Human Intercourse.
BY
PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON,
AUTHOR OF “THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE,” “A PAINTER’S CAMP,” “THOUGHTS
ABOUT ART,” “CHAPTERS ON ANIMALS,” “ROUND MY HOUSE,” “THE
SYLVAN YEAR” AND “THE UNKNOWN RIVER,” “WENDERHOLME,”
“MODERN FRENCHMEN,” “LIFE OF J. M. W. TURNER,”
“THE GRAPHIC ARTS,” “ETCHING AND ETCHERS,”
“PARIS IN OLD AND PRESENT TIMES,”
“HARRY BLOUNT.”
| “I love tranquil solitude, And such society As is quiet, wise, and good.” Shelley. |
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1898.
AUTHOR’S EDITION.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.
To the Memory of Emerson.
If I dedicate this book on Human Intercourse to the memory of one whosevoice I never heard, and to whom I never addressed a letter, the seeminginappropriateness will disappear when the reader knows what a great andpersistent influence he had on the whole course of my thinking, andtherefore on all my work. He was told of this before his death, and theacknowledgment gave him pleasure. Perhaps this public repetition of it maynot be without utility at a time when, although it is clear to us that hehas left an immortal name, the exact nature of the rank he will occupyamongst great men does not seem to be evident as yet. The embarrassment ofpremature criticism is a testimony to his originality. But although it maybe too soon for us to know what his name will mean to posterity, we maytell posterity what service he rendered to ourselves. To me he taught twogreat lessons. The first was to rely confidently on that order of theuniverse which makes it always really worth while to do our best, eventhough the reward may not be visible; and the second was to haveself-reliance enough to trust our own convictions and our[Pg vi] own gifts, suchas they are, or such as they may become, without either echoing theopinions or desiring the more brilliant gifts of others. Emerson taughtmuch besides; but it is these two doctrines of reliance on thecompensations of Nature, and of a self-respectful reliance on our ownindividuality, that have the most invigorating influence on workers likemyself. Emerson knew that each of us can only receive that for which hehas an affinity, and can only give forth effectually what is bybirthright, or has become, his own. To have accepted this doctrine withperfect contentment is to possess one’s soul in peace.
Emerson combined high intellect with pure honesty, and remained faithfulto the double law of the intellectual life—high thinking and fearlessutterance—to the end of his days, with a beautiful persistence andserenity. So now I go, in spirit, a pilgrim to that tall pine-tree thatgrows upon “the hill-top to the east of Sleepy Hollow,” and lay one morewreath upon an honored grave.
June 24, 1884.
PREFACE.
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