+ GOETHE'S + * CORRGSPORDGHCG UIIT GOETRE, LAVATER, WIELAND, LUCY MURRAY NO CATHARINE ELIZABETH GOETHE. From Dr. Dorow's ''Rtiniii iscettzeu '' GOETHE'S MOTHER. CORRESPONDENCE OF CATHARINE ELIZABETH GOETHE WITH GOETHE, LAVATER, WIELAND, DUCHESS ANNA AMALIA OF SAXE-WEIMAR, FRIEDRICH VON STEIN, AND OTHERS. cLrunsIatetr from fire (tnmut, WITH THE ADDITION OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND NOTES, BY ALFRED S. GIBBS. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY CLARENCE COOK. NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. COPYRIGHT, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 1880. ' ' The mother was more like -what we conceive as the proper parent for a poet. She is one of the pleasantest figures in German literature, and one standing out -with greater -vividness than almost any other. Her simple, hearty, joyous, and affectionate nature endeared her to all. She was the delight of children, the favorite of poets and princes. To the last retaining her enthusiasm and simplicity, mingled with great shrewdness and knowledge of character, FRAU AjA, as they christened her, wa,s at once grave and hearty, dignified and simple. She had read most of the best German and Italian authors, had picked up con- siderable desultory information, and had that mother-wit which so often seems to render culture superfluous in women." LEWES' LIFE OF GOETHE. " 'She was worthy of life,' said her great son to me in the year 1814, when he revisited his paternal city. ' How intense was her at- tachment to her friends ; how efficient a mediator and helper ; how faith- ful and discreet a confidante was she! She used to say, "Don't lose your presence of mind because the wind blows roughly ; and think of Wieland's words, 'Die Hand die uns durch dieses Dunkel fuhrt ' the hand that leads us through this darkness.'" (See page 42.) 220S281 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. THE letters composing the following collection have been obtained chiefly from the following sources : 1. Reminiscenzen. Herausgegeben von Dr. Do- row. Leipzig, 1842. 2. Briefe von Goethe und dessen Mutter an Fried- rich, Freiherrn von Stein. Herausgegeben von Dr. J. J. H. Ebers und Dr. August Kahlert. Leipzig, 1846. 3. Frau Rath. Briefwechsel von Katharina Elisa- beth Goethe. Nach den Originalen mitgetheilt von Robert Keil. Leipzig, 1871. Further, two unpublished pamphlets printed for private circulation, viz. : 4. Briefe der Frau Rath an ihre lieben Enkeleins. Zwolf Briefe von Goethe's Eltern an Lavater. The most recent and complete collection is that of Dr. Keil, in which may be found, arranged in chrono- logical order, the best of the previously published let- ters, v/ith the addition of thirty-four from Goethe's mother, and fifty-three from her various correspond- ents not heretofore published. There are a few letters attributed to Goethe's ( mother in Bettinavon Arnim's" Goethe's Correspond- ence with a Child," of which there is an English trans- lation. These I have not included in my selection, for Bettina's clever and amusing work has fallen, as regards reliability, into general discredit. vi Translator s Preface. One of the charms of the following letters is their quaintness a quality which, in great measure, they must unavoidably lose in translation. An attempt to reproduce this characteristic in another language would, I believed, result only in a feeble imitation. I have, however, made a somewhat literal version, and have not sought in it to avoid a quaint and anti- quated tone when it lent itself naturally to the trans- lation. Traces here and there of their strange and foreign origin did not seem to me objectionable in familiar letters, where the manner is oftentimes as important as the matter. TO THE READER. THERE are human characters which, like the prism, present nothing remarkable to the observer who looks at them from a certain side ; but seen at a different angle they touch the commonplaces of life with many-colored light. Such a character was that of the translator of the following letters ; and all who knew him well must have shared the regret felt by the friend of more than thirty years whose mourn- ful lot it is to lay this memorial flower upon his grave, that a light so serene and lovely as beamed from his character could not have cheered a wider circle. Had circumstances pushed him earlier into the ranks of those who serve the public with the pen, we friends who know what were his powers of observation and his skill in description cannot doubt that he would have distinguished himself from the crowd, if only as a writer of travels. His letters, which came to us stayers-at-home from all parts from Italy, Germany, France, and England turned the light of his quiet humor upon many a corner of these countries little known to the general, and set before us such lively and varied pictures in a style so limpid and easy, that we often wished for the right to make the public a sharer in our private pleas- ure. Persuaded by friendly hints, he wrote now and viii To the Reader. then foi the newspapers and magazines, but he could not be altogether at ease with the public, and we missed the flow of spirits and the abundant humor, playing on a background of common-sense and shrewdness, which made his private letters so wel- come. His character was strongly marked, though he had so serene a disposition, with such quiet man- ners, that only those who knew him well could guess how deep were his convictions and how firm he was in guarding them. He shunned controversy, and unwillingly put his own opinion forward, yet was ever stanch and true when convinced that any cause required his advocacy. Those who only saw him in the sunshine of life and in the happy circle of friends could not know the strength of his will, his immov- ableness, when once his feet were planted in the place where it was right for him to stand. But with all this strength he was free from any taint of pug- nacity or obstinacy. He could resist, but it was the resistance the rock makes to the pressure of the stream, hiding its refusal under a cushion of sunlit moss, and sweetened with a chance-sown root of violet. He knew the meaning of friendship, and in that domain he held a gentle sway. But his idea of this affectionate relation was a generous one, and had for its foundation an absolute equality. His integrity was almost childlike in its simplicity. He was not lavish of his heart, but when he gave it he gave it wholly, and he looked in his friend for the sincerity he himself showed. But he had his reserves, and respected those of others, nor would rashly intrude, To the Reader. ix but on invitation said strongly what seemed to him the fitting word, aid knew better than to speak smooth things when truth was needed. His departure was sudden, and the news that he was indeed gone came like lightning out of a clear sky. But when the shock was over, and those who loved him were able to think on what had happened, it seemed the crown of good fortune to have been rapt from the battle without so much as the smell of fire upon his garments. For his health had all his life been sound, though never robust, and to his friends no warning had been shown that the end was near. To sit at table with your friend in the bright holiday season, welcoming him home after ten years of absence ; to draw chairs about the gleaming fire when the other guests have gone, and renew in the last hours of the dying year the memories of by-gone days ; to part at the door and watch for a few moments the well-known form disappearing in the cold and gas-lit streets of winter, while we returned to the warmth and light ; and then after two days to read the dreadful telegram that said " Our friend is gone" how like a dream, after such an experience, seems life to those who remain Alfred Seymour Gibbs, the only son and youngest child of Alfred Gibbs and Hannah Nye (there were six daughters, all but two of whom lived to woman's estate, though but one of all survives the only broth- er), was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, July II, 1830, and died in the city of New York, Decem- ber 29, 1879. His education was carefully conduct- ed, first at the Friends' Academy in New Bedford, and afterward at the Phillips Academy at Andover. x To the Reader. He was ready to enter college at sixteen, but delayed applying for admission for a year owing to a lack of robustness in his health, and by the advice of friends who thought twenty-one young enough to graduate. He accordingly entered Harvard College in 1847, but only remained there two years, and never graduated in form. The writer first made his acquaintance as a fellow-lodger in the house of the late Eliza Lee Fol- len, who was living in Cambridge while her son, Charles Follen, was making his terms. The house Mrs. Follen occupied being too large for her needs, she consented to give up the vacant rooms to two collegians who should prefer a home in a private family to life " in the yard." Charles Follen and the writer being in the same class, that of 1849, I ^ a( ^ already been admitted to the privilege of rooms in his mother's house, and on a day we were informed that a young man from New Bedford, a Freshman, was to have the remaining apartment. Seymour Gibbs appeared, a slightly-built, gentlemanly youth, with an earnest but winning face, and with manners of a frank sweetness that made friends at once. Be- tween us three