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bank the weed at the water side the old house the foolish person however neglected in the passing have a grace in the past even the corpse that has lain in the chambers has added a solemn ornament to the house the soul will not know either or pain if in the hours of clear reason we should speak the truth we should say that we had never made a sacrifice in these hours the mind seems so great that ing can be taken from us that seems much au it loss all pain is particular the universe remains to the heart neither nor our trust no man ever stated ins as lightly as he might allow for exaggeration in the most patient and sorely ridden hack that ever was driven for it is the that has wrought and the lies stretched in repose the intellectual life may be kept clean and if man will live the life of nature and not import into his mind difficulties which are none of us no man need be perplexed in his speculations him do and say what belongs to md though very ignorant of books his nature shall not yield him any intellectual and our young people are with the problems of original sin of and the like these never n t e d a practical difficulty to any man never darkened across any man s road who did not go out of hit way to seek them these are the soul s and and and those who have not caught them cannot describe their or the cure a simple mind wiu know these enemies it is quite another thing tliat he should be able to give account of his and to another the theory of his self union and freedom this requires rare gifts wit x aw out this self knowledge there may be a strength and integrity in that which he is a few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us my will never gave the images in my mind the rank they now take the regular course of studies the years of and professional education have not yielded me better facts than some idle books under the bench at the latin school what we do not call education is more precious than that which we call so we form no guess at the time of receiving a thought of its company value and education often its effort in attempts to and this natural which is sure to select what belongs to it in like manner our moral nature is by any interference of our will people represent virtue as a struggle and take to themselves great airs up on their and the question is everywhere vexed when a noble nature is commended whether the man is not better who with but there is no merit in the matter either god is there or he is not there we love in proportion as they are impulsive and spontaneous the less a man thinks or knows about his virtues die better we like him s are die best which ran and flowed like s verses said when we see a soul essay it whose acts are all graceful and pleasant roses we must thank god that such things can and are and not turn on the angel and sa is a better man with his to all his native devils not less conspicuous is the of i over will in all practical life there is ic intention in history than we to it we h deep laid far sighted plans to and but the best of their power was in not in them men of an extraordinary success their honest moments have always sung not v to us not unto us according to the faith of th times they have built to fortune or to d tiny or to st their success lay in tb to the course of thought which in them an channel and the of which they were the visible seem to the eye their deed did the wires i it is even true that there was less them on which they could reflect than in as the virtue of a pipe is to be smooth and that which seemed will and ness was and self give a theory of a man of prodigious genius co f to others any insight into his methods if i communicate that secret it would instant laws lose its exaggerated value with the daylight and the vital energy the power to stand and to go the lesson is forcibly taught by these observations that our life might be much easier and simple than we make it that the world might be a happier place than it is that there is no need of struggles and of the wringing of the hands and the of the teeth that we our own evils we interfere with the of nature for whenever we get this of the past or of a wiser mind in the present we are able to discern that we are with laws which execute themselves the face of external nature teaches the same nature will not have us fret and she does not like our benevolence or our learning much better than she likes our and wars when we come out of the or the bank or the or the y or the club into the fields and woods she says to us so hot my little sir we are full of mechanical actions we needs and have things in our own way until the sacrifices and virtues of society are odious love should make joy but our benevolence is un happy our sunday schools and churches and societies are to the neck we ourselves to please nobody there are ways of arriving at the same ends at which these aim but do not arrive why should all virtue m one and the same way why | 37 |
should ab dollars it is very inconvenient to us and we do not think any good come ci it we have not dollars merchants have let them give them farmers will give com poets sing women will will lend a hand ae children will bring and why drag dead weight of a sunday school over the whole it is natural and beautiful that childhood should inquire and maturity should but it is time enough to answer they are asked do not shut up the young people against their will in a and force the children to ask them questions for an hour against their if we look wider things are all alike laws mi letters and and modes of living seem a of truth our society is by ponderous machinery which the endless which tlie built over hill and and which are by the of the law that water rises to the level of its source it is a chinese wall which any leap over it is a standing army not so good as a peace it is a richly empire quite superfluous when town found to answer just as well laws let us draw a lesson from nature which always works by short ways when the fruit is ripe it falls when the fruit is despatched the leaf the circuit of the waters is mere falling the walking of man and all animals is a falling forward au our manual labor and works of strength as digging and so forth are done by dint of continual falling and the globe earth moon sun star fall for ever and ever the simplicity of the universe is very different from the simplicity of a machine he who sees moral nature out and out and thoroughly knows how knowledge is acquired and character formed is a the simplicity of nature is not that which may easily be read but is inexhaustible the last analysis can no wise be made we judge of a man s wisdom by his hope knowing that the perception of the of nature is an youth the wild of nature i felt in comparing our rigid names and with our consciousness we pass in world for and for and piety and we are all the time one sees very well how grew up every man sees that he is that middle whereof eveiy may be affirmed and denied with equal reason he is old he is young he is very wise he is altogether ignorant he hears and feels what you b at it of uie and of the tm there b no permanent wise man except in the of the we side with the hero as we read or paint against the coward and the robber but we have been ourselves that coward and robber and shall be again not in the low but in comparison with the possible to the soul a little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us that a higher than that of our will events that our painful labors are unnecessary and that only in our easy simple spontaneous action are we strong and by ourselves with obedience we become divine belief and love a believing love will relieve us of a vast load of care o my brothers god exists there is a soul at the centre of nature and over the will of every man so that none of us can wrong the universe it has so its strong enchantment into nature that we prosper when we accept its advice and when we struggle to wound its creatures our hands are to our sides or they beat our own breasts the whole course of things goes to teach us faith we need only obey there is guidance for each of us and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word need you choose so painfully your place and occupation and associates and model li of action and of entertainment certainly is a possible right for you that the need of balance and wilful election for you there is a reality a fit place and congenial duties place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which all whom it and you are without effort impelled to truth to right and a perfect contentment then you put all ers in the wrong then you are the world the measure of right of truth of beauty if we will not be mar plots with our miserable the work the society letters arts science religion of men would go on far better than now and the heaven predicted from the beginning of the world and still predicted from the bottom of the heart would itself as do now the rose and the air and the sun i say do not choose but that is a figure of speech by which i would distinguish what is commonly called choice among men and which is a partial act the choice of the hands of the eyes of the and not a whole act of the man but that which i call right or goodness is the choice of my constitution and that which i call heaven and inwardly after is the state or desirable to my constitution and the action which i in all my years tend to do is the work for my faculties we must hold a man ly to reason for the choice of his craft or profession it is not an excuse an longer for deeds that they are the custom of his trade whit business has he with an evil trade has he not t in his character each man has his own the talent ii the call there is one direction in which all is open to him he has silently bim thither to endless exertion he is like a in a river he runs against on every but one on that side all is taken and he | 37 |
sweeps serenely over a deepening into an infinite sea thb talent and this call depend on his organization or the mode in which the soul itself in him he to do something which is easy to him and good k is done but which no other man can do he hai no rival for the more truly he own powers the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of any other his ambition is exactly to his powers the height of the is determined by the breadth of tho base every man has this call of the power to do somewhat unique and no man has any other the pretence that he has another a by name and personal election and outward that mark him extraordinary and not in the rob of is and a laws ness to perceive that there is one mind in all the individuals and no respect of persons therein by doing his work he makes the need felt which he can supply and the taste by which be is enjoyed by doing his own work he himself it is the vice of our public speaking that it has not somewhere not only every orator but every man should let out all the th of all the reins should find or make a frank and hearty expression of what force and meaning is in him the common experience is that the man fits himself as well as he can to the customary de talk of that work or trade he falls into and it as a dog turns a spit then is he a part of the machine he moves the man is lost until he can manage to communicate himself to others in his stature and proportion he does not yet find his tion he must find in that an for his character so that he may justify his work to their eyes if the labor is mean let him by his thinking and character make it liberal whatever he knows and whatever in his apprehension is worth doing that let him communicate or men will never know and honor him aright foolish whenever you take the meanness and formality of that thing you do instead of it into the obedient of your character and aims we like only such actions u have already f id it had the praise of men and do not perceive that n thing man can do may be done we tim greatness or organized in some duties in certain offices or occasions and do not si that can extract rapture from a ai from a jews harp and a en lad out of of paper with his ai out of swine and the hero out of the p habitation and company in which he was u den what we call obscure condition or society is that condition and society whose po try is not yet written but which you shall present make as and renowned as any in o let us take a lesson from kings t parts of hospitality the connection of t of death and a thousand other makes its own estimate of and a royal mil will to make habitually a new estimate that elevation what a man does that he has what has he do with hope or fear in himself is his mi let him regard no good as solid but that b in his nature and which must grow out of hi as long as he exists the goods of fortune m come and go like summer leaves let him on every wind as the momentary signs of infinite he may have hb own a man s genius t al i aw s that him every other tbe to one class of influences the selection of what is fit for him the of what is unfit for him the character of tbe universe a man is a method a arrangement a selecting principle gathering his like to him wherever he goes he takes only his own out of the that sweeps and circles round bim he is like one of those which are set out firom the shore on rivers to catch drift wood or like the amongst of steel those facts words persons which dwell in im memory without his being able to say why remain because they have a relation to him not less real for being as yet they are of value to him as they can interpret parts of his which be would vainly seek words for in tbe conventional images of books and other minds what my attention shall have it as i will go to the man who at my door whilst a thousand persons as worthy go by it to whom i give no r ard it is enough that these par speak to me a few anecdotes a few traits of character manners face a few ne an in your memory out of all pro p ion to their apparent significance if you them by the ordinary standards they to your gift let them have their and do sat not reject them and cast about for illustration and facts more usual in literature what your thinks great is great the soul s emphasis is always right over all that are agreeable to his nature and genius the man has the right everywhere he may take what belongs to his spiritual estate nor can he take any thing else though all doors were open nor can all the force of men hinder him taking so much it is vain to attempt to keep a secret from one who has a right to know it it tell itself that mood into which a friend ea bring us is his dominion over us to the of that state of mind he has a right au the secrets of that state of mind he can compel is a law which use in | 37 |
practice au ihe terrors of the french republic wliich held in awe were unable to command her but napoleon sent to m de one of the old with die morals and name of that interest saying that it was ble to send to die old aristocracy of europe of the same which in fact a sort of free m de in less than a fortnight penetrated all the secrets of the imperial cabinet nothing seems so easy as to speak and to be understood yet a man may come to find thai hm al i strongest of of ties that he has been and he who has received an opinion may come to find it the most inconvenient of bonds if a teacher have any opinion which he wishes to conceal his pupils will become as fully into that as into any which he if you pour water into a vessel twisted into and angles it is vain to say i will pour it only into this or that it will find its level in all men feel and act the consequences of your doctrine without being able to show how they follow show us an arc of die curve and a good will find out the whole figure we are always reasoning firom the seen to the unseen hence the perfect intelligence that between wise men of remote ages a man cannot bury his so deep m his but time and like minded men will find them had a secret doctrine had he what secret can he conceal from the eyes of bacon f of of therefore said of his works they are publish ed and not published no man can learn what he has not preparation for learning however near to his eyes is the object a may tell his most precious secrets to a carpenter and he shall be never the wiser the secrets he would not utter to a for an estate god us firom ss at it premature ideas our eyes are that we not see things that stare us in the face until the arrives when the mind is then we behold them and the time when we saw them not is like i a dream j not m nature but in man is all the beauty and worth he sees the world is very empty and is to tliis soul for all its pride earth fills her lap with not her the of and rome are earth and water rocks and sky there are as good earth and water m a thousand places yet how m people are not the better for the sun and moon the horizon and the trees as it is not observed the of roman galleries or the of painters have any elevation of thought or that are wiser men than others there graces in the of a polished and person which are lost upon the eye of a these are like the stars whose light has not yet reached us he may see what he our dreams are the of our waking knowledge tbe of the night bear some proportion to tbe visions of the day hideous dreams are of the sins of the day we see our evil embodied in bad on tbe ae sometimes his own to a giant so that every gesture of hand is terrific m children said an old man his boys scared by a figure in the dark entry my children you will never see any thing worse yourselves as in dreams so in the scarcely less events of the world every man sees him self in colossal without that it is himself the good compared to the evil which he sees is as us own good to his own evil every quality of ih is in some one acquaintance and emotion of his heart in some one he ii a of trees which counts five east west north or south or an and and why not he to one person and another according to their or to himself truly seeking him self in his associates and moreover in his trade and habits and gestures and and drinks and comes at last to be faithfully represented by every view you take of his circumstances he may read what he writes what can we see or acquire but what we are you have observed a skilful man reading well that author is ft books to a thousand persons take tim book into your two hands and read your eyes out i you will never find what i find if any ingenious reader would have a of the wisdom of s b sat it he gets he is as secure now tbe as if it were in the tongue it is with a good book as it is with introduce a base person among it is all to no purpose he is not fellow every society itself the is perfectly safe and he is not one of tl though his body is in the room what it to fight with the eternal law mind which the relation of all person each other by tbe measure of and beings is how high how aristocratic how mien and manners to live with him were lift deed and no purchase is too great and be and earth are moved to that end weu has but what now how high aristocratic how roman liis mien and if bis heart and aims are in the in the the and in the room and she has no aims conversation that can her graceful lord i he shall have his own society we can but nature the most wonderful the most exertions really avail little with us but or likeness of nature how beautiful is the ease of its victory per approach us famous for their beauty for their worthy of all wonder for spiritual laws charms and gifts they whole skill to the hour and the company | 37 |
manner the effect of every action is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it proceeds the great man knew not that he was great it took a century or two for that fact to appear what he did he did because he must it was the most natural thing in the and grew out of the circumstances of the moment but now every thing he did even to the lifting of his finger or the eating of bread looks large all related and is called an institution these are the in a few particulars of the genius of nature they show the direction of the stream but the stream is blood every drop is alive truth has not single all things are its organs not only dust and stones but errors and lies the laws of disease say are as beautiful as the laws of health our philosophy is affirmative and readily the testimony of negative facts as every shadow points to the sun by a divine necessity every fact in nature is to offer its testimony i sat iv human character itself the most fugitive deed and word the mere air of doing a thing the intimated purpose expresses character if you act you show character if you sit still if you sleep you show it you think because yon have spoken nothing when others spoke and bare given no on the times on the church od slavery on marriage on on secret ties on the college on parties and persons that your verdict is still expected with curiosity as a reserved wisdom far otherwise your silence answers very loud you have no to utter and your have learned that you cannot help them for speak doth not wisdom cry and under standing put forth her voice dreadful limits are set in nature to the powers of truth over the members of the body faces never lie it is said no man need be deceived who will study the changes of expression when a man speaks the truth in the spirit of truth his eye is as clear as the heavens when he has base ends and speaks the eye is muddy and sometimes i have heard an say that he never feared the effect upon a jury of a lawyer who does not believe in his heart that his ou to have a verdict if he does not believe it his will appear to tlie jury despite all his laws hi and will become their this is aw whereby a work of art of whatever kind sets us n the same state of mind the artist was he made it that which we do not believe e cannot say though we may repeat the never so often it was this conviction which expressed when he described a group f persons in the spiritual world in vain lo articulate a proposition which they did not believe ut they could not though they twisted and folded heir lips even to indignation a man passes for that he is worth very idle is ill curiosity concerning other people s estimate of us md all fear of remaining unknown is not less so if i man know that he can do any thing that he can lo it better than any one else he has a pledge of be acknowledgment of that fact by all persons the world is full of judgment days and into every that a man enters in every action he at he is and stamped in every troop f boys that and run in each yard and square i new comer is as well and accurately weighed in the of a few days and stamped with his right lumber as if he had undergone a formal trial of liis strength speed and temper a stranger rom a distant school with better dress with n his pockets with airs and pretensions an older says to himself it s of no use we shall find b sat ly him out to morrow what has he done is the divine question wliich men and every false reputation a may sit in any chair of the world nor be distinguished for his hour from and washington but there need never be any doubt concerning the respective ability of human beings may sit still but cannot act never feigned an act of real greatness i never wrote an nor drove back nor the world nor s much virtue as there is so much appears as goodness as is so much reverence it commands all the devils respect virtue the the generous the self devoted will always and command mankind never was a word utterly lost never a fell to ground there is some heart to greet and accept it unexpectedly a man passes for that he is worth what he is itself on his face on his form on his fortunes in letters of light concealment him nothing nothing there is in the glances of our eyes in our smiles m and the grasp of hands his sin n l him all his good impression men not why they do not trust him but they do trust him his vice glasses his eye cuts lines fr n expression in his check the laws s ts the mark of the beast on the back of the head ad writes o fool fool on the forehead of a king if you would not be known to do any thing r o it a man may play the fool in the of a but every grain of sand shall seem to see le may be a solitary but he cannot keep his o counsel a broken complexion a ok acts and the want of due all can a cook a an be mistaken for or paul how can a man be concealed low can a man be concealed on the other hand the hero | 37 |
fears not that if he the of a just and brave act it will o and one knows it and is pledged by it to sweetness of peace nd to of aim which will prove in the end better of it than the relating of the virtue is the in action to the of things and the nature of things makes it it consists in a perpetual of for seeming and with sublime propriety god is as saying i am the lesson which these observations convey is e and not seem let us let us take ur out of the path of the divine let us our wisdom of the world jet us lie low in the lord s power and learn that alone makes rich and great e sat it if you visit your why need you for having visited him and waste us time and your own act visit him now let bim feel that the highest love has come to see him in thee its lowest organ or why need you torment yourself and friend by secret self reproaches that you hare not assisted him or him with gifts and heretofore be a gift and a shine with real light and not with the borrowed r of gifts common men are apologies men they bow the head excuse themselves witb reasons and appearances because the substance is not we are full of these of sense the worship of magnitude we call the poet because he is not a president a merchant or a ter we an institution and do not see that it is founded on a thought which we have but real action is in silent moments the of our life are not in the visible facts of our choice of a calling our marriage our acquisition of an and the like hut in a silent thought by the way side as we walk in a thought which our entire manner of life and says thus hast thou done but it were better and all our after years like serve and wait on this and according to ability execute its will this or is a constant force which as a tendency reaches through our lifetime the object of the man the aim of these moments is to make him to the law to his whole without so that on point his doing your eye falls it shall report truly of his character whether it be his diet hb house his religious forms his society his mirth hb vote hb opposition now be is not but and the ray does not tb e are no thorough lights but the eye of the b puzzled many unlike tendencies and a life not yet at one why should we make it a point with our modesty to that man we are and that form of being assigned to us a good man b contented i love and honor but i do not wish to be i hold it more just to love the world of this hour than the world of his hour nor can you if i am true excite me to the least by saying he acted and thou still i see action to be good when the need b and still to be also good if he was the man i take him for would have sat still with joy and peace if his lot had been mine heaven b large and affords space for all modes of love and fortitude why should we be and action and are alike to the o the tree is cut for a and but it one for the of a the of wood is apparent in both i desire not to disgrace the soul the i am here shows me that the soul had need of an organ here i not the post shall i and and duck with n apologies and tain modesty and my being here impertinent less or being there and dot the soul did not know its own needs besides without any reasoning on the i hate do discontent the good soul me and oh locks new magazines of power md en j to me every day i will not decline the of good because i have heard that it bu come to others in another shape besides why should we be by the of action t is a trick of the senses no more we know that the of action is a thought the poor mind does not seem to itself to be any thing unless it have ui outside some diet or coat or prayer meeting or society or a great or a high office or any how some wild action to testify that it is somewhat the rich mind lies m the sun and sleeps and is nature to think is to act let us if we must have great actions make our laws v so all action is of an infinite and least admits of being with the celestial until it the sun and moon let us seek peace by fidelity let me heed my duties iy need i go into the scenes and of greek and italian history before i have myself to ray how dare i washington s when i have not the letters of my own is that a just objection to much of our reading s a desertion of our work to gaze r our neighbours it is peeping says jack he knew not what to say and so he lay say it of our preposterous use of books he w not what to do and so he read i can think nothing to fill my time with and i find the life it is a very extravagant compliment to to or to general or to general my time should be as good as their my facts my net of relations as good as rs or either of theirs | 37 |
rather let me do my k so well that other if they choose may my texture with the texture of these and it identical with the best this over estimate of the possibilities of paul and this under estimate of our own comes firom of the fact of an identical nature b sat knew but one merit and rewarded in one m the same way the good soldier the good the good poet the good player the poet uses die names of of of of the painter uses the of the mary of paul of peter he does not therefore to the nature of these accidental men of these stock heroes if the poet write a true drama then he is and not the of then the strain of emotion as pure wit as subtle motions as swift mounting extravagant and a heart as great which on the waves of its love and hope can all that is reckoned solid and precious m the world palaces gardens money marking its own worth by the slight it casts on these of men these au are hb md by the power of these he the nations let a man believe in god and not in names and places and persons let the great soul in some woman s form poor and sad and single m some or go out to service and sweep chambers and floors and its cannot be muffled or hid but to sweep and will instantly appear supreme and beautiful actions the top and radiance of human life and all people will get and until lo suddenly the great has laws itself in some other form and done some deed and that is now the flower and head of ill living nature we are the we the irritable that measure the of the subtle element we know the effects of the true fire through every one of its million dis love m i was as a he my burning ray essay v love t promise of the soul has ments each of its joys into a new nature flowing in die first sentiment of already a b which shall lose all particular regards in its general light the introduction to this h in a private and tender relation of one to one which is the enchantment of human life which like a tain divine rage and enthusiasm on man at one period and a revolution in his mind b him to his race him to the and relations carries him with new into nature the power of the senses opens the to his character heroic and sacred attributes marriage and gives per to human society the natural association of the sentiment of with the of the blood seems to require that essay y m order to it in vivid tints which eveiy and maid should confess to be true to their experience one must not be too old the delicious fancies of youth reject the least of a mature philosophy as age and their purple bloom and therefore i know i d of hardness and from those who compose the court and parliament of love but from these formidable i appeal to my for it is to be considered that this passion of which we speak though it with the young yet not the old or suffers no one who is truly its servant to grow old but makes the aged of it not the tender maiden though in a and sort for it is a fire that its first ip the narrow nook of a private bosom t t wandering spark out of another private heart and until it and beams multitudes of men and women upon the universal heart of all and so lights up the whole world and all nature with its generous flames it matters not therefore whether we attempt to describe the passion at twenty at or at eighty years he it at the first period will lose some of its later he who it at the last some of ill earlier traits only it is to be hoped that hj patience and the aid we may attain to that love view of the law which shall describe a truth ever young and beautiful so central that it shall commend itself to the eye at whatever angle and the first condition is that we must leave i too close and lingering to facts and study the sentiment as it appeared in hope and not n history for each man sees his own life ind as the life of man is not to his each man sees over hb own experience i certain stain of error whilst that of other men looks sur and ideal let any man go back to those relations which make the beauty of his life hich have given hun instruction and he will shrink and moan alas i know why but infinite in mature life the of joy and cover very beloved name every thing is beautiful seen the point of the intellect or as truth but all a sour if seen as experience details are melancholy the plan is and noble in the actual the painful kingdom of time and place care and and fear with thought th the ideal is immortal the rose of joy round it all the sing but grief to and persons and the partial interests of to and yesterday the strong bent of nature is seen in the t tion which this topic of u in the of what do we to know of worthy person so as he has sped in the history of this sentiment books in die we glow over these novels of passion story is told with any spark of truth and na and what attention in the life like any passage betraying bet two perhaps we never saw them be and never shall meet them again but we see exchange a glance or | 37 |
betray a deep we are no longer strangers we i and take the warmest interest in the develop of the romance all mankind love a earliest of complacency and kin are nature s most winning pictures it is the i of civility and grace in the coarse and rude village boy the girls about the sc house door but to day he comes running entry and meets one fair child her be holds her books to help her and instant seems to him as if she removed herself from infinitely and was a sacred throng of girls he runs rudely enough but one i distances him and these two little were so close just now have learned to each other s personality or who can lots yes om the engaging half artful half ways f school girls who go into the country shops to a of silk or a sheet of paper and talk an hour about nothing with the broad faced d natured shop boy in the village th are on i perfect equality ch love delights in and without any the happy affectionate nature of flows out in this pretty gossip the girls nay have beauty yet plainly do they establish between them and the good boy the most agreeable confiding relations what with their and their earnest about and and md who was invited to the par and who danced at the dancing school and when the begin and other concerning which die parties by and by that boy wants a wife and very truly and heartily will he know where tt find a sincere and sweet mate without any risk as milton as incident to scholars and great men i have been told that in some public of mine my reverence for the intellect has made me cold to the personal relations but now i almost shrink at the remembrance of such w for persons are love s world and the philosopher cannot the debt of the soul wandering here in nature to the power of without tempted to as treason v able to nature aught to tbe io for though the celestial of heaven only upon those of tender age and although a beauty overpowering ab or comparison and putting us quite beside ourselves we can seldom see after thirty years yet the remembrance of these visions ail other and is a wreath of flowers on the oldest but here is a strange fact it may seem to men in their experience that they have no fairer page in their book than the memory of some passages affection contrived to give a surpassing tbe deep attraction of its own truth to a parcel of accidental and trivial circumstances in looking backward they may find that several which were not tbe charm have more reality to this than the charm itself which bat be our experience in particulars what it no man ever forgot the of that power to un and which created all things new which the dawn in him of music poetry and art which made the face of nature radiant with purple the and the night varied when a tone of one voice could make die heart bound and the most trivial circumstance with one form is put in the of when he became all eye when one was lots and all memory when one was gone when the becomes a of windows and f a glove a veil a ribbon or the wheels of a carriage when no place is too solitary and none too silent for him who has richer company and sweeter conversation in his new thoughts than any ld friends though best and purest can give him or the figures the motions the words of the beloved object are not like other images written in but as said in fire md make the study of midnight thou art not gone being gone wherever thou art thou st in him thy watchful in him loving heart n the noon and the afternoon of life we still throb at the recollection of days when happiness was not happy enough but must be with the relish of pain and fear for he touched the secret of the matter who said of love all other pleasures are not worth its pains md when the day was not long enough but the night too must be consumed in keen recollections when the head boiled all night on the pillow with the generous deed it resolved on wh n the moonlight was i pleasing fever and the stars were letters and die and the air was into s when all business seemed an and all the men and women running to and m tbe streets mere pictures v the the world for the makes all things alive and significant conscious every bird on the of sings now to his heart and soul the n almost articulate the clouds have faces as on them the trees of the forest the and the peeping flowers have grown he almost fears to trust em with the they seem to invite yet nature and in the green solitude he finds a dear than with men fountain heads and places which pale moonlight walks when all the fowls are safely save and a midnight bell a groan these are the sounds we npon behold there m the wood the fine is a palace of sweet sounds and si ts be he is twice a man he walks with arms akin he the grass and the tr feels the blood of the violet the and in his veins and he talks the tl his foot the that have opened natural beauty have made him love music an it is a fact often observed that men ha e verses under the inspiration of write well under any other love the like force has the passion over all his nature it the sentiment it makes the gentle and gives the | 37 |
coward heart into the most and abject it will a heart and courage to defy the world so only it have the countenance of the beloved object in giving him to another it still more gives him to himself he is a new man with new new and purposes and a religious solemnity of character and aims he does dot longer to his family and society he is somewhat ae is a person ae is a soul and here let us examine a little nearer the nature of that influence which is thus potent over the human youth beauty whose revelation to man we now welcome as the sun wherever it pleases to shine which pleases everybody with it and with themselves seems sufficient to itself the lover cannot paint his maiden to his fancy poor and solitary like a tree in flower so much soft loveliness is society for itself and she teaches his eye why beauty was pictured with loves and graces attending her steps her existence makes the world rich though she all other persons from his attention as cheap and unworthy she him by out her own being into somewhat large so that the maiden stands to him for a representative of all select and virtues for u bs at y is not you but your radiance it is that which know not in yourself and can never know this well with that high philosophy of beauty which the ancient writers delighted in for they said that the soul of man embodied here earth went up and down in quest of that other world of its own out of which it came into this but was soon by the light of the natural sun and unable to see any other objects than those of this world which are but shadows of real things therefore the deity sends the of youth before the soul that it may avail itself of beautiful bodies as to its recollection of the celestial good and fair and the man beholding such a person in the female sex runs to her and finds the highest joy in contemplating the form movement and intelligence of this person because it suggests to him tlie presence of that which indeed is within the beauty and the cause of the beauty if however from too much conversing with material objects the soul was gross and its satisfaction in the body it nothing but sorrow body being unable to fulfil the promise wliich beauty holds out but if accepting the hint of these visions and suggestions which beauty makes to his mind the soul passes through the body and to strokes of character and the lovers lots plate one another in their and their actions then they pass to the true palace of beauty more and more their love of it and by this love the base affection as the sun puts out the fire by shining on the hearth they become pure and by conversation with that which is in itself excellent lowly and just the lover comes to a warmer love of these and a quicker apprehension of them then he passes from loving them in one to loving them in all and so is the one beautiful soul only the door through which he enters to the society of all true and pure souls in the particular society of his mate he a clearer sight of any spot any taint which her beauty has contracted from this world and is able to point it out and this with mutual joy that they are now able without offence to indicate and in each other and give to each all help and comfort in the same and beholding in many souls the traits of the divine beauty and separating in each soul that which is divine from the taint which it has contracted in the world the lover to the highest beauty to the love and of the divinity by steps on this ladder of created souls somewhat like this have the truly wise told us of love in all ages the doctrine is not old nor is it new if and taught it it y q have and it t truer in opposition and to that prudence which at marriage with words that take hold of the world whilst one eye is in the cellar so that its discourse has a of and worst when this into the education of young women and the hope and affection of human nature by marriage nothing but a s and that woman s life has no other aim but this dream of love thou is one scene in our play in the procession of the soul from within outward it its circles ever like the thrown into the pond or the light proceeding an the rays of the soul alight first on things nearest on every and toy on nurses and on the house and yard and passengers on the circle of household on politics and geography and history but things are ever according to higher or more interior laws size numbers habits persons lose by degrees their power over us cause and real the longing for harmony between the soul and the circumstance the instinct later and the step backward from the higher to the lower is impossible g thus even love which is the of persons must become more every day of this at first it gives no hint little think the youth and maiden who are glancing at each other across crowded rooms with eyes so of mutual intelligence of the precious long hereafter to proceed from this new quite external the work of vegetation begins first in the of the bark and leaf from exchanging glances they advance to acts of courtesy of gallantry then to fiery passion to and marriage passion its object as a perfect the soul is wholly embodied and the body is wholly her pure and eloquent blood spoke in | 37 |
her cheeks and so distinctly wrought that one might almost her body thought if dead should be cut up into little stars to make the heavens fine life with this pair has no other aim asks no more than than night day studies talents religion are all contained in this form full of soul in this soul which is all form the lovers delight in in of love in of their regards when alone they solace themselves with the remembered image of the other does that other see the same star the same melting cloud read the same book feel the same emotion that now delight me they try and weigh their e at y tion and up costly advantages opportunities properties in discovering that willingly joyfully they would give all as a for the beautiful the beloved head not one hair of which shall be but the lot of humanity b on these children danger sorrow and pain arrive to them as to all love it makes with eternal power in behalf of this dear mate the union which is thus effected and adds a new value to every in nature for it every thread throughout the whole web of relation into a golden ray and the soul in a new and sweeter element is yet a temporary state not always can flowers pearls poetry nor even home in another heart content the soul that dwells in clay it itself at last from these as toys and puts cm the harness and to vast and universal aims the soul which is in the soul of each craving a perfect defects and in the behaviour of the other hence arise surprise and pain yet that which drew them to each other was signs of loveliness signs of virtue and these virtues are however they appear and and continue to attract but the regard changes the sign and to the substance this the wounded affection as love life wears on it proves a game of and combination of all possible positions of the parties to employ all the resources of each and each with the strength and weakness of the other for it is the nature and end of this relation that they should represent the human race to each other all that is in the world which is or ought to be known is wrought into the texture of man of woman the person love does to us fit like has the taste of all in it the world rolls the circumstances vary eveiy hour the angels that this temple of the body appear at the windows and the and vices also by all the virtues they are united k there be virtue all the vices are known as such they confess and flee their once flaming regard is by time in either breast and losing in violence what it gains in extent it becomes a thorough good understanding they resign each other without complaint to the good which man and woman are appointed to discharge in time and exchange the passion which once could not lose sight of its object for a cheerful disengaged whether present or absent of each other s designs at last they discover that all which at first drew them together those once sacred features that play of charms v had a end like tbe by which the house was built and the of the intellect the heart from year to is the real marriage foreseen and prepared from tbe first and wholly above their consciousness looking at these aims with which two persons a man and a woman so and gifted tie shut up in one house to spend in the forty or fifty years i do not wonder at the emphasis with which the heart this crisis from early infancy at the beauty with which tbe instincts deck the bower and nature and intellect and art each other in the gifts and the they bring to the thus are we put in training for a love which knows not sex nor person nor partiality but which seeks virtue and wisdom everywhere to tbe end of increasing virtue and wisdom we are by nature and thereby that is our permanent state but we are often made to feel that our affections are but tents of a night though slowly and with pain the objects of the change as the objects of thought do there are moments when the affections rule and the man and make his happiness dependent on a person or persons but in health the mind is presently seen again its vault bright with of lights and the warm loves and that swept over us as clouds must lose their character and with god to attain their perfection but we need not fear that we can any thing by the progress of the soul the may be trusted to the end that which is so and attractive as these relations must be and only by what is more and so on for ever friendship a ruddy drop of manly blood the sea the world uncertain comes and the lover rooted stays i fancied he was fled and many a year glowed like daily sunrise there my careful heart was free again o fi my bosom said through thee alone the sky is arched through thee the rose is red all things through thee take nobler and look beyond the earth and is the mill round of our a sun path in thy worth me too thy has taught to master my despair the fountains of my hidden li are through thy vi we have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken all the selfishness like east winds the world the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine how many persons we meet in houses whom we scarcely speak to whom yet we honor and who honor us i | 37 |
how many we see in the street or sit with in church whom though we rejoice to be with read the language of these wandering eye beams the heart the of the indulgence of this human is a certain cordial in poetry and in common speech the emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt towards others are to the material effects of fire so swift or much more swift more active more are these fine inward from the degree of passionate love to the lowest degree of good win they make the sweetness of life our intellectual and active powers increase our affection the scholar sits down to write and all his years of meditation do not furnish him with one good thought or happy expression but it is ne to write a letter to a friend and troops of gentle thoughts invest themselves on every band with chosen see in any house where virtue and self respect abide the which the approach of a stranger causes a commended stranger is expected and announced and an pleasure and pain all the hearts of a household his arrival almost brings fear to the good hearts that would welcome him the house is all things fly their places the old coat is exchanged for the new and they must get up a dinner if they can of a commended stranger only the good report is told by others only the good and new is heard by us he stands to us for humanity he is what we wish having imagined and invested him we ask how we should stand related in conversation and with a man and are uneasy with fear the same idea conversation with him we talk better than we are wont we have the fancy a richer memory and our dumb devil has taken leave for the time for long hours we can continue a of sincere graceful rich communications from the oldest so who sit by of our own and acquaintance shall feel a lively surprise at our unusual powers but as soon as the stranger begins to intrude us bis bis defects into the conversation it is all over he has heard the first the last and best he will ever hear from us he is no stranger now vulgarity ignorance are old acquaintances now when he comes he may get the order the dress and the dinner but the throbbing of the heart and the communications of the soul no more what is so as these of which make a young world for me again i what so delicious as a just and firm encounter of two in a thought in a feeling how beautiful on their approach to this beating heart the steps and forms of the gifted and the true the moment we indulge our affections the earth is there is no winter and no night all all vanish all duties even fills the et but the forms all radiant of b persons let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should its and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years i awoke this morning with devout for my the old and the new shall i not ood the beautiful who so lo i i it tl and yet i am not so ungrateful as not to see the wife the lovely and the noble minded as from time to time they pass my gate who hears die who me becomes mine a possession for ad time nor is nature so poor but she gives me this joy several times and thus we social threads of our own a new web of relations and as thoughts in succession we shall by and by stand in a new world of our creation and no longer strangers and in a globe my friends have come to me the great god gave them to me bj oldest right by the of virtue with itself i find them or rather not i but the deity k me and in them and the thick of individual character relation age sex circumstance at which he usually and now makes many one high thanks i owe you excellent lovers who carry out the world for me to new and noble depths and the meaning of ad thoughts these are new poetry of the bard poetry without stop and poetry still and the will these too separate themselves from me or some of them i know not but i fear it not fer my relation to them is so pure that we hold by simple and the genius of my life being social the same will exert its oa t friendship is as noble as these men and women wherever i may be i confess to an extreme tenderness of nature on this point it is almost dangerous to me to crush the sweet poison of wine of the affections a new person is to me a great event and me from sleep i have often had fine fancies about persons which have given me delicious hours but the joy ends in the day it no fruit thought is not bom of it my action b very little modified i must feel pride in my s accomplishments as if they were mine and a property in his virtues i feel as warmly when he is praised as the lover when he hears applause of his engaged maiden we over estimate the conscience of our his goodness seems better than our goodness his nature finer his temptations less every thing that is his his name his form his dress books and instruments fancy our own thought sounds new and larger firom his mouth yet the and of the heart are not without their in the ebb and flow of love friendship like the immortality of the soul is too good to be believed the lover | 37 |
social benefit to speak of that select and sacred relation which is a kind of absolute and which even leaves the language of love and common so much is this purer and ii o much divine i do not wish to treat bat with courage when they are real thej are not glass threads or but the thing we know for now after so many ages of experience what do we know of nature or of ourselves not one step has man taken toward the solution of the problem of liis destiny in one of folly stand the whole universe of men but tlie sweet sincerity of joy and peace which draw from this alliance with my brother s soul is the nut itself whereof all nature and all thought is but the and shell happy is the that a friend it might well be built like a bower or arch to entertain him a single day happier if he know the solemnity of that relation and honor friendship law he who offers himself a candidate for that comes up like an to the great games where the first bom of the world are the he himself for where time want danger are in the lists and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of liis beauty from the wear and tear of these the gifts of fortune may be present or absent but all the speed in that contest depends on and the tempt of trifles there are two elements that go to the composition of friendship each so sovereign that i can detect no superiority in either no reason why either should be first named one is truth a friend is a person with whom i may be sincere before him i may think aloud i am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal that i may drop even those garments of courtesy and second thought which men never put off and may deal with him with the simplicity and with which one meets another sincerity is the luxury allowed like and authority only to the highest rank that being permitted to speak truth as having none above it to court or unto every man alone is sincere at the entrance of a second person begins we and the approach of our fellow man by compliments by essay bj amusements by affairs we cover up oar thought from him under a hundred folds i knew a man who under a certain religious cast off this and all compliment and commonplace spoke to the conscience of every person he encountered and that with great insight and beauty at first he was resisted and all men agreed be was mad but as indeed he could help doing for some time in this course he attained to the advantage of bringing every man of his acquaintance into true relations with him no man would think of speaking with him or of putting him off with any chat of or reading rooms but every man was constrained by so sincerity to the like and what love of nature what poetry what symbol of truth be had he did certainly show him but to most of us society shows not its face and eye but its side and its back to stand in true relations with men in a age is worth a fit of insanity b it not we seldom go erect almost every man we meet requires some civility requires to be he has some fame some talent some whim of religion or in his head that is not to be questioned and which spoils all conversation with him but a friend is a sane man who exercises not my in but me my friend gives me entertainment without requiring any on my a friendship friend therefore is a sort of in nature i who alone am i who see nature whose existence i can affirm with equal evidence to my own behold now the semblance of my being in all its height variety and curiosity in a foreign form so that a friend may well be reckoned the of nature the other element of friendship is tenderness we are to men by every sort of tie by blood by pride by fear by hope by by lust by hate by admiration by every circumstance and and trifle but we can scarce believe that so much character can in another as to draw us by love can another be so blessed and we so that we can offer him tenderness when a man becomes dear to me i have touched the goal of fortune i find very written directly to the heart of this matter in books and yet i have one text which i cannot choose but remember my author says i myself faintly and to those whose i effectually am and tender myself least to him to whom i am the most devoted i wish that friendship should have feet as well as eyes and eloquence it must plant itself on the ground before it over the moon i wish it to be a little of a citizen before it is quite a we the citizen because he makes love a it is an exchange of gifts of useful it is good neighbourhood it watches with the tl sick it the pall at the funeral and sight of the and of the but though we cannot find the god under this disguise of a yet on the other hand we cannot forgive the poet if he thread too fine and does not his romance by the of justice fidelity and pity i hate the of the name of friendship to signify and worldly i much prefer the company of and tin to the silken and which its days of encounter by a frivolous display by rides in a and dinners at the | 37 |
best the end of is a commerce the most strict and homely that can be joined more strict than any of which we hare experience it is for aid and comfort through all the and passages of life and death it is fit for serene days and graceful gifts and but also for rough roads and hard fare poverty and persecution it keeps company with the of the wit and the of religion we are to to each other the daily needs and offices of man s life and it by courage wisdom and unity it should never fall into something usual and settled but should be alert and and add rhyme and reason to what was friendship may be said to require natures so rare and costly each so well tempered and so adapted and withal so for even in that particular a poet says love demands that the parties be altogether that its satisfaction can very seldom be assured it cannot in its hi say some of those who are learned in this warm lore of the heart re than two i am not quite so in my terms perhaps because i have never known so high a fellowship as others i please my imagination more with ft circle of men and women related to each and between whom a intelligence but i find this law of one to for conversation which is the practice and of friendship do not mix waters too much the best mix as ill as good and bad you shall have very useful and dis course at several times with two several men but let three of you come together and you shall not have one new and hearty word two may talk and one may bear but three cannot take part in a con of the most sincere and searching sort in good there is never such discourse be two across the table as takes place when you leave them alone in good company the individuals their into a social soul exactly co the several there of a no e at ti of brother to sister of wife to husband are then but quite otherwise only he may then speak who can sail on the common thou t of the party and not poorly limited to his own now this which good sense demands the high freedom of great conversation which requires an absolute running of two souls one no two men but being left alone with each other enter into relations yet it is which two shall converse men give little joy to each other wiu never the latent powers of each we talk sometimes of t great talent for conversation as if it were a property in some individuals conversation h an relation no more a man is to have thought and eloquence he cannot for all that say a word to his cousin or his uncle thej accuse his silence with as much reason as they would blame the of a dial in the shade in the sun it will mark the hour among those who enjoy his thought he regain his tongue friendship requires that rare mean likeness and that each with the pretence of power and of consent in the other let be alone to the end of the world rather tliat my friend should by a word or a his real sympathy i am equally by and by compliance let him not cease an ia friendship to be himself the only joy i have in his g mine is that the not mine is mine i hate re i looked for a manly or at least resistance to find a of concession er be a in the side of your friend than his the condition which high friendship is ability to do without it that high e requires great and sublime parts there be very two before there can be very one it be an alliance of two large formidable na j beheld feared before yet recognize the deep identity which beneath these them e only is fit for this society who is is sure that greatness and goodness are always who is not swift to with his let him not with this leave le diamond its ages to grow nor expect to the of the friendship demands treatment we talk of our ds but friends are self elected reverence is at part of it treat your friend as a spectacle course he has merits that are not yours and that cannot honor if you must needs hold him close our person stand aside give those merits let them mount and are you the d of your s buttons or of his thought a great heart he will stiu be a stranger in a i i vi thousand particulars that he may come near in tbe est ground leave it to girls and boys to a friend as property and to a short and au pleasure instead of the noblest benefit let us buy our entrance to this by a why should we noble ind beautiful souls by on them f why insist on rash personal relations with your friend go to his or know his mother and and sisters why be visited by him at your own are these things material to our this touching and let him be to me i spirit a message a thought a a glance from him i ii ant but not news nor i can get politics and chat and from cheaper companions should not the society of my friend be to me poetic pure universal and great as nature itself ought i to feel that our tie is profane in comparison ith yonder bar of cloud that sleeps on the horizon or that of waving grass that the brook f let us not but raise it to that standard that great eye that scornful beauty of his mien and action do not yourself on but | 37 |
