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Goethe born, August 28, 1749; his grandfather and grandmother; his father, Johann Kaspar Goethe; his mother; his sister Cornelia; a child of an imaginative temperament; his grandmother's last Christmas gift; his father's house rebuilt; his knowledge of Frankfort; the Council-house; education; Klopstock's "Messiah"; folk-books; the Seven Years' War; Count Thorane and Goethe; lessons interrupted and renewed; early religious ideas; his first love; in 1765 leaves Frankfort to study at the university of Leipsic 11

Goethe at Leipsic; nominal studies at the university; dejection, and recovery of his usual good spirits; his love for Annette Sch?nkopf; forms many friendships; takes lessons in art from Oeser and Stock; goes to Dresden to study the picture gallery; reads Dodd's "Beauties of Shakespeare"; influenced by Wieland, Lessing, and Winckelmann; writes "Die Laune des Verliebten" and "Die Mitschuldigen"; early lyrics; illness; partial recovery; returns to Frankfort in August, 1768; renewed illness; influenced by Fr?ulein von Klettenberg; sees General Paoli; Annette Sch?nkopf married; in April, 1770, goes to Strasburg to attend the university; feels at home in Strasburg; Salzmann; Jung Stilling; sees Marie Antoinette; impressed by antiquities at Neiderbronn; meets Herder; Herder's character; the movement of thought in Europe; Herder's influence on Goethe; Goethe and Frederika Brion; returns to Frankfort in August, 1771; his poetic genius awakened by love 24

Goethe takes the oath as an advocate and citizen of Frankfort; holds a Shakespeare festival; reads the autobiography of Goetz von Berlichingen; writes the drama, "Geschichte Gottfriedens von Berlichingen"; his friendship with Merck; writes criticism for the "Frankfurter Gelehrten Anzeigen"; the "Wanderers Sturmlied" and the "Wanderer"; in May, 1772, goes to practise at the imperial chamber at Wetzlar; his love for Charlotte Buff; saves himself by flight from Wetzlar; visits Frau von Laroche; returns to Frankfort in September, 1772; recasts his drama about Goetz von Berlichingen; defects and great qualities of "Goetz"; "Goetz" published in summer of 1773; enthusiastically received; Goethe's depression, and its causes; Maximiliane Brentano; origin of "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers"; the story of "Werther"; its relation to the dominant mood of the age, and to Goethe's own experience; character of Lotte and Albert; style of "Werther"; descriptions of nature; profound impression produced by the book; its effect on the mind of Lotte's husband; Nicolai's parody of "Werther," and Goethe's response; "Clavigo"; "Stella"; "Erwin und Elmire," and "Claudine von Villa Bella"; "G?tter, Helden, and Wieland"; poetic fragments 47

Goethe begins to write "Faust"; the work in its earliest form; the character of Faust; the story of Gretchen; Mephistopheles; Goethe expresses in the original "Faust" his own mood and one of the moods of his age; his study of Spinoza's "Ethics"; Lavater; Basedow; Johanna Fahlmer; his friendship with Frederick Jacobi; the Counts Stolberg; Goethe's engagement with Lili Sch?nemann; the engagement broken off; poems occasioned by his love for Lili; meets the Hereditary Prince of Weimar; the Prince becomes Duke; Goethe invited to Weimar; arrives there on November 7, 1775; a new home 72

Weimar; Goethe's relations to the Duke, the Duchess, and the Duchess Dowager; Wieland; Herder settles at Weimar; the Duke proposes that Goethe shall enter the public service; opposition of Goethe's father; Goethe becomes a member of the Privy Council; his friendship with Frau von Stein; Corona Schr?ter; his self-discipline; his public duties; the earnestness with which he discharges them; change of manner as well as of character; visits Switzerland, and sees Frederika Brion and Lili on the way; death of his father in 1782; is made "Geheimerath" and President of the Chamber of Finance; ennobled; visits the Harz Mountains; devotes himself to the study of science; discovers the intermaxillary bone in the human jaw; his doctrine of types in organic nature; "Iphigenie" in prose; change in the methods of his art as a dramatist; "Wilhelm Meister" begun; "Torquato Tasso"; minor plays and poems; the literary movement in Germany; longing for Italy; starts for Italy in September, 1786; edition of his collected writings 86

