Emerson's Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (best free ebook reader for android TXT) π
Froude in his famous "Life of Carlyle" gives an interesting description of Emerson's visit to the Carlyles in Scotland:
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[401] Faubourg St. Germain. A once fashionable quarter of Paris, on the south bank of the Seine; it was long the headquarters of the French royalists.
[402] Cortez. Consult a history of the United States for an account of this Spanish soldier, the conqueror of Mexico.
[403] Nelson. Horatio Nelson, an English admiral, who won many great naval victories and was killed in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
[404] Mexico. The scene of Cortez's victories.
[405] Marengo. The scene of a battle in Italy in 1800, in which Napoleon defeated the Austrians with a larger army and made himself master of northern Italy.
[406] Trafalgar. A cape on the southern coast of Spain, the scene of Nelson's last great victory, in which the allied French and Spanish fleets were defeated.
[407] Mexico, Marengo, and Trafalgar. Is this the order in which you would expect these words to occur? Why not?
[408] Estates of the realm. Orders or classes of people with regard to political rights and powers. In modern times, the nobility, the clergy, and the people are called "the three estates."
[409] Tournure. Figure; turn of dress,βand so of mind.
[410] Coventry. It is said that the people of Coventry, a city in England, at one time so disliked soldiers that to send a military man there meant to exclude him from social intercourse; hence the expression "to send to Coventry" means to exclude from society.
[411] "If you could see Vich Ian Vohr with his tail on." Vich Ian Vohr is a Scotch chieftain in Scott's novel, Waverley. One of his dependents says to Waverley, the young English officer: "If you Saxon duinhΓ©-wassal [English gentleman] saw but the Chief with his tail on." "With his tail on?" echoed Edward in some surprise. "Yesβthat is, with all his usual followers when he visits those of the same rank." See Waverley, chapter 16.
[412] Mercuries. The word here means simply messengers. According to Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the gods.
[413] Herald's office. In England the Herald's College, or College of Arms, is a royal corporation the chief business of which is to grant armorial bearings, or coats of arms, and to trace and preserve genealogies. What does Emerson mean by comparing certain circles of society to this corporation?
[414] Amphitryon. Host; it came to have this meaning from an incident in the story of Amphitryon, a character in Greek legend. At one time Jupiter assumed the form of Amphitryon and gave a banquet. The real Amphitryon came in and asserted that he was master of the house. In the French play, founded on this story, the question is settled by the assertion of the servants and guests that "he who gives the feast is the host."
[415] Tuileries. An old royal residence in Paris which was burned in 1871.
[416] Escurial, or escorial. A celebrated royal edifice near Madrid in Spain.
[417] Hide ourselves as Adam, etc. See Genesis iii. 8.
[418] Cardinal Caprara. An Italian cardinal, Bishop of Milan, who negotiated the famous concordat of 1801, an agreement between the Church and State regulating the relations between civil and ecclesiastical powers.
[419] The pope. Pope Pius VII.
[420] Madame de StaΓ«l. (See note 361.)
[421] Mr. Hazlitt. William Hazlitt, an English writer.
[422] Montaigne. A French essayist of the sixteenth century.
[423] The hint of tranquillity and self-poise. It is suggested that Emerson had here in mind a favorite passage of the German author, Richter, in which Richter says of the Greek statues: "The repose not of weariness but of perfection looks from their eyes and rests upon their lips."
[424] A Chinese etiquette. What does Emerson mean by this expression?
[425] Recall. In the first edition, Emerson had here the word "signify." Which is the better word and why?
[426] Measure. What meaning has this word here? Is this the sense in which we generally use it?
[427] Creole natures. What is a creole? What does Emerson mean by "Creole natures"?
[428] Mr. Fox. Charles James Fox, an English statesman and orator of the eighteenth century.
[429] Burke. Both Fox and Burke opposed the taxation of the American colonies and sympathized with their resistance; it was on the subject of the French Revolution that the two friends clashed.
[430] Sheridan. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an Irish dramatist, member of the famous Literary Club to which both Fox and Burke belonged.
[431] Circe. According to Greek legend, Circe was a beautiful enchantress. Men who partook of the draught she offered, were turned to swine.
[432] Captain Symmes. The only real personage of this group. He asserted that there was an opening to the interior of the earth which was stocked with plants and animals.
[433] Clerisy. What word would we be more apt to use here?
