TOUCHES OF NATURE 51 



US pray for unction, which is the marrowfat of hu- 

 mor, and for humility, which is the badge of man- 

 hood. 



As the voice of the American has retreated from 

 his chest to his throat and nasal passages, so there 

 is danger that his contribution to literature will 

 soon cease to imply any blood or viscera, or health- 

 ful carnality, or depth of human and manly affec- 

 tion, and be the fruit entirely of our toploftical 

 brilliancy and cleverness. 



What I complain of is just as true of the essay- 

 ists and the critics as of the novelists. The prevail- 

 ing tone here also is born of a feeling of immense 

 superiority. How our lofty young men, for instance, 

 look down upon Carlyle, and administer their mas- 

 terly rebukes to him ! But see how Carlyle treats 

 Burns, or Scott, or Johnson, or Novalis, or any of 

 his heroes. Ay, there 's the rub; he makes heroes 

 of them, which is not a trick of small natures. He 

 can say of Johnson that he was "moonstruck," but 

 it is from no lofty height of fancied superiority, 

 but he uses the word as a naturalist uses a term to 

 describe an object he loves. 



What we want, and perhaps have got more of 

 than I am ready to admit, is a race of writers who 

 affiliate with their subjects, and enter into them 

 through their blood, their sexuality, and manliness, 

 instead of standing apart and criticising them and 

 writing about them through mere intellectual clev- 

 erness and "smartness." 



