[672] The Raphael in the Dresden gallery. The Sistine Madonna, the most famous picture of the great Italian artist, Raphael.
[673] Call a spade a spade. Plutarch, the Greek historian, said, "These Macedonians ... call a spade a spade."
[674] Parts. A favorite eighteenth century term for abilities, talents.
[675] We have found out, etc. Emerson always insisted that morals and intellect should be united. He urged that power and insight are lessened by shortcomings in morals.
[676] Goethe's Tasso. A play by the German poet Goethe, founded on the belief that the imprisonment of Tasso was due to his aspiration to the hand of Leonora d'Este, sister of the duke of Ferrara. Tasso was a famous Italian poet of the seventeenth century.
[677] Richard III. An English king, the last of the Plantagenet line, the hero—or villain—of Shakespeare's historical play, Richard III.
[678] Bifold. Give a simpler word that means the same.
[679] Cæsar. Why is Cæsar the great Roman ruler, given as a type of greatness?
[680] Job. Why is Job, the hero of the Old Testament book of the same name, given as a type of misery?
[681] Poor Richard. Poor Richard's Almanac, published (1732-1757) by Benjamin Franklin was a collection of maxims inculcating prudence and thrift. These were given as the sayings of "Poor Richard."
[682] State Street. A street in Boston, Massachusetts, noted as a financial center.
[683] Stick in a tree between whiles, etc. "Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping."—Scott's Heart of Midlothian. It is said that these were the words of a dying Scotchman to his son.
[684] Minor virtues. Emerson suggests that punctuality and regard for a promise are two of these. Can you name others?
[685] The Latin proverb says, etc. This is quoted from Tacitus, the famous Roman historian.
[686] If he set out to contend, etc. In contention, Emerson holds, the best men would lose their characteristic virtues, —the fearless apostle Paul, his devotion to truth; the gentle disciple John, his loving charity.
[687] Though your views are in straight antagonism, &c. This was Emerson's own method, and by it he won a courteous hearing from those to whom his views were most objectionable.