ner studies; but there was
also an ebullient sense of power, which she felt to be in her, which
as yet had found no right channels. I remember she once said to me,
what I heard as a mere statement of fact, and nowise as unbecoming,
that 'no man gave such invitation to her mind as to tempt her to a
full expression; that she felt a power to enrich her thought with such
wealth and variety of embellishment as would, no doubt, be tedious to
such as she conversed with.'

Her impatience she expressed as she could. 'I feel within myself,' she
said,

'an immense force, but I cannot bring it out. It may sound
like a joke, but I do feel something corresponding to that
tale of the Destinies falling in love with Hermes.'

In her journal, in the summer of 1844, she writes:--

'Mrs. Ware talked with me about education,--wilful
education,--in which she is trying to get interested. I talk
with a Goethean moderation on this subject, which rather
surprises her and ----, who are nearer the entrance of the
studio. I am really old on this subject. In near eight years'
experience, I have learned as much as others would in eighty,
from my great talent at explanation, tact in the use of
means, and immediate and invariable power over the minds of
my pupils. My wish has been, to purify my own conscience, when
near them; give clear views of the aims of this life; show
them where the magazines of knowledge lie; and leave the rest
to themselves and the Spirit, who must teach and help them to
self-impulse. I told Mrs. W. it was much if we did not injure
them; if they were passing the time in a way that was _not
bad_, so that good influences have a chance. Perhaps people
in general must expect greater outward results, or they would
feel no interest.'

Again:

'With the intellect I always have, always shall, overcome; but
that is not the half of the work. The life, the life! O, my
God! shall the life never be sweet?'

I have inquired diligently of those who saw her often, and in
different companies, concerning her habitual tone, and something like
this is the report:--In conversation, Margaret seldom, except as a
special grace, admitted others upon an equal ground with herself. She
was exceedingly tender, when she pleased to be, and most cherishing
in her influence; but to elicit this tenderness, it was necessary to
submit first to her personally. Whe