there began an intimacy which was to make an important element in all our lives, a friendship which never suffered even a moment's temporary eclipse, and which, now that all but one of the circle are gone from this earth " All, all are gone, the old familiar faces !" is looked back upon by the survivor as a shattered dream of happiness for whose long stay in a world where so much is fleeting a man cannot be too grateful. To the Reader. xi In a notice of my friend's lite, however short, it would not do to pass over in silence such an impor- tant event in his education as the two years spent un- der Mrs. Pollen's roof. Both she and her sister, Miss Cabot, were women who would have honored any so- ciety ; but the influence brought to bear upon Sey- mour's life by this association was more important than could have been exerted by any merely social op- portunities. Of such opportunities, indeed, he did not stand in need ; but it is only at certain epoch-making times, such as was this of 1847-9, tnat society ranges itself into camps and draws together in groups the leaders of the hostile forces contending for the mas- tery. Mrs. Pollen and her sister were important fac- tors in the anti-slavery movement that makes those years so famous in our history ; and at Mrs. Pollen's house we youths were accustomed to see many of the most active workers in the anti-slavery cause. Here came Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garri- son, Theodore Parker, Mrs. Maria Weston Chap- man ; and at the times of the annual convention and the anti-slavery fair there was scarcely a nota- ble person on the anti-slavery side who did not present himself at a house where not only was a wel- come assured, but a welcome graced by all that was noble and lovely in woman's hospitality. Mrs. Pol- len's circle was by no means restricted to the party in whose councils she shared. She was related by blood to many of the families who threw their influ- ence into the opposite scale ; and as it was impossible for such a personality as hers with her beauty of person, her gracious dignity of manner, combined with a childlike simplicity and directness, and a ready xii To the Reader. w it to be dropped out of any circle to which it naturally belonged, for mere political differences, we were saved from the narrowness that must have come if we had been confined to look upon one side of life alone, even were that side the possessor of all the virtues. How far we profited by our opportu- nity is a point I will not attempt to determine, but it is certain that to few young men in college is such an opportunity offered as was ours in those rich years. In 1849 Charles Follen graduated, and he deter- mined to go to Europe for a few years to carry his stud- ies still farther. He was accompanied by his mother and aunt, Miss Cabot. After the departure of his friends, young Gibbs took lodgings in the col- lege yard, but his temperament was unfit for that mode of life, and he could not study in his new sur- roundings. His health, too, drooped, and he at length decided to leave college for a time and to join his friends in Europe. He went abroad, and met the party in London in the same year, or per- haps early in 1850. During the first year of his ab- sence he kept up certain of his college studies with much diligence, in anticipation of rejoining his class and graduating in due form from Harvard, but he finally determined to remain abroad for another year. In the society of these friends he found many of the most delightful houses in England opened to him, and the opportunity of seeing the most notable people of a time when England, owing to the revolutions going on on the Continent, was rich in distinguished exiles, beside her own wealth in famous men and women. Mrs. Pollen's long and intimate friendship with several of the To the Reader. xiii leaders in the intellectual world of London gave her a right to the hospitality of a society whose iron doors, though obdurate enough in general, turn on softest hinges at the call of such voices as hers. In company with these ladies and his friend Charles Follen, Seymour Gibbs passed two happy years, enjoying to the full, opportunities of seeing the world which were worth far more as education to a youth of his turn of mind than the same time spent in college could have been. He returned to America in the summer of 1851, and, receiving no encouragement from the business connections of his late father to enter a merchant's office, to which he had looked forward, he decided, after some months of reflection, to take up the study of medicine, though having in reality no inclination for that or any other of the prescribed routines. The things he liked best in this world were study, reading, and the society of his friends, and could he have had these he would have been easily content with the most modest way of living. He was no as- cetic, yet he was content and even happy with a little, and all his life set an example of moderation, living at at ease and moving without embarrassment in circum- stances that would have hampered many other men. Still, it seemed best to his friends and to himself that he should have a part to play, and he chose that of the physician. He went to Philadelphia in the autumn of 1852, and attended lectures in the Pennsylvania Medical College, and graduated in 1856, in which year his diploma is dated. At the outbreak of the war he suffered very keenly from a sense of his physical inability to take part in xiv To the Reader. the general uprising ; for though, as I have said, his health had all his life been sound, his constitution was delicate. In March, 1862, when military hospitals were springing up in Philadelphia, he offered himself as an assistant surgeon, and was appointed to the South Street Hospital. But at that time no medical man of his age and education had volunteered for this service, and friends earnestly dissuaded him from his offer by the advice that ' ' he was too good a man for the place." Still he persisted, this seeming to him the duty that lay nearest, and a little later he found no lack of companions of the same education as himself. In fact, so clear was his mind that he could not stand by an idle spectator of the conflict, that it was a great satisfaction to him when the hospital service gave him an opportunity to go forward. He hesitated some- what, from a fear that he might fail in executive power. The first men who were put under him were not wounded men, but those who had fallen off on the march or in camp. They were without discipline, and often drunk and unruly. The building which was fitted up in South Street to receive these men was not completed when Dr. Gibbs took charge, and on one occasion he had three hundred unruly men under his care for three days and nights before Dr. Neil had leisure to appoint other officers and get the hospital well organized. After the battle of Gettysburg Dr. Gibbs was transferred to the field-hospital there, where he re- mained for a few weeks only. From thence he was sent to the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, and was attached to th^ service of that institution until the close of the war. To the Reader. xv From this time until 1870 Dr. Gibbs continued to live in Philadelphia, in the nominal practice of his profession. But though he had been very happy in the hospital service, where his work and his charac- ter were highly valued and made him many friends, he could not feel an interest in private practice. I do not know if he hated sick people, as I lately heard one eminent medical man say of himself, but he really had very little sympathy with the thousand and one mild distempers that are so much for the moment to those who think they suffer them, and so little in reality. Boston gossip used to say of her most eminent surgeon that he could not forgive a man who successfully resisted an amputation, and no doubt every medical man likes a " bad case." But the most part of cases are not bad, and our practitioner's benevolence was not large enough to take in the little shivering influenzas and toothaches that rang his bell at night, or pulled at his sleeve when he was deep in study. His private practice had indeed never been sufficient to create an in- terest in it, and he determined to husband his pecuniary resources by spending some years in Eu- rope, and in May, 1871, in company with his only surviving sister, he sailed for Europe, intending to stop abroad for several years. He did indeed remain until 1 879, returning to America in August of that year. Dr. Gibbs and his sister joined the writer and his wife in Paris, but the time was ill-chosen, for war was in the horizon, and it came all too soon for the hap- piness we had promised ourselves. We were whirled apart ; they to Switzerland, we to Italy, and it was long before the uproar subsided enough for us to xvi To the Reader. communicate with one another. From Switzerland Dr. Gibbs went down, the next year, to Italy ; but we had already broken up our winter quarters in Flor- ence, and were moving about from one place of inter- est to another ; and as the chances of travel would have it, we did not meet again till we met at home nine years afterward. After spending four years on the Continent, our friend passed the remainder of the time he was abroad in England and Scotland. His letters, during all this time, were a great source of pleasure and instruction to