EMERSON
EMERSON
" Representative Men," and in London delivered
before the Portman Square literary and seieutitic
institution a special course on " The Mind and
Manners of the Nineteenth Century." Hg also
lectured in Scotland where the halls were ahvays
crowded. At his lecture on Montaigne in London
hLs hearers nuniU'red a thou-sand. During this
visit he met personallj' all the principal men of
letters in Englaml, visiting Carlyle at his home
and l)eing also a guest of Wordsworth and of
Harriet Martineau. On his return to America
he lectured on the cliaracteristics of the English
I)eople. In November, 1857, The Atlantic Monthly
was estal)lished in Boston and Emerson contrib-
uted to its columns, in all twenty-eight articles
in prose and verse. At about the .same time a
literary organization known as the Saturdaj' club
was formed, of which Emerson was a member
from the first, and which included Longfellow,
Agassiz, Hawthorne, Motley, Dana, Lowell,
Sumner, John A. Andrew and others. Though
his books were still persistently condemned by
many critics the circle of his admirers rapidly
widened, and two days after the publication of
"The Conduct of Life" (1860), twenty-five
thousand copies were sold. At this time the
subject of slavery was under warm discussion.
From the outset of Emerson's career he had openly
advocated its abolition and now on the eve of
civil war lie ma-de vigorous use of his tongue and
pen in that direction. In January, 1861, he took
a prominent part in the annual meeting of the
Mas.sachusetts anti -slavery society, and in Febru-
ary. 1862, gave an anti-slavery lecture in the
Smithsonian institution building in Washington,
his .subject l)eing " American Civilization."
President Lincoln and his cabinet were among
the listeners, and on the following day Lincoln
requested an introduction to the lecturer and
they had a long conference on the subject of
slavery. He continued to lecture frequently on
abolition and other subjects throughout the war
and always to large audiences. In 1866 he lec-
tured on "Philo.sophy for the People," and in
1868, 1869 and 1870 he delivered a series of lec-
tures at Harvard on " The Natural History of the
Intellect." In July, 1872, a fire in his hou.se
destroyed many valuable papers including his
father's sermons. Tlirough the dampness and
exposure incidental to this accident Mr. Emer.son
contracted a severe cold and received a shock to
his sy.stem from which he never quite recovered.
His friends by unsolicited contribution raised a
sum more than sufficient to rebuild his house
which was fini.shed in May, 1873, Emerson mean-
while making his home in the " Old Manse." In
1874 he received the nomination of the indepen-
dent party among the students of Glasgow uni-
versity for the office of Lord-Rector, and received
five hundred votes against seven hundred for
Disraeli, who was elected. On April 19, 1875,
the one hundredth anniversary of the Concord
figlit was observed, and Daniel C. French's statue
of the minute man was unveiled, Emerson deliv-
ering the address. This was the last address he
ever wrote. In 1879 he lectured on " Memory "
before the Concord school of philosophy, and in
1880 gave his one hundredth lecture before the
Concord Lyceum on " New England Life and
Letters." Though his mind remained clear he
suffered greatly from loss of memory, from the
time of the burning of his house. In 1878 he
retired gradually into literary inactivity, writ-
ing little or nothing, but reading occasional
papers from old manuscripts up to the year
before his death. He was an overseer of Har-
vard college, 1867-79; a fellow of the American
academy of arts and sciences, a member of the
American philosophical society and of the Massa-
chusetts historical society. Harvard conferred
upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1866.
His published books are: Essays, First Series
(1841); Essays, Second Series (1844); Poems
(1846); Bepresentative Men (1850); Memoir of Mar-
garet Fuller Ossoli (with WiUiam Henry Chan-
ning and James Freeman Clarke (1852); Engli.^'h
Traits (1856); TJie Conduct of Life (1860); May
Day and other Pieces (1867); Society and Solitude
(1870); Parnassus (1874); Letters and Social Aims
(1874); Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1884):
and Miscellanies (1884). His name was placed in
the Hall of Fame, New York university. October,
1900. See his life by Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1885) and Emerson in Concord (1888) by liis son,
Edward Waldo. He died in Concord, Mass.,
April 27, 1882.
EMERSON, William, clergyman, was born in Concord. Mass., May 6. 1769; son of the Rev. William and Phebe (Bliss), grand.son of Joseph and Mary (Moody), great-grandson of Edward and Rebecca (AValdo), great^ grandson of the Rev. Joseph and Elizabeth (Bulkeley), and great^ grandson of Thomas Emerson of Ipswich, Eng- land, who immigrated to America about 1635. His great^ grandmother, Elizabeth Bulkeley Emerson, was a daughter of the Rev. Edward
