NOTES

NOTESTHE AMERICAN SCHOLAR[1]Games of strength.The public games of Greece were athletic and intellectual contests of various kinds. There were four of importance: the Olympic, held every four years; the Pythian, held every third Olympic year; and the Nemean and Isthmian, held alternate years between the Olympic periods. These great national festivals exercised a strong influence in Greece. They were a secure bond of union between the numerous independent states and did much to help the nation to repel its foreign invaders. In Greece the accomplished athlete was reverenced almost as a god, and cases have been recorded where altars were erected and sacrifices made in his honor. The extreme care and cultivation of the body induced by this national spirit is one of the most significant features of Greek culture, and one which might wisely be imitated in the modern world.[2]Troubadours.In southern France during the eleventh century, wandering poets went from castle to castle reciting or singing love-songs, composed in the old Provençal dialect, a sort of vulgarized Latin. 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 hour. The troubadours were made much of and became a strong element in the development of the Southern spirit. So-called Courts of Love were formed where questions of an amorous nature were discussed in all their bearings; learned opinions were expressed on the most trivial matters, and offenses were tried.Some of the Provençal poetry is of the highest artistic significance, though the mass of it is worthless high-flown trash.[3]At the time this oration was delivered (1837), many of the authors who have since given America a place in the world's literature were young men writing their first books. "We were," says James Russell Lowell, "still socially and intellectually moored to English thought, till Emerson cutthe cable and gave us a chance at the dangers and glories of blue water."[4]Pole-star.Polaris is now the nearest conspicuous star to the north pole of the celestial equator. Owing to the motion of the pole of the celestial equator around that of the ecliptic, this star will in course of time recede from its proud position, and the brilliant star Vega in the constellation Harp will become the pole-star.[5]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 disappears. Good examples of this are the disappearance of powerful fangs from the mouth of man, the loss of power in the wings of barnyard fowls; and,vice versa, as new uses for a member arise, its structure changes to meet the new needs. 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 man. Emerson assumed the doctrine of evolution to be sufficiently established by the anatomical evidence of gradual development. In his own words: "Man is no up-start in the creation. 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 mud. The brother of his hand is even now cleaving the arctic sea in the fin of the whale, and innumerable ages since was pawing the marsh in the flipper of the saurian." A view afterwards condensed into his memorable couplet:"Striving to be man, the wormMounts through all the spires of form."[6]Stint.A prescribed or allotted task, a share of labor.[7]Ridden.Here used in the sense of dominated.[8]Monitory pictures.Instructive warning pictures.[9]The Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus is the author of this saying, not "the old oracle." It occurs in the Encheiridion, or manual, a work put together by a pupil of Epictetus. The original saying of Epictetus is as follows: "Every thing has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold of the act by that handle wherein he acts unjustly, for this is the handle which cannot be borne: but lay hold of the other, that he is your brother, that hewas nurtured with you, and you will lay hold of the thing by that handle by which it can be borne."[10]Every day, the sun (shines).[11]Beholden.Emerson here uses this past participle with its original meaning instead of in its present sense of "indebted."[12]Here we have a reminder of Emerson's pantheism. He means the inexplicable continuity "of what I call God, and fools nature," as Browning expressed it.[13]His expanding knowledge will become a creator.[14]Know thyself.Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to Phemonië, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period. Juvenal (Satire XI. 27) says that this precept descended from heaven. "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much" were inscribed upon the Delphic oracle."Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;The proper study of mankind is man."[15]Observe the brisk movement of these sentences. How they catch and hold the attention, giving a new impulse to the reader's interest![16]Nature abhors a vacuum.[17]Noxious.Harmful.[18]John Locke(1632-1704), an English philosopher whose work was of especial significance in the development of modern philosophy. The work he is best known by is the exhaustive "Essay on the Human Understanding," in which he combated the theory of Descartes, that every man has certain "innate ideas." The innate-idea theory was first proved by the philosopher Descartes in this way. Descartes began his speculations from a standpoint of absolute doubt. Then he said, "I think, therefore I am," and from this formula he built up a number of ideas innate to the human mind, ideas which we cannot but hold. Locke's "Essay on the Human Understanding" did much to discredit Descartes' innate ideas, which had been very generally accepted in Europe before.[19]Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount Saint Alban's (1561-1626), a famous English statesman and philosopher. He occupied high public offices, but in 1621 was convicted of taking bribes in his office of Lord Chancellor. