The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-05-16
MARaAREr FuLLER.

OF late literary tide seems to be setting If
the direction of Margaret Fuller, and we have
not only new edition of the original "Me
moir" of her, written by Charming, Clarke
and Emerson, but two fresh volumes, one the
excellent biography by Mrs. Howe. and thu
other from the pen of Thomas Wentworth
Higgnson, than whom no one is better fitted
for this work, which he has accomplished
most successfully. While Mrs. Howe's book
was chiefly clear condensation of what had
been previously known and written of Marga.
ret Fuller Ossoli, Col. Higginson, on the Other
hand, has had access to much fresh and inter
esting material, which he has used with skill
and Judgment and excellent TASTE Again he
had unusual opportunities for personal knowl.
edge of his subject, having been born aud bred
in the same town, and the Fuller and Higgin-
son families being connected by kinship and
intimate personal relations. Among the MANY
letters of which Col. Higginson has made use
in preparing the life of Margaret Fuller were
those addressed by her to our fellow townsman
the late Hon. George T. Davis; and now in
possession of his son, James G. Davis ESQ, OF
Boston. None Of Mr.. Davis's friends will ever
forget the enthusiasm with which he talked Of
Margaret" and If we who listened could
have gathered up and preserved what fell
from his lips at such times, we should have
pages upon pages of brilliant corruscations,
which, alssl have never been put upon paper
for the edlfication OF the many who would
have delighted in them. One of the most re-
marksble women OF this country, Margaret
Fuller left profound impression upon the
minds of all those with whom she came in con-
tact. Whether they loved her or not they new
err forgot her.
Col. Higginson is doubtless right in thinking
that "the prevalent tone of the Memoirs
leaves her little too much in the clouds.
That Margaret Fuller was snot framed by ia.
ture for mystic, a dreamer, or a book-worm, q
but that she delighted in action, and the vigor-
GUS, executive side of her character was not SO
distinctly visible until after she reached Italy.
Still the object of the present work is to present
her chiefly as woman of letters, and this the
author has done, while making sufficiently
prominent all other characteristics
The book is delightfully."- written, and pos
sesses all its authors well known charm and
grace of style. In closing, Col. Higginson
says: "As for Margaret Ossoli. her life seems
to me, on the whole, q triumphant rather than
a sad one, in spite of the prolon ged struggle
with illness, with the shortcomings OF others
and with her own. In later years she had the
fulfllment of her dreams; she had what Eliza
beth Barrett, writing to Robert Browning.
named as the three great desiderata OF ex-
istence, "life, love and Italy. She shared in
great Deeds She was the counselor of great
men. She had a husband who was lover,
and she had child. They loved each other in
their lives, and in death they we're not divid-
ed. Was not thai enough?"
1t is not often that .posthumous papers
are satisfactory to the friends of the
dead writer. The fond hero-worship
that finds a charm and sentiment in
displaying upon all occasions bit of worn-out
toggery that sometime adorned the person
whom it reveres, is apt to becOne triae tedi;
GUS when it calls upon everybody to bay, and
worse, read the frippery which the departed
author did not think valuable enough TO print
during his life time. And this was the some
what irritable feeling with which we took up
the new publication edited by Charles Lee
Lewes-"E Essays and Leaves from Note
Book" by George Eliot. We were agreeaoly
disappointed These are not posthumous pa
pers-except that the Leaves from Note
Book, something less than twenty pages, have
never been Published before. The essays
seven in number-appesred in various leading
British magazines in the years between 1880
and 1868, and were toward the close OF her ca
reer carefully revised by the author and desig-
mated by her for future publication. These
are "Worldliness and Other Worldliness:
The Poet Young" German Wit: Heinrich
Heine;" Evangelical Teaching: DIR. Cum
ming;" 1.-THE Influence of Rationalism;