they have subdued themselves, they seek to reduce their ministers, their servants, their subjects, under their authority; they then endeavor to overcome their foes. Thus," say they, " will we conquer the ocean-circled Earth; ' " and intent upon their project, behold not death, which is not far off. But what mighty matter is the subjugation of the sea-girt Earth, to one who can subdue himself? Emancipation from existence is the fruit of self-control. It is through infatuation that kings desire to possess me, whom their predecessors have been forced to leave, whom their fathers have not retained. Beguiled by the selfish love of sway, fathers contend with their sons, and brothers with brothers, for my possession. Foolishness has been the character of every king who has boasted, "All this earth is mine--everything is mine—it will be in my house forever;"-for he is dead. How is it possible that such vain desires should survive in the hearts of his descendants, who have seen their progenitor, absorbed by the thirst of dominion, compelled to relinquish me whom he called his own, and tread the path of dissolution? When I hear a king sending word to another by his ambassador, "This earth is mine; resign your pretensions to it," I am at first moved to violent laughter; but it soon subsides in pity for the infatuated fool.' "These were the verses, Maitreya, which Earth recited and by listening to which ambition fades away like snow before the sun. Page 35, note 1. Peter Bulkeley, a minister of Odell in Bedfordshire, a man of learning, piety and substance, was silenced by Archbishop Laud for non-conformity, and with many of his flock moved to New England. In company with Simon Willard, of Kent, a man of experience in trade and in military affairs, he made the first inland settlement on land purchased of the Indians, and called it Concord. One of Mr. Emerson's ancestors married his daughter. The other name in the first line are those of some of the first settlers. THE RHODORA. Page 37. "The Rhodora" was written in 1834 at Newton, where Mr. Emerson was visiting his uncle, Mr. Ladd. Rev. James Freeman Clarke obtained it for publication in his Western Messenger in 1839. Page 38, note 1. This element [Beauty] I call an ultimate end. No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe." Nature, Addresses and Lectures, p. 24. THE HUMBLE-BEE. Page 38. This entry occurs in Mr. Emerson's journal for 1837: May 9. Yesterday in the woods I followed the fine humble-bee with rhymes and fancies fine." On the next page he wrote, "The humble-bee and pine-warbler seem to me the proper objects of attention in these disastrous times."' 66 Page 40, note 1. M. René de Poyen Belleisle, in a lecture called A French View of Emerson, given before the School of Philosophy in Concord in the summer of 1888, made use of an image drawn from honey-making (which Mr. Emerson borrowed from Montaigne in Poetry and Imagination," Letters and Social Aims, p. 16) to illustrate his method in philosophy: "Comment Emerson se sert-il des ses idées; ou, en autres termes, quelle est sa méthode ? Je prononce là un mot qui sonne étrangement quand on parle d'Emerson. . . . La méthode d'Emerson est toute poétique. Il y a une phrase de Montaigne, que du reste Emerson s'est appropriée, et qui exprime admirablement ce que j'ai dans la pensée. Les abeilles,' dit Montaigne, qui pillottent de ci, de là, font le miel qui est tout leur; ce n'est plus ni thym ni marjolaine.' Le poëte est cette abeille: tout dans l'homme et dans la Nature l'attire et le miel qu'il en destille est sa pensée." BERRYING. Page 41. Although Mr. Emerson did not give these verses a place among the Selected Poems, they are kept here as giving a pleasant picture of him strolling through the remote pastures on an August afternoon. Page 41, note 1. In some manuscript copies, the last line has to our berries went," in others "from," which seems to have been preferred. THE SNOW-STORM. Page 41. "The Snow-Storm" first appeared in the Dial for January, 1841. Journal, November 27, 1832: "Instead of lectures on Architecture, I will make a lecture on God's architecture, one of his beautiful works, a Day. I will draw a sketch of a winter's day. I will trace as I can a rude outline of the farassembled influences, the contribution of the universe wherein this magical structure rises like an exhalation, the wonder and charm of the immeasurable deep." WOODNOTES, I. Page 43. Mr. Emerson contributed the first part of the "Woodnotes," in October, 1840, to the second number of the Dial. He pruned it to its advantage in the Poems, but some of the omitted lines are given, as they may interest readers. It began thus: For this present hard Is the fortune of the bard Born out of time; All his accomplishment From Nature's utmost treasure spent Booteth not him. Page 43, note 1. The passage which followed in the Dial was fuller by several lines, with recurrence of the idea: With none has he to do, And none seek him, Nor men below, Nor spirits dim. Sure some god his eye enchants: What he knows he hides, not vaunts. Page 44, note 1. Journal, 1835. "Trifles move us more than laws. Why am I more curious to know the reason why the star-form is so oft repeated in botany, or why the number five is such a favorite with Nature, than to understand the circulation of the sap and the formation of buds?" Page 45, note 1. The passages about the forest seer fit Thoreau so well that the general belief that Mr. Emerson had him in mind may be accepted, but one member of the family recalls his saying that a part of this picture was drawn before he knew Thoreau's gifts and experiences. Nature," in Page 47, note 1. The opening pages of Essays, Second Series, describe the "charmed days" and influences that the author found in the woods. Page 47, note 2. Omitted lines, from the verse-book: — Hid in adjoining bowers, the birds Sang their old speech, older than words. WOODNOTES, II. Page 48. The second portion of this poem appeared first in the Dial for October, 1841. The stately white pine of New England was Emerson's favorite tree; hence the graceful drawing by Mrs. Alice Stone which adorns the title-page of these volumes. This poem records the actual fact; nearly every day, summer or winter, when at home, he went to listen to its song. The pine grove by Walden, still standing, though injured by time and fire, was one of his most valued possessions. He questioned whether he should not name his book Forest Essays, for, he said, "I have scarce a day-dream on which the breath of the pines has not blown and their shadow waved." The great pine on the ridge over Sleepy Hollow was chosen by him as his monument. When a youth, in Newton, he had written, "Here sit Mother and I under the pine-trees, still almost as we shall lie by and by under them." Page 49, note 1. Here followed, in the original form, these lines: Ancient or curious, Who knoweth aught of us? Old as Love, Who of me Tells the pedigree? Only the mountains old, Only the waters cold, Only moon and star My coævals are. Ere the first fowl sung My relenting boughs among; Ere Adam wived, Ere Adam lived, |