io6 MORE POT-POURRI 



find a parallel in our day ; and on to this training, with her 

 hatred of worldliness and with all the enthusiasm of her 

 youthful aspirations, she had grafted an almost Method- 

 istical view of the duties of a Christian. His views, on 

 the other hand, were on all points those of an advanced 

 Liberal of the early days of John Stuart Mill. Circum- 

 stances kept them apart for four years, and at the end of 

 three, after an accidental meeting, he wrote her the 

 following letter. With all its humility, one can easily 

 see that his object was the enlightenment of a mind 

 which had been narrowed by its training : 



1 Sunday night, July 1834. 



1 Pray do not think I mean to force another letter upon 

 you. Your word is law to me, and I feel too deeply 

 obliged to you for all you have so kindly and generously 

 risked, in order to afford me the gratification of hearing 

 from you, to think of going myself or endeavouring to 

 force you one step beyond what you think right and 

 proper in this respect. I only wish to say one word upon 

 the two or three books I am venturing to send you. I 

 was delighted with your intention of continuing German, 

 because I am convinced that you will derive great 

 pleasure and benefit from your study of it. It is a 

 language which, from its power of expressing abstract 

 ideas, to say nothing of its structure and the facility 

 which exists in it of forming endless combinations of 

 words, is of a much higher order than any other 

 European language. It approaches nearest to the Greek, 

 and is no bad substitute to those who have never had 

 an opportunity of studying that language. No foreigner 

 can learn it without acquiring many new ideas and 

 rendering clearer some which he possessed before. There 

 is much, too, in the mind of the Germans as reflected in 

 their literature, the high tone of sentiment in their moral 



