After a painting by P. Thumann.
]
“Aennchen von Tharau ist’s die mir gefällt,
Sie ist mein Leben, mein Gut und mein Geld;
Aennchen von Tharau hat wieder ihr Herz
Auf mich gerichtet in Lieb und in Schmerz.
Aennchen von Tharau, mein Reichtum, mein Gut,
Du meine Seele, mein Fleisch und mein Blut.
Würdest du gleich einmal von mir getrennt,
Lebtest dort, wo man die Sonne nicht kennt,
Ich will doch dir folgen durch Wälder und Meer,
Durch Schnee und Eis und durch feindliches Heer,
Aennchen von Tharau, mein Licht, meine Sonn’,
Mein Leben schliess ich um deines herum.—
Annie of Tharau, ’tis she that I love,
She is my life and all riches above;
Annie of Tharau has giv’n me her heart,
We shall be lovers till death us do part!
Annie of Tharau, my kingdom, my wealth,
Soul of my body, and blood of my health.
Say you should ever be parted from me,
Say that you dwelt where the sun they scarce see,
Where you go I go, o’er oceans and lands,
Prisons and fetters, and enemies’ hands.
Annie of Tharau, my sun and sunshine,
This life of mine will I throw around thine.”
And who would be able to pay to female virtues a higher tribute than did
Paul Fleming in a poem, directed to his betrothed:
“Ein getreues Herz zu wissen
Ist des höchsten Schatzes Preis;
Der ist selig zu begrüssen
Der ein solches Kleinod weiss.
Mir ist wohl bei tiefstem Schmerz
Denn ich weiss ein treues Herz.
To call a faithful heart thine own
That’s life’s true and only pleasure,
And happy is the man alone
To whom was given such a treasure.
The deepest anguish does not smart
For I know a faithful heart.”
This poem was written at the time, when the tempests of the Thirty
Years’ War swept over Germany, ruining that country beyond recognition.
Hundreds of cities and villages were burned by Spanish, Italian,
Hungarian, Dutch and Swedish soldiers, who made the unfortunate country
their battleground. Of the seventeen million inhabitants thirteen
millions were killed or swept away by starvation and the pest.
Agriculture, commerce, industries and arts were annihilated. Of many
villages nothing remained but their names. According to the chronicles
of these times, one could wander for many miles without seeing a living
creature except wolves and raven. All joy and happiness, in which the
German people had been so rich, were extinguished. To women the cup of
sorrow would never become empty, as hate, revenge, cruelty, and the
lowest passions combined to fill their lives with endless mental and
physical agonies.
During these dreadful times such social gatherings as had become the
fashion among the refined people of Italy during the period of the
Renaissance, were of course out of the question. Far happier in this
respect was France, where the era of the “Salons” began, many of which
became known throughout Europe, for the inspiration and refinement that
spread out from them.
It was to the exceptional qualities of a young and noble-minded woman of
Italian birth, that the first salon in France owed its origin and its
distinctive character. This lady was =Catherine Pisani=, the daughter of
Jean de Vivonne, Marquis of Pisani. Born at Rome in 1588, she married
the French Marquis of Rambouillet, with whom she moved to Paris.
Repelled by the gilded hollowness and license of the court of King Henry
IV. she retired, about the year 1608, to her husband’s stately palace,
which became famous as the “Hotel Rambouillet.” Its pride was a suite of
salons or parlors, arranged for purposes of reception and so devised as
to allow many visitors to move easily. With their draperies in blue and
gold, their cozy corners, choice works of art, Venetian lamps, and
crystal vases always filled with fragrant flowers, these rooms were
indeed ideal places for social and literary gatherings.
As Amelia Gere Mason has described in a series of articles about the
French Salons, written for the “Century Magazine” of 1890, Mm. de
Rambouillet “sought to assemble here all that was most distinguished,
whether for wit, beauty, talent, or birth, into an atmosphere of
refinement and simple elegance which would tone down all discordant
elements and raise life to the level of a fine art. There was a strongly
intellectual flavor in the amusements, as well as in the discussions of
this salon, and the place of honor was given to genius, learning, and
good manners, rather than to rank. But the spirit was by no means purely
literary. The exclusive spirit of the old aristocracy, with its hauteur
and its lofty patronage, found itself face to face with fresh ideals.