Delight in Italy; the "Italienische Reise"; journey to Rome; arrives in Rome, October 29, 1786; attempts to think himself back into the Rome of ancient times; his study of ancient art; the art of the Renascence; St. Peter's; friends in Rome; thinks of becoming an artist; re-writes "Iphigenie" in verse; visits Naples; Sicily; second residence in Rome; completes "Egmont"; works at "Faust"; leaves Rome on April 21, 1788, and arrives at Weimar on June 18th 106

Benefit derived from his sojourn in Italy; relieved of most of his ministerial duties; change in his relations to Frau von Stein; his informal marriage with Christiane Vulpius; character of Christiane; relations with Frau von Stein broken off; "R?mische Elegien"; his new ideal in dramatic art; "Egmont"; "Iphigenie"; "Torquato Tasso"; "Faust: A Fragment," published in 1790; his discovery of the metamorphosis of plants; visits Venice in 1790; his son August; his discovery of the true constitution of the skull; his opposition to Newton's theory of colours; becomes director of the Weimar Court Theatre; receives from the Duke the house in which he spends the rest of his life; the outbreak of the French Revolution; Goethe's position with regard to it; "Gross-Cophta"; "Die Aufgeregten"; accompanies the Duke during the campaign in Champagne; "Reineke Fuchs"; joins the Duke before Mainz; returns to Weimar 116

The battle of Jena; Weimar plundered by the French; Goethe's life saved through Christiane's presence of mind; his helpfulness in a time of public trial; his formal marriage with Christiane; his son August; Johanna Schopenhauer; Bettina von Arnim; death of his mother in 1808; his interviews with Napoleon; new edition of Goethe's writings; First Part of "Faust" published in 1808; change in his conception of the work as a whole; reception of the First Part by the public; "Die Wahlverwandtschaften"; "Aus Meinem Leben"; "West-Oestlicher Divan"; the War of Liberation; Goethe's feeling about it; the Duke of Weimar is made a Grand Duke, and Goethe becomes First Minister of State in 1815; death of his wife on June 6, 1816 156

Marriage of August Goethe with Ottilie von Pogwisch; Goethe gives up the directorate of the Weimar Theatre; Wilhelmine Herzlieb; Marianne von Willemer; Ulrica von Levezow; celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Grand Duke's accession; and of the fiftieth anniversary of Goethe's arrival at Weimar; death of the Grand Duke, 1828; of the Grand Duchess, 1830; of Goethe's son August, 1830; Eckermann; his "Conversations with Goethe"; Heine visits Goethe; gift from English admirers; Goethe's feeling as to social problems; "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre"; "Kunst und Alterthum"; his letters, and the character they reveal; the Second Part of "Faust"; his death, March 22, 1832; general view of his work. 170

INDEX 189

NOTE.

The best sources of information about Goethe are his own works and letters. It would be ungrateful, however, not to acknowledge the service which has been rendered to students of his character and genius by various German scholars. Among the writers whose researches I myself have found helpful, I may name Heinrich D?ntzer, Herman Grimm, Karl Biedermann, and Erich Schmidt.

J. S.

LIFE OF GOETHE

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main on the 28th of August, 1749.

His grandfather, Frederick George Goethe, who sprang from a family belonging to the working class, and was himself a tailor, made his way, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, from Artern on the Unstrut to Frankfort. Here he settled, and, early in the eighteenth century, took as his second wife a handsome widow of thirty-seven, Cornelia Schelhorn, the owner of the inn, "Zum Weidenhof." Frederick George is said to have been a man of pleasant manners and a skilful musician. His second wife was in every way worthy of him, an energetic and kindly woman, with all the gracious qualities evoked in generous natures by prosperous circumstances. They had three children, of whom Johann Kaspar, Goethe's father, born on the 27th of July, 1710, was the youngest.

On the 20th of July, 1748, when he had reached the mature age of thirty-eight, he married Catharine Elizabeth, the daughter of Johann Wolfgang Textor, the chief magistrate of Frankfort, grandson of an eminent jurist of the same name who received the office of first syndic of Frankfort in 1690. Catharine Elizabeth was only seventeen years old at the time of her marriage. She was bright and pretty, fond of music and poetry, and remarkable for her power of inventing the kind of tales that fascinate children. Her new home was in the house of her mother-in-law, with whom she was able to live on the most friendly terms. Her husband loved her warmly, and, although she made no profession of romantic attachment to him, she responded to his feeling with sincere affection and respect.

