142 BIRDS AND POETS 
no such thing, for instance, as deep insight into the 
mystery of Creation, without integrity and simpli- 
eity of character. 
In the highest mental results and conditions the 
whole being sympathizes. The perception of a cer- 
tain range of truth, such as is indicated by Plato, 
Hegel, Swedenborg, and which is very far from what 
is called “religious” or “moral,” I should regard as 
the best testimonial that could be offered of a man’s 
probity and essential nobility of soul. Is it possible 
to imagine a fickle, inconstant, or a sly, vain, mean 
person reading and appreciating Emerson? Think 
of the real men of science, the great geologists and 
astronomers, one opening up time, the other space! 
Shall mere intellectual acumen be accredited with 
these immense results? What noble pride, self- 
reliance, and continuity of character underlie New- 
ton’s deductions! 
Only those books are for the making of men into 
which a man has gone in the making. Mere pro- 
fessional skill and sleight of hand, of themselves, 
are to be apprized as lightly in letters as in war 
or government, or any kind of leadership. Strong 
native qualities only avail in the long run; and the 
more these dominate over the artificial endowments, 
sloughing or dropping the latter in the final result, 
the more we are refreshed and enlarged. Who has 
not, at some period of his life, been captivated by 
the rhetoric and fine style of nearly all the popular 
authors of a certain sort, but at last waked up to 
discover that behind these brilliant names was no 