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to imprisonment and a fineof forty thousand pounds. Both these sentences were remitted, however. In the seventeenth century, judicial corruption was so common that Bacon's offence was not considered so gross as it would now be. As a philosopher Bacon's rank has been much disputed. While some claim that to his improved method of studying nature are chiefly to be attributed the prodigious strides taken by modern science, others deny him all merit in this respect. His best known works are: "The Novum Organum," a philosophical treatise; "The Advancement of Learning," a remarkable argument in favor of scholarship; and the short essays on subjects of common interest, usually printed under the simple title "Bacon's Essays."[20]Third Estate.The thirteenth century was the age when the national assemblies of most European countries were putting on their definite shape. In most of them the system ofestatesprevailed. These in most countries were three—nobles, clergy, and commons, the commons being the third estate. During the French Revolution the Third Estate, or Tiers Etat, asserted its rights and became a powerful factor in French politics, choosing its own leaders and effecting the downfall of its oppressors.[21]Restorers of readings.Men who spend their lives trying to improve and correct the texts of classical authors, by comparing the old editions with each other and picking out the version which seem most in accordance with the authors' original work.[22]Emendators.The same as restorers of readings.[23]Bibliomaniacs.Men with a mania for collecting rare and beautiful books. Not a bad sort of mania, though Emerson never had any sympathy for it.[24]To many readers Emerson's own works richly fulfill this obligation. 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 elevated.[25]Genius, the possession of a thoroughly active soul, ought not to be the special privilege of favorites of fortune, but the right of every sound man.[26]They stunt my mental growth. A man should not accept another man's conclusions, but merely use them as steps on his upward path.[27]If you do not employ such talent as you have in original labor, in bearing the mental fruit of which you arecapable, then you do not vindicate your claim to a share in the divine nature.[28]Disservice.Injury.[29]In original composition of any sort our efforts naturally flow in the channels worn for us by the first dominating streams of early genius. The conventional is the continual foe of all true art.[30]Emerson is continually stimulating us to look at things in new ways. Here, for instance, at once the thought comes: "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 world? Has not the all-pervading Shakespearian influence flooded and drowned out a great deal of original genius?"[31]That is,—when in his clear, seeing moments he can distil some drops of truth from the world about him, let him not waste his time in studying other men's records of what they have seen.[32]While Emerson's verse is frequently unmusical, in his prose we often find passages like this instinct with the fairest poetry.[33]Geoffrey Chaucer(1340-1400). The father of English poetry. Chaucer's chief work is the "Canterbury Tales," a series of stories told by pilgrims traveling in company to Canterbury. Coleridge, the poet, wrote of Chaucer: "I take unceasing delight in Chaucer; his manly cheerfulness is especially delicious to me in my old age. How exquisitely tender he is, yet how free from the least touch of sickly melancholy or morbid drooping." Chaucer's poetry is above all things fresh. It breathes of the morning of literature. Like Homer he had at his command all the riches of a new language undefiled by usage from which to choose."Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled,On Fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled."[34]Andrew Marvell(1620-1678). An eminent English patriot and satirist. As a writer he is chiefly known by his "Rehearsal Transposed," written in answer to a fanatical defender of absolute power. When a young man he was assistant to the poet Milton, who was then Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell. Marvell's wit and distinguished abilities rendered him formidable to the corrupt administration ofCharles II., who attempted without success to buy his friendship. Emerson's literary perspective is a bit unusual when he speaks of Marvell as "one of the great English poets." Marvell hardly ranks with Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton.[35]John Dryden(1631-1700). A celebrated English poet. Early in life he wrote almost entirely for the stage and achieved great success. In the latter part of his life, however, according to Macaulay, he "turned his powers in a new direction with success the most splendid and decisive. The first rank in poetry was beyond his reach, but he secured the most honorable place in the second.... With him died the secret of the old poetical diction of England,—the art of producing rich effects by familiar words."[36]Plato(429-347 B.C.). One of the most illustrious philosophers of all time. Probably no other philosopher has contributed so much as Plato to the moral and intellectual training of the human race. This pre-eminence is due not solely to his transcendent intellect, 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 Plato. He was a remarkable example of that universal culture of body and mind which characterized the last period of ancient Greece. He was proficient in every branch of art and learning and was such a brilliant athlete that he contended in the Isthmian and Pythian games.[37]Gowns.The black gown worn occasionally in America and always in England at the universities; the distinctive academic dress is a cap and gown.