e
devoted herself to the Talmud and the Zohar--a remarkable course of
study, pursued, too, in despite of adverse circumstances. At the same
time she was taught the turner's art by Luzzatto's father, and later she
learned tailoring. One of her poems having been published without her
knowledge, she gives vent to her regret in a sonnet:

"My soul surcharged with grief now loud complains,
And fears upon my spirit heavily weigh.
'Thy poem we have heard,' the people say,
'Who like to thee can sing melodious strains?'
'They're naught but sparks,' outspeaks my soul in chains,
'Struck from my life by torture every day.
But now all perfume's fled--no more my lay
Shall rise; for, fear of shame my song restrains.'
A woman's fancies lightly roam, and weave
Themselves into a fairy web. Should I
Refrain? Ah! soon enough this pleasure, too,
Will flee! Verily I cannot conceive
Why I'm extolled. For woman 'tis to ply
The spinning wheel--then to herself she's true."

This painful self-consciousness, coupled with the oppression of material
cares, forms the sad refrain of Rachel Morpurgo's writings. She is a
true poetess: the woes of humanity are reflected in her own sorrows, to
which she gave utterance in soulful tones. She, too, became an exemplar
for a number of young women. A Pole, Yenta Wohllerner, like Rachel
Morpurgo, had to propitiate churlish circumstances before she could
publish the gifts of her muse, and Miriam Mosessohn, Bertha Rabbinowicz,
and others, emulated her masterly handling of the Hebrew language.

The opening of the new era was marked by the appearance of a triad of
Jewesses--Grace Aguilar in England, Rachel Morpurgo in Italy, and
Henriette Ottenheimer in Germany. A native of the blessed land of
Suabia, Henriette Ottenheimer was consecrated to poetry by intercourse
with two masters of song--Uhland and Rueckert. Her poems, fragrant
blossoms plucked on Suabian fields, for the most part are no more than
sweet womanly lyrics, growing strong with the force of enthusiasm only
when she dwells upon her people's sacred mission and the heroes of Bible
days.

Women like these renew the olden fame of the Jewess, and add
achievements to her brilliant record. As for their successors and
imitators, our contemporaries, whose literary productions are before us,
on them we may not yet pass judgment; their work is still on probation.

One striking circu