us at home, making allow- ance for his almost humorous heat in the advo- cacy of the French cause in the Franco-Prussian war, or rather, for he was not blind to the fault of the French let me say, his heat in denouncing the Germans, for whom he had but few good words. It was not from ignorance of the Germans that he disliked them ; he had lived much among them, and he had an intimate acquaintance with their language, which he read freely, as well as with their history and their literature. Nor did he carry his feeling farther than the general, but had friends enough among that people, and friendships enough. It was a matter of temperament and sympathy ; and, in spite of a thou- sand righteous demands made on our admiration by the German people, it must be owned he shared his preference for the French, his delight in their genius, and his enjoyment of their language, with many of his countrymen. I may add that besides his knowledge of the German language, which he wrote and spoke with fluency, he was a very accurate French scholar. Indeed, he had a turn for languages, and while in Italy made a close study of Italian. To the Reader. xvii So much it has seemed well to say of the per- sonality of the translator, who has given us the following interesting correspondence. Perhaps the sympathetic reader may feel with me, that he has added to our picture-gallery of good women a portrait it would have been a pity to lose. Goethe's mother, seen in the light of these letters, is indeed one of the most cheerful figures in the literary history of the last century. Her warm heart, overflowing with affection for her friends, her motherly worship of her son, and her delight in everything that he did and everything that he wrote, are never tiresome, how- ever often met "with. And yet, with all this enthu- siasm, we are equally struck with her strong common- sense, her clear perception, and her shrewdness, to- gether with the transparent honesty of her speech. We feel, as we read, how important a part such a woman must have played in the society of her time, a rude society, for all its intellectual splendor, but rude rather by what it lacked than by any positive traits. What the Duchess Amalia was to the little Court of Weimar, and through that to the other aboriginal courts of Germany " not yet appeared And struggling to get free their hinder parts." Goethe's mother was to the rich bourgeoisie of Frank- fort arid to the world of fruitiul but untrained liter- rary society that delighted in her as much for her own sake as for her relation to the greatest Ger- man of his time. Even her piety, old-fashioned and orthodox as it seems in these runagate times, has something rich and inspiring about it, and indeed it xviii To the Reader. is of a higher strain than that piety of Germans and English against which Mr. Matthew Arnold has lifted so irreverent a spear. Frau Rath is in some sort a Homeric woman, a mate for Andromache and Penelope ; to come nearer home, she carries us, as we read, to Shakespeare's world, and we place her in memory's gallery side by side with Volumnia. My thanks are due to the publisher of Scribner's Monthly, my good friend, Roswell-Smith, Esq., for his permission to reprint an article on the Goethe House at Frankfort, written by Dr. Gibbs for his magazine, and contained in the number for Novem- ber, 1875. It is printed as an appendix to the present volume. An article, consisting of a selection from the letters cf Goethe's mother, was prepared by Dr. Gibbs, and printed in Lippwcotfs Magazine for November, 1879. This was also politely placed at my disposal by the publisher of that magazine, together with an electro- type of the portrait of the Frau Rath, which is placed as a frontispiece to this book. The article itself con- tained nothing but what appears in the present work. With regard to the spelling of proper names and German words, I hesitated for a while between uni- formity, and following the practice of the different letter-writers. Finally I decided for the latter, and I hope the judgment of the reader will go along with me in the matter. The irregular spelling and some- times risky grammar of the Frau Rath give a per- To the Reader. xix sonal flavor to her letters, and help make up their ex- ternal individuality. As the proofs have been read with care, it is hoped that the reader will not charge to carelessness variations in spelling which are really to be ascribed to the desire of the translator and edi- tor to ' ' follow copy. CLARENCE COOK. NEW YORK, 171 West Tenth St., November, 1880. INTRODUCTION. CATHARINE ELIZABETH TEXTOR was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, February the iQth, 1731. Her father's great-grandfather, Wolfgang Weber, had according to the fashion of his time, Latinized the humble name of Weber into Textor. Why, does not appear, unless we accept the reason Oilman, in " Goetz von Berlichingen, " gave for changing his name into Olearius : " to avoid," he said, " theinap- propriateness of that name on the title-page of my Latin writings." " You did well to translate it," re- joins Liebetraut ; " a prophet is without honor in his own country, and it might have fared even so with your name in your native tongue." Olearius : " That was not the cause." Liebetraut : " Everything has two reasons." It appears from this that in Goethe's youth the Latinizing of proper names was getting to be laughed at, and made a subject for jest and merriment. Her father was the Councillor, Doctor Johann Wolfgang Textor, later on Chief Magistrate of Frankfort. From him Goethe got his two Christian names, and he gives a graphic picture of him in his Autobiography. He lived in an old house, with a large old-fashioned garden, where he passed much of the time which was not taken up by his duties as magistrate. He attended with his own hand to the culture of the finer fruits and flowers, and grafted the xx ii Introduction. roses, for which he put on the ancient gloves which were yearly presented to him at the Piper's Court. Goethe says one day like another passed placidly along, and he never remembered to have seen his grandfather angry. The old gentleman was also gifted with prophecy : he saw in dreams what was to happen to himself. When he was junior council- lor he dreamed that he should soon be alderman ; and it was not long before an alderman died of apo- plexy, and Textor was promoted to the alderman's bench. He also foretold his elevation to the chief magistracy. When a Chief Magistrate died, the election of his successor was always made with as little delay as possible, for fear that the Emperor should assert his former right to appoint this officer. On the occasion when Textor was chosen, a messen- ger was sent round at midnight to give notice of an extraordinary session, and, as his lantern was going out, he asked for a candle's end. " Give him a whole one," said Textor ; " after all, he has all this trouble on my account." The election was not de- cided by votes, but by drawing balls from a bag. Each candidate had his representative to draw for him, and their precedence was settled by lot. It so happened, on this occasion, that there were three candidates, and Textor's representative was by the lot made third and last ; but, as luck would have it, the first two drew each a silver ball, leaving the gold- en one at the bottom of the bag for Textor. Of the wife of this worthy old gentlemen we know nothing. Her grandson makes no mention of her in his Autobiography, except that she was the confi- dant of her husband's dreams. Yet, on looking at In troduction. x x i i i her portrait, one finds that in personal appearance her daughter, and especially her grandson, so much resembled her that one cannot help supposing that they must have inherited from her many traits of character. Certainly, neither of them had much of the old Councillor's lake-like placidity, and in his old age the resemblance of Goethe to his grandmother Textor is very striking. We can readily imagine that the daughter led an uneventful life in this antiquated dwelling, with its peaceful garden, where one day was like another. We know nothing of her until, in her eighteenth year, her hand is asked in marriage by the Imperial Coun- cillor, John Caspar Goethe, whose suit was favorably received by her parents. Rath Goethe, then in his thirty-ninth year, lived with his mother, the widow of Frederick George Goethe, in a large house in the Hirschgraben. The widow Goethe was wealthy, and had spared no pains on the education of her son, who had taken his de- gree of Doctor Juris, had travelled in Italy (a distinc- tion in those days), and passed for a man learned in the law, and for a connoisseur in the fine arts. The sentiments of Fraulein Textor, on leaving her father's house as the wife of Rath Goethe, on the 2Oth of August, 1748, were probably those of filial duty toward her parents, and of esteem toward the husband of their choice : nothing further was asked or expected of her. The first year of her married life she may be said to have been at school ; for her husband, having no outlet for the knowledge with which he had been crammed, and being of a very didactic turn of mind, seized upon her as a godsend, xxiv Introduction. and set her all manner of tasks. She was kept busy with languages, composition, and music, and she only escaped from school by becoming a mother. On the 28th of August, 1749, was born the son, Johann