ultimately closes, and upon which, as on its base, it rests."
--SWEDENBORG.

"Yes, truly, it is a great thing for a nation that it get an articulate
voice--that it produce a man who will speak forth melodiously what the
heart of it means."
--CARLYLE.


"Les efforts de vos ennemis contre vous, leurs cris, leur rage impuissante,
et leurs petits succes, ne doivent pas vous effrayer; ce ne sont que des
egratignures sur les epaules d'Hercule."
--ROBESPIERRE.




TO WILLIAM BELL SCOTT.


DEAR SCOTT,--Among various gifts which I have received from you, tangible
and intangible, was a copy of the original quarto edition of Whitman's
_Leaves of Grass_, which you presented to me soon after its first
appearance in 1855. At a time when few people on this side of the Atlantic
had looked into the book, and still fewer had found in it anything save
matter for ridicule, you had appraised it, and seen that its value was real
and great. A true poet and a strong thinker like yourself was indeed likely
to see that. I read the book eagerly, and perceived that its substantiality
and power were still ahead of any eulogium with which it might have come
commended to me--and, in fact, ahead of most attempts that could be made at