Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/465

 EMERSON

EMERSON

on commencement day. His mother had re- moved to Cambridge in his sophomore year, and his brother William, who had graduated from Harvard in 1818, opened a preparatory school in their home, where he was assisted by Waldo. In 1821 William opened a school for young ladies on Federal street, Bos- ton, and Waldo again became his assistant. In 1823 he began the study of theology, at- tending many of the lectures at Harvard divinity school, but not pursuing the reg- ular course. He ac- cepted the theology of Channing, under whose direction he studied, and in 1826 was approbated to preach by the Middle • sex association of ministers, but his health failing he was obliged to spend the following winter in the south. He retui-ned in the spring of 1827 and supplied for brief periods various pulpits imtil Jan. 11, 1829, wlien he was invited to become the colleague of the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., pastor of the Second church (Unitarian) in Boston. He was ordained March 11, and almost immediately Mr. Ware was forced to go to Europe for the bene- fit of his health. After eighteen months' absence Mr. Ware returned only to resign his pastorate, and Mr. Emerson succeeded to the pulpit. He was interested in all public affairs, serving on the school committee and as chaplain of the state senate. His church was open to all reformers, and in 1831 and 1832 several anti-slaverj' agita- tors spoke from his pulpit. In September, 1829, he was married to Ellen Louisa Tucker, who died in February, 1832. In September, 1832, he resigned his position as a minister in the Unita- rian church after announcing to the society his conscientious scruples against administering the commvinion as provided in the offices of the church. Soon after this his health failed and he was obliged to seek a change of climate and in the spring of 1833 he sailed for Europe, visiting Sicily, Italy, France and England. He visited Walter Savage Landor in Italy, and Coleridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle in England. From this time dated his life-long friendship Avith Carlyle. He preached in London and elsewhere and on his return to Boston several months later his health was fully restored. During the winter of 1833- 34 he delivered lectures in Boston upon the sub- jects: "Water," "The Relation of Man to the Globe," and "Travels in Europe." Early in 1884 he was invited to become pastor of the

Unitarian church in New Bedford, Mass., but his opinions regarding the communion service pre- vented his accepting. In the summer of 1834 he removed to Concord, Mass., and made his home in the " Old Manse " with the Rev. Dr. Ezra Riplej' who in 1780 had married the widow of Emerson's grandfather, William Emerson. In February, 1835, he began a course of biographical lectures in Boston, choosing as his subjects Luther, Milton, Burke, Michael Angelo and George Fox. In August, 1835, he delivered before the American Institute of instruction a lecture entitled " The Means of Inspiring a Taste for English Literature." In September, 1835, he was married to Lydia, daughter of Charles Jack- son, sister of Dr. Charles Thomas Jackson, the discoverer of anajsthetics, and a descendant of the Rev. John Cotton. He continued to lecture in Boston during several successive winters: in 1835 on English literature; in 1836 on the Pliil- osopy of History; and in 1837 on Human Culture. In 1838 he was called to the Unitarian churcli at East Lexington, but though he continued to preach there for several montlis he declined a formal settlement, saying, " M}' pulpit is the lyceum platform." His course of lectures in the winter of 1838-39 was on " The Resources of the Present Ages," and in 1839^0 on " Human Life." On June 15, 1838, he delivered the address before the graduating class of Harvard divinity school in which he made his first explicit statement of his faith. Much controversy was aroused, with the result that he was entirely separated from the Unitarians. Meanwhile the movement known as transcendentalism was forming in Boston and in 1839 an organization known as the Trans- cendental club was started by Dr. Chamiing, including among its members, Margaret Fuller, A. Bronson Alcott, George Ripley, Theodore Par- ker and William Henry Channing. In July, 1840, the organ of the club, a quai'terly journal called The Dial was established under the editor- ship of Margaret Fuller, assisted by Emerson and George Ripley. In 1842 Emerson became sole editor of The Dial and remained as such until April, 1844. when its publication was discontin- ued. In 1841 the Brook Farm experiment was organized, and while Emerson did not sympa- thize fully with its purposes he made frequent visits to the farm, whose founders and leaders were among his intimate friends. In 1841 his first volume of essays was published and in the same year it was republished in England. These essays won for him a wide reputation as a jihilos- opher, especially in England, and his second series published in 1844 was received with enthu- siasm. In October, 1847, he lectured before a series of mechanics' institutes in England. He gave in many places a course of lectures on