New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-01-14
BS GREELEY & McELRATu.


old. IL Is still the one great universal mind-ike
the great ocean--ebbing flowing. In tempest now
and now in calm. He will not Join ia the shout
that sees new sun rising on the world. For our.
selves albeit little given % the too sanguine mood
We have more hope here than author has ex-
pressed. We by no means subscribe to the FOL-
lowing sentence. The measure OF truth it ex-
presscs-and 50 well exprcsses-bears but a small
proportion 10 the whole truth
"Ali men plume themselves on the imp overnent Of
cietg and ~ nan improves Society advances. II
rececesas fast on side gains the other IL
defgos. continual changes j. barbaous is civilized
change Is not eeofaton. For every hing that IL gwen
something is taken Society acquires ne" arts ara loses
o3 instincts What q contfsst between tie wei-cei
reading writing thinking American with watch, PEI
c ana h Of exchange 10 his pocket, and tue nakea
New Zeslan5er, whose property Is CLUB spesI a-
ard undivided twentieth OF sned 20 seep unqeI put
compare health Of the two men, ann you sn- see ta
lis sbonginsl strength the white man has los the
traveller tell truly strk The savage Win bf3salN
and In DAY or Two the hesh shall uniie add heal a. u
va struck the blow into soft pitch SAD h7 same uo"
shs end the white 10 his grave The civilized min has
built coach but has lost the OF he feet he Is sup
por'ed crutches. bat loses much support Of muscle
ie hss got fre Geneva watch bat he has lost the sk
10 tell the hour ty GfeenEich nautical aims
NC he ha. and being Of the iniomel0n when ne
ys.ts II ~ rao n Tie street does not know sta 10 the
XIV The sostcs he does not observe; the equinox he
little aud the whole ght Gale OAR OF the year
is without dalin his Minis Tvs NOTEBOOKS impair "
memory bis Libraries overload bis wits the insursncebi-
tee increases number Of accidents Z msy be ques
ton whether machinery does not incumheri whether We
leDirenobed 10 esab shments and iom some yieoi OF
wild virtue. F0r e>rg Sioictua Stole; but IN Chrpten-
dom rrtere Is the Christian p
A French critic has designated Emerson the
American Montague, struck we presume, by his
independence Of manner, aud a certain egotism
which when accompanied by genius is as attractive
as IL is ludicrous without that accompaniment. An
English reader will be occasionally reminded OF
the manner Of Sir Thomas Brown, author OF the
" Religio Medci." Like Sir Thomas, he some
rtNra, L.
70 suggest and kndle thought. although to q dry
logician /, may seem mere futty, or the idle
play olimagination. OF course this similarity is
to be traced only in sngle and detached passages ;
but think could select several quotations
from the American writer which should pass Off
as choice mOrsels of Sir Thomas Brown, with one
who was familiar with toe strain OF thought OF the
old Englishrnan, but whose memory was not of that
formidable exactaess as TO render vain all attempt
at imposition. Take the following for an instance
81 hold our actual kuo9ledse very cheap. Hear the
rats 10 the wall see the lizard on the fence the fungus
der foot, the Hchen on the log What do know symps
thelcally. morally, OF either Oitete worlds OF HE A.
