XXIX ADDRESS AT THE OPENING OF THE CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY   THE bishop of Cavaillon, Petrarch’s friend, in a playful experiment locked up the poet’s library, intending to exclude him from it for three days, but the poet’s misery caused him to restore the key on the first evening. ,, And I verily believe…

XXVIII SPEECH AT THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION, AT TREMONT TEMPLE FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1869 THOU metest him by centuries, And lo! he passes like the breeze; Thou seek’st in globe and galaxy, He hides in pure transparency; Thou ask’st in fountains and in fires, He is the essence that inquires….

XXVII REMARKS AT THE MEETING FOR ORGANIZING THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION, BOSTON MAY 30, 1867 IN many forms we try To utter God’s infinity, But the Boundless hath no form, And the Universal Friend Doth as far transcend An angel as a worm. The great Idea baffles wit, Language falters under it, It leaves the…

XXVI SPEECH AT BANQUET IN HONOR OF THE CHINESE EMBASSY BOSTON, 1860 NATURE creates in the East the uncontrollable yearning to escape from limitation into the vast and boundless, to use a freedom of fancy which plays with all works of Nature, great or minute, galaxy or grain of dust, as toys and words of…

XXV WALTER SCOTT REMARKS AT THE CELEBRATION BY THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE CENTENNIAL NNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH, AUGUST 15, 1871 Scott, the delight of generous boys.   As far as Sir Walter Scott aspired to be known for a fine gentleman, so far our sympathies leave him. . . . Our concern is…

XXIV HUMBOLDT AN ABSTRACT OF MR. EMERSON’S REMARKS MADE AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, SEPTEMBER 14, 1869   “If a life prolonged to an advanced period bring with it several inconveniences to the individual, there is a compensation in the delight of being able to compare…

XXIII REMARKS AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE THREE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SHAKSPEARE BY THE SATURDAY CLUB AT THE REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, 1864 ENGLAND’S genius filled all measure Of heart and soul, of strength and pleasure, Gave to mind its emperor And life was lager than before; And centuries brood, nor can attain…

XXII ROBERT BURNS SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE BURNS CENTENARY, BOSTON JANUARY 25, 1859 “His was the music to whose tone The common pulse of man keeps time In cot or castle’s mirth or moan, In cold or sunny clime. Praise to the bard! his words are driven, Like Rower-seeds by the far…

XXI ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS OF CONCORD AT THE CONSECRATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW SEPTEMBER 29, 1855 SLEEPY HOLLOW “No abbey’s gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops, No winding torches paint the midnight air; Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops Along the modest pathways, and those fair Pale asters of the season spread their plumes…

XIX ADDRESS TO KOSSUTH AT CONCORD, MAY 11, 1852 God said, I am tired of kings, I suffer them no more; Up to my ear the morning brings The outrage of the poor. My angel, – his name is Freedom, – Choose him to be your king; He shall cut pathways east and west, And…