Goethe was their first-born child, and after him came his sister Cornelia, who was fifteen months younger than he. There were several other children, but none of them lived long enough to influence Goethe. To his sister he was devoted, and, as years passed on, there were few things in the world so precious to him as her love and sympathy. She was of a thoughtful temper, loyal and affectionate, and in her brother's youth no one had half so much control over his restless and fiery spirit.

Like his mother, Goethe had brown hair and dark, lustrous eyes, the penetrating glance of which, from childhood to old age, never failed to impress those who met him. He was a vigorous and active child, and at an early age gave evidence of a highly imaginative temperament. His grandmother's house consisted of two old houses joined in one, and the thought of its dark passages and corners often filled him with dismay in the night-time, and made sleep impossible. From a room in the back part of the house, where the children were allowed to play in the summer, there was a charming view, with wide gardens in the foreground, and, beyond the city walls, a fertile valley stretching towards H?chst. Goethe himself has described how he used to sit at the window of this room and watch thunderstorms and sunsets, and how the spectacle of nature, combined with the sight of children playing in the gardens and the sound of balls rolling and ninepins falling, often filled him with a feeling of solitude and a vague sense of longing.

The children spent much time with their old grandmother, who loved them dearly. On the Christmas before her death she delighted them by providing a puppet-show setting forth the story of David and Goliath. This puppet-show made a great impression on Goethe, and afterwards he was permitted to find out the secret of its working and to dress up the figures for new representations.

When Goethe was in his sixth year, his grandmother died; and soon afterwards his father carried out a plan he had long cherished, that of rebuilding the house to suit the wants of his family. The work was carefully superintended by the elder Goethe himself, and the house was transformed to a handsome, convenient dwelling, with well-lighted rooms tastefully decorated. He had an excellent collection of books, and they were now properly arranged in his study. His pictures, most of which were by Frankfort artists, were also brought together in a room fitted up for their reception, and the walls of the passages were adorned with maps and engravings. He had brought back with him from Italy many fine specimens of Venetian glass, bronzes, ancient weapons, and other artistic objects. In the new house these treasures were put in cabinets, and no pains were spared to secure that they should be effectively displayed. A room on the top floor, looking out upon the street, was set apart for Goethe.

During the latter part of the time when the house was being rebuilt, Goethe and his sister were sent to live with relatives, and it was during this period that he began to have some knowledge of his native place. As the town in which the Emperors were elected and crowned, Frankfort held a position of high honour among the free imperial cities of Germany. Within its old walls and gates it still retained, in its architecture and customs, many traces of the troubled, picturesque life of the Middle Ages. Even in childhood Goethe delighted to walk about its quaint streets, and afterwards he made himself familiar with every link that was known to connect the town with the events of past times. He liked to see the gilt weathercock on the bridge of the Main gleam in the sunshine, and to watch the arrival of boats laden with goods for the market. On market-days there was always a bustling, lively crowd on the space around St. Bartholomew's church, and Goethe found it a source of endless amusement to push his way among the throng and to note the odd humours of buyers and sellers. In later years he had an especially vivid recollection of the spring and autumn fairs, when the town was full of visitors, and serious business was associated with all sorts of noisy popular entertainments.

Much thought and care were devoted by the elder Goethe to the education of his children. He himself took the work in hand, but for special subjects he called in the aid of private tutors, from whom Goethe and his sister received lessons in association with the children of some neighbouring families. Goethe's father and tutors were astonished at the ease and rapidity with which he mastered the most difficult tasks. Nothing seemed to be too hard for him. It was often, however, in childhood, a relief to escape from his father's rigid discipline, and to enjoy a little talk with his mother, who was always ready to feed his imagination with tales of adventure in fairyland. He contrived, too, to read a good many books--among others, German translations of "Robinson Crusoe," and Lord Anson's "Voyage Round the World." Among his father's books were the works of Fleming, Canitz, Haller, Hagedorn, Gellert, and other German poets, and he found much in them to awaken and foster his love of poetry. Klopstock's "Messiah," the first three cantos of which had been published the year before Goethe's birth, was not thought to be good enough for a place in a select library, for Goethe's father, like many another critic of the eighteenth century, held that rhyme was essential to poetry. Goethe and his sister were delighted to receive secretly the loan of a copy from an old friend of the family who regularly read it, as a pious exercise, once a year in Passion Week. They learned by heart some of the most striking passages, which they often recited to one another. One Saturday evening, when their father was being shaved, they sat behind the stove, and repeated in whispers a wild dialogue between Satan and Adramelech. Cornelia became more and more excited as the dialogue went on, and at last, forgetting her father's presence, she uttered in a loud voice the words, "How am I crushed!" The barber was so startled that the contents of the lather-basin were dashed on the Herr Rath's breast. Strict inquiry was made, and Klopstock's epic was at once ignominiously banished from the house.