rather and worship his wish him not less by a but and tell them all guard him as thy let him be thee for ever a of beautiful dr v d and a trivial to be and cast aside the hues of the p il the fight of the diamond are not to be seen if the eye is too neat to my friend i write a letter and from him i receive a letter that seems to you a little it me it is a spiritual gift worthy of him to give and of me to receive it nobody in these warm lines the heart will trust itself as it will not to the tongue and pour out the prophecy of a existence than all the of heroism have yet made good respect so far the holy laws of this fellowship as riot to prejudice its perfect flower by your impatience for its opening we must be our own before we can be another s there is at least this satisfaction in crime according to the latin proverb you speak to your on even terms men to those whom we admire and love at first we cannot yet the least defect of self possession in my judgment the entire relation there can never be deep peace between two spirits never mutual respect until in their dialogue each stands for the whole world what is so great as friendship let us carry what grandeur of spirit we can let us be silent so we may hear the whisper of the gods let us not interfere who set you to cast about what you say to the select souls or how to say any i thing to such no matter how ingenious no how graceful and bland there are degrees of folly and wisdom and for you to aught is to be frivolous wait and heart speak wait until the necessary and you until day and night avail themselves of your lips the only reward of virtue is virtue the only way to have a friend is to be one you shall not come nearer a man by getting into his house if unlike his soul only the faster from you and you never catch a true glance of his eye we see the noble afar off and us why should we intrude late late we perceive that no arrangements no no or habits of society would be of any avail to establish us in such relations as we desire but solely the of nature in us to die same degree it is in them then shall we meet as water with water and if we should not meet them we shall not want them for we are already they in the last analysis love is only the reflection of a man s own from other men men have sometimes exchanged names with their friends as if they would signify that in their friend each loved his own soul the higher the style we demand of friendship of course the less easy to establish it with flesh and blood we walk alone in the world friends such as va are dreams and but a sublime hope cheers ever the faithful heart that elsewhere in other regions of the universal power souls are now acting and daring which can love us and which ive can love we may congratulate ourselves that the period of of follies of and of shame is passed in solitude and when we are finished men we shall grasp heroic hands in heroic hands only be by what you already see not to strike of friendship with cheap persons where no friendship can be our impatience us into rash and foolish which no god by in your path though you the little you gain the great tou so as to put yourself out of the reach of false relations and you draw to you the first bom of the world those rare whereof only one or two wander in nature at once and before whom the vulgar great show as and shadows merely it is foolish to be afraid of making our ties too spiritual as if so we could lose any genuine love whatever of our popular views we make from insight nature will be sure to bear us out in and though it seem to rob us of some joy will t us with a greater let us feel if we will the absolute of man we are sure that we have all in us we go to europe or we pursue persons or we read books in the instinctive faith that these vi call it out and reveal us to ourselves beggars au the persons are such as we the europe an ou faded garment of dead persons the books their ghosts let us drop this let us give tliis let us even bid our dearest friends farewell and defy them saying who are you me i will be dependent no more ah thou not o brother that thus we part only to meet again on a higher platform and only be more each other s because we are more our own a friend is faced he looks to the past and the future he is the child of all my foregoing hours the of those to come and the of a greater friend i do then with my friends as i do with my i would have them where i can find them but i seldom use them we must have society on our own terms and admit or it on the slightest cause i cannot afford to speak much with my friend if he is great he makes me so great that i cannot descend to converse in the great days before me in the i ought then to myself to them i go in that i may them i go out that i may seize them | 37 |
instead of honey it will yield us bees our words and actions to be fair must be a gay and pleasant sound is the of the in the mornings of june yet what is more and sad than the sound of a or s rifle when it is too late in the season to make hav scatter and afternoon men spoil much more than their own affair in the temper of those who deal with them i have seen a on some paintings of which i am reminded when i see the and unhappy men who are not true to their senses the last grand duke of a man of superior understanding said i have sometimes remarked in the presence of great works of art and just now especially in how much a certain property to the effect which life to the and to the life an irresistible truth tliis property is the in all the we draw the centre of i mean the placing the firm upon their feet making the hands grasp and the eyes on the spot where they should look even lifeless figures as vessels and let them be drawn ever so correctly lose all effect so soon as they lack the resting upon their centre of gravity and have a certain swimming and appearance the in the gallery the only greatly affecting picture which i have seen is the and most piece you can imagine a couple of saints who worship the virgin and child nevertheless it a deeper impression than the of ten for beside all the beauty of form it possesses in the highest degree the property of the of all the figures this we demand of all the figures in this picture of life let them stand on their feet and not float and swing let us know where to find them let them between what they remember and what they dreamed call a a give us facts and their own senses with but what man shall dare tax another with who is prudent the men we call greatest are least in this kingdom there is a certain fatal in our relation to nature our modes of living and making every law our enemy which seems at last to have aroused all the wit and virtue in the world to the question of il must call the to counsel and ask why health and beauty and should now be the exception rather than the rule of human nature we do not know the properties of plants and animals and the laws of nature our sympathy with the same but this remains the dream of poets poetry and prudence bo poets should be that is thi inspiration should not and but should announce and lead the civil code and thi day s work but now the two things seem parted we have law until we stand amidst ruins and when we a coincidence between reason and the phenomena we are surprised beauty should be the of every man and woman as invariably is sensation but it is rare health or sound should be universal genius should be the of genius and every child should be inspired bet now it b not to be predicted of any child and nowhere is it pure we call partial half by courtesy genius talent which to money talent which to day that it may dine and sleep well to morrow and society is by men of as they are properly called and not by men these use their gifts to luxury not to it genius is always and piety and love appetite shows to the us a disease and they find beauty in rites and bounds that resist it we have found out fine names to cover our withal but no gifts can raise the man of talent affects to call his of the laws of the senses trivial and to count them nothing considered with his devotion to bis art hb never taught him nor the love of wine nor the wish to reap where he had not his art is less for every from his and less x every defect of common sense on him who scorned the world as he said the scorned world its revenge he that small things will perish by and little s is very likely to be a pretty fair historical portrait and that is true tragedy it does not seem to me so genuine grief when some richard the third and a score of innocent persons as when and both apparently right wrong each other one living after the of this world and consistent and true to them the other fired with all divine sentiments yet grasping also at the pleasures of sense without to their law that is a grief we all feel a knot we cannot s is no case in modem biography a man of genius of an ardent ment reckless of physical laws self indulgent be comes presently unfortunate a cousin a thorn to himself and to others essay vii the scholar us by his life something higher than prudence is active he is admirable when common sense is wanted he is an yesterday caesar was not so great to day the at the gallows foot is not more miserable yesterday radiant with the light of an ideal world in which he lives the first of men and now oppressed by wants and by sickness for which he must thank himself he the pitiful whom travellers describe as the of who about all day yellow ragged and at evening the are open to the shop swallow their morsel and become tranquil and and who has not seen the tragedy of genius struggling for years with pecuniary difficulties at last sinking chilled exhausted and fruitless like a giant by pins is it not better that a man should accept the first pains and of this sort which nature is not slack | 37 |
a feeble folk it is a proverb that courtesy costs nothing but calculation might come to value love for its profit love is to be blind but kindness is s f to perception love is not a hood but an if you meet a or a hostile never recognize the dividing lines but meet on what common ground remains if only that the sun shines and the rain rains for both the area will very fast and ere you know it the boundary mountains on which the eye had fastened have melted into air if they set out to contend saint paul will lie and saint will hate what low poor paltry people an argument on religion will make of the pure and chosen souls tl y will and crow and hide to confess here only that they may and conquer there and not a thought has enriched either party and not an emotion of bravery modesty or hope so neither should you put yourself in a false position with your by indulging a vein of hostility and bitterness though your views are in straight to theirs assume an identity of sentiment assume that you are saying precisely that which all think and in the flow of wit and love roll out your in solid column with not the infirmity of a doubt so at least shall you get an adequate the natural motions of the soul are so much better than the voluntary ones that you will never do yourself justice in dispute the thought is not then taken hold of by the right handle does not show itself and in its true i but r m hoarse and half witness but a a consent and it shall presently be granted since really and underneath their external all men are of one heart and mind wisdom will never let us stand with any man o men on an footing we refuse sympathy and intimacy with people as if we waited for some better sympathy and intimacy to come but whence and when to morrow will be like to day life itself we are preparing to live our friends and fellow workers die off from us can we say we see new men new women approaching us we are too old to regard fashion too om to expect patronage of any greater or more powerful let us the sweetness of those affections and that grow near us these old shoes are easy to the feet undoubtedly we can easily pick faults in our company can easily whisper names and that the fancy more every man s imagination its friends and life would be dearer with such companions but if jou cannot have them on good mutual terms you cannot have them if not the deity but our ambition and shapes the new relations virtue escapes as lose their flavor in garden beds thus truth frankness courage love humility and all the virtues range themselves on the side of prudence or the art of securing a present well i do not know if all matter be found to be made of one element as or at hat but the world of manners and actions b ct one stuff and begin where we will we are sure m a space to be our ten heroism paradise is under the shadow of swords wine is drunk by sugar to slaves rose and vine leaf deck are jove s drooping oft in wreaths of dread lightning knotted round his head the hero is not fed on sweets daily his own heart he eats chambers of the great are and head winds right for royal essay viii heroism in the elder english and mainly in the plays of and there is a constant recognition of as if a noble behaviour were as easily marked in the society of their age as color is in our american population when any or enters thou he be a stranger the duke or governor this is a gentleman and without end but all the rest are and refuse in harmony with this delight in personal advantages there is ip their plays a certain heroic cast of character and dialogue as in the mad lover the double marriage wherein the speaker b so earnest and cordial and on such deep grounds of character that the dialogue on die slightest additional incident m the plot rises naturally into poetry among take the following the roman conquered ail but the ci t viii tlie duke of and hi wife the beauty of tlie latter and he seeks to save her husband but will not ask his hfe although assured tliat a word save him and the execution of both proceeds bid wife farewell ni i will no leave my bout s crown my spirit i ur haste with this tie up my sight let not soft nature so transformed be and lose her humanity to make me see my lord so t is well never one object underneath the sun will i behold before my farewell now teach the how to die mar dost know what t is to die thou dost not and therefore not what t is to live to die is to begin to live it is to end an old stale weary work and to commence a and a better t is to leave for the society of gods and goodness thou part at last from all thy pleasures and prove thy fortitude what then t will do but art not grieved nor vexed to leave why should i grieve or vex for being sent to i ever loved best now i i kneel but with my back toward thee t is the last this trunk can do the gods mar strike strike or heart will leap out at his mouth this is a man a woman kiss thy lord o i heroism and live with all the freedom yoa were wont o | 37 |
love thou doubly hast afflicted me with virtue and with beauty treacherous heart my hand shall cast thee quick into my urn ere thou this knot of piety vol what my brother o thou now hast found a way to conquer me o star of rome what gratitude can speak fit words to follow such a deed as this mar this admirable duke with his disdain of fortune and of death himself has me and though my arm hath ta en his body here soul hath by he is all soul i think he hath no flesh and spirit cannot be then we have nothing he is free and walks now in i do not readily remember any poem p a sermon novel or that our press in the last few years which goes to the same tune we have a great many and but not often the sound of any yet s and the of and some have a certain noble music and scott will sometimes draw a stroke like the portrait of lord given by of thomas with his natural taste for what is manly and daring m character has no heroic trait in his to drop from his and historical earlier robert has given us a song or two in the there is an account of the battle of which deserves to be read and s history of the the of individual with all the more evident on the part of the that he seems to think that his place in christian oxford requires of him some proper of but if we explore the literature of heroism we shall quickly come to who is its doctor and historian to him we owe the the the the of old and i must think we are more deeply indebted to him than to all the ancient writers each of liis lives is a to the despondency and cowardice of our religious and political a wild courage a not of the schools but of the blood shines in every anecdote and has given that book its immense fame we need books of this virtue more than books of political science or of private economy life is a festival only to the wise seen from the nook and chimney side of prudence it wears a ragged and dangerous front the of the laws of nature by our and our are punished in us also the disease and us the of intellectual and moral laws and often on to breed such compound a lock heroism jaw that a man s head back to his heels that makes him bark at his wife and insanity that makes him eat grass war plague famine indicate a certain ferocity in nature which as it had its by human crime must have its outlet by human suffering unhappily no man exists who has not in his own person become to some amount a in the sin and so made himself liable to a share in the our culture therefore must not omit the of the man let hear in season that he is bom into the state of war and that the and his own well being require that he should not go dancing in the weeds of p ce but warned self collected and neither nor the thunder let him take both reputation and life in his hand and with perfect dare the and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech and the of his behaviour towards all this external evil the man within the breast a warlike attitude and his ability to cope single handed with the infinite army of enemies to this military attitude of the soul we give the name of heroism its form b the contempt for safety and ease which makes the of war it is a self trust which the of prudence in the of its till and power to repair the it may suffer the hero is a mind of such balance that do can shake his will but pleasantly and as it were merrily he advances to his own music alike in frightful and in the of universal there is somewhat not in heroism there is somewhat not holy in it it seems not to know that other souls are of one texture with it it has pride it is the extreme of individual nature nevertheless we must profoundly it there is somewhat in great actions which does not allow us to go behind them heroism feels and never reasons and therefore is always right and although a different breeding different religion and greater intellectual activity would have modified or even reversed the particular yet for the hero that thing he does is the highest deed and is not open to the censure of philosophers or it is the of the man that he finds a quality m him that is of expense of health of life of danger of hatred of reproach and knows that his will is higher and more excellent than au actual and all possible heroism works in fiction to the voice of mankind and in contradiction for a time to the voice of the great and good heroism is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual s character now to no other man can its wisdom appear as it does to him for every man must be supposed to see a little farther on his own proper path than any one therefore just and wise men take at his act until after some little time be past then they see it to be in with their acts all prudent men see that the action is clean contrary to a prosperity for every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good but it finds its own success at last and then the prudent also self trust is the essence of heroism it is the state of the soul at war and its ultimate objects are the | 37 |
last defiance of falsehood and wrong and the power to bear all that can be inflicted by evil agents it speaks the truth and it is just generous hospitable temperate scornful of petty calculations and scornful of being scorned it it is of an boldness and of a fortitude not to be wearied out its jest is the of common life that false prudence which on health and wealth is the butt and merriment of heroism heroism like is almost ashamed of its body what shall it say then to the sugar and cats to the toilet compliments quarrels cards and which rack the wit of all society what joys has kind nature provided for us dear creatures there seems to be no interval between greatness and meanness when the spirit is not master of the world then it is its yet the little t bs t man takes the great so works in it so headlong and believing is bom red and dies gray arranging his toilet attending on his own health traps for sweet food and strong wine setting his heart on a horse or a rifle made happy with a gossip or a little praise that the great soul cannot choose but laugh at such earnest nonsense indeed these humble considerations make me out of love with greatness what a disgrace b it to me to take i te how many pairs of silk stockings thou hast namely these and those that were the colored ones or to bear the of thy shirts as for and one other for use citizens thinking after the laws of consider the inconvenience of receiving strangers at their fireside reckon narrowly the loss of time and the unusual display the soul of a better quality back the economy into the of life and says i will obey the god and the sacrifice and the fire he will provide the describes a heroic extreme in the hospitality of in when i was in i saw a great building like a palace the gates of which were open and fixed back to the wall with large nails i asked the reason and was told that the house had not been shut night or day for a hundred years strangers may present themselves at any hour and in whatever number the master his heroism provided for the reception of the men and their animals and is never happier than when they for some time nothing of the kind have i seen in any other country the know very well that they who give time or money or shelter to the stranger so it be done for love and not for do as it were put god under obligation to them so perfect are the of the universe in some way the time they seem to lose is and the they seem to take themselves these men fan the flame of human love and the standard of civil virtue among mankind but hospitality must be for service and not for show or it the host the brave soul itself too high to value itself by the splendor of its table and it gives what it hath and all it hath but its own majesty can lend a better grace to and fair water than belong to city the of the hero proceeds from the same wish to do no to the he has but he loves it for its not for its it seems not worth his while to be solemn and with bitterness flesh eating or the use of tobacco or or tea ch silk or gold a great man scarcely knows how he how he dresses but w railing or precision his living is natural and poetic john b a t the indian drank water and said of wine it is a noble generous liquor and we should be humbly thankful for it but as i remember water vas made before it better still is the of david who poured out on the ground unto the lord the water which three of his warriors had brought him to drink at the peril of their lives it is told of that when he fell on his sword after the battle of he quoted a line of o virtue i have followed thee i life and i find thee at last but a shade i not the hero is hj thb report the heroic soul does not sell its justice and its it does not ask to dine nicely and to sleep the essence of greatness is the p that virtue is enough poverty is its ornament it not need plenty and can v well abide its loss but that which takes my fancy most in the heroic class is the good humor and they it is a height to which common duty can well attain to suffer and to dare with solemnity but these rare souls set opinion success and life at so cheap a rate that they will not soothe their enemies by or the show of sorrow but wear their own habitual greatness charged with refuses to do himself so great a disgrace ss to wait for justification though he had the of his accounts in his hands but tears it to pieces bo heroism fore the s of himself to be maintained in all honor in the during his life and sir thomas more s at the are of the same ain in and s sea voyage tells the stout captain and his company t ig in our power to hang ye master very t is in our powers then to be hanged and scorn ye these replies are sound and whole sport is die bloom and glow of a perfect health the great wiu not condescend to take any thing seriously all must be as gay as the song of a though it were the building of cities or the of old and churches and | 37 |
nations which have the earth long thousands of years simple hearts put all the history and customs of this world behind them aod play their own game in defiance of the blue laws of the world and such would appear could we see the human race assembled in vision like little children together though to the eyes o mankind at large they wear a stately and solemn garb of works and influence the interest these fine stories have for us the power of a romance over the boy who the forbidden book under his bench at school our delight in the hero is the main fact to our purpose all these great and properties are our if s we m beholding the greek die pride it is that we are already the same sentiment let us find far ot i guest in our small houses the first step of ro i will be to us of our w t iti o u s associations with places and times with and size why should these words asia and england so in the ear where heart is there the there the gods not in any geography of fame river and boston bay yoa places and the ear loves names of and but here we are and if we a little we may come to learn that here i bait see to it only that is here and art and nature hope and fate friends angels and tl e supreme being shall not be absent firom the where thou brave and does not seem to us to need to st upon nor the sunshine he lies where he is the were handsome enough for washington to tread and london for tlie feet of milton a great man makes hb ce mate genial in the imagination of men and its air tbe beloved element of all delicate spirits that try is the fairest which is inhabited by the minds the pictures which fill the i reading the actions of teach us how mean our life is that we by the depth of our living should deck it with more than or national splendor and act on principles that should interest man and nature in the length of our days we have se n or heard of many extraordinary young men who never or whose performance in actual life was not extraordinary when we see their air and mien when we hear them speak of society of books of religion we admire their superiority they seem to throw contempt on our entire and social state theirs is the tone of a youthful giant who is sent to work but they enter an active profession and the forming to the common size of man the ma c they used was the ideal tendencies which always make the actual ridiculous but the tough world had its revenge the moment they put their horses of the sun to plough in its they found no example and no companion and their heart fainted what then the lesson they gave in their first aspirations is yet true and a better and a purer truth shall one day their belief or why should a woman herself to any historical woman and think because or s or de or the souls who have had genius and cultivation do not satisfy the imagination lt tin and the i i t she why not she has a w ij problem to solve perchance that of the i ture that ever let the maiden end soul walk serenely on her way accept the of each new experience search in turn all the that her eye that she may learn the and the charm of her new bom being ii ae of a new dawn in be recesses of the fair girl who m by a j and proud choice of i so careless of ing so wilful and lofty in es every somewhat of her own the her o friend er to a far come port greatly or ail with god not in vain you live for eveiy passing is and refined by the vision the characteristic of heroism b its pe all men have wandering impulses fits and starts of generosity but when you have chosen abide by it and do not weakly try to reconcile with the world the heroic cannot be tbe j mon nor the common the heroic yet we have weakness to expect the sympathy of people in actions whose excellence is that they thy and appeal to a justice if you serve your brother because it is fit for you to him do not take back your words when you fat s people do not commend you to own act and congratulate yourself if you have lone something strange and extravagant and broken be monotony of a age it was a high counsel that i once heard given to a young person always do what you are afraid to do a simple character need never make an apology but regard its past action with the of when he admitted that the event of the was happy yet did not regret his the there is no weakness or exposure for which we find in the thought this is a part of my constitution part of my relation and d see to my fellow creature has nature me that i should never appear to disadvantage never make a ridiculous figure let us b of our dignity as well as of our greatness once and for ever has done with opinion we tell our not because we wish to be praised for not because we think they have great it but for our justification it b a capital blunder as you discover when another man his to speak the truth even with some to live some of or some extremes of generosity seems to be an which common good nature would | 37 |
to those who are at ease and in plenty in sign that the a brotherhood with the great multitude of men and not only need we breathe and ex the soul by assuming the of debt of solitude of but it the wise man to look with a bold eye into dangers which sometimes men ai himself with disgusting forms of dis with sounds of and the vision of i death times of heroism are generally times of tf but the day never shines in which this element not work the circumstances of man we somewhat better in this country ai this hour than perhaps ever before more exists for culture it will not now run against ai at the first step out of the beaten track of but is heroic will always find to tr edge human virtue demands her and the trial of persecution always it is but the other day that the brave his breast to the bullets of a mob for the right free speech and opinion and died when it was b not to live i see not any road of perfect peace which a can walk but after the counsel of his own let him quit too much association let him go h much and himself in those courses he the of simple and sentiments in obscure duties is the to that temper which will work with honor need be in the tumult or on the have happened to men may befall a again and very easily in a republic if there any signs of a decay of religion coarse fire tar and feathers and the the may freely bring home to his mind and with sweetness of temper he can and how st he can fix his sense of duty such whenever it may please the next newspaper and sufficient number of his neighbours to pronounce is opinions it may calm the apprehension of calamity in the lost susceptible heart to see how quick a bound has set to the utmost of malice we approach a brink over which no enemy can us let them thou art quiet in thy grave q the gloom of our ignorance of what shall be in le hour when we are deaf to the higher voices who not envy those who have seen safely to an end ful endeavour f who that sees the of our politics but washing n that he is long already wrapped in his nd for ever safe that he was laid sweet in his es at grave the hope of humanity not yet in him who does not sometimes envy the good md brave who are no more to fi om the of the natural world and await with curious the speedy term of his own conversation nature and yet the love that will be sooner than treacherous has already made death impossible and itself no mortal a native of the of absolute and able being the over soul but souls that of his own good life partake he loves as his own self dear as his they are to him he never them when they shall die then god himself shall die they live they live in eternity space is ample east and but two cannot go cannot travel in it two yonder crowds every egg out of the nest quick or dead except its own a spell is laid on sod and stone night and day ve been witb every quality and and with a power that works its will on age and ix the over soul there is a difference between one and another hour of life in their authority and subsequent our faith comes in moments our vice is yet there is a depth in those brief moments which us to more reality to them than to all other experiences for this reason the argument which is always to silence those who extraordinary hopes of man namely die appeal to experience is for ever and tain we ve up the past to the and yet we hope he must explain this hope we grant thai human life is mean but how did we find out that it was mean what b the ground of this uneasiness of ours of this old discontent what is the sense of want and ignorance but the fine by which the soul makes its enormous why do men feel that the natural history of man has never been written but be is always leaving behind what you have said of and it becomes old books of the of six thousand years has not searched the el and magazines of the soul in its has always remained in the last analysis a n it could not resolve man is a stream whose is hidden our being is descending into us i know not whence the most exact no that somewhat n the very next moment i am moment to acknowledge a higher origin for eve the will i call mine as with events so is it with thoughts i watch that flowing river which out of i see not for a season its streams ii i see that i am a not a cause surprised spectator of this ethereal water desire and look up and put myself in tl of reception but from some alien visions come the supreme critic on the errors of the the present and the only prophet of that be is that great nature in which we rest as tl lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere that that over soul within which every man s pi being is contained and made one with all common heart of which all sincere the worship to which all right action is that overpowering reality which oa the sa talents and every one to pass for what he is and to speak from his character and not from bis tongue and which to pass into our thought and hand and | 37 |
become wisdom and virtue and power and beauty we live in succession in division in parts in meantime within man is the soul of the whole the wise silence the universal beauty to which every part and is equally related the eternal one and this deep power in which we exist and whose is all accessible to us is not only self and id every hour but the act of seeing and the thing seen the and the spectacle the subject and the object are one we see the world piece by as the sun the moon the animal tlie tree but the whole of which these are the shining parts is the soul only by the vision of that wisdom can the of the ages be read and by falling back on our better thoughts by yielding to the spirit of prophecy which is innate in every man we can know what it every man s words who speaks from that life must sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought on their own part i dare not speak for it my words do not carry its ai sense they fall short and cold only itself can inspire whom it will and their speech shall be and sweet and universal as the rising of the wind yet i desire even by profane if i may not use sacred to indicate the heaven of deity and to report what hints i have collected of the simplicity and energy of the highest law if we consider what happens in in in remorse in times of passion in surprises in tlie instructions of dreams wherein often we see ourselves in the droll only and a real element and forcing it on our distinct notice we shall catch many hints that will and into knowledge of the secret of nature all goes to show that the soul in man is not an organ but and exercises ad the organs is not a function like the power of memory of calculation of comparison but uses these as hands and feet is not a faculty but a light is not tlie intellect or the will but the master of the and the will is the background of our being in which they lie an not possessed and that cannot be possessed from within or from behind a light shines through us upon things and makes us aware that we are but the light is all a man is the of a temple wherein ad wisdom and all good abide what we commonly call man the eating drinking planting counting man does not as we know him represent himself but himself him we do not respect but the soul whose organ he is would he let it ap the over w through his action would make our knees bend when it breathes through his intellect it is genius when it breathes through his will it is virtue when it flows through his affection it is love and the blindness of the intellect begins when it would be something of itself the weakness of the will begins when the individual would be something of himself all reform aims in some one particular to let the soul have its way through us in other words to engage us to obey of this pure nature every man is at some time sensible language cannot paint it with his colors it is too it is but we know that it and contains us we know that all spiritual being is m man a wise old proverb says god comes to see us without bell that is as there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens so is there no bar or wall in the soul where man the effect ceases and god the cause begins the walls are taken away we lie open on one side to the of spiritual nature to the attributes of god justice we see and know love freedom power these natures no man ever got above but they tower over us and most in the moment when our tempt us to wound them the of this nature whereof we speak is made known by its of those essay n tions which us on hand soul all things as i have said il all experience in like manner it time and space the influence of the senses in most men overpowered the mind to that de t the walls of time and space have come to real and and to speak with these limits is in the world the sign of ins yet time and space are but measures force of the soul the spirit sports with time can crowd eternity into an hour or stretch an hour to eternity we are often made to feel that there is ai youth and age than that which is measured fro year of our natural birth some thoughts a find us young and keep us so such a thou the love of the universal and eternal beauty man parts from that contemplation with the c that it rather belongs to ages than to mortal the least activity of the intellectual powers us in a degree from the conditions of time in ness in languor give us a strain of poetry or a found sentence and we are refreshed or volume of or or remind us of names and instantly we come into a feeling o see how the deep divine thought and and makes itself pi through ail ages is the teaching of christ let the soul now than it was when first his mouth was opened the emphasis of facts and persons m my thought has nothing to do with time and so always the soul s scale is one the scale of the senses and the understanding is another before the revelations of the soul time space and nature shrink away in common | 37 |
speech we refer all things to time as we habitually refer the immensely stars to one sphere and so we say that the judgment is distant or near that the approaches that a day of certain political social is at hand and the like when we mean that in the nature of things one of the facts we contemplate is external and fugitive and the other is permanent and with the soul the things we now esteem fixed shall one by one themselves like ripe from our experience and fall the wind shall blow them none knows whither the landscape the figures boston london are facts as fugitive as any institution past or any of mist or smoke and so is society and so is the world the soul steadily forwards creating a world before her leaving worlds behind her she has no dates rites nor persons nor nor men the soul knows only the soul the web of events is the flowing robe in which she is clothed after its own law and not by is the rate of its progress to be the soul s s sat are not made by such as can be represented by motion in a straight line but rather by of state such as can be represented by from the egg to the worm from the worm to the fly the of genius are of i certain total character that does not advance the elect individual first over john then adam then richard and give to each the pain of discovered inferiority but by every of growth the man there where he works passing at each classes of men with each impulse tlie mind the thin of the and and comes out into eternity and and its air it with truths that have always been spoken in the world and becomes conscious of a closer sympathy with and than persons in the house this is the law of moral and of mental gain the simple rise as by specific levity not into a particular virtue but into the region of all the virtues thej arc in the spirit which contains them all the soul requires purity but purity is not it requires justice but justice is not that requires but is somewhat better so tliat there is a kind of descent and accommodation felt when we leave speaking of moral nature to urge a virtue which it to the well born all the virtues are natural and not painfully acquired speak to his heart and the man becomes suddenly virtuous the l within the same sentiment is the of growth which the same law those who are capable of humility of justice of love of stand already on a platform that commands the and arts speech and poetry action and grace for dwells in this moral already those special powers which men prize so the lover has no talent no skill which passes for quite nothing with his maiden however little she may possess of related faculty and the heart which to the supreme mind finds itself related to all its works and will travel a royal road to particular and powers in ascending to this and sentiment we have come fit m our remote station on the to the centre of the world where as in the closet of god we see causes and anticipate the universe which is but a slow effect one mode of the divine teaching is the of the spirit in a form in forms like my own i live in society with persons who answer to thoughts in my own mind or express a certain obedience to the great instincts to which i live i see its presence to them i of a common na and these other souls these separated selves draw me as nothing else can they stir in me the new emotions we call passion of love hatred fear m thence petition persuasion cities and war m to the teaching of the sod in youth we are mad for persons childhood aod youth see all the world in them but the larger experience of man the identical nature appearing through them all persons themselves us with the in all between two persons reference is made as to a third party to a nature that third or common nature is not social it is ii god and so in groups where debate is and especially on high the company become aware that the thought rises to an in all that all have a spiritual property a what was said as well as the they all become wiser than they were it arches over like a temple this unity of thought in which eveiy heart beats with nobler sense of power and duty and thinks and acts with unusual solemnity ah are conscious of to a higher self possession it shines for all there is a certain wisdom of humanity which is common to the greatest men with the lowest and which our education often labors to silence and the mind is one and the best minds who love truth lor its own sake think much less of property in they accept it everywhere and do r i the or stamp it with any man s name for it is theirs long beforehand and from eternity the learned and the of thought have no of wisdom their violence of direction in some degree them to think truly we owe many valuable observations to people who are not very acute or profound and who say the thing without effort which we want and have long been hunting in vain the action of the soul is oftener in that which is felt and left than in that which is said in any conversation it over every society and they unconsciously seek for it in each other we know better than we do we do not yet possess ourselves and we know at the same time that | 37 |
we are more i feel the same truth how often b my trivial conversation with my neighbours that somewhat higher in each of us this by play and jove to jove from behind each of us men descend to meet in their habitual and service to the world for which they their native they resemble those who dwell in mean houses affect q external poverty to escape the of the and reserve all their display of wealth for their interior and guarded as it is present in all persons so k is m f of life it is already in the infant my dealing with my child my and xx my and my money stead me ing but as much soul as i have if i am he sets his will against mine one for one and me if i please the degradation of beating him br my superiority of strength but if i will and act for the soul setting that up as between us two out of his young eyes looks the soul he and loves with me the soul is the and of we know truth when we see it let and fer say what they choose foolish people ask you when you have spoken what they do not wish to hear how do you know it is truth and not an of your own we know truth when we see it from opinion as we know when we are awake that we are awake it was a grand sentence of which would indicate the greatness of tliat man s it is no proof of a man s understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases but to be able to discern what is true is true and that what is false is this is the mark and character of intelligence id the book i read the good thought returns to me as every truth will the image of the whole soul to tlie bad thought which i find in it the same soul becomes a separating sword and it away we are wiser than we know if we will not interfere with our thought but will act the soul m or see how the thing stands in god we know the particular thing and every thing and every for the maker of all things and all persons stands behind us and casts his dread through us over things but beyond this recognition of its own in particular passages of the experience it also re truth and here we should seek to ourselves by its very presence and to speak with a strain of that advent for the soul s communication of truth is the highest event in nature since it then does not give somewhat from itself but it gives itself or passes into and becomes that man whom it or in proportion to that truth he receives it takes liim to itself we distinguish the of the soul its of its own nature by the term these are always attended by the emotion of the sublime for communication is an of the divine mind into our mind it is an ebb of the individual before the flowing of the sea of life every distinct apprehension of tliis central men with awe and delight a thrill passes through all men at the tion of new truth or at the performance of a great action which comes out of the heart of nature in these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do but the insight proceeds from xx obedience and the obedience proceeds from perception every moment when the himself invaded by it is memorable by th of our constitution a certain enthusiasm the individual s consciousness of that ence the character and duration of this with the state of the individual ecstasy and trance and prophetic inspiration is its appearance to the faintest glow ous emotion in which form it like ou hold fires all the families and associations and makes society possible a certain ten insanity has always attended the opening of sense in men as if they bad been with excess of light the of fi the union of the vision of p the of paul the of of george fox and his of are of this kind was in the case of these remarkable persons ment has in innumerable instances in been exhibited in less striking manner eve the history of religion a tendency to the rapture of the and c the opening of the internal sense of the won language of the new church the of the churches the are varying forms of that over soul and delight with which the individual soul always with the universal soul the nature of these revelations is the same they are of the absolute law they are tions of the soul s own questions they do not an the questions which the understanding asks the soul answers never by words but by the thing itself is inquired after revelation is the disclosure of the soul the popular notion of a revelation is that it is a telling of fortunes in past of the soul the understanding seeks to find answers to questions and to tell from god how long men shall exist what their hands shall do and who shall be their company names and dates and places but we must pick no locks we must check this low curiosity an answer in words is it is really no answer to the questions you ask do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail the description does not describe them to you and to morrow you arrive there and know them by men ask concerning the immortality of the soul the of en the state of the sinner and so forth they even dream that has left replies to precisely these never a moment did that sublime spirit speak in | 37 |
their to truth justice love the attributes of the the idea of n b essentially associated living in these al sentiments heedless of be only the of these never made th of die idea of from the these attributes nor uttered a syllable duration of the soul it was left to his dis to duration from the moral elements a teach the immortality of the soul as a doctrine maintain it by evidences the moment the of the immortality is separately taught n already fallen in the of love in the a tion of humility there is no question of no man ever asks thb question or e to these evidences for the soul is tr itself and the man in whom it is shed abroad c wander from the present which is infinite to a i which would be these questions which we lust to ask future are a confession of sin god has no ai for them no answer in words can reply to a tion of things it b not in an god but in the nature of man that a veil down on the facts of to morrow for the soul not have us read any other than that of and by this veil which curtains even the children of men to live in to day only mode of obtaining an answer to these the senses is to for o all low curiosity and am thb soul the tide of which us into the secret of nature work and live work and live and all unawares the soul has built and for itself a new condition and the question and the answer e one by the same fire vital celestial which burns until it shall all things into the waves and of an ocean of light we see and know each other and what spirit each is of who can tell the grounds of his knowledge of the character of the several individuals in his circle c friends no man yet their acts and words do not disappoint him in that man though be knew no ill of him he put no trust in that though they had seldom met signs had yet passed to signify that he might be trusted as one who had an m his own character w know each other very well which pf us has been just to and whether that which we teach behold b only an or is our honest also we are all of t lies aloft in our life or unconscious the inter course of its trade its religion its friend ships its quarrels is one wide of character in full court or in small l or confronted face to face and men offer themselves to be judged x at ix will they exhibit those decisive trifles by which is read but who judges and what not our understanding we do not read them hy leaning or craft no the wisdom of the wise man that he does not judge them he them judge themselves and merely reads and their own verdict by virtue of this inevitable nature private b overpowered and our or our your genius will speak from you and mine from me that which we are we teach not voluntarily but involuntarily thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never left open and thou ts go out of our through avenues which we never voluntarily opened character teaches over our head the index of true progress is found in the tone the man takes neither his age nor his breeding nor company nor nor actions nor talents nor all together can him from being to a higher spirit than own if he have not found his home in god his manners his forms of speech the turn of his sentences the build i say of all hb opinions involuntarily confess it let him brave it out how he will if he have found his centre the deity will shine through him through all the of ignorance of temperament of circumstance the tone of seeking is one and ae tone of having is another the over soul the great distinction between teachers sacred or literary between poets like and poets like pope between philosophers like and and philosophers like and between men of the world who are reckoned accomplished and here and there a fervent mystic half insane under the of his thought is that one class speak from within or from experience as parties and of the fact and the other class from without as spectators merely or perhaps as with the fact on the evidence of third persons it is of no use to preach to me from without i can do that too easily myself speaks always from within and in a degree that all others in that is the miracle i believe beforehand that it oi ht so to be all men stand in the expectation of the appearance of such a teacher but if a man do not speak from within the veil where the word is one with that it tells of let him lowly confess it the same flows into the intellect and makes what we call genius much of the wisdom of the world is not wisdom and the most illuminated class of men are no doubt superior to literary fame and are not writers among the multitude of scholars an authors we feel no presence we are sensible of a and skill rather ix than of inspiration they have a li t and whence it comes and call it their own their is some exaggerated some overgrown member so that their strength is a disease in these instances the intellectual gifts do not make the impression of virtue but almost of vice and we feel a man s talents stand in the way of his in truth but genius is religious it is a larger of | 37 |
the common heart it is not but more like and not less like other men there is m all great poets a wisdom of is superior to any talents thej exercise the author the wit the the fine gentleman does not take place of the man humanity shines in in in m in they are content with truth they use the degree they seem and to those who have been with the frantic passion and violent of inferior but popular for they are poets by the free course which allow to the informing soul which through their eyes again and the things which it hath made the soul is superior to wiser than any of its works the great poet makes us feel our own wealth and then we less of his his best to our mind is to teach us to despise all he has done carries us to such a the strain of intelligent activity as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own and we then feel that the splendid works which he has created and which in other hours we as a sort o self poetry take no stronger hold of real nature than the shadow of a passing traveller on the rock the inspiration which ut red itself in hamlet and could utter things as good from day to day for ever why then should i make account of hamlet and as if we had not the soul from which they fell as from the tongue f this energy does not descend into individual life on any other condition than entire possession it comes to the lowly and simple it comes to will put off what is foreign and proud it comes as insight it comes as serenity and grandeur when we see those whom it we are of new degrees of greatness from that inspiration the man comes back with a changed tone he does not talk with men with an eye to their opinion he tries them it requires of us to be plain and true the vain traveller attempts to his life by quoting my lord and the prince and the who thus said or did to him the ambitious vulgar show you their and and rings and preserve their cards and compliments the more cultivated in their account of their own experience out the pleasing poetic ix the visit to rome the man of genius ther saw the brilliant friend they know still further on tlie gorgeous landscape tiie mountain the mountain thoughts they enjoyed yesterday so seek to a romantic color over their e but die soul to worship the great god is plain and true has no rose color no fine no chivalry no adventures does not want admiration dwells in the hour that now is in the earnest experience of the common day by reason of die present moment and the mere trifle having become to thought and of the sea of light converse with a mind that is simple and literature looks like word catching the simplest are to be written yet are they so cheap and so things of course that in the infinite riches of the soul it is like a few pebbles off the ground or a little air in a when the whole earth and the whole atmosphere are ours nothing can pass there or make you one of the but the casting aside your and dealing man to man in naked truth plain confession and such as treat you as gods would walk as gods in tlie earth accepting without any admiration virtue even say rather your act of duty for your virtue they own the over soul as their proper blood royal as themselves and over royal and the father of the gods but what rebuke their plain bearing casts on the mutual flattery with which authors solace each other and wound themselves these flatter not i do not wonder that these men go to see and and charles the second and james the first and the grand for they are in their own elevation the fellows of kings and must feel the tone of conversation in the world they must always be a to princes for they them a king to a king without or concession and give a high nature the refreshment and satisfaction of resistance of plain humanity of even companionship and of new ideas they leave them wiser and superior men souls like these make us feel that sincerity is more excellent than flattery deal so plainly with man and woman as to the utmost sincerity and destroy all hope of trifling with you it is the highest compliment you can pay highest said milton is not flattery and their advice is a kind of is the union of man and god in every act of the soul the simplest person who in his integrity god becomes god yet for ever and ever the of this better and universal self is new and it awe and astonishment how dear how soothing to arises ix the idea of god the lonely place the of our mistakes and disappointments when we have broken our god of tradition ceased from our god of then may fire tlie heart with his presence it is the of the heart itself nay the infinite of the heart with a power of growth to a new on every side it in man an he has not the conviction but the sight that the best is the true and may in that thought easily dismiss all particular and fears and to the sure revelation of time the solution of his private he is sure that his welfare is dear tc the heart of being in the presence of law to liis mind he is with a reliance so universal that it sweeps away all cherished hopes and the stable projects of mortal condition in its flood he believes that he cannot | 37 |
