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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11366 ***
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
+
+
+
+THE GERMAN CLASSICS
+
+
+MASTERPIECES OF GERMAN LITERATURE
+
+TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
+
+
+
+IN TWENTY VOLUMES
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+
+1914
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
+
+
+      INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         By Calvin Thomas
+
+      THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         Translated by James Anthony Froude and R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE.
+         Translated by Julia Franklin
+
+      ORATION ON WIELAND.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (from "Wilhelm Meister's Travels").
+         Translated by R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE.
+         Translated by George Krielin
+
+      MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS.
+         Translated by Bailey Saunders
+
+      ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOETHE.
+         Translated by John Oxenford
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH K. F. ZELTER.
+         Translated by Frances H. King
+
+
+
+
+    ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME II
+
+    Capri
+
+    Edward reading aloud to Charlotte and the Captain
+
+    Charlotte receives Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward and Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward, Charlotte, Ottilie and the Captain discuss
+      the new plan of the house. By Franz Simm
+
+    Ottilie examines Edward's Presents. By P Grotjohann
+
+    Luciana posing as Queen Artemisia. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Ottilie. By Wilhelm von Kaulbach
+
+    The Old Theatre, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Martin Wieland. By E. Hader
+
+    Princess Amalia
+
+    Winckelmann
+
+    Weimar seen from the North
+
+    Goethe and his Secretary. By Johann Josef Schmeller
+
+    Goethe's Study
+
+    The Garden at Goethe's City House, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Schiller's Garden House at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    The float at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    View into the Saale Valley near Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    K.F. Zelter
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+In the spring of the year 1807 Goethe began work on the second part of
+_Wilhelm Meister_. He had no very definite plot in view, but proposed to
+make room for a number of short stories, all relating to the subject of
+renunciation, which was to be the central theme of the _Wanderjahre_. In
+the course of the summer, while he was taking the waters at Karlsbad,
+two or three of the stories were written. The following spring he set
+about elaborating another tale of renunciation, the idea of which had
+occurred to him some time before. But somehow it refused to be confined
+within the limits of a novelette. As he proceeded the matter grew apace,
+until it finally developed into the novel which was given to the world
+in 1809 under the title of _The Elective Affinities_.
+
+When that which should be a short story is expanded into a novel one can
+usually detect the padding and the embroidery. So it is certainly in
+this case. Those long descriptions of landscape-gardening; the copious
+extracts from Ottilie's diary, containing many thoughts which would
+hardly have entered the head of such a girl; the pages given to
+subordinate characters, whose comings and goings have no very obvious
+connection with the story,--all these retard the narrative and tend to
+hide the essential idea. The strange title, too, has served to divert
+attention from the real centre of gravity. Had the tale been called,
+say, "Ottilie's Expiation," there would have been less room for
+misunderstanding and irrelevant criticism; there would have been less
+concern over the moral, and more over the artistic, aspect of the story.
+
+What then was the essential idea? Simply to describe a peculiar tragedy
+resulting from the invasion of the marriage relation by lawless passion.
+As for the title, it should be remembered that there was just then a
+tendency to look for curious analogies between physical law and the
+operations of the human mind. Great interest was felt in suggestion,
+occult influence, and all that sort of thing. Goethe himself had lately
+been lecturing on magnetism. He had also observed, as no one can fail to
+observe, that the sexual attraction sometimes seems to act like chemical
+affinity: it breaks up old unions, forms new combinations, destroys
+pre-existing bodies, as if it were a law that _must_ work itself out,
+whatever the consequences. Such a process will now and then defy
+prudence, self-respect, duty, even religion,--going its way like a blind
+and ruthless law of physics. But if this is to happen the recombining
+elements must, of course, have each its specific character; else there
+is no affinity and no tragedy.
+
+It is no part of the analogy that the pressure of sex is always and by
+its very nature like the attraction of atoms. Aside from the fact that
+character consists largely in the steady inhibition of instinct and
+passion by the will, there is this momentous difference between atoms or
+molecules, on the one hand, and souls on the other: the character of the
+atom or molecule is constant, that of the soul is highly variable. There
+is no room here for remarks on free will and determinism; suffice it to
+say that Goethe does not preach any doctrine of mechanical determinism
+in human relations. The scientific analogy must not be pressed too hard.
+It is really not important, since after all nothing turns on it.
+Whatever interest the novel has it would have if all reference to
+chemistry had been omitted. Goethe's thesis, if he can be said to have
+one, is simply that character is fate.
+
+He imagines a middle-aged man and woman, Edward and Charlotte, who are,
+to all seeming, happily united in marriage. Each has been married before
+to an unloved mate who has conveniently died, leaving them both free to
+yield to the gentle pull of long-past youthful attachment. Their feeling
+for each other is only a mild friendship, but that does not appear to
+augur ill, since they are well-to-do, and their fine estate offers them
+both a plenty of interesting work. Edward has a highly esteemed friend
+called the Captain, who is for the moment without suitable employment
+for his ability and energy. Edward can give him just the needed work,
+with great advantage to the property, and would like to do so. Charlotte
+fears that the presence of the Captain may disturb their pleasant idyl,
+but finally yields. She herself has a niece, Ottilie, a beautiful girl
+whom no one understands and who is not doing well at her
+boarding-school. Charlotte would like to have the girl under her own
+care. After much debate the pair take both the Captain and Ottilie into
+their spacious castle.
+
+And now the elective affinity begins to do its disastrous work. Edward,
+who has always indulged himself in every whim and has no other standard
+of conduct, falls madly in love with the charming Ottilie, who has a
+passion for making herself useful and serving everybody. She adapts
+herself to Edward, fails to see what a shabby specimen of a man he
+really is, humors his whims, and worships him--at first in an innocent
+girlish way. Charlotte is not long in discovering that the Captain is a
+much better man than her husband; she loves him, but within the limits
+of wifely duty. In the vulgar world of prose such a tangle could be most
+easily straightened out by divorce and remarriage. This is what Edward
+proposes and tries to bring about. The others are almost won over to
+this solution when the event happens that precipitates the tragedy: the
+child of Edward and Charlotte is accidentally drowned by Ottilie's
+carelessness.
+
+It is a very dubious link in Goethe's fiction that this child, while the
+genuine offspring of Edward and Charlotte, has the features of Ottilie
+and the Captain. From the moment of the drowning Ottilie is a changed
+being. Her character quickly matures; like a wakened sleep-walker she
+sees what a dangerous path she has been treading. She feels that
+marriage with Edward would be a crime. She resists his passionate
+appeals, and her remorse takes on a morbid tinge. It becomes a fixed
+idea. Happiness is not for her. She must renounce it all. She must
+atone--atone--for her awful sin. For a moment they plan to send her back
+to school, but she cannot tear herself away from Edward's sinister
+presence. At last she refuses food and gradually starves herself to
+death. The wretched Edward does likewise.
+
+Any just appreciation of Goethe's art in _The Elective Affinities_ must
+begin by recognizing that it is about Ottilie. For her sake the book was
+written. It is a study of a delicately organized virgin soul caught in
+the meshes of an ignoble fate and beating its wings in hopeless misery
+until death ends the struggle. The other characters are ordinary people:
+Charlotte and the Captain ordinary in their good sense and self-control,
+Edward ordinary in his moral flabbiness and his foolish infatuation. His
+death, to be sure, is unthinkable for such a man and does but testify to
+the unearthly attraction with which the girl is invested by Goethe's
+art. The figure of Ottilie, like that of her spiritual sister Mignon, is
+irradiated by a light that never was on sea or land. She is a creature
+of romance, and we learn without much surprise that her dead body
+performs miracles. One is reminded of that medieval lady who is doomed
+to eat the heart of her crusading lover and then refuses all other food
+and dies. That Edward is quite unworthy of the girl's love, that the
+death of the child is no sufficient reason for her morbid remorse, is
+quite immaterial, since at the end of the tale we are no longer in the
+realm of normal psychology. A season of dreamy happiness, as she moves
+about in a world unrealized; then a terrible shock, and after that,
+remorse, renunciation, hopelessness, the will to die. Such is the logic
+of the tale.
+
+
+
+
+THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE AND R. DILLON BOYLAN
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Edward--so we shall call a wealthy nobleman in the prime of life--had
+been spending several hours of a fine April morning in his
+nursery-garden, budding the stems of some young trees with cuttings
+which had been recently sent to him.
+
+He had finished what he was about, and having laid his tools together in
+their box, was complacently surveying his work, when the gardener came
+up and complimented his master on his industry.
+
+"Have you seen my wife anywhere?" inquired Edward, as he moved to go
+away.
+
+"My lady is alone yonder in the new grounds," said the man; "the
+summer-house which she has been making on the rock over against the
+castle is finished today, and really it is beautiful. It cannot fail to
+please your grace. The view from it is perfect:--the village at your
+feet; a little to your right the church, with its tower, which you can
+just see over; and directly opposite you, the castle and the garden."
+
+"Quite true," replied Edward; "I can see the people at work a few steps
+from where I am standing."
+
+"And then, to the right of the church again," continued the gardener,
+"is the opening of the valley; and you look along over a range of wood
+and meadow far into the distance. The steps up the rock, too, are
+excellently arranged. My gracious lady understands these things; it is a
+pleasure to work under her."
+
+"Go to her," said Edward, "and desire her to be so good as to wait for
+me there. Tell her I wish to see this new creation of hers, and enjoy it
+with her."
+
+The gardener went rapidly off, and Edward soon followed. Descending the
+terrace, and stopping as he passed to look into the hot-houses and the
+forcing-pits, he came presently to the stream, and thence, over a narrow
+bridge, to a place where the walk leading to the summer-house branched
+off in two directions. One path led across the churchyard, immediately
+up the face of the rock. The other, into which he struck, wound away to
+the left, with a more gradual ascent, through a pretty shrubbery. Where
+the two paths joined again, a seat had been made, where he stopped a few
+moments to rest; and then, following the now single road, he found
+himself, after scrambling along among steps and slopes of all sorts and
+kinds, conducted at last through a narrow more or less steep outlet to
+the summer-house.
+
+Charlotte was standing at the door to receive her husband. She made him
+sit down where, without moving, he could command a view of the different
+landscapes through the door and window--these serving as frames, in
+which they were set like pictures. Spring was coming on; a rich,
+beautiful life would soon everywhere be bursting; and Edward spoke of it
+with delight.
+
+"There is only one thing which I should observe," he added, "the
+summer-house itself is rather small."
+
+"It is large enough for you and me, at any rate," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Certainly," said Edward; "there is room for a third, too, easily."
+
+"Of course; and for a fourth also," replied Charlotte. "For larger
+parties we can contrive other places."
+
+"Now that we are here by ourselves, with no one to disturb us, and in
+such a pleasant mood," said Edward, "it is a good opportunity for me to
+tell you that I have for some time had something on my mind, about which
+I have wished to speak to you, but have never been able to muster up my
+courage."
+
+"I have observed that there has been something of the sort," said
+Charlotte.
+
+"And even now," Edward went on, "if it were not for a letter which the
+post brought me this morning, and which obliges me to come to some
+resolution today, I should very likely have still kept it to myself."
+
+"What is it, then" asked Charlotte, turning affectionately toward him.
+
+"It concerns our friend the Captain," answered Edward; "you know the
+unfortunate position in which he, like many others, is placed. It is
+through no fault of his own; but you may imagine how painful it must be
+for a person with his knowledge and talents and accomplishments, to find
+himself without employment. I--I will not hesitate any longer with what
+I am wishing for him. I should like to have him here with us for a
+time."
+
+"We must think about that," replied Charlotte; "it should be considered
+on more sides than one."
+
+"I am quite ready to tell you what I have in view," returned Edward.
+"Through his last letters there is a prevailing tone of despondency; not
+that he is really in any want. He knows thoroughly well how to limit his
+expenses; and I have taken care for everything absolutely necessary. It
+is no distress to him to accept obligations from me; all our lives we
+have been in the habit of borrowing from and lending to each other; and
+we could not tell, if we would, how our debtor and creditor account
+stands. It is being without occupation which is really fretting him. The
+many accomplishments which he has cultivated in himself, it is his only
+pleasure--indeed, it is his passion--to be daily and hourly exercising
+for the benefit of others. And now, to sit still, with his arms folded;
+or to go on studying, acquiring, and acquiring, when he can make no use
+of what he already possesses;--my dear creature, it is a painful
+situation; and alone as he is, he feels it doubly and trebly."
+
+"But I thought," said Charlotte, "that he had had offers from many
+different quarters. I myself wrote to numbers of my own friends, male
+and female, for him; and, as I have reason to believe, not without
+effect."
+
+"It is true," replied Edward; "but these very offers--these various
+proposals--have only caused him fresh embarrassment. Not one of them is
+at all suitable to such a person as he is. He would have nothing to do;
+he would have to sacrifice himself, his time, his purposes, his whole
+method of life; and to that he cannot bring himself. The more I think of
+it all, the more I feel about it, and the more anxious I am to see him
+here with us."
+
+"It is very beautiful and amiable in you," answered Charlotte, "to enter
+with so much sympathy into your friend's position; only you must allow
+me to ask you to think of yourself and of me, as well."
+
+"I have done that," replied Edward. "For ourselves, we can have nothing
+to expect from his presence with us, except pleasure and advantage. I
+will say nothing of the expense. In any case, if he came to us, it would
+be but small; and you know he will be of no inconvenience to us at all.
+He can have his own rooms in the right wing of the castle, and
+everything else can be arranged as simply as possible. What shall we not
+be thus doing for him! and how agreeable and how profitable may not his
+society prove to us! I have long been wishing for a plan of the property
+and the grounds. He will see to it, and get it made. You intend yourself
+to take the management of the estate, as soon as our present steward's
+term is expired; and that, you know, is a serious thing. His various
+information will be of immense benefit to us; I feel only too acutely
+how much I require a person of this kind. The country people have
+knowledge enough, but their way of imparting it is confused, and not
+always honest. The students from the towns and universities are
+sufficiently clever and orderly, but they are deficient in personal
+experience. From my friend, I can promise myself both knowledge and
+method, and hundreds of other circumstances I can easily conceive
+arising, affecting you as well as me, and from which I can foresee
+innumerable advantages. Thank you for so patiently listening to me. Now,
+do you say what you think, and say it out freely and fully; I will not
+interrupt you."
+
+"Very well," replied Charlotte; "I will begin at once with a general
+observation. Men think most of the immediate--the present; and rightly,
+their calling being to do and to work; women, on the other hand, more of
+how things hang together in life; and that rightly too, because their
+destiny--the destiny of their families--is bound up in this
+interdependence, and it is exactly this which it is their mission to
+promote. So now let us cast a glance at our present and our past life;
+and you will acknowledge that the invitation of the Captain does not
+fall in so entirely with our purposes, our plans, and our arrangements.
+I will go back to those happy days of our earliest intercourse. We loved
+each other, young as we then were, with all our hearts. We were parted:
+you from me--your father, from an insatiable desire of wealth, choosing
+to marry you to an elderly and rich lady; I from you, having to give my
+hand, without any especial motive, to an excellent man, whom I
+respected, if I did not love. We became again free--you first, your poor
+mother at the same time leaving you in possession of your large fortune;
+I later, just at the time when you returned from abroad. So we met once
+more. We spoke of the past; we could enjoy and love the recollection of
+it; we might have been contented, in each other's society, to leave
+things as they were. You were urgent for our marriage. I at first
+hesitated. We were about the same age; but I as a woman had grown older
+than you as a man. At last I could not refuse you what you seemed to
+think the one thing you cared for. All the discomfort which you had ever
+experienced, at court, in the army, or in traveling, you were to recover
+from at my side; you would settle down and enjoy life; but only with me
+for your companion. I settled my daughter at a school, where she could
+be more completely educated than would be possible in the retirement of
+the country; and I placed my niece Ottilie there with her as well, who,
+perhaps, would have grown up better at home with me, under my own care.
+This was done with your consent, merely that we might have our own
+lives to ourselves--merely that we might enjoy undisturbed our
+so-long-wished-for, so-long-delayed happiness. We came here and settled
+ourselves. I undertook the domestic part of the ménage, you the
+out-of-doors and the general control. My own principle has been to meet
+your wishes in everything, to live only for you. At least, let us give
+ourselves a fair trial how far in this way we can be enough for each
+other."
+
+"Since the interdependence of things, as you call it, is your especial
+element," replied Edward, "one should either never listen to any of your
+trains of reasoning, or make up one's mind to allow you to be in the
+right; and, indeed, you have been in the right up to the present day.
+The foundation which we have hitherto been laying for ourselves, is of
+the true, sound sort; only, are we to build nothing upon it? is nothing
+to be developed out of it? All the work we have done--I in the garden,
+you in the park--is it all only for a pair of hermits?"
+
+"Well, well," replied Charlotte, "very well. What we have to look to is,
+that we introduce no alien element, nothing which shall cross or
+obstruct us. Remember, our plans, even those which only concern our
+amusements, depend mainly on our being together. You were to read to me,
+in consecutive order, the journal which you made when you were abroad.
+You were to take the opportunity of arranging it, putting all the loose
+matter connected with it in its place; and with me to work with you and
+help you, out of these invaluable but chaotic leaves and sheets to put
+together a complete thing, which should give pleasure to ourselves and
+to others. I promised to assist you in transcribing; and we thought it
+would be so pleasant, so delightful, so charming, to travel over in
+recollection the world which we were unable to see together. The
+beginning is already made. Then, in the evenings, you have taken up your
+flute again, accompanying me on the piano, while of visits backwards and
+forwards among the neighborhood, there is abundance. For my part, I
+have been promising myself out of all this the first really happy summer
+I have ever thought to spend in my life."
+
+"Only I cannot see," replied Edward, rubbing his forehead, "how, through
+every bit of this which you have been so sweetly and so sensibly laying
+before me, the Captain's presence can be any interruption; I should
+rather have thought it would give it all fresh zest and life. He was my
+companion during a part of my travels. He made many observations from a
+different point of view from mine. We can put it all together, and so
+make a charmingly complete work of it."
+
+"Well, then, I will acknowledge openly," answered Charlotte, with some
+impatience, "my feeling is against this plan. I have an instinct which
+tells me no good will come of it."
+
+"You women are invincible in this way," replied Edward. "You are so
+sensible, that there is no answering you, then so affectionate, that one
+is glad to give way to you; full of feelings, which one cannot wound,
+and full of forebodings, which terrify one."
+
+"I am not superstitious," said Charlotte; "and I care nothing for these
+dim sensations, merely as such; but in general they are the result of
+unconscious recollections of happy or unhappy consequences, which we
+have experienced as following on our own or others' actions. Nothing is
+of greater moment, in any state of things, than the intervention of a
+third person. I have seen friends, brothers and sisters, lovers,
+husbands and wives, whose relation to each other, through the accidental
+or intentional introduction of a third person, has been altogether
+changed--whose whole moral condition has been inverted by it."
+
+"That may very well be," replied Edward, "with people who live on
+without looking where they are going; but not, surely, with persons whom
+experience has taught to understand themselves."
+
+"That understanding ourselves, my dearest husband," insisted Charlotte,
+"is no such certain weapon. It is very often a most dangerous one for
+the person who bears it. And out of all this, at least so much seems to
+arise, that we should not be in too great a hurry. Let me have a few
+days to think; don't decide."
+
+"As the matter stands," returned Edward, "wait as many days as we will,
+we shall still be in too great a hurry. The arguments for and against
+are all before us; all we want is the conclusion, and as things are, I
+think the best thing we can do is to draw lots."
+
+"I know," said Charlotte, "that in doubtful cases it is your way to
+leave them to chance. To me, in such a serious matter, this seems almost
+a crime."
+
+"Then what am I to write to the Captain?" cried Edward; "for write I
+must at once."
+
+"Write him a kind, sensible, sympathizing letter," answered Charlotte.
+
+"That is as good as none at all," replied Edward.
+
+"And there are many cases," answered she, "in which we are obliged, and
+in which it is the real kindness, rather to write nothing than not to
+write."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Edward was alone in his room. The repetition of the incidents of his
+life from Charlotte's lips; the representation of their mutual
+situation, their mutual purposes, had worked him, sensitive as he was,
+into a very pleasant state of mind. While close to her--while in her
+presence--he had felt so happy, that he had thought out a warm, kind,
+but quiet and indefinite epistle which he would send to the Captain.
+When, however, he had settled himself at his writing-table, and taken up
+his friend's letter to read it over once more, the sad condition of this
+excellent man rose again vividly before him. The feelings which had been
+all day distressing him again awoke, and it appeared impossible to him
+to leave one whom he called his friend in such painful embarrassment.
+
+Edward was unaccustomed to deny himself anything. The only child, and
+consequently the spoilt child, of wealthy parents, who had persuaded him
+into a singular, but highly advantageous marriage with a lady far older
+than himself; and again by her petted and indulged in every possible
+way, she seeking to reward his kindness to her by the utmost liberality;
+after her early death his own master, traveling independently of every
+one, equal to all contingencies and all changes, with desires never
+excessive, but multiple and various--free-hearted, generous, brave, at
+times even noble--what was there in the world to cross or thwart him?
+
+Hitherto, everything had gone as he desired! Charlotte had become his;
+he had won her at last, with an obstinate, a romantic fidelity; and now
+he felt himself, for the first time, contradicted, crossed in his
+wishes, when those wishes were to invite to his home the friend of his
+youth--just as he was longing, as it were, to throw open his whole heart
+to him. He felt annoyed, impatient; he took up his pen again and again,
+and as often threw it down again, because he could not make up his mind
+what to write. Against his wife's wishes he would not go; against her
+expressed desire he could not. Ill at ease as he was, it would have been
+impossible for him, even if he had wished, to write a quiet, easy
+letter. The most natural thing to do, was to put it off. In a few words,
+he begged his friend to forgive him for having left his letter
+unanswered; that day he was unable to write circumstantially; but
+shortly, he hoped to be able to tell him what he felt at greater length.
+
+The next day, as they were walking to the same spot, Charlotte took the
+opportunity of bringing back the conversation to the subject, perhaps
+because she knew that there is no surer way of rooting out any plan or
+purpose than by often talking it over.
+
+It was what Edward was wishing. He expressed him self in his own way,
+kindly and sweetly. For although, sensitive as, he was, he flamed up
+readily--although the vehemence with which he desired anything made him
+pressing, and his obstinacy made him impatient--his words were so
+softened by his wish to spare the feelings of those to whom he was
+speaking, that it was impossible not to be charmed, even when one most
+disagreed, with him.
+
+This morning, he first contrived to bring Charlotte into the happiest
+humor, and then so disarmed her with the graceful turn which he gave to
+the conversation, that she cried out at last:
+
+"You are determined that what I refused to the husband you will make me
+grant to the lover. At least, my dearest," she continued, "I will
+acknowledge that your wishes,--and the warmth and sweetness with which
+you express them, have not left me untouched, have not left me unmoved.
+You drive me to make a confession;--till now, I too have had a
+concealment from you; I am in exactly the same position with you, and I
+have hitherto been putting the same restraint on my inclination which I
+have been exhorting you to put on yours."
+
+"Glad am I to hear that," said Edward. "In the married state, a
+difference of opinion now and then, I see, is no bad thing; we learn
+something of each other by it."
+
+"You are to learn at present, then," said Charlotte, "that it is with me
+about Ottilie as it is with you about the Captain. The dear child is
+most uncomfortable at the school, and I am thoroughly uneasy about her.
+Luciana, my daughter, born as she is for the world, is there training
+hourly for the world; languages, history, everything that is taught
+there, she acquires with so much ease that, as it were, she learns them
+off at sight. She has quick natural gifts, and an excellent memory; one
+may almost say she forgets everything, and in a moment calls it all back
+again. She distinguishes herself above every one at the school with the
+freedom of her carriage, the grace of her movement, and the elegance of
+her address, and with the inborn royalty of nature makes herself the
+queen of the little circle there. The superior of the establishment
+regards her as a little divinity, who, under her hands, is shaping into
+excellence, and who will do her honor, gain her reputation, and bring
+her a large increase of pupils; the first pages of this good lady's
+letters, and her monthly notices of progress, are forever hymns about
+the excellence of such a child, which I have to translate into my own
+prose; while her concluding sentences about Ottilie are nothing but
+excuse after excuse--attempts at explaining how it can be that a girl in
+other respects growing up so lovely seems coming to nothing, and shows
+neither capacity nor accomplishment. This, and the little she has to say
+besides, is no riddle to me, because I can see in this dear child the
+same character as that of her mother, who was my own dearest friend; who
+grew up with myself, and whose daughter, I am certain, if I had the care
+of her education, would form into an exquisite creature.
+
+"This, however, has not fallen in with our plan, and as one ought not to
+be picking and pulling, or for ever introducing new elements among the
+conditions of our lives, I think it better to bear, and to conquer as I
+can, even the unpleasant impression that my daughter, who knows very
+well that poor Ottilie is entirely dependent upon us, does not refrain
+from flourishing her own successes in her face, and so, to a certain
+extent, destroys the little good which we have done for her. Who are
+well trained enough never to wound others by a parade of their own
+advantages? and who stands so high as not at times to suffer under such
+a slight? In trials like these, Ottilie's character is growing in
+strength, but since I have clearly known the painfulness of her
+situation, I have been thinking over all possible ways to make some
+other arrangement. Every hour I am expecting an answer to my own last
+letter, and then I do not mean to hesitate any more. So, my dear Edward,
+it is with me. We have both, you see, the same sorrows to bear, touching
+both our hearts in the same point. Let us bear them together, since we
+neither of us can press our own against the other."
+
+"We are strange creatures," said Edward, smiling. "If we can only put
+out of sight anything which troubles us, we fancy at once we have got
+rid of it. We can give up much in the large and general; but to make
+sacrifices in little things is a demand to which we are rarely equal. So
+it was with my mother,--as long as I lived with her, while a boy and a
+young man, she could not bear to let me be a moment out of her sight. If
+I was out later than usual in my ride, some misfortune must have
+happened to me. If I got wet through in a shower, a fever was
+inevitable. I traveled; I was absent from her altogether; and, at once,
+I scarcely seemed to belong to her. If we look at it closer," he
+continued, "we are both acting very foolishly, very culpably. Two very
+noble natures, both of which have the closest claims on our affection,
+we are leaving exposed to pain and distress, merely to avoid exposing
+ourselves to a chance of danger. If this is not to be called selfish,
+what is? You take Ottilie. Let me have the Captain; and, for a short
+period, at least, let the trial be made."
+
+"We might venture it," said Charlotte, thoughtfully, "if the danger were
+only to ourselves. But do you think it prudent to bring Ottilie and the
+Captain into a situation where they must necessarily be so closely
+intimate; the Captain, a man no older than yourself, of an age (I am not
+saying this to flatter you) when a man becomes first capable of love and
+first deserving of it, and a girl of Ottilie's attractiveness?"
+
+"I cannot conceive how you can rate Ottilie so high," replied Edward. "I
+can only explain it to myself by supposing her to have inherited your
+affection for her mother. Pretty she is, no doubt. I remember the
+Captain observing it to me, when we came back last year, and met her at
+your aunt's. Attractive she is,--she has particularly pretty eyes; but I
+do not know that she made the slightest impression upon me."
+
+"That was quite proper in you," said Charlotte, "seeing that I was
+there; and, although she is much younger than I, the presence of your
+old friend had so many charms for you, that you overlooked the promise
+of the opening beauty. It is one of your ways; and that is one reason
+why it is so pleasant to live with you."
+
+Charlotte, openly as she appeared to be speaking, was keeping back
+something, nevertheless; which was that at the time when Edward came
+first back from abroad, she had purposely thrown Ottilie in his way, to
+secure, if possible, so desirable a match for her protégée. For of
+herself, at that time, in connection with Edward, she never thought at
+all. The Captain, also, had a hint given to him to draw Edward's
+attention to her; but the latter, who was clinging determinately to his
+early affection for Charlotte, looked neither right nor left, and was
+only happy in the feeling that it was at last within his power to obtain
+for himself the one happiness which he so earnestly desired; and which a
+series of incidents had appeared to have placed forever beyond his
+reach.
+
+They were on the point of descending the new grounds, in order to return
+to the castle, when a servant came hastily to meet them, and, with a
+laugh on his face, called up from below, "Will your grace be pleased to
+come quickly to the castle? The Herr Mittler has just galloped into the
+court. He shouted to us, to go all of us in search of you, and we were
+to ask whether there was need; 'whether there is need,' he cried after
+us, 'do you hear? But be quick, be quick.'"
+
+"The odd fellow," exclaimed Edward. "But has he not come at the right
+time, Charlotte? Tell him, there is need,--grievous need. He must
+alight. See his horse taken care of. Take him into the saloon, and let
+him have some luncheon. We shall be with him immediately."
+
+"Let us take the nearest way," he said to his wife, and struck into the
+path across the churchyard, which he usually avoided. He was not a
+little surprised to find here, too, traces of Charlotte's delicate hand.
+Sparing, as far as possible, the old monuments, she had contrived to
+level it, and lay it carefully out, so as to make it appear a pleasant
+spot on which the eye and the imagination could equally repose with
+pleasure. The oldest stones had each their special honor assigned them.
+They were ranged according to their dates along the wall, either leaning
+against it, or let into it, or however it could be contrived; and the
+string-course of the church was thus variously ornamented.
+
+Edward was singularly affected as he came in upon it through the little
+wicket; he pressed Charlotte's hand, and tears started into his eyes.
+But these were very soon put to flight, by the appearance of their
+singular visitor. This gentleman had declined sitting down in the
+castle; he had ridden straight through the village to the churchyard
+gate; and then, halting, he called out to his friends, "Are you not
+making a fool of me? Is there need, really? If there is, I can stay till
+mid-day. But don't keep me. I have a great deal to do before night."
+
+"Since you have taken the trouble to come so far," cried Edward to him,
+in answer, "you had better come through the gate. We meet at a solemn
+spot. Come and see the variety which Charlotte has thrown over its
+sadness."
+
+"Inside there," called out the rider, "come I neither on horseback, nor
+in carriage, nor on foot. These here rest in peace: with them I have
+nothing to do. One day I shall be carried in feet foremost. I must bear
+that as I can. Is it serious, I want to know?"
+
+"Indeed it is," cried Charlotte, "right serious. For the first time in
+our married lives, we are in a strait and difficulty, from which we do
+not know how to extricate ourselves."
+
+"You do not look as if it were so," answered he. "But I will believe
+you. If you are deceiving me, for the future you shall help yourselves.
+Follow me quickly, my horse will be none the worse for a rest."
+
+The three speedily found themselves in the saloon together. Luncheon was
+brought in, and Mittler told them what that day he had done, and was
+going to do. This eccentric person had in early life been a clergyman,
+and had distinguished himself in his office by the never-resting
+activity with which he contrived to make up and put an end to quarrels:
+quarrels in families, and quarrels between neighbors; first among the
+individuals immediately about him, and afterward among whole
+congregations, and among the country gentlemen round. While he was in
+the ministry, no married couple was allowed to separate; and the
+district courts were untroubled with either cause or process. A
+knowledge of the law, he was well aware, was necessary to him. He gave
+himself with all his might to the study of it, and very soon felt
+himself a match for the best trained advocate. His circle of activity
+extended wonderfully, and people were on the point of inducing him to
+move to the Residence, where he would find opportunities of exercising
+in the higher circles what he had begun in the lowest, when he won a
+considerable sum of money in a lottery. With this, he bought himself a
+small property. He let the ground to a tenant, and made it the centre of
+his operations, with the fixed determination, or rather in accordance
+with his old customs and inclinations, never to enter a house when there
+was no dispute to make up, and no help to be given. People who were
+superstitious about names, and about what they imported, maintained that
+it was his being called Mittler which drove him to take upon himself
+this strange employment.
+
+Luncheon was laid on the table, and the stranger then solemnly pressed
+his host not to wait any longer with the disclosure which he had to
+make. Immediately after refreshing himself he would be obliged to leave
+them.
+
+Husband and wife made a circumstantial confession; but scarcely had he
+caught the substance of the matter, when he started angrily up from the
+table, rushed out of the saloon, and ordered his horse to be saddled
+instantly.
+
+"Either you do not know me, you do not understand me," he cried, "or you
+are sorely mischievous. Do you call this a quarrel? Is there any want
+of help here? Do you suppose that I am in the world to give _advice_? Of
+all occupations which man can pursue, that is the most foolish. Every
+man must be his own counsellor, and do what he cannot let alone. If all
+go well, let him be happy, let him enjoy his wisdom and his fortune; if
+it go ill, I am at hand to do what I can for him. The man who desires to
+be rid of an evil knows what he wants; but the man who desires something
+better than he has got is stone blind. Yes, yes, laugh as you will, he
+is playing blindman's-buff; perhaps he gets hold of something, but the
+question is what he has got hold of. Do as you will, it is all one.
+Invite your friends to you, or let them be, it is all the same. The most
+prudent plans I have seen miscarry, and the most foolish succeed. Don't
+split your brains about it; and if, one way or the other, evil comes of
+what you settle, don't fret; send for me, and you shall be helped. Till
+which time, I am your humble servant."
+
+So saying, he sprang on his horse, without waiting the arrival of the
+coffee.
+
+"Here you see," said Charlotte, "the small service a third person can
+be, when things are off their balance between two persons closely
+connected; we are left, if possible, more confused and more uncertain
+than we were."
+
+They would both, probably, have continued hesitating some time longer,
+had not a letter arrived from the Captain, in reply to Edward's last. He
+had made up his mind to accept one of the situations which had been
+offered him, although it was not in the least up to his mark. He was to
+share the ennui of certain wealthy persons of rank, who depended on his
+ability to dissipate it.
+
+Edward's keen glance saw into the whole thing, and he pictured it out in
+just, sharp lines.
+
+"Can we endure to think of our friend in such a position?" he cried;
+"you cannot be so cruel, Charlotte."
+
+"That strange Mittler is right after all," replied Charlotte; "all such
+undertakings are ventures; what will come of them it is impossible to
+foresee. New elements introduced among us may be fruitful in fortune or
+in misfortune, without our having to take credit to ourselves for one or
+the other. I do not feel myself firm enough to oppose you further. Let
+us make the experiment; only one thing I will entreat of you--that it be
+only for a short time. You must allow me to exert myself more than ever,
+to use all my influence among all my connections, to find him some
+position which will satisfy him in his own way."
+
+Edward poured out the warmest expressions of gratitude. He hastened,
+with a light, happy heart, to write off his proposals to his friend.
+Charlotte, in a postscript, was to signify her approbation with her own
+hand, and unite her own kind entreaties with his. She wrote, with a
+rapid pen, pleasantly and affectionately, but yet with a sort of haste
+which was not usual with her; and, most unlike herself, she disfigured
+the paper at last with a blot of ink, which put her out of temper, and
+which she only made worse with her attempts to wipe it away.
+
+Edward laughed at her about it, and, as there was still room, added a
+second postscript, that his friend was to see from this symptom the
+impatience with which he was expected, and measure the speed at which he
+came to them by the haste in which the letter was written.
+
+The messenger was gone; and Edward thought he could not give a more
+convincing evidence of his gratitude, than in insisting again and again
+that Charlotte should at once send for Ottilie from the school. She said
+she would think about it; and, for that evening, induced Edward to join
+with her in the enjoyment of a little music. Charlotte played
+exceedingly well on the piano, Edward not quite so well on the flute. He
+had taken a great deal of pains with it at times; but he was without the
+patience, without the perseverance, which are requisite for the
+completely successful cultivation of such a talent; consequently, his
+part was done unequally, some pieces well, only perhaps too
+quickly--while with others he hesitated, not being quite familiar with
+them; so that, for any one else, it would have been difficult to have
+gone through a duet with him. But Charlotte knew how to manage it. She
+held in, or let herself be run away with, and fulfilled in this way the
+double part of a skilful conductor and a prudent housewife, who are able
+always to keep right on the whole, although particular passages will now
+and then fall out of order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+The Captain came, having previously written a most sensible letter,
+which had entirely quieted Charlotte's apprehensions. So much clearness
+about himself, so just an understanding of his own position and the
+position of his friends, promised everything which was best and
+happiest.
+
+The conversation of the first few hours, as is generally the case with
+friends who have not met for a long time, was eager, lively, almost
+exhausting. Toward evening, Charlotte proposed a walk to the new
+grounds. The Captain was delighted with the spot, and observed every
+beauty which had been first brought into sight and made enjoyable by the
+new walks. He had a practised eye, and at the same time one easily
+satisfied; and although he knew very well what was really valuable, he
+never, as so many persons do, made people who were showing him things of
+their own uncomfortable, by requiring more than the circumstances
+admitted of, or by mentioning anything more perfect, which he remembered
+having seen elsewhere.
+
+When they arrived at the summer-house, they found it dressed out for a
+holiday, only, indeed, with artificial flowers and evergreens, but with
+some pretty bunches of natural corn-ears among them, and other field and
+garden fruit, so as to do credit to the taste which had arranged them.
+
+"Although my husband does not like in general to have his birthday or
+christening-day kept," Charlotte said, "he will not object today to
+these few ornaments being expended on a treble festival."
+
+"Treble?" cried Edward.
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "Our friend's arrival here we are bound to
+keep as a festival; and have you never thought, either of you, that this
+is the day on which you were both christened? Are you not both named
+Otto?"
+
+The two friends shook hands across the little table.
+
+"You bring back to my mind," Edward said, "this little link of our
+boyish affection. As children, we were both called so; but when we came
+to be at school together, it was the cause of much confusion, and I
+readily made over to him all my right to the pretty laconic name."
+
+"Wherein you were not altogether so very high-minded," said the Captain;
+"for I well remember that the name of Edward had then begun to please
+you better, from its attractive sound when spoken by certain pretty
+lips."
+
+They were now sitting all three round the same table where Charlotte had
+spoken so vehemently against their guest's coming to them. Edward, happy
+as he was, did not wish to remind his wife of that time; but he could
+not help saying, "There is good room here for one more person."
+
+At this moment the notes of a bugle were heard across from the castle.
+Full of happy thoughts and feelings as the friends all were together,
+the sound fell in among them with a strong force of answering harmony.
+They listened silently, each for the moment withdrawing into himself,
+and feeling doubly happy in the fair circle of which he formed a part.
+The pause was first broken by Edward, who started up and walked out in
+front of the summer-house.
+
+"Our friend must not think," he said to Charlotte, "that this narrow
+little valley forms the whole of our domain and possessions. Let us take
+him up to the top of the hill, where he can see farther and breathe more
+freely."
+
+"For this once, then," answered Charlotte, "we must climb up the old
+footpath, which is not too easy. By the next time, I hope my walks and
+steps will have been carried right up."
+
+And so, among rocks, and shrubs, and bushes, they made their way to the
+summit, where they found themselves, not on a level flat, but on a
+sloping grassy terrace, running along the ridge of the hill. The
+village, with the castle behind it, was out of sight. At the bottom of
+the valley, sheets of water were seen spreading out right and left, with
+wooded hills rising immediately from their opposite margin, and, at the
+end of the upper water, a wall of sharp, precipitous rocks directly
+overhanging it, their huge forms reflected in its level surface. In the
+hollow of the ravine, where a considerable brook ran into the lake, lay
+a mill, half hidden among the trees, a sweetly retired spot, most
+beautifully surrounded; and through the entire semicircle, over which
+the view extended, ran an endless variety of hills and valleys, copse
+and forest, the early green of which promised the near approach of a
+luxuriant clothing of foliage. In many places particular groups of trees
+caught the eye; and especially a cluster of planes and poplars directly
+at the spectator's feet, close to the edge of the centre lake. They were
+at their full growth, and they stood there, spreading out their boughs
+all around them, in fresh and luxuriant strength.
+
+To these Edward called his friend's attention.
+
+"I myself planted them," he cried, "when I was a boy. They were small
+trees which I rescued when my father was laying out the new part of the
+great castle garden, and in the middle of one summer had rooted them
+out. This year you will no doubt see them show their gratitude in a
+fresh set of shoots."
+
+They returned to the castle in high spirits, and mutually pleased with
+each other. To the guest was allotted an agreeable and roomy set of
+apartments in the right wing of the castle; and here he rapidly got his
+books and papers and instruments in order, to go on with his usual
+occupation. But Edward, for the first few days, gave him no rest. He
+took him about everywhere, now on foot, now on horseback, making him
+acquainted with the country and with the estate; and he embraced the
+opportunity of imparting to him the wishes which he had been long
+entertaining, of getting at some better acquaintance with it, and
+learning to manage it more profitably.
+
+"The first thing we have to do," said the Captain, "is to make a
+magnetic survey of the property. That is a pleasant and easy matter; and
+if it does not admit of entire exactness, it will be always useful, and
+will do, at any rate, for an agreeable beginning. It can be made, too,
+without any great staff of assistants, and one can be sure of getting it
+completed. If by-and-by you come to require anything more exact, it will
+be easy then to find some plan to have it made."
+
+The Captain was exceedingly skilful at work of thus kind. He had brought
+with him whatever instruments he required, and commenced immediately.
+Edward provided him with a number of foresters and peasants, who, with
+his instruction, were able to render him all necessary assistance. The
+weather was favorable. The evenings and the early mornings were devoted
+to the designing and drawing, and in a short time it was all filled in
+and colored. Edward saw his possessions grow out like a new creation
+upon the paper; and it seemed as if now for the first time he knew what
+they were, as if they now first were properly his own.
+
+Thus there came occasion to speak of the park, and of the ways of laying
+it out; a far better disposition of things being made possible after a
+survey of this kind, than could be arrived at by experimenting on
+nature, on partial and accidental impressions.
+
+"We must make my wife understand this," said Edward.
+
+"We must do nothing of the kind," replied the Captain, who did not like
+bringing his own notions in collision with those of others. He had
+learnt by experience that the motives and purposes by which men are
+influenced are far too various to be made to coalesce upon a single
+point, even on the most solid representations. "We must not do it," he
+cried; "she will be only confused. With her, as with all people who
+employ themselves on such matters merely as amateurs, the important
+thing is, rather that she shall do something, than that something shall
+be done. Such persons feel their way with nature. They have fancies for
+this plan or that; they do not venture on removing obstacles. They are
+not bold enough to make a sacrifice. They do not know beforehand in what
+their work is to result. They try an experiment--it succeeds--it fails;
+they alter it; they alter, perhaps, what they ought to leave alone, and
+leave what they ought to alter; and so, at last, there always remains
+but a patchwork, which pleases and amuses, but never satisfies."
+
+"Acknowledge candidly," said Edward, "that you do not like this new work
+of hers."
+
+"The idea is excellent," he replied; "if the execution were equal to it,
+there would be no fault to find. But she has tormented herself to find
+her way up that rock; and she now torments every one, if you must have
+it, that she takes up after her. You cannot walk together, you cannot
+walk behind one another, with any freedom. Every moment your step is
+interrupted one way or another. There is no end to the mistakes which
+she has made."
+
+"Would it have been easy to have done it otherwise?" asked Edward.
+
+"Perfectly," replied the Captain. "She had only to break away a corner
+of the rock, which is now but an unsightly object, made up as it is of
+little pieces, and she would at once have a sweep for her walk and stone
+in abundance for the rough masonry work, to widen it in the bad places,
+and make it smooth. But this I tell you in strictest confidence. Her it
+would only confuse and annoy. What is done must remain as it is. If any
+more money and labor is to be spent there, there is abundance to do
+above the summer-house on the hill, which we can settle our own way."
+
+If the two friends found in their occupation abundance of present
+employment, there was no lack either of entertaining reminiscences of
+early times, in which Charlotte took her part as well. They determined,
+moreover, that as soon as their immediate labors were finished, they
+would go to work upon the journal, and in this way, too, reproduce the
+past.
+
+For the rest, when Edward and Charlotte were alone, there were fewer
+matters of private interest between them than formerly. This was
+especially the case since the fault-finding about the grounds, which
+Edward thought so just, and which he felt to the quick. He held his
+tongue about what the Captain had said for a long time; but at last,
+when he saw his wife again preparing to go to work above the
+summer-house, with her paths and steps, he could not contain himself any
+longer, but, after a few circumlocutions, came out with his new views.
+
+Charlotte was thoroughly disturbed. She was sensible enough to perceive
+at once that they were right, but there was the difficulty with what was
+already done--and what was made was made. She had liked it; even what
+was wrong had become dear to her in its details. She fought against her
+convictions; she defended her little creations; she railed at men who
+were forever going to the broad and the great. They could not let a
+pastime, they could not let an amusement alone, she said, but they must
+go and make a work out of it, never thinking of the expense which their
+larger plans involved. She was provoked, annoyed, and angry. Her old
+plans she could not give up, the new she would not quite throw from her;
+but, divided as she was, for the present she put a stop to the work, and
+gave herself time to think the thing over, and let it ripen by itself.
+
+At the same time that she lost this source of active amusement, the
+others were more and more together over their own business. They took
+to occupying themselves, moreover, with the flower-garden and the
+hot-houses; and as they filled up the intervals with the ordinary
+gentlemen's amusements, hunting, riding, buying, selling, breaking
+horses, and such matters, she was every day left more and more to
+herself. She devoted herself more assiduously than ever to her
+correspondence on account of the Captain; and yet she had many lonely
+hours; so that the information which she now received from the school
+became of more agreeable interest.
+
+To a long-drawn letter of the superior of the establishment, filled with
+the usual expressions of delight at her daughter's progress, a brief
+postscript was attached, with a second from the hand of a gentleman in
+employment there as an Assistant, both of which we here communicate.
+
+POSTSCRIPT OF THE SUPERIOR
+
+"Of Ottilie, I can only repeat to your ladyship what I have already
+stated in my former letters. I do not know how to find fault with her,
+yet I cannot say that I am satisfied. She is always unassuming, always
+ready to oblige others; but it is not pleasing to see her so timid, so
+almost servile.
+
+"Your ladyship lately sent her some money, with several little matters
+for her wardrobe. The money she has never touched, the dresses lie
+unworn in their place. She keeps her things very nice and very clean;
+but this is all she seems to care about. Again, I cannot praise her
+excessive abstemiousness in eating and drinking. There is no
+extravagance at our table, but there is nothing that I like better than
+to see the children eat enough of good, wholesome food. What is
+carefully provided and set before them ought to be taken; and to this I
+never can succeed in bringing Ottilie. She is always making herself some
+occupation or other, always finding something which she must do,
+something which the servants have neglected, to escape the second course
+or the dessert; and now it has to be considered (which I cannot help
+connecting with all this) that she frequently suffers, I have lately
+learnt, from pain in the left side of her head. It is only at times, but
+it is distressing, and may be of importance. So much upon this otherwise
+sweet and lovely girl."
+
+SECOND POSTSCRIPT, BY THE ASSISTANT
+
+"Our excellent superior commonly permits me to read the letters in which
+she communicates her observations upon her pupils to their parents and
+friends. Such of them as are addressed to your ladyship I ever read with
+twofold attention and pleasure. We have to congratulate you upon a
+daughter who unites in herself every brilliant quality with which people
+distinguish themselves in the world; and I at least think you no less
+fortunate in having had bestowed upon you, in your step-daughter, a
+child who has been born for the good and happiness of others, and
+assuredly also for her own. Ottilie is almost our only pupil about whom
+there is a difference of opinion between myself and our reverend
+superior. I do not complain of the very natural desire in that good lady
+to see outward and definite fruits arising from her labors. But there
+are also fruits which are not outward, which are of the true germinal
+sort, and which develop themselves sooner or later in a beautiful life.
+And this I am certain is the case with your protégée. So long as she has
+been under my care, I have watched her moving with an even step, slowly,
+steadily forward--never back. As with a child it is necessary to begin
+everything at the beginning, so it is with her. She can comprehend
+nothing which does not follow from what precedes it; let a thing be as
+simple and easy as possible, she can make nothing of it if it is not in
+a recognizable connection; but find the intermediate links, and make
+them clear to her, and then nothing is too difficult for her.
+
+"Progressing with such slow steps, she remains behind her companions,
+who, with capacities of quite a different kind, hurry on and on, learn
+everything readily, connected or unconnected, recollect it with ease,
+and apply it with correctness. And again, some of the lessons here are
+given by excellent, but somewhat hasty and impatient teachers, who pass
+from result to result, cutting short the process by which they are
+arrived at; and these are not of the slightest service to her; she
+learns nothing from them. There is a complaint of her handwriting. They
+say she will not, or cannot, understand how to form her letters. I have
+examined closely into this. It is true she writes slowly, stiffly, if
+you like; but the hand is neither timid nor without character. The
+French language is not my department, but I have taught her something of
+it, in the step-by-step fashion; and this she understands easily.
+Indeed, it is singular that she knows a great deal, and knows it well,
+too; and yet when she is asked a question, it seems as if she knew
+nothing.
+
+"To conclude generally, I should say she learns nothing like a person
+who is being educated, but she learns like one who is to educate--not
+like a pupil, but like a future teacher. Your ladyship may think it
+strange that I, as an educator and a teacher, can find no higher praise
+to give to any one than by a comparison with myself. I may leave it to
+your own good sense, to your deep knowledge of the world and of mankind,
+to make the best of my most inadequate, but well-intended expressions.
