MARGARET AND HER FRIENDS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. WHAT WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT SHAKESPEARE. 12mo, cloth. Price, $1.25. THE LIFE OF DR. ANANDABAI JOSHEE, a Kinswoman of the Pundita Ramabai. 12mo, cloth. Price, $1.00. LETTERS HOME FROM COLORADO, UTAH, AND CALIFORNIA. 12mo. Price, $1.50. BARBARA FRITCHIE. A Study. With Portrait. 12mo. Price, $1.00. ROBERTS BROTHERS, _Publishers_. MARGARET AND HER FRIENDS OR Ten Conversations WITH MARGARET FULLER UPON THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS AND ITS EXPRESSION IN ART HELD AT THE HOUSE OF THE REV. GEORGE RIPLEY BEDFORD PLACE, BOSTON _BEGINNING MARCH 1, 1841_ REPORTED BY CAROLINE W. HEALEY BOSTON ROBERTS BROTHERS 1895 _Copyright, 1895_, BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE 5 MEMBERS OF THE CLASS 17 I. GENERAL MYTHOLOGICAL STATEMENT 25 II. GENERAL STATEMENT CONTINUED. R. W. E. PRESENT[1] 40 III. STORY FROM NOVALIS. APOLLO 60 IV. MINERVA. THE SERPENT 77 V. VENUS AND PSYCHE. R. W. E. PRESENT 95 VI. CUPID AND PSYCHE. MARGARET, AND ELISABETH HOAR 106 VII. PLUTO AND TARTARUS 123 VIII. MERCURY AND ORPHEUS. R. W. E. PRESENT 135 IX. HERMES AND ORPHEUS 147 X. BACCHUS AND THE DEMIGODS 156 PREFACE. In 1839, Margaret Fuller, delicate in health and much overtaxed, consented to gratify many who loved her by opening in Boston a series of “Conversations for Women.” In a Circular quoted by Emerson, she says to Mrs. Sophia Ripley:— “Could a circle be assembled in earnest, desirous to answer the questions, ‘What were we born to do?’ and ‘How shall we do it?’ I should think the undertaking a noble one.” This was certainly the original intent of the famous “Fuller Conversations,” which, beginning then, were continued at intervals, until Margaret left Boston for New York in 1844. It seems a little singular, therefore, to find her writing to Ralph Waldo Emerson of this series, Nov. 25, 1839, as follows:—