Wolfgang, who was to make her one of the happiest of mothers. ' The bed in which your mother brought you into the world," writes Bettina to Goethe (the transla- tion, too, is hers), " had blue checkered hangings. She was then seventeen* years old, and one year married ; hereupon she remarked you would always remain young, and your heart would never become old, since you had the youth of your mother into the bargain. Three days did you consider about it before you entered the world, and caused your mother heavy hours. Through anger that necessity had driven you from your nature-Jiome, and through the ill-treatment of the midwife, you appeared quite black, and without sign of life. They laid you in a butcher's tray, and bathed the pit of your heart with wine, quite despairing of your existence. Your grand- mother stood behind the bed. When you first opened your eyes, she exclaimed, ' Daughter, he lives ! ' ' Then aivoke my maternal heart, and lived since then in continual enthusiasm to this very hour, 1 said your \ mother to me in her seventy-seventh year." Several children, born later, died in infancy, with the exception of the daughter Cornelia. She and Wolfgang grew up together, and their mother with them ; for the difference in age between herself and her husband brought her nearer to the children, and * Eighteen. Introditction. xxv she was fond of saying, " My Wolfgang and I have always held together, and the reason is we were both young, and not so far from each other as Wolfgang and his father." She stood between the children and an affectionate yet stern and exacting father, and in this difficult position her true education may be said to have begun. She was the mediator and peace- maker, for which office she was especially fitted by her tact and " mother wit," her animal spirits, and her cheerful views. She possessed thoroughly, as her son said, and as may be seen everywhere in her letters, " the philosophy of a cheerful life." " Vom Vater hab' ich die Statur Des Lebens ernstes Fi'ihren ; Von Miitterchen die Frohnatur Die Lust zu fabuliren." Thus wrote Goethe of himself that is, his stature and the earnest conduct of life he got from his father ; from dear little mother his joyous disposition and love of story-telling. His mother was an admirable story-teller. To this poetic gift of hers we shall find constant allusion in the following correspondence ; for instance, where Klinger tells of how he was " nailed to his chair" when listening to her ; and in many other places which we will not anticipate. While the father gave his attention to the serious training of his boy's intellect, the mother cultivated his imagination and poetic feeling by the creations of her fancy. " In general," says Vichoff,* " all the freshness, the wit and the humor we find in Goethe, all the depth of feeling and the poetry, were fore- * Vichoff : " Goethe's Leben." xxvi Introduction. shadowed in his mother's character ; while from his father he had received only a few traits of character of a coarser kind, if I may so speak for example, his strong love of order, his administrative talent, and the gravity he displayed in his later years." Rath Goethe was, at first, very much disappointed at the course of life his son chose He had carefully educated him for the law, and when he returned from the University of Strasburg with a diploma as Doctor Juris, his father thought the fulfilment of all his hopes was at hand. With a secretary for the manual part of the work, the father and son to put their heads together over the knotty points of the law, and with their intimate relations with the magistracy of Frankfort to put them in the way of business, Rath Goethe saw his way to great success. But what born poet was ever made into an attorney ? The result soon was that the two silent partners had to look after the legal business, while the young attorney was writing " Goetz von Berlich- ingen," falling in love at Wetzlar with Lotte Buff, and immortalizing it in the " Sorrows of Werther" ; in short, was becoming all at once not only a famous and popular writer, but an epoch-maker in the litera- ture of his country. Rath Goethe was very proud of his son's success, but it distressed him to see him putting literature before law. It was the Storm and Stress period with Goethe. He wandered with his susceptible heart from Lotte to Maximiliane Brentano ; from the pretty Max to Lili Schonemann. He speaks of it afterward, in a letter to his mother, as a time of confusion and per- plexity. Introduction, xxvii To distract the young jurist still further, his newly- won fame brought visitors from every quarter to see the last literary lion ; at length, among them, came the Duke of Saxe- Weimar, whose visit was followed by an invitation, which resulted in Goethe's going to Weimar to become to the Duke, councillor, minister, and bosom friend. His father in vain opposed his departure, seeking out all imaginable proverbs and pithy sayings against court-life, to which the son would reply by as many in its favor. There was a brisk warfare of witty epigrams, but each one remained firm in his own opinion. The disappointment of the father was not shared by the mother : there was no wavering in her faith. Ah ! of the many mothers who have believed their sons to have genius, how few have found that happy realization which fell to the lot of Frau Rath Goethe ! It is at this point that the following Correspond- ence begins, with the exception of the first two letters, to which we shall refer farther on. In the early let- ters the mother imparts to Goethe's various youthful friends the intelligence which she receives from Weimar ; then the interest of the Weimar circle in Goethe is extended to his mother. Wieland and the Duchess Amalia write to her, visit her, and vie with each other in their enthusiasm about her ; the odd little maid of honor, von Gochhausen, is de- lighted to be on the same planet with her, and so on. But we leave the letters to tell their own story. The first two letters in the chronological order are to Lavater, and are important only as showing the xxviii Introduction. deep impression made byLavater on Goethe's moth- er an impression which did not widely differ from that everywhere produced by this singular person- age. Tall, easy, graceful, pale, with moonshine in his face (as one of his admirers expressed it), a large nose, and brilliant eyes, his friend Hegner applies to him the description of Fenelon by the Due de St. Simon : " Le prelat etait un grand homme maigre, bien fait, pale, avec un grand nez, des yeux dont le feu et 1'esprit sortaient comrne un torrent, et une physio- nomie telleque jen'en ai point vue qui y ressemblat, et qui nese pouvait oublier, quand on nel'auraitvue qu'une fois. Elle avait de la gravit6 et de la galan- terie, du serieux et de la gaite. " In the history of his time Lavater has two parts to play : the one as the author of the " Fragments of Physiognomy," the other as a pastor and earnest propagator of extreme evangelical doctrines, running into mysticism. The interest excited by his " Frag- ments of Physiognomy," joined to the winning per- sonality of its author, brought him into relations with all the thinkers of his day. But as the " Fragments of Physiognomy" remained always fragments, and even the author himself became at last aware that he was incapable of fulfilling his oft-repeated promise of evolving from them a systematic phil- osophy, the interest in Lavater died out, except among those who sympathized with his religious opinions. The second letter was written while Goethe had gone with the Counts Stolberg to Switzerland, and in it Goethe's mother gives herself the title of Frau M JOHANN CASPAR LAVATKR. Introduction. xxix Aja, which she so heartily accepted, and by which she was known in her circle of friends* In regard to her titles, that of Fran Rath is the only one by which she is universally known in Germany. Frau Rath or Frau Rathin, for the usage varies, is the title of a councillor's wife ; in literal English it would be Mrs. Councillor. Now there is no lack of councillors' wives in Germany, but Frau Rath Goethe has impressed her bright image so strongly upon the history of German literature that in speaking of her no surname is required : she is the Frau Rath par excellence in the heart of every culti- vated German. The two Counts Stolberg belonged to the phenom- ena of the period young men of rank and fortune bursting with hatred for tyrants, and boiling over with enthusiasm for freedom. But the tyranny they hated was only the tyranny of custom and conven- tion, and the freedom they thirsted for was the free- dom to follow what they called the dictates of Nature. If Nature suggested that it was desirable to bathe by the wayside, in broad daylight, they eager- ly followed her dictates, and they inveighed all the more loudly against tyrants when certain rude min- ions of conventionalism assailed them with stones and drove them ignominiously away. Some years after this the Stolbergs went over to the Romish Church a simple instance ; it would seem, of the well-known law, that the farther the pendulum is swung in one direction the farther it will swing in the other ; yet this circumstance created in Germany an excitement which at the present dis- tance in time seems a veritable tempest in a teapot. xxx Introduction. Of the Stolbergs' visit Goethe says : " We had dined together but a few times