# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Robinson, Therese Albertine Louise

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ROBINSON, THERESE ALBERTINE LOUISE,
Wife of the accomplished scholar. Professor Robinson, of New York, was born on the 26th. of January, 1797, at Halle, Germany. She was the daughter of Professor L. H. von Jacob, a man distinguished for his learning. In 1806, her father became a professor at the Russian University of Charkow. Here he remained five years, during which time his daughter began the study of the Slavonic languages and literature. Here she also wrote her first poems, afterwards published under the name of Talvi, a title composed of the initials of her maiden name, Therese Albertine Louise von Jacob. In 1811 her father was transferred to St. Petersburgh, and her studies were principally confined to the modern languages; but she also devoted part of her time to historical reading, and to the cultivation of her poetical talent. Her industry was intense and incessant. In 1816 her father returned to Halle, when she found an opportunity to acquire the Latin language. In 1825 she published at Hallo several tales, under the title of "Psycho," with ​the signature of Talvi. In 1822 she translated Sir Walter Scott's "Covenanters" and "Black Dwarf," under the name of Ernst Bertbold. An accidental circumstance attracted her attention to the Servian literature, and so interested her in it that she learned that language and translated a number of poems, which she published in 1826 in two volumes, entitled "Popular Songs of the Servians."
In 1828 she was married to Professor Robinson, and after some time accompanied him to America. Here, after studying the aboriginal languages with great interest, she translated into the German Mr. Pickering's work on the Indian tongues of North America. This was published at Leipzic in 1884. During the same year she published an English work, called An "Historical View of the Slavic Languages," which was afterwards translated into the German. In 1837 she returned with her husband and children to Germany, where she remained two or three years, during which time she published at Leipzic a work entitled an "Attempt at an Historical Characterization of the Popular Songs of the Germanic Nations, with a Review of the Songs of the Extra-European Races." About the same time she published a work in German on "The Falseness of the Songs of Ossian."
After her return to America her time was principally devoted to the study of American history. The result was, "A History of John Smith," published in F. Raumer's Historiches Taschenbuch in 1845, and a larger historical work on the "Colonization of New England," published at Leipzic in 1847. Mrs. Robinson was induced to write this work from her strong desire to make the Germans acquainted with the history of the United States previous to the Revolution, of which they are quite ignorant. It is a production showing great research and judgment.
Mrs. Robinson's next works were written in English; the one published in 1850, entitled an "Historical Review of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations, with a Sketch of their Popular Poetry," was originally prepared for and appeared in, the Biblical Repository; A theological periodical started by her husband. Professor Robinson. She afterwards revised and partly re-wrote it. It is considered the most interesting and complete Work in existence on the literature of the Slavonic nations. ]n the same year a small novel appeared,—"Heloise, or the Unrevealed Secret,"—published by the Appletons in New York, and simultaneously in Germany. This work is instructive as well as interesting, from the insight it affords into social life in Germany, and the manner in which the Russian government is administered in the Caucasus, and the wild warfare carried on in those regions. In 1851 she published, through the Appletons, "Life Discipline; a Tale of the Annals of Hungary."
The writings of this accomplished and excellent woman all show the highest attainments in literature, an unprejudiced mind, a clear and just judgment, a strong and comprehensive understanding, and a high poetical temperament. Goethe speaks with great admiration of her poems, both original and translated. Her novels are superior both in style and interest to the ordinary publications of that class; her last work especially is valuable for the power of its incidents and the light it throws on the Magyar character, and the incipient causes of the late revolution in Hungary. Mrs. Robinson is now a contributor to the German and American periodicals.