a
mongrel culture which spoilt the style even of men, not only of
Frederic II. and other rulers, but also of the highest officials, like
the Imperial ambassador who wrote to Gellert, and begged him to send
back his letter with corrections, that he might thereby learn the
secret of good writing. But even the German trained daughter of a
well-educated citizen family was generally deficient both in style and
correctness of writing. Many women, indeed, learnt French, and in
Protestant Germany Italian was more frequently studied than at present;
even the students of Halle, under the guidance of their teacher, caused
Italian treatises to be printed. In other respects education appears to
have done little for women; even instruction in music, beyond the
practice of light airs on the harpsichord, was rare.

But so much the more was the practice of house duties inculcated. To
look after the welfare and comfort of those around them, of parents and
brothers, and afterwards of husbands and children, was the task of the
grown-up daughters. That this should be the object of their life was
unceasingly impressed upon them; it was understood according to every
one's own views. And this care was no longer limited, as in the
sixteenth century, to giving orders in the kitchen, the preparation of
electuaries, and the arrangements of the linen: women were, during the
last century, brought imperceptibly into a worthier position with
respect to their husbands--they had become their friends and
confidants. Although with perhaps scanty knowledge, many of them could
boast of firm minds, clear judgment, and depth of feeling; concerning
some of these, information has accidentally remained to us. We find it,
also, in the wives of simple artisans. If the men, under the influence
of the State and of Pietism, became more timid and less independent,
the women of the same period were manifestly more elevated. We will
draw a comparison with the past. Let us remember Kate Bora, who begged
of the laborious Luther to suffer her to be near him. She sits there
for hours silent, holds his pen for him, and gazes with her large eyes
on the mysterious head, of her husband; and, anxiously gathering,
together in her own mind all her poor knowledge, suddenly breaks out
with the question, which, transposing it into the position of 1750,
would run thus: "Is the Elector of Brandenburg brother to the King of
Prussia?" and when Luther laughingly replies, "He is the same m