly to the heart of this matter in books4 ,and yet ,i have one text which ,i cannot choose but remember4 ,my author says1#cjj--;,i offer myself faintly and bluntly to those whose ,i effectually am1 and tender myself least to him to whom ,i am the most devoted4 ,i wish that friendship should have feet1 as well as eyes and eloquence4 ,it must plant itself on the ground1 before it vaults over the moon4 ,i wish it to be a little of a citizen1 before it is quite a cherub4#cja ,we chide the citizen because he makes love a commodity4 ,it is an exchange of gifts1 of useful loans2 it is good neighborhood2 it watches with the sick2 it holds the pall at the funeral2 and quite loses sight of the delicacies and nobility of the relation4 ,but though we cannot find the god under this disguise of a sutler1 yet1 on the other hand1 we cannot forgive the poet if he spins his thread too fine1 and does not substantiate his romance by the municipal virtues of justice1 punctuality1 fidelity and pity4 ,i hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances4 ,i much prefer the company of plow-boys and tin-peddlers1 to the silken and perfumed amity which only celebrates its days of encounter by a frivolous display1 by rides in a curricle1#cjb and dinners at the best taverns4 ,the end of friendship is a commerce the most strict and homely that can be joined2 more strict than any of which we have experience4 ,it is for aid and comfort through all the relations and passages of life and death4 ,it is fit for serene days1 and graceful gifts1 and country rambles1 but also for rough roads and hard fare1 shipwreck1 poverty1 and persecution4 ,it keeps company with the sallies of the wit and the trances of religion4 ,we are to dignify to each other the daily needs and offices of man's life1 and embellish it by courage1 wisdom and unity4 ,it should never fall into something usual and settled1 but should be alert and inventive1 and add rhyme and reason to what was drudgery4 #ad4 ,friendship may be said to require natures so rare and costly1 each so well-tempered1 and so happily adapted1 and withal so circumstanced1 7for even in that particular1 a poet says1 love demands that the parties be altogether paired17 that its satisfaction can very seldom be assured4 ,it cannot subsist in its perfection1 say some of those who are learned in this warm lore of the heart1 betwixt more than two4 ,i am not quite so strict in my terms1 perhaps because ,i have never known so high a fellowship as others4 ,i please my imagination more with a circle of godlike men and women variously related to each other1 and between whom subsists a lofty intelligence4 ,but ,i find this law of one to one1#cjc peremptory for conversation1 which is the practice and consummation of friendship4 ,do not mix waters too much4 ,the best mix as ill as good and bad4 ,you shall have very useful and cheering discourse at several times with two several men1 but let all three of you come together1 and you shall not have one new and hearty word4 ,two may talk and one may hear1 but three cannot take part in a conversation of the most sincere and searching sort4 ,in good company there is never such discourse between two1 across the table1 as takes place when you leave them alone4 ,in good company1 the individuals at once merge their egotism into a social soul exactly co-extensive with the several consciousnesses there present4 ,no partialities of friend to friend1 no fondnesses of brother to sister1 of wife to husband1 are there pertinent1 but quite otherwise4 ,only he may then speak who can sail on the common thought of the party1 and not poorly limited to his own4 ,now this convention1 which good sense demands1 destroys the high freedom of great conversation1 which requires an absolute running of two souls into one4 #ae4 ,no two men but being left alone with each other1 enter into simpler relations4 ,yet it is affinity that determines which two shall converse4 ,unrelated men give little joy to each other2 will never suspect the latent powers of each4 ,we talk sometimes of a great talent for conversation1 as if it were a permanent property in some individuals4 ,conversation is an evanescent relation1--no more4 ,a man is reputed to have thought and eloquence2 he cannot1 for all that1 say a word to his cousin or his uncle4 ,they accuse his silence with as much reason as they would blame the insignificance of a dial in the shade4 ,in the sun it will mark the hour4 ,among those who enjoy his thought1 he will regain his tongue4 #af4 ,friendship requires that rare mean betwixt likeness and unlikeness1 that piques each with the presence of power and of consent in the other party4 ,let me be alone to the end of the world1 rather than that my friend should overstep by a word or a look his real sympathy4 ,i am equally balked by antagonism and by compliance4 ,let him not cease an instant to be himself4 ,the only joy ,i have in his being mine1 is that the not mine is mine4 ,i hate1 where ,i looked for a manly furtherance1 or at least a manly resistance1 to find a mush of concession4 ,better be a nettle in the side of your friend1 than his echo4 ,the condition which high friendship demands is ability to do without it4 ,that high office requires great and sublime parts4 ,there must be very two before there can be very one4 ,let it be an alliance of two large formidable natures1 mutually beheld1 mutually feared1 before yet they recognize the deep identity which beneath these disparities unites them4 #ag4 ,he only is fit for this society who is magnanimous2 who is sure that greatness and goodness are always economy2 who is not swift to intermeddle with his fortunes4 ,let him not intermeddle with this4 ,leave to the diamond its ages to grow1 nor expect to accelerate the births of the eternal4 ,friendship demands a religious treatment4 ,we talk of choosing our friends1 but friends are self-elected4 ,reverence is a great part of it4 ,treat your friend as a spectacle4 ,of course he has merits that are not yours1 and that you cannot honor1 if you must needs hold him close to your person4 ,stand aside2 give those merits room2 let them mount and expand4 ,are you the friend of your friend's buttons1 or of his thought8 ,to a great heart he will still be a stranger in a thousand particulars1 that he may come near in the holiest ground4 ,leave it to girls and boys to regard a friend as property1 and to suck a short and all-confounding pleasure instead of the noblest benefits4 #ah4 ,let us buy our entrance to this guild by a long probation4 ,why should we desecrate noble and beautiful souls by intruding on them8 ,why insist on rash personal relations with your friend8 ,why go to his house1 or know his mother and brother and sisters8 ,why be visited by him at your own8 ,are these things material to our covenant8 ,leave this touching and clawing4 ,let him be to me a spirit4 ,a message1 a thought1 a sincerity1 a glance from him ,i want1 but not news1 nor pottage4 ,i can get politics1 and chat1 and neighborly conveniences1 from cheaper companions4 ,should not the society of my friend be to me poetic1 pure1 universal1 and great as nature itself8 ,ought ,i to feel that our tie is profane in comparison with yonder bar of cloud that sleeps on the horizon1 or that clump of waving grass that divides the brook8 ,let us not vilify but raise it to that standard4 ,that great defying eye1 that scornful beauty of his mien and action1 do not pique yourself on reducing1 but rather fortify and enhance4 ,worship his superiorities2 wish him not less by a thought1 but hoard and tell them all4 ,guard him as thy counterpart4 ,let him be to thee forever a sort of beautiful enemy1 untamable1 devoutly revered1 and not a trivial conveniency to be soon outgrown and cast aside4 ,the hues of the opal1 the light of the diamond1 are not to be seen1 if the eye is too near4 ,to my friend ,i write a letter1 and from him ,i receive a letter4 ,that seems to you a little4 ,it suffices me4 ,it is a spiritual gift worthy of him to give and of me to receive4 ,it profanes nobody4 ,in these warm lines the heart will trust itself1 as it will not to the tongue1 and pour out the prophecy of a godlier existence than all the annals of heroism have yet made good4 #ai4 ,respect so far the holy laws of this fellowship as not to prejudice its perfect flower by your impatience for its opening4 ,we must be our own before we can be another's4 ,there is at least this satisfaction in crime1 according to the ,latin proverb2--you can speak to your accomplice on even terms4 ,crimen quos#cjd inquinat1 quat4 ,to those whom we admire and love1 at first we cannot4 ,yet the least defect of self-possession vitiates1 in my judgment1 the entire relation4 ,there can never be deep peace between two spirits1 never mutual respect until1 in their dialogue1 each stands for the whole world4 #bj4 ,what is so great as friendship1 let us carry with what grandeur of spirit we can4 ,let us be silent1--so we may hear the whisper of the gods4 ,let us not interfere4 ,who set you to cast about what you should say to the select souls1 or how to say anything to such8 ,no matter how ingenious1 no matter how graceful and bland4 ,there are innumerable degrees of folly and wisdom1 and for you to say aught is to be frivolous4 ,wait1 and thy heart shall speak4 ,wait until the necessary and everlasting overpowers you1 until day and night avail themselves of your lips4 ,the only reward of virtue1 is virtue2 the only way to have a friend is to be one4 ,you shall not come nearer a man by getting into his house4 ,if unlike1 his soul only flees the faster from you1 and you shall catch never a true glance of his eye4 ,we see the noble afar off1 and they repel us2 why should we intrude8 ,late1--very late1--we perceive that no arrangements1 no introductions1 no consuetudes or habits of society1 would be of any avail to establish us in such relations with them as we desire1--but solely the uprise of nature in us to the same degree it is in them2 then shall we meet as water with water2 and if we should not meet them then1 we shall not want them1 for we are already they4 ,in the last analysis1 love is only the reflection of a man's own worthiness from other men4 ,men have sometimes exchanged names with their friends1 as if they would signify that in their friend each loved his own soul4 #ba4 ,the higher the style we demand of friendship1 of course the less easy to establish it with flesh and blood4 ,we walk alone in the world4 ,friends1 such as we desire1 are dreams and fables4 ,but a sublime hope cheers ever the faithful heart1 that elsewhere1 in other regions of the universal power1 souls are now acting1 enduring and daring1 which can love us1 and which we can love4 ,we may congratulate ourselves that the period of nonage1#cje of follies1 of blunders1 and of shame1 is passed in solitude1 and when we are finished men1 we shall grasp heroic hands in heroic hands4 ,only be admonished by what you already see1 not to strike leagues of friendship with cheap persons1 where no friendship can be4 ,our impatience betrays us into rash and foolish alliances which no ,god attends4 ,by persisting in your path1 though you forfeit the little you gain the great4 ,you demonstrate yourself1 so as to put yourself out of the reach of false relations1 and you draw to you the first-born of the world1 those rare pilgrims whereof only one or two wander in nature at once1 and before whom the vulgar great show as specters and shadows merely4 #bb4 ,it is foolish to be afraid of making our ties too spiritual1 as if so we could lose any genuine love4 ,whatever correction of our popular views we make from insight1 nature will be sure to bear us out in1 and though it seem to rob us of some joy1 will repay us with a greater4 ,let us feel1 if we will1 the absolute insulation of man4 ,we are sure that we have all in us4 ,we go to ,europe1 or we pursue persons1 or we read books1 in the instinctive faith that these will call it out and reveal us to ourselves4 ,beggars all4 ,the persons are such as we2 the ,europe1 an old faded garment of dead persons2 the books1 their ghosts4 ,let us drop this idolatry4 ,let us give over this mendicancy4 ,let us even bid our dearest friends farewell1 and defy them1 saying1 ,who are you8 ,unhand me4 ,i will be dependent no more4 ,ah6 seest thou not1 ,o brother1 that thus we part only to meet again on a higher platform1 and only be more each other's1 because we are more our own8 ,a friend is ,janus-faced3#cjf he looks to the past and the future4 ,he is the child of all my foregoing hours1 the prophet of those to come1 and the harbinger#cjg of a greater friend4 #bc4 ,i do then with my friends as ,i do with my books4 ,i would have them where ,i can find them1 but ,i seldom use them4 ,we must have society on our own terms1 and admit or exclude it on the slightest cause4 ,i cannot afford to speak much with my friend4 ,if he is great1 he makes me so great that ,i cannot descend to converse4 ,in the great days1 presentiments hover before me1 far before me in the firmament4 ,i ought then to dedicate myself to them4 ,i go in that ,i may seize them1 ,i go out that ,i may seize them4 ,i fear only that ,i may lose them receding into the sky in which now they are only a patch of brighter light4 ,then1 though ,i prize my friends1 ,i cannot afford to talk with them and study their visions1 lest ,i lose my own4 ,it would indeed give me a certain household joy to quit this lofty seeking1 this spiritual astronomy1 or search of stars1 and come down to warm sympathies with you2 but then ,i know well ,i shall mourn always the vanishing of my mighty gods4 ,it is true1 next week ,i shall have languid moods1 when ,i can well afford to occupy myself with foreign objects2 then ,i shall regret the lost literature of your mind1 and wish you were by my side again4 ,but if you come1 perhaps you will fill my mind only with new visions1 not with yourself but with your lusters1 and ,i shall not be able any more than now to converse with you4 ,so ,i will owe to my friends this evanescent intercourse4 ,i will receive from them1 not what they have1 but what they are4 ,they shall give me that which properly they cannot give1 but which emanates from them4 ,but they shall not hold me by any relations less subtile and pure4 ,we will meet as though we met not1 and part as though we parted not4 #bd4 ,it has seemed to me lately more possible than ,i knew1 to carry a friendship greatly1 on one side1 without due correspondence on the other4 ,why should ,i cumber myself with regrets that the receiver is not capacious8 ,it never troubles the sun that some of his rays fall wide and vain into ungrateful space1 and only a small part on the reflecting planet4 ,let your greatness educate the crude and cold companion4 ,if he is unequal1 he will presently pass away2 but thou art enlarged by thy own shining1 and no longer a mate for frogs and worms1 dost soar and burn with the gods of the empyrean4#cjh ,it is thought a disgrace to love unrequited4 ,but the great will see that true love cannot be unrequited4 ,true love transcends the unworthy object1 and dwells and broods on the eternal1 and when the poor interposed mask crumbles1 it is not sad1 but feels rid of so much earth1 and feels its independency the surer4 ,yet these things may hardly be said without a sort of treachery to the relation4 ,the essence of friendship is entireness1 a total magnanimity and trust4 ,it must not surmise or provide for infirmity4 ,it treats its object as a god1 that it may deify both4 ,,heroism#cji ,paradise is under the shadow of swords1#caj ,mahomet4 #a4 ,in the elder ,english dramatists1#caa and mainly in the plays of ,beaumont and ,fletcher1#cab there is a constant recognition of gentility1 as if a noble behavior were as easily marked in the society of their age1 as color is in our ,american population4 ,when any ,rodrigo1 ,pedro1 or ,valerio#cac enters1 though he be a stranger1 the duke or governor exclaims1 ,this is a gentleman1--and proffers civilities without end2 but all the rest are slag and refuse4 ,in harmony with this delight in personal advantages1 there is in their plays a certain heroic cast of character and dialogue1--as in ,bonduca1 ,sophocles1 the ,mad ,lover1 the ,double ,marriage1#cad--wherein the speaker is so earnest and cordial1 and on such deep grounds of character1 that the dialogue1 on the slightest additional incident in the plot1 rises naturally into poetry4 ,among many texts1 take the following4 ,the ,roman ,martius has conquered ,athens--all but the invincible spirits of ,sophocles1 the duke of ,athens1 and ,dorigen1 his wife4 ,the beauty of the latter inflames ,martius1 and he seeks to save her husband2 but ,sophocles will not ask his life1 although assured1 that a word will save him1 and the execution of both proceeds4 ,valerius4 ,bid thy wife farewell4 ,soph4 ,no1 ,i will take no leave4 ,my ,dorigen1 ,yonder1 above1 'bout ,ariadne's crown4#cae ,my spirit shall hover for thee4 ,prithee1 haste4 ,dor4 ,stay1 ,sophocles--with this1 tie up my sight2 ,let not soft nature so transformed be1 ,and lose her gentler sexed humanity1 ,to make me see my lord bleed4 ,so1 'tis well2 ,never one object underneath the sun ,will ,i behold before my ,sophocles3 ,farewell2 now teach the ,romans how to die4 ,mar4 ,dost know what 'tis to die8 ,soph4 ,thou dost not1 ,martius1 ,and therefore1 not what 'tis to live2 to die ,is to begin to live4 ,it is to end ,an old1 stale1 weary work1 and to commence ,a newer and a better4 ',tis to leave ,deceitful knaves for the society ,of gods and goodness4 ,thou1 thyself1 must part ,at last1 from all thy garlands1 pleasures1 triumphs1 ,and prove thy fortitude what then 'twill do4 ,val4 ,but art not grieved nor vexed to leave thy life thus8 ,soph4 ,why should ,i grieve or vex for being sent ,to them ,i ever loved best8 ,now1 ,i'll kneel1 ,but with my back toward thee2 'tis the last duty ,this trunk can do the gods4 ,mar4 ,strike1 strike1 ,valerius1 ,or ,martius' heart will leap out at his mouth3 ,this is a man1 a woman6 ,kiss thy lord1 ,and live with all the freedom you were wont4 ,o love6 thou doubly hast afflicted me ,with virtue and with beauty4 ,treacherous heart1 ,my hand shall cast thee quick into my urn1 ,ere thou transgress this knot of piety4 ,val4 ,what ails my brother8 ,soph4 ,martius1 oh ,martius1 ,thou now hast found a way to conquer me4 ,dor4 ,o star of ,rome6 what gratitude can speak ,fit words to follow such a deed as this8 ,mar4 ,this admirable duke1 ,valerius1 ,with his disdain of fortune and of death1 ,captived himself1 has captived me1 ,and though my arm hath ta'en his body here1 ,his soul hath subjugated ,martius' soul4 ,by ,romulus1#caf he is all soul1 ,i think2 ,he hath no flesh1 and spirit cannot be gyved2 ,then we have vanquished nothing2 he is free1 ,and ,martius walks now in captivity4 #b4 ,i do not readily remember any poem1 play1 sermon1 novel1 or oration1 that our press vents in the last few years1 which goes to the same tune4 ,we have a great many flutes and flageolets1 but not often the sound of any fife4 ,yet1 ,wordsworth's ,laodamia1 and the ode of ,dion1#cag and some sonnets1 have a certain noble music2 and ,scott#cah will sometimes draw a stroke like the portrait of ,lord ,evandale1 given by ,balfour of ,burley4#cai ,thomas ,carlyle1#cbj with his natural taste for what is manly and daring in character1 has suffered no heroic trait in his favorites to drop from his biographical and historical pictures4 ,earlier1 ,robert ,burns#cba has given us a song or two4 ,in the ,harleian ,miscellanies1#cbb there is an account of the battle of ,lutzen1#cbc which deserves to be read4 ,and ,simon ,ockley's#cbd ,history of the ,saracens recounts the prodigies of individual valor with admiration1 all the more evident on the part of the narrator1 that he seems to think that his place in ,christian ,oxford#cbe requires of him some proper protestations of abhorrence4 ,but if we explore the literature of ,heroism1 we shall quickly come to ,plutarch1#cbf who is its ,doctor and historian4 ,to him we owe the ,brasidas1#cbg the ,dion1#cbh the ,epaminondas1#cbi the ,scipio#ccj of old1 and ,i must think we are more deeply indebted to him than to all the ancient writers4 ,each of his ,lives is a refutation to the despondency and cowardice of our religious and political theorists4 ,a wild courage1 a ,stoicism#cca not of the schools1 but of the blood1 shines in every anecdote1 and has given that book its immense fame4 #c4 ,we need books of this tart cathartic virtue1 more than books of political science1 or of private economy4 ,life is a festival only to the wise4 ,seen from the nook and chimney-side of prudence1 it wears a ragged and dangerous front4 ,the violations of the laws of nature by our predecessors and our contemporaries are punished in us also4 ,the disease and deformity around us certify the infraction of natural1 intellectual1 and moral laws1 and often violation on violation to breed such compound misery4 ,a lockjaw that bends a man's head back to his heels1 hydrophobia that makes him bark at his wife and babes1 insanity that makes him eat grass2 war1 plague1 cholera1 famine indicate a certain ferocity in nature1 which1 as it had its inlet by human crime1 must have its outlet by human suffering4 ,unhappily1 almost no man exists who has not in his own person become1 to some amount1 a stockholder in the sin1 and so made himself liable to a share in the expiation4 #d4 ,our culture1 therefore1 must not omit the arming of the man4 ,let him hear in season that he is born into the state of war1 and that the commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should not go dancing in the weeds of peace1 but warned1 self-collected1 and neither defying nor dreading the thunder1 let him take both reputation and life in his hand1 and1 with perfect urbanity1 dare the gibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech1 and the rectitude of his behavior4 #e4 ,toward all this external evil1 the man within the breast assumes a warlike attitude1 and affirms his ability to cope single-handed with the infinite army of enemies4 ,to this military attitude of the soul we give the name of ,heroism4 ,its rudest form is the contempt for safety and ease1 which makes the attractiveness of war4 ,it is a self-trust which slights the restraints of prudence1 in the plenitude of its energy and power to repair the harms it may suffer4 ,the hero is a mind of such balance that no disturbances can shake his will1 but pleasantly1 and1 as it were1 merrily1 he advances to his own music1 alike in frightful alarms1 and in the tipsy mirth of universal dissoluteness4 ,there is somewhat not philosophical in heroism2 there is somewhat not holy in it2 it seems not to know that other souls are of one texture with it2 it has pride2 it is the extreme of individual nature4 ,nevertheless1 we must profoundly revere it4 ,there is somewhat in great actions1 which does not allow us to go behind them4 ,heroism feels and never reasons1 and therefore is always right2 and although a different breeding1 different religion1 and greater intellectual activity1 would have modified or even reversed the particular action1 yet for the hero1 that thing he does is the highest deed1 and is not open to the censure of philosophers or divines4 ,it is the avowal of the unschooled man1 that he finds a quality in him that is negligent of expense1 of health1 of life1 of danger1 of hatred1 of reproach1 and knows that his will is higher and more excellent than all actual and all possible antagonists4 #f4 ,heroism works in contradiction to the voice of mankind1 and in contradiction1 for a time1 to the voice of the great and good4 ,heroism is an obedience#ccb to a secret impulse of an individual's character4 ,now to no other man can its wisdom appear as it does to him1 for every man must be supposed to see a little further on his own proper path than any one else4 ,therefore1 just and wise men take umbrage at his act1 until after some little time be past3 then they see it to be in unison with their acts4 ,all prudent men see that the action is clean contrary to a sensual prosperity2 for every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good4 ,but it finds its own success at last1 and then the prudent also extol4 #g4 ,self-trust is the essence of heroism4 ,it is the state of the soul at war1 and its ultimate objects are the last defiance of falsehood and wrong1 and the power to bear all that can be inflicted by evil agents4 ,it speaks the truth1 and it is just1 generous1 hospitable1 temperate1 scornful of petty calculations1 and scornful of being scorned4 ,it persists2 it is of an undaunted boldness1 and of a fortitude not to be wearied out4 ,its jest is the littleness of common life4 ,that false prudence which dotes on health and wealth is the butt and merriment of heroism4 ,heroism1 like ,plotinus1#ccc is almost ashamed of its body4 ,what shall it say1 then1 to the sugar-plums1 and cats'-cradles1 to the toilet1 compliments1 quarrels1 cards1 and custard1 which rack the wit of all human society4 ,what joys has kind nature provided for us dear creatures6 ,there seems to be no interval between greatness and meanness4 ,when the spirit is not master of the world then it is its dupe4 ,yet the little man takes the great hoax so innocently1 works in it so headlong and believing1 is born red1 and dies gray1 arranging his toilet1 attending on his own health1 laying traps for sweet food and strong wine1 setting his heart on a horse or a rifle1 made happy with a little gossip or a little praise1 that the great soul cannot choose but laugh at such earnest nonsense4 ,indeed1 these humble considerations#ccd make me out of love with greatness4 ,what a disgrace is it to me to take note how many pairs of silk stockings thou hast1 namely1 these and those that were the peach-colored ones2 or to bear the inventory of thy shirts1 as one for superfluity1 and one other for use6 #h4 ,citizens1 thinking after the laws of arithmetic1 consider the inconvenience of receiving strangers at their fireside1 reckon narrowly the loss of time and the unusual display3 the soul of a better quality thrusts back the unreasonable economy into the vaults of life1 and says1 ,i will obey the ,god1 and the sacrifice and the fire he will provide4 ,ibn ,hankal1#cce the ,arabian geographer1 describes a heroic extreme in the hospitality of ,sogd1 in ,bokhar1#ccf ,when ,i was in ,sogd ,i saw a great building1 like a palace1 the gates of which were open and fixed back to the wall with large nails4 ,i asked the reason1 and was told that the house had not been shut1 night or day1 for a hundred years4 ,strangers may present themselves at any hour1 and in whatever number2 the master has amply provided for the reception of the men and their animals1 and is never happier than when they tarry for some time4 ,nothing of the kind have ,i seen in any other country4 ,the magnanimous know very well that they who give time1 or money1 or shelter1 to the stranger--so it be done for love1 and not for ostentation--do1 as it were1 put ,god under obligation to them1 so perfect are the compensations of the universe4 ,in some way the time they seem to lose is redeemed1 and the pains they seem to take remunerate themselves4 ,these men fan the flame of human love1 and raise the standard of civil virtue among mankind4 ,but hospitality must be for service1 and not for show1 or it pulls down the host4 ,the brave soul rates itself too high to value itself by the splendor of its table and draperies4 ,it gives what it hath1 and all it hath1 but its own majesty can lend a better grace to bannocks#ccg and fair water than belong to city feasts4 #i4 ,the temperance of the hero proceeds from the same wish to do no dishonor to the worthiness he has4 ,but he loves it for its elegancy1 not for its austerity4 ,it seems not worth his while to be solemn1 and denounce with bitterness flesh-eating or wine-drinking1 the use of tobacco1 or opium1 or tea1 or silk1 or gold4 ,a great man scarcely knows how he dines1 how he dresses2 but without railing or precision1 his living is natural and poetic4 ,john ,eliot1#cch the ,indian ,apostle1 drank water1 and said of wine1--,it is a noble1 generous liquor1 and we should be humbly thankful for it1 but1 as ,i remember1 water was made before it4 ,better still is the temperance of king ,david#cci who poured out on the ground unto the ,lord the water which three of his warriors had brought him to drink1 at the peril of their lives4 #aj4 ,it is told of ,brutus1#cdj that when he fell on his sword1 after the battle of ,philippi1#cda he quoted a line of ,euripides1#cdb--,o virtue6 ,i have followed thee through life1 and ,i find thee at last but a shade4 ,i doubt not the hero is slandered by this report4 ,the heroic soul does not sell its justice and its nobleness4 ,it does not ask to dine nicely1 and to sleep warm4 ,the essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough4 ,poverty is its ornament4 ,it does not need plenty1 and can very well abide its loss4 #aa4 ,but that which takes my fancy most1 in the heroic class1 is the good humor and hilarity they exhibit4 ,it is a height to which common duty can very well attain1 to suffer and to dare with solemnity4 ,but these rare souls set opinion1 success1 and life1 at so cheap a rate1 that they will not soothe their enemies by petitions1 or the show of sorrow1 but wear their own habitual greatness4 ,scipio1#cdc charged with peculation1 refuses to do himself so great a disgrace as to wait for justification1 though he had the scroll of his accounts in his hands1 but tears it to pieces before the tribunes4 ,socrates'#cdd condemnation of himself to be maintained in all honor in the ,prytaneum1#cde during his life1 and ,sir ,thomas ,more's#cdf playfulness at the scaffold1 are of the same strain4 ,in ,beaumont and ,fletcher's ,sea ,voyage1 ,juletta tells the stout captain and his company1 ,jul4 ,why1 slaves1 'tis in our power to hang ye4 ,master4 ,very likely1 ',tis in our powers1 then1 to be hanged1 and scorn ye4 ,these replies are sound and whole4 ,sport is the bloom and glow of a perfect health4 ,the great will not condescend to take anything seriously2 all must be as gay as the song of a canary1 though it were the building of cities1 or the eradication of old and foolish churches and nations1 which have cumbered the earth long thousands of years4 ,simple hearts put all the history and customs of this world behind them1 and play their own play in innocent defiance of the ,blue-,laws#cdg of the world2 and such would appear1 could we see the human race assembled in vision1 like little children frolicking together2 though1 to the eyes of mankind at large1 they wear a stately and solemn garb of works and influences4 #ab4 ,the interest these fine stories have for us1 the power of a romance over the boy who grasps the forbidden book under his bench at school1 our delight in the hero1 is the main fact to our purpose4 ,all these great and transcendent properties are ours4 ,if we dilate in beholding the ,greek energy1 the ,roman pride1 it is that we are already domesticating the same sentiment4 ,let us find room for this great guest in our small houses4 ,the first step of worthiness will be to disabuse us of our superstitious associations with places and times1 with number and size4 ,why should these words1 ,athenian1 ,roman1 ,asia1 and ,england1 so tingle in the ear8 ,where the heart is1 there the muses1 there the gods sojourn1 and not in any geography of fame4 ,massachusetts1 ,connecticut ,river1 and ,boston ,bay1 you think paltry places1 and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography4 ,but here we are2 and1 if we will tarry a little1 we may come to learn that here is best4 ,see to it only that thyself is here2--and art and nature1 hope and fate1 friends1 angels1 and the ,supreme ,being1 shall not be absent from the chamber where thou sittest4 ,epaminondas1#cdh brave and affectionate1 does not seem to us to need ,olympus#cdi to die upon1 nor the ,syrian sunshine4 ,he lies very well where he is4 ,the ,jerseys#cej were handsome ground enough for ,washington to tread1 and ,london streets for the feet of ,milton4#cea ,a great man makes his climate genial in the imagination of men1 and its air the beloved element of all delicate spirits4 ,that country is the fairest1 which is inhabited by the noblest minds4 ,the pictures which fill the imagination in reading the actions of ,pericles1#ceb ,xenophon1#cec ,columbus1#ced ,bayard1#cee ,sidney1#cef ,hampden1#ceg teach us how needlessly mean our life is1 that we1 by the depth of our living1 should deck it with more than regal or national splendor1 and act on principles that should interest man and nature in the length of our days4 #ac4 ,we have seen or heard of many extraordinary young men1 who never ripened1 or whose performance in actual life was not extraordinary4 ,when we see their air and mien1 when we hear them speak of society1 or books1 or religion1 we admire their superiority2 they seem to throw contempt on our entire polity and social state2 theirs is the tone of a youthful giant1 who is sent to work revolutions4 ,but they enter an active profession1 and the forming ,colossus#ceh shrinks to the common size of man4 ,the magic they used was the ideal tendencies1 which always make the ,actual ridiculous2 but the tough world had its revenge the moment they put their horses of the sun to plow in its furrow4 ,they found no example and no companion1 and their heart fainted4 ,what then8 ,the lesson they gave in their first aspirations1 is yet true2 and a better valor and a purer truth shall one day organize their belief4 ,or why should a woman liken herself to any historical woman1 and think1 because ,sappho1#cei or ,svign1#cfj or ,de ,stal1#cfa or the cloistered souls who have had genius and cultivation1 do not satisfy the imagination and the serene ,themis1#cfb none can1--certainly not she4 ,why not8 ,she has a new and unattempted problem to solve1 perchance that of the happiest nature that ever bloomed4 ,let the maiden1 with erect soul1 walk serenely on her way1 accept the hint of each new experience1 search1 in turn1 all the objects that solicit her eye1 that she may learn the power and the charm of her new-born being which is the kindling of a new dawn in the recesses of space4 ,the fair girl1 who repels interference by a decided and proud choice of influences1 so careless of pleasing1 so wilful and lofty1 inspires every beholder with somewhat of her own nobleness4 ,the silent heart encourages her2 ,o friend1 never strike sail to a fear6 ,come into port greatly1 or sail with ,god the seas4 ,not in vain you live1 for every passing eye is cheered and refined by the vision4 #ad4 ,the characteristic of a genuine heroism is its persistency4 ,all men have wandering impulses1 fits and starts of generosity4 ,but when you have chosen your part1 abide by it1 and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world4 ,the heroic cannot be the common1 nor the common the heroic4 ,yet we have the weakness to expect the sympathy of people in those actions whose excellence is that they outrun sympathy1 and appeal to a tardy justice4 ,if you would serve your brother1 because it is fit for you to serve him1 do not take back your words when you find that prudent people do not commend you4 ,adhere to your own act1 and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant1 and broken the monotony of a decorous age4 ,it was a high counsel#cfc that ,i once heard given to a young person1--,always do what you are afraid to do4 ,a simple manly character need never make an apology1 but should regard its past action with the calmness of ,phocion1#cfd when he admitted that the event of the battle was happy1 yet did not regret his dissuasion from the battle4 #ae4 ,there is no weakness or exposure for which we cannot find consolation in the thought1--this is a part of my constitution1 part of my relation and office to my fellow-creature4 ,has nature covenanted with me that ,i should never appear to disadvantage1 never make a ridiculous figure8 ,let us be generous of our dignity as well as of our money4 ,greatness once and forever has done with opinion4 ,we tell our charities1 not because we wish to be praised for them1 not because we think they have great merit1 but for our justification4 ,it is a capital blunder2 as you discover1 when another man recites his charities4 #af4 ,to speak the truth1 even with some austerity1 to live with some rigor of temperance1 or some extremes of generosity1 seems to be an asceticism which common good-nature would appoint to those who are at ease and in plenty1 in sign that they feel a brotherhood with the great multitude of suffering men4 ,and not only need we breathe and exercise the soul by assuming the penalties of abstinence1 of debt1 of solitude1 of unpopularity1 but it behooves the wise man to look with a bold eye into those rarer dangers which sometimes invade men1 and to familiarize himself with disgusting forms of disease1 with sounds of execration1 and the vision of violent death4 #ag4 ,times of heroism are generally times of terror1 but the day never shines in which this element may not work4 ,the circumstances of man1 we say1 are historically somewhat better in this country1 and at this hour1 than perhaps ever before4 ,more freedom exists for culture4 ,it will not now run against an ax at the first step out of the beaten track of opinion4 ,but whoso is heroic will always find crises to try his edge4 ,human virtue demands her champions and martyrs1 and the trial of persecution always proceeds4 ,it is but the other day that the brave ,lovejoy#cfe gave his breast to the bullets of a mob1 for the rights of free speech and opinion1 and died when it was better not to live4 #ah4 ,i see not any road to perfect peace which a man can walk1 but to take counsel of his own bosom4 ,let him quit too much association1 let him go home much1 and establish himself in those courses he approves4 ,the unremitting retention of simple and high sentiments in obscure duties is hardening the character to that temper which will work with honor1 if need be1 in the tumult1 or on the scaffold4 ,whatever outrages have happened to men may befall a man again2 and very easily in a republic1 if there appear any signs of a decay of religion4 ,coarse slander1 fire1 tar and feathers1 and the gibbet1 the youth may freely bring home to his mind1 and with what sweetness of temper he can1 and inquire how fast he can fix his sense of duty1 braving such penalties1 whenever it may please the next newspaper and a sufficient number of his neighbors to pronounce his opinions incendiary4 #ai4 ,it may calm the apprehension of calamity in the most susceptible heart to see how quick a bound nature has set to the utmost infliction of malice4 ,we rapidly approach a brink over which no enemy can follow us4 ,let them rave3#cff ,thou art quiet in thy grave4 ,in the gloom of our ignorance of what shall be1 in the hour when we are deaf to the higher voices1 who does not envy them who have seen safely to an end their manful endeavor8 ,who that sees the meanness of our politics1 but inly congratulates ,washington that he is long already wrapped in his shroud1 and forever safe2 that he was laid sweet in his grave1 the hope of humanity not yet subjugated in him8 ,who does not sometimes envy the good and brave1 who are no more to suffer from the tumults of the natural world1 and await with curious complacency the speedy term of his own conversation with finite nature8 ,and yet the love that will be annihilated sooner than treacherous has already made death impossible1 and affirms itself no mortal1 but a native of the deeps of absolute and inextinguishable being4 ,,manners#cfg #a4 ,half the world1 it is said1 knows not how the other half live4 ,our ,exploring ,expedition saw the ,feejee ,islanders#cfh getting their dinner off human bones2 and they are said to eat their own wives and children4 ,the husbandry of the modern inhabitants of ,gournou#cfi 7west of old ,thebes7 is philosophical to a fault4 ,to set up their housekeeping1 nothing is requisite but two or three earthen pots1 a stone to grind meal1 and a mat which is the bed4 ,the house1 namely1 a tomb1 is ready without rent or taxes4 ,no rain can pass through the roof1 and there is no door1 for there is no want of one1 as there is nothing to lose4 ,if the house do not please them1 they walk out and enter another1 as there are several hundreds at their command4 ,it is somewhat singular1 adds ,berzoni1 to whom we owe this account1 to talk of ,happiness among people who live in sepulchers1 among corpses and rags of an ancient nation which they knew nothing of4 ,in the deserts of ,borgoo#cgj the rock-,tibboos still dwell in caves1 like cliff-swallows1 and the language of these negroes is compared by their neighbors to the shrieking of bats1 and to the whistling of birds4 ,again1 the ,bornoos#cga have no proper names2 individuals are called after their height1 thickness1 or other accidental quality1 and have nick-names merely4 ,but the salt1 the dates1 the ivory1 and the gold1 for which these horrible regions are visited1 find their way into countries1 where the purchaser and consumer can hardly be ranked in one race with these cannibals and man-stealers2 countries where man serves himself with metals1 wood1 stone1 glass1 gum1 cotton1 silk and wool2 honors himself with architecture2#cgb writes laws1 and contrives to execute his will through the hands of many nations2 and1 especially1 establishes a select society1 running through all the countries of intelligent men1 a self-constituted aristocracy1 or fraternity of the best1 which1 without written law1 or exact usage of any kind1 perpetuates itself1 colonizes every new-planted island1 and adopts and makes its own whatever personal beauty or extraordinary native endowment anywhere appears4 #b4 ,what fact more conspicuous in modern history1 than the creation of the gentleman8 ,chivalry#cgc is that1 and loyalty is that1 and1 in ,english literature1 half the drama1 and all the novels1 from ,sir ,philip ,sidney#cgd to ,sir ,walter ,scott1#cge paint this figure4 ,the word gentleman1 which1 like the word ,christian1 must hereafter characterize the present and the few preceding centuries1 by the importance attached to it1 is a homage to personal and incommunicable properties4 ,frivolous and fantastic additions have got associated with the name1 but the steady interest of mankind in it must be attributed to the valuable properties which it designates4 ,an element which unites all the most forcible persons of every country2 makes them intelligible and agreeable to each other1 and is somewhat so precise1 that it is at once felt if an individual lack the masonic sign1#cgf cannot be any casual product1 but must be an average result of the character and faculties universally found in men4 ,it seems a certain permanent average2 as the atmosphere is a permanent composition1 whilst so many gases are combined only to be decompounded4 ,comme il faut1 is the ,frenchman's description of good society1 as we must be4 ,it is a spontaneous fruit of talents and feelings of precisely that class who have most vigor1 who take the lead in the world of this hour1 and1 though far from pure1 far from constituting the gladdest and highest tone of human feeling1 is as good as the whole society permits it to be4 ,it is made of the spirit1 more than of the talent of men1 and is a compound result1 into which every great force enters as an ingredient1 namely1 virtue1 wit1 beauty1 wealth1 and power4 #c4 ,there is something equivocal in all the words in use to express the excellence of manners and social cultivation1 because the qualities are fluxional1 and the last effect is assumed by the senses as the cause4 ,the word gentleman has not any correlative abstract#cgg to express the quality4 ,gentility is mean1 and gentilesse#cgh is obsolete4 ,but we must keep alive in the vernacular the distinction between fashion1 a word of narrow and often sinister meaning1 and the heroic character which the gentleman imports4 ,the usual words1 however1 must be respected3 they will be found to contain the root of the matter4 ,the point of distinction in all this class of names1 