[Illustration: [Emerson]] [Illustration: [Emerson]] RALPH WALDO EMERSON =Philosopher and Seer= _AN ESTIMATE OF_ HIS CHARACTER AND GENIUS =In Prose and Verse= BY A. BRONSON ALCOTT _ILLUSTRATED_ BOSTON CUPPLES & HURD, PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1882, BY A BRONSON ALCOTT. COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY CUPPLES & HURD. _All rights reserved._ SECOND EDITION. Ὤσπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰ πεινῶντα θρέμματα θαλλὸν ἤ τινα καρπὸν προσείοντες ἄγουσι, οὺ ἐμοὶ λόγους οὔτω προτείνων ἐν βιβλίοις τήν τε Ἀττικὴν φαίνει περιάξειν ἅπασαν καὶ ὅποι ἂν ἄλλοσε βούλῃ. PLATO, _Phædr._ p. 230 D. “For as men lead hungry creatures by holding out a green bough or an apple, so you, it would seem, might lead me about all Attica and wherever else you please, by holding toward me discourses out of your books.” PLATO. RALPH WALDO EMERSON TO MARY E. STEARNS. CONCORD, July 5, 1865. MY DEAR MRS. STEARNS. The gift of the birthday was truly a “surprise.” There lay a more beautiful book than Aldus or Elzevir ever made, slipped into the house as carelessly as a roseleaf or a dandelion-down blown in at the window. Mr. Alcott’s note indicated a “friend,” without naming him or her. And when I came to read the text, that, too, was such a Persian superlative on the poor merits of the subject, that I had to shade my eyes as if to accept only a part of the meaning. I may shake your belief in my good sense, if I say I don’t know but I suffered more than I enjoyed; but I soon came to admire the lyrical tone of all this remarkable writing, inspired by the most generous sentiment, fortified, too, by the wish to convey the good-will of other friends who made him their spokesman. So I made a covenant with myself to join these friends in ignoring the infirm actuality, stoutly holding up the ideal outline of the poor man we were talking of. And now I have learned to look at the book with courage, and at least to thank the friends who jointly completed it, very heartily, for this rare and exquisite work of kindness. I have been twice tempted to send you some verses on this occasion, as they would be really more fit carriers of what I have to say; and perhaps I yet shall, though the rhyming fit seldom comes to me.