+You may satisfy yourself that you have much happiness to promise
+yourself from this child. I commend myself to your ladyship, and I
+beseech you to permit me to write to you again as soon as I see reason
+to believe that I have anything important or agreeable to communicate."
+
+This letter gave Charlotte great pleasure. The contents of it coincided
+very closely with the notions which she had herself conceived of
+Ottilie. At the same time, she could not help smiling at the excessive
+interest of the Assistant, which seemed greater than the insight into a
+pupil's excellence usually calls forth. In her quiet, unprejudiced way
+of looking at things, this relation, among others, she was contented to
+permit to lie before her as a possibility; she could value the interest
+of so sensible a man in Ottilie, having learnt, among the lessons of her
+life, to see how highly true regard is to be prized in a world where
+indifference or dislike are the common natural residents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+The topographical chart of the property and its environs was completed.
+It was executed on a considerable scale; the character of the particular
+localities was made intelligible by various colors; and by means of a
+trigonometrical survey the Captain had been able to arrive at a very
+fair exactness of measurement. He had been rapid in his work. There was
+scarcely ever any one who could do with less sleep than this most
+laborious man; and, as his day was always devoted to an immediate
+purpose, every evening something had been done.
+
+"Let us now," he said to his friend, "go on to what remains for us, to
+the statistics of the estate. We shall have a good deal of work to get
+through at the beginning, and afterward we shall come to the farm
+estimates, and much else which will naturally arise out of them. Only we
+must have one thing distinctly settled and adhered to. Everything which
+is properly _business_ we must keep carefully separate from life.
+Business requires earnestness and method; _life_ must have a freer
+handling. Business demands the utmost stringency and sequence; in life,
+inconsecutiveness is frequently necessary, indeed, is charming and
+graceful. If you are firm in the first, you can afford yourself more
+liberty in the second; while if you mix them, you will find the free
+interfering with and breaking in upon the fixed."
+
+In these sentiments Edward felt a slight reflection upon himself. Though
+not naturally disorderly, he could never bring himself to arrange his
+papers in their proper places. What he had to do in connection with
+others, was not kept separate from what depended only on himself.
+Business got mixed up with amusement, and serious work with recreation.
+Now, however, it was easy for him, with the help of a friend who would
+take the trouble upon himself; and a second "I" worked out the
+separation, to which the single "I" was always unequal.
+
+In the Captain's wing, they contrived a depository for what concerned
+the present, and an archive for the past. Here they brought all the
+documents, papers, and notes from their various hiding-places, rooms,
+drawers, and boxes, with the utmost speed. Harmony and order were
+introduced into the wilderness, and the different packets were marked
+and registered in their several pigeon-holes. They found all they wanted
+in greater completeness even than they had expected; and here an old
+clerk was found of no slight service, who for the whole day and part of
+the night never left his desk, and with whom, till then, Edward had been
+always dissatisfied.
+
+"I should not know him again," he said to his friend, "the man is so
+handy and useful."
+
+"That," replied the Captain, "is because we give him nothing fresh to do
+till he has finished, at his convenience, what he has already; and so,
+as you perceive, he gets through a great deal. If you disturb him, he
+becomes useless at once."
+
+Spending their days together in this way, in the evenings they never
+neglected their regular visits to Charlotte. If there was no party from
+the neighborhood, as was often the case, they read and talked,
+principally on subjects connected with the improvement of the condition
+and comfort of social life.
+
+Charlotte, always accustomed to make the most of opportunities, not only
+saw her husband pleased, but found personal advantages for herself.
+Various domestic arrangements, which she had long wished to make, but
+which she did not know exactly how to set about, were managed for her
+through the contrivance of the Captain. Her domestic medicine-chest,
+hitherto but poorly furnished, was enlarged and enriched, and Charlotte
+herself, with the help of good books and personal instruction, was put
+in the way of being able to exercise her disposition to be of practical
+assistance more frequently and more efficiently than before.
+
+In providing against accidents, which, though common, yet only too often
+find us unprepared, they thought it especially necessary to have at hand
+whatever is required for the recovery of drowning men--accidents of this
+kind, from the number of canals, reservoirs, and waterworks in the
+neighborhood, being of frequent occurrence. This department the Captain
+took expressly into his own hands; and the observation escaped Edward,
+that a case of this kind had made a very singular epoch in the life of
+his friend. The latter made no reply, but seemed to be trying to escape
+from a painful recollection. Edward immediately stopped; and Charlotte,
+who, as well as he, had a general knowledge of the story, took no notice
+of the expression.
+
+"These preparations are all exceedingly valuable," said the Captain, one
+evening. "Now, however, we have not got the one thing which is most
+essential--a sensible man who understands how to manage it all. I know
+an army surgeon, whom I could exactly recommend for the place. You might
+get him at this moment, on easy terms. He is highly distinguished in his
+profession, and has frequently done more for me, in the treatment even
+of violent inward disorders, than celebrated physicians. Help upon the
+spot, is the thing you often most want in the country."
+
+He was written for at once; and Edward and Charlotte were rejoiced to
+have found so good and necessary an object on which to expend so much of
+the money which they set apart for such accidental demands upon them.
+
+Thus Charlotte, too, found means of making use, for her purposes, of the
+Captain's knowledge and practical skill; and she began to be quite
+reconciled to his presence, and to feel easy about any consequences
+which might ensue. She commonly prepared questions to ask him; among
+other things, it was one of her anxieties to provide against whatever
+was prejudicial to health and comfort, against poisons and such like.
+The lead-glazing on the china, the verdigris which formed about her
+copper and bronze vessels, etc., had long been a trouble to her. She got
+him to tell her about these, and, naturally, they often had to fall back
+on the first elements of medicine and chemistry.
+
+An accidental, but welcome occasion for entertainment of this kind, was
+given by an inclination of Edward to read aloud. He had a particularly
+clear, deep voice, and earlier in life had earned himself a pleasant
+reputation for his feeling and lively recitations of works of poetry and
+oratory. At this time he was occupied with other subjects, and the books
+which, for some time past, he had been reading, were either chemical or
+on some other branch of natural or technical science.
+
+One of his especial peculiarities--which, by-the-by, he very likely
+shares with a number of his fellow-creatures--was, that he could not
+bear to have any one looking over him when he was reading. In early
+life, when he used to read poems, plays, or stories, this had been the
+natural consequence of the desire which the reader feels, like the poet,
+or the actor, or the story-teller, to make surprises, to pause, to
+excite expectation; and this sort of effect was naturally defeated when
+a third person's eyes could run on before him, and see what was coming.
+On such occasions, therefore, he was accustomed to place himself in such
+a position that no one could get behind him. With a party of only three,
+this was unnecessary; and as with the present subject there was no
+opportunity for exciting feelings or giving the imagination a surprise,
+he did not take any particular pains to protect himself.
+
+One evening he had placed himself carelessly, and Charlotte happened by
+accident to cast her eyes upon the page. His old impatience was aroused;
+he turned to her, and said, almost unkindly:
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD READING ALOUD TO CHARLOTTE AND THE CAPTAIN]
+
+"I do wish, once for all, you would leave off doing a thing so out of
+taste and so disagreeable. When I read aloud to a person, is it not
+the same as if I was telling him something by word of mouth? The
+written, the printed word, is in the place of my own thoughts, of my own
+heart. If a window were broken into my brain or into my heart, and if
+the man to whom I am counting out my thoughts, or delivering my
+sentiments, one by one, knew beforehand exactly what was to come out of
+me, should I take the trouble to put them into words? When anybody looks
+over my book, I always feel as if I were being torn in two."
+
+Charlotte's tact, in whatever circle she might be, large or small, was
+remarkable, and she was able to set aside disagreeable or excited
+expressions without appearing to notice them. When a conversation grew
+tedious, she knew how to interrupt it; when it halted, she could set it
+going. And this time her good gift did not forsake her.
+
+"I am sure you will forgive me my fault," she said, when I tell you what
+it was this moment which came over me. I heard you reading something
+about Affinities, and I thought directly of some relations of mine, two
+of whom are just now occupying me a great deal. Then my attention went
+back to the book. I found it was not about living things at all, and I
+looked over to get the thread of it right again."
+
+"It was the comparison which led you wrong and confused you," said
+Edward. "The subject is nothing but earths and minerals. But man is a
+true Narcissus; he delights to see his own image everywhere; and he
+spreads himself underneath the universe, like the amalgam behind the
+glass."
+
+"Quite true," continued the Captain. "That is the way in which he treats
+everything external to himself. His wisdom and his folly, his will and
+his caprice, he attributes alike to the animal, the plant, the elements,
+and the gods."
+
+"Would you," said Charlotte, "if it is not taking you away too much from
+the immediate subject, tell me briefly what is meant here by
+Affinities?"
+
+"I shall be very glad indeed," replied the Captain, to whom Charlotte
+had addressed herself. "That is, I will tell you as well as I can. My
+ideas on the subject date ten years back; whether the scientific world
+continues to think the same about it, I cannot tell."
+
+"It is most disagreeable," cried Edward, "that one cannot now-a-days
+learn a thing once for all, and have done with it. Our forefathers could
+keep to what they were taught when they were young; but we have, every
+five years, to make revolutions with them, if we do not wish to drop
+altogether out of fashion."
+
+"We women need not be so particular," said Charlotte; "and, to speak the
+truth, I only want to know the meaning of the word. There is nothing
+more ridiculous in society than to misuse a strange technical word; and
+I only wish you to tell me in what sense the expression is made use of
+in connection with these things. What its scientific application is I am
+quite contented to leave to the learned; who, by-the-by, as far as I
+have been able to observe, do not find it easy to agree among
+themselves."
+
+"Whereabouts shall we begin," said Edward, after a pause, to the
+Captain, "to come most quickly to the point?"
+
+The latter, after thinking as little while, replied shortly:
+
+"You must let me make what will seem a wide sweep; we shall be on our
+subject almost immediately."
+
+Charlotte settled her work at her side, promising the fullest attention.
+
+The Captain began:
+
+"In all natural objects with which we are acquainted, we observe
+immediately that they have a certain relation to themselves. It may
+sound ridiculous to be asserting what is obvious to every one; but it is
+only by coming to a clear understanding together about what we know,
+that we can advance to what we do not know."
+
+"I think," interrupted Edward, "we can make the thing more clear to her,
+and to ourselves, with examples; conceive water, or oil, or quicksilver;
+among these you will see a certain oneness, a certain connection of
+their parts; and this oneness is never lost, except through force or
+some other determining cause. Let the cause cease to operate, and at
+once the parts unite again."
+
+"Unquestionably," said Charlotte, "that is plain; rain-drops readily
+unite and form streams; and when we were children, it was our delight to
+play with quicksilver, and wonder at the little globules splitting and
+parting and running into one another."
+
+"And here," said the Captain, "let me just cursorily mention one
+remarkable thing--I mean, that the full, complete correlation of parts
+which the fluid state makes possible, shows itself distinctly and
+universally in the globular form. The falling water-drop is round; you
+yourself spoke of the globules of quicksilver; and a drop of melted lead
+let fall, if it has time to harden before it reaches the ground, is
+found at the bottom in the shape of a ball."
+
+"Let me try and see," said Charlotte, "whether I can understand where
+you are bringing me. As everything has a reference to itself, so it must
+have some relation to others."
+
+"And that," interrupted Edward, "will be different according to the
+natural differences of the things themselves. Sometimes they will meet
+like friends and old acquaintances; they will come rapidly together, and
+unite without either having to alter itself at all--as wine mixes with
+water. Others, again, will remain as strangers side by side, and no
+amount of mechanical mixing or forcing will succeed in combining them.
+Oil and water may be shaken up together, and the next moment they are
+separate again, each by itself."
+
+"One can almost fancy," said Charlotte, "that in these simple forms one
+sees people that one is acquainted with; one has met with just such
+things in the societies amongst which one has lived; and the strangest
+likenesses of all with these soulless creatures are in the masses in
+which men stand divided one against the other, in their classes and
+professions; the nobility and the third estate, for instance, or
+soldiers and civilians."
+
+"Then again," replied Edward, "as these are united under common laws and
+customs, so there are intermediate members in our chemical world which
+will combine elements that are mutually repulsive."
+
+"Oil, for instance," said the Captain, "we make combine with water with
+the help of alkalis----"
+
+"Do not go on too fast with your lesson," said Charlotte. "Let me see
+that I keep step with you. Are we not here arrived among the
+affinities?"
+
+"Exactly," replied the Captain; "we are on the point of apprehending
+them in all their power and distinctness; such natures as, when they
+come in contact, at once lay hold of each other, each mutually affecting
+the other, we speak of as having an affinity one for the other. With the
+alkalis and acids, for instance, the affinities are strikingly marked.
+They are of opposite natures; very likely their being of opposite
+natures is the secret of their inter-relational effect--each reaches out
+eagerly for its companion, they lay hold of each other, modify each
+other's character, and form in connection an entirely new substance.
+There is lime, you remember, which shows the strongest inclination for
+all sorts of acids--a distinct desire of combining with them. As soon as
+our chemical chest arrives, we can show you a number of entertaining
+experiments which will give you a clearer idea than words, and names,
+and technical expressions."
+
+"It appears to me," said Charlotte, "that, if you choose to call these
+strange creatures of yours related, the relationship is not so much a
+relationship of blood as of soul or of spirit. It is the way in which we
+see all really deep friendship arise among men, opposite peculiarities
+of disposition being what best makes internal union possible. But I will
+wait to see what you can really show me of these mysterious proceedings;
+and for the present," she added, turning to Edward, "I will promise not
+to disturb you any more in your reading. You have taught me enough of
+what it is about to enable me to attend to it."
+
+"No, no," replied Edward, "now that you have once stirred the thing, you
+shall not get off so easily. It is just the most complicated cases which
+are the most interesting. In these you come first to see the degrees of
+the affinities, to watch them as their power of attraction is weaker or
+stronger, nearer or more remote. Affinities begin really to interest
+only when they bring about separations."
+
+"What!" cried Charlotte, "is that miserable word, which unhappily we
+hear so often now-a-days in the world; is that to be found in nature's
+lessons too?"
+
+"Most certainly," answered Edward; "the title with which chemists were
+supposed to be most honorably distinguished was, artists of separation."
+
+"It is not so any more," replied Charlotte; "and it is well that it is
+not. It is a higher art, and it is a higher merit, to unite. An artist
+of union is what we should welcome in every province of the universe.
+However, as we are on the subject again, give me an instance or two of
+what you mean."
+
+"We had better keep," said the Captain, "to the same instances of which
+we have already been speaking. Thus, what we call limestone is a more or
+less pure calcareous earth in combination with a delicate acid, which is
+familiar to us in the form of a gas. Now, if we place a piece of this
+stone in diluted sulphuric acid, this will take possession of the lime,
+and appear with it in the form of gypsum, the gaseous acid at the same
+time going off in vapor. Here is a case of separation; a combination
+arises, and we believe ourselves now justified in applying to it the
+words 'Elective Affinity;' it really looks as if one relation had been
+deliberately chosen in preference to another.
+
+"Forgive me," said Charlotte, "as I forgive the natural philosopher. I
+cannot see any choice in this; I see a natural necessity rather, and
+scarcely that. After all, it is perhaps merely a case of opportunity.
+Opportunity makes relations as it makes thieves; and as long as the
+talk is only of natural substances, the choice to me appears to be
+altogether in the hands of the chemist who brings the creatures
+together. Once, however, let them be brought together, and then God have
+mercy on them. In the present case, I cannot help being sorry for the
+poor acid gas, which is driven out up and down infinity again."
+
+"The acid's business," answered the Captain, "is now to get connected
+with water, and so serve as a mineral fountain for the refreshing of
+sound or disordered mankind."
+
+"That is very well for the gypsum to say," said Charlotte. "The gypsum
+is all right, is a body, is provided for. The other poor, desolate
+creature may have trouble enough to go through before it can find a
+second home for itself."
+
+"I am much mistaken," said Edward, smiling, "if there be not some little
+_arrière pensée_ behind this. Confess your wickedness! You mean me by
+your lime; the lime is laid hold of by the Captain, in the form of
+sulphuric acid, torn away from your agreeable society, and metamorphosed
+into a refractory gypsum."
+
+"If your conscience prompts you to make such a reflection," replied
+Charlotte, "I certainly need not distress myself. These comparisons are
+pleasant and entertaining; and who is there that does not like playing
+with analogies? But man is raised very many steps above these elements;
+and if he has been somewhat liberal with such fine words as Election and
+Elective Affinities, he will do well to turn back again into himself,
+and take the opportunity of considering carefully the value and meaning
+of such expressions. Unhappily, we know cases enough where a connection
+apparently indissoluble between two persons, has, by the accidental
+introduction of a third, been utterly destroyed, and one or the other of
+the once happily united pair been driven out into the wilderness."
+
+"Then you see how much more gallant the chemists are," said Edward.
+"They at once add a fourth, that neither may go away empty."
+
+"Quite so," replied the Captain. "And those are the cases which are
+really most important and remarkable--cases where this attraction, this
+affinity, this separating and combining, can be exhibited, the two pairs
+severally crossing each other; where four creatures, connected
+previously, as two and two, are brought into contact, and at once
+forsake their first combination to form into a second. In this forsaking
+and embracing, this seeking and flying, we believe that we are indeed
+observing the effects of some higher determination; we attribute a sort
+of will and choice to such creatures, and feel really justified in using
+technical words, and speaking of 'Elective Affinities.'"
+
+"Give me an instance of this," said Charlotte.
+
+"One should not spoil such things with words," replied the Captain. "As
+I said before, as soon as I can show you the experiment, I can make it
+all intelligible and pleasant for you. For the present, I can give you
+nothing but horrible scientific expressions, which at the same time will
+give you no idea about the matter. You ought yourself to see these
+creatures, which seem so dead, and which are yet so full of inward
+energy and force, at work before your eyes. You should observe them with
+a real personal interest. Now they seek each other out, attract each
+other, seize, crush, devour, destroy each other, and then suddenly
+reappear again out of their combinations, and come forward in fresh,
+renovated, unexpected form; thus you will comprehend how we attribute to
+them a sort of immortality--how we speak of them as having sense and
+understanding; because we feel our own senses to be insufficient to
+observe them adequately, and our reason too weak to follow them."
+
+"I quite agree," said Edward, "that the strange scientific nomenclature,
+to persons who have not been reconciled to it by a direct acquaintance
+with or understanding of its object, must seem unpleasant, even
+ridiculous; but we can easily, just for once, contrive with symbols to
+illustrate what we are speaking of."
+
+"If you do not think it looks pedantic," answered the Captain, "I can
+put my meaning together with letters. Suppose an A connected so closely
+with a B, that all sorts of means, even violence, have been made use of
+to separate them, without effect. Then suppose a C in exactly the same
+position with respect to D. Bring the two pairs into contact; A will
+fling himself on D, C on B, without its being possible to say which had
+first left its first connection, or made the first move toward the
+second."
+
+"Now then," interposed Edward, "till we see all this with our eyes, we
+will look upon the formula as an analogy, out of which we can devise a
+lesson for immediate use. You stand for A, Charlotte, and I am your B;
+really and truly I cling to you, I depend on you, and follow you, just
+as B does with A. C is obviously the Captain, who at present is in some
+degree withdrawing me from you. So now it is only just that if you are
+not to be left to solitude a D should be found for you, and that is
+unquestionably the amiable little lady, Ottilie. You will not hesitate
+any longer to send and fetch her."
+
+"Good," replied Charlotte; "although the example does not, in my
+opinion, exactly fit our case. However, we have been fortunate, at any
+rate, in today for once having met all together; and these natural or
+elective affinities have served to unite us more intimately. I will tell
+you, that since this afternoon I have made up my mind to send for
+Ottilie. My faithful housekeeper, on whom I have hitherto depended for
+everything, is going to leave me shortly, to be married. (It was done at
+my own suggestion, I believe, to please me.) What it is which has
+decided me about Ottilie, you shall read to me. I will not look over the
+pages again. Indeed, the contents of them are already known to me. Only
+read, read!"
+
+With these words, she produced a letter, and handed it to Edward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+LETTER OF THE LADY SUPERIOR
+
+"Your ladyship will forgive the brevity of my present letter. The public
+examinations are but just concluded, and I have to communicate to all
+the parents and guardians the progress which our pupils have made during
+the past year. To you I may well be brief, having to say much in few
+words. Your ladyship's daughter has proved herself first in every sense
+of the word. The testimonials which I inclose, and her own letter, in
+which she will detail to you the prizes which she has won, and the
+happiness which she feels in her success, will surely please, and I hope
+delight you. For myself, it is the less necessary that I should say
+much, because I see that there will soon be no more occasion to keep
+with us a young lady so far advanced. I send my respects to your
+ladyship, and in a short time I shall take the liberty of offering you
+my opinion as to what in future may be of most advantage to her.
+
+"My good assistant will tell you about Ottilie."
+
+LETTER OF THE ASSISTANT.
+
+"Our reverend superior leaves it to me to write to you of Ottilie,
+partly because, with her ways of thinking about it, it would be painful
+to her to say what has to be said; partly, because she herself requires
+some excusing, which she would rather have done for her by me.
+
+"Knowing, as I did too well, how little able the good Ottilie was to
+show out what lies in her, and what she is capable of, I was all along
+afraid of this public examination. I was the more uneasy, as it was to
+be of a kind which does not admit of any especial preparation; and even
+if it had been conducted as usual, Ottilie never can be prepared to make
+a display. The result has only too entirely justified my anxiety. She
+has gained no prize; she is not even amongst those whose names have been
+mentioned with approbation. I need not go into details. In writing, the
+letters of the other girls were not so well formed, but their strokes
+were far more free. In arithmetic, they were all quicker than she; and
+in the more difficult problems, which she does the best, there was no
+examination. In French, she was outshone and out-talked by many; and in
+history she was not ready with her names and dates. In geography, there
+was a want of attention to the political divisions; and for what she
+could do in music there was neither time nor quiet enough for her few
+modest melodies to gain attention. In drawing she certainly would have
+gained the prize; her outlines were clear, and the execution most
+careful and full of spirit; unhappily, she had chosen too large a
+subject, and it was incomplete.
+
+"After the pupils were dismissed, the examiners consulted together, and
+we teachers were partially admitted into the council. I very soon
+observed that of Ottilie either nothing would be said at all, or if her
+name was mentioned, it would be with indifference, if not absolute
+disapproval. I hoped to obtain some favor for her by a candid
+description of what she was, and I ventured it with the greater
+earnestness, partly because I was only speaking my real convictions, and
+partly because I remembered in my own younger years finding myself in
+the same unfortunate case. I was listened to with attention, but as soon
+as I had ended, the presiding examiner said to me very kindly but
+laconically, 'We presume capabilities: they are to be converted into
+accomplishments. This is the aim of all education. It is what is
+distinctly intended by all who have the care of children, and silently
+and indistinctly by the children themselves. This also is the object of
+examinations, where teachers and pupils are alike standing their trial.
+From what we learn of you, we may entertain good hopes of the young
+lady, and it is to your own credit also that you have paid so much
+attention to your pupil's capabilities. If in the coming year you can
+develop these into accomplishments, neither yourself nor your pupil
+shall fail to receive your due praise.'
+
+"I had made up my mind to what must follow upon all this; but there was
+something worse that I had not anticipated, which had soon to be added
+to it. Our good Superior, who like a trusty shepherdess could not bear
+to have one of her flock lost, or, as was the case here, to see it
+undistinguished, after the examiners were gone could not contain her
+displeasure, and said to Ottilie, who was standing quite quietly by the
+window, while the others were exulting over their prizes: 'Tell me, for
+heaven's sake, how can a person look so stupid if she is not so?'
+Ottilie replied, quite calmly, 'Forgive me, my dear mother, I have my
+headache again today, and it is very painful.' Kind and sympathizing as
+she generally is, the Superior this time answered, 'No one can believe
+that,' and turned angrily away.
+
+"Now it is true--no one can believe it--for Ottilie never alters the
+expression of her countenance. I have never even seen her move her hand
+to her head when she has been asleep.
+
+"Nor was this all. Your ladyship's daughter, who is at all times
+sufficiently lively and impetuous, after her triumph today was
+overflowing with the violence of her spirits. She ran from room to room
+with her prizes and testimonials, and shook them in Ottilie's face. 'You
+have come badly off this morning,' she cried. Ottilie replied in her
+calm, quiet way, 'This is not the last day of trial.' 'But you will
+always remain the last,' cried the other, and ran away.
+
+"No one except myself saw that Ottilie was disturbed. She has a way when
+she experiences any sharp unpleasant emotion which she wishes to resist,
+of showing it in the unequal color of her face; the left cheek becomes
+for a moment flushed, while the right turns pale. I perceived this
+symptom, and I could not prevent myself from saying something. I took
+our Superior aside, and spoke seriously to her about it. The excellent
+lady acknowledged that she had been wrong. We considered the whole
+affair; we talked it over at great length together, and not to weary
+your ladyship, I will tell you at once the desire with which we
+concluded, namely, that you will for a while have Ottilie with yourself.
+Our reasons you will yourself readily perceive. If you consent, I will
+say more to you on the manner in which I think she should be treated.
+The young lady your daughter we may expect will soon leave us, and we
+shall then with pleasure welcome Ottilie back to us.
+
+"One thing more, which another time I might forget to mention: I have
+never seen Ottilie eager for anything, or at least ask pressingly for
+anything. But there have been occasions, however rare, when on the other
+hand she has wished to decline things which have been pressed upon her,
+and she does it with a gesture which to those who have caught its
+meaning is irresistible. She raises her hands, presses the palms
+together, and draws them against her breast, leaning her body a little
+forward at the same time, and turns such a look upon the person who is
+urging her that he will be glad enough to cease to ask or wish for
+anything of her. If your ladyship ever sees this attitude, as with your
+treatment of her it is not likely that you will, think of me, and spare
+Ottilie."
+
+Edward read these letters aloud, not without smiles and shakes of the
+head. Naturally, too, there were observations made on the persons and on
+the position of the affair.
+
+"Enough!" Edward cried at last, "it is decided. She comes. You, my love,
+are provided for, and now we can get forward with our work. It is
+becoming highly necessary for me to move over to the right wing to the
+Captain; evenings and mornings are the time for us best to work
+together, and then you, on your side, will have admirable room for
+yourself and Ottilie."
+
+Charlotte made no objection, and Edward sketched out the method in which
+they should live. Among other things, he cried, "It is really very
+polite in this niece to be subject to a slight pain on the left side of
+her head. I have it frequently an the right. If we happen to be
+afflicted together, and sit opposite one another--I leaning on my right
+elbow, and she on her left, and our heads on the opposite sides, resting
+on our hands--what a pretty pair of pictures we shall make."
+
+The Captain thought that might be dangerous. "No, no!" cried out Edward.
+"Only do you, my dear friend, take care of the D, for what will become
+of B, if poor C is taken away from it?"
+
+"That, I should have thought, would have been evident enough," replied
+Charlotte.
+
+"And it is, indeed," cried Edward; "he would turn back to his A, to his
+Alpha and Omega;" and he sprung up and taking Charlotte in his arms,
+pressed her to his breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The carriage which brought Ottilie drove up to the door. Charlotte went
+out to receive her. The dear girl ran to meet her, threw herself at her
+feet, and embraced her knees.
+
+"Why such humility?" said Charlotte, a little embarrassed, and
+endeavoring to raise her from the ground.
+
+"It is not meant for humility," Ottilie answered, without moving from
+the position in which she had placed herself; "I am only thinking of the
+time when I could not reach higher than to your knees, and when I had
+just learnt to know how you loved me."
+
+She stood up, and Charlotte embraced her warmly. She was introduced to
+the gentlemen, and was at once treated with especial courtesy as a
+visitor. Beauty is a welcome guest everywhere. She appeared attentive to
+the conversation, without taking a part in it.
+
+The next morning Edward said to Charlotte, "What an agreeable,
+entertaining girl she is!"
+
+"Entertaining!" answered Charlotte, with a smile; "why, she has not
+opened her lips yet!"
+
+"Indeed!" said Edward, as he seemed to bethink himself; "that is very
+strange."
+
+Charlotte had to give the new-comer but a very few hints on the
+management of the household. Ottilie saw rapidly all the arrangements,
+and what was more, she felt them. She comprehended easily what was to be
+provided for the whole party, and what for each particular member of it.
+Everything was done with the utmost punctuality; she knew how to direct,
+without appearing to be giving orders, and when any one had left
+anything undone, she at once set it right herself.
+
+As soon as she had found how much time she would have to spare, she
+begged Charlotte to divide her hours for her, and to these she adhered
+exactly. She worked at what was set before her in the way which the
+Assistant had described to Charlotte. They let her alone. It was but
+seldom that Charlotte interfered. Sometimes she changed her pens for
+others which had been written with, to teach her to make bolder strokes
+in her handwriting, but these, she found, would be soon cut sharp and
+fine again.
+
+The ladies had agreed with one another when they were alone to speak
+nothing but French, and Charlotte persisted in it the more, as she found
+Ottilie more ready to talk in a foreign language, when she was told it
+was her duty to exercise herself in it. In this way she often said more
+than she seemed to intend. Charlotte was particularly pleased with a
+description, most complete, but at the same time most charming and
+amiable, which she gave her one day, by accident, of the school. She
+soon felt her to be a delightful companion, and before long she hoped to
+find in her an attached friend.
+
+At the same time she looked over again the more early accounts which had
+been sent her of Ottilie, to refresh her recollection with the opinion
+which the Superior and the Assistant had formed about her, and compare
+them with her in her own person. For Charlotte was of opinion that we
+cannot too quickly become acquainted with the character of those with
+whom we have to live, that we may know what to expect of them; where we
+may hope to do anything in the way of improvement with them, and what
+we must make up our minds, once for all, to tolerate and let alone.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE RECEIVES OTTILIE]
+
+This examination led her to nothing new, indeed; but much which she
+already knew became of greater meaning and importance. Ottilie's
+moderation in eating and drinking, for instance, became a real distress
+to her.
+
+The next thing on which the ladies were employed was Ottilie's toilet.
+Charlotte wished her to appear in clothes of a richer and more
+_recherché_ sort, and at once the clever active girl herself cut out the
+stuff which had been previously sent to her, and with a very little
+assistance from others was able, in a short time, to dress herself out
+most tastefully. The new fashionable dresses set off her figure. An
+agreeable person, it is true, will show through all disguises; but we
+always fancy it looks fresher and more graceful when its peculiarities
+appear under some new drapery. And thus, from the moment of her first
+appearance, she became more and more a delight to the eyes of all who
+beheld her. As the emerald refreshes the sight with its beautiful hues,
+and exerts, it is said, a beneficent influence on that noble sense, so
+does human beauty work with far larger potency on the outward and on the
+inward sense; whoever looks upon it is charmed against the breath of
+evil, and feels in harmony with himself and with the world.
+
+In many ways, therefore, the party had gained by Ottilie's arrival. The
+Captain and Edward kept regularly to the hours, even to the minutes, for
+their general meeting together. They never kept the others waiting for
+them either for dinner or tea, or for their walks; and they were in less
+haste, especially in the evenings, to leave the table. This did not
+escape Charlotte's observation; she watched them both, to see whether
+one more than the other was the occasion of it. But she could not
+perceive any difference. They had both become more companionable. In
+their conversation they seemed to consider what was best adapted to
+interest Ottilie; what was most on a level with her capacities and her
+general knowledge. If she left the room when they were reading or
+telling stories, they would wait till she returned. They had grown
+softer and altogether more united.
+
+In return for this, Ottilie's anxiety to be of use increased every day;
+the more she came to understand the house, its inmates, and their
+circumstances, the more eagerly she entered into everything, caught
+every look and every motion; half a word, a sound, was enough for her.
+With her calm attentiveness, and her easy, unexcited activity, she was
+always the same. Sitting, rising up, going, coming, fetching, carrying,
+returning to her place again, it was all in the most perfect repose; a
+constant change, a constant agreeable movement; while, at the same time,
+she went about so lightly that her step was almost inaudible.
+
+This cheerful obligingness in Ottilie gave Charlotte the greatest
+pleasure. There was one thing, however, which she did not exactly like,
+of which she had to speak to her. "It is very polite in you," she said
+one day to her, "when people let anything fall from their hand, to be so
+quick in stooping and picking it up for them; at the same time, it is a
+sort of confession that they have a right to require such attention, and
+in the world we are expected to be careful to whom we pay it. Toward
+women, I will not prescribe any rule as to how you should conduct
+yourself. You are young. To those above you, and older than you,
+services of this sort are a duty; toward your equals they are polite; to
+those younger than yourself and your inferiors you may show yourself
+kind and good-natured by such things--only it is not becoming in a young
+lady to do them for men."
+
+"I will try to forget the habit," replied Ottilie; "I think, however,
+you will in the meantime forgive me for my want of manners, when I tell
+you how I came by it. We were taught history at school; I have not
+gained as much out of it as I ought, for I never knew what use I was to
+make of it; a few little things, however, made a deep impression upon
+me, among which was the following: When Charles the First of England
+was standing before his so-called judges, the gold top came off the
+stick which he had in his hand, and fell down. Accustomed as he had been
+on such occasions to have everything done for him, he seemed to look
+around and expect that this time too some one would do him this little
+service. No one stirred, and he stooped down for it himself. It struck
+me as so piteous, that from that moment I have never been able to see
+any one let a thing fall, without myself picking it up. But, of course,
+as it is not always proper, and as I cannot," she continued, smiling,
+"tell my story every time I do it, in future I will try to contain
+myself."
+
+In the meantime the fine arrangements which the two friends had been led
+to make for themselves, went uninterruptedly forward. Every day they
+found something new to think about and undertake.
+
+One day as they were walking together through the village, they had to
+remark with dissatisfaction how far behind-hand it was in order and
+cleanliness, compared to villages where the inhabitants were compelled
+by the expense of building-ground to be careful about such things.
+
+"You remember a wish we once expressed when we were traveling in
+Switzerland together," said the Captain, "that we might have the laying
+out of some country park, and how beautiful we would make it by
+introducing into some village situated like this, not the Swiss style of
+building, but the Swiss order and neatness which so much improve it."
+
+"And how well it would answer here! The hill on which the castle stands,
+slopes down to that projecting angle. The village, you see, is built in
+a semicircle, regularly enough, just opposite to it. The brook runs
+between. It is liable to floods; and do observe the way the people set
+about protecting themselves from them; one with stones, another with
+stakes; the next puts up a boarding, and a fourth tries beams and
+planks; no one, of course, doing any good to another with his
+arrangement, but only hurting himself and the rest too. And then there
+is the road going along just in the clumsiest way possible,--up hill and
+down, through the water, and over the stones. If the people would only
+lay their hands to the business together, it would cost them nothing but
+a little labor to run a semi-circular wall along here, take the road in
+behind it, raising it to the level of the houses, and so give themselves
+a fair open space in front, making the whole place clean, and getting
+rid, once for all, in one good general work, of all their little
+trifling ineffectual makeshifts."
+
+"Let us try it," said the Captain, as he ran his eyes over the lay of
+the ground, and saw quickly what was to be done.
+
+"I can undertake nothing in company with peasants and shopkeepers,"
+replied Edward, "unless I may have unrestricted authority over them."
+
+"You are not so wrong in that," returned the Captain; "I have
+experienced too much trouble myself in life in matters of that kind. How
+difficult it is to prevail on a man to venture boldly on making a
+sacrifice for an after-advantage! How hard to get him to desire an end,
+and not hesitate at the means! So many people confuse means with ends;
+they keep hanging over the first, without having the other before their
+eyes. Every evil is to be cured at the place where it comes to the
+surface, and they will not trouble themselves to look for the cause
+which produces it, or the remote effect which results from it. This is
+why it is so difficult to get advice listened to, especially among the
+many: they can see clearly enough from day to day, but their scope
+seldom reaches beyond the morrow; and if it comes to a point where with
+some general arrangement one person will gain while another will lose,
+there is no prevailing on them to strike a balance. Works of public
+advantage can be carried through only by an uncontrolled absolute
+authority."
+
+While they were standing and talking, a man came up and begged of them.
+He looked more impudent than really in want, and Edward, who was
+annoyed at being interrupted, after two or three fruitless attempts to
+get rid of him by a gentler refusal, spoke sharply to him. The fellow
+began to grumble and mutter abusively; he went off with short steps,
+talking about the right of beggars. It was all very well to refuse them
+an alms, but that was no reason why they should be insulted. A beggar,
+and everybody else too, was as much under God's protection as a lord. It
+put Edward out of all patience.
+
+The Captain, to pacify him, said, "Let us make use of this as an
+occasion for extending our rural police arrangements to such cases. We
+are bound to give away money, but we do better in not giving it in
+person, especially at home. We should be moderate and uniform in
+everything, in our charities as in all else; too great liberality
+attracts beggars instead of helping them on their way. At the same time
+there is no harm when one is on a journey, or passing through a strange
+place, in appearing to a poor man in the street in the form of a chance
+deity of fortune and making him some present which shall surprise him.
+The position of the village and of the castle makes it easy for us to
+put our charities here on a proper footing. I have thought about it
+before. The public-house is at one end of the village, a respectable old
+couple live at the other. At each of these places deposit a small sum of
+money, and let every beggar, not as he comes in, but as he goes out,
+receive something. Both houses lie on the roads which lead to the
+castle, so that any one who goes there can be referred to one or the
+other."
+
+"Come," said Edward, "we will settle that on the spot. The exact sum can
+be made up another time."
+
+They went to the innkeeper, and to the old couple and the thing was
+done.
+
+"I know very well," Edward said, as they were walking up the hill to the
+castle together, "that everything in this world depends on distinctness
+of idea and firmness of purpose. Your judgment of what my wife has been
+doing in the park was entirely right; and you have already given me a
+hint how it might be improved. I will not deny that I told her of it."
+
+"So I have been led to suspect," replied the Captain; "and I could not
+approve of your having done so. You have perplexed her. She has left off
+doing anything; and on this one subject she is vexed with us. She avoids
+speaking of it. She has never since invited us to go with her to the
+summer-house, although at odd hours she goes up there with Ottilie."
+
+"We must not allow ourselves to be deterred by that," answered Edward.
+"If I am once convinced about anything good, which could and should be
+done, I can never rest till I see it done. We are clever enough at other
+times in introducing what we want, into the general conversation;
+suppose we have out some descriptions of English parks, with
+copper-plates, for our evening's amusement. Then we can follow with your
+plan. We will treat it first problematically, and as if we were only in
+jest. There will be no difficulty in passing into earnest."
+
+The scheme was concerted, and the books were opened. In each group of
+designs they first saw a ground-plan of the spot, with the general
+character of the landscape, drawn in its rude, natural state. Then
+followed others, showing the changes which had been produced by art, to
+employ and set off the natural advantages of the locality. From these to
+their own property and their own grounds, the transition was easy.
+
+Everybody was pleased. The chart which the Captain had sketched was
+brought and spread out. The only difficulty was, that they could not
+entirely free themselves of the plan in which Charlotte had begun.
+However, an easier way up the hill was found; a lodge was suggested to
+be built on the height at the edge of the cliff, which was to have an
+especial reference to the castle. It was to form a conspicuous object
+from the castle windows, and from it the spectator was to be able to
+overlook both the castle and the garden.
+
+The Captain had thought it all carefully over, and taken his
+measurements; and now he brought up again the village road and the wall
+by the brook, and the ground which was to be raised behind it.
+
+"Here you see," said he, "while I make this charming walk up the height,
+I gain exactly the quantity of stone which I require for that wall. Let
+one piece of work help the other, and both will be carried out most
+satisfactorily and most rapidly."
+
+"But now," said Charlotte, "comes my side of the business. A certain
+definite outlay of money will have to be made. We ought to know how much
+will be wanted for such a purpose, and then we can apportion it out--so
+much work, and so much money, if not by weeks, at least by months. The
+cash-box is under my charge. I pay the bills, and I keep the accounts."
+
+"You do not appear to have overmuch confidence in us," said Edward.
+
+"I have not much in arbitrary matters," Charlotte answered. "Where it is
+a case of inclination, we women know better how to control ourselves
+than you."
+
+It was settled; the dispositions were made, and the work was begun at
+once.
+
+The Captain being always on the spot, Charlotte was almost daily a
+witness to the strength and clearness of his understanding. He, too,
+learnt to know her better; and it became easy for them both to work
+together, and thus bring something to completeness. It is with work as
+with dancing; persons who keep the same step must grow indispensable to
+one another. Out of this a mutual kindly feeling will necessarily arise;
+and that Charlotte had a real kind feeling toward the Captain, after she
+came to know him better, was sufficiently proved by her allowing him to
+destroy her pretty seat, which in her first plans she had taken such
+pains in ornamenting, because it was in the lay of his own, without
+experiencing the slightest feeling about the matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Now that Charlotte was occupied with the Captain, it was a natural
+consequence that Edward should attach himself more to Ottilie.
+Independently of this, indeed, for some time past he had begun to feel a
+silent kind of attraction toward her. Obliging and attentive she was to
+every one, but his self-love whispered that toward him she was
+particularly so. She had observed his little fancies about his food. She
+knew exactly what things he liked, and the way in which he liked them to
+be prepared; the quantity of sugar which he liked in his tea; and so on.
+Moreover, she was particularly careful to prevent draughts, about which
+he was excessively sensitive, and, indeed, about which, with his wife,
+who could never have air enough, he was often at variance. So, too, she
+had come to know about fruit-gardens and flower-gardens; whatever he
+liked, it was her constant effort to procure for him, and to keep away
+whatever annoyed him; so that very soon she grew indispensable to
+him--she became like his guardian angel, and he felt it keenly whenever
+she was absent. Besides all this, too, she appeared to grow more open
+and conversible as soon as they were alone together.
+
+Edward, as he advanced in life, had retained something childish about
+himself, which corresponded singularly well with the youthfulness of
+Ottilie. They liked talking of early times, when they had first seen
+each other; and these reminiscences led them up to the first epoch of
+Edward's affection for Charlotte. Ottilie declared that she remembered
+them both as the handsomest pair about the court; and when Edward would
+question the possibility of this, when she must have been so exceedingly
+young, she insisted that she recollected one particular incident as
+clearly as possible. He had come into the room where her aunt was, and
+she had hid her face in Charlotte's lap--not from fear, but from a
+childish surprise. She might have added, because he had made so strong
+an impression upon her--because she had liked him so much.
+
+While they were occupied in this way, much of the business which the
+two friends had undertaken together had come to a standstill; so that
+they found it necessary to inspect how things were going on--to work up
+a few designs and get letters written. For this purpose, they betook
+themselves to their office, where they found their old copyist at his
+desk. They set themselves to their work, and soon gave the old man
+enough to do, without observing that they were laying many things on his
+shoulders which at other times they had always done for themselves. At
+the same time, the first design the Captain tried would not answer, and
+Edward was as unsuccessful with his first letter. They fretted for a
+while, planning and erasing, till at last Edward, who was getting on the
+worst, asked what o'clock it was. And then it appeared that the Captain
+had forgotten, for the first time for many years, to wind up his
+chronometer; and they seemed, if not to feel, at least to have a dim
+perception, that time was beginning to be indifferent to them.
+
+In the meanwhile, as the gentlemen were thus rather slackening in their
+energy, the activity of the ladies increased all the more. The every-day
+life of a family, which is composed of given persons, and is shaped out
+of necessary circumstances, may easily receive into itself an
+extraordinary affection, an incipient passion--may receive it into
+itself as into a vessel; and a long time may elapse before the new
+ingredient produces a visible effervescence, and runs foaming over the
+edge.
+
+With our friends, the feelings which were mutually arising had the most
+agreeable effects. Their dispositions opened out, and a general goodwill
+arose out of the several individual affections. Every member of the
+party was happy; and they each shared their happiness with the rest.
+
+Such a temper elevates the spirit, while it enlarges the heart, and
+everything which, under the influence of it, people do and undertake,
+has a tendency toward the illimitable. The friends could not remain any
+more shut up at home; their walks extended themselves further and
+further. Edward would hurry on before with Ottilie, to choose the path
+or pioneer the way; and the Captain and Charlotte would follow quietly
+on the track of their more hasty precursors, talking on some grave
+subject, or delighting themselves with some spot they had newly
+discovered, or some unexpected natural beauty.
+
+One day their walk led them down from the gate at the right wing of the
+castle, in the direction of the hotel, and thence over the bridge toward
+the ponds, along the sides of which they proceeded as far as it was
+generally thought possible to follow the water; thickly wooded hills
+sloped directly up from the edge, and beyond these a wall of steep
+rocks, making further progress difficult, if not impossible. But Edward,
+whose hunting experience had made him thoroughly familiar with the spot,
+pushed forward along an overgrown path with Ottilie, knowing well that
+the old mill could not be far off, which was somewhere in the middle of
+the rocks there. The path was so little frequented, that they soon lost
+it; and for a short time they were wandering among mossy stones and
+thickets; it was not for long, however, the noise of the water-wheel
+speedily telling them that the place which they were looking for was
+close at hand. Stepping forward on a point of rock, they saw the strange
+old, dark, wooden building in the hollow before them, quite shadowed
+over with precipitous crags and huge trees. They determined directly to
+climb down amidst the moss and the blocks of stone. Edward led the way;
+and when he looked back and saw Ottilie following, stepping lightly,
+without fear or nervousness, from stone to stone, so beautifully
+balancing herself, he fancied he was looking at some celestial creature
+floating above him; while if, as she often did, she caught the hand
+which in some difficult spot he would offer her, or if she supported
+herself on his shoulder, then he was left in no doubt that it was a very
+exquisite human creature who touched him. He almost wished that she
+might slip or stumble, that he might catch her in his arms and press
+her to his heart. This, however, he would under no circumstances have
+done, for more than one reason. He was afraid to wound her, and he was
+afraid to do her some bodily injury.
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD AND OTTILIE]
+
+What the meaning of this could be, we shall immediately learn. When they
+had got down, and were seated opposite each other at a table under the
+trees, and when the miller's wife had gone for milk, and the miller, who
+had come out to them, was sent to meet Charlotte and the Captain,
+Edward, with a little embarrassment, began to speak:
+
+"I have a request to make, dear Ottilie; you will forgive me for asking
+it, if you will not grant it. You make no secret (I am sure you need not
+make any), that you wear a miniature under your dress against your
+breast. It is the picture of your noble father. You could hardly have
+known him; but in every sense he deserves a place by your heart. Only,
+forgive me, the picture is exceedingly large, and the metal frame and
+the glass, if you take up a child in your arms, if you are carrying
+anything, if the carriage swings violently, if we are pushing through
+bushes, or just now, as we were coming down these rocks--cause me a
+thousand anxieties for you. Any unforeseen blow, a fall, a touch, may be
+fatally injurious to you; and I am terrified at the possibility of it.
+For my sake do this: put away the picture, not out of your affections,
+not out of your room; let it have the brightest, the holiest place which
+you can give it; only do not wear upon your breast a thing, the presence
+of which seems to me, perhaps from an extravagant anxiety, so
+dangerous."
+
+Ottilie said nothing, and while he was speaking she kept her eyes fixed
+straight before her; then, without hesitation and without haste, with a
+look turned more toward heaven than on Edward, she unclasped the chain,
+drew out the picture, and pressed it against her forehead, and then
+reached it over to her friend, with the words:
+
+"Do you keep it for me till we come home; I cannot give you a better
+proof how deeply I thank you for your affectionate care."
+
+He did not venture to press the picture to his lips; but he caught her
+hand and raised it to his eyes. They were, perhaps, two of the most
+beautiful hands which had ever been clasped together. He felt as if a
+stone had fallen from his heart, as if a partition-wall had been thrown
+down between him and Ottilie.
+
+Under the miller's guidance, Charlotte and the Captain came down by an
+easier path, and now joined them. There was the meeting, and a happy
+talk, and then they took some refreshments. They would not return by the
+same way as they came; and Edward struck into a rocky path on the other
+side of the stream, from which the ponds were again to be seen. They
+made their way along it, with some effort, and then had to cross a
+variety of wood and copse--getting glimpses, on the land side, of a
+number of villages and manor-houses, with their green lawns and
+fruit-gardens; while very near them, and sweetly situated on a rising
+ground, a farm lay in the middle of the wood. From a gentle ascent, they
+had a view, before and behind, which showed them the richness of the
+country to the greatest advantage; and then, entering a grove of trees,
+they found themselves, on again emerging from it, on the rock opposite
+the castle.
+
+They came upon it rather unexpectedly, and were of course delighted.
+They had made the circuit of a little world; they were standing on the
+spot where the new building was to be erected, and were looking again at
+the windows of their home.
+
+They went down to the summer-house, and sat all four in it for the first
+time together; nothing was more natural than that with one voice it
+should be proposed to have the way they had been that day, and which, as
+it was, had taken them much time and trouble, properly laid out and
+gravelled, so that people might loiter along it at their leisure. They
+each said what they thought; and they reckoned up that the circuit, over
+which they had taken many hours, might be traveled easily with a good
+road all the way round to the castle, in a single one.
