“Like the eaglet, that fixes its gaze on the sun,
Press upward and on till the bright goal is won—
Let the wings of thy soul never pause in their flight,
Till they bear thee to regions of glory and light.”
“Mrs. Hentz’s ring gave me many a useful and effective warning in my following school and college days. It has indeed been to me a ‘talisman preserving.’”
I am indebted to an accomplished lady of Mobile[1]for the following additional particulars in relation to Mrs. Hentz.
“Some writer has said ‘Authors should be read—not known.’ Mrs. Hentz forms a bright exception to this remark. She is one of those rare magnetic women who attracted my entire admiration at our first interview. The spell she wove around me was like the invisible beauty of music. I yielded willingly and delightfully to its magic influence.
“Never have I met a more fascinating person. Mind is enthroned on her noble brow, and beams in the flashing glances of her radiant eyes. She is tall, graceful and dignified, with that high-bred manner which ever betokens gentle blood.
“She has infinite tact and talent in conversation, and never speaks without awakening interest. As I listened to her eloquent language, I felt she was indeed worthy of the wreath of immortality, which fame has given in other days, and other lands, to a De Genlis, or to a De Sevigné.
“She possesses great enthusiasm of character—the enthusiasm described by Madame De Stael as, ‘God within us,’—the love of the good, the holy, the beautiful. She has neither pretension nor pedantry, and, although admirably accomplished, and a perfect classic and belles lettres scholar, she has all the sweet simplicity of an elegant woman.
“Like the charming Swedish authoress, Fredrika Bremer, her works all tend to elevate the tone of moral feeling. There is a refinement, delicacy, and poetic imagery in all her historiettes touchingly delightful. A
- ↑ Madam Octavia Walton Le Vert. “This accomplished lady has for many years dispensed the refined and elegant hospitalities of Mobile, and is the centre of a circle unsurpassed for its wit, worth, and intelligence. She is the daughter of the no less celebrated Colonel George Walton, formerly Governor of Florida, who now is, we believe, the only surviving son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.”—(Editor of the Spirit of the Times.)
Though Madam Le Vert has not appeared before the world as an authoress, no lady in the Southern States has been more admired for her fascinating powers of conversation, and for those brilliant accomplishments which adorn the social circle. She converses with ease and elegance in several of the modern languages, and excels in all the graces of her sex; all foreigners of distinction, who visit Mobile, bear letters of introduction to her elegant and hospitable home. Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, who has lately been travelling through this country, addressed her some beautiful lines, in which she calls her the “Sweet Rose of Florida,” and the “chosen sister of her heart.”