as courtesy1 chivalry1 fashion1 and the like1 is1 that the flower and fruit1 not the grain of the tree1 are contemplated4 ,it is beauty which is the aim this time1 and not worth4 ,the result is now in question1 although our words intimate well enough the popular feeling1 that the appearance supposes a substance4 ,the gentleman is a man of truth1 lord of his own actions1 and expressing that lordship in his behavior1 not in any manner dependent and servile either on persons1 or opinions1 or possessions4 ,beyond this fact of truth and real force1 the word denotes good-nature and benevolence3 manhood first1 and then gentleness4 ,the popular notion certainly adds a condition of ease and fortune2 but that is a natural result of personal force and love1 that they should possess and dispense the goods of the world4 ,in times of violence1 every eminent person must fall in with many opportunities to approve his stoutness and worth2 therefore every man's name that emerged at all from the mass in the feudal ages1#cgi rattles in our ear like a flourish of trumpets4 ,but personal force never goes out of fashion4 ,that is still paramount to-day1 and1 in the moving crowd of good society1 the men of valor and reality are known1 and rise to their natural place4 ,the competition is transferred from war to politics and trade1 but the personal force appears readily enough in these new arenas4 #d4 ,power first1 or no leading class4 ,in politics and in trade1 bruisers and pirates are of better promise than talkers and clerks4 ,god knows#chj that all sorts of gentlemen knock at the door2 but whenever used in strictness1 and with any emphasis1 the name will be found to point at original energy4 ,it describes a man standing in his own right1 and working after untaught methods4 ,in a good lord1 there must first be a good animal1 at least to the extent of yielding the incomparable advantage of animal spirits4#cha ,the ruling class must have more1 but they must have these1 giving in every company the sense of power1#chb which makes things easy to be done which daunt the wise4 ,the society of the energetic class1 in their friendly and festive meetings1 is full of courage1 and of attempts1 which intimidate the pale scholar4 ,the courage which girls exhibit is like a battle of ,lundy's ,lane1#chc or a sea-fight4 ,the intellect relies on memory to make some supplies to face these extemporaneous squadrons4 ,but memory is a base mendicant with basket and badge1 in the presence of these sudden masters4 ,the rulers of society must be up to the work of the world1 and equal to their versatile office3 men of the right ,csarian pattern1#chd who have great range of affinity4 ,i am far from believing the timid maxim#che of ,lord ,falkland1#chf 7,that for ceremony there must go two to it2 since a bold fellow will go through the cunningest forms17 and am of opinion that the gentleman is the bold fellow whose forms are not to be broken through2 and only that plenteous nature is rightful master1 which is the complement of whatever person it converses with4 ,my gentleman gives the law where he is2 he will outpray saints in chapel1 outgeneral veterans in the field1 and outshine all courtesy in the hall4 ,he is good company for pirates1 and good with academicians2 so that it is useless to fortify yourself against him2 he has the private entrance to all minds1 and ,i could as easily exclude myself as him4 ,the famous gentlemen of ,asia and ,europe have been of this strong type3 ,saladin1#chg ,sapor1#chh the ,cid1#chi ,julius ,csar1#cij ,scipio1#cia ,alexander1#cib ,pericles1#cic and the lordliest personages4 ,they sat very carelessly in their chairs1 and were too excellent themselves to value any condition at a high rate4 #e4 ,a plentiful fortune is reckoned necessary1 in the popular judgment1 to the completion of this man of the world3 and it is a material deputy which walks through the dance which the first has led4 ,money is not essential1 but this wide affinity is1 which transcends the habits of clique and caste1 and makes itself felt by men of all classes4 ,if the aristocrat is only valid in fashionable circles1 and not with truckmen1 he will never be a leader in fashion2 and if the man of the people cannot speak on equal terms with the gentleman1 so that the gentleman shall perceive that he is already really of his own order1 he is not to be feared4 ,diogenes1#cid ,socrates1#cie and ,epaminondas#cif are gentlemen of the best blood1 who have chosen the condition of poverty1 when that of wealth was equally open to them4 ,i use these old names1 but the men ,i speak of are my contemporaries4#cig ,fortune will not supply to every generation one of these well-appointed knights1 but every collection of men furnishes some example of the class3 and the politics of this country1 and the trade of every town1 are controlled by these hardy and irresponsible doers1 who have invention to take the lead1 and a broad sympathy which puts them in fellowship with crowds1 and makes their action popular4 #f4 ,the manners of this class are observed and caught with devotion by men of taste4 ,the association of these masters with each other1 and with men intelligent of their merits1 is mutually agreeable and stimulating4 ,the good forms1 the happiest expressions of each1 are repeated and adopted4 ,by swift consent1 everything superfluous is dropped1 everything graceful is renewed4 ,fine manners#cih show themselves formidable to the uncultivated man4 ,they are a subtler science of defence to parry and intimidate2 but once matched by the skill of the other party1 they drop the point of the sword1--points and fences disappear1 and the youth finds himself in a more transparent atmosphere1 wherein life is a less troublesome game1 and not a misunderstanding rises between the players4 ,manners aim to facilitate life1 to get rid of impediments1 and bring the man pure to energize4 ,they aid our dealing and conversation1 as a railway aids traveling1 by getting rid of all avoidable obstructions of the road1 and leaving nothing to be conquered but pure space4 ,these forms very soon become fixed1 and a fine sense of propriety is cultivated with more heed1 that it becomes a badge of social and civil distinctions4 ,thus grows up ,fashion1 an equivocal semblance1 the most puissant1 the most fantastic and frivolous1 the most feared and followed1 and which morals and violence assault in vain4 #g4 ,there exists a strict relation between the class of power1 and the exclusive and polished circles4 ,the last are always filled or filling from the first4 ,the strong men usually give some allowance even to the petulances of fashion1 for that affinity they find in it4 ,napoleon1#cii child of the revolution1 destroyer of the old noblesse1#djj never ceased to court the ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain3#dja doubtless with the feeling1 that fashion is a homage to men of his stamp4 ,fashion1 though in a strange way1 represents all manly virtue4 ,it is a virtue gone to seed3 it is a kind of posthumous honor4 ,it does not often caress the great1 but the children of the great3 it is a hall of the ,past4 ,it usually sets its face against the great of this hour4 ,great men are not commonly in its halls3 they are absent in the field3 they are working1 not triumphing4 ,fashion is made up of their children2 of those1 who1 through the value and virtue of somebody1 have acquired lustre to their name1 marks of distinction1 means of cultivation and generosity1 and1 in their physical organization1 a certain health and excellence1 which secures to them1 if not the highest power to work1 yet high power to enjoy4 ,the class of power1 the working heroes1 the ,cortez1#djb the ,nelson1#djc the ,napoleon1 see that this is the festivity and permanent celebration of such as they2 that fashion is funded talent2 is ,mexico1#djd ,marengo1#dje and ,trafalgar#djfdjg beaten out thin2 that the brilliant names of fashion run back to just such busy names as their own1 fifty or sixty years ago4 ,they are the sowers1 their sons shall be the reapers1 and their sons1 in the ordinary course of things1 must yield the possession of the harvest1 to new competitors with keener eyes and stronger frames4 ,the city is recruited from the country4 ,in the year #ahje1 it is said1 every legitimate monarch in ,europe was imbecile4 ,the city would have died out1 rotted1 and exploded1 long ago1 but that it was reinforced from the fields4 ,it is only country which came to town day before yesterday1 that is city and court to-day4 #h4 ,aristocracy and fashion are certain inevitable results4 ,these mutual selections are indestructible4 ,if they provoke anger in the least favored class1 and the excluded majority revenge themselves on the excluding minority1 by the strong hand1 and kill them1 at once a new class finds itself at the top1 as certainly as cream rises in a bowl of milk3 and if the people should destroy class after class1 until two men only were left1 one of these would be the leader1 and would be involuntarily served and copied by the other4 ,you may keep this minority out of sight and out of mind1 but it is tenacious of life1 and is one of the estates of the realm4#djh ,i am the more struck with this tenacity1 when ,i see its work4 ,it respects the administration of such unimportant matters1 that we should not look for any durability in its rule4 ,we sometimes meet men under some strong moral influence1 as a patriotic1 a literary1 a religious movement1 and feel that the moral sentiment rules man and nature4 ,we think all other distinctions and ties will be slight and fugitive1 this of caste or fashion1 for example2 yet come from year to year1 and see how permanent that is1 in this ,boston or ,new ,york life of man1 where1 too1 it has not the lease countenance from the law of the land4 ,not in ,egypt or in ,india a firmer or more impassable line4 ,here are associations whose ties go over1 and under1 and through it1 a meeting of merchants1 a military corps1 a college-class1 a fire-club1 a professional association1 a political1 a religious convention2--the persons seem to draw inseparably near2 yet that assembly once dispersed1 its members will not in the year meet again4 ,each returns to his degree in the scale of good society1 porcelain remains porcelain1 and earthen earthen4 ,the objects of fashion may be frivolous1 or fashion may be objectless1 but the nature of this union and selection can be neither frivolous nor accidental4 ,each man's rank in that perfect graduation depends on some symmetry in his structure1 or some agreement in his structure to the symmetry of society4 ,its doors unbar instantaneously to a natural claim of their own kind4 ,a natural gentleman finds his way in1 and will keep the oldest patrician out1 who has lost his intrinsic rank4 ,fashion understands itself2 good-breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily fraternize with those of every other4 ,the chiefs of savage tribes have distinguished themselves in ,london and ,paris1 by the purity of their tournure4#dji #i4 ,to say what good of fashion we can1--it rests on reality1 and hates nothing so much as pretenders2--to exclude and mystify pretenders1 and send them into everlasting ,coventry1#daj is its delight4 ,we contemn1 in turn1 every other gift of men of the world2 but the habit1 even in little and the least matters1 of not appealing to any but our own sense of propriety1 constitutes the foundation of all chivalry4 ,there is almost no kind of self-reliance1 so it be sane and proportioned1 which fashion does not occasionally adopt1 and give it the freedom of its saloons4 ,a sainted soul is always elegant1 and1 if it will1 passes unchallenged into the most guarded ring4 ,but so will ,jock the teamster pass1 in some crisis that brings him thither1 and find favor1 as long as his head is not giddy with the new circumstance1 and the iron shoes do not wish to dance in waltzes and cotillions4 ,for there is nothing settled in manners1 but the laws of behavior yield to the energy of the individual4 ,the maiden at her first ball1 the countryman at a city dinner1 believes that there is a ritual according to which every act and compliment must be performed1 or the failing party must be cast out of this presence4 ,later1 they learn that good sense and character make their own forms every moment1 and speak or abstain1 to take wine or refuse it1 stay or go1 sit in a chair or sprawl with children on the floor1 or stand on their head1 or what else soever1 in a new and aboriginal way3 and that strong will is always in fashion1 let who will be unfashionable4 ,all that fashion demands is composure1 and self-content4 ,a circle of men perfectly well-bred would be a company of sensible persons1 in which every man's native manners and character appear4 ,if the fashionist have not this quality1 he is nothing4 ,we are such lovers of self-reliance1 that we excuse in man many sins1 if he will show us a complete satisfaction in his position1 which asks no leave to be of mine1 or any man's good opinion4 ,but any deference to some eminent man or woman of the world1 forfeits all privilege of nobility4 ,he is an underling3 ,i have nothing to do with him2 ,i will speak with his master4 ,a man should not go where he cannot carry his whole sphere or society with him1--not bodily1 the whole circle of his friends1 but atmospherically4 ,he should preserve in a new company the same attitude of mind and reality of relation1 which his daily associates draw him to1 else he is shorn of his best beams1 and will be an orphan in the merriest club4 ,if you could see ,vich ,ian ,vohr with his tail on6#daa-- ,but ,vich ,ian ,vohr must always carry his belongings in some fashion1 if not added as honor1 then severed as disgrace4 #aj4 ,there will always be in society certain persons who are mercuries#dab of its approbation1 and whose glance will at any time determine for the curious their standing in the world4 ,these are the chamberlains of the lesser gods4 ,accept their coldness as an omen of grace with the loftier deities1 and allow them all their privilege4 ,they are clear in their office1 nor could they be thus formidable1 without their own merits4 ,but do not measure the importance of this class by their pretension1 or imagine that a fop can be the dispenser of honor and shame4 ,they pass also at their just rate2 for how can they otherwise1 in circles which exist as a sort of herald's office#dac for the sifting of character8 #aa4 ,as the first thing man requires of man is reality1 so that appears in all the forms of society4 ,we pointedly1 and by name1 introduce the parties to each other4 ,know you before all heaven and earth1 that this is ,andrew1 and this is ,gregory2--they look each other in the eye2 they grasp each other's hand1 to identify and signalize each other4 ,it is a great satisfaction4 ,a gentleman never dodges2 his eyes look straight forward1 and he assures the other party1 first of all1 that he has been met4 ,for what is it that we seek1 in so many visits and hospitalities8 ,is it your draperies1 pictures1 and decorations8 ,or1 do we not insatiably ask4 ,was a man in the house8 ,i may easily go into a great household where there is much substance1 excellent provision for comfort1 luxury1 and taste1 and yet not encounter there any ,amphitryon1#dad who shall subordinate these appendages4 ,i may go into a cottage1 and find a farmer who feels that he is the man ,i have come to see1 and fronts me accordingly4 ,it was therefore a very natural point of old feudal etiquette1 that a gentleman who received a visit1 though it were of his sovereign1 should not leave his roof1 but should wait his arrival at the door of his house4 ,no house1 though it were the ,tuileries1#dae or the ,escurial1#daf is good for anything without a master4 ,and yet we are not often gratified by this hospitality4 ,everybody we know surrounds himself with a fine house1 fine books1 conservatory1 gardens1 equipage1 and all manner of toys1 as screens to interpose between himself and his guests4 ,does it not seem as if man was of a very sly1 elusive nature1 and dreaded nothing so much as a full renconter front to front with his fellow8 ,it were unmerciful1 ,i know1 quite to abolish the use of these screens1 which are of eminent convenience1 whether the guest is too great1 or too little4 ,we call together many friends who keep each other in play1 or by luxuries and ornaments we amuse the young people1 and guard our retirement4 ,or if1 perchance1 a searching realist comes to our gate1 before whose eyes we have no care to stand1 then again we run to our curtain1 and hide ourselves as ,adam#dag at the voice of the ,lord ,god in the garden4 ,cardinal ,caprara1#dah the ,pope's#dai legate at ,paris1 defended himself from the glances of ,napoleon1 by an immense pair of green spectacles4 ,napoleon remarked them1 and speedily managed to rally them off3 and yet ,napoleon1 in his turn1 was not great enough1 with eight hundred thousand troops at his back1 to face a pair of free-born eyes1 but fenced himself with etiquette1 and within triple barriers of reserve3 and1 as all the world knows from ,madame de ,stael1#dbj was wont1 when he found himself observed1 to discharge his face of all expression4 ,but emperors and rich men are by no means the most skillful masters of good manners4 ,no rent roll nor army-list can dignify skulking and dissimulations3 and the first point of courtesy must always be truth1 as really all forms of good-breeding point that way4 #ab4 ,i have just been reading1 in ,mr4 ,hazlitt's#dba translation1 ,montaigne's#dbb account of his journey into ,italy1 and am struck with nothing more agreeably than the self-respecting fashions of the time4 ,his arrival in each place1 the arrival of a gentleman of ,france1 is an event of some consequence4 ,wherever he goes1 he pays a visit to whatever prince or gentleman of note resides upon his road1 as a duty to himself and to civilization4 ,when he leaves any house in which he has lodged for a few weeks1 he causes his arms to be painted and hung up as a perpetual sign to the house1 as was the custom of gentlemen4 #ac4 ,the complement of this graceful self-respect1 and that of all the points of good breeding ,i most require and insist upon1 is deference4 ,i like that every chair should be a throne1 and hold a king4 ,i prefer a tendency to stateliness1 to an excess of fellowship4 ,let the incommunicable objects of nature and the metaphysical isolation of man teach us independence4 ,let us not be too much acquainted4 ,i would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures1 that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise4#dbc ,we should meet each morning1 as from foreign countries1 and spending the day together1 should depart at night1 as into foreign countries4 ,in all things ,i would have the island of a man inviolate4 ,let us sit apart as the gods1 talking from peak to peak all round ,olympus4 ,no degree of affection need invade this religion4 ,this is myrrh and rosemary to keep the other sweet4 ,lovers should guard their strangeness4 ,if they forgive too much1 all slides into confusion and meanness4 ,it is easy to push this deference to a ,chinese etiquette2#dbd but coolness and absence of heat and haste indicate fine qualities4 ,a gentleman makes no noise3 a lady is serene ,proportionate is our disgust at those invaders who fill a studious house with blast and running1 to secure some paltry convenience4 ,not less ,i dislike a low sympathy of each with his neighbors's needs4 ,must we have a good understanding with one another's palates8 as foolish people who have lived long together1 know when each wants salt or sugar4 ,i pray my companion1 if he wishes for bread1 to ask me for bread1 and if he wishes for sassafras or arsenic1 to ask me for them1 and not to hold out his plate1 as if ,i knew already4 ,every natural function can be dignified by deliberation and privacy4 ,let us leave hurry to slaves4 ,the compliments and ceremonies of our breeding should recall1#dbe however remotely1 the grandeur of our destiny4 #ad4 ,the flower of courtesy does not very well bide handling1 but if we dare to open another leaf1 and explore what parts go to its conformation1 we shall find also an intellectual quality4 ,to the leaders of men1 the brain as well as the flesh and the heart must furnish a proportion4 ,defect in manners is usually the defect of fine perceptions4 ,men are too coarsely made for the delicacy of beautiful carriage and customs4 ,it is not quite sufficient to good breeding1 a union of kindness and independence4 ,we imperatively require a perception of1 and a homage to1 beauty in our companions4 ,other virtues are in request in the field and work yard1 but a certain degree of taste is not to be spared in those we sit with4 ,i could better eat with one who did not respect the truth or the laws1 than with a sloven and unpresentable person4 ,moral qualities rule the world1 but at short distances the senses are despotic4 ,the same discrimination of fit and fair runs out1 if with less rigor1 into all parts of life4 ,the average spirit of the energetic class is good sense1 acting under certain limitations and to certain ends4 ,it entertains every natural gift4 ,social in its nature1 it respects everything which tends to unite men4 ,it delights in measure4#dbf ,the love of beauty is mainly the love of measure or proportion4 ,the person who screams1 or uses the superlative degree1 or converses with heat1 puts whole drawing-rooms to flight4 ,if you wish to be loved1 love measure4 ,you must have genius1 or a prodigious usefulness1 if you will hide the want of measure4 ,this perception comes in to polish and perfect the parts of the social instrument4 ,society will pardon much to genius and special gifts1 but1 being in its nature a convention1 it loves what is conventional1 or what belongs to coming together4 ,that makes the good and bad of manners1 namely1 what helps or hinders fellowship4 ,for1 fashion is not good sense absolute1 but relative2 not good sense private1 but good sense entertaining company4 ,it hates corners and sharp points of character1 hates quarrelsome1 egotistical1 solitary1 and gloomy people2 hates whatever can interfere with total blending of parties2 whilst it values all peculiarities as in the highest degree refreshing1 which can consist with good fellowship4 ,and besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility1 the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit4 #ae4 ,the dry light must shine in to adorn our festival1 but it must be tempered and shaded1 or that will also offend4 ,accuracy is essential to beauty1 and quick perceptions to politeness1 but not too quick perceptions4 ,one may be too punctual and too precise4 ,he must leave the omniscience of business at the door1 when he comes into the palace of beauty4 ,society loves creole natures1#dbg and sleepy1 languishing manners1 so that they cover sense1 grace1 and good-will3 the air of drowsy strength1 which disarms criticism2 perhaps1 because such a person seems to reserve himself for the best of the game1 and not spend himself on surfaces2 an ignoring eye1 which does not see the annoyances1 shifts1 and inconveniences1 that cloud the brow and smother the voice of the sensitive4 #af4 ,therefore1 besides personal force and so much perception as constitutes unerring taste1 society demands in its patrician class1 another element already intimated1 which it significantly terms good-nature1 expressing all degrees of generosity1 from the lowest willingness and faculty to oblige1 up to the heights of magnanimity and love4 ,insight we must have1 or we shall run against one another1 and miss the way to our food2 but intellect is selfish and barren4 ,the secret of success in society1 is a certain heartiness and sympathy4 ,a man who is not happy in the company1 cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion4 ,all his information is a little impertinent4 ,a man who is happy there1 finds in every turn of the conversation equally lucky occasions for the introduction of that which he has to say4 ,the favorites of society1 and what it calls whole souls1 are able men1 and of more spirit than wit1 who have no uncomfortable egotism1 but who exactly fill the hour and the company1 contented and contenting1 at a marriage or a funeral1 a ball or a jury1 a water-party or a shooting-match4 ,england1 which is rich in gentlemen1 furnished1 in the beginning of the present century1 a good model of that genius which the world loves1 in ,mr4 ,fox1#dbh who added to his great abilities the most social disposition1 and real love of men4 ,parliamentary history has few better passages than the debate1 in which ,burke#dbi and ,fox separated in the ,house of ,commons2 when ,fox urged on his old friend the claims of old friendship with such tenderness1 that the house was moved to tears4 ,another anecdote is so close to my matter1 that ,i must hazard the story4 ,a tradesman who had long dunned him for a note of three hundred guineas1 found him one day counting gold1 and demanded payment4 ,no1 said ,fox1 ,i owe this money to ,sheridan#dcj3 it is a debt of honor3 if an accident should happen to me1 he has nothing to show4 ,then1 said the creditor1 ,i change my debt into a debt of honor1 and tore the note in pieces4 ,fox thanked the man for his confidence1 and paid him1 saying1 his debt was of older standing1 and ,sheridan must wait4 ,lover of liberty1 friend of the ,hindoo1 friend of the ,african slave1 he possessed a great personal popularity2 and ,napoleon said of him on the occasion of his visit to ,paris1 in #ahje1 ,mr4 ,fox will always hold the first place in an assembly at the ,tuileries4 #ag4 ,we may easily seem ridiculous in our eulogy of courtesy1 whenever we insist on benevolence as its foundation4 ,the painted phantasm ,fashion rises to cast a species of derision on what we say4 ,but ,i will neither be driven from some allowance to ,fashion as a symbolic institution1 nor from the belief that love is the basis of courtesy4 ,we must obtain that1 if we can2 but by all means we must affirm this4 ,life owes much of its spirit to these sharp contrasts4 ,fashion which affects to be honor1 is often1 in all men's experience1 only a ballroom code4 ,yet1 so long as it is the highest circle1 in the imagination of the best heads on the planet1 there is something necessary and excellent in it2 for it is not to be supposed that men have agreed to be the dupes of anything preposterous2 and the respect which these mysteries inspire in the most rude and sylvan characters1 and the curiosity with which details of high life are read1 betray the universality of the love of cultivated manners4 ,i know that a comic disparity would be felt1 if we should enter the acknowledged 'first circles1' and apply these terrific standards of justice1 beauty1 and benefit1 to the individuals actually found there4 ,monarchs and heroes1 sages and lovers1 these gallants are not4 ,fashion has many classes and many rules of probation and admission2 and not the best alone4 ,there is not only the right of conquest1 which genius pretends1--the individual1 demonstrating his natural aristocracy best of the best2--but less claims will pass for the time2 for ,fashion loves lions1 and points1 like ,circe1#dca to her horned company4 ,this gentleman is this afternoon arrived from ,denmark2 and that is my ,lord ,ride1 who came yesterday from ,bagdad2 here is ,captain ,friese1 from ,cape ,turnagain1 and ,captain ,symmes1#dcb from the interior of the earth2 and ,monsieur ,jovaire1 who came down this morning in a balloon2 ,mr4 ,hobnail1 the reformer2 and ,reverend ,jul ,bat1 who has converted the whole torrid zone in his ,sunday school2 and ,signer ,torre del ,greco1 who extinguished ,vesuvius by pouring into it the ,bay of ,naples2 ,spahr1 the ,persian ambassador2 and ,tul ,wil ,shan1 the exiled nabob of ,nepaul1 whose saddle is the new moon4--,but these are monsters of one day1 and to-morrow will be dismissed to their holes and dens2 for1 in these rooms every chair is waited for4 ,the artist1 the scholar1 and1 in general1 the clerisy1#dcc wins its way up into these places1 and gets represented here1 somewhat on this footing of conquest4 ,another mode is to pass through all the degrees1 spending a year and a day in ,st4 ,michael's ,square1#dcd being steeped in ,cologne water1#dce and perfumed1 and dined1 and introduced1 and properly grounded in all the biography1 and politics1 and anecdotes of the boudoirs4 #ah4 ,yet these fineries may have grace and wit4 ,let there be grotesque sculpture about the gates and offices of temples4 ,let the creed and commandments even have the saucy homage of parody4 ,the forms of politeness universally express benevolence in superlative degrees4 ,what if they are in the mouths of selfish men1 and used as means of selfishness8 ,what if the false gentleman almost bows the true out of the world8 ,what if the false gentleman contrives so to address his companion1 as civilly to exclude all others from his discourse1 and also to make them feel excluded8 ,real service will not lose its nobleness4 ,all generosity is not merely ,french and sentimental2 nor is it to be concealed1 that living blood and a passion of kindness does at last distinguish ,god's gentleman from ,fashion's4 ,the epitaph of ,sir ,jenkin ,grout is not wholly unintelligible to the present age4 ,here lies ,sir ,jenkin ,grout1 who loved his friend1 and persuaded his enemy3 what his mouth ate1 his hand paid for3 what his servants robbed1 he restored3 if a woman gave him pleasure1 he supported her in pain3 he never forgot his children3 and whoso touched his finger1 drew after it his whole body4 ,even the line of heroes is not utterly extinct4 ,there is still ever some admirable person in plain clothes1 standing on the wharf1 who jumps in to rescue a drowning man2 there is still some absurd inventor of charities2 some guide and comforter of runaway slaves2 some friend of ,poland2#dcf some ,philhellene2#dcg some fanatic who plants shade-trees for the second and third generation1 and orchards when he is grown old2 some well-concealed piety2 some just man happy in an ill-fame2 some youth ashamed of the favors of fortune1 and impatiently casting them on other shoulders4 ,and these are the centers of society1 on which it returns for fresh impulses4 ,these are the creators of ,fashion1 which is an attempt to organize beauty of behavior4 ,the beautiful and the generous are in the theory1 the doctors and apostles of this church3 ,scipio1 and the ,cid1 and ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 and ,washington1 and every pure and valiant heart1 who worshiped ,beauty by word and by deed4 ,the persons who constitute the natural aristocracy1 are not found in the actual aristocracy1 or only on its edge2 as the chemical energy of the spectrum is found to be greatest just outside of the spectrum4 ,yet that is the infirmity of the seneschals1 who do not know their sovereign1 when he appears4 ,the theory of society supposes the existence and sovereignty of these4 ,it divines afar off their coming4 ,it says with the elder gods1-- ,as ,heaven and ,earth are fairer far#dch ,than ,chaos and blank ,darkness1 though once chiefs2 ,and as we show beyond that ,heaven and ,earth1 ,in form and shape compact and beautiful2 ,so1 on our heels a fresh perfection treads2 ,a power1 more strong in beauty1 born of us1 ,and fated to excel us1 as we pass ,in glory that old ,darkness3 444 for1 'tis the eternal law1 ,that first in beauty shall be first in might4 #ai4 ,therefore1 within the ethnical circle of good society1 there is a narrower and higher circle1 concentration of its light1 and flower of courtesy1 to which there is always a tacit appeal of pride and reference1 as to its inner and imperial court1 the parliament of love and chivalry4 ,and this is constituted of those persons in whom heroic dispositions are native1 with the love of beauty1 the delight in society1 and the power to embellish the passing day4 ,if the individuals who compose the purest circles of aristocracy in ,europe1 the guarded blood of centuries1 should pass in review1 in such manner as that we could1 leisurely and critically1 inspect their behavior1 we might find no gentleman1 and no lady2 for although excellent specimens of courtesy and high-breeding would gratify us in the assemblage1 in the particulars1 we should detect offense4 ,because1 elegance comes of no breeding1 but of birth4 ,there must be romance of character1 or the most fastidious exclusion of impertinencies will not avail4 ,it must be genius which takes that direction3 it must be not courteous1 but courtesy4 ,high behavior is as rare in fiction as it is in fact4 ,scott is praised for the fidelity with which he painted the demeanor and conversation of the superior classes4 ,certainly1 kings and queens1 nobles and great ladies1 had some right to complain of the absurdity that had been put in their mouths1 before the days of ,waverley2#dci but neither does ,scott's dialogue bear criticism4 ,his lords brave each other in smart epigrammatic speeches1 but the dialogue is in costume1 and does not please on the second reading2 it is not warm with life4 ,in ,shakespeare alone1 the speakers do not strut and bridle1 the dialogue is easily great1 and he adds to so many titles that of being the best-bred man in ,england1 and in ,christendom4 ,once or twice in a lifetime we are permitted to enjoy the charm of noble manners1 in the presence of a man or woman who have no bar in their nature1 but whose character emanates freely in their word and gesture4 ,a beautiful form is better than a beautiful face3 a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form3 it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures2 it is the finest of the fine arts4 ,a man is but a little thing in the midst of the objects of nature1 yet1 by the moral quality radiating from his countenance1 he may abolish all considerations of magnitude1 and in his manners equal the majesty of the world4 ,i have seen an individual whose manners though wholly within the conventions of elegant society1 were never learned there1 but were original and commanding1 and held out protection and prosperity2 one who did not need the aid of a court-suit1 but carried the holiday in his eye2 who exhilarated the fancy by flinging wide the doors of new modes of existence2 who shook off the captivity of etiquette1 with happy1 spirited bearing1 good-natured and free as ,robin ,hood2#ddj yet with the port of an emperor1--if need be1 calm1 serious1 and fit to stand the gaze of millions4 #bj4 ,the open air and the fields1 the street and public chambers1 are the places where ,man executes his will2 let him yield or divide the scepter at the door of the house4 ,woman1 with her instinct of behavior1 instantly detects in man a love of trifles1 any coldness or imbecility1 or1 in short1 any want of that large1 flowing1 and magnanimous deportment1 which is indispensable as an exterior in the hall4 ,our ,american institutions have been friendly to her1 and at this moment ,i esteem it a chief felicity of this country1 that it excels in women4 ,a certain awkward consciousness of inferiority in the men1 may give rise to the new chivalry in behalf of ,woman's ,rights4 ,certainly1 let her be as much better placed in the laws and in social forms1 as the most zealous reformer can ask1 but ,i confide so entirely in her inspiring and musical nature1 that ,i believe only herself can show us how she shall be served4 ,the wonderful generosity of her sentiments raises her at times into heroical and godlike regions1 and verifies the pictures of ,minerva1#dda ,juno1#ddb or ,polymnia2#ddc and1 by the firmness with which she treads her upward path1 she convinces the coarsest calculators that another road exists than that which their feet know4 ,but besides those who make good in our imagination the place of muses and of ,delphic ,sibyls1#ddd are there not women who fill our vase with wine and roses to the brim1 so that the wine runs over and fills the house with perfume2 who inspire us with courtesy2 who unloose our tongues1 and we speak2 who anoint our eyes1 and we see8 ,we say things we never thought to have said2 for once1 our walls of habitual reserve vanished1 and left us at large2 we were children playing with children in a wide field of flowers4 ,steep us1 we cried1 in these influences1 for days1 for weeks1 and we shall be sunny poets1 and will write out in many-colored words the romance that you are4 ,was it ,hafiz#dde or ,firdousi#ddf that said of his ,persian ,lilla1 ,she was an elemental force1 and astonished me by her amount of life1 when ,i saw her day after day radiating1 every instant1 redundant joy and grace on all around her4#ddg ,she was a solvent powerful to reconcile all heterogeneous persons into one society2 like air or water1 an element of such a great range of affinities1 that it combines readily with a thousand substances4 ,where she is present1 all others will be more than they are wont4 ,she was a unit and whole1 so that whatsoever she did1 became her4 ,she had too much sympathy and desire to please1 than that you could say1 her manners were marked with dignity1 yet no princess could surpass her clear and erect demeanor on each occasion4 ,she did not study the ,persian grammar1 nor the books of the seven poets1 but all the poems of the seven seemed to be written upon her4 ,for1 though the bias of her nature was not to thought1 but to sympathy1 yet was she so perfect in her own nature1 as to meet intellectual persons by the fullness of her heart1 warming them by her sentiments2 believing1 as she did1 that by dealing nobly with all1 all would show themselves noble4 #ba4 ,i know that this ,byzantine#ddh pile of chivalry of ,fashion1 which seems so fair and picturesque to those who look at the contemporary facts for science or for entertainment1 is not equally pleasant to all spectators4 ,the constitution of our society makes it a giant's castle to the ambitious youth who have not found their names enrolled in its ,golden ,book1#ddi and whom it has excluded from its coveted honors and privileges4 ,they have yet to learn that its seeming grandeur is shadowy and relative3 it is great by their allowance3 its proudest gates will fly open at the approach of their courage and virtue4 ,for the present distress1 however1 of those who are predisposed to suffer from the tyrannies of this caprice1 there are easy remedies4 ,to remove your residence a couple of miles1 or at most four1 will commonly relieve the most extreme susceptibility4 ,for1 the advantages which fashion values are plants which thrive in very confined localities1 in a few streets1 namely4 ,out of this precinct1 they go for nothing2 are of no use in the farm1 in the forest1 in the market1 in war1 in the nuptial society1 in the literary or scientific circle1 at sea1 in friendship1 in the heaven of thought or virtue4 #bb4 ,but we have lingered long enough in these painted courts4 ,the worth of the thing signified must vindicate our taste for the emblem4 ,everything that is called fashion and courtesy humbles itself before the cause and fountain of honor1 creator of titles and dignities1 namely1 the heart of love4 ,this is the royal blood1 this the fire1 which1 in all countries and contingencies1 will work after its kind and conquer ind expand all that approaches it4 ,this gives new meanings to every fact4 ,this impoverishes the rich1 suffering no grandeur but its own4 ,what is rich8 ,are you rich enough to help anybody8 to succor the unfashionable and the eccentric8 rich enough to make the ,canadian in his wagon1 the itinerant with his consul's paper which commends him ,to the charitable1 the swarthy ,italian with his few broken words of ,english1 the lame pauper hunted by overseers from town to town1 even the poor insane or besotted wreck of man or woman1 feel the noble exception of your presence and your house1 from the general bleakness and stoniness2 to make such feel that they were greeted with a voice which made them both remember and hope8 ,what is vulgar1 but to refuse the claim on acute and conclusive reasons8 ,what is gentle1 but to allow it1 and give their heart and yours lone holiday from the national caution8 ,without the rich heart1 wealth is an ugly beggar4 ,the king of ,schiraz#dej could not afford to be so bountiful as the poor ,osman#dea who dwelt at his gate4 ,osman had a humanity so broad and deep1 that although his speech was so bold and free with the ,koran#deb as to disgust all the dervishes1 yet was there never a poor outcast1 eccentric1 or insane man1 some fool who had cut off his beard1 or who had been mutilated under a vow1 or had a pet madness in his brain1 but fled at once to him1--that great heart lay there so sunny and hospitable in the center of the country1--that it seemed as if the instinct of all sufferers drew them to his side4 ,and the madness which he harbored1 he did not share4 ,is not this to be rich8 this only to be rightly rich8 #bc4 ,but ,i shall hear without pain1 that ,i play the courtier very ill1 and talk of that which ,i do not well understand4 ,it is easy to see1 that what is called by distinction society and fashion1 has good laws as well as bad1 has much that is necessary1 and much that is absurd4 ,too good for banning1 and too bad for blessing1 it reminds us of a tradition of the pagan mythology1 in any attempt to settle its character4 ,i overheard ,jove1#dec one day1 said ,silenus1#ded talking of destroying the earth2 he said1 it had failed2 they were all rogues and vixens1 who went from bad to worse1 as fast as the days succeeded each other4 ,minerva said1 she hoped not2 they were only ridiculous little creatures1 with this odd circumstance1 that they had a blur1 or indeterminate aspect1 seen far or seen near2 if you called them bad1 they would appear so2 if you called them good1 they would appear so2 and there was no one person or action among them1 which would not puzzle her owl1#dee much more all ,olympus1 to know whether it was fundamentally bad or good4 ,,gifts#def ,gifts of one who loved me-- ',twas high time they came2 ,when he ceased to love me1 ,time they stopped for shame4 #a4 ,it is said that the world is in a state of bankruptcy1 that the world owes the world more than the world can pay1 and ought to go into chancery1#deg and be sold4 ,i do not think this general insolvency1 which involves in some sort all the population1 to be the reason of the difficulty experienced at ,christmas and ,new ,year1 and other times1 in bestowing gifts2 since it is always so pleasant to be generous1 though very vexatious to pay debts4 ,but the impediment lies in the choosing4 ,if1 at any time1 it comes into my head that a present is due from me to somebody1 ,i am puzzled what to give1 until the opportunity is gone4 ,flowers and fruits are always fit presents2 flowers1 because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world4 ,these gay natures contrast with the somewhat stern countenance of ordinary nature3 they are like music heard out of a work-house4 ,nature does not cocker us3#deh we are children1 not pets3 she is not fond3 everything is dealt to us without fear or favor1 after severe universal laws4 ,yet these delicate flowers look like the frolic and interference of love and beauty4 ,men use to tell us that we love flattery1 even though we are not deceived by it1 because it shows that we are of importance enough to be courted4 ,something like that pleasure1 the flowers give us3 what am ,i to whom these sweet hints are addressed8 ,fruits are acceptable gifts1#dei because they are the flower of commodities1 and admit of fantastic values being attached to them4 ,if a man should send to me to come a hundred miles to visit him1 and should set before me a basket of fine summer-fruit1 ,i should think there was some proportion between the labor and the reward4 #b4 ,for common gifts1 necessity makes pertinences and beauty every day1 and one is glad when an imperative leaves him no option1 since if the man at the door have no shoes1 you have not to consider whether you could procure him a paint-box4 ,and as it is always pleasing to see a man eat bread or drink water1 in the house or out of doors1 so it is always a