Of greater influence on Goethe than any of the more formal works he read at this early stage, were the badly-printed folk-books, which he bought in great numbers. They suggested to him many a strange and romantic tale, and it may have been one of them that introduced him for the first time to the story of Faust.

About the time of his seventh birthday, the civilized world was stirred to its depths by the outbreak of the Seven Years' War. Goethe's maternal grandfather, Textor, sided with the Austrians. His father, on the contrary, was an enthusiastic adherent of Frederick the Great, and would not listen to a word against his hero. This difference of opinion led to serious family quarrels, and Goethe, who, of course, took his father's view, was astonished to hear the language used about the great Prussian king by his grandfather, for whose sayings he had always had unbounded reverence. Rather more than two years after the beginning of the struggle, the people of Frankfort were made to realize with painful vividness some of the more disagreeable aspects of war, for by an act of treachery on the part of the civic authorities, the French, the allies of Austria, were allowed to station a body of troops in the city. To the horror of Goethe's father, he was told that he would have to receive into his house a French officer called Thorane, for whom it was necessary to provide good quarters. In vain the indignant councillor protested against this arrangement. The decision was final, and he had nothing for it but to give up to the intruder the rooms on his first floor, which he had decorated and furnished at so great a cost, and with so much care. Count Thorane was a cultivated gentleman, with all the courtesy of his class; and he was anxious to cause as little annoyance as possible to his host. He could not, however, prevent the coming and going of many persons who had to see him on military business, and the result was that the most orderly household in Frankfort was thrown into dire confusion. This was aggravated by the fact that Thorane, who was much pleased with some of Dr. Goethe's pictures, invited various artists to the house to execute a large number of commissions for him, and Goethe's room had to be given up to them as a studio. Frau Goethe, whose cheerfulness was not easily quenched, made the best of unpleasant circumstances, and tried to mitigate some of the inconveniences of her position by learning French; but her husband was irreconcilable, and became more and more embittered against the French in general, and against Count Thorane in particular.

Goethe, although sorry for his father, was delighted on his own account by the new turn of affairs. The monotony of life was broken by a great excitement, and every day brought with it some fresh and unexpected pleasure. His frankness, brightness, and geniality won Thorane's heart, and they became excellent friends. Goethe was especially interested in the proceedings of the artists who had taken possession of his room, and with their aid he began with zeal to practise drawing, in which he acquired considerable skill. He learned to speak French fluently, and was charmed to have an opportunity of hearing French plays, many of which were now acted in Frankfort. Thus, at a most impressionable age, he passed under a wholly new and stimulating set of influences, and it was the recollection of these influences that made it impossible for him, long afterwards, to join the majority of his countrymen in vague and indiscriminate abuse of the great French people, to whose civilization he owed some of the best impulses of his life.

In 1761, after more than two years of almost constant irritation, Goethe's father got rid of his troublesome guest, but the French did not quit Frankfort until the end of the following year, when the Seven Years' War was about to close. Goethe's father celebrated the conclusion of the Treaty of Hubertusburg by presenting his wife with a gold snuff-box, on the lid of which, set with diamonds, was an allegorical picture of Peace. Goethe had often to go to the goldsmith to urge him to make progress with this piece of work, and he took full advantage of the chance of having long talks with a craftsman who had much to tell him that was full of interest. This was thoroughly characteristic of Goethe, who found almost any subject attractive when he could get information about it from some one practically familiar with its details.

Lessons had been sadly interrupted during Thorane's stay in the house. After his departure they were resumed with double vigour. Goethe had already a good knowledge of Latin, Italian, and French, and some knowledge of Greek. To these languages he now added English, and he also made considerable progress in Hebrew. For the exercises he had to write for his father he often chose the form of dialogue; and one elaborate exercise he designed as a series of letters, the various correspondents writing from different parts of the world and in different languages. It was in connection with these letters that he began the study of Hebrew, as one of the correspondents wrote in Jew-German, for a thorough mastery of which a knowledge of Hebrew seemed to be necessary.