The position of the hostess enabled her to break the traditional
barriers and form a society upon a new basis, but, in spite of the
mingling of classes hitherto separated, the dominant life was that of
the noblesse. Women of rank gave the tone and made the laws. Their code
of etiquette was severe. They aimed to combine the graces of Italy with
the chivalry of Spain. The model man must have a keen sense of honor and
wit without pedantry; he must be brave, heroic, generous, gallant, but
he must also possess good breeding and gentle courtesy. The coarse
passions and depraved manners which had disgraced the gay court of Henry
IV. were refined into subtle sentiments, and women were raised upon a
pedestal to be respectfully and platonically adored. In this reaction
from extreme license familiarity was forbidden, and language was
subjected to a critical censorship.”
This definition of the salon of “the incomparable Arthenice”—an anagram
for Mme. de Rambouillet, devised by two poets of renown—we find
confirmed by the words of many distinguished men, who were fortunate
enough to be admitted to this circle. Among them were Corneille,
Descartes, and all the founders of the Académie Française.
“Do you remember,” so said the eminent Abbé Fléchier many years later,
“the salons which are still regarded with so much veneration, where the
spirit was purified, where virtue was revered under the name of the
‘incomparable Arthenice’; where people of merit and quality assembled
who composed a select court, numerous without confusion, modest without
constraint, learned without pride, polished without affectation?”—
The salon of Mme. de Rambouillet continued till the death of its
mistress, the 27th of December, 1665, having been, as Saint-Simon
writes, “a tribunal with which it was necessary to count, and whose
decisions upon the conduct and reputation of people of the court and the
world had great weight.”
There were other salons, modeled more or less after the present one.
When the Hotel de Rambouillet was closed, Mademoiselle =Madeleine de
Scudéry= held regular reunions by receiving her friends on Saturdays.
Among this “Société du Samedi” were many authors and artists, who
conversed upon all topics of the day, from fashion to politics, from
literature and the arts to the last item of gossip. They read their
works and vied with one another in improvising verses.
About the personality of Mlle. de Scudéry Abbé de Pure wrote: “One may
call her the muse of our age and the prodigy of her sex. It is not only
her goodness and her sweetness, but her intellect shines with so much
modesty, her sentiments are expressed with so much reserve, she speaks
with so much discretion, and all that she says is so fit and reasonable,
that one cannot help both admiring and loving her. Comparing what one
sees of her, and what one owes to her personally, with what she writes,
one prefers, without hesitation, her conversation to her works. Although
her mind is wonderfully great, her heart outweighs it. It is in the
heart of this illustrious woman that one finds true and pure generosity,
an immovable constancy, a sincere and solid friendship.”
Fearing to lose her liberty Mlle. de Scudéry never married. “I know,”
she writes, “that there are many estimable men who merit all my esteem
and who can retain a part of my friendship; but as soon as I regard them
as husbands I regard them as masters, and so apt to become tyrants that
I must hate them from that moment; and I thank the gods for giving me an
inclination very much averse to marriage.”
Under the pseudonym of “Sappho” Mlle. de Scudéry was acknowledged as the
first “blue-stocking” of France and of the world. Several of her novels,
in which she aimed at universal accomplishments, were the delight of all
Europe. Having studied mankind in her contemporaries, she knew how to
analyze and describe their characters with fidelity and point.
Another noteworthy salon of the 17th Century was that of the beautiful
and amiable =Marquise de Sablé=, one of the favorites of Mme. de
Rambouillet. It was she who set the fashion, at that time, of condensing
the thoughts and experiences of life into maxims and epigrams. While
this was her special gift to literature, her influence became also felt
through what she inspired others to do. A few of her maxims, as proven
in Mrs. Mason’s articles about the French Salons, are worth copying, as
they show the estimate Mme. De Sablé placed upon form and measure in the
conduct of life.
