On this page
-
Text (1)
-
BETTINA. 159
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
«> ^ In One Of Our Late Numbers We Gave ...
ceedings , Bettina was lier own original self . In one of her letters to Frau Rathshe describes the life she leads in Winkel , a
countryseat , where she , is on a visit to a friend . There were only a number of ladies in the old castle , but Bettina knew how to provide for
her amusement . She studied Homer , i . e ., she laid under a tree , gathered a crowd of peasants around her , and , by moonshine ,
read to them the Homeric lays , " and" says she to Frau Rath , "to the droll remarks and questions of these simple people , I owe , that
I know and understand Homer . " To Frau Rath she also vented ma son her tron adv enthusiastic re ising pri mande her to love d check h for er , her warning Goethe idle , fancies 1 and her not now . Bettina to and grow then rep too , lied fon the d " worth of What her y
, , I do not learn through this love , I shall never be able to comprehend . I wish I were a poor beggar ' s childsitting before his house , there
, to receive a morsel of bread from his hand . He would clasp me to his "heart , and wrap me in his cloak to warm me . And he would
not Other bid me letters depart teem . " with descriptions of all kinds of tricks she
had been playing upon her friends . In the winter of 18— , Madame de Stael visited Weimar , and also Frau Rath in Frankfort . Bettina
describes this interview to Goethe as _follows : " Either in irony or fun your mother had adorned herself in the
most extraordinary way , not according to French fashion , but to true German fancy . My heart beat with pleasure and impatience .
I wish you could have seen her with her three feathers , a red , a whiteand a blue onethus representing the French colors . They
rose from , a field of , sun-flowerswhich formed the basis of her head-dressand nodded to different , sides . At last the long expected
moment arrived , . Accompanied by Benjamin Constant , Madame de Stael appeared , dressed like Corinne , with a turban of orange
colored silk , and a skirt and tunic of the same material . She was apparently much struck with your mother ' s peculiar attire , and
stopped to look at her , when the latter drew herself up and said proudl " ud / y i , , je " suis Je suis charmde la _mkre , " answered de Goethe Corinne /" , and the ice was broken .
In 1810 , Bettina went to Vienna . She sought Beethoven ' s acquaintance . This singular man suffered occasionally from deep melancholat which times he would see nobody . He had three
different residences y , one in town , another in the country , the third in a suburband he , changed them incessantlymerely to escape
from his friends , . Bettinahoweverfound him , out and entered unannounced . Beethoven was , sitting , before the piano , and asked
her whether she would like to hear a song he had just been composing sent a . thrill She of assented emotion , throug and he h began her whole to sing frame , with , " Kennst a voice du which das _,
Land " "Is it not beautiful ? " he exclaimed , " I will repeat it . Most
[ people , " he continued , " are moved in hearing music , but these have
Bettina. 159
BETTINA . 159
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1859, page 159, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051859/page/15/
-