Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/160

 136 YEARS OF DISCIPLINE. [1843,

got my eyes so whetted and proved of late, like the knife-sharpener I saw at the Fair, certified to have been &quot; in constant use in a gentleman s family for more than two years.&quot; Yes, I ride along the ranks of the English poets, casting terrible glances, and some I blot out, and some I spare. McKean has imported, within the year, several new editions and collections of old poetry, of which I have the reading, but there is a good deal of chaff to a little meal, hardly worth bolting. I have just opened Bacon s &quot; Ad vancement of Learning &quot; for the first time, which I read with great delight. It is more like what Scott s novels were than anything.

I see that I was very blind to send you my manuscript in such a state ; but I have a good second sight, at least. I could still shake it in the wind to some advantage, if it would hold together. There are some sad mistakes in the printing. It is a little unfortunate that the &quot; Ethnical Scriptures &quot; should hold out so well, though it does really hold out. The Bible ought not to be very large. Is it not singular that, while the religious world is gradually picking to pieces its old testaments, here are some com ing slowly after, on the seashore, picking up the durable relics of perhaps older books, and put ting them together again ?

Your Letter to Contributors is excellent, and