New-York tribune., 1882-04-28
ENEHSON.

Probably no people of modern times excel our
own in reverence and affection for their best
men of letters and the venerable lie Just ex-
ringuished at Concord was honored III It's de-
cline with unmistakable marks OF the popular
regard. 1t il not many years since the OOscurl-
ties of the Emersonian philosophy were Ia
yorite topic of cheap Wits but so great mas
been the change in the temper OF American
readers. so rapid the growth OF respect for
serious Thought even among those who are not
serious thinkers, that ~ sfime when 1t was
fashionable to ridicule the transcendentailsts
seems now like remote and barbarous era.
II is not the least of the services of Emerson
and his school that they did SO much to hasten
the advance of that general esteem for the in
tellectual life which is one OF the surest signs OF
national culture. "The white light of the pure
and elevated master of the Concord group" as
Stedman has observed, has been steadfast
beacon for his companions" The remark Is an
ant one. 1t expresses with precision the charm
of that illustrious character which has given
Concord an exceptional celebrity, and the ma
tnre of that far-reaching influence which has
made Emerson one of the most important
figures in American literature.
1t is rash to predict how future generation
will regard anybody's philosophy, but there is no
reason to believe that EmersOns philosophical
deas--he cannot be said to have had philo-
sophical system--are ever to be more widely
accepted than they are now; the present ten
denotes of thought indeed are in direction
onite different from that which he followed.
Neither is it likely that he will ever be looked
upon as the founder of a school OF poetry, or as
an example for essayiats. His style has had
many feeble and transitOry lmitators; but style
and method were in his case too intimately con-
nected with rare personal character to be sue
| cessfullv copied, or even to affect very deeply
the literary manners Of his disciples. 1t was
| by stimulating the original powers of other
| scholars. fostering the habit OF thought and
raising ambition, that the pure and elevated
master made an indelibe mark upon his time.
! The idealsm of Emerson seems at first blush,
absolutely hostile to the popular principles OF
modern science; but Professor Iyndall de-
clared. If anyone can be said to have given
the impulse to my mind, it is Emerson; what
"ever have done the world owes to hiIn y; and
q similar acknowledgement might be made by
! hundreds Of Others on both sides of the ocean,
who owe to our American thinker not ideas SO
much as the stimulus to thought He began to
write poetry at time when our best singer. oc-
cupied themselves chiefly with the physical
aspects of nature and he added to our verse, not
beauty Of form, for that he never learned, but
| the one quality in which it was mos. deficient,
of deep spirituality. His influence upon poets
| and scholars-incomparably more powerful
than his direct effect upon the public-vis the
| true measure of his service to the intellectual
| 6ovolonm.nt of his 0eneratiOn
But in the hour of death it is the beauty of a
calm and noble character that one loves to
dwell upou rather than the gifts of genius or the
achievements of study. The quiet and retiring
philosopher exercised for halt a century an ex-
traordinary fascination over those who met
| him. The wise and the famous of both hemi-
spheres spoke of him with equal ardor. 1t has
been said that he had genius for friendships
1t would perhaps define more accurately the
secret of his personal charm if we said that in
his refined face and gentle manner shone the
sweetness Of an exalted soul ~ well as the
| l1ht of an acute intellect