[47] I. Corinthians xv. 53.
[48] Empyrean. The region of pure light and fire; the ninth heaven of ancient astronomy.
"The deep-domed empyrean
Rings to the roar of an angel onset."
[49] Ferules. According to the methods of education fifty years ago, it was quite customary for the teacher to punish a school-child with his ferule or ruler.
[50] Oliver Wendell Holmes cites this last sentence as the most extreme development of the distinctively Emersonian style. Such things must be read not too literally but rapidly, with alert attention to what the previous train of thought has been.
[51] Savoyards. The people of Savoy, south of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
[52] Emerson's style is characterized by the frequent use of pithy epigrams like this.
[53] Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727). A great English philosopher and mathematician. He is famous as having discovered the law of gravitation.
[54] Unhandselled. Uncultivated, without natural advantages. A handsel is a gift.
[55] Druids. The ancient priesthood of the Britons in Cæsar's time. They had immense power among these primitive peoples. They were the judges as well as the priests and decided all questions. It is believed that they made human sacrifices to their gods in the depths of the primeval forest, but not much is known of their rites.