+
+Already a plan was being suggested for making the distance shorter, and
+adding a fresh beauty to the landscape, by throwing a bridge across the
+stream, below the mill, where it ran into the lake; when Charlotte
+brought their inventive imagination somewhat to a standstill, by putting
+them in mind of the expense which such an undertaking would involve.
+
+"There are ways of meeting that too," replied Edward; "we have only to
+dispose of that farm in the forest which is so pleasantly situated, and
+which brings in so little in the way of rent: the sum which will be set
+free will more than cover what we shall require, and thus, having gained
+an invaluable walk, we shall receive the interest of well-expended
+capital in substantial enjoyment--instead of, as now, in the summing up
+at the end of the year, vexing and fretting ourselves over the pitiful
+little income which is returned for it."
+
+Even Charlotte, with all her prudence, had little to urge against this.
+There had been, indeed, a previous intention of selling the farm. The
+Captain was ready immediately with a plan for breaking up the ground
+into small portions among the peasantry of the forest. Edward, however,
+had a simpler and shorter way of managing it. His present steward had
+already proposed to take it off his hands--he was to pay for it by
+instalments--and so, gradually, as the money came in, they would get
+their work forward from point to point.
+
+So reasonable and prudent a scheme was sure of universal approbation,
+and already, in prospect, they began to see their new walk winding along
+its way, and to imagine the many beautiful views and charming spots
+which they hoped to discover in its neighborhood.
+
+To bring it all before themselves with greater fulness of detail, in the
+evening they produced the new chart. With the help of this they went
+over again the way that they had come, and found various places where
+the walk might take a rather different direction with advantage. Their
+other scheme was now once more talked through, and connected with the
+fresh design. The site for the new house in the park, opposite the
+castle, was a second time examined into and approved, and fixed upon for
+the termination of the intended circuit.
+
+Ottilie had said nothing all this time. At length Edward pushed the
+chart, which had hitherto been lying before Charlotte, across to her,
+begging her to give her opinion; she still hesitated for a moment.
+Edward in his gentlest way again pressed her to let them know what she
+thought--nothing had as yet been settled--it was all as yet in embryo.
+
+"I would have the house built here," she said, as she pointed with her
+finger to the highest point of the slope on the hill. "It is true you
+cannot see the castle from thence, for it is hidden by the wood; but for
+that very reason you find yourself in another quite new world; you lose
+village and houses and all at the same time. The view of the ponds with
+the mill, and the hills and mountains in the distance, is singularly
+beautiful--I have often observed it when I have been there."
+
+"She is right," Edward cried; "how could we have overlooked it. This is
+what you mean, Ottilie, is it not?" He took a lead pencil, and drew a
+great black rectangular figure on the summit of the hill.
+
+It went through the Captain's soul to see his carefully and
+clearly-drawn chart disfigured in such a way. He collected himself,
+however, after a slight expression of his disapproval and went into the
+idea. "Ottilie is right," he said; "we are ready enough to walk any
+distance to drink tea or eat fish, because they would not have tasted as
+well at home--we require change of scene and change of objects. Your
+ancestors showed their judgment in the spot which they chose for the
+castle; for it is sheltered from the wind, with the conveniences of life
+close at hand. A place, on the contrary, which is more for pleasure
+parties than for a regular residence, may be very well yonder
+there, and in the fair time of year the most agreeable hours may be
+spent there."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE, OTTILIE, EDWARD AND THE CAPTAIN DISCUSS THE
+NEW PLAN OF THE HOUSE _From the Painting by Franz Simm_]
+
+The more they talked it over, the more conclusive was their judgment in
+favor of Ottilie; and Edward could not conceal his triumph that the
+thought had been hers. He was as proud as if he had hit upon it himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Early the following morning the Captain examined the spot: he first
+threw off a sketch of what should be done, and afterward, when the thing
+had been more completely decided on, he made a complete design, with
+accurate calculations and measurements. It cost him a good deal of
+labor, and the business connected with the sale of the farm had to be
+gone into, so that both the gentlemen now found a fresh impulse to
+activity.
+
+The Captain made Edward observe that it would be proper, indeed that it
+would be a kind of duty, to celebrate Charlotte's birthday with laying
+the foundation-stone. Not much was wanted to overcome Edward's
+disinclination for such festivities--for he quickly recollected that a
+little later Ottilie's birthday would follow, and that he could have a
+magnificent celebration for that.
+
+Charlotte, to whom all this work and what it would involve was a subject
+for much serious and almost anxious thought, busied herself in carefully
+going through the time and outlay which it was calculated would be
+expended on it. During the day they rarely saw each other, so that the
+evening meeting was looked forward to with all the more anxiety.
+
+Ottilie meantime was complete mistress of the household--and how could
+it be otherwise, with her quick methodical rays of working? Indeed, her
+whole mode of thought was suited better to home life than to the world,
+and to a more free existence. Edward soon observed that she only walked
+about with them out of a desire to please; that when she stayed out late
+with them in the evening it was because she thought it a sort of social
+duty, and that she would often find a pretext in some household matter
+for going in again--consequently he soon managed so to arrange the walks
+which they took together, that they should be at home before sunset; and
+he began again, what he had long left off, to read aloud
+poetry--particularly such as had for its subject the expression of a
+pure but passionate love.
+
+They ordinarily sat in the evening in the same places round a small
+table--Charlotte on the sofa, Ottilie on a chair opposite to her, and
+the gentlemen on each side. Ottilie's place was on Edward's right, the
+side where he put the candle when he was reading--at such times she
+would draw her chair a little nearer to look over him, for Ottilie also
+trusted her own eyes better than another person's lips, and Edward would
+then always make a move toward her, that it might be as easy as possible
+for her--indeed he would frequently make longer stops than necessary,
+that he might not turn over before she had got to the bottom of the
+page.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain observed this, and exchanged many a quiet
+smile at it; but they were both taken by surprise at another symptom, in
+which Ottilie's latent feeling accidentally displayed itself.
+
+One evening, which had been partly spoilt for them by a tedious visit,
+Edward proposed that they should not separate so early--he felt inclined
+for music--he would take his flute, which he had not done for many days
+past. Charlotte looked for the sonatas which they generally played
+together, and they were not to be found. Ottilie, with some hesitation,
+said that they were in her room--she had taken them there to copy them.
+
+"And you can, you will, accompany me on the piano?" cried Edward, his
+eyes sparkling with pleasure. "I think perhaps I can," Ottilie answered.
+She brought the music and sat down to the instrument. The others
+listened, and were sufficiently surprised to hear how perfectly Ottilie
+had taught herself the piece--but far more surprised were they at the
+way in which she contrived to adapt herself to Edward's style of
+playing. Adapt herself, is not the right expression--Charlotte's skill
+and power enabled her, in order to please her husband, to keep up with
+him when he went too fast, and hold in for him if he hesitated; but
+Ottilie, who had several times heard them play the sonata together,
+seemed to have learnt it according to the idea in which they accompanied
+each other--she had so completely made his defects her own, that a kind
+of living whole resulted from it, which did not move indeed according to
+exact rule, but the effect of which was in the highest degree pleasant
+and delightful. The composer himself would have been pleased to hear his
+work disfigured in a manner so charming.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain watched this strange unexpected occurrence in
+silence, with the kind of feeling with which we often observe the
+actions of children--unable exactly to approve of them, from the serious
+consequences which may follow, and yet without being able to find fault,
+perhaps with a kind of envy. For, indeed, the regard of these two for
+one another was growing also, as well as that of the others--and it was
+perhaps only the more perilous because they were both stronger, more
+certain of themselves, and better able to restrain themselves.
+
+The Captain had already begun to feel that a habit which he could not
+resist was threatening to bind him to Charlotte. He forced himself to
+stay away at the hour when she commonly used to be at the works; by
+getting up very early in the morning he contrived to finish there
+whatever he had to do, and went back to the castle to his work in his
+own room. The first day or two Charlotte thought it was an accident--she
+looked for him in every place where she thought he could possibly be.
+Then she thought she understood him--and admired him all the more.
+
+Avoiding, as the Captain now did, being alone with Charlotte, the more
+industriously did he labor to hurry forward the preparations for keeping
+her rapidly-approaching birthday with all splendor. While he was
+bringing up the new road from below behind the village, he made the men,
+under pretence that he wanted stones, begin working at the top as well,
+and work down, to meet the others; and he had calculated his
+arrangements so that the two should exactly meet on the eve of the day.
+The excavations for the new house were already done; the rock was blown
+away with gunpowder; and a fair foundation-stone had been hewn, with a
+hollow chamber, and a flat slab adjusted to cover it.
+
+This outward activity, these little mysterious purposes of friendship,
+prompted by feelings which more or less they were obliged to repress,
+rather prevented the little party when together from being as lively as
+usual. Edward, who felt that there was a sort of void, one evening
+called upon the Captain to fetch his violin--Charlotte should play the
+piano, and he should accompany her. The Captain was unable to refuse the
+general request, and they executed together one of the most difficult
+pieces of music with an ease, and freedom, and feeling, which could not
+but afford themselves, and the two who were listening to them, the
+greatest delight. They promised themselves a frequent repetition of it,
+as well as further practice together. "They do it better than we,
+Ottilie," said Edward; "we will admire them--but we can enjoy ourselves
+together too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The birthday was come, and everything was ready. The wall was all
+complete which protected the raised village road against the water, and
+so was the walk; passing the church, for a short time it followed the
+path which had been laid out by Charlotte, and then winding upward among
+the rocks, inclined first under the summer-house to the right, and then,
+after a wide sweep, passed back above it to the right again, and so by
+degrees out on to the summit. A large party had assembled for the
+occasion. They went first to church, where they found the whole
+congregation assembled in their holiday dresses. After service, they
+filed out in order; first the boys, then the young men, then the old;
+after them came the party from the castle, with their visitors and
+retinue; and the village maidens, young girls, and women, brought up the
+rear.
+
+At the turn of the walk, a raised stone seat had been contrived, where
+the Captain made Charlotte and the visitors stop and rest. From here
+they could see over the whole distance from the beginning to the
+end--the troops of men who had gone up before them, the file of women
+following, and now drawing up to where they were. It was lovely weather,
+and the whole effect was singularly beautiful. Charlotte was taken by
+surprise, she was touched, and she pressed the Captain's hand warmly.
+
+They followed the crowd who had slowly ascended, and were now forming a
+circle round the spot where the future house was to stand. The lord of
+the castle, his family, and the principal strangers were now invited to
+descend into the vault, where the foundation-stone, supported on one
+side, lay ready to be let down. A well-dressed mason, a trowel in one
+hand and a hammer in the other, came forward, and with much grace spoke
+an address in verse, of which in prose we can give but an imperfect
+rendering.
+
+"Three things," he began, "are to be looked to in a building--that it
+stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be
+successfully executed. The first is the business of the master of the
+house--his and his only. As in the city the prince and the council alone
+determine where a building shall be, so in the country it is the right
+of the lord of the soil that he shall say, 'Here my dwelling shall
+stand; here, and nowhere else.'"
+
+Edward and Ottilie were standing opposite one another, as these words
+were spoken; but they did not venture to look up and exchange glances.
+
+"To the third, the execution, there is neither art nor handicraft which
+must not in some way contribute. But the second, the founding, is the
+province of the mason; and, boldly to speak it out, it is the head and
+front of all the undertaking--a solemn thing it is--and our bidding you
+descend hither is full of meaning. You are celebrating your Festival in
+the deep of the earth. Here within this small hollow spot, you show us
+the honor of appearing as witnesses of our mysterious craft. Presently
+we shall lower down this carefully-hewn stone into its place; and soon
+these earth-walls, now ornamented with fair and worthy persons, will be
+no more accessible--but will be closed in forever!
+
+"This foundation-stone, which with its angles typifies the just angles
+of the building, with the sharpness of its molding, the regularity of
+it, and with the truth of its lines to the horizontal and perpendicular,
+the uprightness and equal height of all the walls, we might now without
+more ado let down--it would rest in its place with its own weight. But
+even here there shall not fail of lime and means to bind it. For as
+human beings who may be well inclined to each other by nature, yet hold
+more firmly together when the law cements them, so are stones also,
+whose forms may already fit together, united far better by these binding
+forces. It is not seemly to be idle among the working, and here you will
+not refuse to be our fellow-laborer;" with these words he reached the
+trowel to Charlotte, who threw mortar with it under the stone--several
+of the others were then desired to do the same, and then it was at once
+let fall. Upon which the hammer was placed next in Charlotte's, and then
+in the others' hands, to strike three times with it, and conclude, in
+this expression, the wedlock of the stone with the earth.
+
+"The work of the mason," went on the speaker, "now under the free sky as
+we are, if it be not done in concealment, yet must pass into
+concealment--the soil will be laid smoothly in, and thrown over this
+stone, and with the walls which we rear into the daylight we in the end
+are seldom remembered. The works of the stone-cutter and the carver
+remain under the eyes; but for us it is not to complain when the
+plasterer blots out the last trace of our hands, and appropriates our
+work to himself; when he overlays it, and smooths it, and colors it.
+
+"Not from regard for the opinion of others, but from respect for
+himself, the mason will be faithful in his calling. There is none who
+has more need to feel in himself the consciousness of what he is. When
+the house is finished, when the soil is smoothed, the surface plastered
+over, and the outside all overwrought with ornament, he can even
+penetrate through all disguises and still recognize those exact and
+careful adjustments to which the whole is indebted for its being and for
+its persistence.
+
+"But as the man who commits some evil deed has to fear, that,
+notwithstanding all precautions, it will one day come to light--so too
+must he expect who has done some good thing in secret, that it also, in
+spite of himself, will appear in the day; and therefore we make this
+foundation-stone at the same time a stone of memorial. Here, in these
+various hollows which have been hewn into it, many things are now to be
+buried, as a witness to some far-off world--these metal cases
+hermetically sealed contain documents in writing; matters of various
+note are engraved on these plates; in these fair glass bottles we bury
+the best old wine, with a note of the year of its vintage. We have coins
+too of many kinds, from the mint of the current year. All this we have
+received through the liberality of him for whom we build. There is space
+yet remaining, if guest or spectator desires to offer anything to the
+after-world!"
+
+After a slight pause the speaker looked round; but, as is commonly the
+case on such occasions, no one was prepared; they were all taken by
+surprise. At last, a merry-looking young officer set the example, and
+said, "If I am to contribute anything which as yet is not to be found in
+this treasure-chamber, it shall be a pair of buttons from my uniform--I
+don't see why they do not deserve to go down to posterity!" No sooner
+said than done, and then a number of persons found something of the
+same sort which they could do; the young ladies did not hesitate to
+throw in some of their side hair combs--smelling bottles and other
+trinkets were not spared. Only Ottilie hung back; till a kind word from
+Edward roused her from the abstraction in which she was watching the
+various things being heaped in. Then she unclasped from her neck the
+gold chain on which her father's picture had hung, and with a light
+gentle hand laid it down on the other jewels. Edward rather disarranged
+the proceedings, by at once, in some haste, having the cover let fall,
+and fastened down.
+
+The young mason who had been most active through all this, again took
+his place as orator, and went on: "We lay down this stone for ever, for
+the establishing the present and the future possessors of this house.
+But in that we bury this treasure together with it, we do it in the
+remembrance--in this most enduring of works--of the perishableness of
+all human things. We remember that a time may come when this cover so
+fast sealed shall again be lifted; and that can only be when all shall
+again be destroyed which as yet we have not brought into being.
+
+"But now--now that at once it may begin to be, back with our thoughts
+out of the future--back into the present. At once, after the feast,
+which we have this day kept together, let us on with our labor; let no
+one of all those trades which are to work on our foundation, through us
+keep unwilling holiday. Let the building rise swiftly to its height, and
+out of the windows, which as yet have no existence, may the master of
+the house, with his family and with his guests, look forth with a glad
+heart over his broad lands. To him and to all here present herewith be
+health and happiness."
+
+With these words he drained a richly cut tumbler at a draught, and flung
+it into the air, thereby to signify the excess of pleasure by destroying
+the vessel which had served for such a solemn occasion. This time,
+however, it fell out otherwise. The glass did not fall back to the
+earth, and indeed without a miracle.
+
+In order to get forward with the buildings, they had already thrown out
+the whole of the soil at the opposite corner; indeed, they had begun to
+raise the wall, and for this purpose had reared a scaffold as high as
+was absolutely necessary. On the occasion of the festival, boards had
+been laid along the top of this, and a number of spectators were allowed
+to stand there. It had been meant principally for the advantage of the
+workmen themselves. The glass had flown up there, and had been caught by
+one of them, who took it as a sign of good luck for himself. He waved it
+round without letting it out of his hand, and the letters E and O were
+to be seen very richly cut upon it, running one into the other. It was
+one of the glasses which had been executed for Edward when he was a boy.
+
+The scaffoldings were again deserted, and the most active among the
+party climbed up to look round them, and could not speak enough in
+praise of the beauty of the prospect on all sides. How many new
+discoveries does not a person make when on some high point he ascends
+but a single story higher. Inland many fresh villages came in sight. The
+line of the river could be traced like a thread of silver; indeed, one
+of the party thought that he distinguished the spires of the capital. On
+the other side, behind the wooded hill, the blue peaks of the far-off
+mountains were seen rising, and the country immediately about them was
+spread out like a map.
+
+"If the three ponds," cried some one, "were but thrown together to make
+a single sheet of water, there would be everything here which is noblest
+and most excellent."
+
+"That might easily be effected," the Captain said. "In early times they
+must have formed all one lake among the hills here."
+
+"Only I must beseech you to spare my clump of planes and poplars that
+stand so prettily by the centre pond," said Edward. "See!" He turned to
+Ottilie, bringing her a few steps forward, and pointing down--"those
+trees I planted myself."
+
+"How long have they been standing there?" asked Ottilie.
+
+"Just about as long as you have been in the world," replied Edward.
+"Yes, my dear child, I planted them when you were still lying in your
+cradle."
+
+The party now betook themselves back to the castle. After dinner was
+over they were invited to walk through the village to take a glance at
+what had been done there as well. At a hint from the Captain, the
+inhabitants had collected in front of the houses. They were not standing
+in rows, but formed in natural family groups; part were occupied at
+their evening work, part out enjoying themselves on the new benches.
+They had determined, as an agreeable duty which they imposed upon
+themselves, to have everything in its present order and cleanliness, at
+least every Sunday and holiday.
+
+A little party, held together by such feelings as had grown up among our
+friends, is always unpleasantly interrupted by a large concourse of
+people. All four were delighted to find themselves again alone in the
+large drawing-room, but this sense of home was a little disturbed by a
+letter which was brought to Edward, giving notice of fresh guests who
+were to arrive the following day.
+
+"It is as we supposed," Edward cried to Charlotte. "The Count will not
+stay away; he is coming tomorrow."
+
+"Then the Baroness, too, is not far off," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Doubtless not," said Edward. "She is coming, too, tomorrow, from
+another place. They only beg to be allowed to stay for a night; the next
+day they will go on together."
+
+"We must prepare for them in time, Ottilie," said Charlotte.
+
+"What arrangement shall I desire to be made?" Ottilie asked.
+
+Charlotte gave a general direction, and Ottilie left the room.
+
+The Captain inquired into the relation in which these two persons stood
+toward each other, and with which he was only very generally acquainted.
+They had some time before, both being already married, fallen violently
+in love with each other; a double marriage was not to be interfered with
+without attracting attention. A divorce was proposed. On the Baroness's
+side it could be effected, on that of the Count it could not. They were
+obliged seemingly to separate, but their position toward each other
+remained unchanged, and though in the winter at the Residence they were
+unable to be together, they indemnified themselves in the summer, while
+making tours and staying at watering-places.
+
+They were both slightly older than Edward and Charlotte, and had been
+intimate with them from early times at court. The connection had never
+been absolutely broken off, although it was impossible to approve of
+their proceedings. On the present occasion their coming was most
+unwelcome to Charlotte; and if she had looked closely into her reasons
+for feeling it so, she would have found it was on account of Ottilie.
+The poor innocent girl should not have been brought so early in contact
+with such an example.
+
+"It would have been more convenient if they had not come till a couple
+of days later," Edward was saying; as Ottilie re-entered, "till we had
+finished with this business of the farm. The deed of sale is complete.
+One copy of it I have here, but we want a second, and our old clerk has
+fallen ill." The Captain offered his services, and so did Charlotte, but
+there was something or other to object to in both of them.
+
+"Give it to me," cried Ottilie, a little hastily.
+
+"You will never be able to finish it," said Charlotte.
+
+"And really I must have it early the day after tomorrow, and it is
+long," Edward added.
+
+"It shall be ready," Ottilie cried; and the paper was already in her
+hands.
+
+The next morning, as they were looking out from their highest windows
+for their visitors, whom they intended to go some way and meet, Edward
+said, "Who is that yonder, riding slowly along the road?"
+
+The Captain described accurately the figure of the horse-man.
+
+"Then it is he," said Edward; "the particulars, which you can see better
+than I, agree very well with the general figure, which I can see too. It
+is Mittler; but what is he doing, coming riding at such a pace as that?"
+
+The figure came nearer, and Mittler it veritably was. They received him
+with warm greetings as he came slowly up the steps.
+
+"Why did you not come yesterday?" Edward cried, as he approached.
+
+"I do not like your grand festivities," answered he; "but I am come
+today to keep my friend's birthday with you quietly."
+
+"How are you able to find time enough?" asked Edward, with a laugh.
+
+"My visit, if you can value it, you owe to an observation which I made
+yesterday. I was spending a right happy afternoon in a house where I had
+established peace, and then I heard that a birthday was being kept here.
+Now this is what I call selfish, after all, said I to myself: you will
+only enjoy yourself with those whose broken peace you have mended. Why
+cannot you for once go and be happy with friends who keep the peace for
+themselves? No sooner said than done. Here I am, as I determined with
+myself that I would be."
+
+"Yesterday you would have met a large party here; today you will find
+but a small one," said Charlotte; "you will meet the Count and the
+Baroness, with whom you have had enough to do already, I believe."
+
+Out of the middle of the party, who had all four come down to welcome
+him, the strange man dashed in the keenest disgust, seizing at the same
+time his hat and whip. "Some unlucky star is always over me," he cried,
+"directly I try to rest and enjoy myself. What business have I going out
+of my proper character? I ought never to have come, and now I am
+persecuted away. Under one roof with those two I will not remain, and
+you take care of yourselves. They bring nothing but mischief; their
+nature is like leaven, and propagates its own contagion."
+
+They tried to pacify him, but it was in vain. "Whoever strikes at
+marriage," he cried;--"whoever, either by word or act, undermines this,
+the foundation of all moral society, that man has to settle with me, and
+if I cannot become his master, I take care to settle myself out of his
+way. Marriage is the beginning and the end of all culture. It makes the
+savage mild; and the most cultivated has no better opportunity for
+displaying his gentleness. Indissoluble it must be, because it brings so
+much happiness that what small exceptional unhappiness it may bring
+counts for nothing in the balance. And what do men mean by talking of
+unhappiness? Impatience it is which from time to time comes over them,
+and then they fancy themselves unhappy. Let them wait till the moment is
+gone by, and then they will bless their good fortune that what has stood
+so long continues standing. There never can be any adequate ground for
+separation. The condition of man is pitched so high, in its joys and in
+its sorrows, that the sum which two married people owe to each other
+defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged
+through all eternity.
+
+"Its annoyances marriage may often have; I can well believe that, and it
+is as it should be. We are all married to our consciences, and there are
+times when we should be glad to be divorced from them; mine gives me
+more annoyance than ever a man or a woman can give."
+
+All this he poured out with the greatest vehemence: he would very likely
+have gone on speaking longer, had not the sound of the postilions'
+horns given notice of the arrival of the visitors, who, as if on a
+concerted arrangement, drove into the castle-court from opposite sides
+at the same moment. Mittler slipped away as their host hastened to
+receive them, and desiring that his horse might be brought out
+immediately, rode angrily off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+The visitors were welcomed and brought in. They were delighted to find
+themselves again in the same house and in the same rooms where in early
+times they had passed many happy days, but which they had not seen for a
+long time. Their friends too were very glad to see them. The Count and
+the Baroness had both those tall fine figures which please in middle
+life almost better than in youth. If something of the first bloom had
+faded off them, yet there was an air in their appearance which was
+always irresistibly attractive. Their manners too were thoroughly
+charming. Their free way of taking hold of life and dealing with it,
+their happy humor, and apparent easy unembarrassment, communicated
+itself at once to the rest; and a lighter atmosphere hung about the
+whole party, without their having observed it stealing on them.
+
+The effect made itself felt immediately on the entrance of the
+new-comers. They were fresh from the fashionable world, as was to be
+seen at once, in their dress, in their equipment, and in everything
+about them; and they formed a contrast not a little striking with our
+friends, their country style, and the vehement feelings which were at
+work underneath among them. This, however, very soon disappeared in the
+stream of past recollection and present interests, and a rapid, lively
+conversation soon united them all. After a short time they again
+separated. The ladies withdrew to their own apartments, and there found
+amusement enough in the many things which they had to tell one another,
+and in setting to work at the same time to examine the new fashions, the
+spring dresses, bonnets, and such like; while the gentlemen were
+employing themselves looking at the new traveling chariots, trotting out
+the horses, and beginning at once to bargain and exchange.
+
+They did not meet again till dinner; in the meantime they had changed
+their dress. And here, too, the newly arrived pair showed to all
+advantage. Everything they wore was new, and in a style which their
+friends at the castle had never seen, and yet, being accustomed to it
+themselves, it appeared perfectly natural and graceful.
+
+The conversation was brilliant and well sustained, as, indeed, in the
+company of such persons everything and nothing appears to interest. They
+spoke in French that the attendants might not understand what they said,
+and swept in happiest humor over all that was passing in the great or
+the middle world. On one particular subject they remained, however,
+longer than was desirable. It was occasioned by Charlotte asking after
+one of her early friends, of whom she had to learn, with some distress,
+that she was on the point of being separated from her husband.
+
+"It is a melancholy thing," Charlotte said, "when we fancy our absent
+friends are finally settled, when we believe persons very dear to us to
+be provided for for life, suddenly to hear that their fortunes are cast
+loose once more; that they have to strike into a fresh path of life, and
+very likely a most insecure one."
+
+"Indeed, my dear friend," the Count answered, "it is our own fault if we
+allow ourselves to be surprised at such things. We please ourselves with
+imagining matters of this earth, and particularly matrimonial
+connections, as very enduring; and as concerns this last point, the
+plays which we see over and over again help to mislead us; being, as
+they are, so untrue to the course of the world. In a comedy we see a
+marriage as the last aim of a desire which is hindered and crossed
+through a number of acts, and at the instant when it is reached the
+curtain falls, and the momentary satisfaction continues to ring on in
+our ears. But in the world it is very different. The play goes on still
+behind the scenes, and when the curtain rises again we may see and hear,
+perhaps, little enough of the marriage."
+
+"It cannot be so very bad, however," said Charlotte, smiling. "We see
+people who have gone off the boards of the theatre, ready enough to
+undertake a part upon them again."
+
+"There is nothing to say against that," said the Count. "In a new
+character a man may readily venture on a second trial; and when we know
+the world we see clearly that it is only this positive, eternal duration
+of marriage in a world where everything is in motion, which has anything
+unbecoming about it. A certain friend of mine, whose humor displays
+itself principally in suggestions for new laws, maintained that every
+marriage should be concluded only for five years. Five, he said, was a
+sacred number--pretty and uneven. Such a period would be long enough for
+people to learn each other's character, bring a child or two into the
+world, quarrel, separate, and what is best, get reconciled again. He
+would often exclaim, 'How happily the first part of the time would pass
+away!' Two or three years, at least, would be perfect bliss. On one side
+or the other there would not fail to be a wish to have the relation
+continue longer, and the amiability would increase the nearer they got
+to the parting time. The indifferent, even the dissatisfied party, would
+be softened and gained over by such behavior; they would forget, as in
+pleasant company the hours pass always unobserved, how the time went by,
+and they would be delightfully surprised when, after the term had run
+out, they first observed that they had unknowingly prolonged it."
+
+Charming and pleasant as all this sounded, and deep (Charlotte felt it
+to her soul) as was the moral significance which lay below it,
+expressions of this kind, on Ottilie's account, were most distasteful to
+her. She knew very well that nothing was more dangerous than the
+licentious conversation which treats culpable or semi-culpable actions
+as if they were common, ordinary, and even laudable, and of such
+undesirable kind assuredly were all which touched on the sacredness of
+marriage. She endeavored, therefore, in her skilful way, to give the
+conversation another turn, and, when she found that she could not, it
+vexed her that Ottilie had managed everything so well that there was no
+occasion for her to leave the table. In her quiet observant way a nod or
+a look was enough for her to signify to the head servant whatever was to
+be done, and everything went off perfectly, although there were a couple
+of strange men in livery in the way who were rather a trouble than a
+convenience. And so the Count, without feeling Charlotte's hints, went
+on giving his opinions on the same subject. Generally, he was little
+enough apt to be tedious in conversation; but this was a thing which
+weighed so heavily on his heart, and the difficulties which he found in
+getting separated from his wife were so great that it had made him
+bitter against everything which concerned the marriage bond--that very
+bond which, notwithstanding, he was so anxiously desiring between
+himself and the Baroness.
+
+"The same friend," he went on, "has another law which he proposes. A
+marriage shall be held indissoluble only when either both parties, or at
+least one or the other, enter into it for the third time. Such persons
+must be supposed to acknowledge beyond a doubt that they find marriage
+indispensable for themselves; they have had opportunities of thoroughly
+knowing themselves; of knowing how they conducted themselves in their
+earlier unions; whether they have any peculiarities of temper, which are
+a more frequent cause of separation than bad dispositions. People would
+then observe each other more closely; they would pay as much attention
+to the married as to the unmarried, no one being able to tell how things
+may turn out."
+
+"That would add no little to the interest of society," said Edward. "As
+things are now, when a man is married nobody cares any more either for
+his virtues or for his vices."
+
+"Under this arrangement," the Baroness struck in, laughing, "our good
+hosts have passed successfully over their two steps, and may make
+themselves ready for their third."
+
+"Things have gone happily with them," said the Count. "In their case
+death has done with a good will what in others the consistorial courts
+do with a very bad one.
+
+"Let the dead rest," said Charlotte, with a half serious look.
+
+"Why so," persevered the Count, "when we can remember them with honor?
+They were generous enough to content themselves with less than their
+number of years for the sake of the larger good which they could leave
+behind them."
+
+"Alas! that in such cases," said the Baroness, with a suppressed sigh,
+"happiness is bought only with the sacrifice of our fairest years."
+
+"Indeed, yes," answered the Count; "and it might drive us to despair, if
+it were not the same with everything in this world. Nothing goes as we
+hope. Children do not fulfil what they promise; young people very
+seldom; and if they keep their word, the world does not keep its word
+with them."
+
+Charlotte, who was delighted that the conversation had taken a turn at
+last, replied cheerfully:
+
+"Well, then, we must content ourselves with enjoying what good we are to
+have in fragments and pieces, as we can get it; and the sooner we can
+accustom ourselves to this the better."
+
+"Certainly," the Count answered, "you two have had the enjoyment of very
+happy times. When I look back upon the years when you and Edward were
+the loveliest couple at the court, I see nothing now to be compared with
+those brilliant times, and such magnificent figures. When you two used
+to dance together, all eyes were turned upon you, fastened upon you,
+while you saw nothing but each other."
+
+"So much has changed since those days," said Charlotte, "that we can
+listen to such pretty things about ourselves without our modesty being
+shocked at them."
+
+"I often privately found fault with Edward," said the Count, "for not
+being more firm. Those singular parents of his would certainly have
+given way at last; and ten fair years is no trifle to gain."
+
+"I must take Edward's part," struck in the Baroness. "Charlotte was not
+altogether without fault--not altogether free from what we must call
+prudential considerations; and although she had a real, hearty love for
+Edward, and did in her secret soul intend to marry him, I can bear
+witness how sorely she often tried him; and it was through this that he
+was at last unluckily prevailed upon to leave her and go abroad, and try
+to forget her."
+
+Edward bowed to the Baroness, and seemed grateful for her advocacy.
+
+"And then I must add this," she continued, "in excuse for Charlotte. The
+man who was at that time suing for her, had for a long time given proofs
+of his constant attachment to her; and, when one came to know him well,
+was a far more lovable person than the rest of you may like to
+acknowledge."
+
+"My dear friend," the Count replied, a little pointedly, "confess, now,
+that he was not altogether indifferent to yourself, and that Charlotte
+had more to fear from you than from any other rival. I find it one of
+the highest traits in women, that they continue so long in their regard
+for a man, and that absence of no duration will serve to disturb or
+remove it."
+
+"This fine feature, men possess, perhaps, even more," answered the
+Baroness. "At any rate, I have observed with you, my dear Count, that no
+one has more influence over you than a lady to whom you were once
+attached. I have seen you take more trouble to do things when a certain
+person has asked you, than the friend of this moment would have obtained
+of you, if she had tried."
+
+"Such a charge as that one must bear the best way one can," replied the
+Count. "But as to what concerns Charlotte's first husband, I could not
+endure him, because he parted so sweet a pair from each other--a really
+predestined pair, who, once brought together, have no reason to fear the
+five years, or be thinking of a second or third marriage."
+
+"We must try," Charlotte said, "to make up for what we then allowed to
+slip from us."
+
+"Aye, and you must keep to that," said the Count; "your first
+marriages," he continued, with some vehemence, "were exactly marriages
+of the true detestable sort. And, unhappily, marriages generally, even
+the best, have (forgive me for using a strong expression) something
+awkward about them. They destroy the delicacy of the relation;
+everything is made to rest on the broad certainty out of which one side
+or other, at least, is too apt to make their own advantage. It is all a
+matter of course; and they seem only to have got themselves tied
+together, that one or the other, or both, may go their own way the more
+easily."
+
+At this moment, Charlotte, who was determined once for all that she
+would put an end to the conversation, made a bold effort at turning it,
+and succeeded. It then became more general. She and her husband and the
+Captain were able to take a part in it. Even Ottilie had to give her
+opinion; and the dessert was enjoyed in the happiest humor. It was
+particularly beautiful, being composed almost entirely of the rich
+summer fruits in elegant baskets, with epergnes of lovely flowers
+arranged in exquisite taste.
+
+The new laying-out of the park came to be spoken of; and immediately
+after dinner they went to look at what was going on. Ottilie withdrew,
+under pretence of having household matters to look to; in reality, it
+was to set to work again at the transcribing. The Count fell into
+conversation with the Captain, and Charlotte afterward joined them. When
+they were at the summit of the height, the Captain good-naturedly ran
+back to fetch the plan, and in his absence the Count said to Charlotte:
+
+"He is an exceedingly pleasing person. He is very well informed, and his
+knowledge is always ready. His practical power, too, seems methodical
+and vigorous. What he is doing here would be of great importance in some
+higher sphere."
+
+Charlotte listened to the Captain's praises with an inward delight. She
+collected herself, however, and composedly and clearly confirmed what
+the Count had said. But she was not a little startled when he continued:
+
+"This acquaintance falls most opportunely for me. I know of a situation
+for which he is perfectly suited, and I shall be doing the greatest
+favor to a friend of mine, a man of high rank, by recommending to him a
+person who is so exactly everything which he desires."
+
+Charlotte felt as if a thunder-stroke had fallen on her. The Count did
+not observe it: women, being accustomed at all times to hold themselves
+in restraint, are always able, even in the most extraordinary cases, to
+maintain an apparent composure; but she heard not a word more of what
+the Count said, though he went on speaking.
+
+"When I have made up my mind upon a thing," he added, "I am quick about
+it. I have put my letter together already in my head, and I shall write
+it immediately. You can find me some messenger who can ride off with it
+this evening."
+
+Charlotte was suffering agonies. Startled with the proposal, and shocked
+at herself, she was unable to utter a word. Happily, the Count continued
+talking of his plans for the Captain, the desirableness of which was
+only too apparent to Charlotte.
+
+It was time that the Captain returned. He came up and unrolled his
+design before the Count. But with what changed eyes Charlotte now looked
+at the friend whom she was to lose. In her necessity, she bowed and
+turned away, and hurried down to the summer-house. Before she was half
+way there, the tears were streaming from her eyes, and she flung herself
+into the narrow room in the little hermitage, and gave herself up to an
+agony, a passion, a despair, of the possibility of which, but a few
+moments before, she had not had the slightest conception.
+
+Edward had gone with the Baroness in the other direction toward the
+ponds. This ready-witted lady, who liked to be in the secret about
+everything, soon observed, in a few conversational feelers which she
+threw out, that Edward was very fluent and free-spoken in praise of
+Ottilie. She contrived in the most natural way to lead him out by
+degrees so completely that at last she had not a doubt remaining that
+here was not merely an incipient fancy, but a veritable, full-grown
+passion.
+
+Married women, if they have no particular love for one another, yet are
+silently in league together, especially against young girls. The
+consequences of such an inclination presented themselves only too
+quickly to her world-experienced spirit. Added to this, she had been
+already, in the course of the day, talking to Charlotte about Ottilie;
+she had disapproved of her remaining in the country, particularly being
+a girl of so retiring a character; and she had proposed to take Ottilie
+with her to the residence of a friend who was just then bestowing great
+expense on the education of an only daughter, and who was only looking
+about to find some well-disposed companion for her--to put her in the
+place of a second child, and let her share in every advantage. Charlotte
+had taken time to consider. But now this glimpse of the Baroness into
+Edward's heart changed what had been but a suggestion at once into a
+settled determination; and the more rapidly she made up her mind about
+it, the more she outwardly seemed to flatter Edward's wishes. Never was
+there any one more self-possessed than this lady; and to have mastered
+ourselves in extraordinary cases, disposes us to treat even a common
+case with dissimulation--it makes us inclined, as we have had to do so
+much violence to ourselves, to extend our control over others, and
+hold ourselves in a degree compensated in what we outwardly gain for
+what we inwardly have been obliged to sacrifice. To this feeling there
+is often joined a kind of secret, spiteful pleasure in the blind,
+unconscious ignorance with which the victim walks on into the snare. It
+is not the immediately doing as we please which we enjoy, but the
+thought of the surprise and exposure which is to follow. And thus was
+the Baroness malicious enough to invite Edward to come with Charlotte
+and pay her a visit at the grape-gathering; and, to his question whether
+they might bring Ottilie with them, to frame an answer which, if he
+pleased, he might interpret to his wishes.
+
+Edward had already begun to pour out his delight at the beautiful
+scenery, the broad river, the hills, the rocks, the vineyard, the old
+castles, the water-parties, and the jubilee at the grape-gathering, the
+wine-pressing, etc., in all of which, in the innocence of his heart, he
+was only exuberating in the anticipation of the impression which these
+scenes were to make on the fresh spirit of Ottilie. At this moment they
+saw her approaching, and the Baroness said quickly to Edward that he had
+better say nothing to her of this intended autumn expedition--things
+which we set our hearts upon so long before so often failing to come to
+pass. Edward gave his promise; but he obliged his companion to move more
+quickly to meet her; and at last, when they came very close, he ran on
+several steps in advance. A heartfelt happiness expressed itself in his
+whole being. He kissed her hand as he pressed into it a nosegay of wild
+flowers which he had gathered on his way.
+
+The Baroness felt bitter in her heart at the sight of it. Even whilst
+she was able to disapprove of what was really objectionable in this
+affection, she could not bear to see what was sweet and beautiful in it
+thrown away on such a poor paltry girl.
+
+When they had collected again at the supper-table, an entirely different
+temper was spread over the party. The Count, who had in the meantime
+written his letter and dispatched a messenger with it, occupied himself
+with the Captain, whom he had been drawing out more and more--spending
+the whole evening at his side, talking of serious matters. The Baroness,
+who sat on the Count's right, found but small amusement in this; nor did
+Edward find any more. The latter, first because he was thirsty, and then
+because he was excited, did not spare the wine, and attached himself
+entirely to Ottilie, whom he had made sit by him. On the other side,
+next to the Captain, sat Charlotte; for her it was hard, it was almost
+impossible, to conceal the emotion under which she was suffering.
+
+The Baroness had sufficient time to make her observations at leisure.
+She perceived Charlotte's uneasiness, and occupied as she was with
+Edward's passion for Ottilie, she easily satisfied herself that her
+abstraction and distress were owing to her husband's behavior; and she
+set herself to consider in what way she could best compass her ends.
+
+Supper was over, and the party remained divided. The Count, whose object
+was to probe the Captain to the bottom, had to try many turns before he
+could arrive at what he wished with so quiet, so little vain, but so
+exceedingly laconic a person. They walked up and down together on one
+side of the saloon, while Edward, excited with wine and hope, was
+laughing with Ottilie at a window, and Charlotte and the Baroness were
+walking backward and forward, without speaking, on the other side. Their
+being so silent, and their standing about in this uneasy, listless way,
+had its effect at last in breaking up the rest of the party. The ladies
+withdrew to their rooms, the gentlemen to the other wing of the castle;
+and so this day appeared to be concluded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Edward went with the Count to his room. They continued talking, and he
+was easily prevailed upon to stay a little time longer there. The Count
+lost himself in old times, spoke eagerly of Charlotte's beauty, which,
+as a critic, he dwelt upon with much warmth.
+
+"A pretty foot is a great gift of nature," he said. "It is a grace which
+never perishes. I observed it today, as she was walking. I should almost
+have liked even to kiss her shoe, and repeat that somewhat barbarous but
+significant practice of the Sarmatians, who know no better way of
+showing reverence for any one they love or respect, than by using his
+shoe to drink his health out of."
+
+The point of the foot did not remain the only subject of praise between
+two old acquaintances; they went from the person back upon old stories
+and adventures, and came on the hindrances which at that time people had
+thrown in the way of the lovers' meetings--what trouble they had taken,
+what arts they had been obliged to devise, only to be able to tell each
+other that they loved.
+
+"Do you remember," continued the Count, "an adventure in which I most
+unselfishly stood your friend when their High Mightinesses were on a
+visit to your uncle, and were all together in that great, straggling
+castle? The day went in festivities and glitter of all sorts; and a part
+of the night at least in pleasant conversation."
+
+"And you, in the meantime, had observed the back-way which led to the
+court ladies' quarter," said Edward, "and so managed to effect an
+interview for me with my beloved."
+
+"And she," replied the Count, "thinking more of propriety than of my
+enjoyment, had kept a frightful old duenna with her. So that, while you
+two, between looks and words, got on extremely well together, my lot, in
+the meanwhile, was far from pleasant."
+
+"It was only yesterday," answered Edward, "when we heard that you were
+coming, that I was talking over the story with my wife and describing
+our adventure on returning. We missed the road, and got into the
+entrance-hall from the garden. Knowing our way from thence as well as we
+did, we supposed we could get along easily enough.
+
+"But you remember our surprise on opening the door. The floor was
+covered over with mattresses on which the giants lay in rows stretched
+out and sleeping. The single sentinel at his post looked wonderingly at
+us; but we, in the cool way young men do things, strode quietly on over
+the outstretched boots, without disturbing a single one of the snoring
+children of Anak."
+
+"I had the strongest inclination to stumble," the Count said, "that
+there might be an alarm given. What a resurrection we should have
+witnessed."
+
+At this moment the castle clock struck twelve.
+
+"It is deep midnight," the Count added, laughing, "and just the proper
+time; I must ask you, my dear Edward, to show me a kindness. Do you
+guide me tonight, as I guided you then. I promised the Baroness that I
+would see her before going to bed. We have had no opportunity of any
+private talk together the whole day. We have not seen each other for a
+long time, and it is only natural that we should wish for a confidential
+hour. If you will show me the way there, I will manage to get back
+again; and in any case, there will be no boots for me to stumble over."
+
+"I shall be very glad to show you such a piece of hospitality," answered
+Edward; "only the three ladies are together in the same wing. Who knows
+whether we shall not find them still with one another, or make some
+other mistake, which may have a strange appearance?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," said the Count; "the Baroness expects me. She is
+sure by this time to be in her own room, and alone."
+
+"Well, then, the thing is easy enough," Edward answered.
+
+He took a candle, and lighted the Count down a private staircase leading
+into a long gallery. At the end of this, he opened a small door. They
+mounted a winding flight of stairs, which brought them out upon a narrow
+landing-place; and then, putting the candle in the Count's hand, he
+pointed to a tapestried door on the right, which opened readily at the
+first trial, and admitted the Count, leaving Edward outside in the dark.
+
+Another door on the left led into Charlotte's sleeping-room. He heard
+her voice, and listened. She was speaking to her maid. "Is Ottilie in
+bed?" she asked. "No," was the answer; "she is sitting writing in the
+room below." "You may light the night-lamp," said Charlotte; "I shall
+not want you any more. It is late. I can put out the candle, and do
+whatever I may want else myself."
+
+It was a delight to Edward to hear that Ottilie was writing still. She
+is working for me, he thought triumphantly. Through the darkness, he
+fancied he could see her sitting all alone at her desk. He thought he
+would go to her, and see her; and how she would turn to receive him. He
+felt a longing, which he could not resist, to be near her once more.
+But, from where he was, there was no way to the apartments which she
+occupied. He now found himself immediately at his wife's door. A
+singular change of feeling came over him. He tried the handle, but the
+bolts were shot. He knocked gently. Charlotte did not hear him. She was
+walking rapidly up and down in the large dressing-room adjoining. She
+was repeating over and over what, since the Count's unexpected proposal,
+she had often enough had to say to herself. The Captain seemed to stand
+before her. At home, and everywhere, he had become her all in all. And
+now he was to go; and it was all to be desolate again. She repeated
+whatever wise things one can say to oneself; she even anticipated, as
+people so often do, the wretched comfort that time would come at last to
+her relief; and then she cursed the time which would have to pass before
+it could lighten her sufferings--she cursed the dead, cold time when
+they would be lightened. At last she burst into tears; they were the
+more welcome, since tears with her were rare. She flung herself on the
+sofa, and gave herself up unreservedly to her sufferings. Edward,
+meanwhile, could not take himself from the door. He knocked again; and a
+third time rather louder; so that Charlotte, in the stillness of the
+night, distinctly heard it, and started up in fright. Her first thought
+was--it can only be, it must be, the Captain; her second, that it was
+impossible. She thought she must have been deceived. But surely she had
+heard it; and she wished, and she feared to have heard it. She went into
+her sleeping-room, and walked lightly up to the bolted tapestry-door.
+She blamed herself for her fears. "Possibly it may be the Baroness
+wanting something," she said to herself; and she called out quietly and
+calmly, "Is anybody there?" A light voice answered, "It is I." "Who?"
+returned Charlotte, not being able to make out the voice. She thought
+she saw the Captain's figure standing at the door. In a rather louder
+tone, she heard the word "Edward!" She drew back the bolt, and her
+husband stood before her. He greeted her with some light jest. She was
+unable to reply in the same tone. He complicated the mysterious visit by
+his mysterious explanation of it.
+
+"Well, then," he said at last, "I will confess, the real reason why I am
+come is, that I have made a vow to kiss your shoe this evening."
+
+"It is long since you thought of such a thing as that," said Charlotte.
+
+"So much the worse," he answered; "and so much the better."
+
+She had thrown herself back in an armchair, to prevent him from seeing
+the slightness of her dress. He flung himself down before her, and she
+could not prevent him from giving her shoe a kiss. And when the shoe
+came off in his hand, he caught her foot and pressed it tenderly against
+his breast.
+
+Charlotte was one of those women who, being of naturally calm
+temperaments, continue in marriage, without any purpose or any effort,
+the air and character of lovers. She was never expressive toward her
+husband; generally, indeed, she rather shrank from any warm
+demonstration on his part. It was not that she was cold, or at all hard
+and repulsive, but she remained always like a loving bride, who draws
+back with a kind of shyness even from what is permitted. And so Edward
+found her this evening, in a double sense. How sorely did she not long
+that her husband would go; the figure of his friend seemed to hover in
+the air and reproach her. But what should have had the effect of driving
+Edward away only attracted him the more. There were visible traces of
+emotion about her. She had been crying; and tears, which with weak
+persons detract from their graces, add immeasurably to the
+attractiveness of those whom we know commonly as strong and
+self-possessed.
+
+Edward was so agreeable, so gentle, so pressing; he begged to be allowed
+to stay with her. He did not demand it, but half in fun, half in
+earnest, he tried to persuade her; he never thought of his rights. At
+last, as if in mischief, he blew out the candle.
+
+In the dim lamplight, the inward affection, the imagination, maintained
+their rights over the real; it was Ottilie that was resting in Edward's
+arms; and the Captain, now faintly, now clearly, hovered before
+Charlotte's soul. And so, strangely intermingled, the absent and the
+present flowed in a sweet enchantment one into the other.
