SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

ORAL Pnitosormy,

Inwtys. By It. W. Emerson, of Concord, Massachusetts. With Preface by Thomas

Carlyle. Fraser. Farrar.

The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope SmitA. Unworn.

History of Euro from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the he Bourbons in 1815. By Archibald Alison, F.R.S.E.. Advocate.

Volume IX Blackwood. Fiction,

Isidora. or the Adventures of a Neapolitan; a Nov el. By the Old Author in a New

Walk, Author of The Pope and the Colonnas," &c. &c. In three volumes.

Smolders wad Otley.

EMERSON S ESSAYS.

THIS volume is a reprint of an American book, with a candid pre- face by CARLYLE; at whose suggestion, probably, it has appeared With a London imprint. According to Mr. CARLYLE, EMERSON is a very remarkable man—an American who has " the invaluable talent of sitting still "; one who having attempted public life with good omens of success, has withdrawn from it into solitude and pri- vacy, content to "sit down to spend his life not in Mammon worship, or the hunt for reputation, influence, place, or any outward advantage whatsoever." A self-dependent man is, no doubt, a rare thing any- where, but especially in the United States : at the same time, it is perhaps neither EMERSON'S philosophic independence nor his genius which has attracted Mr. CARLYLE'S notice, so much as his modes of thought and quaint peculiarity of diction ; both of which have a resemblance to those of his English editor, though not enough to stamp him a mere imitator.

The Essays possess faults enough to justify Mr. CARLYLE'S assertion that "such a book can never expect to become popu- lar here." The looseness of structure, the want of plan inhe- rent in the essay, has often been pointed out as tempting an author to extend his lucubrations as long as he can say any thing about his subject ; a temptation overcome only by the artist, who sees distinctly the particular branch which he is going to treat, and determinedly rejects every thing not directly bear- ing upon it. To this temptation Exixasox has yielded, and so fully that he sometimes continues pouring out words with no meaning at all, or a very subordinate one, after he has exhausted his view of the questiou—or what, in an essay, is much the same, after he has said his best things. He is also deficient in large and vigorous logic ; sometimes putting forward a limited truth as if it were as extensive as creation, or advancing a truth as universal, which possibly may be so, but which he does not prove. He as often dogmatizes as reasons, and some- times merely declaims. His style is peculiar—quaint, and rather affected ; partaking of the nature of CARLYLE, Ilazurr, and LEIGH HUNT, but rather founded on than copied from them. When the truth is cogent or the illustration happy, the effect is striking and powerful ; but when the thought is common, or imperfectly developed, as is frequently the case, the peculiarity of the manner alone remains—not pleasing, if not offensive. Yet the style is probably one cause of the effect of the book ; for it is not always that its best thoughts are new thoughts, but truths presented in a new and more striking way. With all these drawbacks, however, RALPH WALDO EMERSON is a man of genius—a deep, original, and independent thinker ; scorning the conventionalities of life, holding cheap the mechanicals of literature, and speaking what he deems the truth ; careless whether he offends opinion or pleases taste, and not always careful whether he presents his view distinctly to the minds of others.

To enumerate the twelve Essays would not be of much utility ; for several reasons. Sometimes the treatment of the subject is so peculiar, that the reader finds nothing which he expects from the title, though an intelligible word enough. The essay on "History," for instance, deals not at all with matters which relate to history in the usual meaning ; but refers to the only use which in EMERSON'S opinion can be made of the works of the past—events, persons, literature, and so forth ; whilst he expresses himself about this use so oddly and mystically that few will be certain of what he does mean, though it would seem to be, that the productions of the past have no other use than to enable us to understand ourselves. " Self-Reliance," again, as he treats of it, is rather an inculcation to originality of thought and independence of action—a hortative to men to discover their own natural bent, and give it free scope, instead of imitating individuals or submitting to the opinions and usages of society. " Spiritual Laws" has no relation whatever to theology ; but inculcates a kind of practical " fate and meta- physical aid"—that we are taught independently of the teach- ing of others or of ourselves by the facts and circumstances of our lives, and that mental existence—all connected with mind— is independent, and cannot be affected by accident. " Compensa- tion," to give a last example, does not mean any thing which most readers would infer, but is an endeavour to show that " whatever is is right "—that there is little evil at large, no misfortunes to our- selves; a doctrine the truth of which merely goes to the extent that there is no unmixed evil in the physical world, but which, as regards mind, is very lamely handled by Mr. EMERSON, being assumed instead of proved. The utility of the book does not, therefore, consist in the complete view which it propounds upon a series of subjects, or even in any principle which it deduces upon any single topic : its use is in its detached thoughts; and as these have not always a strict relation to the place where they are found, we shall in the examples we take affix the name of the essay to the quotation. The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is, that it scatters your force; it loses your time, and blurs the impression of your character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead bible society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers; under all these screens, I have difficulty to detect the precise man you are. And, of course, so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your thing, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blind-man's- buff is this game of conformity. If I know your sect, I anticipate your argu- ment. I hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church. Do I not know beforehand that not pos- sibly can he say a new and spontaneous word? do I not know that with all this ostentation of examining the grounds of the institution, he will do no such thing ? do I not know that he is pledged to himself not to look but at one side; the permitted side, not as a man, but as a parish minister ? Ile is a re- tained attorney, and these airs of the bench are the emptiest affectation. Well, moat men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true.—Essay on Self-Reliance.

COURAGE NECESSARY FOR NONCONFORMITY.