before, enjoying one bottle after another, the poetical hatred of tyrants made its appearance, and there was manifested a thirst for the blood of such villains. My father smil- ingly shook his head ; my mother had scarcely in her life heard of tyrants ; however, she called to mind having seen such monsters represented among the copperplates in Gottfried's Chronicles for example, King Cambyses triumphing in the father's presence at having hit the son's heart with his arrow : this had still remained in her memory. To turn these and similar expressions, which were becoming con- tinually more violent, back to something more cheer- ful, she betook herself to the cellar, where were deposited large well-cared-for tuns of the oldest wines. There were to be found there the vintages of 1706-19-28-48, which she had herself watched and tended, and which were but seldom broached except on solemn and important occasions. As she now set out the high-colored wine in a cut-glass decanter, she exclaimed, ' Here is the true tyrants' blood ! Re- joice yourselves in it ; but banish all murderous thoughts from my house.' ' This scene is so similar to one in the " Legend of the Four Children of Aymon," that it gives the clew to the Frau Rath's title, Frau Aja. The original Frau Aja was, according to the legend, the sister of the Emperor Charlemagne, a personage whose deep impress upon his times is shown by the part he plays in so many legends. Frau Aja was the wife of Count Aymon, and the mother of four sons. One of the sons kills in a quarrel the son of the Emperor, and Introduction. xxxi flies with his three brothers to the forest of Ar- dennes. The Emperor pursues them in vain, but takes Aymon prisoner, and compels him to an oath to de- liver up his sons, should they fall into his hands. After many adventures and many years' absence, the four brothers are seized with a desire to revist their home, but are afraid to present themselves, on ac- count of their father's oath. They therefore compel some pilgrims they meet to change clothes with them, and, appearing before the castle gate as pilgrims re- turning from Rome, beg for shelter and food. Frau Aja says, " Be content and of good cheer and I will give it you," and seated them at a table and gave them to eat and to drink. So they ate and drank and made merry ; at last Frau Aja went into the cellar, and, bringing up some of the best wine, poured out a silver cup full and gave it to Reinold. In the end the mother recognizes them, and so on ; but with the rest of the legend we have nothing to do : it is only the similarity of this scene with the action of the Frau Rath in bringing the wine from the cellar which here concerns us. No doubt it recalled so vividly the scene in the legend, very well known in Germany, that the joyous group hailed her at once as Frau Aja.* * Compare DUntzer : " Frauenbilder," page 456, and following. INDEX TO LETTERS. FROM THE FRAU RATH TO Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar Nos. 25, 42, 45, 46, 53. Rath Crespel Nos. 7, 8. Goethe Nos. 69, 104, 108, 109, no, in, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 131, 132. Goethe's Son, Augustus No. 129. Fraulein von Gochhausen No. 15. To her Grandchildren Nos. 66, 88, 99. Lavater Nos. I, 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 24, 38, 43, 68. Merck No. 44. Salzmann No. 5. Louisa Schlosser, afterward Nicolovius Nos. 90, 96, 97, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107. Schonborn No. 4. Frau von Stein Nos. 63, 71. Friedrich von Stein Nos. 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 62, 64, 65, 67, 70, 72, 73, 87, 91, 92, 94, 95. Unzelmann Nos. 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 93, 100. Christiane Vulpius, afterward Goethe's wife Nos. 116, 122, 127, 130. Wieland No. 21. xxx iv Index to Letters. To THE FRAU RATH FROM Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar Nos. 20, 27, 35, 36, 39, 4i, 49- August, Prince of Saxe-Gotha No. 101. Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar Nos. 32, 34. Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz No. 121. Goethe Nos. 30, 31, 37, 61, 98, 120, and p. 141. Fraulein von Gochhausen Nos. 19, 26, 28, 40. Klinger No. 119. Friedrich von Stein No. 60. Wieland Nos. 6, n, 12, 13, 14, 18, 22, 33, and p. 84. MISCELLANEOUS. Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar to J. H. Merck No. 29 and p. 69. Goethe to Friedrich von Stein Nos. 58, 59. Goethe's Father to Schonborn No. 4. Klinger to Kayser No. 3. Merck to Wieland No. 21. Merck to his Wife p. 75. Wieland to Gleim p. 68. Wieland to Merck No. 23 and pp. 85, 100. GOETHE'S MOTHER. LETTERS FROM THE FRAU RATH. I. Frau Rath to John Caspar Lavater. TUESDAY, the 2d Aug., 1774. A thousand thanks, once more, dear, good son, for your stay with us. I could not take leave ; my heart was too full. Never, never shall I lose your image from my heart. Farewell. God Almighty bless you, accompany you in all your ways, and bring you sound and well to your destination. Oh, do not for- get us, dear, dear Lavater. I must leave off, and must weep * my house is so lonely to me, as quiet as the grave. Once more, farewell. CATHARINA ELISABETHA GOETHE. 2. Frau Rath to Lavater. FRANKFORT, the 28 June (1775). Here is the promised music ; may it give you much pleasure. You will have received my letter of the 26th, f and I await eagerly a reply. Greet the Counts and the dear Baron, and say I have trusted my Wolfgang to them, and thank them for all the love they have shown toward him ; * The reader will call to mind that facility for shedding tears, which was a characteristic of the eighteenth century. \ Missing. $ Counts Stolberg and Baron Haugwitz. 24 Goetkes Mother. yet I now beg them to send him back to us, for time hangs very heavily on Frau Aja. Many greetings from us to all friends. Vale. 3. Portion of a Letter from K linger to Kayser* GlESSEN, 2d Whitsuntide Holiday (27 May, 1776). . . Yesterday I had a letter from Goethe's dear mother, from whom I often learn something about Goethe ; and I cannot forbear telling thee in a few lines what the good woman writes. Here are her own words ! I believe it will impress thee anew, as many hundred times as thou mayest have heard it. ' The Doctor is delighted and well in his Weimar ; has moved to a charming garden, belonging to the Duke, just outside the town. Lenz has written a poetic description of it, and sent it to me to read. The poet (Lenz) also sticks there as if he were nailed to the spot. Weimar must be a difficult place to get away from : everybody stays there. Well, if it pleases the little flock, may God bless it to them. Now, dear friend, farewell, as well as it admits of in Giessen. I always think to you poets it would be a trifle to idealize even the worst places. If you can make something out of nothing, the evil one must be in it,t if a fairy town were not to be made * Philip Christopher Kayser, son of an organist at Frankfort, established himself as a musician at Zurich. He wrote an over- ture to Egmont, and the music to some of Goethe's operatic trifles. f " So miisst es doch mit dem Sei-bei-uns zugehen." Sei-bei- uns or Gott sei-bei-uns (God be with us), from being used as a phrase to arrest the evil one, came, by circumlocution, to mean the evil one himself. Letter from K linger to Kayser. 25 out of Giessen. In such things, I, at least, have great power. A thousand pities that I do not write dramas the world would see amazing wonders ; but they would have to be in prose. I am no great lover of verse-making, which, truly, has its reasons. The political pewterer had the very same hatred of the Latin language.* " Greet Schleirm(acher)f from us, and tell him he must not let you come here to the next fair alone, and then, as a matter of course, we see you and him, pass many an hour in chat, relate all sorts of pretty stories, and so on." I leave out much more, which concerns my author- ship, etc. I thought it would give thee pleasure, and thou wills't keep it secret. Thou dost not imagine what a woman she is, and what I possess in her. How many hours of intimacy have I passed with her, nailed to my chair, listening to stories I cannot write thee about it. ... K. Klinger and Lenz, two friends of Goethe's youth, followed him to Weimar, as meteors are drawn by the planet within whose influence they come. Lenz, who, when he was not actually treated as insane, was always hovering on the borders of insanity, " played regularly every day some foolish trick" (as Wieland said), " and then wondered over it as a goose that * i.e. Because he was ignorant of it. The allusion is to " Der politische Kannengiesser," a very popular farce of the day, by Hoi- berg, a Danish author, translated into German by OehlenschlSger. f A college friend of Klinger. 