Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. II

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller
Ossoli, Vol. II

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Vol. II
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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
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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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,