great satisfaction to supply these first wants4 ,necessity does everything well4 ,in our condition of universal dependence1 it seems heroic to let the petitioner#dfj be the judge of his necessity1 and to give all that is asked1 though at great inconvenience4 ,if it be a fantastic desire1 it is better to leave to others the office of punishing him4 ,i can think of many parts ,i should prefer playing to that of the ,furies4#dfa ,next to things of necessity1 the rule for a gift1 which one of my friends prescribed1 is that we might convey to some person that which properly belonged to his character1 and was easily associated with him in thought4 ,but our tokens of compliment and love are for the most part barbarous4 ,rings and other jewels are not gifts1 but apologies for gifts4 ,the only gift is a portion of thyself4 ,thou must bleed for me4 ,therefore the poet brings his poem2 the shepherd1 his lamb2 the farmer1 corn2 the miner1 a gem2 the sailor1 coral and shells2 the painter1 his picture2 the girl1 a handkerchief of her own sewing4 ,this is right and pleasing1 for it restores society in so far to its primary basis1 when a man's biography#dfb is conveyed in his gift1 and every man's wealth is an index of his merit4 ,but it is a cold lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy me something which does not represent your life and talent1 but a goldsmith's4 ,that is fit for kings1 and rich men who represent kings1 and a false state of property1 to make presents of gold and silver stuffs1 as a kind of symbolical sin-offering1#dfc or payment of blackmail4#dfd #c4 ,the law of benefits is a difficult channel1 which requires careful sailing1 or rude boats4 ,it is not the office of a man to receive gifts4 ,how dare you give them8 ,we wish to be self-sustained4 ,we do not quite forgive a forgiver4 ,the hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten4 ,we can receive anything from love1 for that is a way of receiving it from ourselves2 but not from any one who assumes to bestow4 ,we sometimes hate the meat which we eat1 because there seems something of degrading dependence in living by it4 ,brother1 if ,jove#dfe to thee a present make1 ,take heed that from his hands thou nothing take4 ,we ask the whole4 ,nothing less will content us4 ,we arraign society1 if it do not give us besides earth1 and fire1 and water1 opportunity1 love1 reverence1 and objects of veneration4 #d4 ,he is a good man1 who can receive a gift well4 ,we are either glad or sorry at a gift1 and both emotions are unbecoming4 ,some violence1 ,i think1 is done1 some degradation borne1 when ,i rejoice or grieve at a gift4 ,i am sorry when my independence is invaded1 or when a gift comes from such as do not know my spirit1 and so the act is not supported2 and if the gift pleases me overmuch1 then ,i should be ashamed that the donor should read my heart1 and see that ,i love his commodity1 and not him4 ,the gift1 to be true1 must be the flowing of the giver unto me1 correspondent to my flowing unto him4 ,when the waters are at level1 then my goods pass to him1 and his to me4 ,all his are mine1 all mine his4 ,i say to him1 ,how can you give me this pot of oil1 or this flagon of wine1 when all your oil and wine is mine1 which belief of mine this gift seems to deny8 ,hence the fitness of beautiful1 not useful things for gifts4 ,this giving is flat usurpation1 and therefore when the beneficiary is ungrateful1 as all beneficiaries hate all ,timons1#dff not at all considering the value of the gift1 but looking back to the greater store it was taken from1 ,i rather sympathize with the beneficiary1 than with the anger of my lord1 ,timon4 ,for1 the expectation of gratitude is mean1 and is continually punished by the total insensibility of the obliged person4 ,it is a great happiness to get off without injury and heart-burning1 from one who has had the ill luck to be served by you4 ,it is a very onerous business1#dfg this of being served1 and the debtor naturally wishes to give you a slap4 ,a golden text for these gentlemen is that which ,i admire in the ,buddhist1#dfh who never thanks1 and who says1 ,do not flatter your benefactors4 #e4 ,the reason of these discords ,i conceive to be1 that there is no commensurability between a man and any gift4 ,you cannot give anything to a magnanimous person4 ,after you have served him1 he at once puts you in debt by his magnanimity4 ,the service a man renders his friend is trivial and selfish1 compared with the service he knows his friend stood in readiness to yield him1 alike before he had begun to serve his friend1 and now also4 ,compared with that good-will ,i bear my friend1 the benefit it is in my power to render him seems small4 ,besides1 our action on each other1 good as well as evil1 is so incidental and at random1 that we can seldom hear the acknowledgments of any person who would thank us for a benefit1 without some shame and humiliation4 ,we can rarely strike a direct stroke1 but must be content with an oblique one2 we seldom have the satisfaction of yielding a direct benefit1 which is directly received4 ,but rectitude scatters favors on every side without knowing it1 and receives with wonder the thanks of all people4 #f4 ,i fear to breathe any treason against the majesty of love1 which is the genius and god of gifts1 and to whom we must not affect to prescribe4 ,let him give kingdoms or flower-leaves indifferently4 ,there are persons from whom we always expect fairy tokens2 let us not cease to expect them4 ,this is prerogative1 and not to be limited by our municipal rules4 ,for the rest1 ,i like to see that we cannot be bought and sold4 ,the best of hospitality and of generosity is also not in the will1 but in fate4 ,i find that ,i am not much to you2 you do not need me2 you do not feel me2 then am ,i thrust out of doors1 though you proffer me house and lands4 ,no services are of any value1 but only likeness4 ,when ,i have attempted to join myself to others by services1 it proved an intellectual trick--no more4 ,they eat your service like apples1 and leave you out4 ,but love them1 and they feel for you1 and delight in you all the time4 ,,nature#dfi ,the rounded world is fair to see1 ,nine times folded in mystery3 ,though baffled seers cannot impart ,the secret of its laboring heart1 ,throb thine with ,nature's throbbing breast1 ,and all is clear from east to west4 ,spirit that lurks each form within ,beckons to spirit of its kin2 ,self-kindled every atom glows1 ,and hints the future which it owes4 #a4 ,there are days#dgj which occur in this climate1 at almost any season of the year1 wherein the world reaches its perfection1 when the air1 the heavenly bodies1 and the earth1 make a harmony1 as if nature would indulge her offspring2 when1 in these bleak upper sides of the planet1 nothing is to desire that we have heard of the happiest latitudes1 and we bask in the shining hours of ,florida and ,cuba2 when everything that has life gives sign of satisfaction1 and the cattle that lie on the ground seem to have great and tranquil thoughts4 ,these halcyons#dga may be looked for with a little more assurance in that pure ,october weather1 which we distinguish by the name of ,indian ,summer4#dgb ,the day1 immeasurably long1 sleeps over the broad hills and warm wide fields4 ,to have lived through all its sunny hours1 seems longevity enough4 ,the solitary places do not seem quite lonely4 ,at the gates of the forest1 the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small1 wise and foolish4 ,the knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he makes into these precincts4 ,here is sanctity which shames our religions1 and reality which discredits our heroes4 ,here we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance1 and judges like a god all men that come to her4 ,we have crept out of our close and crowded houses into the night and morning1 and we see what majestic beauties daily wrap us in their bosom4 ,how willingly we would escape the barriers which render them comparatively impotent1 escape the sophistication and second thought1 and suffer nature to entrance us4 ,the tempered light of the woods is like a perpetual morning1 and is stimulating and heroic4 ,the anciently reported spells of these places creep on us4 ,the stems of pines1 hemlocks1 and oaks1 almost gleam like iron on the excited eye4 ,the incommunicable trees begin to persuade us to live with them1 and quit our life of solemn trifles4 ,here no history1 or church1 or state1 is interpolated on the divine sky and the immortal year4 ,how easily we might walk onward into opening landscape1 absorbed by new pictures1 and by thoughts fast succeeding each other1 until by degrees the recollection of home was crowded out of the mind1 all memory obliterated by the tyranny of the present1 and we were led in triumph by nature4 #b4 ,these enchantments are medicinal1 they sober and heal us4 ,these are plain pleasures1 kindly and native to us4 ,we come to our own1 and make friends with matter1 which the ambitious chatter of the schools would persuade us to despise4 ,we never can part with it2 the mind loves its old home3 as water to our thirst1 so is the rock1 the ground1 to our eyes1 and hands1 and feet4 ,it is firm water3 it is cold flame3 what health1 what affinity6 ,ever an old friend1 ever like a dear friend and brother1 when we chat affectedly with strangers1 comes in this honest face1 and takes a grave liberty with us1 and shames us out of our nonsense4 ,cities give not the human senses room enough4 ,we go out daily and nightly to feed the eyes on the horizon1 and require so much scope1 just as we need water for our bath4 ,there are all degrees of natural influence1 from these quarantine powers of nature1 up to her dearest and gravest ministrations to the imagination and the soul4 ,there is the bucket of cold water from the spring1 the wood-fire to which the chilled traveler rushes for safety1--and there is the sublime moral of autumn and of noon4 ,we nestle in nature1 and draw our living as parasites from her roots and grains1 and we receive glances from the heavenly bodies1 which call us to solitude1 and foretell the remotest future4 ,the blue zenith is the point in which romance and reality meet4 ,i think1 if we should be rapt away into all that we dream of heaven1 and should converse with ,gabriel#dgc and ,uriel1#dgd the upper sky would be all that would remain of our furniture4 #c4 ,it seems as if the day was not wholly profane1 in which we have given heed to some natural object4 ,the fall of snowflakes in a still air1 preserving to each crystal its perfect form2 the blowing of sleet over a wide sheet of water1 and over plains2 the waving rye-fields2 the mimic waving of acres of houstonia1 whose innumerable florets whiten and ripple before the eye2 the reflections of trees and flowers in glassy lakes2 the musical steaming odorous south wind1 which converts all trees to wind-harps2#dge the crackling and spurting of hemlock in the flames2 or of pine-logs1 which yield glory to the walls and faces in the sitting-room1--these are the music and pictures of the most ancient religion4 ,my house stands in low land1 with limited outlook1 and on the skirt of the village4#dgf ,but ,i go with my friend#dgg to the shore of our little river1#dgh and with one stroke of the paddle1 ,i leave the village politics and personalities1 yes1 and the world of villages and personalities behind1 and pass into a delicate realm of sunset and moonlight1 too bright almost for spotted man to enter without novitiate and probation4#dgi ,we penetrate bodily this incredible beauty3 we dip our hands in this painted element3 our eyes are bathed in these lights and forms4 ,a holiday1 a villeggiatura1#dhj a royal revel1 the proudest1 most heart-rejoicing festival that valor and beauty1 power and taste1 ever decked and enjoyed1 establishes itself on the instant4 ,these sunset clouds1 these delicately emerging stars1 with their private and ineffable glances1 signify it and proffer it4 ,i am taught the poorness of our invention1 the ugliness of towns and palaces4 ,art and luxury have early learned that they must work as enhancement and sequel to this original beauty4 ,i am overinstructed for my return4 ,henceforth ,i shall be hard to please4 ,i cannot go back to toys4 ,i am grown expensive and sophisticated4 ,i can no longer live without elegance3 but a countryman shall be my master of revels4 ,he who knows the most1 he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground1 the waters1 the plants1 the heavens1 and how to come at these enchantments1 is the rich and royal man4 ,only as far as masters of the world have called in nature to their aid1 can they reach the height of magnificence4 ,this is the meaning of their hanging-gardens1#dha villas1 garden-houses1 islands1 parks1 and preserves1 to back their faulty personality with these strong accessories4 ,i do not wonder that the landed interest should be invincible in the state with these dangerous auxiliaries4 ,these bribe and invite2 not kings1 not palaces1 not men1 not women1 but these tender and poetic stars1 eloquent of secret promises4 ,we heard what the rich man said1 we knew of his villa1 his grove1 his wine1 and his company1 but the provocation and point of the invitation came out of these beguiling stars4 ,in their soft glances1 ,i see what men strove to realize in some ,versailles1#dhb or ,paphos1#dhc or ,ctesiphon4#dhd ,indeed1 it is the magical lights of the horizon1 and the blue sky for the background1 which save all our works of art1 which were otherwise baubles4 ,when the rich tax the poor with servility and obsequiousness1 they should consider the effect of man reputed to be the possessors of nature1 on imaginative minds4 ,ah6 if the rich were rich as the poor fancy riches6 ,a boy hears a military band play on the field at night1 and he has kings and queens1 and famous chivalry palpably before him4 ,he hears the echoes of a horn in a hill country1 in the ,notch ,mountains1#dhe for example1 which converts the mountains into an olian harp1#dhf and this supernatural tiralira restores to him the ,dorian#dhg mythology1 ,apollo1#dhh ,diana1#dhi and all divine hunters and huntresses4 ,can a musical note be so lofty1 so haughtily beautiful6 ,to the poor young poet1 thus fabulous is his picture of society2 he is loyal2 he respects the rich2 they are rich for the sake of his imagination2 how poor his fancy would be1 if they were not rich6 ,that they have some high-fenced grove1 which they call a park2 that they live in larger and better-garnished saloons than he has visited1 and go in coaches1 keeping only the society of the elegant1 to watering-places1 and to distant cities1 are the groundwork from which he has delineated estates of romance1 compared with which their actual possessions are shanties and paddocks4 ,the muse herself betrays her son1 and enhances the gift of wealthy and well-born beauty1 by a radiation out of the air1 and clouds1 and forests that skirt the road1--a certain haughty favor1 as if from patrician genii to patricians1 a kind of aristocracy in nature1 a prince of the power of the air4 #d4 ,the moral sensibility which makes ,edens#dij and ,tempes#dia so easily1 may not be always found1 but the material landscape is never far off4 ,we can find these enchantments without visiting the ,como ,lake1#dib or the ,madeira ,islands4#dic ,we exaggerate the praises of local scenery4 ,in every landscape1 the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth1 and that is seen from the first hillock as well as from the top of the ,alleghanies4 ,the stars at night stoop down over the brownest1 homeliest common1#did with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the ,campagna1#die or on the marble deserts of ,egypt4 ,the uprolled clouds and the colors of morning and evening1 will transfigure maples and alders4 ,the difference between landscape and landscape is small1 but there is great difference in the beholders4 ,there is nothing so wonderful in any particular landscape1 as the necessity of being beautiful under which every landscape lies4 ,nature cannot be surprised in undress4 ,beauty breaks in everywhere4 #e4 ,but it is very easy to outrun the sympathy of readers on this topic1 which school-men called natura naturata1 or nature passive4 ,one can hardly speak directly of it without excess4 ,it is as easy to broach in mixed companies what is called the subject of religion4 ,a susceptible person does not like to indulge his tastes in this kind1 without the apology of some trivial necessity3 he goes to see a wood-lot1 or to look at the crops1 or to fetch a plant or a mineral from a remote locality1 or he carries a fowling-piece1 or a fishing-rod4 ,i suppose this shame must have a good reason4 ,a dilettantism#dif in nature is barren and unworthy4 ,the fop of fields is no better than his brother of ,broadway4 ,men are naturally hunters and inquisitive of woodcraft and ,i suppose that such a gazetteer as wood-cutters and ,indians should furnish facts for would take place in the most sumptuous drawing-rooms of all the ,wreaths and ,flora's chaplets#dig of the book-shops2 yet ordinarily1 whether we are too clumsy for so subtle a topic1 or from whatever cause1 as soon as men begin to write on nature1 they fall into euphuism4 ,frivolity is a most unfit tribute to ,pan1#dih who ought to be represented in the mythology as the most continent of gods4 ,i would not be frivolous before the admirable reserve and prudence of time1 yet ,i cannot renounce the right of returning often to this old topic4 ,the multitude of false churches#dii accredits the true religion4 ,literature1 poetry1 science1 are the homage of man to this unfathomed secret1 concerning which no sane man can affect an indifference or incuriosity4 ,nature is loved by what is best in us4 ,it is loved as the city of ,god1 although1 or rather because there is no citizen4 ,the sunset is unlike anything that is underneath it3 it wants men4 ,and the beauty of nature must always seem unreal and mocking1 until the landscape has human figures1 that are as good as itself4 ,if there were good men1 there would never be this rapture in nature4 ,if the king is in the palace nobody looks at the walls4 ,it is when he is gone1 and the house is filled with grooms and gazers1 that we turn from the people1 to find relief in the majestic men that are suggested by the pictures and architecture4 ,the critics who complain of the sickly separation of the beauty of nature from the thing to be done1 must consider that our hunting of the picturesque is inseparable from our protest against false society4 ,man is fallen2 nature is erect1 and serves as a differential thermometer1 detecting the presence or absence of the divine sentiment in man4 ,by fault of our dulness and selfishness1 we are looking up to nature1 but when we are convalescent1 nature will look up to us4 ,we see the foaming brook with compunction2 if our own life flowed with the right energy1 we should shame the brook4 ,the stream of zeal sparkles with real fire1 and not with reflex rays of sun and moon4 ,nature may be as selfishly studied as trade4 ,astronomy to the selfish becomes astrology2 psychology1 mesmerism 7with intent to show where our spoons are gone72 and anatomy and physiology become phrenology and palmistry4 #f4 ,but taking timely warning1 and leaving many things unsaid on this topic1 but not longer omit our homage to the ,efficient ,nature1 natura naturans1 the quick cause1 before which all forms flee as the driven snows1 itself secret1 its works driven before it in flocks and multitudes1 7as the ancient represented nature by ,proteus1#ejj a shepherd71 and in undescribable variety4 ,it publishes itself in creatures1 reaching from particles and spicula1 through transformation on transformation to the highest symmetries1 arriving at consummate results without a shock or a leap4 ,a little heat1 that is1 a little motion1 is all that differences the bald1 dazzling white1 and deadly cold poles of the earth from the prolific tropical climates4 ,all changes pass without violence1 by reason of the two cardinal conditions of boundless space and boundless time4 ,geology has initiated us into the secularity of nature1 and taught us to disuse our dame-school measures1 and exchange our ,mosaic#eja and ,ptolemaic schemes#ejb for her large style4 ,we know nothing rightly1 for want of perspective4 ,now we learn what patient periods must round themselves before the rock is formed1 then before the rock is broken1 and the first lichen race has disintegrated the thinnest external plate into soil1 and opened the door for the remote ,flora1#ejc ,fauna1#ejd ,ceres1#eje and ,pomona1#ejf to come in4 ,how far off yet is the trilobite6 how far the quadruped6 how inconceivably remote is man6 ,all duly arrive1#ejg and then race after race of men4 ,it is a long way from granite to the oyster2 farther yet to ,plato1#ejh and the preaching of the immortality of the soul4 ,yet all must come1 as surely as the first atom has two sides4 #g4 ,motion or change1 and identity or rest1 are the first and second secrets of nature3 ,motion and ,rest4 ,the whole code of her laws may be written on the thumb-nail1 or the signet of a ring4 ,the whirling bubble on the surface of a brook1 admits us to the secret of the mechanics of the sky4 ,every shell on the beach is a key to it4 ,a little water made to rotate in a cup explains the formation of the simpler shells2 the addition of matter from year to year1 arrives at last at the most complex forms2 and yet so poor is nature with all her craft1 that1 from the beginning to the end of the universe1 she has but one stuff1--but one stuff with its two ends1 to serve up all her dream-like variety4 ,compound it how she will1 star1 sand1 fire1 water1 tree1 man1 it is still one stuff1 and betrays the same properties4 #h4 ,nature is always consistent1 though she feigns to contravene her own laws4 ,she keeps her laws1 and seems to transcend them4 ,she arms and equips an animal to find its place and living in the earth1 and1 at the same time1 she arms and equips another animal to destroy it4 ,space exists to divide creatures2 but by clothing the sides of a bird with a few feathers1 she gives him a petty omnipresence4 ,the direction is forever onward1 but the artist still goes back for materials1 and begins again with the first elements on the most advanced stage3 otherwise1 all goes to ruin4 ,if we look at her work1 we seem to catch a glance of a system in transition4 ,plants are the young of the world1 vessels of health and vigor2 but they grope ever upward toward consciousness2 the trees are imperfect men1 and seem to bemoan their imprisonment1 rooted in the ground4 ,the animal is the novice and probationer of a more advanced order4 ,the men1 though young1 having tasted the first drop from the cup of thought1 are already dissipated3 the maples and ferns are still uncorrupt2 yet no doubt1 when they come to consciousness1 they too will curse and swear4 ,flowers so strictly belong to youth1 that we adult men soon come to feel1 that their beautiful generations concern not us3 we have had our day2 now let the children have theirs4 ,the flowers jilt us1 and we are old bachelors with our ridiculous tenderness4 #i4 ,things are so strictly related1 that according to the skill of the eye1 from any one object the parts and properties of any other may be predicted4 ,if we had eyes to see it1 a bit of stone from the city wall would certify us of the necessity that man must exist1 as readily as the city4 ,that identity makes us all one1 and reduces to nothing great intervals on our customary scale4 ,we talk of deviations from natural life1 as if artificial life were not also natural4 ,the smoothest curled courtier in the boudoirs of a palace has an animal nature1 rude and aboriginal as a white bear1 omnipotent to its own ends1 and is directly related1 there amid essences and billets-doux1 to ,himalaya mountain-chains#eji and the axis of the globe4 ,if we consider how much we are nature's1 we need not be superstitious about towns1 as if that terrific or benefic force did not find us there also1 and fashion cities4 ,nature1 who made the mason1 made the house4 ,we may easily hear too much of rural influences4 ,the cool1 disengaged air of natural objects1 makes them enviable to us1 chafed and irritable creatures with red faces1 and we think we shall be as grand as they1 if we camp out and eat roots1 but let us be men instead of wood-chucks1 and the oak and the elm shall gladly serve us1 though we sit in chairs of ivory on carpets of silk4 #aj4 ,this guiding identity runs through all the surprises and contrasts of the piece1 and characterizes every law4 ,man carries the world in his head1 the whole astronomy and chemistry suspended in a thought4 ,because the history of nature is charactered in his brain1 therefore is he the prophet and discoverer of her secrets4 ,every known fact in natural science was divined by the presentiment of somebody1 before it was actually verified4 ,a man does not tie his shoe without recognizing laws which bind the farthest regions of nature3 moon1 plant1 gas1 crystal1 are concrete geometry and numbers4 ,common sense knows its own1 and recognizes the fact at first sight in chemical experiment4 ,the common sense of ,franklin1#eaj ,dalton1#eaa ,davy#eab and ,black1#eac is the same common sense which made the arrangements which now it discovers4 #aa4 ,if the identity expresses organized rest1 the counter action runs also into organization4 ,the astronomers said1#ead ,give us matter1 and a little motion1 and we will construct the universe4 ,it is not enough that we should have matter1 we must also have a single impulse1 one shove to launch the mass1 and generate the harmony of the centrifugal and centripetal#eae forces4 ,once heave the ball from the hand1 and we can show how all this mighty order grew4 ,a very unreasonable postulate1 said the metaphysicians1 and a plain begging of the question4 ,could you not prevail to know the genesis of projection1 as well as the continuation of it8 ,nature1 meanwhile1 had not waited for the discussion1 but1 right or wrong1 bestowed the impulse1 and the balls rolled4 ,it was no great affair1 a mere push1 but the astronomers were right in making much of it1 for there is no end of the consequences of the act4 ,that famous aboriginal push propagates itself through all the balls of the system1 and through every atom of every ball1 through all the races of creatures1 and through the history and performances of every individual4 ,exaggeration is in the course of things4 ,nature sends no creature1 no man into the world1 without adding a small excess of his proper quality4 ,given the planet1 it is still necessary to add the impulse2 so1 to every creature nature added a little violence of direction in its proper path1 a shove to put it on its way2 in every instance1 a slight generosity1 a drop too much4 ,without electricity the air would rot1 and without this violence of direction which men and women have1 without a spice of bigot and fanatic1 no excitement1 no efficiency4 ,we aim above the mark1 to hit the mark4 ,every act hath some falsehood of exaggeration in it4 ,and when now and then comes along some sad1 sharp-eyed man1 who sees how paltry a game is played1 and refuses to play1 but blabs the secret2--how then8 is the bird flown8 ,o no1 the wary ,nature sends a new troop of fairer forms1 of lordlier youths1 with a little more excess of direction to hold them fast to their several aims2 makes them a little wrongheaded in that direction in which they are rightest1 and on goes the game again with new whirl1 for a generation or two more4 ,the child with his sweet pranks1 the fool of his senses1 commanded by every sight and sound1 without any power to compare and rank his sensations1 abandoned to a whistle or a painted chip1 to a lead dragoon1 or a ginger-bread dog1 individualizing everything1 generalizing nothing1 delighted with every new thing1 lies down at night overpowered by the fatigue1 which this day of continual petty madness has incurred4 ,but ,nature has answered her purpose with the curly1 dimpled lunatic4 ,she has tasked every faculty1 and has secured the symmetrical growth of the bodily frame1 by all these attitudes and exertions1--an end of the first importance1 which could not be trusted to any care less perfect than her own4 ,this glitter1 this opaline luster plays round the top of every toy to his eye1 to insure his fidelity1 and he is deceived to his good4 ,we are made alive and kept alive by the same arts4 ,let the ,stoics#eaf say what they please1 we do not eat for the good of living1 but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen4 ,the vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed1 but it fills the air and earth with a prodigality of seeds1 that if thousands perish1 thousands may plant themselves1 that hundreds may come up1 that tens may live to maturity1 that1 at least1 one may replace the parent4 ,all things betray the same calculated profusion4 ,the excess of fear with which the animal frame is hedged round1 shrinking from cold1 starting at sight of a snake1 or a sudden noise1 protects us1 through a multitude of groundless alarms1 from some one real danger at last4 ,the lover seeks in marriage his private felicity and perfection1 with no prospective end2 and nature hides in his happiness her own end1 namely1 progeny1 or the perpetuity of the race4 #ab4 ,but the craft with which the world is made runs also into the mind and character of men4 ,no man is quite sane2 each has a vein of folly in his composition1 a slight determination of blood to the head1 to make sure of holding him hard to some one point which nature had taken to heart4 ,great causes are never tried on their merits2 but the cause is reduced to particulars to suit the size of the partisans1 and the contention is ever hottest on minor matters4 ,not less remarkable is the overfaith of each man in the importance of what he has to do or say4 ,the poet1 the prophet1 has a higher value for what he utters than any hearer1 and therefore it gets spoken4 ,the strong1 self-complacent ,luther#eag declares with an emphasis1 not to be mistaken1 that ,god himself cannot do without wise men4 ,jacob ,behmen#eah and ,george ,fox#eai betray their egotism in the pertinacity of their controversial tracts1 and ,james ,naylor#ebj once suffered himself to be worshiped as the ,christ4 ,each prophet comes presently to identify himself with his thought1 and to esteem his hat and shoes sacred4 ,however this may discredit such persons with the judicious1 it helps them with the people1 as it gives heat1 pungency1 and publicity to their words4 ,a similar experience is not infrequent in private life4 ,each young and ardent person writes a diary1 in which1 when the hours of prayer and penitence arrive1 he inscribes his soul4 ,the pages thus written are1 to him1 burning and fragrant3 he reads them on his knees by midnight and by the morning star2 he wets them with his tears3 they are sacred2 too good for the world1 and hardly yet to be shown to the dearest friend4 ,this is the man-child that is born to the soul1 and her life still circulates in the babe4 ,the umbilical cord has not yet been cut4 ,after some time has elapsed1 he begins to wish to admit his friend to this hallowed experience1 and with hesitation1 yet with firmness1 exposes the pages to his eye4 ,will they not burn his eyes8 ,the friend coldly turns them over1 and passes from the writing to conversation1 with easy transition1 which strikes the other party with astonishment and vexation4 ,he cannot suspect the writing itself4 ,days and nights of fervid life1 of communion with angels of darkness and of light1 have engraved their shadowy characters on that tear-stained book4 ,he suspects the intelligence or the heart of his friend4 ,is there then no friend8 ,he cannot yet credit that one may have impressive experience1 and yet may not know how to put his private fact into literature2 and perhaps the discovery that wisdom has other tongues and ministers than we1 that though we should hold our peace1 the truth would not the less be spoken1 might check injuriously the flames of our zeal4 ,a man can only speak1 so long as he does not feel his speech to be partial and inadequate4 ,it is partial1 but he does not see it to be so1 whilst he utters it4 ,as soon as he is released from the instinctive and particular1 and sees its partiality1 he shuts his mouth in disgust4 ,for1 no man can write anything1 who does not think that what he writes is for the time the history of the world2 or do anything well1 who does not esteem his work to be of importance4 ,my work may be of none1 but ,i must not think it is of none1 or ,i shall not do it with impunity4 #ac4 ,in like manner1 there is throughout nature something mocking1 something that leads us on and on1 but arrives nowhere1 keeps no faith with us4 ,all promise outruns the performance4 ,we live in a system of approximations4 ,every end is prospective of some other end1 which is also temporary2 a round and final success nowhere4 ,we are encamped in nature1 not domesticated4 ,hunger and thirst lead us on to eat and to drink2 but bread and wine1 mix and cook them how you will1 leave us hungry and thirsty1 after the stomach is full4 ,it is the same with all our arts and performances4 ,our music1 our poetry1 our language itself are not satisfactions1 but suggestions4 ,the hunger for wealth1 which reduces the planet to a garden1 fools the eager pursuer4 ,what is the end sought8 ,plainly to secure the ends of good sense and beauty1 from the intrusion of deformity or vulgarity of any kind4 ,but what an operose#eba method6 ,what a train of means to secure a little conversation6 ,this palace of brick and stone1 these servants1 this kitchen1 these stables1 horses and equipage1 this bank-stock1 and file of mortgages2 trade to all the world1 country-house and cottage by the water-side1 all for a little conversation1 high1 clear1 and spiritual6 ,could it not be had as well by beggars on the highway8 ,no1 all these things came from successive efforts of these beggars to remove friction from the wheels of life1 and give opportunity4 ,conversation1 character1 were the avowed ends2 wealth was good as it appeased the animal cravings1 cured the smoky chimney1 silenced the creaking door1 brought friends together in a warm and quiet room1 and kept the children and the dinner-table in a different apartment4 ,thought1 virtue1 beauty1 were the ends2 but it was known that men of thought and virtue sometimes had the headache1 or wet feet1 or could lose good time1 whilst the room was getting warm in winter days4 ,unluckily1 in the exertions necessary to remove these inconveniences1 the main attention has been diverted to this object2 the old aims have been lost sight of1 and to remove friction has come to be the end4 ,that is the ridicule of rich men1 and ,boston1 ,london1 ,vienna1 and now the governments generally of the world1 are cities and governments of the rich1 and the masses are not men1 but poor men1 that is1 men who would be rich2 this is the ridicule of the class1 that they arrive with pains and sweat and fury nowhere2 when all is done1 it is for nothing4 ,they are like one who has interrupted the conversation of a company to make his speech1 and now has forgotten what he went to say4 ,the appearance strikes the eye everywhere of an aimless society1 of aimless nations4 ,were the ends of nature so great and cogent1 as to exact this immense sacrifice of men8 #ad4 ,quite analogous to the deceits in life1 there is1 as might be expected1 a similar effect on the eye from the face of external nature4 ,there is in woods and waters a certain enticement and flattery1 together with a failure to yield a present satisfaction4 ,this disappointment is felt in every landscape4 ,i have seen the softness and beauty of the summer clouds floating feathery overhead1 enjoying1 as it seemed1 their height and privilege of motion1 whilst yet they appeared not so much the drapery of this place and hour1 as fore-looking to such pavilions and gardens of festivity beyond4 ,it is an odd jealousy2 but the poet finds himself not near enough to this object4 ,the pine tree1 the river1 the bank of flowers before him1 does not seem to be nature4 ,nature is still elsewhere4 ,this or this is but outskirt and far-off reflection#ebb and echo of the triumph that has passed by1 and is now at its glancing splendor and heyday1 perchance in the neighboring fields1 or1 if you stand in the field1 then in the adjacent woods4 ,the present object shall give you this sense of stillness that follows a pageant which has just gone by4 ,what splendid distance1 what recesses of ineffable pomp and loveliness in the sunset6 ,but who can go where they are1 or lay his hand or plant his foot thereon8 ,off they fall from the round world forever and ever4 ,it is the same among men and women as among the silent trees2 always a referred existence1 an absence1 never a presence and satisfaction4 ,is it1 that beauty can never be grasped8 in persons and in landscapes is equally inaccessible8 ,the accepted and betrothed lover has lost the wildest charm of his maiden in her acceptance of him4 ,she was heaven whilst he pursued her as a star3 she cannot be heaven1 if she stoops to such a one as he4 #ae4 ,what shall we say of this omnipresent appearance of that first projectile impulse1 of this flattery and balking of so many well-meaning creatures8 ,must we not suppose somewhere in the universe a slight treachery and derision8 ,are we not engaged to a serious resentment of this use that is made of us8 ,are we tickled trout1 and fools of nature8 ,one looks at the face of heaven and earth lays all petulance at rest1 and soothes us to wiser convictions4 ,to the intelligent1 nature converts itself into a vast promise1 and will not be rashly explained4 ,her secret is untold4 ,many and many an ,oedipus#ebc arrives3 he has the whole mystery teeming in his brain4 ,alas6 the same sorcery has spoiled his skill2 no syllable can he shape on his lips4 ,her mighty orbit vaults like the fresh rainbow into the deep1 but no archangel's wing was yet strong enough to follow it1 and report of the return of the curve4 ,but it also appears1 that our actions are seconded and disposed to greater conclusions than we designed4 ,we are escorted on every hand through life by spiritual agents1 and a beneficent purpose lies in wait for us4 ,we cannot bandy words with nature1 or deal with her as we deal with persons4 ,if we measure our individual forces against hers1 we may easily feel as if we were the sport of an insuperable destiny4 ,but if1 instead of identifying ourselves with the work1 we feel that the soul of the workman streams through us1 we shall find the peace of the morning dwelling first in our hearts1 and the fathomless powers of gravity and chemistry1 and1 over them1 of life prexisting within us in their highest form4 #af4 ,the uneasiness which the thought of our helplessness in the chain of causes occasions us1 results from looking too much at one condition of nature1 namely1 ,motion4 ,but the drag is never taken from the wheel4 ,wherever the impulse exceeds the ,rest or ,identity insinuates its compensation4 ,all over the wide fields of earth grows the prunella#ebd or self-heal4 ,after every foolish day we sleep off the fumes and furies of its hours2 and though we are always engaged with particulars1 and often enslaved to them1 we bring with us to every experiment the innate universal laws4 ,these1 while they exist in the mind as ideas1 stand around us in nature forever embodied1 a present sanity to expose and cure the insanity of men4 ,our servitude to particulars betrays us into a hundred foolish expectations4 ,we anticipate a new era from the invention of a locomotive1 or a balloon2 the new engine brings with it the old checks4 ,they say that by electro-magnetism1 your salad shall be grown from the seed whilst your fowl is roasting for dinner3 it is a symbol of our modern aims and endeavors1--of our condensation and acceleration of objects3 but nothing is gained3 nature cannot be cheated3 man's life is but seventy salads long1 grow they swift or grow they slow4 ,in these checks and impossibilities1 however1 we find our advantage1 not less than in impulses4 ,let the victory fall where it will1 we are on that side4 ,and the knowledge that we traverse the whole scale of being1 from the center to the poles of nature1 and have some stake in every possibility1 lends that sublime luster to death1 which philosophy and religion have too outwardly and literally striven to express in the popular doctrine of the immortality of the soul4 ,the reality is more excellent than the report4 ,here is no ruin1 no discontinuity1 no spent ball4 ,the divine circulations never rest nor linger4 ,nature is the incarnation of a thought1 and turns to a thought again1 as ice becomes water and gas4 ,the world is mind precipitated1 and the volatile essence is forever escaping again into the state of free thought4 ,hence the virtue and pungency of the influence on the mind1 of natural objects1 whether inorganic or organized4 ,man imprisoned1 man crystallized1 man vegetative1 speaks to man impersonated4 ,that power which does not respect quantity1 which makes the whole and the particle its equal channel1 delegates its smile to the morning1 and distills its essence into every drop of rain4 ,every moment instructs and every object3 for wisdom is infused into every form4 ,it has been poured into us as blood2 it convulsed us as pain2 it slid into us as pleasure2 it enveloped us in dull1 melancholy days1 or in days of cheerful labor2 we did not guess its essence1 until after a long time4 ,,shakspeare2#ebe ,,or1 ,,the ,,poet ,transcriber's ,note3 ,shakspeare is spelled as ,shakspeare as well as ,shakespeare in this book4 ,the original spellings have been retained4 #a4 ,great men are more distinguished by range and extent1 than by originality4 ,if we require the originality which consists in weaving1 like a spider1 their web from their own bowels2 in finding clay1 and making bricks1 and building the house2 no great men are original4 ,nor does valuable originality consist in unlikeness to other men4 ,the hero is in the press of knights1 and the thick of events2 and1 seeing what men want1 and sharing their desire1 he adds the needful length of sight and of arm1 to come to the desired point4 ,the greatest genius is the most indebted man4 ,a poet is no rattlebrain1 saying what comes uppermost and1 because he says everything1 saying1 at last1 something good2 but a heart in unison with his time and country4 ,there is nothing whimsical and fantastic in his production1 but sweet and sad earnest1 freighted with the weightiest convictions1 and pointed with the most determined aim which any man or class knows of in his times4 #b4 ,the ,genius#ebf of our life is jealous of individuals and will not have any individual great1 except through the general4 ,there is no choice to genius4 ,a great man does not wake up on some fine morning1 and say1 ,i am full of life1 ,i will go to sea1 and find an ,antarctic continent3 to-day ,i will square the circle3 ,i will ransack botany1 and find a new food for man3 ,i have a new architecture in my mind3 ,i foresee a new mechanic power3 no1 but he finds himself in the river of the thoughts and events1 forced onward by the ideas and necessities of his contemporaries4 ,he stands where all the eyes of men look one way1 and their hands all point in the direction in which he should go4 ,the church has reared him amidst rites and pomps1 and he carries out the advice which her music gave him1 and builds a cathedral needed by her chants and processions4 ,he finds a war raging3 it educates him1 by trumpet1 in barracks1 and he betters the instruction4 ,he finds two counties groping to bring coal1 or flour1 or fish1 from the place of production to the place of consumption1 and he hits on a railroad4 ,every master has found his materials collected1 and his power lay in his sympathy with his people1 and in his love of the materials he wrought in4 ,what an economy of power6 and what a compensation for the shortness of life6 ,all is done to his hand4 ,the world