160 BIRDS AND POETS 
rather are summarized in his pages. He writes short 
but pregnant chapters on great themes, as in his 
“English Traits,” a book like rich preserves put up 
pound for pound, a pound of Emerson to every 
pound of John Bull. His chapter on Swedenborg 
in “Representative Men” is a good sample of his 
power to abbreviate and restate with added force. 
His mind acts like a sun-lens in gathering the cold 
pale beams of that luminary to a focus which warms 
and stimulates the reader in a surprising manner, 
The gist of the whole matter is here; and how much 
weariness and dullness and plodding is left out! 
In fact, Emerson is an essence, a condensation ; 
more so, perhaps, than any other man who has ap- 
peared in literature. Nowhere else is there such a 
preponderance of pure statement, of the very attar 
of thought over the bulkier, circumstantial, qualify- 
ing, or secondary elements. He gives us net re- 
sults. He is like those strong artificial fertilizers. 
A pinch of him is equivalent to a page or two of 
Johnson, and he is pitched many degrees higher as 
an essayist than even Bacon. He has had an im- 
mediate stimulating effect upon all the best minds 
of the country; how deep or lasting this influence 
will be remains to be seen. 
This point and brevity has its convenience and 
value especially in certain fields of literature. I by 
no means would wish to water Emerson; yet it will 
not do to lose sight of the fact that mass and inertia 
are indispensable to the creator. Considering him 
as poet alone, I have no doubt of his irremediable 