escape from his good the things that are really for thee to thee you are running to seek your friend let your feet run but your mind need not if you do not find him will you not that it is best you should not find him for there is a power which as it is in you is in him also and could therefore very well bring you together if it were for the best you are preparing with eagerness to go and render a service to which your talent and your taste invite you the love of men and the hope of fame has it not oc thb mt tor jou that jou have no right to go you are equally willing to be from going o believe as that eveiy sound that is spoken over the round world which thou to hear will on thine ear every proverb every book every that belongs to for aid or comfort shall surely come home through open or winding passages every friend whom not thy fantastic wilt but the great and tender heart in thee lock thee in his embrace and this because the heart in thee is the heart of all not a not a wall not an is there anywhere in nature but one blood an endless circulation through all men us the water of the globe is one sea and truly seen its tide is one let man then learn the revelation of all nature and all thought to his heart this namely that the highest dwells with him that the sources of nature are in his own mind if the sentiment of duty is there but if he would know what the great god he must go into his closet and shut the door as said god will not make himself manifest to he must greatly listen to withdrawing from all the accents of other men s devotion even their prayers are to him until he have made his own our ni stands on numbers of whenever xx the appeal is made no matter how to numbers is then and there made that religion is not he that finds god a sweet to him never counts hb company when i sit in that presence who shall dare to come in when i rest in perfect humility when i with pure love what can or say it makes no whether the appeal is to numbers or to one the faith that stands on is not faith the reliance on authority measures the decline of religion the of the soul the position men have given to now for centuries of history is a position of authority it themselves it cannot alter the facts great is the soul and plain it is no it is no it never appeals from itself it believes in itself before the immense possibilities of man all mere experience all past biography however and away before that heaven which our us we easily praise any form of life we have seen or of we not only that we have few great mon but absolutely speaking that we have none wo have no history no record of any character ov of living that entirely contents us the whom history we are con to accept with a grain of allowance the fin though in our lonely hours we draw a new strength out of their memory yet pressed on our attention as they are by the thoughtless and customary they fatigue and the soul gives itself alone original and pure to the lonely original and pure who on that condition gladly leads and speaks through it then is it glad and it is not wise but it sees through all things it is not called religious but it is innocent it calls the light its own and feels that the grass grows and the stone falls by a law inferior to and dependent on its nature behold it i am born into the great the universal mind i the imperfect my own perfect i am somehow of the great soul and thereby i do overlook the sun and the stars and feel them to be the fair accidents and effects which change and pass more and more the of everlasting nature enter into me and i become public and human in my regards and actions so come i to live in thoughts and act with energies which are immortal thus the soul and learning as the ancient said that its beauty is man will come to see that the world is the miracle which the soul and be less astonished at particular wonders he will learn that there is no profane history that all history is sacred that the universe is represented in an in a moment of time he will no longer a spotted essay ix life of and patches but be live wit vine unity he will cease from is ba frivolous in bis life and be t with all and with any service be can render will front the morrow in the of that trust carries god with it and so bath already the future in the bottom of the heart circles nature into balls and her proud fast to surface and outside the of the sphere knew they what that signified a new were here essay x circles the eye is the first circle the horizon which it forms is the second and throughout nature this figure is repeated end it is the highest emblem in the of the world st described the nature of god as a circle whose centre was everywhere and its nowhere we are all our lifetime reading the copious sense of this first of forms one moral we have already in considering the circular or character of every human action another we now trace that every action admits of being our life is an to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn | 37 |
is any truth in him if i he rests at last on the divine soul i see not how it can be otherwise the last chamber the closet he must feel was never opened there is always a unknown is every man believes that he has a greater possibility our moods do not believe in each other to i am full of thoughts and can write what i please i see no reason why i should not have the same thought the same power of expression to what i write whilst i write it seems the most natural thing in the world but yesterday i saw a dreary in this direction in which now i see so much and a month hence i doubt not i shall wonder who he was that wrote so many continuous pages alas for this faith this will not this vast ebb of a vast flow i am god in nature i am a weed by the wall the continual effort to raise himself above himself to work a pitch above his last height itself in a man s relations we thirst for approbation yet cannot forgive the the sweet of nature is love yet if i have a friend i am tormented by my the love of me the other party if he were high enough to slight me then could i love him and rise by my affection to new heights a man s growth is seen in the successive of his friends for every friend whom he loses for truth he gains a better i thought as i walked in the woods and mused on my friends why should i play with them this game of i know and see too well when not voluntarily blind the speedy limits of persons called high and worthy rich noble and great they are by the liberality of our speech but truth is sad o blessed spirit whom i for these they are not thou every personal consideration that we allow costs us heavenly state we sell the of angels for a short and turbulent pleasing how often must we learn this lesson m cease to interest us when we nd their the only sin is as soon as you once come up with a man s it is all over with him has he talents has he enterprise has he knowledge it boots not infinitely and attractive was he to you yesterday a great hope a sea to swim in now you have found his shores found it a pond and you care not if you never see it again each new step we take m thought twenty seemingly acts as expressions of one law and are reckoned tbe respective heads of two schools a wise man will sec that by going one step farther back in thought opinions are by being seen to be two extremes of one principle and we can never go so far back as to a higher vision beware when the great god lets loose a on this planet then all things are at risk it is at when a has broken out in a great and no man knows what is safe or where it will there is not a piece of science but its flank may be turned to morrow there is not any literary reputation not the so called eternal names of fame may not be and condemned tbe veiy hopes of man the thoughts of his heart the religion of nations the manners and morals of mankind are all at the mercy of a new is a new of the divinity into the mind hence the thrill that it consists in the power of self recovery so that a man cannot have his flank turned cannot be out but put him where you will be stands this can only be by his preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth and his alert acceptance of it from whatever quarter tiie conviction ml that his laws his relations to society bis his world may at any time be and there are degrees in we learn to play with it as the was once a toy then we see in the of youth and poetry that it may be true that it is true in and fragments then its countenance stem and grand and we see that it must be true it now shows itself and practical we learn that god is that he is in me and that all things are shadows of him the of is a crude statement of the of and that again is a crude statement of the fact that all nature is the rapid of goodness and itself much more obviously is history and the state of the world at any one time directly dependent on the intellectual then existing in the minds of men the things which are dear to men at this hour are so on account of the ideas which have emerged on their mental horizon and which cause the present order of things as a tree bears its apples a new degree of culture would instantly the entire system of human pursuits conversation is a game of circles in conversation we pluck up the which bound the common of silence on every side the parties are not to be judged by the spirit partake and even a press under this to morrow ri have from this high water mark to row you shall find them stooping the old pack yet let us enjoy the flame whilst i on our walls when each new speaker strike a new light us from the d the last speaker to us with the greatness aod of his own thought then another we seem to recover our rights tc become men o what truths profound and ble only in ages and are supposed m the n of every truth in common hours society sits cold and we all stand ing empty | 37 |
know ing possibly that we can be full surrounded by mighty which are not to us but prose and trivial toys then the god and the statues into men and by a flash of his eye up the veil which all things and the meaning of die very furniture of cup and of chair and clock and is manifest the facts which loomed so in the of yesterday property climate breeding personal beauty and the like have strangely changed their proportions all that we reckoned settled shakes and and cities leave their foundations and dance before our eyes and yet here again see the good as is discourse silence is better and it the length of the discourse the distance of thought the speaker i and the if they were at a perfect understanding in any part no words would be necessary if at one in all parts no words would be suffered literature is a point outside of our circle through which a new one may be described the use of literature is to afford us a platform we may command a view of our present life a purchase by which we may move it we fin ourselves with ancient learning ourselves the best we can in greek in in roman only that we may see french english and american houses and modes of living in like manner we see literature best from the midst of wild nature or from the din of affairs or from a high religion the field cannot be well seen from within the field the must have his of the earth s as a base to find the of any star therefore we value the poet all the argument and all the wisdom is not in the or die on or the body of i but in the or the play in my daily work i incline to repeat my old steps and do not believe in force in the power of change and reform but b sat x some or ed with the new vine of his imagination writes me an or a brisk romance full of daring thought and action he and me with his shrill tones breaks up m whole chain of habits and i open my eye on my own possibilities he wings to the sides of ill the solid old lumber of the world and i am capable once more of choosing a straight path in theory ind practice we have the same need to command a view of the religion of the world we can never see christianity from the from the pastures from i boat in the pond from amidst the songs of we possibly may by the light and wind in the sea of beautiful which the field offers us we may chance to cast a right glance back upon biography christianity is dear to the best of mankind 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 then also the son be subject unto him who put all things under him that god may be all in all let the claims and virtues of persons be never so great and welcome the instinct of man presses eagerly onward to the and and gladly arms itself against the of with this ous word out of the book itself circles s the natural world may be conceived of as a system of circles and we now and then detect in nature slight which us that this surface on which we now stand is not fixed but sliding these manifold qualities this and vegetation these and animals which seem to stand there for their own sake are means and methods only are words of god and as fugitive as other words has the or learned his craft who has the gravity of and the who has not yet discerned the deeper law whereof this is only a partial or statement namely that like draws to like and that the goods which belong to you to you and need not be pursued with pains and cost yet is that statement also and not final is a higher fact not through subtle channels need friend and fact be drawn to their but considered these things proceed from the eternal generation of the soul cause and effect are two sides of the same law of eternal procession all that we call the virtues and each in the light of a better the great man will be prudent in the popular sense all his prudence will be so much from his grandeur but it each to see when he sacrifices prudence to what god he z it if to case and pleasure he had prudent still if to a great trust he can well spare his mule and who has a winged chariot instead draws on his boots to go the woods tliat his feet may be safer from the of never thinks of such a peril i many years neither is by such an ace yet it seems to me that with every precaution you take against such an evil you put yourself into the of the evil i suppose that the highest prudence is the lowest prudence is this too sudden rushing from the centre to the verge of our think how many times we shall fall back into pitiful calculations before we take up our rest in the great sentiment or make the verge of to day the new centre besides your sentiment is familiar to the men the poor and the low have their way of expressing the last facts of philosophy as well as you blessed be nothing and ihe worse things are the better they are are which express the of life one man s justice is another s injustice one man s beauty another s one man s wisdom another s folly | 37 |
as one the same objects from a point one man thinks justice ti in paying debts and has no measure in his of who is very in this duty and makes the wait but that second man y his own way of looking at things asks himself which debt must i pay first the debt to the rich or w the debt to the poor the debt of money or the debt of thought to mankind of genius to nature for you o there is no other principle but i for me commerce is of trivial import love faith truth of character the of ma these are sacred nor can i one duty like you from all other duties and my forces mechanically on the payment of let me live onward you shall find that though slower the progress of my character will all these debts without injustice to higher claims if a man should himself to the payment of notes would not this be injustice does he owe no debt but money f are all claims on him to be postponed to a landlord s or a banker s f there is no virtue which is final all are the virtues of society are vices of the saint the terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues or what we have always esteemed such into the same pit that has consumed our vices forgive his crimes forgive his too those smaller faults half to the right it is the highest power of divine moments that they our also i accuse myself x of and day by day but these waves of god flow into me i do longer lost time i no longer poorly my achievement by what remains to me of the month or the year for these moments confer a sort of and which asks of duration but sees that the energy of the mind is with the work to be done without time and thus o circular philosopher i bear some reader exclaim you have arrived at a fine at an and of al actions and would fain teach us that if ue art true j our crimes may be lively stones out of which we shall the temple of the true god i am not careful to justify myself i own i arc by seeing the of the principle throughout vegetable nature and not less by beholding in morals that of the principle of good into every and hole that selfishness has left open yea into selfishness and sin itself so that no evil is pure nor hell itself without its extreme but lest i should any when i have my own head and obey my let me remind the reader that i am only an do not set the least value on what i do or the least on what i do not as if i pretended to settle any thing as true or false i all no facts are to me sacred none are profane i simply experiment an endless r with no past at my back yet this incessant movement and which all things partake could never become sensible to us but by contrast to some principle of or in the soul whilst the eternal generation of circles proceeds the eternal that central life is somewhat superior to creation superior to knowledge and thought and contains all its circles for ever it labors to create a life and thought as large and excellent as itself but in vain for that which is made bow to make a better thus there is no sleep no pause no preservation but all things renew and spring why should we import rags and relics into the new hour nature the old and old age seems the only disease all others run into this one we call it by many names fever insanity stupid ity and crime they are all forms of old age they are rest not new ness not the way onward we every day i see no need of it whilst we converse with what is above us we do not grow old but grow young infancy youth with b at x eye looking upward counts itself nothing and itself to the instruction flowing firom all sides but the man and woman of seventy to know all they have their hope they accept the actual for the necessary and talk down to the young let them then become organs of the holy ghost let them be lovers let them behold truth and their eyes are uplifted their wrinkles smoothed they are again with hope and power this old age ought not to creep on a human mind in nature every moment is new the past is always swallowed and forgotten the coming only is sacred nothing is secure but life transition the spirit no love can be bound by oath or to secure it against a higher love no truth so sublime but it may be trivial to morrow in the light of new thoughts people wish to be settled only as far as tliey are unsettled is there any hope for them life is a series of surprises we do not guess to day the mood the pleasure the power of tomorrow when we are building up our being of lower states of acts of routine and sense we can tell somewhat but the of god the total and universal movements of the soul be they are i can know that truth is divine and but how it shall help me i can have no guess for so to be is the sole of circles sh l to know the new position of the advancing man has all the powers of the old yet has them all new it carries in its bosom all the energies of the past yet is itself an of the morning i cast away in this new moment | 37 |
all my once knowledge as vacant and now for the first time seem i to know any thing rightly the simplest words we do not know what they mean except when we love and the difference between talents and character is to keep the old and trodden round and power and courage to make a new road to new and better character makes an overpowering present a cheerful determined hour which all the company by making them see that much is possible and excellent that was not thought of character the impression of particular events when we see the conqueror we do not think much of any one battle or success we see that we had exaggerated the difficulty it was easy to him the great man is not or events pass over him without much impression people say sometimes see what i have overcome see how cheerful i am see how completely i have over these black events not if they still remind ine of the black event true conquest is the causing the calamity to fade and disappear as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and b sat x the one thing which we seek with desire is to forget ourselves to be surprised out of our propriety to lose our and to do something without knowing how or why in short to draw a new circle nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm the way of life is wonderful it is by the great moments of history are the of performance through the strength of ideas as the works of genius and religion a man said never rises so high as when he knows not whither be is going dreams and the use of and are the semblance and of this genius and hence their dangerous attraction for men for the like reason they ask the aid of wild passions as in and war to in some manner these flames and of the heart f intellect y go the of on to their shining the broad his seed the wheat thou st be souls y essay xi intellect substance is electric to that which stands above it in the tables positively to that which stands below it water wood and iron and salt air water electric fire air but the intellect fire gravity laws method and the relations of nature in its intellect lies behind genius which is intellect is the simple power to all action or construction gladly would i in calm degrees a natural history of the intellect but what man has yet been able to mark the steps and boundaries of that transparent essence the first questions are always to be asked and the wisest doctor is by the of a child how can we speak of the action of the mind under any divisions as of its knowledge of its of its works and so forth since it will perception es at xl edge into act each becomes the other alone is its vision is not like the vision of the ere but is union with the things known intellect and signify to the ea consideration of abstract truth i he considerations of time and place of you and me of profit and hurt ever most men s minds intellect the fact considered from you from all local and personal reference and it as if it existed for its own sake looked upon the affections as dense and colored mists in the fog of good and evil affections it is hard for man to walk forward in a straight line intellect is void of affection and sees an object as it stands in the light of science cool and disengaged the intellect goes out of the individual over its personality and regards it as a fact and not as and mine he who is in wliat concerns person or place cannot see the problem of existence this the intellect always nature shows all things formed and bound the intellect the form the wall likeness between remote things and all things into a few principles the making a fact the subject of thought raises it all that mass of and moral phenomena which we do not make objects of thought the power of fortune they constitute the of daily life they are subject to o fear and hope every man his human condition with a degree of as a ship is battered by the waves so man in mortal life lies open to the mercy of coming events but a truth separated by the intellect is lo longer a subject of destiny we behold it as a d above care and fear and so any n our life or any record of our fancies or from the web of our unconscious becomes an object and immortal t is the past restored but a better art than that of egypt has taken fear and corruption of it it is of care it is offered for science what is addressed to us for contemplation does not threaten us but makes us intellectual be the growth of the is spontaneous in every the mind that grows could not the times the means the mode of that god enters by a private door into every individual long prior to the age of reflection is the of the mind out of darkness it came into the marvellous light of to day in the period of in it accepted and disposed of all impressions from the surrounding creation after its own way whatever any mind doth or is after a law and native law remains over it after it has come to essay reflection or conscious thought in the most won self s life the est part is by him and must be until he can take himself up br b own ears what am what has my will make me that i am nothing i have been into this thought this | 37 |
hour this connection of events by secret currents of might and mind and my and have not have aided to an degree our spontaneous action is always the best too cannot with your best deliberation and heed come so close to any question as your spontaneous glance shall bring you whilst you rise from your bed or walk abroad in the morning after meditating the matter before sleep on the previous night our thinking is a pious reception our truth of thought if therefore as much by too violent given by our will as by too great we do not determine what we will think we only open our senses clear away as we can all from the fact and suffer the intellect to see we have little control over our thoughts we are the prisoners of ideas they catch us up for moment into their heaven and so fully engage us that we take no thought for the morrow gaze like children an effort to make them our own by and by ve fall out of that rapture us where we hare intellect been what we have seen and repeat as truly as we can what we have beheld as far as we can recall these we carry away in the memory the result and all men and all the ages con firm it it is called truth but the moment we cease to report and attempt to correct and contrive it is not truth k we consider what persons have stimulated and v us we shall perceive the superiority of the spontaneous or principle over the or logical the first contains the second but s and latent we want in every man a long b logic we cannot pardon the absence of it but it must not be spoken logic is the procession or b of the but its is as silent method the moment it would appear as and have a separate value it is worthless in every man s mind some images words and facts remain without effort on his part to them which others forget and afterwards these illustrate to him important laws all our progress is an like the vegetable bud you have first an instinct then an opinion then a knowledge as the plant has root bud and fruit trust the instinct to the end though you can render no reason it is vain to hurry it by trusting it to the end it shall into truth and you shall know why you believe a each mind has its own a true man after college rules what you have in a natural manner surprises and delights it is produced for we cannot each secret and hence the differences between natural are insignificant in con wi h their common wealth do you think the and tlie cook have no anecdotes no experiences wonders for you ever body knows as much as the the walls of rude minds are all over with facts with thoughts they shall day bring a lantern and read the every man in the degree in which he has wit and culture finds his curiosity concerning the modes of living and thinking of other men and especially of those classes whose minds have not been subdued hj the of school education this instinctive action never ceases in a mind but becomes and more frequent in ii h all states of culture at i comes the era of reflection when we not observe but take pains to observe when we of se purpose sit down to consider an abstract truth when we keep the mind s eye open whilst we converse whilst we read whilst we act intent to learn the se law of some class of facts wliat is the in the world to think would put myself in the attitude to look in ihe eye abstract truth and i cannot i and witb ii draw on this side and on that i seem to know ib meant who said no man can see ood face to fi ce and live for example a man the f basis of civil government let him intend his mind i without without rest in one direction his ji best heed long time him nothing yet thoughts f are flitting before him we all but apprehend we i dimly the truth we say i will walk abroad j and the truth will take form and clearness to me i we go forth but cannot find it it seems as if we needed only the stillness and composed attitude of the library to seize the thought but we come in id are as far from it as at first then in a moment id the truth appears a certain wandering light appears and is the distinction the we wanted but the comes because we had previously laid siege to the shrine it seems as if the law of the resembled that law of nature by which we now inspire now the breath by which the heart now draws m then out the blood the law of so now you must labor with your brains and now you must forbear your activity and see what the great sod the immortality of man is as preached from the as from the moral is mainly its e sat xi ent value is its least inspect what delights p in in each s that a writer is a lantern which be turns iii on what facts and thoughts lay in his um and behold all the and rubbish which had ic his garret become precious every in his private biography becomes an illustration of tis new principle the day and delights all by its and new charm men say did he get this and think there was in his life but no they have of facts just as good would they only get a lamp to their withal we are all wise the difference | 37 |
between persons is not in wisdom but in art i knew in an club a person who always deferred to me who seeing my whim for writing fancied that my experiences had somewhat superior whilst i saw that his experiences were as good as mine give them to me and i would make the same use of them he held the old he holds the new i had the habit of together the old and the new which he did not use to exercise this may hold in the great examples perhaps if we should meet we should not be conscious of any steep inferiority no but of a great equality only that he possessed a strange skill of using of his facts which we lacked for notwithstanding our utter intellect m to produce any thing like hamlet and ee the perfect reception this wit and immense of life and liquid eloquence find in us all if you gather apples in the sunshine or make hay r com and then retire within doors and shut eyes and press them with your hand you shall see apples hanging in the bright light with boughs md leaves or the grass or the corn bags and this for five or six hours afterwards there lie the impressions on the organ though you knew it not so lies the whole series of natural images with which your life has made you acquainted in your memory though you know it not and a thrill of passion flashes light on their dark chamber and the active power instantly the fit image as the word of its momentary thought it is long ere we discover how rich we are our history we are sure is quite tame we have nothing to write nothing to infer but our wiser years still run back to the despised recollections of childhood and always we are fishing up some wonderful article out of that pond until by and by we begin to suspect that the biography of the one foolish person we know is in reality nothing less than the miniature of the hundred volumes t f the universal history in the intellect which we by the word genius we observe the same essay xi balance of two elements as in intellect t tlie intellect produces thoughts em poems plans designs systems it is the of the mind the marriage of thought to genius must always go two gifts the and the publication the first is revelation a miracle which no of occurrence or ce study can ever but which n i always leave the stupid with wonder i the advent of truth into the world a form of now for the first time bursting into the universe child of the old eternal soul a piece of genuine ar greatness it seems for the lime inherit all that has yet existed and to dictate to ii it affects every thought of man and s i to fashion every institution but to make it ble it needs a vehicle or art by which it is convey i to men to be it must become ture or sensible object we must learn the r of facts the most wonderful die w h their subject if he has no hand to paint them to r senses the ray of light passes invisible space and only when it falls on an object is it seen when the spiritual energy is directed on s outward then it is a thought the relation it and you first makes you the value of you me the rich genius of the painter be smothered and lost for want of the power of intellect drawing and in our happy hours we should be inexhaustible poets if once we could break through the silence into adequate rhyme as all men have some access to truth so all have some art or power of communication in their head but only in the artist does it descend the hand there is an whose laws we do not yet know a two men and between two moments of the same man in respect to this faculty in common hours we have the same facts as in the uncommon or but they do not sit for their portraits they are not detached but lie in a web the thought of genius is spontaneous but the power of picture or expression in the most enriched and flowing nature a mixture of will a certain control over the spontaneous states without which no production is possible it is a of all nature into the of thought under the eye of judgment with a exercise of choice and yet the imaginative seems to be spontaneous i o it does not flow from experience only or mainly but from a richer source not by any conscious imitation of particular forms are the grand strokes of the painter executed but by to the fountain head of all forms in his mind who is the first drawing master without instruction we know very well the ideal of the human form a child knows if an arm or a leg be distorted in a picture if the attitude be natural xi si grand or mean though he has never received in drawing or heard any a tlie subject nor can himself draw with i single feature a good form strikes all i long before they have any science od the k and a beautiful face sets twenty hearts in i tion prior to all consideration of the mechanical pro portions of the features and head we may owe ic dreams some light on the fountain of this skill for as soon as we let our will go and let tlie states see what cunning we are i we entertain ourselves with f of of women of animals of gardens of woods aod of monsters and tlie mystic pencil wherewith we then draw has no awkwardness or no | 37 |
or poverty it can design well and group well its composition is full of art its colors are laid on and tlie whole canvas which it b and apt to touch us terror with tenderness with desire and with grief neither are the artist s copies from experience ever mere copies but always touched and softened by tints from this ideal domain the conditions essential to a mind do not appear to be so often combined but that a good sentence or verse remains fresh and memorable for a long time yet when we write with ease and come out into the free air of thought we seem to be u intellect mt that nothing is easier than to continue this communication at pleasure up down around the kingdom of thought has no but the muse makes us free of her city well the world has a million writers one would think then that good thought would be as familiar as air and water and the gifts of each new hour would the last yet we can count all our good books nay i remember any beautiful verse for twenty years it is true tliat the intellect of the world is always much in advance of the so that there are many competent judges of the best book and few writers of the best books but some of the conditions of intellectual construction are of rare occurrence the intellect is a whole and demands integrity in every work this is resisted equally by a man s devotion to a single thought and by his ambition to combine too truth is our element of life yet if a man fasten his attention on a single aspect of truth and himself to that alone for a long time the truth becomes distorted and not itself but falsehood resembling the air which is our natural element and the breath of our nostrils but if a stream of the same be directed on the body for a time it causes cold fever and even death how wearisome the the the political or religious fit or indeed any possessed mortal whose is lost by the exaggeration of a single topic it is insanity every thought is a prison also i cannot see what you see because i ana q by a strong wind and blown so far in one that i am out of the of your horizon is it any better if the student to avoid this and to himself aims to make a mechanical whole of history or science or philosophy by i addition of all the facts that fall his vision the world refuses to be by addition and when we are young we much time and pains in filling our note books all of religion love poetry politics art in the hope that in the course of a few year we shall have into our the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived but year after year our tables get no completeness and at last we discover that our curve is a whose will never meet neither by neither by is the of the intellect to its but by a vigilance which brings the in its greatness and best state to operate every moment it must have tlie same which nature has although no can the universe in a model by the best or disposition of de tails yet does the world in miniature in every event so that all the laws of nature may be mb in the smallest fact the intellect must have lie like perfection in its apprehension and in its foe this an index or of is the perception of identity e talk with accomplished persons who appear to ye strangers in nature the cloud the tree the the bird are not theirs have nothing of them world is only their lodging and table but the poet whose verses are to be and complete is one whom nature cannot deceive whatsoever face f strangeness she may put on he feels a strict and more likeness than variety in all her changes we are stung by the desire for dew thought but when we receive a new thought it is only the old thought with a new face and thou we make it our own we instantly another we are not really enriched for the truth was in us before it was reflected to us from natural objects and tlie profound genius will cast the likeness of all creatures into every product of his wit but if the powers are rare and it is given to few men to be poets yet every man is a of this descending holy ghost and may well study the laws of its exactly parallel is the whole rule of intellectual duty to the rule of moral duty a self denial no less austere than the saint si is demanded of the scholar he must worship truth and forego all things for that and choose defeat and xi pain so that his treasure in thought is thereby god offers to its choice between and repose take which you please jou cm never have both between these as a man he in whom the love of repose will accept the first creed the first the first political party he meets most like i ly his father s he gets rest and but he the door of truth he in whom the love of truth keep himself aloof from all and afloat he will i from and recognize all the opposite between which as walls his being is swung he to the inconvenience of suspense and imperfect opinion but he is a candidate for truth is the other is not and respects the highest law of us being the circle of the green earth he must measure will his shoes to find the man who can yield him truth he shall then | 37 |
know that there is somewhat more blessed and great in hearing than in speaking happy is the hearing man unhappy the man as long as t hear truth i am bathed by a beautiful element and am not conscious of any limits to my nature the suggestions are that i ar and see the waters of the great deep bare ri ss and to die soul but if i speak i da fine i confine and am less when speaks and are afflicted by no shame that tbey do not speak they also are good he likewise to them loves them whilst he speaks because a true and natural man contains and is the same truth which an eloquent man but in the eloquent man because he can articulate it it seems something the less to reside and he turns to these silent beautiful with the more inclination and respect the ancient sentence said let us be silent for so are the gods silence is a that personality and gives us leave to be great and universal every man s progress is through a succession of teachers each of whom seems at the time to have a influence but it at last gives place to a new frankly let him accept it all says leave father mother house and lands and follow me who leaves all receives more this is as true as morally each new mind we approach seems to require an of all our past and present possessions a new doctrine seems at first a of all our opinions tastes and manner of living such has such has such has such has or his cousin seemed to many young men in this country take and heartily all they can give them with them let them not go until their blessing be won and after a short essay xi season the dismay will be the excess d withdrawn and they will be no longer a alarming but one more bright star shining s in your heaven and its light with ae your day but whilst he gives himself up to thai which draws him because that is bis own be is tc refuse himself to that which draws him not whatsoever fame and authority may attend it because it is not his own entire self reliance belongs to the intellect one soul is a of all as a column of water is a balance for the set it must treat things and hooks and sovereign genius as itself also a sovereign if be that man he is taken for he has not yet done bis office when he has educated the learned of europe for a thousand years he is now to approve himself a master of delight to me also if he cannot do that all his fame shall avail him nothing with me i were a fool not to sacrifice a thousand to my intellectual integrity especially take the same ground in regard to abstract truth the science of the mind the bacon the the or to you a philosophy of the mind is only a more or less awkward of things in your consciousness which you have your way of seeing perhaps of then instead of too timidly into his obscure intellect ms that he has not succeeded in rendering back to jou your consciousness he has not succeeded now let another try if cannot perhaps will if cannot then perhaps anyhow when at last it is done you will find it is no but a simple natural common state which the writer to you but let us end i will not though the subject might provoke it speak to the open question between truth and love i shall not presume to interfere in the old politics of the skies the know most the love most the gods shall settle their own quarrels but i cannot even thus rudely laws of the intellect without remembering that lofty and class of men who have been its and the high of the pure reason the the of the principles of thought from age to age when at long intervals we turn over their pages wonderful seems the calm and grand air of these few these great spiritual lords who have walked in the world these of the old religion dwelling in a worship which makes the of christianity look and popular for persuasion is in soul but necessity is in intellect this band of and the rest have somewhat so vast in their logic so b sat xi in their thinking that it seems to all the ordinary of and literature and to be at once poetry and music and dancing and and i am present at the of the seed of the world with a of the soul lays the foundations of nature the truth and grandeur of their thought is proved by its scope and for it the entire and of things for its illustration but what marks its elevation and has even a comic look to us is the innocent serenity with which these babe like sit in their clouds and from age to age to each other and to no contemporary well assured that their speech is and the most natural thing in the world they add to without a moment s of the universal astonishment of the human race below who do not comprehend their argument nor do they ever so much as to a popular or explaining sentence nor testify the least displeasure or at the of their amazed the angels are so of the language that is spoken in heaven that they will not their lips with the hissing and of men but speak their own whether there be any who understand it or not art to and pane grace and glimmer of romance bring the moonlight into noon hid in gleaming piles of stone on the paved street plant gardens lined with sweet let | 37 |
the air singing in the san let statue picture park and hall ballad flag and the past restore the day adorn and make each morrow a new so shall the in dusty spy behind the city clock of airy kings skirts of angels wings his shining in bright hb children fed at tables t is the privilege of art thus to play its part man in earth to and bend the exile to his and of one element with the days and teach him on these as stairs to and live on even terms with time whilst upper life the slender of human sense doth life essay xii art because the soul is it never quite itself but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole this appears in works both of the useful and the fine arts if we employ the popular distinction of works according to their aim either at use or beauty thus in our fine arts not imitation but creation is the aim in the painter should give the suggestion of a fair creation than we know the details the prose of nature he should omit and give us only the spirit and splendor he should know that the landscape has beauty for his eye because it expresses a thou t which is to him good and this because the same power which sees through his eyes b seen in that spectacle and he wiu come to value the expression of nature and not nature itself and so in us copy the features that please him he will give the g of gloom and the sunshine of sunshine in essay xii a portrait he must the character and not the features and must esteem the man who sits to him as himself only an imperfect picture or of the original within what is that and selection we in all spiritual activity but itself the impulse for it is the of that higher which teaches to convey a larger sense by what is a man but nature s finer in self what is a man but a finer and landscape than the horizon figures s and what is his speech his lore of painting love of nature but a still finer success all the weary miles and tons of space and bulk left out and the spirit or moral of it contracted a musical word or the most cunning stroke of the pencil but the artist must employ the in use m his day and nation to convey his d sense to his fellow men thus the new in art is always formed out of the old the genius of the hour sets his seal on the work and gives it an charm for the imagination as r as the spiritual character of the period the artist and finds expression in his work so far it will retain a certain grandeur and will represent to future the unknown the inevitable the divine no man can quite this element of necessity i art from his labor no man can quite himself from his age and country or produce a model in the education the religion the politics and arts of his times shall have no share though he were never so original never so wilful and fantastic he cannot wipe out of his work every trace of the thoughts amidst which it grew the very the usage he above his will and out of his sight he is by the air he breathes and the idea on which he and bis live and toil to share the manner of his times without knowing what that manner is now that which is inevitable in the work has a higher charm than individual talent can ever give inasmuch as the artist s pen or seems to have been held and guided by a gigantic hand to a line in the history of the human race this circumstance gives a value to the egyptian to the indian chinese and however gross and they the height of the human soul in that hour and were not fantastic but sprung from a necessity as deep as the world shall i now add that the whole product of the arts has its highest value as history as a stroke drawn in the portrait of that fate perfect and beautiful according to whose all beings advance to their thus viewed it has been the office essay xii of art to the perception of beauty we in but our eyes hav e no clear vision it needs by the exhibition of single traits to and lead the taste we and paint or we behold what is carved and painted as students of the mystery of form the virtue of art lies in in one object from the embarrassing variety until one thing comes out from the connection of things there can be enjoyment but no thought our happiness and are the infant lies in a pleasing trance but his individual character and his practical power depend on his daily progress in separation of things and dealing with one at a time and all the passions all existence around a single form it is the habit of certain to give an all to the object the thought the word they alight upon and to make that for the time the of the world these are the artists the tlie leaders of society the power to and to by is the essence of in tlie hands of the orator and tlie poet this or power to fix the momentary of an object so remarkable in in in tlie painter and exhibit in color and in stone the power depends on the depth of the artist s insight of that object he for every object has its roots at ml ui central nature and of course be so exhibited to us as to represent the world therefore each work of genius | 37 |
is the tyrant of the hour and con attention on itself for the time it is the only thing worth to do that be it a an opera a landscape a statue an the plan of a temple of a campaign or of a voyage of discovery we pass to some other object which rounds itself into a whole as did the first for example a well laid garden and nothing worth doing but the laying out of gardens i should think fire the best thing in the world if i were not acquainted with air and water and earth for it is the right and property of all natural objects of ao genuine talents of all native properties whatsoever to be for their moment the top of the world a leaping from bough to bough and making the wood but one wide tree for his pleasure fills the eye not less than a lion is beautiful self and stands then and there for nature a good draws my ear and heart whilst i listen as much as an has done before a dog drawn by a master or a litter of pigs and is a reality not less than the of from this sion of excellent objects we learn at last the of the world the of which can run out to in any but i also learn that what and xii me in the first work astonished me id the second work also that excellence of all things is one the office of painting and seems to be merely the best pictures can tell us their last secret the best pictures are rude draughts of a few of the miraculous and lines and which make up the ever changing landscape figures amidst which we dwell painting seems to be to the eye what dancing is to the that has educated the to self possession lo to grace the steps of the are better forgotten so teaches me the splendor of color and the expression of form and u i see many pictures and higher genius in the an i see the boundless of the pencil the in which tlie artist stands to choose out of the possible forms k he can draw every thing why draw any thing and then is my eye opened to the eternal picture which nature in the street with moving men and children beggars and fine ladies draped in red and green and and gray white faced wrinkled giant dwarf expanded and based by heaven earth and sea a of teaches more the same lesson as picture teaches the so tlie of form when i have sees statues and afterwards enter a public i understand well what be who i b en reading all men look like i too see that painting and are of the eye its training to the and of its there is no statue this living man with his infinite advantage over all ideal of perpetual variety what a gallery of art have i here n made these varied groups and original sin figures here is the artist himself grim and glad at his now one strikes him now another and with each moment he the whole air attitude and of his clay away with your nonsense of oil and of and except ft your eyes to the of art they are the reference of all at last to ad power explains die traits to ah of the highest art that they are that they restore io us simplest states ct mind and are since skill id shown is the of the original soul a of pure li t it produce a similar to that made by natural fo happy nature appears to us one art die of and ths when simple tastes and td ar the great t ye we r the ne ot t liad mt sm xii special culture is the best critic of art we travel the world over to find the beautiful we must carry it with us or we find it not the best of is a finer charm than skill in in outlines or rules of art can ever teach a from the work of art of human character a wonderful expression through stone or canvas or musical sound of the deepest and simplest attributes of our nature and therefore most intelligible at last to those which have these attributes in the of the in the of the and in the pictures of the and masters the highest charm is the universal language they speak a confession of moral nature of purity love and hope breathes from them all that which we to them the same we bring back more illustrated in the memory the traveller who visits the and passes from chamber to chamber through galleries of statues and through all forms of beauty cut in the richest materials is in danger of forgetting the simplicity of the principles out of which they all sprung and that had their origin from thoughts and laws in his own breast he studies the rules on these wonderful remains but forgets that these works were not always thus that they are the of many ages and many countries that each came out of the solitary of one who perhaps in ignorance of the of other created his work without other model save household life and the sweet and smart of relations of beating hearts and eyes of poverty and necessity and hope and fear these were his and these are the effects he carries home to your heart and mind in proportion to his force the artist will find in his work an outlet for his proper character he must not be in any manner pinched or by his material but through his necessity of himself the will be wax in his hands and will allow an adequate communication of himself in his full stature and proportion he need not | 37 |
himself with a conventional nature and culture nor ask what is the mode in rome or in paris but that house and weather and manner of living which poverty and the fate of birth have made at once so odious and so dear in the gray wood cabin on the cot ner of a new farm or in the log hut of the or in the narrow lodging where he endured the and seeming of a city poverty will serve as well as any other condition as the symbol of a thought which itself through all i remember when in my younger days i had heard of the wonders of italian painting i fancied the great pictures would be great strangers some essay combination of color and form a foreign wonder pearl and gold like the and standards of the which play such in the and of school boys i was to see acquire i knew not what when i came at last ic rome and saw with eyes the pictures i found genius left to the gay and fantastic and and itself pierced directly to the simple and true that it was familiar and sincere that it was the old eternal fact i had met already in so many forms unto which i lived that it was the plain you and me i knew so well had left at home in so many conversations i had the same experience already in a church at there i saw thai nothing was changed with me but the place and said to myself thou foolish child hast thou come out hither over four thousand miles of water ii find that which was perfect to thee there at home r that fact i saw again in the at in the chambers of and yet when i came to rome and to the paintings of and da what old thou in the earth so fast it had travelled bv my side that which i fancied i had left in boston was here in the and at and at paris and made all travelling as a i now require this of all pictures that they ine not tiiat they me pictures must not be too nothing men so much as common sense and dealing all great actions have been simple and au great pictures are the hj is an eminent example of this peculiar merit a beauty shines over all picture and goes directly to the heart it seems almost to call you by name the sweet and sublime face of is beyond praise yet bow it all expectations familiar simple home speaking countenance is as if meet a friend the knowledge of has its value but listen not to their criticism when your heart is touched by genius it was not painted for them it was painted for you for such as had eyes capable of being touched by simplicity and lofty emotions yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts we must end with a frank confession that the arts as we know them are but our best praise is given to what they aimed and not to the actual result he has conceived of the resources of man who believes that the best age of production is past the real value of the or the is as signs of power or they are of the stream of tendency tokens of the everlasting to produce which even in its worst estate the soul art has not jet essay xii come to its maturity if it do not put itself abreast with the most potent influences of the world if it is not practical and moral if it do not stand in with the conscience if it do not make the poor and feel that it addresses them a voice of lofty cheer there is higher work for art than the arts they are of u imperfect or instinct art is the need lo create but in its essence immense and universal it is impatient of working with lame or tied hands and of making and monsters such as all pictures and statues are nothing less than the creation of man and nature is its end a man should find in it an for his whole energy he may paint and only as long as he can do that art should and tlie walls of circumstance on every side awakening in the the same sense of universal relation and power which tlie evinced in the artist and its highest effect is to make new artists already history is old enough to witness the old age and disappearance of particular arts the art of is long ago perished to any real effect it was originally a useful art a mode of writing a savage s record of gratitude or devotion and among a people possessed of a wonderful perception of form this childish carving was refined to the utmost of effect but it is the game of a rude and and not the manly labor of a w e aad al nation under an oak tree loaded and nuts under a sky full of eternal eyes i in a but m the works of our and especially of creation is a corner i cannot hide from myself that is a certain appearance of as of toys le of a theatre in nature ends all our moods of thought and its secret not yet find but the gallery stands at the of our moods and there is a moment when it les frivolous i do not wonder that in attention habitually engaged on the paths of s and should have wondered what the earl found to admire in stone ture may serve to teach the pupil how deep is of form how purely the spirit can into that eloquent dialect but the statue ok cold and false before that new activity which to roll through all things and | 37 |
dependence of form upon soul there is no ine of forms in our philosophy we were put into bodies as fire is put a pan essay i to be carried about but there is no accurate between the spirit and the organ much less is the latter the of the former so in regard to other forms the intellectual men do not believe in any essential dependence of the material world on thought and think it a pretty air castle to talk of the spiritual meaning of a ship or a cloud of a city or a contract but they prefer to come again to the solid ground of historical evidence and even the poets are contented with a civil and manner of living and to write poems from the fancy at a safe distance from their own experience but the highest minds of the world have never ceased to explore the double meaning or shall i say the or the or much more manifold meaning of every fact and the masters of picture and poetry for we are not and nor even of the fire and torch but children of the fire made of it and only the same divinity and at two or three when we know least about it and this hidden truth that the fountains when all this river of time and its creatures are ideal and beautiful draws us to the consideration of the nature and functions of the poet or the the poet man of beauty to the means and materials he uses and to the general aspect of the art in the present time the of the problem is great for the poet is representative he stands among partial for the complete man and us not of his wealth but of the the young man men of genius because to speak truly they are more himself than he is they receive of the soul as he also receives but they more nature her beauty to the eye of loving men from their belief that the poet is beholding her shows at the same time he is isolated among his by truth and by his art but with this consolation in his pursuits that they will draw all men sooner or later for all men live by truth and stand in need of expression in love in art in in politics in labor in games we study to utter our painful secret the man is only half himself the other half is his expression notwithstanding this necessity to be published adequate expression is rare i know not how it is that we need an but the great majority of men seem to be who have not yet come into possession of their own or who cannot report the conversation they have had with nature there is no man who i does not anticipate a utility in the sun and stars earth and water these stand and wait to render him a peculiar service but there is some or some excess of in our constitution which does not suffer them to yield the due effect too feeble fall the impressions of nature on us to make us artists every touch should thrill every man should be so much an artist that he could report in conversation what had befallen him in our experience the rays or have sufficient force to arrive at the senses but not enough to reach the quick and compel the of themselves in speech the poet is the person in whom these powers are in balance the man without who sees and handles that which others of the whole scale of experience and is representative of man in virtue oi being the largest power to receive and to impart for the universe has three children born at his time which under different names in every system of thought whether they be called cause operation and effect or more jove or the the spirit and the son but which we will call here the the and the these stand for the love of truth for the love of good and for the love of beauty these three the poet are equal each is that which he is essentially so he cannot be surmounted or and each of these has the power of the others latent in him and his own patent the poet is the the and represents beauty he is a sovereign and stands on the centre for the world is not painted or adorned but is from the beginning beautiful and god has not made some beautiful things but beauty is the creator of the universe therefore the poet is not any but is in his own right criticism is with a cant of which that manual skill and activity is the first merit of all men and such as say and do not overlooking the fact that some men namely poets are natural sa sent into the world to the end of expression and them with those whose province is tion but who quit it to imitate the but s words are as costly and admirable to as s are to the poet does not wait for the hero or the sage but as they act and think so he writes what will and must be spoken reckoning the others though also yet in respect to him and servants as or models in the of a painter cr as who bring building materials to an essay i for poetry was all written before time was and whenever we are so finely organized that we can penetrate into that region where the air is music we hear those and attempt to write them down but we lose ever and anon a word or a verse and substitute something of our own and thus the poem the men of more delicate ear write down these more faithfully and these though imperfect become the songs of the nations for nature is as | 37 |