In his twelfth year Goethe was confirmed. Even before this time he had had, in a childlike way, many a serious reflection about the supreme subjects of human thought and interest. The earthquake at Lisbon in 1755 had led him, child as he was, to ask how such disasters were to be reconciled with God's infinite love. Shortly afterwards he took to his room a red lacquered music-stand, which he used as an altar, piling on it various objects representative of nature, and placing on the top a fine porcelain dish, in which were some pastiles that emitted, in burning, a sweet fragrance. These pastiles he lighted by means of a burning-glass which caught the rays of the rising sun; and so he sought to express reverence for aspects of the Divine essence which, he thought, were not sufficiently recognized in the ordinary religious services. He was a great reader of the Bible, and was especially attracted by the early chapters of the Book of Genesis, which transported him into an ideal world full of grave and strangely picturesque figures. The tales of this part of the Bible acquired for him, of course, fresh significance and beauty, when he was able to read them in the original Hebrew.

Goethe had made the acquaintance of Gretchen through some comrades of his, with whom he would certainly not have been allowed to consort had his father known of his association with them. One of them, with Goethe's aid, secured employment in a public office; and in this position he was guilty of some offence which exposed him to severe penalties. When the affair came to be investigated, Goethe's name was mentioned in connection with it, and to his dismay, on the morning after the coronation, he had to make a clean breast of all that had been going on, including the story of his love for Gretchen. This put an end to his first romance, and for days he remained in his room, overwhelmed with grief and shame.

His, however, was too elastic a spirit to be long incapable of rebound. A friend in whom he had confidence came to his help, and with this wise counsellor he turned from thoughts of love to the study of ancient philosophy. The two together took long walks in the surrounding country, where Goethe drew sketches of scenery, which had the good fortune to please his father. And so his wounded pride and affection were quickly healed, although the incident had made so deep an impression upon him that half a century afterwards, when he wrote his autobiography, he could not recall it without a certain bitterness.

He was now a handsome and vigorous youth, with comparatively wide intellectual interests; and his good looks, high spirits, and lively talk made him a universal favourite. His childhood and boyhood had been as happy as those of any great poet have ever been, and all the circumstances of his life had been favourable to natural mental growth. He had given ample evidence of quick perception, eager curiosity, and a remarkable power of penetrating to the secrets of subjects that interested him; and his great creative faculty had at least made preliminary efforts to reveal itself. Even in early boyhood he had so large a share of his mother's gift of story-telling that groups of companions delighted to gather around him to hear his entrancing tales. He had also written many verses, the themes chosen for two of his more ambitious productions being Christ's descent into hell and the story of Joseph and his brethren. Just before he quitted Frankfort he almost completed "Belshazzar," a tragedy written in imitation of Klopstock's "Solomon." In composing this tragedy he was stimulated by a wish for the approval of some unknown beauty, whose sway over him had succeeded that of Gretchen. Never, perhaps, was there a poet more susceptible than Goethe to feminine influence, and the thorough comprehension of this deeply significant fact is essential to any true appreciation of his genius and character.

At Leipsic Goethe settled in two pleasant rooms in a house near the university, overlooking a court through which people were constantly passing to and fro. He happened to arrive at the time of the autumn fair, and he had an opportunity of seeing many foreigners whose appearance interested him. Leipsic, which, as the centre of the book trade, was relatively more important then than it is now, made a most agreeable impression on him, and he looked forward with delight to the years he was to spend there. He was especially charmed with the free and pleasant manners of the people, which presented a striking contrast to the somewhat formal and rigid rules of social intercourse at Frankfort.

A few days after his arrival he was admitted a student at the university. He was obliged to join some law classes, but he also heard lectures by Ernesti on Cicero's "De Oratore," and by Gellert on rhetoric and German literature. At first he attended his classes with exemplary diligence, but he soon made up his mind that they could not be of much service to him. The professors of law had little to say that he had not already learned at Frankfort, or that he could not readily master without their aid. Gellert's lectures seemed to him pedantic and commonplace, and even Ernesti, a scholar of high distinction, did not help him to penetrate to the spirit, or to feel more deeply the charm, of Latin literature. During the whole time of his residence at Leipsic he continued, of course, to attend the university, but his relation to it was more nominal than real, and exercised little influence on his intellectual development.