+
+And yet the present would not let itself be robbed of its own unlovely
+right. They spent a part of the night talking and laughing at all sorts
+of things, the more freely as the heart had no part in it. But when
+Edward awoke in the morning, on his wife's breast, the day seemed to
+stare in with a sad, awful look, and the sun to be shining in upon a
+crime. He stole lightly from her side; and she found herself, with
+strange enough feelings, when she awoke, alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+When the party assembled again at breakfast, an attentive observer might
+have read in the behavior of its various members the different things
+which were passing in their inner thoughts and feelings. The Count and
+the Baroness met with the air of happiness which a pair of lovers feel,
+who, after having been forced to endure a long separation, have mutually
+assured each other of their unaltered affection. On the other hand,
+Charlotte and Edward equally came into the presence of the Captain and
+Ottilie with a sense of shame and remorse. For such is the nature of
+love that it believes in no rights except its own, and all other rights
+vanish away before it. Ottilie was in child-like spirits. For her--she
+was almost what might be called open. The Captain appeared serious. His
+conversation with the Count, which had roused in him feelings that for
+some time past had been at rest and dormant, had made him only too
+keenly conscious that here he was not fulfilling his work, and at bottom
+was but squandering himself in a half-activity of idleness.
+
+Hardly had their guests departed, when fresh visitors were announced--to
+Charlotte most welcomely, all she wished for being to be taken out of
+herself, and to have her attention dissipated. They annoyed Edward, who
+was longing to devote himself to Ottilie; and Ottilie did not like them
+either; the copy which had to be finished the next morning early being
+still incomplete. They staid a long time, and immediately that they were
+gone she hurried off to her room.
+
+It was now evening. Edward, Charlotte, and the Captain had accompanied
+the strangers some little way on foot, before the latter got into their
+carriage, and previous to returning home they agreed to take a walk
+along the water-side.
+
+A boat had come, which Edward had had fetched from a distance, at no
+little expense; and they decided that they would try whether it was easy
+to manage. It was made fast on the bank of the middle pond, not far from
+some old ash trees on which they calculated to make an effect in their
+future improvements. There was to be a landing-place made there, and
+under the trees a seat was to be raised, with some wonderful
+architecture about it: it was to be the point for which people were to
+make when they went across the water.
+
+"And where had we better have the landing-place on the other side?" said
+Edward. "I should think under my plane trees."
+
+"They stand a little too far to the right," said the Captain. "You are
+nearer the castle if you land further down. However, we must think about
+it."
+
+The Captain was already standing in the stern of the boat, and had taken
+up an oar. Charlotte got in, and Edward with her--he took the other oar;
+but as he was on the point of pushing off, he thought of Ottilie--he
+recollected that this water-party would keep him out late; who could
+tell when he would get back? He made up his mind shortly and promptly;
+sprang back to the bank, and reaching the other oar to the Captain,
+hurried home--making excuses to himself as he ran.
+
+Arriving there he learnt that Ottilie had shut herself up--she was
+writing. In spite of the agreeable feeling that she was doing something
+for him, it was the keenest mortification to him not to be able to see
+her. His impatience increased every moment. He walked up and down the
+large drawing-room; he tried a thousand things, and could not fix his
+attention upon any. He was longing to see her alone, before Charlotte
+came back with the Captain. It was dark by this time, and the candles
+were lighted.
+
+At last she came in beaming with loveliness: the sense that she had done
+something for her friend had lifted all her being above itself. She put
+down the original and her transcript on the table before Edward.
+
+"Shall we collate them?" she said, with a smile.
+
+Edward did not know what to answer. He looked at her--he looked at the
+transcript. The first few sheets were written with the greatest
+carefulness in a delicate woman's hand--then the strokes appeared to
+alter, to become more light and free--but who can describe his surprise
+as he ran his eyes over the concluding page? "For heaven's sake," he
+cried, "what is this? this is my hand!" He looked at Ottilie, and again
+at the paper; the conclusion, especially, was exactly as if he had
+written it himself. Ottilie said nothing, but she looked at him with her
+eyes full of the warmest delight. Edward stretched out his arms. "You
+love me!" he cried: "Ottilie, you love me!" They fell on each other's
+breast--which had been the first to catch the other it would have been
+impossible to distinguish.
+
+From that moment the world was all changed for Edward. He was no longer
+what he had been, and the world was no longer what it had been. They
+parted--he held her hands; they gazed in each other's eyes. They were on
+the point of embracing each other again.
+
+Charlotte entered with the Captain. Edward inwardly smiled at their
+excuses for having stayed out so long. Oh! how far too soon you have
+returned, he said to himself.
+
+They sat down to supper. They talked about the people who had been there
+that day. Edward, full of love and ecstasy, spoke well of every
+one--always sparing, often approving. Charlotte, who was not altogether
+of his opinion, remarked this temper in him, and jested with him about
+it--he who had always the sharpest thing to say on departed visitors,
+was this evening so gentle and tolerant.
+
+With fervor and heartfelt conviction, Edward cried, "One has only to
+love a single creature with all one's heart, and the whole world at once
+looks lovely!"
+
+Ottilie dropped her eyes on the ground, and Charlotte looked straight
+before her.
+
+The Captain took up the word, and said, "It is the same with deep
+feelings of respect and reverence: we first learn to recognize what
+there is that is to be valued in the world, when we find occasion to
+entertain such sentiments toward a particular object."
+
+Charlotte made an excuse to retire early to her room where she could
+give herself up to thinking over what had passed in the course of the
+evening between herself and the Captain.
+
+When Edward sprang on shore, and, pushing off the boat, had himself
+committed his wife and his friend to the uncertain element, Charlotte
+found herself face to face with the man on whose account she had been
+already secretly suffering so bitterly, sitting in the twilight before
+her, and sweeping along the boat with the sculls in easy motion. She
+felt a depth of sadness, very rare with her, weighing on her spirits.
+The undulating movement of the boat, the splash of the oars, the faint
+breeze playing over the watery mirror, the sighing of the reeds, the
+long flight of the birds, the fitful twinkling of the first stars--there
+was something spectral about it all in the universal stillness. She
+fancied her friend was bearing her away to set her on some far-off
+shore, and leave her there alone; strange emotions were passing through
+her, and she could not give way to them and weep.
+
+The Captain was describing to her the manner in which, in his opinion,
+the improvements should be continued. He praised the construction of the
+boat; it was so convenient, he said, because one person could so easily
+manage it with a pair of oars. She should herself learn how to do this;
+there was often a delicious feeling in floating along alone upon the
+water, one's own ferryman and steersman.
+
+The parting which was impending sank on Charlotte's heart as he was
+speaking. Is he saying this on purpose? she thought to herself. Does he
+know it yet? Does he suspect it or is it only accident? And is he
+unconsciously foretelling me my fate?
+
+A weary, impatient heaviness took hold of her; she begged him to make
+for land as soon as possible and return with her to the castle.
+
+It was the first time that the Captain had been upon the water, and,
+though generally he had acquainted himself with its depth, he did not
+know accurately the particular spots. Dusk was coming on; he directed
+his course to a place where he thought it would be easy to get on shore,
+and from which he knew the footpath which led to the castle was not far
+distant. Charlotte, however, repeated her wish to get to land quickly,
+and the place which he thought of being at a short distance, he gave it
+up, and exerting himself as much as he possibly could, made straight for
+the bank. Unhappily the water was shallow, and he ran aground some way
+off from it. From the rate at which he was going the boat was fixed
+fast, and all his efforts to move it were in vain. What was to be done?
+There was no alternative but to get into the water and carry his
+companion ashore.
+
+It was done without difficulty or danger. He was strong enough not to
+totter with her, or give her any cause for anxiety; but in her agitation
+she had thrown her arms about his neck. He held her fast, and pressed
+her to himself--and at last laid her down upon a grassy bank, not
+without emotion and confusion * * * she still lay upon his neck * * * he
+caught her up once more in his arms, and pressed a warm kiss upon her
+lips. The next moment he was at her feet: he took her hand, and held it
+to his mouth, and cried:
+
+"Charlotte, will you forgive me?"
+
+The kiss which he had ventured to give, and which she had all but
+returned to him, brought Charlotte to herself again--she pressed his
+hand--but she did not attempt to raise him up. She bent down over him,
+and laid her hand upon his shoulder and said:
+
+"We cannot now prevent this moment from forming an epoch in our lives;
+but it depends on us to bear ourselves in a manner which shall be worthy
+of us. You must go away, my dear friend; and you are going. The Count
+has plans for you, to give you better prospects--I am glad, and I am
+sorry. I did not mean to speak of it till it was certain but this moment
+obliges me to tell you my secret * * * Since it does not depend on
+ourselves to alter our feelings, I can only forgive you, I can only
+forgive myself, if we have the courage to alter our situation." She
+raised him up, took his arm to support herself, and they walked back to
+the castle without speaking.
+
+But now she was standing in her own room, where she had to feel and to
+know that she was Edward's wife. Her strength and the various discipline
+in which through life she had trained herself, came to her assistance in
+the conflict. Accustomed as she had always been to look steadily into
+herself and to control herself, she did not now find it difficult, with
+an earnest effort, to come to the resolution which she desired. She
+could almost smile when she remembered the strange visit of the night
+before. Suddenly she was seized with a wonderful instinctive feeling, a
+thrill of fearful delight which changed into holy hope and longing. She
+knelt earnestly down, and repeated the oath which she had taken to
+Edward before the altar.
+
+Friendship, affection, renunciation, floated in glad, happy images
+before her. She felt restored to health and to herself. A sweet
+weariness came over her. She lay down, and sank into a calm, quiet
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Edward, on his part, was in a very different temper. So little he
+thought of sleeping that it did not once occur to him even to undress
+himself. A thousand times he kissed the transcript of the document, but
+it was the beginning of it, in Ottilie's childish, timid hand; the end
+he scarcely dared to kiss, for he thought it was his own hand which he
+saw. Oh, that it were another document! he whispered to himself; and, as
+it was, he felt it was the sweetest assurance that his highest wish
+would be fulfilled. Thus it remained in his hands, thus he continued to
+press it to his heart, although disfigured by a third name subscribed to
+it. The waning moon rose up over the wood. The warmth of the night drew
+Edward out into the free air. He wandered this way and that way; he was
+at once the most restless and the happiest of mortals. He strayed
+through the gardens--they seemed too narrow for him; he hurried out
+into the park, and it was too wide. He was drawn back toward the castle;
+he stood under Ottilie's window. He threw himself down on the steps of
+the terrace below. "Walls and bolts," he said to himself, "may still
+divide us, but our hearts are not divided. If she were here before me,
+into my arms she would fall, and I into hers; and what can one desire
+but that sweet certainty!" All was stillness round him; not a breath was
+moving;--so still it was, that he could hear the unresting creatures
+underground at their work, to whom day or night are alike. He abandoned
+himself to his delicious dreams; at last he fell asleep, and did not
+wake till the sun with his royal beams was mounting up in the sky and
+scattering the early mists.
+
+He found himself the first person awake on his domain. The laborers
+seemed to be staying away too long: they came; he thought they were too
+few, and the work set out for the day too slight for his desires. He
+inquired for more workmen; they were promised, and in the course of the
+day they came. But these, too, were not enough for him to carry his
+plans out as rapidly as he wished. To do the work gave him no pleasure
+any longer; it should all be done. And for whom? The paths should be
+gravelled that Ottilie might walk presently upon them; seats should be
+made at every spot and corner that Ottilie might rest on them. The new
+park house was hurried forward. It should be finished for Ottilie's
+birthday. In all he thought and all he did, there was no more
+moderation. The sense of loving and of being loved, urged him out into
+the unlimited. How changed was now to him the look of all the rooms,
+their furniture, and their decorations! He did not feel as if he was in
+his own house any more. Ottilie's presence absorbed everything. He was
+utterly lost in her; no other thought ever rose before him; no
+conscience disturbed him; every restraint which had been laid upon his
+nature burst loose. His whole being centered upon Ottilie. This
+impetuosity of passion did not escape the Captain, who longed, if he
+could, to prevent its evil consequences. All those plans which were now
+being hurried on with this immoderate speed, had been drawn out and
+calculated for a long, quiet, easy execution. The sale of the farm had
+been completed; the first instalment had been paid. Charlotte, according
+to the arrangement, had taken possession of it. But the very first week
+after, she found it more than usually necessary to exercise patience and
+resolution, and to keep her eye on what was being done. In the present
+hasty style of proceeding, the money which had been set apart for the
+purpose would not go far.
+
+Much had been begun, and much yet remained to be done. How could the
+Captain leave Charlotte in such a situation? They consulted together,
+and agreed that it would be better that they themselves should hurry on
+the works, and for this purpose employ money which could be made good
+again at the period fixed for the discharge of the second instalment of
+what was to be paid for the farm. It could be done almost without loss.
+They would have a freer hand. Everything would progress simultaneously.
+There were laborers enough at hand, and they could get more accomplished
+at once, and arrive swiftly and surely at their aim. Edward gladly gave
+his consent to a plan which so entirely coincided with his own views.
+
+During this time Charlotte persisted with all her heart in what she had
+determined for herself, and her friend stood by her with a like purpose,
+manfully. This very circumstance, however, produced a greater intimacy
+between them. They spoke openly to each other of Edward's passion, and
+consulted what had better be done. Charlotte kept Ottilie more about
+herself, watching her narrowly; and the more she understood her own
+heart, the deeper she was able to penetrate into the heart of the poor
+girl. She saw no help for it, except in sending her away.
+
+It now appeared a happy thing to her that Luciana had gained such high
+honors at the school; for her great aunt, as soon as she heard of it,
+desired to take her entirely to herself, to keep her with her, and
+bring her out into the world. Ottilie could, therefore, return thither.
+The Captain would leave them well provided for, and everything would be
+as it had been a few months before; indeed, in many respects better. Her
+own position in Edward's affection, Charlotte thought, she could soon
+recover; and she settled it all, and laid it all out before herself so
+sensibly that she only strengthened herself more completely in her
+delusion, as if it were possible for them to return within their old
+limits--as if a bond which had been violently broken could again be
+joined together as before.
+
+In the meantime Edward felt very deeply the hindrances which were thrown
+in his way. He soon observed that they were keeping him and Ottilie
+separate; that they made it difficult for him to speak with her alone,
+or even to approach her, except in the presence of others. And while he
+was angry about this, he was angry at many things besides. If he caught
+an opportunity for a few hasty words with Ottilie, it was not only to
+assure her of his love, but to complain of his wife and of the Captain.
+He never felt that with his own irrational haste he was on the way to
+exhaust the cash-box. He found bitter fault with them, because in the
+execution of the work they were not keeping to the first agreement, and
+yet he had been himself a consenting party to the second; indeed, it was
+he who had occasioned it and made it necessary.
+
+Hatred is a partisan, but love is even more so. Ottilie also estranged
+herself from Charlotte and the Captain. As Edward was complaining one
+day to Ottilie of the latter, saying that he was not treating him like a
+friend, or, under the circumstances, acting quite uprightly, she
+answered unthinkingly, "I have once or twice had a painful feeling that
+he was not quite honest with you. I heard him say once to Charlotte: 'If
+Edward would but spare us that eternal flute of his! He can make nothing
+of it, and it is too disagreeable to listen to him.' You may imagine how
+it hurt me, when I like accompanying you so much."
+
+She had scarcely uttered the words when her conscience whispered to her
+that she had much better have been silent. However, the thing was said.
+Edward's features worked violently. Never had anything stung him more.
+He was touched on his tenderest point. It was his amusement; he followed
+it like a child. He never made the slightest pretensions; what gave him
+pleasure should be treated with forbearance by his friends. He never
+thought how intolerable it is for a third person to have his ears
+lacerated by an unsuccessful talent. He was indignant; he was hurt in a
+way which he could not forgive. He felt himself discharged from all
+obligations.
+
+The necessity of being with Ottilie, of seeing her, whispering to her,
+exchanging his confidence with her, increased with every day. He
+determined to write to her, and ask her to carry on a secret
+correspondence with him. The strip of paper on which he had, laconically
+enough, made his request, lay on his writing-table, and was swept off by
+a draught of wind as his valet entered to dress his hair. The latter was
+in the habit of trying the heat of the iron by picking up any scraps of
+paper which might be lying about. This time his hand fell on the billet;
+he twisted it up hastily, and it was burnt. Edward observing the
+mistake, snatched it out of his hand. After the man was gone, he sat
+himself down to write it over again. The second time it would not run so
+readily off his pen. It gave him a little uneasiness; he hesitated, but
+he got over it. He squeezed the paper into Ottilie's hand the first
+moment he was able to approach her. Ottilie answered him immediately. He
+put the note unread in his waistcoat pocket, which, being made short in
+the fashion of the time, was shallow, and did not hold it as it ought.
+It worked out, and fell without his observing it on the ground.
+Charlotte saw it, picked it up, and after giving a hasty glance at it,
+reached it to him.
+
+"Here is something in your handwriting," she said, "which you may be
+sorry to lose."
+
+He was confounded. Is she dissembling? he thought to himself. Does she
+know what is in the note, or is she deceived by the resemblance of the
+hand? He hoped, he believed the latter. He was warned--doubly warned;
+but those strange accidents, through which a higher intelligence seems
+to be speaking to us, his passion was not able to interpret. Rather, as
+he went further and further on, he felt the restraint under which his
+friend and his wife seemed to be holding him the more intolerable. His
+pleasure in their society was gone. His heart was closed against them,
+and though he was obliged to endure their society, he could not succeed
+in re-discovering or in re-animating within his heart anything of his
+old affection for them. The silent reproaches which he was forced to
+make to himself about it were disagreeable to him. He tried to help
+himself with a kind of humor which, however, being without love, was
+also without its usual grace.
+
+Over all such trials Charlotte found assistance to rise in her own
+inward feelings. She knew her own determination. Her own affection, fair
+and noble as it was, she would utterly renounce.
+
+And sorely she longed to go to the assistance of the other two.
+Separation, she knew well, would not alone suffice to heal so deep a
+wound. She resolved that she would speak openly about it to Ottilie
+herself. But she could not do it. The recollection of her own weakness
+stood in her way. She thought she could talk generally to her about the
+sort of thing. But general expressions about "the sort of thing," fitted
+her own case equally well, and she could not bear to touch it. Every
+hint which she would give Ottilie recoiled on her own heart. She would
+warn, and she was obliged to feel that she might herself still be in
+need of warning.
+
+She contented herself, therefore, with silently keeping the lovers more
+apart, and by this gained nothing. The slight hints which frequently
+escaped her had no effect upon Ottilie; for Ottilie had been assured by
+Edward that Charlotte was devoted to the Captain, that Charlotte
+herself wished for a separation, and that he was at this moment
+considering the readiest means by which it could be brought about.
+
+Ottilie, led by the sense of her own innocence along the road to the
+happiness for which she longed, lived only for Edward. Strengthened by
+her love for him in all good, more light and happy in her work for his
+sake, and more frank and open toward others, she found herself in a
+heaven upon earth.
+
+So all together, each in his or her own fashion, reflecting or
+unreflecting, they continued on the routine of their lives. All seemed
+to go its ordinary way, as, in monstrous cases, when everything is at
+stake, men will still live on, as if it were all nothing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+In the meantime a letter came from the Count to the Captain--two,
+indeed--one which he might produce, holding out fair, excellent
+prospects in the distance; the other containing a distinct offer of an
+immediate situation, a place of high importance and responsibility at
+the Court, his rank as Major, a very considerable salary, and other
+advantages. A number of circumstances, however, made it desirable that
+for the moment he should not speak of it, and consequently he only
+informed his friends of his distant expectations, and concealed what was
+so nearly impending.
+
+He went warmly on, at the same time, with his present occupation, and
+quietly made arrangements to insure the continuance of the works without
+interruption after his departure. He was now himself desirous that as
+much as possible should be finished off at once, and was ready to hasten
+things forward to prepare for Ottilie's birthday. And so, though without
+having come to any express understanding, the two friends worked side by
+side together. Edward was now well pleased that the cash-box was filled
+by their having taken up money. The whole affair went forward at
+fullest speed.
+
+The Captain had done his best to oppose the plan of throwing the three
+ponds together into a single sheet of water. The lower embankment would
+have to be made much stronger, the two intermediate embankments to be
+taken away, and altogether, in more than one sense, it seemed a very
+questionable proceeding. However, both these schemes had been already
+undertaken; the soil which was removed above being carried at once down
+to where it was wanted. And here there came opportunely on the scene a
+young architect, an old pupil of the Captain, who partly by introducing
+workmen who understood work of this nature, and partly by himself,
+whenever it was possible, contracting for the work itself, advanced
+things not a little, while at the same time they could feel more
+confidence in their being securely and lastingly executed. In secret
+this was a great pleasure to the Captain. He could now be confident that
+his absence would not be so severely felt. It was one of the points on
+which he was most resolute with himself, never to leave anything which
+he had taken in hand uncompleted, unless he could see his place
+satisfactorily supplied. And he could not but hold in small respect,
+persons who introduce confusion around themselves only to make their
+absence felt and are ready to disturb in wanton selfishness what they
+will not be at hand to restore.
+
+So they labored on, straining every nerve to make Ottilie's birthday
+splendid, without any open acknowledgment that this was what they were
+aiming at, or, indeed, without their directly acknowledging it to
+themselves. Charlotte, wholly free from jealousy as she was, could not
+think it right to keep it as a real festival. Ottilie's youth, the
+circumstances of her fortune, and her relationship to their family, were
+not at all such as made it fit that she should appear as the queen of
+the day; and Edward would not have it talked about, because everything
+was to spring out, as it were, of itself, with a natural and delightful
+surprise.
+
+They, therefore, came all of them to a sort of tacit understanding that
+on this day, without further circumstance, the new house in the park was
+to be opened, and they might take the occasion to invite the
+neighborhood and give a holiday to their own people. Edward's passion,
+however, knew no bounds. Longing as he did to give himself to Ottilie,
+his presents and his promises must be infinite. The birthday gifts which
+on the great occasion he was to offer to her seemed, as Charlotte had
+arranged them, far too insignificant. He spoke to his valet, who had the
+care of his wardrobe, and who consequently had extensive acquaintance
+among the tailors and mercers and fashionable milliners; and he, who not
+only understood himself what valuable presents were, but also the most
+graceful way in which they should be offered, immediately ordered an
+elegant box, covered with red morocco and studded with steel nails, to
+be filled with presents worthy of such a shell. Another thing, too, he
+suggested to Edward. Among the stores at the castle was a small show of
+fireworks which had never been let off. It would be easy to get some
+more, and have something really fine. Edward caught the idea, and his
+servant promised to see to its being executed. This matter was to remain
+a secret.
+
+While this was going on, the Captain, as the day drew nearer, had been
+making arrangements for a body of police to be present--a precaution
+which he always thought desirable when large numbers of men are to be
+brought together. And, indeed, against beggars, and against all other
+inconveniences by which the pleasure of a festival can be disturbed, he
+had made effectual provision.
+
+Edward and his confidante, on the contrary, were mainly occupied with
+their fireworks. They were to be let off on the side of the middle water
+in front of the great ash-tree. The party were to be collected on the
+opposite side, under the planes, that at a sufficient distance from the
+scene, in ease and safety, they might see them to the best effect, with
+the reflections on the water, the water-rockets, and floating-lights,
+and all the other designs.
+
+Under some other pretext, Edward had the ground underneath the
+plane-trees cleared of bushes and grass and moss. And now first could be
+seen the beauty of their forms, together with their full height and
+spread, right up from the earth. He was delighted with them. It was just
+this very time of the year that he had planted them. How long ago could
+it have been? he asked himself. As soon as he got home he turned over
+the old diary books, which his father, especially when in the country,
+was very careful in keeping. He might not find an entry of this
+particular planting, but another important domestic matter, which Edward
+well remembered, and which had occurred on the same day, would surely be
+mentioned. He turned over a few volumes. The circumstances he was
+looking for was there. How amazed, how overjoyed he was, when he
+discovered the strangest coincidence! The day and the year on which he
+had planted those trees, was the very day, the very year, when Ottilie
+was born.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE long-wished-for morning dawned at last on Edward; and very soon a
+number of guests arrived. They had sent out a large number of
+invitations, and many who had missed the laying of the foundation-stone,
+which was reported to have been so charming, were the more careful not
+to be absent on the second festivity.
+
+Before dinner the carpenter's people appeared, with music, in the court
+of the castle. They bore an immense garland of flowers, composed of a
+number of single wreaths, winding in and out, one above the other;
+saluting the company, they made request, according to custom, for silk
+handkerchiefs and ribands, at the hands of the fair sex, with which to
+dress themselves out. When the castle party went into the dining-hall,
+they marched off singing and shouting, and after amusing themselves a
+while in the village, and coaxing many a riband out of the women there,
+old and young, they came at last, with crowds behind them and crowds
+expecting them, out upon the height where the park-house was now
+standing. After dinner, Charlotte rather held back her guests. She did
+not wish that there should be any solemn or formal procession, and they
+found their way in little parties, broken up, as they pleased, without
+rule or order, to the scene of action. Charlotte staid behind with
+Ottilie, and did not improve matters by doing so. For Ottilie being
+really the last that appeared, it seemed as if the trumpets and the
+clarionets had only been waiting for her, and as if the gaieties had
+been ordered to commence directly on her arrival.
+
+To take off the rough appearance of the house, it had been hung with
+green boughs and flowers. They had dressed it out in an architectural
+fashion, according to a design of the Captain's; only that, without his
+knowledge, Edward had desired the Architect to work in the date upon the
+cornice in flowers, and this was necessarily permitted to remain. The
+Captain had arrived on the scene just in time to prevent Ottilie's name
+from figuring in splendor on the gable. The beginning, which had been
+made for this, he contrived to turn skilfully to some other use, and to
+get rid of such of the letters as had been already finished.
+
+The garland was set up, and was to be seen far and wide about the
+country. The flags and the ribands fluttered gaily in the air; and a
+short oration was, the greater part of it, dispersed by the wind. The
+solemnity was at an end. There was now to be a dance on the smooth lawn
+in front of the building, which had been inclosed with boughs and
+branches. A gaily-dressed working mason took Edward up to a
+smart-looking girl of the village, and called himself upon Ottilie, who
+stood out with him. These two couples speedily found others to follow
+them, and Edward contrived pretty soon to change partners, catching
+Ottilie, and making the round with her. The younger part of the company
+joined merrily in the dance with the people, while the elder among them
+stood and looked on.
+
+Then, before they broke up and walked about, an order was given that
+they should all collect again at sunset under the plane-trees. Edward
+was the first upon the spot, ordering everything, and making his
+arrangements with his valet, who was to be on the other side, in company
+with the firework-maker, managing his exhibition of the spectacle.
+
+The Captain was far from satisfied at some of the preparations which he
+saw made; and he endeavored to get a word with Edward about the crush of
+spectators which was to be expected. But the latter, somewhat hastily,
+begged that he might be allowed to manage this part of the day's
+amusements himself.
+
+The upper end of the embankment having been recently raised, was still
+far from compact. It had been staked, but there was no grass upon it,
+and the earth was uneven and insecure. The crowd pressed on, however, in
+great numbers. The sun went down, and the castle party was served with
+refreshments under the plane-trees, to pass the time till it should have
+become sufficiently dark. The place was approved of beyond measure, and
+they looked forward to a frequent enjoyment of the view over so lovely a
+sheet of water, on future occasions.
+
+A calm evening, a perfect absence of wind, promised everything in favor
+of the spectacle, when suddenly loud and violent shrieks were heard.
+Large masses of the earth had given way on the edge of the embankment,
+and a number of people were precipitated into the water. The pressure
+from the throng had gone on increasing till at last it had become more
+than the newly laid soil would bear, and the bank had fallen in.
+Everybody wanted to obtain the best place, and now there was no getting
+either backward or forward.
+
+People ran this and that way, more to see what was going on than to
+render assistance. What could be done when no one could reach the place?
+
+The Captain, with a few determined persons, hurried down and drove the
+crowd off the embankment back upon the shore, in order that those who
+were really of service might have free room to move. One way or another
+they contrived to seize hold of such as were sinking; and with or
+without assistance all who had been in the water were got out safe upon
+the bank, with the exception of one boy, whose struggles in his fright,
+instead of bringing him nearer to the embankment, had only carried him
+further from it. His strength seemed to be failing--now only a hand was
+seen above the surface, and now a foot. By an unlucky chance the boat
+was on the opposite shore filled with fireworks--it was a long business
+to unload it, and help was slow in coming. The Captain's resolution was
+taken; he flung off his coat; all eyes were directed toward him, and his
+sturdy vigorous figure gave every one hope and confidence: but a cry of
+surprise rose out of the crowd as they saw him fling himself into the
+water--every eye watched him as the strong swimmer swiftly reached the
+boy, and bore him, although to appearance dead, to the embankment.
+
+Now came up the boat. The Captain stepped in and examined whether there
+were any still missing, or whether they were all safe. The surgeon was
+speedily on the spot, and took charge of the inanimate boy. Charlotte
+joined them, and entreated the Captain to go now and take care of
+himself, to hurry back to the castle and change his clothes. He would
+not go, however, till persons on whose sense he could rely, who had been
+close to the spot at the time of the accident, and who had assisted in
+saving those who had fallen in, assured him that all were safe.
+
+Charlotte saw him on his way to the house, and then she remembered that
+the wine and the tea, and everything else which he could want, had been
+locked up, for fear any of the servants should take advantage of the
+disorder of the holiday, as on such occasions they are too apt to do.
+She hurried through the scattered groups of her company, which were
+loitering about the plane-trees. Edward was there, talking to every
+one--beseeching every one to stay. He would give the signal directly,
+and the fireworks should begin. Charlotte went up to him, and entreated
+him to put off an amusement which was no longer in place, and which at
+the present moment no one could enjoy. She reminded him of what ought to
+be done for the boy who had been saved, and for his preserver.
+
+"The surgeon will do whatever is right, no doubt," replied Edward. "He
+is provided with everything which he can want, and we should only be in
+the way if we crowded about him with our anxieties."
+
+Charlotte persisted in her opinion, and made a sign to Ottilie, who at
+once prepared to retire with her. Edward seized her hand, and cried, "We
+will not end this day in a lazaretto. She is too good for a sister of
+mercy. Without us, I should think, the half-dead may wake, and the
+living dry themselves."
+
+Charlotte did not answer, but went. Some followed her--others followed
+these: in the end, no one wished to be the last, and all followed.
+Edward and Ottilie found themselves alone under the plane-trees. He
+insisted that stay he would, earnestly, passionately, as she entreated
+him to go back with her to the castle. "No, Ottilie!" he cried; "the
+extraordinary is not brought to pass in the smooth common way--the
+wonderful accident of this evening brings us more speedily together. You
+are mine--I have often said it to you, and sworn it to you. We will not
+say it and swear it any more--we will make it BE."
+
+The boat came over from the other side. The valet was in it--he asked,
+with some embarrassment, what his master wished to have done with the
+fireworks?
+
+"Let them off!" Edward cried to him: "let them off! It was only for you
+that they were provided, Ottilie, and you shall be the only one to see
+them! Let me sit beside you, and enjoy them with you." Tenderly,
+timidly, he sat down at her side, without touching her.
+
+Rockets went hissing up--cannon thundered--Roman candles shot out their
+blazing balls--squibs flashed and darted--wheels spun round, first
+singly, then in pairs, then all at once, faster and faster, one after
+the other, and more and more together. Edward, whose bosom was on fire,
+watched the blazing spectacle with eyes gleaming with delight; but
+Ottilie, with her delicate and nervous feelings, in all this noise and
+fitful blazing and flashing, found more to distress her than to please.
+She leant shrinking against Edward, and he, as she drew to him and clung
+to him, felt the delightful sense that she belonged entirely to him.
+
+The night had scarcely reassumed its rights, when the moon rose and
+lighted their path as they walked back. A figure, with his hat in his
+hand, stepped across their way, and begged an alms of them--in the
+general holiday he said that he had been forgotten. The moon shone upon
+his face, and Edward recognized the features of the importunate beggar;
+but, happy as he then was, it was impossible for him to be angry with
+any one. He could not recollect that, especially for that particular
+day, begging had been forbidden under the heaviest penalties--he thrust
+his hand into his pocket, took the first coin which he found, and gave
+the fellow a piece of gold. His own happiness was so unbounded that he
+would have liked to share it with every one.
+
+In the meantime all had gone well at the castle. The skill of the
+surgeon, everything which was required being ready at hand, Charlotte's
+assistance--all had worked together, and the boy was brought to life
+again. The guests dispersed, wishing to catch a glimpse or two of what
+was to be seen of the fireworks from the distance; and, after a scene of
+such confusion, were glad to get back to their own quiet homes.
+
+The Captain also, after having rapidly changed his dress, had taken an
+active part in what required to be done. It was now all quiet again, and
+he found himself alone with Charlotte--gently and affectionately he now
+told her that his time for leaving them approached. She had gone
+through so much that evening, that this discovery made but a slight
+impression upon her--she had seen how her friend could sacrifice
+himself; how he had saved another, and had himself been saved. These
+strange incidents seemed to foretell an important future to her--but not
+an unhappy one.
+
+Edward, who now entered with Ottilie, was informed at once of the
+impending departure of the Captain. He suspected that Charlotte had
+known longer how near it was; but he was far too much occupied with
+himself, and with his own plans, to take it amiss, or care about it.
+
+On the contrary, he listened attentively, and with signs of pleasure, to
+the account of the excellent and honorable position in which the Captain
+was to be placed. The course of the future was hurried impetuously
+forward by his own secret wishes. Already he saw the Captain married to
+Charlotte, and himself married to Ottilie. It would have been the
+richest present which any one could have made him, on the occasion of
+the day's festival!
+
+But how surprised was Ottilie, when, on going to her room, she found
+upon her table the beautiful box! Instantly she opened it; inside, all
+the things were so nicely packed and arranged that she did not venture
+to take them out; she scarcely even ventured to lift them. There were
+muslin, cambric, silk, shawls and lace, all rivalling one another in
+delicacy, beauty, and costliness--nor were ornaments forgotten. The
+intention had been, as she saw well, to furnish her with more than one
+complete suit of clothes but it was all so costly, so little like what
+she had been accustomed to, that she scarcely dared, even in thought, to
+believe it could be really for her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+The next morning the Captain had disappeared, having left a grateful,
+feeling letter addressed to his friends upon his table.
+
+[Illustration: P. GROTJOHANN OTTILIE EXAMINES EDWARD'S PRESENTS]
+
+He and Charlotte had already taken a half leave of each other the
+evening before--she felt that the parting was for ever, and she resigned
+herself to it; for in the Count's second letter, which the Captain had
+at last shown to her, there was a hint of a prospect of an advantageous
+marriage, and, although he had paid no attention to it at all, she
+accepted it for as good as certain, and gave him up firmly and fully.
+
+Now, therefore, she thought that she had a right to require of others
+the same control over themselves which she had exercised herself: it had
+not been impossible to her, and it ought not to be impossible to them.
+With this feeling she began the conversation with her husband; and she
+entered upon it the more openly and easily, from a sense that the
+question must now, once for all, be decisively set at rest.
+
+"Our friend has left us," she said; "we are now once more together as we
+were--and it depends upon ourselves whether we choose to return
+altogether into our old position."
+
+Edward, who heard nothing except what flattered his own passion,
+believed that Charlotte, in these words, was alluding to her previous
+widowed state, and, in a roundabout way, was making a suggestion for a
+separation; so that he answered, with a laugh, "Why not? all we want is
+to come to an understanding." But he found himself sorely enough
+undeceived, as Charlotte continued, "And we have now a choice of
+opportunities for placing Ottilie in another situation. Two openings
+have offered themselves for her, either of which will do very well.
+Either she can return to the school, as my daughter has left it and is
+with her great-aunt; or she can be received into a desirable family,
+where, as the companion of an only child, she will enjoy all the
+advantages of a solid education."
+
+Edward, with a tolerably successful effort at commanding himself,
+replied, "Ottilie has been so much spoilt, by living so long with us
+here, that she will scarcely like to leave us now."
+
+"We have all of us been too much spoilt," said Charlotte; "and yourself
+not least. This is an epoch which requires us seriously to bethink
+ourselves. It is a solemn warning to us to consider what is really for
+the good of all the members of our little circle--and we ourselves must
+not be afraid of making sacrifices."
+
+"At any rate I cannot see that it is right that Ottilie should be made a
+sacrifice," replied Edward; "and that would be the case if we were now
+to allow her to be sent away among strangers. The Captain's good genius
+has sought him out here--we can feel easy, we can feel happy, at seeing
+him leave us; but who can tell what may be before Ottilie? There is no
+occasion for haste."
+
+"What is before us is sufficiently clear," Charlotte answered, with some
+emotion; and as she was determined to have it all out at once, she went
+on: "You love Ottilie; every day you are becoming more attached to her.
+A reciprocal feeling is rising on her side as well, and feeding itself
+in the same way. Why should we not acknowledge in words what every hour
+makes obvious? and are we not to have the common prudence to ask
+ourselves in what it is to end?"
+
+"We may not be able to find an answer on the moment," replied Edward,
+collecting himself; "but so much may be said, that if we cannot exactly
+tell what will come of it, we may resign ourselves to wait and see what
+the future may tell us about it."
+
+"No great wisdom is required to prophesy here," answered Charlotte;
+"and, at any rate, we ought to feel that you and I are past the age when
+people may walk blindly where they should not or ought not to go. There
+is no one else to take care of us--we must be our own friends, our own
+managers. No one expects us to commit ourselves in an outrage upon
+decency: no one expects that we are going to expose ourselves to censure
+or to ridicule."
+
+"How can you so mistake me?" said Edward, unable to reply to his wife's
+clear, open words. "Can you find it a fault in me, if I am anxious
+about Ottilie's happiness? I do not mean future happiness--no one can
+count on that--but what is present, palpable, and immediate. Consider,
+don't deceive yourself; consider frankly Ottilie's case, torn away from
+us, and sent to live among strangers. I, at least, am not cruel enough
+to propose such a change for her!"
+
+Charlotte saw too clearly into her husband's intentions, through this
+disguise. For the first time she felt how far he had estranged himself
+from her. Her voice shook a little. "Will Ottilie be happy if she
+divides us?" she asked. "If she deprives me of a husband, and his
+children of a father!"
+
+"Our children, I should have thought, were sufficiently provided for,"
+said Edward, with a cold smile; adding, rather more kindly, "but why at
+once expect the very worst?"
+
+"The very worst is too sure to follow this passion of yours," returned
+Charlotte; "do not refuse good advice while there is yet time; do not
+throw away the means which I propose to save us. In troubled cases those
+must work and help who see the clearest--this time it is I. Dear,
+dearest Edward! listen to me--can you propose to me that now at once I
+shall renounce my happiness! renounce my fairest rights! renounce you!"
+
+"Who says that?" replied Edward, with some embarrassment.
+
+"You, yourself," answered Charlotte; "in determining to keep Ottilie
+here, are you not acknowledging everything which must arise out of it? I
+will urge nothing on you--but if you cannot conquer yourself, at least
+you will not be able much longer to deceive yourself."
+
+Edward felt how right she was. It is fearful to hear spoken out, in
+words, what the heart has gone on long permitting to itself in secret.
+To escape only for a moment, Edward answered, "It is not yet clear to me
+what you want."
+
+"My intention," she replied, "was to talk over with you these two
+proposals--each of them has its advantages. The school would be best
+suited to her, as she now is; but the other situation is larger, and
+wider, and promises more, when I think what she may become." She then
+detailed to her husband circumstantially what would lie before Ottilie
+in each position, and concluded with the words, "For my own part I
+should prefer the lady's house to the school, for more reasons than one;
+but particularly because I should not like the affection, the love
+indeed, of the young man there, which Ottilie has gained, to increase."
+
+Edward appeared to approve; but it was only to find some means of delay.
+Charlotte, who desired to commit him to a definite step, seized the
+opportunity, as Edward made no immediate opposition, to settle Ottilie's
+departure, for which she had already privately made all preparations,
+for the next day.
+
+Edward shuddered--he thought he was betrayed. His wife's affectionate
+speech he fancied was an artfully contrived trick to separate him for
+ever from his happiness. He appeared to leave the thing entirely to her;
+but in his heart his resolution was already taken. To gain time to
+breathe, to put off the immediate intolerable misery of Ottilie's being
+sent away, he determined to leave his house. He told Charlotte he was
+going; but he had blinded her to his real reason, by telling her that he
+would not be present at Ottilie's departure; indeed, that, from that
+moment, he would see her no more. Charlotte, who believed that she had
+gained her point, approved most cordially. He ordered his horse, gave
+his valet the necessary directions what to pack up, and where he should
+follow him; and then, on the point of departure, he sat down and wrote:
+
+"EDWARD TO CHARLOTTE
+
+"The misfortune, my love, which has befallen us, may or may not admit of
+remedy; only this I feel, that if I am not at once to be driven to
+despair, I must find some means of delay for myself, and for all of us.
+In making myself the sacrifice, I have a right to make a request. I am
+leaving my home, and I return to it only under happier and more peaceful
+auspices. While I am away, you keep possession of it--_but with
+Ottilie_. I choose to know that she is with you, and not among
+strangers. Take care of her; treat her as you have treated her--only
+more lovingly, more kindly, more tenderly! I promise that I will not
+attempt any secret intercourse with her. Leave me, as long a time as you
+please, without knowing anything about you. I will not allow myself to
+be anxious--nor need you be uneasy about me: only, with all my heart and
+soul, I beseech you, make no attempt to send Ottilie away, or to
+introduce her into any other situation. Beyond the circle of the castle
+and the park, placed in the hands of strangers, she belongs to me, and I
+will take possession of her! If you have any regard for my affection,
+for my wishes, for my sufferings, you will leave me alone to my madness;
+and if any hope of recovery from it should ever hereafter offer itself
+to me, I will not resist."
+
+Thus last sentence ran off his pen--not out of his heart. Even when he
+saw it upon the paper, he began bitterly to weep. That he, under any
+circumstances, should renounce the happiness--even the wretchedness--of
+loving Ottilie! He only now began to feel what he was doing--he was
+going away without knowing what was to be the result. At any rate he was
+not to see her again _now_--with what certainty could he promise himself
+that he would ever see her again? But the letter was written--the horses
+were at the door; every moment he was afraid he might see Ottilie
+somewhere, and then his whole purpose would go to the winds. He
+collected himself--he remembered that, at any rate, he would be able to
+return at any moment he pleased; and that by his absence he would have
+advanced nearer to his wishes: on the other side, he pictured Ottilie to
+himself forced to leave the house if he stayed. He sealed the letter,
+ran down the steps, and sprang upon his horse.
+
+As he rode past the hotel, he saw the beggar to whom he had given so
+much money the night before, sitting under the trees; the man was busy
+enjoying his dinner, and, as Edward passed, stood up, and made him the
+humblest obeisance. That figure had appeared to him yesterday, when
+Ottilie was on his arm; now it only served as a bitter reminiscence of
+the happiest hour of his life. His grief redoubled. The feeling of what
+he was leaving behind was intolerable. He looked again at the beggar.
+"Happy wretch!" he cried, "you can still feed upon the alms of
+yesterday--and I cannot any more on the happiness of yesterday!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Ottilie heard some one ride away, and went to the window in time just to
+catch a sight of Edward's back. It was strange, she thought, that he
+should have left the house without seeing her, without having even
+wished her good morning. She grew uncomfortable, and her anxiety did not
+diminish when Charlotte took her out for a long walk, and talked of
+various other things; but not once, and apparently on purpose,
+mentioning her husband. When they returned she found the table laid with
+only two covers. It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing
+to which we have been accustomed. In serious things such a loss becomes
+miserably painful. Edward and the Captain were not there. The first
+time, for a long while, Charlotte sat at the head of the table
+herself--and it seemed to Ottilie as if she was deposed. The two ladies
+sat opposite each other; Charlotte talked, without the least
+embarrassment, of the Captain and his appointment, and of the little
+hope there was of seeing him again for a long time. The only comfort
+Ottilie could find for herself was in the idea that Edward had ridden
+after his friend, to accompany him a part of his journey.
+
+On rising from table, however, they saw Edward's traveling carriage
+under the window. Charlotte, a little as if she was put out, asked who
+had had it brought round there. She was told it was the valet, who had
+some things there to pack up. It required all Ottilie Is self-command to
+conceal her wonder and her distress.
+
+The valet came in, and asked if they would be so good as to let him have
+a drinking cup of his master's, a pair of silver spoons, and a number of
+other things, which seemed to Ottilie to imply that he was gone some
+distance, and would be away for a long time.
+
+Charlotte gave him a very cold, dry answer. She did not know what he
+meant--he had everything belonging to his master under his own care.
+What the man wanted was to speak a word to Ottilie, and on some pretence
+or other to get her out of the room; he made some clever excuse, and
+persisted in his request so far that Ottilie asked if she should go to
+look for the things for him? But Charlotte quietly said that she had
+better not. The valet had to depart, and the carriage rolled away.
+
+It was a dreadful moment for Ottilie. She understood
+nothing--comprehended nothing. She could only feel that Edward had been
+parted from her for a long time. Charlotte felt for her situation, and
+left her to herself.
+
+We will not attempt to describe what she went through, or how she wept.
+She suffered infinitely. She prayed that God would help her only over
+this one day. The day passed, and the night, and when she came to
+herself again she felt herself a changed being.
+
+She had not grown composed. She was not resigned, but after having lost
+what she had lost, she was still alive, and there was still something
+for her to fear. Her anxiety, after returning to consciousness, was at
+once lest, now that the gentlemen were gone, she might be sent away too.
+She never guessed at Edward's threats, which had secured her remaining
+with her aunt. Yet Charlotte's manner served partially to reassure her.
+The latter exerted herself to find employment for the poor girl, and
+hardly ever,--never, if she could help it,--left her out of her sight;
+and although she knew well how little words can do against the power of
+passion, yet she knew, too, the sure though slow influence of thought
+and reflection, and therefore missed no opportunity of inducing Ottilie
+to talk with her on every variety of subject.
+
+It was no little comfort to Ottilie when one day Charlotte took an
+opportunity of making (she did it on purpose) the wise observation, "How
+keenly grateful people were to us when we were able by stilling and
+calming them to help them out of the entanglements of passion! Let us
+set cheerfully to work," she said, "at what the men have left
+incomplete: we shall be preparing the most charming surprise for them
+when they return to us, and our temperate proceedings will have carried
+through and executed what their impatient natures would have spoilt."
+
+"Speaking of temperance, my dear aunt, I cannot help saying how I am
+struck with the intemperance of men, particularly in respect of wine. It
+has often pained and distressed me, when I have observed how, for hours
+together, clearness of understanding, judgment, considerateness, and
+whatever is most amiable about them, will be utterly gone, and instead
+of the good which they might have done if they had been themselves, most
+disagreeable things sometimes threaten. How often may not wrong, rash
+determinations have arisen entirely from that one cause!"
+
+Charlotte assented, but she did not go on with the subject. She saw only
+too clearly that it was Edward of whom Ottilie was thinking. It was not
+exactly habitual with him, but he allowed himself much more frequently
+than was at all desirable to stimulate his enjoyment and his power of
+talking and acting by such indulgence. If what Charlotte had just said
+had set Ottilie thinking again about men, and particularly about Edward,
+she was all the more struck and startled when her aunt began to speak of
+the impending marriage of the Captain as of a thing quite settled and
+acknowledged. This gave a totally different aspect to affairs from what
+Edward had previously led her to entertain. It made her watch every
+expression of Charlotte's, every hint, every action, every step. Ottilie
+had become jealous, sharp-eyed, and suspicious, without knowing it.
+
+Meanwhile, Charlotte with her clear glance looked through the whole
+circumstances of their situation, and made arrangements which would
+provide, among other advantages, full employment for Ottilie. She
+contracted her household, not parsimoniously, but into narrower
+dimensions; and, indeed, in one point of view, these moral aberrations
+might be taken for a not unfortunate accident. For in the style in which
+they had been going on, they had fallen imperceptibly into extravagance;
+and from a want of seasonable reflection, from the rate at which they
+had been living, and from the variety of schemes into which they had
+been launching out, their fine fortune, which had been in excellent
+condition, had been shaken, if not seriously injured.
+
+The improvements which were going on in the park she did not interfere
+with; she rather sought to advance whatever might form a basis for
+future operations. But here, too, she assigned herself a limit. Her
+husband on his return should still find abundance to amuse himself with.
+
+In all this work she could not sufficiently value the assistance of the
+young architect. In a short time the lake lay stretched out under her
+eyes, its new shores turfed and planted with the most discriminating and
+excellent judgment. The rough work at the new house was all finished.
+Everything which was necessary to protect it from the weather she took
+care to see provided, and there for the present she allowed it to rest
+in a condition in which what remained to be done could hereafter be
+readily commenced again. Thus hour by hour she recovered her spirits and
+her cheerfulness. Ottilie only seemed to have done so. She was only for
+ever watching, in all that was said and done, for symptoms which might
+show her whether Edward would be soon returning: and this one thought
+was the only one in which she felt any interest.
