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GERMAN LITERATTJRE. 337
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
-E> A Short Time Since We Had Occasion T...
• conduct of Semler , "with great amiability in the character of the bridewhich protected the couple from the miserable consequences
which , niight naturally have been apprekended from so ill-assorted . an union .
We pass over an account of the military discipline of the Prussian army , with an autobiography of Ulrich Bracker , ( a
• deserter from the ranks , ) and hasten to a description of the youth -and manhood of Frederick the Great . Herr Freytag dwells severely
on the errors of Frederick ' s early life , on his opposition to his father , and the catastrophe which ended in the death of
Katt . This account should be read with Carlyle _' s history of the sameMiihlbach / s historical romance * or Barriere ' s " Recollections "
, , of twenty years at Berlinf—one narrative supplying the deficiencies of another . Herr Freytag does not take so favourable a view
of the character of the popular hero , as that of Mr . Carlyle . In his inionthe humiliating struggles of Frederick ' s childhood
and youth op sowed , the seeds of that bitter egotism and hard selfvconcentration which he manifested in after years . He learnt , as
Freytag supposes , in silent suffering , to hide his feelings from his friends and enemiesand to flatterwith a subtle cleverness ,
"those whom he hated in , his heart . He , had acquired a distrust : of for un much claining that was endurance high and and noble a , vehement but had streng shown th a of power will ,
omp , which made him omnipotent with his fellow-men . Nothing was unimportant to him when he desired to accomplish an end . Pie
had discovered the real magnitude of those things which appear little to shortsihted politiciansand could stoop to arrange the
minutest details g or practise the , most rigid economy . In the _^ sorrowful circumstances , of his marriageHerr Freytag thinks
, he has found the key to much of the dreariness and coldness of Frederick's subsequent life . Bitterly did he write , when trying to
free himself from a bride who was forced upon him against his will : " She shall be as frivolous as she likesso long as she is not .
, -an actual simpleton , that would be too much for my endurance . " The unfortunate Princess Elizabeth was far from being either
frivolous or simple . She possessed many good qualities , and , was not utterly destitute of physical beauty ; but had she been an
angel from heaven , the pride of a man who spurned control , would -effectually have steeled his heart against her . Her quiet and
uncomplaining devotion , during years of silent suffering , could not fail to win for her some measure of respect and esteem . But
; all the former coldness of feeling was revived during the long _absences of the king , and the subsequent wars , of the State . The
selnsm of this " Grand Monarque " is repelling , in spite of the * " enormous energy " of his character . He delighted to use men as
* Friedrich der Grosze und sein Hof . Von L . MUhlbach . _JSTuue Aufiage : _^ 2 Bde
j ¦* B . erlin , Souvenirs de vingt ans _h , 2 tomes .
YOIi . X . B B
German Literattjre. 337
GERMAN _LITERATTJRE . 337
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 337, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/49/
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