gnition. A
vigorous Mr. Thoreau,--who has formed himself a good deal upon
one Emerson, but does not want abundant fire and stamina of his
own;--recognizes us, and various other things, in a most admiring
great-hearted manner; for which, as for _part_ of the confused
voice from the jury bog (not yet summed into a verdict, nor
likely to be summed till Doomsday, nor needful to sum), the poor
prisoner at the bar may justly express himself thankful! In
plain prose, I like Mr. Thoreau very well; and hope yet to hear
good and better news of him:--only let him not "turn to
foolishness"; which seems to me to be terribly easy, at present,
both in New England and Old! May the Lord deliver us all from
_Cant;_ may the Lord, whatever else he do or forbear, teach us
to look Facts honestly in the face, and to beware (with a kind of
shudder) of smearing _them_ over with our despicable and damnable
palaver, into irrecognizability, and so _falsifying_ the Lord's
own Gospels to his unhappy blockheads of children, all staggering
down to Gehenna and the everlasting Swine's-trough for _want_ of
Gospels.--O Heaven, it is the most accursed sin of man; and done
everywhere, at present, on the streets and high places, at
noonday! Very seriously I say, and pray as my chief orison, May
the Lord deliver us from it.--

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* On Carlyle, published in _Graham's Magazine_ in March and
April, 1847.
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About a week ago there came your neighbor Hoar; a solid,
sensible, effectual-looking man, of whom I hope to see much more.
So soon as possible I got him under way for Oxford, where I
suppose he was, last week;--_both_ Universities was too much for
the limits of his time; so he preferred Oxford;--and now, this
very day, I think, he was to set out for the Continent; not to
return till the beginning of July, when he promises to call here
again. There was something really pleasant to me in this Mr.
Hoar: and I had innumerable things to ask him about Concord,
concerning which topic we had hardly got a word said when our
first interview had to end. I sincerely hope he will not fail to
keep his time in returning.

You do very well, my Friend, to plant orchards; and fair fruit
shall they grow (if it please Heaven) for your grandchildren to
pluck;--a beautiful occupation for the son of man, in all
patriarchal and paternal times (which latter are patriarchal
too)! But you are to understand withal that your coming hither
to lect