Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
the expression "to send to Coventry" means to exclude from society.]
[Footnote 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 duinhé-wassal [English gentleman] saw but the Chief with his
tail on." "With his tail on?" echoed Edward in some surprise.
"Yes--that is, with all his usual followers when he visits those of
the same rank." See _Waverley_, chapter 16.]
[Footnote 412: Mercuries. The word here means simply messengers.
According to Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the gods.]
[Footnote 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?]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 415: Tuileries. An old royal residence in Paris which was
burned in 1871.]
[Footnote 416: Escurial, or escorial. A celebrated royal edifice near
Madrid in Spain.]
[Footnote 417: Hide ourselves as Adam, etc. See Genesis iii. 8.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 419: The pope. Pope Pius VII.]
[Footnote 420: Madame de Staël. (See note 361.)]
[Footnote 421: Mr. Hazlitt. William Hazlitt, an English writer.]
[Footnote 422: Montaigne. A French essayist of the sixteenth century.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 424: A Chinese etiquette. What does Emerson mean by this
expression?]
[Footnote 425: Recall. In the first edition, Emerson had here the word
"signify." Which is the better word and why?]
[Footnote 426: Measure. What meaning has this word here? Is this the
sense in which we generally use it?]
[Footnote 427: Creole natures. What is a creole? What does Emerson
mean by "Creole natures"?]
[Footnote 428: Mr. Fox. Charles James Fox, an English statesman and
orator of the eighteenth century.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 430: Sheridan. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an Irish
dramatist, member of the famous Literary Club to which both Fox and
Burke belonged.]
[Footnote 431: Circe. According to Greek legend, Circe was a beautiful
enchantress. Men who partook of the draught she offered, were turned
to swine.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 433: Clerisy. What word would we be more apt to use here?]
[Footnote 434: St. Michael's (Square). St. Michael's was an order
instituted by Louis XI. of France.]
[Footnote 435: Cologne water. A perfumed water first made at the city
of Cologne in Germany, from which it took its name.]
[Footnote 436: Poland. This kingdom of Europe was, in the eighteenth
century, taken possession of and divided among its powerful neighbors,
Russia, Prussia, and Austria.]
[Footnote 437: Philhellene. Friend of Greece.]
[Footnote 438: As Heaven and Earth are fairer far, etc. This passage
is quoted from Book II. of Keats' _Hyperion_.]
[Footnote 439: Waverley. The Waverley novels, a name applied to all of
Scott's novels from _Waverley_, the title of the first one.]
[Footnote 440: Robin Hood. An English outlaw and popular hero, the
subject of many ballads.]
[Footnote 441: Minerva. In Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom
corresponding to the Greek Pallas-Athene.]
[Footnote 442: Juno. In Roman mythology, the wife of the supreme god
Jupiter.]
[Footnote 443: Polymnia. In Greek mythology, one of the nine muses who
presided over sacred poetry; the name is more usually written
Polyhymia.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 445: Hafiz. A Persian poet of the fourteenth century.]
[Footnote 446: Firdousi. A Persian poet of the tenth century.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 448: Byzantine. An ornate style of architecture developed in
the fourth and fifth centuries, marked especially by its use of gold
and color.]
[Footnote 449: Golden Book. In a book, called "the Golden Book," were
recorded the names of all the children of Venetian noblemen.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 451: Osman. The name given by Emerson in his journal and
essays to his ideal man, one subject to the same conditions as
himself.]
[Footnote 452: Koran. The sacred book of the Mohammedans.]
[Footnote 453: Jove. Jupiter, the supreme god of Roman mythology.]
[Footnote 454: Silenus. In Greek mythology, the leader of the satyrs.
This fable, which Emerson credits to tradition, was original.]
[Footnote 455: Her owl. The owl was the bird sacred to Minerva, the
goddess of wisdom.]
GIFTS
[Footnote 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,--everything 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.]
[Footnote 457: Into chancery. The phrase "in chancery," means in
litigation, as an estate, in a court of equity.]
[Footnote 458: Cocker. Spoil, indulge,--a word now little used.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 461: Furies. In Roman mythology, three goddesses who sought
out and punished evil-doers.]
[Footnote 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,--fifteen years ago it must
be,--and 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 464: Blackmail. What is "blackmail"? How may Christmas
gifts, for instance, become a species of blackmail?]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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 immediately receive all I have from his bounty, and
particularly reserved all my obligation to himself! How instantly do I
beg of his holy compassion that I may never owe a real thanks to
anyone. O happy liberty in which I have thus far lived! May it
continue with me to the last. I endeavor to have no need of any one."
When Emerson, in his old age, had his house injured by fire, his
friends contributed funds to repair it and to send him to England. The
gift was proffered graciously and accepted gratefully.]
[Footnote 468: Buddhist. A follower of Buddha, a Hindoo religious
teacher of the fifth century before Christ.]
NATURE
[Footnote 469: Nature. Emerson's first published volume was a little
book of essays, entitled _Nature_, which appeared in 1836. In the
years which followed, he thought more deeply on the subject and,
according to his custom, made notes about it and entries in his
journals. In the winter of 1843 he delivered a lecture on _Relation to
Nature_, and it is probable that this essay is built up from that. The
plan of it, however, had been long in his mind: In 1840 he wrote in
his journal: "I think I must do these eyes of mine the justice to
write a new chapter on Nature. This delight we all take in every show
of night or day or field or forest or sea or city, down to the lowest
particulars, is not without sequel, though we be as yet only wishers
and gazers, not at all knowing what we want. We are predominated here
as elsewhere by an upper wisdom, and resemble those great discoverers
who are haunted for years, sometimes from infancy, with a passion for
the fact, or class of facts in which the secret lies which they are
destined to unlock, and they let it not go until the blessing is won.
So these sunsets and starlights, these swamps and rocks, these bird
notes and animal forms off which we cannot get our eyes and ears, but
hover still, as moths round a lamp, are no doubt a Sanscrit cipher
covering the whole religious history of the universe, and presently we
shall read it off into action and character. The pastures are full of
ghosts for me, the morning woods full of angels."]
[Footnote 470: There are days, etc. The passage in Emerson's journal
is hardly less beautiful. Under date of October 30, 1841, he wrote:
"On this wonderful day when heaven and earth seem to glow with
magnificence, and all the wealth of all the elements is put under
contribution to make the world fine, as if Nature would indulge her
offspring, it seemed ungrateful to hide in the house. Are there not
dull days enough in the year for you to write and read in, that you
should waste this glittering season when Florida and Cuba seem to have
left their glittering seats and come to visit us with all their