Evening star., 1897-03-20
EMERSON's IGNORANCE OF LOVE.
A Critic Says He Only knew the Co
quetry of Love.
From the Atlantic.

FROM the Atlantic
Everything in the world which must he
felt with glow in The breast in order To
be understood was to Emerson dead-l.tt.r.
Art was name TO him: music was a name
TO him; love was name TO him. His essay
on love is a nice compilation OF comnu-
mcnts and elegant phrases ending up with
some 10y morality. 1t seems very well fit
ted for a gift book or an oId-fashioncd
iadys annual He says: The lovers de-
light in endearmcnts. in avowals Of love. in
comparisons of their regards The
soul Of each detects defects in the Other
and hence arise expcstulation and pain
which leads to reunion and the repair OF
wounded affection. Meantime as If. wears
on. II proves game of Formulation and
combination OF all possible positions Of he
parties. 10 employ all the resources OF each
ana acquaiat each with the strength aui
weakness OF the other. Al last they
discover that all which at first drew tham
tose;hcr-those once sacred features tina,
magical play OF charms-was deciduouS
had "A proSpet tive end. like he scaffOllfuE
by which the house was built: and the pun
ncation Of the intellect and heart from year
to year is the real marriage. forese.n ard
prepared from the first. and wholly above
their consciousness. Thus are ~.
put In training for a love which knows not
sex nor person nor Partially. but which
seeks virtue and wisdom everywhere, TO the
end of increasing virtue and wisdom"
All this is not love, but the mercst liter
airy coquetry. Love is different from this.
Lady Burton. when very young girl. and
six years before her engagement, met Bur
ton at Boulogne. They met in the street
but did not speak. 4 few days later they
We're formally introduced at dance OF
this she writes: THAT night Of
nights. He waltzed with me once and
spoke to me several times. 1 kept the sash
where he put his arm around me. and my
gloves, and never wore them again"
We are all so concerned that a man who
writes about love shall tell the truth that
IL he chance to start from premises whica
are false mistaken. his conclusions Will
makes no matter how exalted the personal
character of the writer may be Neither
sanctity nor intellect nor moral enthusiasm,
though they be intensified TO the point OF
incandescence, can make up for a want OF
nature.
This perpetual splitting up OF the passion
of love into two species. one of which is
condemned. but admitted TO be useful. is it
not degrading? There is in Emerson's
theory of the relation between the sexes
neither good sense. nor manly feeling. nor
sound psychology. IL Is founded on none OF
these things. 1t is pure piece of dog
matism, and reminds us that he was bred
to the priesth hood. We are not to imagine
that there was In this doctrine anything pc
culiar 10 Emerson. But We are surprised
to find the pessimism inherent in the doc
trine overcome Emerson. to whom pessi-
mism is foreign. Both doctrine and pessi-
mism are part of the puritanism of tho
times. They show a society in which the
intellect had long been used to analyZe the
affections. In which the head had become
dislocated from the body. The relation be-
tween the blood and the brain was no.
quite normal in this civilization, nor In
Emerson. who is its most remarkable rep
resentative.