Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
slightly different words.]
[Footnote 336: Bokhara. Where is Bokhara? It corresponds to the
ancient Sogdiana.]
[Footnote 337: Bannocks. Thick cakes, made usually of oatmeal. What
does Emerson mean by this sentence? Probably no person ever met his
visitors, many of whom were "exacting and wearisome," and must have
been unwelcome, with more perfect courtesy and graciousness than
Emerson.]
[Footnote 338: John Eliot. Give as full an account as you can of the
life and works of this noble Apostle to the Indians of the seventeenth
century.]
[Footnote 339: King David, etc. See First Chronicles, 11, 15-19.]
[Footnote 340: Brutus. Marcus Junius Brutus, a Roman patriot of the
first century before Christ, who took part in the assassination of
Julius Cæsar.]
[Footnote 341: Philippi. A city of Macedonia near which in the year 42
B.C. were fought two battles in which the republican army under Brutus
and Cassius was defeated by Octavius and Antony, friends of Cæsar.]
[Footnote 342: Euripides. A Greek tragic poet of the fifth century
before Christ.]
[Footnote 343: Scipio. (See note 205.) Plutarch in his _Morals_ gives
another version of the story: "When Paetilius and Quintus accused him
of many crimes before the people; 'on this very day,' he said, 'I
conquered Hannibal and Carthage. I for my part am going with my crown
on to the Capitol to sacrifice; and let him that pleaseth stay and
pass his vote upon me.' Having thus said, he went his way; and the
people followed him, leaving his accusers declaiming to themselves."]
[Footnote 344: Socrates. (See note 187.)]
[Footnote 345: Prytaneum. A public hall at Athens.]
[Footnote 346: Sir Thomas More. An English statesman and author who
was beheaded in 1535 on a charge of high treason. The incident to
which Emerson refers is one which showed his "pleasant wit"
undisturbed by the prospect of death. As the executioner was about to
strike, More moved his head carefully out of reach of the ax. "Pity
that should be cut," he said, "that has never committed treason."]
[Footnote 347: Blue Laws. Any rigid Sunday laws or religious
regulations. The term is usually applied to the early laws of New
Haven and Connecticut which regulated personal and religious conduct.]
[Footnote 348: Epaminondas. (See note 329.)]
[Footnote 349: Olympus. A mountain of Greece, the summit of which,
according to Greek mythology, was the home of the gods.]
[Footnote 350: Jerseys. Consult a history of the United States for a
full account of Washington's campaign in New Jersey.]
[Footnote 351: Milton. (See note 151.)]
[Footnote 352: Pericles. A famous Greek statesman of the fifth century
before Christ, in whose age Athens was preëminent in naval and
military affairs and in letters and art.]
[Footnote 353: Xenophon. A Greek historian of the fourth century
before Christ.]
[Footnote 354: Columbus. Give an account of his life.]
[Footnote 355: Bayard. Chevalier de Bayard was a French gentleman of
the fifteenth century. He is the French national hero, and is called
"The Knight without fear and without reproach."]
[Footnote 356: Sidney. Probably Sir Philip Sidney, an English
gentleman and scholar of the sixteenth century who is the English
national hero as Bayard is the French; another brave Englishman was
Algernon Sidney, a politician and patriot of the seventeenth century.]
[Footnote 357: Hampden. John Hampden was an English statesman and
patriot who was killed in the civil war of the seventeenth century.]
[Footnote 358: Colossus. The Colossus of Rhodes was a gigantic
statue--over a hundred feet in height--of the Rhodian sun god. It was
one of the seven wonders of the world; it was destroyed by an
earthquake about two hundred years before Christ.]
[Footnote 359: Sappho. A Greek poet of the seventh century before
Christ. Her fame remains, though most of her poems have been lost.]
[Footnote 360: Sevigné. Marquise de Sevigné was a French author of the
seventeenth century.]
[Footnote 361: De Staël. Madame de Staël was a French writer whose
books and political opinions were condemned by Napoleon.]
[Footnote 362: Themis. A Greek goddess. The personification of law,
order, and justice.]
[Footnote 363: A high counsel, etc. Such was the advice given to the
Emerson boys by their aunt, Miss. Mary Moody Emerson: "Scorn trifles,
lift your aims; do what you are afraid to do; sublimity of character
must come from sublimity of motive." Upon her monument are inscribed
Emerson's words about her: "She gave high counsels. It was the
privilege of certain boys to have this immeasurably high standard
indicated to their childhood, a blessing which nothing else in
education could supply."]
[Footnote 364: Phocion. A Greek general and statesman of the fourth
century before Christ who advised the Athenians to make peace with
Philip of Macedon. He was put to death on a charge of treason.]
[Footnote 365: Lovejoy. Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, a Presbyterian clergyman
of Maine who published a periodical against slavery. In 1837 an
Illinois mob demanded his printing press, which he refused to give up.
The building containing it was set on fire and when Lovejoy came out
he was shot.]
[Footnote 366: Let them rave, etc. These lines are misquoted, being
evidently given from memory, from Tennyson's _Dirge_. In the poem
occur these lines:
"Let them rave.
Thou wilt never raise thine head
From the green that folds thy grave--
Let them rave."