truly beautiful as it is good or as it is reasonable and must as much appear as it must be done or be known words and deeds are quite indifferent modes of the divine energy words are also actions and actions are a kind of words the sign and of the poet are that he that which no man foretold he is the true and only doctor he knows and tells he is the only of news for he was present and to the appearance which he describes he is a of ideas and an of the necessary and for we do not speak now of men of poetical talents or of industry and skill in but of the true poet i took part in a conversation the other day concerning a recent writer of a man of subtle mind whose head appeared to be a music box of delicate tunes and and whose skill and command of language we the poet could not sufficiently praise but when the question arose whether he was not only a but a poet we were obliged to confess that he is plainly a contemporary lot an eternal man he does not stand out of our low like a under the line running up from a base through all the of the globe with of the of every latitude on its high and sides but this genius is the landscape garden of a modern house adorned with fountains and statues with well bred men and women standing and sitting in the walks and we hear through all the varied music the ground tone of conventional life our poets are men of talents who sing and not the children of music the is secondary the finish of the verses is for it is not but a making argument that makes a poem a thought so passionate and alive that like the spirit of a plant or an animal it has an architecture of its own and nature with a new thing the thought and the form are equal in the order of time but in the order of the thought is prior to the form the poet has a new thought he has a whole new experience to he will tell us how it was with him and all men will be the richer in his fortune for the experience of each new age requires a new confession and he world seems always i waiting its poet i remember when i was how much i was moved one morning by tidings that genius had appeared in a youth who sat near me at table he had left his work and gone rambling none knew whither and had written hundreds of lines but could not tell whether that which was in him was therein told he could tell nothing but that all was changed man beast heaven earth and sea how gladly we listened how society seemed to be we sat in the of a sunrise which was to put out all the stars boston seemed to be at twice the distance it had the night before or was much farther than that rome what was rome and were in the yellow leaf and no more should be heard it is much to know that poetry has been written this very day under this very roof by your side what that wonderful spirit has not expired i these stony moments are still sparkling and animated i had fancied that the were all silent and nature had spent her fires and behold i all night from every pore these fine have been streaming every one has some interest in the advent of the poet and no one knows how much it may concern him we know that the secret of the world is profound but who or what shall be our we know not a v the tain a new style of face a new person may put the key into our hands of course the value of genius to us is in the of its report talent may and genius and adds mankind in good earnest have availed so far in understanding themselves and their work that the foremost on the peak his news it is the truest word ever spoken and the phrase will be the most musical and the voice of the world for that time all we call sacred history that the birth of a poet is the principal event in man never so often deceived still watches for the arrival of a brother who can hold him steady to a truth until he has made it his own with what j w i begin to read a poem which i confide in as fm inspiration and now my chains are to be broken i shall mount above these clouds and airs in which i live though they seem transparent and from the heaven of truth i shall see and comprehend my relations that will reconcile me to life and nature to see trifles animated by a tendency and to know what i am doing life will no more be a noise now i shall see men and women and know the signs by which they may be discerned from fools and this day shall be better than my birthday then i became an animal now i am invited into the science essay i of the real such is the hope but the is postponed oftener it falls that this winged man who will carry me into the heaven me into mists then leaps and about with me as it were from cloud to cloud still that he is bound and i being myself a am slow in perceiving that he does not know the way into the heavens and is merely bent that i should admire his skill to rise like a fowl or a flying fish a little way from the ground or the water but | 37 |
the all piercing all feeding and air of heaven hat man shall never i tumble down again soon into my old and lead the life of as before and have lost my faith in the possibility of any guide who can lead me thither where i would be but leaving these victims of vanity let us w new hope observe how nature by impulses has the poet s fidelity to his office of and namely by the beauty of things which becomes a new and higher beauty when expressed nature offers all her creatures to him as a picture language being used as a type a second wonderful value appears in the object far better than its old value as the carpenter s stretched cord if you hold your ear close enough is musical in the breeze things more excellent than every image says are expressed through images things admit tbe t of being used as because nature is a symbol in the whole and in very part every line we can draw in the sand has expression and there is no body without its spirit or genius all form is an effect of character all condition of the quality of the life all harmony of health and for this reason a perception of beauty should be s pathetic or proper only to the good the rests on the foundations of the necessary the soul makes the body as the wise teaches so every spirit as it is more pure and hath in it the more of heavenly light so it the body doth procure to habit in and it more with cheerful grace and amiable sight of the soul the body form doth take for soul is form and doth the body make here we find ourselves suddenly not in a critical speculation but in a holy place and should go very and reverently we stand secret of the world there where being passes into appearance and unity into variety the universe is the of the soul wherever the life is that bursts into appearance around it our science is and therefore superficial the earth and the heavenly bodies and we treat as if they were self but these are the of essay i that being we have the mighty heaven said in its clear images of the splendor of intellectual being moved in with the periods of intellectual natures therefore science always goes abreast with the just elevation of the man keeping step with religion and or the state of science is an index of our since every thing in nature answers to a moral power if any phenomenon remains brute and dark it is because the corresponding faculty in the observer is not yet active no wonder then if these waters be so deep that w e over them with a religious regard the beauty of the fable proves the importance of the sense to the poet and to all others or if you please every man is so far a poet as to be susceptible of these of nature for all men have the thoughts whereof the universe is the i find that the fascination in the symbol who loves nature who does not is it poets and men of leisure and cultivation who live with her no but also hunters farmers and though they express their affection in their choice of life and not in their choice of words the writer wonders what the coachman or the hunter in riding in horses and dogs it is not superficial qualities when the yon talk with him he holds these at as slight a rate as you his worship is sympathetic he has no but he is commanded in nature by the living power which he feels to be there present no imitation or playing of these things would content him he loves the earnest of the north wind of rain of stone and wood iron a beauty not is dearer than a beauty which we can see to the end of it is nature the symbol nature the supernatural body by life which he with coarse but sincere rites the and mystery of this attachment drive men of every class to the use of the schools of poets and philosophers are not more with their than the with theirs in our political parties the power of and see the great ball which they roll from to hill in the political goes in a loom and in a shoe and in a sh p witness the barrel the log cabin the the and all the of party see the power of national some stars lilies a a lion an eagle or other figure which came into credit god knows how on an old rag of blowing in the wind on a fort ai the ends of the earth shall make the blood essay i under or the most conventional exterior the people fancy they hate poetry and they are all poets and beyond this of the language we are of the of this superior use of things whereby the world is a temple whose walls are covered with pictures and of the in this that there is no fact in nature which does not carry the whole sense of nature and the distinctions which we make in events and in affairs of low and high honest and base disappear when nature is used as a symbol thought makes every thing fit for use the of an man would embrace words and images excluded from polite conversation what would be base or even to the becomes illustrious spoken in a new connection of thought the piety of the hebrew their the is an example of the power of poetry to raise the low and offensive small and mean things serve as well as great the the type by which a law is expressed the more it is and the more lasting in the memories of men | 37 |
change and nature does all things by her own hands and does not leave another to her but herself and this through the again i remember that a certain poet described it to me thus genius is the activity which the of things whether wholly or partly of a material and kind nature through all her herself nobody cares for planting the poor so she shakes down from the of one countless any one of which being preserved new of tomorrow or next day the new of this hour has a chance which the old one had not this of seed is thrown into a new place not subject to the accidents which destroyed its parent two rods off she makes a man and having brought him to ripe age she will no longer run the risk of losing this wonder at a blow but she from him a new self that the kind may be safe from accidents to which the individual is exposed so when the soul of the poet has come to of thought she and sends away from it its poems or songs a fearless sleepless which is not exposed to the i accidents of the weary kingdom of time a fearless offspring clad with wings such was the virtue of the soul out of which they came which carry them fast and far and them into the hearts of men these wings are the beauty of the poet s soul the songs thus flying immortal from their mortal parent are pursued by flights of which swarm in far greater numbers and threaten to ur them but these last are not winged at the end of a very short leap they fall plump down and rot having received from the souls out of which they came no beautiful but the of the poet a and leap and pierce into the of infinite time so far the bard taught me using his speech but nature has a higher end in the production of new individuals than security namely or the passage of the soul into higher forms i knew in my younger days the who made the statue of the youth which stands in the garden he was as i remember unable to tell directly what made him happy or unhappy but by wonderful he could tell he rose one day according to his habit before the dawn and saw the morning break grand as the eternity out of which it came and for many days after he strove the poet to express this tranquillity and lo his had out of marble the form of a beautiful youth whose aspect is such that it is said all persons who look on it become silent the poet also himself to his mood and that thought which agitated him is expressed but alter in a manner totally new the expression is or the new type which things themselves take when as in the sun objects paint their images on the of the eye so they sharing the of the whole universe tend to paint a far more delicate copy of their essence in his mind like the of things into higher forms is their change into over everything stands its or soul and as the form of the thing is reflected by the eye so the soul of the thing is reflected by a melody the sea the mountain ridge and every flower bed pre exist or exist in pre which sail like in the air and when any man goes by with an ear sufficiently fine he them and to write down the notes without or them and is the of criticism in the mind s faith that the poems are a corrupt version of some text in nature with which they ought to be made to a rhyme in one of our should not be less pleasing than the of a or e sat i the resembling difference of a group of flowers the of the birds is an not tedious as our are a tempest is a rough without falsehood or a summer with its harvest sown and stored is an song how many admirably executed parts why should not the and truth that these glide into our spirits and we the invention of nature this insight which expresses itself by what is imagination is a very high sort of seeing which does not come by study but by the intellect being where and what it sees by sharing the path or circuit of things through forms and so making them to others the path of things silent will they suffer a speaker to go with them a spy they will not suffer a lover a poet the of their own nature him they will suffer the condition of true on the poet s part is his himself to the divine which breathes through forms and accompanying that it is a secret which every intellectual man quickly that beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect he is capable of a new energy as of an intellect doubled on itself by to the nature of things that beside his privacy of power as an individual man there is a the poet great power which he can draw by at all risks his human doors and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and through him then he is caught up into the life of the his speech is thunder his thought is law and his words are universally intelligible as the plants and animals the poet knows that he speaks then only when he speaks somewhat wildly or with the flower of the mind not with the intellect used as au organ but with the intellect released from all service and suffered to take its from its celestial life or as the were wont to express themselves not with intellect alone but with the intellect by as the traveller who has lost his | 37 |
we our own times an social circumstance if we filled the day with bravery we should not shrink from it time and nature yield us many gifts but not yet the man the new religion the whom all things await s praise is that he dared to write his in colossal or into we have yet had no genius in america with eye which knew the value of our materials and saw in the and of the times another of the same gods whose picture he so much in then in the middle age then in banks and the newspaper and and are flat and dull to dull people the poet but rest on the same foundations of wonder as the town of and the temple of and are as swiftly passing away our our and their politics our our and indians our boats and our the wrath of and the of honest men the northern trade the southern planting the western clearing and are yet yet america is a poem in our eyes its ample geography the imagination and it will not wait long for if i have not found that excellent combination of gifts in my countrymen which i seek neither could i aid myself to fix the idea of the poet by reading now and then in s collection of five centuries of english poets these are wits more than poets though there have been poets among them but when we to the ideal of the poet we have our difficulties even with milton and milton is too literary and too literal and historical but i am not wise enough for a national criticism and must use the old a little longer to discharge my errand from the muse to the poet concerning his art art is the path of the to his work the paths or methods are ideal and eternal though few men ever see them not the artist himself for years or br a lifetime unless he come into the st e conditions the painter the the the the orator all partake one desire namely to express themselves and abundantly not and they found or put themselves in certain conditions as the painter and before some impressive human figures the orator into the assembly of the people and the others in such scenes as each has found exciting to his intellect and each presently feels the new desire he hears a voice he sees a then he is with wonder what herds of hem him in he can no more rest he says with the old painter by god it is in me and must go forth of me he a beauty half seen which flies before him the poet out verses in every solitude most of the things he says are conventional no doubt but by and by he says something which is original and beautiful that charms him he would say nothing else but such things in our way of talking we say that is yours this is mine but the poet knows well that it is not his that it is as strange and beautiful to him as to you he would fain hear the like eloquence at length once having tasted this immortal he cannot have enough of it and as an admirable power exists in these it is of the last importance that these get spoken what a little of all we know is the said what drops of all the sea of our science are up and by what accident it is that these are exposed when so many secrets sleep in nature hence the necessity of speech and song hence these and heart in the orator at the door of the assembly to the end namely that thought may be ejaculated as or word doubt not o poet but persist say it is in me and shall out stand there dumb and and stand and strive until at last rage draw out of thee that dream which every night shows thee is thine own a power all limit and privacy and by virtue of which a man is the conductor of the whole river of nothing walks or or grows or exists which must not in turn arise and walk before him as of his meaning comes he to that power his genius is no longer all the creatures by pairs and by tribes pour into his mind as into a s ark to come forth again to people a new world this is like the stock of air for or for the of our fireplace not a measure of but the entire atmosphere if wanted and therefore the rich poets as and have obviously no limits to their works except the limits pf their lifetime and resemble a mirror carried through the i street ready to render an image of every created thing o poet a new nobility is conferred in groves and pastures and not in castles or by the sword blade any longer the conditions are hard but equal thou shalt leave the world and know the muse only thou shalt not know any longer the times customs graces politics or opinions of men but shalt take all from the muse for the time of towns is from the world by but in nature the universal hours are counted by succeeding tribes of animals and plants and by growth of joy on joy god wills also that thou a manifold and life and that thou be content that others speak for thee others shall be thy gentlemen and shall represent all courtesy and worldly life for thee others shall do the great and actions also thou shalt lie close hid with nature and not be afforded to the or the exchange the world is full of and and this is thine thou must pass for a fool and a for a long season this is the screen and in which pan has protected his | 37 |
well beloved flower and thou shalt be known only to thine own and they shall console thee with tenderest love and thou shalt not be able to the names of thy friends in thy verse for an old shame before the holy ideal the poet a nd this is the reward that the ideal shall be real to thee and the impressions of the actual world shall fall like summer rain copious but troublesome to thy essence thou have the whole land for thy park and the sea for thy bath and without tax and without envy the woods and the rivers thou shalt own and thou shalt possess that wherein others are only tenants and thou land lord air lord wherever snow falls or water flows or birds fly wherever day and night meet in twilight wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds or sown with stars wherever are forms with transparent boundaries wherever are into celestial space wherever is danger and awe and love there is beauty as rain shed for thee and though thou walk the world over thou shalt not be able to find a condition or experience the lords of life the lords of life i saw them pass in their own guise like and unlike and grim use and surprise and dream succession swift and wrongs temperament without a tongue and the of the game without name some to see some to be guessed they marched from east to west little man least of all among the legs of his tall walked about with puzzled look him by the hand dear nature took dearest nature strong and kind whispered darling never mind to morrow they will wear another the founder thou these are thy race essay ii experience do we find ourselves in a series of which we do not know the extremes and believe that it has none we wake and find ourselves on a stair there are stairs below us which we seem to have ascended there are stairs above us many a one which go upward and out of sight but the genius which according to the old belief stands at the door by which we enter and gives us the to drink that we may tell no tales mixed the cup too strongly and we cannot shake off the now at sleep all our lifetime about our eyes as night all day in the boughs of the fir tree all things swim and glitter our life is not so much threatened as our perception we glide through nature and should not know our place again did our birth fall in some fit of and in nature that she was so of her fire and so liberal of her ii experience that it appears to us that we lack the affirmative principle and though we have health and reason yet we have no of spirit for new creation we have enough to live and bring the year about but not an to impart or to invest ah that our genius were a little more of a genius we are like on the lower of a stream when the above them have exhausted the water we too fancy that the upper people must have raised their if any of us knew what we were doing or where we are going then when we think we best know we do not know to day whether we are busy or idle in times when we thought ourselves indolent we have afterwards discovered that much was accomplished and much was begun in us all our days are so while they pass that tis wonderful where or when we ever got anything of this which we call wisdom poetry virtue we never got it on any dated day some heavenly days must have been somewhere like those that won with of the moon that might be bom it is said all looked mean when they were suffered every ship is a romantic object except that we sail in and the romance our vessel and hangs on every o her sail in the horizon our life looks trivial and we to record it men illusion seem tb have learned of the horizon the art of perpetual retreating and reference yonder are rich and my neighbor has fertile meadow but my field says the farmer only holds the world together i quote another man s saying that other himself in the same way and me tis the trick of nature thus to to day a good deal of and somewhere a result slipped in every roof is agreeable to the eye until it is lifted then we find tragedy and moaning women and hard eyed husbands and of and the men ask what s the news as if the old were so bad how many individuals can we count in society how many actions how many opinions so much of our time is preparation so much is routine and so much that the of each man s genius itself to a very few hours the history of literature take the net result of or is a sum of very few ideas and of very few original tales all the rest being of these so in this great society wide lying around us a critical analysis would find very few spontaneous actions it is almost all custom and gross sense there are even few opinions and these seem in the and do not disturb the universal necessity ii experience what is into all disaster it shows as we approach it but there is at last no rough but the most slippery sliding we fall soft on a thought is gentle oyer men s heads walking aloft with tender feet treading k soft people grieve and themselves but it is not half so bad with them as they say there are moods in which we court suffering in the hope that here at | 37 |
least we shall find reality sharp peaks and edges of truth but it turns out tp be and the only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is that like all the rest plays about the surface and never me into the reality for contact with which we would even pay the costly price of sons and lovers was it who found out that bodies never come in contact well souls never touch their objects an sea with silent waves between us and the things we aim at and converse with grief too will make us in the death of my son now more than two years ago i seem to have lost a beautiful estate no more i cannot get it nearer to me if to morrow i should be informed of the illusion of my principal the loss of my property would be a great inconvenience to me perhaps for many years but it would leave me as it found me neither better nor worse so is it with this calamity it does not touch me something which i fancied was a part of me which could not be torn away tearing me nor enlarged without me falls off from me and leaves no it was i grieve that grief can teach me nothing nor carry me one step into real nature the indian who was laid under a curse that the wind should not blow on him nor water flow to him nor fire burn him is a type of us all the dearest events are summer rain and we the coats that shed every drop nothing is left us now but death we look to that with a grim satisfaction saying there at least is reality that will not us i take this and of all objects which lets them slip through our fingers then when we clutch hardest to be the most part of our condition nature does not like to be observed and likes that we should be her fools and we may have the sphere our ball but not a for our philosophy direct strokes she never gave us power to make all our blows glance all our are ii experience our relations to each other are and casual dream us to dream and there is no end to illusion life is a train of moods like a string of beads and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored which the world their own hue and each shows only what lies in its from the mountain you see the mountain we what we can and we see only what we nature and books belong to the eyes that see them it depends on the mood of the man whether he shall see the sunset or the fine poem there are always and there is always genius but only a few hours so serene that we can relish nature or criticism the more or less depends on structure or temperament temperament is the iron wire on which the beads are strung of what use is fortune or talent to a cold and nature who cares what sensibility or a man has at some time shown if he falls asleep in his chair or if he laugh and or if he or is with or thinks of his dollar or cannot go by food or has gotten a child in his boyhood of what use is genius if the organ is too or too and cannot find a distance within the actual horizon of temperament human life of what use if the brain is too cold or too hot and the man does not care enough for results to him to experiment and hold him up in it or if the web is too finely woven too irritable by pleasure and pain so that life from too much reception without due outlet of what use to make heroic vows of if the same old law is to keep them what cheer can the religious sentiment yield when that is suspected to be secretly dependent on the seasons of the year and the state of the blood i knew a witty physician who found the creed in the and used to that if there was disease in the liver the man became a and if that organ was sound he became a very is the reluctant experience that some excess or the promise of genius we see young men who owe us a new world so readily and they promise but they never the debt they die young and the account or if they live they lose themselves in the crowd temperament also enters fully into the system of illusions and us in a prison of glass which we cannot see there is an illusion about every person we meet in truth they are all creatures of given temperament which will appear in a given character whose boundaries they will never essay ii experience pass but we look at them they seem alive and we presume there is impulse in them in the moment it seems impulse in the year in the lifetime it turns out to be a certain uniform tune which the revolving barrel of the music box must play men resist the conclusion in the morning but adopt it as the evening wears on that temper over everything of time place and condition and is in the flames of religion some the moral sentiment to impose but the individual texture holds its dominion if not to bias the moral judgments yet to fix the measure of activity and of enjoyment i thus express the law as it is read from the platform of ordinary life but must not leave it without noticing the capital exception for temperament is a power which no man willingly hears any one praise but himself on the platform of we cannot resist the influences of so called science | 37 |
temperament puts all divinity to i know the mental of i hear the chuckle of the and slave drivers they esteem each man the victim of another who winds him round his finger by knowing the law of his being and by such cheap as the color of his beard or the slope of his reads the of his fortunes and character the ignorance temperament does not disgust like this impudent the say they are not but they are spirit is matter reduced to an extreme o so thin but the definition of should be that which is its own evidence what notions do they attach to love what to religion one would not willingly pronounce these words in their hearing and give them the occasion to profane them i saw a gracious gentleman who his conversation to the form of the head of the man he talks with i had fancied that the value of life lay in its inscrutable possibilities in the fact that i never know in addressing myself to a new individual what may befall me i carry the keys of my castle in my hand ready to throw them at the feet of my lord whenever and in what disguise he shall appear i know he is in the neighborhood hidden among shall i my future by taking a high seat and kindly my conversation to the shape of heads when i come to that the doctors shall buy me for a cent but sir medical history the report to the the facts i distrust the facts and the temperament is the or power in the constitution very justly applied to restrain an opposite excess in the constitution but offered as a oar to original when virtue is in presence essay ii experience all subordinate powers sleep on its own level or in view of nature temperament is final i see not if one be once caught in this trap of so called any escape for the man from the links of the chain of physical necessity i such an such a history must follow on this platform one lives in a of and would soon come to suicide but it is impossible that the power should itself into every intelligence there is a door which is never closed through which the creator passes the intellect of absolute truth or the heart lover of absolute good for our and at one whisper of these high powers we awake from ineffectual struggles with this nightmare we it into its own hell and cannot again contract ourselves to so base a state the secret of the is in the necessity of a succession of moods or objects gladly we would anchor but the is this onward trick of nature is too strong for us si when at night i look at the moon and stars i seem stationary and they to hurry our love of the real draws us to but health of body consists in circulation and of mind in variety or facility of association we need change of objects to one thought is succession quickly odious we house with the insane and must humor them then conversation dies out once i took such delight in that i thought i should not need any other book before that in then in then in at one time in bacon afterwards in even in but now i turn the pages of either of them languidly whilst i still cherish their genius so with pictures each will bear an emphasis of attention once which it cannot retain though we fain would continue to be pleased in that manner how strongly i have felt of pictures that when you have seen one well you must ts ke your leave of it you shall never see it again i have had good lessons from pictures which i have since seen without emotion or remark a must be made from the opinion which even the wise express on a new book or occurrence their opinion gives me tidings of their mood and some vague guess at the new fact but is to be trusted as the lasting relation between that intellect and that thing the child asks mamma why don t i like the story as well as when you told it me yesterday alas child it is even so with the oldest of knowledge but will it answer thy question to say because thou born to a whole and this story is a particular the reason of the pain this discovery causes us and we make it late es at u in respect to works of art and intellect is the of tragedy which murmurs it in regard to persons to friendship and love that and ab e k e of which we find in the arts we find with more pain in the artist there is no power of in men our friends early appear to us as of certain ideas which they never pass or exceed they stand on the brink of the ocean of thought and power but the never take the single step that would bring them there a man is like a bit of which has no lustre as you turn it in your hand until you come to a particular angle then it shows deep and beautiful colors there is no or universal in men but each has his special talent and the mastery of successful men consists in keeping themselves where and when that torn shall be to be practised we do what we must and call it by the best names we can and would fain have the praise of having intend ed the result which i cannot recall any form of man who is not superfluous sometimes but is not this pitiful life is not worth the taking to do tricks of course it needs the whole society to give the we seek the colored wheel must very | 37 |
fast to appear white something is learned too by conversing with so much folly and defect in fine whoever loses we are always of the gaining party divinity is behind our failures and follies also the plays of children are nonsense but very nonsense so it is with the lai est and things with commerce government church marriage and so with the history of every man s bread and the ways by which he is to come by it like a bird which nowhere but perpetually from bough to bough is the power which in no man and in no woman but for a moment speaks from this one and for another moment from that one but what help from these or what help from thought life is not we i think in these times have had lessons enough of the of criticism our young people have thought and written much on labor and reform and for all that they have written neither the world nor themselves have got on a step intellectual of life will not muscular activity if a man should consider the of the passage of a piece of bread down his throat he would starve at education farm the noblest theory of life sat on the noblest figures of young men and maidens quite powerless and melancholy it would not or pitch a ton of hay it would not rub down a horse and the essay ii men and maidens it left pale and hungry a political orator compared our party promises to western roads which opened stately enough with planted trees on either side to tempt the traveller but soon became narrow and and ended in a track and ran up a tree so does culture with us it ends in headache sad and barren does life look to those who a few months ago were dazzled with the splendor of the promise of the times there is now no longer any right course of action nor any self devotion left among the objections and criticism we have had our fill of there are objections to every course of life and action and the practical wisdom an from the of objection the whole frame of things do not yourself with thinking but go about your business anywhere life is not intellectual or critical but sturdy its chief good is for people who can enjoy what they find without question nature hates peeping and our mothers speak her very sense when they say children eat your and say no more of it to fill the hour that is happiness to fill the hour and leave no for a repentance or an approval we live amid and the true art of life is to well on them under the surface oldest a man of native force just as well as in the world and that by skill of handling and treatment he can take hold anywhere life itself is a mixture of power and form and will not bear the least excess of either to finish the moment to find the journey s end in every step of the road to live the greatest number of good hours is wisdom it is not the part of men but of or of if you will say that the of life considered it is not worth caring whether for so short a duration we were in want or sitting high since our office is with moments let us husband them five minutes of to day are worth as much to me as five minutes in the next let us be poised and wise and our own to day let us treat the men and women well treat them as if they were real perhaps they are men live in their fancy like whose hands are too soft and tremulous for successful labor it is a tempest of fancies and the only i know is a respect to the present hour without any shadow of doubt amidst this of shows and politics i settle myself ever the firmer in the creed that we should not and refer and wish but do broad justice where we are by we deal with accepting our actual companions and circumstances however humble or odious essay as the mystic officials to whom the universe has its whole pleasure for us if these are mean and malignant their contentment which is the last victory of justice is a more satisfying echo to the heart than the voice of poets and the casual sympathy of admirable persons i think that however a thoughtful man may suffer from the defects and of his company he cannot without affectation deny to any set of men and women a sensibility to extraordinary merit the coarse and frivolous have an instinct of superiority if they have not a sympathy and honor it in their blind capricious way with sincere homage the fine young people despise life but in me and in such as with me are free from and to whom a day is a sound and solid good it is a great excess of politeness to look scornful and to cry for company i am grown by sympathy a little eager and sentimental but leave me alone and i should relish every hour and what it brought me the of the day as heartily as the oldest gossip in the bar room i am thankful for small i compared notes with of my friends who expects everything of the universe and is disappointed when anything is less than the best and i found that i begin at the other extreme expecting nothing and am always full of thanks for moderate goods i accept the and of contrary tendencies i find my account in and also they give a reality to the picture which such a vanishing appearance can ill spare in the morning i awake and find the old world wife and mother and boston the dear old spiritual | 37 |
world and even the dear old devil not far off if we will lake the good we find asking no questions we shall have measures the great gifts are not got by analysis everything good is on the highway the middle region of our being is the temperate we may climb into the thin and cold realm of pure and lifeless science or sink into that of sensation between these extremes is the of life of thought of spirit of poetry a narrow belt moreover in popular experience everything on the highway a into all the picture shops of europe for a landscape of a sketch of but the the last judgment the communion of st and what are as as these are on the walls of the the or the where every footman may see them to say nothing of nature s pictures in every street of and every day and the of the human body never absent a recently bought at public in london for one hundred and ii experience ty seven guineas an of but for nothing a school boy can read hamlet and can detect secrets of highest yet therein i think i will never read any but the commonest books the bible and milton then we are impatient of so public a life and planet and run hither and thither for and secrets the imagination delights in the of indians and bee hunters we fancy that we are strangers and not so intimately in the planet as the wild man and the wild beast and bird but the reaches them also reaches the climbing flying gliding and four footed man fox and hawk and and when nearly seen have no more root in the deep world than man and are just such superficial tenants of the globe then the new philosophy shows and shows that the world is all outside it has no inside the mid world is best nature as we know her is no saint the lights of the church the and corn she does not distinguish by any favor she comes eating and drinking and her the great the strong the beautiful are not children of our law do not come out of the sunday school nor weigh surface their food nor keep the if we will be strong with her strength we must not harbor such borrowed too from the of other nations we must set up the strong present tense against all the of wrath past or to come so many things are unsettled which it is of the first importance to settle and their settlement we will do as we do whilst the debate goes forward on the of commerce and will not be closed for a century or two new and old england may keep shop law of and is to be discussed and in the we will sell our books for the most we can of literature reason of literature of writing down a thought is questioned much is to say on both sides and while the fight hot thou dearest scholar stick to thy foolish task add a line every hour and between add a line right to hold land right of property is disputed and the and before the vote is taken dig away in your garden and spend your as a or to all serene and beautiful purposes life itself is a and a and a sleep within a sleep grant it and as much more as they will but thou god s darling heed thy private dream thou wilt not he missed in the and there are essay ii experience enough of them stay there in thy closet and toil until the rest are agreed what to do about it thy sickness they say and thy habit require that thou do this or avoid that but know that thy life is a flitting state a tent for a night and do thou sick or well finish that thou art sick but shalt not be worse and the universe which holds thee dear shall be the better human life is made up of the two elements power and the proportion must be invariably kept if we would have it sweet and sound each of these elements in excess makes a mischief as as its defect everything runs to excess every good quality is if and to carry the danger to the edge of q nature causes each man s peculiarity to here among the farms we the scholars as examples of this treachery they are nature s victims of expression you who see the artist the orator the poet too near and find their life no more excellent than that of or farmers and themselves victims of partiality very hollow and haggard and pronounce them failures not heroes but conclude very reasonably that these arts are not for man but are disease yet nature will not bear you out irresistible nature made men such and makes more of such every day you love the boy reading in a surprise book gazing at a drawing or a cast yet what are these millions who read and behold but writers and add a little more of that quality which now reads and sees and they will seize the pen and and if one remembers how innocently he began to be an artist he per that nature joined with his enemy a man is a golden impossibility the line he must walk is a hair s breadth the wise through excess of wisdom is made a fool how easily if fate would suffer it we might keep forever these beautiful limits and ourselves once for all to the perfect calculation of the kingdom of known cause and effect in the street and in the newspapers life appears so plain a business that manly resolution and to the table through all will success but ah presently comes a day or is | 37 |
it only a half hour with its angel whispering which the conclusions of nations and of years to morrow again every thing looks real and the habitual standards are common sense is as rare as genius is the basis of genius and experience is hands and feet to every enterprise and yet he who should do his business on this understanding would be quickly power keeps quite another road than the s at ii experience a of choice and will namely the and invisible and channels of life it is ridiculous that we are and doctors and considerate people there are no like these life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not god delights to us every day and hide from us the past and the future we would look about us but with grand politeness he draws down before us an impenetrable screen of purest sky and another behind us of purest sky you will not remember he seems to say and you will not expect all good conversation manners and action come from a which forgets and makes the moment great nature hates her methods are and impulsive man lives by our movements are such and the and ethereal agents are and alternate and the mind goes on and never but by fits we by our chief experiences have been casual the most attractive class of people are those who are powerful and not by the direct stroke men of genius but not yet one gets the cheer of their light without paying too great a tax theirs is the beauty of the bird or the morning light and not of art in the thought of genius there is always a surprise and the sentiment v surprise m well called the for it is never other as new to the oldest intelligence as to the young child the kingdom that without observation in like manner for practical success there must not be too much design a man will not be observed in doing that which he can do best there is a certain magic about his action which your powers of observation so that though it is done before you you not of it the art of life has a and will not be exposed every man is an impossibility until he is born every thing impossible until we see a success the of piety agree at last with the that nothing is of us or our works that all is of god nature will not spare us the smallest leaf of laurel all writing comes by the grace of god and all doing and having i would gladly be moral and due and bounds which i dearly love and allow the most to the will of man but i have set my heart on honesty in this chapter and i can see nothing at last in v success or failure than more or less of vital force supplied from the eternal the results of life are and the years teach much which the days never know the persons who compose company converse and come and go and design and execute many things and somewhat comes of it all but an unlocked for result essay ii experience the individual is always mistaken he designed many things and drew in other persons as quarrelled with some or all much and something is done all are a little advanced but the individual is always mistaken it turns out somewhat new and very unlike what he promised himself the struck with this of the elements of human life to calculation exalted chance into a divinity but that is to stay too long at the spark which truly at one point but the universe is warm with the of the same fire the miracle of life which will not be but will remain a miracle a new element in the growth of the sir home i think noticed that the was not rom one central point but from three or more points life has no memory that which proceeds in succession might be remembered but that which is or ejaculated from a deeper cause as yet far from being conscious knows not its own tendency so is it with us now or without unity because in forms and effects all seeming to be of equal yet hostile value and now religious whilst in the reception of spiritual law bear with these with this growth of the parts they will one day be members and obey one will v on that one will on that secret cause they nail our attention and hope life is melted into an expectation or a religion underneath and trivial particulars is a musical the ideal always with us the heaven without rent or do but observe the mode of our illumination when i converse with a profound mind or if at any time being alone i have good thoughts i do not at once arrive at as being thirsty i drink water or go to the fire being cold no but i am at first of my vicinity to a new and excellent region of life by to read or to think this region gives further sign of itself as it were in flashes of light in sudden discoveries of its profound beauty and repose as if the clouds that covered it parted at and showed the approaching traveller the inland with the tranquil eternal meadows spread at their base whereon flocks and pipe and dance but every insight from this realm of thought is felt as and promises a i do not make it i arrive there and behold what was there already i make i clap my hands in jo and amazement before the first opening to me of this august magnificence old with the love and homage of innumerable ages essay u | 37 |
experience young with the life of life the of the desert and what a future it opens i feel a new heart beating with the love of the new beauty i am ready to die out of nature and be born again into this new yet america i have found in the west since neither now nor yesterday began these thoughts which have been ever nor yet can a man be found who their first entrance knew if i have described life as a of moods i must now add that there is that in us which changes not and which ranks all sensations and states of mind the consciousness in each man is a sliding scale which him now with the first cause and now with the flesh of his body life above life in infinite degrees the sentiment from which it sprung determine the dignity of any deed and the question ever is not what you have done or but at whose command you have done or it fortune muse holy ghost these are quaint names too narrow to cover this unbounded substance the baffled intellect must still kneel before this cause which refuses to be named cause which fine genius has to represent by some emphatic symbol as by water by air reality by thought by fire and the by love and the of each has become a national religion y he chinese has not been the least successful in his i fully understand language he said and well my vast flowing vigor i beg to ask what you call vast flowing vigor said his companion the explanation replied is difficult this vigor is great and in the highest degree it correctly and do it no injury and it will fill up the between heaven and earth this vigor with and justice and reason and leaves no hunger in our more correct writing we give to this the name of being and thereby confess that we have arrived as far as we can go suffice it for the joy of the universe that we have not arrived at a wall but at interminable our life seems not present so much as not for the on which it is wasted but as a hint of this vast flowing vigor most of life seems to be mere advertisement of faculty information is given us not to sell ourselves cheap that we are very great so in particulars our greatness is always in a tendency or direction not in an action it is for us to believe in the rule not in the exception the noble are thus known from the so in accepting the leading of the essay n sentiments it is not what we believe concerning the immortality of the soul or the like but the to e that is the material circumstance and is the principal fact in the history of the globe shall we describe this cause as that which works directly the spirit is not helpless or needful of organs it has plentiful powers and direct effects i am explained without explaining i am felt without acting and where i am not therefore all just persons are satisfied with their own praise they refuse to explain themselves and are content that new actions should do them that office they believe that we communicate without speech and above speech and that no right action of ours is quite to our friends at whatever distance for the influence of action is not to be measured by miles why should i fret myself because a circumstance has occurred which my presence where i was expected if i am not at the meeting my presence where i am should be as useful to the of friendship and wisdom as would be my presence in that place exert the same quality of power in all places thus journeys the mighty ideal before us it never was known to fall into the rear no man ever came to an experience which was but his good is tidings of a better onward and onward in moments we know that a new picture subject or the one of life and duty is already possible the elements already exist in many minds around you of a doctrine of life which shall any written record we have the new statement will the as well as the of society and out of a creed shall be formed for are not or lawless but are of the affirmative statement and the new philosophy must take them in and make outside of them just as much as it must include the oldest it is very unhappy but too late to be helped the discovery we have made that we exist that discovery is called the fall of man ever afterwards we suspect our instruments we have learned that we do not see directly but and that we have no means of these colored and which we are or of the amount of their errors perhaps these have a power perhaps there are no objects once we lived in what we saw now the of this new power which to all things us nature art persons letters objects tumble in and god is but one of its ideas nature and literature are phenomena every evil and every good thing is a shadow which we es at ii experience east the street is full of to the proud as the contrived to dress his in his livery and make them wait on his guests at table so the which the bad heart gives off as at once take form as ladies and gentlemen in the street or bar in hotels and threaten or insult whatever is and in us tis the same with our people forget that it is the eye which makes the horizon and the mind s eye which makes this or that man a type or representative of humanity with the | 37 |
name of hero or saint the man is a good man on whom many people are agreed that these laws shall take effect by love on one part and by forbearance to press objection on the other part il is for a time settled that we will look at him in the centre of the horizon and to him the properties that will attach to any man so seen but the longest love or aversion has a speedy term the great and self rooted in absolute nature all relative existence and ruins the kingdom of mortal friendship and love marriage in what is called the spiritual world is impossible because of the between every subject and every object the subject is the of and at every comparison must feel his being by that might though subject or the not in energy yet by presence this magazine of substance cannot be otherwise than felt nor can any force of intellect attribute to the object the proper deity which sleeps or wakes forever in every subject never can love make consciousness and equal in force there will be the same gulf between every me and thee as between the original and the picture the universe is the bride of the soul all private sympathy is partial two human beings are like which can touch only in a point and whilst they remain in contact all other points of each of the are their turn must also come and the longer a union lasts the more energy of the parts not in union acquire life will be but cannot be divided nor doubled any invasion of its unity would be chaos the soul is not twin born but the only and though revealing itself as child in time child in appearance is of a fatal and universal power admitting no co life every day every act the ill concealed deity we believe in ourselves as we do not believe in others we permit all things to ourselves and that which we call sin in others is experiment for us it is an instance of our faith in ourselves that men never speak of as lightly as they think or every man thinks a latitude safe for himself which is essay ii experience to be indulged to another the act looks very differently on the inside and on the outside in its quality and in its consequences murder in the murderer is no such thought as poets and will have if it does not him or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles it is an act quite easy to be contemplated in its it turns out to be a horrible and of all relations especially the crimes that spring from love seem right and fair from the actor s point of view but when acted are found destructive of society no man at last believes that he can be lost nor that the crime in him is as black as in the because the intellect in our own case the moral judgments for there is no crime to the intellect that is or and judges law as well as fact it is worse than a crime it is a blunder said napoleon speaking the language of the intellect to it the world is a problem in or the science of quantity and it leaves out praise and blame and all weak emotions all stealing is comparative if you come to pray who does not steal saints are sad because they behold sin even when they from the point of view of the conscience and not of the a confusion of thought sin seen from the thought is a or less seen from the conscience subject or the one or will it is or bad the intellect names it shade absence of light and no essence the conscience must feel it as essence essential evil this it is not it has an existence but no thus inevitably does the universe wear our color and every object fall into the subject itself the subject exists the subject all things sooner or later fall into place as i am so i see use what language we will we can never say any thing but what we are are the mind s ministers instead of feeling a poverty when we encounter a great man let us treat the new comer like a travelling who passes through our estate and shows us good slate or or in our brush pasture the partial action of each strong mind in one direction is a for the objects on which it is pointed but every other part of knowledge is to be pushed to the same extravagance ere the soul her due do you see that chasing so prettily her own tail if you could look with her eyes you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex with tragic and comic issues long conversations many characters many and downs of fate and meantime it is only and her tail how long before ii will end its noise of laughter and shouting and we shall find it was a solitary performance a subject arid an object it takes so much to make the circuit complete but magnitude adds nothing what it whether it is and the sphere and america a reader and his book or with her tail it is true that all the and love and religion hate these and will find a way to punish the who in the parlor tbe secrets of the and we cannot say to little of our constitutional necessity of seeing things under private aspects or with our and yet is the god the native of these bleak rocks that need makes in morals the capital virtue of self trust we must hold hard to this poverty however scandalous and by more vigorous after the of action possess our more firmly the life of truth is cold | 37 |
