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THE OXFORD BOOK OF
AMERICAN ESSAYS


CHOSEN BY

BRANDER MATTHEWS

Professor in Columbia University
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

NEW YORK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WEST 32ND STREET

LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE, AND BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD

1914

_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_

_Copyright_, 1914

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH




CONTENTS
                                                                    PAGE


INTRODUCTION                                                           v

THE EPHEMERA: AN EMBLEM OF HUMAN LIFE                                  1

    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).

THE WHISTLE                                                            4

    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).

DIALOGUE BETWEEN FRANKLIN AND THE GOUT                                 7

    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).

CONSOLATION FOR THE OLD BACHELOR                                      15

    Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791).

JOHN BULL                                                             21

    Washington Irving (1783-1859).

THE MUTABILITY OF LITERATURE                                          34

    Washington Irving (1783-1859).

KEAN'S ACTING                                                         47

    Richard Henry Dana (1787-1879).

GIFTS                                                                 62

    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).

USES OF GREAT MEN                                                     67

    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).

BUDS AND BIRD-VOICES                                                  88

    Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION                                         99

   