Notices of New Works [pp. 314-320]

Notices of New Works.
they know so well. and of the hours when
those old sides of seared timber, all ashine
with the sea, plunge and dip into the
deep green purity of the mounded waves
morejoyfully than a deer lies down among
the grass of spring, the soft white cloud
of foam opening momentarily aIt the bows,
and fading or flying high into the breeze
where the sea-gulls toss and shriek,the joy and beauty of it, all the while, so
mingled with the sense of unfathomable
danger, and the human effort and sorrow
going on perpetually from age to age,
waves rolling for ever, and winds moaning for ever, and faithful hearts trusting
and sickening for ever, and brave lives
dashed away about the rattling beach like
weeds for ever; and still at the helm of
every lonely boat, through starless night
and hopeless dawn, His hand, who spread
the fisher's net over the dust of the Sidonian palaces, and gave into the fisher's
hand the keys of the kingdom of hleaven."
stirt of 3Jtw Wonrks.
EN GLISH TRAITS. By R. W. EMERSON.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. 1856.
[From James Woodhouse, 137 Main
Street.
The critical editor of the Central Presbyterian, in noticing this volume, very
wittily says: "When Mr. Emerson leaves
the subject of religion, which he does not
understand, and his transcendental vagaries, which perhaps he does understand,
though no one else does, and discusses such
topics as those which furnish the staple of
the book before us, he is intelligible, interesting, and sometimes instructive." We
are indeed heartily glad to see something
from the pen of the Massachusetts philosopher which we can read with even a
moderate assurance that we comprehend
it. We have worked to no purpose over
"Representative Men" and cudgelled our
brains in vain to unravel the tangled
thread of his essays, and we had little
hope to find "English Traits" any clearer to our perception. But strange to say,
the cloudy oracle of the Transcendentalists no sooner sets foot upon the foggy
isle of Albion than straightway he becomes wonderfully transparent and comprehensible. IIe appears to see more distinctly through a mist than a perfectly serene and lucid atmosphere. True it is
that in the earlier pages of the volume, a
little of the true Emersonian opacity may
be observed in his interviews with Landor, Coleridge, Carlyle and Wordsworth,
but when he leaves these great spirits to
talk of the English people in the mass,
Mr. Emerson speaks in language sufficiently plain, and speaks, for the most
part, very good sense. The style of the
book is not exactly to our taste. Its prevailing characteristic is abruptness. Short,
disconnected paragraphs follow rapidly
upon each other throughout. Now, while
this style has the advantage of entertaining the reader (who accepts readily the
author's conclusions) without wearying
him, it is open to the objection of dogmatism. The author refuses to argue out
his opinions and bids you adopt them
upon their mere enunciation. But we
must recollect that Mr. Emerson is an
oracle and therefore not complain of his
being oracular. Induction, we believe,
was never dispensed from the tripod.
Mr. Emerson, is an extravagant admirer
of England and his volume will be read
with great satisfaction by the natives of
that country everywhere. Fragments
from it will be sent around the world in
English newspapers. Every colonial
journal from Montreal to Madras will
draw upon it for strong laudations of the
English character. As we unite with Mr.
Emerson in feeling a high respect for
John Bull, we will quote a few of his
commendatory paragraphs from which
the reader may derive a good idea of the
volume itself.
"I find the Englishman," says Mr. Em
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