and so far mournful but it is not the slave of tears and it does not attempt another s work nor adopt another s facts it is a main lesson of wisdom to know your own from another s i have learned that i cannot dispose of other people s facts but i possess such a key to my own as me against all their that they also have a key to theirs a sympathetic person is placed in the of a experience among drowning men who all catch at him and if he give so much as a leg or a finger they will drown him they wish to be saved from the of their vices but not from their vices charity would be wasted on this poor waiting on the symptoms a wise and hardy physician will say come out of that as the first condition of advice in this our talking america we are ruined by our good nature and listening on all sides this compliance takes away the power of being greatly useful a man should not be able to look other than directly and a attention is the only answer to the of other people an attention and to an aim which makes their wants frivolous this is a divine answer and leaves no appeal and no hard thoughts in s drawing of the of whilst the sleep on the threshold the face of the god expresses a shade of regret and compassion but calm with the conviction of the of the two he is born into other politics into the eternal and beautiful the man at his feet asks for his interest in of the earth into which his nature cannot enter and the there lying express this dis essay u the god is with his divine destiny illusion temperament succession surface surprise reality these are threads on the loom of time these are the lords of life i dare not assume to give their order but i name them as i find them in my way i know better than to claim any completeness for my picture i am a fragment and this is a fragment of me i very confidently announce one or another law which itself into relief and form but i am too young yet by some ages to a code i gossip for my hour concerning the eternal politics i have seen many fair pictures not in vain a wonderful time i have lived in i am not the i was fourteen nor yet seven years ago let who will ask where is the fruit i find a private fruit sufficient this is a fruit that i should ask for a rash effect from meditations counsels and the of truths i should feel it pitiful to demand a result on this town and county an effect on the instant month and year the effect is deep and as the cause it works on periods in which mortal lifetime is lost all i know is reception i am and i have but i do not get and when i have fancied i had gotten anything i found i did not i worship with wonder the great fortune my reception has been so large that i am not annoyed by receiving this or that say to the genius if he will pardon the proverb in for a in for a million when i receive a new gift i do not my body to make the account square for if i should die i could not make the account square the benefit the merit the first day and has the merit ever since the merit itself so called i reckon part of the receiving also that after an or practical effect seems to me an in good earnest i am willing to spare this most unnecessary deal of doing life wears to me a visionary face hardest action is visionary also it is but a choice between soft and turbulent dreams people knowing and the intellectual life and urge doing i am very content with knowing if only i could know that is an august entertainment and would suffice me a great while to know a little would be worth the expense of this world i hear always the law of that every soul which had acquired any truth should be safe from harm until another period i know that the world i converse with in the city and in the farms is not the world i think i essay n observe that difference and shall observe it one day i shall know the value and law of this but i have not found that much was gained by attempts to realize the world of thought many eager persons an experiment in this way and make themselves ridiculous they acquire manners they foam at the mouth they hate and deny worse i observe that in the history of mankind there is never a solitary example of success taking their own of success i say this or in reply to the inquiry why not realize your world but far be from me the despair which the law by a paltry since there never was a right endeavor but it succeeded patience and patience we shall win at the last we must be very suspicious of the of the element of time it takes a good deal of time to eat or to sleep or to earn a hundred dollars and a very little time to entertain a hope and an insight which becomes the light of our life we our garden eat our dinners discuss the household with our wives and these things make no impression are forgotten next week but in the to which every man is always returning ho has a and revelations which in his passage into new worlds he will carry with him experience never mind the ridicule never mind the defeat j up | 37 |
again old heart it seems to say there is victory yet for all justice and the true romance which the world exists to realize will be the of genius into practical power character the sun set but set not his hope stars rose his faith was earlier up fixed on the enormous deeper and older seemed his eye and matched his sublime the of time he spoke and words more soft than brought the age of gold again his action won such reverence sweet as hid all measure of the feat work of he nor nor t for itself the fact as nature i her every act v essay iii character i hate read that those who listened to lord felt that there was something finer in the man than any thing which he said it has been complained of our brilliant english historian of the french revolution that when he has told all his facts about they do not justify his estimate of his genius the and others of s heroes do not in the record of facts their own fame sir philip the earl of sir walter are men of great figure and of few deeds we cannot find the smallest part of the personal weight of washington in the narrative of his exploits the authority of the name of is too great for his books this of the reputation to the works or the anecdotes is not accounted for by saying that the is longer than the thunder clap but somewhat resided in these men which an iii expectation that all their performance the largest part of their power was latent this is that which we call character a reserved force which acts directly by presence and without means it is conceived of as a certain force a familiar or genius by whose impulses the man is guided but whose counsels he cannot impart which is company for him so that such men are often solitary or if they chance to be social do not need society but can entertain themselves very well alone the purest literary talent appears at one time great at another time small but character is of a and greatness what others effect by talent or by eloquence this man by some half his strength he put not forth his are by demonstration of superiority and not by crossing of he because his arrival the face of affairs o how did you know that was a god because answered i was content the moment my eyes fell on him when i beheld i desired that i might see him offer battle or at least guide his horses in the chariot race but did not wait for a contest he conquered whether he stood or walked or sat or whatever thing he did man ordinarily a to events only half attached and that awkwardly tc the world he character lives in in these examples appears to share the life of things and to be an expression of the same laws which control the tides and the sun numbers and quantities but to use a more modest illustration and nearer home i observe that in our political where this element if it appears at all can only occur in its form we sufficiently understand its rate the people know that they need in their representative much more than talent namely the power to make his talent trusted they cannot come at their ends by sending to a learned acute and speaker if he be not one who before he was appointed by the people to represent them was appointed by almighty god to stand for a fact persuaded of that fact in himself so that the most confident and the most violent persons learn that here is resistance on which both impudence and terror are wasted namely faith in a fact the men who carry their points do not need to inquire of their what they should say but are themselves the country which they represent nowhere are its emotions or opinions so instant and true as in them nowhere so pure from a selfish the at home to their words watches the color of their cheek and therein as in a glass dresses its own our public essay in are pretty good of manly force our frank countrymen of the west and south have a taste for character and like to know whether the new is a substantial man or whether the hand can pass through him the same motive force appears in trade there are in trade as well as in war or the state or letters and the reason why this or that man is fortunate is not to be told it lies in the man that is all anybody can tell you about it see him and you will know as easily why he as if you see napoleon you would comprehend his fortune in the new objects we recognize the old game the habit of the fact and not dealing with it at second hand through the i of somebody else nature seems to trade as soon as you see the natural merchant who appears not so much a private agent as her and minister of commerce ii is natural with his insight into the fabric of society to put him above tricks and ho to all his own faith that are of no private interpretation the habit of his mind is a reference to standards of natural public advantage and he respect and the wish to deal with him both for the quiet spirit of honor which him and for the which the spectacle of so character much ability affords this immensely stretched trade which makes the of the southern ocean his and the atlantic sea his familiar port in his brain only and nobody in the universe can make his place good in his parlor i see very well that he has | 37 |
been at hard work this morning with that brow and that settled humor which all his desire to be courteous cannot shake off i see plainly how many firm acts have been done how many have this day been spoken when others would have uttered i see with the pride of art and skill of and power of remote combination the consciousness of being an agent and of the original laws of the world he too believes that none can supply him and that a man must be born to trade or he cannot learn it this virtue draws the mind more when it appears in action to ends not so mixed it works most energy in the smallest companies and in private relations in all cases t is an extraordinary and agent the excess of physical strength is by it higher natures lower ones by affecting them with a certain sleep the faculties are locked up and offer no resistance perhaps that is the universal law when the high cannot bring up the low to itself essay iii it it as man charms down the resistance of the lower animals men exert on each other a similar power how often has the influence of a true master realized all the tales of magic a river of command seemed to run down from his eyes into all those who beheld him a torrent of strong sad light like an or which pervaded them with his thoughts and colored all events with the hue of his mind what means did you employ was the question asked of the wife of in regard to her treatment of mary of and the answer was only that influence which every strong mind has over a weak one cannot caesar in irons oflf the irons and transfer them to the person of or the is an iron so a bond suppose a on the coast of guinea should take on board a gang of which should contain persons of the stamp of l or let us fancy under these he has a gang of in chains w en they arrive at will the relative order of the ship s company be the same is there nothing but rope and iron is there no love no reverence is there never a glimpse of right in a poor slave captain s mind and cannot these be supposed available to break or or in any manner the of an inch or two of iron ring character this is a natural power like light and heat and all nature with it the reason why we feel one man s presence and do not feel another s is as simple as gravity truth is the summit of being justice is the application of it to affairs all individual natures stand in a scale according to the purity of this element in them the will of the pure runs down from them into other natures as water runs down from a higher into a lower vessel this natural force is no more to be than any other natural force we can drive a stone upward for a moment into the air but it is yet true that all stones will forever fall j and whatever instances can be quoted of or of a lie which somebody justice must prevail and it is the privilege of truth to make itself believed character is this moral order seen through the medium of an individual nature an individual is an time and space liberty and necessity truth and thought are left at large no longer now the universe is a close or pound all things exist in the man tinged with the manners of his soul with what quality is in him he all nature that he can reach nor does he tend to lose himself in but at how long a curve all his regards return into his own good at last he all he can and he sees only what he he the world ni as the does his country as a material basis for his character and a theatre for action a healthy soul stands united with the just and the true as the itself with the pole so that he stands to all like a transparent object them and the sun and journeys towards the sun journeys towards that person he is thus the medium of the highest influence to all who are not on the same level thus men of character are the conscience of the society to which they belong the natural measure of this power is the resistance of circumstances men consider life as it is reflected in opinions events and persons they cannot see the action until it is done yet its moral element in the actor and its as right or wrong it was easy to everything in nature is or has a positive and negative pole there is a male and a female a spirit and a fact a north and a south spirit is the positive the event is the negative will is the north action the south pole character may be as having its natural place in the north it shares the currents of the system the feeble souls are drawn to the south or negative pole they look at the profit or hurt of the action they never behold a principle until it is lodged in ii they do not wish to be lovely but to be character loved men of character like to hear of their faults the other class do not like to hear of faults they worship events secure to them a fact a connection a certain chain of circumstances and they will ask no more the hero sees that the event is it must follow him a given order of events has no power to secure to him the satisfaction which the imagination to it the soul of goodness escapes from any set of circumstances whilst prosperity | 37 |
belongs to a certain mind and will introduce that power and victory which is its natural fruit into any order of events no circumstances can repair a defect of character we boast our from many but if we have broken any it is through a transfer of the what have i gained that i no longer a bull to jove or to or a mouse to that i do not tremble before the or the catholic or the if i at opinion the public opinion as we call it or at the threat of assault or or bad neighbors or poverty or or at the of revolution or of murder if i what matters it what i at our proper vice takes form in one or another shape according to the sex age or temperament of the person and if we are capable of fear will readily find terrors the essay iii or the which me when i it to society is my own i am always by myself on the other part is a perpetual victory celebrated not by cries of joy but by serenity which is joy fixed or habitual it is disgraceful to fly to events for confirmation of our truth and worth the does not run every hour to the to coin his advantages into current money of the realm he is satisfied to read in the of the market that his stocks have risen the same transport which the occurrence of the best events in the best order would occasion me i must learn to taste purer in the perception that my position is every hour and does already command those events i desire that exultation is only to be checked by the foresight of an order of things so excellent as to throw all our into the deepest shade the face which character wears to me is i the person who is riches so that i cannot think of him as alone or poor or or unhappy or a but as perpetual patron benefactor and man character is the impossibility of being or a man should give us a sense of mass society is frivolous and its day into scraps its conversation into ceremonies and escapes but character if i go to see an ingenious man i shall think myself poorly entertained if he give me pieces of benevolence and etiquette rather he shall stand stoutly in his place and let me apprehend if it were only his resistance know that i have encountered a new and positive quality great refreshment for both of us it is much that he does not accept the conventional opinions and that will remain a and and every will have to dispose of him in the first place there is nothing real or useful that is not a seat of war our houses ring with laughter and personal and critical gossip but it helps little but the man who is a problem and a threat to society whom it cannot let pass in silence but must either worship or hate and to whom all parties feel related both the leaders of opinion and the obscure and eccentric he helps he puts america and europe in the wrong and the which says man is a doll let us eat and drink tis the best we can do by the and unknown acquiescence in the establishment and appeal to the public indicate faith heads which are not clear and which must see a house built before they can comprehend the plan of it the wise man not only leaves out of his thought the many but leaves out the few fountains the e s at iii self moved the absorbed the commander because he is commanded the assured the they are good for these announce the instant presence of supreme power our action should rest on our substance in nature there are no false a pound of water in the ocean tempest has no more gravity than in a pond all things work exactly according to their quality and according to their quantity attempt nothing they cannot do except man only he has he wishes and attempts things beyond his force i read in a book of english mr fox afterwards lord holland said he must have the treasury he had served up to it and would have it r and his ten thousand were quite equal to what they attempted and did it so equal that it was not suspected to be a grand and yet there stands that fact a high water mark in military history many have attempted it since and not been equal to it it is only on reality that any power of action can be based no institution will be better than the i knew an amiable and accomplished person who undertook a practical reform yet i was never able to find in him the enterprise of love he took in hand he adopted it by ear and by the understanding from the books he had character reading all his action was a piece of the city carried out into the fields and was the city still and no new fact and could not inspire enthusiasm had there been something latent in the man a terrible genius and embarrassing his we had watched for its advent it is not enough that the intellect should see the evils and their re we shall still our existence nor take the ground to which we are entitled whilst it is only a thought and not a spirit that us we have not yet served up to it these are properties of life and another trait is the notice of incessant growth men should be intelligent and earnest they must also make us feel that they have a happy future opening before them whose early already in the passing hour the hero is and he cannot therefore wait to any man s | 37 |
he is again on his road adding new powers and honors to his domain and new claims on your heart which will you if you have about the old and have not kept your relation to him by adding to your wealth new actions are the only apologies and explanations of old ones which the noble can bear to offer or to receive if your friend has displeased you you shall not sit down to consider essay iii it for he has already lost all memory of the passage and has doubled his power to serve you and ere you can rise up again will burden you with blessings we have no pleasure in thinking of a benevolence that is only measured by its works love is inexhaustible and if its estate is wasted its emptied still cheers and and the man though he sleep seems to the air and his house to adorn the landscape and strengthen the laws people always recognize this difference we know who is benevolent by quite other means than the amount of to it is only low merits that can be fear when your friends say to you what you have done well and say it through but when they stand with uncertain timid looks of respect and half dislike and must their judgment for years to come you may begin to hope those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present therefore it was droll in the good who has written of to make out a list of his and good deeds as so many hundred given to to to a place found for professor toss a post under the grand duke for a for two professors to foreign c c j the longest list of of benefit would look very short a man is a poor creature if he ia to be measured so for all these of course are exceptions and the rule and life of a good man is the true charity of is to be inferred from the account he gave dr of the way in which he had spent his fortune each bon of mine has cost a purse of gold half a million of my own money the fortune i inherited my salary and the large income derived from my writings for fifty years back have been expended to instruct me in what i now know i have besides seen c i own it is but poor chat and gossip to go to traits of this simple and rapid power and we are painting the lightning with j but in these long nights and i like to console myself so nothing but itself can copy it a word warm from the heart me i surrender at discretion how death cold is literary genius before this fire of life these are the touches that my heavy soul and give it eyes to pierce the dark of nature i find where i thought myself poor there was i most rich thence comes a new intellectual exaltation to be again by some new exhibition of character strange of attraction and character intellect yet e sat m it and character passes into thought is published so and then is ashamed before new flashes of worth character is nature in the highest form it is of no use to it or to contend with it somewhat is possible of resistance and of and of creation to this power which will foil all this is best where no hands but nature s have been laid on it care is taken that the greatly destined shall slip up into life in the shade with no thousand eyed to watch and every new thought every blushing emotion of young genius two persons lately very young children of the most high god have given me occasion for thought when i the source of their and charm for the imagination it seemed as if each answered from my i never listened to your people s law or to what they call their gospel and wasted my time i was content with the simple poverty of my own hence this sweetness my work never reminds you of that is pure of that and nature me in such persons that in america she will not be how and from the market and from scandal it was only this morning that i sent away character some wild flowers of these wood gods they are a relief from literature these fresh draughts from the sources of thought and sentiment as we read in an age of polish and criticism the first lines of written prose and verse of a nation how is their devotion to their favorite books whether or scott as feeling that they have a stake in that book who touches that touches them and especially the total solitude of the critic the of thought from which he writes in of any eyes that shall ever read this writing could they dream on still as angels and not wake to and to be flattered yet some natures are too good to be spoiled by praise and wherever the vein of thought reaches down into the profound there is no danger from vanity solemn friends will warn them of the danger of the head s being turned by the flourish of trumpets but they can to smile i remember the indignation of an eloquent at the kind of a doctor of divinity my friend a man can neither be praised nor insulted but forgive the counsels they are very natural i remember the thought which occurred to me when some ingenious and spiritual foreigners came to america w have you been in being brought hither or prior to that answer me this are you essay iii as i have said nature keeps these in her own hands and however our sermons and would divide some | 37 |
share of credit and teach that the laws fashion the citizen she goes her own gait and puts the wisest in the wrong she makes very light of and as one who has a great many more to produce and no excess of time to spare on any one there is a class of men individuals of which appear at long intervals so eminently endowed with insight and virtue that they have been saluted as divine and who seem to be an of that power we consider divine persons are character born or to borrow a phrase from napoleon they are victory organized they are usually received with ill will because they are new and because they set a bound to the exaggeration that has been made of the personality of the last divine person nature never her children nor makes two men alike when we see a great man we fancy a resemblance to some historical person and the of his character and fortune a result which he is sure to disappoint none will ever solve the problem of his character according to our prejudice but only in his own high way character wants room must not be crowded on by persons nor be judged from glimpses got in the press of affairs or on few character occasions it needs perspective as a great building it may not probably does not form relations rapidly and we should not require rash explanation either on the popular or on our own of its action i look on as history i do not think the and the jove impossible in flesh and blood every trait which the artist recorded in stone he had seen in life and better than his copy we have seen many but we are born in great men how easily we in old books when men were few of the smallest action of the we require that a man should be so large and in the landscape that it should deserve to be recorded that he arose and up his and departed to such a place the most pictures are those of majestic men who prevailed at their entrance and convinced the senses as happened to the eastern who was sent to test the merits of or when the arrived at the tell us appointed a day on which the of every country should and a golden chair was placed for the sage then the beloved of the prophet advanced into the midst of the assembly the sage on seeing that chief said this form and this gait cannot li and essay in nothing but truth can proceed from them said it was impossible not to believe in the children of the gods though they should speak without probable or necessary arguments i should think myself very unhappy in my associates if i could not credit the best things in history john says milton appears like a from whom the are not to depart with the year so that not on the only but throughout his life you would regard him as sitting in judgment upon i find it more creditable since it is information that one man should know heaven as the chinese say than that so many men should know the world the virtuous prince the gods without any he waits a hundred ages till a sage comes and does not doubt he who the gods without any knows heaven he who waits a hundred ages until a sage comes without doubting knows men hence the virtuous prince moves and for ages shows empire the way but there is no need to seek remote examples he is a dull observer whose experience has not taught him the reality and force of magic as well as of the cannot go abroad without inexplicable influences one man an eye on him and the graves of the memory render up their dead the secrets that make character ill wretched either to keep or to betray must je yielded another and he cannot speak and the bones of his body seem to lose their the entrance of a friend adds grace boldness and eloquence to him and there are persons he cannot choose but remember who gave a to his thought and kindled another life in his bosom what is so excellent as strict relations of when they spring from this deep root the sufficient reply to the who doubts the power and the furniture of man is in that possibility of joyful intercourse with persons which makes the faith and practice of all reasonable men i know nothing which life has to offer so satisfying as the profound good understanding which can after much exchange of good offices between two virtuous men each of whom is sure of himself and sure of his friend it is a happiness which all other and makes politics and commerce and churches cheap for when men shall meet as they ought each a benefactor a shower of stars clothed with thoughts with deeds with accomplishments it should be the festival of nature which all things announce of such friendship love in the sexes is the first symbol as all other things are of love those relations to the best men which at one time we reckoned essay iii the of youth become in the progress of the character the most solid enjoyment if it were possible to live in right relations with men if we could from asking anything of them from asking their praise or help or pity and content us with compelling them through the virtue of the eldest laws could we not deal with a few persons with one person after the and make an experiment of their could we not pay our friend the compliment of truth of silence of need we be so eager to seek him if we are related we shall meet it was a tradition of the ancient world that no | 37 |
rags of an essay it ancient nation which they know nothing of la the deserts of the rock still dwell in like cliff and the language of these is compared by their neighbors to the shrieking of and to the whistling of birds again the have no proper names individuals are called after their height thickness or other accidental quality and have merely but the salt the dates the ivory and the gold for which these horrible regions are visited find their way into countries where the and can hardly be in one race with these and man countries where man serves himself with wood stone glass cotton silk and wool honors himself with architecture writes laws and to execute his will through the hands of many nations and especially a select society running through all the countries of intelligent men a self constituted aristocracy or of the best which without written law or exact usage of any kind itself every island and and makes its whatever personal beauty or extraordinary native any where appears what fact more conspicuous in modem history than the creation of the gentleman chivalry is that and loyalty is that and in english manners half the drama and all the novels from sir philip to sir walter scott paint this figure the word gentleman which like the word christian must hereafter the present and the few preceding centuries by the importance attached to it is a homage to personal and properties frivolous and fantastic additions have got associated with the name but the steady interest of mankind in it must be attributed to the valuable properties which it an element which all the most forcible persons of every country makes them intelligible and agreeable to each other and is somewhat so precise that it is at once felt if an individual lack the sign cannot be any casual product but must be an average result of the character and faculties universally found in men it seems a certain permanent average as the atmosphere is a permanent composition whilst so many are combined only to be is the frenchman s description of good society as we must be it is a spontaneous fruit of talents and feelings of precisely that class who have most vigor who take the lead in the world of this hour and though far from pure far from the and highest tone of human feeling is as good as the whole society it to be it is made of the spirit more than of the talent of men and is a compound result into essay it which every great force enters as an namely virtue wit beauty wealth and power there is something in all the words in use to express the excellence of manners and social cultivation because the quantities are and the last effect is assumed by the senses as the cause the word gentleman has not any abstract to express the quality is mean and is but we must keep alive in the the distinction between fashion a word of narrow and often sinister meaning the heroic character which the gentleman the usual words however must be respected they will be found to contain the root of the matter the point of distinction in all this class of as courtesy chivalry fashion and the like is that the flower and fruit not the grain of the tree are contemplated it is beauty which is the aim this time and not worth the result is now in question although our words intimate well enough the popular feeling that the appearance a substance the gentleman is a man of truth lord of his own actions and expressing that in his behavior not in any manner dependent and either on persons or opinions or possessions beyond this fact of truth and real force the word good nature or benevolence manhood first and then gentleness the popular notion certainly manners adds a condition of ease and fortune but that is a natural result of personal force and love that they should possess and dispense the goods of the world in times of violence every eminent person must fall in with many opportunities to approve his and worth therefore every man s name that emerged at all from the mass in the ages in our ear like a flourish of trumpets but personal force never goes out of fashion that is still to day and in the moving crowd of good society the men of and reality are known and rise to their natural place the competition is transferred from war to politics and trade but the personal force appears readily enough in these new power first or ho leading class in politics and in trade and are of better promise than and clerks god knows that all sorts of gentlemen knock at the door but whenever used in and with any emphasis the name will be found to point at original energy it describes a man standing in his own right and working after methods in a good lord there must first be a good animal at least to the of yielding the advantage of animal spirits the ruling class must have more but they must have these giving in every company the sense of power which makes things easy to be essay ly done which the wise the society of the energetic class in their friendly and meetings is full of courage and of attempts which the pale scholar the courage which girls exhibit is like a battle of s lane or a sea fight the intellect on memory to make some supplies to face these but memory is a base with basket and in the presence of these sudden masters the rulers of society must be up to the work of the world and equal to their office men of the right pattern who have great range of i am far from believing the timid of lord for ceremony there must | 37 |
mind but it is of life and is one of the estates of the realm i am the more struck with this when i see its work it respects the administration of such unimportant matters that we should not look for any in its rule we meet men under some strong moral influence as a patriotic a literary a religious movement and feel that the moral sentiment rules man and nature we think all other distinctions and ties will be slight and fugitive this of caste or fashion for example yet come from year to year and see how permanent that is in this boston or new york life of man where too it has not the least countenance from the law of the land not in egypt or in india a firmer or more line here are associations whose ties go over and imder and through it a meeting of merchants a military corps a college class a fire club a professional association a political a religious the persons seem to draw near yet that assembly once dispersed its members will not in the year meet again each returns to his degree in the scale of good society remains and the objects of fashion may be frivolous or fashion may be but the nature of this union and selection can be neither frivolous nor accidental each man s rank essay iv in that perfect depends on some try in his structure or some agreement in his structure to the of society its doors to a natural claim of their own kind a natural gentleman finds his way in and will keep the oldest out who has lost his rank fashion understands itself good breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily with those of every other the chiefs of savage tribes have distinguished themselves in london and paris by the purity of their to say what good of fashion we can it rests on reality and hates nothing so much as to and and send them into everlasting is its delight we in turn every other gift of men of the world but the habit even in little and the least matters of not appealing to any but our own of propriety the foundation of all chivalry there is almost no kind of self reliance so it be sane and which fashion does not occasionally adopt and give it the freedom of its a soul is always elegant and if it will passes into the most guarded ring but so will the pass in some crisis that brings him thither and find favor as long as his head is not giddy with the new manners and the iron shoes do not wish to dance in and for there is nothing settled in manners but the laws of behavior yield to the energy of the individual the maiden at her first ball the at a city dinner believes that there is a according to which every act and compliment must be performed or the failing party must be cast out of this presence later they learn that good sense and character make their own forms every moment and speak or take wine or refuse it stay or go sit in a chair or with children on the floor or stand on their head or what else in a new and way and that strong will is always in fashion let who will be all that fashion demands is composure and self content a circle of men perfectly well bred would be a company of sensible persons in which every man s native manners and character appeared if the have not this quality he is nothing we are such lovers of that we excuse in a man many sins if he will show us a complete satisfaction in his position which asks no leave to be of mine or any man s good opinion but any deference to some eminent man or woman of the world all privilege of nobility he is an i have nothing to do with him i will speak with his master a man should not go where he carry his essay if whole sphere or society with him not bodily the whole circle of his friends but he should preserve in a new company the same attitude of mind and reality of relation which his daily associates draw him to else he is of his best beams and will be an orphan in the club if you could see with his tail on but must always carry his in some fashion if not added as honor then severed as disgrace there will always be in society certain persons who are of its approbation and whose glance will at any time determine for the curious their standing in the world these are the of the lesser gods accept their coldness as an omen of grace with the and allow them all their privilege they are clear in their office nor could they be thus formidable without their own merits but do not measure the importance of this class by their or imagine that a can be the of honor and shame they pass also at their just rate for how can they otherwise in circles which exist as a sort of herald s office for the of character as the first thing man requires of man is reality so that appears in all the forms of society we and by name introduce the parties to each other you before all heaven and manners earth that this is and this is they look each other in the eye they grasp each other s hand to identify and each other it is a great satisfaction a gentleman never his eyes look straight forward and he the other party first of all that he has been met for what is it that we seek in so many visits and is it your pictures and or | 37 |
do we not ask was a man in the house i may easily go into a great household where there is much substance excellent provision for comfort luxury and taste and yet not encounter there any who shall subordinate these i may go into a cottage and find a farmer who feels that he is the man i have come to see and fronts me accordingly it was therefore a very natural point of old etiquette that a gentleman who received a visit though it were of his sovereign should not leave his roof but should wait his arrival at the door of his house no house though it were the or the is good for any thing without a master and yet we are not often gratified by this hospitality every body we know himself with a fine house fine books gardens and all manner of toys as to between himself and his guest does it not seem as if man was of a very sly aud dreaded nothing so much as a full front to front with his fellow it were i know quite to the use of these which are of eminent convenience whether the guest is too great or too little we call together many friends who keep each other in play or by luxuries and ornaments we amuse the young people and guard our retirement or if perchance a searching comes to our gate before whose eye we have no care to stand then again we run to our curtain and hide ourselves as adam at the voice of the lord god in the garden cardinal the pope s at paris defended himself from the glances of napoleon by an immense pair of green spectacles napoleon remarked them and speedily managed to rally them off and yet napoleon in his turn was not great enough with eight hundred thousand troops at his back to face a pair of eyes but himself with etiquette and within triple of reserve and as all the world knows from madame de was wont when he found himself observed to discharge his face of all expression but and rich men are by no means the most skilful masters of good manners no nor can and and the first point of courtesy must always be truth as manners really all the forms of good breeding point that way i have just been reading in mr s translation s account of his journey into italy and am struck with nothing more agreeably than the self respecting fashions of the time his arrival in each place the arrival of a gentleman of france is an event of some consequence wherever he goes he pays a visit to whatever prince or gentleman of note upon his road as a duty to himself and to civilization when he leaves any house in which he has lodged for a few weeks he causes his arms to be painted and hung up as a perpetual sign to the house as was the custom of gentlemen the of this graceful self respect and that of all the points of good breeding i most require and insist upon is deference i like that every chair should be a throne and hold a king i prefer a tendency to to an excess of fellowship let the objects of nature and the of man teach us independence let us not be too much acquainted i would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and we should meet each morning as from foreign countries and spending the day together should depart at night as into foreign countries essay tv in all things i would have the island of a man let us sit apart as the gods talking from peak to peak all round no degree of affection need this religion this is and to keep the other sweet lovers should guard their strangeness if they forgive too much all into confusion and meanness it is easy to push this deference to a chinese etiquette but coolness and absence of heat and haste indicate fine qualities a gentleman makes no noise a lady is serene is our disgust at those who fill a house with blast and running to secure some paltry convenience not less i dislike a low sympathy of each with his neighbor s needs must we have a good understanding with one another s as foolish people who have lived long together know when each wants salt or sugar i pray my companion if he wishes for bread to ask me for bread and if he wishes for or to ask me for them and not to hold out his plate as if i knew already every natural function can be dignified by deliberation and privacy let us leave hurry to slaves the compliments and ceremonies of our breeding should recall however the grandeur of our destiny the flower of courtesy does not very well bide handling but if we dare to open another leaf and manners explore what parts go to its we shall find also an intellectual quality to the leaders of men the brain as well as the flesh and the heart must furnish a proportion defect in manners is usually the defect of fine men are too made for the delicacy of beautiful carriage and customs it is not quite sufficient to a union of kindness and independence we require a perception of and a homage to beauty in our companions other virtues are in request in the field and but a certain degree of taste is not to be spared in those we sit with i could better eat with one who did not respect the truth or the laws than with a and person moral qualities rule the world but at short distances the senses are the same of fit and fair runs out if with less | 37 |
into all parts of life the average spirit of the energetic class is good sense acting under certain and to certain ends it every natural gift social in its nature it respects every thing which to unite men it delights in measure the love of beauty is mainly the love of measure or proportion the person who screams or uses the degree or with heat puts whole drawing rooms to flight if you wish to be loved love measure you must have genius or a prodigious usefulness essay iv if you will hide the want of measure this per comes in to polish and perfect the parts of the social instrument society will pardon much to genius and special gifts but being in its nature a it loves what is conventional or what belongs to coming together that makes the good and bad of manners namely what helps or fellowship for fashion is not good sense absolute but relative not good sense private but good sense entertaining company it hates corners and sharp points of character hates solitary and gloomy people hates whatever can interfere with total of parties whilst it all peculiarities as in the highest degree refreshing which can consist with good fellowship and besides the general of wit to civility the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society as the addition to its rule and its credit the dry light must shine in to adorn our festival but it must be tempered and shaded or that will also offend accuracy is essential to beauty and quick to politeness but not too quick one may be too punctual too precise he must leave the of business at the door when he comes into the palace of beauty society loves natures and sleepy manners so that they cover sense grace manners and good will the air of drowsy strength which criticism perhaps because such a person seems to reserve himself for the best of the game and not spend himself on an eye which does not see the and that cloud the brow and the voice of the sensitive therefore besides personal force and so much perception as taste society demands in its class another element already intimated which it significantly terms good nature expressing all degrees of generosity from the lowest and faculty to oblige up to the heights of and love insight we must have or we shall run against one another and miss the way to our food but intellect is selfish barren the secret of success in society is a certain and sympathy a man who is not happy in the company cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion all his information is a little impertinent a man who is happy there finds in every turn of the conversation equally lucky occasions for the introduction of that which he has to say the of society and what it whole souls are able men and of more spirit than wit who have no uncomfortable but who exactly fill the hour and the company contented and at a marriage or a essay iv a ball or a a water party or a england is rich in gentlemen furnished in the beginning of the present century a good model of that genius which the world loves in mr fox who added to his great abilities the most social disposition and real love of men history has few better passages than the debate in which and fox separated in the house of when fox urged on his old friend the claims of old friendship with such tenderness that the house was moved to tears another anecdote is so close to my matter that i must hazard the story a who had long him for a note of three hundred guineas found him one day counting gold and demanded payment no said fox i owe this money to it is a debt of honor if an accident should happen to me he has nothing to show then said the i change my debt into a debt of honor and tore the note in pieces fox thanked the man for his confidence and paid him saying his debt was of older standing and must wait lover of liberty friend of the friend of the african slave he possessed a great personal popularity and napoleon said of him on the occasion of his visit to paris in mr will always hold the first place in an assembly at the manners we may easily seem ridiculous in our of courtesy whenever we insist on benevolence as its foundation the painted fashion rises to cast a species of derision on what we say but i will neither be driven from some allowance to fashion as a institution nor from the belief that love is the basis of courtesy we must obtain that if we can but by all means we must affirm this life owes much of its spirit to these sharp fashion which affects to be honor is often in all men s experience only a yet so long as it is the highest circle in the imagination of the best heads on the planet there is something necessary and excellent in it for it is not to be supposed that men have agreed to be the of anything preposterous and the respect which these mysteries inspire in the most rude and characters and the curiosity with which details of high life are read betray the of the love of cultivated manners i know that a comic would be felt if we should enter the acknowledged first circles and apply these terrific standards of justice beauty and benefit to the individuals actually found there and heroes and lovers these are not fashion has many classes and many rules of and admission and not the best alone there is not only the right of conquest which essay ly genius r the individual his natural | 37 |
aristocracy best of the best but less claims will pass for the time for fashion loves lions and points like to her company this gentleman is this afternoon arrived from and that is my lord ride who came yesterday from here is captain from cape and captain from the interior of the earth and who came down this morning in a mr the and reverend bat who has converted the whole in his sunday school and who extinguished by pouring into it the bay of the and shan the of whose saddle is the new moon but these are monsters of one day and to morrow will be dismissed to their holes and for in these rooms every chair is waited for the artist the scholar and in general the wins its way up into these places and gets represented here somewhat on this footing of conquest another mode is to pass through all the degrees spending a year and a day in st michael s square being in water and and dined and and properly in all the biography and politics and anecdotes of the manners yet these may have grace and wit let there be grotesque about the gates and offices of temples let the creed and even have the homage of the forms of politeness universally express benevolence in degrees what if they are in the mouths of selfish men and used as means of selfishness what if the false gentleman almost bows the true out of the world what if the false gentleman so to address his companion as to all others from his discourse and also to make them feel excluded real vice will not lose its all generosity is not merely french and sentimental nor is it to be concealed that living blood and a passion of kindness does at last distinguish god s gentleman from fashion s the of sir is not wholly unintelligible to the present age here lies sir who loved his friend and persuaded his enemy what his mouth ate his hand paid for what his servants robbed he restored if a woman gave him pleasure he supported her in pain he never forgot his children and touched his finger drew after it his whole body even the line of heroes is not utterly extinct there is still ever some admirable person in plain clothes standing on the wharf who in to rescue a drowning man there is still essay ly some absurd of some guide and of slaves some friend of some some who plants shade trees for the second and third generation and when he is grown old some well concealed piety some just man happy in an ill fame some youth ashamed of the of fortune and impatiently casting them on other shoulders and these are the of society on which it returns for fresh impulses these are the of fashion which is an attempt to beauty of behavior the beautiful and the generous are in the theory the doctors and of this church and the and sir philip and washington and every pure and heart who worshipped beauty by word and by deed the persons who constitute the natural aristocracy are not found in the actual aristocracy or only on its edge as the energy of the is found to be greatest just outside of the yet that is the infirmity of the who do not know their sovereign when he appears the theory of society the existence and of these it afar off their coming it says with the elder gods ab heaven and earth arc fairer far than chaos and blank darkness though once and as we show beyond that earth in and shape compact and beautiful manners so on our heels a fresh perfection a power more strong in beauty bom of us and fated to us as we pass in glory that old darkness for tis the eternal law that first in beauty shall be first in might therefore within the circle of good society there is a and higher circle of its light and flower of courtesy to which there is always a appeal of pride and reference as to its inner and imperial court the parliament of love and chivalry and this is constituted of those persons in whom heroic dispositions are native with the love of beauty the delight in society and the power to the passing day if the individuals who compose the purest circles of icy in europe the guarded blood of centuries should pass in review in such manner as we could at leisure and inspect their behavior we might find no gentleman and no lady for although excellent specimens of courtesy and high breeding would gratify us in the assemblage in the particulars we should detect because elegance comes of no breeding but of birth there must be romance of character or the most fastidious of will not avail it must be genius which takes that direction it must be not courteous but courtesy high behavior is as rare in fiction as it i in fact essay iv scott is praised for the fidelity with which he painted the and conversation of the superior classes certainly kings and queens and great ladies had some right to complain of the absurdity that had been put in their mouths before the days of but neither does scott s dialogue bear criticism his lords brave each other in smart speeches but the dialogue is in costume and does not please on the second reading it is not warm with life in alone the do not and bridle the dialogue is easily great and he adds to so many titles that of being the best bred man in england and in once or twice in a lifetime we are permitted to enjoy the charm of noble manners in the presence of a man or woman who have no bar in their nature but whose character | 37 |
freely in their word and gesture a beautiful form is better than a beautiful face a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures it is the finest of the fine arts a man is but a little thing in the midst of the objects of nature yet by the moral quality from his countenance he may all considerations of magnitude and in his manners equal the majesty of the world i have seen an individual whose manners though wholly within the of elegant society were manners never learned there but were original and commanding and held out protection and prosperity one who did not need the aid of a court suit but carried the holiday in his eye who the fancy by flinging wide the doors of ne w modes of existence who shook off the of etiquette with happy spirited bearing good natured and free as robin hood yet with the port of an emperor if need be calm serious and fit to stand the gaze of millions the open air and the fields the street and public chambers are the places where man his will let him yield or divide the at the door of the house woman with her instinct of behavior instantly in man a love of trifles any coldness or or in short any want of that large flowing and which is indispensable as an exterior in the hall our american have been friendly to her arid at this moment i esteem it a chief felicity of this country that it in women a certain awkward consciousness of inferiority in the men may give rise to the new chivalry in behalf of woman s rights certainly let her be as much better placed in the laws and in social forms as the most zealous can ask but i confide so entirely in her inspiring and musical nature that i believe only herself can show us how she shall be essay ly served the wonderful generosity of her ments raises her at times into and regions and the pictures of or and by the firmness with which she her upward path she the that another road exists than that which their feet know but besides those who make good in our imagination the place of and of are there not women who fill our with wine and roses to the brim so that the wine over and fills the house with perfume who inspire us with courtesy who our tongues and we speak who our eyes and we see we say things we never thought to have said for once our walls of habit reserve vanished and left us at lai e we were children playing with children in a wide field of flowers steep us we cried in these influences for days for weeks and we shall be sunny poets and will write out in many colored words the romance that you are was it or that said of his she was an force and astonished me by her amount of life when i saw her day after day every instant joy and grace on all around her she was a powerful to reconcile all persons into one society like air or water an element of such a great range of that manners it readily with a thousand where she is present all others will be more than they are wont she was a and whole so that whatsoever she did became her she had too much sympathy and desire to please than that you could say her manners were marked with dignity yet no princess could her clear and erect on each occasion she did not study the grammar nor the books of the seven poets but all the poems of the seven seemed to be written upon her for though the bias of her nature was not to thought but to sympathy yet was she so perfect in her own nature as to meet intellectual persons by the fulness of her heart warming them by her sentiments believing as she did that by dealing nobly with all all would show themselves noble i know that this pile of chivalry or fashion which seems so fair and picturesque ta those who look at the contemporary facts for science or for entertainment is not equally pleasant to all spectators the constitution of our society it a giant s castle to the ambitious youth who have not found their names in its golden book and whom it has excluded from its honors and privileges they have yet to learn that its seeming grandeur is shadowy and relative it is ly great by their allowance its gates will fly open at the approach of their courage and virtue for the present distress however of those who are to from the of this caprice there are easy to remove your residence a couple of miles or at most four will commonly relieve the most extreme for the advantages which fashion are plants which in very confined in a few streets namely out of this they go for nothing are of no use in the farm in the forest ih the market in war in the society in the literary or scientific circle at sea in friendship in the heaven of thought or virtue but we have lingered long enough in these painted courts the worth of the thing signified must our taste for the emblem every thing that is called fashion and courtesy itself before the cause and fountain of honor creator of titles and namely the heart of love this is the royal blood this the fire which in all countries and will work after its kind and conquer and all that approaches it this gives new to every fact this the rich suffering grandeur but its own what is rich are you rich enough to help anybody to the and the eccentric rich enough to | 37 |
