Essays

[Footnote 426: Measure. What meaning has this word here? Is this the sense in which we generally use it?] [Footnote 427: Creole natures. What is a creole? What does Emerson mean by "Creole natures"?] [Footnote 428: Mr. Fox. Charles James Fox, an English statesman and orator of the eighteenth century.] [Footnote 429: Burke. Both Fox and Burke opposed the taxation of the American colonies and sympathized with their resistance; it was on the subject of the French Revolution that the two friends clashed.] [Footnote 430: Sheridan. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an Irish dramatist, member of the famous Literary Club to which both Fox and Burke belonged.] [Footnote 431: Circe. According to Greek legend, Circe was a beautiful enchantress. Men who partook of the draught she offered, were turned to swine.] [Footnote 432: Captain Symmes. The only real personage of this group. He asserted that there was an opening to the interior of the earth which was stocked with plants and animals.] [Footnote 433: Clerisy. What word would we be more apt to use here?] [Footnote 434: St. Michael's (Square). St. Michael's was an order instituted by Louis XI. of France.] [Footnote 435: Cologne water. A perfumed water first made at the city of Cologne in Germany, from which it took its name.] [Footnote 436: Poland. This kingdom of Europe was, in the eighteenth century, taken possession of and divided among its powerful neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Austria.] [Footnote 437: Philhellene. Friend of Greece.] [Footnote 438: As Heaven and Earth are fairer far, etc. This passage is quoted from Book II. of Keats' _Hyperion_.] [Footnote 439: Waverley. The Waverley novels, a name applied to all of Scott's novels from _Waverley_, the title of the first one.] [Footnote 440: Robin Hood. An English outlaw and popular hero, the subject of many ballads.] [Footnote 441: Minerva. In Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom corresponding to the Greek Pallas-Athene.] [Footnote 442: Juno. In Roman mythology, the wife of the supreme god Jupiter.] [Footnote 443: Polymnia. In Greek mythology, one of the nine muses who presided over sacred poetry; the name is more usually written Polyhymia.] [Footnote 444: Delphic Sibyl. In ancient mythology, the Sibyls were certain women who possessed the power of prophecy. One of these who made her abode at Delphi in Greece was called the Delphian, or Delphic, sibyl.] [Footnote 445: Hafiz. A Persian poet of the fourteenth century.] [Footnote 446: Firdousi. A Persian poet of the tenth century.] [Footnote 447: She was an elemental force, etc. Of this passage Oliver Wendell Holmes said that Emerson "speaks of woman in language that seems to pant for rhythm and rhyme."] [Footnote 448: Byzantine. An ornate style of architecture developed in the fourth and fifth centuries, marked especially by its use of gold and color.] [Footnote 449: Golden Book. In a book, called "the Golden Book," were recorded the names of all the children of Venetian noblemen.] [Footnote 450: Schiraz. A province of Persia famous especially for its roses, wine, and nightingales, and described by the poets as a place of ideal beauty.] [Footnote 451: Osman. The name given by Emerson in his journal and essays to his ideal man, one subject to the same conditions as himself.] [Footnote 452: Koran. The sacred book of the Mohammedans.] [Footnote 453: Jove. Jupiter, the supreme god of Roman mythology.] [Footnote 454: Silenus. In Greek mythology, the leader of the satyrs. This fable, which Emerson credits to tradition, was original.] [Footnote 455: Her owl. The owl was the bird sacred to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.] GIFTS [Footnote 456: This essay was first printed in the periodical called _The Dial_. It was a part of Emerson's philosophic faith that there is no such thing as giving,--everything that belongs to a man or that he ought to have, will come to him. But in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word, Emerson was a gracious giver and receiver. In his family the old New England custom of New Year's presents was kept up to his last days. His presents were accompanied with verses to be read before the gift was opened.] [Footnote 457: Into chancery. The phrase "in chancery," means in litigation, as an estate, in a court of equity.] [Footnote 458: Cocker. Spoil, indulge,--a word now little used.] [Footnote 459: Fruits are acceptable gifts. Emerson took especial pleasure in the beauty of fruits and the thought of how they had been evolved from useless, insipid seed cases.] [Footnote 460: To let the petitioner, etc. We can hardly imagine Emerson's asking a gift or favor. He often quoted the words of Landor, an English writer: "The highest price you can pay for a thing is to ask for it."] [Footnote 461: Furies. In Roman mythology, three goddesses who sought out and punished evil-doers.] [Footnote 462: A man's biography, etc. Emerson wrote in his journal: "Long ago I wrote of _gifts_ and neglected a capital example. John Thoreau, Jr. [who, like his brother Henry, was a lover of nature] one day put a bluebird's box on my barn,--fifteen years ago it must be,--and there it still is, with every summer a melodious family in it adorning the place and singing its praises. There's a gift for you which cost the giver no money, but nothing which he bought could have been as good."] [Footnote 463: Sin offering. Under the Hebrew law, a sacrifice or offering for sin. See Leviticus xxiii. 19. Explain what Emerson means here by the word.]