26 February–4 March 1838

I told Alcott that in the city. Cousin and JoufFroy, and the opinion of this and that Doc- tor, showed very large; a fame of the book- stores seemed commanding ; but as soon as we got ten miles out of town, in the bushes, we whistled at such matters, cared little for socie- ties, Systemes, or book-stores. God and the world return again to mind, sole problem, and we value an observation upon a brass knob, a genuine observation on a button, more than whole encyclopaedias. It is even so; as I read this new book of Ripley's' it looks to me — neat, elegant, accurate, as it is — a mere super- ficiality : in my Jack Cade way of counting by number and weight, counting the things, I find nothing worth in the accomplished Cousin and the mild JoufFroy; the most unexceptionable clearness, precision and good sense, — never a slip, never an ignorance, — but, unluckily, never an inspiration. One page of Milton's poorest tract is worth the whole.