Chapter Freneau to Fullerton of F by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

death she supported a large family of brothers and sisters by teaching. Her early studies had made her familiar with the literature not only of England but of France, Spain, and Italy; she had become imbued with German philosophy and mysticism, and she co-operated with Theodore Parker in his revolt against the Puritan theology till then prevalent in New England, and became the conductor of the Transcendentalist organ, The Dial, from 1840-2. She made various translations from the German, and published Summer on the Lakes (1844), and Papers on Literature and Art (1846). In the same year she went to Europe, and at Rome met the Marquis Ossoli, an Italian patriot, whom she married in 1847. She and her husband were in the thick of the Revolution of 1848-9, and in the latter year she was in charge of a hospital at Rome. After the suppression of the Revolution she escaped with her husband from Italy, and took ship for America. The voyage proved most disastrous: small-pox broke out on the vessel, and their infant child died, the ship was wrecked on Fire Island, near New York, and she and her husband were lost. Destitute of personal attractions, she was possessed of a singular power of conciliating sympathy. She was the intimate friend of Emerson, Hawthorn, Channing, and other eminent men.

Fuller, Thomas (1608-1661).—Divine and antiquary, son of a clergyman of the same name, was born at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire. Possessed of exceptional intelligence and a wonderful memory, he became a good scholar, and distinguished himself at Cambridge, where he was sent. Entering the Church, he obtained rapid preferment, including the lectureship at the Savoy, and a chaplaincy to Charles II. He was a voluminous author, his works dealing with theology, morals, history and antiquities. Among the chief are History of the Holy War, i.e. the Crusades (1643), The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), A Pisgah Sight of Palestine (1650), Church History of Britain, History of Cambridge University (1655), Worthies of England (1662), and Good Thoughts in Bad Times. The outstanding characteristic of Fuller’s writings is shrewd observation conveyed in a style of quaint humour. Lamb says, “His conceits are often-times deeply steeped in human feeling and passion.” But in addition there is much wisdom and a remarkable power of casting his observations into a compact, aphoristic form. The Worthies, though far from being a systematic work, is full of interesting biographical and antiquarian matter which, but for the pains of the author, would have been lost. Coleridge says of him, “He was incomparably the most sensible, the least prejudiced great man in an age that boasted a galaxy of great men.” Fuller, who was of a singularly amiable character, was a strong Royalist, and suffered the loss of his preferments during the Commonwealth. They were, however, given back to him at the Restoration.

Lives by Russell (1844), J. E. Bailey (1874), and M. Fuller (1886).

Fullerton, Lady Georgiana (Leveson-Gower) (1812-1885).—Novelist, daughter of the 1st Earl Granville, and sister of the eminent statesman. She wrote a number of novels, some of which had considerable success. They include Ellen Middleton (1844), Grantley Manor (1847), and Too Strange not to be True (1864). She also published two vols. of verse. She joined the Church of Rome in 1846.