ROCHE, MARIE SOPHIE DE LA,
A very talented German authoress, was born on the 6th. of December, 1731, at Kaufbeuren. Her father. Von Gutermann, a learned physician, educated her with great care. When she was only five, Sophie had read the Bible through. Von Gutermann removed from Kaufbenren to Augsburg, where he was appointed town-physician, and dean of the medical faculty, when his daughter was sixteen. Here she had a better opportunity to cultivate her mind, in which attempt she received great assistance from Dr. Biancani, of Bologna, physician to the prime bishop of Augsburg. He became very much attached to, and wished to marry her; but the father of Sophie opposed the match, on account of the difference of religious opinions, Biancani being a Roman Catholic and Von Gutermann a Lutheran. This disappointment so affected Sophie, that she wished to enter a convent, but was prevented by her father. From this time she devoted herself to study and reading, and soon after, with her two sisters and her brother, she went to Riberach, to reside with her grandfather, a senator in that city. After his death, she removed to the house of Wieland, a relation of hers, then curate of St. Maria Magdalena, but afterwards senior of the ministry.
Here Sophie became acquainted with young Wieland, who drew her attention to German literature. A strong attachment sprung up between them, and they became engaged. He went to Switzerland, to obtain some employment that might enable them to marry, and was obliged to remain there eight years. During this long absence, misunderstandings, arising from the noblest motives, estranged them; and when, in 1760, Wieland returned to Riberach to assume his new office of counsellor, he found Sophie the wife of M. de la Roche, counsellor of state, in Maine, and superintendent of the estates of Count Stadion. The friendship of Wieland and Sophie was resumed, and continued uninterrupted till their death, a period of more than fifty years. She also continued her studies with unabated zeal.
La Roche, after the death of Count Stadion, removed to Coblentz, where he lived for ten years as counsellor of state. From some unknown cause, perhaps some letters on monkery, of which La Roche was said to be the author, he fell into disgrace; and from that time they lived a very retired life, first at Speier, afterwards at Offenbach, where M. de la Roche died, in 1789. In 1791, Madame de la Roche lost a son, Francis, whose death caused her the deepest sorrow. She herself survived till 1807.
Sophie was a tender and affectionate wife and mother, and a warm philanthropist. She wrote a number of works, which showed her to be a woman of intellect, knowledge, and experience. Her favourite studies were philosophy and the abstruse sciences. In writing, however, she succeeded best in romances, in which she showed great powers of imagination and knowledge of the human heart. Her principal works are, "History of the Lady of Sternberg," to which Wieland wrote a preface; "Letters of Rosalie," "My Writing-Desk," "Pomona," "Rosalie and Cleeberg," "Letters to Lina." "Letters on Mannheim," "History of Miss Leni," "Apparitions on Lake Oneida," "Moral Stories," "New Stories," "Fanny and Julia," "The Bcautiful Picture of Resignation," "Love Cottages,"
