Harriet Martineau's Autobiography, Volume 1J. R. Osgood, 1877 |
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Abolitionists acquaintance afterwards Ambleside American amused appeared asked aunt believe body brother called captain CHARLES BULLER considered Corn-laws course deaf Deerbrook desire dinner doctrine doubt Edinburgh Review fact fear feel felt friends gentlemen hand happy HARRIET MARTINEAU hear heard heart honour hope hour kind knew ladies letter literary live London looked Lord Lord Althorp Lord Brougham Lord Durham Lord Grey Lord Melbourne manner matter ment mesmerised mesmerism mind Miss months moral morning mother nature never night Norwich occasion offered once opinion pain party persons pleasure political present regard remember reply seemed seen sent sister Slavery society soon story suffering supposed sure Sydney Smith sympathy talk tell thing thought tion told took truth Tynemouth Unitarian Whig whole Windermere wonder Wordsworth write wrote young
Popular passages
Page 372 - I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.
Page 220 - If the riches of both Indies, if the crowns of all the kingdoms of Europe were laid at my feet, in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all.
Page 469 - Christianity upon the subject of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body; but this was to be presumed, because Freemasonry is truth, and all truth must be identical.
Page 235 - ... ordinary manner towards silly women, he was awkward and at a loss. This was by no means agreeable, though the sin of his bad manners must be laid at the door of the vain women who discarded their ladyhood for his sake, went miles to see him, were early on platforms where he was to be, and admitted him to very broad flirtations. He had pretty nearly settled his own business, in regard to conversation with ladies, before two more years were over. His swearing became so incessant, and the occasional...
Page 14 - While I was afraid of everybody I saw, I was not in the least afraid of God. Being usually very unhappy, I was constantly longing for heaven, and seriously, and very frequently planning suicide in order to get there. I was sure that suicide would not stand in the way of my getting there. I knew it was considered a crime ; but I did not feel it so. I had a devouring passion for justice ; — justice, first to my own precious self, and then to other oppressed people. Justice was precisely what was...
Page 270 - I admired it then, but little dreamed I was indebted for my entertainment to a young lady of Hampstead whom I visited, and who came to Mr. Barbauld's meeting all the while with as innocent a face as if she had never written a line.
Page 299 - He was, to be sure, a most remarkable looking personage, as he entered the room, and slowly approached and greeted me. He looked very old, with his rounded shoulders and drooping head, and excessively thin limbs. His eyes were as wonderful as they were ever represented to be; — light grey, extremely prominent, and actually glittering: an appearance I am told common among opium eaters. His onset amused me not a little. He told me that he (the last person whom I should have suspected) read my tales...
Page 290 - ... all the evening after, whenever he turned his eyes towards the long-necked bottles, showed us that we had made a good choice. He declared that he had got a reward for his labours at last : and his wife asked me to dinner, all by myself, to taste the brandy. We three sat round the fire after dinner, and Carlyle mixed the toddy while Mrs. Carlyle and I discussed some literary matters, and speculated on fame and the love of it. Then Carlyle held out a glass of his mixture to me with, ' Here, —...
Page 14 - ... was least understood in our house, in regard to servants and children. Now and then I desperately poured out my complaints; but in general I brooded over my injuries, and those of others who dared not speak; and then the temptation to suicide was very strong. No doubt, there was much vindictiveness in it. I gloated over the thought that I would make somebody care about me in some sort of way at last: and, as to my reception in the other world, I felt sure that God could not be very angry with...
Page 143 - Authorship has never been with me a matter of choice. I have not done it for amusement, or for money, or for fame, or for any reason but because I could not help it. Things were pressing to be said ; and there was more or less evidence that I was the person to say them.