[434] St. Michael's (Square). St. Michael's was an order instituted by Louis XI. of France.
[435] Cologne water. A perfumed water first made at the city of Cologne in Germany, from which it took its name.
[436] Poland. This kingdom of Europe was, in the eighteenth century, taken possession of and divided among its powerful neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
[437] Philhellene. Friend of Greece.
[438] As Heaven and Earth are fairer far, etc. This passage is quoted from Book II. of Keats' Hyperion.
[439] Waverley. The Waverley novels, a name applied to all of Scott's novels from Waverley, the title of the first one.
[440] Robin Hood. An English outlaw and popular hero, the subject of many ballads.
[441] Minerva. In Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom corresponding to the Greek Pallas-Athene.
[442] Juno. In Roman mythology, the wife of the supreme god Jupiter.
[443] Polymnia. In Greek mythology, one of the nine muses who presided over sacred poetry; the name is more usually written Polyhymia.
[444] Delphic Sibyl. In ancient mythology, the Sibyls were certain women who possessed the power of prophecy. One of these who made her abode at Delphi in Greece was called the Delphian, or Delphic, sibyl.
[445] Hafiz. A Persian poet of the fourteenth century.
[446] Firdousi. A Persian poet of the tenth century.
[447] She was an elemental force, etc. Of this passage Oliver Wendell Holmes said that Emerson "speaks of woman in language that seems to pant for rhythm and rhyme."
[448] Byzantine. An ornate style of architecture developed in the fourth and fifth centuries, marked especially by its use of gold and color.
[449] Golden Book. In a book, called "the Golden Book," were recorded the names of all the children of Venetian noblemen.
[450] Schiraz. A province of Persia famous especially for its roses, wine, and nightingales, and described by the poets as a place of ideal beauty.
[451] Osman. The name given by Emerson in his journal and essays to his ideal man, one subject to the same conditions as himself.
[452] Koran. The sacred book of the Mohammedans.
[453] Jove. Jupiter, the supreme god of Roman mythology.
[454] Silenus. In Greek mythology, the leader of the satyrs. This fable, which Emerson credits to tradition, was original.
[455] Her owl. The owl was the bird sacred to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.
GIFTS[456] This essay was first printed in the periodical called The Dial.
It was a part of Emerson's philosophic faith that there is no such thing as giving,βeverything that belongs to a man or that he ought to have, will come to him. But in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word, Emerson was a gracious giver and receiver. In his family the old New England custom of New Year's presents was kept up to his last days. His presents were accompanied with verses to be read before the gift was opened.
[457] Into chancery. The phrase "in chancery," means in litigation, as an estate, in a court of equity.
[458] Cocker. Spoil, indulge,βa word now little used.
[459] Fruits are acceptable gifts. Emerson took especial pleasure in the beauty of fruits and the thought of how they had been evolved from useless, insipid seed cases.
[460] To let the petitioner, etc. We can hardly imagine Emerson's asking a gift or favor. He often quoted the words of Landor, an English writer: "The highest price you can pay for a thing is to ask for it."
[461] Furies. In Roman mythology, three goddesses who sought out and punished evil-doers.
[462] A man's biography, etc. Emerson wrote in his journal: "Long ago I wrote of gifts and neglected a capital example. John Thoreau, Jr. [who, like his brother Henry, was a lover of nature] one day put a bluebird's box on my barn,βfifteen years ago it must be,βand there it still is, with every summer a melodious family in it adorning the place and singing its praises. There's a gift for you which cost the giver no money, but nothing which he bought could have been as good."
[463] Sin offering. Under the Hebrew law, a sacrifice or offering for sin. See Leviticus xxiii. 19. Explain what Emerson means here by the word.
[464] Blackmail. What is "blackmail"? How may Christmas gifts, for instance, become a species of blackmail?
[465] Brother, if Jove, etc. In the Greek legend, Epimetheus gives this advice to his brother Prometheus. The lines are taken from a translation of Works and Days, by the Greek poet, Hesiod.
[466] Timons. Here used in the sense of wealthy givers. Timon, the hero of Shakespeare's play, Timon of Athens, wasted his fortune in lavish gifts and entertainments, and in his poverty was exposed to the ingratitude of those whom he had served. He became morose and died in miserable retirement.
[467] It is a very onerous business, etc. One of Emerson's favorite passages in the essays of Montaigne, a French writer, was this: "Oh, how am I obliged to Almighty God, who has been pleased that I should
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