278 



EMERSON, RALPH W. 



ENGINEERING. 



contrast with his own tolerant and fair-minded 

 temper. 



On Emerson's return home, in the winter of 

 1833-'34, he began his career as a public lect- 

 urer in the Boston Mechanics' Institute, taking 

 "Water" as his first subject. Three others 

 followed, two on Italy, and the last on " The 

 Relation of Man to the Globe." In 1834 he 

 delivered a series of biographical lectures on 

 Michael Angelo, Milton, Luther, George Fox, 

 and Burke, the first two of which were after- 

 ward published in the " North American Re- 

 view." In the same year, also, he read a poem 

 at Cambridge before the Phi Beta Kappa So- 

 ciety. The year following he was married for 

 the second time his first wife having died, of 

 consumption, in 1832 and took up his resi- 

 dence in the " Old Manse," in the quiet little 

 village of Concord, twenty miles from Boston, 

 where he had his home until his death. 



From this time onward, for some thirty to 

 forty years, Emerson continued to give courses 

 of lectures, year after year, on such topics as 

 " English History," " The Philosophy of His- 

 tory," "Human Culture," "Human Life," 

 " The Present Age," " The Times," etc. These 

 lectures were delivered in all parts of the 

 United States, and he always secured good 

 attendance. In 1848, on a second visit to 

 Europe, he lectured in England and Scot- 

 land. He was well received, and had large 

 audiences ; but how much of his reputation 

 grew out of his peculiar way of present- 

 ing and discussing important subjects, it is 

 not easy to say. One further visit was made 

 to the Old World in 1872, when he was ac- 

 companied by his daughter, and renewed the 

 intercourse of twenty years before with Car- 

 lyle and other friends and admirers in Eng- 

 land. Subsequent to this there are few events 

 in Emerson's life on record. On March 30, 

 1878, he spoke in the Old South Church on 

 "The Fortune of the Republic," and in 1880 

 gave his hundredth lecture before the Concord 

 Lyceum, on " New England Life and Letters." 



Emerson died at his residence, in Concord, 

 on the evening of April 27, 1882, without a 

 stain upon his character as a man and a citizen, 

 and esteemed by all his neighbors, and those 

 who knew him best in these relations. In 

 other respects, however, looked at as a philoso- 

 pher, a guide, a poet, it is somewhat difficult 

 to estimate aright his true position and rank. 

 Some are as extravagant in laudation as others 

 are in contempt and scorn. One set of men 

 exclaim that there never was, and never will 

 be again, such a philosopher, such a writer, 

 such a poet, such a sage, before whose tran- 

 scendent brilliancy and profundity all the fires 

 of ancient and modern wise men and teachers 

 pale into almost nothingness. Another set, 

 angered at the difficulty of finding any sense 

 or meaning in many of his writings, cast them 

 all aside as little better than gibberish as 

 words, words, without being anything else ; as 

 a profundity of nonsense and supposed wis- 



dom, without any reality. Doubtless both ex- 

 tremes are to be avoided, and a fairer estimate 

 sought somewhere between them. The Boston 

 "Transcendental Club," of which Emerson 

 was a member, in company with George Rip- 

 ley, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, and 

 other kindred spirits, set out to do great things 

 through its organ, " The Dial," and its remark- 

 able attempt to carry out a fantastic theory of 

 living together, in the "Brook Farm" com- 

 munity (1841). Emerson was a chief contribu- 

 tor, and for most of the four years of its exist- 

 ence editor, of" The Dial " ; but he had common 

 sense enough to see that aesthetic villages were 

 not among the possibilities for the human 

 family. Emerson's aim in the journal just 

 named, as, indeed, in all his lectures and writ- 

 ings, was to be a teacher of his fellow-men ; 

 and it may be regarded as certain that he has 

 largely influenced the minds of a select, appre- 

 ciative few. He possessed imagination, wit, 

 and a keen sense of beauty; but his style of 

 writing and expressing himself is by no means 

 always clear and pleasing. In his poetry, 

 though he sometimes fully vindicates his claim 

 to be a true bard, he is frequently as inartistic 

 and harsh as the merest pretender to the divine 

 faculty. There are many who doubt altogether 

 the value of New England transcendentalism, 

 and these will probably never be brought to 

 acknowledge any special merit in Emerson or 

 his writings. Others, whose proclivities lie in 

 that direction, will, on the contrary, turn to 

 the Sage of Concord, and will diligently study 

 and feed upon the pabulum which Emerson's 

 contributions to both poetry and prose afford. 

 Possibly Emerson will be a power in the future, 

 as in the past, and his admirers confidently pre- 

 dict that his fame will endure while the world 

 lasts. 



The works of Ralph Waldo Emerson are 

 published by Houghton, Miiflin & Co. in various 

 editions. The "Fireside Edition," in five vol- 

 umes, 16mo, is a very neat and commodious 

 one (1883). Vol. I contains the " Essays," first 

 and second series (1841-'44). Vol. II contains 

 " Representative Men," being essays on Plato, 

 Shakespeare, Goethe, and others (1850), and 

 " Society and Solitude" (1870). Vol. Ill con- 

 tains " English Traits," being studies of Eng- 

 lish life and character (1856), and "The Con- 

 duct of Life " (1860). Vol. IV contains "Let- 

 ters and Social Aims" (1876), and "Poems" 

 (1876), being his last revision and selection of 

 his poetical works. Vol. V contains " Miscel- 

 lanies, embracing Nature, Addresses, and Lect- 

 ures" (1836-'44). To these is to be added 

 " Parnassus," a volume of " Choice Poems, 

 selected from the Whole Range of English 

 Literature, edited by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 

 with a Prefatory Essay." 



ENGINEERING. The year 1882 saw the 

 final completion of the St. Gothard Tunnel, a 

 work of engineering so important as to mark 

 an epoch in the progress of civilization, but 

 which the narrow jealousies and chicaneries of 