make the r in his the with his s which him to the charitable the italian with his few broken words of english the lame hunted by from town to town even the poor insane or wreck of man or woman feel the noble exception of your presence and your house from the and to make such fed that they were greeted with a voice which made them both remember and hope what is vulgar but refuse the claim on acute and what is gentle but to allow it and give their heart and yours one holiday from the national caution without the rich heart wealth is an ugly beggar the king of could not afford to be so as the poor who dwelt at his gate had a humanity so broad and deep that although his speech was so bold and free with the as to disgust all the yet was there never a poor outcast eccentric or insane man fool who had cut off his beard or who had been under a vow or had a pet madness in his brain but fled at once to him that great heart lay there so sunny and hospitable in the centre of the country that it seemed as if the instinct of all drew them to his side and the madness which he he did not share is not this to be rich this only to be rightly rich iv but i shall hear without pain that i play the very ill and talk of that which i do not well understand it is easy to see that what is called by distinction society and fashion has good laws as well as bad has much that is necessary and much that is absurd too good for and too bad for blessing it reminds us of a tradition of the pagan in any attempt to settle its character i overheard jove one day said talking of destroying the earth he said it had failed they were all and who went from bad to worse as fast as the days succeeded each other said she hoped not they were only ridiculous little creatures with this odd circumstance that they had a or aspect seen far or seen near if you called them bad they would appear so if you called them good they would appear so and there was no one person or action among them which would not puzzle her owl much more all to know whether it was bad or good gifts of one who me twas high time they came when he ceased to me time they stopped for essay v gifts it is said that the world is in a state of that the world owes the world more than the world can pay and ought to go into and be sold i do not think this which in some sort all the population to be the reason of the difficulty experienced at christmas and new year and other times in gifts since it is always so pleasant to be generous though very to pay debts but the lies in the choosing if at any time it comes into my head that a present is due from me to somebody i am puzzled what to give until the opportunity is gone flowers and fruits are always fit presents flowers because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty all the of the world these gay natures contrast with the somewhat stern countenance of ordinary nature they are like music v heard out of a nature does not us we are children not she is not fond everything is dealt to us without fear or favor after severe universal laws yet these delicate flowers look like the and interference of love and beauty men use to tell that we love flattery even though we are not deceived by it because it shows that we are of importance enough to be something like that pleasure the flowers give us what am i to whom these sweet hints are addressed fruits are acceptable gifts because they are the flower of and admit of fantastic being attached to them if a man should send to me to come a hundred miles to visit him and should set before me a basket of fine sum fruit i should think there was some proportion between the labor and the reward for common gifts necessity makes and beauty every day and one is glad when an imperative leaves him no since if the man at the door have no shoes you have not to consider whether you could procure him a paint box and as it is always pleasing to see a man eat bread or drink water in the house or out of doors so it is always a great satisfaction to supply these first wants necessity does everything well in our condition of universal dependence it seems heroic to let the be the judge of his gifts and to give all that is asked though at great if it be a fantastic desire it is better to leave to others the office of him i can think of many parts i should prefer playing to that of the next to things of necessity the rule for a gift which one of my friends prescribed is that we might convey to some person that which properly belonged to his character and was easily associated with him in thought but our tokens of compliment and love are for the most part barbarous rings and other jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts the only gift is a portion of thou must for me therefore the poet brings his poem the shepherd his lamb the farmer corn the a the sailor coral and shells the painter his picture the girl a handkerchief of her own sewing this is right and pleasing for it society in so far to | 37 |
the basis when a man s biography is conveyed in his gift and every man s wealth is an index of his merit but it is a cold lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy me something which does not represent your life and talent but a s this is fit for kings and rich men who represent kings and a false state of property to make presents of gold and silver as a kind of sin offering or payment of essay y the law of benefits is a difficult channel which requires careful sailing or rude boats it is not the office of a man to receive gifts how dare you give them we wish to be self sustained we do not quite forgive a the hand that us is in some danger of being bitten we can receive anything from love for that is a way of receiving it from ourselves but not from any one who to bestow we sometimes hate the meat which we eat because there seems something of degrading dependence in living by it brother if jove to thee a present make take heed that from his hands thou nothing take we ask the whole nothing less will content us we society if it do not give us besides earth and fire and water opportunity love reverence and objects of veneration he is a good man who can receive a gift well we are either glad or sorry at a gift and both emotions are some violence i think is done some degradation borne when i rejoice or grieve at a gift i am sorry when my independence invaded or when a gift comes from such as do t know my spirit and so the act is not supported id if the gift pleases me then i should i ashamed that the should read my heart id see that i love his and not him gifts the gift to be true must be the flowing of the unto me correspondent to my flowing unto him when the waters are at level then my goods pass to him and his to me all his are mine all mine his i say to him how can you give me this pot of oil or this of wine when all your oil and wine is mine which belief of mine this gift seems to deny hence the fitness of beautiful not useful things for gifts this giving is flat and therefore when the is ungrateful as all hate all not at all considering the value of the gift but looking back to the greater store it was taken from i rather with the than with the anger of my lord for the expectation f gratitude is mean and is continually punished by the total of the obliged person it is a great happiness to get off without injury and heart burning from one who has had the ill luck to be served by you it is a very business this of being served and the naturally wishes to give you a slap a golden text for these gentlemen is that which i i o admire in the who never thanks and who says do not flatter your the reason of these i conceive to be that there is no between a and any gift you cannot give anything to a e at t person after you have him at once puts you in debt by his the service a man renders his friend is trivial ai selfish compared with the service he friend stood in readiness to yield him alike he had begun to serve his friend and now all compared with that good will i bear my tl benefit it is in my power to render him seems ma besides our action on each other good as well evil is so and at random that we can ac hear the of any person would thank us for a benefit without some shan and humiliation we can rarely strike a dire stroke but must be content with an on we seldom have the satisfaction of yielding a dire benefit which is directly received but on every side without knowing and receives with wonder the thanks of all i fear to breathe any treason against the of love which is the genius and god of gifts ai to whom we must not to l him give or flower leaves there are persons from whom we always fairy tokens let us not cease to expect them is and not to be limited by our rules for the rest i like to see that we be bought and sold the best of hospitality ai of generosity is also not in the will but in fat gifts i find that i am not much to you you do not need me you do not feel me then am i thrust out of doors though you me house and lands no services are of any value but only likeness when i have attempted to join myself to others by services it proved an intellectual trick no more they eat your service like apples and leave you out but love them and they feel you and delight in you all the time nature the rounded world is fair to see nine times folded in mystery though baffled cannot impart the secret of its laboring heart throb thine with nature s throbbing and all is clear from east to west spirit that each form within to spirit of its kin self kindled every and hints the future which it essay vi nature there are days which occur in this climate at almost any season of the year wherein the world reaches its perfection when the air the heavenly bodies and the earth make a harmony as if nature would indulge her offspring when in these bleak upper sides of the planet nothing is to desire that we have heard of | 37 |
the happiest and we in the shining hours of and when everything that has life gives sign of satisfaction and the cattle that lie on the ground seem to have great and tranquil thoughts these may be looked for with a little more assurance in that pure october weather which we distinguish by the name of the indian summer the day long sleeps over the broad hills and warm wide fields to have lived through all its sunny hours seems enough the solitary places do not seem quite lonely at the gates of essay vi the forest the surprised man of the world is for to leave his city of great and small and foolish the of custom falls off back with the first step he makes into these here is which our i and reality which our hen here we find nature to be the circumstance wh every other circumstance and judges god all men that come to her we have crept of our close and crowded houses into the night morning and we see what majestic beauties da wrap us in their bosom how willingly we escape the which render them ly impotent escape the and thought and suffer nature to us t tempered light of the woods is like a perpetual mo ing and is and heroic the reported of these places creep on us stems of pines and oaks almost like iron on the excited eye the trees begin to persuade us to live with them a quit our life of solemn trifles here no history church or state is on the divine s and the immortal year how easily we might wa onward into the opening landscape absorbed new pictures and by thoughts fast succeeding ea other until by degrees the recollection of was crowded out of the mind all memory nature by the tyranny of the present and we were led in triumph by nature these are they sober and heal us these are plain pleasures kindly and native to us we come to our own and make friends with matter which the ambitious chatter of the schools would persuade us to despise we never can part with it the mind loves its old home as water to our thirst so is the rock the ground to our eyes and hands and feet it is firm water it is cold flame what health what ever an old friend ever like a dear friend and brother when we chat with strangers comes in this honest face and takes a grave liberty with us and us out of our nonsense cities give not the human senses room we go out daily and nightly to feed the eyes on the horizon and require so much scope just as we need water for our bath there are all degrees of natural in from these powers of nature up to her dearest and to the imagination and the soul there is the bucket of cold water from the spring the wood fire to which the chilled traveller rushes for safety and there is the sublime moral of autumn and of noon we in nature and draw our living as from her roots and and we receive glances from the heavenly bodies which call us to solitude essay vi and the remotest future the blue is the point in which romance and reality meet i think if we should be away into all that we dream of heaven and should converse with and the upper sky would be all that would remain of our furniture it seems as if the day was not wholly profane in which we have given heed to some natural object the fall of in a still air preserving to each crystal its perfect form the blowing of over a wide sheet of water and over plains the waving the waving of acres of whose innumerable and ripple before the eye the reflections of trees and flowers in lakes the musical steaming ous south wind which all trees to the and of in the flames or of pine logs which yield glory to the walls and faces in the these are the music and pictures of the most ancient religion my house stands in low land with limited outlook and on the skirt of the village but i go with my friend to the shore of our little river and with one stroke of the i leave the village politics and yes and the world of villages and per behind and pass into a delicate realm of sunset and moonlight too bright almost for spotted man to enter without and we r nature penetrate bodily this incredible beauty we dip our hands in this painted element our eyes are bathed in these lights and forms a holiday a a royal the most festival that and beauty power and taste ever and enjoyed itself on the instant these sunset clouds these delicately emerging stars with their private and glances signify it and it i am taught the of our invention the of towns and palaces art and luxury have early learned that they must work as and to this original beauty i am for my return henceforth i shall be hard to please i cannot go back to toys i am grown expensive and i can no longer live without elegance but a shall be my master of he who knows the most he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground the waters the plants the heavens and how to come at these is the rich and royal man only as far as the masters of the world have called in nature to their aid can they reach the height of magnificence this is the meaning of their hanging gardens garden houses islands and preserves to back their personality with these strong i do not wonder that the landed interest should be invincible in the state essay with these dangerous these | 37 |
bribe and invite not kings not palaces not men not women but these tender and poetic stars eloquent of secret promises we heard what the rich man said we knew of his villa his grove his wine and his company but the provocation and point of the invitation came out of these stars in their soft glances i see what men strove to realize in some or or indeed it is the lights of the horizon and the blue sky for the background which save all our works of art which were otherwise when the rich tax the poor with and they should consider the effect of men to be the of nature on imaginative minds ah if the rich were rich as the poor fancy riches a boy hears a military band play on the field at night and he has kings and queens and famous chivalry before him he hears the echoes of a horn in a hill country in the mountains for example which the mountains into an harp and this supernatural to him the and all divine hunters and can a musical note be so lofty so beautiful to the poor young poet thus is his picture of society he is loyal he respects the rich they are rich for the sake of his imagination how poor nature fancy would be if they were not rich that they have some high grove which they call a park that they live in larger and than he has visited and go in keeping only the society of the elegant to and to distant cities are tjie from which he has estates of romance compared with which their actual possessions are and the muse herself her son and th gifts of wealth and beauty by a out of the air and clouds and forests that skirt the road a certain haughty favor as if from to a kind of aristocracy in nature a prince of the power of the air the moral sensibility which makes and so easily may not be always found but the material landscape is never far off we can find these without visiting the lake or the islands we the praises of local scenery in every landscape the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth and that is seen from the first as well as from the top of the the stars at night stoop down over the common with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the or on the marble of egypt the clouds and the essay vi colors of morning and evening will and the difference between land and landscape is small but there is great in the there is nothing so wonderful in particular landscape as the necessity of being beautiful under which every landscape lies nature cannot be surprised in beauty breaks in everywhere but it is very easy to the sympathy of readers on this topic which called or nature passive one can hardly speak directly of it without excess it is as easy to in mixed companies what is called subject of religion a susceptible person does not like to indulge his tastes in this kind without the apology of some trivial necessity he goes to see a wood lot or to look at the crops or to fetch a plant or a from a remote locality or he carries a piece or a fishing rod i suppose this shame must have a good reason a in nature is barren and unworthy the of fields is no better than his brother of men are naturally hunters and inquisitive of wood craft and i suppose that such a as wood and indians should furnish facts for would take place in the most drawing rooms of all the wreaths and s of the yet ordinarily whether we are too nature clumsy for so subtle a topic or from whatever cause as soon as men begin to write on nature they fall into is a most unfit tribute to pan who ought to be represented in the as the most continent of gods i would not be frivolous before the admirable reserve and prudence of time yet i cannot the right of returning often to this old topic the multitude of false churches the true religion literature poetry science are the homage of man to this secret concerning which no sane man can affect an indifference or nature is loved by what is best in us it is loved as the city of god although or rather because there is no citizen the sunset is unlike anything that is underneath it it wants men and the beauty of nature must always seem and mocking until the landscape has human figures that are as good as itself if there were good men there would never be this rapture in nature if the king is in the palace nobody looks at the walls it is when he is gone and the house is filled with and that we turn from the people to find relief in the majestic men that are suggested by the pictures and the architecture the critics who complain of the sickly separation of the beauty of nature from the thing to be done must consider that our hunting of the picturesque is inseparable e at ti from our protest against false society man is fallen nature is erect and serves as a the presence or absence of the divine sentiment in man by fault of our ness and selfishness we are looking up to nature but when we are nature will look up to us we see the foaming brook with if our own life flowed with the right energy we should shame the brook the stream of zeal with real fire and not with rays of sun and moon nature may be as studied as trade to the selfish becomes with intent to show where our are gone and and become | 37 |
and but taking and leaving many things on this topic let us not longer omit our homage to the efficient nature the quick cause before which all forms flee as the driven itself secret its works driven before it in flocks and multitudes as the represented nature by a shepherd and in variety it itself in creatures reaching from and through on to the highest arriving at results without a shock or a leap a little heat that is a little nature motion is all that differences the bald dazzling white and deadly cold poles of the earth from the tropical all changes pass without violence by reason of the two cardinal conditions of boundless space and boundless time has us into the of nature and taught us to our dame school measures and exchange our and schemes for her large style we knew nothing rightly for want of perspective now we learn what patient periods must round themselves before the rock is formed then before the rock is broken and the first race has the external plate into soil and opened the door for the remote and to come in how far off yet is the how far the how remote is man all duly arrive and then race after race of men it is a long way from granite to the farther yet to and the preaching of the of the soul yet all must come as surely as th first has two sides motion or change and identity or rest are the first and second secrets of nature motion and rest the whole code of her laws may be written on the or the of a ring the whirling on the surface of a brook admits us to the secret of the of the sky every n shell on the beach is a key to it a little made to in a cup explains the formation c the shells the addition of matter year to year arrives at last at the most forms and yet so poor is nature with all her that from the beginning to the end of the she has but one stuff but one stuff with its tn ends to serve up all her dream like variety pound it how she will star sand fire water man it is still one stuff and the same pro nature is always consistent though she to her own laws she keeps b laws and seems to them she arms a an animal to find its place and living in tl earth and at the same time she arms and another animal to destroy it space exists to creatures but by clothing the sides of a bird wi a few feathers she gives him a petty the direction is forever onward but the artist s goes back for materials and begins again with t first elements on the most advanced stage wise all goes to ruin if we look at her work seem to catch a glance of a system in plants are the young of the world vessels of heal and vigor but they ever upward consciousness the trees are imperfect men a seem to their imprisonment rooted in t nature ground the animal is the and of a more advanced order the men though young having tasted the first drop from the cup of thought are already dissipated the and are still yet no doubt when they come to consciousness they too will curse and swear flowers so strictly belong to youth that we men soon come to feel that their beautiful generations concern not us we have had our day now the children have theirs the flowers us and we are old with our ridiculous tenderness things are so strictly related that according to the skill of the eye from any one object the parts and properties of any other may be predicted if we had eyes to see it a bit of stone from the city wall would us of the necessity that man must exist as readily as the city that identity makes us all one and to nothing great intervals on our customary scale we talk of from natural life as if artificial life were not also natural the curled in the of a palace has an animal nature and as a white bear to its own ends and is directly related there amid and to mountain chains and the of the globe if we consider how much we are nature s we need not be superstitious about essay vi towns as if that terrific or force did not find us there also and fashion cities nature who made the made the house we may easily hear too much of rural influences the cool disengaged air of natural objects makes them to us and irritable with red faces and we think we shall be as grand as if we camp out and eat roots but let us be men instead of and the oak and the elm shall gladly serve us though we sit in chairs of ivory on carpets of silk this guiding identity runs through all the surprises and of the piece and every law man carries the world in his head the whole and suspended in a thought because the history of nature is in his brain therefore is he the prophet and of her secrets every known fact in natural science was divined by the of somebody before it was actually a man does not tie his shoe without laws which bind the farthest regions of nature moon plant gas crystal are and numbers common sense knows its own and the fact at first sight in experiment the common sense of ton and black is the same common sense which made the which now it nature if the identity expresses organized rest the counter action runs also into organization the said give us matter and a little motion and we will the universe it is not | 37 |
enough that we should have matter we must also have a single impulse one to the mass and the harmony of the and forces once heave the ball from the hand and we can show how all this mighty order grew a very unreasonable said the and a plain begging of the question could you not prevail to know the of as well as the of it nature meanwhile had not waited for the discussion but right or wrong bestowed the impulse and the balls rolled it was no great affair a mere push but the were right in making much of it for there is no end to the consequences of the act that famous push itself through all the balls of the system and through every of every ball through all the races of creatures and through the history and performances of every individual exaggeration is in the course of things nature sends no creature no man into the world without adding a small excess of his proper quality given the planet it is still necessary to add the impulse so to every creature nature added a little violence of essay vi direction in its proper path a to put it on its way in every instance a slight generosity a drop too much without the air would rot and without this violence of direction which men and women have without a of and no excitement no we aim above the mark to hit the mark every act hath some falsehood of exaggeration in it and when now and then comes along some sad sharp eyed man who sees how paltry a game is played and refuses to play but the secret how then is the bird flown o no the wary nature sends a new troop of fairer forms of youths with a little more excess of direction to hold them fast to their several aim makes them a little in that direction in which they are and on goes the game again with new whirl for a generation or two more the child with his sweet the fool of his senses commanded by every sight and sound without any power to compare and rank his sensations abandoned to a whistle or a painted to a lead or a everything nothing delighted with every new thing lies down at night overpowered by the fatigue which this day of continual pretty madness has incurred but nature has answered her purpose with the curly lunatic she has every faculty and has nature secured the growth of the bodily frame by all these attitudes and exertions an end of the first importance which could not be trusted to any care less perfect than her own this glitter this lustre plays round the top of every toy to his eye to his fidelity and he is deceived to his good we are made alive and kept alive by the same arts let the say what they please we do not eat for the good of living but because the meat is and the appetite is keen the vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed but it fills the air and earth with a of seeds that if thousands perish thousands may plant themselves that hundreds may come up that may live to maturity that at least one may replace the parent all things betray the same calculated profusion the excess of fear with which the animal frame is round shrinking from cold starting at sight of a snake or at a sudden noise us through a multitude of from some one real danger at last the lover seeks in marriage his private felicity and perfection with no end and nature hides in his happiness her own end namely or the of the race but the craft with which the world is made runs also into the mind and character of no vi is quite sane each has a vein of folly in his a slight determination of blood to the l to make sure of holding him hard to some one which nature had taken to heart great c are never tried on their merits but the reduced to particulars to suit the size of the and the is ever on e matters not less remarkable is the each man in the importance of what he has or say the poet the prophet has a higher for what he than any and gets spoken the strong self complacent l declares with an emphasis not to be mistaken god himself cannot do without wise men and george fox betray their in the of their tracts james once suffered himself to be as the christ each prophet comes to identify himself with his thought and to ei his hat and shoes sacred however this ma credit such persons with the judicious it them with the people as it gives heat and to their words a similar is not in private life each ardent person writes a in which hours of prayer and arrive he ins his soul the pages thus written are to burning and fragrant he reads them on his nature by midnight and by the morning star he them with his tears they are sacred too good for the world and hardly yet to be shown to the dearest friend this is the man child that is born to the soul and her life still in the babe the cord has not yet been cut after some time has elapsed he begins to wish to admit his friend to this experience and with hesitation yet with firmness the pages to his eye will they not burn his eyes the friend coldly turns the and passes from the writing to conversation with easy transition which strikes the other party with astonishment and vexation he cannot suspect the writing itself days and nights of life of communion with angels of | 37 |
darkness and of light have engraved their shadowy characters on that tear stained book he the intelligence or the of his friend is there then no friend he cannot yet credit that one may have impressive experience and yet may not know how to put his private fact into literature and perhaps the discovery that wisdom has other tongues and ministers than we that though we should hold our peace the truth would not the less be spoken might check the flames of our zeal a man can only speak so long as he does not feel his speech to be partial and inadequate it is but he does not see it to be so whilst he it essay vi as soon as he is released from the instinctive and particular and sees its partiality he his mouth in disgust for no man can write anything who does not think that what he writes is for the time the history of the world or do anything well who does not esteem his work to be of importance my work may be of none but i must not think it of none or i shall not do it with in like manner there is throughout nature something mocking something that leads us on and on but arrives nowhere keeps no faith with us all promise the performance we live in a system of every end is of some other end which is also temporary a round and final success nowhere we are in nature not hunger and thirst lead us on to eat and to drink but bread and wine mix and cook them how you will leave us hungry and thirsty after the stomach is full it is the same with all our arts and performances our music our poetry our language itself are not but suggestions the hunger for wealth which the planet to a garden fools the eager what is the end sought plainly to secure the ends of good sense and beau from the intrusion of or vulgarity of i y kind but what an method what nature a train of means to secure a little conversation this palace of brick and stone these servants this kitchen these stables horses and this bank stock and file of trade to all the world country house and cottage by the all for a little conversation high clear and spiritual could it not be had as well by beggars on the highway no all these things came from successive efforts of these beggars to remove from the wheels of life and give opportunity conversation character were the ends wealth was good as it appeased the animal cured the smoky chimney silenced the creaking door brought friends together in a warm and quiet room and kept the children and the dinner table in a different apartment thought virtue beauty were the ends but it was known that men of thought and virtue sometimes had the headache or wet feet or could lose good time whilst the room was getting warm in winter days in the exertions necessary to remove these the main attention has been diverted to this object the old aims have been lost sight of and to remove has come to be the end that is the ridicule of rich men and boston london and now the generally of the world are cities and of the rich and the masses are not men but poor that is men who would essay vi be rich this is the ridicule of the class that they arrive with pains and sweat and fury nowhere when all is done it is for nothing they are like one who has interrupted the conversation of a company to make his speech and now has forgotten what he went to say the appearance strikes the eye everywhere of an society of nations were the ends of nature so great and as to exact this immense sacrifice of men quite to the in life there is as might be expected a similar effect on the eye from the face of external nature there is in woods and waters a certain and flattery together with a failure to yield a present satisfaction this disappointment is felt in every landscape i have seen the softness and beauty of the summer clouds floating overhead enjoying as it seemed their height and privilege of motion whilst yet they appeared not so much the of this place and hour as to some and gardens of beyond it is an odd jealousy but the poet finds himself not near to his object the pine tree the river the bank of flowers before him does not seem to be nature nature is still elsewhere this or this is but and far oflf reflection and echo of the that has passed by and is now at its nature glancing splendor and perchance in the neighboring fields or if you stand in the field then in the adjacent woods the present object shall give you this sense of stillness that follows a which has just gone by what splendid distance what recesses of pomp and loveliness in the sunset but who can go where they are or lay his hand or plant his foot off they fall from the round world forever and ever it is the same among the men and women as among the silent trees always a referred existence an absence never a presence and satisfaction is it that beauty can never be grasped in persons and in landscape is equally inaccessible the accepted and lover has lost the wildest charm of his maiden in her acceptance of him she was heaven whilst he pursued her as a star she cannot be heaven if she to such a one as he what shall we say of this appearance of that first impulse of this flattery and of so many well meaning creatures must we not suppose somewhere in the universe a slight treachery | 37 |
and derision are we not engaged to a serious resentment of this use that is made of us are we and fools of nature one look at the face of heaven and earth lays all at rest and us to wiser convictions to the intelligent nature essay vi itself into a vast promise and will not be rash explained her secret is many and mai an arrives he has the whole mystery ing in his brain the same has spoil his skill no syllable can he shape on his li her mighty like the fresh rainbow ii the deep but no s wing was yet enough to follow it and report of the return of t curve but it also appears that our actions and disposed to greater conclusions tl we designed we are escorted on every through life by spiritual agents and a purpose lies in wait for us we cannot bar words with nature or deal with her as we d with persons if we measure our individual for against hers we may easily feel as if we were sport of an destiny but if instead ourselves with the work we feel t the soul of the workman streams through us shall find the peace of the morning dwelling i in our hearts and the powers of and and over them of life within us in their highest form the uneasiness which the thought of our h in the chain of causes occasions us from looking too much at one condition of namely motion but the drag is never ta from the wheel wherever the impulse m nature the rest or identity its compensation all over the wide fields of earth grows the or self heal after every foolish day we sleep off the and of its hours and though we are always engaged with particulars and often to them we bring with us to every experiment the innate universal laws these while they exist in the mind as ideas stand around us in nature forever embodied a present to expose and cure the insanity of men our to particulars us into a hundred foolish expectations we anticipate a new era from the invention of a or a the new engine brings with it the old they say that by your shall be grown from the seed whilst your fowl is for dinner it is a symbol of our modern aims and of our and of objects but nothing is gained nature cannot be cheated man s life is but seventy long grow they swift or grow they slow in these and however we find our advantage not less than in the impulses let the victory fall where it will we are on that side and the knowledge that we the whole scale of being from the centre to the poles of nature and have some stake in every possibility that sublime lustre to death which philosophy and religion have essay vi too outwardly and literally to express in the popular doctrine of the immortality of the soul the reality is more excellent than the port here is no ruin no no spent ball the divine never rest nor linger nature is the of a thought and turns to a thought again as ice becomes water and gas the world is mind and the essence is forever escaping again into the state of free thought hence the virtue and of the influence on the mind of natural objects whether or organized man imprisoned man man speaks to man that power which does not respect quantity which makes the whole and the its equal channel its smile to the morning and its essence into every drop of rain every moment and every object for wisdom is into every form it has been poured into us as blood it us as pain it slid into us as pleasure it enveloped us in dull melancholy days or in days of cheerful labor we did not guess its essence until after a long time politics gold and iron are good to buy iron and g ld all earth s and food their like are sold wise proved napoleon great nor kind nor aught above its rate fear craft and cannot rear a state out of dust to build what is more than dust walls piled must when the nine with the virtues meet to their design an atlantic seat by green orchard boughs from the heat where the for the wheat the church is social worth when the state house is the then the perfect state is come the republican at home i i essay politics in dealing with the state we ought to ber that its institutions are not though they existed before we were bom that they are not superior to the citizen that every one of them was once the act of a single man every law and usage was a man s expedient to meet a particular case that they all are all we may make as good we may make better society is an illusion to the young citizen it lies before him in rigid repose with certain names men and institutions rooted like oak trees to the centre round which all arrange themselves the best they can but the ld knows that society is there are no such roots and but any may suddenly become the centre of the movement and compel the system to round it as every man of strong will like or does for a time and every man of truth like essay vii or paul does forever but politics rest on necessary foundations and cannot be treated with levity abound in young who believe that the laws make the city that grave of the policy and modes of living and of the population that commerce education and religion may be in or out and that any measure though it were absurd may be imposed on a people if | 37 |
only you can get sufficient voices to make it a law but the wise know that foolish is a rope of sand which in the twisting that the state must follow and not lead the character and progress of the citizen the strongest is quickly got rid of and they only who build on ideas build for eternity and that the form of government which is the expression of what cultivation exists in the population which it the law is only a we arc superstitious and esteem the somewhat so much life as it has in the character of living men is its force the stands there to say yesterday we agreed so and so but how feel ye this to day our is a which we stamp with our own portrait it soon becomes and in process of time will return to the nature is not nor limited but and will not be or of any of politics her authority by the of her sons and as fast as the public mind is opened to more intelligence the code is seen to be brute and it speaks not and must be made to meantime the education of the general mind never stops the of the true and simple are prophetic what the poetic youth dreams and and to day but the ridicule of saying aloud shall presently be the resolutions of public bodies then shall be carried as grievance and bill of rights through conflict and war and then shall be triumphant law and establishment for a hundred years until it gives place in turn to new prayers and pictures history of th e e in se tho i j follows at a distance the delicacy of culture and of the theory of politics which has possessed the mind of men and which they have expressed the best they could in their laws and in their considers persons and property as the two objects for whose of persons all have equal rights in virtue of being identical in nature this interest of course with its whole power demands a whilst the rights of all s ns a re j in virtue of their access to reason their ri in p p ty v y one man owns his clothes and essay vii another owns a county this accident on the skill and virtue of the which there is every degree and falls and its rights of c are unequal personal rights universally the demand a government framed on the property demands a government the of owners and of flocks and herds wishes them looked after officer on the lest the shall them off and pays a tax to that end jacob flocks or herds and no fear of the pays no tax to the officer it seemed fit that and jacob should have equal rights to officer who is to defend their persons but th ban and not jacob should elect the officer guard the sheep and cattle and if whether additional officers or watch towers i be provided must not and and who must sell part of their herds to buy for the rest judge better of this and with right than jacob who because he is a a traveller eats their bread and not his own in the earliest society the mad own wealth and so long as it comes to the o in the direct way no other opinion would a any community than that property i law for property nd tbe h persons politics but property passes through or to those who do not create it gift in one case makes it as really the new owner s as labor made it the first owner s in the other case of the law makes an which will be in each man s view to the estimate which lie sets on the public tranquillity it was not however found easy to the readily admitted principle that property should make law for property and persons for persons since persons and property mixed themselves in every transaction at last it seemed settled that the distinction was that the should have mere than non i n on the le of calling that which is just equal not that which is equal just that principle no longer looks so self evident as it appeared in former times partly because doubts have arisen whether too much weight had not been allowed in the laws to property and such a structure given to our as allowed the rich to on the poor and to keep them poor but mainly because th ere is e se however obscure and yet inarticulate th at the of j o on its present is and its on persons and degrading that truly the only interest the consideration of the state is persons that property essay vii will always follow persons that the highest end of government is the culture of men and if men can be educated the institutions will share their improvement and the moral sentiment will write the law of the land if it be not easy to settle the of this question the peril is less when we of our natural we are kept by better guards than the vigilance of such as we commonly elect society always consists in greatest part of young arid foolish persons the om who have seen through the of courts and die and leave no wisdom to their sons they believe their own newspaper as their fathers did at their age with such an ignorant and majority states would soon run to ruin but that there are beyond which the folly and ambition of cannot go things have their laws as well as men and things refuse to be with be protected corn will not grow unless it is planted and but the farmer will not j or it unless the chances are a hundred to one that he will cut and harvest it under | 37 |
any forms and property must and will have their just sway they exert their power as steadily as matter its attraction cover up a pound of earth never so divide and it melt it to liquid convert it politics to gas it will always weigh a pound it will always attract and resist other matter by the full virtue of one pound weight and the attributes of a person his wit and his moral energy will exercise under any law or tyranny their l force if not then if not for the law then against it if not then with right or by might the impossible to fix as persons are organs of moral or supernatural force under the dominion of an idea which possesses the minds of multitudes as civil freedom or the religious sentiment the powers of are no longer subjects of calculation a nation of men bent on freedom or conquest can easily confound the of and achieve extravagant actions out of all proportion to their means as the the the the americans and the have done in like manner to every of property belongs its own attraction a cent is the representative of a certain quantity of corn or other its value is in the necessities of the animal man it is so much warmth so much bread so much water so much land the law may do what it will with the owner of property its just power will still attach to the cent the law may in a mad say that all shall have power ex essay til the owners of property they shall ha vote nevertheless by a higher law the pr will year after year write every th property the non proprietor will i of the proprietor what the owners to do the whole power of property will do through the law or else in defiance of it of c i speak of all the property not merely of the estates when the rich are as happens it is the joint treasury of the poor their every man something if it is only a cow or a or his arms and so has that property to the same necessity which the person and property against the oi of the magistrate the form and m of governing which are proper to each to its habit of thought and other states of society in this country very vain of our political institutions singular in this that they sprung within the of living men from the character and tion of the people which they still sufficient fidelity and we them to any other in history they are not but only for us we may be wise in ing the advantage in modern times of the fl form but to other states of society in politics religion consecrated the that and not this was expedient is because th e religious sentiment of the present time ap r born we are qualified to judge of which to our fathers living in the idea was also right but our institutions though in coincidence with the spirit of the age have not any from the practical defects which have other forms f rt t h n r good men must not obey the laws too well what satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the word w hich now for ages has s that the state is a trick the same necessity and the same practical abuse appear in the parties into which each state itself of and of the administration of the government parties are also founded on instincts and have better guides to their own humble aims than the sagacity of their leaders they have nothing perverse in their origin i rudely mark some real and lasting relation might as wisely the east wind or the fro t as a political party whose members for the m part could give no account of their position bat stand for the defence of those interests in which they find themselves our quarrel with them be essay vii when they quit this deep natural bidding of some leader and obeying considerations throw themselves into the n and defence of points belong their system a party is perpetually c k r y whilst we the from we cannot extend the same i y to their leaders reap the rewards and zeal of the masses which they ordinarily our parties are parties of and not ot principle as the planting conflict with the commercial the party of and that of parties which ai in their moral character and which can change ground with each other in the sup of their measures parties of religious or the party of free trade of of of slavery of capital punishment into personal would inspire enthusiasm the vice of oi in this country which may be a fair of these societies of that they do not plant themselves on the d necessary grounds to which they are but lash themselves to fury in the of some local and momentary measure u el ul to the of the parties which at this hour almost share thi politics between them i should say that one has the best cause and the other contains the best men the philosopher the poet or the religious man will of course wish to cast his vote with the for free trade for wide for the of legal in the code and for in every manner the access of the young and the poor to the sources of wealth and power but he can rarely accept the persons whom the so called popular party propose to him as representatives of these they have not at heart the ends which give to the name of what hope and virtue are in it of our american is destructive and it is not it and divine ends but is destructive only out of hatred and selfishness on the | 37 |
other side th e party pf the most aiid part of the a a aa y of property it no right it to no real good it no crime it no generous policy it does not build nor write nor cherish the arts nor foster religion nor establish schools nor encourage science nor the slave nor the poor or the indian or the from neither party when in power has the world any benefit to expect in science art or humanity at all with the resources of the nation essay vii i do not for these defects despair of our republic we are not at the mercy of any waves of chance in the strife of ferocious parties human nature always finds itself cherished as the children of the at bay are found to have as healthy a moral sentiment as other children citizens of states are alarmed at our institutions sing into and the older and more cautious among are learning from to some terror at our turbulent it is said that in our license of the constitution and in the of public opinion we have no anchor and one foreign oh s thinks he has found the in the s of among us and thinks h has it in our un expressed the popular security more wisely he compared a and a re ul saying that a is a which sails well hut will sometimes strike on a and o to the bottom whilst is a which would never sink but then your feet are always in water no forms can have any dangerous importance whilst we are by the laws of it makes no difference how many tons weight of atmosphere on our heads so long as the same pressure it within the lungs the mass a thousand fold it cannot to sh us as politics as reaction is cr to action the fact of two poles of two forces and is universal and each force by its own activity the other vii i ii rf r n want of liberty by law and decorum conscience law only where there is greater and sc f in the leaders a mob cannot be a everybody s interest requires that it should not exist and only justice all we must trust infinitely to the beneficent necessity which shines through all laws human nature expresses itself in them as as in statues or songs or and an abstract of the of nations would be a of the common conscience have their origin in the moral identity of men reason for one is seen to be reason for another and for every other mi inn oh g be they never so many or so resolute for their own every man finds a sanction for his simplest claims and deeds in of his own mind which he calls truth and in these all the citizens find a perfect agreement and only in these not in what is good to eat good to wear good use of time or what amount of land or of public aid each is entitled to claim this truth and justice men presently endeavor to make ap of to the measuring of land the ap ment of service the protection of life and pi their first no doubt are very i yet absolute right is the first governor o government is an the i ter which e community is to m mend its law is the wise man it cannot find in nature and il awkward but earnest efforts to ment by contrivance as by causing th people to give their voices on every by a double choice to get the whole or by a selection of the best to secure the advantages of and peace by confiding the government to oi may himself select his agents all forms of ment an immortal government to all and independent of feet where two men exist perfect where only one man every man s nature is a sufficient to him of the character of his fellows and my wrong is their right and their whilst i do what is fit for me and what is unfit my neighbor and i shall m our means and work together for a tin end but whenever i find my dominion self not sufficient for me and undertake t politics tion of him also i the truth and ome into false relations to him i may have so much more skill or strength than he that he cannot express his sense of wrong but it is a lie and hurts like a lie both him and me love and nature cannot maintain the assumption it must be executed by a practical lie namely by force this undertaking for another is the blunder which stands in colossal in the of the world it is the same thing in numbers as in a pair only not quite so intelligible i can see well enough a great difference between my setting myself down to a self control and my going to make somebody else act after my views but when a quarter of the human race assume to tell me what i must do i may be too much disturbed by the circumstances to see so clearly the absurdity of their command therefore all public ends look vague and beside private ones for any law but th if i put myself in the place of my child and we stand in one thought and see that things are thus or thus that perception is law for him and me we are both there both act but if without car him into the thought i look over into his plot and how it is with him this or that he will never obey me this is the history of one man does something which essay vii is to bind another a man who cannot be acquainted with me taxes me looking from afar | 37 |
at me that a part of my labor shall go to this or that end not as i but as he happens to fancy behold the consequence of all debts men are least willing to pay the taxes what a satire is this on government everywhere they think they get their money s worth except for these hence the less go we have the better the fewer laws and the less confided power tlie to this abuse of formal government is the influence of private character the growth of the individual the appearance of the principal to the the appearance of the wise man of whom the existing government is it must be owned but a shabby imitation that which all things tend to which freedom cultivation intercourse go to form and deliver is character that is the end of nature to reach unto this of her king t o te the wise man the state exists and with the the wise the state the appearance of character makes the state unnecessary the wise man is the state he needs no army fort or navy he loves men too well no bribe or feast or palace to draw friends to him no ground no favorable circumstance he needs no politics library for he has not done thinking no church for he is a prophet no book for he has the no money for he is value no road for he is at home where he is no experience for the life of the creator shoots through him and looks from his eyes he has no personal friends for he who has the spell to draw the prayer and piety of all men unto him needs not husband and a few to share with him a select and poetic life his relation to men is his memory is to them his presence and flowers we think our civilization near its but we are yet only at the cock and the morning star in our barbarous y the influence of c er is in its infancy as a political power as the lord who iv to tumble all rulers from their chairs its presence is hardly yet suspected and quite omit it the annual register is silent in the conversations it is not set down the president s message the s speech have not mentioned it and yet it is never nothing every thought which and piety throw into the world the wo the in the lists of power feel all their of force and the of worth i think the very strife of trade a ambition are confession of this divinity j and essay in those ds are the poor amends tb leaf with which the soul attempts t its i find the like unwilling hon all quarters it is because we know how m due from us that we are impatient to v petty talent as a substitute for worth haunted by a conscience of this right to of character and are false to it but each has some talent can do somewhat graceful or formidable or amusing or that we do as an apology to others and t selves for not reaching the mark of a equal life but it does not satisfy us thrust it on the notice of our companions throw dust in their eyes but does not own brow or give us the tranquillity of the when we walk abroad we do penance as our talent is a sort of and we ai strained to reflect on our splendid moment certain humiliation as somewhat too fine a as one act of many acts a fair expression permanent energy most persons of in society with a kind of appeal each to say i am not all here and have climbed so high with pain en because they think the place specially as an apology for real worth and to politics manhood in our eyes this conspicuous chair is their compensation to themselves for being of a poor cold hard nature they must do what they can like one class of forest animals they have nothing but a tail climb they must or crawl if a man found himself so rich natured that he could enter into strict relations with the best persons and make life serene around by the dignity and sweetness of his behavior could he afford to the favor of the and the press and relations so hollow and as those of a surely nobody would be a who could afford to be sincere the tendencies of th l v leave the individual for all code to the rewards and of his own constitution which work with more energy than we believe whilst we depend on artificial the movement in this direction has been very marked in modern history much has been blind and but the nature of the is not affected by the vices of the this is a purely moral force it was never by any party in history neither can he it the individual from all party and hi at the same time to the race it promises a essay vii of higher rights than those of personal freedom or the security of property a man has a right to be employed to be trusted to be loved to be the power of love as the basis of a state has never been tried we must not imagine that all things are into confusion if every tender be not compelled to bear his part in certain social nor doubt that roads can be built letters carried and the fruit of labor secured when the government of force is at an end are our methods now so excellent that all competition is hopeless could not a nation of friends even devise better ways on the other hand let not the most and timid fear anything from a premature surrender of the and the system of force for according to the order | 37 |
of nature which is quite superior to our will it stands thus will always be a government of where men are selfish and when they are pure enough to the code of force they will be wise enough to see how these public ends of the post office of the highway of commerce and the exchange of property of and of institutions of art and science can be answered we live in a very low state of the world and pay unwilling tribute to founded on force there is not among the most religious and politics instructed men of the most religious and civil nations a reliance on the moral sentiment and a sufficient belief in the unity of things to persuade them that society can be maintained without artificial as well as the system or that the private citizen might be reasonable and a good neighbor without the hint of a jail or a what is strange too there never was in any man h i i i w i i a the power of to inspire him with the broad design of the state i o have pretended this design have been partial and have admitted in some manner the of the bad state i do not call to mind a single human being who has steadily denied the authority of the laws on the simple ground of his own moral nature such designs full of genius and lull of fate as they are are not entertained except as air pictures if the individual who them dare to think them practicable he scholars and f and men of talent and women of superior ments cannot hide their contempt not the does nature continue to fill the heart of youth v suggestions of this enthusiasm and there are men if indeed i can speak in the nm ber more exactly i will say i have e at tu been conversing with one man to whom no of adverse experience will make it for a n appear impossible that thousands of human might exercise towards each other the grand simplest sentiments as well as a knot of a pair of lovers and in countless upward striving waves the moon drawn tide wave in thousand far the parent fruit so in the new born millions the perfect adam lives not less are summer mornings dear to every child they wake and each with novel life his fills for his proper sake essay and i cannot often enough say that a man is only a relative and representative nature each is a hint of the truth but far enough from being that truth which yet he quite newly and inevitably suggests to us if i seek it in him i shall not find it could any man conduct into me the pure stream of that which he to be long afterwards i find that quality elsewhere which he promised me the genius of the is to the student yet how few particulars of it can i from all their books the man i stands for the thought but will t examination and a society of men will represent well enough a certain quality and for example chivalry or beauty of manners separate them and there is no gentleman and lady in the group the least hint sets us on pursuit of a character which no man essay have such eyes that on smallest arc we complete the curve and curtain is lifted from the which it to veil we are vexed to find that no drawn than just that fragment of an arc wh first beheld we are greatly too liberal in o of each other s faculty and promise what the parties have already done the do again but that which we inferred iron nature and they will not do thi nature but not in them that happens world which we often witness in a public each of the expresses himself no one of them hears much that another say is the of mind of each and who have only to hear and not to judge very wisely and how wrong and is each of the to hi affair great men or men of great gifts yo easily find but men never meet a pure intellectual force or a affection i believe here then is man and ai by the discovery that thi is no more available to his own or general ends than his companions power which drew my respect is not the total of his talents all exist to society by some shining trait of hei and utility which they hav e we borrow the proportions of the man from that one fine feature and finish the portrait which is false for the rest of his body is small or i observe a person who makes a good public appearance and conclude thence the perfection of his private character on which this is based but he has no private character he is a graceful cloak or lay figure for holidays all our poets heroes and saints fail utterly in some one or in many parts to satisfy our idea fail to draw our spontaneous interest and so leave us without any hope of but in our own future our exaggeration of all fine characters arises from the fact that we identify each in turn with the soul but there are no such men as we fable no nor nor caesar nor nor washington such as we have made we a great deal of nonsense because it was allowed by great men there is none without his i verily believe if an angel should come to chant the chorus of the moral law he would eat too much or take liberties with private letters or do some precious it is bad enough that our cannot do anything useful but it is worse that no man is fit | 37 |
