se
graver essays. [Greek: Maedhen agan]--_ne quid nimis_,--nothing in
excess, was his precept as to adjectives.

Two sentences from "The Sovereignty of Ethics" will go far towards
reconciling elderly readers who have not forgotten the Westminster
Assembly's Catechism with this sweet-souled dealer in spiritual
dynamite:--

"Luther would cut his hand off sooner than write theses against the
pope if he suspected that he was bringing on with all his might the
pale negations of Boston Unitarianism.--

"If I miss the inspiration of the saints of Calvinism, or of
Platonism, or of Buddhism, our times are not up to theirs, or, more
truly, have not yet their own legitimate force."

So, too, this from "The Preacher":--

"All civil mankind have agreed in leaving one day for contemplation
against six for practice. I hope that day will keep its honor and
its use.--The Sabbath changes its forms from age to age, but the
substantial benefit endures."

The special interest of the Address called "The Man of Letters" is, that
it was delivered during the war. He was no advocate for peace where
great principles were at the bottom of the conflict:--

"War, seeking for the roots of strength, comes upon the moral
aspects at once.--War ennobles the age.--Battle, with the sword,
has cut many a Gordian knot in twain which all the wit of East and
West, of Northern and Border statesmen could not untie."

"The Scholar" was delivered before two Societies at the University of
Virginia so late as the year 1876. If I must select any of its wise
words, I will choose the questions which he has himself italicized to
show his sense of their importance:--

"For all men, all women, Time, your country, your condition, the
invisible world are the interrogators: _Who are you? What do you?
Can you obtain what you wish? Is there method in your consciousness?
Can you see tendency in your life? Can you help any soul_?

"Can he answer these questions? Can he dispose of them? Happy if you
can answer them mutely in the order and disposition of your life!
Happy for more than yourself, a benefactor of men, if you can answer
them in works of wisdom, art, or poetry; bestowing on the general
mind of men organic creations, to be the guidance and delight of all
who know them."

The Essay on "Plutarch" has a peculiar value from the fact that Emerson
owes more to him tha