has brought him thus far on his way4 ,the human race has gone out before him1 sunk the hills1 filled the hollows1 and bridged the rivers4 ,men1 nations1 poets1 artisans1 women1 all have worked for him1 and he enters into their labors4 ,choose any other thing1 out of the line of tendency1 out of the national feeling and history1 and he would have all to do for himself3 his powers would be expended in the first preparations4 ,great genial power1 one would almost say1 consists in not being original at all2 in being altogether receptive2 in letting the world do all1 and suffering the spirit of the hour to pass unobstructed through the mind4 #c4 ,shakspeare's youth#ebg fell in a time when the ,english people were importunate for dramatic entertainments4 ,the court took offense easily at political allusions1 and attempted to suppress them4 ,the ,puritans1#ebh a growing and energetic party and the religious among the ,anglican ,church1#ebi would suppress them4 ,but the people wanted them4 ,inn-yards1 houses without roofs1 and extemporaneous inclosures at country fairs1 were the ready theaters of strolling players4 ,the people had tasted this new joy2 and1 as we could not hope to suppress newspapers now1--no1 not by the strongest party1--neither then could king1 prelate1 or puritan1--alone or united1 suppress an organ1 which was ballad1 epic1 newspaper1 caucus1 lecture1 ,punch1#ecj and library1 at the same time4 ,probably king1 prelate1 and puritan1 all found their own account in it4 ,it had become1 by all causes1 a national interest1--by no means conspicuous1 so that some great scholar would have thought of treating it in an ,english history1--but not a whit less considerable1 because it was cheap1 and of no account1 like a baker's shop4 ,the best proof of its vitality is the crowd of writers which suddenly broke into this field2 ,kyd1 ,marlow1 ,greene1#eca ,jonson1 ,chapman1 ,dekker1 ,webster1 ,heywood1 ,middleton1 ,peele1 ,ford1 ,massinger1 ,beaumont1 and ,fletcher4 #d4 ,the secure possession1 by the stage1 of the public mind1 is of the first importance to the poet who works for it4 ,he loses no time in idle experiments4 ,here is audience and expectation prepared4 ,in the case of ,shakspeare there is much more4 ,at the time when#ecb he left ,stratford1 and went up to ,london1 a great body of stage-plays1 of all dates and writers1 existed in manuscript1 and were in turn produced on the boards4 ,here is the ,tale of ,troy1#ecc which the audience will bear hearing some part of1 every week2 the ,death of ,julius ,csar1#ecd and other stories out of ,plutarch1#ece which they never tire of2 a shelf full of ,english history1 from the chronicles of ,brut#ecf and ,arthur1#ecg down to the royal ,henries1#ech which men hear eagerly2 and a string of doleful tragedies1 merry ,italian tales1#eci and ,spanish voyages1#edj which all the ,london prentices know4 ,all the mass has been treated1 with more or less skill1 by every playwright1 and the prompter has the soiled and tattered manuscripts4 ,it is now no longer possible to say who wrote them first4 ,they have been the property of the ,theater so long1 and so many rising geniuses have enlarged or altered them1 inserting a speech1 or a whole scene1 or adding a song1 that no man can any longer claim copyright in this work of numbers4 ,happily1 no man wishes to4 ,they are not yet desired in that way4 ,we have few readers1 many spectators and hearers4 ,they had best lie where they are4 #e4 ,shakspeare1 in common with his comrades1 esteemed the mass of old plays1 waste stock1 in which any experiment could be freely tried4 ,had the prestige#eda which hedges about a modern tragedy existed1 nothing could have been done4 ,the rude warm blood of the living ,england circulated in the play1 as in street-ballads1 and gave body which he wanted to his airy and majestic fancy4 ,the poet needs a ground in popular tradition on which he may work1 and which1 again1 may restrain his art within the due temperance4 ,it holds him to the people1 supplies a foundation for his edifice2 and1 in furnishing so much work done to his hand1 leaves him at leisure1 and in full strength for the audacities of his imagination4 ,in short1 the poet owes to his legend what sculpture owed to the temple4 ,sculpture in ,egypt1 and in ,greece1 grew up in subordination to architecture4 ,it was the ornament of the temple wall3 at first1 a rude relief carved on pediments1 then the relief became bolder1 and a head or arm was projected from the wall1 the groups being still arranged with reference to the building1 which serves also as a frame to hold the figures2 and when1 at last1 the greatest freedom of style and treatment was reached1 the prevailing genius of architecture still enforced a certain calmness and continence in the statue4 ,as soon as the statue was begun for itself1 and with no reference to the temple or palace1 the art began to decline3 freak1 extravagance1 and exhibition1 took the place of the old temperance4 ,this balance-wheel1 which the sculptor found in architecture1 the perilous irritability of poetic talent found in the accumulated dramatic materials to which the people were already wonted1 and which had a certain excellence which no single genius1#edb however extraordinary1 could hope to create4 #f4 ,in point of fact1 it appears that ,shakspeare did owe debts in all directions1 and was able to use whatever he found2 and the amount of indebtedness may be inferred from ,malone's#edc laborious computations in regard to the ,first1 ,second1 and ,third parts of ,henry ,,vi41 in which1 out of #fjdc lines1 #agga were written by some author preceding ,shakspeare2 #bcgc by him1 on the foundation laid by his predecessors2 and #ahii were entirely his own4 ,and the proceeding investigation hardly leaves a single drama of his absolute invention4 ,malone's sentence is an important piece of external history4 ,in ,henry ,,viii1 ,i think ,i see plainly the cropping out of the original rock on which his own finer stratum was laid4 ,the first play was written by a superior1 thoughtful man1 with a vicious ear4 ,i can mark his lines1 and know well their cadence4 ,see ,wolsey's soliloquy1#edd and the following scene from ,cromwell1#ede where1--instead of the meter of ,shakspeare1 whose secret is1 that the thought constructs the tune1 so that reading for the sense will best bring out the rhythm1--here the lines are constructed on a given tune1 and the verse has even a trace of pulpit eloquence4 ,but the play contains1 through all its length1 unmistakable traits of ,shakspeare's hand1 and some passages1 as the account of the coronation1#edf are like autographs4 ,what is odd1 the compliment to ,queen ,elizabeth#edg is in bad rhythm4#edh #g4 ,shakspeare knew that tradition supplies a better fable than any invention can4 ,if he lost any credit of design1 he augmented his resources2 and1 at that day1 our petulant demand for originality was not so much pressed4 ,there was no literature for the million4 ,the universal reading1 the cheap press1 were unknown4 ,a great poet1 who appears in illiterate times1 absorbs into his sphere all the light which is anywhere radiating4 ,every intellectual jewel1 every flower of sentiment1 it is his fine office to bring to his people2 and he comes to value his memory#edi equally with his invention4 ,he is therefore little solicitous whence his thoughts have been derived2 whether through translation1 whether through tradition1 whether by travel in distant countries1 whether by inspiration2 from whatever source1 they are equally welcome to his uncritical audience4 ,nay1 he borrows very near home4 ,other men say wise things as well as he2 only they say a good many foolish things1 and do not know when they have spoken wisely4 ,he knows the sparkle of the true stone1 and puts it in high place1 wherever he finds it4 ,such is the happy position of ,homer1#eej perhaps2 of ,chaucer1#eea of ,saadi4#eeb ,they felt that all wit was their wit4 ,and they are librarians and historiographers1 as well as poets4 ,each romancer was heir and dispenser of all the hundred tales of the world1-- ,presenting ,thebes'#eec and ,pelops' line ,and the tale of ,troy divine4 ,the influence of ,chaucer is conspicuous in all our early literature2 and1 more recently1 not only ,pope#eed and ,dryden#eee have been beholden to him1 but1 in the whole society of ,english writers1 a large unacknowledged debt is easily traced4 ,one is charmed with the opulence which feeds so many pensioners4 ,but ,chaucer is a huge borrower4#eef ,chaucer1 it seems1 drew continually1 through ,lydgat#eeg and ,caxton1#eeh from ,guido di ,colonna1#eei whose ,latin romance of the ,trojan war was in turn a compilation from ,dares ,phrygius1#efj ,ovid1#efa and ,statius4#efb ,then ,petrarch1#efc ,boccaccio1#efd and the ,provenal poets1#efe and his benefactors3 the ,romaunt of the ,rose#eff is only judicious translation from ,william of ,lorris and ,john of ,meung3 ,troilus and ,creseide1#efg from ,lollius of ,urbino3 ,the ,cock and the ,fox1#efh from the ,lais of ,marie3 ,the ,house of ,fame1#efi from the ,french or ,italian3 and poor ,gower#egj he uses as if he were only a brick-kiln or stone-quarry1 out of which to build his house4 ,he steals by this apology1--that what he takes has no worth where he finds it1 and the greatest where he leaves it4 ,it has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature1 that a man1 having once shown himself capable of original writing1 is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writings of others at discretion4 ,thought is the property of him who can entertain it2 and of him who can adequately place it4 ,a certain awkwardness marks the use of borrowed thoughts2 but1 as soon as we have learned what to do with them1 they become our own4 #h4 ,thus1 all originality is relative4 ,every thinker is retrospective4 ,the learned member of the legislature1 at ,westminister1#ega or at ,washington1 speaks and votes for thousands4 ,show us the constituency1 and the now invisible channels by which the senator is made aware of their wishes1 the crowd of practical and knowing men1 who1 by correspondence or conversation1 are feeding him with evidence1 anecdotes1 and estimates1 and it will bereave his fine attitude and resistance of something of their impressiveness4 ,as ,sir ,robert ,peel#egb and ,mr4 ,webster#egc vote1 so ,locke#egd and ,rousseau#ege think for thousands2 and so there were foundations all around ,homer1#egf ,menu1#egg ,saada1#egh or ,milton1#egi from which they drew2 friends1 lovers1 books1 traditions1 proverbs1--all perished1--which1 if seen1 would go to reduce the wonder4 ,did the bard speak with authority8 ,did he feel himself overmatched by any companion8 ,the appeal is to the consciousness of the writer4 ,is there at last in his breast a ,delphi#ehj whereof to ask concerning any thought or thing whether it be verily so1 yea or nay8 and to have answer1 and rely on that8 ,all the debts which such a man could contract to other wit1 would never disturb his consciousness of originality3 for the ministrations of books1 and of other minds1 are a whiff of smoke to that most private reality with which he has conversed4 #i4 ,it is easy to see that what is best written or done by genius1 in the world1 was no man's work1 but came by wide social labor1 when a thousand wrought like one1 sharing the same impulse4 ,our ,english ,bible#eha is a wonderful specimen of the strength and music of the ,english language4 ,but it was not made by one man1 or at one time2 but centuries and churches brought it to perfection4 ,there never was a time when there was not some translation existing4 ,the ,liturgy1#ehb admired for its energy and pathos1 is an anthology of the piety of ages and nations1 a translation of the prayers and forms of the ,catholic church1--these collected1 too1 in long periods1 from the prayers and meditations of every saint and sacred writer all over the world4 ,grotius#ehc makes the like remark in respect to the ,lord's ,prayer1 that the single clauses of which it is composed were already in use1 in the time of ,christ1 in the rabbinical forms4#ehd ,he picked out the grains of gold4 ,the nervous language of the ,common ,law1#ehe the impressive forms of our courts1 and the precision and substantial truth of the legal distinctions1 are the contribution of all the sharp-sighted1 strong-minded men who have lived in the countries where these laws govern4 ,the translation of ,plutarch gets its excellence by being translation on translation4 ,there never was a time when there was none4 ,all the truly idiomatic and national phrases are kept1 and all others successively picked out1 and thrown away4 ,something like the same process had gone on1 long before1 with the originals of these books4 ,the world takes liberties with world-books4 ,vedas1#ehf sop's ,fables1#ehg ,pilpay1#ehh ,arabian ,nights1#ehi ,cid1#eij ,iliad1#eia ,robin ,hood1#eib ,scottish ,minstrelsy1#eic are not the work of single men4 ,in the composition of such works1 the time thinks1 the market thinks1 the mason1 the carpenter1 the merchant1 the farmer1 the fop1 all think for us4 ,every book supplies its time with one good word2 every municipal law1 every trade1 every folly of the day1 and the generic catholic genius who is not afraid or ashamed to owe his originality to the originality of all1 stands with the next age as the recorder and embodiment of his own4 #aj4 ,we have to thank the researches of antiquaries1 and the ,shakspeare ,society1#eid for ascertaining the steps of the ,english drama1 from the ,mysteries#eie celebrated in churches and by churchmen1 and the final detachment from the church1 and the completion of secular plays1 from ,ferrex and ,porrex1#eif and ,gammer ,gurton's ,needle1#eig down to the possession of the stage by the very pieces which ,shakspeare altered1 remodelled1 and finally made his own4 ,elated with success1 and piqued by the growing interest of the problem1 they have left no book-stall unsearched1 no chest in a garret unopened1 no file of old yellow accounts to decompose in damp and worms1 so keen was the hope to discover whether the boy ,shakspeare poached#eih or not1 whether he held horses at the theater-door1 whether he kept school1 and why he left in his will only his second-best bed to ,ann ,hathaway1 his wife4 #aa4 ,there is somewhat touching in the madness with which the passing age mischooses the object on which all candles shine1 and all eyes are turned2 the care with which it registers every trifle touching ,queen ,elizabeth1#eii and ,king ,james1#fjj and the ,essexes1#fja ,leicesters1#fjb ,burleighs1#fjc and ,buckinghams2#fjd and lets pass without a single valuable note the founder of another dynasty1 which alone will cause the ,tudor dynasty#fje to be remembered1--the man who carries the ,saxon race in him by the inspiration which feeds him1 and on whose thoughts the foremost people of the world are now for some ages to be nourished1 and minds to receive this and not another bias4 ,a popular player1--nobody suspected he was the poet of the human race2 and the secret was kept as faithfully from poets and intellectual men1 as from courtiers and frivolous people4 ,bacon1#fjf who took the inventory of the human understanding for his times1 never mentioned his name4 ,ben ,jonson1#fjg though we have strained his few words of regard and panegyric1 had no suspicion of the elastic fame whose first vibrations he was attempting4 ,he no doubt thought the praise he has conceded to him generous1 and esteemed himself1 out of all question1 the better poet of the two4 #ab4 ,if it need wit to know wit1 according to the proverb1 ,shakspeare's time should be capable of recognizing it4 ,sir ,henry ,wotton#fjh was born four years after ,shakspeare1 and died twenty-three years after him2 and ,i find1 among his correspondents and acquaintances1 the following persons3#fji ,theodore ,beza1 ,isaac ,casaubon1 ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 ,earl of ,essex1 ,lord ,bacon1 ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 ,john ,milton1 ,sir ,henry ,vane1 ,isaac ,walton1 ,dr4 ,donne1 ,abraham ,cowley1 ,berlarmine1 ,charles ,cotton1 ,john ,pym1 ,john ,hales1 ,kepler1 ,vieta1 ,albericus ,gentilis1 ,paul ,sarpi1 ,arminius2 with all of whom exists some token of his having communicated1 without enumerating many others1 whom doubtless#faj he saw1--,shakspeare1 ,spenser1 ,jonson1 ,beaumont1 ,massinger1 two ,herberts1 ,marlow1 ,chapman and the rest4 ,since the constellation of great men who appeared in ,greece in the time of ,pericles1#faa there was never any such society2--yet their genius failed them to find out the best head in the universe4 ,our poet's mask was impenetrable4 ,you cannot see the mountain near4 ,it took a century to make it suspected2 and not until two centuries had passed1 after his death1 did any criticism which we think adequate begin to appear4 ,it was not possible to write the history of ,shakspeare till now2 for he is the father of ,german literature3 it was on the introduction of ,shakspeare into ,german1 by ,lessing1#fab and the translation of his works by ,wieland#fac and ,schlegel1#fad that the rapid burst of ,german literature was most intimately connected4 ,it was not until the nineteenth century1 whose speculative genius is a sort of living ,hamlet1#fae that the tragedy of ,hamlet could find such wondering readers4 ,now1 literature1 philosophy1 and thought1 are ,shakspearized4 ,his mind is the horizon beyond which1 at present1 we do not see4 ,our ears are educated to music by his rhythm4 ,coleridge#faf and ,goethe#fag are the only critics who have expressed our convictions with any adequate fidelity2 but there is in all cultivated minds a silent appreciation of his superlative power and beauty1 which1 like ,christianity1 qualifies the period4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,number runs from #ab to #ad4 ,number #ac omitted #ad4 ,the ,shakspeare ,society have inquired in all directions1 advertised the missing facts1 offered money for any information that will lead to proof2 and with what result8 ,beside some important illustration of the history of the ,english stage1 to which ,i have adverted1 they have gleaned a few facts touching the property1 and dealings in regard to property1 of the poet4 ,it appears that1 from year to year1 he owned a larger share in the ,blackfriars' ,theater3#fah its wardrobe and other appurtenances were his3 and he bought an estate in his native village1 with his earnings1 as writer and shareholder2 that he lived in the best house in ,stratford2#fai was intrusted by his neighbors with their commissions in ,london1 as of borrowing money1 and the like2 and he was a veritable farmer4 ,about the time when he was writing ,macbeth1#fbj he sues ,philip ,rogers1 in the borough-court of ,stratford1 for thirty-five shillings1 ten pence1 for corn delivered to him at different times2 and1 in all respects1 appears as a good husband with no reputation for eccentricity or excess4 ,he was a good-natured sort of man1 an actor and shareholder in the theater1 not in any striking manner distinguished from other actors and managers4 ,i admit the importance of this information4 ,it is well worth the pains that have been taken to procure it4 #ae4 ,but whatever scraps of information concerning his condition these researches may have rescued1 they can shed no light upon that infinite invention which is the concealed magnet of his attraction for us4 ,we are very clumsy writers of history4 ,we tell the chronicle of parentage1 birth1 birth-place1 schooling1 schoolmates1 earning of money1 marriage1 publication of books1 celebrity1 death2 and when we have come to an end of this gossip no ray of relation appears between it and the goddess-born2 and it seems as if1 had we dipped at random into the ,modern ,plutarch1 and read any other life there1 it would have fitted the poems as well4 ,it is the essence of poetry to spring1 like the rainbow daughter of ,wonder1 from the invisible1 to abolish the past1 and refuse all history4 ,malone1 ,warburton1 ,dyce1 and ,collier1#fba have wasted their oil4 ,the famed theaters1 ,covent ,garden1 ,drury ,lane1 the ,park1 and ,tremont1#fbb have vainly assisted4 ,betterton1 ,garrick1 ,kemble1 ,kean1 and ,macready1#fbc dedicate their lives to this genius2 him they crown1 elucidate1 obey1 and express4 ,the genius knows them not4 ,the recitation begins2 one golden word leaps out immortal from all this painted pedantry1 and sweetly torments us with invitations to its own inaccessible homes4 ,i remember1 ,i went once to see the ,hamlet of a famed performer1#fbd the pride of the ,english stage2 and all ,i then heard1 and all ,i now remember1 of the tragedian1 was that in which the tragedian had no part2 simply1 ,hamlet's question to the ghost1-- ,what may this mean1#fbe ,that thou1 dead corse1 again in complete steel ,revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon8 ,that imagination which dilates the closet he writes in to the world's dimension1 crowds it with agents in rank and order1 as quickly reduces the big reality to be the glimpses of the moon4 ,these tricks of his magic spoil for us the illusions of the green-room4 ,can any biography shed light on the localities into which the ,midsummer ,night's ,dream#fbf admits me8 ,did ,shakspeare confide to any notary or parish recorder1 sacristan1 or surrogate1 in ,stratford1 the genesis of that delicate creation8 ,the forest of ,arden1#fbg the nimble air of ,scone ,castle1#fbh the moonlight of ,portia's villa1#fbi the antres vast#fcj and desarts idle1 of ,othello's captivity1--where is the third cousin1 or grand-nephew1 the chancellor's file of accounts1 or private letter1 that has kept one word of those transcendent secrets8 ,in fine1 in this drama1 as in all great works of art1--in the ,cyclopean architecture#fca of ,egypt and ,india2 in the ,phidian sculpture2#fcb the ,gothic ministers2#fcc the ,italian painting2#fcd the ,ballads of ,spain and ,scotland1#fce--the ,genius draws up the ladder after him1 when the creative age goes up to heaven1 and gives way to a new1 which sees the works1 and ask in vain for a history4 #af4 ,shakspeare is the only biographer of ,shakspeare2 and even he can tell nothing1 except to the ,shakspeare in us2 that is1 to our most apprehensive and sympathetic hour4 ,he cannot step from off his tripod1#fcf and give us anecdotes of his inspirations4 ,read the antique documents extricated1 analyzed1 and compared1 by the assiduous ,dyce and ,collier2 and now read one of those skyey sentences1--aerolites1--which seem to have fallen out of heaven1 and which1 not your experience1 but the man within the breast1 has accepted1 as words of fate2 and tell me if they match2 if the former account in any manner for the latter2 or1 which gives the most historical insight into the man4 #ag4 ,hence1 though our external history is so meager1 yet1 with ,shakspeare for biographer1 instead of ,aubrey#fcg and ,rowe1#fch we have really the information which is material1 that which describes character and fortune1 that which1 if we were about to meet the man and deal with him1 would most import us to know4 ,we have his recorded convictions on those questions which knock for answer at every heart1--on life and death1 on love1 on wealth and poverty1 on the prizes of life1 and the ways whereby we come at them2 on the characters of men1 and the influences1 occult and open1 which affect their fortunes2 and on those mysterious and demoniacal powers which defy our science1 and which yet interweave their malice and their gift in our brightest hours4 ,who ever read the volume of the ,sonnets1 without finding that the poet had there revealed1 under masks that are no masks to the intelligent1 the lore of friendship and of love2 the confusion of sentiments in the most susceptible1 and1 at the same time1 the most intellectual of men8 ,what trait of his private mind has he hidden in his dramas8 ,one can discern1 in his ample pictures of the gentleman and the king1 what forms and humanities pleased him2 his delight in troops of friends1 in large hospitality1 in cheerful giving4 ,let ,timon1#fci let ,warwick1#fdj let ,antonio#fda the merchant1 answer for his great heart4 ,so far from ,shakspeare's being the least known1 he is the one person1 in all modern history1 known to us4 ,what point of morals1 of manners1 of economy1 of philosophy1 of religion1 of taste1 of the conduct of life1 has he not settled8 ,what mystery has he not signified his knowledge of8 ,what office1 or function1 or district of man's work1 has he not remembered8 ,what king has he not taught state1 as ,talma#fdb taught ,napoleon8 ,what maiden has not found him finer than her delicacy8 ,what lover has he not out-loved8 ,what sage has he not outseen8 ,what gentleman has he not instructed in the rudeness of his behavior8 #ah4 ,some able and appreciating critics think no criticism on ,shakspeare valuable1 that does not rest purely on the dramatic merit2 that he is falsely judged as poet and philosopher4 ,i think as highly as these critics of his dramatic merit1 who still think it secondary4 ,he was a full man1 who liked to talk2 a brain exhaling thoughts and images1 which1 seeking vent1 found the drama next at hand4 ,had he been less1 we should have had to consider how well he filled his place1 how good a dramatist he was1--and he is the best in the world4 ,but it turns out1 that what he has to say is of that weight1 as to withdraw some attention from the vehicle2 and he is like some saint whose history is to be rendered into all languages1 into verse and prose1 into songs and pictures1 and cut up into proverbs2 so that the occasion which gave the saint's meaning the form of a conversation1 or of a prayer1 or of a code of laws1 is immaterial1 compared with the universality of its application4 ,so it fares with the wise ,shakspeare and his book of life4 ,he wrote the airs for all our modern music3 he wrote the text of modern life2 the text of manners3 he drew the man of ,england and ,europe2 the father of the man in ,america3 he drew the man1 and described the day1 and what is done in it3 he read the hearts of men and women1 their probity1 and their second thought1 and wiles2 the wiles of innocence1 and the transitions by which virtues and vices slide into their contraries3 he could divide the mother's part from the father's part in the face of the child1 or draw the fine demarcations of freedom and of fate3 he knew the laws of repression which make the police of nature3 and all the sweets and all the terrors of human lot lay in his mind as truly but as softly as the landscape lies on the eye4 ,and the importance of this wisdom of life sinks the form1 as of ,drama or ,epic1 out of notice4 ',tis like making a question concerning the paper on which a king's message is written4 #ai4 ,shakspeare is as much out of the category of eminent authors1 as he is out of the crowd4 ,he is inconceivably wise2 the others1 conceivably4 ,a good reader can1 in a sort1 nestle into ,plato's brain1 and think from thence2 but not into ,shakspeare's4 ,we are still out of doors4 ,for executive faculty1 for creation1 ,shakspeare is unique4 ,no man can imagine it better4 ,he was the farthest reach of subtlety compatible with an individual self1--the subtilest of authors1 and only just within the possibility of authorship4 ,with this wisdom of life1 is the equal endowment of imaginative and of lyric power4 ,he clothed the creatures of his legend with form and sentiments1 as if they were people who had lived under his roof2 and few real men have left such distinct characters as these fictions4 ,and they spoke in language as sweet as it was fit4 ,yet his talents never seduced him into an ostentation1 nor did he harp on one string4 ,an omnipresent humanity#fdc cordinates all his faculties4 ,give a man of talents a story to tell1 and his partiality will presently appear4 ,he has certain observations1 opinions1 topics1 which have some accidental prominence1 and which he disposes all to exhibit4 ,he crams this part1 and starves that other part1 consulting not the fitness of the thing1 but his fitness and strength4 ,but ,shakspeare has no peculiarity1 no importunate topic2 but all is duly given2 no veins1 no curiosities3 no cow-painter1 no bird-fancier1 no mannerist is he3 he has no discoverable egotism3 the great he tells greatly2 the small1 subordinately4 ,he is wise without emphasis or assertion2 he is strong1 as nature is strong1 who lifts the land into mountain slopes without effort1 and by the same rule as she floats a bubble in the air1 and likes as well to do the one as the other4 ,this makes that equality of power in farce1 tragedy1 narrative1 and love-songs2 a merit so incessant1 that each reader is incredulous of the perception of other readers4 #bj4 ,this power of expression1 or of transferring the inmost truth of things into music and verse1 makes him the type of the poet1 and has added a new problem to metaphysics4 ,this is that which throws him into natural history1 as a main production of the globe1 and as announcing new eras and ameliorations4 ,things were mirrored in his poetry without loss or blur2 he could paint the fine with precision1 the great with compass3 the tragic and the comic indifferently1 and without any distortion or favor4 ,he carried his powerful execution into minute details1 to a hair point2 finishes an eyelash or a dimple as firmly as he draws a mountain2 and yet these1 like nature's1 will bear the scrutiny of the solar microscope4 #ba4 ,in short1 he is the chief example to prove that more or less of production1 more or fewer pictures1 is a thing indifferent4 ,he had the power to make one picture4 ,daguerre#fdd learned how to let one flower etch its image on his plate of iodine2 and then proceeds at leisure to etch a million4 ,there are always objects2 but there was never representation4 ,here is perfect representation1 at last2 and now let the world of figures sit for their portraits4 ,no recipe can be given for the making of a ,shakspeare2 but the possibility of the translation of things into song is demonstrated4 #bb4 ,his lyric power lies in the genius of the piece4 ,the sonnets1 though their excellence is lost in the splendor of the dramas1 are as inimitable as they3 and it is not a merit of lines1 but a total merit of the piece2 like the tone of voice of some incomparable person1 so is this a speech of poetic beings1 and any clause as unproducible now as a whole poem4 #bc4 ,though the speeches in the plays1 and single lines1 have a beauty which tempts the ear to pause on them for their euphuism1#fde yet the sentence is so loaded with meaning1 and so linked with its foregoers and followers1 that the logician is satisfied4 ,his means are as admirable as his ends2 every subordinate invention1 by which he helps himself to connect some irreconcilable opposites1 is a poem too4 ,he is not reduced to dismount and walk1 because his horses are running off with him in some distant direction2 he always rides4 #bd4 ,the finest poetry was first experienced3 but the thought has suffered a transformation since it was an experience4 ,cultivated men often attain a good degree of skill in writing verses2 but it is easy to read1 through their poems1 their personal history3 any one acquainted with parties can name every figure3 this is ,andrew1 and that is ,rachael4 ,the sense thus remains prosaic4 ,it is a caterpillar with wings1 and not yet a butterfly4 ,in the poet's mind1 the fact has gone quite over into the new element of thought1 and has lost all that is exuvial4 ,this generosity bides with ,shakspeare4 ,we say1 from the truth and closeness of his pictures1 that he knows the lesson by heart4 ,yet there is not a trace of egotism4 #be4 ,one more royal trait properly belongs to the poet4 ,i mean his cheerfulness1 without which no man can be a poet1--for beauty is his aim4 ,he loves virtue1 not for its obligation1 but for its grace3 he delights in the world1 in man1 in woman1 for the lovely light that sparkles from them4 ,beauty1 the spirit of joy and hilarity1 he sheds over the universe4 ,epicurus#fdf relates1 that poetry hath such charms that a lover might forsake his mistress to partake of them4 ,and the true bards have been noted for their firm and cheerful temper4 ,homer lies in sunshine2 ,chaucer is glad and erect2 and ,saadi says1 ,it was rumored abroad that ,i was penitent2 but what had ,i to do with repentance8 ,not less sovereign and cheerful1--much more sovereign and cheerful1 is the tone of ,shakspeare4 ,his name suggests joy and emancipation to the heart of men4 ,if he should appear in any company of human souls1 who would not march in his troop8 ,he touches nothing that does not borrow health and longevity from his festal style4 #bf4 ,and now1 how stands the account of man with this bard and benefactor1 when in solitude1 shutting our ears to the reverberations of his fame1 we seek to strike the balance8 ,solitude has austere lessons2 it can teach us to spare both heroes and poets2 and it weighs ,shakspeare also1 and finds him to share the halfness and imperfection of humanity4 #bg4 ,shakspeare1 ,homer1 ,dante1#fdg ,chaucer1 saw the splendor of meaning that plays over the visible world2 knew that a tree had another use than for apples1 and corn another than for meal1 and the ball of the earth1 than for tillage and roads3 that these things bore a second and finer harvest to the mind1 being emblems of its thoughts1 and conveying in all their natural history a certain mute commentary on human life4 ,shakspeare employed them as colors to compose his picture4 ,he rested in their beauty2 and never took the step which seemed inevitable to such genius1 namely1 to explore the virtue which resides in these symbols1 and imparts this power1--what is that which they themselves say8 ,he converted the elements1 which waited on his command1 into entertainments4 ,he was master of the revels#fdh to mankind4 ,is it not as if one should have1 through majestic powers of science1 the comets given into his hand1 or the planets and their moons1 and should draw them from their orbits to glare with the municipal fireworks on a holiday night1 and advertise in all towns1 very superior pyrotechny this evening6 ,are the agents of nature1 and the power to understand them1 worth no more than a street serenade1 or the breath of a cigar8 ,one remembers again the trumpet-text in the ,koran1#fdi--,the heavens and the earth1 and all that is between them1 think ye we have created them in jest8 ,as long as the question is of talent and mental power1 the world of men has not his equal to show4 ,but when the question is to life1 and its materials1 and its auxiliaries1 how does he profit me8 ,what does it signify8 ,it is but a ,twelfth ,night1#fej or ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 or a ,winter ,evening's ,tale3 what signifies another picture more or less8 ,the ,egyptian verdict#fea of the ,shakspeare ,societies comes to mind1 that he was a jovial actor and manager4 ,i cannot marry this fact to his verse4 ,other admirable men have led lives in some sort of keeping with their thought2 but this man1 in wide contrast4 ,had he been less1 had he reached only the common measure of great authors1 of ,bacon1 ,milton1 ,tasso1#feb ,cervantes1#fec we might leave the fact in the twilight of human fate3 but1 that this man of men1 he who gave to the science of mind a new and larger subject than had ever existed1 and planted the standard of humanity some furlongs forward into ,chaos1--that he should not be wise for himself1--it must even go into the world's history1 that the best poet led an obscure and profane life1 using his genius for the public amusement4 #bh4 ,well1 other men1 priest and prophet1 ,israelite1#fed ,german1#fee and ,swede1#fef beheld the same objects3 they also saw through them that which was contained4 ,and to what purpose8 ,the beauty straightway vanished2 they read commandments1 all-excluding mountainous duty2 an obligation1 a sadness1 as of piled mountains1 fell on them1 and life became ghastly1 joyless1 a pilgrim's progress1#feg a probation1 beleaguered round with doleful histories1 of ,adam's fall#feh and curse1 behind us2 with doomsdays and purgatorial#fei and penal fires before us2 and the heart of the seer and the heart of the listener sank in them4 #bi4 ,it must be conceded that these are half-views of half-men4 ,the world still wants its poet-priest1 a reconciler1 who shall not trifle with ,shakspeare the player1 nor shall grope in graves with ,swedenborg the mourner2 but who shall see1 speak1 and act1 with equal inspiration4 ,for knowledge will brighten the sunshine2 right is more beautiful than private affection2 and love is compatible with universal wisdom4 ,,prudence4#ffj ,what right have ,i to write on ,prudence1 whereof ,i have little1 and that of the negative sort8 ,my prudence consists in avoiding and going without1 not in the inventing of means and methods1 not in adroit steering1 not in gentle repairing4 ,i have no skill to make money spend well1 no genius in my economy1 and whoever sees my garden discovers that ,i must have some other garden4 ,yet ,i love facts1 and hate lubricity#ffa and people without perception4 ,then ,i have the same title to write on prudence that ,i have to write on poetry or holiness4 ,we write from aspiration and antagonism1 as well as from experience4 ,we paint those qualities which we do not possess4 ,the poet admires the man of energy and tactics2 the merchant breeds his son for the church or the bar2 and where a man is not vain and egotistic you shall find what he has not by his praise4 ,moreover it would be hardly honest in me not to balance these fine lyric words of ,love and ,friendship#ffb with words of coarser sound1 and whilst my debt to my senses is real and constant1 not to own it in passing4 ,prudence is the virtue of the senses4 ,it is the science of appearances4 ,it is the outmost action of the inward life4 ,it is ,god taking thought for oxen4 ,it moves matter after the laws of matter4 ,it is content to seek health of body by complying with physical conditions1 and health of mind by the laws of the intellect4 ,the world of the senses is a world of shows2 it does not exist for itself1 but has a symbolic character2 and a true prudence or law of shows recognizes the co-presence of other laws and knows that its own office is subaltern2 knows that it is surface and not centre where it works4 ,prudence is false when detached4 ,it is legitimate when it is the ,natural ,history of the soul incarnate1 when it unfolds the beauty of laws within the narrow scope of the senses4 ,there are all degrees of proficiency in knowledge of the world4 ,it is sufficient to our present purpose to indicate three4 ,one class lives to the utility of the symbol1 esteeming health and wealth a final good4 ,another class live above this mark of the beauty of the symbol1 as the poet and artist and the naturalist and man of science4 ,a third class live above the beauty of the symbol to the beauty of the thing signified2 these are wise men4 ,the first class have common sense2 the second1 taste2 and the third1 spiritual perception4 ,once in a long time1 a man traverses the whole scale1 and sees and enjoys the symbol solidly1 then also has a clear eye for its beauty1 and lastly1 whilst he pitches his tent on this sacred volcanic isle of nature1 does not offer to build houses and barns thereon reverencing the splendor of the ,god which he sees bursting through each chink and cranny4 ,the world is filled with the proverbs#ffc and acts and winkings of a base prudence1 which is a devotion to matter1 as if we possessed no other faculties than the palate1 the nose1 the touch1 the eye and ear2 a prudence which adores the ,rule of ,three1 which never subscribes1 which gives never1 which seldom lends1 and asks but one question of any project1--,will it bake bread8 ,this is a disease like a thickening of the skin until the vital organs are destroyed4 ,but culture1 revealing the high origin of the apparent world and aiming at the perfection of the man as the end1 degrades everything else1 as health and bodily life1 into means4 ,it sees prudence not to be a several faculty1 but a name for wisdom and virtue conversing with the body and its wants4 ,cultivated men always feel and speak so as if a great fortune1 the achievement of a civil or social measure1 great personal influence1 a graceful and commanding address1 had their value as proofs of the energy of the spirit4 ,if a man lose his balance and immerse himself in any trades or pleasures for their own sake1 he may be a good wheel or pin1#ffd but he is not a cultivated man4 ,the spurious prudence1 making the senses final1 is the god of sots and cowards1 and is the subject of all comedy4 ,it is nature's joke1 and therefore literature's4 ,the true prudence limits this sensualism by admitting the knowledge of an internal and real world4 ,this recognition once made1--the order of the world and the distribution of affairs and times being studied with the co-perception of their subordinate place1 will reward any degree of attention4 ,for1 our existence1 thus apparently attached in nature to the sun and the returning moon and the periods which they mark2 so susceptible to climate and to country1 so alive to social good and evil1 so fond of splendor and so tender to hunger and cold and debt1--reads all its primary lessons out of these books4 ,prudence does not go behind nature and ask whence it is8 ,it takes the laws of the world whereby man's being is conditioned1 as they are1 and keeps these laws that it may enjoy their proper good4 ,it respects space and time1 climate1 want1 sleep1 the law of polarity1#ffe growth and death4 ,there revolve1 to give bound and period to his being on all sides1 the sun and moon1 the great formalists in the sky3 here lies stubborn matter1 and will not swerve from its chemical routine4 ,here is a planted globe1 pierced and belted with natural laws and fenced and distributed externally with civil partitions and properties which impose new restraints on the young inhabitant4 ,we eat of the bread which grows in the field4 ,we live by the air which blows around us and we are poisoned by the air that is too cold or too hot1 too dry or too wet4 ,time1 which shows so vacant1 indivisible and divine in its coming1 is slit and peddled into trifles and tatters4 ,a door is to be painted1 a lock to be repaired4 ,i want wood or oil1 or meal1 or salt2 the house smokes1 or ,i have a headache2 then the tax2 and an affair to be transacted with a man without heart or brains1 and the stinging recollection of an injurious or very awkward word1--these eat up the hours4 ,do what we can1 summer will have its flies4#fff ,if we walk in the woods we must feed mosquitoes4 ,if we go a-fishing we must expect a wet coat4 ,then climate is a great impediment to idle persons4 ,we often resolve to give up the care of the weather1 but still we regard the clouds and the rain4 ,we are instructed by these petty experiences which usurp the hours and years4 ,the hard soil and four months of snow make the inhabitant of the northern temperate zone wiser and abler than his fellow who enjoys the fixed smile of the tropics4 ,the islander may ramble all day at will4 ,at night he may sleep on a mat under the moon1 and wherever a wild date-tree grows1 nature has1 without a prayer even1 spread a table for his morning meal4 ,the northerner is perforce a householder4 ,he must brew1 bake1 salt and preserve his food4 ,he must pile wood and coal4 ,but as it happens that not one stroke can labor lay to without some new acquaintance with nature2 and as nature is inexhaustibly significant1 the inhabitants of these climates#ffg have always excelled the southerner in force4 ,such is the value of these matters that a man who knows other things can never know too much of these4 ,let him have accurate perceptions4 ,let him1 if he have hands1 handle2 if eyes1 measure and discriminate2 let him accept and hive every fact of chemistry1 natural history and economics2 the more he has1 the less is he willing to spare any one4 ,time is always bringing the occasions that disclose their value4 ,some wisdom comes out of every natural and innocent action4 ,the domestic