Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. II | Page 8

heart; and in the mirror of her conscience he might see the image
of his very self, as dwarfed in actual appearance, or developed after the
divine ideal. Her sincerity was terrible. In her frank exposure no foible
was spared, though by her very reproof she roused dormant courage
and self-confidence. And so unerring seemed her insight, that her
companion felt as if standing bare before a disembodied spirit, and
communicated without reserve thoughts and emotions, which, even to
himself, he had scarcely named.
This penetration it was that caused Margaret to be so dreaded, in
general society, by superficial observers. They, who came nigh enough
to test the quality of her spirit, could not but perceive how impersonal
was her justice; but, contrasted with the dead flat of conventional
tolerance, her candor certainly looked rugged and sharp. The frivolous
were annoyed at her contempt of their childishness, the ostentatious
piqued at her insensibility to their show, and the decent scared lest they
should be stripped of their shams; partisans were vexed by her spurning
their leaders; and professional sneerers,--civil in public to those whom
in private they slandered,--could not pardon the severe truth whereby
she drew the sting from their spite. Indeed, how could so undisguised a
censor but shock the prejudices of the moderate, and wound the
sensibilities of the diffident; how but enrage the worshippers of new
demi-gods in literature, art and fashion, whose pet shrines she
demolished; how but cut to the quick, alike by silence or by speech, the
self-love of the vain, whose claims she ignored? So gratuitous, indeed,
appeared her hypercriticism, that I could not refrain from remonstrance,
and to one of my appeals she thus replied:
'If a horror for the mania of little great men, so prevalent in this

country,--if aversion to the sentimental exaggerations to which so many
minds are prone,--if finding that most men praise, as well as blame, too
readily, and that overpraise desecrates the lips and makes the breath
unworthy to blow the coal of devotion,--if rejection of the ----s and ----s,
from a sense that the priestess must reserve her pæans for Apollo,--if
untiring effort to form my mind to justice and revere only the
superlatively good, that my praise might be praise; if this be to offend,
then have I offended.'

V.
THE DIAL.
* * * * *
Several talks among the Transcendentalists, during the autumn of 1839,
turned upon the propriety of establishing an organ for the expression of
freer views than the conservative journals were ready to welcome. The
result was the publication of the "Dial," the first number of which
appeared early in the summer of 1840, under the editorship of Margaret,
aided by R.W. Emerson and George Ripley. How moderate were her
own hopes, in regard to this enterprise, is clearly enough shown by
passages from her correspondence.
'_Jamaica Plain, 22d March, 1840._ * * * I have a great deal written,
but, as I read it over, scarce a word seems pertinent to the place or time.
When I meet people, it is easy to adapt myself to them; but when I
write, it is into another world,--not a better one, perhaps, but one with
very dissimilar habits of thought to this wherein I am domesticated.
How much those of us, who have been formed by the European mind,
have to unlearn, and lay aside, if we would act here! I would fain do
something worthily that belonged to the country where I was born, but
most times I fear it may not be.
'What others can do,--whether all that has been said is the mere
restlessness of discontent, or there are thoughts really struggling for
utterance,--will be tested now. A perfectly free organ is to be offered
for the expression of individual thought and character. There are no
party measures to be carried, no particular standard to be set up. A fair,
calm tone, a recognition of universal principles, will, I hope, pervade
the essays in every form. I trust there will be a spirit neither of
dogmatism nor of compromise, and that this journal will aim, not at

leading public opinion, but at stimulating each man to judge for himself,
and to think more deeply and more nobly, by letting him see how some
minds are kept alive by a wise self-trust. We must not be sanguine as to
the amount of talent which will be brought to bear on this publication.
All concerned are rather indifferent, and there is no great promise for
the present. We cannot show high culture, and I doubt about vigorous
thought. But we shall manifest free action as far as it goes, and a high
aim. It were much if a periodical could be kept open, not to accomplish
any outward object,