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Rh irritation and disapproval; the perception of their wisdom and beauty comes later." Nor need critics take such violent exceptions to Mr. Burroughs' index of Thoreau among the world's great writers,—"in the front of the second class of American authors." While his volumes contain ethical, scientific, and poetic material, unsurpassed in uniqueness and volume, as a litterateur he scarcely merits place beside the artists in structure and style,—Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Lowell. It is as difficult, however, to give him consistent place among the second class of writers, many of whom are so ephemeral and commonplace. In truth, the personality and the writings alike of Thoreau represented such an extreme, though prescribed, development of natural genius and transcendental culture that they defy classification among compeers. Some latter-day naturalists in essay form may be spoken of as successors of Thoreau but they are in no sense his imitators or even his disciples. Dr. Charles Abbott has well said,—"Thoreau had no predecessor and can have no successor."

In raising the question whether Thoreau's popularity is due to passing enthusiasm for nature, or whether he has attained a lasting place, not alone in native letters but also in the world's literature,