man1 who loves no music so well as his kitchen clock and the airs which the logs sing to him as they burn on the hearth1 has solaces which others never dream of4 ,the application of means to ends ensures victory and the songs of victory not less in a farm or a shop than in the tactics of party or of war4 ,the good husband finds method as efficient in the packing of fire-wood in a shed or in the harvesting of fruits in the cellar1 as in ,peninsular campaigns#ffh or the files of the ,department of ,state4 ,in the rainy day he builds a work-bench1 or gets his tool-box set in the corner of the barn-chamber1 and stored with nails1 gimlet1 pincers1 screwdriver and chisel4 ,herein he tastes an old joy of youth and childhood1 the cat-like love of garrets1 presses and corn-chambers1 and of the conveniences of long housekeeping4 ,his garden or his poultry-yard--very paltry places it may be--tells him many pleasant anecdotes4 ,one might find argument for optimism in the abundant flow of this saccharine element of pleasure in every suburb and extremity of the good world4 ,let a man keep the law--any law1--and his way will be strown with satisfactions4 ,there is more difference in the quality of our pleasures than in the amount4 ,on the other hand1 nature punishes any neglect of prudence4 ,if you think the senses final1 obey their law4 ,if you believe in the soul1 do not clutch at sensual sweetness before it is ripe on the slow tree of cause and effect4 ,it is vinegar to the eyes to deal with men of loose and imperfect perception4 ,dr4 ,johnson is reported to have said1#ffi--;,if the child says he looked out of this window1 when he looked out of that1--whip him4 ,our ,american character is marked by a more than average delight in accurate perception1 which is shown by the currency of the by-word1 ,no mistake4 ,but the discomfort of unpunctuality1 of confusion of thought about facts1 inattention to the wants of to-morrow1 is of no nation4 ,the beautiful laws of time and space1 once dislocated by our inaptitude1 are holes and dens4 ,if the hive be disturbed by rash and stupid hands1 instead of honey it will yield us bees4 ,our words and actions to be fair must be timely4 ,a gay and pleasant sound is the whetting of the scythe in the mornings of ,june2 yet what is more lonesome and sad than the sound of a whetstone or mower's rifle#fgj when it is too late in the season to make hay8 ,scatter brained and afternoon men spoil much more than their own affairs in spoiling the temper of those who deal with them4 ,i have seen a criticism on some paintings1 of which ,i am reminded when ,i see the shiftless and unhappy men who are not true to their senses4 ,the last ,grand ,duke of ,weimar1#fga a man of superior understanding1 said3 ,i have sometimes remarked in the presence of great works of art1 and just now especially in ,dresden1 how much a certain property contributes to the effect which gives life to the figures1 and to the life an irresistible truth4 ,this property is the hitting1 in all the figures we draw1 the right centre of gravity4 ,i mean the placing the figures firm upon their feet1 making the hands grasp1 and fastening the eyes on the spot where they should look4 ,even lifeless figures1 as vessels and stools--let them be drawn ever so correctly--lose all effect so soon as they lack the resting upon their centre of gravity1 and have a certain swimming and oscillating appearance4 ,the ,raphael in the ,dresden gallery#fgb 7the only great affecting picture which ,i have seen7 is the quietest and most passionless piece you can imagine2 a couple of saints who worship the ,virgin and child4 ,nevertheless it awakens a deeper impression than the contortions of ten crucified martyrs4 ,for1 beside all the resistless beauty of form1 it possesses in the highest degree the property of the perpendicularity of all the figures4 ,this perpendicularity we demand of all the figures in this picture of life4 ,let them stand on their feet1 and not float and swing4 ,let us know where to find them4 ,let them discriminate between what they remember and what they dreamed4 ,let them call a spade a spade4#fgc ,let them give us facts1 and honor their own senses with trust4 ,but what man shall dare task another with imprudence8 ,who is prudent8 ,the men we call greatest are least in this kingdom4 ,there is a certain fatal dislocation in our relation to nature1 distorting all our modes of living and making every law our enemy1 which seems at last to have aroused all the wit and virtue in the world to ponder the question of ,reform4 ,we must call the highest prudence to counsel1 and ask why health and beauty and genius should now be the exception rather than the rule of human nature8 ,we do not know the properties of plants and animals and the laws of nature1 through our sympathy with the same2 but this remains the dream of poets4 ,poetry and prudence should be coincident4 ,poets should be lawgivers2 that is1 the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult1 but should announce and lead the civil code and the day's work4 ,but now the two things seem irreconcilably parted4 ,we have violated law upon law until we stand amidst ruins1 and when by chance we espy a coincidence between reason and the phenomena1 we are surprised4 ,beauty should be the dowry of every man and woman1 as invariably as sensation2 but it is rare4 ,health or sound organization should be universal4 ,genius should be the child of genius1 and every child should be inspired2 but now it is not to be predicted of any child1 and nowhere is it pure4 ,we call partial half lights1 by courtesy1 genius2 talent which converts itself to money2 talent which glitters to-day that it may dine and sleep well to-morrow2 and society is officered by men of parts1#fgd as they are properly called1 and not by divine men4 ,these use their gifts to refine luxury1 not to abolish it4 ,genius is always ascetic2 and piety1 and love4 ,appetite shows to the finer souls as a disease1 and they find beauty in rites and bounds that resist it4 ,we have found out#fge fine names to cover our sensuality withal1 but no gifts can raise intemperance4 ,the man of talent affects to call his transgressions of the laws of the senses trivial and to count them nothing considered with his devotion to his art4 ,his art rebukes him4 ,that never taught him lewdness1 nor the love of wine1 nor the wish to reap where he had not sowed4 ,his art is less for every deduction from his holiness1 and less for every defect of common sense4 ,on him who scorned the world1 as he said1 the scorned world wreaks its revenge4 ,he that despiseth small things will perish by little and little4 ,goethe's ,tasso#fgf is very likely to be a pretty fair historical portrait1 and that is true tragedy4 ,it does not seem to me so genuine grief when some tyrannous ,richard ,,iii4#fgg oppresses and slays a score of innocent persons1 as when ,antonio and ,tasso1 both apparently right1 wrong each other4 ,one living after the maxims of this world and consistent and true to them1 the other fired with all divine sentiments1 yet grasping also at the pleasures of sense1 without submitting to their law4 ,that is a grief we all feel1 a knot we cannot untie4 ,tasso's is no infrequent case in modern biography4 ,a man of genius1 of an ardent temperament1 reckless of physical laws1 self-indulgent1 becomes presently unfortunate1 querulous1 a discomfortable cousin1 a thorn to himself and to others4 ,the scholar shames us by his bifold#fgh life4 ,whilst something higher than prudence is active1 he is admirable2 when common sense is wanted1 he is an encumbrance4 ,yesterday1 ,csar#fgi was not so great2 to-day1 ,job#fhj not so miserable4 ,yesterday1 radiant with the light of an ideal world in which he lives1 the first of men1 and now oppressed by wants and by sickness1 for which he must thank himself1 none is so poor to do him reverence4 ,he resembles the opium eaters whom travellers describe as frequenting the bazaars of ,constantinople1 who skulk about all day1 the most pitiful drivellers1 yellow1 emaciated1 ragged1 sneaking2 then at evening1 when the bazaars are open1 they slink to the opium-shop1 swallow their morsel and become tranquil1 glorious and great4 ,and who has not seen the tragedy of imprudent genius struggling for years with paltry pecuniary difficulties1 at last sinking1 chilled1 exhausted and fruitless1 like a giant slaughtered by pins8 ,is it not better that a man should accept the first pains and mortifications of this sort1 which nature is not slack in sending him1 as hints that he must expect no other good than the just fruit of his own labor and self-denial8 ,health1 bread1 climate1 social position1 have their importance1 and he will give them their due4 ,let him esteem ,nature a perpetual counsellor1 and her perfections the exact measure of our deviations4 ,let him make the night night1 and the day day4 ,let him control the habit of expense4 ,let him see that as much wisdom may be expended on a private economy as on an empire1 and as much wisdom may be drawn from it4 ,the laws of the world are written out for him on every piece of money in his hand4 ,there is nothing he will not be the better for knowing1 were it only the wisdom of ,poor ,richard1#fha or the ,state-street#fhb prudence of buying by the acre to sell by the foot2 or the thrift of the agriculturist1 to stick#fhc in a tree between whiles1 because it will grow whilst he sleeps2 or the prudence which consists in husbanding little strokes of the tool1 little portions of time1 particles of stock and small gains4 ,the eye of prudence may never shut4 ,iron1 if kept at the ironmonger's1 will rust2 beer1 if not brewed in the right state of the atmosphere1 will sour2 timber of ships will rot at sea1 or if laid up high and dry1 will strain1 warp and dry-rot4 ,money1 if kept by us1 yields no rent and is liable to loss2 if invested1 is liable to depreciation of the particular kind of stock4 ,strike1 says the smith1 the iron is white4 ,keep the rake1 says the haymaker1 as nigh the scythe as you can1 and the cart as nigh the rake4 ,our ,yankee trade is reputed to be very much on the extreme of this prudence4 ,it saves itself by its activity4 ,it takes bank notes1--good1 bad1 clean1 ragged1 and saves itself by the speed with which it passes them off4 ,iron cannot rust1 nor beer sour1 nor timber rot1 nor calicoes go out of fashion1 nor money stocks depreciate1 in the few swift moments in which the ,yankee suffers any one of them to remain in his possession4 ,in skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed4 ,let him learn a prudence of a higher strain4 ,let him learn that everything in nature1 even motes and feathers1 go by law and not by luck1 and that what he sows he reaps4 ,by diligence and self-command let him put the bread he eats at his own disposal1 and not at that of others1 that he may not stand in bitter and false relations to other men2 for the best good of wealth is freedom4 ,let him practise the minor virtues4#fhd ,how much of human life is lost in waiting6 ,let him not make his fellow creatures wait4 ,how many words and promises are promises of conversation6 ,let his be words of fate4 ,when he sees a folded and sealed scrap of paper float around the globe in a pine ship and come safe to the eye for which it was written1 amidst a swarming population1 let him likewise feel the admonition to integrate his being across all these distracting forces1 and keep a slender human word among the storms1 distances and accidents that drive us hither and thither1 and1 by persistency1 make the paltry force of one man reappear to redeem its pledge after months and years in the most distant climates4 ,we must not try to write the laws of any one virtue1 looking at that only4 ,human nature loves no contradictions1 but is symmetrical4 ,the prudence which secures an outward well-being is not to be studied by one set of men1 whilst heroism and holiness are studied by another1 but they are reconcilable4 ,prudence concerns the present time1 persons1 property and existing forms4 ,but as every fact hath its roots in the soul1 and1 if the soul were changed1 would cease to be1 or would become some other thing1 therefore the proper administration of outward things will always rest on a just apprehension of their cause and origin2 that is1 the good man will be the wise man1 and the single-hearted the politic man4 ,every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar1 but is a stab at the health of human society4 ,on the most profitable lie the course of events presently lays a destructive tax2 whilst frankness proves to be the best tactics1 for it invites frankness1 puts the parties on a convenient footing and makes their business a friendship4 ,trust men and they will be true to you2 treat them greatly and they will show themselves great1 though they make an exception in your favor to all their rules of trade4 ,so1 in regard to disagreeable and formidable things1 prudence does not consist in evasion or in flight1 but in courage4 ,he who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution4 ,let him front the object of his worst apprehension1 and his stoutness will commonly make his fears groundless4 ,the ,latin proverb says1#fhe in battles the eye is first overcome4 ,the eye is daunted and greatly exaggerates the perils of the hour4 ,entire self-possession may make a battle very little more dangerous to life than a match at foils or at football4 ,examples are cited by soldiers of men who have seen the cannon pointed and the fire given to it1 and who have stepped aside from the path of the ball4 ,the terrors of the storm are chiefly confined to the parlor and the cabin4 ,the drover1 the sailor1 buffets it all day1 and his health renews itself at as vigorous a pulse under the sleet as under the sun of ,june4 ,in the occurrence of unpleasant things among neighbors1 fear comes readily to heart and magnifies the consequence of the other party2 but it is a bad counsellor4 ,every man is actually weak and apparently strong4 ,to himself he seems weak2 to others formidable4 ,you are afraid of ,grim2 but ,grim also is afraid of you4 ,you are solicitous of the good will of the meanest person1 uneasy at his ill will4 ,but the sturdiest offender of your peace and of the neighborhood1 if you rip up his claims1 is as thin and timid as any2 and the peace of society is often kept1 because1 as children say1 one is afraid and the other dares not4 ,far off1 men swell1 bully and threaten3 bring them hand to hand1 and they are a feeble folk4 ,it is a proverb that courtesy costs nothing2 but calculation might come to value love for its profit4 ,love is fabled to be blind1 but kindness is necessary to perception2 love is not a hood1 but an eye-water4 ,if you meet a sectary or a hostile partisan1 never recognize the dividing lines1 but meet on what common ground remains1--if only that the sun shines and the rain rains for both1--the area will widen very fast1 and ere you know it1 the boundary mountains on which the eye had fastened have melted into air4 ,if he set out to contend1#fhf almost ,st4 ,paul will lie1 almost ,st4 ,john will hate4 ,what low1 poor1 paltry1 hypocritical people an argument on religion will make of the pure and chosen souls4 ,shuffle they will and crow1 crook and hide1 feign to confess here1 only that they may brag and conquer there1 and not a thought has enriched either party1 and not an emotion of bravery1 modesty1 or hope4 ,so neither should you put yourself in a false position to your contemporaries by indulging a vein of hostility and bitterness4 ,though your views are in straight antagonism#fhg to theirs1 assume an identity of sentiment1 assume that you are saying precisely that which all think1 and in the flow of wit and love roll out your paradoxes in solid column1 with not the infirmity of a doubt4 ,so at least shall you get an adequate deliverance4 ,the natural emotions of the soul are so much better than the voluntary ones that you will never do yourself justice in dispute4 ,the thought is not then taken hold of by the right handle1 does not show itself proportioned and in its true bearings1 but bears extorted1 hoarse1 and half witness4 ,but assume a consent and it shall presently be granted1 since really and underneath their all external diversities1 all men are of one heart and mind4 ,wisdom will never let us stand with any man or men on an unfriendly footing4 ,we refuse sympathy and intimacy with people1 as if we waited for some better sympathy and intimacy to come4 ,but whence and when8 ,to-morrow will be like to-day4 ,life wastes itself whilst we are preparing to live4 ,our friends and fellow-workers die off from us4 ,scarcely can we say we see new men1 new women1 approaching us4 ,we are too old to regard fashion1 too old to expect patronage of any greater or more powerful4 ,let us suck the sweetness of those affections and consuetudes#fhh that grow near us4 ,these old shoes are easy to the feet4 ,undoubtedly we can easily pick faults in our company1 can easily whisper names prouder and that tickle the fancy more4 ,every man's imagination hath its friends2 and pleasant would life be with such companions4 ,but if you cannot have them on good mutual terms1 you cannot have them4 ,if not the ,deity but our ambition hews and shapes the new relations1 their virtue escapes1 as strawberries lose their flavor in garden beds4 ,thus truth1 frankness1 courage1 love1 humility1 and all the virtues range themselves on the side of prudence1 or the art of securing a present well-being4 ,i do not know if all matter will be found to be made of one element1 as oxygen or hydrogen1 at last1 but the world of manners and actions is wrought of one stuff1 and begin where we will#fhi we are pretty sure in a short space to be mumbling our ten commandments4 ,,circles4#fij ,the eye is the first circle2 the horizon which it forms is the second2 and throughout nature this primary picture is repeated without end4 ,it is the highest emblem in the cipher of the world4 ,st4 ,augustine#fia described the nature of ,god as a circle whose centre was everywhere and its circumference nowhere4 ,we are all our lifetime reading the copious sense of this first of forms4 ,one moral we have already deduced in considering the circular or compensatory character of every human action4 ,another analogy we shall now trace1 that every action admits of being outdone4 ,our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn2 that there is no end in nature1 but every end is a beginning2 that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon1#fib and under every deep a lower deep opens4 ,this fact1 as far as it symbolizes the moral fact of the ,unattainable1 the flying ,perfect1 around which the hands of man can never meet1 at once the inspirer and the condemner of every success1 may conveniently serve us to connect many illustrations of human power in every department4 ,there are no fixtures in nature4 ,the universe is fluid and volatile4 ,permanence is but a word of degrees4 ,our globe seen by ,god is a transparent law1 not a mass of facts4 ,the law dissolves the fact and holds its fluid4 ,our culture is the predominance of an idea which draws after it all this train of cities and institutions4 ,let us rise into another idea2 they will disappear4 ,the ,greek sculpture#fic is all melted away1 as if it had been statues of ice3 here and there a solitary figure or fragment remaining1 as we see flecks and scraps of snow left in cold dells and mountain clefts in ,june and ,july4 ,for the genius that created it creates now somewhat else4 ,the ,greek letters#fid last a little longer1 but are already passing under the same sentence and tumbling into the inevitable pit which the creation of new thought opens for all that is old4 ,the new continents are built out of the ruins of an old planet2 the new races fed out of the decomposition of the foregoing4 ,new arts destroy the old4#fie ,see the investment of capital in aqueducts1 made useless by hydraulics2 fortifications1 by gunpowder2 roads and canals1 by railways2 sails1 by steam2 steam1 by electricity4 ,you admire this tower of granite1 weathering the hurts of so many ages4 ,yet a little waving hand built this huge wall1 and that which builds is better than that which is built4 ,the hand that built can topple it down much faster4 ,better than the hand and nimbler was the invisible thought which wrought through it2 and thus ever1 behind the coarse effect1 is a fine cause1 which1 being narrowly seen1 is itself the effect of a finer cause4 ,everything looks permanent until its secret is known4 ,a rich estate appears to women and children a firm and lasting fact2 to a merchant1 one easily created out of any materials1 and easily lost4 ,an orchard1 good tillage1 good grounds1 seem a fixture1 like a gold mine1 or a river1 to a citizen2 but to a large farmer1 not much more fixed than the state of the crop4 ,nature looks provokingly stable and secular1 but it has a cause like all the rest2 and when once ,i comprehend that1 will these fields stretch so immovably wide1 these leaves hang so individually considerable8 ,permanence is a word of degrees4 ,every thing is medial4 ,moons are no more bounds to spiritual power than bat-balls4 ,the key to every man is his thought4 ,sturdy and defying though he look1 he has a helm which he obeys1 which is the idea after which all his facts are classified4 ,he can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own4 ,the life of man is a self-evolving circle1#fif which1 from a ring imperceptibly small1 rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles1 and that without end4 ,the extent to which this generation of circles1 wheel without wheel1 will go1 depends on the force or truth of the individual soul4 ,for it is the inert effort of each thought1 having formed itself into a circular wave of circumstance1 as for instance an empire1 rules of an art1 a local usage1 a religious rite1 to heap itself on that ridge and to solidify and hem in the life4 ,but if the soul is quick and strong it bursts over that boundary on all sides and expands another orbit on the great deep1 which also runs up into a high wave1 with attempt again to stop and to bind4 ,but the heart refuses to be imprisoned2#fig in its first and narrowest pulses it already tends outward with a vast force and to immense and innumerable expansions4 ,every ultimate fact is only the first of a new series4 ,every general law only a particular fact of some more general law presently to disclose itself4 ,there is no outside1 no inclosing wall1 no circumference to us4 ,the man finishes his story1--how good6 how final6 how it puts a new face on all things6 ,he fills the sky4 ,lo1 on the other side rises also a man and draws a circle around the circle we had just pronounced the outline of the sphere4 ,then already is our first speaker not man1 but only a first speaker4 ,his only redress is forthwith to draw a circle outside of his antagonist4 ,and so men do by themselves4 ,the result of to-day1 which haunts the mind and cannot be escaped will presently be abridged into a word1 and the principle that seemed to explain nature will itself be included as one example of a bolder generalization4 ,in the thought of to-morrow there is a power to upheave all thy creed1 all the creeds1 all the literatures of the nations1 and marshal thee to a heaven which no epic dream has yet depicted4 ,every man is not so much a workman in the world as he is a suggestion of that he should be4 ,men walk as prophecies of the next age4 ,step by step we scale this mysterious ladder2 the steps are actions1 the new prospect is power4 ,every several result is threatened and judged by that which follows4 ,every one seems to be contradicted by the new2 it is only limited by the new4 ,the new statement is always hated by the old1 and1 to those dwelling in the old1 comes like an abyss of scepticism4 ,but the eye soon gets wonted to it1 for the eye and it are effects of one cause2 then its innocency and benefit appear1 and presently1 all its energy spent1 it pales and dwindles before the revelation of the new hour4 ,fear not the new generalization4 ,does the fact look crass#fih and material1 threatening to degrade thy theory of spirit8 ,resist it not2 it goes to refine and raise thy theory of matter just as much4 ,there are no fixtures to men1 if we appeal to consciousness4 ,every man supposes himself not to be fully understood2 and if there is any truth in him1 if he rests at last on the divine soul1 ,i see not how it can be otherwise4 ,the last chamber1 the last closet1 he must feel was never opened2 there is always a residuum unknown1 unanalyzable4 ,that is1 every man believes that he has a greater possibility4 ,our moods do not believe in each other4 ,to-day ,i am full of thoughts and can write what ,i please4 ,i see no reason why ,i should not have the same thought1 the same power of expression1 to-morrow4 ,what ,i write1 whilst ,i write it1 seems the most natural thing in the world3 but yesterday ,i saw a dreary vacuity in this direction in which now ,i see so much2 and a month hence1 ,i doubt not1 ,i shall wonder who he was that wrote so many continuous pages4 ,alas for this infirm faith1 this will not strenuous1 this vast ebb of a vast flow6 ,i am ,god in nature2 ,i am a weed by the wall4 ,the continual effort to raise himself above himself1#fii to work a pitch above his last height1 betrays itself in a man's relations4 ,we thirst for approbation1 yet cannot forgive the approver4 ,the sweet of nature is love2 yet if ,i have a friend ,i am tormented by my imperfections4 ,the love of me accuses the other party4 ,if he were high enough#gjj to slight me1 then could ,i love him1 and rise by my affection to new heights4 ,a man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends4 ,for every friend whom he loses for truth1 he gains a better4 ,i thought as ,i walked in the woods and mused on any friends1 why should ,i play with them this game of idolatry8 ,i know and see too well1 when not voluntarily blind1 the speedy limits of persons called high and worthy4 ,rich1 noble and great they are by the liberality of our speech1 but truth is sad4 ,o blessed ,spirit1 whom ,i forsake for these1 they are not thee6 ,every personal consideration that we allow costs us heavenly state4 ,we sell the thrones of angels for a short and turbulent pleasure4 ,how often must we learn this lesson8 ,men cease to interest us when we find their limitations4 ,the only sin is limitation4 ,as soon as you once come up with a man's limitations1 it is all over with him4 ,has he talents8 has he enterprises8 has he knowledge8 ,it boots not4 ,infinitely alluring and attractive was he to you yesterday1 a great hope1 a sea to swim in2 now1 you have found his shores1 found it a pond1 and you care not if you never see it again4 ,each new step we take in thought reconciles twenty seemingly discordant facts1 as expressions of one law4 ,aristotle and ,plato#gja are reckoned the respective heads of two schools4 ,a wise man will see that ,aristotle platonizes4 ,by going one step farther back in thought1 discordant opinions are reconciled by being seen to be two extremes of one principle1 and we can never go so far back as to preclude a still higher vision4 ,beware when the great ,god lets loose a thinker on this planet4 ,then all things are at risk4 ,it is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city1 and no man knows what is safe1 or where it will end4 ,there is not a piece of science but its flank may be turned to-morrow2 there is not any literary reputation1 not the so-called eternal names of fame1 that may not be revised and condemned4 ,the very hopes of man1 the thoughts of his heart1 the religion of nations1 the manners and morals of mankind are all at the mercy of a new generalization4 ,generalization is always a new influx of the divinity into the mind4 ,hence the thrill that attends it4 ,valor consists in the power of self-recovery1 so that a man cannot have his flank turned1 cannot be out-generalled1 but put him where you will1 he stands4 ,this can only be by his preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth1 and his alert acceptance of it from whatever quarter2 the intrepid conviction that his laws1 his relations to society1 his ,christianity1 his world1 may at any time be superseded and decease4 ,there are degrees in idealism4 ,we learn first to play with it academically1 as the magnet was once a toy4 ,then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true1 that it is true in gleams and fragments4 ,then1 its countenance waxes stern and grand1 and we see that it must be true4 ,it now shows itself ethical and practical4 ,we learn that ,god is2 that he is in me2 and that all things are shadows of him4 ,the idealism of ,berkeley#gjb is only a crude statement of the idealism of ,jesus1 and that again is a crude statement of the fact that all nature is the rapid efflux of goodness executing and organizing itself4 ,much more obviously is history and the state of the world at any one time directly dependent on the intellectual classification then existing in the minds of men4 ,the things which are dear to men at this hour are so on account of the ideas which have emerged on their mental horizon1 and which cause the present order of things1 as a tree bears its apples4 ,a new degree of culture would instantly revolutionize the entire system of human pursuits4 ,conversation is a game of circles4 ,in conversation we pluck up the termini#gjc which bound the common of silence on every side4 ,the parties are not to be judged by the spirit they partake and even express under this ,pentecost4#gjd ,to-morrow they will have receded from this high-water mark4 ,to-morrow you shall find them stooping under the old pack-saddles4 ,yet let us enjoy the cloven flame whilst it glows on our walls4 ,when each new speaker strikes a new light1 emancipates us from the oppression of the last speaker to oppress us with the greatness and exclusiveness of his own thought1 then yields us to another redeemer1 we seem to recover our rights1 to become men4 ,o1 what truths profound and executable only in ages and orbs1 are supposed in the announcement of every truth6 ,in common hours1 society sits cold and statuesque4 ,we all stand waiting1 empty1--knowing1 possibly1 that we can be full1 surrounded by mighty symbols which are not symbols to us1 but prose and trivial toys4 ,then cometh the god and converts the statues into fiery men1 and by a flash of his eye burns up the veil which shrouded all things1 and the meaning of the very furniture1 of cup and saucer1 of chair and clock and tester1 is manifest4 ,the facts which loomed so large in the fogs of yesterday1--property1 climate1 breeding1 personal beauty and the like1 have strangely changed their proportions4 ,all that we reckoned settled shakes and rattles2 and literatures1 cities1 climates1 religions1 leave their foundations and dance before our eyes4 ,and yet here again see the swift circumscription6 ,good as is discourse1 silence is better1 and shames it4 ,the length of the discourse indicates the distance of thought betwixt the speaker and the hearer4 ,if they were at a perfect understanding in any part1 no words would be necessary thereon4 ,if at one in all parts1 no words would be suffered4 ,literature is a point outside of our hodiernal#gje circle through which a new one may be described4 ,the use of literature is to afford us a platform whence we may command a view of our present life1 a purchase by which we may move it4 ,we fill ourselves with ancient learning1 install ourselves the best we can in ,greek1 in ,punic1#gjf in ,roman houses1 only that we may wiselier see ,french1 ,english and ,american houses and modes of living4 ,in like manner#gjg we see literature best from the midst of wild nature1 or from the din of affairs1 or from a high religion4 ,the field cannot be well seen from within the field4 ,the astronomer must have his diameter of the earth's orbit as a base to find the parallax of any star4 ,therefore we value the poet4 ,all the argument and all the wisdom is not in the encyclopdia1 or the treatise on metaphysics1 or the ,body of ,divinity1 but in the sonnet or the play4 ,in my daily work ,i incline to repeat my old steps1 and do not believe in remedial force1 in the power of change and reform4 ,but some ,petrarch#gjh or ,ariosto1#gji filled with the new wine of his imagination1 writes me an ode or a brisk romance1 full of daring thought and action4 ,he smites and arouses me with his shrill tones1 breaks up my whole chain of habits1 and ,i open my eye on my own possibilities4 ,he claps wings to the sides of all the solid old lumber of the world1 and ,i am capable once more of choosing a straight path in theory and practice4 ,we have the same need to command a view of the religion of the world4 ,we can never see ,christianity from the catechism3--from the pastures1 from a boat in the pond1 from amidst the songs of wood-birds we possibly may4 ,cleansed by the elemental light and wind1 steeped in the sea of beautiful forms which the field offers us1 we may chance to cast a right glance back upon biography4 ,christianity is rightly dear to the best of mankind2 yet was there never a young philosopher whose breeding had fallen into the ,christian church by whom that brave text of ,paul's was not specially prized1 ,then shall also the ,son be subject unto ,him who put all things under him1 that ,god may be all in all4#gaj ,let the claims and virtues of persons be never so great and welcome1 the instinct of man presses eagerly onward to the impersonal and illimitable1 and gladly arms itself against the dogmatism of bigots with this generous word out of the book itself4 ,the natural world may be conceived of as a system of concentric circles1 and we now and then detect in nature slight dislocations which apprize us that this surface on which we now stand is not fixed1 but sliding4 ,these manifold tenacious qualities1#gaa this chemistry and vegetation1 these metals and animals1 which seem to stand there for their own sake1 are means and methods only1 are words of ,god1 and as fugitive as other words4 ,has the naturalist or chemist learned his craft1 who has explored the gravity of atoms and the elective affinities1 who has not yet discerned the deeper law whereof this is only a partial or approximate statement1 namely that like draws to like1 and that the goods which belong to you gravitate to you and need not be pursued with pains and cost8 ,yet is that statement approximate also1 and not final4 ,omnipresence is a higher fact4 ,not through subtle subterranean channels need friend and fact be drawn to their counterpart1 but1 rightly considered1 these things proceed from the eternal generation of the soul4 ,cause and effect are two sides of one fact4 ,the same law of eternal procession ranges all that we call the virtues1 and extinguishes each in the light of a better4 ,the great man will not be prudent in the popular sense2 all his prudence will be so much deduction from his grandeur4 ,but it behooves each to see1 when he sacrifices prudence1 to what god he devotes it2 if to ease and pleasure1 he had better be prudent still2 if to a great trust1 he can well spare his mule and panniers who has a winged chariot instead4 ,geoffrey draws on his boots to go through the woods1 that his feet may be safer from the bite of snakes2 ,aaron never thinks of such a peril4 ,in many years neither is harmed by such an accident4 ,yet it seems to me that with every precaution you take against such an evil you put yourself into the power of the evil4 ,i suppose that the highest prudence is the lowest prudence4 ,is this too sudden a rushing from the centre to the verge of our orbit8 ,think how many times we shall fall back into pitiful calculations before we take up our rest in the great sentiment1 or make the verge of to-day the new centre4 ,besides1 your bravest sentiment is familiar to the humblest men4 ,the poor and the low have their way of expressing the last facts of philosophy as well as you4 ,blessed be nothing and ,the worse things are1 the better they are are proverbs which express the transcendentalism of common life4 ,one man's justice is another's injustice2 one man's beauty another's ugliness2 one man's wisdom another's folly2 as one beholds the same objects from a higher point of view4 ,one man thinks justice consists in paying debts1 and has no measure in his abhorrence of another who is very remiss in this duty and makes the creditor wait tediously4 ,but that second man has his own way of looking at things2 asks himself which debt must ,i pay first1 the debt to the rich1 or the debt to the poor8 the debt of money1 or the debt of thought to mankind1 of genius to nature8 ,for you1 ,o broker1 there is no other principle but arithmetic4 ,for me1 commerce is of trivial import2 love1 faith1 truth of character1 the aspiration of man1 these are sacred2 nor can ,i detach one duty1 like you1 from all other duties1 and concentrate my forces mechanically on the payment of moneys4 ,let me live onward2 you shall find that1 though slower1 the progress of my character will liquidate all these debts without injustice to higher claims4 ,if a man should dedicate himself to the payment of notes1 would not this be injustice8 ,owes he no debt but money8 ,and are all claims on him to be postponed to a landlord's or a banker's8 ,there is no virtue which is final2 all are initial4 ,the virtues of society are vices of the saint4 ,the terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues1 or what we have always esteemed such1 into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices4 ,forgive his crimes1 forgive his virtues too1 ,those smaller faults1 half converts to the right4#gab ,it is the highest power of divine moments that they abolish our contritions also4 ,i accuse myself of sloth and unprofitableness day by day2 but when these waves of ,god flow into me ,i no longer reckon lost time4 ,i no longer poorly compute my possible achievement by what remains to me of the month or the year2 for these moments confer a sort of omnipresence and omnipotence which asks nothing of duration1 but sees that the energy of the mind is commensurate with the work to be done1 without time4 ,and thus1 ,o circular philosopher1 ,i hear some reader exclaim1 you have arrived at a fine pyrrhonism1#gac at an equivalence and indifferency of all actions1 and would fain teach us that if we are true1 forsooth1 our crimes may be lively stones out of which we shall construct the temple of the true ,god4 ,i am not careful to justify myself4 ,i own ,i am gladdened#gad by seeing the predominance of the saccharine principle throughout vegetable nature1 and not less by beholding in morals that unrestrained inundation of the principle of good into every chink and hole that selfishness has left open1 yea into selfishness and sin itself2 so that no evil is pure1 nor hell itself without its extreme satisfactions4 ,but lest ,i should mislead any when ,i have my own head and obey my whims1 let me remind the reader that ,i am only an experimenter4 ,do not set the least value on what ,i do1 or the least discredit on what ,i do not1 as if ,i pretended to settle anything as true or false4 ,i unsettle all things4 ,no facts are to me sacred2 none are profane2 ,i simply experiment1 an endless seeker with no ,past at my back4 ,yet this incessant movement and progression which all things partake could never become sensible to us but by contrast to some principle of fixture or stability in the soul4 ,whilst the eternal generation of circles proceeds1 the eternal generator abides4 ,that central life is somewhat superior to creation1 superior to knowledge and thought1 and contains all its circles4 ,for ever it labors to create a life and thought as large and excellent as itself2 but in vain2 for that which is made instructs how to make a better4 ,thus there is no sleep1 no pause1 no preservation1 but all things renew1 germinate and spring4 ,why should we import rags and relics into the new hour8 ,nature abhors the old1 and old age seems the only disease3 all others run into this one4 ,we call it by many names1--fever1 intemperance1 insanity1 stupidity and crime3 they are all forms of old age3 they are rest1 conservatism1 appropriation1 inertia2 not newness1 not the way onward4 ,we grizzle every day4 ,i see no need of it4 ,whilst we converse with what is above us1 we do not grow old1 but grow young4 ,infancy1 youth1 receptive1 aspiring1 with religious eye looking upward1 counts itself nothing and abandons itself to the instruction flowing from all sides4 ,but the man and woman of seventy assume to know all2 throw up their hope2 renounce aspiration2 accept the actual for the necessary and talk down to the young4 ,let them then become organs of the ,holy ,ghost2 let them be lovers2 let them behold truth2 and their eyes are uplifted1 their wrinkles smoothed1 they are perfumed again with hope and power4 ,this old age ought not to creep on a human mind4 ,in nature every moment is new2 the past is always swallowed and forgotten2 the coming only is sacred4 ,nothing is secure but life1 transition1 the energizing spirit4 ,no love can be bound by oath or covenant to secure it against a higher love4 ,no truth so sublime but it may be trivial to-morrow in the light of new thoughts4 ,people wish to be settled3 only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them4 ,life is a series of surprises4 ,we do not guess to-day the mood1 the pleasure1 the power of to-morrow1 when we are building up our being4 ,of lower states1--of acts of routine and sense1 we can tell somewhat1 but the masterpieces of ,god1 the total growths and universal movements of the soul1 he hideth2 they are incalculable4 ,i can know that truth is divine and helpful2 but how it shall help me ,i can have no guess1 for so to be is the sole inlet of so to know4 ,the new position of the advancing man has all the powers of the old1 yet has them all new4 ,it carries in its bosom all the energies of the past1 yet is itself an exhalation of the morning4 ,i cast away in this new moment all my once hoarded knowledge1 as vacant and vain4 ,now for the first time seem ,i to know any thing rightly4 ,the simplest words1--we do not know what they mean except when we love and aspire4 ,the difference between talents and character is adroitness to keep the old and trodden round1 and power and courage to make a new road to new and better goals4 ,character makes an overpowering present1 a cheerful1 determined hour1 which fortifies all the company by making them see that much is possible and excellent that was not thought of4 ,character dulls the impression of particular events4 ,when we see the conqueror we do not think much of any one battle or success4 ,we see that we had exaggerated the difficulty4 ,it was easy to him4 ,the great man is not convulsible or tormentable4 ,he is so much that events pass over him without much impression4 ,people say sometimes1 ,see what ,i have overcome2 see how cheerful ,i am2 see how completely ,i have triumphed over these black events4 ,not if they still remind me of the black event1--they have not yet conquered4 ,is it conquest to be a gay and decorated sepulchre1 or a half-crazed widow1 hysterically laughing8 ,true conquest is the causing the black event to fade and disappear as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing4 ,the one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves1 to be surprised out of our propriety1 to lose our sempiternal#gae memory and to do something without knowing how or why2 in short to draw a new circle4 ,nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm4 ,the way of life is wonderful4 ,it is by abandonment4 ,the great moments of history are the facilities of performance through the strength of ideas1 as the works of genius and religion4 ,a man1 said ,oliver ,cromwell1#gaf never rises so high as when he knows not whither he is going4 ,dreams and drunkenness1 the use of opium and alcohol are the semblance and counterfeit of this oracular genius1 and hence their dangerous attraction for men4 ,for the like reason they ask the aid of wild passions1 as in the gaming and war1 ape in some manner