26 Goethes Mother. has laid an egg." In the end, he gave such serious offence as to make his further stay impossible. Klinger's stay was short. A certain proud self- assertion and unbending angularity, which had been heightened by his constant struggle with poverty, unfitted him for the Weimar circle. He undertook the direction of a theatre at Leipzig, then served as a lieutenant in the Austrian service, during the war of the Bavarian succession a war of short duration after which his friends applied to Dr. Franklin in the hope of getting him a commission in the Ameri- can army in the War of Independence. This appli- cation was unsuccessful, and Klinger eventually went to Russia, where his sterling qualities found at length an appropriate sphere of action. He was ap- pointed reader to the Grand Duke Paul, and as everything was on a military basis, received the rank of lieutenant in the marine battalion. He accom- panied this prince on a journey of fourteen months to Switzerland, Italy, and France. During this jour- ney they visited the Duke of Wurtemberg, and the illuminations in honor of the Grand Duke served at the same time to light young Doctor Schiller in his flight from a country where he was forbidden to use his pen except in writing prescriptions. There are many romantic incidents in Klinger's life. He was the son of a wood-sawyer, and his mother was a laundress, combining with this a little shop for wood and coals. One day, when he was assisting his father in the delivery of a load of wood, his beauty of person and his bright glances attracted the attention of the director of the grammar-school. Struck with the intelligent replies to his questions, the director Letter from Klinger to Kayser. 2 7 procured his admission to the grammar-school, and provided for his education. When Klinger revisited Frankfort with the Grand Duke Paul, he dressed himself in the full uniform of his military rank, and presented himself in his mother's humble shop. But he could not persuade his mother, now a widow, to share his fortunes ; she would only consent to accept a modest pension, with the condition that she might continue her small commerce in fuel. On his return to Russia, Klinger married a lady of rank, and was made Curator of the University of Dorpat, with the rank of lieutenant-general. He died at St. Petersburg in 1831, in his seventy- seventh year. Falk * gives the following anecdote of Klinger as related to him by a friend : " One morning Klinger went to Goethe, took a large parcel of manuscript out of his pocket, and be- gan to read aloud. Goethe bore it for a time ; but at length, exclaiming, 'What cursed stuff is this thou hast again been writing ? The devil may bear it if he can ! ' he sprang from his seat and ran away. This, however, did not in the least disconcert Kling- er, nor disturb his equanimity. He rose quietly, put his manuscript in his pocket, and merely said, ' Curious : this is the second person with whom this has happened to me to-day." Wieland declared that if it had been his case, he should have found it diffi- cult to preserve such composure. Goethe tranquilly * "Goethe Portrayed from Familiar Personal Intercourse." Translated by Sarah Austin in her " Characteristics of Goethe." 28 Goethe's Mother. replied, ' So should I ; but you can see from it that Klinger was born out and out for a general, because he has such confounded assurance. I predicted it to you in those very days. Klinger first attracted attention by his play The Twins (Die Zwillinge). A prize had been offered for an original drama, and Klinger won it with this fiery production. This play, with the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress] which gave a name to the lit- erary epoch roused all passions, and both rank among the forerunners of the romantic school. Klinger was all his life a voluminous writer, but he abandoned the drama for essays and novels. At the close of life he expressed his obligations to Goethe and George Schlosser for the advice he often received from them. A high moral tone ; a spirit busied with high and noble thoughts ; a vigorous, manly intellect and character ; simple habits ; enjoyment in a moderate way of living ; perfect ignorance of the passion for happiness-hunting who had ever thought of re- quiring these qualities in a poet ? In his " Observa- tions and Thoughts on Various Subjects Connected with the World and Literature/'* he explains how such a theory arose in his mind ; how, first, the actual world presented itself to his mind's eye only through a poetic veil this is the Storm and Stress period- then how the poetic world was shaken to its founda- tions by the actual one ; and how, at last, it gained the victory, because the self-sustained moral sense * " Betrachtungen und Gedanken liber verschiedene Gegen- stSnde der Welt und Literatur." Goethes Parents to Sch'onborn. 29 diffused light through the darkness which threatened to enshroud the poet's mind. These views he also expressed in a series of novels, of which the " Man of the World and the Poet" is considered the best.* There is a tradition that Kliuger was born in a part of Goethe's father's house. Dr. Otto Volger, who has in late years investigated, with German assiduity, the history of that house, denies that there are any associations with Klinger. Goethe, however, accepted the tradition, and embalmed it in verse. A few years before his death he sent Kling- er a sketch of the house, accompanied by a short poem. He reminds Klinger that he had taken the wanderer's staff and gone into a far country and attained a lofty position. " From this goal, will it not please you to look back to your first step ? from the same threshold we set forth on very different paths. Eine Schwelle hiess in's Leben, Uns verschiedne Wege gehn ; War es doch zu edlem Streben Drum auf frohes Wiedersehn." 4. GoctJie^s Parents to ScJionborn, Secretary to the Danish Consulate at Algiers. FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN, 24th July, 1776. Your friendly letter to our son, dated Algiers, the 28th October, 1775, containing in particular a succinct account of the Spanish coup manque", duly reached here about six weeks after, and it is not his fault * Mrs. Austin, " Characteristics of Goethe." 30 Goethe's Mother. that it has, until now, remained unanswered. He had already left us, and we had to send it after him to Weimar, where he still is. I must tell you how all this came to pass, as everything, estimable friend, which concerns this singular being * must be of in- terest to you. I begin at the origin of his present relations. The Duke of Weimar became acquainted with him two years ago, and was so favorably im- pressed that, when the Duke returned to Frankfort from Durlach, where he had married the Princess Louise of Darmstadt, our son was formally invited to Weimar by this young ducal pair, whither he soon after followed them. He remained there last winter, as guest, and entertained the Court by read- ing to them his unprinted works, introduced skating and other agreeable pursuits, by which he made them his friends, as well as many exalted and distin- guished persons in the neighborhood. But the bet- ter acquainted the Duke became with the Doctor, the less could he spare him. He tested his capabilities, which he found of such a nature that he at length appointed him Geheim Legations Rath (Privy Coun- cillor) with a seat and vote in the Privy Council, and a salary of 1200 thalers. There, now, sits the poet, and accommodates himself the best way he can to his position. There let him sit ; and we, on account of his official occupations, will replace and repre- sent him in this correspondence. You shall learn further details about him, and also receive his minor writings, old friend ; of which with the inclosed we make a beginning. One thing more : as the Duke of * "Diesen singularen Menschen." GOETHE'S FATHER, JOHANN CASPAR GOETHE, From Lavater's " Physiognomy" Parents to Schonborn. 31 Weimar not only values intelligent men, but also rewards them according to their merit, his capital must soon be a meeting-place for many men of tal- ent ; for instance, one of the Counts Stolberg has been made Chamberlain, and will soon repair thither.* Herder appears as General Superintend- ent^ and Lenz has already been there several months. But what will most astonish you is that the Doctor is reconciled with Wieland, and lives with him on the friendliest footing ; and this comes from his heart. As to what concerns Hofr. (Court Councillor) Schlosser \. in Emmendingen, he is over head and ears in publications, some portions of which do not please in the least the dogmatic theo- logians ; so that those black men with white collars found the second part of his village catechism not in accordance with their dogmatic way of thinking, and therefore stirred up the secular arm to confiscate it. He has recently brought out his " Anti-Pope." Hactenus Goethe Pater. Dear good friend ! you must also have a little word from me ; you must learn, too, that I am still living, think oft, oft of you ; always would be glad to know what our friend Schonborn is about in Algiers, etc. You doubtless remember that nearly three years have flown by since we were so happy, eating grapes to- gether. It seems to me you have been long enough in Barbary, have seen enough veiled people ; and * Stolberg was dissuaded from going by Klopstock. See the singular correspondence in Lewes' "Life of Goethe." f A high dignitary in the Lutheran Church. \ The husband of his daughter Cornelia. Anti-Pope. A reply to the Essay on Man. 32 Goethes Mother. therefore my advice, which my friendly heart gives you, is this, that you soon come back to us. It was always my delight to have distinguished men with and about me ;* but in my present situation (since both my children are far, far distant from me) it is a heavenly pleasure. Take my advice and come, the sooner the better ; it will be good for you. What shall we not have to relate to each other : we need not fear dulness. I possess a store of anecdotes, stories, etc., so that I will be bound to talk eight days continuously, and when you, too, begin about lakes and seas, cities and villages, men and mon- sters, elephants and snakes that will be a gaudium. Farewell, wishes you, your very particular friend, C. E. GOETHE. The difficulty with Wieland alluded to, if there ever was any, is certainly here much exaggerated. Goethe had written, one Sunday afternoon, over a bottle of Burgundy, a farce to which he gave the title Goiter, Helden und Wieland (Gods, Heroes and Wieland]. The farce was directed against what he considered Wieland 's unworthy vulgarization of the Grecian gods and heroes. Wieland wrote the follow- ing good-natured notice of it for his monthly paper, the Deutsche Mercur. " Dr. Goethe, the author of this little work, after having shown us in his Goetz von Berlichingen " Es war fiir mich jederzeit eine Wollust grosse Menschen um und bey mir zu haben." (" Es 1st eine Wollust einengrossen Mann zu sehen." Brother Martin in Goetz von Berlichingen.) Frail Rath to Salzmann. 