Page:Studies of a Biographer 4.djvu/169

 That is Emerson's answer by anticipation to the charge that he has not spoken sufficiently of the terror of death.

That you should train yourself to take evil bravely and cheerfully is a maxim more likely to be condemned as commonplace than as paradoxical. The statement becomes paradoxical when we deny the existence of evil, and immoral if it be understood as advice to ignore instead of facing the inevitable. Emerson certainly accepts some rather startling positions. The first lesson of history, he says, is 'the good of evil': 'Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better!' and he illustrates the point by some remarkable cases. The contrast of good and evil is expressed in art, and explains its powers. 'What would painter do, or what would poet or saint do but for the crucifixions and hells?' But for death, as Mr. Weller remarked, what would become of the undertakers? Emerson admires great men of all classes—'scourges of God and failings of the human race.' They are all parts of the general system:—

The knaves, he calmly observes, win in every