shot of society ridicule, received now and then
such a broadside as James Russell Lowell gave her in his "Fable for
Critics." Of this long and somewhat bitter tirade a few lines may
suffice as a specimen:--

"But here comes Miranda. Zeus! where shall I flee to?
She has such a _penchant_ for bothering me, too!
She always keeps asking if I don't observe a
Particular likeness 'twixt her and Minerva.

* * * * *

She will take an old notion and make it her own,
By saying it o'er in her sibylline tone;
Or persuade you 'tis something tremendously deep,
By repeating it so as to put you to sleep;
And she well may defy any mortal to see through it,
When once she has mixed up her infinite me through it.

* * * * *

Here Miranda came up and said: Phoebus, you know
That the infinite soul has its infinite woe,
As I ought to know, having lived cheek by jowl,
Since the day I was born, with the infinite soul."

These remarks, explanatory and apologetic, are suggested partly by Mr.
Emerson's statements concerning the beginning of his acquaintance with
Margaret, and partly by the writer's own recollections of the views of
outsiders concerning her, which contrasted strongly with the feeling and
opinion of her intimates.

Mr. Emerson first heard of Margaret from Dr. Hedge, and afterwards from
Miss Martineau. Both were warm in their praise of her, and the
last-named was especially desirous to introduce her to Mr. Emerson, whom
she very much wished to know. After one or more chance meetings, it was
arranged that Margaret should spend a fortnight with Mrs. Emerson. The
date of this visit was in July, 1836.

To the description of her person already quoted from Dr. Hedge, we may
add a sentence or two from Mr. Emerson's record of his first impressions
of her:--

"She had a face and frame that would indicate fulness and tenacity of
life.... She was then, as always, carefully and becomingly dressed, and
of lady-like self-possession. For the rest, her appearance had nothing
prepossessing. Her extreme plainness, a trick of incessantly opening and
shutting her eyelids, the nasal tone of her voice, all repelled; and I
said to myself, we shall never get far."

But Margaret greatly esteemed Mr. Emerson, and was intent upon
establishing a friendly relation with him. Her reputation for satire was
well kno