A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pichler, Caroline
PICHLER, CAROLINE,
Was born in Vienna, in 1769. This very prolific and elegant writer has left an autobiography, under the title of "Review of my Life;" from this source have been gleaned the facts which form this sketch.
Her mother was the orphan of an officer who died in the service of the Empress Maria Theresa, who took very gracious notice of of the young lady, gave her a good education, and retained her near her person as a reader, until she was very respectably and happily married to an aulick counsellor. After their marriage, their tastes being congenial, they drew round them a circle of musical and literary celebrities; and their position at court being an elevated one, their house became the centre of the best society, in every sense of the word. Caroline, from her babyhood, breathed an atmosphere of literature; she was accustomed to hear the first men in science and in politics discuss interesting subjects, and converse upon elevated topics. Among many German professors and poets whose names are less familiar to the English reader, Maffei and Metastasio may be mentioned as intimates of this family. When it became time to give their son a Latin master, the parents of Caroline were assailed by the savants who visited their house, with the assurance that the little girl must share in this advantage—they had perceived the intelligence of her mind, and were desirous of cultivating it. The discussion ended by these gentlemen offering to teach her themselves, and the most eminent men of Vienna vied with one another in awakening the intellect and training the understanding of this fortunate young lady. After studying the classic tongues, she acquired the French, Italian, and English. Even in ornamental accomplishments she enjoyed very extraordinary advantages; for the great Mozart, who visited them frequently, though he gave lessons to nobody, condescended, from friendship, to advise and improve Caroline. Her brother appears to have partaken of the family taste for literature, though his sister's superiority has alone redeemed him from oblivion. He associated himself in a literary club of young men, who amused themselves with producing a sort of miscellany, made up of political essays poems, tales, or whatever was convenient. To this Caroline contributed anonymously, and derived great benefit from the exercise in composition which it demanded. It was through this association that she became acquainted with her husband, one of its members. She was married in 1796, and lived for forty years in the enjoyment of a happy union. It was her husband who induced her to come before the public as a writer: he was proud of her abilities, and argued with her that her productions might be of service to her own sex. In 1800, she appeared in the republic of letters, and was received with much applause. Klopstock and Lavater both wrote her complimentary and encouraging letters. She describes her celebrated novel "Agathocles" to have been written after her perusal of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," the sophistry and unfairness of which, with respect to Christianity, roused her indignation, and urged her to attempt a work in which a true picture of the early Christians should be portrayed according to really authentic accounts.
The disasters which attended the house of Austria at this period affected her powerfully. Animated with feelings of loyalty and patriotism, she determined to undertake a tragedy, which should breathe the German spirit of resistance to foreign invasion. "Heinrich von Hohenstaufen" appeared in 1812. It was received with warm enthusiasm, and procured for the author the acquaintance of several literary ladies—Madame von Baumberg, Madame Weisenthurn, and some others. Madame Pichler had but one child, a daughter, to whom she was tenderly devoted, and who rewarded her maternal cares by her goodness and filial piety. Caroline Pichler died in 1843.
As some of her best works we mention her "Agathocles," "The Siege of Vienna," "Dignity of Woman," and "The Rivals." Her works recommend themselves, by warm feeling, pure morals, and well-digested thoughts, as well as by a perfect style and vivid descriptive powers. We would particularly mention "Agathocles," which is considered the most important on account of the matter its subject being the struggles of new-born Christianity against the religion of Rome and Greece.