[38]Pecuniary foundations.Gifts of money for the support of institutions of learning.[39]Witis here used in its early sense of intellect, good understanding.[40]Valetudinarian.A person of a weak, sickly constitution.[41]Mincing.Affected.[42]Preamble.A preface or introduction.[43]Dumb abyss.That vast immensity of the universe about us which we can never understand.[44]Icomprehend its laws; I lose my fear of it.[45]Silkworms feed on mulberry-leaves. Emerson describes what science calls "unconscious cerebration."[46]Ripe fruit.Emerson's ripe fruit found its way into his diary, where it lay until he needed it in the preparation of some lecture or essay.[47]I. Corinthians xv. 53.[48]Empyrean.The region of pure light and fire; the ninth heaven of ancient astronomy."The deep-domed empyreanRings to the roar of an angel onset."[49]Ferules.According to the methods of education fifty years ago, it was quite customary for the teacher to punish a school-child with his ferule or ruler.[50]Oliver Wendell Holmes cites this last sentence as the most extreme development of the distinctively Emersonian style. Such things must be read not too literally but rapidly, with alert attention to what the previous train of thought has been.[51]Savoyards.The people of Savoy, south of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.[52]Emerson's style is characterized by the frequent use of pithy epigrams like this.[53]Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727). A great English philosopher and mathematician. He is famous as having discovered the law of gravitation.[54]Unhandselled.Uncultivated, without natural advantages. A handsel is a gift.[55]Druids.The ancient priesthood of the Britons in Cæsar's time. They had immense power among these primitive peoples. They were the judges as well as the priests and decided all questions. It is believed that they made human sacrifices to their gods in the depths of the primeval forest, but not much is known of their rites.[56]Berserkers.Berserker was a redoubtable hero in Scandinavian mythology, the grandson of the eight-handed Starkodder and the beautiful Alfhilde. He had twelve sons who inherited the wild-battle frenzy, or berserker rage. The sagas, the great Scandinavian epics, are full of stories of heroes who are seized with this fierce longing for battle, murder, and sudden death. The name means bear-shirt and has been connected with the oldwere-wolftradition, the myth that certain people were able to change into man-devouring wolves with a wolfish mad desire to rend and kill.[57]Alfred, surnamed the Great (848-901), king of the West Saxons in England. When he ascended the throne his country was in a deplorable condition from the repeated inroads of northern invaders. He eventually drove them outand established a secure government. England owes much to the efforts of Alfred. He not only fought his country's battles, but also founded schools, translated Latin books into his native tongue, and did much for the intellectual improvement of his people.[58]The hoe and the spade."In spite of Emerson's habit of introducing the names of agricultural objects into his writing ('Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool, and wood' is a line from one of his poems), his familiarity therewith is evidently not so great as he would lead one to imagine. 'Take care, papa,' cried his little son, seeing him at work with a spade, 'you will dig your leg.'"[59]John Flamsteed(1646-1719). An eminent English astronomer. He appears to have been the first to understand the theory of the equation of time. He passed his life in patient observation and determined the position of 2884 stars.[60]Sir William Herschel(1738-1822). One of the greatest astronomers that any age or nation has produced. Brought up to the profession of music, it was not until he was thirty years old that he turned his attention to astronomy. By rigid economy he obtained a telescope, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus. This great discovery gave him great fame and other substantial advantages. He was made private astronomer to the king and received a pension. His discoveries were so far in advance of his time, they had so little relation with those of his predecessors, that he may almost be said to have created a new science by revealing the immensity of the scale on which the universe is constructed.[61]Nebulous.In astronomy a nebula is a luminous patch in the heavens far beyond the solar system, composed of a mass of stars or condensed gases.[62]Fetich.The word seems to have been applied by Portuguese sailors and traders on the west coast of Africa to objects worshiped by the natives, which were regarded as charms or talismans. Of course the word here means an object of blind admiration and devotion.[63]Cry up, to praise, extol.[64]Ancient and honorable.Isaiah ix. 15.[65]Complement.What is needed to complete or fill up some quantity or thing.[66]Signet.Seal. Emerson is not always felicitousin his choice of metaphors.[67]Macdonald.In Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Sancho Panza, the squire to the "knight of the metaphysical countenance," tells a story of a gentleman who had asked a countryman to dine with him. The farmer was pressed to take his seat at the head of the table, and when he refused out of politeness to his host, the latter became impatient and cried: "Sit there, clod-pate, for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee." This saying is commonly attributed to Rob Roy, but Emerson with his usual inaccuracy in such matters places it in the mouth of Macdonald,—which Macdonald is uncertain.[68]Carolus Linnæus(1707-1778). A great Swedish botanist. He did much to make botany the orderly science it now is.