these flames and generosities of the heart4 ,,notes ,,the ,,american ,,scholar ,footnote #a3 ,games of strength4 ,the public games of ,greece were athletic and intellectual contests of various kinds4 ,there were four of importance3 the ,olympic1 held every four years2 the ,pythian1 held every third ,olympic year2 and the ,nemean and ,isthmian1 held alternate years between the ,olympic periods4 ,these great national festivals exercised a strong influence in ,greece4 ,they were a secure bond of union between the numerous independent states and did much to help the nation to repel its foreign invaders4 ,in ,greece the accomplished athlete was reverenced almost as a god1 and cases have been recorded where altars were erected and sacrifices made in his honor4 ,the extreme care and cultivation of the body induced by this national spirit is one of the most significant features of ,greek culture1 and one which might wisely be imitated in the modern world4 ,footnote #b3 ,troubadours4 ,in southern ,france during the eleventh century1 wandering poets went from castle to castle reciting or singing love-songs1 composed in the old ,provenal dialect1 a sort of vulgarized ,latin4 ,the life in the great feudal chateaux was so dull that the lords and ladies seized with avidity any amusement which promised to while away an idle hour4 ,the troubadours were made much of and became a strong element in the development of the ,southern spirit4 ,so-called ,courts of ,love were formed where questions of an amorous nature were discussed in all their bearings2 learned opinions were expressed on the most trivial matters1 and offenses were tried4 ,some of the ,provenal poetry is of the highest artistic significance1 though the mass of it is worthless high-flown trash4 ,footnote #c3 ,at the time this oration was delivered 7#ahcg71 many of the authors who have since given ,america a place in the world's literature were young men writing their first books4 ,we were1 says ,james ,russell ,lowell1 still socially and intellectually moored to ,english thought1 till ,emerson cut the cable and gave us a chance at the dangers and glories of blue water4 ,footnote #d3 ,pole-star4 ,polaris is now the nearest conspicuous star to the north pole of the celestial equator4 ,owing to the motion of the pole of the celestial equator around that of the ecliptic1 this star will in course of time recede from its proud position1 and the brilliant star ,vega in the constellation ,harp will become the pole-star4 ,footnote #e3 ,it is now a well-recognized fact in the development of animal life that as any part of the body falls into disuse it in time disappears4 ,good examples of this are the disappearance of powerful fangs from the mouth of man1 the loss of power in the wings of barnyard fowls2 and1 vice versa1 as new uses for a member arise1 its structure changes to meet the new needs4 ,an example of this is the transformation from the hoof of a horse through the cloven hoofs of the cow to the eventual development of highly expert fingers in the monkey and man4 ,emerson assumed the doctrine of evolution to be sufficiently established by the anatomical evidence of gradual development4 ,in his own words3 ,man is no up-start in the creation4 ,his limbs are only a more exquisite organization--say rather the finish--of the rudimental forms that have been already sweeping the sea and creeping in the mud4 ,the brother of his hand is even now cleaving the arctic sea in the fin of the whale1 and innumerable ages since was pawing the marsh in the flipper of the saurian4 ,a view afterwards condensed into his memorable couplet3 ,striving to be man1 the worm ,mounts through all the spires of form4 ,footnote #f3 ,stint4 ,a prescribed or allotted task1 a share of labor4 ,footnote #g3 ,ridden4 ,here used in the sense of dominated4 ,footnote #h3 ,monitory pictures4 ,instructive warning pictures4 ,footnote #i3 ,the ,greek stoic philosopher ,epictetus is the author of this saying1 not the old oracle4 ,it occurs in the ,encheiridion1 or manual1 a work put together by a pupil of ,epictetus4 ,the original saying of ,epictetus is as follows3 ,every thing has two handles1 the one by which it may be borne1 the other by which it may not4 ,if your brother acts unjustly1 do not lay hold of the act by that handle wherein he acts unjustly1 for this is the handle which cannot be borne3 but lay hold of the other1 that he is your brother1 that he was nurtured with you1 and you will lay hold of the thing by that handle by which it can be borne4 ,footnote #aj3 ,every day1 the sun 7shines74 ,footnote #aa3 ,beholden4 ,emerson here uses this past participle with its original meaning instead of in its present sense of indebted4 ,footnote #ab3 ,here we have a reminder of ,emerson's pantheism4 ,he means the inexplicable continuity of what ,i call ,god1 and fools nature1 as ,browning expressed it4 ,footnote #ac3 ,his expanding knowledge will become a creator4 ,footnote #ad3 ,know thyself4 ,plutarch ascribes this saying to ,plato4 ,it is also ascribed to ,pythagoras1 ,chilo1 ,thales1 ,cleobulus1 ,bias1 and ,socrates2 also to ,phemoni1 a mythical ,greek poetess of the ante-,homeric period4 ,juvenal 7,satire ,,xi4 #bg7 says that this precept descended from heaven4 ,know thyself and ,nothing too much were inscribed upon the ,delphic oracle4 ,know then thyself1 presume not ,god to scan2 ,the proper study of mankind is man4 ,footnote #ae3 ,observe the brisk movement of these sentences4 ,how they catch and hold the attention1 giving a new impulse to the reader's interest6 ,footnote #af3 ,nature abhors a vacuum4 ,footnote #ag3 ,noxious4 ,harmful4 ,footnote #ah3 ,john ,locke 7#afcb-agjd71 an ,english philosopher whose work was of especial significance in the development of modern philosophy4 ,the work he is best known by is the exhaustive ,essay on the ,human ,understanding1 in which he combated the theory of ,descartes1 that every man has certain innate ideas4 ,the innate-idea theory was first proved by the philosopher ,descartes in this way4 ,descartes began his speculations from a standpoint of absolute doubt4 ,then he said1 ,i think1 therefore ,i am1 and from this formula he built up a number of ideas innate to the human mind1 ideas which we cannot but hold4 ,locke's ,essay on the ,human ,understanding did much to discredit ,descartes' innate ideas1 which had been very generally accepted in ,europe before4 ,footnote #ai3 ,francis ,bacon1 ,baron ,verulam1 ,viscount ,saint ,alban's 7#aefa-afbf71 a famous ,english statesman and philosopher4 ,he occupied high public offices1 but in #afba was convicted of taking bribes in his office of ,lord ,chancellor4 ,he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of forty thousand pounds4 ,both these sentences were remitted1 however4 ,in the seventeenth century1 judicial corruption was so common that ,bacon's offence was not considered so gross as it would now be4 ,as a philosopher ,bacon's rank has been much disputed4 ,while some claim that to his improved method of studying nature are chiefly to be attributed the prodigious strides taken by modern science1 others deny him all merit in this respect4 ,his best known works are3 ,the ,novum ,organum1 a philosophical treatise2 ,the ,advancement of ,learning1 a remarkable argument in favor of scholarship2 and the short essays on subjects of common interest1 usually printed under the simple title ,bacon's ,essays4 ,footnote #bj3 ,third ,estate4 ,the thirteenth century was the age when the national assemblies of most ,european countries were putting on their definite shape4 ,in most of them the system of estates prevailed4 ,these in most countries were three--nobles1 clergy1 and commons1 the commons being the third estate4 ,during the ,french ,revolution the ,third ,estate1 or ,tiers ,etat1 asserted its rights and became a powerful factor in ,french politics1 choosing its own leaders and effecting the downfall of its oppressors4 ,footnote #ba3 ,restorers of readings4 ,men who spend their lives trying to improve and correct the texts of classical authors1 by comparing the old editions with each other and picking out the version which seem most in accordance with the authors' original work4 ,footnote #bb3 ,emendators4 ,the same as restorers of readings4 ,footnote #bc3 ,bibliomaniacs4 ,men with a mania for collecting rare and beautiful books4 ,not a bad sort of mania1 though ,emerson never had any sympathy for it4 ,footnote #bd3 ,to many readers ,emerson's own works richly fulfill this obligation4 ,he himself lived continually in such a lofty mental atmosphere that no one can come within the circle of his influence without being stimulated and elevated4 ,footnote #be3 ,genius1 the possession of a thoroughly active soul1 ought not to be the special privilege of favorites of fortune1 but the right of every sound man4 ,footnote #bf3 ,they stunt my mental growth4 ,a man should not accept another man's conclusions1 but merely use them as steps on his upward path4 ,footnote #bg3 ,if you do not employ such talent as you have in original labor1 in bearing the mental fruit of which you are capable1 then you do not vindicate your claim to a share in the divine nature4 ,footnote #bh3 ,disservice4 ,injury4 ,footnote #bi3 ,in original composition of any sort our efforts naturally flow in the channels worn for us by the first dominating streams of early genius4 ,the conventional is the continual foe of all true art4 ,footnote #cj3 ,emerson is continually stimulating us to look at things in new ways4 ,here1 for instance1 at once the thought comes3 ,is it not perhaps possible that the transcendent genius of ,shakespeare has been rather noxious than beneficent in its influence on the mind of the world8 ,has not the all-pervading ,shakespearian influence flooded and drowned out a great deal of original genius8 ,footnote #ca3 ,that is1--when in his clear1 seeing moments he can distil some drops of truth from the world about him1 let him not waste his time in studying other men's records of what they have seen4 ,footnote #cb3 ,while ,emerson's verse is frequently unmusical1 in his prose we often find passages like this instinct with the fairest poetry4 ,footnote #cc3 ,geoffrey ,chaucer 7#acdj-adjj74 ,the father of ,english poetry4 ,chaucer's chief work is the ,canterbury ,tales1 a series of stories told by pilgrims traveling in company to ,canterbury4 ,coleridge1 the poet1 wrote of ,chaucer3 ,i take unceasing delight in ,chaucer2 his manly cheerfulness is especially delicious to me in my old age4 ,how exquisitely tender he is1 yet how free from the least touch of sickly melancholy or morbid drooping4 ,chaucer's poetry is above all things fresh4 ,it breathes of the morning of literature4 ,like ,homer he had at his command all the riches of a new language undefiled by usage from which to choose4 ,dan ,chaucer1 well of ,english undefyled1 ,on ,fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled4 ,footnote #cd3 ,andrew ,marvell 7#afbj-afgh74 ,an eminent ,english patriot and satirist4 ,as a writer he is chiefly known by his ,rehearsal ,transposed1 written in answer to a fanatical defender of absolute power4 ,when a young man he was assistant to the poet ,milton1 who was then ,latin secretary to ,oliver ,cromwell4 ,marvell's wit and distinguished abilities rendered him formidable to the corrupt administration of ,charles ,,ii41 who attempted without success to buy his friendship4 ,emerson's literary perspective is a bit unusual when he speaks of ,marvell as one of the great ,english poets4 ,marvell hardly ranks with ,chaucer1 ,shakespeare1 and ,milton4 ,footnote #ce3 ,john ,dryden 7#afca-agjj74 ,a celebrated ,english poet4 ,early in life he wrote almost entirely for the stage and achieved great success4 ,in the latter part of his life1 however1 according to ,macaulay1 he turned his powers in a new direction with success the most splendid and decisive4 ,the first rank in poetry was beyond his reach1 but he secured the most honorable place in the second4444 ,with him died the secret of the old poetical diction of ,england1--the art of producing rich effects by familiar words4 ,footnote #cf3 ,plato 7#dbi-cdg ,b4,c474 ,one of the most illustrious philosophers of all time4 ,probably no other philosopher has contributed so much as ,plato to the moral and intellectual training of the human race4 ,this pre-eminence is due not solely to his transcendent intellect1 but also in no small measure to his poetic power and to that unrivaled grace of style which led the ancients to say that if ,jove should speak ,greek he would speak like ,plato4 ,he was a remarkable example of that universal culture of body and mind which characterized the last period of ancient ,greece4 ,he was proficient in every branch of art and learning and was such a brilliant athlete that he contended in the ,isthmian and ,pythian games4 ,footnote #cg3 ,gowns4 ,the black gown worn occasionally in ,america and always in ,england at the universities2 the distinctive academic dress is a cap and gown4 ,footnote #ch3 ,pecuniary foundations4 ,gifts of money for the support of institutions of learning4 ,footnote #ci3 ,wit is here used in its early sense of intellect1 good understanding4 ,footnote #dj3 ,valetudinarian4 ,a person of a weak1 sickly constitution4 ,footnote #da3 ,mincing4 ,affected4 ,footnote #db3 ,preamble4 ,a preface or introduction4 ,footnote #dc3 ,dumb abyss4 ,that vast immensity of the universe about us which we can never understand4 ,footnote #dd3 ,i comprehend its laws2 ,i lose my fear of it4 ,footnote #de3 ,silkworms feed on mulberry-leaves4 ,emerson describes what science calls unconscious cerebration4 ,footnote #df3 ,ripe fruit4 ,emerson's ripe fruit found its way into his diary1 where it lay until he needed it in the preparation of some lecture or essay4 ,footnote #dg3 ,i4 ,corinthians xv4 #ec4 ,footnote #dh3 ,empyrean4 ,the region of pure light and fire2 the ninth heaven of ancient astronomy4 ,the deep-domed empyrean ,rings to the roar of an angel onset4 ,footnote #di3 ,ferules4 ,according to the methods of education fifty years ago1 it was quite customary for the teacher to punish a school-child with his ferule or ruler4 ,footnote #ej3 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes cites this last sentence as the most extreme development of the distinctively ,emersonian style4 ,such things must be read not too literally but rapidly1 with alert attention to what the previous train of thought has been4 ,footnote #ea3 ,savoyards4 ,the people of ,savoy1 south of ,lake ,geneva in ,switzerland4 ,footnote #eb3 ,emerson's style is characterized by the frequent use of pithy epigrams like this4 ,footnote #ec3 ,sir ,isaac ,newton 7#afdb-agbg74 ,a great ,english philosopher and mathematician4 ,he is famous as having discovered the law of gravitation4 ,footnote #ed3 ,unhandselled4 ,uncultivated1 without natural advantages4 ,a handsel is a gift4 ,footnote #ee3 ,druids4 ,the ancient priesthood of the ,britons in ,csar's time4 ,they had immense power among these primitive peoples4 ,they were the judges as well as the priests and decided all questions4 ,it is believed that they made human sacrifices to their gods in the depths of the primeval forest1 but not much is known of their rites4 ,footnote #ef3 ,berserkers4 ,berserker was a redoubtable hero in ,scandinavian mythology1 the grandson of the eight-handed ,starkodder and the beautiful ,alfhilde4 ,he had twelve sons who inherited the wild-battle frenzy1 or berserker rage4 ,the sagas1 the great ,scandinavian epics1 are full of stories of heroes who are seized with this fierce longing for battle1 murder1 and sudden death4 ,the name means bear-shirt and has been connected with the old were-wolf tradition1 the myth that certain people were able to change into man-devouring wolves with a wolfish mad desire to rend and kill4 ,footnote #eg3 ,alfred1 surnamed the ,great 7#hdh-ija71 king of the ,west ,saxons in ,england4 ,when he ascended the throne his country was in a deplorable condition from the repeated inroads of northern invaders4 ,he eventually drove them out and established a secure government4 ,england owes much to the efforts of ,alfred4 ,he not only fought his country's battles1 but also founded schools1 translated ,latin books into his native tongue1 and did much for the intellectual improvement of his people4 ,footnote #eh3 ,the hoe and the spade4 ,in spite of ,emerson's habit of introducing the names of agricultural objects into his writing 7',hay1 corn1 roots1 hemp1 flax1 apples1 wool1 and wood' is a line from one of his poems71 his familiarity therewith is evidently not so great as he would lead one to imagine4 ',take care1 papa1' cried his little son1 seeing him at work with a spade1 'you will dig your leg4' ,footnote #ei3 ,john ,flamsteed 7#afdf-agai74 ,an eminent ,english astronomer4 ,he appears to have been the first to understand the theory of the equation of time4 ,he passed his life in patient observation and determined the position of #bhhd stars4 ,footnote #fj3 ,sir ,william ,herschel 7#agch-ahbb74 ,one of the greatest astronomers that any age or nation has produced4 ,brought up to the profession of music1 it was not until he was thirty years old that he turned his attention to astronomy4 ,by rigid economy he obtained a telescope1 and in #agha discovered the planet ,uranus4 ,this great discovery gave him great fame and other substantial advantages4 ,he was made private astronomer to the king and received a pension4 ,his discoveries were so far in advance of his time1 they had so little relation with those of his predecessors1 that he may almost be said to have created a new science by revealing the immensity of the scale on which the universe is constructed4 ,footnote #fa3 ,nebulous4 ,in astronomy a nebula is a luminous patch in the heavens far beyond the solar system1 composed of a mass of stars or condensed gases4 ,footnote #fb3 ,fetich4 ,the word seems to have been applied by ,portuguese sailors and traders on the west coast of ,africa to objects worshiped by the natives1 which were regarded as charms or talismans4 ,of course the word here means an object of blind admiration and devotion4 ,footnote #fc3 ,cry up1 to praise1 extol4 ,footnote #fd3 ,ancient and honorable4 ,isaiah ix4 #ae4 ,footnote #fe3 ,complement4 ,what is needed to complete or fill up some quantity or thing4 ,footnote #ff3 ,signet4 ,seal4 ,emerson is not always felicitous in his choice of metaphors4 ,footnote #fg3 ,macdonald4 ,in ,cervantes' ,don ,quixote1 ,sancho ,panza1 the squire to the knight of the metaphysical countenance1 tells a story of a gentleman who had asked a countryman to dine with him4 ,the farmer was pressed to take his seat at the head of the table1 and when he refused out of politeness to his host1 the latter became impatient and cried3 ,sit there1 clod-pate1 for let me sit wherever ,i will1 that will still be the upper end1 and the place of worship to thee4 ,this saying is commonly attributed to ,rob ,roy1 but ,emerson with his usual inaccuracy in such matters places it in the mouth of ,macdonald1--which ,macdonald is uncertain4 ,footnote #fh3 ,carolus ,linnus 7#agjg-aggh74 ,a great ,swedish botanist4 ,he did much to make botany the orderly science it now is4 ,footnote #fi3 ,sir ,humphry ,davy 7#aggh-ahbi74 ,the most famous of ,english chemists4 ,the most important to mankind of his many discoveries was the safety-lamp to be used in mines where there is danger of explosion from fire-damp4 ,footnote #gj3 ,baron ,george ,cuvier 7#agfi-ahcb74 ,an illustrious ,french philosopher1 statesman1 and writer who made many discoveries in the realm of natural history1 geology and philosophy4 ,footnote #ga3 ,the moon4 ,the tides are caused by the attraction of the moon and the sun4 ,the attraction of the moon for the water nearest the moon is somewhat greater than the attraction of the earth's center4 ,this causes a slight bulging of the water toward the moon and a consequent high tide4 ,footnote #gb3 ,emerson frequently omits the principal verb of his sentences as here3 ,in a century there may exist one or two men4 ,footnote #gc3 ,this obscurely constructed sentence means3 ,for their acquiescence in a political and social inferiority the poor and low find some compensation in the immense moral capacity thereby gained4 ,footnote #gd3 ,they refers to the hero or poet mentioned some twenty lines back4 ,footnote #ge3 ,comprehendeth4 ,here used in the original sense to include4 ,the perfect man should be so thoroughly developed at every point that he will possess a share in the nature of every man4 ,footnote #gf3 ,by the ,classic age is generally meant the age of ,greece and ,rome2 and by the ,romantic is meant the middle ages4 ,footnote #gg3 ,introversion4 ,introspection is the more usual word to express the analytic self-searching so common in these days4 ,footnote #gh3 ,second thoughts4 ,emerson uses the word here in the same sense as the ,french arrire-pense1 a mental reservation4 ,footnote #gi3 ,and thus the native hue of resolution ,is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii1 ,sc4 #a4 ,footnote #hj3 ,movement4 ,the ,french ,revolution4 ,footnote #ha3 ,let every common object be credited with the diviner attributes which will class it among others of the same importance4 ,footnote #hb3 ,oliver ,goldsmith 7#agbh-aggd74 ,an eminent ,english poet and writer4 ,he is best known by the comedy ,she ,stoops to ,conquer1 the poem ,the ,deserted ,village1 and the ,vicar of ,wakefield4 ,of all romances in miniature1 says ,schlegel1 the great ,german critic1 the ',vicar of ,wakefield' is the most exquisite4 ,it is probably the most popular ,english work of fiction in ,germany4 ,footnote #hc3 ,robert ,burns 7#agei-agif74 ,a celebrated ,scottish poet4 ,the most striking characteristics of ,burns' poetry are simplicity and intensity1 in which he is scarcely1 if at all1 inferior to any of the greatest poets that have ever lived4 ,footnote #hd3 ,william ,cowper 7#agca-ahjj74 ,one of the most popular of ,english poets4 ,his poem ,the ,task was probably more read in his day than any poem of equal length in the language4 ,cowper also made an excellent translation of ,homer4 ,footnote #he3 ,johann ,wolfgang von ,goethe 7#agdi-ahcb74 ,the most illustrious name in ,german literature2 a great poet1 dramatist1 novelist1 philosopher1 and critic4 ,the ,germans regard ,goethe with the same veneration we accord to ,shakespeare4 ,the colossal drama ,faust is the most splendid product of his genius1 though he wrote a large number of other plays and poems4 ,footnote #hf3 ,william ,wordsworth 7#aggj-ahej74 ,by many considered the greatest of modern ,english poets4 ,his descriptions of the ever-varying moods of nature are the most exquisite in the language4 ,matthew ,arnold in his essay on ,emerson says3 ,as ,wordsworth's poetry is1 in my judgment1 the most important work done in verse in our language during the present century1 so ,emerson's ',essays' are1 ,i think1 the most important work done in prose4 ,footnote #hg3 ,thomas ,carlyle 7#agie-ahha74 ,a famous ,english essayist1 historian1 and speculative philosopher4 ,it is scarcely too much to say that no other author of this century has exerted a greater influence not merely upon the literature but upon the mind of the ,english nation than ,carlyle4 ,emerson was an intimate friend of ,carlyle1 and during the greater part of his life maintained a correspondence with the great ,englishman4 ,an interesting description of their meeting will be found among the ,critical ,opinions at the beginning of the work4 ,footnote #hh3 ,alexander ,pope 7#afhh-agdd74 ,the author of the ,essay on ,criticism1 ,rape of the ,lock1 the ,essay on ,man1 and other famous poems4 ,pope possessed little originality or creative imagination1 but he had a vivid sense of the beautiful and an exquisite taste4 ,he owed much of his popularity to the easy harmony of his verse and the keenness of his satire4 ,footnote #hi3 ,samuel ,johnson 7#agji-aghd74 ,one of the eminent writers of the eighteenth century4 ,he wrote ,lives of the ,poets1 poems1 and probably the most remarkable work of the kind ever produced by a single person1 an ,english dictionary4 ,footnote #ij3 ,edward ,gibbon 7#agcg-agid74 ,one of the most distinguished of ,english historians4 ,his great work is the ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire4 ,carlyle called ,gibbon1 the splendid bridge from the old world to the new4 ,footnote #ia3 ,emanuel ,swedenborg 7#afhh-aggb74 ,a great ,swedish theologian1 naturalist1 and mathematician1 and the founder of a religious sect which has since his death become prominent among the philosophical schools of ,christianity4 ,footnote #ib3 ,johann ,heinrich ,pestalozzi 7#agdf-ahbg74 ,a ,swiss teacher and educational reformer of great influence in his time4 ,,compensation ,footnote #ic3 ,these lines are printed under the title of ,compensation in ,emerson's collected poems4 ,he has also another poem of eight lines with the same title4 ,footnote #id3 ,documents1 data1 facts4 ,footnote #ie3 ,this doctrine1 which a little observation would confute1 is still taught by some4 ,footnote #if3 ,doubloons1 ,spanish and ,south ,american gold coins of the value of about #ae4fj each4 ,footnote #ig3 ,polarity1 that quality or condition of a body by virtue of which it exhibits opposite or contrasted properties in opposite or contrasted directions4 ,footnote #ih3 ,systole and diastole1 the contraction and dilation of the heart and arteries4 ,footnote #ii3 ,they are increased and consequently want more4 ,footnote #ajj3 ,intenerate1 soften4 ,footnote #aja3 ,white ,house1 the popular name of the presidential mansion at ,washington4 ,footnote #ajb3 ,explain the phrase eat dust4 ,footnote #ajc3 ,overlook1 oversee1 superintend4 ,footnote #ajd3 ,res nolunt1 etc4 ,translated in the previous sentence4 ,footnote #aje3 ,the world 444 dew4 ,explain the thought4 ,what gives the earth its shape8 ,footnote #ajf3 ,the microscope 444 little4 ,this statement is not in accordance with the facts1 if we are to understand perfect in the sense which the next sentence would suggest4 ,footnote #ajg3 ,emerson has been considered a pantheist4 ,footnote #ajh3 ,greek3 ,hoi kyboi1 etc4 ,the translation follows in the text4 ,this old proverb is quoted by ,sophocles1 7,fragm4 ,,lxxiv4#b7 in the form3 ,greek3 ,aei gar eu piptousin oi ,dios kyboi1 ,emerson uses it in ,nature in the form ,nature's dice are always loaded4 ,footnote #aji3 ,amain1 with full force1 vigorously4 ,footnote #aaj3 ,the proverb is quoted by ,horace1 ,epistles1 ,i1 ,x4#bd3 ,naturam expelles furca1 tamen usque recurret4 ,a similar thought is expressed by ,juvenal1 ,seneca1 ,cicero1 and ,aristophanes4 ,footnote #aaa3 ,augustine1 ,confessions1 ,b4 ,i4 ,footnote #aab3 ,jupiter1 the supreme god of the ,romans1 the ,zeus of the ,greeks4 ,footnote #aac3 ,tying up the hands4 ,the expression is used figuratively1 of course4 ,footnote #aad3 ,the supreme power in ,england is vested in ,parliament4 ,footnote #aae3 ,prometheus stole fire from heaven to benefit the race of men4 ,in punishment for this ,jupiter chained him to a rock and set an eagle to prey upon his liver4 ,some unknown and terrible danger threatened ,jupiter1 the secret of averting which only ,prometheus knew4 ,for this secret ,jupiter offered him his freedom4 ,footnote #aaf3 ,minerva1 goddess of wisdom1 who sprang full-armed from the brain of ,jupiter4 ,the secret which she held is told in the following lines4 ,footnote #aag3 ,aurora1 goddess of the dawn4 ,enamored of ,tithonus1 she persuaded ,jupiter to grant him immortality1 but forgot to ask for him immortal youth4 ,read ,tennyson's poem on ,tithonus4 ,footnote #aah3 ,achilles1 the hero of ,homer's ,iliad4 ,his mother ,thetis1 to render him invulnerable1 plunged him into the waters of the ,styx4 ,the heel by which she held him was not washed by the waters and remained vulnerable4 ,here he received a mortal wound4 ,footnote #aai3 ,siegfried1 hero of the ,nibelungenlied1 the old ,german epic poem4 ,having slain a dragon1 he bathed in its blood and became covered with an invulnerable horny hide1 only one small spot between his shoulders which was covered by a leaf remaining vulnerable4 ,into this spot the treacherous ,hagen plunged his lance4 ,footnote #abj3 ,nemesis1 a ,greek female deity1 goddess of retribution1 who visited the righteous anger of the gods upon mortals4 ,footnote #aba3 ,the ,furies or ,eumenides1 stern and inexorable ministers of the vengeance of the gods4 ,footnote #abb3 ,ajax and ,hector1 ,greek and ,trojan heroes in the ,trojan ,war4 ,see ,homer's ,iliad4 ,achilles slew ,hector and1 lashing him to his chariot with the belt which ,ajax had given ,hector1 dragged him round the walls of ,troy4 ,ajax committed suicide with the sword which ,hector had presented to him4 ,footnote #abc3 ,thasians1 inhabitants of the island of ,thasus4 ,the story here told of the rival of the athlete ,theagenes is found in ,pausanias' ,description of ,greece1 ,book ,,vi4 chap4 ,,xi4 ,footnote #abd3 ,shakespeare1 the greatest of ,english writers1 seems to have succeeded entirely or almost entirely in removing the personal element from his writings4 ,footnote #abe3 ,hellenic1 ,greek4 ,footnote #abf3 ,tit for tat1 etc4 ,this paragraph is composed of a series of proverbs4 ,footnote #abg3 ,edmund ,burke 7#agbi8-agig71 illustrious ,irish statesman1 orator1 and author4 ,footnote #abh3 ,pawns1 the pieces of lowest rank in chess4 ,footnote #abi3 ,what is the meaning of obscene here8 ,compare the ,latin4 ,footnote #acj3 ,polycrates1 a tyrant of ,samos1 who was visited with such remarkable prosperity that he was advised by a friend to break the course of it by depriving himself of some valued possession4 ,in accordance with this advice he cast into the sea an emerald ring which he considered his rarest treasure4 ,a few days later a fisherman presented the monarch with a large fish inside of which the ring was found4 ,soon after this ,polycrates fell into the power of an enemy and was nailed to a cross4 ,footnote #aca3 ,scot and lot1 formerly1 a parish assessment laid on subjects according to their ability4 ,now1 a phrase for obligations of every kind regarded collectively4 7,webster47 ,footnote #acb3 ,read ,emerson's essay on ,gifts4 ,footnote #acc3 ,worm worms1 breed worms4 ,footnote #acd3 ,compare the old proverb ,murder will out4 ,see ,chaucer1 ,n4,p4,t41 #bcb and #bcg1 and ,pr4 ,t41 #abd4 ,footnote #ace3 ,et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum4 ,,horace1 ,,epist41 ,i4 ,,xviii4 #fe4 ,footnote #acf3 ,stag in the fable4 ,see sop1 ,,lxvi4 #ahd1 ,cerva et ,leo2 ,phdrus ,i4 #ab4 ,cervus ad fontem2 ,la ,fontaine1 vi4 #i1 ,le ,cerf se ,voyant dans l'eau4 ,footnote #acg3 ,see the quotation from ,st4 ,bernard farther on4 ,footnote #ach3 ,withholden1 old participle of withhold1 now withheld4 ,footnote #aci3 ,what is the etymology of the word mob8 ,footnote #adj3 ,optimism and ,pessimism4 ,the meanings of these two opposites are readily made out from the ,latin words from which they come4 ,footnote #ada3 ,st4 ,bernard de ,clairvaux 7#ajia-aaec71 ,french ecclesiastic4 ,footnote #adb3 ,jesus4 ,holmes writes of ,emerson3 ,jesus was for him a divine manifestation1 but only as other great human souls have been in all ages and are to-day4 ,he was willing to be called a ,christian just as he was willing to be called a ,platonist4444 ,if he did not worship the 'man ,christ ,jesus' as the churches of ,christendom have done1 he followed his footsteps so nearly that our good ,methodist1 ,father ,taylor1 spoke of him as more like ,christ than any man he had known4 ,footnote #adc3 ,the first his refers to ,jesus1 the second to ,shakespeare4 ,footnote #add3 ,banyan4 ,what is the characteristic of this tree that makes it appropriate for this figure8 ,,self-,,reliance ,footnote #ade3 ,ne te1 etc4 ,do not seek for anything outside of thyself4 ,from ,persius1 ,sat4 ,i4 #g4 ,compare ,macrobius1 ,com4 in ,somn4 ,scip41 ,i4 ix4 #c1 and ,boethius1 ,de ,consol4 ,phil41 ,,iv4 #d4 ,footnote #adf3 ,epilogue to ,beaumont and ,fletcher's ,honest ,man's ,fortune4 ,footnote #adg3 ,these lines appear in ,emerson's ,quatrains under the title ,power4 ,footnote #adh3 ,genius4 ,see the paragraph on genius in ,emerson's lecture on ,the ,method of ,nature1 one sentence of which runs3 ,genius is its own end1 and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within1 going abroad only for audience1 and spectator4 ,footnote #adi3 ,the man that stands by himself1 the universe stands by him also4--,,emerson1 ,behavior4 ,footnote #aej3 ,plato 7#dbi-cdg ,b4,c471 7,see note #cf47 ,footnote #aea3 ,milton 7#afjh-afgd71 the great ,english epic poet1 author of ,paradise ,lost4 ,o mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies1 ,o skill'd to sing of ,time or ,eternity1 ,god-gifted organ-voice of ,england1 ,milton1 a name to resound for ages4--,,tennyson4 ,footnote #aeb3 ,the great poet makes feel our own wealth4--,,emerson1 ,the ,over-,soul4 ,footnote #aec3 ,then most when1 most at the time when4 ,footnote #aed3 ,the imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity4--,,emerson1 ,address to the ,senior ,class in ,divinity ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,footnote #aee3 ,for words1 like ,nature1 half reveal ,and half conceal the soul within4 ,,tennyson1 ,in ,memoriam1 ,v4 ,i4 ,footnote #aef3 ,trust thyself4 ,this is the theme of the present essay1 and is a lesson which ,emerson is never tired of teaching4 ,in ,the ,american ,scholar he says3 ,in self-trust all the virtues are comprehended4 ,in the essay on ,greatness3 ,self-respect is the early form in which greatness appears4444 ,stick to your own4444 ,follow the path your genius traces like the galaxy of heaven for you to walk in4 ,carlyle says3 ,the fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself4 ,footnote #aeg3 ,chaos 7,greek3 ,chaos71 the confused1 unorganized condition in which the world was supposed to have existed before it was reduced to harmony and order2 hence1 utter confusion and disorder4 ,footnote #aeh3 ,these1 i4e41 children1 babes1 and brutes4 ,footnote #aei3 ,four or five4 ,supply the noun4 ,footnote #afj3 ,nonchalance1 a ,french word meaning indifference1 coolness4 ,footnote #afa3 ,pit in the playhouse1 formerly1 the seats on the floor below the level of the stage4 ,these cheap seats were occupied by a class who did not hesitate to express their opinions of the performances4 ,footnote #afb3 ,eclat1 a ,french word meaning brilliancy of success1 striking effect4 ,footnote #afc3 ,lethe1 the river of oblivion4--,paradise ,lost4 ,oblivion1 forgetfulness4 ,footnote #afd3 ,who4 ,what is the construction8 ,footnote #afe3 ,nonconformist1 one who does not conform to established usages or opinions4 ,emerson considers conformity and consistency as the two terrors that scare us from self-trust4 7,see note #ahb47 ,footnote #aff3 ,explore if it be goodness1 investigate for himself and see if it be really goodness4 ,prove all things2 hold fast that which is good4 ,,paul1 ,i4 ,thes4 v4 #ba4 ,footnote #afg3 ,suffrage1 approval4 ,what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted8 ,thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just2 ,and he but naked1 though lock'd up in steel1 ,whose conscience with injustice is corrupted4 ,,shakespeare1 ,,ii4 ,henry ,,vi41 ,,iii4 #b4 ,footnote #afh3 ,there is nothing either good or bad1 but thinking makes it so4 ,hamlet1 ,,ii4 #b4 ,footnote #afi3 ,barbadoes1 an island in the ,atlantic ,ocean1 one of the ,lesser ,antilles4 ,the negroes1 composing by far the larger part of the population1 were formerly slaves4 ,footnote #agj3 ,he had rather have his actions ascribed to whim and caprice than to spend the day in explaining them4 ,footnote #aga3 ,diet and bleeding1 special diet and medical care1 used figuratively1 of course4 ,footnote #agb3 ,read ,emerson's essay on ,greatness4 ,footnote #agc3 ,the precise man1 precisely what kind of man4 ,footnote #agd3 ,by their fruits ye shall know them4--,matthew1 vii4 #af and #bj4 ,footnote #age3 ,with1 notwithstanding1 in spite of4 ,footnote #agf3 ,of the bench1 of an impartial judge4 ,footnote #agg3 ,bound their eyes with 444 handkerchief1 in this game of blindman's-buff4 ,footnote #agh3 ,pin thy faith to no man's sleeve2 hast thou not two eyes of thy own8--,,carlyle4 ,footnote #agi3 ,give examples of men who have been made to feel the displeasure of the world for their nonconformity4 ,footnote #ahj3 ,nihil tam incertum nec tam instimabile est quam animi multitudinis4--,,livy1 xxxi4 #cd4 ,mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus4 ,,claudianus1 ,de ,,iv4 ,consul4 ,honorii1 #cjb4 ,footnote #aha3 ,the other terror4 ,the first1 conformity1 has just been treated4 ,footnote #ahb3 ,consistency4 ,compare1 on the other hand1 the well-known saying1 ,consistency1 thou art a jewel4 ,footnote #ahc3 ,orbit1 course in life4 ,footnote #ahd3 ,somewhat1 something4 ,footnote #ahe3 ,see ,genesis1 xxxix4 #ab4 ,footnote #ahf3 ,pythagoras 7fl4 about #ebj ,b4,c471 a ,greek philosopher4 ,his society was scattered and persecuted by the fury of the populace4 ,footnote #ahg3 ,socrates 7#dgj8-cii ,b4,c471 the great ,athenian philosopher1 whose teachings are the subject of most of ,plato's writings1 was accused of corrupting the youth1 and condemned to drink hemlock4 ,footnote #ahh3 ,martin ,luther 7#adhc-aedf7 preached against certain abuses of the ,roman ,catholic ,church and was excommunicated by the ,pope4 ,he became the leader of the ,protestant ,reformation4 ,footnote #ahi3 ,copernicus 7#adgc-aedc7 discovered the error of the old ,ptolemaic system of astronomy and showed that the sun is the centre of our planetary system4 ,fearing the persecution of the church1 he hesitated long to publish his discovery1 and it was many years after his death before the world accepted his theory4 ,footnote #aij3 ,galileo 7#aefd-afdb71 the famous ,italian astronomer and physicist1 discoverer of the satellites of ,jupiter and the rings of ,saturn1 was thrown into prison by the ,inquisition4 ,footnote #aia3 ,sir ,isaac ,newton4 7,see note #ec47 ,footnote #aib3 ,andes1 the great mountain system of ,south ,america4 ,footnote #aic3 ,himmaleh1 ,himalaya1 the great mountain system of ,asia4 ,footnote #aid3 ,alexandrian stanza4 ,the ,alexandrian line consists of twelve syllables 7iambic hexameter74 ,neither the acrostic nor the ,alexandrine has the property assigned to it here4 ,a palindrame reads the same forward as backward1 as3 ,madam1 ,i'm ,adam2 ,signa te signa2 temere me tangis et angis2 or the inscription on the church of ,st4 ,sophia1 ,constantinople3 ,greek3 ,nipson anommata m monan opsin1 ,footnote #aie3 ,the reference is to sailing vessels1 of course4 ,footnote #aif3 ,scorn eyes1 scorn observers4 ,footnote #aig3 ,chatham1 ,william ,pitt1 ,earl of ,chatham 7#agjh-aggh71 this distinguished statesman and orator4 ,he became very popular as a statesman and was known as ,the ,great ,commoner4 ,footnote #aih3 ,adams4 ,the reference is presumably to ,samuel ,adams 7#agbb-ahjc71 a popular leader and orator in the cause of ,american freedom4 ,he was a member of the ,continental ,congress and a signer of the ,declaration of ,independence4 ,emerson may have in mind1 however1 ,john ,adams 7#agce-ahbf71 second president of the ,united ,states4 ,footnote #aii3 ,spartan4 ,the ancient ,spartans were noted for their courage and fortitude4 ,footnote #bjj3 ,julius ,csar 7#ajj-dd ,b4,c471 the great ,roman general1 statesman1 orator1 and author4 ,footnote #bja3 ,st4 ,anthony 7#bea-cef71 ,egyptian founder of monachism1 the system of monastic seclusion4 ,footnote #bjb3 ,george ,fox 7#afbd-afia71 ,english founder of the ,society of ,friends or ,quakers4 ,footnote #bjc3 ,john ,wesley 7#agjc-agia71 ,english founder of the religious sect known as ,methodists4 ,footnote #bjd3 ,thomas ,clarkson 7#agfj-ahdf71 ,english philanthropist and abolitionist4 ,footnote #bje3 ,scipio 7#bce-ahd ,b4,c471 the great ,roman general who defeated ,hannibal and decided the fate of ,carthage4 ,the quotation is from ,paradise ,lost1 ,book ,,ix41 line #faj4 ,footnote #bjf3 ,in the story of ,abou ,hassan or ,the ,sleeper ,awakened in the ,arabian ,nights ,abou ,hassan awakes and finds himself treated in every respect as the ,caliph ,haroun ,al-raschid4 ,shakespeare has made use of a similar trick in ,taming of the ,shrew1 where ,christopher ,sly is put to bed drunk in the lord's room and on awaking is treated as a lord4 ,footnote #bjg3 ,alfred the ,great 7#hdi-ija71 ,king of the ,west ,saxons4 ,he was a wise king1 a great scholar1 and a patron of learning4 ,footnote #bjh3 ,scanderbeg1 ,george ,castriota 7#adjd-adfg71 an ,albanian chief who embraced ,christianity and carried on a successful war against the ,turks4 ,footnote #bji3 ,gustavus ,adolphus 7#aeid-afcb71 ,king of ,sweden1 the hero of ,protestantism in the ,thirty ,years' ,war4 ,footnote #baj3 ,hieroglyphic1 a character in the picture-writing of the ancient ,egyptian priests2 hence1 hidden sign4 ,footnote #baa3 ,parallax1 an angle used in astronomy in calculating the distance of a heavenly body4 ,the parallax decreases as the distance of the body increases4 ,footnote #bab3 ,the child has the advantage of the experience of all his ancestors4 ,compare ,tennyson's line in ,locksley ,hall3 ,i the heir of all the ages1 in the foremost files of time4 ,footnote #bac3 ,why should we grope among the dry bones of the past1 or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe8 ,the sun shines to-day also4--,,emerson1 ,introd4 to ,nature1 ,addresses1 etc4 ,footnote #bad3 ,explain the thought in this sentence4 ,footnote #bae3 ,judas ,iscariot1 who betrayed ,jesus4 ,footnote #baf3 ,agent1 active1 acting4 ,footnote #bag3 ,an allusion to the ,mohammedan custom of removing the shoes before entering a mosque4 ,footnote #bah3 ,of a truth1 men are mystically united2 a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one4 ,footnote #bai3 ,thor and ,woden4 ,woden or ,odin was the chief god of ,scandinavian mythology4 ,thor1 his elder son1 was the god of thunder4 ,from these names come the names of the days ,wednesday and ,thursday4 ,footnote #bbj3 ,explain the meaning of this sentence4 ,footnote #bba3 ,you1 or you1 addressing different persons4 ,footnote #bbb3 ,the truth shall make you free4--,john1 viii4 #cb4 ,footnote #bbc3 ,antinomianism1 the doctrine that the moral law is not binding under the gospel dispensation1 faith alone being necessary to salvation4 ,footnote #bbd3 ,there is no sorrow ,i have thought more about than that--to love what is great1 and try to reach it1 and yet to fail4 ,,george ,,eliot1 ,middlemarch1 lxxvi4 ,footnote #bbe3 ,explain the use of it in these expressions4 ,footnote #bbf3 ,stoic1 a disciple of the ,greek philosopher ,zeno1 who taught that men should be free from passion1 unmoved by joy and grief1 and should submit without complaint to the inevitable4 ,footnote #bbg3 ,word made flesh1 see ,john1 i4 #ad4 ,footnote #bbh3 ,healing to the nations1 see ,revelation1 xxii4 #b4 ,footnote #bbi3 ,in what prayers do men allow themselves to indulge8 ,footnote #bcj3 ,prayer is the soul's sincere desire1 ,uttered or unexpressed1 ,the motion of a hidden fire ,that trembles in the breast4 ,,montgomery1 ,what is ,prayer8 ,footnote #bca3 ,caratach 7,caractacus7 is a historical character in ,fletcher's 7#aegf-afbe7 tragedy of ,bonduca7,boadicea74 ,footnote #bcb3 ,zoroaster1 a ,persian philosopher1 founder of the ancient ,persian religion4 ,he flourished long before the ,christian era4 ,footnote #bcc3 ,speak thou with us1 and we will hear3 but let not ,god speak with us1 lest we die4--,exodus1 xx4 #ai4 ,compare also the parallel passage in ,deuteronomy1 v4 #be-bg4 ,footnote #bcd3 ,john ,locke4 7,see note #ah47 ,footnote #bce3 ,lavoisier 7#agdc-agid71 celebrated ,french chemical philosopher1 discoverer of the composition of water4 ,footnote #bcf3 ,james ,hutton 7#agbf-agig71 great ,scotch geologist1 author of the ,theory of the ,earth4 ,footnote #bcg3 ,jeremy ,bentham 7#agdh-ahcb71 ,english philosopher1 jurist1 and legislative reformer4 ,footnote #bch3 ,fourier 7#aggb-ahcg71 ,french socialist1 founder of the system of ,fourierism4 ,footnote #bci3 ,calvinism1 the doctrines of ,john ,calvin 7#aeji-aefd74 ,french