He was received in a friendly way by B?hme, the professor of history, whose wife, a cultivated and pleasant woman, liked to talk with him. She offended him a little, however, by laughing rather too freely at some of his Frankfort modes of expression, and by disparaging the writings of his favourite poets. Every day he dined at the house of one of the medical professors, where he met chiefly students of medicine and natural science. When the novelty of his position at Leipsic wore off, he began to miss the pleasures to which he had been accustomed at home, and, above all, he longed for some friend to whom he might confide his inmost thoughts and aspirations. Gradually he fell into a dejected and forlorn state of mind, and so keenly did he suffer that in the spring of 1766 one of his Frankfort friends, Horn, who came to study law at Leipsic, could not find in him a trace of his old liveliness and good humour. The presence of Horn, who remained for some years one of his most intimate comrades, did much to revive Goethe; and soon afterwards the process was completed by another friend, Schlosser, who took Leipsic on his way from Frankfort to Treptow, where he was to act as private secretary to Duke Frederick Eugene of W?rtemberg. Schlosser, who ultimately married Goethe's sister, was a man of vigorous and independent character, somewhat stern in manner, but essentially kind and sympathetic, and he quickly succeeded in restoring Goethe to all his former cheerfulness and self-confidence.

Schlosser put up at the house of a vintner called Sch?nkopf, who, his wife having come from Frankfort, always welcomed visitors from her native place. Goethe was so much pleased with the company at Sch?nkopf's table that he determined to dine and sup there daily, and this resolution he acted upon during the remainder of his time at Leipsic. Sch?nkopf had a pretty, coquettish daughter, Anne Catharine, and, needless to say, she no sooner saw the susceptible Goethe than she made a conquest of him. Like Gretchen, she was his senior by two or three years, but that, he felt, only made her the more worthy to be loved. Annette, as he usually called her, accepted his devotion with pleasure, and was sincerely fond of him; but, having a shrewd suspicion that she could never be his wife, she gave him no marks of favour that she was not equally ready to give to other admirers. Many a time Goethe was thrown into a fever of jealousy by her kindness to his rivals, but she had only to smile on him to exalt him to a heaven of enchantment and delight. Upon the whole, his relation to Annette, which went on for years, seems to have brought him more misery than happiness. It was impossible for him to claim her love as exclusively his own, yet he could not bear to think of it as a treasure that might pass into the possession of some one else.

He had not the good fortune to meet at Sch?nkopf's any one who could be of vital intellectual service to him, but he enjoyed familiar intercourse there with many agreeable people--among others, Behrisch, a scholar who acted as tutor to a young Count. Goethe liked him as a loyal friend and intelligent critic. Gradually Goethe extended the circle of his acquaintance, until he had almost as many friends in Leipsic as in Frankfort. It was especially pleasant for him to visit at the house of Breitkopf, a printer, who had two sons about Goethe's own age, one of them an admirable pianist and clever composer. Goethe was often present at musical parties in this hospitable house, and he himself took part in them, for he could not only sing, but play the flute. Afterwards he acquired some skill as a player on the cello.

Oeser was not his only instructor in art. Stock, the engraver, lived with his wife and two young daughters , at the top of the house in which was the home of the Breitkopfs. From him Goethe took lessons in etching, at which he worked with great enthusiasm and perseverance. He also amused himself by carving boards for bookbinding. There seemed to be hardly any limit to Goethe's activity. Even he could not hope to excel in all his many undertakings, but in everything he tried he gained enough of insight to enable him to distinguish sharply between good products and bad, and to appreciate and enjoy those wrought on true and enduring principles.

All good pictures accessible at Leipsic he made himself familiar with, and in 1767 he took a short holiday for the purpose of studying the picture gallery at Dresden. He stayed at the house of a worthy, humorous shoemaker, with whom he had much friendly talk. At the gallery the pictures of all the great schools interested him, but those of the Dutch school, from their fidelity to fact, appealed to him most strongly. Day after day he resumed his study of the masterpieces he loved, and so deeply did they influence his mind that, when he returned to the actual world, he could not help seeing things as if they formed part of a picture. His friend, the shoemaker, seemed to him like a figure that had stepped out of a canvas by Ostade.

