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    ELIZABETH VON RECKE. 227

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    Part Ii. Great Misfortune, Which As Rare...

    defati _Heniaming gably to the in undisturbed cultivation of retirement her moral , Elizabeth and mental devoted faculties herself , thoug in h - of her h

    having making - happened no display to to fall the into obtained world the , hands till from , in of her 1782 the the celebrated , one whole collection composer ymns ,

    which Hiller , he he caused requeste to d be and published at Leipsic in the - following" year . , Her health had now become so imieh worse that her doctor , as a last ltook

    resource , advised her to visit Carlsbad ; and she accordingy a j who ourney kept there a journal in 1784 of their , in company travelsafterwards with her friend published , Sop . hie Travelling Becker ,

    improved her health ; and the opportunity , it afforded for making acquaintance with the most distinguished men in German literature

    the was house equall of y beneficial a relative to in her . Koni in an gsberg intellectual she became point intimate of view . with At

    Kant and Schaffner . In , Berlinwhere _, her two half-brothers residedshe was received both at court , and in the highest society with

    friends great , respect . At ; Dresden and Nicolai she , made Mendelssohn acquaintance , and Spalding with Meissner became and her

    Naumann . "Wherever she went her arrival was welcomed and her dep At arture Carlsbad regretted she . derived great benefit from the waters ; but a

    fresh drop of bitterness was to be mingled with her cup , for while there she received news of the death of her beloved

    stepmother . But for the thought that it would now devolve upon her to be the stay of her father's declining days , this blow would have

    quite prostrated her . Pier return , however , could not be immediate , and she had therefore to & x on a residence for the winter ; no easy

    task , for the common custom among the German nobility of allotting a disproportionately scanty income to the daughters , in order

    to make it more easy for the sons to support the family fame , had appropriated to Frau von Reckeso limited a sum for travelling

    expensesas necessitated the strictest , economy in her little expenditureIn , this the poet Gocking offered her a residence in

    his a time country . at Weimar -house emergency at and Wulferode had the . gratification On her way thither of joining , she that remained circle for of ,

    distinguished men with whose names and works she was already familiar . Above allshe ht out Wielandwhom she had to thank for

    having emancipated , soug her from her youthful _, delusions , by showing her the depths of the human heart , and affording her a clue to the

    labyrinth of life . Even from such of his works as are censured by the moralistshe had derived onlinstruction and warning . Here , too ,

    she became , intimate with Counsellor y Bode , the celebrated translator of several classical English works ; and this enlightened man gave

    her a clear explanation of the aims of secret associations , and of impostorswho like Cagliostrodevote themselves to spreading the

    domain , of superstition . She , had already lost all her former taste for mysticism , but what she heard from Bode made her feel the

    strongest abhorrence for all mystical doings , however innocent or

    Elizabeth Von Recke. 227

    ELIZABETH VON RECKE . 227

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1860, page 227, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061860/page/11/