Page:Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (IA memoirsofmargare01fullrich).pdf/174

172 to me, had tried to influence the human being at too late a day, and had laid their plans too wide. They began with men; I will begin with babes. They began with the world; I will begin with the family. So I preach the Gospel of the Nineteenth Century.’

M. ‘But, preacher, you make three mistakes.

‘You do not understand the nature of Genius or creative power.

‘You do not understand the reäction of matter on spirit.

‘You are too impatient of the complex; and, not enjoying variety in unity, you become lost in abstractions, and cannot illustrate your principles.’

On the other hand, Mr. Alcott’s impressions of Margaret were thus noted in his diaries: —

“She is clearly a person given to the boldest speculation, and of liberal and varied acquirements. Not wanting in imaginative power, she has the rarest good sense and discretion, She adopts the Spiritual Philosophy, and has the subtlest perception of its bearings. She takes large and generous views of all subjects, and her disposition is singularly catholic. The blending of sentiment and of wisdom in her is most remarkable; and her taste is as fine as her prudence. I think her the most brilliant talker of the day. She has a quick and comprehensive wit, a firm command of her thoughts, and a speech to win the ear of the most cultivated.”

In her own classes Margaret was very successful, and thus in a letter sums up the results: —

‘I am still quite unwell, and all my pursuits and propensities have a tendency to make my head worse. It