+
+It was, therefore, a very welcome proposal to her when it was suggested
+that they should get together the boys of the peasants, and employ them
+in keeping the park clean and neat. Edward had long entertained the
+idea. A pleasant--looking sort of uniform was made for them, which they
+were to put on in the evenings after they had been properly cleaned and
+washed. The wardrobe was kept in the castle; the more sensible and ready
+of the boys themselves were intrusted with the management of it--the
+Architect acting as chief director. In a very short time, the children
+acquired a kind of character. It was found easy to mold them into what
+was desired; and they went through their work not without a sort of
+manoeuvre. As they marched along, with their garden shears, their
+long-handled pruning-knives, their rakes, their little spades and hoes,
+and sweeping-brooms; others following after these with baskets to carry
+off the stones and rubbish; and others, last of all, trailing along the
+heavy iron roller--it was a thoroughly pretty, delightful procession.
+The Architect observed in it a beautiful series of situations and
+occupations to ornament the frieze of a garden-house. Ottilie, on the
+other hand, could see nothing in it but a kind of parade, to salute the
+master of the house on his near return.
+
+And this stimulated her and made her wish to begin something of the sort
+herself. They had before endeavored to encourage the girls of the
+village in knitting, and sewing, and spinning, and whatever else women
+could do; and since what had been done for the improvement of the
+village itself, there had been a perceptible advance in these
+descriptions of industry. Ottilie had given what assistance was in her
+power, but she had given it at random, as opportunity or inclination
+prompted her; now she thought she--would go to work more satisfactorily
+and methodically. But a company is not to be formed out of a number of
+girls, as easily as out of a number of boys. She followed her own good
+sense, and,--without being exactly conscious of it, her efforts were
+solely directed toward connecting every girl as closely as possible
+each with her own home, her own parents, brothers and sisters: and she
+succeeded with many of them. One lively little creature only was
+incessantly complained of as showing no capacity for work, and as never
+likely to do anything if she were left at home.
+
+Ottilie could not be angry with the girl, for to herself the little
+thing was especially attached--she clung to her, went after her, and ran
+about with her, whenever she was permitted--and then she would be active
+and cheerful and never tire. It appeared to be a necessity of the
+child's nature to hang about a beautiful mistress. At first, Ottilie
+allowed her to be her companion; then she herself began to feel a sort
+of affection for her; and, at last, they never parted at all, and Nanny
+attended her mistress wherever she went.
+
+The latter's footsteps were often bent toward the garden, where she
+liked to watch the beautiful show of fruit. It was just the end of the
+raspberry and cherry season, the few remains of which were no little
+delight to Nanny. On the other trees there was a promise of a
+magnificent bearing for the autumn, and the gardener talked of nothing
+but his master and how he wished that he might be at home to enjoy it.
+Ottilie could listen to the good old man forever! He thoroughly
+understood his business; and Edward--Edward--Edward--was for ever the
+theme of his praise!
+
+Ottilie observed how well all the grafts which had been budded in the
+spring had taken. "I only wish," the gardener answered, "my good master
+may come to enjoy them. If he were here this autumn, he would see what
+beautiful sorts there are in the old castle garden, which the late lord,
+his honored father, put there. I think the fruit-gardeners there are now
+don't succeed as well as the Carthusians used to do. We find many fine
+names in the catalogue, and then we bud from them, and bring up the
+shoots, and, at last, when they come to bear, it is not worth while to
+have such trees standing in our garden."
+
+Over and over again, whenever the faithful old servant saw Ottilie, he
+asked when his master might be expected home; and when Ottilie had
+nothing to tell him, he would look vexed, and let her see in his manner
+that he thought she did not care to tell him: the sense of uncertainty
+which was thus forced upon her became painful beyond measure, and yet
+she could never be absent from these beds and borders. What she and
+Edward had sown and planted together were now in full flower, requiring
+no further care from her, except that Nanny should be at hand with the
+watering-pot; and who shall say with what sensations she watched the
+later flowers, which were just beginning to show, and which were to be
+in the bloom of their beauty on Edward's birthday, the holiday to which
+she had looked forward with such eagerness, when these flowers were to
+have expressed her affection and her gratitude to him! But the hopes
+which she had formed of that festival were dead now, and doubt and
+anxiety never ceased to haunt the soul of the poor girl.
+
+Into real open, hearty understanding with Charlotte, there was no more a
+chance of her being able to return; for indeed, the position of these
+two ladies was very different. If things could remain in their old
+state--if it were possible that they could return again into the smooth,
+even way of calm, ordered life, Charlotte gained everything; she gained
+happiness for the present, and a happy future opened before her. On the
+other hand, for Ottilie all was lost--one may say, all; for she had
+first found in Edward what life and happiness meant; and, in her present
+position, she felt an infinite and dreary chasm of which before she
+could have formed no conception. A heart which seeks, feels well that it
+wants something; a heart which has lost, feels that something is
+gone--its yearning and its longing change into uneasy impatience--and a
+woman's spirit, which is accustomed to waiting and to enduring, must now
+pass out from its proper sphere, must become active and attempt and do
+something to make its own happiness. Ottilie had not given up Edward--how
+could she? Although Charlotte, wisely enough, in spite of her
+conviction to the contrary, assumed it as a thing of course, and
+resolutely took it as decided that a quiet rational regard was possible
+between her husband and Ottilie. How often, however, did not Ottilie
+remain at nights, after bolting herself into her room, on her knees
+before the open box, gazing at the birthday presents, of which as yet
+she had not touched a single thing--not cut out or made up a single
+dress! How often with the sunrise did the poor girl hurry out of the
+house, in which she once had found all her happiness, away into the free
+air, into the country which then had had no charms for her. Even on the
+solid earth she could not bear to stay; she would spring into the boat,
+row out into the middle of the lake, and there, drawing out some book of
+travels, lie rocked by the motion of the waves, reading and dreaming
+that she was far away, where she would never fail to find her
+friend--she remaining ever nearest to his heart, and he to hers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+It may easily be supposed that the strange, busy gentleman, whose
+acquaintance we have already made--Mittler--as soon as he received
+information of the disorder which had broken out among his friends, felt
+desirous, though neither side had as yet called on him for assistance,
+to fulfil a friend's part toward them, and do what he could to help them
+in their misfortune. He thought it advisable, however, to wait first a
+little while; knowing too well, as he did, that it was more difficult to
+come to the aid of cultivated persons in their moral perplexities, than
+of the uncultivated. He left them, therefore, for some time to
+themselves; but at last he could withhold no longer, and he hastened to
+seek out Edward, on whose traces he had already lighted. His road led
+him to a pleasant, pretty valley, with a range of green, sweetly-wooded
+meadows, down the centre of which ran a never-failing stream, sometimes
+winding slowly along, then tumbling and rushing among rocks and stones.
+The hills sloped gently up on either side, covered with rich corn-fields
+and well-kept orchards. The villages were at proper distances from one
+another. The whole had a peaceful character about it, and the detached
+scenes seemed designed expressly, if not for painting, at least for
+life.
+
+At last a neatly kept farm, with a clean, modest dwelling-house,
+situated in the middle of a garden, fell under his eye. He conjectured
+that this was Edward's present abode; and he was not mistaken.
+
+Of this our friend in his solitude we have only thus much to say--that
+in his seclusion he was resigning himself utterly to the feeling of his
+passion, thinking out plan after plan, and feeding himself with
+innumerable hopes. He could not deny that he longed to see Ottilie
+there; that he would like to carry her off there, to tempt her there;
+and whatever else (putting, as he now did, no check upon his thoughts)
+pleased to suggest itself, whether permitted or unpermitted. Then his
+imagination wandered up and down, picturing every sort of possibility.
+If he could not have her there, if he could not lawfully possess her, he
+would secure to her the possession of the property for her own. There
+she should live for herself, silently, independently; she should be
+happy in that spot--sometimes his self-torturing mood would lead him
+further--be happy in it, perhaps, with another.
+
+So days flowed away in increasing oscillation between hope and
+suffering, between tears and happiness--between purposes, preparations,
+and despair. The sight of Mittler did not surprise him; he had long
+expected that he would come; and now that he did, he was partly welcome
+to him. He believed that he had been sent by Charlotte. He had prepared
+himself with all manner of excuses and delays; and if these would not
+serve, with decided refusals; or else, perhaps, he might hope to learn
+something of Ottilie--and then he would be as dear to him as a
+messenger from heaven.
+
+Not a little vexed and annoyed was Edward, therefore, when he
+understood that Mittler had not come from the castle at all, but of his
+own free accord. His heart closed up, and at first the conversation
+would not open itself. Mittler, however, knew very well that a heart
+that is occupied with love has an urgent necessity to express itself--to
+pour out to a friend what is passing within it; and he allowed himself,
+therefore, after a few speeches backward and forward, for this once to
+go out of his character and play the confidant in place of the mediator.
+He had calculated justly. He had been finding fault in a good-natured
+way with Edward for burying himself in that lonely place, upon which
+Edward replied:
+
+"I do not know how I could spend my time more agreeably. I am always
+occupied with her; I am always close to her. I have the inestimable
+comfort of being able to think where Ottilie is at each moment--where
+she is going, where she is standing, where she is reposing. I see her
+moving and acting before me as usual; ever doing or designing something
+which is to give me pleasure. But this will not always answer; for how
+can I be happy away from her? And then my fancy begins to work; I think
+what Ottilie should do to come to me; I write sweet, loving letters in
+her name to myself, and then I answer them, and keep the sheets
+together. I have promised that I will take no steps to seek her; and
+that promise I will keep. But what binds her that she should make no
+advances to me I Has Charlotte had the barbarity to exact a promise, to
+exact an oath from her, not to write to me, not to send me a word, a
+hint, about herself? Very likely she has. It is only natural; and yet to
+me it is monstrous, it is horrible. If she loves me--as I think, as I
+know that she does--why does she not resolve, why does she not venture
+to fly to me, and throw herself into my arms? I often think she ought to
+do it; and she could do it. If I ever hear a noise in the hall, I look
+toward the door. It must be her--she is coming--I look up to see her.
+Alas! because the possible is impossible, I let myself imagine that the
+impossible must become possible. At night, when I lie awake, and the
+lamp flings an uncertain light about the room, her form, her spirit, a
+sense of her presence, sweeps over me, approaches me, seizes me. It is
+but for a moment; it is that I may have an assurance that she is
+thinking of me, that she is mine. Only one pleasure remains to me. When
+I was with her I never dreamt of her; now when I am far away, and, oddly
+enough, since I have made the acquaintance of other attractive persons
+in this neighborhood, for the first time her figure appears to me in my
+dreams, as if she would say to me, 'Look on them, and on me. You will
+find none more beautiful, more lovely than I.' And so she is present in
+every dream I have. In whatever happens to me with her, we are woven in
+and in together. Now we are subscribing a contract together. There is
+her hand, and there is mine; there is her name, and there is mine; and
+they move one into the other, and seem to devour each other. Sometimes
+she does something which injures the pure idea which I have of her; and
+then I feel how intensely I love her, by the indescribable anguish which
+it causes me. Again, unlike herself, she will rally and vex me; and then
+at once the figure changes--her sweet, round, heavenly face draws out;
+it is not she, it is another; but I lie vexed, dissatisfied and
+wretched. Laugh not, dear Mittler, or laugh on as you will. I am not
+ashamed of this attachment, of this--if you please to call it
+so--foolish, frantic passion. No, I never loved before. It is only now
+that I know what to love means. Till now, what I have called life was
+nothing but its prelude--amusement, sport to kill the time with. I never
+lived till I knew her, till I loved her--entirely and only loved her.
+People have often said of me, not to my face, but behind my back, that
+in most things I was but a botcher and a bungler. It may be so; for I
+had not then found in what I could show myself a master. I should like
+to see the man who outdoes me in the talent of love. A miserable life it
+is, full of anguish and tears; but it is so natural, so dear to me,
+that I could hardly change it for another."
+
+Edward had relieved himself slightly by this violent unloading of his
+heart. But in doing so every feature of his strange condition had been
+brought out so clearly before his eyes that, overpowered by the pain of
+the struggle, he burst into tears, which flowed all the more freely as
+his heart had been made weak by telling it all.
+
+Mittler, who was the less disposed to put a check on his inexorable good
+sense and strong, vigorous feeling, because by this violent outbreak of
+passion on Edward's part he saw himself driven far from the purpose of
+his coming, showed sufficiently decided marks of his disapprobation.
+Edward should act as a man, he said; he should remember what he owed to
+himself as a man. He should not forget that the highest honor was to
+command ourselves in misfortune; to bear pain, if it must be so, with
+equanimity and self-collectedness. That was what we should do, if we
+wished to be valued and looked up to as examples of what was right.
+
+Stirred and penetrated as Edward was with the bitterest feelings, words
+like these could but have a hollow, worthless sound.
+
+"It is well," he cried, "for the man who is happy, who has all that he
+desires, to talk; but he would be ashamed of it if he could see how
+intolerable it was to the sufferer. Nothing short of an infinite
+endurance would be enough, and easy and contented as he was, what could
+he know of an infinite agony? There are cases," he continued, "yes,
+there are, where comfort is a lie, and despair is a duty. Go, heap your
+scorn upon the noble Greek, who well knows how to delineate heroes, when
+in their anguish he lets those heroes weep. He has even a proverb, 'Men
+who can weep are good.' Leave me, all you with dry heart and dry eye.
+Curses on the happy, to whom the wretched serve but for a spectacle.
+When body and soul are torn in pieces with agony, they are to bear
+it--yes, to be noble and bear it, if they are to be allowed to go off
+the scene with applause. Like the gladiators, they must die gracefully
+before the eyes of the multitude. My dear Mittler, I thank you for your
+visit; but really you would oblige me much, if you would go out and look
+about you in the garden. We will meet again. I will try to compose
+myself, and become more like you."
+
+Mittler was unwilling to let a conversation drop which it might be
+difficult to begin again, and still persevered. Edward, too, was quite
+ready to go on with it; besides that of itself, it was tending toward
+the issue which he desired.
+
+"Indeed," said the latter, "This thinking and arguing backward and
+forward leads to nothing. In this very conversation I myself have first
+come to understand myself; I have first felt decided as to what I must
+make up my mind to do. My present and my future life I see before me; I
+have to choose only between misery and happiness. Do you, my best
+friend, bring about the separation which must take place, which, in
+fact, is already made; gain Charlotte's consent for me. I will not enter
+upon the reasons why I believe there will be the less difficulty in
+prevailing upon her. You, my dear friend, must go. Go, and give us all
+peace; make us all happy."
+
+Mittler hesitated. Edward continued:
+
+"My fate and Ottilie's cannot be divided, and shall not be shipwrecked.
+Look at this glass; our initials are engraved upon it. A gay reveller
+flung it into the air, that no one should drink of it more. It was to
+fall on the rock and be dashed to pieces; but it did not fall; it was
+caught. At a high price I bought it back, and now I drink out of it
+daily--to convince myself that the connection between us cannot be
+broken; that destiny has decided."
+
+"Alas! alas!" cried Mittler, "what must I not endure with my friends?
+Here comes superstition, which of all things I hate the worse--the most
+mischievous and accursed of all the plagues of mankind. We trifle with
+prophecies, with forebodings, and dreams, and give a seriousness to our
+every-day life with them; but when the seriousness of life itself begins
+to show, when everything around us is heaving and rolling, then come in
+these spectres to make the storm more terrible."
+
+"In this uncertainty of life," cried Edward, "poised as it is between
+hope and fear, leave the poor heart its guiding-star. It may gaze toward
+it, if it cannot steer toward it."
+
+"Yes, I might leave it; and it would be very well," replied Mittler, "if
+there were but one consequence to expect; but I have always found that
+nobody will attend to symptoms of warning. Man cares for nothing except
+what flatters him and promises him fair; and his faith is alive
+exclusively for the sunny side."
+
+Mittler, finding himself carried off into the shadowy regions, in which
+the longer he remained the more uncomfortable he always felt, was the
+more ready to assent to Edward's eager wish that he should go to
+Charlotte. Indeed, if he stayed, what was there further which at that
+moment he could urge on Edward? To gain time, to inquire in what state
+things were with the ladies, was the best thing which even he himself
+could suggest as at present possible.
+
+He hastened to Charlotte, whom he found as usual, calm and in good
+spirits. She told him readily of everything which had occurred; for from
+what Edward had said he had only been able to gather the effects. On his
+own side, he felt his way with the utmost caution. He could not prevail
+upon himself even cursorily to mention the word separation. It was a
+surprise, indeed, to him, but from his point of view an unspeakably
+delightful one, when Charlotte, at the end of a number of unpleasant
+things, finished with saying:
+
+"I must believe, I must hope, that things will all work round again, and
+that Edward will return to me. How can it be otherwise as soon as I
+become a mother?"
+
+"Do I understand you right?" returned Mittler.
+
+"Perfectly," Charlotte answered.
+
+"A thousand times blessed be this news!" he cried, clasping his hands
+together. "I know the strength of this argument on the mind of a man.
+Many a marriage have I seen first cemented by it, and restored again
+when broken. Such a good hope as this is worth more than a thousand
+words. Now indeed it is the best hope which we can have. For myself,
+though," he continued, "I have all reason to be vexed about it. In this
+case I can see clearly no self-love of mine will be flattered. I shall
+earn no thanks from you by my services; I am in the same case as a
+certain medical friend of mine, who succeeds in all cures which he
+undertakes with the poor for the love of God; but can seldom do anything
+for the rich who will pay him. Here, thank God, the thing cures itself,
+after all my talking and trying had proved fruitless."
+
+Charlotte now asked him if he would carry the news to Edward: if he
+would take a letter to him from her, and then see what should be done.
+But he declined undertaking this. "All is done," he cried; "do you write
+your letter--any messenger will do as well as I--I will come back to wish
+you joy. I will come to the christening!"
+
+For this refusal she was vexed with him--as she frequently was. His
+eager, impetuous character brought about much good; but his over-haste
+was the occasion of many a failure. No one was more dependent than he on
+the impressions which he formed on the moment. Charlotte's messenger
+came to Edward, who received him half in terror. The letter was to
+decide his fate, and it might as well contain No as Yes. He did not
+venture, for a long time, to open it. At last he tore off the cover, and
+stood petrified at the following passage, with which it concluded:
+
+"Remember the night-adventure when you visited your wife as a
+lover--how you drew her to you, and clasped her as a well-beloved bride
+in your arms. In this strange accident let us revere the providence of
+heaven, which has woven a new link to bind us, at the moment when the
+happiness of our lives was threatening to fall asunder and to vanish."
+
+What passed from that moment in Edward's soul it would be difficult to
+describe! Under the weight of such a stroke, old habits and fancies come
+out again to assist to kill the time and fill up the chasms of life.
+Hunting and fighting are an ever-ready resource of this kind for a
+nobleman; Edward longed for some outward peril, as a counterbalance to
+the storm within him. He craved for death, because the burden of life
+threatened to become too heavy for him to bear. It comforted him to
+think that he would soon cease to be, and so would make those whom he
+loved happy by his departure.
+
+No one made any difficulty in his doing what he purposed--because he
+kept his intention a secret. He made his will with all due formalities.
+It gave him a very sweet feeling to secure Ottilie's fortune--provision
+was made for Charlotte, for the unborn child, for the Captain, and for
+the servants. The war, which had again broken out, favored his wishes:
+he had disliked exceedingly the half-soldiering which had fallen to him
+in his youth, and that was the reason why he had left the service. Now
+it gave him a fine exhilarating feeling to be able to rejoin it under a
+commander of whom it could be said that, under his conduct, death was
+likely and victory was sure.
+
+Ottilie, when Charlotte's secret was made known to her, bewildered by
+it, like Edward, and more than he, retired into herself--she had nothing
+further to say: hope she could not, and wish she dared not. A glimpse
+into what was passing in her we can gather from her Diary, some passages
+of which we think to communicate.
+
+There often happens to us in common life what, in an epic poem, we are
+accustomed to praise as a stroke of art in the poet; namely, that when
+the chief figures go off the scene, conceal themselves or retire into
+inactivity, some other or others, whom hitherto we have scarcely
+observed, come forward and fill their places. And these putting out all
+their force, at once fix our attention and sympathy on themselves, and
+earn our praise and admiration.
+
+Thus, after the Captain and Edward were gone, the Architect, of whom we
+have spoken, appeared every day a more important person. The ordering
+and executing of a number of undertakings depended entirely upon him,
+and he proved himself thoroughly understanding and businesslike in the
+style in which he went to work; while in a number of other ways he was
+able also to make himself of assistance to the ladies, and find
+amusement for their weary hours. His outward air and appearance were of
+the kind which win confidence and awake affection. A youth in the full
+sense of the word, well-formed, tall, perhaps a little too stout; modest
+without being timid, and easy without being obtrusive, there was no work
+and no trouble which he was not delighted to take upon himself; and as
+he could keep accounts with great facility, the whole economy of the
+household soon was no secret to him, and everywhere his salutary
+influence made itself felt. Any stranger who came he was commonly set to
+entertain, and he was skilful either at declining unexpected visits, or
+at least so far preparing the ladies for them as to spare them any
+disagreeableness.
+
+Among others, he had one day no little trouble with a young lawyer, who
+had been sent by a neighboring nobleman to speak about a matter which,
+although of no particular moment, yet touched Charlotte to the quick. We
+have to mention this incident because it gave occasion for a number of
+things which otherwise might perhaps have remained long untouched.
+
+We remember certain alterations which Charlotte had made in the
+churchyard. The entire body of the monuments had been removed from their
+places, and had been ranged along the walls of the church, leaning
+against the string-course. The remaining space had been levelled, except
+a broad walk which led up to the church, and past it to the opposite
+gate; and it had been all sown with various kinds of trefoil, which had
+shot up and flowered most beautifully.
+
+The new graves were to follow one after another in a regular order from
+the end, but the spot on each occasion was to be carefully smoothed over
+and again sown. No one could deny that on Sundays and holidays when the
+people went to church the change had given it a most cheerful and
+pleasant appearance. At the same time the clergyman, an old man and
+clinging to old customs, who at first had not been especially pleased
+with the alteration, had become thoroughly delighted with it, all the
+more because when he sat out like Philemon with his Baucis under the old
+linden trees at his back door, instead of the humps and mounds he had a
+beautiful clean lawn to look out upon; and which, moreover, Charlotte
+having secured the use of the spot to the Parsonage, was no little
+convenience to his household.
+
+Notwithstanding this, however, many members of the congregation had been
+displeased that the means of marking the spots where their forefathers
+rested had been removed, and all memorials of them thereby obliterated.
+However well preserved the monuments might be, they could only show who
+had been buried, but not where he had been buried, and the _where_, as
+many maintained, was everything.
+
+Of this opinion was a family in the neighborhood, who for many years had
+been in possession of a considerable vault for a general resting-place
+of themselves and their relations, and in consequence had settled a
+small annual sum for the use of the church. And now this young lawyer
+had been sent to cancel this settlement, and to show that his client did
+not intend to pay it any more, because the conditions under which it had
+been hitherto made had not been observed by the other party, and no
+regard had been paid to objection and remonstrance. Charlotte, who was
+the originator of the alteration herself, chose to speak to the young
+man, who in a decided though not a violent manner, laid down the grounds
+on which his client proceeded, and gave occasion in what he said for
+much serious reflection.
+
+"You see," he said, after a slight introduction, in which he sought to
+justify his peremptoriness; "you see, it is right for the lowest as well
+as for the highest to mark the spot which holds those who are dearest to
+him. The poorest, peasant, who buries a child, finds it some consolation
+to plant a light wooden cross upon the grave, and hang a garland upon
+it, to keep alive the memorial, at least as long as the sorrow remains;
+although such a mark, like the mourning, will pass away with time. Those
+better off change the cross of wood into iron, and fix it down and guard
+it in various ways; and here we have endurance for many years. But
+because this too will sink at last, and become invisible, those who are
+able to bear the expense see nothing fitter than to raise a stone which
+shall promise to endure for generations, and which can be restored and
+made fresh again by posterity. Yet this stone it is not which attracts
+us; it is that which is contained beneath it, which is intrusted, where
+it stands, to the earth. It is not the memorial so much of which we
+speak, as of the person himself; not of what once was, but of what is.
+Far better, far more closely, can I embrace some dear departed one in
+the mound which rises over his bed, than in a monumental writing which
+only tells us that once he was. In itself, indeed, it is but little; but
+around it, as around a central mark, the wife, the husband, the kinsman,
+the friend, after their departure, shall gather in again; and the living
+shall have the right to keep far off all strangers and evil-wishers
+from the side of the dear one who is sleeping there. And, therefore, I
+hold it quite fair and fitting that my principal shall withdraw his
+grant to you. It is, indeed, but too reasonable that he should do it,
+for the members of his family are injured in a way for which no
+compensation could be even proposed. They are deprived of the sad sweet
+feelings of laying offerings on the remains of their dead, and of the
+one comfort in their sorrow of one day lying down at their side."
+
+"The matter is not of that importance," Charlotte answered, "that we
+should disquiet ourselves about it with the vexation of a lawsuit. I
+regret so little what I have done, that I will gladly myself indemnify
+the church for what it loses through you. Only I must confess candidly
+to you, your arguments have not convinced me; the pure feeling of an
+universal equality at last, after death, seems to me more composing than
+this hard determined persistence in our personalities and in the
+conditions and circumstances of our lives. What do you say to it?" she
+added, turning to the Architect.
+
+"It is not for me," replied he, "either to argue, or to attempt to judge
+in such a case. Let me venture, however, to say what my own art and my
+own habits of thinking suggest to me. Since we are no longer so happy as
+to be able to press to our breasts the in-urned remains of those we have
+loved; since we are neither wealthy enough nor of cheerful heart enough
+to preserve them undecayed in large elaborate sarcophagi; since, indeed,
+we cannot even find place any more for ourselves and ours in the
+churches, and are banished out into the open air, we all, I think, ought
+to approve the method which you, my gracious lady, have introduced. If
+the members of a common congregation are laid out side by side, they are
+resting by the side of, and among their kindred; and, if the earth be
+once to receive us all, I can find nothing more natural or more
+desirable than that the mounds, which, if they are thrown up, are sure
+to sink slowly in again together, should be smoothed off at once, and
+the covering, which all bear alike, will press lighter upon each."
+
+"And is it all, is it all to pass away," asked Ottilie, "without one
+token of remembrance, without anything to call back the past?"
+
+"By no means," continued the Architect; "it is not from remembrance, it
+is from place that men should be set free. The architect, the sculptor,
+are highly interested that men should look to their art--to their hand,
+for a continuance of their being; and, therefore, I should wish to see
+well-designed, well-executed monuments; not sown up and down by
+themselves at random, but erected all in a single spot, where they can
+promise themselves endurance. Inasmuch as even the good and the great
+are contented to surrender the privilege of resting in person in the
+churches, _we_ may, at least, erect there or in some fair hall near the
+burying place, either monuments or monumental writings. A thousand forms
+might be suggested for them, and a thousand ornaments with which they
+might be decorated."
+
+"If the artists are so rich," replied Charlotte, "then tell me how it is
+that they are never able to escape from little obelisks, dwarf pillars,
+and urns for ashes? Instead of your thousand forms of which you boast, I
+have never seen anything but a thousand repetitions."
+
+"It is very generally so with us," returned the Architect, "but it is
+not universal; and very likely the right taste and the proper
+application of it may be a peculiar art. In this case especially we have
+this great difficulty, that the monument must be something cheerful and
+yet commemorate a solemn subject; while its matter is melancholy, it
+must not itself be melancholy. As regards designs for monuments of all
+kinds, I have collected numbers of them, and I will take some
+opportunity of showing them to you; but at all times the fairest
+memorial of a man remains some likeness of himself. This better than
+anything else, will give a notion of what he was; it is the best text
+for many or for few notes, only it ought to be made when he is at his
+best age, and that is generally neglected; no one thinks of preserving
+forms while they are alive, and if it is done at all, it is done
+carelessly and incompletely; and then comes death; a cast is taken
+swiftly of the face; this mask is set upon a block of stone, and that is
+what is called a bust. How seldom is the artist in a position to put any
+real life into such things as these!"
+
+"You have contrived," said Charlotte, "without perhaps knowing it or
+wishing it, to lead the conversation altogether in my favor. The
+likeness of a man is quite independent; everywhere that it stands, it
+stands for itself, and we do not require it to mark the site of a
+particular grave. But I must acknowledge to you to having a strange
+feeling; even to likenesses I have a kind of disinclination. Whenever I
+see them they seem to be silently reproaching me. They point to
+something far away from us--gone from us; and they remind me how
+difficult it is to pay right honor to the present. If we think how many
+people we have seen and known, and consider how little we have been to
+them and how little they have been to us, it is no very pleasant
+reflection. We have met a man of genius without having enjoyed much with
+him--a learned man without having learnt from him--a traveler without
+having been instructed,--a man to love without having shown him any
+kindness.
+
+"And, unhappily, this is not the case only with accidental meetings.
+Societies and families behave in the same way toward their dearest
+members, towns toward their worthiest citizens, people toward their most
+admirable princes, nations toward their most distinguished men.
+
+"I have heard it asked why we heard nothing but good spoken of the dead,
+while of the living it is never without some exception. It should be
+answered, because from the former we have nothing any more to fear,
+while the latter may still, here or there, fall in our way. So unreal is
+our anxiety to preserve the memory of others--generally no more than a
+mere selfish amusement; and the real, holy, earnest feeling would be
+what should prompt us to be more diligent and assiduous in our
+attentions toward those who still are left to us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Under the stimulus of this accident, and of the conversations which
+arose out of it, they went the following day to look over the
+burying-place, for the ornamenting of which and relieving it in some
+degree of its sombre look, the Architect made many a happy proposal. His
+interest too had to extend itself to the church as well; a building
+which had caught his attention from the moment of his arrival.
+
+It had been standing for many centuries, built in old German style, the
+proportions good, the decorating elaborate and excellent; and one might
+easily gather that the architect of the neighboring monastery had left
+the stamp of his art and of his love on this smaller building also; it
+worked on the beholder with a solemnity and a sweetness, although the
+change in its internal arrangements for the Protestant service had taken
+from it something of its repose and majesty.
+
+The Architect found no great difficulty in prevailing on Charlotte to
+give him a considerable sum of money to restore it externally and
+internally, in the original spirit, and thus, as he thought, to bring it
+into harmony with the resurrection-field which lay in front of it. He
+had himself much practical skill, and a few laborers who were still busy
+at the lodge might easily be kept together, until this pious work too
+should be completed.
+
+The building itself, therefore, with all its environs, and whatever was
+attached to it, was now carefully and thoroughly examined; and then
+showed itself, to the greatest surprise and delight of the Architect, a
+little side chapel, which nobody had thought of, beautifully and
+delicately proportioned, and displaying still greater care and pains in
+its decoration. It contained at the same time many remnants, carved
+and painted, of the implements used in the old services, when the
+different festivals were distinguished by a variety of pictures and
+ceremonies, and each was celebrated in its own peculiar style.
+
+It was impossible for him not at once to take this chapel into his plan;
+and he determined to bestow especial pains on the restoring of this
+little spot, as a memorial of old times and of their taste. He saw
+exactly how he would like to have the vacant surfaces of the walls
+ornamented, and delighted himself with the prospect, of exercising his
+talent for painting upon them; but of this, at first, he made a secret
+to the rest of the party.
+
+Before doing anything else, he fulfilled his promise of showing the
+ladies the various imitations of, and designs from, old monuments,
+vases, and other such things which he had made, and when they came to
+speak of the simple barrow-sepulchres of the northern nations, he
+brought a collection of weapons and implements which had been found in
+them. He had got them exceedingly nicely and conveniently arranged in
+drawers and compartments, laid on boards cut to fit them, and covered
+over with cloth; so that these solemn old things, in the way he treated
+them, had a smart dressy appearance, and it was like looking into the
+box of a trinket merchant.
+
+Having once begun to show his curiosities, and finding them prove
+serviceable to entertain our friends in their loneliness, every evening
+he would produce one or other of his treasures. They were most of them
+of German origin--pieces of metal, old coins, seals, and such like. All
+these things directed the imagination back upon old times; and when at
+last they came to amuse themselves with the first specimens of printing,
+woodcuts, and the earliest copper-plate engraving, and when the church,
+in the same spirit, was growing out, every day, more and more in form
+and color like the past, they had almost to ask themselves whether they
+really were living in a modern time, whether it were not a dream, that
+manners, customs, modes of life, and convictions were all really so
+changed.
+
+After such preparation, a great portfolio, which at last he produced,
+had the best possible effect. It contained indeed principally only
+outlines and figures, but as these had been traced upon original
+pictures, they retained perfectly their ancient character, and most
+captivating indeed this character was to the spectators. All the figures
+breathed only the purest feeling; every one, if not noble, at any rate
+was good; cheerful composure, ready recognition of One above us, to whom
+all reverence is due; silent devotion, in love and tranquil expectation,
+was expressed on every face, on every gesture. The old bald-headed man,
+the curly-pated boy, the light-hearted youth, the earnest man, the
+glorified saint, the angel hovering in the air, all seemed happy in an
+innocent, satisfied, pious expectation. The commonest object had a trait
+of celestial life; and every nature seemed adapted to the service of
+God, and to be, in some way or other, employed upon it.
+
+Toward such a region most of them gazed as toward a vanished golden age,
+or on some lost paradise; only perhaps Ottilie had a chance of finding
+herself among beings of her own nature. Who could offer any proposition
+when the Architect asked to be allowed to paint the spaces between the
+arches and the walls of the chapel in the style of these old pictures
+and thereby leave his own distinct memorial at a place where life had
+gone so pleasantly with him?
+
+He spoke of it with some sadness, for he could see, in the state in
+which things were, that his sojourn in such delightful society could not
+last forever; indeed, that perhaps it would now soon be ended.
+
+For the rest, these days were not rich in incidents; yet full of
+occasion for serious entertainment. We therefore take the opportunity of
+communicating something of the remarks which Ottilie noted down among
+her manuscripts, to which we cannot find a fitter transition than
+through a simile which suggested itself to us on contemplating her
+exquisite pages.
+
+There is, we are told, a curious contrivance in the service of the
+English marine. The ropes in use in the royal navy, from the largest to
+the smallest, are so twisted that a red thread runs through them from
+end to end, which cannot be extracted without undoing the whole; and by
+which the smallest pieces may be recognized as belonging to the crown.
+
+Just so is there drawn through Ottilie Is diary, a thread of attachment
+and affection which connects it all together, and characterizes the
+whole. And thus these remarks, these observations, these extracted
+sentences, and whatever else it may contain, were, to the writer, of
+peculiar meaning. Even the few separate pieces which we select and
+transcribe will sufficiently explain our meaning.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"To rest hereafter at the side of those whom we love is the most
+delightful thought which man can have when once he looks out beyond the
+boundary of life. What a sweet expression is that--'He was gathered to
+his fathers!'"
+
+"Of the various memorials and tokens which bring nearer to us the
+distant and the separated--none is so satisfactory as a picture. To sit
+and talk to a beloved picture, even though it be unlike, has a charm in
+it, like the charm which there sometimes is in quarrelling with a
+friend. We feel, in a strange sweet way, that we are divided and yet
+cannot separate."
+
+"We entertain ourselves often with a present person as with a picture.
+He need not speak to us, he need not look at us, or take any notice of
+us; we look at him, we feel the relation in which we stand to him; such
+relation can even grow without his doing anything toward it, without his
+having any feeling of it: he is to us exactly as a picture."
+
+"One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows. I
+have always felt for the portrait-painter on this account. One so seldom
+requires of people what is impossible, and of them we do really require
+what is impossible; they must gather up into their picture the relation
+of every body to its subject, all their likings and all dislikings; they
+must not only paint a man as they see him, but as every one else sees
+him. It does not surprise me if such artists become by degrees stunted,
+indifferent, and of but one idea; and indeed it would not matter what
+came of it, if it were not that in consequence we have to go without the
+pictures of so many persons near and dear to us."
+
+"It is too true, the Architect's collection of weapons and old
+implements, which were found with the bodies of their owners, covered in
+with great hills of earth and rock, proves to us how useless is man's so
+great anxiety to preserve his personality after he is dead; and so
+inconsistent people are, the Architect confesses to have himself opened
+these barrows of his forefathers, and yet goes on occupying himself with
+memorials for posterity."
+
+"But after all why should we take it so much to heart? Is all that we
+do, done for eternity? Do we not put on our dress in the morning, to
+throw it off again at night? Do we not go abroad to return home again?
+And why should we not wish to rest by the side of our friends, though it
+were but for a century?"
+
+"When we see the many gravestones which have fallen in, which have been
+defaced by the footsteps of the congregation, which lie buried under the
+ruins of the churches, that have themselves crumbled together over them,
+we may fancy the life after death to be as a second life, into which a
+man enters in the figure, or the picture, or the inscription, and lives
+longer there than when he was really alive. But this figure also, this
+second existence, dies out too, sooner or later. Time will not allow
+himself to be cheated of his rights with the monuments of men or with
+themselves."
+
+It causes us so agreeable a sensation to occupy ourselves with what we
+can only half do, that no person ought to find fault with the
+dilettante, when he is spending his time over an art which he can never
+learn; nor blame the artist if he chooses to pass out over the border of
+his own art, and amuse himself in some neighboring field. With such
+complacency of feeling we regard the preparation of the Architect for
+painting the chapel. The colors were got ready, the measurements taken,
+the cartoons designed. He had made no attempt at originality, but kept
+close to his outlines; his only care was to make a proper distribution
+of the sitting and floating figures, so as tastefully to ornament his
+space with them.
+
+The scaffoldings were erected. The work went forward; and as soon as
+anything had been done on which the eye could rest, he could have no
+objection to Charlotte and Ottilie coming to see how he was getting on.
+
+The life-like faces of the angels, their robes waving against the blue
+sky-ground, delighted the eye, while their still and holy air calmed and
+composed the spirit, and produced the most delicate effect.
+
+The ladies ascended the scaffolding to him, and Ottilie had scarcely
+observed how easily and regularly the work was being done when the power
+which had been fostered in her by her early education at once appeared
+to develop. She took a brush, and with a few words of direction, painted
+a richly folding robe, with as much delicacy as skill.
+
+Charlotte, who was always glad when Ottilie would occupy or amuse
+herself with anything, left them both in the chapel, and went to follow
+the train of her own thoughts, and work her way for herself through her
+cares and anxieties which she was unable to communicate to a creature.
+
+When ordinary men allow themselves to be worked up by common every-day
+difficulties into fever-fits of passion, we can give them nothing but a
+compassionate smile. But we look with a kind of awe on a spirit in
+which the seed of a great destiny has been sown, which must abide the
+unfolding of the germ, and neither dare nor can do anything to
+precipitate either the good or the ill, either the happiness or the
+misery, which is to arise out of it.
+
+Edward had sent an answer by Charlotte's messenger, who had come to him
+in his solitude. It was written with kindness and interest, but it was
+rather composed and serious than warm and affectionate. He had vanished
+almost immediately after, and Charlotte could learn no news about him;
+till at last she accidentally found his name in the newspaper, where he
+was mentioned with honor among those who had most distinguished
+themselves in a late important engagement. She now understood the method
+which he had taken; she perceived that he had escaped from great danger;
+only she was convinced at the same time that he would seek out greater;
+and it was all too clear to her that in every sense he would hardly be
+withheld from any extremity.
+
+She had to bear about this perpetual anxiety in her thoughts, and turn
+which way she would, there was no light in which she could look at it
+that would give her comfort.
+
+Ottilie, never dreaming of anything of this, had taken to the work in
+the chapel with the greatest interest, and she had easily obtained
+Charlotte's permission to go on with it regularly. So now all went
+swiftly forward, and the azure heaven was soon peopled with worthy
+inhabitants. By continual practice both Ottilie and the Architect had
+gained more freedom with the last figures; they became perceptibly
+better. The faces, too, which had been all left to the Architect to
+paint, showed by degrees a very singular peculiarly. They began all of
+them to resemble Ottilie. The neighborhood of the beautiful girl had
+made so strong an impression on the soul of the young man, who had no
+variety of faces preconceived in his mind, that by degrees, on the way
+from the eye to the hand, nothing was lost, and both worked in exact
+harmony together. Enough; one of the last faces succeeded perfectly; so
+that it seemed as if Ottilie herself was looking down out of the spaces
+of the sky.
+
+They had finished with the arching of the ceiling. The walls they
+proposed to leave plain, and only to cover them over with a bright brown
+color. The delicate pillars and the quaintly molded ornaments were to be
+distinguished from them by a dark shade. But as in such things one thing
+ever leads on to another, they determined at least on having festoons of
+flowers and fruit, which should, as it were, unite heaven and earth.
+Here Ottilie was in her element. The gardens provided the most perfect
+patterns; and although the wreaths were as rich as they could make them,
+it was all finished sooner than they had supposed possible.
+
+It was still looking rough and disorderly. The scaffolding poles had
+been run together, the planks thrown one on the top of the other; the
+uneven pavement was yet more disfigured by the parti-colored stains of
+the paint which had been spilt over it.
+
+The Architect begged that the ladies would give him a week to himself,
+and during that time would not enter the chapel; at the end of it, one
+fine evening, he came to them, and begged them both to go and see it. He
+did not wish to accompany them, he said, and at once took his leave.
+
+"Whatever surprise he may have designed for us," said Charlotte, as soon
+as he was gone, "I cannot myself just now go down there. You can go by
+yourself, and tell me all about it. No doubt he has been doing something
+which we shall like. I will enjoy it first in your description, and
+afterwards it will be the more charming in the reality."
+
+Ottilie, who knew well that in many cases Charlotte took care to avoid
+everything which could produce emotion, and particularly disliked to be
+surprised, set off down the walk by herself and looked round
+involuntarily for the Architect, who, however, was nowhere to be seen
+and must have concealed himself somewhere. She walked into the church,
+which she found open. This had been finished before; it had been cleaned
+up, and service had been performed in it. She went on to the chapel
+door; its heavy mass, all overlaid with iron, yielded easily to her
+touch, and she found an unexpected sight in a familiar spot.
+
+A solemn, beautiful light streamed in through the one tall window. It
+was filled with stained glass, gracefully put together. The entire
+chapel had thus received a strange tone, and a peculiar genius was
+thrown over it. The beauty of the vaulted ceiling and the walls was set
+off by the elegance of the pavement, which was composed of peculiarly
+shaped tiles, fastened together with gypsum, and forming exquisite
+patterns as they lay. This and the colored glass for the windows the
+Architect had prepared without their knowledge, and a short time was
+sufficient to have it put in its place.
+
+Seats had been provided as well. Among the relics of the old church some
+finely carved chancel chairs had been discovered, which now were
+standing about at convenient places along the walls.
+
+The parts which she knew so well now meeting her as an unfamiliar whole,
+delighted Ottilie. She stood still, walked up and down, looked and
+looked again; at last she seated herself in one of the chairs, and it
+seemed, as she gazed up and down, as if she was, and yet was not--as if
+she felt and did not feel--as if all this would vanish from before her,
+and she would vanish from herself; and it was only when the sun left the
+window, on which before it had been shining full, that she awoke to
+possession of herself and hastened back to the castle.
+
+She did not hide from herself the strange epoch at which this surprise
+had occurred to her. It was the evening of Edward's birthday. Very
+differently she had hoped to keep it. How was not every thing to be
+dressed out for this festival and now all the splendor of the autumn
+flowers remained ungathered! Those sunflowers still turned their faces
+to the sky; those asters still looked out with quiet, modest eye; and
+whatever of them all had been wound into wreaths had served as patterns
+for the decorating a spot which, if it was not to remain a mere
+artist's fancy, was only adapted as a general mausoleum.
+
+And then she had to remember the impetuous eagerness with which Edward
+had kept her birthday-feast. She. thought of the newly erected lodge,
+under the roof of which they had promised themselves so much enjoyment.
+The fireworks flashed and hissed again before her eyes and ears; the
+more lonely she was, the more keenly her imagination brought it all
+before her. But she felt herself only the more alone. She no longer
+leant upon his arm, and she had no hope ever any more to rest herself
+upon it.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"I have been struck with an observation of the young architect.
+
+"In the case of the creative artist, as in that of the artisan, it is
+clear that man is least permitted to appropriate to himself what is most
+entirely his own. His works forsake him as the birds forsake the nest in
+which they were hatched.
+
+"The fate of the Architect is the strangest of all in this way. How
+often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce
+buildings into which he himself may never enter. The halls of kings owe
+their magnificence to him; but he has no enjoyment of them in their
+splendor. In the temple he draws a partition line between himself and
+the Holy of Holies; he may never more set his foot upon the steps which
+he has laid down for the heart-thrilling ceremonial, as the goldsmith
+may only adore from far off the _monstrance_ whose enamel and whose
+jewels he has himself set together. The builder surrenders to the rich
+man, with the key of his palace, all pleasure and all right there, and
+never shares with him in the enjoyment of it. And must not art in this
+way, step by step, draw off from the artist, when the work, like a child
+who is provided for, has no more to fall back upon its father? And what
+a power there must be in art itself for its own self-advancing, when it
+has been obliged to shape itself almost solely out of what was open to
+all, only out of what was the property of every one, and therefore also
+of the artist!"
+
+"There is a conception among old nations which is awful, and may almost
+seem terrible. They pictured their forefathers to themselves sitting
+round on thrones, in enormous caverns, in silent converse; when a new
+comer entered, if he were worthy enough, they rose up, and inclined
+their heads to welcome him. Yesterday, as I was sitting in the chapel,
+and other carved chairs stood round like that in which I was, the
+thought of this came over me with a soft, pleasant feeling. Why cannot
+you stay sitting here? I said to myself; stay here sitting meditating
+with yourself long, long, long, till at last your friends come, and you
+rise up to them, and with a gentle inclination direct them to their
+places. The colored window panes convert the day into a solemn twilight;
+and some one should set up for us an ever-burning lamp, that the night
+might not be utter darkness."
+
+"We may imagine ourselves in what situation we please, we always
+conceive ourselves as _seeing_. I believe men only dream that they may
+not cease to see. Some day, perhaps, the inner light will come out from
+within us, and we shall not any more require another.
+
+"The year dies away, the wind sweeps over the stubble, and there is
+nothing left to stir under its touch. But the red berries on yonder tall
+tree seem as if they would still remind us of brighter things; and the
+stroke of the thrasher's flail awakes the thought how much of
+nourishment and life lie buried in the sickled ear."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+How strangely, after all this, with the sense so vividly impressed on
+her of mutability and perishableness, must Ottilie have been affected by
+the news which could not any longer be kept concealed from her, that
+Edward had exposed himself to the uncertain chances of war! Unhappily,
+none of the observations which she had occasion to make upon it escaped
+her. But it is well for us that man can only endure a certain degree of
+unhappiness; what is beyond that either annihilates him, or passes by
+him, and leaves him apathetic. There are situations in which hope and
+fear run together, in which they mutually destroy one another, and lose
+themselves in a dull indifference. If it were not so, how could we bear
+to know of those who are most dear to us being in hourly peril, and yet
+go on as usual with our ordinary everyday life?
+
+It was therefore as if some good genius was caring for Ottilie, that,
+all at once, this stillness, in which she seemed to be sinking from
+loneliness and want of occupation, was suddenly invaded by a wild army,
+which, while it gave her externally abundance of employment, and so took
+her out of herself, at the same time awoke in her the consciousness of
+her own power.
+
+Charlotte's daughter, Luciana, had scarcely left the school and gone out
+into the great world; scarcely had she found herself at her aunt's house
+in the midst of a large society, than her anxiety to please produced its
+effect in really pleasing; and a young, very wealthy man, soon
+experienced a passionate desire to make her his own. His large property
+gave him a right to have the best of everything for his use, and nothing
+seemed to be wanting to him except a perfect wife, for whom, as for the
+rest of his good fortune, he should be the envy of the world.
+
+This incident in her family had been for some time occupying Charlotte.
+It had engaged all her attention, and taken up her whole correspondence,
+except so far as this was directed to the obtaining news of Edward; so
+that latterly Ottilie had been left more than was usual to herself. She
+knew, indeed, of an intended visit from Luciana. She had been making
+various changes and arrangements in the house in preparation for it; but
+she had no notion that it was so near. Letters, she supposed, would
+first have to pass, settling the time, and unsettling it; and at last a
+final fixing: when the storm broke suddenly over the castle and over
+herself.
+
+Up drove, first, lady's maids and men-servants, their carriage loaded
+with trunks and boxes. The household was already swelled to double or to
+treble its size, and then appeared the visitors themselves. There was
+the great aunt, with Luciana and some of her friends; and then the
+bridegroom with some of his friends. The entrance-hall was full of
+things--bags, portmanteaus, and leather articles of every sort. The
+boxes had to be got out of their covers, and that was infinite trouble;
+and of luggage and of rummage there was no end. At intervals, moreover,
+there were violent showers, giving rise to much inconvenience. Ottilie
+encountered all this confusion with the easiest equanimity, and her
+happy talent showed in its fairest light. In a very little time she had
+brought things to order, and disposed of them. Every one found his
+room--every one hand his things exactly as they wished, and all thought
+themselves well attended to, because they were not prevented from
+attending on themselves.