[69]Sir Humphry Davy(1778-1829). The most famous of English chemists. 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-damp.[70]Baron George Cuvier(1769-1832). An illustrious French philosopher, statesman, and writer who made many discoveries in the realm of natural history, geology and philosophy.[71]The moon.The tides are caused by the attraction of the moon and the sun. The attraction of the moon for the water nearest the moon is somewhat greater than the attraction of the earth's center. This causes a slight bulging of the water toward the moon and a consequent high tide.[72]Emerson frequently omits the principal verb of his sentences as here: "In a centurythere may existone or two men."[73]This obscurely constructed sentence means: "For their acquiescence in a political and social inferiority the poor and low find some compensation in the immense moral capacity thereby gained."[74]"They" refers to the hero or poet mentioned some twenty lines back.[75]Comprehendeth.Here used in the original senseto include. The perfect man should be so thoroughly developed at every point that he will possess a share in the nature of every man.[76]By the Classic age is generally meant the age of Greece and Rome; and by the Romantic is meant the middle ages.[77]Introversion.Introspection is the more usual word to express the analytic self-searching so common in these days.[78]Second thoughts.Emerson uses the word here in the same sense as the Frencharrière-pensée, a mental reservation.[79]"And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought."Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 1.[80]Movement.The French Revolution.[81]Let every common object be credited with the diviner attributes which will class it among others of the same importance.[82]Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774). An eminent English poet and writer. He is best known by the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer," the poem "The Deserted Village," and the "Vicar of Wakefield." "Of all romances in miniature," says Schlegel, the great German critic, "the 'Vicar of Wakefield' is the most exquisite." It is probably the most popular English work of fiction in Germany.[83]Robert Burns(1759-1796). A celebrated Scottish poet. The most striking characteristics of Burns' poetry are simplicity and intensity, in which he is scarcely, if at all, inferior to any of the greatest poets that have ever lived.[84]William Cowper(1731-1800). One of the most popular of English poets. His poem "The Task" was probably more read in his day than any poem of equal length in the language. Cowper also made an excellent translation of Homer.[85]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832). The most illustrious name in German literature; a great poet, dramatist, novelist, philosopher, and critic. The Germans regard Goethe with the same veneration we accord to Shakespeare. The colossal drama "Faust" is the most splendid product of his genius, though he wrote a large number of other plays and poems.[86]William Wordsworth(1770-1850). By many considered the greatest of modern English poets. His descriptions of the ever-varying moods of nature are the most exquisite in the language. Matthew Arnold in his essay on Emerson says: "As Wordsworth's poetry is, in my judgment, the most important work done in verse in our languageduring the present century, so Emerson's 'Essays' are, I think, the most important work done in prose."[87]Thomas Carlyle(1795-1881). A famous English essayist, historian, and speculative philosopher. 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 Carlyle. Emerson was an intimate friend of Carlyle, and during the greater part of his life maintained a correspondence with the great Englishman. An interesting description of their meeting will be found among the "Critical Opinions" at the beginning of the work.[88]Alexander Pope(1688-1744). The author of the "Essay on Criticism," "Rape of the Lock," the "Essay on Man," and other famous poems. Pope possessed little originality or creative imagination, but he had a vivid sense of the beautiful and an exquisite taste. He owed much of his popularity to the easy harmony of his verse and the keenness of his satire.[89]Samuel Johnson(1709-1784). One of the eminent writers of the eighteenth century. He wrote "Lives of the Poets," poems, and probably the most remarkable work of the kind ever produced by a single person, an English dictionary.[90]Edward Gibbon(1737-1794). One of the most distinguished of English historians. His great work is the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Carlyle called Gibbon, "the splendid bridge from the old world to the new."[91]Emanuel Swedenborg(1688-1772). A great Swedish theologian, naturalist, and mathematician, and the founder of a religious sect which has since his death become prominent among the philosophical schools of Christianity.[92]Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi(1746-1827). A Swiss teacher and educational reformer of great influence in his time.COMPENSATION[93]These lines are printed under the title ofCompensationin Emerson's collected poems. He has also another poem of eight lines with the same title.[94]Documents, data, facts.[95]This doctrine, which a little observation would confute, is still taught by some.[96]Doubloons, Spanish and South American gold coins of the value of about $15.60 each.[97]Polarity, that quality or condition of a body by virtue of which it exhibits opposite or contrasted properties in opposite or contrasted directions.[98]Systole and diastole, the contraction and dilation of the heart and arteries.[99]They are increasedand consequently want more.[100]Intenerate, soften.[101]White House, the popular name of the presidential mansion at Washington.[102]Explain the phraseeat dust.