33 that he might be Shakespeare if he wished, has proved to us in this heroic-farcical pasquinade that if he wished, he might also be Aristophanes. For just as it has pleased him in this critical Worexekek Koax Koax to make sport of Wieland and Wie- land's Alceste, so did Aristophanes with this self- same Euripides, whom Herr Goethe here makes walk over the head of the author of the opera Alceste. We recommend this little book to all admirers of the pasquinade style as a masterpiece of persiflage and sophistical wit, which, out of all possible points of view, carefully chooses that one from which the ob- ject must appear crooked, and then makes itself right heartily merry because the thing is so crooked.'' Goethe, after reading the above, wrote to Frau von La Roche, " He treats the matter like a good fellow, who feels that he sits firm in the saddle. I have never had anything against him, and now I forgive him for his blasphemy against my gods." 5. Fran Rath to Salzmann* We heard yesterday a great deal that is pleasant and good from our son. I am convinced that you will rejoice in our joys ; you, so old a friend and acquaintance of the Doctor, must take a deep in- terest in his good fortune, and can, as a friend of man, feel, when the Psalmist says, " Wohl dem der Freude an seinen Kindern erlebt !" (Blessed is he who lives to have joy in his children), f how grateful * A Strassburg friend of Goethe's. f The sentence " Wohl dem der Freude an seinen Kindern er- lebt," is inscribed on the Sophienducaten, gold ducats struck in 34 Goethe's Mother. all this must be to his parents. God guide him further, and cause him to accomplish much good in the land of Weimar ! I am sure, you will say, with us, Amen. 6. Christopher Martin Wieland to Frau Rath. DEAR MOTHER AjA : It gave me great pleasure to get once more a note from your dear hand. Brother Merlin,* the conjurer, or his faithful shield- bearer and confidential secretary f will in the mean- time have informed you how he is. They have all returned safely, and improved, as I think, in soul and body, from Dessau, where a prince and princess are to be seen from whom no one who has been with them willingly parts. It is the greatest kindness of you, dearest mother, and of aunt \ that you should interest yourselves so much for that milk-soppy fellow, Gandalin. But since for once this is the case, I should be glad to hear how the end of the song in the last book pleased you, and if you are now content (since from the way in which you made known to me your apprehension, 1616, by the order of the Electress Sophia of Saxony, on the birth of her grandson. These coins are much sought after as presents at christenings, on account of the appropriateness of the motto. The Frau Rath falls into a common error in attributing it to the Psalm- ist. The nearest passage corresponding to it is in the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus 3: 6. "Wer seinen Vater ehrt, der wird auch Freude an seinen Kindern haben ;" in the English version, " He that honoreth his father shall have joy in his own children." * Goethe. f Philip Seidel, a servant Goethe took with him from his father's house, and who remained with him all his life. \ Johanna Fahlmer. See note at the end of this letter. C. J/. }\'i eland to Frau Ratli. 35 that the young fellow might, in the Vlllth book, become unfaithful, one might almost conclude that the denouement was by you quite unforeseen) this would, justly give me great pleasure. The new year 17/7 we shall begin a little song in entirely another strain from all we have ever sung to you or played on the lyre. My heart predicts to me, dear Frau Aja, that this will please you more than Herr Gandalin,who, indeed, seen by daylight, is nothing more than a Carnival Knight. I was glad to hear that Lenz had paid you a visit, and had said of us much that was agreeable and good, which, indeed, he might do with a good con- science. This whimsical dreamer vanished from here in the same way in which he appeared. I did not even know where he went or whence he came. Liebes Miitterchen, if it does not give you too much trouble, write me in the closest confidence how my cousin Max La Roche is, and how it fares with her. Item, what clever people among you say to " All- will's Papers?" * The author you doubtless know. Brother Wolf f and I find no further fault with it, than that Brother Fritz has not had grace from God to make a composition out of the excellent mate- rial which he had before him. If one hints to the queer fellow anything of this kind, he does not under- stand in the least what is said to him ; he is, namely, of the opinion that the thing really is a composition that is just the comical part of the matter. Meantime, as it is, it seems to me always like a whole tableful of boxes and jars mixed up together, in all of which * By Fritz Jacobi. f Goethe. Wolf, for Wolfgang. :>6 Goethe s Mother. O there is something one is glad to have, and can make use O f ribbons, laces, comfits, bonbons, rhubarb, cure-all pills, pomeg r anate-rinds, soap-balls, cobblers' wax, and God knows what all. I see well that the simile does not fit, for it is true there are excellent things in " Allwill's Papers," and his style of writ- ing, his form of expression (setting aside the inequal- ities) is for the most part so vivid and brilliant, often so forcible and ardent and full of soul, that there is nothing superior to it. ... Now this is, once more, what is called old man's gossip ! Ade,* dear, best mother. I shall soon be no longer able to hold out until the time when I shall see you face to face. Only I dread, in antici- pation, the parting. Ah ! why cannot we all be together ? yet the time will come. Meanwhile keep for me, ever, a. good, warm little place in your motherly heart. May you be well, hearty, and happy together in the year 1777. On the last day of 1776. Your faithful son, WlELAND. One of the first of the Weimar circle to take pen in hand to greet the mother of his friend was Wie- land, then near the zenith of his fame, but destined to be relegated to the second rank in comparison with Goethe. Wieland is a rare instance of a poet who could contentedly submit to be outrivalled. " Goethe et le jeune due," writes Bossert, " tom- * Adieu. C. M. Wieland to Frau Rath. 37 berent d'abord comme deux trouble-fete dans le groupe elegant et doux, au milieu duquel tronait le vieux Wieland." * Yet in March, 1776, we find Wie- land writing to Merck : " For me there is no life more without this wonderful boy, whom I love as my sole and only-begotten son, and, as befits an actual father, have a heartfelt joy that he is growing so finely over my head, and is all that which I have not been able to be." Wieland seems early to have extended his admira- tion for the son to the mother ; as we find, in this the earliest letter which has .been published, allu- sions to previous ones, and the Frau Rath already greeted as his " dear mother Aja. " The aunt (Tante), who is frequently alluded to by this title in the correspondence, is Johanna Fahlmer, a relative by marriage of the brothers Jacobi of Diisseldorf. ' Mademoiselle Fahlmer" (Goethe writes), " who had come to Frankfort from Diisseldorf, and who was intimate with their (Jacobis') circle, by the great tenderness of her sympathies and the uncom- mon cultivation of her mind, furnished an evidence of the worth of the society in which she had grown up. She gradually put us to shame by her patience with our harsh upper-German manners, and taught us forbearance by letting us feel that we ourselves stood in need of it." (Autobiography.) At a time when French was almost exclusively the language of the upper classes in Germany, Wieland had the great merit of showing that the despised mother- * " Cours de literature Allemande, Goethe et Schiller." ;8 Goethes Mother. \J tongue was susceptible of ease, grace, and beauty. He had thus become the fashionable poet of the day ; but the task was a rude one, and in his letters he evidently unbends with delight from the toil of the polisher. In an easy-going, slipshod manner he rattles on in the first words that occur to him, con- fusing idioms and mingling languages until one seeks in vain to discover whether it is his French that is most Teutonic, or his German most Gallic. 