RALPH WALDO EMERSON RECOLLECTIONS OF HIS VISITS TO ElrGLdhD AND EXTRACTS FROM UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, ALEXANDER IRELAND. L Plutarch says that when Cicer, as a young man, visited, the oracle at Delphi, the advicc given him was to make hls own genius, not the opinlons of others, the guide of his liie. One who of such a height hath built his mind, And reared the dwcIIing of his thotghts so strong, As neither fear nor hopc wa bhake the frame Of his resolvBd powcrs… … … . nor picrcc to wrong His settled peace, nor to disturb the samc … … . . Which makes, that whatwever here befalls, He in the region of himself remains. SAMUEL DANIEL 162-16rp. LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, CO. EDINBURGH DAVID DOUGLAS. GLASGOW DAVID M. MAIN. SIASCHESTER J. E. CORNISH. LIVERPOOL J. CORhlSH SOSS. BIRMINGHAM CORNISH BROTHERS. 1882. The substance of this Memoir appeared in the Mcmc.4est.v Exaniner and Times of 29th April, the day after the news of Mr. Emersons death reached England. It is now reprinted, with additions, which cxtend it to more than three times its original length. RALPH WALDO EhTERSON, HE grave has scarcely closed over the remains of the T great man whose renown all over the world is more firmly established than that of any Englishman of his time, when the netxs comes to us that the foremost thinker and philosopher of America has joined thc ranks of the majority. America has produccd great soldiers, distinguished men of science, and poets of world-wide fame, but it is not too much to say that since the Declaration of Independence no man has so powerfully ipfluenced the intellect of the nation as Ralph CValdo Emerson. On Thursday night, April 27th, at nine oclock, at his house inConcord, Mass., surrounded by those dearest to him, this great man peaceably departed. He leaves a widow, a son-Dr. Edward Emerson, of Concord, -and two daughters. The eldest, Ellen-who was his tender and faithful companion whenever he left home, his amanuensis in his later years, and, as he sometimes lovingly called her, his memory -is unmarried. The youngest, Edith, is married to Colonel W. H. Forbes, of MiIton Hill, IIass., and has a numerous family. When they visited England in 1872, bringing their children with them, Mr. Carlyle sat for a likeness, with Emersons grandson, Ralph, then a fine boy of twelve or thirteen, standing by his knee. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the most original and independent thinker and greatest moral teacher that America has produced, was born at Boston in 1803. He was a legitimate product of Puritanism. As far back as his family is traced it has been represented by ministers of the old faith of New England, the founder of it having journeyed thither with his congregation from Glouccstershirc, in England, in 1635, and each of these rninistcrs was associated with some phase of that faith, whether Calvinism, Universalism, or Unitarianism. His ancestry on both sides forms an indispensable explanation and background of cvery page of his rvritings. The Emerson family were intellectual, eloquent, with a strong individuality of character, robust and vigorous in their thinking-practical and philan- thropic. His father was thc Rev. IVilliam Emerson, pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Boston, and was noted for his vigorous mind, earnestness of purpose, and gentleness of manner. The boy lost his father when he was but eight years old. His mother was a woman of greatsensibility, modest, screne, and very devout. She was posscsscd of a thoroughly sincere nature, devoid of all sentimentalism, and of a temper the most even and placid-one of her sons said that in his boyhood, when she came from her room in the morning, it sccrned to htm as if she always came from com- munion with God-knew how to guide the affairs of her house, had the sweetest authority, and manners of natural grace and dignity…
