and Mr. Emerson's open evenings preserved the literary character of the society. The motley group described by Hawthorne were no longer seen crowding in the streets of Concord, but there were to be frequently met strange faces which, as they passed, the villagers were apt to note with the surmise that they might be famous men from far-off places."

Mr. Conway ultimately settled as a minister in Boston. In 1863 he came to London, and afterwards succeeded to the pastorate of Mr. W. J. Fox's congregation at South Place, Finsbury, a position which he still holds. Mr. Conway has contributed many valuable papers on Emerson and other subjects to "Fraser's Magazine," between 1864 and 1874, and he is a frequent writer in other periodicals. Several books from his pen have made their mark, and are well known and appreciated" Republican Superstitions;" "The Earthward Pilgrimage;" Sacred Anthology, being Selections from Oriental Scriptures;" an elaborate "History of Demonology," in two vols.; "Legend of the Wandering Jew;" "Thomas Carlyle: Recollections of Seventeen Years' Intercourse;" "Address on John Stuart Mill;" &c., &c. Mr. Conway's abilities and acquirements have gradually secured for him and his admirable wife a very large circle of friends in London, which includes many of the most distinguished men and women of letters, and artists.

"Mr. Moncure D. Conway, a valued neighbour of mine, and a man full of public and private virtues, goes to England just now, having, as I understand, both inward and outward provocation to defend the cause of America there. I can assure you, out of much knowledge, that he is very competent to this duty, if it be one. He is a Virginian by birth and breeding; and now for many years a Northerner in residence and in sentiment. He

is a man of excellent ability in speaking and writing, and I grudge to spare his usefulness at home even to a contingency so important as the correcting of opinion in England. In making you acquainted with Mr. Conway, I charge him to remind you that the first moment of American peace will be the best time for you to come over and pay us and me a long promised visit."

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS.

EMERSON'S BOYHOOD.

Rufus Dawes, who knew Emerson as a boy, gives us in his "Boyhood Memoirs" (1843) a sight of the boy when he was about ten years old :- "It is eight o'clock a.m.; and the thin gentleman in black, with a small jointed cane under his arm, his eyes deeply sunken in his head, has asked that spiritual-looking boy in blue nankeen, who seems to be about ten years old, to 'touch the bell;'-it was a privilege to do this; and there he stands, that boy, whose image, more than any others, is still deeply stamped upon my mind, as I then saw him and loved him, I knew not why, and thought him so angelic and remarkable—feeling towards him more than a boy's emotion, as if a new spring of brotherly affection had suddenly broken loose in my heart. There is no indication of turbulence and disquiet about him; but with a happy combination of energy and gentleness, how truly is he the father of the man! He has touched the bell, and while he takes his seat among his fellows, he little dreams that in after times he will strike a different note."

THE YOUNG PREACHER.

Mr. Charles T. Congdon, a veteran American journalist, in a series of papers in the New York "Tribune" in 1879, entitled "Reminiscences of a Journalist," gives some recollections of Emerson before he had abandoned his ministerial connection with the Unitarian body:-"It is curious that I should first have heard the lovable voice of Ralph Waldo Emerson, when he was the Rev. Waldo Emerson. One day there came into our pulpit the most gracious of mortals, with a face all

benignity, who gave out the first hymn and made the first prayer as an angel might have read and prayed. Our choir was a pretty good one, but its best was coarse and discordant after Emerson's voice. I remember of the sermon only that it had an indefinite charm of simplicity, quaintness, and wisdom, with occasional illustrations from nature, which were about the most delicate and dainty things of the kind which I had ever heard. I could understand them, if not the fresh philosophical novelty of the discourse. Mr. Emerson preached for us for a good many Sundays, lodging in the home of a Quaker lady, just below ours. Seated at my own door, I saw him often go by, and once in the exuberance of my childish admiration I ventured to nod to him and to say 'Good morning!' To my astonishment, he also nodded and smilingly said 'Good morning!' and that is all the conversation I ever had with the sage of Concord-not enough, decidedly, for a reminiscent volume about him after he has left a world, which he has made wiser and happier. He gave us afterward two lectures based upon his travels abroad, and was at a great deal of trouble to hang up prints, by way of illustration. There was a picture of the tribune in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, painted by one of our townsmen, and I recall Mr. Emerson's great anxiety that it should have a good light, and his lamentation when a good light was found to be impossible. The lectures themselves were so fine-enchanting we found them-that I have hungered to see them in print, and have thought of the evenings upon which they were delivered as 'true Arabian nights.''

ORATION BEFORE THE PHI-BETA-KAPPA SOCIETY,
CAMBRIDGE, IN 1837.

At page 1 of the "Memoir," allusion is made to the immense influence on the youthful mind of New England, produced by the oration before the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society, at Cambridge, on August 31, 1837. Alcott, who was present,

says of it :-"I believe that was the first adequate statement of the new views that really attracted general attention. I had the good fortune to hear that address; and I shall not forget the delight with which I heard it, nor the mixed confusion, consternation, surprise, and wonder with which the audience listened to it." Lowell, who also heard it, says the delivery of this lecture" was an event without any former parallel in our literary annals, a scene to be always treasured in the memory for its picturesqueness and its inspiration. What crowded and breathless aisles, what windows clustering with eager heads, what enthusiasm of approval, what silence of foregone dissent!"

HIS HOME AND FRIENDS.

George William Curtis, an accomplished author and orator, who at one time lived at Concord, thus spoke of Emerson's home :-" It is always morning within these doors. If you have nothing to say, if you are really not an envoy from some kingdom or colony of thought, and cannot cast a gem upon the heaped pile, you had better pass by upon the other side. For it is the peculiarity of Emerson's mind to be ever on the alert. He eats no lotus, but for ever quaffs the waters which engender immortal thirst. The fame of the philosopher attracts admiring friends and enthusiasts from every quarter, and the scholarly grace and urbane hospitality of the gentleman send them charmed away. It is not hazardous to say that the greatest questions of our day and of all days have been nowhere more amply discussed, with more poetic insight or more profound conviction, than in the comely square white house upon the edge of the Lexington turnpike. 'I chide society, I embrace solitude,' he says, 'and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely, and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate.' It is not difficult to understand his fondness for the spot. He has always been familiar with it, always