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186 recognition of the claims of Christianity, and of the blessings which it has conferred.”

Miss Martineau has counted among her personal friends many of the best and most brilliant minds in England and America —friends whom no difference of opinions could alienate from this large-hearted, large-brained, womanly woman. She has proved herself philosopher, historian, novelist, and politician—and always philanthropist through all. Not until another generation, perhaps, will she be estimated at her highest worth; but she is sure to be thus estimated in time.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his "English Note-Book,” mentions meeting her, in this wise:

“I think I neglected to record that I saw Miss Martineau a few weeks since. She is a large, robust, elderly woman, and plainly dressed; but, withal, she has so kind, cheerful, and intelligent a face that she is pleasanter to look at than most beauties... All her talk was about