"I know not whether there be, as is alleged, in the upper region of our atmosphere a permanent westerly current, which carries all with it which rises to that height, but I know that when souls reach a certain height of perception, they accept a knowledge and principle above all selfishness. Whether there be an upper westerly current I know not; but I know a breath of Will blows through the Universe of souls eternally, in the direction of the Right and Necessary. It is the air which all intellects inhale and exhale, and it is the wind which blows all the worlds into order and orbit."
Page 334, note 1. The lines ending the poem "Threnody" are here suggested.
Page 335, note 1. Perhaps this passage was written after Mr. Emerson had the pleasure of riding under the vast pines of the Sierra Nevada, and standing at the feet of the giant redwoods of Mariposa when his good friend John Murray Forbes carried him thither for rest, after the strain of his University lectures in 1871.
Page 338, note 1. In my youth I received this answer from my father, indirect yet none the less satisfying, when I asked him what he thought about a future life: "We may be certain that, whatever it may be, no one will be disappointed."
Page 339, note 1. His poem the "Forerunners" tells of the "happy guides" whom he ever followed, but could not overtake.
Page 340, note 1. This is a favorite quotation from Plato's Phaedrus, about the soul which has perceived a truth.
Of ancient art Mr. Emerson said, "I find no trace of age in it."
Among Byron's poems Mr. Emerson valued especially that one beginning,—