theologian and ,protestant reformer4 ,a cardinal doctrine of ,calvinism is predestination4 ,footnote #bdj3 ,quakerism1 the doctrines of the ,quakers or ,friends1 a society founded by ,george ,fox 7#afbd-afia74 ,footnote #bda3 ,emanuel ,swedenborg 7#afhh-aggb71 ,swedish theosophist1 founder of the ,new ,jerusalem ,church4 ,he is taken by ,emerson in his ,representative ,men as the type of the mystic1 and is often mentioned in his other works4 ,footnote #bdb3 ,though we travel the world over to find the beautiful1 we must carry it with us1 or we find it not4--,,emerson1 ,art4 ,footnote #bdc3 ,thebes1 a celebrated ruined city of ,upper ,egypt4 ,footnote #bdd3 ,palmyra1 a ruined city of ,asia situated in an oasis of the ,syrian desert1 supposed to be the ,tadmor built by ,solomon in the wilderness 7,,ii4 ,chr41 viii4 #d74 ,footnote #bde3 ,vain1 very vain1 my weary search to find ,that bliss which only centers in the mind4444 ,still to ourselves in every place consign'd1 ,our own felicity we make or find4 ,,goldsmith 7and ,,johnson71 ,the ,traveler1 #dbc-cb4 ,he that has light within his own clear breast ,may sit i' th' center1 and enjoy bright day2 ,but he that hides a dark soul1 and foul thoughts1 ,benighted walks under the mid-day sun2 ,himself in his own dungeon4 ,,milton1 ,comus1 #cha-e4 ,compare also ,paradise ,lost1 ,i1 #bee-g4 ,footnote #bdf3 ,vatican1 the palace of the pope in ,rome1 with its celebrated library1 museum1 and art gallery4 ,footnote #bdg3 ,doric1 the oldest1 strongest1 and simplest of the three styles of ,grecian architecture4 ,footnote #bdh3 ,gothic1 a pointed style of architecture1 prevalent in western ,europe in the latter part of the middle ages4 ,footnote #bdi3 ,never imitate4 ,emerson insists on this doctrine4 ,footnote #bej3 ,shakespeare 7#aefd-afaf71 the great ,english poet and dramatist4 ,he is mentioned in ,emerson's writings more than any other character in history1 and is taken as the type of the poet in his ,representative ,men4 ,o mighty poet6 ,thy works are not as those of other men1 simply and merely great works of art2 but are also like the phenomena of nature1 like the sun and the sea1 the stars and the flowers1--like frost and snow1 rain and dew1 hailstorm and thunder1 which are to be studied with entire submission of our own faculties1 and in the perfect faith that in them there can be no too much or too little1 nothing useless or inert1--but that1 the further we press in our discoveries1 the more we shall see proofs of design and self-supporting arrangement where the careless eye had seen nothing but accident6--,,de ,,quincy4 ,footnote #bea3 ,benjamin ,franklin 7#agjf-agij71 ,american philosopher1 statesman1 diplomatist1 and author4 ,he discovered the identity of lightning with electricity1 invented the lightning-rod1 went on several diplomatic missions to ,europe1 was one of the committee that drew up the ,declaration of ,independence1 signed the treaty of ,paris1 and compiled ,poor ,richard's ,almanac4 ,footnote #beb3 ,francis ,bacon 7#aefa-afbf71 a famous ,english philosopher and statesman4 ,he became ,lord ,chancellor under ,elizabeth4 ,he is best known by his ,essays2 he wrote also the ,novum ,organum and the ,advancement of ,learning4 ,footnote #bec3 ,sir ,isaac ,newton4 7,see note #ec47 ,footnote #bed3 ,scipio4 7,see note #bje47 ,footnote #bee3 ,phidias 7#ejj8-dcb8 ,b4,c471 famous ,greek sculptor4 ,footnote #bef3 ,egyptians4 ,he has in mind the pyramids4 ,footnote #beg3 ,the ,pentateuch is attributed to ,moses4 ,footnote #beh3 ,dante 7#abfe-acba71 the greatest of ,italian poets1 author of the ,divina ,commedia4 ,footnote #bei3 ,foreworld1 a former ideal state of the world4 ,footnote #bfj3 ,new ,zealander1 inhabitant of ,new ,zealand1 a group of two islands lying southeast of ,australia4 ,footnote #bfa3 ,geneva1 a city of ,switzerland1 situated at the southwestern extremity of ,lake ,geneva4 ,footnote #bfb3 ,greenwich nautical almanac4 ,the meridian of the ,royal ,observatory at ,greenwich1 near ,london1 is the prime meridian for reckoning the longitude of the world4 ,the nautical almanac is a publication containing astronomical data for the use of navigators and astronomers4 ,what is the name of the corresponding publication of the ,u4,s4 ,observatory at ,washington8 ,footnote #bfc3 ,get the meaning of these astronomical terms4 ,footnote #bfd3 ,plutarch4 7#ej8-abj8 ,a4,d471 ,greek philosopher and biographer1 author of ,parallel ,lives1 a series of ,greek and ,roman biographies4 ,next after ,shakespeare and ,plato he is the author most frequently mentioned by ,emerson4 ,read the essay of ,emerson on ,plutarch4 ,footnote #bfe3 ,phocion 7#djb-cag ,b4,c471 ,athenian statesman and general4 7,see note #cfd47 ,footnote #bff3 ,anaxagoras 7#ejj-dbf ,b4,c471 ,greek philosopher of distinction4 ,footnote #bfg3 ,diogenes 7#djj8-cbc871 ,greek cynic philosopher who affected great contempt for riches and honors and the comforts of civilized life1 and is said to have taken up his residence in a tub4 ,footnote #bfh3 ,henry ,hudson 7---- - #afaa71 ,english navigator and explorer1 discoverer of the bay and river which bear his name4 ,footnote #bfi3 ,bering or ,behring 7#afhj-agda71 ,danish navigator1 discoverer of ,behring ,strait4 ,footnote #bgj3 ,sir ,william ,edward ,parry 7#agij-ahee71 ,english navigator and ,arctic explorer4 ,footnote #bga3 ,sir ,john ,franklin 7#aghf-ahdf871 celebrated ,english navigator and ,arctic explorer1 lost in the ,arctic seas4 ,footnote #bgb3 ,christopher ,columbus 7#adde8-aejf71 ,genoese navigator and discoverer of ,america4 ,his ship1 the ,santa ,maria1 appears small and insignificant in comparison with the modern ocean ship4 ,footnote #bgc3 ,napoleon ,bonaparte 7#agfi-ahba71 ,emperor of ,france1 one of the greatest military geniuses the world has ever seen4 ,he was defeated in the battle of ,waterloo by the ,duke of ,wellington1 and died in exile on the isle of ,st4 ,helena4 ,emerson takes him as a type of the man of the world in his ,representative ,men3 ,i call ,napoleon the agent or attorney of the middle class of modern society4444 ,he was the agitator1 the destroyer of prescription1 the internal improver1 the liberal1 the radical1 the inventor of means1 the opener of doors and markets1 the subverter of monopoly and abuse4444 ,he had the virtues of the masses of his constituents3 he had also their vices4 ,i am sorry that the brilliant picture has its reverse4 ,footnote #bgd3 ,comte de las ,cases 7not ,casas7 7#agff-ahdb71 author of ,mmorial de ,sainte-,hlne4 ,footnote #bge3 ,ali1 ,arabian caliph1 surnamed the ,lion of ,god1 cousin and son-in-law of ,mohammed4 ,he was assassinated about #ffa4 ,footnote #bgf3 ,the county of ,essex in ,england has several namesakes in ,america4 ,footnote #bgg3 ,fortune4 ,in ,roman mythology ,fortune1 the goddess of fortune or chance1 is represented as standing on a ball or wheel4 ,nec metuis dubio ,fortun stantis in orbe ,numen1 et exos verba superba de8 ,,ovid1 ,tristia1 v41 #h1 #h4 ,,friendship ,footnote #bgh3 ,most of ,emerson's ,essays were first delivered as lectures1 in practically the form in which they afterwards appeared in print4 ,the form and style1 it is true1 were always carefully revised before publication2 this ,emerson called 'giving his thoughts a ,greek dress4' ,his essay on ,friendship1 published in the ,first ,series of ,essays in #ahda was not1 so far as we know1 delivered as a lecture2 parts of it1 however1 were taken from lectures which ,emerson delivered on ,society1 ,the ,heart1 and ,private ,life4 ,in connection with his essay on ,friendship1 the student should read the two other notable addresses on the same subject1 one the speech by ,cicero1 the famous ,roman orator1 and the other the essay by ,lord ,bacon1 the great ,english author4 ,footnote #bgi3 ,relume4 ,is this a common word8 ,define it4 ,footnote #bhj3 ,pass my gate4 ,the walk opposite ,emerson's house on the ',great ,road' to ,boston was a favorite winter walk for ,concord people4 ,along it passed the philosophic ,alcott and the imaginative ,hawthorne1 as well as famous townsmen1 and school children4 ,footnote #bha3 ,my friends have come to me1 etc43 ,compare with ,emerson's views here expressed the noble passage in his essay on ,the ,over-,soul3 ,every friend whom not thy fantastic will but the great and tender heart in thee craveth1 shall lock thee in his embrace4 ,and this because the heart in thee is the heart of all2 not a valve1 not a wall1 not an intersection is there anywhere in nature1 but one blood rolls uninterruptedly in endless circulation through all men1 as the water of the globe is all one sea1 and1 truly seen1 its tide is one4 ,footnote #bhb3 ,bard4 ,poet3 originally one who composed and sang to the music of a harp verses in honor of heroes and heroic deeds4 ,footnote #bhc3 ,hymn1 ode1 and epic4 ,define each of these three kinds of poetry4 ,footnote #bhd3 ,apollo4 ,in classic mythology1 the sun god who presided over music1 poetry1 and art2 he was the guardian and leader of the ,muses4 ,footnote #bhe3 ,muses4 ,in classic mythology1 the nine sisters who presided over music1 poetry1 art1 and science4 ,they were ,clio the muse of history1 ,euterpe of music1 especially the flute1 ,thalia of comedy1 ,melpomene of tragedy1 ,terpsichore of dancing1 ,erato of erotic poetry1 mistress of the lyre1 ,polyhymnia of sacred poetry1 ,urania of astronomy1 ,calliope of eloquence and epic poetry4 ,footnote #bhf3 ,genius4 ,according to an old belief1 a spirit that watched over a person to control1 guide and aid him4 ,footnote #bhg3 ,crush the sweet poison1 etc4 ,this is a quotation from ,comus1 a poem by ,milton4 ,footnote #bhh3 ,systole and diastole4 7,see note #ih47 ,footnote #bhi3 ,friendship1 like the immortality1 etc4 ,see on what a high plane ,emerson places this relation of friendship4 ,in #ahdj he wrote in a letter3 ,i am a worshiper of friendship1 and cannot find any other good equal to it4 ,as soon as any man pronounces the words which approve him fit for that great office1 ,i make no haste2 he is holy2 let me be holy also2 our relations are eternal2 why should we count days and weeks8 ,footnote #bij3 ,elysian temple4 ,temple of bliss4 ,in ,greek mythology1 ,elysium was the abode of the blessed after death4 ,footnote #bia3 ,an ,egyptian skull4 ,plutarch says that at an ,egyptian feast a skull was displayed1 either as a hint to make the most of the pleasure which can be enjoyed but for a brief space1 or as a warning not to set one's heart upon transitory things4 ,footnote #bib3 ,conscious of a universal success1 etc4 ,emerson wrote in his journal3 ,my entire success1 such as it is1 is composed wholly of particular failures4 ,footnote #bic3 ,extends the old leaf4 ,compare ,emerson's lines3 ,when half-gods go ,the gods arrive4 ,footnote #bid3 ,a texture of wine and dreams4 ,what does ,emerson mean by this phrase8 ,explain the whole sentence4 ,footnote #bie3 ,the valiant warrior1 etc4 ,the quotation is from ,shakespeare's ,sonnet1 ,,xxv4 ,footnote #bif3 ,naturlangsamkeit4 ,a ,german word meaning slowness4 ,the slowness of natural development4 ,footnote #big3 ,olympian4 ,one who took part in the great ,greek games held every four years on the plain of ,olympia4 ,the racing1 wrestling and other contests of strength and skill were accompanied by sacrifices to the gods1 processions1 and banquets4 ,there was a sense of dignity and almost of worship about the games4 ,the ,olympic games have been recently revived1 and athletes from all countries of the world contest for the prizes--simple garlands of wild olive4 ,footnote #bih3 ,i knew a man who1 etc4 ,the allusion is to ,jonas ,very1 a mystic and poet1 who lived at ,salem1 ,massachusetts4 ,footnote #bii3 ,paradox4 ,define this word4 ,explain its application to a friend4 ,footnote #cjj3 ,my author says1 etc4 ,the quotation is from ,a ,consideration upon ,cicero1 by the ,french author1 ,montaigne4 ,montaigne was one of ,emerson's favorite authors from his boyhood3 of the essays he says1 ,i felt as if ,i myself1 had written this book in some former life1 so sincerely it spoke my thoughts4 ,footnote #cja3 ,cherub4 ,what is the difference between a cherub and a seraph8 ,footnote #cjb3 ,curricle4 ,a two-wheeled carriage1 especially popular in the eighteenth century4 ,footnote #cjc3 ,this law of one to one4 ,emerson felt that this same law applied to nature4 ,he wrote in his journal3 ,nature says to man1 'one to one1 my dear4' ,footnote #cjd3 ,crimen quos1 etc4 ,the ,latin saying is translated in the preceding sentence4 ,footnote #cje3 ,nonage4 ,we use more commonly the word1 minority4 ,footnote #cjf3 ,janus-faced4 ,the word here means simply two-faced1 without the idea of deceit usually attached to it4 ,in ,roman mythology1 ,janus1 the doorkeeper of heaven was the protector of doors and gateways and the patron of the beginning and end of undertakings4 ,he was the god of the rising and setting of the sun1 and was represented with two faces1 one looking to the east and the other to the west4 ,his temple at ,rome was kept open in time of war and closed in time of peace4 ,footnote #cjg3 ,harbinger4 ,a forerunner2 originally an officer who rode in advance of a royal person to secure proper lodgings and accommodations4 ,footnote #cjh3 ,empyrean4 ,highest and purest heaven2 according to the ancients1 the region of pure light and fire4 ,,heroism ,footnote #cji3 ,title4 ,probably this essay is1 essentially at least1 the lecture on ,heroism delivered in ,boston in the winter of #ahcg1 in the course of lectures on ,human ,culture4 ,footnote #caj3 ,motto4 ,this saying of ,mahomet's was the only motto prefixed to the essay in the first edition4 ,in later editions1 ,emerson prefixed1 according to his custom1 some original lines2 ,ruby wine is drunk by knaves1 ,sugar spends to fatten slaves1 ,rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons1 ,thunder clouds are ,jove's festoons1 ,drooping oft in wreaths of dread ,lightning-knotted round his head3 ,the hero is not fed on sweets1 ,daily his own heart he eats2 ,chambers of the great are jails1 ,and head-winds right for royal sails4 ,footnote #caa3 ,elder ,english dramatists4 ,the dramatists who preceded ,shakespeare4 ,in his essay on ,shakespeare2 or1 the ,poet1 ,emerson enumerates the foremost of these1--,kyd1 ,marlowe1 ,greene1 ,jonson1 ,chapman1 ,dekker1 ,webster1 ,heywood1 ,middleton1 ,peele1 ,ford1 ,massinger1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,footnote #cab3 ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,francis ,beaumont and ,john ,fletcher were two dramatists of the ,elizabethan age4 ,they wrote together and their styles were so similar that critics are unable to identify the share of each in their numerous plays4 ,footnote #cac3 ,rodrigo1 ,pedro1 or ,valerio4 ,favorite names for heroes among the dramatists4 ,rodrigo ,diaz de ,bivar1 known usually by the title of the ,cid1 was the national hero of ,spain1 famous for his exploits against the ,moors4 ,don ,pedro was the ,prince of ,arragon in ,shakespeare's play1 ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing4 ,footnote #cad3 ,bonduca1 ,sophocles1 the ,mad ,lover1 and ,double ,marriage4 ,the first1 third and fourth are names of plays by ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,in the case of the second1 ,emerson1 by a lapse of memory1 gives the name of one of the chief characters instead of the name of the play--,the ,triumph of ,honor in a piece called ,four ,plays in ,one4 ,it is from this play by ,beaumont and ,fletcher that the passage in the essay is quoted4 ,footnote #cae3 ,adriadne's crown4 ,according to ,greek mythology1 the crown of ,adriadne was1 for her beauty and her sufferings1 put among the stars4 ,she was the daughter of ,minos1 ,king of ,crete2 she gave ,theseus the clue by means of which he escaped from the labyrinth and she was afterwards abandoned by him4 ,footnote #caf3 ,romulus4 ,the reputed founder of the city of ,rome4 ,footnote #cag3 ,laodamia1 ,dion4 ,read these two poems by ,wordsworth1 the great ,english poet1 and tell why you think ,emerson mentioned them here4 ,footnote #cah3 ,scott4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 a famous ,scotch author4 ,footnote #cai3 ,lord ,evandale1 ,balfour of ,burley4 ,these are characters in ,scott's novel1 ,old ,mortality4 ,the passage referred to by ,emerson is in the forty-second chapter4 ,footnote #cbj3 ,thomas ,carlyle4 ,carlyle was a great admirer of heroes1 asserting that history is the biography of great men4 ,one of his most popular books is ,heroes and ,hero-,worship1 on a plan similar to that of ,emerson's ,representative ,men4 ,footnote #cba3 ,robert ,burns4 ,a ,scotch lyric poet4 ,emerson was probably thinking of the patriotic song1 ,scots wha hae wi' ,wallace bled4 ,footnote #cbb3 ,harleian ,miscellanies4 ,a collection of manuscripts published in the eighteenth century1 and named for ,robert ,harley1 the ,english statesman who collected them4 ,footnote #cbc3 ,lutzen4 ,a small town in ,prussia4 ,the battle referred to was fought in #afcb and in it the ,swedes under ,gustavus ,adolphus gained a great victory over vastly superior numbers4 ,nearly two hundred years later another battle was fought at ,lutzen1 in which ,napoleon gained a victory over the allied ,russians and ,prussians4 ,footnote #cbd3 ,simon ,ockley4 ,an ,english scholar of the seventeenth century whose chief work was a ,history of the ,saracens4 ,footnote #cbe3 ,oxford4 ,one of the two great ,english universities4 ,footnote #cbf3 ,plutarch4 7,see note #bfd47 ,footnote #cbg3 ,brasidas4 ,this hero1 described by ,plutarch1 was a ,spartan general who lived about four hundred years before ,christ4 ,footnote #cbh3 ,dion4 ,a ,greek philosopher who ruled the city of ,syracuse in the fourth century before ,christ4 ,footnote #cbi3 ,epaminondas4 ,a ,greek general and statesman of the fourth century before ,christ4 ,footnote #ccj3 ,scipio4 7,see note #bje47 ,footnote #cca3 ,stoicism4 ,the stern and severe philosophy taught by the ,greek philosopher ,zeno2 he taught that men should always seek virtue and be indifferent to pleasure and happiness4 ,this belief1 carried to the extreme of severity1 exercised a great influence on many noble ,greeks and ,romans4 ,footnote #ccb3 ,heroism is an obedience1 etc4 ,in one of his poems ,emerson says3 ,so nigh is grandeur to our dust1 ,so near is ,god to man1 ,when ,duty whispers low1 ',thou must1' ,the youth replies1 ',i can4' ,footnote #ccc3 ,plotinus4 ,an ,egyptian philosopher who taught in ,rome during the third century4 ,it was said that he so exalted the mind that he was ashamed of his body4 ,footnote #ccd3 ,indeed these humble considerations1 etc4 ,the passage1 like many which ,emerson quotes1 is rendered inexactly4 ,the ,prince says to ,poins3 ,indeed these humble considerations make me out of love with my greatness4 ,what a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name6 or to know thy face to-morrow6 or to take note how many pairs of silk stockings thou hast1 that is1 these and those that were thy peach-colored ones6 or to bear the inventory of thy shirts1 as1 one for superfluity and another for use6 ,shakespeare's ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,,ii4 #b1 #b4 ,footnote #cce3 ,ibn ,hankal4 ,ibn ,hankul1 an ,arabian geographer and traveler of the tenth century4 ,he wrote an account of his twenty years' travels in ,mohammedan countries2 in #ahjj this was translated into ,english by ,sir ,william ,jones under the title of ,the ,oriental ,geography of ,ibn ,hankal4 ,in that volume this anecdote is told in slightly different words4 ,footnote #ccf3 ,bokhara4 ,where is ,bokhara8 ,it corresponds to the ancient ,sogdiana4 ,footnote #ccg3 ,bannocks4 ,thick cakes1 made usually of oatmeal4 ,what does ,emerson mean by this sentence8 ,probably no person ever met his visitors1 many of whom were exacting and wearisome1 and must have been unwelcome1 with more perfect courtesy and graciousness than ,emerson4 ,footnote #cch3 ,john ,eliot4 ,give as full an account as you can of the life and works of this noble ,apostle to the ,indians of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #cci3 ,king ,david1 etc4 ,see ,first ,chronicles1 #aa1 #ae-ai4 ,footnote #cdj3 ,brutus4 ,marcus ,junius ,brutus1 a ,roman patriot of the first century before ,christ1 who took part in the assassination of ,julius ,csar4 ,footnote #cda3 ,philippi4 ,a city of ,macedonia near which in the year #db ,b4,c4 were fought two battles in which the republican army under ,brutus and ,cassius was defeated by ,octavius and ,antony1 friends of ,csar4 ,footnote #cdb3 ,euripides4 ,a ,greek tragic poet of the fifth century before ,christ4 ,footnote #cdc3 ,scipio4 7,see note #bje47 ,plutarch in his ,morals gives another version of the story3 ,when ,paetilius and ,quintus accused him of many crimes before the people2 'on this very day1' he said1 ',i conquered ,hannibal and ,carthage4 ,i for my part am going with my crown on to the ,capitol to sacrifice2 and let him that pleaseth stay and pass his vote upon me4' ,having thus said1 he went his way2 and the people followed him1 leaving his accusers declaiming to themselves4 ,footnote #cdd3 ,socrates4 7,see note #ahg47 ,footnote #cde3 ,prytaneum4 ,a public hall at ,athens4 ,footnote #cdf3 ,sir ,thomas ,more4 ,an ,english statesman and author who was beheaded in #aece on a charge of high treason4 ,the incident to which ,emerson refers is one which showed his pleasant wit undisturbed by the prospect of death4 ,as the executioner was about to strike1 ,more moved his head carefully out of reach of the ax4 ,pity that should be cut1 he said1 that has never committed treason4 ,footnote #cdg3 ,blue ,laws4 ,any rigid ,sunday laws or religious regulations4 ,the term is usually applied to the early laws of ,new ,haven and ,connecticut which regulated personal and religious conduct4 ,footnote #cdh3 ,epaminondas4 7,see note #cbi47 ,footnote #cdi3 ,olympus4 ,a mountain of ,greece1 the summit of which1 according to ,greek mythology1 was the home of the gods4 ,footnote #cej3 ,jerseys4 ,consult a history of the ,united ,states for a full account of ,washington's campaign in ,new ,jersey4 ,footnote #cea3 ,milton4 7,see note #aea47 ,footnote #ceb3 ,pericles4 ,a famous ,greek statesman of the fifth century before ,christ1 in whose age ,athens was preminent in naval and military affairs and in letters and art4 ,footnote #cec3 ,xenophon4 ,a ,greek historian of the fourth century before ,christ4 ,footnote #ced3 ,columbus4 ,give an account of his life4 ,footnote #cee3 ,bayard4 ,chevalier de ,bayard was a ,french gentleman of the fifteenth century4 ,he is the ,french national hero1 and is called ,the ,knight without fear and without reproach4 ,footnote #cef3 ,sidney4 ,probably ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 an ,english gentleman and scholar of the sixteenth century who is the ,english national hero as ,bayard is the ,french2 another brave ,englishman was ,algernon ,sidney1 a politician and patriot of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #ceg3 ,hampden4 ,john ,hampden was an ,english statesman and patriot who was killed in the civil war of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #ceh3 ,colossus4 ,the ,colossus of ,rhodes was a gigantic statue--over a hundred feet in height--of the ,rhodian sun god4 ,it was one of the seven wonders of the world2 it was destroyed by an earthquake about two hundred years before ,christ4 ,footnote #cei3 ,sappho4 ,a ,greek poet of the seventh century before ,christ4 ,her fame remains1 though most of her poems have been lost4 ,footnote #cfj3 ,sevign4 ,marquise de ,sevign was a ,french author of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #cfa3 ,de ,stal4 ,madame de ,stal was a ,french writer whose books and political opinions were condemned by ,napoleon4 ,footnote #cfb3 ,themis4 ,a ,greek goddess4 ,the personification of law1 order1 and justice4 ,footnote #cfc3 ,a high counsel1 etc4 ,such was the advice given to the ,emerson boys by their aunt1 ,miss4 ,mary ,moody ,emerson3 ,scorn trifles1 lift your aims2 do what you are afraid to do2 sublimity of character must come from sublimity of motive4 ,upon her monument are inscribed ,emerson's words about her3 ,she gave high counsels4 ,it was the privilege of certain boys to have this immeasurably high standard indicated to their childhood1 a blessing which nothing else in education could supply4 ,footnote #cfd3 ,phocion4 ,a ,greek general and statesman of the fourth century before ,christ who advised the ,athenians to make peace with ,philip of ,macedon4 ,he was put to death on a charge of treason4 ,footnote #cfe3 ,lovejoy4 ,rev4 ,elijah ,lovejoy1 a ,presbyterian clergyman of ,maine who published a periodical against slavery4 ,in #ahcg an ,illinois mob demanded his printing press1 which he refused to give up4 ,the building containing it was set on fire and when ,lovejoy came out he was shot4 ,footnote #cff3 ,let them rave1 etc4 ,these lines are misquoted1 being evidently given from memory1 from ,tennyson's ,dirge4 ,in the poem occur these lines3 ,let them rave4 ,thou wilt never raise thine head ,from the green that folds thy grave-- ,let them rave4 ,,manners ,footnote #cfg3 ,the essay on ,manners is from the ,second ,series of ,essays1 published in #ahdd1 three years after the ,first ,series4 ,the essays in this volume1 like those in the first1 were1 for the most part1 made up of ,emerson's lectures1 rearranged and corrected4 ,the lecture on ,manners had been delivered in the winter of #ahda4 ,he had given another lecture on the same subject about four years before1 and several years later he treated of the same subject in his essay on ,behavior in ,the ,conduct of ,life4 ,you will find it interesting to read ,behavior in connection with this essay4 ,footnote #cfh3 ,feejee islanders4 ,since this essay was written1 the people of the ,feejee1 or ,fiji1 ,islands have become ,christianized1 and1 to a large extent1 civilized4 ,footnote #cfi3 ,gournou4 ,this description is found in ,a ,narrative of the ,operations and ,recent ,discoveries within the ,pyramids1 by ,belzoni1 an ,italian traveler and explorer4 ,footnote #cgj3 ,borgoo4 ,a province of ,africa4 ,footnote #cga3 ,tibboos1 ,bornoos4 ,tribes of ,central ,africa1 mentioned in ,heeren's ,historical ,researches4 ,footnote #cgb3 ,honors himself with architecture4 ,architecture was a subject in which ,emerson was deeply interested4 ,read his poem1 ,the ,problem4 ,footnote #cgc3 ,chivalry4 ,chivalry may be considered as embodying the ,middle ,age conception of the ideal life of 444 the ,knights2 the word is often used to express the ideal qualifications of a knight1 as courtesy1 generosity1 valor1 and dexterity in arms4 ,fully to understand the order of ,knighthood and the ideals of chivalry1 you must read the history of ,europe in the ,middle ,ages4 ,footnote #cgd3 ,sir ,philip ,sidney4 7,see note #cef47 ,footnote #cge3 ,sir ,walter ,scott4 7#agga-ahcb74 ,his historical novels dealing with the ,middle ,ages have some fine pictures of the chivalrous characters in which he delighted4 ,footnote #cgf3 ,masonic sign4 ,a sign of secret brotherhood1 like the sign given by one ,mason to another4 ,footnote #cgg3 ,correlative abstract4 ,corresponding abstract name4 ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 himself the ideal gentleman1 used the word gentlemanliness4 ,he said3 ,gentlemanliness is high-erected thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy4 ,footnote #cgh3 ,gentilesse4 ,gentle birth and breeding4 ,emerson was very fond of the passage on gentilesse in ,chaucer's ,wife of ,bath's ,tale4 ,footnote #cgi3 ,feudal ,ages4 ,the ,middle ,ages in ,europe during which the feudal system prevailed4 ,according to this1 land was held by its owners on condition of certain duties1 especially military service1 performed for a superior lord4 ,footnote #chj3 ,god knows1 etc4 ,why is this particularly true of a republic such as the ,united ,states8 ,footnote #cha3 ,the incomparable advantage of animal spirits4 ,why does ,emerson regard this as of such importance8 ,in his journals he frequently comments on his own lack of animal spirits1 and says that it unfits him for general society and for action4 ,footnote #chb3 ,the sense of power4 ,i like people who can do things1 wrote ,emerson in his journal4 ,footnote #chc3 ,lundy's ,lane4 ,give a full account of this battle in the ,war of #ahab4 ,footnote #chd3 ,men of the right ,csarian pattern4 ,men versatile as was ,julius ,csar1 the ,roman1 famous as a general1 statesman1 orator1 and writer4 ,footnote #che3 ,timid maxim4 ,why does ,emerson term this saying timid8 ,footnote #chf3 ,lord ,falkland4 ,lucius ,cary1 ,viscount ,falkland1 was an ,english politician who espoused the royalist side2 he was killed in battle in the ,civil ,war4 ,footnote #chg3 ,saladin4 ,a famous sultan of ,egypt and ,syria who lived in the twelfth century4 ,scott describes him as possessing an ideal knightly character and introduces him1 disguised as a physician and also as a wandering soldier in his historical romance1 ,the ,talisman4 ,footnote #chh3 ,sapor4 ,a ,persian monarch of the fourth century who defeated the ,romans in battle4 ,footnote #chi3 ,the ,cid4 ,see ,rodrigo1 in ,heroism1 #cac4 ,footnote #cij3 ,julius ,csar4 ,see note on ,csarian1 #chd4 ,footnote #cia3 ,scipio4 7,see note #bje47 ,footnote #cib3 ,alexander4 ,alexander1 ,king of ,macedon1 surnamed the ,great4 ,in the fourth century before ,christ he made himself master of the known world4 ,footnote #cic3 ,pericles4 ,see note on ,heroism1 #ceb4 ,footnote #cid3 ,diogenes4 7,see note #bfg47 ,footnote #cie3 ,socrates4 7,see note #ahg47 ,footnote #cif3 ,epaminondas4 7,see note #cbi47 ,footnote #cig3 ,my contemporaries4 ,emerson probably had in mind1 among others1 his friend1 the gentle philosopher1 ,thoreau4 ,footnote #cih3 ,fine manners4 ,i think there is as much merit in beautiful manners as in hard work1 said ,emerson in his journal4 ,footnote #cii3 ,napoleon4 7,see note #bgc47 ,footnote #djj3 ,noblesse4 ,nobility4 ,why does ,emerson use here the ,french word8 ,footnote #dja3 ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain4 ,a once fashionable quarter of ,paris1 on the south bank of the ,seine2 it was long the headquarters of the ,french royalists4 ,footnote #djb3 ,cortez4 ,consult a history of the ,united ,states for an account of this ,spanish soldier1 the conqueror of ,mexico4 ,footnote #djc3 ,nelson4 ,horatio ,nelson1 an ,english admiral1 who won many great naval victories and was killed in the battle of ,trafalgar in #ahje4 ,footnote #djd3 ,mexico4 ,the scene of ,cortez's victories4 ,footnote #dje3 ,marengo4 ,the scene of a battle in ,italy in #ahjj1 in which ,napoleon defeated the ,austrians with a larger army and made himself master of northern ,italy4 ,footnote #djf3 ,trafalgar4 ,a cape on the southern coast of ,spain1 the scene of ,nelson's last great victory1 in which the allied ,french and ,spanish fleets were defeated4 ,footnote #djg3 ,mexico1 ,marengo1 and ,trafalgar4 ,is this the order in which you would expect these words to occur8 ,why not8 ,footnote #djh3 ,estates of the realm4 ,orders or classes of people with regard to political rights and powers4 ,in modern times1 the nobility1 the clergy1 and the people are called the three estates4 ,footnote #dji3 ,tournure4 ,figure2 turn of dress1--and so of mind4 ,footnote #daj3 ,coventry4 ,it is said that the people of ,coventry1 a city in ,england1 at one time so disliked soldiers that to send a military man there meant to exclude him from social intercourse2 hence the expression to send to ,coventry means to exclude from society4 ,footnote #daa3 ,if you could see ,vich ,ian ,vohr with his tail on4 ,vich ,ian ,vohr is a ,scotch chieftain in ,scott's novel1 ,waverley4 ,one of his dependents says to ,waverley1 the young ,english officer3 ,if you ,saxon duinh-wassal ,english gentleman saw but the ,chief with his tail on4 ,with his tail on8 echoed ,edward in some surprise4 ,yes--that is1 with all his usual followers when he visits those of the same rank4 ,see ,waverley1 chapter #af4 ,footnote #dab3 ,mercuries4 ,the word here means simply messengers4 ,according to ,greek mythology1 ,mercury was the messenger of the gods4 ,footnote #dac3 ,herald's office4 ,in ,england the ,herald's ,college1 or ,college of ,arms1 is a royal corporation the chief business of which is to grant armorial bearings1 or coats of arms1 and to trace and preserve genealogies4 ,what does ,emerson mean by comparing certain circles of society to this corporation8 ,footnote #dad3 ,amphitryon4 ,host2 it came to have this meaning from an incident in the story of ,amphitryon1 a character in ,greek legend4 ,at one time ,jupiter assumed the form of ,amphitryon and gave a banquet4 ,the real ,amphitryon came in and asserted that he was master of the house4 ,in the ,french play1 founded on this story1 the question is settled by the assertion of the servants and guests that he who gives the feast is the host4 ,footnote #dae3 ,tuileries4 ,an old royal residence in ,paris which was burned in #ahga4 ,footnote #daf3 ,escurial1 or escorial4 ,a celebrated royal edifice near ,madrid in ,spain4 ,footnote #dag3 ,hide ourselves as ,adam1 etc4 ,see ,genesis iii4 #h4 ,footnote #dah3 ,cardinal ,caprara4 ,an ,italian cardinal1 ,bishop of ,milan1 who negotiated the famous concordat of #ahja1 an agreement between the ,church and ,state regulating the relations between civil and ecclesiastical powers4 ,footnote #dai3 ,the pope4 ,pope ,pius ,,vii4 ,footnote #dbj3 ,madame de ,stal4 7,see note #cfa47 ,footnote #dba3 ,mr4 ,hazlitt4 ,william ,hazlitt1 an ,english writer4 ,footnote #dbb3 ,montaigne4 ,a ,french essayist of the sixteenth century4 ,footnote #dbc3 ,the hint of tranquillity and self-poise4 ,it is suggested that ,emerson had here in mind a favorite passage of the ,german author1 ,richter1 in which ,richter says of the ,greek statues3 ,the repose not of weariness but of perfection looks from their eyes and rests upon their lips4 ,footnote #dbd3 ,a ,chinese etiquette4 ,what does ,emerson mean by this expression8 ,footnote #dbe3 ,recall4 ,in the first edition1 ,emerson had here the word signify4 ,which is the better word and why8 ,footnote #dbf3 ,measure4 ,what meaning has this word here8 ,is this the sense in which we generally use it8 ,footnote #dbg3 ,creole natures4 ,what is a creole8 ,what does ,emerson mean by ,creole natures8 ,footnote #dbh3 ,mr4 ,fox4 ,charles ,james ,fox1 an ,english statesman and orator of the eighteenth century4 ,footnote #dbi3 ,burke4 ,both ,fox and ,burke opposed the taxation of the ,american colonies and sympathized with their resistance2 it was on the subject of the ,french ,revolution that the two friends clashed4 ,footnote #dcj3 ,sheridan4 ,richard ,brinsley ,sheridan1 an ,irish dramatist1 member of the famous ,literary ,club to which both ,fox and ,burke belonged4 ,footnote #dca3 ,circe4 ,according to ,greek legend1 ,circe was a beautiful enchantress4 ,men who partook of the draught she offered1 were turned to swine4 ,footnote #dcb3 ,captain ,symmes4 ,the only real personage of this group4 ,he asserted that there was an opening to the interior of the earth which was stocked with plants and animals4 ,footnote #dcc3 ,clerisy4 ,what word would we be more apt to use here8 ,footnote #dcd3 ,st4 ,michael's 7,square74 ,st4 ,michael's was an order instituted by ,louis ,,xi4 of ,france4 ,footnote #dce3 ,cologne water4 ,a perfumed water first made at the city of ,cologne in ,germany1 from which it took its name4 ,footnote #dcf3 ,poland4 ,this kingdom of ,europe was1 in the eighteenth century1 taken possession of and divided among its powerful neighbors1 ,russia1 ,prussia1 and ,austria4 ,footnote #dcg3 ,philhellene4 ,friend of ,greece4 ,footnote #dch3 ,as ,heaven and ,earth are fairer far1 etc4 ,this passage is quoted from ,book ,,ii4 of ,keats' ,hyperion4 ,footnote #dci3 ,waverley4 ,the ,waverley novels1 a name applied to all of ,scott's novels from ,waverley1 the title of the first one4 ,footnote #ddj3 ,robin ,hood4 ,an ,english outlaw and popular hero1 the subject of many ballads4 ,footnote #dda3 ,minerva4 ,in ,roman mythology1 the goddess of wisdom corresponding to the ,greek ,pallas-,athene4 ,footnote #ddb3 ,juno4 ,in ,roman mythology1 the wife of the supreme god ,jupiter4 ,footnote #ddc3 ,polymnia4 ,in ,greek mythology1 one of the nine muses who presided over sacred poetry2 the name is more usually written ,polyhymia4 ,footnote #ddd3 ,delphic ,sibyl4 ,in ancient mythology1 the ,sibyls were certain women who possessed the power of prophecy4 ,one of these who made her abode at ,delphi in ,greece was called the ,delphian1 or ,delphic1 sibyl4 ,footnote #dde3 ,hafiz4 ,a ,persian poet of the fourteenth century4 ,footnote #ddf3 ,firdousi4 ,a ,persian poet of the tenth century4 ,footnote #ddg3 ,she was an elemental force1 etc4 ,of this passage ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes said that ,emerson speaks of woman in language that seems to pant for rhythm and rhyme4 ,footnote #ddh3 ,byzantine4 ,an ornate style of architecture developed in the fourth and fifth centuries1 marked especially by its use of gold and color4 ,footnote #ddi3 ,golden ,book4 ,in a book1 called the ,golden ,book1 were recorded the names of all the children of ,venetian noblemen4 ,footnote #dej3 ,schiraz4 ,a province of ,persia famous especially for its roses1 wine1 and nightingales1 and described by the poets as a place of ideal beauty4 ,footnote #dea3 ,osman4 ,the name given by ,emerson in his journal and essays to his ideal man1 one subject to the same conditions as himself4 ,footnote #deb3 ,koran4 ,the sacred book of the ,mohammedans4 ,footnote #dec3 ,jove4 ,jupiter1 the supreme god of ,roman mythology4 ,footnote #ded3 ,silenus4 ,in ,greek mythology1 the leader of the satyrs4 ,this fable1 which ,emerson credits to tradition1 was original4 ,footnote #dee3 ,her owl4 ,the owl was the bird sacred to ,minerva1 the goddess of wisdom4 ,,gifts ,footnote #def3 ,this essay was first printed in the periodical called ,the ,dial4 ,it was a part of ,emerson's philosophic faith that there is no such thing as giving1--everything that belongs to a man or that he ought to have1 will come to him4 ,but in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word1 ,emerson was a gracious giver and receiver4 ,in his family the old ,new ,england custom of ,new ,year's presents was kept up to his last days4 ,his presents were accompanied with verses to be read before the gift was opened4 ,footnote #deg3 ,into chancery4 ,the phrase in chancery1 means in litigation1 as an estate1 in a court of equity4 ,footnote #deh3 ,cocker4 ,spoil1 indulge1--a word now little used4 ,footnote #dei3 ,fruits are acceptable gifts4 ,emerson took especial pleasure in the beauty of fruits and the thought of how they had been evolved from useless1 insipid seed cases4 ,footnote #dfj3 ,to let the petitioner1 etc4 ,we can hardly imagine ,emerson's asking a gift or favor4 ,he often quoted the words of ,landor1 an ,english writer3 ,the highest price you can pay for a thing is to ask for it4 ,footnote #dfa3 ,furies4 ,in ,roman mythology1 three goddesses who sought out and punished evil-doers4 ,footnote #dfb3 ,a man's biography1 etc4 ,emerson wrote in his journal3 ,long ago ,i wrote of gifts and neglected a capital example4 ,john ,thoreau1 ,jr4 who1 like his brother ,henry1 was a lover of nature one day put a bluebird's box on my barn1--fifteen years ago it must be1--and there it still is1 with every summer a melodious family in it adorning the place and singing its praises4 ,there's a gift for you which cost the giver no money1 but nothing which he bought could have been as good4 ,footnote #dfc3 ,sin offering4 ,under the ,hebrew law1 a sacrifice or offering for sin4 ,see ,leviticus xxiii4 #ai4 ,explain what ,emerson means here by the word4 ,footnote #dfd3 ,blackmail4 ,what is blackmail8 ,how may ,christmas gifts1 for instance1 become a species of blackmail8 ,footnote #dfe3 ,brother1 if ,jove1 etc4 ,in the ,greek legend1 ,epimetheus gives this advice to his brother ,prometheus4 ,the lines are taken from a translation of ,works and ,days1 by the ,greek poet1 ,hesiod4 ,footnote #dff3 ,timons4 ,here used in the sense of wealthy givers4 ,timon1 the hero of ,shakespeare's play1 ,timon of ,athens1 wasted his fortune in lavish gifts and entertainments1 and in his poverty was exposed to the ingratitude of those whom he had served4 ,he became morose and died in miserable retirement4 ,footnote #dfg3 ,it is a very onerous business1 etc4 ,one of ,emerson's favorite passages in the essays of ,montaigne1 a ,french writer1 was this3 ,oh1 how am ,i obliged to ,almighty ,god1 who has been pleased that ,i should immediately receive all ,i have from his bounty1 and particularly reserved all my obligation to himself6 ,how instantly do ,i beg of his holy compassion that ,i may never owe a real thanks to anyone4 ,o happy liberty in which ,i have thus far lived6 ,may it continue with me to the last4 ,i endeavor to have no need of any one4 ,when ,emerson1 in his old age1 had his house injured by fire1 his friends contributed funds to repair it and to send him to ,england4 ,the gift was proffered graciously and accepted gratefully4 ,footnote #dfh3 ,buddhist4 ,a follower of ,buddha1 a ,hindoo religious teacher of the fifth century before ,christ4 ,,nature ,footnote #dfi3 ,nature4 ,emerson's first published volume was a little book of essays1 entitled ,nature1 which appeared in #ahcf4 ,in the years which followed1 he thought more deeply on the subject and1 according to his custom1 made notes about it and entries in his journals4 ,in the winter of #ahdc he delivered a lecture on ,relation to ,nature1 and it is probable that this essay is built up from that4 ,the plan of it1 however1 had been long in his mind3 ,in #ahdj he wrote in his journal3 ,i think ,i must do these eyes of mine the justice to write a new chapter on ,nature4 ,this delight we all take in every show of night or day or field or forest or sea or city1 down to the lowest particulars1 is not without sequel1 though we be as yet only wishers and gazers1 not at all knowing what we want4 ,we are predominated here as elsewhere by an upper wisdom1 and resemble those great discoverers who are haunted for years1 sometimes from infancy1 with a passion for the fact1 or class of facts in which the secret lies which they are destined to unlock1 and they let it not go until the blessing is won4 ,so these sunsets and starlights1 these swamps and rocks1 these bird notes and animal forms off which we cannot get our eyes and ears1 but hover still1 as moths round a lamp1 are no doubt a ,sanscrit cipher covering the whole religious history of the universe1 and presently we shall read it off into action and character4 ,the pastures are full of ghosts for me1 the morning woods full of angels4 ,footnote #dgj3 ,there are days1 etc4 ,the passage in ,emerson's journal is hardly less beautiful4 ,under date of ,october #cj1 #ahda1 he wrote3 ,on this wonderful day when heaven and earth seem to glow with magnificence1 and all the wealth of all the elements is put under contribution to make the world fine1 as if ,nature would indulge her offspring1 it seemed ungrateful to hide in the house4 ,are there not dull days enough in the year for you to write and read in1 that you should waste this glittering season when ,florida and ,cuba seem to have left their glittering seats and come to visit us with all their shining hours1 and almost we expect to see the jasmine and cactus burst from the ground instead of these last gentians and asters which have loitered to attend this latter glory of the year8 ,all insects are out1 all birds come forth1 the very cattle that lie on the ground seem to have great thoughts1 and ,egypt and ,india look from their eyes4 ,footnote #dga3 ,halcyons4 ,halcyon days1 ones of peace and tranquillity2 anciently1 days of calm weather in mid-winter1 when the halcyon1 or kingfisher1 was supposed to brood4 ,it was fabled that this bird laid its eggs in a nest that floated on the sea1 and that it charmed the winds and waves to make them calm while it brooded4 ,footnote #dgb3 ,indian ,summer4 ,calm1 dry1 hazy weather which comes in the autumn in ,america4 ,the ,century ,dictionary says it was called ,indian ,summer because the season was most marked in the sections of the upper eastern ,mississippi valley inhabited by ,indians about the time the term became current4 ,footnote #dgc3 ,gabriel4 ,one of the seven archangels4 ,the ,hebrew name means ,god is my strong one4 ,footnote #dgd3 ,uriel4 ,another of the seven archangels2 the name means ,light of ,god4 ,footnote #dge3 ,converts all trees to wind-harps4 ,compare with this passage the lines in ,emerson's poem1 ,woodnotes3 ,and the countless leaves of the pines are strings ,tuned to the lay the wood-god sings4 ,footnote #dgf3 ,the village4 ,concord1 ,massachusetts4 ,emerson's home the greater part of the time from #ahcb till his death4 ,footnote #dgg3 ,i go with my friend1 etc4 ,with ,henry ,thoreau1 the lover of ,nature4 ,footnote #dgh3 ,our little river4 ,the ,concord river4 ,footnote #dgi3 ,novitiate and probation4 ,explain the meaning of these words1 in the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,what does ,emerson mean by them here8 ,footnote #dhj3 ,villegiatura4 ,the ,italian name for a season spent in country pleasures4 ,footnote #dha3 ,hanging gardens4 ,the hanging gardens of ,babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world4 ,footnote #dhb3 ,versailles4 ,a royal residence near ,paris1 with beautiful formal gardens4 ,footnote #dhc3 ,paphos4 ,a beautiful city on the island of ,cyprus1 where was situated a temple of ,astarte1 or ,venus4 ,footnote #dhd3 ,ctesiphon4 ,one of the chief cities of ancient ,persia1 the site of a magnificent royal palace4 ,footnote #dhe3 ,notch ,mountains4 ,probably the ,white ,mountains near ,crawford ,notch1 a deep1 narrow valley which is often called ,the ,notch4 ,footnote #dhf3 olian harp4 ,a stringed instrument from which sound is drawn by the passing of the wind over its strings4 ,it was named for olus1 the god of the winds1 in ,greek mythology4 ,footnote #dhg3 ,dorian4 ,dorus was one of the four divisions of ,greece3 the word is here used in a general sense for ,grecian4 ,footnote #dhh3 ,apollo4 ,in ,greek and ,roman mythology1 the sun god1 who presided over music1 poetry1 and healing4 ,footnote #dhi3 ,diana4 ,in ,roman mythology1 the goddess of the moon devoted to the chase4 ,footnote #dij3 ,edens4 ,beautiful1 sinless places1--like the garden of ,eden4 ,footnote #dia3 ,tempes4 ,places like the lovely valley of ,tempe in ,thessaly1 ,greece4 ,footnote #dib3 ,como ,lake4 ,a lake of northern ,italy1 celebrated for its beauty4 ,footnote #dic3 ,madeira ,islands4 ,where are these islands1 famous for picturesque beauty and balmy atmosphere8 ,footnote #did3 ,common4 ,what is a common8 ,footnote #die3 ,campagna4 ,the plain near ,rome4 ,footnote #dif3 ,dilettantism4 ,define this word and explain its use here4 ,footnote #dig3 ,wreaths and ,flora's ,chaplets4 ,about the time that ,emerson was writing his essays1 volumes of formal1 artificial verses were very fashionable1 more as parlor ornaments than as literature4 ,two such volumes were ,a ,wreath of ,wild ,flowers from ,new ,england and ,the ,floral ,offering by ,mrs4 ,frances ,osgood1 a ,new ,england writer4 ,footnote #dih3 ,pan4 ,in ,greek mythology1 the god of woods1 fields1 flocks1 and shepherds4 ,footnote #dii3 ,the multitude of false cherubs1 etc4 ,explain the meaning of this sentence4 ,if true money were valueless1 would people make false money8 ,footnote #ejj3 ,proteus4 ,in ,greek mythology1 a sea god who had the power of assuming different shapes4 ,if caught and held fast1 however1 he was forced to assume his own shape and answer the questions put to him4 ,footnote #eja3 ,mosaic 444 ,schemes4 ,the conception of the world as given in ,genesis on which the law of ,moses1 the great ,hebrew lawgiver1 was founded4 ,footnote #ejb3 ,ptolemaic schemes4 ,the system of geography and astronomy taught in the second century by ,ptolemy of ,alexandria2 it was accepted till the sixteenth century1 when the ,copernican system was established4 ,ptolemy believed that the sun1 planets1 and stars revolve around the earth2 ,copernicus taught that the planets revolve around the sun4 ,footnote #ejc3 ,flora4 ,in ,roman mythology1 the goddess of the spring and of flowers4 ,footnote #ejd3 ,fauna4 ,in ,roman mythology1 the goddess of fields and shepherds2 she represents the fruitfulness of the earth4 ,footnote #eje3 ,ceres4 ,the ,roman goddess of grain and harvest1 corresponding to the ,greek goddess1 ,demeter4 ,footnote #ejf3 ,pomona4 ,the ,roman goddess of fruit trees and gardens4 ,footnote #ejg3 ,all duly arrive4 ,emerson deducts from nature the doctrine of evolution4 ,what is its teaching8 ,footnote #ejh3 ,plato4 7,see note #cf47 ,footnote #eji3 ,himalaya ,mountain chains4 7,see note #aic47 ,footnote #eaj3 ,franklin4 ,give an account of ,benjamin ,franklin1 the famous ,american scientist and patriot4 ,what did he prove about lightening8 ,footnote #eaa3 ,dalton4 ,john ,dalton was an ,english chemist who1 about the beginning of the nineteenth century1 perfected the atomic theory1 that is1 the theory that all chemical combinations take place in certain ways between the atoms1 or ultimate particles1 of bodies4 ,footnote #eab3 ,davy4 7,see note #fi47 ,footnote #eac3 ,black4 ,joseph ,black1 a ,scotch chemist who made valuable discoveries about latent heat and carbon dioxide1 or carbonic acid gas4 ,footnote #ead3 ,the astronomers said1 etc4 ,beginning with this passage1 several pages of this essay was published in #ahdd1 under the title of ,tantalus1 in the next to the last number of ,the ,dial1 which ,emerson edited4 ,footnote #eae3 ,centrifugal1 centripetal4 ,define these words4 ,footnote #eaf3 ,stoics4 ,see ,stoicism1 #cca4 ,footnote #eag3 ,luther4 7,see note #ahh47 ,footnote #eah3 ,jacob ,behmen4 ,a ,german mystic of the sixteenth century2 his name is usually written ,boehme4 ,footnote #eai3 ,george ,fox4 7,see note #bjb47 ,footnote #ebj3 ,james ,naylor4 ,an ,english religious enthusiast of the seventeenth century2 he was first a ,puritan and later a ,quaker4 ,footnote #eba3 ,operose4 ,laborious4 ,footnote #ebb3 ,outskirt and far-off reflection1 etc4 ,compare with this passage ,emerson's poem1 ,the ,forerunners4 ,footnote #ebc3 ,oedipus4 ,in ,greek mythology1 the ,king of ,thebes who solved the riddle of the ,sphinx1 a fabled monster4 ,footnote #ebd3 ,prunella4 ,a widely scattered plant1 called self-heal1 because a decoction of its leaves and stems was1 and to some extent is1 valued as an application to wounds4 ,an editor comments on the fact that during the last years of ,emerson's life the little blue self-heal crept into the grass before his study window4 ,,shakespeare2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,poet ,footnote #ebe3 ,shakespeare2 or the ,poet is one of seven essays on great men in various walks of life1 published in #ahej under the title of ,representative ,men4 ,these essays were first delivered as lectures in ,boston in the winter of #ahde1 and were repeated two years later before ,english audiences4 ,they must have been especially interesting to those ,englishmen who had1 seven years before1 heard ,emerson's friend1 ,carlyle1 deliver his six lectures on great men whom he selected as representative ones4 ,these lectures were published under the title of ,heroes and ,hero-,worship4 ,you should read the latter part of ,carlyle's lecture on ,the ,hero as ,poet and compare what he says about ,shakespeare with ,emerson's words4 ,both ,emerson and ,carlyle reverenced the great ,english poet as the master of mankind4 ,even in serious ,new ,england1 the plays of ,shakespeare were found upon the bookshelf beside religious tracts and doctrinal treatises4 ,there the boy ,emerson found them and learned to love them1 and the man ,emerson loved them but the more4 ,it was as a record of personal experiences that he wrote in his journal3 ,shakespeare fills us with wonder the first time we approach him4 ,we go away1 and work and think1 for years1 and come again1--he astonishes us anew4 ,then1 having drank deeply and saturated us with his genius1 we lose sight of him for another period of years4 ,by and by we return1 and there he stands immeasurable as at first4 ,we have grown wiser1 but only that we should see him wiser than ever4 ,he resembles a high mountain which the traveler sees in the morning and thinks he shall quickly near it and pass it and leave it behind4 ,but he journeys all day till noon1 till night4 ,there still is the dim mountain close by him1 having scarce altered its bearings since the morning light4 ,footnote #ebf3 ,genius4 ,here instead of speaking as in ,friendship1 see note #bhf1 of the genius or spirit supposed to preside over each man's life1 ,emerson mentions the guardian spirit of human kind4 ,footnote #ebg3 ,shakespeare's youth1 etc4 ,it is impossible to appreciate or enjoy this essay without having some clear general information about the condition of the ,english people and ,english literature in the glorious ,elizabethan age in which ,shakespeare lived4 ,consult1 for this information1 some brief history of ,england and a comprehensive ,english literature4 ,footnote #ebh3 ,puritans4 ,strict ,protestants who became so powerful in ,england that in the time of the ,commonwealth they controlled the political and religious affairs of the country4 ,footnote #ebi3 ,anglican ,church4 ,the ,established ,church of ,england2 the ,episcopal church4 ,footnote #ecj3 ,punch4 ,the chief character in a puppet show1 hence the puppet show itself4 ,footnote #eca3 ,kyd1 ,marlowe1 ,greene1 etc4 ,for an account of these dramatists consult a text book on ,english literature4 ,the ,english drama seems to have begun in the ,middle ,ages with what were called ,miracle plays1 which were scenes from ,bible history2 about the same time were performed the ,mystery plays1 which dramatized the lives of saints4 ,these were followed by the ,moralities1 plays in which were personified abstract virtues and vices4 ,the first step in the creation of the regular drama was taken by ,heywood1 who composed some farcical plays called ,interludes4 ,the people of the sixteenth century were fond of pageants1 shows in which classical personages were introduced1 and ,masques1 which gradually developed from pageants into dramas accompanied with music4 ,about the middle of the sixteenth century1 rose the ,english drama1--comedy1 tragedy1 and historical plays4 ,the chief among the group of dramatists who attained fame before ,shakespeare began to write were ,kyd1 ,marlowe1 ,greene1 and ,peele4 ,ben ,jonson and ,beaumont and ,fletcher rank next to ,shakespeare among his contemporaries1 and among the other dramatists of the period were ,chapman1 ,dekker1 ,webster1 ,heywood1 ,middleton1 ,ford1 and ,massinger4 ,footnote #ecb3 ,at the time when1 etc4 ,probably about #aehe4 ,footnote #ecc3 ,tale of ,troy4 ,drama founded on the ,trojan war4 ,the subject of famous poems by ,latin and ,greek poets4 ,footnote #ecd3 ,death of ,julius ,csar4 ,an account of the plots which ended in the assassination of the great ,roman general4 ,footnote #ece3 ,plutarch4 ,see note on ,heroism7#bfd74 ,shakespeare1 like the earlier dramatists1 drew freely on ,plutarch's ,lives for material4 ,footnote #ecf3 ,brut4 ,a poetical version of the legendary history of ,britain1 by ,layamon4 ,its hero is ,brutus1 a mythical ,king of ,britain4 ,footnote #ecg3 ,arthur4 ,a ,british ,king of the sixth century1 around whose life and deeds so many legends have grown up that some historians say he1 too1 was a myth4 ,he is the center of the great cycle of romances told in prose in ,mallory's ,morte d',arthur and in poetry in ,tennyson's ,idylls of the ,king4 ,footnote #ech3 ,the royal ,henries4 ,among the dramas popular in ,shakespeare's day which he retouched or rewrote are the historical plays4 ,henry ,,iv41 ,first and ,second ,parts2 ,henry ,v2 ,henry ,,vi41 ,first1 ,second1 and ,third ,parts2 and ,henry ,,viii4 ,footnote #eci3 ,italian tales4 ,italian literature was very popular in ,shakespeare's day1 and authors drew freely from it for material1 especially from the ,decameron1 a famous collection of a hundred tales1 by ,boccaccio1 a poet of the fourteenth century4 ,footnote #edj3 ,spanish voyages4 ,in the sixteenth century1 ,spain was still a power upon the high seas1 and the tales of her conquests and treasures in the ,new ,world were like tales of romance4 ,footnote #eda3 ,prestige4 ,can you give an ,english equivalent for this ,french word8 ,footnote #edb3 ,which no single genius1 etc4 ,in the same way1 some critics assure us1 the poems credited to the ,greek poet1 ,homer1 were built up by a number of poets4 ,footnote #edc3 ,malone4 ,an ,irish critic and scholar of the eighteenth century1 best known by his edition of ,shakespeare's plays4 ,footnote #edd3 ,wolsey's ,soliloquy4 ,see ,shakespeare's ,henry ,,viii4 ,,iii1 #b4 ,cardinal ,wolsey was prime minister of ,england in the reign of ,henry ,,viii4 ,footnote #ede3 ,scene with ,cromwell4 ,see ,henry ,,viii4 ,,iii1 #b4 ,thomas ,cromwell was the son of an ,english blacksmith2 he rose to be lord high chamberlain of ,england in the reign of ,henry ,,viii41 but1 incurring the ,king's displeasure1 was executed on a charge of treason4 ,footnote #edf3 ,account of the coronation4 ,see ,henry ,,viii4 ,,iv1 #a4 ,footnote #edg3 ,compliment to ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,see ,henry ,,viii4 ,v1 #e4 ,footnote #edh3 ,bad rhythm4 ,too much importance must not be attached to these matters in deciding authorship1 as critics disagree about them4 ,footnote #edi3 ,value his memory1 etc4 ,the ,greeks1 in appreciation of the value of memory to the poet1 represented the ,muses as the daughters of ,mnemosyne1 the goddess of memory4 ,footnote #eej3 ,homer4 ,a ,greek poet to whom is assigned the authorship of the two greatest ,greek poems1 the ,iliad and the ,odyssey2 he is said to have lived about a thousand years before ,christ4 ,footnote #eea3 ,chaucer4 7,see note #cc47 ,footnote #eeb3 ,saadi4 ,a ,persian poet1 supposed to have lived in the thirteenth century4 ,his best known poems are his odes4 ,footnote #eec3 ,presenting ,thebes1 etc4 ,this quotation is from ,milton's poem1 ,il ,penseroso4 ,milton here names the three most popular subjects of ,greek tragedy1--the story of ,oedipus1 the ill-fated ,king of ,thebes who slew his father2 the tale of the descendants of ,pelops1 ,king of ,pisa1 who seemed born to woe--,agamemnon was one of his grandsons2 the third subject was the tale of ,troy and the heroes of the ,trojan war1--called divine because the ,greeks represented even the gods as taking part in the contest4 ,footnote #eed3 ,pope4 7,see note #hh47 ,footnote #eee3 ,dryden4 7,see note #ce47 ,footnote #eef3 ,chaucer is a huge borrower4 ,taine1 the ,french critic1 says on this subject3 ,chaucer was capable of seeking out in the old common forest of the ,middle ,ages1 stories and legends1 to replant them in his own soil and make them send out new shoots4444 ,he has the right and power of copying and translating because by dint of retouching he impresses 444 his original work4 ,he recreates what he imitates4 ,footnote #eeg3 ,lydgate4 ,john ,lydgate was an ,english poet who lived a generation later than ,chaucer2 in his ,troy ,book and other poems he probably borrowed from the sources used by ,chaucer2 he called himself ,chaucer's disciple4 ,footnote #eeh3 ,caxton4 ,william ,caxton1 the ,english author1 more famous as the first ,english printer1 was not born until after ,chaucer's death4 ,the work from which ,emerson supposes the poet to have borrowed ,caxton's translation of ,recueil des ,histoires de ,troye1 the first printed ,english book1 appeared about #adgd4 ,footnote #eei3 ,guido di ,colonna4 ,a ,sicilian poet and historian of the thirteenth century4 ,chaucer in his ,house of ,fame placed in his vision on a pillar higher than the rest1 ,homer and ,livy1 ,dares the ,phrygian1 ,guido ,colonna1 ,geoffrey of ,monmouth1 and the other historians of the war of ,troy4 ,footnote #efj3 ,dares ,phrygius4 ,a ,latin account of the fall of ,troy1 written about the fifth century1 which pretends to be a translation of a lost work on the fall of ,troy by ,dares1 a ,trojan priest mentioned in ,homer's ,iliad4 ,footnote #efa3 ,ovid4 ,a ,roman poet who lived about the time of ,christ1 whose best-known work is the ,metamorphoses1 founded on classical legends4 ,footnote #efb3 ,statius4 ,a ,roman poet of the first century after ,christ4 ,footnote #efc3 ,petrarch4 ,an ,italian poet of the fourteenth century4 ,footnote #efd3 ,boccaccio4 ,an ,italian novelist and poet of the fourteenth century4 ,see note on ,italian tales1 #eci4 ,it is supposed that the plan of the ,decameron suggested the similar but far superior plan of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales4 ,footnote #efe3 ,provenal poets4 ,the poets of ,provene1 a province of the southeastern part of ,france4 ,in the ,middle ,ages it was celebrated for its lyric poets1 called troubadours4 ,footnote #eff3 ,romaunt of the ,rose1 etc4 ,chaucer's ,romaunt of the ,rose1 written during the period of ,french influence1 is an incomplete and abbreviated translation of a ,french poem of the thirteenth century1 ,roman de la ,rose1 the first part of which was written by ,william of ,loris and the latter by ,john of ,meung1 or ,jean de ,meung4 ,footnote #efg3 ,troilus and ,creseide1 etc4 ,chaucer ascribes the ,italian poem which he followed in his ,troilus and ,creseide to an unknown ,lollius of ,urbino2 the source of the poem1 however1 is ,il ,filostrato1 by ,boccaccio1 the ,italian poet already mentioned4 ,chaucer's poem is far more than a translation2 more than half is entirely original1 and it is a powerful poem1 showing profound knowledge of the ,italian poets1 whose influence with him superseded the ,french poets4 ,footnote #efh3 ,the ,cock and the ,fox4 ,the ,nun's ,priest's ,tale in the ,canterbury ,tales was an original treatment of the ,roman de ,renart1 of ,marie of ,france1 a ,french poet of the twelfth century4 ,footnote #efi3 ,house of ,fame1 etc4 ,the plan of the ,house of ,fame1 written during the period of ,chaucer's ,italian influence1 shows the influence of ,dante2 the general idea of the poem is from ,ovid1 the ,roman poet4 ,footnote #egj3 ,gower4 ,john ,gower was an ,english poet1 ,chaucer's contemporary and friend2 the two poets went to the same sources for poetic materials1 but ,chaucer made no such use of ,gower's works as we would infer from this passage4 ,emerson relied on his memory for facts1 and hence made mistakes1 as here in the instances of ,lydgate1 ,caxton1 and ,gower4 ,footnote #ega3 ,westminster1 ,washington4 ,what legislative body assembles at ,westminster ,palace1 ,london8 ,what at ,washington8 ,footnote #egb3 ,sir ,robert ,peel4 ,an ,english statesman who died in #ahej1 not long after ,representative ,men was published4 ,footnote #egc3 ,webster4 ,daniel ,webster1 an ,american statesman and orator who was living when this essay was written4 ,footnote #egd3 ,locke4 ,john ,locke4 7,see note #ah47 ,footnote #ege3 ,rousseau4 ,jean ,jacques ,rousseau1 a ,french philosopher of the eighteenth century4 ,footnote #egf3 ,homer4 7,see note #eej47 ,footnote #egg3 ,menn4 ,menn1 or ,mann1 was in ,sanscrit one of fourteen legendary beings2 the one referred to by ,emerson1 ,mann ,vaivasvata was supposed to be the author of the laws of ,mann1 a collection made about the second century4 ,footnote #egh3 ,saadi or ,sadi4 7,see note #eeb47 ,footnote #egi3 ,milton4 ,of this great ,english poet and prose writer of the seventeenth century1 ,emerson says3 ,no man can be named whose mind still acts on the cultivated intellect of ,england and ,america with an energy comparable to that of ,milton4 ,as a poet ,shakespeare undoubtedly transcends and far surpasses him in his popularity with foreign nations3 but ,shakespeare is a voice merely3 who and what he was that sang1 that sings1 we know not4 ,footnote #ehj3 ,delphi4 ,here1 source of prophecy4 ,delphi was a city in ,greece1 where was the oracle of ,apollo1 the most famous of the oracles of antiquity4 ,footnote #eha3 ,our ,english ,bible4 ,the version made in the reign of ,king ,james ,i4 by forty-seven learned divines is a monument of noble ,english4 ,footnote #ehb3 ,liturgy4 ,an appointed form of worship used in a ,christian church1--here1 specifically1 the service of the ,episcopal church4 ,emerson's mother had been brought up in that church1 and though she attended her husband's church1 she always loved and read her ,episcopal prayer book4 ,footnote #ehc3 ,grotius4 ,hugo ,grotius was a ,dutch jurist1 statesman1 theologian1 and poet of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #ehd3 ,rabbinical forms4 ,the forms used by the rabbis1 ,jewish doctors or expounders of the law4 ,footnote #ehe3 ,common law4 ,in a general sense1 the system of law derived from ,england1 in general use among ,english-speaking people4 ,footnote #ehf3 ,vedas4 ,the sacred books of the ,brahmins4 ,footnote #ehg3 sop's ,fables4 ,fables ascribed to sop1 a ,greek slave who lived in the sixth century before ,christ4 ,footnote #ehh3 ,pilpay1 or ,bidpai4 ,indian sage to whom were ascribed some fables4 ,from an ,arabic translation1 these passed into ,european languages and were used by ,la ,fontaine1 the ,french fabulist4 ,footnote #ehi3 ,arabian ,nights4 ,the ,arabian ,nights' ,entertainment or ,a ,thousand and ,one ,nights is a collection of ,oriental tales1 the plan and name of which are very ancient4 ,footnote #eij3 ,cid4 ,the ,romances of the ,cid1 the story of the ,spanish national hero1 mentioned in note on ,heroism#aci3e1 was written about the thirteenth century by an unknown author2 it supplied much of the material for two ,spanish chronicles and ,spanish and ,french tragedies written later on the same subject4 ,footnote #eia3 ,iliad4 ,the poem in which the ,greek1 poet1 ,homer1 describes the siege and fall of ,troy4 ,emerson here expresses the view adopted by many scholars that it was the work1 not of one1 but of many men4 ,footnote #eib3 ,robin ,hood4 ,the ballads about ,robin ,hood1 an ,english outlaw and popular hero of the twelfth century4 ,footnote #eic3 ,scottish ,minstrelsy4 ,the ,minstrelsy of the ,scottish ,border1 a collection of original and collected poems1 published by ,sir ,walter ,scott in #ahjb4 ,footnote #eid3 ,shakespeare ,society4 ,the ,shakespeare ,society1 founded in #ahda1 was dissolved in #ahec4 ,in #ahgd ,the ,new ,shakespeare ,society was founded4 ,footnote #eie3 ,mysteries4 ,see ,kyd1 ,marlowe1 etc4 #eca4 ,footnote #eif3 ,ferrex and ,porrex1 or ,gorboduc4 ,the first regular ,english tragedy1 by ,thomas ,norton and ,thomas ,sackville1 printed in #aefe4 ,footnote #eig3 ,gammer ,gurtor's ,needle4 ,one of the first ,english comedies1 written by ,bishop ,still and printed in #aege4 ,footnote #eih3 ,whether the boy ,shakespeare poached1 etc4 ,for a fuller account of the facts of ,shakespeare's life1 of which some traditions and facts are mentioned here1 consult some good biography of the poet4 ,footnote #eii3 ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,dining her reign1 #aeeh-afjc1 the ,english drama rose and attained its height1 and there was produced a prose literature hardly inferior to the poetic4 ,footnote #fjj3 ,king ,james4 ,king ,james ,,vi4 of ,scotland and ,i4 of ,england who was ,elizabeth's kinsman and successor2 he reigned in ,england from #afjc to #afbe4 ,footnote #fja3 ,essexes4 ,walter ,devereux was a brave ,english gentleman whom ,elizabeth made ,earl of ,essex in #aegb4 ,his son ,robert1 the second ,earl of ,essex1 was a favorite of ,queen ,elizabeth's4 ,footnote #fjb3 ,leicester4 ,the ,earl of ,leicester1 famous in ,shakespeare's time1 was ,robert ,dudley1 an ,english courtier1 politician1 and general1 the favorite of ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,footnote #fjc3 ,burleighs or ,burghleys3 ,william ,cecil1 baron of ,burghley1 was an ,english statesman1 who1 for forty years1 was ,elizabeth's chief minister4 ,footnote #fjd3 ,buckinghams4 ,george ,villiers1 the first duke of ,buckingham1 was an ,english courtier and politician1 a favorite of ,james ,i4 and ,charles ,i4 ,footnote #fje3 ,tudor dynasty4 ,the ,english dynasty of sovereigns descended on the male side from ,owen ,tudor4 ,it began with ,henry ,,vii4 and ended with ,elizabeth4 ,footnote #fjf3 ,bacon4 ,consult ,english literature and history for an account of the great statesman and author1 ,francis ,bacon1 the wisest1 brightest1 meanest of mankind4 ,footnote #fjg3 ,ben ,jonson1 etc4 ,in his ,timber or ,discoveries1 ,ben ,jonson1 a famous classical dramatist contemporary with ,shakespeare1 says3 ,i loved the man and do honor his memory on this side idolatry as much as any4 ,he was indeed honest and of an open and free nature3 had an excellent fancy2 brave notions and gentle expressions3 wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped4444 ,his wit was in his own power2 would the rule of it had been so1 too4 ,many times he fell into those things could not escape laughter4444 ,but he redeemed his vices with his virtues4 ,there was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned4 ,footnote #fjh3 ,sir ,henry ,wotton4 ,an ,english diplomatist and author of wide culture4 ,footnote #fji3 ,the following persons1 etc4 ,the persons enumerated were all people of note of the seventeenth century4 ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 ,earl of ,essex1 ,lord ,bacon1 ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 ,john ,milton1 ,sir ,henry ,vane1 ,isaac ,walton1 ,dr4 ,john ,donne1 ,abraham ,cowley1 ,charles ,cotton1 ,john ,pym1 and ,john ,hales were ,englishmen1 scholars1 statesmen1 and authors4 ,theodore ,beza was a ,french theologian2 ,isaac ,casaubon was a ,french-,swiss scholar2 ,roberto ,berlarmine was an ,italian cardinal2 ,johann ,kepler was a ,german astronomer2 ,francis ,vieta was a ,french mathematician2 ,albericus ,gentilis was an ,italian jurist2 ,paul ,sarpi was an ,italian historian2 ,arminius was a ,dutch theologian4 ,footnote #faj3 ,many others whom doubtless1 etc4 ,emerson here enumerates some famous ,english authors of the same period1 not mentioned in the preceeding list4 ,footnote #faa3 ,pericles4 ,see note on ,heroism1 #ceb4 ,footnote #fab3 ,lessing4 ,gotthold ,ephraim ,lessing1 a ,german critic and poet of the eighteenth century4 ,footnote #fac3 ,wieland4 ,christopher ,martin ,wieland was a ,german contemporary of ,lessing's1 who made a prose translation into ,german of ,shakespeare's plays4 ,footnote #fad3 ,schlegel4 ,august ,wilhelm von ,schlegel1 a ,german critic and poet1 who about the first of the nineteenth century translated some of ,shakespeare's plays into classical ,german4 ,footnote #fae3 ,hamlet4 ,the hero of ,shakespeare's play of the same name4 ,footnote #faf3 ,coleridge4 ,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge1 an ,english poet1 author of critical lectures and notes on ,shakespeare4 ,footnote #fag3 ,goethe4 7,see note #he47 ,footnote #fah3 ,blackfriar's ,theater4 ,a famous ,london theater in which nearly all the great dramas of the ,elizabethan age were performed4 ,footnote #fai3 ,stratford4 ,stratford-on-,avon1 a little town in ,warwickshire1 ,england1 where ,shakespeare was born and where he spent his last years4 ,footnote #fbj3 ,macbeth4 ,one of ,shakespeare's greatest tragedies1 written about #afjf4 ,footnote #fba3 ,malone1 ,warburton1 ,dyce1 and ,collier4 ,english scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who edited the works of ,shakespeare4 ,footnote #fbb3 ,covent ,garden1 ,drury ,lane1 the ,park1 and ,tremont3 ,the leading ,london theaters in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries4 ,footnote #fbc3 ,betterton1 ,garrick1 ,kemble1 ,kean1 and ,macready1 famous ,british actors of the ,shakespearian parts4 ,footnote #fbd3 ,the ,hamlet of a famed performer1 etc4 ,macready4 ,emerson said to a friend3 ,i see you are one of the happy mortals who are capable of being carried away by an actor of ,shakespeare4 ,now1 whenever ,i visit the theater to witness the performance of one of his dramas1 ,i am carried away by the poet4 ,footnote #fbe3 ,what may this mean1 etc4 ,hamlet1 ,i4 #d4 ,footnote #fbf3 ,midsummer ,night's ,dream4 ,one of ,shakespeare's plays4 ,footnote #fbg3 ,the forest of ,arden4 ,in which is laid1 the scene of ,shakespeare's play1 ,as ,you ,like ,it4 ,footnote #fbh3 ,the nimble air of ,scone ,castle4 ,it was of the air of ,inverness1 not of ,scone1 that the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses4--,macbeth1 ,i4 #f4 ,footnote #fbi3 ,portia's villa4 ,see the moonlight scene1 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,v4 #a4 ,footnote #fcj3 ,the antres vost1 etc4 ,see ,othello1 ,i4 #c4 ,antres is an old word1 meaning caves1 caverns4 ,footnote #fca3 ,cyclopean architecture4 ,in ,greek mythology1 the ,cyclops were a race of giants4 ,the term ',cyclopean' is applied here to the architecture of ,egypt and ,india1 because of the majestic size of the buildings1 and the immense size of the stones used1 as if it would require giants to perform such works4 ,footnote #fcb3 ,phidian sculpture4 ,phidias was a famous ,greek sculptor who lived in the age of ,pericles and beautified ,athens with his works4 ,footnote #fcc3 ,gothic minsters4 ,churches or cathedrals1 built in the ,gothic1 or pointed1 style of architecture which prevailed during the ,middle ,ages2 it owed nothing to the ,goths1 and this term was originally used in reproach1 in the sense of barbarous4 ,footnote #fcd3 ,the ,italian painting4 ,in ,italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries pictorial art was carried to a degree of perfection unknown in any other time or country4 ,footnote #fce3 ,ballads of ,spain and ,scotland4 ,the old ballads of these countries are noted for beauty and spirit4 ,footnote #fcf3 ,tripod4 ,define this word1 and explain its appropriateness here4 ,footnote #fcg3 ,aubrey4 ,john ,aubrey1 an ,english antiquarian of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #fch3 ,rowe4 ,nicholas ,rowe1 an ,english author of the seventeenth century1 who wrote a biography of ,shakespeare4 ,footnote #fci3 ,timon4 ,see note on ,gifts1 #dff4 ,footnote #fdj3 ,warwick4 ,an ,english politician and commander of the fifteenth century1 called the ,king ,maker4 ,he appears in ,shakespeare's plays1 ,henry ,,iv41 ,v41 and ,,vi4 ,footnote #fda3 ,antonio4 ,the ,venetian ,merchant in ,shakespeare's play1 ,the ,merchant of ,venice4 ,footnote #fdb3 ,talma4 ,franois ,joseph ,talma was a ,french tragic actor1 to whom ,napoleon showed favor4 ,footnote #fdc3 ,an omnipresent humanity1 etc4 ,see what ,carlyle has to say on this subject in his ,hero as ,poet4 ,footnote #fdd3 ,daguerre4 ,louis ,jacques ,daguerre1 a ,french painter1 one of the inventors of the daguerreotype process1 by means of which an image is fixed on a metal plate by the chemical action of light4 ,footnote #fde3 ,euphuism4 ,the word here has rather the force of euphemism1 an entirely different word4 ,euphuism was an affected ornate style of expression1 so called from ,euphues1 by ,john ,lyly1 a sixteenth century master of that style4 ,footnote #fdf3 ,epicurus4 ,a ,greek philosopher of the third century before ,christ4 ,he was the founder of the ,epicurean school of philosophy which taught that pleasure should be man's chief aim and that the highest pleasure is freedom4 ,footnote #fdg3 ,dante4 7,see note #beh47 ,footnote #fdh3 ,master of the revels1 etc4 ,emerson always expressed thankfulness for the spirit of joy which ,shakespeare had shed over the universe4 ,see what ,carlyle says in ,the ,hero as ,poet1 about ,shakespeare's mirthfulness and love of laughter4 ,footnote #fdi3 ,koran4 ,the ,sacred book of the ,mohammedans4 ,footnote #fej3 ,twelfth ,night1 etc4 ,the names of three bright1 merry1 or serene plays by ,shakespeare4 ,footnote #fea3 ,egyptian verdict4 ,emerson used ,egyptian probably in the sense of gipsy4 ,he compares such opinions to the fortunes told by the gipsies4 ,footnote #feb3 ,tasso4 ,an ,italian poet of the sixteenth century4 ,footnote #fec3 ,cervantes4 ,a ,spanish poet and romancer of the sixteenth century1 the author of ,don ,quixote4 ,footnote #fed3 ,israelite4 ,such ,hebrew prophets as ,isaiah and ,jeremiah4 ,footnote #fee3 ,german4 ,such as ,luther4 ,footnote #fef3 ,swede4 ,such as ,swedenborg1 the mystic philosopher of the eighteenth century of whom ,emerson had already written in ,representative ,men4 ,footnote #feg3 ,a pilgrim's progress4 ,as described by ,john ,bunyan1 the ,english writer1 in his famous ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,footnote #feh3 ,doleful histories of ,adam's fall1 etc4 ,the subject of ,paradise ,lost1 the great poem by ,john ,milton4 ,footnote #fei3 ,with doomsdays and purgatorial1 etc4 ,as described by ,dante in his ,divine ,commedia1 an epic about hell1 purgatory1 and paradise4 ,,prudence ,footnote #ffj3 ,the essay on ,prudence was given as a lecture in the course on ,human ,culture1 in the winter of #ahcg-h4 ,it was published in the first series of ,essays1 which appeared in #ahda4 ,footnote #ffa3 ,lubricity4 ,the word means literally the state or quality of being slippery2 ,emerson uses it several times1 in its derived sense of instability4 ,footnote #ffb3 ,love and ,friendship4 ,the subjects of the two essays preceding ,prudence1 in the volume of #ahda4 ,footnote #ffc3 ,the world is filled with the proverbs1 etc4 ,compare with this passage ,emerson's words in ,compensation on the flights of proverbs1 whose teaching is as true and as omnipresent as that of birds and flies4 ,footnote #ffd3 ,a good wheel or pin4 ,that is1 a part of a machine4 ,footnote #ffe3 ,the law of polarity4 ,having two opposite poles1 the properties of the one of which are the opposite of the other4 ,footnote #fff3 ,summer will have its flies4 ,emerson discoursed with philosophic calm about the impediments and disagreeableness which beset every path2 he also accepted them with serenity when he encountered them in his daily life4 ,footnote #ffg3 ,the inhabitants of the climates1 etc4 ,as a northerner1 ,emerson naturally felt that the advantage and superiority were with his own section4 ,he expressed in his poems ,voluntaries and ,mayday views similar to those declared here4 ,footnote #ffh3 ,peninsular campaign4 ,emerson here refers to the military operations carried on from #ahjh to #ahad in ,portugal1 ,spain1 and southern ,france against the ,french1 by the ,british1 ,spanish1 and ,portuguese forces commanded by ,wellington4 ,what was the ,peninsular campaign in ,american history8 ,footnote #ffi3 ,dr4 ,johnson is reported to have said1 etc4 ,dr4 ,samuel ,johnson was an eminent ,english scholar of the eighteenth century4 ,in this1 as in many other instances1 ,emerson quotes from his memory instead of from the book4 ,the words of ,dr4 ,johnson1 as reported by his biographer ,boswell1 are3 ,accustom your children constantly to this2 if a thing happened at one window1 and they1 when relating it1 say it happened at another1 do not let it pass1 but instantly check them2 you do not know where deviation from truth will end4 ,footnote #fgj3 ,rifle4 ,a local name in ,england and ,new ,england for an instrument1 on the order of a whetstone1 used for sharpening scythes2 it is made of wood1 covered with fine sand or emery4 ,footnote #fga3 ,last grand duke of ,weimar4 ,saxe-,weimar-,eisenach is a grand duchy of ,germany4 ,the grand duke referred to was ,charles ,augustus1 who died in #ahbh4 ,he was the friend and patron of the great ,german authors1 ,goethe1 ,schiller1 ,herder1 and ,wieland4 ,footnote #fgb3 ,the ,raphael in the ,dresden gallery4 ,the ,sistine ,madonna1 the most famous picture of the great ,italian artist1 ,raphael4 ,footnote #fgc3 ,call a spade a spade4 ,plutarch1 the ,greek historian1 said1 ,these ,macedonians 444 call a spade a spade4 ,footnote #fgd3 ,parts4 ,a favorite eighteenth century term for abilities1 talents4 ,footnote #fge3 ,we have found out1 etc4 ,emerson always insisted that morals and intellect should be united4 ,he urged that power and insight are lessened by shortcomings in morals4 ,footnote #fgf3 ,goethe's ,tasso4 ,a play by the ,german poet ,goethe1 founded on the belief that the imprisonment of ,tasso was due to his aspiration to the hand of ,leonora d',este1 sister of the duke of ,ferrara4 ,tasso was a famous ,italian poet of the seventeenth century4 ,footnote #fgg3 ,richard ,,iii4 ,an ,english king1 the last of the ,plantagenet line1 the hero--or villain--of ,shakespeare's historical play1 ,richard ,,iii4 ,footnote #fgh3 ,bifold4 ,give a simpler word that means the same4 ,footnote #fgi3 ,csar4 ,why is ,csar the great ,roman ruler1 given as a type of greatness8 ,footnote #fhj3 ,job4 ,why is ,job1 the hero of the ,old ,testament book of the same name1 given as a type of misery8 ,footnote #fha3 ,poor ,richard4 ,poor ,richard's ,almanac1 published 7#agcb-ageg7 by ,benjamin ,franklin was a collection of maxims inculcating prudence and thrift4 ,these were given as the sayings of ,poor ,richard4 ,footnote #fhb3 ,state ,street4 ,a street in ,boston1 ,massachusetts1 noted as a financial center4 ,footnote #fhc3 ,stick in a tree between whiles1 etc4 ,jock1 when ye hae naething else to do1 ye may be aye sticking in a tree2 it will be growing1 ,jock1 when ye're sleeping4--,scott's ,heart of ,midlothian4 ,it is said that these were the words of a dying ,scotchman to his son4 ,footnote #fhd3 ,minor virtues4 ,emerson suggests that punctuality and regard for a promise are two of these4 ,can you name others8 ,footnote #fhe3 ,the ,latin proverb says1 etc4 ,this is quoted from ,tacitus1 the famous ,roman historian4 ,footnote #fhf3 ,if he set out to contend1 etc4 ,in contention1 ,emerson holds1 the best men would lose their characteristic virtues1 --the fearless apostle ,paul1 his devotion to truth2 the gentle disciple ,john1 his loving charity4 ,footnote #fhg3 ,though your views are in straight antagonism1 c4 ,this was ,emerson's own method1 and by it he won a courteous hearing from those to whom his views were most objectionable4 ,footnote #fhh3 ,consuetudes4 ,give a simpler word that has the same meaning4 ,footnote #fhi3 ,begin where we will1 etc4 ,explain what ,emerson means by this expression4 ,,circles ,footnote #fij3 ,this essay first appeared in the first series of ,essays1 published in #ahda4 ,unlike most of the other essays in the volume1 no earlier form of it exists1 and it was probably not delivered first as a lecture4 ,dr4 ,richard ,garnett says in his ,life of ,emerson3 ,the object of this fine essay quaintly entitled ,circles is to reconcile this rigidity of unalterable law with the fact of human progress4 ,compensation illustrates one property of a circle1 which always returns to the point where it began1 but it is no less true that around every circle another can be drawn4444 ,emerson followed his own counsel2 he always keeps a reserve of power4 ,his theory of ,circles reappears without the least verbal indebtedness to himself in the splendid essay on ,love4 ,footnote #fia3 ,st4 ,augustine4 ,a celebrated father of the ,latin church1 who flourished in the fourth century4 ,his most famous work is his ,confessions1 an autobiographical volume of religious meditations4 ,footnote #fib3 ,another dawn risen on mid-noon4 ,another morn has risen on mid-noon4 ,milton1 ,paradise ,lost1 ,book ,v4 ,footnote #fic3 ,greek sculpture4 ,the greatest development of the art of sculpture that the world has ever known was that which took place in ,greece1 with ,athens as the center1 in the fifth century before ,christ4 ,the masterpieces which remain are the models on which modern art formed itself4 ,footnote #fid3 ,greek letters4 ,in literature--in drama1 philosophy and history--,greece attained an excellence as signal as in art4 ,emerson as a scholar1 felt that the literature of ,greece was more permanent than its art4 ,would an artist be apt to take this view8 ,footnote #fie3 ,new arts destroy the old1 etc4 ,tell the ways in which the improvements and inventions mentioned by ,emerson have been superseded by others2 give the reasons4 ,mention other similar cases of more recent date4 ,footnote #fif3 ,the life of man is a self-evolving circle1 etc4 ,throw a stone into the stream1 and the circles that propagate themselves are the beautiful type of all influence4--,,emerson1 in ,nature4 ,footnote #fig3 ,the heart refuses to be imprisoned4 ,it is a superstition current in many countries that an evil spirit cannot escape from a circle drawn round it4 ,footnote #fih3 ,crass4 ,gross2 coarse4 ,footnote #fii3 ,the continual effort to raise himself above himself1 etc4 ,unless above himself he can ,erect himself1 how poor a thing is man6 ,,samuel ,,daniel4 ,footnote #gjj3 ,if he were high enough1 etc4 ,have ,i a lover ,who is noble and free8-- ,i would he were nobler ,than to love me4--,,emerson1 ,the ,sphinx4 ,footnote #gja3 ,aristotle and ,plato4 ,plato was a famous ,greek philosopher who flourished in the fourth century before ,christ4 ,he was the disciple of ,socrates1 the teacher of ,aristotle1 and the founder of the academic school of philosophy4 ,his exposition of idealism was founded on the teachings of ,socrates4 ,aristotle1 another famous ,greek philosopher1 was for twenty years the pupil of ,plato4 ,he founded the peripatetic school of philosophy1 and his writing dealt with all the then known branches of science4 ,footnote #gjb3 ,berkeley4 ,george ,berkeley was a ,british clergyman of the eighteenth century4 ,he was the author of works on philosophy which are marked by extreme subjective idealism4 ,footnote #gjc3 ,termini4 ,boundaries or marks to indicate boundaries4 ,in ,roman mythology1 ,terminus was the god who presided over boundaries or landmarks4 ,he is represented with a human head1 but without feet or arms1--to indicate that he never moved from his place4 ,footnote #gjd3 ,pentecost4 ,one of three great ,jewish festivals4 ,on the day of ,pentecost1 the ,holy ,spirit descended upon the infant ,christian church1 with the gift of tongues4 ,see ,acts ii4 #a-bj4 ,footnote #gje3 ,hodiernal4 ,belonging to our present day4 ,footnote #gjf3 ,punic4 ,of ,carthage1 a famous ancient city1 and state of northern ,africa4 ,carthage was the rival of ,rome1 but was1 after long warfare1 overcome in the second century before ,christ4 ,footnote #gjg3 ,in like manner1 etc4 ,emerson always urged that in order to get the best from all1 one must pass from affairs to thought1 society to solitude1 books to nature4 ,see thou bring not to field or stone ,the fancies found in books2 ,leave authors' eyes1 and fetch your own1 ,to brave the landscape's look4--,,emerson1 ,waldeinsamkeit4 ,footnote #gjh3 ,petrarch4 7,see note #efc47 ,footnote #gji3 ,ariosto4 ,a famous ,italian author of the sixteenth century1 who wrote comedies1 satires1 and a metrical romance1 ,orlando ,furioso4 ,footnote #gaj3 ,then shall also the ,son1 etc4 ,see #a ,corinthians xv4 #bh3 ,does ,emerson quote the passage verbatim8 ,footnote #gaa3 ,these manifold tenacious qualities1 etc4 ,it is remarked of ,emerson that the idea of the symbolism of nature which he received from ,plato1 was the source of much of his pleasure in ,swedenborg1 the ,swedish mystic philosopher4 ,emerson says in his volume on ,nature3 ,the noblest ministry of nature is to stand as an apparition of ,god4 ,footnote #gab3 ,forgive his crimes1 etc4 ,this is quoted from ,night ,thoughts by the ,english didactic poet1 ,edward ,young4 ,footnote #gac3 ,pyrrhonism4 ,a doctrine held by a follower of ,pyrrho1 a ,greek philosopher of the third century before ,christ1 who founded the sceptical school4 ,he taught that it is impossible to attain truth1 and that men should be indifferent to all external circumstances4 ,footnote #gad3 ,i own ,i am gladdened1 etc4 ,emerson always held fast to the consoling thought that there was no evil without good1 none out of which ,good did not or could not come4 ,footnote #gae3 ,sempiternal4 ,everlasting2 eternal4 ,footnote #gaf3 ,oliver ,cromwell4 ,an ,englishman of the middle classes who became the military and civil leader of the ,english ,revolution of the seventeenth century4 ,he refused the title of king2 but as ,lord ,protector of the ,english commonwealth1 he exercised royal power4