Page:Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Higginson).djvu/94

76 “1837, January 8th. I resume the Conversations, which have been suspended since last July. Subject, ‘The Sermon on the Mount,’ for a beginning. Miss F. reports them; if she succeeds in seizing their form and spirit, we may add a third to the two published volumes.”

“1837, 12th January. This evening with M. F. Clearly a person given to the boldest speculations, and of liberal and varied acquirements. Not wanting in imaginary power, she strikes me as having the rarest good sense and discretion: — qualities so essential to success in any sphere, and especially to a woman ambitious of literary distinction, and relying solely on native work. She adopts the spiritual philosophy, and has the subtlest perceptions of its necessities and bearings.”

“February 8th. Miss F. succeeds, after some trial, in reporting the Conversations.”

“March 17th. An agreeable hour with M. F., in whose sympathy and insight I find great content. She takes large and generous views of things, and her dispositions are singularly catholic and liberal. She has great skill in discourse, too: few converse with the like freedom and elegance. I am pleased to learn of the interest taken in her behalf by persons here in our city whose favor is a passport to success. To her has been given with the gift of intellect that of prudence, and when these are united in one person, success must follow in their train.”

“April. Miss Fuller left town this week for Groton, where she intends passing a few weeks, for recruiting her health to enter the Green Street School at Providence. Here, during the last winter, she has been engaged in teaching the French, German, and Italian