]
MANNERS
[Footnote 367: The essay on _Manners_ is from the Second Series of
_Essays_, published in 1844, three years after the First Series. The
essays in this volume, like those in the first, were, for the most
part, made up of Emerson's lectures, rearranged and corrected. The
lecture on _Manners_ had been delivered in the winter of 1841. He had
given another lecture on the same subject about four years before, and
several years later he treated of the same subject in his essay on
_Behavior_ in _The Conduct of Life_. You will find it interesting to
read _Behavior_ in connection with this essay.]
[Footnote 368: Feejee islanders. Since this essay was written, the
people of the Feejee, or Fiji, Islands have become Christianized, and,
to a large extent, civilized.]
[Footnote 369: Gournou. This description is found in _A Narrative of
the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids_, by
Belzoni, an Italian traveler and explorer.]
[Footnote 370: Borgoo. A province of Africa.]
[Footnote 371: Tibboos, Bornoos. Tribes of Central Africa, mentioned
in Heeren's _Historical Researches_.]
[Footnote 372: Honors himself with architecture. Architecture was a
subject in which Emerson was deeply interested. Read his poem, _The
Problem_.]
[Footnote 373: Chivalry. Chivalry may be considered "as embodying the
Middle Age conception of the ideal life of ... the Knights"; the word
is often used to express "the ideal qualifications of a knight, as
courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms." Fully to
understand the order of Knighthood and the ideals of chivalry, you
must read the history of Europe in the Middle Ages.]
[Footnote 374: Sir Philip Sidney. (See note 356.)]
[Footnote 375: Sir Walter Scott. (1771-1832). His historical novels
dealing with the Middle Ages have some fine pictures of the chivalrous
characters in which he delighted.]
[Footnote 376: Masonic sign. A sign of secret brotherhood, like the
sign given by one Mason to another.]
[Footnote 377: Correlative abstract. Corresponding abstract name. Sir
Philip Sidney, himself the ideal gentleman, used the word
"gentlemanliness." He said: "Gentlemanliness is high-erected thoughts
seated in a heart of courtesy."]
[Footnote 378: Gentilesse. Gentle birth and breeding. Emerson was very
fond of the passage on "gentilesse" in Chaucer's _Wife of Bath's
Tale_.]
[Footnote 379: Feudal Ages. The Middle Ages in Europe during which the
feudal system prevailed. According to this, land was held by its
owners on condition of certain duties, especially military service,
performed for a superior lord.]
[Footnote 380: God knows, etc. Why is this particularly true of a
republic such as the United States?]
[Footnote 381: The incomparable advantage of animal spirits. Why does
Emerson regard this as of such importance? In his journals he
frequently comments on his own lack of animal spirits, and says that
it unfits him for general society and for action.]
[Footnote 382: The sense of power. "I like people who can do things,"
wrote Emerson in his journal.]
[Footnote 383: Lundy's Lane. Give a full account of this battle in the
War of 1812.]
[Footnote 384: Men of the right Cæsarian pattern. Men versatile as was
Julius Cæsar, the Roman, famous as a general, statesman, orator, and
writer.]
[Footnote 385: Timid maxim. Why does Emerson term this saying
"timid"?]
[Footnote 386: Lord Falkland. Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, was an
English politician who espoused the royalist side; he was killed in
battle in the Civil War.]
[Footnote 387: Saladin. A famous sultan of Egypt and Syria who lived
in the twelfth century. Scott describes him as possessing an ideal
knightly character and introduces him, disguised as a physician and
also as a wandering soldier in his historical romance, _The
Talisman_.]
[Footnote 388: Sapor. A Persian monarch of the fourth century who
defeated the Romans in battle.]
[Footnote 389: The Cid. See "Rodrigo," in _Heroism_, 313.]
[Footnote 390: Julius Cæsar. See note on "Cæsarian," 384.]
[Footnote 391: Scipio. (See note 205.)]
[Footnote 392: Alexander. Alexander, King of Macedon, surnamed the
Great. In the fourth century before Christ he made himself master of
the known world.]
[Footnote 393: Pericles. See note on _Heroism_, 352.]
[Footnote 394: Diogenes. (See note 267.)]
[Footnote 395: Socrates. (See note 187.)]
[Footnote 396: Epaminondas. (See note 329.)]
[Footnote 397: My contemporaries. Emerson probably had in mind, among
others, his friend, the gentle philosopher, Thoreau.]
[Footnote 398: Fine manners. "I think there is as much merit in
beautiful manners as in hard work," said Emerson in his journal.]
[Footnote 399: Napoleon. (See note 273.)]
[Footnote 400: Noblesse. Nobility. Why does Emerson use here the
French word?]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 402: Cortez. Consult a history of the United States for an
account of this Spanish soldier, the conqueror of Mexico.]
[Footnote 403: Nelson. Horatio Nelson, an English admiral, who won
many great naval victories and was killed in the battle of Trafalgar
in 1805.]
[Footnote 404: Mexico. The scene of Cortez's victories.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 407: Mexico, Marengo, and Trafalgar. Is this the order in
which you would expect these words to occur? Why not?]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 409: Tournure. Figure; turn of dress,--and so of mind.]
[Footnote 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