[Footnote 286:  Genius.  According to an old belief, a spirit that watched over a person to control, guide and aid him.]

[Footnote 287:  “Crush the sweet poison,” etc.  This is a quotation from Comus, a poem by Milton.]

[Footnote 288:  Systole and diastole. (See note 98.)]

[Footnote 289:  Friendship, like the immortality, etc.  See on what a high plane Emerson places this relation of friendship.  In 1840 he wrote in a letter:  “I am a worshiper of friendship, and cannot find any other good equal to it.  As soon as any man pronounces the words which approve him fit for that great office, I make no haste; he is holy; let me be holy also; our relations are eternal; why should we count days and weeks?”]

[Footnote 290:  Elysian temple.  Temple of bliss.  In Greek mythology, Elysium was the abode of the blessed after death.]

[Footnote 291:  An Egyptian skull.  Plutarch says that at an Egyptian feast a skull was displayed, either as a hint to make the most of the pleasure which can be enjoyed but for a brief space, or as a warning not to set one’s heart upon transitory things.]

[Footnote 292:  Conscious of a universal success, etc.  Emerson wrote in his journal:  “My entire success, such as it is, is composed wholly of particular failures.”]

[Footnote 293:  Extends the old leaf.  Compare Emerson’s lines: 

   “When half-gods go
    The gods arrive.”

]

[Footnote 294:  A texture of wine and dreams.  What does Emerson mean by this phrase?  Explain the whole sentence.]

[Footnote 295:  “The valiant warrior,” etc.  The quotation is from Shakespeare’s Sonnet, XXV.]

[Footnote 296:  Naturlangsamkeit.  A German word meaning slowness.  The slowness of natural development.]

[Footnote 297:  Olympian.  One who took part in the great Greek games held every four years on the plain of Olympia.  The racing, wrestling and other contests of strength and skill were accompanied by sacrifices to the gods, processions, and banquets.  There was a sense of dignity and almost of worship about the games.  The Olympic games have been recently revived, and athletes from all countries of the world contest for the prizes—­simple garlands of wild olive.]

[Footnote 298:  I knew a man who, etc.  The allusion is to Jonas Very, a mystic and poet, who lived at Salem, Massachusetts.]

[Footnote 299:  Paradox.  Define this word.  Explain its application to a friend.]

[Footnote 300:  My author says, etc.  The quotation is from A Consideration upon Cicero, by the French author, Montaigne.  Montaigne was one of Emerson’s favorite authors from his boyhood:  of the essays he says, “I felt as if I myself, had written this book in some former life, so sincerely it spoke my thoughts.”]

[Footnote 301:  Cherub.  What is the difference between a cherub and a seraph?]