[1]Games of strength.The public games of Greece were athletic and intellectual contests of various kinds. There were four of importance: the Olympic, held every four years; the Pythian, held every third Olympic year; and the Nemean and Isthmian, held alternate years between the Olympic periods. These great national festivals exercised a strong influence in Greece. They were a secure bond of union between the numerous independent states and did much to help the nation to repel its foreign invaders. In Greece the accomplished athlete was reverenced almost as a god, and cases have been recorded where altars were erected and sacrifices made in his honor. The extreme care and cultivation of the body induced by this national spirit is one of the most significant features of Greek culture, and one which might wisely be imitated in the modern world.

[2]Troubadours.In southern France during the eleventh century, wandering poets went from castle to castle reciting or singing love-songs, composed in the old Provençal dialect, a sort of vulgarized Latin. 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 hour. The troubadours were made much of and became a strong element in the development of the Southern spirit. So-called Courts of Love were formed where questions of an amorous nature were discussed in all their bearings; learned opinions were expressed on the most trivial matters, and offenses were tried.Some of the Provençal poetry is of the highest artistic significance, though the mass of it is worthless high-flown trash.

Some of the Provençal poetry is of the highest artistic significance, though the mass of it is worthless high-flown trash.

[3]At the time this oration was delivered (1837), many of the authors who have since given America a place in the world's literature were young men writing their first books. "We were," says James Russell Lowell, "still socially and intellectually moored to English thought, till Emerson cutthe cable and gave us a chance at the dangers and glories of blue water."

[4]Pole-star.Polaris is now the nearest conspicuous star to the north pole of the celestial equator. Owing to the motion of the pole of the celestial equator around that of the ecliptic, this star will in course of time recede from its proud position, and the brilliant star Vega in the constellation Harp will become the pole-star.

[5]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 disappears. Good examples of this are the disappearance of powerful fangs from the mouth of man, the loss of power in the wings of barnyard fowls; and,vice versa, as new uses for a member arise, its structure changes to meet the new needs. 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 man. Emerson assumed the doctrine of evolution to be sufficiently established by the anatomical evidence of gradual development. In his own words: "Man is no up-start in the creation. 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 mud. The brother of his hand is even now cleaving the arctic sea in the fin of the whale, and innumerable ages since was pawing the marsh in the flipper of the saurian." A view afterwards condensed into his memorable couplet:"Striving to be man, the wormMounts through all the spires of form."

"Striving to be man, the wormMounts through all the spires of form."

[6]Stint.A prescribed or allotted task, a share of labor.

[7]Ridden.Here used in the sense of dominated.

[8]Monitory pictures.Instructive warning pictures.

[9]The Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus is the author of this saying, not "the old oracle." It occurs in the Encheiridion, or manual, a work put together by a pupil of Epictetus. The original saying of Epictetus is as follows: "Every thing has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold of the act by that handle wherein he acts unjustly, for this is the handle which cannot be borne: but lay hold of the other, that he is your brother, that hewas nurtured with you, and you will lay hold of the thing by that handle by which it can be borne."

[10]Every day, the sun (shines).

[11]Beholden.Emerson here uses this past participle with its original meaning instead of in its present sense of "indebted."

[12]Here we have a reminder of Emerson's pantheism. He means the inexplicable continuity "of what I call God, and fools nature," as Browning expressed it.

[13]His expanding knowledge will become a creator.

[14]Know thyself.Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to Phemonië, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period. Juvenal (Satire XI. 27) says that this precept descended from heaven. "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much" were inscribed upon the Delphic oracle."Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;The proper study of mankind is man."

"Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;The proper study of mankind is man."

[15]Observe the brisk movement of these sentences. How they catch and hold the attention, giving a new impulse to the reader's interest!

[16]Nature abhors a vacuum.

[17]Noxious.Harmful.

[18]John Locke(1632-1704), an English philosopher whose work was of especial significance in the development of modern philosophy. The work he is best known by is the exhaustive "Essay on the Human Understanding," in which he combated the theory of Descartes, that every man has certain "innate ideas." The innate-idea theory was first proved by the philosopher Descartes in this way. Descartes began his speculations from a standpoint of absolute doubt. Then he said, "I think, therefore I am," and from this formula he built up a number of ideas innate to the human mind, ideas which we cannot but hold. Locke's "Essay on the Human Understanding" did much to discredit Descartes' innate ideas, which had been very generally accepted in Europe before.

[19]Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount Saint Alban's (1561-1626), a famous English statesman and philosopher. He occupied high public offices, but in 1621 was convicted of taking bribes in his office of Lord Chancellor. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to imprisonment and a fineof forty thousand pounds. Both these sentences were remitted, however. In the seventeenth century, judicial corruption was so common that Bacon's offence was not considered so gross as it would now be. As a philosopher Bacon's rank has been much disputed. While some claim that to his improved method of studying nature are chiefly to be attributed the prodigious strides taken by modern science, others deny him all merit in this respect. His best known works are: "The Novum Organum," a philosophical treatise; "The Advancement of Learning," a remarkable argument in favor of scholarship; and the short essays on subjects of common interest, usually printed under the simple title "Bacon's Essays."