For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And there- fore a man must know how to estimate a sour face. The bystanders look askance on him in the public street or in the friend's parlour. If this averse- tion had its origin in contempt and resistance like his own, be might well go home with a sad countenance; but the sour faces of the multitude, like their sweet faces, have no deep cause, disguise no god, but are put on and off as the wind blows and a newspaper directs. Yet is the discontent of the multi- tude more formidable than that of the senate and the college. It is easy enough for a firm man who knows the world to brook the rage of the cultivated classes. Their rage is decorous and prudent ; for they arc timid, as being very vulnerable themselves. But %hen to their feminine rage the indignation of the people is added, when the ignorant and the poor are aroused, when the unin- telligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow, it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment. —Essay on Self-Reliance.

TIMOROUSNESS OF THE AGE.

The sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn out, and we are become timorous desponding whimperers. We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraidof each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. We want men and women who shall renovate life and our social state, but we see that most natures are insolvent ; cannot satisfi, their own wants, have an ambition out of all proportion to their practical force, and so do lean and beg day and night continually. Our housekeeping is mendicant ; our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. The rugged battle of fate, where strength is born, we shun—Essay on Self-Reliance.

Mr. CARLYLE tells us that EMERSON is understood to have studied theology in his youth ; and there are traces of divinity- learning in his book. The following passage smacks of this, and is moreover a remarkable specimen of idiomatic English.

THE PREACHER'S DOCTRINE OF COMPENSATION.

I was lately confirmed in these desires by hearing a sermon at church. The preacher, a man esteemed for his orthodoxy, unfolded in the ordinary manner the doctrine of the last judgment. He assumed that judgment is not executed in this world ; that the wicked are successful ; thaf the good are miserable ; and then urged from reason and from Scripture a compensation to be made to both parties in the next life. No offence appeared to be taken by the congre- gation at this doctrine. As far as I could observe, when the meeting broke up, they separated without remark on the sermon. Yet, what was the import of this teaching? what did the preacher mean by saying, that the good are miserable in the present life ? Was it that houses and lands, offices, wine, horses, dress, luxury, are bad by unprincipled men, whilst the saints are poor and despised ; and that a compensation is to be made to these last hereafter, by giving them the like gratifications another day- bank-stock and doubloons, venison and champagne ? This must be the com- pensation intended; for what else? Is it that they are to have leave to pray and praise, to love and serve men ? Why, that they can do now. The legi- timate inference the disciple would draw was, " We are to have such a good time as the sinners have now "; or, to push it to its extreme import, "You sin now; we shall sin by and by : we would sin now if we could; MR being successful, we expect our revenge tomorrow."—Essay on Compensation.

TUE PAST.

When the act of reflection takes place in the mind, when we look at our- selves in the light of thought, we discover that our life is embosomed in beauty. Behind us, as we go, all things assume pleasing forms, as clouds do far off. Not only things familiar and stale, but even the tragic and terrible are comely, as they take their place in the pictures of memory. The river-bank, the weed at the water-side, the old house, the foolish person, however neglected in the passing, have a grace in the past. Even the corpse that has lain in the cham- bers has added a solemn ornament to the house. The soul will not know either deformity or pain.—Essay on Spiritual Laws.

NO LEARNING WITHOUT PREPARATION.

No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning, however near to his eyes is the object. A chemist may tell his most precious secrets to a car- penter, and he shall be never the wiser ; the secrets he would not utter to a chemist for an estate. God screens us evermore from premature ideas. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened; then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream.—Essay on Spiritual Laws.

THE SPIRIT SELF-PROTECTING.

What can we see or acquire but what we are ? You have seen a skilful man reading Virgil. Well, that author is a thousand books to a thousand persons. Take the book into your two hands, and read your eyes out, you will never find what I find. If any ingenious reader would have a monopoly of the wis- dom or delight he gets, he is as secure now the book is Englished, as if it were imprisoned in the Pelews' tongue. It is with a good book as it is with good company. Introduce a base person among gentlemen : it is all to no purpose ; he is not their fellow. Every society, protects itself. The company is perfectly safe, and he is not one of them, though his body is in the room.—Essay Spiritual Laws.

FORCE OF TRUTH.

Dreadful limits are set in nature to the powers of dissimulation. Truth tyrannizes over the unwilling members of the body. Faces never lie, it is said. No man need be deceived who will study the changes of expression. When a man speaks the truth in the spirit of truth, his eye is as clear as the heavens. When he has base ends, and speaks falsely, the eye is muddy and sometimes 'squint. I have heard an experienced counsellor say that he feared never the effect upon a jury of a lawyer who does not believe in his heart that his client ought to have a verdict. If he does not believe it, his unbelief will appear to the jury, despite all his protestations, and will become their unbelief, This is that law whereby a work of art, of whatever kind, sets us in the same state of mind wherein the artist was when lie made it. That which we do not believe we cannot adequately say, though we may repeat the words never so often.—Essay on Spiritual Laws.

INTELLECT.

Intellect and intellection signify, to the common ear, consideration of ab- stract truth. The consideration of time and place, of you and me, of profit and hurt, tyrannize over most men's minds. Intellect separates the fact con- sidered from you, from all local and personal reference, and discerns it as if it existed for its own sake. Heraclitus looked upon the affections as dense and coloured mists. In the fog of good and evil affections, it is hard for man to walk forward in a straight line. Intellect is void of affection, and sees an object as it stands in the light of science, cool and disengaged. The intellect goes out of the individual, floats over its own personality, and regards it as a fact, and not as I and mine. Ile who is immersed in what concerns person or place cannot see the problem of existence. This the intellect always ponders. Nature shows all things formed and bound. The intellect pierces the form, overleaps the wall, detects intrinsic likeness between remote things, and re- duces all things into a few principles.—Essay on Intellect.