The Portland daily press., 1876-01-22
Recent Publications.

LETTERS AND SOCIAL AIMS. By Ralph Waldo
Emerson. Boston: j. R. Osgood & Co. For sale
by Bailey & Noyes.
"You must remember" said Esop's lioness
to the taunting fox of many cubs, shat
though L bring forth but one whelp at a time,
that one is lion.' Mr.. Emerson is not pro-
life author, but his books are of royal strain
Time has gone by when new work by him
would call forth angry criticism by those who
looked upon him as bull in their theological
china shops, and no critic nov fancies that he
disposes of the volume by writing against it,
"R. w. Emerson, Pantheist." Men have
settled down in the belief that whatever Mr..
Emerson has to say is we'll worth hearing, that
there is wonderful wealth of suggestion and
stimulus in his essays, and that his so-called
pantheism is after all good Christianity in
domino. Like not few others of the present
day he is better than his theological preten-
sions, and far more of Christian than be is
willing to acknowledge. Then too, whatever
his theological views may be he never pushes
them with rude persistence. Now and then
reviewer, desperately bent on preserving his
reputation for fault-fndiDg, brings up the old
charge that Mr.. Emerson's sentences are either
paradOxes or platitudes. The lazy reader may
sometimes find that Mr.. Emerson has out of
his love of compactness of thought framed a
sentence which strikes the careless eye as con-
Trajectory, and to those who read as they run
it will ever remain contradictory. His ''plati-
tudes' may be resolved into two classes. He
has an agreeable habit of saying things which
at once commend themselves to the judgment
as eternal truths, as the very things which we
should have said ourselves had we but thought
of them, things written in our minds in in
visible ink and not appearing to the sight until
the fire of Mr.. Emerson's genius calls them
out; and because they are SO eminently the
proper and natural things to say we at once
leap to the conclusion that they must have
| been said thousand times before. He also
| frequently, as all people do, repeats the self
evident and immortal truths; brings them out
in new garb, not with pretense that they are
discoveries, but out of courtesy to his and their
company. That it is the duty of man to be
virtuous may be called a platitude, but we do
not accuse the preacher of lack of originality
because be repeats that in new phrase Or old,
from the pulpit every Sunday. Mr.. Emerson
| gives the old jewels in new and splendid set
| ting which certainly does not detract from
their value. What more have we right to
| ask? Another fashion too has passed away,
| that of sneering at Mr.. Emerson as mystic.
People have learned what Quietism is and do
not mock at it now.
| This volume of essays has been long expected,
| mauy times announced, eagerly desired, yet
| there is little absolutely new in it. Nearly all
the chapters have Leen lectures some at COL
lege anniversaries, some elsewhere; but all have
undergone some change in form, and not infre-
| qnenty two or three lectures give up their best
to make one essay. The title Of the volume,
"Letters and Social Aims" amply describes
its scope, for the chapters treat of high literary
| topics or of questions which come up in the in
tercourse of men. The essays are: Poetry and
Imagination; Social Aims; Eloquence; Re-
sources; The Comic; Quotation and Origi-
nality; Progress of Culture; Persian Poetry;
Inspiration; Greatness; Immortality. The
topics are treatedswith all the old wit and wis
dom, though not unnaturally the freshness of
| twenty years ago is something lacking. One
| is inclined as he turns the leaves to subscribe
heartily to the justice of Lowelps definition of
! Emerson, given so long ago in the Fable for
| Critics.
Plotinus-M Montaigne where the Egyptian gold mist
And the Gascon shrewd wit cheek and J0wl co-exst.
Where all command the highest praise it is
| quite out of the question to award the palm to
any one essay. Each reader will have his IA
vorite, but will scarcely claim for it excellence
above the others. The opening chapter is an
estimate of the functions and value of poetry
the Introductory pages of which are among
the most eloquent Mr.. Emerson has given tC
the world. The perception of matter is made
the common-sense, and for cause, he says
This was the cradle, this the go-cart, of the
human child. We must learn the homely
laws of fire and water; we must feed, wash
plant, build. Poverty, frost, famine, disease
debt, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold
us to common-sense, and the restraining grace
of common-sense is the mark of all the valid
minds. 1t does not medjle with the absolute,
but takes things at their word. But whilst We
deal with this as fnality, early hints are Civ
en- that we are not to stay here; that we mus
be making ready to goa warning that thi
magnificent hotel and conveniency we cal
Nature is not final. First innuendoes, thel
broad hints, then smart taps, are given, sug
gesting that nothing stands still ir nature bu
DEATH that creation is on wheels, in transit
always passing into something else, streaming
into something higher; that matter is moi
what it appears; that chemistry can blow it al
into gas. 1t was whispered that the globule
of the universe were preciptates of something
more subtle; nay, somewhat was murmured il
our ear that dwindled astronomy into a toy
that, too, was no finality-only PROFESSIONALS
makeshift; that under chemistry was powe
and purpose: power and purpose ride on mat
ter to the last atom. 1t was STEPPED il
thought-dd everywhere express thought; tina
as great conquerors have burned their ship
when once they were landed on the wished-fo
shore, so the noble house of nature we inhabi
has temporary uses, and we can afford to leav'
it one day. The.ends of all are mortal, ant
therefore the beginnings are such. But scienct
was false by being unpoetical. 1t assumed t
explain reptile or mollusk, and isolated it,
which is hunting for life in graveyards. Th,
poet only sees each animal form as an inevita
BILE step in the path of the creating mind. HI
knows the missing link by the joy it gives
He gives us the eminent experiences only
a god stepping from peak to peak, nor plant
ing his foot but on mountain. Poetry is tn,
perpetual endeavor to express the spirit of tn,
thing, the belief that the higher use of the
material world is to furnish us types or picture
to express the Thoughts of the mind. The pri
mary use of fact is low; the secondary use
as it is figure or illustration of my thought
is the real worth We cannot utter sentence
in sprightly conversation without a similitude
A happy symbol is sort of evidence that you
thought is just. If you agree with me, or i
Locke or Montesqueu agree, L may yet b.
wrong, but if the elm-tree thinks the sam,
thing, if running water, iif burning coal, i