stage in Munich in the year 1821, and was immediately received with great enthusiasm. She afterwards abandoned the stage to devote herself to the preparing of plays. Her best efforts are "The Fair of Frankford in the year 1297;" "Hinks and the Freedman."
PFEIFFER, MADAME IDA,
Has gained for herself a celebrity as wide as her travels have extended, and this is all over the world, by her extraordinary daring and enterprise. She seems to have a mission for "going about," whether it be "to do good" we have not yet learned; but certainly the extent of her travels is altogether unparalleled, even by the most celebrated travellers of either ancient or modern times. We are told that Madame Pfeiffer is, as it were, urged on by "a passionate desire for locomotion, associated with a noble ambition, that of adding by personal enterprise to the cause of knowledge." If this be the case, we must at least accord to her the praise of a noble spirit, however much we may regret that it was not developed in some more benevolent and feminine way. Of her heroism, as far as that word can be applied to mere acts of daring and defiance of danger, no one can entertain a doubt who reach the following brief outline of her locomotive life:—
Ida Pfeiffer was born, it appears, at Vienna, at the close of the last century. She married and had children, how many we know not, but we learn that she devoted much attention to the education of her two sons, and that for awhile her life glided on tranquilly in the domestic channel. But it seems that underneath this apparent tranquility there was a secret desire for travel—a restlessness that could not be conquered. She ever entertained the hope of indulging her master passion, and therefore, although her "means were small, and home duties occupied her whole time and attention, she contrived to put by a small sum yearly, so that when the death of her husband and the establishment in life of her children set her free from domestic ties, she was in possession of the means of indulging her propensity for seeing the world. Accordingly, in 1842, she set out on her first journey, and traversed Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt, expending thus the savings of twenty years. Of this, journey she published a Diary in two volumes; this was well received, and went into a second edition; and in 1845 she set out on another trip, to Scandinavia and Iceland, of which countries on her return she published a very interesting and graphic account.
All this was but preparatory; she was, as it were, trying her wings, and finding that they answered so well, she announced her intention of travelling round the world. On the 1st. of May, 1846, being then fifty-one years of age, she left Vienna to accomplish her arduous undertaking. At Hamburg she was joined by a travelling companion, one Count Berchthold, who was somewhat advanced in years; but finding him too slow for her fiery impatience, she afterwards left him behind as a useless incumbrance. He, however, went as far as Brazil with her, and in that luxuriant country assisted her in collecting specimens of its animal and vegetable productions. On one occasion when thus engaged they were attacked by a negro armed with a knife and lasso; the travellers had only two parasols and a clasp knife between them, but this latter weapon was wielded so well by the lady, who bore
