' This person
visited the so-called Family-houses, which compose a colony of
extremest poverty. There he went into many chambers, listened to the
history of the life, still oftener to the history of the day, of the
inhabitants; informed himself of their merit and their wants, and
comes to the gloomiest results. The hard reproaches, which were made
against the Overseers of the Poor, appear unhappily only too well
founded. We have hastily sketched, with a few literal quotations,
the contents of this remarkable book of this remarkable woman, and
there remains no space further to elaborate judgment. The highflying
idealism, which the Frau von Arnim cherishes, founders and must
founder against the actuality which, as opposed to her imagination,
she holds for absolute nothing. So reality, with her, always
converts itself to spectres, whilst these dreams are to her the only
reality. In our opinion an energetic thorough experiment for the
realization of her ideas would plunge us in a deeper misery than we
at present have to deplore."
_The Huguenots in France and America_
The Huguenots is a very entertaining book, drawn from excellent
sources, rich in its topics, describing many admirable persons and
events, and supplies an old defect in our popular literature.
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