+
+The journey had been long and fatiguing, and they would all have been
+glad of a little rest after it. The bridegroom would have liked to pay
+his respects to his mother-in-law, express his pleasure, his gratitude,
+and so on. But Luciana could not rest. She had now arrived at the
+happiness of being able to mount a horse. The bridegroom had beautiful
+horses, and mount they must on the spot. Clouds and wind, rain and
+storm, they were nothing to Luciana, and now it was as if they only
+lived to get wet through, and to dry themselves again. If she took a
+fancy to go out walking, she never thought what sort of dress she had
+on, or what her shoes were like; she must go and see the grounds of
+which she had heard so much; what could not be done on horseback, she
+ran through on foot. In a little while she had seen everything, and
+given her opinion about everything; and with such rapidity of character
+it was not easy to contradict or oppose her. The whole household had
+much to suffer, but most particularly the lady's maids, who were at work
+from morning to night, washing, and ironing, and stitching.
+
+As soon as she had exhausted the house and the park, she thought it was
+her duty to pay visits all around the neighborhood. Although they rode
+and drove fast, "all around the neighborhood" was a goodly distance. The
+castle was flooded with return visits, and that they might not miss one
+another, it soon came to days being fixed for them.
+
+Charlotte, in the meantime, with her aunt, and the man of business of
+the bridegroom, were occupied in determining about the settlements, and
+it was left to Ottilie, with those under her, to take care that all this
+crowd of people were properly provided for. Gamekeepers and gardeners,
+fishermen and shopdealers, were set in motion, Luciana always showing
+herself like the blazing nucleus of a comet with its long tail trailing
+behind it. The ordinary amusements of the parties soon became too
+insipid for her taste. Hardly would she leave the old people in peace at
+the card-table. Whoever could by any means be set moving (and who could
+resist the charm of being pressed by her into service?) must up, if not
+to dance, then to play at forfeits, or some other game, where they were
+to be victimized and tormented. Notwithstanding all that, however, and
+although afterward the redemption of the forfeits had to be settled with
+herself, yet of those who played with her, never any one, especially
+never any man, let him be of what sort he would, went quite empty-handed
+away. Indeed, some old people of rank who were there she succeeded in
+completely winning over to herself, by having contrived to find out
+their birthdays or christening days, and marking them with some
+particular celebration. In all this she showed a skill not a little
+remarkable. Every one saw himself favored, and each considered himself
+to be the one most favored, a weakness of which the oldest person of the
+party was the most notably guilty.
+
+It seemed to be a sort of pride with her that men who had anything
+remarkable about them--rank, character, or fame--she must and would gain
+for herself. Gravity and seriousness she made give way to her, and,
+wild, strange creature as she was, she found favor even with discretion
+itself. Not that the young were at all cut short in consequence.
+Everybody had his share, his day, his hour, in which she contrived to
+charm and to enchain him. It was therefore natural enough that before
+long she should have had the Architect in her eye, looking out so
+unconsciously as he did from under his long black hair, and standing so
+calm and quiet in the background. To all her questions she received
+short, sensible answers; but he did not seem inclined to allow himself
+to be carried away further, and at last, half provoked, half in malice,
+she resolved that she would make him the hero of a day, and so gain him
+for her court.
+
+It was not for nothing that she had brought that quantity of luggage
+with her. Much, indeed, had followed her afterward. She had provided
+herself with an endless variety of dresses. When it took her fancy she
+would change her dress three or four times a day, usually wearing
+something of an ordinary kind, but making her appearance suddenly at
+intervals in a thorough masquerade dress, as a peasant girl or a
+fish-maiden, as a fairy or a flower-girl; and this would go on from
+morning till night. Sometimes she would even disguise herself as an old
+woman, that her young face might peep out the fresher from under the
+cap; and so utterly in this way did she confuse and mix together the
+actual and the fantastic, that people thought they were living with a
+sort of drawing-room witch.
+
+But the principal use which she had for these disguises were pantomimic
+tableaux and dances, in which she was skilful in expressing a variety of
+character. A cavalier in her suite had taught himself to accompany her
+action on the piano with the little music which was required; they
+needed only to exchange a few words and they at once understood each
+other.
+
+One day, in a pause of a brilliant ball, they were called upon suddenly
+to extemporize (it was on a private hint from themselves) one of these
+exhibitions. Luciana seemed embarrassed, taken by surprise, and contrary
+to her custom let herself be asked more than once. She could not decide
+upon her character, desired the party to choose, and asked, like an
+improvisatore, for a subject. At last her piano-playing companion, with
+whom it had been all previously arranged, sat down at the instrument,
+and began to play a mourning march, calling on her to give them the
+Artemisia which she had been studying so admirably. She consented; and
+after a short absence reappeared, to the sad tender music of the dead
+march, in the form of the royal widow, with measured step, carrying an
+urn of ashes before her. A large black tablet was borne in after her,
+and a carefully cut piece of chalk in a gold pencil case.
+
+One of her adorers and adjutants, into whose ear she whispered
+something, went directly to call the Architect, to desire him, and, if
+he would not come, to drag him up, as master-builder, to draw the grave
+for the mausoleum, and to tell him at the same time that he was not to
+play the statist, but enter earnestly into his part as one of the
+performers.
+
+Embarrassed as the Architect outwardly appeared (for in his black,
+close-fitting, modern civilian's dress, he formed a wonderful contrast
+with the gauze crape fringes, tinsel tassels, and crown), he very soon
+composed himself internally, and the scene became all the more strange.
+With the greatest gravity he placed himself in front of the tablet,
+which was supported by a couple of pages, and drew carefully an
+elaborate tomb, which indeed would have suited better a Lombard than a
+Carian prince; but it was in such beautiful proportions, so solemn in
+its parts, so full of genius in its decoration, that the spectators
+watched it growing with delight, and wondered at it when it was
+finished.
+
+All this time he had not once turned toward the queen, but had given his
+whole attention to what he was doing. At last he inclined his head
+before her, and signified that he believed he had now fulfilled her
+commands. She held the urn out to him, expressing her desire to see it
+represented on the top of the monument. He complied, although
+unwillingly, as it would not suit the character of the rest of his
+design. Luciana was now at last released from her impatience. Her
+intention had been by no means to get a scientific drawing out of him.
+If he had only made a few strokes, sketched out something which should
+have looked like a monument, and devoted the rest of his time to her, it
+would have been far more what she had wished, and would have pleased her
+a great deal better. His manner of proceeding had thrown her into the
+greatest embarrassment. For although in her sorrow, in her directions,
+in her gestures, in her approbation of the work as it slowly rose before
+her, she had tried to manage some sort of change of expression, and
+although she had hung about close to him, only to place herself into
+some sort of relation to him, yet he had kept himself throughout too
+stiff, so that too often she had been driven to take refuge with her
+urn; she had to press it to her heart and look up to heaven, and at
+last, a situation of that kind having a necessary tendency to intensify,
+she made herself more like a widow of Ephesus than a Queen of Caria. The
+representation had to lengthen itself out and became tedious. The
+pianoforte player, who had usually patience enough, did not know into
+what tune he could escape. He thanked God when he saw the urn standing
+on the pyramid, and fell involuntarily as the queen was going to express
+her gratitude, into a merry air; by which the whole thing lost its
+character, the company, however, being thoroughly cheered up by it, who
+forthwith divided, some going up to express their delight and admiration
+of the lady for her excellent performance, and some praising the
+Architect for his most artistlike and beautiful drawing.
+
+[Illustration: LUCIANA POSING AS QUEEN ARTEMISIA P. Grotjohann]
+
+The bridegroom especially paid marked attention to the Architect. "I am
+vexed," he said, "that the drawing should be so perishable; you will
+permit me, however, to have it taken to my room, where I should much
+like to talk to you about it."
+
+"If it would give you any pleasure," said the Architect, "I can lay
+before you a number of highly finished designs for buildings and
+monuments of this kind, of which this is but a mere hasty sketch."
+
+Ottilie was standing at no great distance, and went up to them. "Do not
+forget," she said to the Architect, "to take an opportunity of letting
+the Baron see your collection. He is a friend of art and of antiquity. I
+should like you to become better acquainted."
+
+Luciana was passing at the moment. "What are they speaking of?" she
+asked.
+
+"Of a collection of works of art," replied the Baron, "which this
+gentleman possesses, and which he is good enough to say that he will
+show us."
+
+"Oh, let him bring them immediately," cried Luciana. "You will bring
+them, will you not?" she added, in a soft and sweet tone, taking both
+his hands in hers.
+
+"The present is scarcely a fitting time," the Architect answered.
+
+"What!" Luciana cried, in a tone of authority; "you will not obey the
+command of your queen!" and then she begged him again with some piece of
+absurdity.
+
+"Do not be obstinate," said Ottilie, in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+The Architect left them with a bow, which said neither yes nor no.
+
+He was hardly gone, when Luciana was flying up and down the saloon with
+a greyhound. "Alas!" she exclaimed, as she ran accidentally against her
+mother, "am I not an unfortunate creature? I have not brought my monkey
+with me. They told me I had better not; but I am sure it was nothing
+but the laziness of my people, and it is such a delight to me. But I
+will have it brought after me; somebody shall go and fetch it. If I
+could only see a picture of the dear creature, it would be a comfort to
+me; I certainly will have his picture taken, and it shall never be out
+of my sight."
+
+"Perhaps I can comfort you," replied Charlotte. "There is a whole volume
+full of the most wonderful ape faces in the library, which you can have
+fetched if you like."
+
+Luciana shrieked for joy. The great folio was produced instantly. The
+sight of these hideous creatures, so like to men, and with the
+resemblance even more caricatured by the artist, gave Luciana the
+greatest delight. Her amusement with each of the animals, was to find
+some one of her acquaintance whom it resembled. "Is that not like my
+uncle?" she remorselessly exclaimed; "and here, look, here is my
+milliner M., and here is Parson S., and here the image of that
+creature--bodily! After all, these monkeys are the real _incroyables_,
+and it is inconceivable why they are not admitted into the best
+society."
+
+It was in the best society that she said this, and yet no one took it
+ill of her. People had become accustomed to allow her so many liberties
+in her prettinesses, that at last they came to allow them in what was
+unpretty.
+
+During this time, Ottilie was talking to the bridegroom; she was looking
+anxiously for the return of the Architect, whose serious and tasteful
+collection was to deliver the party from the apes; and in the
+expectation of it, she had made it the subject of her conversation with
+the Baron, and directed his attention on various things which he was to
+see. But the Architect stayed away, and when at last he made his
+appearance, he lost himself in the crowd, without having brought
+anything with him, and without seeming as if he had been asked for
+anything.
+
+For a moment Ottilie became--what shall we call it?--annoyed, put out,
+perplexed. She had been saying so much about him--she had promised the
+bridegroom an hour of enjoyment after his own heart; and with all the
+depth of his love for Luciana, he was evidently suffering from her
+present behavior.
+
+The monkeys had to give place to a collation. Round games followed, and
+then more dancing; at last, a general uneasy vacancy, with fruitless
+attempts at resuscitating exhausted amusements, which lasted this time,
+as indeed they usually did, far beyond midnight. It had already become a
+habit with Luciana to be never able to get out of bed in the morning or
+into it at night.
+
+About this time, the incidents noticed in Ottilie's diary become more
+rare, while we find a larger number of maxims and sentences drawn from
+life and relating to life. It is not conceivable that the larger
+proportion of these could have arisen from her own reflection, and most
+likely some one had shown her varieties of them, and she had written out
+what took her fancy. Many, however, with an internal bearing, can be
+easily recognized by the red thread.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We like to look into the future, because the undetermined in it, which
+may be affected this or that way, we feel as if we could guide by our
+silent wishes in our own favor."
+
+"We seldom find ourselves in a large party without thinking; the
+accident which brings so many here together, should bring our friends to
+us as well."
+
+"Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or
+creditors before we have had time to look round."
+
+"If we meet a person who is under an obligation to us, we remember it
+immediately. But how often may we meet people to whom we are, ourselves,
+under obligation, without its even occurring to us!"
+
+"It is nature to communicate one's-self; it is culture to receive what
+is communicated as it is given."
+
+"No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he
+misunderstands others."
+
+"One alters so much what one has heard from others in repeating it, only
+because one has not understood it."
+
+"Whoever indulges long in monologue in the presence of others, without
+flattering his listeners, provokes ill-will."
+
+"Every word a man utters provokes the opposite opinion."
+
+"Argument and flattery are but poor elements out of which to form a
+conversation."
+
+"The pleasantest society is when the members of it have an easy and
+natural respect for one another."
+
+"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in
+what they find to laugh at."
+
+"The ridiculous arises out of a moral contrast, in which two things are
+brought together before the mind in an innocent way."
+
+"The foolish man often laughs where there is nothing to laugh at.
+Whatever touches him, his inner nature comes to the surface."
+
+"The man of understanding finds almost everything ridiculous; the man of
+thought scarcely anything."
+
+"Some one found fault with an elderly man for continuing to pay
+attention to young ladies. 'It is the only means,' he replied, 'of
+keeping one's-self young, and everybody likes to do that.'"
+
+"People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let
+themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things
+because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them
+aside."
+
+"Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality. We
+should not be pleased, if old friends were to lay aside certain
+peculiarities."
+
+"There is a saying, 'He will die soon,' when a man acts unlike
+himself."
+
+"What kind of defects may we bear with and even cultivate in ourselves?
+Such as rather give pleasure to others than injure them."
+
+"The passions are defects or excellencies only in excess."
+
+"Our passions are true phoenixes: as the old burn out, the new straight
+rise up out of the ashes."
+
+"Violent passions are incurable diseases; the means which will cure them
+are what first make them thoroughly dangerous."
+
+"Passion is both raised and softened by confession. In nothing, perhaps,
+were the middle way more desirable than in knowing what to say and what
+not to say to those we love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+So swept on Luciana in the social whirlpool, driving the rush of life
+along before her. Her court multiplied daily, partly because her
+impetuosity roused and attracted so many, partly because she knew how to
+attach the rest to her by kindness and attention. Generous she was in
+the highest degree; her aunt's affection for her, and her bridegroom's
+love, had heaped her with beautiful and costly presents, but she seemed
+as if nothing which she had was her own, and as if she did not know the
+value of the things which had streamed in upon her. One day she saw a
+young lady looking rather poorly dressed by the side of the rest of the
+party, and she did not hesitate a moment to take off a rich shawl which
+she was wearing and hang it over her--doing it, at the same time, in
+such a humorous, graceful way that no one could refuse such a present so
+given. One of her courtiers always carried about a purse, with orders,
+whatever place they passed through, to inquire there for the most aged
+and most helpless persons, and give them relief, at least for the
+moment. In this way she gained for herself all round the country a
+reputation for charitableness which caused her not a little
+inconvenience, attracting about her far too many troublesome sufferers.
+
+Nothing, however, so much added to her popularity as her steady and
+consistent kindness toward an unhappy young man, who shrank from society
+because, while otherwise handsome and well-formed, he had lost his right
+hand, although with high honor, in action. This mutilation weighed so
+heavily upon his spirits, it was so annoying to him, that every new
+acquaintance he made had to be told the story of his misfortune, that he
+chose rather to shut himself up altogether, devoting himself to reading
+and other studious pursuits, and once for all would have nothing more to
+do with society.
+
+She heard of the state of this young man. At once she contrived to
+prevail upon him to come to her, first to small parties, then to
+greater, and then out into the world with her. She showed more attention
+to him than to any other person; particularly she endeavored, by the
+services which she pressed upon him, to make him sensible of what he had
+lost in laboring herself to supply it. At dinner, she would make him sit
+next to her; she cut up his food for him, that he might have to use only
+his fork. If people older or of higher rank prevented her from being
+close to him, she would stretch her attention across the entire table,
+and the servants were hurried off to make up to him what distance
+threatened to deprive him of. At last she encouraged him to write with
+his left hand. All his attempts he was to address to her and thus,
+whether far or near, she always kept herself in correspondence with him.
+The young man did not know what had happened to him, and from that
+moment a new life opened out before him.
+
+One may perhaps suppose that such behavior must have caused some
+uneasiness to her bridegroom. But, in fact, it was quite the reverse. He
+admired her exceedingly for her exertions, and he had the more reason
+for feeling entirely satisfied about her, as she had certain features in
+her character almost in excess, which kept anything in the slightest
+degree dangerous utterly at a distance. She would run about with
+anybody, just as she fancied; no one was free from danger of a push or a
+pull, or of being made the object of some sort of freak. But no person
+ever ventured to do the same to her; no person dared to touch her, or
+return, in the remotest degree, any liberty which she had taken herself.
+She kept every one within the strictest barriers of propriety in their
+behavior to herself, while she, in her own behavior, was every moment
+overleaping them.
+
+On the whole, one might have supposed it had been a maxim with her to
+expose herself indifferently to praise or blame, to regard or to
+dislike. If in many ways she took pains to gain people, she commonly
+herself spoiled all the good she had done, by an ill tongue, which
+spared no one. Not a visit was ever paid in the neighborhood, not a
+single piece of hospitality was ever shown to herself and her party
+among the surrounding castles or mansions, but what, on her return, her
+excessive recklessness let it appear that all men and all human things
+she was only inclined to see on the ridiculous side.
+
+There were three brothers who, purely out of compliment to one another,
+kept up a good-natured and urbane controversy as to which should marry
+first, had been overtaken by old age before they had got the question
+settled; here was a little young wife with a great old husband; there,
+on the other hand, was a dapper little man and an unwieldy giantess. In
+one house, every step one took one stumbled over a child; another,
+however many people were crammed into it, never would seem full, because
+there were no children there at all. Old husbands (supposing the estate
+was not entailed) should get themselves buried as quickly as possible,
+that such a thing as a laugh might be heard again in the house. Young
+married people should travel: housekeeping did not sit well upon them.
+And as she treated the persons, so she treated what belonged to them;
+their houses, their furniture, their dinner-services--everything. The
+ornaments of the walls of the rooms most particularly provoked her saucy
+remarks. From the oldest tapestry to the most modern printed paper; from
+the noblest family pictures to the most frivolous new copper-plate: one
+as well as the other had to suffer--one as well as the other had to be
+pulled in pieces by her satirical tongue, so that, indeed, one had to
+wonder how, for twenty miles round, anything continued to exist.
+
+It was not, perhaps, exactly malice which produced all this
+destructiveness; wilfulness and selfishness were what ordinarily set her
+off upon it: but a genuine bitterness grew up in her feelings toward
+Ottilie.
+
+She looked down with disdain on the calm, uninterrupted activity of the
+sweet girl, which every one had observed and admired; and when something
+was said of the care which Ottilie took of the garden and of the
+hot-houses, she not only spoke scornfully of it, in affecting to be
+surprised, if it were so, at there being neither flowers nor fruit to be
+seen, not caring to consider that they were living in the depth of
+winter, but every faintest scrap of green, every leaf, every bud which
+showed, she chose to have picked every day and squandered on ornamenting
+the rooms and tables, and Ottilie and the gardener were not a little
+distressed to see their hopes for the next year, and perhaps for a
+longer time, destroyed in this wanton recklessness.
+
+As little would she be content to leave Ottilie to her quiet work at
+home, in which she could live with so much comfort. Ottilie must go with
+them on their pleasure-parties and sledging-parties; she must be at the
+balls which were being got up all about the neighborhood. She was not to
+mind the snow, or the cold, or the night-air, or the storm; other people
+did not die of such things, and why should she? The delicate girl
+suffered not a little from it all, but Luciana gained nothing. For
+although Ottilie went about very simply dressed, she was always, at
+least so the men thought, the most beautiful person present. A soft
+attractiveness gathered them all about her; no matter whereabouts in
+the great rooms she was, first or last, it was always the same. Even
+Luciana's bridegroom was constantly occupied with her; the more so,
+indeed, because he desired her advice and assistance in a matter with
+which he was just then engaged.
+
+He had cultivated the acquaintance of the Architect. On seeing his
+collection of works of art, he had taken occasion to talk much with him
+on history and on other matters, and especially from seeing the chapel
+had learnt to appreciate his talent. The Baron was young and wealthy. He
+was a collector; he wished to build. His love for the arts was keen, his
+knowledge small. In the Architect he thought that he had found the man
+he wanted; that with his assistance there was more than one aim at which
+he could arrive at once. He had spoken to his bride of what he wished.
+She praised him for it, and was infinitely delighted with the proposal.
+But it was more, perhaps, that she might carry off this young man from
+Ottilie (for whom she fancied she saw in him a kind of inclination),
+than because she thought of applying his talents to any purpose. He had
+shown himself, indeed, very ready to help at any of her extemporized
+festivities, and had suggested various resources for this thing and
+that. But she always thought she understood better than he what should
+be done, and as her inventive genius was usually somewhat common, her
+designs could be as well executed with the help of a tolerably handy
+domestic as with that of the most finished artist. Further than to an
+altar on which something was to be offered, or to a crowning, whether of
+a living head or of one of plaster of paris, the force of her
+imagination could not ascend, when a birthday, or other such occasion,
+made her wish to pay some one an especial compliment.
+
+Ottilie was able to give the Baron the most satisfactory answer to his
+inquiries as to the relation of the Architect with their family.
+Charlotte had already, as she was aware, been exerting herself to find
+some situation for him; had it not been indeed for the arrival of the
+party, the young man would have left them immediately on the completion
+of the chapel, the winter having brought all building operations to a
+standstill; and it was, therefore, most fortunate if a new patron could
+be found to assist him, and to make use of his talents.
+
+Ottilie's own personal position with the Architect was as pure and
+unconscious as possible. His agreeable presence, and his industrious
+nature, had charmed and entertained her, as the presence of an elder
+brother might. Her feelings for him remained at the calm unimpassioned
+level of blood relationship. For in her heart there was no room for
+more; it was filled to overflowing with love for Edward; only God, who
+interpenetrates all things, could share with him the possession of that
+heart.
+
+Meanwhile the winter sank deeper; the weather grew wilder, the roads
+more impracticable, and therefore it seemed all the pleasanter to spend
+the waning days in agreeable society. With short intervals of ebb, the
+crowd from time to time flooded up over the house. Officers found their
+way there from distant garrison towns; the cultivated among them being a
+most welcome addition, the ruder the inconvenience of every one. Of
+civilians too there was no lack; and one day the Count and the Baroness
+quite unexpectedly came driving up together.
+
+Their presence gave the castle the air of a thorough court. The men of
+rank and character formed a circle about the Baron, and the ladies
+yielded precedence to the Baroness. The surprise at seeing both
+together, and in such high spirits, was not allowed to be of long
+continuance. It came out that the Count's wife was dead, and the new
+marriage was to take place as soon as ever decency would allow it.
+
+Well did Ottilie remember their first visit, and every word which was
+then uttered about marriage and separation, binding and dividing, hope,
+expectation, disappointment, renunciation. Here were these two persons,
+at that time without prospect for the future, now standing before her,
+so near their wished-for happiness, and an involuntary sigh escaped out
+of her heart.
+
+No sooner did Luciana hear that the Count was an amateur of music, than
+at once she must get up something of a concert. She herself would sing
+and accompany herself on the guitar. It was done. The instrument she did
+not play without skill; her voice was agreeable: as for the words one
+understood about as little of them as one commonly does when a German
+beauty sings to the guitar. However, every one assured her that she had
+sung with exquisite expression, and she found quite enough approbation
+to satisfy her. A singular misfortune befell her, however, on this
+occasion. Among the party there happened to be a poet, whom she hoped
+particularly to attach to herself, wishing to induce him to write a song
+or two, and address them to her. This evening, therefore, she produced
+scarcely anything except songs of his composing. Like the rest of the
+party he was perfectly courteous to her, but she had looked for more.
+She spoke to him several times, going as near the subject as she dared,
+but nothing further could she get. At last, unable to bear it any
+longer, she sent one of her train to him, to sound him and find out
+whether he had not been delighted to hear his beautiful poems so
+beautifully executed.
+
+"My poems?" he replied, with amazement; "pray excuse me, my dear sir,"
+he added, "I heard nothing but the vowels, and not all of those;
+however, I am in duty bound to express all gratitude for so amiable an
+intention." The dandy said nothing and kept his secret; the other
+endeavored to get himself out of the scrape by a few well-timed
+compliments. She did not conceal her desire to have something of his
+which should be written for herself.
+
+If it would not have been too ill-natured, he might have handed her the
+alphabet, to imagine for herself, out of that, such laudatory poem as
+would please her, and set it to the first melody that came to hand; but
+she was not to escape out of this business without mortification. A
+short time after, she had to learn that the very same evening he had
+written, at the foot of one of Ottilie's favorite melodies, a most
+lovely poem, which was something more than complimentary.
+
+Luciana, like all persons of her sort, who never can distinguish between
+where they show to advantage and where to disadvantage, now determined
+to try her fortune in reciting. Her memory was good, but, if the truth
+must be told, her execution was spiritless, and she was vehement without
+being passionate. She recited ballad stories, and whatever else is
+usually delivered in declamation. At the same time she had contracted an
+unhappy habit of accompanying what she delivered with gestures, by
+which, in a disagreeable way, what is purely epic and lyric is more
+confused than connected with the dramatic.
+
+The Count, a keen-sighted man, soon saw through the party, their
+inclinations, dispositions, wishes, and capabilities, and by some means
+or other contrived to bring Luciana to a new kind of exhibition, which
+was perfectly suited to her.
+
+"I see here," he said, "a number of persons with fine figures, who would
+surely be able to imitate pictorial emotions and postures. Suppose they
+were to try, if the thing is new to them, to represent some real and
+well-known picture. An imitation of this kind, if it requires some labor
+in arrangement, has an inconceivably charming effect."
+
+Luciana was quick enough in perceiving that here she was on her own
+ground entirely. Her fine shape, her well-rounded form, the regularity
+and yet expressiveness of her features, her light-brown braided hair,
+her long neck--she ran them all over in her mind, and calculated on
+their pictorial effects, and if she had only known that her beauty
+showed to more advantage when she was still than when she was in motion,
+because in the last case certain ungracefulness continually escaped her,
+she would have entered even more eagerly than she did into this natural
+picture-making.
+
+They looked out the engravings of celebrated pictures, and the first
+which they chose was Van Dyk's Belisarius. A large well-proportioned
+man, somewhat advanced in years, was to represent the seated, blind
+general. The Architect was to be the affectionate soldier standing
+sorrowing before him, there really being some resemblance between them.
+Luciana, half from modesty, had chosen the part of the young woman in
+the background, counting out some large alms into the palm of his hand,
+while an old woman beside her is trying to prevent her, and representing
+that she is giving too much. Another woman who is in the act of giving
+him something, was not forgotten. Into this and other pictures they
+threw themselves with all earnestness. The Count gave the Architect a
+few hints as to the best style of arrangement, and he at once set up a
+kind of theatre, all necessary pains being taken for the proper lighting
+of it. They were already deep in the midst of their preparations, before
+they observed how large an outlay what they were undertaking would
+require, and that in the country, in the middle of winter, many things
+which they required it would be difficult to procure; consequently, to
+prevent a stoppage, Luciana had nearly her whole wardrobe cut in pieces,
+to supply the various costumes which the original artist had arbitrarily
+selected.
+
+The appointed evening came, and the exhibition was carried out in the
+presence of a large assemblage, and to the universal satisfaction. They
+had some good music to excite expectation, and the performance opened
+with the Belisarius. The figures were so successful, the colors were so
+happily distributed, and the lighting managed so skilfully, that they
+might really have fancied themselves in another world, only that the
+presence of the real instead of the apparent produced a kind of
+uncomfortable sensation.
+
+The curtain fell, and was more than once raised again by general desire.
+A musical interlude kept the assembly amused while preparation was
+going forward, to surprise them with a picture of a higher stamp; it was
+the well-known design of Poussin, Ahasuerus and Esther. This time
+Luciana had done better for herself. As the fainting, sinking queen she
+had put out all her charms, and for the attendant maidens who were
+supporting her, she had cunningly selected pretty, well-shaped figures,
+not one among whom, however, had the slightest pretension to be compared
+with herself. From this picture, as from all the rest, Ottilie remained
+excluded. To sit on the golden throne and represent the Zeus-like
+monarch, Luciana had picked out the finest and handsomest man of the
+party, so that this picture was really of inimitable perfection.
+
+For a third they had taken the so-called "Father's Admonition" of
+Terburg, and who does not know Wille's admirable engraving of this
+picture? One foot thrown over the other, sits a noble knightly-looking
+father; his daughter stands before him, to whose conscience he seems to
+be addressing himself. She, a fine striking figure, in a folding drapery
+of white satin, is only to be seen from behind, but her whole bearing
+appears to signify that she is collecting herself. That the admonition
+is not too severe, that she is not being utterly put to shame, is to be
+gathered from the air and attitude of the father, while the mother seems
+as if she were trying to conceal some slight embarrassment--she is
+looking into a glass of wine, which she is on the point of drinking.
+
+Here was an opportunity for Luciana to appear in her highest splendor.
+Her back hair, the form of her head, neck, and shoulders, were beyond
+all conception beautiful; and the waist, which in the modern antique of
+the ordinary dresses of young ladies is hardly visible, showed to the
+greatest advantage in all its graceful, slender elegance in the really
+old costume. The Architect had contrived to dispose the rich folds of
+the white satin with the most exquisite nature, and, without any
+question whatever, this living imitation far exceeded the original
+picture, and produced universal delight.
+
+The spectators could never be satisfied with demanding a repetition of
+the performance, and the very natural wish to see the face and front of
+so lovely a creature, when they had done looking at her from behind, at
+last became so decided that a merry impatient young wit cried out aloud
+the words one is accustomed to write at the bottom of a page, "Tournez,
+s'il vous plait," which was echoed all round the room.
+
+The performers, however, understood their advantage too well, and had
+mastered too completely the idea of these works of art to yield to the
+most general clamor. The daughter remained standing in her shame,
+without favoring the spectators with the expression of her face. The
+father continued to sit in his attitude of admonition, and the mother
+did not lift nose or eyes out of the transparent glass, in which,
+although she seemed to be drinking, the wine did not diminish.
+
+We need not describe the number of smaller after-pieces for which had
+been chosen Flemish public-house scenes and fair and market days.
+
+The Count and the Baroness departed, promising to return in the first
+happy weeks of their approaching union. And Charlotte now had hopes,
+after having endured two weary months of it, of ridding herself of the
+rest of the party at the same time. She was assured of her daughter's
+happiness, as soon as the first tumult of youth and betrothal should
+have subsided in her; for the bridegroom considered himself the most
+fortunate person in the world. His income was large, his disposition
+moderate and rational, and now he found himself further wonderfully
+favored in the happiness of becoming the possessor of a young lady with
+whom all the world must be charmed. He had so peculiar a way of
+referring everything to her, and only to himself through her, that it
+gave him an unpleasant feeling when any newly-arrived person did not
+devote himself heart and soul to her, and was far from flattered if, as
+occasionally happened, particularly with elderly men, he neglected her
+for a close intimacy with himself. Every thing was settled about the
+Architect. On New Year's day he was to follow him and spend the Carnival
+at his house in the city, where Luciana was promising herself infinite
+happiness from a repetition of her charmingly successful pictures, as
+well as from a hundred other things; all the more as her aunt and her
+bridegroom seemed to make so light of the expense which was required for
+her amusements.
+
+And now they were to break up. But this could not be managed in an
+ordinary way. They were one day making fun of Charlotte aloud, declaring
+that they would soon have eaten out her winter stores, when the nobleman
+who had represented Belisarius, being fortunately a man of some wealth,
+carried away by Luciana's charms to which he had been so long devoting
+himself, cried out unthinkingly, "Why not manage then in the Polish
+fashion? You come now and eat up me, and then we will go on round the
+circle." No sooner said than done. Luciana willed that it should be so.
+The next day they all packed up and the swarm alighted on a new
+property. There indeed they found room enough, but few conveniences and
+no preparations to receive them. Out of this arose many _contretemps_,
+which entirely enchanted Luciana; their life became ever wilder and
+wilder. Huge hunting-parties were set on foot in the deep snow, attended
+with every sort of disagreeableness; women were not allowed to excuse
+themselves any more than men, and so they trooped on, hunting and
+riding, sledging and shouting, from one place to another, till at last
+they approached the residence, and there the news of the day and the
+scandals and what else forms the amusement of people at courts and
+cities gave the imagination another direction, and Luciana with her
+train of attendants (her aunt had gone on some time before) swept at
+once into a new sphere of life.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We accept every person in the world as that for which he gives himself
+out, only he must give himself out for something. We can put up with the
+unpleasant more easily than we can endure the insignificant.
+
+"We venture upon anything in society except only what involves a
+consequence.
+
+"We never learn to know people when they come to us: we must go to them
+to find out how things stand with them.
+
+"I find it almost natural that we should see many faults in visitors,
+and that directly they are gone we should judge them not in the most
+amiable manner. For we have, so to say, a right to measure them by our
+own standard. Even cautious, sensible men can scarcely keep themselves
+in such cases from being sharp censors.
+
+"When, on the contrary, we are staying at the houses of others, when we
+have seen them in the midst of all their habits and environments among
+those necessary conditions from which they cannot escape, when we have
+seen how they affect those about them, and how they adapt themselves to
+their circumstances, it is ignorance nay, worse, it is ill-will, to find
+ridiculous what in more than one sense has a claim on our respect.
+
+"That which we call politeness and good breeding effects what otherwise
+can only be obtained by violence, or not even by that.
+
+"Intercourse with women is the element of good manners.
+
+"How can the character, the individuality, of a man co-exist with polish
+of manner?
+
+"The individuality can only be properly made prominent through good
+manners. Every one likes what has something in it, only it not be a
+disagreeable something.
+
+"In life generally, and in society, no one has such high advantages as
+a well-cultivated soldier.
+
+"The rudest fighting people at least do not go out of their character,
+and generally behind the roughness there is a certain latent good humor,
+so that in difficulties it is possible to get on, even with them.
+
+"No one is more intolerable than an underbred civilian. From him one has
+a right to look for a delicacy, as he has no rough work to do.
+
+"When we are living with people who have a delicate sense of propriety,
+we are in misery on their account when anything unbecoming is committed.
+So I always feel for and with Charlotte, when a person is tipping his
+chair. She cannot endure it.
+
+"No one would ever come into a mixed party with spectacles on his nose,
+if he did but know that at once we women lose all pleasure in looking at
+him or listening to what he has to say.
+
+"Free-and-easiness, where there ought to be respect, is always
+ridiculous. No one would put his hat down when he had scarcely paid the
+ordinary compliments if he knew how comical it looks.
+
+"There is no outward sign of courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral
+foundation. The proper education would be that which communicated the
+sign and the foundation of it at the same time.
+
+"Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.
+
+"There is a courtesy of the heart. It is akin to love. Out of it arises
+the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
+
+"A freely offered homage is the most beautiful of all relations. And how
+were that possible without love?
+
+"We are never further from our wishes than when we imagine that we
+possess what we have desired.
+
+"No one is more a slave than the man who thinks himself free while he
+is not.
+
+"A man has only to declare that he is free, and the next moment he feels
+the conditions to which he is subject. Let him venture to declare that
+he is under conditions, and then he will feel that he is free.
+
+"Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending
+ourselves except love.
+
+"There is something terrible in the sight of a highly-gifted man lying
+under obligations to a fool.
+
+"'No man is a hero to his valet,' the proverb says. But that is only
+because it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The valet will probably
+know how to value the valet-hero.
+
+"Mediocrity has no greater consolation than in the thought that genius
+is not immortal.
+
+"The greatest men are connected with their own century always through
+some weakness.
+
+"One is apt to regard people as more dangerous than they are.
+
+"Fools and modest people are alike innocuous. It is only your half-fools
+and your half-wise who are really and truly dangerous.
+
+"There is no better deliverance from the world than through art; and a
+man can form no surer bond with it than through art.
+
+"Alike in the moment of our highest fortune and our deepest necessity,
+we require the artist.
+
+"The business of art is with the difficult and the good.
+
+"To see the difficult easily handled, gives us the feeling of the
+impossible.
+
+"Difficulties increase the nearer we are to our end.
+
+"Sowing is not so difficult as reaping."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The very serious discomfort which this visit had caused to Charlotte was
+in some way compensated to her through the fuller insight which it had
+enabled her to gain into her daughter's character. In this, her
+knowledge of the world was of no slight service to her. It was not the
+first time that so singular a character had come across her, although
+she had never seen any in which the unusual features were so largely
+developed; and she had had experience enough to show her that such
+persons, after having felt the discipline of life, after having gone
+through something of it, and been in intercourse with older people, may
+come out at last really charming and amiable; the selfishness may soften
+and eager restless activity find a definite direction for itself. And
+therefore, as a mother, Charlotte was able to endure the appearance of
+symptoms which for others might perhaps have been unpleasing, from a
+sense that where strangers only desire to enjoy, or at least not to have
+their taste offended, the business of parents is rather to hope.
+
+After her daughter's departure, however, she had to be pained in a
+singular and unlooked-for manner, in finding that, not so much through
+what there really was objectionable in her behavior, as through what was
+good and praiseworthy in it, she had left an ill report of herself
+behind her. Luciana seemed to have prescribed it as a rule to herself
+not only to be merry with the merry, but miserable with the miserable;
+and in order to give full swing to the spirit of contradiction in her,
+often to make the happy, uncomfortable, and the sad, cheerful. In every
+family among whom she came, she inquired after such members of it as
+were ill or infirm, and unable to appear in society. She would go to see
+them in their rooms, enact the physician, and insist on prescribing
+powerful doses for them out of her own traveling medicine-chest, which
+she constantly took with her in her carriage; her attempted cures, as
+may be supposed, either succeeding or failing as chance happened to
+direct.
+
+In this sort of benevolence she was thoroughly cruel, and would listen
+to nothing that was said to her, because she was convinced that she was
+managing admirably. One of these attempts of hers on the moral side
+failed very disastrously, and this it was which gave Charlotte so much
+trouble, inasmuch as it involved consequences and every one was talking
+about it. She never had heard of the story till Luciana was gone;
+Ottilie, who had made one of the party present at the time, had to give
+her a circumstantial account of it.
+
+One of several daughters of a family of rank had the misfortune to have
+caused the death of one of her younger sisters; it had destroyed her
+peace of mind, and she had never been properly herself since. She lived
+in her own room, occupying herself and keeping quiet; and she could only
+bear to see the members of her own family when they came one by one. If
+there were several together, she suspected at once that they were making
+reflections upon her, and upon her condition. To each of them singly she
+would speak rationally enough, and talk freely for an hour at a time.
+
+Luciana had heard of this, and had secretly determined with herself, as
+soon as she got into the house, that she would forthwith work a miracle,
+and restore the young lady to society. She conducted herself in the
+matter more prudently than usual, managed to introduce herself alone to
+the poor sick-souled girl, and, as far as people could understand, had
+wound her way into her confidence through music. At last came her fatal
+mistake; wishing to make a scene, and fancying that she had sufficiently
+prepared her for it, one evening she suddenly introduced the beautiful
+pale creature into the midst of the brilliant, glittering assembly; and
+perhaps, even then, the attempt might not have so utterly failed, had
+not the crowd themselves, between curiosity and apprehension, conducted
+themselves so unwisely, first gathering about the invalid, and then
+shrinking from her again; and with their whispers, and shaking their
+heads together, confusing and agitating her. Her delicate sensibility
+could not endure it. With a dreadful shriek, which expressed, as it
+seemed, a horror at some monster that was rushing upon her, she fainted.
+The crowd fell back in terror on every side, and Ottilie had been one of
+those who had carried back the sufferer utterly insensible to her room.
+
+Luciana meanwhile, just like herself, had been reading an angry lecture
+to the rest of the party, without reflecting for a moment that she
+herself was entirely to blame, and without letting herself be deterred
+by this and other failures, from going on with her experimentalizing.
+
+The state of the invalid herself had since that time become more and
+more serious; indeed, the disorder had increased to such a degree that
+the poor thing's parents were unable to keep her any longer at home, and
+had been forced to confide her to the care of a public institution.
+Nothing remained for Charlotte, except, by the delicacy of her own
+attention to the family, in some degree to alleviate the pain which had
+been occasioned by her daughter. On Ottilie, the thing made a deep
+impression. She felt the more for the unhappy girl, as she was
+convinced, she did not attempt to deny it to Charlotte, that by a
+careful treatment the disorder might have been unquestionably removed.
+
+So there came, too, as it often happens, that we dwell more on past
+disagreeables than on past agreeables, a slight misunderstanding to be
+spoken of, which had led Ottilie to a wrong judgment of the Architect,
+when he did not choose to produce his collection that evening, although
+she had so eagerly begged him to produce it. His practical refusal had
+remained, ever since, hanging about her heart, she herself could not
+tell why. Her feelings about the matter were undoubtedly just; what a
+young lady like Ottilie could desire, a young man like the Architect
+ought not to have refused. The latter, however, when she took occasion
+to give him a gentle reproof for it, had a very valid excuse to offer
+for himself.
+
+"If you knew," he said, "how roughly even cultivated people allow
+themselves to handle the most valuable works of art, you would forgive
+me for not producing mine among the crowd. No one will take the trouble
+to hold a medal by the rim. They will finger the most beautiful
+impressions, and the smoothest surfaces; they will take the rarest coins
+between the thumb and forefinger, and rub them up and down, as if they
+were testing the execution with the touch. Without remembering that a
+large sheet of paper ought to be held in two hands, they will lay hold,
+with one, of an invaluable proof-engraving of some drawing which cannot
+be replaced, like a conceited politician laying hold of a newspaper, and
+passing judgment by anticipation, as he is cutting the pages, on the
+occurrences of the world. Nobody cares to recollect that if twenty
+people, one after the other, treat a work of art in this way, the
+one-and-twentieth will not find much to see there."
+
+"Have not I often vexed you in this way?" asked Ottilie. "Have not I,
+through my carelessness, many times injured your treasures?"
+
+"Never once," answered the Architect, "never. For you it would be
+impossible. In you the right thing is innate."
+
+"In any case," replied Ottilie, "it would not be a bad plan, if in the
+next edition of the book of good manners, after the chapters which tell
+us how we ought to eat and drink in company, a good circumstantial
+chapter were inserted, telling how to behave among works of art and in
+museums."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said the Architect; "and then curiosity-collectors and
+amateurs would be better contented to show their valuable treasures to
+the world."
+
+Ottilie had long, long forgiven him; but as he seemed to have taken her
+reproof sorely to heart, and assured her again and again that he would
+gladly produce everything--that he was delighted to do anything for
+his friends--she felt that she had wounded his feelings, and that she
+owed him some compensation. It was not easy for her, therefore, to give
+an absolute refusal to a request which he made her in the conclusion of
+this conversation, although when she called her heart into counsel about
+it, she did not see how she could allow herself to do what he wished.
+
+The circumstances of the matter were these: Ottilie's exclusion from the
+picture-exhibition by Luciana's jealousy had irritated him in the
+highest degree; and at the same time he had observed with regret, that
+at this, the most brilliant part of all the amusements at the castle,
+ill health had prevented Charlotte from being more than rarely present;
+and now he did not wish to go away without some additional proof of his
+gratitude, which, for the honor of one and the entertainment of the
+other, should take the thoughtful and attractive form of preparing a far
+more beautiful exhibition than any of those which had preceded it.
+Perhaps, too, unknown to himself, another secret motive was working on
+him. It was so hard for him to leave the house, and to leave the family.
+It seemed impossible to him to go away from Ottilie's eyes, under the
+calm, sweet, gentle glance of which the latter part of the time he had
+been living almost entirely alone.
+
+The Christmas holidays were approaching; and it became at once clear to
+him that the very thing which he wanted was a representation with real
+figures of one of those pictures of the scene in the stable--a sacred
+exhibition such as at this holy season good Christians delight to offer
+to the divine Mother and her Child, of the manner in which she, in her
+seeming lowliness, was honored first by the shepherds and afterward by
+kings.
+
+He had thoroughly brought before himself how such a picture should be
+contrived. A fair, lovely child was found, and there would be no lack of
+shepherds and shepherdesses. But without Ottilie the thing could not be
+done. The young man had exalted her in his design to be the mother of
+God, and if she refused, there was no question but the undertaking must
+fall to the ground. Ottilie, half embarrassed at the proposal, referred
+him and his request to Charlotte. The latter gladly gave her permission,
+and lent her assistance in overcoming and overpersuading Ottilie's
+hesitation in assuming so sacred a personality. The Architect worked day
+and night, that by Christmas-eve everything might be ready.
+
+Day and night, indeed, in the literal sense. At all times he was a man
+who had but few necessities; and Ottilie's presence seemed to be to him
+in the place of all delicacies. When he was working for her, it was as
+if he required no sleep; when he was busy about her, as if he could do
+without food. Accordingly, by the hour of the evening solemnity, all was
+completed. He had found the means of collecting some well-toned wind
+instruments to form an introduction, and produce the desired temper of
+thought and feeling. But when the curtain rose, Charlotte was taken
+completely by surprise. The picture which presented itself to her had
+been repeated so often in the world, that one could scarcely have
+expected any new impression to be produced. But here, the reality as
+representing the picture had its especial advantages. The whole space
+was the color rather of night than of twilight, and there was nothing
+even of the details of the scene which was obscure. The inimitable idea
+that all the light should proceed from the child, the artist had
+contrived to carry out by an ingenious method of illumination which was
+concealed by the figures in the foreground, who were all in shadow.
+Bright looking boys and girls were standing around, their fresh faces
+sharply lighted from below; and there were angels too, whose own
+brilliancy grew pale before the divine, whose ethereal bodies showed dim
+and dense, and needing other light in the presence of the body of the
+divine humanity. By good fortune the infant had fallen asleep in the
+loveliest attitude, so that nothing disturbed the contemplation when
+the eye rested on the seeming mother, who with infinite grace had
+lifted off a veil to reveal her hidden treasure. At this moment the
+picture seemed to have been caught, and there to have remained fixed.
+Physically dazzled, mentally surprised, the people round appeared to
+have just moved to turn away their half-blinded eyes, to be glancing
+again toward the child with curious delight, and to be showing more
+wonder and pleasure than awe and reverence--although these emotions were
+not forgotten, and were to be traced upon the features of some of the
+older spectators.
+
+But Ottilie's figure, expression, attitude, glance, excelled all which
+any painter has ever represented. A man who had true knowledge of art,
+and had seen this spectacle, would have been in fear lest any portion of
+it should move; he would have doubted whether anything could ever so
+much please him again. Unluckily, there was no one present who could
+comprehend the whole of this effect. The Architect alone, who, as a
+tall, slender shepherd, was looking in from the side over those who were
+kneeling, enjoyed, although he was not in the best position for seeing,
+the fullest pleasure. And who can describe the mien of the new-made
+queen of heaven? The purest humility, the most exquisite feeling of
+modesty, at the great honor which had undeservedly been bestowed upon
+her, with indescribable and immeasurable happiness, was displayed upon
+her features, expressing as much her own personal emotion as that of the
+character which she was endeavoring to represent.
+
+Charlotte was delighted with the beautiful figures; but what had most
+effect on her was the child. Her eyes filled with tears, and her
+imagination presented to her in the liveliest colors the hope that she
+might soon have such another darling creature on her own lap.
+
+They had let down the curtain, partly to give the exhibitors some little
+rest, partly to make an alteration in the exhibition. The artist had
+proposed to himself to transmute the first scene of night and lowliness
+into a picture of splendor and glory; and for this purpose had prepared
+a blaze of light to fall in from every side, which this interval was
+required to kindle.
+
+Ottilie, in the semi-theatrical position in which she found herself, had
+hitherto felt perfectly at her ease, because, with the exception of
+Charlotte and a few members of the household, no one had witnessed this
+devout piece of artistic display. She was, therefore, in some degree
+annoyed when in the interval she learnt that a stranger had come into
+the saloon, and had been warmly received by Charlotte. Who it was no one
+was able to tell her. She therefore made up her mind not to produce a
+disturbance, and to go on with her character. Candles and lamps blazed
+out, and she was surrounded by splendor perfectly infinite. The curtain
+rose. It was a sight to startle the spectators. The whole picture was
+one blaze of light; and instead of the full depth of shadow, there now
+were only the colors left remaining, which, from the skill with which
+they had been selected, produced a gentle softening of tone. Looking out
+under her long eyelashes, Ottilie perceived the figure of a man sitting
+by Charlotte. She did not recognize him; but the voice she fancied was
+that of the Assistant at the school. A singular emotion came over her.
+How many things had happened since she last heard the voice of him, her
+kind instructor. Like a flash of forked lightning the stream of her joys
+and her sorrow rushed swiftly before her soul, and the question rose in
+her heart: Dare you confess, dare you acknowledge it all to him? If not,
+how little can you deserve to appear before him under this sainted form;
+and how strange must it not seem to him who has only known you as your
+natural self to see you now under this disguise? In an instant, swift as
+thought, feeling and reflection began to clash and gain within her. Her
+eyes filled with tears, while she forced herself to continue to appear
+as a motionless figure, and it was a relief, indeed, to her when the
+child began to stir--and the artist saw himself compelled to give the
+sign that the curtain should fall again.
