THE FEMALE SCULPTOR. 227 



to meet with qualities so eminent possessed by a person who had 

 never received any previous instruction. She herself said, that her 

 existence was dated only from the day when she dedicated herself to 

 the study of sculpture. Never was she found inactive. The desire 

 of success was to her a fixed idea : did she slacken, she ran to the 

 Vatican, when her inspirations were renewed. She was often found 

 in the churches at Rome, endeavouring to divine the high thoughts 

 of the great artists, by studying their master-pieces. She passed 

 whole hours at the pedestals of the ancient statues ; and that which 

 others beheld witli coolness, excited in her the deepest emotions. 



Maria studied sculpture, not as an art, but as a science. She was 

 no longer the same, since she had left the country, to inhabit the 

 classic soil of genius. All truths were fruitful just in the proportion 

 that they sunk into her soul. Hers was not one of those barren 

 spirits that could contemplate coolly the ruins of Rome. Everything 

 is solemn in this city of inspiration : everything there elevates the 

 soul by the most noble and the most touching remembrances. Those 

 colonades, those obelisks, those mausoleums, those sarcophaguses, — 

 nothing is mute to the observing artist ; and from the tomb of so 

 many illustrious dead, flames as it were issue, wliich impart their 

 influence to the living. 



The will is the most precious gift of genius. It may even be said, 

 that, it is the guarantee of success. Maria triumphed over every 

 obstacle, in the study of an art which appeared incompatible with the 

 weakness of her sex : but she was moved by the most energetic of 

 moral powers, — that of enthusiasm. Some used to calumniate her : 

 they pretended that the sentiment of love had peculiar influence 

 upon her excessive labours, to obtain the approbation of her master : 

 but Maria was swayed by a more noble desire. There is, besides, 

 in the study of the fine arts, something exciting feelings of devotion, 

 which purify the soul, and disengage it from every earthly motive. 

 Maria was inaccessible to vulgar passions, and it was in the bosom 

 of virtue, that she obtained all the ardour which ought to immortalize 

 her. 



There are some truths which steal a hold upon our minds in a way 

 that cannot be explained : they are engraved everlastingly upon our 

 memories. Maria, who listened, so to say, at every door, heard her 

 master discourse with his scholars upon the force of moral expression 