7. Frau Rath to Crcspel. FRANKFORT, 5th January, 1777. DEAR SON : . . . I hope you will not take ill the trouble the affair gives you ; you shall in return for it sit at the round table, and upon your head a whole horn of good things shall be poured out. Yesterday would have been a great pleasure to you. A thousand pities that you are sitting in Ratisbon. 8 young maidens were with me : two Demoiselles Clermondt, the Mingen Stark, etc. We played " Stirbt der Fuchs, so gilt sein Balg," and that brought for- feits and made much merriment. Then there were stories told, and riddles given ; in one word, there was great fun. I delivered correctly your greetings to Max,* Aunt, and the Gerocks. They, each and all, love and value you, and wished that you were back again. To a certain Peter, f only, your ab- sence is a great comfort. He is altogether an odd stick ; % before Max gets into the new house, he * Max is Maximiliane La Roche, married to Peter Anton Bren- tano ; among their children was Bettina. f Pete- Brentano. \ Ein wunderlicher Heiliger ! Frau Rath to Crespel. 39 will probably lead her many a dance. There is noth- ing new here in God's world, except that a great snow has fallen, and many people are sleighing. Farewell, dear friend. Keep us in good remem- brance, and be assured that we all, and I especially am and will be your true friend and faithful mother, C. E. GOETHE. Rath Bernhard Crespel was the son of a jeweller in Frankfort who had many business relations with princes. The Prince of Thurn and Taxis, out of compliment to the father, bestowed upon the babe in his cradle the title of " Rath," almost as if in mockery of this much-loved title. Crespel is not mentioned by name in Goethe's' Autobiography, but is well known as that one of the group of youthful friends who devised the sort of marriage lottery de- scribed in the sixth book, and again in the six- teenth. Crespel's ready tongue, his conventual education, and his premature baldness gave color to Goethe likening him to a Capuchin friar. He be- came a complete oddity, made his own shoes and clothes, built a queer house near Frankfort, and had the ill-luck to be the subject of one of Hoffmann's witty sketches. But at the moment of which we are speaking Crespel was in Ratisbon, and the Frau Rath was writing to him to give him the news of the youthful circle, and to comfort him amid the rebuffs which his oddities had probably drawn upon him. The Frau Rath gathered about her every Satur- day a group of young girls, and entered heartily 40 Goethe s Mother. into all their diversions. The game of Stirbt der Fuchs so gilt sein Balg" (When the fox dies, his skin counts) is the one known as " Jack's Alight." The players stand in a circle and pass a lighted stick around, and the one in whose hand it goes out has to redeem the fox's skin by paying a forfeit. There are some charming verses of Goethe's under this title, and in reply to an inquiry from Zelter, Goethe gives the following as the couplets which each one was obliged to repeat while holding the lighted stick in his hand : Stirbt der Fuchs so gilt der Balg, Lebt er lang, so wird er alt, Lebt er, so lebt er, Stirbt er, so stirbt er, Man begrabt ihn nicht mil der Haul, Das gereicht ihm zur Ehre. When the Fox dies, his skin counts, If he lives long he will be old ; If he lives, he lives, If he dies, he dies ; He will not be buried in his skin, And this is an honor to him. We add Goethe's song, with Browning's trans lation : Nach Mittage sassen wir Junges Volk im Kiihlen ; Amorkam, und stirbt der Fuchs Wollt er mil uns spielen. Jeder meiner Freunde sass Froh bei seinem Herxchen ; Amor blies die Fackel aus, Sprach : hier ist das Kerzchen ! Frail. Rath to Crespcl. 41 Und die Fackel, wie sie glomm. Lies man eilig wandern Jeder driickte sie geschwind In die Hand des andern. Und mir reichte Dorilis Sie mit Spott und Scherze : Kaum berUhrt mein Finger sie, Hell entflammt die Kerze. Sengt mir Augen und Gesicht, Sezt die Brust in Flammen, tJeber meinem Haupte schlug Fast die Gluth zusammen. LOschen wollt' ich, patschte zu ; Doch es brennt bestandig ; Statt zu sterben ward der Fuchs Recht bei mir lebendig. When the Fox dies, his skin counts We young people in the shade Sat one sultry day ; Cupid came, and " Dies the Fox" With us sought to play. Each one of my friends then sat By his mistress dear ; Cupid, blowing out the torch, Said, "The taper's here" ! Then we quickly sent around The expiring brand ; Each one put it hastily In his neighbor's hand. Dorilis then gave it me, With a scoffing jest ; Sudden into flame it broke. By my fingers press'd. And it singed my eyes and face, Set my breast on fire ; Then above my head the blaze Mounted ever higher. 42 Goethes Mother. Vain I sought to put it out ; Ever burned the flame ; 'Stead of dying, soon the Fox Livelier still became. Mrs. Austin, in her " Characteristics of Goethe," gives a portion of a letter, evidently from one of the members of this Saturday circle. The writer says: 'To the characteristics of Goethe's extraordinary mother, I should add that she had a singular art of stimulating young and active minds, and that out of the treasures of her own experience she instructed them in the science of life. How did we hang on her lips, when in her joyous yet earnest manner she related to us, then girls of twelve or fourteen, a story of Musaeus or Wieland, or recited a poem by her son !" " She was worthy of life" (Sie war des Lebens werth), said her great son to me in the year 1814, when he revisited his paternal city. How intense was her attachment to her friends ; how efficient a mediator and helper ; how faithful and discreet a confidant was she ! She used to say, " Don't lose your presence of mind because the wind blows roughly ;" and think of Wieland's words, " Die Hand die uns durch dieses Dunkel fiihrt" (The hand that leads us through this darkness). 8. Frau Rath to Crcspcl. FRANKFORT, the ist Febr., 1777. DEAR SON : In one respect your letter gave me great joy and delight ; for everything which comes from you, my dear friend, gives me pleasure. But, CATHARINE ELIZABETH GOETHE. After an Engraving in Robert Koenig 's "Deutsche Literaturg The Goethe ffouse at Frankfort. charmes exterieures, mais peut-etre que vous ne savez pas encore que je les tiens pour absolument necessaires au bonheur de la vie et que je crois pour cela que je ne serai jamais heureuse. . . . Epouserai-je un rnari que je n'aime pas ? Cette pensee me fait honneur et cependant ce sera le seul parti qui me reste, car ou trouver un homme aimable qui pensat a moi ? Ne croyez pas, ma chere, que ce soit grimace : Vous connaissez les replis de mon coeur, je ne vous cache rien, et pourquoi le ferais-je ?" These words show by what sentiments she was actuated in accepting the hand of John George Schlosser. Her brother's absence at Strasburg had brought back again to her the wearisomeness of her home life. Goethe had now returned from Strasburg a Doctor-at-Law, but was soon to leave again for Wetzlar in continuation of his juristical studies, as marked out years before by his father. Cor- nelia saw the world opening to her brother, and felt that her only happiness was slipping from her grasp. Her life at home without Wolfgang was intolerable to her, and to escape from it she accepted the offer of marriage. John George Schlosser was an early friend of her brother. He was ten years older than Goethe, and when he visited Leipsic during Goethe's stay there, the difference in age caused the latter to look up to Schlosser as in many respects his superior. Schlosser afterward edited a literary journal at Frankfort, to which Goethe contributed, and the intimate relations with the brother led to the acquaint- ance with the sister. The bridegroom had been promised an appointment in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and expected to be placed at Carlsruhe, the capital. But hardly had the newly-married pair reached Carlsruhe when they learned that they were to reside in Emmendingen, a little village on the borders of the Black Forest, where Schlosser was to fill the post of Chief Magistrate of the County of Hochberg. Goethe The Goethe House at Frankfort, 261 humorously hints that probably neither the Grand Duke nor his ministers cared to come too often in contact with Schlosser's blunt honesty, a view which is confirmed by Lavater's description of him as a man made to tell princes truths which no one else would dare to communicate to them. With this very honest and not very lively compan- ion, for whom she had no stronger feeling than esteem, Cornelia went to her exile in the Black Forest. Schlosser was very much occupied with his duties as magistrate, and devoted his leisure moments to writing moral and religious cathechisms for the people. Rath Geothe said of his son- in-law that he seemed never to be done with having books printed, and alt his friends exerted themselves to moder- ate this mania for rushing into print. But, in spite of them all, he became a very voluminous writer of books, all of which, with the exception ot some translations from the Greek, have long since gone into oblivion. Fancy a woman whose intellectual powers had been aroused and developed in the most intimate relations with a mind such as the world has rarely known fancy such a woman shut up in the Black Forest with a man who wrote catechisms, and replies to Pope's " Essay on Man !" In a town she would have gathered about her a circle of which her great gifts would have made her the centre. Goethe says : " I must candidly confess that when I dwelt often in fancy upon her lot I could not