152 THOREAU. 



thought, any more than he can in language, from the past and 

 the present. As no one ever invents a word, and yet language 

 somehow grows by general contribution and necessity, so it is 

 with thought. Mr. Thoreau seems to us to insist in public on 

 going back to flint and steel, when there is a match-box in his 

 pocket which he knows very well how to use at a pinch. Origi 

 nality consists in power of digesting and assimilating thought, so 

 that they become part of our life and substance. Montaigne, for 

 example, is one of the most original of authors, though he 

 helped himself to ideas in every direction. But they turn to 

 blood and colouring in his style, and give a freshness of com 

 plexion that is for ever charming. In Thoreau much seems yet 

 to be foreign and unassimilated, showing itself in symptoms of 

 indigestion. A preacher-up of Nature, we now and then detect 

 under the surly and stoic garb something of the sophist and the 

 sentimentaliser. We are far from implying that this was con 

 scious on his part. 4But it is much easier for a man to impose 

 on himself when he measures only with himself.^ A greater 

 familiarity with ordinary men would have done Thoreau good, 

 by showing him how many fine qualities are common to the 

 race*-* The radical vice of his theory of life was, that he con 

 founded physical with spiritual remoteness from men. One is 

 far enough withdrawn from his fellows if he keep himself clear 

 of their weaknesses. He is not so truly withdrawn as exiled, if 

 he refuse to share in their strength. * Solitude, says Cowley, 

 can be well fitted and set right but upon a very few persons. 

 They must have enough knowledge of the world to see the 

 vanity of it, and enough virtue to despise all vanity. 7 It is a 

 morbid self-consciousness that pronounces the world of men 

 empty and worthless before trying it, the instinctive evasion of 

 one who is sensible of some innate weakness, and retorts the 

 accusation of it before any has made it but himself. To a 

 healthy mind, the world is a constant challenge of opportunity. 

 *- Mr. Thoreau had not a healthy mind, or he would not have been 

 so fond of prescribing. His whole life was a search for the 

 doctor. The old mystics had a wiser sense of what the world 

 was worth. They ordained a severe apprenticeship to law, and 

 even ceremonial, in order to the gaining of freedom and mastery 

 over these. Seven years of service for Rachel were to be re 

 warded at last with Leah. Seven other years of faithfulness 

 with her were to win them at last the true bride of their 

 souls. Active Life was with them the only path to the Con 

 templative. 