“A bad manner spoils everything, even justice and reason. The =how=
constitutes the best part of things; and the air which one gives
thoughts, gilds, modifies and softens the most disagreeable.”—
“There is a certain command in the manner of speaking and acting which
makes itself felt everywhere, and which gains, in advance, consideration
and respect.”—
“Wherever it is, love is always the master. It seems truly that it is to
the soul of the one who loves, what the soul is to the body it
animates.”—
With the death of the Marquise de Sablé in 1678 the last salon of the
brilliant era of the Renaissance was closed. With the approach of that
period of affected and artificial life, known as the Rococo, new types
of women came to the surface, gay, witty, piquant and amusing, but lax
and without great moral sense or spiritual aspiration. The dangerous
influence of the many mistresses of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., of
Mesdames de Montespan, Maintenon and Pompadour pervaded the atmosphere,
and turned the salons into headquarters of intrigue and political
conspiracy. Especially at the time of the clever Mme. de Pompadour women
were everywhere the power, without which no movement could be carried
through successfully. “These women,” said the famous philosophical
historian Montesquieu, “form a kind of republic, whose members, always
active, aid and serve one another. It is a new state within the state;
and whoever observes the action of those in power, if he does not know
the women who govern them, is like a man who sees the action of a
machine but does not know its secret springs.”
Montesquieu himself, when in Paris, made the salons of =Madame de
Tencin= and =Madame d’Aiguillon= his favorite resorts.
Here he discussed with other brilliant thinkers of the time literary and
political questions, and those theories, which he embodied in the most
famous of his works: “Esprit des Lois” (the Spirit of the Laws). This
book, dealing with law in general, with forms of government, military
arrangements, taxation, economic matters, religion and individual
liberty, was the first open attack on absolutism. Put on the Index by
the Pope it was nevertheless eagerly read and discussed everywhere, and
thus it became one of the factors leading to the French Revolution.—
Among the salons of the 18th Century, known for their influence on
scientific and political life, the most remarkable was that of the
=Marquise de Lambert=. Her magnificent apartments in the famous Palais
Mazarin, decorated by artists like Watteau, were a rendezvous for the
most eminent men and women, among them the best of the “Forty
Immortals,” or members of the Académie Française. As candidates for
vacant chairs in this body were often proposed here the Salon Lambert
was called “the Antechamber to Immortality.”
The quality of the character and intellect of the hostess of this salon
may be judged from a few of the bits of advice she wrote to her son. “I
exhort you much more to cultivate your heart than to perfect your mind;
the true greatness of the man is in the heart.”—“Let your studies flow
into your manners, and your readings show themselves in your
virtues.”—“It is merit which should separate you from the people, not
dignity nor pride.”—“Too much modesty is a languor of the soul, which
prevents it from taking flight and carrying itself rapidly towards
glory.”—“Seek the society of your superiors, in order to accustom
yourself to respect and politeness. With equals one grows negligent; the
mind falls asleep.” She urged her daughter to treat servants with
kindness. “One of the ancients says they should be regarded as
unfortunate friends. Think that humanity and Christianity equalize
all.”—
Up to the latter half of the 18th Century the salon had become the most
characteristic feature of Parisian society. Having multiplied
indefinitely, they catered to all tastes and thoughts. Besides the
rallying points for philosophers, literateurs and femmes d’esprit, there
were other salons, where sly maitresses and political adventurers met
the corrupt officials of the Government. Still other salons served as
meeting places of fiery spirits, who, disgusted with the debauchery and
unrestrained immorality of the ruling classes, made the discussion of
politics and the deliverance of the oppressed people their chief topic.
* * * * *
Like the French Renaissance so the English Renaissance received its
first impulse from Italy. But less concerned with culture as such, it
was more practical in England and distinguished itself chiefly by the
greater attention given to education. While the sons and daughters of
the nobility were carefully trained by tutors, the children of the
middle class received an education in grammar schools founded during the
reign of King Henry VIII.
This interest in education was greatly stimulated by the doctrines of
the Reformation, which had spread from Germany to England, and which
were favored by the king, as they served his political interests as well
as his passion for the beautiful =Anne Boleyn=, one of the queen’s
ladies-in-waiting. That he divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn,
and that she, on September 7th, 1533, gave birth to a girl, are facts
familiar to everyone acquainted with English history.
This girl later on ascended the throne and as =Queen Elizabeth= became
famous as one of the most remarkable and illustrious of all female
sovereigns.