[20]Third Estate.The thirteenth century was the age when the national assemblies of most European countries were putting on their definite shape. In most of them the system ofestatesprevailed. These in most countries were three—nobles, clergy, and commons, the commons being the third estate. During the French Revolution the Third Estate, or Tiers Etat, asserted its rights and became a powerful factor in French politics, choosing its own leaders and effecting the downfall of its oppressors.

[21]Restorers of readings.Men who spend their lives trying to improve and correct the texts of classical authors, by comparing the old editions with each other and picking out the version which seem most in accordance with the authors' original work.

[22]Emendators.The same as restorers of readings.

[23]Bibliomaniacs.Men with a mania for collecting rare and beautiful books. Not a bad sort of mania, though Emerson never had any sympathy for it.

[24]To many readers Emerson's own works richly fulfill this obligation. 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 elevated.

[25]Genius, the possession of a thoroughly active soul, ought not to be the special privilege of favorites of fortune, but the right of every sound man.

[26]They stunt my mental growth. A man should not accept another man's conclusions, but merely use them as steps on his upward path.

[27]If you do not employ such talent as you have in original labor, in bearing the mental fruit of which you arecapable, then you do not vindicate your claim to a share in the divine nature.

[28]Disservice.Injury.

[29]In original composition of any sort our efforts naturally flow in the channels worn for us by the first dominating streams of early genius. The conventional is the continual foe of all true art.

[30]Emerson is continually stimulating us to look at things in new ways. Here, for instance, at once the thought comes: "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 world? Has not the all-pervading Shakespearian influence flooded and drowned out a great deal of original genius?"

[31]That is,—when in his clear, seeing moments he can distil some drops of truth from the world about him, let him not waste his time in studying other men's records of what they have seen.

[32]While Emerson's verse is frequently unmusical, in his prose we often find passages like this instinct with the fairest poetry.

[33]Geoffrey Chaucer(1340-1400). The father of English poetry. Chaucer's chief work is the "Canterbury Tales," a series of stories told by pilgrims traveling in company to Canterbury. Coleridge, the poet, wrote of Chaucer: "I take unceasing delight in Chaucer; his manly cheerfulness is especially delicious to me in my old age. How exquisitely tender he is, yet how free from the least touch of sickly melancholy or morbid drooping." Chaucer's poetry is above all things fresh. It breathes of the morning of literature. Like Homer he had at his command all the riches of a new language undefiled by usage from which to choose."Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled,On Fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled."

"Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled,On Fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled."

[34]Andrew Marvell(1620-1678). An eminent English patriot and satirist. As a writer he is chiefly known by his "Rehearsal Transposed," written in answer to a fanatical defender of absolute power. When a young man he was assistant to the poet Milton, who was then Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell. Marvell's wit and distinguished abilities rendered him formidable to the corrupt administration ofCharles II., who attempted without success to buy his friendship. Emerson's literary perspective is a bit unusual when he speaks of Marvell as "one of the great English poets." Marvell hardly ranks with Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton.

[35]John Dryden(1631-1700). A celebrated English poet. Early in life he wrote almost entirely for the stage and achieved great success. In the latter part of his life, however, according to Macaulay, he "turned his powers in a new direction with success the most splendid and decisive. The first rank in poetry was beyond his reach, but he secured the most honorable place in the second.... With him died the secret of the old poetical diction of England,—the art of producing rich effects by familiar words."

[36]Plato(429-347 B.C.). One of the most illustrious philosophers of all time. Probably no other philosopher has contributed so much as Plato to the moral and intellectual training of the human race. This pre-eminence is due not solely to his transcendent intellect, 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 Plato. He was a remarkable example of that universal culture of body and mind which characterized the last period of ancient Greece. He was proficient in every branch of art and learning and was such a brilliant athlete that he contended in the Isthmian and Pythian games.

[37]Gowns.The black gown worn occasionally in America and always in England at the universities; the distinctive academic dress is a cap and gown.

[38]Pecuniary foundations.Gifts of money for the support of institutions of learning.

[39]Witis here used in its early sense of intellect, good understanding.

[40]Valetudinarian.A person of a weak, sickly constitution.

[41]Mincing.Affected.

[42]Preamble.A preface or introduction.

[43]Dumb abyss.That vast immensity of the universe about us which we can never understand.

[44]Icomprehend its laws; I lose my fear of it.

