hness of his works, than Jean Paul
Richter. In all the heights and depths and subtilties of the natural
affections, and of imaginative or ideal emotion, as well as in
truthful and endlessly varied expressions of those mysteries, he has
no equal, scarcely a rival, in literature. In spite of his poverty
and confining toil, he made, in his day, a profound personal
sensation. And such is the personal spell of his ineffable
tenderness, nobleness, and grandeur, even as exerted on the reader
from his printed pages, that many a strong man, pilgriming thither
from remote lands, has been known to kneel with convulsive emotion on
his lowly grave at Bayreuth. His life was heroic in labor, and
spotless in purity. When his heart sank in death, it seems as though
the earth itself ought to have collapsed with the breaking of so
great a thing. His sensibility was a world-harp, responding to every
tremulous breath of air or flame. Sweet, pure, wise, mighty, modest,
no wonder he drew upon himself the affectionate interest of many
lofty ladies, and found treasures of inspiration and solace in their
conversation and letters. Reviewing his life in the circle of his
friends, he seems as a sun, with pale and burning moons and planets
revolving around him. Charlotte von Kalb; Caroline Herder; Emilie von
Berlepsch; Josephine von Sydow; the mother and the wife of Carl
August; the daughters of the Duke of Mecklenburg, to whom, as "The
Four Lovely and Noble Sisters on the Throne," he dedicated his
"Titan," such, with many others like them, were the gracious women
with whom Jean Paul, in his much-tried life, interchanged homage,
friendly counsels, and sacred joys. The intelligent and enthusiastic
praises they poured on him for his works must have been to him a
divine luxury. And ah I how much he needed such comforts, he who
could say, in one of his frequent moments of sadness, "Reckoning off
from the neighborhood of my heart, I find life cold and empty"! A
whole volume of his before unpublished "Correspondence with Renowned
Women" was given to the public in 1865, a glowing treasury of gems of
the heart.

Rahel Levin was such a fascinating queen of society, such a signal
and fortunate mistress of friendships with celebrated men, that her
character and career are on this account full both of interest and
instruction. The secrets of influence, the charms that attract
attention, awaken confidence, exert authority, dispense pleasure, and
minister to hu