It is said, there is no congeniality between her and her
mother; but for her son she seems to have much love, and he loves and
admires her extremely. I understand he has a good and free character,
without conspicuous talent.
Her way of talking is just like her writing,--lively, picturesque,
with an undertone of deep feeling, and the same skill in striking the
nail on the head every now and then with a blow.
We did not talk at all of personal or private matters. I saw, as one
sees in her writings, the want of an independent, interior life, but
I did not feel it as a fault, there is so much in her of her kind.
I heartily enjoyed the sense of so rich, so prolific, so ardent a
genius. I liked the woman in her, too, very much; I never liked a
woman better.
For the rest I do not care to write about it much, for I cannot, in
the room and time I have to spend, express my thoughts as I would; but
as near as I can express the sum total, it is this. S---- and others
who admire her, are anxious to make a fancy picture of her, and
represent her as a Helena (in the Seven Chords of the Lyre); all whose
mistakes are the fault of the present state of society. But to me the
truth seems to be this.
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