[45]Silkworms feed on mulberry-leaves. Emerson describes what science calls "unconscious cerebration."

[46]Ripe fruit.Emerson's ripe fruit found its way into his diary, where it lay until he needed it in the preparation of some lecture or essay.

[47]I. Corinthians xv. 53.

[48]Empyrean.The region of pure light and fire; the ninth heaven of ancient astronomy."The deep-domed empyreanRings to the roar of an angel onset."

[48]Empyrean.The region of pure light and fire; the ninth heaven of ancient astronomy.

"The deep-domed empyreanRings to the roar of an angel onset."

[49]Ferules.According to the methods of education fifty years ago, it was quite customary for the teacher to punish a school-child with his ferule or ruler.

[50]Oliver Wendell Holmes cites this last sentence as the most extreme development of the distinctively Emersonian style. Such things must be read not too literally but rapidly, with alert attention to what the previous train of thought has been.

[51]Savoyards.The people of Savoy, south of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

[52]Emerson's style is characterized by the frequent use of pithy epigrams like this.

[53]Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727). A great English philosopher and mathematician. He is famous as having discovered the law of gravitation.

[54]Unhandselled.Uncultivated, without natural advantages. A handsel is a gift.

[55]Druids.The ancient priesthood of the Britons in Cæsar's time. They had immense power among these primitive peoples. They were the judges as well as the priests and decided all questions. It is believed that they made human sacrifices to their gods in the depths of the primeval forest, but not much is known of their rites.

[56]Berserkers.Berserker was a redoubtable hero in Scandinavian mythology, the grandson of the eight-handed Starkodder and the beautiful Alfhilde. He had twelve sons who inherited the wild-battle frenzy, or berserker rage. The sagas, the great Scandinavian epics, are full of stories of heroes who are seized with this fierce longing for battle, murder, and sudden death. The name means bear-shirt and has been connected with the oldwere-wolftradition, the myth that certain people were able to change into man-devouring wolves with a wolfish mad desire to rend and kill.

[57]Alfred, surnamed the Great (848-901), king of the West Saxons in England. When he ascended the throne his country was in a deplorable condition from the repeated inroads of northern invaders. He eventually drove them outand established a secure government. England owes much to the efforts of Alfred. He not only fought his country's battles, but also founded schools, translated Latin books into his native tongue, and did much for the intellectual improvement of his people.

[58]The hoe and the spade."In spite of Emerson's habit of introducing the names of agricultural objects into his writing ('Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool, and wood' is a line from one of his poems), his familiarity therewith is evidently not so great as he would lead one to imagine. 'Take care, papa,' cried his little son, seeing him at work with a spade, 'you will dig your leg.'"

[59]John Flamsteed(1646-1719). An eminent English astronomer. He appears to have been the first to understand the theory of the equation of time. He passed his life in patient observation and determined the position of 2884 stars.

[60]Sir William Herschel(1738-1822). One of the greatest astronomers that any age or nation has produced. Brought up to the profession of music, it was not until he was thirty years old that he turned his attention to astronomy. By rigid economy he obtained a telescope, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus. This great discovery gave him great fame and other substantial advantages. He was made private astronomer to the king and received a pension. His discoveries were so far in advance of his time, they had so little relation with those of his predecessors, that he may almost be said to have created a new science by revealing the immensity of the scale on which the universe is constructed.

[61]Nebulous.In astronomy a nebula is a luminous patch in the heavens far beyond the solar system, composed of a mass of stars or condensed gases.

[62]Fetich.The word seems to have been applied by Portuguese sailors and traders on the west coast of Africa to objects worshiped by the natives, which were regarded as charms or talismans. Of course the word here means an object of blind admiration and devotion.

[63]Cry up, to praise, extol.

[64]Ancient and honorable.Isaiah ix. 15.

[65]Complement.What is needed to complete or fill up some quantity or thing.

[66]Signet.Seal. Emerson is not always felicitousin his choice of metaphors.

[67]Macdonald.In Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Sancho Panza, the squire to the "knight of the metaphysical countenance," tells a story of a gentleman who had asked a countryman to dine with him. The farmer was pressed to take his seat at the head of the table, and when he refused out of politeness to his host, the latter became impatient and cried: "Sit there, clod-pate, for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee." This saying is commonly attributed to Rob Roy, but Emerson with his usual inaccuracy in such matters places it in the mouth of Macdonald,—which Macdonald is uncertain.

[68]Carolus Linnæus(1707-1778). A great Swedish botanist. He did much to make botany the orderly science it now is.

[69]Sir Humphry Davy(1778-1829). The most famous of English chemists. 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-damp.