long the CsUcasian maapsIhaps longer-these crea
record sny word sn that has passed from the one TO
the other am ashamed % see what shallow
village tale our So called history Is How many hines
must cay Rome and Paris and Constautinopls WHAT does
Rome Anog Of rat or lssrd What Olympiads and
Cousuistes ~ these neshboring systems Of being
Or this
I
ere, aud that form Of being assigned TO us good
man is coLtented. love and honor tpamnondas, but
GO TOT wish BE- EpaoipoDdss. hold II more just "
love he world Of this hour than the wor OF his hour
Nor you II am true, excite me TO the leas. uDees
By saying he acted ana thou sitsst stIl see ae
ton to good when need Is and sitting sui TO be eso
good. Epsmnondas, II be was the msu take him tor,
would have still with Joy and peace # his LOT bad been
love I'D fortude Why should be busy bodies, and
superservice Action and nacon are alike 10 the
true Beside, why should we he eowed BY the ,,ns
Of sction Els trick Of the senses-no more. We
he of every action IS thought The
nd les ia the and sleeps, and Is Nature To
think is 70 act"
Or if one were to put down the name Of Sit Tho
mas Brown as the author Of such sentence as the
following, are there many who would detect the
cheat
Ike the silent church, before the service beg u.s. be-
than any preaching How far of how cool how a'ie
the persons look begrt each one with precinct or sane
faults Of friend, wife, or father or child bee use
they sit around our hearth or are said 10 have the same
blood 2"
But Emerson is too original mind to be either
Montaicne or a Sir Thomas Brown He lives,
too In quite another age, and moves IN higher re-
gion Of philosophy than either OF them. The ut
most that be said u.s. that he is OF the same class
of independent, original thinkers, somewhat way
ward and iitu, who present no system, or none
that is distinctly and logically set FORTH but cast be-
fore us many isolated truths expressed IN vivid
spontaneous eloquence.
This class Of writers may be described as one
whose members, though not deficient IN the love OF
TRUTH are still more conspicuous Tor their love oil
Mougkt. They crave intellectual excitement; they
have genuine, inexhaustbe ardor of reflection
They are not writers of systems for patience would
fail them TO traverse the more arid parts OF their
subject, or those where they have nothing new,
nothing of their OwR 10 put forth. The task OF SIT
ing and arranging materials that have passed
thousand times through the hands OF others does
not accord with their temperament. Neither are
they fond of retracng their own steps, and renew
ing from the same starting place, the same inquiry
They are of to fresh pastures They care not to
be ruflng the leaves of the old manuscript, revis
ing qualifying, expunging. They would rat1er
brave all sorts of contradictions and 60 satisfied
that TO an ingenious reader Their thoughts Will ultl
mately wear true and faithful aspect They Will
not be hampered by their own utterances more than
by other mems
II you would be man." says Emerson, speak what
YOU think to-day words hard cannonbals, and to-
morrow speak Whist tomorrow thinks hard words again.
though il contradict eve, ythns you said today
These headstrong sages full OF noble caprice, Of
lofty humors often pour forth in their wild proluson
a strange mixture OF great truths and petty con-
ceits-nobe principles and paradoxes no better
than conundrums. AS we have said, they are Low.
ers prominently of Thought. Full Of the chase,
they will sometimes run down the most paltry
game with unmitgated ardor. Such writers are
not SO wise as their best wisdom, so foolish as
their folly. When certain OF the ancient sages
who were in the habit Of guessing boldly at the
open riddle OF Nature made, amid twenty absurd
coniectares one that has proved 10 be correct, We
do not therefore give them the credit OF scientific
discovery. One of these wise men Of antiquity
said that the Sea was great fish; he asserted also
that the Moon was al Opaque body, aud consider
ably larger than she appears u be. lie was riSnt
about the Moon he was wrong about the hsh
but as he specialized on both subjects IN the same
hap hazard style, we give him very little more ere
dit in the one case than the other Perhaps ms
theory which transformed the sea into fish, was
that on which he prided himself most Something
of the same kind though very different IN degree,
takes place in our judgment upon certain moral
speculstors. When man Of exuberan. thought
utters in the ervor or the fever OF his mind what
comes FIRST his fragments Of wisdom seem as little
TO belong to him as his fragment of folly. The
reader picks up and carries OH Whist best pleases
him as If there were owner there, as II II were
treasure trove and he was entitled to 1t as h's'
finder He ioregoes the accustomed habit OF con
Meeting bis writer with the assemblase Of thoughts
presented to him, as their sole proprietor Tor ,ns
.ine being he cries hslyes. as Charles L amo mas
,aid on some similar occasion. in whatever he
poIpces