+
+If the painful feeling of being unable to meet a valued friend had,
+during the last few moments, been distressing Ottilie in addition to her
+other emotions, she was now in still greater embarrassment. Was she to
+present herself to him in this strange disguise? or had she better
+change her dress? She did not hesitate--she did the last; and in the
+interval she endeavored to collect and to compose herself; nor did she
+properly recover her self-possession until at last, in her ordinary
+costume, she had welcomed the new visitor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+In so far as the Architect desired the happiness of his kind
+patronesses, it was a pleasure to him, now that at last he was obliged
+to go, to know that he was leaving them in good society with the
+estimable Assistant. At the same time, however, when he thought of their
+goodness in its relation to himself, he could not help feeling it a
+little painful to see his place so soon, and as it seemed to his
+modesty, so well, so completely supplied. He had lingered and lingered,
+but now he forced himself away; what, after he was gone, he must endure
+as he could, at least he could not stay to witness with his own eyes.
+
+To the great relief of this half-melancholy feeling, the ladies at his
+departure made him a present of a waistcoat, upon which he had watched
+them both for some time past at work, with a silent envy of the
+fortunate unknown, to whom it was by-and-by to belong. Such a present is
+the most agreeable which a true-hearted man can receive; for while he
+thinks of the unwearied play of the beautiful fingers at the making of
+it, he cannot help flattering himself that in so long-sustained a labor
+the feeling could not have remained utterly without an interest in its
+accomplishment.
+
+The ladies had now a new visitor to entertain, for whom they felt a real
+regard, and whose stay with them it would be their endeavor to make as
+agreeable as they could. There is in all women a peculiar circle of
+inward interests, which remain always the same, and from which nothing
+in the world can divorce them. In outward social intercourse, on the
+other hand, they will gladly and easily allow themselves to take their
+tone from the person with whom at the moment they are occupied; and thus
+by a mixture of impassiveness and susceptibility, by persisting and by
+yielding, they continue to keep the government to themselves, and no man
+in the cultivated world can ever take it from them.
+
+The Architect, following at the same time his own fancy and his own
+inclination, had been exerting himself and putting out his talents for
+their gratification and for the purposes of his friends; and business
+and amusement, while he was with them, had been conducted in this
+spirit, and directed to the ends which most suited his taste. But now in
+a short time, through the presence of the Assistant, quite another sort
+of life was commenced. His great gift was to talk well, and to treat in
+his conversation of men and human relations, particularly in reference
+to the cultivation of young people. Thus arose a very perceptible
+contrast to the life which had been going on hitherto, all the more as
+the Assistant could not entirely approve of their having interested
+themselves in such subjects so exclusively.
+
+Of the impersonated picture which received him on his arrival, he never
+said a single word. On the other hand, when they took him to see the
+church and the chapel with their new decorations, expecting to please
+him as much as they were pleased themselves, he did not hesitate to
+express a very contrary opinion about it.
+
+"This mixing up of the holy with the sensuous," he said, "is anything
+but pleasing to my taste; I cannot like men to set apart certain special
+places, consecrate them, and deck them out, that by so doing they may
+nourish in themselves a temper of piety. No ornaments, not even the very
+simplest, should disturb in us that sense of the Divine Being which
+accompanies us wherever we are, and can consecrate every spot into a
+temple. What pleases me is to see a home-service of God held in the
+saloon where people come together to eat, where they have their
+parties, and amuse themselves with games and dances. The highest, the
+most excellent in men, has no form; and one should be cautious how one
+gives it any form except noble action."
+
+Charlotte, who was already generally acquainted with his mode of
+thinking, and, in the short time he had been at the castle, had already
+probed it more deeply, found something also which he might do for her in
+his own department; and she had her garden-children, whom the Architect
+had reviewed shortly before his departure, marshalled up into the great
+saloon. In their bright, clean uniforms, with their regular orderly
+movement, and their own natural vivacity, they looked exceedingly well.
+The Assistant examined them in his own way, and by a variety of
+questions, and by the turns which he gave them, soon brought to light
+the capacities and dispositions of the children; and without its seeming
+so, in the space of less than one hour he had really given them
+important instruction and assistance.
+
+"How did you manage that?" asked Charlotte, as the children marched
+away. "I listened with all my attention. Nothing was brought forward
+except things which were quite familiar, and yet I cannot tell the least
+how I should begin to bring them to be discussed in so short a time so
+methodically, with all this questioning and answering."
+
+"Perhaps," replied the Assistant, "we ought to make a secret of the
+tricks of our own handicraft. However, I will not hide from you one very
+simple maxim, with the help of which you may do this, and a great deal
+more than this. Take any subject, a substance, an idea, whatever you
+like; keep fast hold of it; make yourself thoroughly acquainted with it
+in all its parts, and then it will be easy for you, in conversation, to
+find out, with a mass of children, how much about it has already
+developed itself in them; what requires to be stimulated, what to be
+directly communicated. The answers to your questions may be as
+unsatisfactory as they will, they may wander wide of the mark; if you
+only take care that your counter-question shall draw their thoughts and
+senses inwards again; if you do not allow yourself to be driven from
+your own position--the children will at last reflect, comprehend, learn
+only what the teacher desires them to learn, and the subject will be
+presented to them in the light in which he wishes them to see it. The
+greatest mistake which he can make is to allow himself to be run away
+with from the subject; not to know how to keep fast to the point with
+which he is engaged. Do you try this on your own account the next time
+the children come; you will find you will be greatly entertained by it
+yourself."
+
+"That is very good," said Charlotte. "The right method of teaching is
+the reverse, I see, of what we must do in life. In society we must keep
+the attention long upon nothing, and in instruction the first
+commandment is to permit no dissipation of it."
+
+"Variety, without dissipation, were the best motto for both teaching and
+life, if this desirable equipoise were easy to be preserved," said the
+Assistant; and he was going on further with the subject, when Charlotte
+called out to him to look again at the children, whose merry troop were
+at the moment moving across the court. He expressed his satisfaction at
+seeing them wearing a uniform. "Men," he said, "should wear a uniform
+from their childhood upwards. They have to accustom themselves to work
+together; to lose themselves among their equals; to obey in masses, and
+to work on a large scale. Every kind of uniform, moreover, generates a
+military habit of thought, and a smart, straight-forward carriage. All
+boys are born soldiers, whatever you do with them. You have only to
+watch them at their mock fights and games, their storming parties and
+scaling parties."
+
+"On the other hand, you will not blame me," replied Ottilie, "if I do
+not insist with my girls on such unity of costume. When I introduce them
+to you, I hope to gratify you by a parti-colored mixture."
+
+"I approve of that, entirely," replied the other. "Women should go about
+in every sort of variety of dress; each following her own style and her
+own likings, that each may learn to feel what sits well upon her and
+becomes her. And for a more weighty reason as well--because it is
+appointed for them to stand alone all their lives, and work alone."
+
+"That seems to me to be a paradox," answered Charlotte. "Are we then to
+be never anything for ourselves?"
+
+"O, yes!" replied the Assistant. "In respect of other women assuredly.
+But observe a young lady as a lover, as a bride, as a housewife, as a
+mother. She always stands isolated. She is always alone, and will be
+alone. Even the most empty-headed woman is in the same case. Each one of
+them excludes all others. It is her nature to do so; because of each one
+of them is required everything which the entire sex have to do. With a
+man it is altogether different. He would make a second man if there were
+none. But a woman might live to an eternity, without even so much as
+thinking of producing a duplicate of herself."
+
+"One has only to say the truth in a strange way," said Charlotte, "and
+at last the strangest thing will seem to be true. We will accept what is
+good for us out of your observations, and yet as women we will hold
+together with women, and do common work with them too; not to give the
+other sex too great an advantage over us. Indeed, you must not take it
+ill of us, if in future we come to feel a little malicious satisfaction
+when our lords and masters do not get on in the very best way together."
+
+With much care, this wise, sensible person went on to examine more
+closely how Ottilie proceeded with her little pupils, and expressed his
+marked approbation of it. "You are entirely right," he said, "in
+directing these children only to what they can immediately and usefully
+put in practice. Cleanliness, for instance, will accustom them to wear
+their clothes with pleasure to themselves; and everything is gained if
+they can be induced to enter into what they do with cheerfulness and
+self-reflection."
+
+In other ways he found, to his great satisfaction, that nothing had been
+done for outward display; but all was inward, and designed to supply
+what was indispensably necessary. "In how few words," he cried, "might
+the whole business of education be summed up, if people had but ears to
+hear!"
+
+"Will you try whether I have any ears?" said Ottilie, smiling.
+
+"Indeed I will," answered he, "only you must not betray me. Educate the
+boys to be servants, and the girls to be mothers, and everything is as
+it should be."
+
+"To be mothers?" replied Ottilie. "Women would scarcely think that
+sufficient. They have to look forward, without being mothers, to going
+out into service. And, indeed, our young men think themselves a great
+deal too good for servants. One can see easily, in every one of them,
+that he holds himself far fitter to be a master."
+
+"And for that reason we should say nothing about it to them," said the
+Assistant. "We flatter ourselves on into life; but life flatters not us.
+How many men would like to acknowledge at the outset, what at the end
+they must acknowledge whether they like it or not? But let us leave
+these considerations, which do not concern us here.
+
+"I consider you very fortunate in having been able to go so methodically
+to work with your pupils. If your very little ones run about with their
+dolls, and stitch together a few petticoats for them; if the elder
+sisters will then take care of the younger, and the whole household know
+how to supply its own wants, and one member of it help the others, the
+further step into life will not then be great, and such a girl will find
+in her husband what she has lost in her parents.
+
+"But among the higher ranks the problem is a sorely intricate one. We
+have to provide for higher, finer, more delicate relations; especially
+for such as arise out of society. We are, therefore, obliged to give our
+pupils an outward cultivation. It is indispensable, it is necessary, and
+it may be really valuable, if we do not overstep the proper measure in
+it. Only it is so easy, while one is proposing to cultivate the
+children for a wider circle, to drive them out into the indefinite,
+without keeping before our eyes the real requisites of the inner nature.
+Here lies the problem which more or less must be either solved or
+blundered over by all educators.
+
+"Many things, with which we furnish our scholars at the school, do not
+please me; because experience tells me of how little service they are
+likely to be in after-life. How much is in a little while stripped off;
+how much at once committed to oblivion, as soon as the young lady finds
+herself in the position of a housewife or a mother!
+
+"In the meantime, since I have devoted myself to this occupation, I
+cannot but entertain a devout hope that one day, with the companionship
+of some faithful helpmate, I may succeed in cultivating purely in my
+pupils that, and that only, which they will require when they pass out
+into the field of independent activity and self-reliance; that I may be
+able to say to myself, in this sense is their education completed.
+Another education there is indeed which will again speedily recommence,
+and work on well nigh through all the years of our life--the education
+which circumstances will give us, if we do not give it to ourselves."
+
+How true Ottilie felt were these words! What had not a passion, little
+dreamed of before, done to educate her in the past year! What trials did
+she not see hovering before her if she looked forward only to the
+next--to the very next, which was now so near!
+
+It was not without a purpose that the young man had spoken of a
+helpmate--of a wife; for with all his diffidence, he could not refrain
+from thus remotely hinting at his own wishes. A number of circumstances
+and accidents, indeed, combined to induce him on this visit to approach
+a few steps toward his aim.
+
+The Lady Superior of the school was advanced in years. She had been
+already for some time looking about among her fellow-laborers, male and
+female, for some person whom she could take into partnership with
+herself, and at last had made proposals to the Assistant, in whom she
+had the highest ground for feeling confidence. He was to conduct the
+business of the school with herself. He was to work with her in it, as
+if it was his own; and after her death, as her heir, to enter upon it as
+sole proprietor.
+
+The principal thing now seemed to be, that he should find a wife who
+would cooperate with him. Ottilie was secretly before his eyes and
+before his heart. A number of difficulties suggested themselves, and yet
+again there were favorable circumstances on the other side to
+counterbalance them. Luciana had left the school; Ottilie could
+therefore return with the less difficulty. Of the affair with Edward,
+some little had transpired. It passed, however, as many such things do,
+as a matter of indifference, and this very circumstance might make it
+desirable that she should leave the castle. And yet, perhaps, no
+decision would have been arrived at, no step would have been taken, had
+not an unexpected visit given a special impulse to his hesitation. The
+appearance of remarkable people, in any and every circle, can never be
+without its effects.
+
+The Count and the Baroness, who often found themselves asked for their
+opinion, almost every one being in difficulty about the education of
+their children, as to the value of the various schools, had found it
+desirable to make themselves particularly acquainted with this one,
+which was generally so well spoken of; and under their present
+circumstances, they were more easily able to carry on these inquiries in
+company.
+
+The Baroness, however, had something else in view as well. While she was
+last at the castle, she had talked over with Charlotte the whole affair
+of Edward and Ottilie. She had insisted again and again that Ottilie
+must be sent away. She tried every means to encourage Charlotte to do
+it, and to keep her from being frightened by Edward's threats. Several
+modes of escape from the difficulty were suggested. Accidentally the
+school was mentioned, and the Assistant and his incipient passion,
+which made the Baroness more resolved than ever to pay her intended
+visit there.
+
+She went; she made acquaintance with the Assistant; looked over the
+establishment, and spoke of Ottilie. The Count also spoke with much
+interest of her, having in his recent visit learnt to know her better.
+She had been drawn toward him; indeed, she had felt attracted by him;
+believing that she could see, that she could perceive in his solid,
+substantial conversation, something to which hitherto she had been an
+entire stranger. In her intercourse with Edward, the world had been
+utterly forgotten; in the presence of the Count, the world appeared
+first worth regarding. The attraction was mutual. The Count conceived a
+liking for Ottilie; he would have been glad to have had her for a
+daughter. Thus a second time, and worse than the first time, she was in
+the way of the Baroness. Who knows what, in times when passions ran
+hotter than they do now-a-days, this lady might not have devised against
+her? As things were, it was enough if she could get her married, and
+render her more innocuous for the future to the peace of mind of married
+women. She therefore artfully urged the Assistant, in a delicate, but
+effective manner, to set out on a little excursion to the castle; where
+his plans and his wishes, of which he made no secret to the lady, he
+might forthwith take steps to realize.
+
+With the fullest consent of the Superior he started off on his
+expedition, and in his heart he nourished good hopes of success. He knew
+that Ottilie was not ill-disposed toward him; and although it was true
+there was some disproportion of rank between them, yet distinctions of
+this kind were fast disappearing in the temper of the time. Moreover,
+the Baroness had made him perceive clearly that Ottilie must always
+remain a poor, portionless maiden. To be related to a wealthy family, it
+was said, could be of service to nobody. For even with the largest
+property, men have a feeling that it is not right to deprive of any
+considerable sum, those who, as standing in a nearer degree of
+relationship, appear to have a fuller right to possession; and really
+it is a strange thing, that the immense privilege which a man has of
+disposing of his property after his death, he so very seldom uses for
+the benefit of those whom he loves, only out of regard to established
+usage appearing to consider those who would inherit his estate from him,
+supposing he made no will at all.
+
+Thus, while on his journey, he grew to feel himself entirely on a level
+with Ottilie. A favorable reception raised his hopes. He found Ottilie
+indeed not altogether so open with him as usual, but she was
+considerably matured, more developed, and, if you please, generally more
+conversible than he had known her. She was ready to give him the fullest
+insight into many things which were in any way connected with his
+profession; but when he attempted to approach his proper object, a
+certain inward shyness always held him back.
+
+Once, however, Charlotte gave him an opportunity for saying something.
+In Ottilie's presence she said to him, "Well now, you have looked
+closely enough into everything which is going forward in my circle. How
+do you find Ottilie? You had better say while she is here."
+
+Hereupon the Assistant signified, with a clear perception and composed
+expression, how that, in respect of a freer carriage, of an easier
+manner in speaking, of a higher insight into the things of the world,
+which showed itself more in actions than in words, he found Ottilie
+altered much for the better; but that he still believed it might be of
+serious advantage to her if she would go back for some little time to
+the school, in order methodically and thoroughly to make her own forever
+what the world was only imparting to her in fragments and pieces, rather
+perplexing her than satisfying her, and often too late to be of service.
+He did not wish to be prolix about it. Ottilie herself knew best how
+much method and connection there was in the style of instruction out of
+which, in that case, she would be taken.
+
+Ottilie had nothing to say against this; she could not acknowledge what
+it was which these words made her feel, because she was hardly able to
+explain it to herself. It seemed to her as if nothing in the world was
+disconnected so long as she thought of the one person whom she loved;
+and she could not conceive how, without him, anything could be connected
+at all.
+
+Charlotte replied to the proposal with a wise kindness. She said that
+she herself, as well as Ottilie, had long desired her return to the
+school. At that time, however, the presence of so dear a companion and
+helper had become indispensable to herself; still she would offer no
+obstacle at some future period, if Ottilie continued to wish it, to her
+going back there for such a time as would enable her to complete what
+she had begun, and to make entirely her own what had been interrupted.
+
+The Assistant listened with delight to this qualified assent. Ottilie
+did not venture to say anything against it, although the very thought
+made her shudder. Charlotte, on her side, thought only how to gain time.
+She hoped that Edward would soon come back and find himself a happy
+father; then she was convinced all would go right; and one way or
+another they would be able to settle something for Ottilie.
+
+After an important conversation which has furnished matter for
+after-reflection to all who have taken part in it, there commonly
+follows a sort of pause, which in appearance is like a general
+embarrassment. They walked up and down the saloon. The Assistant turned
+over the leaves of various books, and came at last on the folio of
+engravings which had remained lying there since Luciana's time. As soon
+as he saw that it contained nothing but apes, he shut it up again.
+
+It may have been this, however, which gave occasion to a conversation of
+which we find traces in Ottilie's diary.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"It is strange how men can have the heart to take such pains with the
+pictures of those hideous monkeys. One lowers one's-self sufficiently
+when one looks at them merely as animals, but it is really wicked to
+give way to the inclination to look for people whom we know behind such
+masks."
+
+"It is a sure mark of a certain obliquity, to take pleasure in
+caricatures and monstrous faces, and pigmies. I have to thank our kind
+Assistant that I have never been vexed with natural history; I could
+never make myself at home with worms and beetles."
+
+"Just now he acknowledged to me, that it was the same with him. 'Of
+nature,' he said, 'we ought to know nothing except what is actually
+alive immediately around us. With the trees which blossom and put out
+leaves and bear fruit in our own neighborhood, with every shrub which we
+pass by, with every blade of grass on which we tread, we stand in a real
+relation. They are our genuine compatriots. The birds which hop up and
+down among our branches, which sing among our leaves, belong to us; they
+speak to us from our childhood upward, and we learn to understand their
+language. But let a man ask himself whether or not every strange
+creature, torn out of its natural environment, does not at first sight
+make a sort of painful impression upon him, which is only deadened by
+custom. It is a mark of a motley, dissipated sort of life, to be able to
+endure monkeys, and parrots, and black people, about one's self."
+
+"Many times when a certain longing curiosity about these strange objects
+has come over me, I have envied the traveler who sees such marvels in
+living, everyday connection with other marvels. But he, too, must have
+become another man. Palm-trees will not allow a man to wander among them
+with impunity; and doubtless his tone of thinking becomes very different
+in a land where elephants and tigers are at home."
+
+"The only inquirers into nature whom we care to respect, are such as
+know how to describe and to represent to us the strange wonderful things
+which they have seen in their proper locality, each in its own especial
+element. How I should enjoy once hearing Humboldt talk!"
+
+"A cabinet of natural curiosities we may regard like an Egyptian
+burying-place, where the various plant gods and animal gods stand about
+embalmed. It may be well enough for a priest-caste to busy itself with
+such things in a twilight of mystery. But in general instruction, they
+have no place or business; and we must beware of them all the more,
+because what is nearer to us, and more valuable, may be so easily thrust
+aside by them."
+
+"A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one
+single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with
+rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form. For what
+is the result of all these, except what we know as well without them,
+that the human figure preëminently and peculiarly is made in the image
+and likeness of God?"
+
+"Individuals may be left to occupy themselves with whatever amuses them,
+with whatever gives them pleasure, whatever they think useful; but 'the
+proper study of mankind is man.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+There are but few men who care to occupy themselves with the immediate
+past. Either we are forcibly bound up in the present, or we lose
+ourselves in the long gone-by, and seek back for what is utterly lost,
+as if it were possible to summon it up again, and rehabilitate it. Even
+in great and wealthy families who are under large obligations to their
+ancestors, we commonly find men thinking more of their grandfathers than
+their fathers.
+
+Such reflections as these suggested themselves to our Assistant, as, on
+one of those beautiful days in which the departing winter is accustomed
+to imitate the spring, he had been walking up and down the great old
+castle garden, and admiring the tall avenues of the lindens, and the
+formal walks and flower-beds which had been laid out by Edward's father.
+The trees had thriven admirably, according to the design of him who had
+planted them, and now when they ought to have begun to be valued and
+enjoyed, no one ever spoke of them. Hardly any one even went near them,
+and the interest and the outlay was now directed to the other side, out
+into the free and the open.
+
+He remarked upon it to Charlotte on his return; she did not take it
+unkindly. "While life is sweeping us forward," she replied, "we fancy
+that we are acting out our own impulses; we believe that we choose
+ourselves what we will do, and what we will enjoy. But in fact, if we
+look at it closely, our actions are no more than the plans and the
+desires of the time which we are compelled to carry out."
+
+"No doubt," said the Assistant. "And who is strong enough to withstand
+the stream of what is around him? Time passes on, and in it, opinions,
+thoughts, prejudices, and interests. If the youth of the son falls in
+the era of revolution, we may feel assured that he will have nothing in
+common with his father. If the father lived at a time when the desire
+was to accumulate property, to secure the possession of it, to narrow
+and to gather one's-self in, and to base one's enjoyment in separation
+from the world, the son will at once seek to extend himself, to
+communicate himself to others, to spread himself over a wide surface,
+and open out his closed stores."
+
+"Entire periods," replied Charlotte, "resemble this father and son whom
+you have been describing. Of the state of things when every little town
+was obliged to have its walls and moats, when the castle of the nobleman
+was built in a swamp, and the smallest manor-houses were only accessible
+by a draw-bridge, we are scarcely able to form a conception. In our
+days, the largest cities take down their walls, the moats of the
+princes' castles are filled in; cities are no more than great _places_,
+and when one travels and sees all this, one might fancy that universal
+peace was just established, and the golden age was before the door. No
+one feels himself easy in a garden which does not look like the open
+country. There must be nothing to remind him of form and constraint, we
+choose to be entirely free, and to draw our breath without sense of
+confinement. Do you conceive it possible, my friend, that we can ever
+return again out of this into another, into our former condition?"
+
+"Why should we not?" replied the Assistant. "Every condition has its own
+burden along with it, the most relaxed as well as the most constrained.
+The first presupposes abundance, and leads to extravagance. Let want
+reappear, and the spirit of moderation is at once with us again. Men who
+are obliged to make use of their space and their soil, will speedily
+enough raise walls up round their gardens to be sure of their crops and
+plants. Out of this will arise by degrees a new phase of things: the
+useful will again gain the upper hand; and even the man of large
+possessions will feel at last that he must make the most of all which
+belongs to him. Believe me, it is quite possible that your son may
+become indifferent to all which you have been doing in the park, and
+draw in again behind the solemn walls and the tall lindens of his
+grandfather."
+
+The secret pleasure which it gave Charlotte to have a son foretold to
+her, made her forgive the Assistant his somewhat unfriendly prophecy of
+how it might one day fare with her lovely, beautiful park. She therefore
+answered without any discomposure: "You and I are not old enough yet to
+have lived through very much of these contradictions; and yet when I
+look back into my own early youth, when I remember the style of
+complaints which I used then to hear from older people, and when I think
+at the same time of what the country and the town then were, I have
+nothing to advance against what you say. But is there nothing which one
+can do to remedy this natural course of things? Are father and son,
+parents and children, to be always thus unable to understand each
+other? You have been so kind as to prophesy a boy to me. Is it necessary
+that he must stand in contradiction to his father? Must he destroy what
+his parents have erected, instead of completing it, instead of following
+on upon the same idea, and elevating it?"
+
+"There is a rational remedy for it," replied the Assistant. "But it is
+one which will be but seldom put in practice by men. The father should
+raise his son to a joint ownership with himself. He should permit him to
+plant and to build; and allow him the same innocent liberty which he
+allows to himself. One form of activity may be woven into another, but
+it cannot be pieced on to it. A young shoot may be readily and easily
+grafted with an old stem, to which no grown branch admits of being
+fastened."
+
+The Assistant was glad to have had the opportunity, at the moment when
+he saw himself obliged to take his leave, of saying something agreeable
+to Charlotte, and thus making himself a new link to secure her favor. He
+had been already too long absent from home, and yet he could not make up
+his mind to return there until after a full conviction that he must
+allow the approaching epoch of Charlotte's confinement first to pass by
+before he could look for any decision from her in respect to Ottilie. He
+therefore accommodated himself to the circumstances, and returned with
+these prospects and hopes to the Superior.
+
+Charlotte's confinement was now approaching; she kept more in her own
+room. The ladies who had gathered about her were her closest companions.
+Ottilie managed all domestic matters, hardly able, however, the while,
+to think what she was doing. She had indeed utterly resigned herself;
+she desired to continue to exert herself to the extent of her power for
+Charlotte, for the child, for Edward. But she could not see how it would
+be possible for her. Nothing could save her from utter distraction,
+except patiently to do the duty which each day brought with it.
+
+A son was brought happily into the world, and the ladies declared, with
+one voice, it was the very image of its father. Only Ottilie, as she
+wished the new mother joy, and kissed the child with all her heart, was
+unable to see the likeness. Once already Charlotte had felt most
+painfully the absence of her husband, when she had to make preparations
+for her daughter's marriage. And now the father could not be present at
+the birth of his son. He could not have the choosing of the name by
+which the child was hereafter to be called.
+
+The first among all Charlotte's friends who came to wish her joy was
+Mittler. He had placed expresses ready to bring him news the instant the
+event took place. He was admitted to see her, and, scarcely able to
+conceal his triumph even before Ottilie, when alone with Charlotte he
+broke fairly out with it; and was at once ready with means to remove all
+anxieties, and set aside all immediate difficulties. The baptism should
+not be delayed a day longer than necessary. The old clergyman, who had
+one foot already in the grave, should leave his blessing, to bind
+together the past and the future. The child should be called Otto; what
+name would he bear so fitly as that of his father and of his father's
+friend?
+
+It required the peremptory resolution of this man to set aside the
+innumerable considerations, arguments, hesitations, difficulties; what
+this person knew, and that person knew better; the opinions, up and
+down, and backward and forward, which every friend volunteered. It
+always happens on such occasions that when one inconvenience is removed,
+a fresh inconvenience seems to arise; and in wishing to spare all sides,
+we inevitably go wrong on one side or the other.
+
+The letters to friends and relations were all undertaken by Mittler, and
+they were to be written and sent off at once. It was highly necessary,
+he thought, that the good fortune which he considered so important for
+the family, should be known as widely as possible through the
+ill-natured and misinterpreting world. For indeed these late
+entanglements and perplexities had got abroad among the public, which at
+all times has a conviction that, whatever happens, happens only in order
+that it may have something to talk about.
+
+The ceremony of the baptism was to be observed with all due honor, but
+it was to be as brief and as private as possible. The people came
+together; Ottilie and Mittler were to hold the child as sponsors. The
+old pastor, supported by the servants of the church, came in with slow
+steps; the prayers were offered. The child lay in Ottilie's arms, and as
+she was looking affectionately down at it, it opened its eyes and she
+was not a little startled when she seemed to see her own eyes looking at
+her. The likeness would have surprised any one. Mittler, who next had to
+receive the child, started as well; he fancying he saw in the little
+features a most striking likeness to the Captain. He had never seen a
+resemblance so marked.
+
+The infirmity of the good old clergyman had not permitted him to
+accompany the ceremony with more than the usual liturgy.
+
+Mittler, however, who was full of his subject, recollected his old
+performances when he had been in the ministry, and indeed it was one of
+his peculiarities that, on every sort of occasion, he always thought
+what he would like to say, and how he would express himself about it.
+
+At this time he was the less able to contain himself, as he was now in
+the midst of a circle consisting entirely of well-known friends. He
+began, therefore, toward the conclusion of the service, to put himself
+quietly into the place of the clergyman; to make cheerful speeches
+aloud, expressive of his duty and his hopes as godfather, and to dwell
+all the longer on the subject, as he thought he saw in Charlotte's
+gratified manner that she was pleased with his doing so.
+
+It altogether escaped the eagerness of the orator, that the good old man
+would gladly have sat down; still less did he think that he was on the
+way to occasion a more serious evil. After he had described with all his
+power of impressiveness the relation in which every person present stood
+toward the child, thereby putting Ottilie's composure sorely to the
+proof, he turned at last to the old man with the words, "And you, my
+worthy father, you may now well say with Simeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou
+thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the savior of this
+house.'"
+
+He was now in full swing toward a brilliant peroration, when he
+perceived the old man to whom he held out the child, first appear a
+little to incline toward it, and immediately after to totter and sink
+backward. Hardly prevented from falling, he was lifted to a seat; but,
+notwithstanding the instant assistance which was rendered, he was found
+to be dead.
+
+To see thus side by side birth and death, the coffin and the cradle, to
+see them and to realize them, to comprehend not with the eye of
+imagination, but with the bodily eye, at one moment these fearful
+opposites, was a hard trial to the spectators; the harder, the more
+utterly it had taken them by surprise. Ottilie alone stood contemplating
+the slumberer, whose features still retained their gentle sweet
+expression, with a kind of envy. The life of her soul was killed; why
+should the bodily life any longer drag on in weariness?
+
+But though Ottilie was frequently led by melancholy incidents which
+occurred in the day to thoughts of the past, of separation and of loss,
+at night she had strange visions given her to comfort her, which assured
+her of the existence of her beloved, and thus strengthened her, and gave
+her life for her own. When she laid herself down at night to rest, and
+was floating among sweet sensations between sleep and waking, she seemed
+to be looking into a clear but softly illuminated space. In this she
+would see Edward with the greatest distinctness, and not in the dress in
+which she had been accustomed to see him, but in military uniform;
+never in the same position, but always in a natural one, and not the
+least with anything fantastic about him, either standing or walking, or
+lying down or riding. The figure, which was painted with the utmost
+minuteness, moved readily before her without any effort of hers, without
+her willing it or exerting her imagination to produce it. Frequently she
+saw him surrounded with something in motion, which was darker than the
+bright ground; but the figures were shadowy, and she could scarcely
+distinguish them--sometimes they were like men, sometimes they were like
+horses, or like trees, or like mountains. She usually went to sleep in
+the midst of the apparition, and when, after a quiet night, she woke
+again in the morning, she felt refreshed and comforted; she could say to
+herself, Edward still lives, and she herself was still remaining in the
+closest relation toward him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The spring was come; it was late, but it therefore burst out more
+rapidly and more exhilaratingly than usual. Ottilie now found in the
+garden the fruits of her carefulness. Everything shot up and came out in
+leaf and flower at its proper time. A number of plants which she had
+been training up under glass frames and in hotbeds, now burst forward at
+once to meet, at last, the advances of nature; and whatever there was to
+do, and to take care of, it did not remain the mere labor of hope which
+it had been, but brought its reward in immediate and substantial
+enjoyment.
+
+There was many a chasm, however, among the finest shoots produced by
+Luciana's wild ways, for which she had to console the gardener, and the
+symmetry of many a leafy coronet was destroyed. She tried to encourage
+him to hope that it would all be soon restored again, but he had too
+deep a feeling, and too pure an idea of the nature of his business, for
+such grounds of comfort to be of much service to him. Little as the
+gardener allowed himself to have his attention dissipated by other
+tastes and inclinations, he could the less bear to have the peaceful
+course interrupted which the plant follows toward its enduring or its
+transient perfection. A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we
+can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way. A
+calm eye, a silent method, in all seasons of the year, and at every
+hour, to do exactly what has then to be done, is required of no one
+perhaps more than of a gardener. These qualities the good man possessed
+in an eminent degree, and it was on that account that Ottilie liked so
+well to work with him; but for some time past he had not found himself
+able to exercise his peculiar talent with any pleasure to himself.
+Whatever concerned the fruit-gardening or kitchen-gardening, as well as
+whatever had in time past been required in the ornamental gardens, he
+understood perfectly. One man succeeds in one thing, another in another;
+he succeeded in these. In his management of the orangery, of the bulbous
+flowers, in budding shoots and growing cuttings from the carnations and
+auriculas, he might challenge nature herself. But the new ornamental
+shrubs and fashionable flowers remained in a measure strange to him. He
+had a kind of shyness of the endless field of botany, which had been
+lately opening itself, and the strange names humming about his ears made
+him cross and ill-tempered. The orders for flowers which had been made
+by his lord and lady in the course of the past year, he considered so
+much useless waste and extravagance--all the more, as he saw many
+valuable plants disappear, and as he had ceased to stand on the best
+possible terms with the nursery gardeners, who, he fancied, had not been
+serving him honestly.
+
+Consequently, after a number of attempts, he had formed a sort of a
+plan, in which Ottilie encouraged him the more readily because its first
+essential condition was the return of Edward, whose absence in this, as
+in many other matters, every day had to be felt more and more seriously.
+
+Now that the plants were ever striking new roots, and putting out their
+shoots, Ottilie felt herself even more fettered to this spot. It was
+just a year since she had come there as a stranger, as a mere
+insignificant creature. How much had she not gained for herself since
+that time! but, alas! how much had she not also since that time lost
+again! Never had she been so rich, and never so poor. The feelings of
+her loss and of her gain alternated momentarily one with another,
+chasing each other through her heart; and she could find no other means
+to help herself, except always to set to work again at what lay nearest
+to her, with such interest and eagerness as she could command.
+
+That everything which she knew to be dear to Edward received especial
+care from her may be supposed. And why should she not hope that he
+himself would now soon come back again; and that, when present, he would
+show himself grateful for all the care and pains which she had taken for
+him in his absence?
+
+But there was also a far different employment which she took upon
+herself in his service; she had undertaken the principal charge of the
+child, whose immediate attendant it was all the easier for her to be, as
+they had determined not to put it into the hands of a nurse, but to
+bring it up themselves by hand with milk and water. In the beautiful
+season it was much out of doors, enjoying the free air, and Ottilie
+liked best to take it out herself, to carry the unconscious sleeping
+infant among the flowers and blossoms which should one day smile so
+brightly on its childhood--among the young shrubs and plants, which, by
+their youth, seemed designed to grow up with the young lord to their
+after-stature. When she looked about her, she did not hide from herself
+to what a high position that child was born: far and wide, wherever the
+eye could see, all would one day belong to him. How desirable, how
+necessary it must therefore be, that it should grow up under the eyes of
+its father and its mother, and renew and strengthen the union between
+them!
+
+Ottilie saw all this so clearly that she represented it to herself as
+conclusively decided, and for herself, as concerned with it, she never
+felt at all. Under this fair heaven, by this bright sunshine, at once it
+became clear to her, that her love if it would perfect itself, must
+become altogether unselfish; and there were many moments in which she
+believed it was an elevation which she had already attained. She only
+desired the well-being of her friend. She fancied herself able to resign
+him, and never to see him any more, if she could only know that he was
+happy. The one only determination which she formed for herself was never
+to belong to another.
+
+They had taken care that the autumn should be no less brilliant than the
+spring. Sun-flowers were there, and all the other plants which are never
+tired of blossoming in autumn, and continue boldly on into the cold;
+asters especially were sown in the greatest abundance, and scattered
+about in all directions to form a starry heaven upon the earth.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"Any good thought which we have read, anything striking which we have
+heard, we commonly enter in our diary; but if we would take the trouble,
+at the same time, to copy out of our friends' letters the remarkable
+observations, the original ideas, the hasty words so pregnant in
+meaning, which we might find in them, we should then be rich indeed. We
+lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them
+out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most
+immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others. I
+intend to make amends in future for such neglect."
+
+"So, then, once more the old story of the year is being repeated over
+again. We are come now, thank God, again to its most charming chapter.
+The violets and the may-flowers are as its superscriptions and its
+vignettes. It always makes a pleasant impression on us when we open
+again at these pages in the book of life."
+
+"We find fault with the poor, particularly with the little ones among
+them, when they loiter about the streets and beg. Do we not observe that
+they begin to work again, as soon as ever there is anything for them to
+do? Hardly has nature unfolded her smiling treasures, than the children
+are at once upon her track to open out a calling for themselves. None of
+them begs any more; they have each a nosegay to offer you; they were out
+and gathering it before you had awakened out of your sleep, and the
+supplicating face looks as sweetly at you as the present which the hand
+is holding out. No person ever looks miserable who feels that he has a
+right to make a demand upon you."
+
+"How is it that the year sometimes seems so short, and sometimes is so
+long? How is it that it is so short when it is passing, and so long as
+we look back over it? When I think of the past (and it never comes so
+powerfully over me as in the garden), I feel how the perishing and the
+enduring work one upon the other, and there is nothing whose endurance
+is so brief as not to leave behind it some trace of itself, something in
+its own likeness."
+
+"We are able to tolerate the winter. We fancy that we can extend
+ourselves more freely when the trees are so spectral, so transparent.
+They are nothing, but they conceal nothing; but when once the germs and
+buds begin to show, then we become impatient for the full foliage to
+come out, for the landscape to put on its body, and the tree to stand
+before us as a form."
+
+"Everything which is perfect in its kind must pass out beyond and
+transcend its kind. It must be an inimitable something of another and a
+higher nature. In many of its tones the nightingale is only a bird; then
+it rises up above its class, and seems as if it would teach every
+feathered creature what singing really is."
+
+"A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is but poor
+_comédie à tiroir_. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of
+each, and pushing it back to make haste to the next. Even what we know
+to be good and important hangs but wearily together; every step is an
+end, and every step is a fresh beginning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Charlotte meanwhile was well and in good spirits. She was happy in her
+beautiful boy, whose fair promising little form every hour was a delight
+to both her eyes and heart. In him she found a new link to connect her
+with the world and with her property. Her old activity began anew to
+stir in her again.
+
+Look which way she would, she saw how much had been done in the year
+that was past, and it was a pleasure to her to contemplate it. Enlivened
+by the strength of these feelings, she climbed up to the summer-house
+with Ottilie and the child, and as she laid the latter down on the
+little table, as on the altar of her house, and saw the two seats still
+vacant, she thought of gone-by times, and fresh hopes rose out before
+her for herself and for Ottilie.
+
+Young ladies, perhaps, look timidly round them at this or that young
+man, carrying on a silent examination, whether they would like to have
+him for a husband; but whoever has a daughter or a female ward to care
+for, takes a wider circle in her survey. And so it fared at this moment
+with Charlotte, to whom, as she thought of how they had once sat side by
+side in that summer-house, a union did not seem impossible between the
+Captain and Ottilie. It had not remained unknown to her, that the plans
+for the advantageous marriage, which had been proposed to the Captain,
+had come to nothing.
+
+Charlotte went on up the cliff, and Ottilie carried the child. A number
+of reflections crowded upon the former. Even on the firm land there are
+frequent enough ship-wrecks, and the true, wise conduct is to recover
+ourselves, and refit our vessel at fast as possible. Is life to be
+calculated only by its gains and losses? Who has not made arrangement
+on arrangement, and has not seen them broken in pieces? How often does
+not a man strike into a road and lose it again! How often are we not
+turned aside from one point which we had sharply before our eye, but
+only to reach some higher stage. The traveler, to his greatest
+annoyance, breaks a wheel upon his journey, and through this unpleasant
+accident makes some charming acquaintance, and forms some new
+connection, which has an influence on all his life. Destiny grants us
+our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our
+wishes.
+
+Among these and similar reflections they reached the new building on the
+hill, where they intended to establish themselves for the summer. The
+view all round them was far more beautiful than could have been
+supposed; every little obstruction had been removed; all the loveliness
+of the landscape, whatever nature, whatever the season of the year had
+done for it, came out in its beauty before the eye; and already the
+young plantations, which had been made to fill up a few openings, were
+beginning to look green, and to form an agreeable connecting link
+between parts which before stood separate.
+
+The house itself was nearly habitable; the views, particularly from the
+upper rooms, were of the richest variety. The longer you looked round
+you, the more beauties you discovered. What magnificent effects would
+not be produced here at the different hours of day--by sunlight and by
+moonlight? Nothing could be more delightful than to come and live there,
+and now that she found all the rough work finished, Charlotte longed to
+be busy again. An upholsterer, a tapestry-hanger, a painter, who could
+lay on the colors with patterns, and a little gilding, were all which
+were required, and these were soon found, and in a short time the
+building was completed. Kitchen and cellar stores were quickly laid in;
+being so far from the castle, it was necessary to have all essentials
+provided; and the two ladies with the child went up and settled there.
+From this residence, as from a new centre point, unknown walks opened
+out to them, and in these high regions the free, fresh air and the
+beautiful weather were thoroughly delightful.
+
+Ottilie's favorite walk, sometimes alone, sometimes with the child, was
+down below, toward the plane-trees, along a pleasant footpath leading
+directly to the point where one of the boats was kept chained in which
+people used to go across the water. She often indulged herself in an
+expedition on the water, only without the child, as Charlotte was a
+little uneasy about it. She never missed, however, paying a daily visit
+to the castle garden and the gardener, and going to look with him at his
+show of greenhouse plants, which were all out now, enjoying the free
+air.
+
+At this beautiful season, Charlotte was much pleased to receive a visit
+from an English nobleman, who had made acquaintance with Edward abroad,
+having met him more than once, and who was now curious to see the laying
+out of his park, which he had heard so much admired. He brought with him
+a letter of introduction from the Count, and introduced at the same time
+a quiet but most agreeable man as his traveling companion. He went about
+seeing everything, sometimes with Charlotte and Ottilie, sometimes with
+the gardeners and the foresters, often with his friend, and now and then
+alone; and they could perceive clearly from his observations that he
+took an interest in such matters, and understood them well; indeed, that
+he had himself probably executed many such.
+
+Although he was now advanced in life, he entered warmly into everything
+which could serve for an ornament to life, or contribute anything to its
+importance.
+
+In his presence, the ladies came first properly to enjoy what was around
+them. His practised eye received every effect in its freshness, and he
+found all the more pleasure in what was before him, as he had not
+previously known the place, and was scarcely able to distinguish what
+man had done there from what nature had presented to him ready made.
+
+We may even say that through his remarks the park grew and enriched
+itself; he was able to anticipate in their fulfilment the promises of
+the growing plantations. There was not a spot where there was any effect
+which could be either heightened or produced, but what he observed it.
+
+In one place he pointed to a fountain which, if it was cleaned out,
+promised to be the most beautiful spot for a picnic party; in another,
+to a cave which had only to be enlarged and swept clear of rubbish to
+form a desirable seat. A few trees might be cut down, and a view would
+be opened from it of some grand masses of rock, towering magnificently
+against the sky. He wished the owners joy that so much was still
+remaining for them to do, and he besought them not to be in a hurry
+about it, but to keep for themselves for years to come the pleasures of
+shaping and improving.
+
+At the hours which the ladies usually spent alone he was never in the
+way, for he was occupied the greatest part of the day in catching such
+views in the park as would make good paintings, in a portable camera
+obscura, and drawing from them, in order to secure some desirable fruits
+from his travels for himself and others. For many years past he had been
+in the habit of doing this in all remarkable places which he visited,
+and had provided himself by it with a most charming and interesting
+collection. He showed the ladies a large portfolio which he had brought
+with him, and entertained them with the pictures and with descriptions.
+And it was a real delight to them, here in their solitude, to travel so
+pleasantly over the world, and see sweep past them, shores and havens,
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, cities, castles, and a hundred other
+localities which have a name in history.
+
+Each of the two ladies had an especial interest in it--Charlotte the
+more general interest in whatever was historically remarkable; Ottilie
+dwelling in preference on the scenes of which Edward used most to
+talk--where he liked best to stay, and which he would most often
+revisit. Every man has somewhere, far or near, his peculiar localities
+which attract him; scenes which, according to his character, either from
+first impressions, or from particular associations, or from habit, have
+a charm for him beyond all others.
+
+She, therefore, asked the Earl which, of all these places, pleased him
+best, where he would like to settle, and live for himself, if he might
+choose. There was more than one lovely spot which he pointed out, with
+what had happened to him there to make him love and value it; and the
+peculiar accentuated French in which he spoke made it most pleasant to
+listen to him.
+
+To the further question, which was his ordinary residence that he
+properly considered his home, he replied, without any hesitation, in a
+manner quite unexpected by the ladies:
+
+"I have accustomed myself by this time to be at home everywhere, and I
+find, after all, that it is much more agreeable to allow others to
+plant, and build, and keep house for me. I have no desire to return to
+my own possessions, partly on political grounds, but principally because
+my son, for whose sake alone it was any pleasure to me to remain and
+work there--who will, by-and-by, inherit it, and with whom I hoped to
+enjoy it--took no interest in the place at all, but has gone out to
+India, where, like many other foolish fellows, he fancies he can make a
+higher use of his life. He is more likely to squander it.
+
+"Assuredly we spend far too much labor and outlay in preparation for
+life. Instead of beginning at once to make ourselves happy in a moderate
+condition, we spread ourselves out wider and wider, only to make
+ourselves more and more uncomfortable. Who is there now to enjoy my
+mansion, my park, my gardens? Not I, nor any of mine--strangers,
+visitors, or curious, restless travelers.
+
+"Even with large means, we are ever but half and half at home,
+especially in the country, where we miss many things to which we have
+become accustomed in town. The book for which we are most anxious is
+not to be had, and just the thing which we most wanted is forgotten. We
+take to being domestic, only again to go out of ourselves; if we do not
+go astray of our own will and caprice, circumstances, passions,
+accidents, necessity, and one does not know what besides, manage it for
+us."
+
+Little did the Earl imagine how deeply his friend would be touched by
+these random observations. It is a danger to which we are all of us
+exposed when we venture on general remarks in a society the
+circumstances of which we might have supposed were well enough known to
+us. Such casual wounds, even from well-meaning, kindly-disposed people,
+were nothing new to Charlotte. She so clearly, so thoroughly knew and
+understood the world, that it gave her no particular pain if it did
+happen that through somebody's thoughtlessness or imprudence she had her
+attention forced into this or that unpleasant direction. But it was very
+different with Ottilie. At her half-conscious age, at which she rather
+felt than saw, and at which she was disposed, indeed was obliged, to
+turn her eyes away from what she should not or would not see, Ottilie
+was thrown by this melancholy conversation into the most pitiable state.
+It rudely tore away the pleasant veil from before her eyes, and it
+seemed to her as if everything which had been done all this time for
+house and court, for park and garden, for all their wide environs, were
+utterly in vain, because he to whom it all belonged could not enjoy it;
+because he, like their present visitor, had been driven out to wander up
+and down in the world--and, indeed, in the most perilous paths of it--by
+those who were nearest and dearest to him. She was accustomed to listen
+in silence, but on this occasion she sat on in the most painful
+condition; which, indeed, was made rather worse than better by what the
+stranger went on to say, as he continued with his peculiar, humorous
+gravity:
+
+"I think I am now on the right way. I look upon myself steadily as a
+traveler, who renounces many things in order to enjoy more. I am
+accustomed to change; it has become, indeed, a necessity to me; just as
+in the opera, people are always looking out for new and newer
+decorations, because there have already been so many. I know very well
+what I am to expect from the best hotels, and what from the worst. It
+may be as good or it may be as bad as it will, but I nowhere find
+anything to which I am accustomed, and in the end it comes to much the
+same thing whether we depend for our enjoyment entirely on the regular
+order of custom, or entirely on the caprices of accident. I have never
+had to vex myself now, because this thing is mislaid, or that thing is
+lost; because the room in which I live is uninhabitable, and I must have
+it repaired; because somebody has broken my favorite cup, and for a long
+time nothing tastes well out of any other. All this I am happily raised
+above. If the house catches fire about my ears, my people quietly pack
+my things up, and we pass away out of the town in search of other
+quarters. And considering all these advantages, when I reckon carefully,
+I calculate that, by the end of the year, I have not sacrificed more
+than it would have cost me to be at home."
+
+In this description Ottilie saw nothing but Edward before her; how he
+too was now amidst discomfort and hardship, marching along untrodden
+roads, lying out in the fields in danger and want, and in all this
+insecurity and hazard growing accustomed to be homeless and friendless,
+learning to fling away everything that he might have nothing to lose.
+Fortunately, the party separated for a short time. Ottilie escaped to
+her room, where she could give way to her tears. No weight of sorrow had
+ever pressed so heavily upon her as this clear perception (which she
+tried, as people usually do, to make still clearer to herself), that men
+love to dally with and exaggerate the evils which circumstances have
+once begun to inflict upon them.
