The third lecture of this series was delivered on Tuesday evening, by HENRY THOREAU, better known, perhaps, as the "Concord Hermit." By the published programme of the course, Rev. T. Starr King was announced as the third lecturer, but circumstances preventing his appearance, Mr. Thoreau came as his substitute. As most of our readers know, Mr. Thoreau is an enthusiastic lover of nature—nature unadorned, unaided by art—nature in her wildest moods—in her own glorious, grand, sublime beauty, as she developes herself far away from the haunts of men, in the forest, the field, and the meadow, on the hillside and in the deep glen, by the still lake and the running stream. His theme, on this occasion, was of course his favorite one, for "out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh." He took his hearers with him in an imaginary stroll through his favorite haunts, the fields and forests in the vicinity of Concord, where he himself has spent the best part of his life, less in communication with man than with the birds and the trees and the flowers that spring up for man’s enjoyment without man’s cultivation or consent.
       We wish Mr. Thoreau had communicated some of the enthusiasm of his heart to his words, for then we think his lecture would have interested many more than it did. We feel compelled to say that we think he is a far better writer than reader or lecturer; and it is to us rather a mystery how a man with so much real fire, so much wholesome love of the beautiful in nature, can be so tame, so dull, even, in expressing the thoughts that fill his soul and pervade every part of his being. It is an anomaly in human nature undoubtedly designed for some good purpose, but wholly beyond our comprehension....
       Taken as a whole, we believe the lecture was enjoyed by a large proportion of the audience, and was listened to with deep attention by such, though we noticed that a few uneasy ones left the hall before it was finished. The manner, rather than the matter of a lecture is most liable to criticism from a promiscuous assembly, and in this instance we fear it was not so favorable for the lecturer as it should have been. But we certainly speak for ourselves, and we think, also, for a goodly number in the audience on Tuesday evening, when we return thanks to the committee who arranged the lectures, for the privilege afforded us of rambling for an hour with Mr. Thoreau through the fields and forests of the good old town of Concord.
       — Anonymous, "Frazier Hall Lectures," Lynn [Massachusetts] Weekly Reporter, April 30, 1859, p. 2.