Most remarkable was her attitude toward Rome. When the “Virgin Queen” in
her twenty-fifth year ascended the throne, it was not only as queen, but
also as the head of the rebellious Church. Religious strife had already
passed the point of reconciliation and Elizabeth’s position was
extremely difficult, as the Catholic party was still very strong and was
bent on maintaining the connection with Rome. Aware of this fact, the
Pope, claiming England as a fief of the Holy See, refused to recognize
Elizabeth’s title to the crown, and demanded that she should renounce
all her pretensions so much the more since she was an illegitimate
child. But whereas many monarchs would have cringed before the Pope,
Elizabeth ignored his demands and answered the subsequent bull by Pope
Pius V., by which all Catholics were released from their allegiance to
the queen, by the famous Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. Striking
directly at the papal power, these acts compelled all clergymen and
public functionaries to renounce the temporal and spiritual jurisdiction
of every foreign prince and prelate; and all ministers, whether
beneficed or not, were forbidden to use any but the established liturgy.
These statutes were carried out with considerable severity, and many
Catholics suffered death. Thus bending priests and prelates to her fiery
will, the queen made England a bulwark of Protestantism.
That the long reign of Elizabeth, which lasted from 1558 to 1603, was
also a period of brilliant prosperity and advancement, during which
England put forth her brightest genius, valor, and enterprise, has been
recorded by history. It is also a well-known fact that the learning of
Elizabeth was considerable, even in that age of learned ladies. Horace
Walpole has assigned her a place in his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble
Authors,” and a list of thirteen literary productions, chiefly
translations from the Greek, Latin, and French, are attached to her
name.
There were quite a number of English ladies interested in literature and
poetry. The most remarkable was =Mary Astell=, born in 1668 at
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having received a careful education by her uncle, a
clergyman, she continued her studies in London. Here her attention and
efforts were especially directed to the mental uplift of her own sex,
and in 1697 she published a work entitled, “A Serious Proposal to the
Ladies, Wherein a Method is Offered for the Improvement of Their Minds.”
With the same end in view she elaborated a scheme for a ladies’ college,
which was favorably entertained by Queen Anne, and would have been
carried out had not Bishop Burnet interfered.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth England was called “the Paradise of
Women,” on account of the great liberty, granted to them in all social
affairs. There exists an interesting account of a Dutch traveller, Van
Meteren, who spent some time in England. With surprise he saw that here
the members of the fair sex enjoyed considerable freedom. “They are,” so
he says, “not shut up as in Spain and elsewhere, and yet the young girls
are better behaved than in the Netherlands. Having fine complexions,
they also do not paint like the Italians and others. They sit before
their doors, decked in fine clothes, in order to see and be seen by the
passers-by. In all banquets and feasts they are shown the greatest
honor: they are placed at the upper end of the table where they are the
first served. All the rest of their time they employ in walking and
riding, in playing cards, or visiting their friends and keeping company,
conversing with their equals and neighbors, and making merry with them
at child-birth, christening, churchings and funerals. And all this with
the permission and knowledge of their husbands.”
In strange contrast herewith was the legal position of women. It was, as
D. Staars says in his interesting book “The English Woman,” “entirely
detrimental. They were under the absolute authority of their husbands.
In regard to property, husband and wife were considered by the law as
forming one indivisible person. Therefore a husband could not make a
deed of gift to his wife, or make a contract with her. The subordinate
position of the married women was evident in the whole of her existence.
The husband was his wife’s guardian, and if anyone carried her off he
had a right to claim damages. He could also inflict corporal punishment
on her sufficient to correct her. All the property which she might
afterwards acquire, became by her marriage the common property of
husband and wife, but only the husband had a right to the income,
because he alone had control and administration of the property. Not
only lands, but also funds, furniture, plate, and even the bed and
ornaments of a woman, all became the husband’s property on the wedding
day, and he could sell or dispose of it as he pleased. A married woman
could not even make a will. Only when she became a widow, her clothes
and personal possessions again became her own property, provided,
however, that her husband had not otherwise disposed of them in his
will. Furthermore, she had a right to the income of a third of all the
husband’s property.”
These unsatisfactory conditions later on caused the English women to
join their American sisters in the struggle for emancipation.
[Illustration]