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    Ill DOMESTIC LIFE OF GERMAN LADIES

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    . Mam ^ The Roll Which The Muse Of Histo...

    with those who protest against woman-physicians that she has but revived an ancient precedentand only added the knowledge

    requi-, site for modern times to an art which was in those days considered one of the highest accomplishments _^ a woman could possess . We

    find the Duchess of Liegnitz making lozenges against-apoplexy , and her husband believing himself perfectly cured through them ; one .

    lady is famous for healing ointment , the recipe for which she will not give ; another prepares eye-waterand powders for different

    , ailments . The Duchess of Prussia gives medicine , prepared by herselfagainst the plague , to her brother ; another time she writes ,

    , "We send you herewith a powder and electuary we have made for the head and breast , we tasted it in the presence of the messenger ,

    and the directions we have given in our letter teach the method of using the same . "

    We must not suppose , however , that a lady ' s pharmacopoeia was confined to herbs , roots , and amber . Foremost on the list of

    remedies stand powdered elk ' s hoof , beaver's fat , and horn of unicorn ! Amber or unicorn rings and necklaces were worn as charms against

    the plague , and also those made of elk ' s hoof , only it was absolutely necessary that the latter should have been procured " between the

    : two summer festivals of the "Virgin , otherwise , " it is complained , " they have little virtue . " As for the unicornhis horn was just as

    , valuable in one season as another , the sole condition necessary to make such a prize available would be precisely that on which

    Mrs . Glass ' s recipe for dressing a hare depends . In 1529 , Princess Catherine of Schwarzburg writes to Duke Albertthanking him for

    , " a whole elk's hoof , seven white amber paternosters , and seven elkhoof paternosters , " which , she says , both she and her youngest

    daughter , Anna Maria , received with great gratitude . " But , " continues the importunate princess , " will your grace remember me

    with a paternoster or a ring sometimes , for I have a bad memory , and lose everything . Above all things , if you could bestow upon

    me an English ring , for it prevents a heavy sickness . I had one formerly which belonged to my mother , but I have worn it

    comp that letel , if y in Duke two Albert . " Finall feels y disposed the lady to winds ci show up her her the letter greate by st hinting possible ,

    grace and kindness , " he may send off at once " . a little piece of the real horn of unicorn . "

    We have thus obtained a glimpse into what we may consider the more serious business of a lady ' s life at the period ; her amusements ,

    were scanty and unvaried . On extremely rare occasions , grand festivals took place , where princes and princesses gazed together on

    the tourney , mimic battles , gay masks , and bonfires , in which sometimes , as at the wedding of the Elector John of Brandenburg ,

    the Pope , tlie- Sultan , the Khan of Tartary , and the Emperor of Jtussiawere all burnt together . Then grim theatricals appeared to

    , the sound of the trumpet ; the old story of Queen Tomyris , how she

    cut off the head of Cyrus , and swam it in a bowl of blood ; that of

    Ill Domestic Life Of German Ladies

    Ill DOMESTIC LIFE OF _GERMAN LADIES

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1860, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041860/page/42/