148 INDOOE STUDIES 



from the standpoint of extrinsic form, argument, 

 logic, evolution. His purpose did not require it, 

 his genius did not demand it. He was to scatter the 

 seed-germs of nobler thinking and living, not to 

 rear a temple to the Muses; and from our point of 

 view the former is by far the more important ser- 

 vice. To get at the fuU worth of Emerson, I say, 

 we must appraise him for his new and fundamental 

 quality of genius, not for his mere literary accom- 

 plishments, great as these were. 



If it is replied that this is just what the lecturer 

 did, I say the word of highest praise, all through 

 the discourse, was given to the master of mere lit- 

 erary form. There was a tone of disparagement 

 toward Emerson as a man of letters, when there 

 should have been generous approval of the quicken- 

 ing and liberating spirit he brought to letters. 



Emerson's message is of the highest importance, 

 and he renders it with rare effectiveness and charm. 

 His page is an enticement to the aesthetic sense of 

 the intellect, and a stimulus and tonic to the ethical 

 sense of the moral nature. 



The essay makes no unit of impression, but un- 

 doubtedly the personality of the writer does; and 

 this, I think, largely makes up, in such a writer 

 as Emerson, for the want of inclosing design to 

 which I have referred. The design that gives unity 

 and relevancy to these isolated paragraphs is the 

 personality of Emerson, his peculiar type and idi- 

 osyncrasy. This is the plan, the theme which these 

 musical periods illustrate. The artist, says Goethe, 



