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    GERMAN LITERATURE. 349

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    German Litjehatuhe.

    heaven down to earth , and to raise earth up to heaven . We know not how glorious and beautiful this life of ours may not be

    re-united to the love of the AU-Perfect . We are thankful to a religious writer like Frau _Pfannenschniidt when she brings forward

    those striking truths . We thank her also for dwelling on another important fact—the necessity of charity ( in the old meaning of the

    word ) as the refiner and beautifier of a woman ' s existence . Longfellow says : —

    " What Is her I affections most prize —not in woman her _in-fcellect . A T he infinite intellect , and is finit cannot e , but be the exhausted affections . "

    Love is the only preservative against the withering of the heart , yet how often intellectual _j > _ersons engender their own misery by

    allowing fastidiousness to grow upon them . Isolation is no proof of mental superiority . There is no surer sign of a little mind than

    foolish lamentations over being " misunderstood" and _" unappreciated . " Madame Pfannenschmidt is careful to distinguish

    between the two great types of love . There is that which descends and that which ascends . The first is a river which widens as it

    Sows , and loses nothing , however poor the quality of the soil through which it passes , but depends on its own inexhaustible spring .

    But the second type looks up to something greater than itself , for it feels its own weakness and requires a support to lean upon ;

    and if its foundations be sapped it has need to look to itself . Our authoress is aware of the difference , but is slightly confused

    in her analysis . It is surprising that amid the many fine subtleties of modern language we should have no words set aside to distinguish

    these different emotions . Here again she remembers to point out the indissoluble connexion between earthly and heavenly love .

    In their desire to divest themselves of all creaturely dependence , the old mystics deprived themselves of the surest incentives to

    Divine love . The two commandments are inseparable . Whilst enforcing upon every woman the necessity of having

    some occupation as a means of maintenance , Madame P . inveighs strongly against pedantry and display of attainment . All straining

    after reputation is monstrous and unbecoming . Goodness and greatness are ends in themselvesnot means . Fanie is dependent

    , on no contingency . It is the shadow , which is naturally projected from the substance , unseen and unnoticed when the day is dim , but

    sharply defined when circumstances place it in the sunshine" The Worth ocean is the deep ocean s are , fame mute but , the the shallows bruit along roar , tlie shore . "

    The volume concludes with some remarks on the particular

    en blessi treaties ngs which not to disregard connected those with duties each st which ate of , are life , apparentl and with y

    German Literature. 349

    GERMAN LITERATURE . 349

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 349, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/61/