A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Bremer, Frederika
BREMER, FREDERIKA,
A name that has a true feminine celebrity, because it awakens pleasant thoughts and bright hopes in the hearts of all who have read her heart, as it gushes forth from her pen, like a clear, sweet fountain in the sunshine of a summer day. We love her name, as we do those who have contributed to our happiness; and she has done this by opening new sources of innocent enjoyment, and a wider field of benevolent feeling. She has brought the dim, old, Scandinavian world, that seemed completely hidden by the cloud of fable and curtain of time, before us as with an enchanter's wand. Her little white hand has gently led us up among primeval mountains covered with eternal forests of pine, and along the banks of deep lakes, where the blue waters have slept since the creation; guiding us now to bowers of summer loveliness, where morning folds evening to her bosom with a kiss that leaves her own blushing lustre on the brow of her dusky sister; then we are set down among the snow-hills and ice-plains of the Norland winter, where the "dark night entombs the day." She has done more: she has led us "over the threshold of the Swede," introduced us into the sanctuary of their cheerful homes, made us friends with her friends; and awakened in our people an interest for the people of Sweden, which we have never felt for any nation on the continent of Europe. She has thus prepared the way for the success of another gifted daughter of Sweden, who comes like a new St. Cecilia, to make manifest the heavenly influence of song, when breathed from a pure and loving heart.
Frederika Bremer was born in Finland while it formed a portion of the Swedish kingdom; and about the time of its cession to Russia, in 1808, she was taken by her parents to Stockholm. Of these events, which were of much influence in giving her mind its peculiar tone, she has given a beautiful description in a letter to her friend and sister spirit, Mary Howitt.
The writings of Miss Bremer were first made known to the British and American public by the Howitts—William and Mary—who translated "The Neighbours," her first, and, in many respects, her most remarkable work. This was published in 1842, at New York, and soon made its way, as on the wings of the wind, through the length and breadth of both lands. Everywhere it was welcomed as a messenger bird, that brought good tidings from a far country.
While the soul of the Christian yearns over the heathen, the heart will revolt from their unspeakable pollutions;—we cannot love their homes. But nations who have the Bible are naturally brought together, the moment the barrier of language is removed. "The Neighbours" were "Our Neighbours" as soon as Mary Howitt had presented them in English. The warm welcome the work received induced the translator to bring out the other works of Miss Bremer, and in quick succession, we read "Home;" "The H. Family;" "The President's Daughters;" "Nina:" "The Strife and Peace;" "The Diary;" "Life in Delacarlia;" "The Midnight Sun;" and other shorter sketches from periodicals.
In the autumn of 1849, Miss Bremer, whose intention of visiting America had been previously announced, reached New York: she was welcomed to the hearts and homes of the American people with a warmth of affection her genius could never have inspired, had she not devoted her talents to the cause of humanity.
It is remarkable, and, in the highest degree honourable, to the delicacy of Miss Bremer's moral nature, that when she writes from her hearty everything with which she deals becomes pure and instructive. When drawing characters she must show them in the light by which, to her, human nature has been developed in Sweden; the evils apparent are in the system of government, both of church and state, not in the mind that paints their results.
In order to do justice to Miss Bremer, one should select, chiefly, such passages as display her good heart, rather than the more striking passages where her genius in the descriptive appears, or where her peculiar talent of giving to the conversations of her ideal characters a fresh racy and original flow is so graceful and charming. From such selections, the holy aspirings of her soul are apparent, and though she has already done so much for literature, her country, and her sex, yet we hope a wider vista is opening before her, and we believe she has power to reach even a higher and a holier fame. With the Bible as her rule of faith and morality, she would be more and more able to answer the prayer of the British friend of Sweden.