ALS signed “R. W. Emerson,” five pages on two adjoining sheets and one separate sheet, 5 x 8, May 26, 1858. Letter to Mary Russell Watson, in full: “It is a piece of character, & as every piece of character in writing is, a stroke of genius also, to praise Channing’s poems in this cordial way, and I read the manuscript with thankful sympathy. But you will print it. It is by no means character & genius that are good to print, but something quite different,—namely,—tact, talent, sparkle, wit, humor, select anecdote & Birmingham lacker, and I have kept the paper for many days, meaning to read it later & find whether it had the glass buttons required. On looking in to it today I hesitate to send it to that sad Bench where two judges are believed to sit and read with red eyes every scrap of paper that is addressed to the ‘Atlantic Monthly.’ I know that they read 400 papers to admit ten, one time. I am not of their counsel, but some of their cruelties have transpired. Yet who but must pity those red eyed men? I can easily believe that you have the materials of a good literary article. If I had the journal in which you have at any time set down detached thoughts on these poems, it might easily furnish the needed details & variety of criticism. I am not even sure that this piece as it is, will not presently appear presentable to me. Nothing can be acuter criticism than what you say of ‘the art to pay how little, not how much, belonging to this fatal Poet.’ Think a moment, & tell me, if you can say another word as descriptive of his genius. The selections, too, all have good reason. But I must have a few more good points. ‘So saith the Grand Mufti.’ ” In fine condition. William Ellery Channing was a Transcendentalist poet and close friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Emerson published many of his verses in the Dial magazine between 1841 and 1844, and was always gracious in promoting Channing’s work. Referenced in volume eight of The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, this interesting letter highlights Emerson’s appreciation of his often-overlooked fellow poet. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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