Besides the gift of eloquence, William Emerson inherited from his father (the Reverend Joseph Emerson of Maiden) a love of literature. This he apparently bequeathed to his son, William, who in turn transmitted it to his son, the author of _Conduct of Life_ and _Representative Men_. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston on May 25, 1803. His father, minister of the First Church of that city, was a man of vigorous intellect, fond of society, and, judging from one of his letters, endowed with a caustic wit. His mother, Ruth (Haskins) Emerson, was distinguished for her high-bred manners and tender thoughtfulness. Severity on the part of parents was thought good for boys in that day. Ralph never forgot how his father ‘twice or thrice put me in mortal terror by forcing me into the salt water, off some wharf or bathing-house; and I still recall the fright with which, after some of these salt experiences, I heard his voice one day (as Adam that of the Lord God in the garden) summoning me to a new bath, and I vainly endeavoring to hide myself.’ Left a widow in 1811, with five boys to educate, Mrs. Emerson was forced to heroic exertions. Her sacrifices made a deep impress on the mind of the most famous of those boys. From the Boston Latin School, Emerson went to Harvard College and was graduated in 1821 ‘with ambitions to be a professor of rhetoric and elocution.’ After a period of school-teaching, a profession towards which his attitude was unequivocal (‘Better saw wood, better sow hemp, better hang with it after it is sown, than sow the seeds of instruction’), he began his theological studies at Harvard and in due time was ‘approbated to preach.’ Ill health drove him South for a winter (1826–27), where he saw novel sights, and made the acquaintance of Achille Murat, son of the quondam King of Naples. Emerson had Murat for a fellow traveller from St. Augustine to Charleston: ‘I blessed my stars for my fine companion, and we talked incessantly.’ On March 11, 1829, Emerson was ordained as colleague of Henry Ware in the Second Church of Boston and a little later ‘became the sole incumbent.’ He resigned this advantageous post of labor (September, 1832) because of doubts about the rite of the Lord’s Supper and the offering of public prayer. To many observers his career seemed wilfully spoiled by himself.