Evening star., 1925-10-03
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOOkLOuer.

while to write large volume
| on Love Letters Of Great Men and
| Women" He begins with the eight
eenth century, because he says that
| modern Iove-letter writing did not
exist before then. A chapter on The
Ideal Love Letter" reaches the con-
| clusion that there is no ideal, but
that there are different types found in
youth, middle age and old age. In
| youth love letters are of the heart,
| not the head, and are such as to
make sober people shake their heads
| and smile when, in after years. a
faded packet of these, early protesta-
tions falls into their hands" In mid
| die age love letters are more practical
and express an established relation of
comradeship and helpfulness; in old
age love letters reflect the WEAKNESS
and the desire for peace and presence
| of loved ones which precede the end
| of life. DR.. Charles asks: (Which Of
| these epistles can be considered the
| ideal love letters? There is some
thing Of the PrOmethean spark in
them all
| The eighteenth century love letters
I
| many famous persons in England,
| Germany and France. The letters OF
| Pope to the Blount sisters are full
Of extravaganza and sophlstry and
| also show the melancholy caused by
| his perpetual i'll health. He writes
| to Teresa: You are to understand,
madam. that my violent passion for
your fair self and your sister has been
divided, and with the most wonderful
, regularity in the world" Swift's let
! ters to three women, all of whom he
| made very unhappy. Miss Warlng
| (Narinal. Esther Nanhomrigh Nanes-
sau and Esther Johnson (Stella). are
| already famous for their brutallty.
| Sterne also wrote love letters TO three
different women. His letters TO Eliza
beth Lumley. who became his wire,
are very different before and after
| marriage. Before, he writes: II
would wish to steal from the world
! and live In a little sun-gtlt cottage on
| the side OF a romantic hill: after, he
| gives careful directions about the
| manufacture of Scotch snuff. Other
eighteenth century English letters IN
| cluded are some of Richard Steele,
DIR johnson to Mrs Thrale. the Duke
| Of Marlborough to his wife. Horace
| Walpole to the Misses Berry and
! George " to Mrs. FltZherbeft
| Eighteenth century Germans We're
very sentimental letter writers. Less
| ing wrote To Eva koenlg, whom ne
| afterWard married: Il love you above
! everything. and embrace YOU daily in
NV thoughts "A thousa nd times.
| Schiller. strikingly handsome. had
| many love affairs. He wrote to Lotte
! Won Lengefeld. later his wife: My
whole existence. everything that lives
| within me. everything. my most
| precious. ! devote I" YOU. Goethe
! had even more numerous and varied
! love affairs. facilitated by his theory
! inclination in spite of conventional
! trammels. Some of his letters 10
kaetchen Schoenkopf. Charlotte kest-
| ner, Frau Won Stein and thrIStIane
Eulpius are quoted.
! The French have always been con-
sidered the most artistic OF letter
writer's. Their historic love letters
. have usually been characterized by
sparl<ling wit cyniCism and super
! fiCiality Rousseau letters. as an eX-
/ ception. show ungovernahle feeling.
Noltairc never allowed love of woman.
or indeed love of anybody excepting
himself. to interfere with his self
centered obtectives." His Jtters are
as satirical and brilliant as his
epierams, Diderats letters TO his
mistress Sophie Noland. discuss the
J Ills OF the "plklHS tIdSSeS anu tii'
, rising tide Of democracy that was
I threatening royalty and aristocracy.
Other eighteenth century French let
ters mentioned and quoted are those
Of Niuon de l'Enclos, Nine. du Barry
to Louis Ky. Mile. de Lespinasse,
Nine du Deffand to Horace Walpole,
Mirabeau and Nine. Roland.
X x
In the nineteenth century. beginning
with the Napoleonic era. Gen. Bona
parte. young and unknown artillery
officer wrote amidst alarunS and
excursions love-letters to Josephine,
the charming creole. to whom he owed
his entrance into polite society" Later,
as the great Napoleon, he wrote
divorCing her and she replied hunbly,
wishing him all good fortune. Lord
Nelson wrote to Emma. Lady Hamil-
ton. just before his victory and death
I at Trafalgar. Field Marshal Bluecher
described the Battle of Leipzig in a
. letter to his wife. Queen Luise OF
Prussia wrote to her Weakwilled hus-
band. Frederick William III. urging
him not To yield 10 Napoleon anything
which would destroy his sovereign in
duced many interesting love letters In
dependence. The Romantic Age pro
: England and France. among them let
ters of Burns. Sir Walter Scott to
Charlotte Carpenter. Keats to Fanny
Brawne. Shelley To Mary Goodwin.
! Byron to Countess Guiccioli. Victor
Hugo to his wife Adele, Balzac to
, Countess Ilanska and Flaubert TO
Louise Colet. The Victorian Age is
represented by some of the letters of
the two famous literary couples, the
Brownings and the Carlyles. and let
ters of Dickens 10 his wife.
= = * :E
4 chapter on love letters of famous
| musicians includes some of Mozart s
| to Constance Weber. Beethoven'S to
his Immortal beloved" Schumann :
to Clara Week and Wagner's to Ma,
! thilde Wesendonk. Another chapter,
entitled Modern Politicians and Great
Men, includes samples of letters, writ
ten to their wives by Won Moltke. Bis
marck. Heine. Bjoernson and Tolstoi,
and letters written to women other
than their wives by Ludwig / of Ba-
varia Ito Lola Alontez). Louis Napo-
| leon. Alfred de MuSset TO George
Sandp. Nietzsche. Ibsen and Maupas-
! SAINT Uo Marie BaShkirtseff) In Bis
marck'S letters he described to his
! devoted Johanna many of the great
events of his career. such as the capt..
ulation of Sedan and the fall of Ma
| poleon III; with equal detail he often
told her what he had for dinner, and
| expressed his approval or disapproval
of 1t. The letters Of de Maupassant
to Marie Bashkirtseff are as self con-
scious and retrospective as Bismarck s
letters are robust and objective. Tol-
| stois letters to his wife are full of his
philosophy of poverty and non.resist-
ance and show plainly her lack of
| sympathy with his ideas, as in the fol-
lowing: II know that what I am here
| saving is often unbearably tireSome