[70]Baron George Cuvier(1769-1832). An illustrious French philosopher, statesman, and writer who made many discoveries in the realm of natural history, geology and philosophy.

[71]The moon.The tides are caused by the attraction of the moon and the sun. The attraction of the moon for the water nearest the moon is somewhat greater than the attraction of the earth's center. This causes a slight bulging of the water toward the moon and a consequent high tide.

[72]Emerson frequently omits the principal verb of his sentences as here: "In a centurythere may existone or two men."

[73]This obscurely constructed sentence means: "For their acquiescence in a political and social inferiority the poor and low find some compensation in the immense moral capacity thereby gained."

[74]"They" refers to the hero or poet mentioned some twenty lines back.

[75]Comprehendeth.Here used in the original senseto include. The perfect man should be so thoroughly developed at every point that he will possess a share in the nature of every man.

[76]By the Classic age is generally meant the age of Greece and Rome; and by the Romantic is meant the middle ages.

[77]Introversion.Introspection is the more usual word to express the analytic self-searching so common in these days.

[78]Second thoughts.Emerson uses the word here in the same sense as the Frencharrière-pensée, a mental reservation.

[79]"And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought."Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 1.

[79]

"And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought."Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 1.

[80]Movement.The French Revolution.

[81]Let every common object be credited with the diviner attributes which will class it among others of the same importance.

[82]Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774). An eminent English poet and writer. He is best known by the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer," the poem "The Deserted Village," and the "Vicar of Wakefield." "Of all romances in miniature," says Schlegel, the great German critic, "the 'Vicar of Wakefield' is the most exquisite." It is probably the most popular English work of fiction in Germany.

[83]Robert Burns(1759-1796). A celebrated Scottish poet. The most striking characteristics of Burns' poetry are simplicity and intensity, in which he is scarcely, if at all, inferior to any of the greatest poets that have ever lived.

[84]William Cowper(1731-1800). One of the most popular of English poets. His poem "The Task" was probably more read in his day than any poem of equal length in the language. Cowper also made an excellent translation of Homer.

[85]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832). The most illustrious name in German literature; a great poet, dramatist, novelist, philosopher, and critic. The Germans regard Goethe with the same veneration we accord to Shakespeare. The colossal drama "Faust" is the most splendid product of his genius, though he wrote a large number of other plays and poems.

[86]William Wordsworth(1770-1850). By many considered the greatest of modern English poets. His descriptions of the ever-varying moods of nature are the most exquisite in the language. Matthew Arnold in his essay on Emerson says: "As Wordsworth's poetry is, in my judgment, the most important work done in verse in our languageduring the present century, so Emerson's 'Essays' are, I think, the most important work done in prose."

[87]Thomas Carlyle(1795-1881). A famous English essayist, historian, and speculative philosopher. 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 Carlyle. Emerson was an intimate friend of Carlyle, and during the greater part of his life maintained a correspondence with the great Englishman. An interesting description of their meeting will be found among the "Critical Opinions" at the beginning of the work.

[88]Alexander Pope(1688-1744). The author of the "Essay on Criticism," "Rape of the Lock," the "Essay on Man," and other famous poems. Pope possessed little originality or creative imagination, but he had a vivid sense of the beautiful and an exquisite taste. He owed much of his popularity to the easy harmony of his verse and the keenness of his satire.

[89]Samuel Johnson(1709-1784). One of the eminent writers of the eighteenth century. He wrote "Lives of the Poets," poems, and probably the most remarkable work of the kind ever produced by a single person, an English dictionary.

[90]Edward Gibbon(1737-1794). One of the most distinguished of English historians. His great work is the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Carlyle called Gibbon, "the splendid bridge from the old world to the new."

[91]Emanuel Swedenborg(1688-1772). A great Swedish theologian, naturalist, and mathematician, and the founder of a religious sect which has since his death become prominent among the philosophical schools of Christianity.

[92]Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi(1746-1827). A Swiss teacher and educational reformer of great influence in his time.

[93]These lines are printed under the title ofCompensationin Emerson's collected poems. He has also another poem of eight lines with the same title.

[94]Documents, data, facts.

[95]This doctrine, which a little observation would confute, is still taught by some.

[96]Doubloons, Spanish and South American gold coins of the value of about $15.60 each.

[97]Polarity, that quality or condition of a body by virtue of which it exhibits opposite or contrasted properties in opposite or contrasted directions.

[98]Systole and diastole, the contraction and dilation of the heart and arteries.

[99]They are increasedand consequently want more.

[100]Intenerate, soften.

[101]White House, the popular name of the presidential mansion at Washington.

[102]Explain the phraseeat dust.

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