for society who has fine traits he is admired at a distance but he cannot come near without appearing a the men of fine bs at parts protect themselves by solitude or by co or by satire or by an worldly manner as he best can his for but they want either love or self our native love of reality with to teach us a little reserve and to d a too sudden surrender to the brilliant persons people admire talents or lar as we grow older we powers and as the impression the the spirit of men and things the the man it is his system we do not word or act but his habit the you praise i praise not since they are from his faith and are mere which tribes and races is alone to be respected the men ai yet we select a a o steel number one what heart di i feel to thee what prodigious virtues are t thine how constitutional to thee and cable whilst we speak the i drawn down falls our in a heap w rest and we continue our to the w let us go for for th not for the needles human life persons are poor pretensions a j influence is an if they and great it is great if they say it is small it is small you see it and you see it not by turns it all its size from the momentary estimation of the the will of the if you go too near if you go too far and only at one angle who can tell if washington be a great man or no who can tell if be yes or any but the twelve or six or three great gods of fame and they too loom and fade before the eternal we are creatures for two elements having two sets of faculties the particular and the catholic we our instrument for general observation and sweep the heavens as easily as we pick out a single figure in the landscape we are practically skilful in elements for which we have no place in our theory and no name thus we are very sensible of an influence in men and in bodies of men not accounted for in an addition of all their properties is a genius of a nation which is not to be found in the citizens but which the society strong punctual practical well spoken england i should not find if i should go to the island to seek it in the parliament in the play house at dinner tables i might see a great number of rich ignorant book read essay proud men many old women and not anywhere the englishman who made the good speeches combined the accurate engines and did the bold and nervous deeds it is even worse in america where from the intellectual quickness of the race the genius of the country is more splendid in its promise and more slight in its performance cannot do the work of we conceive distinctly enough the french the spanish the german genius and it is not the less real that perhaps we should not meet in either of those nations a single individual who with the type we infer the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language which is a sort of monument to which each forcible individual in a course of many hundred years has contributed a stone and universally a good example of this social force is the of language which cannot be in any concerning morals an appeal may be made with safety to the sentiments which the language of the people expresses words and grammar convey the public sense with more purity and precision than the wisest individual in the famous dispute with the the had a good deal of reason general ideas are they are our gods they round and the most partial and sordid way of living and our to details cannot quite our life and it of poetry the day is reckoned as standing at the foot of the social scale yet he is with the laws of the world his measures are the hours morning and night and and all the lovely accidents of nature play through his mind money which represents the prose of life and which is hardly spoken of in without an apology is in its effects and laws as beautiful as roses property keeps the accounts of the world and is always moral the property will be found where the labor the wisdom and the virtue have been in nations in classes and the whole life time considered with the in the individual also how wise the world appears when the laws and of nations are largely detailed x and the completeness of the system is considered nothing is left out if you go into the and the custom houses the and offices the offices of of and measures of inspection of provisions it wiu appear as if one man had made it all wherever you go a wit like your own has been before you and has realized its thought the mysteries the egyptian architecture the indian the greek show that there essay viii always were seeing and knowing men in the planet the world is full of ties of of secret and public of honor that of scholars for example and that of gentlemen with the upper class of every country and every culture i am very much struck in literature by the appearance that one person wrote all the books as if the editor of a journal planted his body of in different parts of the field of action and relieved some by others from time to time but there is such equality and identity both of judgment and point of view in the narrative that it is plainly the work of one all seeing all hearing gentleman | 37 |
i looked into pope s yesterday it is as correct and elegant after our of today as if it were newly written the of all good books seems to give me an existence as wide as man what is well done i feel as if i did what is ill done i not of s passages of passion for example in and hamlet are in the very dialect of the present year i am faithful again to the whole over the members in my use of books i find the most pleasure in reading a book in a manner least flattering to the author i read and sometimes as i might read a dictionary for a me and help to the fancy and the imagination i read for the as if one should use a fine picture in a experiment for its rich colors tis not but a piece of nature and fate that i explore it is a greater joy to see the author s author than himself a higher pleasure of the same kind i found lately at a concert where i went to hear s as the overpowered the and of the and made them of his so it was easy to observe what efforts nature was making through so many hoarse wooden and imperfect persons to produce beautiful voices and soul guided men and women the genius of nature was at the this preference of the genius to the parts is the secret of that of art which is found in all superior minds art in the artist is proportion or a respect to the whole by an eye loving beauty in details and the wonder and charm of it is the in insanity which it proportion is almost impossible to human beings there is no one who does not in conversation men are with personality and talk too much in modern picture and poetry the is miscellaneous the artist works here and there and at all points adding and es at adding instead of the of his tl beautiful details we must have or no they must be means and never other must not lose sight for a moment of the j lively boys write to their ear and eye a cool reader finds nothing but sweet when they grow older they respect the we obey the same intellectual we study in exceptions the law of the facts as the never quite of magic and and the of and ideal use they are good indications h is insignificant as an art of healing great value as criticism on the or i practice of the time so with and the c they are poor pretensions enough but on the science philosophy and the day for these ought to be normal and things of c all things show us that on every side very near to the best it seems not to execute with too much pains some one i or or civil feat when dream will scatter and we shall burst into power the reason of idleness and oi and is the of our hopes whilst we are waiting we the time with jokes with sleep with eating and with crimes thus we settle it in our cool that all the agents with which we deal are which we can well afford to let pass and life will be when we live at the centre and the i wish to speak with all respect of persons but sometimes i must pinch myself to keep awake and preserve the due decorum they melt so fast into each other that they are like grass and trees and it needs an effort to treat them as individuals though the man certainly finds persons a in household matters the divine man does not respect them he sees them as a rack of clouds or a fleet of which the wind drives over the surface of the water but this is flat rebellion nature will not be she and the philosopher in every moment with a million of fresh particulars it is all idle talking as much as a man is a whole so is he also a part and it were partial not to see it what you say in your distribution only you into your class and section you have not rid of parts by denying them but are the more t thing but nature is one j he other things in the viii same moment she will not in a thought but ru into persons and when each person to a fury of personality would conquer all things to his poor she raises up against him another person and by many again a sort of whole she will have all nick bottom cannot play all the ports work it how he may there will be somebody else and the world will be round everything have its flower or effort at the beautiful or finer according to its stuff they relieve and recommend each other and the of society is a balance of a thousand she and will only forgive an which is rare and casual we like to come to a height of land and see the landscape just as we value a general remark in conversation but it is not the intention of nature that we should live by general views we fetch fire and water run about all day among the shops and and get our clothes and shoes made and mended and are the victims of these details and once in a fortnight we arrive perhaps at a rational moment if we were not thus if we saw the real from hour to hour we should not be here to write and to read but should have been burned or frozen long ago she would never get anything done if she admirable and universal she and loves better a who dreams all night of wheels and a groom who is part of his | 37 |
horse for she is full of work and these are her hands as the farmer takes care that his cattle shall eat down the and swine shall eat the waste of his house and poultry shall pick the so our economical mother a new genius and habit of mind into every district and condition of existence plants an eye wherever a new ray of light can fall and gathering up into some man every property in the universe mutual attractions among her offspring that all this wash and waste of power may be imparted and exchanged great dangers undoubtedly from this and distribution of the and hence nature has her as if she were and of fancied he could have given useful advice but she does not go she has at the bottom of the cup solitude would a plentiful crop of the thinks of men as having his manner or as not having his manner and as having degrees of it more and less but when he comes into a public assembly he sees that men have very different manners from his own and in their way admirable in his childhood and youth he has had many and and b at tin modestly enough of his own afterwards he comes to it in it seems the only talent he is d with his success and accounts himself fellow of the great but he goes into a n a house into a s shop mill into a into a ship into a ca in each new place he is no better than a other talents take place and rule the which every leaf and reaches to every gift of man take turns at the top for nature who has heart on breaking up all and tricks i so much easier to do what one has don than to do a new thing that there is a p tendency to a set mode in every even the highest there is a certain may be soon learned by an acute person a that particular style continued man too is a tyrant in tendency because h impose his idea on others and their trick natural defence would th but tom or the humanity by resisting this of hence the immense benefit of party in it faults of character in a chief intellectual force of the persons with and opportunity and not hurled into by hatred could not have seen since we are all so stupid what benefit that there should be two it is like that brute advantage so essential to of having the of the earth s for a base of its is and runs to but in the state and in the schools it is indispensable to resist the of all men into a few men if john was perfect why are you and i alive as long as any man exists there is some need of him let him fight for his own a new poet has appeared a new character approached us why should we refuse to eat bread until we have found his regiment and section in our old army why not a new man here is a new enterprise of brook farm of of why so impatient to them or port or or by any known and name let it be a new way of living why have only two or three ways of life and not thousands every man is wanted and no man is wanted much we came this time for not for corn we want great genius only for joy for one star more in our for one tree more in our grove but he thinks we wish to belong to him as he wishes to occupy us he greatly mistakes us i think i have done well if i have acquired a viii new word from a good author and my with him is to find my own though it were only to melt him down into an epithet or an image for daily use into paint will i grind thee my bride to the confusion and make it ble to arrive at any general statement when we have insisted on the of our affections and our experience urge that every individual is entitled to honor and a very generous treatment is sure to be repaid a sees only two or three persons and allows them all their room they spread themselves at lai e the looks at many and the few habitually with others and these look less yet are they not entitled to this generosity of reception and is not the means of insight for though say that the cards beat all the players though they were never so skilful yet in the contest we are now considering the players are also the game and share the power of the cards if you a fine genius the odds are that you are out of your reckoning and instead of the poet are your own of him for there is somewhat and infinite in every man especially in every genius which if you can come very near him sports with all your and for rightly every man is a channel through which heaven and whilst i fancied i was him i was or rather my own soul after as a artificial worldly i took up this book of and found him an indian of the wilderness a piece of pure nature like an apple or an oak large as morning or night and virtuous as a rose but care is taken that the whole tune shall be played if we were not kept among everything would be large and universal now the excluded attributes burst in on us with the more brightness that they have been excluded your turn now my turn next is the rule of the game the being in its form comes in the secondary form of all sides the points come in succession to the and by | 37 |
the speed of a new whole is formed nature keeps herself whole and her representation complete in the experience of each mind she suffers no seat to be vacant in her college it is the secret of the world that all things and do not die but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again whatever does not concern us is concealed from us as soon as a person is no longer related to our present well being he is concealed or dies as we say really all things tin and persons are related to us bat nature they act on as not at bat ii sion and we are made aware of their one at a time all persons all things w have known are here present and many n wc see the world is full as the world is a or solid and if we that really surround us we should fa and unable to move for though n to the soul but all things are to it and like yet this is only soul does not see them as soon as the i any object it stops before that object t the divine providence which keeps the open in every direction to the soul furniture and all the persons that do not c particular soul from the senses of that in through eternal things the man road as if they did not and does suspect their being as soon as he object suddenly he it and no k to pass through it but takes when ho has exhausted for the time the ment to bo drawn from any one person that object is withdrawn from his though still in his immediate neighbor does not its presence nothing i men themselves dead and endure mc and and mournful and there they stand looking out of the window sound and well in some new and strange disguise is not dead he is very well alive nor john nor paul nor nor at times we believe we have seen them all and could easily tell the names under which they go if we cannot make voluntary and conscious steps ia the admirable science of let us see the parts wisely and infer the genius of nature from the best particulars with a becoming charity what is best in each kind is an index of what should be the average of that thing love shows me the of nature by to me in my friend a hidden wealth and i infer an equal depth of good in every other direction it is commonly said by farmers that a good or apple costs no more time or pains to rear than a poor one i would have no work of art no speech or action or thought or friend but the best the end and the means the and the game life is made up of the and reaction of these two powers whose marriage appears beforehand monstrous as each and to the other we must reconcile the as we can but their discord and their introduce wild into our thinking and speech no sentence will hold the tm truth and the only way in which just is by giving the lie than silence silence is better than s all things are in contact every ha oi things are and are m s and the like au the t io v is but one thing this old two matter right wrong of n l ro may be affirmed or denied i assert that every man is a nature him as an the tendencies to and now further assert that ea being nearly and affectionately ex is justified in individuality as his t to be immense and now i add t is a also and as our earl ic on its own all the time ai h the celestial spaces so the u il children the most to hi works out though as it were the universal problem we fancy individuals so are but every iu the goes every point of ry the as soon as t and rich man has beyond p ot sincere and unless he can r mm ho must be the and days lord said in his old age that if he were to begin life again he would be damned but he would begin as we hide if we can but it appears at all points we are as ungrateful as children there is nothing we cherish and strive to draw to us but in some hour we turn and it we keep a running fire of sarcasm at ignorance and the life of the senses then goes by perchance a fair girl a piece of life gay and happy and making the commonest offices beautiful by the energy and heart with which she does them and seeing this we admire and love her and them and say lo a genuine creature of the fair earth not dissipated or too early by books philosophy society or care a treachery and contempt for all we had so long loved and wrought in ourselves and others if we could have any security against moods if the prophet could be to his words and the who is ready to sell all and join the could have any that to morrow his prophet shall not his testimony but the truth sits there on the bench and never an syllable and the most sincere and doctrine put as if the ark of god were carried forward some and planted there for the of mi the world shall in a few weeks be by the same speaker as morbid i then right but i was not and the same demanded for new we were not of all opinions if we did i moment shift the platform on which we i look and speak from another if there any one hour rule that a m never leave his point | 37 |
courts of law by non and the x in chief of the by non resistance the same disposition to scrutiny and appeared in civil and domestic j is lecture at hall sh a restless conscientious out iu quarters who gave y with which i bought my coat tu labor and that of the h l paid so to the and this whole it gives mc to pause and think as it false relation s between men inasmuch am to count myself relieved of any to behave well and nobly to that p whom with money whereas if i had that i should be put on my in all companies and man would to man as being himself his only c i tliat he had a right to those and which i asked of the other am i not toe ti d a i is there not a wide l u lot of me and the lot of thee my r my poor sister am i not my best in the loss of those which manual labor and the of po i find nothing or the i th of society i do the air of i begin to suspect m to bo a i though treated with all this and luxury i pay a destructive tax in the same criticism may be tract new england the efforts for the reform of education the popular education has heen with a want of truth and nature it was complained that an education to things was not given we are students of words we are shut up in schools and and rooms for ten or fifteen years and come out at last with a of wind a memory of words and do not know a thing we cannot use our hands or our legs or our eyes or arms we do not know an root in the woods we cannot tell our course by the stars nor the hour of the day by the sun it is well if we can swim and we are afraid of a horse of a cow of a dog of a snake of a spider the roman rule was to teach a boy nothing that he could not learn standing the old english rule was all summer in the field and all winter in the study and it seems as if a man should learn to plant or to fish or to hunt that he might secure his at all events and not be painful to his friends and the lessons of science should be also the sight of the planet through a is worth all the course on the shock of the electric spark iii the elbow all the theories the taste of the the firing of an artificial are better than volumes of one of the traits of the new spirit is the lecture at hall it fixed on our devotion to the dead languages the ancient languages with great beauty of structure contain wonderful remains of genius which draw and always will draw certain men greek men and roman men in all countries to their study but by a wonderful of usage they had the study of all men once say two centuries ago latin and greek had a strict relation to all the science and culture there was in europe and the had a momentary importance at some era of activity in physical science these things became as education as the manner of men is but the good spirit never cared for the and though all men and boys were now in greek and it had quite left these shells high and dry on the beach and was now creating and feeding other matters at other ends of the world but in a hundred high schools and this warfare against common sense still goes on four or six or ten years the pupil is greek and latin and as soon as he leaves the university as it is he those books for the last time some thousands of young men are at our in this country every year and the persons who at forty years still read greek can all be counted on your hand i never met with ten four or five persons i have seen who read new england but is not this absurd that the whole liberal talent of this country should be directed in its best years on studies which lead to nothing what was the consequence some intelligent persons said or thought is that greek and latin some spell to with and not words of reason if the physician the lawyer the divine never us it to come at their ends i need never learn it to come at mine is gone out of fashion and i will omit this and go straight to affairs so they jumped the greek and latin and read law medicine or sermons without it to the astonishment of all the self made men took even ground at once with the oldest of the regular and in a few months the most circles of boston and new york had quite forgotten who of their was and who was not one tendency appears alike in the philosophical speculation and in the movements through all the and all the the wish namely to cast aside the superfluous and arrive at short methods urged as i suppose by an that the human spirit is equal to all alone and that man is more often injured than helped by the means he uses i conceive this gradual casting off of material new england better than the establishment and conduct that in the best manner than to make a sally against evil by some single improvement without supporting it by a total do not be so vain of your one objection do you think there is only one alas my good friend there is no part of society or of life better than any other part | 37 |
all our things are right and wrong together the wave of evil all our institutions alike do you complain of our marriage our marriage is no worse than our education our diet our trade our social customs do you complain of the laws of property it is a to give such importance to them can we not play the game of life with these as well as with those in the institution of property as well as out of it let into it the new and principle of love and property will be no one gives the impression of superiority to the institution which he must give who will reform it it makes no difference what you say you must make me feel that you are aloof from it by your natural and supernatural advantages do easily see to the end of it do see how man can do without it now all men are on one side no man deserves to be heard against property only love only an idea is against property as we hold it i cannot afford to be irritable and nor at hall to waste all my time in attacks if i j out of church whenever i hear a false i could never stay there five minutes come out the street is as false as the ct when i get to my house or to my m to my speech i have not got away when we see an eager of om wrongs a special we feel like ai what right have you sir to your one v virtue this is a jewel amid of a beggar in another way the right will be the midst of in the heart of ci of false churches alike in one p another wherever namely a just and finds itself there it will do what is ne and by the new quality of character i forth it shall that old school in which it stands before the own mind v if j y was one fault of the ty the other defect was their reliance i tion doubts such as those i have drove many good persons to the q social reform but the revolt against th commerce the spirit of aristocracy and of cities did not appear individuals and to do battle against new england armed themselves with numbers and against concert they relied on new concert following or advancing beyond the ideas of st of and of three have already been formed in on kindred plans and many more in the country at large they aim to give every member a share in the manual labor to give an equal reward to labor and to talent and to unite a liberal culture with an education to labor the scheme offers by the of associated labor and expense to make every member rich on the same amount of property that in separate families would leave every member poor these new associations are composed of men and of superior talents and sentiments yet it may easily be questioned whether such a community will draw except in its the able and the good whether those who have energy will not prefer their chance of superiority and power in the world to the humble of the association whether such a retreat does not promise to become an asylum to those who have tried and failed rather than a field to the strong and whether the members will not necessarily be of men because each finds that he cannot enter it without some compromise friendship and association are very fine things and a grand of the best of the human lecture at hall race for some catholic object y lent but remember that no society can e large as one man he in his natural and momentary associations d himself but in the hour in himself to two or ten or twenty himself below the stature of one but the men of less faith could not thi and to such concert appears the sole i strength i have failed and you have perhaps together we shall not fail our ing is not satisfactory to us but perhaps a community might be many of us ha in opinion and we could find no man make the truth plain but possibly a council might i have not either to persuade my brother or to self to the traffic or the but perhaps a pledge of total restrain us the candidate for is not to be trusted with a will be honest in the for we can lie opinion to bear on him thus specific in all cases but concert is nor worse neither more nor less potent force all the men in the make a statue walk and speak cannot mj of blood or a blade of grass any more new england man can but let there be one man let there be truth in two men in ten men then is concert for the first time possible because the force which moves the world is a new quality and can never be furnished by adding whatever quantities of a different kind what is the use of the concert of the false and the there can be no concert in two where there is no concert in one when the individual is not but is when his thoughts look one way and his actions another when his faith is traversed by his habits when his will enlightened by reason is by his sense when with one hand he rows and with the other backs water what concert can be i do not wonder at the interest these projects the world is to the idea of union and these experiments show what it is thinking of it is and will be magic men will live and communicate and plough and reap and govern as by added ethereal power when once they are united as in a celebrated experiment by exactly | 37 |
together four persons lift a heavy man from the ground by the little finger only and without sense of weight but this union must be inward and not one of and is to be reached by a reverse of the methods they use the union is only perfect when all the are isolated it is the union of friends who live iq at hall different streets or towns each if h to join himself to others is on all side and diminished of his proportion and t the union the smaller and the more pit but leave him alone to recognize in e and place the secret soul he will go up doing the works of a true member ai astonishment of all the work will be concert though no man spoke be without any governor must be ideal in actual i pass to the indication in some that faith in man which the heart is pr us in these days and which the from the consideration that the of one generation are the history of the in alluding just now to our system of c i spoke of the of its details open to graver criticism than the of it is a system of despair the dis which the human mind now labors is wan men do not believe in a power of do not think we can speak to divine sent man and we do not try we aims we that the defects of so i verse and so many frivolous people who society are and society is a h new england a man of good sense but of little faith whose compassion seemed to lead him to church as often as her went there said to me he liked to have and and churches and other public amusements go on i am afraid the remark is too honest and comes from the same origin as the of the tyrant if you would rule the world quietly you must keep it amused i notice too that the ground on which eminent public servants urge the claims of popular education is fear this country is filling up with thousands and millions of and you must them to keep them from our throats we do not believe that any education any system of philosophy any influence of genius will ever give depth of insight to a superficial mind having settled ourselves into this our skill is expended to procure diversion we adorn the victim with manual skill his tongue with languages his body with and comely manners so have we hid the tragedy of and inner death we cannot is it strange that society should be devoured by a secret melancholy which breaks through all its smiles and all its and games but even one step farther our has gone it appears that some doubt is felt by good and wise men whether really the happiness and cf at hall men is increased by the culture of the mil those to which we give the name of e tion unhappily too the doubt comes from i from persons who have these met in their experience the scholar was not the sacred thoughts amongst which he used them to selfish ends he was a son and became a turning his use and not to his own growth it was found that the intellect con developed that is in separation the man as any single organ can be and the result was monstrous a knowledge was which must still i but was never satisfied and this knowledge n ing directed on action never took the substantial humane truth blessing those wh entered it gave the scholar certain expression the power of speech the poetry of literary art but it did not bring peace or to when the literary class betray a faith it is not strange that society should b and by life must be lived on a higher plane must go up to a higher platform to which i always invited to ascend there the whole i of things changes i resist the new england bs education and of our educated men i do not believe that the differences of opinion and character in men are i do not recognize beside the class of the good and the wise a permanent class of or a class of or of or of i do not believe in two classes you remember the story of the poor woman who king philip of to grant her justice which philip refused the woman exclaimed i appeal the king astonished asked to whom she appealed the woman replied from philip drunk to philip sober the text will suit me very well i believe not in two classes of men but in man in two moods in philip drunk and philip sober i think according to the good hearted word of unwillingly the soul is deprived of truth iron or thief no man is but by a supposed necessity which he by or of sight the soul lets no man go without some and of a presence it would be easy to show by a narrow of any man s biography that we are not so wedded to our paltry performances of every kind but that every man has at intervals the grace to scorn his performances in comparing them with his belief of what he should do that he puts himself on the side of his enemies listening gladly to what they say of him and himself of the same things lecture at hall what is it men love in genius but its hope which all it has done counts all its miracles poor and short its idea it never executed the the hai the column the roman arch the the german when they are ei the master casts behind him how sinks the in the waves of melody which the universe over his soul before that gracious of which he drew these few strokes how | 37 |
mean look though the praises of the world attend from the triumphs of his art he turns with to this greater defeat let those admire with silent joy he sees himself to be beauty that all which his hands have all which human hands have ever done well wo are all the children of genius th of virtue and feel their i happier hours is not every man radical in politics men are they are least vigorous or when they are most they are after dinner t fore taking their rest when they are sick or in the morning or when their intellect or the science have been aroused when they hear j or when they read poetry they are the circle of the that could i in england old or new let a england intellect a man of great heart and mind act on them and very quickly these frozen will yield to the friendly influence these hopeless will begin to hope these will begin to love these immovable statues will begin to spin and i cannot help recalling the fine anecdote which relates of bishop when he was preparing to leave england with his plan of planting the gospel among the american savages lord told me that the members of the club being met at his house at dinner they agreed to rally who was also his guest on his scheme at having listened to the many lively things they had to say begged to be heard in his turn and displayed his plan with such an astonishing and force of eloquence and enthusiasm that they were struck dumb and after some pause rose up all together with earnestness let us set out with him immediately men in all ways are better than they seem they like flattery for the moment but they know the truth for their own it is a foolish cowardice which keeps us from trusting them and speaking to them rude truth they resent your honesty for an instant they will thank you for it always what is it we heartily wish of each other is it to be j and flattered no but to be convicted and ex lecture at hall posed to be out of our nonsense of all kinds and made men of instead of ghosts and we are weary of gliding through the world which is itself so slight and unreal we a sense of reality though it come in strokes of pain i explain so by this love of truth those and errors into which souls of great vigor but not equal often fall they feel the poverty at the bottom of all the seeming of the world they know the speed with which they come straight through the thin and conceive a disgust at the of nature charles fox napoleon and i could easily add names nearer home of raging who drive their so hard in the violence of living to forget its illusion they would know the worst and tread the floors of hell the heroes of ancient and modern fame alexander have treated life and fortune as a game to be well and played but the stake not to be so valued but that any time it could be held as a trifle light as air and thrown up caesar just before the battle of with the egyptian priest concerning the fountains of the and to quit the army the empire and if he will show him those mysterious sources i new england s the same shows itself in our social relations in the preference namely which each man gives to the society of over that of his equals all that a man has will he give for right relations with his mates all that he has ik will he give for an erect in every company and on each occasion he aims at such things as his neighbors prize and gives his days and nights his talents and his heart to strike a good stroke to himself in all men s sight as a man the consideration of an eminent citizen of a noted merchant of a man of mark in his profession naval and military honor a general s com mission a s a the laurel of poets and anyhow procured the acknowledgment of eminent merit have this lustre for each candidate that they enable him to walk erect and in the presence of some persons before whom he felt himself inferior having raised himself to this rank having established his equality with class after class of those with whom he would live well he still finds certain others before whom he cannot possess himself because they have somewhat fairer somewhat somewhat purer which homage of him is his ambition pure then will his and his possessions seem worthless instead of avoiding these men who make his fine gold dim lie will cast all behind him at hall and seek their society only and em his humiliation and until know why his eye sinks his voice is hi his brilliant talents are in this he is sure that the soul which gives the will tell none his him if it cannot carry itself as high and in the presence of if the secret whose whisper makes t ness and dignity of his life do here with accompany him no longer it is time to oi what he has valued to he has acquired and with caesar to take in the army the empire and and f these will i if you will fountains of the dear to us are tl love us the swift moments we spend w are a compensation for a great deal of our life but dearer are those w us as unworthy for they add another build a heaven before us whereof we dreamed and thereby supply to us new of the recesses of the spirit and urge us to performances as every man at | 37 |
heart wishes the best inferior society wishes to be convicted of and to come to himself so he wishes that should not stop in his thought bt new england penetrate his will or active power the selfish man suffers more from his selfishness than he from whom that selfishness some important benefit what he most wishes is to be lifted to some higher platform that he may see beyond his present fear the good so that his fear his coldness his custom may be broken up like fragments of ice melted and carried away in the great stream of good will do you ask my aid i also wish to be a benefactor i wish more to be a benefactor and servant than you wish to be served by me and surely the greatest good fortune that could befall me is precisely to be so moved by you that i should say take me and all mine and use me and mine freely to your ends for i could not say it otherwise than because a great had come to my heart and mind which made me superior to my fortunes here we are with fear we hold on to our little properties house and and money for the bread which they have in our experience yielded us although we confess that our being does not flow through them we desire to be made great we desire to be touched with that fire which shall command this ice to stream and make our existence a benefit if therefore we start objections to your project o friend of the slave or friend of the poor or of the race understand well that it is because we at hall wish to drive you to drive us into your we wish to hear ourselves w haunted with a belief that you have a secret v it would advantage us to learn am would force you to impart it to us though it a bring us to prison or to worse extremity nothing shall me from the belief that man is a lover of truth there is no pure pure in nature the the proposition of is the last and there is no no but that could it be received into co belief suicide would the planet had a name to live in some each man s innocence and his real liking neighbor have kept it a dead letter i standing at the one day when the an he political contest gave a certain faces of the independent and a at my side looking on the people remarked satisfied that the largest part of these men oi side mean to vote right i suppose looking at the masses of men ii and in their actions will that in spite of selfishness and tl purpose in the great number of persons i ity the reason why any one refuses his ai your opinion or his aid to your benevolent new england is in you he refuses to accept you as a of truth because though you think you have it he feels that you have it not you have not given him the sign if it were worth while to run into details this general doctrine of the latent but ever spirit it would be easy to illustration in particulars ot a man s equality to the church of his equality to the state and of his equality to every other man it is yet in all men s memory that a few years ago the liberal churches complained that the church denied to them the name of christian i think the complaint was confession a religious church would not complain a religious man like fox or is not irritated by wanting the sanction of the church but the church feels the accusation of his presence and belief it only needs that a just man should walk in our streets to make it appear how pitiful and a contrivance is our the man whose part is taken and who does not wait for society in anything has a power which society cannot but feel the familiar experiment called the in which a column of water the ocean is a symbol of the relation of one man to the whole of men the wise on hearing the lives lecture at of and ready judged them to be great men every way excepting that they were too much subjected to the reverence of the laws which to second and true virtue must very much of its original vigor and as a man is equal to the church and equal to the state so he is equal to every other man the of power in men are superficial and all frank and searching conversation in which a man lays himself open to his brother each of their radical unity when two persons sit and converse in a thoroughly good understanding the remark is sure to be made see ho v we have disputed about words let a clear apprehensive mind such as every man knows among his friends converse with the most commanding poetic genius i think it would appear that there was no such as men fancy between them that a pe feet understanding a like receiving a like perceiving differences and the poet would confess that his imagination gave him no deep advantage but only the superficial one that he could express himself and the other could not that his advantage was a which might impose on indolent men but could not impose on lovers of truth for they know the tax of talent or what a price of greatness the power of new england too often pays i believe it is the conviction of the purest men that the net amount of man and man does n t much vary each is superior to his companion in some faculty his want of skill in other directions has added to his fitness for his own work | 37 |
and de and my narrow and reading had inspired the wish to see the faces of three or four writers de and the latest and strongest to the and i suppose if i had the that led me to europe when i was ill and was advised to travel it was mainly the attraction of these jl if had been still living i might have wandered into germany also besides those i have english named for scott was dead there was not in britain the man living whom i cared to behold unless it were the duke of whom i afterwards saw at westminster abbey at the funeral of the young scholar fancies it happiness enough to live with people who can give an inside to the world without reflecting that they are prisoners too of their own thought and cannot apply themselves to yours the conditions of literary success are almost destructive of the best social power as they do not leave that liberty which only can encounter a companion on the best terms it is probable you left some obscure comrade at a tavern or in the farms with right mother wit and equality to life when you crossed sea and land to play bo peep with celebrated i have however found writers superior to their books aod i cling to my first belief that a strong head will fast enough of these and give one the of reality the sense of having been met and tt larger horizon on looking over the of my journey in find nothing to publish in my of visits to but i have copied the few notes i made of visits to p sons as they respect parties quite too good and too parent to the whole world to make it to any of about a few hints of bright at chief among artists i found the american his face was so handsome and his person so well formed that he might be if as was alleged the face of his and the figure of a colossal in clay were tions of his own was a superior man and eloquent and all his opinions had elevation and he believed that the had wrought in schools or the genius of the master his design to his friends and them with it sm when his strength was spent a new hand with equal beat continued the work and so by until it was finished in every part with equal fire this was necessary in sc a material as stone and he thought art wool visit to tt er prosper until we left our shy jealous ways and worked in society as they all his thoughts the he was an accurate and a deep man me was a of the and impatient of ut bis paper on architecture in in the leading thoughts of mr on the morality in architecture notwithstanding the in their views of the history of art i have a private letter from him later but respecting the period in which he roughly sketches his own theory here is my theory of structure a scientific of spaces and forms to functions and to an emphasis of features to their importance in function colour and ornament to ih decided and and varied by strictly having a distinct reason for each decision the and immediate of all make shift and brought me through a common mend an om mr who lived at san on the th may i dined with mr f foimd him noble and courteous living in a cloud of at his villa a fine house a landscape i had inferred firom his books or some anecdotes an impression of wrath an i do not know the were just or not but certainly on this may day his courtesy veiled that haughty mind and he was the most patient and gentle of hosts he praised the beautiful which grows all about e admired washington talked of and to be sure he is in his opinions likes to surprise and is well con to impress if possible his english whim upon the past no great man ever had a great son if and alexander be not an exception and philip he the greater man in art he loves the and in them only he prefers the to everything and after that the head of alexander in the gallery he prefers john of to michael b in painting and shares the taste for and the early masters the histories he thought the only good and after them s i could not make him praise my more recent friends very cordially also which seemed he indebted to on happiness and on he me with but who is he invited me to breakfast on friday on friday i did not fail to go and this time with he entertained us at once with half a dozen h lines of caesar s from he said he lord more than was and and as three of the greatest of men washington and much as our in lists select the three or the six best for orchard and did not even omit to remark the termination of their names a great man he should make great sacrifices and kill his hundred without knowing whether they would be consumed gods and heroes or whether the flies would eat them i had visited professor who had shown me his it was said two thousand and i spoke of the uses to which they were applied despised yet in the breath said the sublime was in a grain of dust i suppose i him about recent writers but he pro never to have heard of not even hy name one room was full of pictures which he likes to show especially one piece standing before which he said would give fifty guineas to the man that would swear fl was a | 37 |
i was more curious to see library but mr h one of the guests told me thai mr gives away his books and has never a dozen at a time in his house mr carries to its height the love of the english delight to indulge as if to their freedom he has a brain ti it to m o i and meant for a soldier by what to letters in which there is not a style not known to him with an english appetite for action and heroes the thing done and what is said about it an original sentence a step forward is worth more than all the is in england usually ignored and savagely attacked in the the criticism may be right or wrong and is quickly forgotten but ear year the scholar most still go back to a multitude of elegant sentences for wisdom wit and indignation that are from london on the th august i went to l d wrote a note to mr leave to foi i y to him it was near noon mr verbal message that he was in bed but if i would r one o clock he would see me i returned at he appeared a short thick old man with bright eyes and fine clear complexion leaning on his cane took which presently soiled his old black suit he asked whether i knew ind warmly of his merits and doings when he knew mm in bo me what a master of the he was e g he spoke of dr it was an misfortune that he should have turned out a all on this he burst into a a the folly and ignorance of its high and taking up bishop s book which lay on the table he read with vehemence or three pages written by himself on the fly too which i believe are printed in the to when he stopped to take breath i interposed wit whilst i highly valued all his explanations i was to tell him that i was bom and bred a he said i supposed so and continued as before it was a wonder that so many ages of acquiescence in the doctrine of st paul the doctrine df the which was also according to the doctrine of the jews before this hand ful of should take on themselves to deny it ac c he was very sorry that dr a to whom he looked up no to say that he looked up him would he to speak hut a man whom he looked at with so much interest should embrace such views when he saw dr he had hinted to him that he was afraid he loved christianity for what was lovely and excellent he loved the good in it and not the true and i tell you sir that i have known ten persons who loved the good for one person who loved the true hut it is a far greater virtue to love the true for itself alone than to love the good for itself alone he knew all about perfectly well because he had once been a and knew what it was he had been called the rising star of he went on or rather the doctrine was the idea of was not essential but talked of and and much more of which i only can j this that the will was that by which a person ia person because if one should push me in the street ana so i should force the man next me into the i should at once exclaim i did not do it sir meaning it was not my will and this also that if you should insist on your faith here in england and i on mine would be the side of the i took advantage of a pause to say that he had many readers of all religious opinions in america and i proceeded to inquire if the extract from the independent s in the third volume of the friend were a veritable quotation he replied that it was really taken from a in his possession entitled a protest of one of the or something to that effect told him how excellent i thought it and how wished to see the entire work yes he said man was a chaos of truths but lacked the knowledge that god was a god of order yet the passage would no doubt strike you more in the quotation than in the original for i have it when i rose to go he said i not know whether visit a care about but i will repeat some verses i lately made on my and he strong emphasis standing ten or twelve lines beginning bom unto in christ he inquired where i had been travelling and on learning that i had been in and he compared one island with the other repeating what he had said to the bishop of london when he returned from that that was an excellent school of political economy for in any town there it only needed to ask what the government and reverse that to know what ought to be done it was the most to any thing good and wise there were j things which the government had brought p that garden of delights namely and whereas in the force of law and mind seen in making that barren rock of semi the seat of population and plenty going out showed me in the next apartment a picture of s md told me that a picture dealer once came to see him and glancing towards this said well yon have got a picture thinking it the work of an old master afterwards still talking with his back to the canvas put up his hand and touched it and by heaven this picture is ten years old | 37 |
delicate and skilful was that man s touch i was in his company for about an hour but find it impossible to recall the largest part of his discourse which was often like so many printed in his book p the same so readily did he fall into certain as i might have foreseen the visit was a spectacle than a conversation of no use beyond tiie satisfaction of my curiosity he was old and and could not bend to a new companion and with him from i went to the on my i came from to and being intent on delivering a letter which i had it was a in the parish of sixteen dis no coach passed near it so i took a from the inn i found the house amid desolate where the lonely scholar nourished his mighty heart was a man from his youth am author who did not need to hide from his readers and a a man of the world unknown and on t hat hill as if holding on his own terms what is best in london he was tall and gaunt with a cliff like brow self and holding his extraordinary powers of in easy command clinging to his northern accent with evident relish full of lively anecdote and with a streaming humour which floated everything he looked upon his talk the objects put the companion at once into an with his and and it was very learn what was to be a pretty were the objects and lonely the man not a per ff to speak to within sixteen miles except the minister j so that books inevitably made his topics he had names of his own for au the matters to his discourse s was the sand s nearer approach to possibility of ufe was the mud magazine a piece of road near by that marked some failed enterprise was the grave of the last sixpence when too much praise of any genius annoyed him he professed to admire the talent shown by his pig he had spent much time and contrivance in the poor beast to one in his pen but by great strokes of judgment had found out to let a down and had him for all that he stiu thought man the most little fellow in the planet and he liked s death better than most history he a man that will manifest any truth to him at one time he had inquired and read a good deal about america s principle was mere rebellion and that he feared was the american principle the best thing he knew of that country j first ti it ij have meat for im he had ij m s book that when he inquired in a new for the boots be had been shown the street and had found in his own house dining on roast turkey we talked of books he does not read and he and when pressed in making a hero he called the splendid from the old world to the his own reading had been was one of his after s america aa early favourite s had dis i covered to him that he was not a and it was now ten years since he had learned german by the advice of a loan who told him he would find in that language what he o j despairing or views of literature at t ment the incredible sums paid in oi ear by the great for puffing hence it that no newspaper ist trusted now no books are bought and the are on the eve of returned to english the crowds the selfish by public men of all that public persons should perform government should direct poor men what to do poor irish folk come wandering over these my dame makes it a rule to give to every son of adam bread to eat and supplies his wants to the next house but here are thousands of acres which might give them all meat and nobody to bid these poor irish go to the and till it they the and so found a way to force the rich people to attend to them we went out to walk over long hills and looked at then without his cap and down into w f t s country there we sat down and talked of the immortality of the soul it was not s fault that we talked on that topic for he had the natural dis inclination of every spirit to itself against y and did not to place himself where no step can be taken but he was honest and true and o the links that bind ages together and saw how every event affects all the future christ died on tha tree that built yonder that brought yoa and me together time has only a relative existence he was already turning his eyes towards london with a scholar s appreciation london is the heart of the world he said wonderful only from the mass of human beings he liked the huge machine each keeps its own round the baker s boy brings to the window at a fixed hour every day and that is all the knows or wishes to know on the subject but it turned out good men he named certain individuals especially one man of letters his friend the best mind he knew whom london had well served on the th august i went to mount to pay m t respects to mr his daughters called ii their father a plain elderly white haired man not possessing and by een he sat down and talked with great simplicity he had returned from a journey his health was good but he had broken a tooth by a fall when walking with two lawyers and had said that he was glad it did not happen forty years ago whereupon they | 37 |
had praised his philosophy he had much to say of america the more that it gave occasion for his favourite topic that society is being enlightened by a superficial out of all proportion to its being restrained by moral culture schools do no good is not education he thinks more of the education of circumstances than of tis not question whether there are of which the law takes but whether there are of which the law does not take sin is what he fears and how society is to escape without mischief from source he has even said what seemed a that they needed a civil war in america to the necessity of knitting the social ties stronger the c e may be he said in america some vulgarity in man to but tbat s not important that comes of the of things but i fear they are too much given to the making of money and to politics that they political distinction the end and not the means and i fear they lack a class of men of leisure in short of gentlemen to give a tone of honour to the community i am told that things are boasted of in the second class of society there which in england god knows are done in england every day but would never be spoken of in america i wish to know not how many churches or schools but what newspapers my mend colonel at the foot of the hill who was a year in me that the newspapers are and accuse members of of he was against taking off the tax on newspapers in england which the represent as a tax upon knowledge for this reason that they would be with base he said he talked on political aspects for he to impress on me and all good americans to cultivate the moral the c and never to into action the physical strength of the people as had just now been done in england in the bill a thing by he alluded once or twice to his conversation with dr who had recently visited him laying his hand on a particular chair in which the doctor had sat the conversation turned on books he a far higher poet than not in his system but in power if faith is necessary to explain anything and to reconcile the of god with human evil of cousin whose we had all been reading in boston he knew only ihe name i inquired if he had read s critical articles he said he thought him sometimes he proceeded to abuse s heartily it was full of all manner of it was like the crossing of flies in the air he had never gone farther than the first part so disgusted was he that he threw the book the room english i this wrath and said what i could for better parts of the book and he courteously to look at it again he said wrote most he was clever and deep but he defied the sympathies of everybody mr wrote more clearly though he had always wished would write more to be understood he led me out into his garden and showed me the gravel walk in which thousands of his lines were composed his eyes are much this is no loss except for reading because he never writes prose and of poetry he carries even hundreds of lines in his head before writing them he had just returned from a visit to and within three days had made three on s cave and was a fourth when he was called ii to see m he said if you are interested in my verses perhaps you will like to hear these lines i assented and he recollected himself for a few and then stood forth and repeated one the t the three entire with great animation i the second and third more beautiful than his poems safe wont to be the third is addressed to the flowers which he said especially the ox eye are very abundant on the top of the rock the second to the name of the cave which is cave of music the first to the circumstance of its being visited by the company of the this was so unlocked for and surprising he the old standing apart and to me in a garden walk like a that i at first was near to laugh but myself that i had come thus far to see a poet and he was poems to me i saw that he was right and i was and gladly gave myself up to hear i told him how much the few printed had quickened the desire to his poems he replied he never was in haste to publish partly because he corrected a good deal and every alteration is received after but what he had written would be printed whether he or died i said abbey appeared to be visit to is poem with the public but more readers preferred the first books of the excursion aod the he said yes they are better he such of his poems as touched the affections to others for whatever is what theories of society and so on might perish quickly but whatever combined a truth with an affection was e good to day and good for ever he the on the feelings of a high minded which he preferred to any other i so understood him and the two voices and quoted with evident pleasure the verses addressed to the in this he said of the theory that it might yet be nd foi and s theory i prepared to depart he said he wished to show g a common person in england could do and he im the of his clerk a young man to h d given this slip of which was laid j its | 37 |
