Page:Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Higginson).djvu/243

Rh of Dr. Arnold and the justice done him all around. Said to have made a happy and equal marriage. Visit to Wordsworth. Evening at the Greys’. Cultivated and liberal mind of the manufacturer. Ditto of the country gentleman. Countess Hahn Hahn had just been at Ambleside.

“Wednesday. To Langdale. Scaurfell the scene of the ‘Excursion.’ Rothay church. First fall lunch in the farm-house. Dungeon Ghyll Force. Most enchanting view at last. As fine a day as I ever had. Account in evening by tedious Miss Briggs of the ease with which one may be lost in the mist. This 26th was Eddie’s birthday.

“Thursday. Farewell to Ambleside. A happy eight days we have had here.”

Portions of a more complete narrative, based on these sketches, will be found in her “Memoirs,” and other portions in her “Tribune” letters. The instances of alternate contraction and expansion, in these ampler narratives, are very interesting and characteristic, and the total impression of truthfulness and accuracy is strong. There are no signs of retouching for literary effect, but in many cases the single word of memorandum suggests a paragraph, while on other points caution or courtesy dictated a reticence which it is now needless to maintain.

Here is a passage from her Edinburgh diary. David Scott, whose pictures interested her so