Powerfully as Goethe was fascinated by art, literature remained the real mistress of his affections. The Latin classics he read with growing pleasure, but he also constantly felt around him for new impressions and impulses, and by a kind of happy instinct he was led to the writers who were best fitted to nourish his genius. At Frankfort he had read Wieland's translation of Shakespeare, and now Dodd's "Beauties of Shakespeare" came in his way. His study of this selection did not yet disclose to him Shakespeare's real significance, but it prepared him for deeper comprehension at a later stage. Wieland, having left far behind him the Pietistic fervour with which he began his career, was now tricking out in all sorts of forms, both of verse and prose, his easy Epicurean philosophy. Goethe read eagerly every one of his later writings; and, so far as style was concerned, he learned much from Wieland, who, with all his faults, knew how to present his ideas, such as they were, with lightness, delicacy, and grace. In 1766 Lessing's "Laocoon" was published, and Goethe has described with what delight he and all the younger men of his day received this masterpiece of a great and serious spirit. As if by a flash of lightning, it revealed the broad lines of distinction that separate the arts from one another. It showed, too, that it is only by keeping strictly within its natural limits that each art can attain its highest objects, and that of all the arts poetry is necessarily the deepest, the most far-reaching, and the grandest. All this was new to Goethe, and spurred him to think out for himself the fundamental problems of critical thought. Not less enthusiastically did he welcome Lessing's "Minna von Barnhelm," which still remains the most exquisitely finished play of its kind in the German language. It impressed Goethe, because Lessing, unlike other German dramatists, had selected his motives directly from the life of his own time, but had conceived them with an imaginative force and subtlety that made them perennially interesting. In the spring of 1768 Lessing spent a month at Leipsic, but unfortunately Goethe did not see him. About the same time Goethe was shocked by the tidings of the murder of Winckelmann, for whom he had the deepest reverence, and whose writings on ancient art must be counted among the most potent of the influences that enriched and developed his intellectual life.

From the beginning of his residence at Leipsic Goethe was a constant attendant at the play, and he sometimes acted--always with considerable success in comic parts--in private theatricals at Sch?nkopf's house. Thinking so much as he did about the drama, he could not but try his hand at dramatic composition; and in the winter of 1767-68 he produced two plays--"Die Laune des Verliebten" and "Die Mitschuldigen" . The former is essentially a presentation of his own experiences in his relation to Annette Sch?nkopf. The latter contains an unpleasant picture of facts akin to those which were forced on his attention at Frankfort in connection with the incident that led to his separation from Gretchen. Both are written in rhymed alexandrines, and show that Goethe, like most of his contemporaries, still looked for his models to the French classic drama.

At Leipsic Goethe was known as a young poet much given to biting satire. In his autobiography he gives an account of a visit he paid to Gottsched, who had at one time been in some sort the literary dictator of Germany; and from this amusing narrative we can see with what mocking humour he waited on the old pedant, who found it so hard to realize that his day was past. Clodius, who prided himself on his dignified style, Goethe enraged by producing parodies of his pompous verses. At heart, however, Goethe was too generous to care a great deal about work of this sort; what he liked infinitely better was to give direct poetical expression to his own thoughts and feelings. This he did at Leipsic in a considerable number of lyrics, some of which were set to music by the elder of the two brothers Breitkopf. These lyrics lack the perfect rhythm, the indefinable charm of his later work in this kind, but they have vigour and a certain grace, and show at least something of what ultimately became his astonishing mastery of apt and picturesque diction.

In 1767 Goethe introduced to the Sch?nkopfs a friend of his, Kanne, a Saxon advocate. Kanne was charmed with Annette, and Goethe was thrown into the depths of despair by seeing that she was not disinclined to respond to his advances. In vain he tried to still his agitation by flying to nature for consolation, and by writing satirical verses on the untrustworthiness of young maidens. He became thoroughly wretched, and his unhappiness, associated with various other causes, among which he himself afterwards included some irregularities in his mode of living, made him seriously ill. At last, one night in July, 1768, he had a severe attack of hemorrhage, and a doctor had to be hastily summoned. For some time it was feared that he might be suffering from disease of the lungs. During his illness he was tenderly cared for by his friends, and when convalescent he was cheered by the bright, wholesome talk of his friend Frederika Oeser, who, when he visited her in the country, laughed at the ridiculous notion of a young fellow thinking of dying of consumption. The process of recovery, however, was slow, and finally he decided to return to Frankfort, and to set off on his birthday, a day which he regarded as a lucky one for the beginning of important undertakings. On the 26th of August he called at the Sch?nkopfs, and bade adieu to Annette, who agreed to let him write to her once a month. It filled him with sadness to think that this might be their last parting, and on the following evening--he was to leave next day--he could not resist the impulse to go once more to her home. He saw the lamps burning, and hovered about the door-steps, but had not courage to enter.

