e had in them a power which is but faintly imaged in her
writings. Nor is this impression wholly a mistaken one. Certain it is
that those who recall the enchantment of her conversation always
maintain that the same charm is not to be found in the productions of
her pen. Yet if we attentively read what she has left us, without this
disparagement, we shall find that it entitles her to a position of honor
among the prose writers of her time.

The defects of her style are easily seen. They are in some degree the
result of her assiduous study of foreign languages, in which the pure
and severe idioms of the English tongue were sometimes lost sight of.
Among them may be mentioned a want of measure in expression, and also
something akin to the fault which is called on the stage "anti-climax,"
by which some saying of weight and significance loses its point by being
followed by another of equal emphasis. With all this, the high quality
of her mind has left its stamp upon all that she gave to the reading
public. Much of this first appeared in the form of contributions to the
"Tribune," the "Dial," and other journals and magazines. Some of these
papers are brief and even fragmentary; but the shortest of them show
careful study and conscientious judgment. All of them are valuable for
the admirable view which they present of the time in which Margaret
wrote, of its difficulties and limitations, and of the hopes and
convictions which, cherished then in the hearts of the few, were
destined to make themselves a law to the conscience of the whole
community.

The most important of the more elaborate essays is undoubtedly that
entitled "Woman in the Nineteenth Century," of which some account has
already been given in the preceding pages. Of the four volumes published
in 1875, one bears this title. A second, entitled "Art, Literature, and
the Drama," contains many of the papers to which reference has been made
in our brief account of Margaret and her contemporaries. From a third
volume, entitled "At Home and Abroad," we have quoted some of her most
interesting statements concerning the liberal movement in Europe, of
which she was so ardent a friend and promoter. A last volume was
collected and published in 1859, by her brother, the Rev. Arthur B.
Fuller, who served as an army chaplain in the War of the Southern
Rebellion, and met his death on one of its battle-fields. This volume is
called "Life Without and Life Within," and is spoken of i