natural shown with much taste l said he would show me a better way towards the and he walked a good part of a mile talking and and anon stopping short to impress the word or the and finally from me with great kindness d returned across the fields honoured himself by his simple to truth and was very willing not to shine but he surprised by the hard limits of his thought to judge fi om a single conversation he made the impression of a narrow and very english mind of one who paid for his rare elevation by general and off his beat his opinions were of no value it is not very to find persons loving sympathy and ease who their departure from the common in one direction by in every other chapter ii to the occasion of my second visit to england was an from some in and which separately are organized much in the same way as our new england but in had been linked into a union which embraced twenty or thirty towns and cities and presently extended into the middle and northward into d i was invited on liberal terms to read a series of lectures in them all the request was urged with every kind and every assurance of aid and comfort by parties in who in the amply their word the was equivalent to the at that time paid in this country for the like services m all events it was sufficient to cover any travelling expenses and the proposal offered an excellent opportunity of seeing the interior of england and scotland by means of a home and a committee of intelligent friends awaiting me in every town i did not go very willingly i am not a good traveller nor have i found that journeys yield a fair share of reasonable hours but the invitation was repeated and pressed at a moment of more leisure and when i was a little spent by some studies i wanted a change and a and england was proposed to me besides there were at least the dread attraction and influences of the sea so i took m berth in the packet ship washington and sailed from boston on tuesday th october on friday at noon we had only made one hundred and thirty four miles a indian would have swam as far but the captain affirmed that the ship would us in time all her paces and we crept along through the floating drift of boards logs and which the rivers rf and new pour into the sea after a at last on sunday night after doing one day s work to in four the storm came the winds blew and we flew before a north which strained every rope and sail the good ship through the water all day all night like a fish quivering with speed gliding through sliding from horizon to horizon she has passed cape she has reached the banks the land birds are swim and around no she has passed the banks five sail behind her far on the edge of the west at which were far east of us at mom though they say at sea a stem chase is a long race and still we fly for the shortest sea line from boston to liverpool is miles this a steamer keeps and a sailing ship can never go in a shorter than and usually it is much longer our good master keeps bis up to the last moment sails aloft and by incessant straight never loses of way is the law of the ship watch watch for advantage and for life since the ship was it seems the master never slept but in his whilst on board there are many advantages n b in sea but security is not one of them yet in over these whatever we are running into we are certainly running out of the risks of s of miles every day which have their own chances of collision sea stroke cold and thunder hour for hour the risk on a is greater but the speed is safety or twelve days of danger instead of twenty four our ship was tons and weighed perhaps with all bar tons the from the deck to the top button measured feet the length of the deck om stem to stem it is impossible not to a ship everybody does in everything they say n he well she minds her she a duck she runs her nose into the water she looks a port then that wonderful du by which we adopt into our self love everything we touch makes us all of her sailing qualities the conscious ship hears au the praise in one week ig e she has miles and now at night seems to h r the steamer behind her which left boston to day at has mended her speed and is flying before the grey wind and a half knots the hour the sea fire shines in her wake and far around wherever a wave breaks i read the hour oh on my watch by this light near the you can read small print by it and the mate describes the insects when taken up in a as shaped like a i find the sea life an acquired taste like that for and the confinement cold motion noise and are not to be with the floor of your room is at an angle of twenty or thirty degrees and i every morning with the belief that some one was up my berth nobody likes to be treated upset against the side the house rolled over with and oil we get used to these last but the dread of the sea remains longer the is masculine the type of active strength look what egg shells are drifting all over it each one like ours with men in of terror with conceit | 37 |
as the sea is rough or smooth is this sa circle an eternal in our we a pit but this water opens mile and and makes a of a fleet to the the sea is the only the land is in perpetual and change now blown up like a now sunk in a chasm and the observations df a few hundred years find it in a perpetual rising and falling the sea keeps its old level and tis no wonder that the history of our race is so recent if the roar of the ocean is our traditions a rising of the sea such as has been observed say an inch in a century ft east to west on the land will bury all the towns bones and knowledge of mankind steadily and if it is capable of these great and it is quite as ready at private and local damage and of this no seems so fearful as the seaman such discomfort and such danger as the of the to and are bad enough as the fee pay for entrance to europe but the wonder is always w that any sane man can be a sailor and here on j day of our voyage stepped out a httle boy in j is shirt sleeves who bad hid himself while the was in in the bread closet having no money mi wishing go to the sailors have him in with a knife in his belt and he is climbing about them likes the work first rate and if the captain wiu take him means now to come back in the tbe mate that this is the history of all sailors nine out of ten are boys and that all of them are sick of the sea but stay in it of pride jack has a life of risks incessant abuse the pay it is a little better with the mate not very much better with the captain a hundred j a month is reckoned high pay if sailors were con if they had not resolved again and again not to any more i should respect them of course the and terrors of the sea are of account to those whose minds are water laws frost the mountain the mine only every noble activity makes room for i a great mind is a good sailor as a great heart is the sea is not slow in secrets to good tis a good rule in every journey to provide some piece liberal study to rescue the hours which bad weather bad company and steal the best which at home are read have a strange in a country inn or in the of a merchant jl i remember that some of the happiest and most hours i have owed to books passed many years iti on the worst i have found pa is the want of light in the cabin found on board the usual cabin library ll and sand were our sea gods among the passengers there was some y of talent and profession we exchanged our experiences and all learned something the talk with leisure and at sea and a table fact turns up which jou hare long had a vacant for and seize with the of a but under the best conditions a voyage is one of the to try a man a college examination is nothing to it days are these days which whistled over us but they were few only fifteen as the counted sixteen according to me from the time when we left our speed was such that the captain drew the line of his course in r d ink on his for the or envy of future it has been said that the king of england would his dignity by audience to foreign in the cabin of a f war and i think the while path of an atlantic ship the right avenue bo the pa f e front of this sea ring people who for hundreds of claimed the strict of the sea and t and the striking sail from the ships of all other when their privilege was disputed by the dutch and er junior on the plea that you could never on the same wave or hold property in what was always flowing the english did not stick to claim th channel or bottom of all the main as if said they we for the drops of the sea and not for its or the bed of those waters the sea is bounded by his majesty s empire as we the land its genius was this was inevitably the british side in every man s thoughts arises now a new system ei sentiments english loves and fears english history and social modes yesterday every passenger had measured the speed of the ship by watching the over the ship s today instead of we measure by co and there lay the green shore pf ireland like some coast of plenty we could see towns churches but the curse of eight hundred years we could not discern chapter iii land thought italy and england the only countries living in the former because there nature her and triumphs over the evils inflicted by the the latter because art nature and a rode land into a paradise of comfort sad plenty england is a garden under an ash coloured the fields have been and rolled till they to have been finished with a pencil instead of a the of the that compose the speaks the industry of ages nothing is left as it was hills valleys the sea itself feel the of a master the long habitation of a powerful and l i race has turned every of land to its best has found ell the the soil the rock the the the the ble waters and the new arts of intercourse meet so that england is a huge where all that man wants is | 37 |
provided the ned and comforted in every manner the traveller tides as on a cannon ball high and low over rivers and towns through mountains in of three or four miles at near twice the speed of our and reads quietly the newspaper which by its immense correspondence and seems to have the test of the world for his occasion the problem of the traveller landing at liverpool is why england is england p what are the elements of that power which the english hold over other nations if there be one test of national genius universally it is success and if there be one successful country in the universe for the last that country is england a wise traveller will naturally choose to visit the best of actual nations and an american has more reasons than another to draw him to britain in au that is done or c be tm by the americans towards or we are met by a civilization already settled and over the culture of the day the thoughts and aims o men are english thoughts and aims a nation for a thousand years since it has in the last obtained the and stamped the knowledge and power of mankind with its im press those who resist it do not feel it or obey it less the in his is to be english the and chinese also are making awkward efforts to be english the practical common sense of modem society the direction which labour laws opinion religion take is the natural genius of the british mind the of france is a of modem civility but not enough opposed to the english for the some effect the american is only the ths english genius into new conditions more or tl bee what books fill our every book we every i j romance in whatever form ia english history and so that a s once said to me as long as you do not us we shall have the teaching of you ut we have the same difficulty in making a social or moral estimate of england as the finds in a jury to try some cause which has agitated the and on which everybody finds an interested party officers judges have all taken sides england has all nations with her intelligence and tastes and to resist the tyranny and of the british element a serious man must aid himself by comparing with it the of the farthest east and west the old greek the and much more the ideal standard if only by k the very impatience which english forms are sure awaken in independent minds besides if we will visit london the present time is the best time as some signs that it has reached its highest point it is observed that the english interest us a little less within a few years and hence the sum that the british power has is in declining as soon as you enter england which with s is no than the state of this little land stretches by aa illusion to the dimensions of an empire the details the crowded succession of towns castles and great and decorated estates the number and power of the trades and ih military strength and splendour the multitudes of rich and f remarkable people the servants and all these catching the eye and never allowing it to pause hide all boundaries by the impression of magnificence and endless wealth i reply to all the that refer me to this and object to be seen yes to see england a hundred years for what they me was of sir john s museum in london it was well packed and well saved is the merit of is stuffed full in all comers and with towers palaces and e houses in the history of art it is a long way to yet all the steps may still be traced in this all preserving islands the territory has a singular the is by many degrees than it is entitled to neither hot nor cold there is no hour in whole year when cannot work here is no winter but such days as we have in in november a which makes no demand on human strength but allows the of the largest stature charles the second said it invited men abroad more days in the and more hours in the day than any other country england has all the materials of a working country wood the constant rain a rain with every tide a some parts of the island keeps its multitude of rivers full and brings agricultural production up to the highest pi it has plenty of water of stone of s clay tf of salt and of iron the land naturally add south and yon have more than an equivalent of english with game immense and downs are paved witb and and the shores are animated hy water the rivers and the surrounding sea with fish there are salmon for the rich and for the poor in the northern the are in innumerable at one season the country people say the lakes contain one part water and two fish the only on this is the darkness of its sky the night nd day are too nearly f a colour it strains the eyes to read and to write add the coal smoke in the towns the fin e or the day give white sheep the colour of black sheep the the air poison many plants and the and buildings the london fog the of the y and sometimes the on the climate bj an english wit in a fine day looking up a chimney in a ul day looking down one a gentleman in liverpool told me that he found he could do without a fire in his par about one day in the year it is however pretended that the enormous consumption of coal in the island is | 37 |
ve sound bodies and supreme endurance in war and in labour tlie force of the race has to of great parts of the world yet it remains to be seen whether they can make good the of millions from great britain in to more than a thousand a day they have force are hy their foreign subjects and they still and the dominion of their arts and liberty their laws are hospitable and slavery does not exist under them what exists is and temporary their is not sudden or but they have maintained and self equality for many ages is this power due to their race or to some other men hear gladly of the power of blood or race everybody likes to know that his advantages cannot be to air soil sea or to local wealth as mines and nor to laws and traditions nor to fortune but to superior brain as it makes the praise more personal to him we anticipate in the doctrine of race something like that law of that whatever bone or essential organ is found in one healthy individual same part or organ may be found in or near the place in its and we look to find in the ment al and moral property that existed in the in race it is not the broad shoulders or or stature that give advantage but a that as far as to the wit then the miracle and renown begin then first we care to examine the and copy heed fully the training what food they ate what nursing school and exercises they had which resulted in this mother delicacy of thought and robust wisdom came such men as king alfred and bacon william of walter philip new ton william george francis george henry to exist here p what these delicate natures was it the air p was it the sea was it the p for it is certain that these men are of their the hearing ear ii always found close to the speaking tongue and no can long or often utter which is not invited aad gladly entertained by men around him it is race is it not p that puts the hundred millions of india under the dominion of a remote island in the of europe race if that be true u all are and all are love j of power and the representative principle is a in in the jew who for two under has preserved the same and in the negro is of appalling importance the french in canada off from ail with the parent people have held their national traits i to read on the manners of the not long since in and the heart of and i und abundant points of resemblance between the of the forest and our and of the american woods but whilst race works to keep its own it is resisted by other forces civilization is a re and away the old traits the of to day are the of but the of to day is a very person from or has its the hare a face the a the a face an englishman will pick out a by his manners and professions their own lines on face and form certain circumstances of english life are not effective as personal liberty plenty of food good ale and mutton open market or good wages for every kind of labour high to talent and skill the island life or he million opportunities and for and talent readiness of combination among themselves for politics or for business strikes and sense of superiority founded on habit of victory in labour and in war and the a for superiority grows by feeding it is easy to add to the forces to race is a main element it is said that the views of j ture held by any people determine all their institutions add to mental or moral faculty take out of as out of other conditions and make the national life a compromise these of the formidable doctrine of race which threaten to it as not sufficiently based the or of races as english we see is a weak argument for the eternity of frail since all our historical period is a the duration in which nature has wrought any the and in our natural history such as the of fruits and of animal stocks has the worth of a in tlie opportunity of periods moreover though we flatter the self love of men and nations by the legend of pure races all our experience is of the and resolution of races and strange meet us everywhere it need not puzzle us that and and saxon and should mix when we see the of tiger and in our human form and know that the of races are not but that some spray us from the seas the low are simplest a mere or a straight worm as the scale become complex we are with descent but nature loves a child face the faces of both parents and some feature whose face hangs on the wall the nations are those most widely related and ar a world wide mixture is the most potent of nations character a origin english is a of distant and elements the language is mixed the names of men are of different nations three languages three or four na tions the currents of thought are counter tion and practical skill active intellect and dead con world wide enterprise and devoted use wont y freedom and hospitable law with class a people scattered by their wars and over the face of the whole earth and to a i a country of extremes and ofi and naked heathen nothing can w praised in it exceptions and nothing without of cordial praise i neither do this people appear to be of one stem but a better race | 37 |
than any fix m which they are bags nor is it easy to trace it borne ta its original who earn call hj what are in who can trace them who can them or impossibility of arriving at on the question of race and come of whatever the englishman before me himself very w l marked and nowhere else to bo found i fancied i could leave quite aside the choice of a tribe as s d in his wrath the was the mud of all races i incline to the that as water and sand make mortar so many well and by weu managed develop as a character as the english on the whole it is not so much a history of one or of of or coming t m and identical as it is an m out of them all certain ant and soil of england say eight or ten or twenty as out o a hundred trees eight or ten suit an orchard and whilst all the die out tho derive their from such a range of that there needs sea room and land room to the varieties of talent and character perhaps the ocean serves as a battery to at one and at i e other so england to her in america and her at london the in her race still hear in every age the murmurs of their mother the ocean the in the blood the still t as if to the influences that are not of what we think of when we talk of english traits really itself to a small district it ireland and wales and itself at last to london to those who come and go thither the portraits i on the walls in the academy exhibition at london the figures in punch s drawings of the public men or of the club houses the prints in t shop windows english and not american no nor scotch nor irish s but it in a very aft yoa go north into the and districts and to the that never as you go into as you enter scotland the world s is no longer in scotland there is a rapid loss of all of mien and s a and appear the poverty of the country makes itself remarked add a of manners and among the is the insanity of in and are the same climate and soil as in england hot less food no right relation to the land political dependence small and an inferior or race these concerning and blood may be well allowed for there is no prosperity that seems more to depend on the kind of man than british prosperity only a hardy and wise people could have made this great we say in a r or if boats are anywhere nearly matched it is the tbat wins put the best sailing master into either boat he will win yet it is fine for us to in face of traditions though vague and losing i im the traditions have got and refuse to be the kitchen clock is more convenient than time we must use the popular aa we do by the for convenience and not as exact and final otherwise we are presently confounded when the best settled of one race are claimed by some new as precisely characteristic of the rival tribe i found plenty of well marked english types the ruddy complexion ir and plump robust m i with faces cut like a die and a strong island speech and accent a type with the complacency that belongs to that constitution others who might be americans for anything that appeared in their complexion or form and their speech was much less marked and their thought much less bound we will call them then the has his dark complexion in the or of l rom their stock t ee and first they are of the oldest blood el the world the some are or where are the p where the p the but the or are an old of whose there is no memory and their end is likely to be still more remote in the future th and they planted and gave to the seas and mountains names are poems aad imitate the pure of nature they remembered in ihe oldest of europe they had no violent but the owned the land they had an and a sublime creed they have a mien and genius they made the best the middle ages in the songs of iii ihe tender and delicious of arthur the english come mainly from the whom te found hard to conquer in two hundred and year say impossible to conquer when one the a people about whom in the ir the rumour ran there was any that la with them that r it not dr halting one day in a town of g looked out of a window and saw a fleet of in the they even entered the port of the town where he was causing no alarm and sudden and of his as they put out to sea again the emperor gazed long after them his eyes bathed in tears i am tormented with sorrow he said when i foresee the evils ihey will bring oa my posterity there was reason for these tears the men who have built a ship and invented the sail compass and pump the in and out of port have acquired much more an a ship now arm them and every shore is at their for if they have not superiority where they anchor they have only to sail a mile or two to find it s art of war namely of force on the of attack must always be theirs who have the choice of the battle ground of course they e into the fight from a higher ground of power than the land | 37 |
town where the kings of and were wont to meet is now to a private english gentleman for a ground it took many generations to trim and comb and perfume the first boat load of into royal and most noble knights of the but every of ornament dates back to the boat there will be time enough to mellow this strength into civility aad religion it is a medical fact that the children of the blind see the children of have a healthy con ni many a mean boy is at the age of j transformed into a serious and generous youth hie of the following ages has not quite e traits of as the of a structure in the tiger is said to be still found in the man the nation has a tough animal nature which centuries of and have not be i able to said the crimes of italy were the proof of the superiority of the stock and one may say of england that this watch moves on a t of the english are a brutal nation the crimes recorded in their leave nothing to be desired in the way of cold dear bo the english heart is a fair stand up fight the of the manners in the lower class appears in the bear cock fighting love of and in the readiness for a set to in the streets delightful to ihe english of all classes the of london streets hold cowardice in we must work our fists well we are all handy with our fists the public schools are charged with being bear gardens of brutal d strength and are liked by the people for that cause is a trait of the same quality in the life of relates that at a military school they rolled up a young man in a and left him so in his room while the other went to church and crippled him for they have retained deck army and school such is the ferocity of the army discipline that a soldier to sometimes that his sentence may be to death banished from the armies of western europe remains here by the sanction of the duke of the right of the husband to sell the wife has been retained down to our times the jews have been the favourite victims of royal and popular persecution henry iii all the jews in th kingdom to his brother the earl of as for money which he borrowed the torture of and the rack for evidence were slowly of the criminal sir samuel examined the of all nations and ours is the worst nd worthy of the in the last the house of was listening to details of and torture practised in the as soon as this land thus posted got a hardy people into it they could not help becoming the sailors and of the globe from childhood they in water they like fishes their were boats in the case of the ship money the judges delivered it for law that england being an island the very therein are all to be and fuller adds the genius even of driving the natives with a dexterity as early as the conquest it is remarked in explanation the wealth of england that its merchants trade to all countries the english at the present day have great vigour body and endurance other countrymen look slight and beside them and they are bigger men than the americans i suppose a hundred english at random out of the street would weigh a fourth more than so many americans yet i am told the skeleton is not larger thej are round ruddy and at least the whole bust is well formed and there ii a tendency to stout and powerful frames i remarked the on my first landing at liverpool porter coachman guard wliat substantial respectable figures with costume and manners to salt the american has arrived at the old and finds himself among and the pictures on the chimney of hia nursery were pictures of these people here they are in the identical and air which so took him it is the fault of their forms that they grow and the women have that disadvantage few tall slender figures of flowing shape but and lie french say that the have two left a but in all ages they are a handsome race the oi e monuments of lying cross legged in the temple church at london and those in and m which are seven hundred years i l are of the same type as the best youthful heads of now in england please by beauty of the same character an expression and refinement and mainly by that youth in the face of i which is daily seen in the streets of london branches of the race are for beauty the of the handsome which saint found at a d is it by the testimony of the five centuries later who wondered at the beauty and long hair of the young english meantime the has frequent occasion to speak of the personal beauty of its heroes when it is considered what humanity what resources of mental and moral power the traits of the race its accession o empire marks a new and finer epoch wherein the old force shall be at last by humanity and shall plough in its it is not a final race once a always but a race with a future es on the english face are combined decision and nerve with the fair complexion blue eyes and open and aspect hence the love of truth hence the sensibility the fine perception and poetic construction the fair saxon man with open front and honest meaning domestic affectionate is not the wood out of which or or is made but he is for lawful trade civility marriage the of children for churches and colonies they are rather | 37 |
manly than warlike when the war is over the mask falls from the affectionate and domestic tastes which make them women in kindness this union of is in their national legend of beauty and the beast or long before in the greek legend of the two sexes are co present in the english mind i apply to queen of seas colonies the words in which her latest his heroine she is as mild as she is game and as game as she is mild the english delight in the which in one person the extremes of courage and tenderness dying at sends his love to lord and like an innocent that goes to bed says kiss me hardy and turns to sleep lord his comrade was of a nature the most affectionate and domestic admiral s figure approached to and and he declared himself very sensible to fear which he surmounted only by considerations of honour and public duty says the duke of was so modest and gentle that some attempted to put on him until they found that this modesty and was only a mask for the most terrible determination and sir james said the other day of sir john that if he found sound open he it for he was a man who never turned his back on a danger yet of that tenderness that he would not brush away a even for their the same virtue is claimed and hood comes described to us as the thief but they know where their war dogs lie i and are not to be with and the brutal strength which lies at the bottom of society the animal ferocity of the and the of the of seven and they know how to wake up they have a vigorous and last well into middle and old age the old men are as red as roses and still handsome a clear skin a bloom complexion and good teeth are found all over the island they use a plentiful and diet the cannot on water beef mutton and are among the first class good feeding is a chief point of national pride among the vulgar and in their they represent the frenchman as a poor starved body it is curious that found the english beer already in use among the they make from or wheat a drink into some resemblance to wine lord chief justice fort in henry vi time says the inhabitants of england drink no water unless at certain times on a religious score and by way of penance the extremes of poverty and penance it would seem never reach cold water in england wood the in describing the poverty and of father an english does not deny him beer he says his bed was under a and the way to it up a ladder his fare was coarse his of a penny a or they have more constitutional energy than any other people they think with that manly exercises are the foundation of that elevation of mind which gives one nature over another j or with the that the days spent in the chase are not counted in the length of life they box run shoot row and sail from pole to pole they eat and drink and live jolly in the open air putting a bar of solid sleep between day and day they walk and ride as fast as they can their head bent forward as if urged on some pressing affair the french say that englishmen in the street always walk straight before them like mad dogs men and women walk with as soon as he can handle a gun hunting is the fine art of every englishman of condition they are the most people of prey that ever existed every season turns out the into the to shoot and fish more vigorous run out of the island to europe to america to asia to africa and to hunt with fury hy gun hy trap hy hy with dog with horse with elephant or with all the game that is in nature these men have written the of countries as and a host of travellers the people at ie are to running leaping and matches i suppose the dogs and horses must be thanked for the fact that the men have muscles almost as tough aad as their own if in every man there first a fine animal in the english race it is of the b breed a wealthy broad creature and good cheer and a little by his fl l f men of animal nature rely like animals on their the englishman associates well with dogs and horses his attachment to the horse arises from the courage address required to manage it the horse finds out w ho is afraid of it and does not disguise its opinion their young boiling clerks and like the company of horses better than the company of professors i suppose the horses are better company for them the horse has more uses than noted if you go into the streets every driver in or is a bully and if i wanted a good troop of soldiers i should among the stables add a certain degree of refinement to the vivacity of these and you obtain the precise quality which makes the men and women of polite society formidable they come honestly by their with and for their saxon the other branch of their race had been the horse was all their wealth the children were fed on milk the pastures of were still remembered by the practice of the to eat at in the the upon horses where thej landed and were at once convert ed into a body of expert cavalry at one time this skill seems to have declined two centuries ago the english horse never performed any eminent service beyond the seas and the reason assigned was that the of the hath always more them to | 37 |
foot service as and proper without any mixture whilst in a victory on horseback the credit ought to be divided the man and his horse but in two hundred years a change has taken place now they boast that they understand horses better than any other people in the world and that their horses are become their second selves w the conqueror being says better i beasts than to men imposed heavy and on those that should with his game the saxon chronicle says he loved the tall deer as if he re their father and rich englishmen have his example according to their ability ever since in on the and with their preserves it is a proverb in england that it is to shoot a man than a hare the severity of the game laws certainly an extravagant sympathy of the nation with horses and hunters the gentlemen are always on horseback and have brought horses to an ideal perfection the english is a breed a score or two of mounted gentlemen may frequently be seen running like down a hill nearly as steep as the roof of a house every inn room is lined with pictures of races communicate every hour tidings of th r om and and the house of over the day v the saxon and the are both history does not allow ns to fix the limits of the application of these names with any accuracy but from the residence of a portion of these people in france and rom some of that powerful soil on their blood and manners the has come to represent in england the aristocratic and the saxon the principle and though i doubt not the are of both tribes and the workers of both yet we are forced to use the names a little one to represent the and the other the the island was a prize for the best race each of dominant races tried its fortune in turn the the and the had already got in the came but in the very day when his fortune he looked in the eyes of a new people that was to his own he his erected his and towers presently heard bad news from italy and worse and worse every year at last he made a handsome of roads and walls and departed but the saxon seriously settled in the land and with german truth and the came and divided with him last of all the or french arrived and formally conquered and ruled the kingdom a century later it came out that the saxon had the most bottom and had managed to make the victor speak the language and accept the law and usage of the victim forced the baron to dictate saxon t ms to kings and step by step got all the essential of civil liberty invented and confirmed the genius of the race and the genius of the place to this the island is to free labour but not worth possession on other terms the race was so intellectual that a or military could not last longer than the war the power of the saxon so thoroughly in the war that the name of english and were yet so as to from the kings stood on the strong personality of these people sense and economy must rule in a which is of sense and economy and the banker with his seven per cent the earl out of his castle a of soldiers keep down a of shrewd persons what a of a hundred links against a cotton with steam in his mill or against a company of broad shouldered liverpool merchants for whom and are and a bridge these are the hands of mankind they have the taste for toil a for pleasure or repose and the appreciation of distant gain they are the wealth makers and by dint of mental fl ty which has its own conditions the saxon works after liking or only for himself and to set him at work d to begin to draw his monstrous out of barren britain au fret and barrier must be removed and then his energies begin to play the fancied himself surrounded by a kind of men with vast power of work and production divine and swift to reward every kindness done them with gifts of gold and silver in all history this dream comes to pass certain or working brains under the names of alfred dwell in the of britain and turn the sweat of their face to power and renown if the race is good so is the place nobody landed on this island with the df and rough weather transformed every adventurer into a each vagabond that arrived bent his neck to the yoke of gain or found the air too tense for him the strong survived the weaker went to the ground even the pleasure hunters and of england a texture a hard temperature had been formed by saxon and saxon and such of french or as could reach it were m every sense all the admirable or means hit upon nd m be looked at as or irresistible of of the mind of the race a man of that brain thinks and acts thus and his neighbour being with the same kind of brain though he i rich and called a baron or a duke thinks the same things and is ready to allow the justice of the thought and in his or tenant though sorely against his or will the island was renowned in antiquity for its breed of so fierce that when their teeth were set must cut their heads off to part them the like his dog the people have that nervous au ment which is known by medical men to r ist means employed to make its possessor to will of others the english game is main force to ce the | 37 |
their drowsy minds need to be by war and trade and politics and persecution they cannot well read a principle except by the light of and of towns says of the power l only in sudden efforts they are impatient of toil and labour this highly destined race if it had not somewhere added the chamber of patience to its brain would not have london i know not from which of the tribes and that went to the composition of the people this was supplied but they every they drive they have no running for and no speed they spend largely on their fabric and await the slow return their leather lies seven years in the at s mills in where i was shown the process of making a and a i was told there is no luck in good steel that they make no mistakes every blade in the hundred and in the thousand is good and that is characteristic of all their work no more is attempted than is done when and his companions arrive at he is told that nobody is permitted to remain here ke understand some art and in it all other men the same question is still put to the posterity of a nation of every man is trained to some one art or detail and aims at perfection in that not content unless he has something in which he thinks he all ability other men he would rather not do anything at all than not do it well i suppose no people have such from the highest to the lowest every man meaning to be master of his art to show capacity a frenchman described as the end of a speech in debate no said an but to set your shoulder at the wheel to advance the business sir samuel refused to speak in popular himself to the house of where a measure can be carried by a speech the business of the house of is conducted by a few persons but these are hard worked sir knew the blue books by heart his and rivals carry in their heads the high civil and legal offices are not beds of ease but posts which exact frightful of mental labour many of the great leaders like are soon worked to death they arc excellent judges in england of a good and when they find one like sir philip sir william or there is nothing too good or too high for him they have a wonderful heat in the pursuit of a public aim private persons exhibit in scientific and the same as the nation showed in the in which it europe against the empire of one after the other defeated and stiu renewed until the sixth hurled him from his seat sir john in completion of the work of his hither who had made the catalogue of the stars of the himself for years at the cape of good hope finished his of the southern heaven came home and it in eight years more a work whose value does not begin until thirty years have elapsed and a record to all ages of the highest import the sent out the year after year in search of sir john until at last they have their way through pack and s straits and solved the problem lord at saw the imminent ruin english of the greek remains set up his in spite f and after five years labour to collect them got his on the ship struck a rock went to the bottom he had them all up by at a vast expense and brought to london not knowing that and and all good heads in all the world were to be his in the same spirit were the and by sir charles for the monument and of for his the nation sits in the immense city they have a london extended into every man s mind though he live in van s land or cape town performance of what is undertaken to be performed they honour in themselves and exact in others as of with themselves the modem world is they have made and make it day by day the relations of the world are so intimately drawn fe london that every dollar on earth to strength of the government and if all i wealth in the planet should perish by war or they j know themselves competent to replace it they have approved their saxon blood by their qualities their descent from s by their hereditary skill in working in iron their british birth by and immense wheat and justified their of the centre of land by their supreme ability and spirit they have spun and woven they have made the island a and london a shop a law court a and scientific inviting to strangers a to of every political and religious opinion and such a city that almost every active man in any na i tion finds himself at one time or other forced to visit it u in every path of practical activity they have gone even with the best there is no secret of war in which they have not shown mastery the steam chamber of the of the cotton mule of perform the labour of the world there is no department of literature of science or of useful art in which they i ability not produced a first rate book it is england whose is waited for on the merit of a new invention an m science and in the of the trade politics of their vast empire they have been equal to with counsel and with conduct is it their luck or is it in the chambers of their brain it is their commercial advantage that whatever light appears in better method or happy invention breaks out in their race they are a family to which a destiny and the has | 37 |
precise about his accommodation at and on the roads a about his toast and his and every species of convenience and loud and an his expressions of impatience at any neglect his itself at all points in his manners in his and the inarticulate noises he makes in clear ing the throat e significant of strength he has he can take the in he thai which results from a good of the and physical nature and the obedience of all the powers to the will as if the of his eyes were united to his and only moved with the trunk this vigour appears in the and stony neglect each of every other each man walks eats drinks dresses and in every manner acts and suffers without re to the in his own only not to interfere with them or annoy them not that he is trained to neglect the eyes of his neighbours he is really occupied with his own and does not think of them every man in this polished country only his convenience as much as a solitary in i know not where any personal is so freely allowed and no man gives himself any concern with it an englishman walks in a pouring rain swinging his closed umbrella like a wears a wig or a shawl or a saddle or stands on im head and no remark is made and as he has been this for several generations it is now in the blood h in short every one of is aa island self safe tranquil in a company of strangers you would think him deaf his eyes never wonder firom his table and newspaper he is never be into any curiosity or emotion they have all been trained in one severe school of manners and never put off the harness he does not give his hand he does not let you meet his eye it is almost an to look a man in the face without being introduced in mixed or in select companies they do not introduce persons so that a is a circumstance as as a are he his name at the hotel he is hardly willing to whisper it to the clerk at the book office if he give you his private address on a card it is like an of friend ship and his bearing on being introduced is cold even though he is seeking your acquaintance and is studying how he shall serve you it was odd proof of this impressive energy that in my lectures i hesitated to read and threw out for its impertinence many a phrase which i had been accustomed to spin about poor thin unable mortals so much had the fine and the personal vigour of this robust race worked on my imagination i happened to arrive in england at the moment of a commercial crisis but it was evident that let who will fail england will not these people have sat here a thousand years and here will continue to sit the will not break up or arrive at any desperate revolution like their neighbours for they have as much energy as much of character as they ever had the power and possession which them are their own creation and they exert the same commanding industry at this moment they are positive and formal loving routine and conventional ways loving truth and religion to be sure but inexorable on points of form all the world praises the comfort and private of an english inn and of english you are sure of neatness and of personal decorum a frenchman may be clean ia ty clean order and complete is found in his dress and in his bom in a harsh ana wet climate which keeps him in doors whenever he is at rest and being of an affectionate aad loyal temper he dearly loves his house if he is rich he a and a hall if he is in middle condition he no expense on his house without it is all planted within it is carved hung with pictures and filled with good furniture tis a passion which all others to deck and improve it hither he brings all that is rare and costly and with the national tendency to sit fast in the same spot for many generations it comes to be in the course of time a of gifts and of the adventures and exploits of the family he is very fond of silver plate though he have no gallery of portraits of hid tie has of their and incredible of plate are found in good houses and the poorest have some spoon or gift of a saved out of better times an english family consists of a few persons who youth to age are found revolving within a few of each other as if tied by some invisible tense as that which we have seen the two england produces under favourable conditions of ease and the finest women in the world and as the men are affectionate and true hearted the women inspire and them nothing can be delicate without being nothing more firm and based in nature and sentiment than the courtship and mutual carriage of the sexes the song of says the wife of every englishman is counted the sentiment of in is copied from english nature and not less the of the and the the romance does not exceed the height of noble passion in mrs or in lady or even as one through the plain prose of the sacred habit of an english wife sir samuel could not bear the death of his wife every class has its noble as d examples is the which the nation to branch wide and high the motive and end of their trade and empire is to guard the independence and of their homes nothing so much marks their manners the on their household ties this is carried into and | 37 |
camp governed india and spain and hie own troops and battles like a good family man paid his debts and though general of an army in spain could not stir abroad for fear of this taste for house and parish merits has of course its and foolish side mr attributes the huge popularity of prime minister in to the ct that he was wont to go to church every sunday with a large gilt prayer book under one arm his wife hanging on the other and followed by a long i of children they keep their old customs and their wig and and crown the middle ages still in the streets of london the of i a bath take oath to defend injured ladies the gold waiting they repeated the ceremonies of the century in the of the present queen a hereditary is natural to them offices farms trades and traditions descend so their run for a hundred and a thousand years terms of service and are life long or are inherited has been with me said lord eight and years knows ail my business and books antiquity cf usage is sanction enough says of the small of many of these humble sons of the hills had a consciousness that the land which the f had for more than five hundred years been possessed by men of the same name and blood the carpenter in the yards my lord s gardener and porter have been there for more than a hundred grandfather father and son the english power also in their dislike of change they have difficulty in bringing their reason to act and ob memory first as soon as thej have rid themselves of some grievance and settled the r practice they make haste to fix it as a and wish to hear of alteration more englishman is an his is to search for a precedent the favourite phrase of law is a custom whereof the memory of man not back to the the say and the the curiosity of the foreigner on the reason of any practice with lord sir it was always so they hate bacon told time was the right that was a plant of growth to advance with the times and that habit was ten nature all their learn the tf the tide of custom and have invented many fine phrases lie this of perception and of tail a sea shell should be the crest of not only it represents a power built on the waves but also the hard finish of the men the englishman is finished like a or a after the spire and the are formed or with the formation and a hard every part tne keeping of the is as indispensable as clean no merit quite the want of this whilst this sometimes stands ia cf all tis in bad taste is the most formidable word an can pronounce but this costs them dear there is a prose in certain which in wooden all with other countrymen there is a in the conceit and o their voice which seems to leave all hope behind in this of propriety gets and and founded in englishman of fashion is like one of those ik und in gold enriched with delicate w thick pressed paper fit for the hands of ladies and f but with nothing in it worth reading or a severe decorum rules the court and the cottage h n the t wh one evening performing before the queen at in a private party the queen accompanied liim with her voice the circumstance took au and all england shuddered from sea to sea the was never repeated cold manners prevail no enthusiasm is permitted except at the opera they everything marked they require a tone of voice that no attention in the room sir philip is one of the patron saints of england of whom said his wit was the measure of and are once for all distasteful they keep to the other extreme of low tone in dress and they avoid and go right to the heart of the thing they nonsense and expression they use a studied even their was marked by the simplicity in dress they value themselves on the absence of everything theatrical in the public business and and going to the point in private affairs in an country like england not the trial by jury but the dinner is the capital institution it is the mode of doing honour to a stranger to invite him to eat and has been for many hundred years and they think says the traveller of no greater honour can be conferred or received than to invite others to eat with them or to be invited themselves and they would sooner give five or six to provide an entertainment for a person than a to assist him in any distress it is reserved to the end of the day the family hour being generally six in london and if any company is expected one or two hours later every one dresses for dinner in his own house or in another man s the guests are expected to arrive within half an hour of the time fixed by card of invitation and nothing but death or is permitted to detain them the english dinner is precisely the model on which our own are constructed in the atlantic the company sit one or two hours before the ladies leave the table the gentlemen remain over their wine an hour relation of england printed by the society th longer and the ladies in the room and take the dress dinner a talent of table talk reaches great perfection the stories are so good that one is sure they must have been often told before to have got such happy turns hither come all manner of clever projects bits of popular science of practical invention of miscellaneous humour political literary and personal | 37 |
h they confided that wherever they met an they found a man who would speak the truth and one cannot think festival fruitless if all over the world on the rd of april wherever two or three english found they meet to encourage each other in the of in the power of saying rude truth sometimes in the lion s mouth no men them on the king s birthday when each bishop was expected to offer the king a purse of gold gave henry viii a copy of the with a mark at the passage and god will judge and they so honour in each other that the king passed it over they are of their belief and cannot easily change their opinions to suit the hour they are like ships with too much head on to come quickly about nor prosperity or even be allowed to shake their habitual view of conduct whilst i was in london m arrived there on his escape from paris in february many private friends called on him his name was immediately proposed as an member of the m was certainly they knew the distinction of his name but the englishman is not he had really made up his mind now for years as he read liis newspaper to hate and despise m and the altered position of the man as an illustrious exile and a guest in the country make no difference to him as they would instantly to an american s they require the same thorough conviction reality in public men it is the want of character makes the low reputation of the irish members see them they said one hundred and twenty seven all like sheep never proposing any and all but four the income tax which was an ill judged of the government irish property om the burdens charged on english they have a horror of in or out of parliament the ruling passion of englishmen in these days is a terror of in the same proportion they value honesty and to your own they like a man committed to his objects they hate the french as they hate the irish as they hate the as professors in february they look the french king and his party fell for want of a shot they had not conscience to shoot so entirely was the and heart of eaten out they attack their own every day on the grounds as they love in standing for your right in declining money or promotion that costs any concession the refuses the silk gown of queen s counsel if his junior have it one day lord would not accept his for victory on th february if he did not receive one for victory on st june and the long was accorded when lord from going to the king s until the business had been explained he replied you furnish me a reason for going i will go to this or i will never go to a king s the radical mob at oxford cried after the tory lord there s old el on s cheer he never they have given the j of to the whom english character does not love they are very liable in their politics to extraordinary it is an unlucky moment to remember these of solitary virtue in the face of the honours lately paid in to the emperor louis napoleon i am sure that no englishman whom i had the happiness to know consented when the aristocracy and the of thus to believe what stands recorded in the books that the movement of th april i was urged or assisted by foreigners which to be sure it by the in this country which i have noticed to be shared by men sane on other points that the english are at the bottom of the s of slavery in american politics and then again to the popular legends on the subject of but suspicion will make fools of nations as of citizens a slow temperament makes them less rapid and ready than other countrymen and has given occasion to the observation that english wit comes afterwards which the french as d this makes their attachment to home and their in all foreign countries to home habits the englishman who visits mount will carry his to the top th old italian author of the of england in says i have it on the best information that when the war is actually raging most furiously they will seek for good eating and all their other comforts without thinking what harm might them then their eyes seem to be set at the bottom of a and they affirm the one small fact they know with the best faith in the world that nothing else exists and as their own belief in guineas is perfect they readily on all occasions apply the pecuniary argument as final thus when the began to be heard of in england a man deposited in a sealed box in the bank and then advertised in the newspapers to all and others that whoever could tell him the number of his note should have the money he let it lie there six months the newspapers now and then at his instance the attention of the but none could ever tell him and he said now let me never be more with this lie it is told london like a before a thief but how to resist one step though odious in a linked series of necessities g must always learn too late that the of i st agents is as for nations as single n of a good sir that he heard a case stated by and up his mind then the counsel for the other their turn to speak he found himself so unsettled and perplexed that he exclaimed so help me god i i will listen to evidence again any number of | 37 |
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