168 BIRDS AND POETS 
and nothing more; he has thought in the manner of 
artists and poets, and he speaks after the manner of 
prophets and seers. ‘ Cogita et visa,’ —this title 
of one of his books might be the title of all. His 
process is that of the creators; it is intuition, not 
reasoning. . . . There is nothing more hazardous, 
more like fantasy, than this mode of thought when 
it is not checked by natural and good strong com- 
mon sense. ‘This common sense, which is a kind of 
natural divination, the stable equilibrium of an in- 
tellect always gravitating to the true, like the needle 
to the north pole, Bacon possesses in the highest 
degree. He has a preéminently practical, even an 
utilitarian mind.” 
It is significant, and is indeed the hidden seed or 
root out of which comes the explanation of much, 
if not the main part, of his life and writings, that 
Emerson comes of a long line of clergymen; that the 
blood in his veins has been teaching, and preaching, 
and thinking, and growing austere, these many gen- 
erations. One wonders that it is still so bounding 
and strong, so red with iron and quick with oxygen. 
But in him seems to be illustrated one of those rare 
cases in the genealogy of families where the best is 
carried forward each time, and steadily recruited and 
intensified. It does not seem possible for any man 
to become just what Emerson is from the stump, 
though perhaps great men have been the fruit of 
one generation; but there is a quality in him, an 
aroma of fine manners, a propriety, a chivalry in the 
blood, that dates back, and has been refined and 
