'
All friends will bear witness to the strict fidelity of this sketch.
There were seasons when she seemed borne irresistibly on to the verge
of prophecy, and fully embodied one's notion of a sibyl.
Admirable as Margaret appeared in public, I was yet more affected by
this peculiar mingling of impressibility and power to influence,
when brought within her private sphere. I know not how otherwise
to describe her subtle charm, than by saying that she was at once a
clairvoyante and a magnetizer. She read another's bosom-secret, and
she imparted of her own force. She interpreted the cipher in the
talisman of one's destiny, that he had tried in vain to spell alone;
by sympathy she brought out the invisible characters traced by
experience on his heart; and in the mirror of her conscience he might
see the image of his very self, as dwarfed in actual appearance, or
developed after the divine ideal. Her sincerity was terrible. In her
frank exposure no foible was spared, though by her very reproof she
roused dormant courage and self-confidence. And so unerring seemed
her insight, that her companion felt as if standing bare before a
disembodied spirit, and communicated without reserve thoughts and
emotions, which, even to himself, he had scarcely named.
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