Rahel, which made such deep impressions on
people, and held them so fast to her. He thus describes her, as she
first dawned on him amidst the highest society of Berlin: "There
appeared a light, graceful figure, of small stature, but strong make,
with delicate and full limbs, feet and hands remarkably small; the
countenance, encircled with rich, dark locks, spoke intellectual
superiority; the quick, and yet firm, deep glances left the observer
in doubt whether they gave or received more; an expression of
suffering lent a soft grace to the clear features. She moved in a
dark dress, light almost as a shadow, but also with freedom and
sureness; her greeting was as easy as it was kindly. But what struck
me most was the sonorous and mellow voice which seemed to swell from
the inmost depths of the soul, and a conversation the most
extraordinary that I had ever met with. She threw out, in the most
facile and unpretending fashion, thoughts full of originality and
humor, where wit was united with simplicity, and acuteness with
amiability; and into the whole a deep truth was cast, as it were out
of iron, giving to every sentence a completeness of impression which
rendered it hard for the strongest, in any way, to break or rend it.
In her presence, I had the conviction that a genuine human being
stood before me, in its most pure and perfect type; through her whole
frame, and in all her motions, nature and intellect in fresh, breezy
reciprocity; organic shape, elastic fibre, living connection with
every thing around; the greatest originality and simplicity in
perception and utterance; the combined imposingness of innocence and
wisdom; in word and deed, alertness, dexterity, precision; and all
imbosomed in an atmosphere of the purest goodness and benevolence;
all guided by an energetic sense of duty, and heightened by a noble
self-forgetfullness in the presence of the joys and griefs of
others."

Such is a glimpse of the Rahel, who, for thirty years, exemplified in
her drawing-room, amidst the joy and admiration of the most glorious
circle of her countrymen, that rich, strong, free, and noble ideal of
womanhood, which Herder, Schiller, Richter, and Goethe, illustrated
in so many of their works. So many contrasted qualities met and were
reconciled in her, that different friends and critics report her in
quite different likenesses. According to one, she never thought
pronouncedly, but gave forth the exquisite perfume of thought: her