... a far profounder emotion by the first sight of a cathedral. The impression that Thoreau was but a minor Emerson will in time pass away, like the early classification of Emerson as a second-hand Carlyle . All three were the children of their time, and had its family likeness; but Thoreau had the lumen siccum, or dry light, beyond either of the others; indeed, beyond all men of his day. His ...