The Portland daily press., 1884-12-19
New Publications.
DIR. Holmns's LIFE OF nMnRsoN


We had in the last volume of the "Amsri
can Men of Letters Series, the margaret
Fuller Ossoli' by Mr.. Hgginson, a good IL
lnstratiou of the fact that it makes al the
difference possible whether or not a biosraphy
IS prepared by man who knows how t. acyste
and who uses his critical power ia the selec-
ton Of his materials. Mr.. aigginson gave US
an almost ideal memoir, remarkable not only
for what he put in Dut for what, from the
mass of materials, he left out; and filing Ia
bis picture (Which, M TO this time, it must DO
confesse b ia spite OF the striking work of Mr.
Emerson. Mr.. Clarke aud Mrs. Howe had
been rather vague and Indistinct) with such
skill and niceness Of touch, that for the fIst
time the personality OF Margaret Fuller stood
out strong aud real before US. The task that
a waited Mr.. Holmes wss not in some respects
so dificult as this. There was nothing hidden,
nothing subtle or mysterious about the cbarac-
ter of "the sage of Concord, !" save as all gem
ius is in some sort mysterious aud inexplicahle.
!. His life was as open as the day, and had in
in Il tbe BaiAiRE gu aliig- of daylight. That se-
rene, high thought and pure-spui1d nature
bad been for many long years the crowning.
honor of American letters That our great
intelligent, sensual and avaricious America"
should have produced this tranquil, luminous
soul was not dimly felt to be our strongest
claim for literary immortality.
MI. Holmes has come to his subject with an en-
thueiasm born of the reverence and love which
seem to have filled eyeryone'who entered the
presence OF this seer with smiling lps-yet
with something stern and awe-compelling in
| his eyes-who made that modest house ia Con-
| cord more formidable than many kings pal
| ace. Even in his youth and early manhood
| there was something of this quality in Emer-
| soma dignity which with all his sweetness
| OF manner and expression rosa almost to mai
esty." One of his college-classmatss writes Of
| him: "I should say that his conduct was abb
| soutsly fanltlsss. He had then the Same
manner and conrtly hesitation in addressing
| you that We have seen in him since' The
| story is told that when he WAS teaching in q
country academy in Chelmsford, though be
| was never harsh and never punished save with
| words, the manner with which he turned upon
/ boy detected in some offence and faid "Oh,
| sad!' was terrible in its condemnation. He
was even then, an embodiment of the moral
Law; sweet and serene and high, bat In his
| own purity awfnl aud awe-com pelline.
| Here the account is given of Mr.. Emerson's
| brief ministry. which he so soon (aud We mast
feel fortunately abandoned, to become priest
| in the Church Universal. He had his special
field as a lecturer, in times when lectnring had
| not become the sensational and cheap affaiI
| that 1t is today. All VINO have heard him can
/ still remember the fute-like tones of his voice
the rare gracionsness of the manner withwhich
he impaired those Orphic utterances of his,
| so completely unconnected. save as they were
| all related to Truth and Goodness He himself
| we'll kneg the rhetorical and literary defects
| of his style (and would doubtless have concur
reQ Win n1r. ArE0l0 ID MS rAtnef $40 sever c
| judgmsnt) and spsaks somewhere OF his "Dara
graphs incompressibe, each sentence an infin.
| itely repeilenr PARTICLE"
In the admirable critical remarks upon En-
erson's Essays and Poems, if Mr.. Holmes
| taxes too much the attitude OF an enthusiastic
| lover, there is certainly no want OF crtica
| discrimination. He is not blind TO single de-
| feet OF the posts haltng verse; out he recog-
nizss it's wonderfully inspiring quality, aud it's
| power to move lin world Of universal symbol
ISM" II we can apply TO his poetry Emerson.
| own test, THE great poets are to be judged by
the frame OF mind they induce;'' surely nc
modern singer has greater power to inspire in
| as high thoughts and noble aspiration. Wha,
be lacked in form he made up in substa nee, Ia
| what the theoiogians would call f''a body oi
| doctrine"
Indeed it eeems impossible that any one
| could read this beautiful tribute to beautiful
life without receiving from it sense of eeya-
| ton, feeling that there has dwsit. among as
in our noisy, Aoisterous and over-materialistic
America seer, who looking into the deeper
life OF things behela the essential unity of ma.
| ture, man, the moral wand Deity. In him,
| his own watchwcrd of "Plain living and high
| thinking" found its fullest exemplification Sc.
rene. always believing in the triamph of the
| good over evil-indeed SO occupied with that
| good as hardly to notice the evil--proclaimlDg
| like every Sc the truths which he saw, he
1 won az last for himself the honest admiration
OF those who disss Dted from him, or evan oe-
i died the trustworthiness of the vision. Such
/ power has 3 life that ie perfectly true to itself
| and which, always aiming at the highest, a;
| last makes that highest to prevail in the lives
| OF men.