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Rh strictly, with sympathies fresh from the heart, enthusiasms not always manifestly supported by reason; now and then bordering on the dogmatical, but too thorough a lover of human rights ever, I think, to overstep the boundary; and she is, I think, not conceited—no, not in the least, but quite aware of her own superiority, and perhaps a little too frank on this point. But this may be from a deficiency instead of an excess of vanity.”

More than twenty years ago, Margaret Fuller wrote as follows:

“Another interesting sign of the times is the influence exercised by two women, Miss Martineau and Miss Barrett (Mrs. Browning), from their sick-rooms. The lamp of life which, if it had been fed only by their affections, depending on precarious human relations, would scarce have been able to maintain a feeble glare in the lonely prison, now shines far and wide over the nations, cheering fellow-sufferers and hallowing the joy of the faithful.