New-York tribune., 1909-03-21
Anglo american Memories
Copyright, 1909. by oeorg. ". smanev,

10 emerson in the Dictionary OF English Iitera-
'ure Is less than q column, though fourteen
columns are not thought too many for Long
telloW; nor are they. In the Supplement Emer-
son gets little more attention; still grudgingly
given.
Alhbone does not matter, and the perplexity
Of the Philistine struggling with book he can
not understand does not matter But let US
go at once TO the best of English critics-to
Matthew Arnold. Alas! we fare no better. Ar
nolds Discourse on Emerson has been resented
by Emersonians as an elaborate disparagement
OF their Master. II Is not that Arnold was In
capable Of dispara cement and while he denies
to Emerson many gifts which his readers find
in him, his appreciation is still sympathetic, and
he lifts himself to own from time to time Elmer
sons real greatness. He thinks the "Essays'
the most important work done in prose in our
language during the last century-"more I'M
portant than Carlyle's" But he puts aside the
English Traits" because. compared with Mon
tagne LIE Bruyere Addison @. the Traits will
not stand the comparison.
''Emersons observation has not the disnter-
ested quality of the observation of these mas
ters. 1t is the observation Of a man systemati-
cally benevolent, as Hawthorne's observation in
Our Old Home is the work Of a man cha
grined.'
And Arnold explains that Emerson's system
attic benevolence comes from his persistent
optimism. The book is too good natured to be
scientific. Yet. oddly enough-or perhaps not
oddy-the criticism Of the English Philistine is
the exact opposite OF Arnold's. The man in
the street, If he has read the English Traits"
complains that the criticism of things English
is too relentless: that Emerson always has the
scalpel and the probe in hand; that the inquiry
is not critical but anatomical; and the atnos-
phere that OF the dissecting room He Is ap-
paued when he the most cherished pc
liefs of centuries and blended races put under
the microscope and when character. aristocracy
plutocracy, the Church, Religion itself are MADE
to take off their masks and yield up their
secrets. They are not conciliated even when
Emerson sums up the English as the best OF
actual races" What care they for comparisons
with other races. or for the opinion of other
races, or Of. transatlantic critics upon England
and the English and the institutions Of this
little island? Emerson's criticism is chemical;
Il resolves things into their elements their
primordial atoms. No doubt, but neither the
Throne nor the Church is shaken, nor single
act. of Parliament repealed.
Arnold recalling the influences which wrought
upon him a student at Oxford amid the last
entertainments of the Middle Ages" said 10 an
American audience i'll Emerson's own delight
ful town" Boston:
He was your Newman, your man Of soul and
genius visible TO you IN Ine HeSIlr spedhlIlS ~
your bodily ears, present object for your heart
and imagination. That is surely the most po-
tent of all influences! Nothing can come up
tt
And that is the influence which descended
benefcially upon US, of past or passing gen
Grafton, TO whom IL was given 10 see Emerson
and to hear him. AS l think 1t all over, be
gin 10 doubt whether TO have heard Emerson on
the platform did not bring you sense OF
greater intimacy than TO have known MIN even
There was a time. during Theodore Parker's
illness and absence, when Emerson and Wehoell
Phillips used to take his place at stated inter
vaIs-in both cases, think. once month Be
fore the great audience of the Music Hail. Emer-
son had precisely the same manner as with d
few hundred people He hardly seemed 10 ps
aware Of his audience. He stood there behlhd
Parker's desk, towering above It, his slight hs-
ure adjusting itself 20 whatever attitude sulted
his mood for the moment; never quite erect; the
hody never quite straight; the hands fumbling
with his manuscript; turning over dozen
leaves at q time; turning back again anotheF
dozen. as If il scarce mattered in what order ne
read Often he skipped; the large Quarto pages
were turned by the score and there was no re
turn. FnA mind seemed TO be carrying on
processes oS thought quite independent OF those
he had inscribed on his manuscript He felt ms
way with his hearers; and his unconsciousness
Of their presence was therefore apparent ohIS-
FetV-een them and him there was the flow or IN
visible mysterious currents, whether OF syrnpa-
thy or antipathy In Mr.. Gladstone's fine image
they gave back 10 him in Vapour "hat ne
poured out in food upon them. But that' Oh
course was far more completely true OF an
orator like Mr.. Gladstone than of a lecturer like
Emerson who read his discourse But II was
true in a measure Of Emerson also.
But Emerson was an orator too. He was not
always above the arts Of the orator. He could
and did. calculate his effects; observing the
while whether they told or not He delighted in
crescend0 His voice rose and fell and rose
again: and he had unsupported depths of reso-
nant tone. At one moment clear and cold then
vibrating with emotion, into which the whole
force of the man seemed TO seek expression;
then sometimes at the very end becoming pro
phetic, appealing, menacing; ul the sentences
came as IL from the Judgment seat he once
read Allingham's Poem, The Talisman as the
peroratson Of his address in the Music Hall l
never heard anything like it,-like the wild,
strange melody Of his voice, which had In II the
infonations and cadences which give to many
Slavic airs and most OF all the Hungarian
Czardas, though that is dance music magic
charm.
have spoken Of the prejudice against Emer-
son which prevailed in Boston and elsewhere
It was most vehement in society. That wor-
shipful company. which IS necessarily a minority
and prides itself on being minority, nKes 10
set its own standards and expects the rest OF
the world, far as IL comes In contact with
these social lawgivers, to CONFORM 10 these
standards. They became aware that 10
no standard but his did Emerson ever con
form: save so far al civility and kindness bade
him. He gave way readily enough in little
things 1t is sign of greatness TO hold little
things of little account; an aphorism by no
means universally accepted.
However, II not Emersons manners 10
which society objected or could object He
had the manners'of king. without the demands
Of a king He republican king. He stood
for equality, in the that he looked down
on no man. The society view is different. So
ciety exists in order to look down on all who
are not within its sacred circle. They must be
inferior because they outside. But its OBJ
lection to Emerson lay deeper. It recognized
in him the natural enemy Of privilege and pre-
rogative. There were distinguished members of
this distinguished body who looked upon man
who took the liberty of examining the sub
structure on which all societies are built as an
rChiSt- Thew