At Frankfort the invalid was received with infinite sympathy by his mother and sister; and his father, seeing him pale and thin, concealed the bitterness he felt at the disappointment of the hopes that had been so warmly cherished. Goethe was happy to be at home again, amused himself by drawing and etching, sent little gifts to Annette, and wrote in good spirits to Oeser and some of his other Leipsic friends. But before the end of the year he was again prostrated, suffering this time from a different malady. His agonies were frightful, and his mother, driven to despair, took the Bible, and resolved to be guided by the first words on which her eyes should happen to light. Fortunately she came upon the words of Jeremiah, "Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria." She was at once relieved, and ever afterwards this was her favourite "promise." Goethe quickly recovered, but early in 1769 he had another illness, by which he was confined to his room for a month. It became evident that his constitution had been rudely shaken, and that only time and vigilance could restore him to full strength.

Among his mother's most intimate friends was a certain Fr?ulein von Klettenberg, who belonged to the church of the Moravian Brethren. With a noble purity and dignity of character she combined a deep mystic piety. During Goethe's illness Fr?ulein von Klettenberg, who showed him great kindness, gained a strong influence over his mind; and there are many indications that at this time he thought often and most earnestly on the profoundest questions relating to human life and destiny. He even worked out for himself an elaborate theological system, in which a place was found for the Trinity, Lucifer, the Elohim, Man, and for the Fall and Redemption. These speculations were connected with the study of alchemy, to which he was led by his doctor, who, like Fr?ulein von Klettenberg, was one of the Moravian Brethren. Goethe not only made many experiments in accordance with the rules of alchemy, but read all the old books on this subject on which he could lay his hands.

In the autumn of 1769 he received from Leipsic a volume consisting of some of his lyrics, with the melodies to which they had been set by Breitkopf. The volume gave him little pleasure, for he was now occupied with other interests. He was more deeply stirred by a glimpse he had of General Paoli, who passed through Frankfort on his way to England. Paoli's noble and romantic career had kindled Goethe's enthusiasm, as it had kindled that of Boswell, and, mainly through Boswell, that of Johnson and all the other members of the brilliant literary set with whom the Corsican hero was soon to be on pleasant terms in London.

Meanwhile, Goethe had learned that Annette had been betrothed to his friend Kanne. He was struck with dismay by this intelligence, and could not help hoping that something might at the last moment prevent their union, and that he himself might be able to take his friend's place. Annette, however, did not share his wishes, and by and by both the joy and the torment that had so often been evoked by his love for her were for ever dispelled by her marriage.

Goethe's father was most anxious that his study of law should as soon as possible be resumed. Accordingly, in April, 1770, having spent about a year and a half at home, he started for Strasburg, where, for various reasons, it had been decided that he should take his degree. He was now in his twenty-first year. He had not been restored to perfect health, but he was strong enough for the work that lay before him, and he had no longer any fear that he had been stricken by a mortal malady.

Alsace, although a province of the French monarchy, was still essentially German. Not until the time of the Revolution did the people cease to think of themselves as Germans, and begin to be proud of their connection with France. In entering Strasburg, therefore, Goethe had no feeling that he had come to a foreign town. It contained, indeed, a strong French element, but the mass of the inhabitants spoke his own language, and retained the manners and customs of their Teutonic forefathers. As in Frankfort, so in Strasburg, there were many survivals of former ages, and these at once attracted Goethe's attention. He was of course especially impressed by the minster, by far the most splendid building he had yet seen. He studied it closely within and without, and became an enthusiastic admirer of Gothic architecture, which he had always heard decried. Often, especially at sunset, he mounted the tower to enjoy the wide and varied prospect visible from the top.

Introduced by Salzmann, Goethe was welcomed at many houses in Strasburg. He was still to some extent under the influence of the mystical ideas which had taken so strong a hold of him during his illness, but they did not prevent him from enjoying to the full the social pleasures within his reach. Of dancing he never could have enough, for it had all the charm of novelty, dancing-parties being at that time unknown in Frankfort and Leipsic.

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