The first fruit to ripen at the Bayreuth home was _Levana_, finished
in October, 1806, just as Napoleon was crushing the power of Prussia
at Jena. Though disconnected and unsystematic _Levana_ has been for
three generations a true yeast of pedagogical ideas, especially in
regard to the education of women and their social position in Germany.
Against the ignorance of the then existing conditions Jean Paul raised
eloquent and indignant protest. "Your teachers, your companions, even
your parents," he exclaims, "trample and crush the little flowers you
shelter and cherish. * * * Your hands are used more than your heads.
They let you play, but only with your fans. Nothing is pardoned you,
least of all a heart." What _Levana_ says of the use and abuse of
philology and about the study of history as a preparation for
political action is no less significant. Goethe, who had been reticent
of praise in regard to the novels, found in _Levana_ "the boldest
virtues without the least excess."

From the education of children for life Richter turned naturally to
the education of his fellow Germans for citizenship. It was a time of
national crisis. Already in 1805 he had published a _Little Book of
Freedom_, in protest against the censorship of books. Now to his
countrymen, oppressed by Napoleon, he addressed at intervals from 1808
to 1810, a _Peace Sermon, Twilight Thoughts for Germany_ and _After
Twilight_. Then, as the fires of Moscow heralded a new day, came
_Butterflies of the Dawn_; and when the War of Liberation was over and
the German rulers had proved false to their promises, these
"Butterflies" were expanded and transformed, in 1817, into _Political
Fast-Sermons for Germany's Martyr-Week_, in which Richter denounced
the princes for their faithlessness as boldly as he had done the
sycophants of Bonaparte.