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Fuller here suggests that she, like Peter, has returned to Rome to offer her life in attestation of her faith in her own radical vision of liberty, adding that “the only dignified course for the Pope to pursue was to resign his temporal power.”13 Sounding much like a messianic radical, Fuller in her dispatches calls for the realization through revolution of humanity’s redemption. She exhorts her readers to heed Christ’s message and expresses her disdain for those who adhere to Christian rituals—especially those “under the old regime” who worship “the Madonna and Saints”—yet remain “ignorant of the precepts and life of Jesus.” Like Emerson, she accepted as “Truth” the radical implications of Jesus’s message—that all people are blessed in the eye of God and hence should have an equal right to partake of the “corn and the wine.” Upon this belief that she made the central tenet of her dispatches home—that “Mankind is one, / And beats with one great heart”—Fuller based her “faith” in the revolution. Realizing that to many Americans her appeal might seem foolishly romantic, she nonetheless will appeal to them in an 1849 dispatch to support the revolution and let “loose” their tongues to cry: “‘Long live the Republic, and may God bless the cause of the People, the brotherhood of nations and of men—the equality of rights for all.’—Viva America!”14 61SThe Lull before the Storm In contrast to the messianic tone of so many of her later Tribune letters, most of the personal letters Fuller wrote after returning to Rome late in 1848 convey a calm humility. Even in the visionary letter she wrote her mother in November about Rossi’s assassination can be heard a plaintive note. She would if she could, she confesses , confide in her mother, whose trials as a mother she is beginning to appreciate . “The thought of you, the knowledge of your angelic nature,” says Margaret, “is always one of my greatest supports. Happy those who have such a mother! Myriad instances of selfishness and corruption of heart cannot destroy the confidence in human nature.”1 Margaret acknowledges that her “heart” is now “in some respects better” and “more humble.” Her letter reveals that she no longer suffers the illusion that, to be a good person, she needs to be sexually “pure.” She no longer feels a need to distance herself from Byron, whom she had earlier condemned as a “cankered” soul guilty of “moral perversion.” She thus tells how her heart now swells “to tears” in tune with Byron’s cry, “O, Rome, my country, city of the soul!” Though she does not dare tell her mother about her “fallen” state, Margaret indirectly does so when she compares herself to the Magdalen, who “loved much.” And whereas in New York her Puritan palate could scarcely tolerate a glass “of ruby wine,” she confesses she now finds “the grape-cure” to be “more charming than the water-cure.”2 Fuller could now understand her mother’s treatment of her as a child. Not unlike her mother, who had abandoned Margaret at age three to the care of nurseThe Lull before the Storm 371 372 apocalyptic dreams and fall of rome maids and Timothy, Fuller had left her two-month-old son in Rieti in the care of Chiara. Also like her mother, Margaret thought her baby not as pretty as she had hoped. He looked nothing like his slim, dark-haired, Italian father; Nino’s skin and wispy hair were fair. Alas, instead of Margarett Crane’s loveliness, Nino had apparently inherited the appearance and “obstinate” personality of Margaret and Timothy . Still, for all her new appreciation of her mother, Fuller did not yet share news of Ossoli and the baby with her or with her friends back home for fear, no doubt, of bringing on herself American moral censure and thence a feeling of being even more alone in Rome than she already was—most Americans had fled the city for fear of contracting malaria or of Rome being invaded.3 The exit of Americans and the pope and his retinue left Fuller and Ossoli free to enjoy a glorious, sunny winter, going about together without fear of encountering censure. Though unable to pay for a carriage, the couple relished this honeymoon period uninterrupted by sounds of drums and baby’s cries. It was an easy walk to the Villa Albani where they could view its collection of...

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