The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. II by Margaret Fuller Ossoli

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Title: Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. II

Author: Margaret Fuller Ossoli

Release Date: August 3, 2004 [EBook #13106]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARED FULLER, VOL. 2 ***

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MEMOIRS

OF

MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.

VOL. II.

* * * * *

  Only a learned and a manly soul
    I purposed her, that should with even powers
  The rock, the spindle, and the shears control
    Of Destiny, and spin her own free hours.

BEN JONSON

  Però che ogni diletto nostro e doglia
  Sta in sì e nò saper, voler, potere;
  Adunque quel sol può, che col dovere
  Ne trae la ragion fuor di sua soglia.

  Adunque tu, lettor di queste note,
  S'a tè vuoi esser buono, e agli altri caro,
  Vogli sempre poter quel che tu debbi.

LEONARDO DA VINCI.

BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY. MDCCCLVII.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

  BY R.F. FULLER,
  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

  Stereotyped by
  HOBART & ROBBINS;
  NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY;
  BOSTON.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOR

VOLUME SECOND.

VI. JAMAICA PLAIN, By W.H. Channing
  FIRST IMPRESSIONS
  A CLUE
  TRANSCENDENTALISM
  GENIUS
  THE DIAL
  THE WOMAN
  THE FRIEND
  SOCIALISM
  CREDO
  SELF-SOVEREIGNTY

VII. NEW YORK. JOURNALS, LETTERS, &c.
  LEAVING HOME
  THE HIGHLANDS
  WOMAN
  THE TRIBUNE AND HORACE GREELEY
  SOCIETY

VIII. EUROPE. LETTERS LONDON EDINBURGH.—DE QUINCEY CHALMERS A NIGHT ON BEN LOMOND JOANNA BAILLIE.—HOWITTS.—SMITH CARLYLE PARIS RACHEL FOURIER,—ROUSSEAU ROME AMERICANS IN ITALY THE WIFE AND MOTHER THE PRIVATE MARRIAGE AQUILA AND RIETI CALM AFTER STORM MARGARET AND HER PEERS FLORENCE

IX. HOMEWARD By W.H. Channing
  SPRING-TIME
  OMENS
  THE VOYAGE
  THE WRECK

JAMAICA PLAIN

BY W.H. CHANNING.

* * * * *

                         "Quando
  Lo raggio della grazia, onde s'accende
  Verace amore, e che poi cresce amando,
  Multiplicato in tè tanto risplende,
  Che ti conduce su per quella scala,
  U' senza risalir nessun discende,
  Qual ti negasse 'l vin della sua fiàla
  Por la tua sete, in libertà non fôra,
  Se non com' acqua oh' al mar non si cala."

DANTE.

  "Weite Welt und breites Leben,
  Langer Jahre redlich Streben,
  Stets geforscht und stets gegründet,
  Nie geschlossen, oft geründet,
  Aeltestes bewahrt mit Treue,
  Freundlich aufgefasstes Neue,
  Heitern Sinn und reine Zwecke:
  Nun! man kommt wohl eine Strecke."

GOETHE.

                  "My purpose holds
  To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
  Of all the western stars, until I die.
  It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
  It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles."

TENNYSON.

"Remember how august the heart is. It contains the temple not only of Love but of Conscience; and a whisper is heard from the extremity of one to the extremity of the other."

LANDOR

  "If all the gentlest-hearted friends I knew
   Concentred in one heart their gentleness,
   That still grew gentler till its pulse was less
   For life than pity,—I should yet be slow
   To bring my own heart nakedly below
   The palm of such a friend, that he should press
   My false, ideal joy and fickle woe
   Out to full light and knowledge."

ELIZABETH BARRETT.

VI.

JAMAICA PLAIN

* * * * *

I.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

It was while Margaret was residing at Jamaica Plain, in the summer of 1839, that we first really met as friends, though for several years previous we had been upon terms of kindest mutual regard. And, as the best way of showing how her wonderful character opened upon me, the growth of our acquaintance shall be briefly traced.

The earliest recollection of Margaret is as a schoolmate of my sisters, in Boston. At that period she was considered a prodigy of talent and accomplishment; but a sad feeling prevailed, that she had been overtasked by her father, who wished to train her like a boy, and that she was paying the penalty for undue application, in nearsightedness, awkward manners, extravagant tendencies of thought, and a pedantic style of talk, that made her a butt for the ridicule of frivolous companions. Some seasons later, I call to mind seeing, at the "Commencements" and "Exhibitions" of Harvard University, a girl, plain in appearance, but of dashing air, who was invariably the centre of a listening group, and kept their merry interest alive by sparkles of wit and incessant small-talk. The bystanders called her familiarly, "Margaret," "Margaret Fuller;" for, though young, she was already noted for conversational gifts, and had the rare skill of attracting to her society, not spirited collegians only, but men mature in culture and of established reputation. It was impossible not to admire her fluency and fun; yet, though curiosity was piqued as to this entertaining personage, I never sought an introduction, but, on the contrary, rather shunned encounter with one so armed from head to foot in saucy sprightliness.

About 1830, however, we often met in the social circles of Cambridge, and I began to observe her more nearly. At first, her vivacity, decisive tone, downrightness, and contempt of conventional standards, continued to repel. She appeared too intense in expression, action, emphasis, to be pleasing, and wanting in that retenue which we associate with delicate dignity. Occasionally, also, words flashed from her of such scathing satire, that prudence counselled the keeping at safe distance from a body so surcharged with electricity. Then, again, there was an imperial—shall it be said