on the end of my
whip-lash, I might have got off without the ill temper which my
antithesis provoked. Thirty years set that all right, and the same
thirty years have so changed the theological atmosphere that such abusive
words as "heretic" and "infidel," applied to persons who differ from the
old standards of faith, are chiefly interesting as a test of breeding,
being seldom used by any people above the social half-caste line. I am
speaking of Protestants; how it may be among Roman Catholics I do not
know, but I suspect that with them also it is a good deal a matter of
breeding. There were not wanting some who liked the Professor better
than the Autocrat. I confess that I prefer my champagne in its first
burst of gaseous enthusiasm; but if my guest likes it better after it has
stood awhile, I am pleased to accommodate him. The first of my series
came from my mind almost with an explosion, like the champagne cork; it
startled me a little to see what I had written, and to hear what people
said about it. After that first explosion the flow was more sober, and I
looked upon the product of my wine-press more coolly. Continuations
almost always sag a little. I will not say that of my own second effort,
but if others said it, I should not be disposed to wonder at or to
dispute them.

"The Poet at the Breakfast Table" came some years later. This series of
papers was not so much a continuation as a resurrection. It was a doubly
hazardous attempt, made without any extravagant expectations, and was
received as well as I had any right to anticipate. It differed from the
other two series in containing a poem of considerable length, published
in successive portions. This poem holds a good deal of self-communing,
and gave me the opportunity of expressing some thoughts and feelings not
to be found elsewhere in my writings. I had occasion to read the whole
volume, not long since, in preparation for a new edition, and was rather
more pleased with it than I had expected to be. An old author is
constantly rediscovering himself in the more or less fossilized productions
of his earlier years. It is a long time since I have read the
"Autocrat," but I take it up now and then and read in it for a few
minutes, not always without some degree of edification.

These three series of papers, "Autocrat," "Professor," "Poet," are all
studies of life from somewhat different points of view. They are largely
made up of sober reflections, and appeared t