THOREAU. 199 



spectively those grand personifications in the drama of 

 JEschylus, Bta and Kpdros. 



Among the pistillate plants kindled to fruitage by the 

 Emersonian pollen, Thoreau is thus far the most remark- 

 able ; and it is something eminently fitting that his 

 posthumous works should be offered us by Emerson, for 

 they are strawberries from his own garden. A singu- 

 lar mixture of varieties, indeed, there is ; — alpine, some 

 of them, with the flavor of rare mountain air ; others 

 wood, tasting of sunny roadside banks or shy openings 

 in the forest ; and not a few seedlings swollen hugely by 

 culture, but lacking the fine natural aroma of the more 

 modest kinds. Strange books these are of his, and in- 

 teresting in many ways, — instructive chiefly as showing 

 how considerable a crop may be raised on a comparative- 

 ly narrow close of mind, and how much a man may 

 make of his life if he will assiduously follow it, though 

 perhaps never truly finding it at last. 



We have just been renewing our recollection of Mr. 

 Thoreau's writings, and have read through his six vol- 

 umes in the order of their production. We shall try to 

 give an adequate report of their impression upon us 

 both as critic and as mere reader. He seems to us to 

 have been a man with so high a conceit of himself that 

 he accepted without questioning, and insisted on our 

 accepting, his defects and weaknesses of character as 

 virtues and powers peculiar to himself. Was he indolent, 

 he finds none of the activities which attract or employ 

 the rest of mankind worthy of him, AYas he wanting 

 in the qualities that make success, it is success that 

 is contemptible, and not himself that lacks persistency 

 and purpose. Was he poor, money was an unmixed 

 evil. Did his life seem a selfish one, he condemns doing 

 good as one of the weakest of superstitions. To be of 

 use was with him the most killing bait of the wily 