+
+The state in which Edward was came before her in a light so piteous, so
+miserable, that she made up her mind, let it cost her what it would,
+that she would do everything in her power to unite him again with
+Charlotte, and she herself would go and hide her sorrow and her love in
+some silent scene, and beguile the time with such employment as she
+could find.
+
+Meanwhile the Earl's companion, a quiet, sensible man and a keen
+observer, had remarked the new trend in the conversation, and spoke to
+his friend about it. The latter knew nothing of the circumstances of the
+family; but the other being one of those persons whose principal
+interest in traveling lay in gathering up the strange occurrences which
+arose out of the natural or artificial relations of society, which were
+produced by the conflict of the restraint of law with the violence of
+the will, of the understanding with the reason, of passion with
+prejudice--had some time before made himself acquainted with the outline
+of the story, and since he had been in the family had learnt exactly all
+that had taken place, and the present position in which things were
+standing.
+
+The Earl, of course, was very sorry, but it was not a thing to make him
+uneasy. A man must hold his tongue altogether in society if he is never
+to find himself in such a position; for not only remarks with meaning in
+them, but the most trivial expressions, may happen to clash in an
+inharmonious key with the interest of somebody present.
+
+"We will set things right this evening," said he, "and escape from any
+general conversation; you shall let them hear one of the many charming
+anecdotes with which your portfolio and your memory have enriched
+themselves while we have been abroad."
+
+However, with the best intentions, the strangers did not, on this next
+occasion, succeed any better in gratifying their friends with unalloyed
+entertainment. The Earl's friend told a number of singular stories--some
+serious, some amusing, some touching, some terrible--with which he had
+roused their attention and strained their interest to the highest
+tension, and he thought to conclude with a strange but softer incident,
+little dreaming how nearly it would touch his listeners.
+
+THE TWO STRANGE CHILDREN
+
+"Two children of neighboring families, a boy and a girl, of an age which
+would suit well for them at some future time to marry, were brought up
+together with this agreeable prospect, and the parents on both sides,
+who were people of some position in the world, looked forward with
+pleasure to their future union.
+
+"It was too soon observed, however, that the purpose seemed likely to
+fail; the dispositions of both children promised everything which was
+good, but there was an unaccountable antipathy between them. Perhaps
+they were too much like each other. Both were thoughtful, clear in their
+wills, and firm in their purposes. Each separately was beloved and
+respected by his or her companions, but whenever they were together they
+were always antagonists. Forming separate plans for themselves, they
+only met mutually to cross and thwart each other; never emulating each
+other in pursuit of one aim, but always fighting for a single object.
+Good-natured and amiable everywhere else, they were spiteful and even
+malicious whenever they came in contact.
+
+"This singular relation first showed itself in their childish games, and
+it continued with their advancing years. The boys used to play at
+soldiers, divide into parties, and give each other battle, and the
+fierce haughty young lady set herself at once at the head of one of the
+armies, and fought against the other with such animosity and bitterness
+that the latter would have been put to a shameful flight, except for the
+desperate bravery of her own particular rival, who at last disarmed his
+antagonist and took her prisoner; and even then she defended herself
+with so much fury that to save his eyes from being torn out, and at the
+same time not to injure his enemy, he had been obliged to take off his
+silk handkerchief and tie her hands with it behind her back.
+
+"This she never forgave him: she made so many attempts, she laid so many
+plans to injure him, that the parents, who had been long watching these
+singular passions, came to a mutual understanding and resolved to
+separate these two hostile creatures, and sacrifice their favorite
+hopes.
+
+"The boy shot rapidly forward in the new situation in which he was
+placed. He mastered every subject which he was taught. His friends and
+his own inclination chose the army for his profession, and everywhere,
+let him be where he would, he was looked up to and beloved. His
+disposition seemed formed to labor for the well-being and the pleasure
+of others; and he himself, without being clearly conscious of it, was in
+himself happy at having got rid of the only antagonist which nature had
+assigned to him.
+
+"The girl, on the other hand, became at once an altered creature. Her
+growing age, the progress of her education, above all, her own inward
+feelings, drew her away from the boisterous games with boys in which she
+had hitherto delighted. Altogether she seemed to want something; there
+was nothing anywhere about her which could deserve to excite her hatred,
+and she had never found any one whom she could think worthy of her love.
+
+"A young man, somewhat older than her previous neighbor-antagonist, of
+rank, property, and consequence, beloved in society, and much sought
+after by women, bestowed his affections upon her. It was the first time
+that friend, lover, or servant had displayed any interest in her. The
+preference which he showed for her above others who were older, more
+cultivated, and of more brilliant pretensions than herself, was
+naturally gratifying; the constancy of his attention, which was never
+obtrusive, his standing by her faithfully through a number of unpleasant
+incidents, his quiet suit, which was declared indeed to her parents, but
+which, as she was still very young, he did not press, only asking to be
+allowed to hope--all this engaged him to her, and custom and the
+assumption in the world that the thing was already settled carried her
+along with it. She had so often been called his bride that at last she
+began to consider herself so, and neither she nor any one else ever
+thought any further trial could be necessary before she exchanged rings
+with the person who for so long a time had passed for her bridegroom.
+
+"The peaceful course which the affair had all along followed was not at
+all precipitated by the betrothal. Things were allowed to go on both
+sides just as they were; they were happy in being together, and they
+could enjoy to the end the fair season of the year as the spring of
+their future more serious life.
+
+"The absent youth had meanwhile grown up into everything which was most
+admirable. He had obtained a well-deserved rank in his profession, and
+came home on leave to visit his family. Toward his fair neighbor he
+found himself again in a natural but singular position. For some time
+past she had been nourishing in herself such affectionate family
+feelings as suited her position as a bride; she was in harmony with
+everything about her; she believed that she was happy, and in a certain
+sense she was so. Now first for a long time something again stood in her
+way. It was not to be hated--she had become incapable of hatred. Indeed
+the childish hatred, which had in fact been nothing more than an obscure
+recognition of inward worth, expressed itself now in a happy
+astonishment, in pleasure at meeting, in ready acknowledgments, in a
+half willing, half unwilling, and yet irresistible attraction; and all
+this was mutual. Their long separation gave occasion for longer
+conversations; even their old childish foolishness served, now that they
+had grown wiser, to amuse them as they looked back; and they felt as if
+at least they were bound to make good their petulant hatred by
+friendliness and attention to each other--as if their first violent
+injustice to each other ought not to be left without open
+acknowledgment.
+
+"On his side it all remained in a sensible, desirable moderation. His
+position, his circumstances, his efforts, his ambition, found him so
+abundant an occupation, that the friendliness of this pretty bride he
+received as a very thank-worthy present; but without, therefore, even so
+much as thinking of her in connection with himself, or entertaining the
+slightest jealousy of the bridegroom, with whom he stood on the best
+possible terms.
+
+"With her, however, it was altogether different. She seemed to herself
+as if she had awakened out of a dream. Her fightings with her young
+neighbor had been the beginnings of an affection; and this violent
+antagonism was no more than an equally violent innate passion for him,
+first showing under the form of opposition. She could remember nothing
+else than that she had always loved him. She laughed over her martial
+encounter with him with weapons in her hand; she dwelt upon the delight
+of her feelings when he disarmed her. She imagined that it had given her
+the greatest happiness when he bound her: and whatever she had done
+afterward to injure him, or to vex him, presented itself to her as only
+an innocent means of attracting his attention. She cursed their
+separation. She bewailed the sleepy state into which she had fallen. She
+execrated the insidious lazy routine which had betrayed her into
+accepting so insignificant a bridegroom. She was transformed--doubly
+transformed, forward or backward, whichever way we like to take it.
+
+"She kept her feelings entirely to herself; but if any one could have
+divined them and shared them with her, he could not have blamed her: for
+indeed the bridegroom could not sustain a comparison with the other as
+soon as they were seen together. If a sort of regard to the one could
+not be refused, the other excited the fullest trust and confidence. If
+one made an agreeable acquaintance, the other we should desire for a
+companion; and in extraordinary cases, where higher demands might have
+to be made on them, the bridegroom was a person to be utterly despaired
+of, while the other would give the feeling of perfect security.
+
+"There is a peculiar innate tact in women which discovers to them
+differences of this kind; and they have cause as well as occasion to
+cultivate it.
+
+"The more the fair bride was nourishing all these feelings in secret,
+the less opportunity there was for any one to speak a word which could
+tell in favor of her bridegroom, to remind her of what her duty and
+their relative position advised and commanded--indeed, what an
+unalterable necessity seemed now irrevocably to require; the poor heart
+gave itself up entirely to its passion.
+
+"On one side she was bound inextricably to the bridegroom by the world,
+by her family, and by her own promise; on the other, the ambitious young
+man made no secret of what he was thinking and planning for himself,
+conducting himself toward her no more than a kind but not at all a
+tender brother, and speaking of his departure as immediately impending;
+and now it seemed as if her early childish spirit woke up again in her
+with all its spleen and violence, and was preparing itself in its
+distemper, on this higher stage of life, to work more effectively and
+destructively. She determined that she would die to punish the once
+hated; and now so passionately loved, youth for his want of interest in
+her; and as she could not possess himself, at least she would wed
+herself for ever to his imagination and to his repentance. Her dead
+image should cling to him, and he should never be free from it. He
+should never cease to reproach himself for not having understood, not
+examined, not valued her feelings toward him.
+
+"This singular insanity accompanied her wherever she went. She kept it
+concealed under all sorts of forms; and although people thought her very
+odd, no one was observant enough or clever enough to discover the real
+inward reason.
+
+"In the meantime, friends, relations, acquaintances had exhausted
+themselves in contrivances for pleasure parties. Scarcely a day passed
+but something new and unexpected was set on foot. There was hardly a
+pretty spot in the country round which had not been decked out and
+prepared for the reception of some merry party. And now our young
+visitor, before departing, wished to do his part as well, and invited
+the young couple, with a small family circle, to an expedition on the
+water. They went on board a large beautiful vessel dressed out in all
+its colors--one of the yachts which had a small saloon and a cabin or
+two besides, and are intended to carry with them upon the water the
+comfort and conveniences of land.
+
+"They set out upon the broad river with music playing. The party had
+collected in the cabin, below deck, during the heat of the day, and were
+amusing themselves with games. Their young host, who could never remain
+without doing something, had taken charge of the helm to relieve the old
+master of the vessel, and the latter had lain down and was fast asleep.
+It was a moment when the steerer required all his circumspectness, as
+the vessel was nearing a spot where two islands narrowed the channel of
+the river, while shallow banks of shingle stretching off, first on one
+side and then on the other, made the navigation difficult and dangerous.
+Prudent and sharp-sighted as he was, he thought for a moment that it
+would be better to wake the master; but he felt confident in himself,
+and he thought he would venture and make straight for the narrows. At
+this moment his fair enemy appeared upon deck with a wreath of flowers
+in her hair. 'Take this to remember me by,' she cried out. She took it
+off and threw it at the steerer. 'Don't disturb me,' he answered
+quickly, as he caught the wreath; 'I require all my powers and all my
+attention now.' 'You will never be disturbed by me any more,' she cried;
+'you will never see me again.' As she spoke, she rushed to the forward
+part of the vessel, and from thence she sprang into the water. Voice
+upon voice called out, 'Save her, save her, she is sinking!' He was in
+the most terrible difficulty. In the confusion the old shipmaster woke,
+and tried to catch the rudder, which the young man bade him take. But
+there was no time to change hands. The vessel stranded; and at the same
+moment, flinging off the heaviest of his upper garments, he sprang into
+the water and swam toward his beautiful enemy. The water is a friendly
+element to a man who is at home in it, and who knows how to deal with
+it; it buoyed him up, and acknowledged the strong swimmer as its master.
+He soon overtook the beautiful girl, who had been swept away before him;
+he caught hold of her, raised her and supported her, and both of them
+were carried violently down by the current, till the shoals and islands
+were left far behind, and the river was again open and running smoothly.
+He now began to collect himself; they had passed the first immediate
+danger, in which he had been obliged to act mechanically without time to
+think; he raised his head as high as he could to look about him and then
+swam with all his might to a low bushy point which ran out conveniently
+into the stream. There he brought his fair burden to dry land, but he
+could find no signs of life in her; he was in despair, when he caught
+sight of a trodden path leading among the bushes. Again he caught her up
+in his arms, hurried forward, and presently reached a solitary cottage.
+There he found kind, good people--a young married couple; the
+misfortunes and the dangers explained themselves instantly; every remedy
+he could think of was instantly applied; a bright fire blazed up; woolen
+blankets were spread on a bed, counterpane, cloaks, skins, whatever
+there was at hand which would serve for warmth, were heaped over her as
+fast as possible. The desire to save life overpowered, for the present,
+every other consideration. Nothing was left undone to bring back to life
+the beautiful, half-torpid, naked body. It succeeded; she opened her
+eyes! her friend was before her; she threw her heavenly arms about his
+neck. In this position she remained for a time; and then a stream of
+tears burst out and completed her recovery. 'Will you forsake me,' she
+cried, 'now when I find you again thus?' 'Never,' he answered, 'never,'
+hardly knowing what he said or did. 'Only consider yourself,' she added;
+'take care of yourself, for your sake and for mine.'
+
+"She now began to collect herself, and for the first time recollected
+the state in which she was; she could not be ashamed before her darling,
+before her preserver; but she gladly allowed him to go, that he might
+take care of himself; for the clothes which he still wore were wet and
+dripping.
+
+"Their young hosts considered what could be done. The husband offered
+the young man, and the wife offered the fair lady, the dresses in which
+they had been married, which were hanging up in full perfection, and
+sufficient for a complete suit, inside and out, for two people. In a
+short time our pair of adventurers were not only equipped, but in full
+costume. They looked most charming, gazed at each other, when they met,
+with admiration, and then with infinite affection, half laughing at the
+same time at the quaintness of their appearance, they fell into each
+other's arms.
+
+"The power of youth and the quickening spirit of love in a few moments
+completely restored them; and there was nothing wanting but music to
+have set them both off dancing.
+
+"To have found themselves brought from the water on dry land, from death
+into life, from the circle of their families into a wilderness, from
+despair into rapture, from indifference to affection and to love, all in
+a moment: the head was not strong enough to bear it; it must either
+burst, or go distracted; or if so distressing an alternative were to be
+escaped, the heart must put out all its efforts.
+
+"Lost wholly in each other, it was long before they recollected the
+alarm and anxiety of those who had been left behind; and they
+themselves, indeed, could not well think, without alarm and anxiety, how
+they were again to encounter them. 'Shall we run away? shall we hide
+ourselves?' asked the young man. 'We will remain together,' she said,
+as she clung about his neck.
+
+"The peasant having heard them say that a party was aground on the
+shoal, had hurried down, without stopping to ask another question, to
+the shore. When he arrived there, he saw the vessel coming safely down
+the stream. After much labor it had been got off; and they were now
+going on in uncertainty, hoping to find their lost ones again somewhere.
+The peasant shouted and made signs to them, and at last caught the
+attention of those on board; then he ran to a spot where there was a
+convenient place for landing, and went on signalling and shouting till
+the vessel's head was turned toward the shore; and what a scene there
+was for them when they landed. The parents of the two betrothed first
+pressed on the banks; the poor loving bridegroom had almost lost his
+senses. They had scarcely learnt that their dear children had been
+saved, when in their strange disguise the latter came forward out of the
+bushes to meet them. No one recognized them till they were come quite
+close. 'Whom do I see?' cried the mothers. 'What do I see?' cried the
+fathers. The preserved ones flung themselves on the ground before them.
+'Your children,' they called out; 'a pair.' 'Forgive us!' cried the
+maiden. 'Give us your blessing!' cried the young man. 'Give us your
+blessing!' they cried both, as all the world stood still in wonder.
+'Your blessing!' was repeated the third time; and who would have been
+able to refuse it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+The narrator made a pause, or rather he had already finished his story,
+before he observed the emotion into which Charlotte had been thrown by
+it. She got up, uttered some sort of an apology, and left the room. To
+her it was a well-known history. The principal incident in it had really
+taken place with the Captain and a neighbor of her own; not exactly,
+indeed, as the Englishman had related it. But the main features of it
+were the same. It had only been more finished off and elaborated in its
+details, as stories of that kind always are when they have passed first
+through the lips of the multitude, and then through the fancy of a
+clever and imaginative narrator; the result of the process being usually
+to leave everything and nothing as it was.
+
+Ottilie followed Charlotte, as the two friends begged her to do; and
+then it was the Earl's turn to remark, that perhaps they had made a
+second mistake, and that the subject of the story had been well known
+to, or was in some way connected with, the family. "We must take care,"
+he added, "that we do no more mischief here; we seem to bring little
+good to our entertainers for all the kindness and hospitality which they
+have shown us; we will make some excuse for ourselves, and then take our
+leave."
+
+"I must confess," answered his companion, "that there is something else
+which still holds me here, which I should be very sorry to leave the
+house without seeing cleared up or in some way explained. You were too
+busy yourself yesterday when we were in the park with the camera, in
+looking for spots where you could make your sketches, to have observed
+anything else which was passing. You left the broad walk, you remember,
+and went to a sequestered place on the side of the lake. There was a
+fine view of the opposite shore which you wished to take. Well, Ottilie,
+who was with us, got up to follow; and then proposed that she and I
+should find our way to you in the boat. I got in with her, and was
+delighted with the skill of my fair conductress. I assured her that
+never since I had been in Switzerland, where the young ladies so often
+fill the place of the boatmen, had I been so pleasantly ferried over the
+water. At the same time I could not help asking her why she had shown
+such an objection to going the way which you had gone, along the little
+by-path. I had observed her shrink from it with a sort of painful
+uneasiness. She was not at all offended. 'If you will promise not to
+laugh at me,' she answered, 'I will tell you as much as I know about
+it; but to myself it is a mystery which I cannot explain. There is a
+particular spot in that path which I never pass without a strange shiver
+passing over me, which I do not remember ever feeling anywhere else, and
+which I cannot the least understand. But I shrink from exposing myself
+to the sensation, because it is followed immediately after by a pain on
+the left side of my head, from which at other times I suffer severely.'
+We landed. Ottilie was engaged with you, and I took the opportunity of
+examining the spot, which she pointed out to me as we went by on the
+water. I was not a little surprised to find there distinct traces of
+coal in sufficient quantities to convince me that at a short distance
+below the surface there must be a considerable bed of it.
+
+"Pardon me, my Lord; I see you smile; and I know very well that you have
+no faith in these things about which I am so eager, and that it is only
+your sense and your kindness which enable you to tolerate me. However,
+it is impossible for me to leave this place without trying on that
+beautiful creature an experiment with the pendulum."
+
+The Earl, whenever these matters came to be spoken of, never failed to
+repeat the same objections to them over and over again; and his friend
+endured them all quietly and patiently, remaining firm, nevertheless, to
+his own opinion, and holding to his own wishes. He, too, again repeated
+that there was no reason, because the experiment did not succeed with
+every one, that they should give them up, as if there was nothing in
+them but fancy. They should be examined into all the more earnestly and
+scrupulously; and there was no doubt that the result would be the
+discovery of a number of affinities of inorganic creatures for one
+another, and of organic creatures for them, and again for each other,
+which at present were unknown to us.
+
+He had already spread out his apparatus of gold rings, marcasites, and
+other metallic substances, a pretty little box of which he always
+carried about with himself; and he suspended a piece of metal by a
+string over another piece, which he placed upon the table. "Now, my
+Lord," he said, "you may take what pleasure you please (I can see in
+your face what you are feeling), at perceiving that nothing will set
+itself in motion with me, or for me. But my operation is no more than a
+pretense; when the ladies come back, they will be curious to know what
+strange work we are about."
+
+The ladies returned. Charlotte understood at once what was going on. "I
+have heard much of these things," she said; "but I never saw the effect
+myself. You have everything ready there. Let me try whether I can
+succeed in producing anything."
+
+She took the thread in her hand, and as she was perfectly serious, she
+held it steady, and without any agitation. Not the slightest motion,
+however, could be detected. Ottilie was then called upon to try. She
+held the pendulum still more quietly and unconsciously over the plate on
+the table. But in a moment the swinging piece of metal began to stir
+with a distinct rotary action, and turned as they moved the position of
+the plate, first to one side and then to the other; now in circles, now
+in ellipses; or else describing a series of straight lines; doing all
+the Earl's friend could expect, and far exceeding, indeed, all his
+expectations.
+
+The Earl himself was a little staggered; but the other could never be
+satisfied, from delight and curiosity, and begged for the experiment
+again and again with all sorts of variations. Ottilie was good-natured
+enough to gratify him; till at last she was obliged to desire to be
+allowed to go, as her headache had come on again. In further admiration
+and even rapture, he assured her with enthusiasm that he would cure her
+forever of her disorder, if she would only trust herself to his
+remedies. For a moment they did not know what he meant; but Charlotte,
+who comprehended immediately after, declined his well-meant offer, not
+liking to have introduced and practised about her a thing of which she
+had always had the strongest apprehensions.
+
+The strangers were gone, and notwithstanding their having been the
+inadvertent cause of strange and painful emotions, left the wish behind
+them, that this meeting might not be the last. Charlotte now made use of
+the beautiful weather to return visits in the neighborhood, which,
+indeed, gave her work enough to do, seeing that the whole country round,
+some from a real interest, some merely from custom, had been most
+attentive in calling to inquire after her. At home her delight was the
+sight of the child, and really it well deserved all love and interest.
+People, saw in it a wonderful, indeed a miraculous child; the brightest,
+sunniest little face; a fine, well-proportioned body, strong and
+healthy; and what surprised them more, the double resemblance, which
+became more and more conspicuous. In figure and in the features of the
+face, it was like the Captain; the eyes every day it was less easy to
+distinguish from the eyes of Ottilie.
+
+Ottilie herself, partly from this remarkable affinity, perhaps still
+more under the influence of that sweet woman's feeling which makes them
+regard with the most tender affection the offspring, even by another, of
+the man they love, was as good as a mother to the little creature as it
+grew, or rather, she was a second mother of another kind. If Charlotte
+was absent, Ottilie remained alone with the child and the nurse. Nanny
+had for some time past been jealous of the boy for monopolizing the
+entire affections of her mistress; she had left her in a fit of
+crossness, and gone back to her mother. Ottilie would carry the child
+about in the open air, and by degrees took longer and longer walks with
+it, carrying a bottle of milk to give the child its food when it wanted
+any. Generally, too, she took a book with her; and so with the child in
+her arms, reading and wandering, she made a very pretty Penserosa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The object of the campaign was attained, and Edward, with crosses and
+decorations, was honorably dismissed. He betook himself at once to the
+same little estate, where he found exact accounts of his family waiting
+for him, on whom all this time, without their having observed it or
+known of it, a sharp watch had been kept under his orders. His quiet
+residence looked most sweet and pleasant when he reached it. In
+accordance with his orders, various improvements had been made in his
+absence, and what was wanting to the establishment in extent, was
+compensated by its internal comforts and conveniences. Edward,
+accustomed by his more active habits of life to take decided steps,
+determined to execute a project which he had had sufficient time to
+think over. First of all, he invited the Major to come to him. This
+pleasure in meeting again was very great to both of them. The
+friendships of boyhood, like relationship of blood, possess this
+important advantage, that mistakes and misunderstandings never produce
+irreparable injury; and the old regard after a time will always
+reestablish itself.
+
+Edward began with inquiring about the situation of his friend, and
+learnt that fortune had favored him exactly as he most could have
+wished. He then half-seriously asked whether there was not something
+going forward about a marriage; to which he received a most decided and
+positive denial.
+
+"I cannot and will not have any reserve with you," he proceeded. "I will
+tell you at once what my own feelings are, and what I intend to do. You
+know my passion for Ottilie; you must long have comprehended that it was
+this which drove me into the campaign. I do not deny that I desire to be
+rid of a life which, without her, would be of no further value to me. At
+the same time, however, I acknowledge that I could never bring myself
+utterly to despair. The prospect of happiness with her was so beautiful,
+so infinitely charming, that it was not possible for me entirely to
+renounce it. Feelings, too, which I cannot explain, and a number of
+happy omens, have combined to strengthen me in the belief, in the
+assurance, that Ottilie will one day be mine. The glass with our
+initials cut upon it, which was thrown into the air when the
+foundation-stone was laid, did not go to pieces; it was caught, and I
+have it again in my possession. After many miserable hours of
+uncertainty, spent in this place, I said to myself, 'I will put myself
+in the place of this glass, and it shall be an omen whether our union be
+possible or not. I will go; I will seek for death; not like a madman,
+but like a man who still hopes that he may live. Ottilie shall be the
+prize for which I fight. Ottilie shall be behind the ranks of the enemy;
+in every intrenchment, in every beleaguered fortress, I shall hope to
+find her, and to win her. I will do wonders, with the wish to survive
+them; with the hope to gain Ottilie, not to lose her.' These feelings
+have led me on; they have stood by me through all dangers; and now I
+find myself like one who has arrived at his goal, who has overcome
+every difficulty and who has nothing more left in his way. Ottilie is
+mine, and whatever lies between the thought and the execution of it, I
+can only regard as unimportant."
+
+"With a few strokes you blot out," replied the Major, "all the
+objections that we can or ought to urge upon you, and yet they must be
+repeated. I must leave it to yourself to recall the full value of your
+relation with your wife; but you owe it to her, and you owe it to
+yourself, not to close your eyes to it. How can I so much as recollect
+that you have had a son given to you, without acknowledging at once that
+you two belong to each other forever; that you are bound, for this
+little creature's sake, to live united, that united you may educate it
+and provide for its future welfare?"
+
+"It is no more than the blindness of parents," answered Edward, "when
+they imagine their existence to be of so much importance to their
+children. Whatever lives, finds nourishment and finds assistance; and if
+the son who has early lost his father does not spend so easy, so favored
+a youth, he profits, perhaps, for that very reason, in being trained
+sooner for the world, and comes to a timely knowledge that he must
+accommodate himself to others, a thing sooner or later we are all forced
+to learn. Here, however even these considerations are irrelevant; we
+are sufficiently well off to be able to provide for more children than
+one, and it is neither right nor kind to accumulate so large a property
+on a single head."
+
+The Major attempted to say something of Charlotte's worth, and Edward's
+long-standing attachment to her; but the latter hastily interrupted him.
+"We committed ourselves to a foolish thing, that I see all too clearly.
+Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his
+early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life
+has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires. Woe to him who,
+either by circumstances or by his own infatuation, is induced to grasp
+at anything before him or behind him. We have done a foolish thing. Are
+we to abide by it all our lives? Are we, from some respect of prudence,
+to refuse to ourselves what the customs of the age do not forbid? In how
+many matters do men recall their intentions and their actions; and shall
+it not be allowed to them here, here, where the question is not of this
+thing or of that, but of everything; not of our single condition of
+life, but of the whole complex life itself?"
+
+Again the Major powerfully and impressively urged on Edward to consider
+what he owed to his wife, what was due to his family, to the world, and
+to his own position; but he could not succeed in producing the slightest
+impression.
+
+"All these questions, my friend," he returned, "I have considered
+already again and again. They have passed before me in the storm of
+battle, when the earth was shaking with the thunder of the cannon, with
+the balls singing and whistling around me, with my comrades falling
+right and left, my horse shot under me, my hat pierced with bullets.
+They have floated before me by the still watch-fire under the starry
+vault of the sky. I have thought them all through, felt them all
+through. I have weighed them, and I have satisfied myself about them
+again and again, and now forever. At such moments why should I not
+acknowledge it to you? You too were in my thoughts, you too belonged to
+my circle; as, indeed, you and I have long belonged to each other. If I
+have ever been in your debt I am now in a position to repay it with
+interest; if you have been in mine you have now the means to make it
+good to me. I know that you love Charlotte, and she deserves it. I know
+that you are not indifferent to her, and why should she not feel your
+worth? Take her at my hand and give Ottilie to me, and we shall be the
+happiest beings upon the earth."
+
+"If you choose to assign me so high a character," replied the Major, "it
+is the more reason for me to be firm and prudent. Whatever there may be
+in this proposal to make it attractive to me, instead of simplifying the
+problem, it only increases the difficulty of it. The question is now of
+me as well as of you. The fortunes, the good name, the honor of two men,
+hitherto unsullied with a breath, will be exposed to hazard by so
+strange a proceeding, to call it by no harsher name, and we shall appear
+before the world in a highly questionable light."
+
+"Our very characters being what they are," replied Edward, "give us a
+right to take this single liberty. A man who has borne himself honorably
+through a whole life, makes an action honorable which might appear
+ambiguous in others. As concerns myself, after these last trials which I
+have taken upon myself, after the difficult and dangerous actions which
+I have accomplished for others, I feel entitled now to do something for
+myself. For you and Charlotte, that part of the business may, if you
+like it, be given up; but neither you nor any one shall keep me from
+doing what I have determined. If I may look for help and furtherance, I
+shall be ready to do everything which can be wished; but if I am to be
+left to myself, or if obstacles are to be thrown in my way, some
+extremity or other is sure to follow."
+
+The Major thought it his duty to combat Edward's purposes as long as it
+was possible; and now he changed the mode of his attack and tried a
+diversion. He seemed to give way, and only spoke of the form of what
+they would have to do to bring about this separation, and these new
+unions; and so mentioned a number of ugly, undesirable matters, which
+threw Edward into the worst of tempers.
+
+"I see plainly," he cried at last, "that what we desire can only be
+carried by storm, whether it be from our enemies or from our friends. I
+keep clearly before my own eyes what I demand, what, one way or another,
+I must have; and I will seize it promptly and surely. Connections like
+ours, I know very well, cannot be broken up and reconstructed again
+without much being thrown down which is standing, and much having to
+give way which would be glad enough to continue. We shall come to no
+conclusion by thinking about it. All rights are alike to the
+understanding, and it is always easy to throw extra weight into the
+ascending scale. Do you makeup your mind, my friend, to act, and act
+promptly, for me and for yourself. Disentangle and untie the knots, and
+tie them up again. Do not be deterred from it by nice respects. We have
+already given the world something to say about us. It will talk about us
+once more; and when we have ceased to be a nine days' wonder, it will
+forget us as it forgets everything else, and allow us to follow our own
+way without further concern with us." The Major had nothing further to
+say, and was at last obliged to sit silent; while Edward treated the
+affair as now conclusively settled, talked through in detail all that
+had to be done, and pictured the future in every most cheerful color,
+and then he went on again seriously and thoughtfully: "If we think to
+leave ourselves to the hope, to the expectation, that all will go right
+again of itself, that accident will lead us straight, and take care of
+us, it will be a most culpable self-deception. In such a way it would be
+impossible for us to save ourselves, or reestablish our peace again. I
+who have been the innocent cause of it all, how am I ever to console
+myself? By my own importunity I prevailed on Charlotte to write to you
+to stay with us; and Ottilie followed in consequence. We have had no
+more control over what ensued out of this, but we have the power to
+make it innocuous; to guide the new circumstances to our own happiness.
+Can you turn away your eyes from the fair and beautiful prospects which
+I open to us? Can you insist to me, can you insist to us all, on a
+wretched renunciation of them? Do you think it possible? Is it possible?
+Will there be no vexations, no bitterness, no inconvenience to overcome,
+if we resolve to fall back into our old state? and will any good, any
+happiness whatever, arise out of it? Will your own rank, will the high
+position which you have earned, be any pleasure to you, if you are to be
+prevented from visiting me, or from living with me? And after what has
+passed, it would not be anything but painful. Charlotte and I, with all
+our property, would only find ourselves in a melancholy state. And if,
+like other men of the world, you can persuade yourself that years and
+separation will eradicate our feelings, will obliterate impressions so
+deeply engraved; why, then the question is of these very years, which it
+would be better to spend in happiness and comfort than in pain and
+misery. But the last and most important point of all which I have to
+urge is this: supposing that we, our outward and inward condition being
+what it is, could nevertheless make up our minds to wait at all hazards,
+and bear what is laid upon us, what is to become of Ottilie? She must
+leave our family; she must go into society where we shall not be to care
+for her, and she will be driven wretchedly to and fro in a hard, cold
+world. Describe to me any situation in which Ottilie, without me,
+without us, could be happy, and you will then have employed an argument
+which will be stronger than every other; and if I will not promise to
+yield to it, if I will not undertake at once to give up all my own
+hopes, I will at least reconsider the question, and see how what you
+have said will affect it."
+
+This problem was not so easy to solve; at least, no satisfactory answer
+to it suggested itself to his friend, and nothing was left to him except
+to insist again and again, how grave and serious, and in many senses how
+dangerous, the whole undertaking was; and at least that they ought
+maturely to consider how they had better enter upon it. Edward agreed to
+this, and consented to wait before he took any steps; but only under the
+condition that his friend should not leave him until they had come to a
+perfect understanding about it, and until the first measures had been
+taken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Men who are complete strangers, and wholly indifferent to one another,
+if they live a long time together, are sure both of them to expose
+something of their inner nature, and thus a kind of intimacy will arise
+between them. All the more was it to be expected that there would soon
+be no secrets between our two friends, now that they were again under
+the same roof together, and in daily and hourly intercourse. They went
+over again the earlier stages of their history, and the Major confessed
+to Edward that Charlotte had intended Ottilie for him at the time at
+which he returned from abroad, and hoped that some time or other he
+might marry her. Edward was in ecstasies at this discovery; he spoke
+without reserve of the mutual affection of Charlotte and the Major,
+which, because it happened to fall in so conveniently with his own
+wishes, he painted in very lively colors.
+
+Deny it altogether, the Major could not; at the same time, he could not
+altogether acknowledge it. But Edward only insisted on it the more. He
+had pictured the whole thing to himself not as possible, but as already
+concluded; all parties had only to resolve on what they all wished;
+there would be no difficulty in obtaining a separation; the marriages
+should follow as soon after as possible, and Edward could travel with
+Ottilie.
+
+Of all the pleasant things which imagination pictures to us, perhaps
+there is none more charming than when lovers and young married people
+look forward to enjoying their new relation to each other in a fresh,
+new world, and test the endurance of the bond between them in so many
+changing circumstances. The Major and Charlotte were in the meantime to
+have unrestricted powers to settle all questions of money, property, and
+other such important worldly matters; and to do whatever was right and
+proper for the satisfaction of all parties. What Edward dwelt the most
+upon, however, what he seemed to promise himself the most advantage from
+was this:--as the child would have to remain with the mother, the Major
+would charge himself with the education of it; he would train the boy
+according to his own views, and develop what capacities there might be
+in him. It was not for nothing that he had received in his baptism the
+name of Otto, which belonged to them both.
+
+Edward had so completely arranged everything for himself, that he could
+not wait another day to carry it into execution. On their way to the
+castle, they arrived at a small town, where Edward had a house, and
+where he was to stay to await the return of the Major. He could not,
+however, prevail upon himself to alight there at once, and accompanied
+his friend through the place. They were both on horseback, and falling
+into some interesting conversation, rode on further together.
+
+On a sudden they saw, in the distance, the new house on the height, with
+its red tiles shining in the sun. An irresistible longing came over
+Edward; he would have it all settled that very evening; he would remain
+concealed in a village close by. The Major was to urge the business on
+Charlotte with all his power; he would take her prudence by surprise;
+and oblige her by the unexpectedness of his proposal to make a free
+acknowledgment of her feelings. Edward had transferred his own wishes to
+her; he felt certain that he was only meeting her half-way, and that her
+inclinations were as decided as his own; and he looked for an immediate
+consent from her, because he himself could think of nothing else.
+
+Joyfully he saw the prosperous issue before his eyes; and that it might
+be communicated to him as swiftly as possible, a few cannon shots were
+to be fired off, and if it was dark, a rocket or two sent up.
+
+The Major rode to the castle. He did not find Charlotte there; he learnt
+that for the present she was staying at the new house; at that
+particular time, however, she was paying a visit in the neighborhood,
+and she probably would not have returned till late that evening. He
+walked back to the hotel, to which he had previously sent his horse.
+
+Edward, in the meantime, unable to sit still from restlessness and
+impatience, stole away out of his concealment along solitary paths known
+only to foresters and fishermen, into his park; and he found himself
+toward evening in the copse close to the lake, the broad mirror of which
+he now for the first time saw spread out in its perfectness before him.
+
+Ottilie had gone out that afternoon for a walk along the shore. She had
+the child with her, and read as she usually did while she went along.
+She had gone as far as the oak-tree by the ferry. The boy had fallen
+asleep; she sat down; laid it on the ground at her side, and continued
+reading. The book was one of those which attract persons of delicate
+feeling, and afterward will not let them go again. She forgot the time
+and the hours; she never thought what a long way round it was by land to
+the new house; but she sat lost in her book and in herself, so beautiful
+to look at, that the trees and the bushes round her ought to have been
+alive, and to have had eyes given them to gaze upon her and admire her.
+The sun was sinking; a ruddy streak of light fell upon her from behind,
+tinging with gold her cheek and shoulder. Edward, who had made his way
+to the lake without being seen, finding his park desolate, and no trace
+of human creature to be seen anywhere, went on and on. At last he broke
+through the copse behind the oak-tree, and saw her. At the same moment
+she saw him. He flew to her, and threw himself at her feet. After a
+long, silent pause, in which they both endeavored to collect themselves,
+he explained in a few words why and how he had come there. He had sent
+the Major to Charlotte; and perhaps at that moment their common destiny
+was being decided. Never had he doubted her affection, and she assuredly
+had never doubted his. He begged for her consent; she hesitated; he
+implored her. He offered to resume his old privilege, and throw his arms
+around her, and embrace her; she pointed down to the child.
+
+Edward looked at it, and was amazed. "Great God!" he cried; "if I had
+cause to doubt my wife and my friend, this face would witness fearfully
+against them. Is not this the very image of the Major? I never saw such
+a likeness."
+
+"Indeed!" replied Ottilie; "all the world say it is like me."
+
+"Is it possible?" Edward answered; and at the moment the child opened
+its eyes--two large, black, piercing eyes, deep and full of love;
+already the little face was full of intelligence. He seemed as if he
+knew both the figures which he saw standing before him. Edward threw
+himself down beside the child, and then knelt a second time before
+Ottilie. "It is you," he cried; "the eyes are yours! ah, but let me look
+into yours; let me throw a veil over that ill-starred hour which gave
+its being to this little creature. Shall I shock your pure spirit with
+the fearful thought, that man and wife who are estranged from each
+other, can yet press each other to their heart, and profane the bonds by
+which the law unites them by other eager wishes? Oh yes! As I have said
+so much; as my connection with Charlotte must now be severed; as you
+will be mine, why should I not speak out the words to you? This child is
+the offspring of a double adultery. It should have been a tie between my
+wife and myself; but it severs her from me, and me from her. Let it
+witness, then, against me. Let these fair eyes say to yours, that in the
+arms of another I belonged to you. You must feel, Ottilie, oh! you must
+feel, that my fault, my crime, I can only expiate in your arms."
+
+"Hark!" he called out, as he sprang up and listened. He thought that he
+had heard a shot, and that it was the sign which the Major was to give.
+It was the gun of a forester on the adjoining hill. Nothing followed.
+Edward grew impatient.
+
+Ottilie now first observed that the sun was down behind the mountains;
+its last rays were shining on the windows of the house above. "Leave me,
+Edward," she cried; "go. Long as we have been parted, much as we have
+borne, yet remember what we both owe to Charlotte. She must decide our
+fate; do not let us anticipate her judgment. I am yours if she will
+permit it to be so. If she will not, I must renounce you. As you think
+it is now so near an issue, let us wait. Go back to the village, where
+the Major supposes you to be. Is it likely that a rude cannon-shot will
+inform you of the results of such an interview? Perhaps at this moment
+he is seeking for you. He will not have found Charlotte at home; of that
+I am certain. He may have gone to meet her; for they knew at the castle
+where she was. How many things may have happened! Leave me! she must be
+at home by this time; she is expecting me there with the baby."
+
+Ottilie spoke hurriedly; she called together all the possibilities. It
+was too delightful to be with Edward; but she felt that he must now
+leave her. "I beseech, I implore you, my beloved," she cried out; "go
+back and wait for the Major."
+
+"I obey your commands," cried Edward. He gazed at her for a moment with
+rapturous love, and then caught her close in his arms. She wound her own
+about him, and pressed him tenderly to her breast. Hope streamed away,
+like a star shooting in the sky, above their heads. They thought then,
+they believed, that they did indeed belong to each other. For the first
+time they exchanged free, genuine kisses, and separated with pain and
+effort.
+
+The sun had gone down. It was twilight, and a damp mist was rising about
+the lake. Ottilie stood confused and agitated. She looked across to the
+house on the hill, and she thought she saw Charlotte's white dress on
+the balcony.
+
+It was a long way round by the end of the lake; and she knew how
+impatiently Charlotte would be waiting for the child. She saw the
+plane-trees just opposite her, and only a narrow interval of water
+divided her from the path which led straight up to the house. Her
+nervousness about venturing on the water with the child vanished in her
+present embarrassment. She hastened to the boat; she did not feel that
+her heart was beating; that her feet were tottering; that her senses
+were threatening to fail her.
+
+She sprang in, seized the oar, and pushed off. She had to use force; she
+pushed again. The boat shot off, and glided, swaying and rocking into
+the open water. With the child in her left arm, the book in her left
+hand, and the oar in her right, she lost her footing, and fell over the
+seat; the oar slipped from her on one side, and as she tried to recover
+herself, the child and the book slipped on the other, all into the
+water. She caught the floating dress, but lying entangled as she was
+herself, she was unable to rise. Her right hand was free, but she could
+not reach round to help herself up with it; at last she succeeded. She
+drew the child out of the water; but its eyes were closed, and it had
+ceased to breathe.
+
+In a moment, she recovered all her self-possession; but so much the
+greater was her agony; the boat was drifting fast into the middle of the
+lake; the oar was swimming far away from her. She saw no one on the
+shore; and, indeed, if she had, it would have been of no service to her.
+Cut off from all assistance, she was floating on the faithless, unstable
+element.
+
+She sought for help from herself; she had often heard of the recovery of
+the drowned; she had herself witnessed an instance of it on the evening
+of her birthday; she took off the child's clothes, and dried it with her
+muslin dress; she threw open her bosom, laying it bare for the first
+time to the free heaven. For the first time she pressed a living being
+to her pure, naked breast.
+
+[Illustration: OTTILIE. _From the Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach_]
+
+Alas! and it was not a living being. The cold limbs of the ill-starred
+little creature chilled her to the heart. Streams of tears gushed from
+her eyes, and lent a show of life and warmth to the outside of the
+torpid limbs. She persevered with her efforts; she wrapped it in her
+shawl, she drew it close to herself, stroked it, breathed upon it, and
+with tears and kisses labored to supply the help which, cut off as she
+was, she was unable to find.
+
+It was all in vain; the child lay motionless in her arms; motionless the
+boat floated on the glassy water. But even here her beautiful spirit did
+not leave her forsaken. She turned to the Power above. She sank down
+upon her knees in the boat, and with both arms raised the unmoving child
+above her innocent breast, like marble in its whiteness; alas, too, like
+marble, cold; with moist eyes she looked up and cried for help, where a
+tender heart hopes to find it in its fulness when all other help has
+failed.
+
+The stars were beginning one by one to glimmer down upon her; she turned
+to them and not in vain; a soft air stole over the surface, and wafted
+the boat under the plane-trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+She hurried to the new house, and called the surgeon and gave the child
+into his hands. It was carried at once to Charlotte's sleeping-room.
+Cool and collected from a wide experience, he submitted the tender body
+to the usual process. Ottilie stood by him through it all. She prepared
+everything, she fetched everything, but as if she were moving in another
+world; for the height of misfortune, like the height of happiness,
+alters the aspect of every object. And it was only when, after every
+resource had been exhausted, the good man shook his head, and to her
+questions, whether there was hope, first was silent, and then answered
+with a gentle No! that she left the apartment, and had scarcely entered
+the sitting-room, when she fell fainting, with her face upon the carpet,
+unable to reach the sofa.
+
+At that moment Charlotte was heard driving up. The surgeon implored the
+servants to keep back, and allow him to go to meet her and prepare her.
+But he was too late; while he was speaking she had entered the
+drawing-room. She found Ottilie on the ground, and one of the girls of
+the house came running and screaming to her open-mouthed. The surgeon
+entered at the same moment, and she was informed of everything. She
+could not at once, however, give up all hope. She was flying up stairs
+to the child, but the physician besought her to remain where she was. He
+went himself, to deceive her with a show of fresh exertions, and she sat
+down upon the sofa. Ottilie was still lying on the ground; Charlotte
+raised her, and supported her against herself, and her beautiful head
+sank down upon her knee. The kind medical man went backward and forward;
+he appeared to be busy about the child; his real care was for the
+ladies; and so came on midnight, and the stillness grew more and more
+deathly. Charlotte did not try to conceal from herself any longer that
+her child would never return to life again. She desired to see it now.
+It had been wrapped up in warm woolen coverings. And it was brought down
+as it was, lying in its cot, which was placed at her side on the sofa.
+The little face was uncovered; and there it lay in its calm sweet
+beauty.
+
+The report of the accident soon spread through the village; every one
+was aroused, and the story reached the hotel. The Major hurried up the
+well-known road; he went round and round the house; at last he met a
+servant who was going to one of the out-buildings to fetch something. He
+learnt from him in what state things were, and desired him to tell the
+surgeon that he was there. The latter came out, not a little surprised
+at the appearance of his old patron. He told him exactly what had
+happened, and undertook to prepare Charlotte to see him. He then went
+in, began some conversation to distract her attention, and led her
+imagination from one object to another, till at last he brought it to
+rest upon her friend, and the depth of feeling and of sympathy which
+would surely be called out in him. From the imaginative she was brought
+at once to the real. Enough! she was informed that he was at the door,
+that he knew everything and desired to be admitted.
+
+The Major entered. Charlotte received him with a miserable smile. He
+stood before her; she lifted off the green silk covering under which the
+body was lying; and by the dim light of a taper, he saw before him, not
+without a secret shudder, the stiffened image of himself. Charlotte
+pointed to a chair, and there they sat opposite each other, without
+speaking, through the night. Ottilie was still lying motionless on
+Charlotte's knee; she breathed softly, and slept or seemed to sleep.
+
+The morning dawned, the lights went out; the two friends appeared to
+awake out of a heavy dream. Charlotte looked toward the Major, and said
+quietly: "Tell me through what circumstances you have been brought
+hither, to take part in this mourning scene."
+
+"The present is not a time," the Major answered, in the same low tone as
+that in which Charlotte had spoken, for fear lest she might disturb
+Ottilie; "this is not a time, and this is not a place for reserve. The
+condition in which I find you is so fearful that even the earnest matter
+on which I am here loses its importance by the side of it." He then
+informed her, quite calmly and simply, of the object of his mission, in
+so far as he was the ambassador of Edward; of the object of his coming,
+in so far as his own free will and his own interests were concerned in
+it. He laid both before her, delicately but uprightly; Charlotte
+listened quietly, and showed neither surprise nor unwillingness.
+
+As soon as the Major had finished, she replied, in a voice so light that
+to catch her words he was obliged to draw his chair closer to her: "In
+such a case as this I have never before found myself; but in similar
+cases I have always said to myself, how will it be tomorrow? I feel very
+clearly that the fate of many persons is now in my hands, and what I
+have to do is soon said without scruple or hesitation. I consent to the
+separation; I ought to have made up my mind to it before; by my
+unwillingness and reluctance I have destroyed my child. There are
+certain things on which destiny obstinately insists. In vain may reason,
+may virtue, may duty, may all holy feelings place themselves in its way.
+Something shall be done which to it seems good, and which to us seems
+not good; and it forces its own way through at last, let us conduct
+ourselves as we will.
+
+"And, indeed, what am I saying? It is but my own desire, my own purpose,
+against which I acted so unthinkingly, which destiny is again bringing
+in my way? Did I not long ago, in my thoughts, design Edward and Ottilie
+for each other? Did I not myself labor to bring them together? And you,
+my friend, you yourself were an accomplice in my plot. Why, why, could I
+not distinguish mere man's obstinacy from real love? Why did I accept
+his hand, when I could have made him happy as a friend, and when another
+could have made him happy as a wife? And now, look here on this unhappy
+slumberer. I tremble for the moment when she will recover out of this
+half death-sleep into consciousness. How can she endure to live? How
+shall she ever console herself, if she may not hope to make good that to
+Edward, of which, as the instrument of the most wonderful destiny, she
+has deprived him? And she can make it all good again by the passion, by
+the devotion with which she loves him. If love be able to bear all
+things, it is able to do yet more; it can restore all things; of myself
+at such a moment I may not think.
+
+"Do you go quietly away, my dear Major; say to Edward that I consent to
+the separation; that I leave it to him, to you, and to Mittler, to
+settle whatever is to be done. I have no anxiety for my own future
+condition; it may be what it will; it is nothing to me. I will subscribe
+whatever paper is submitted to me, only he must not require me to join
+actively. I cannot have to think about it, or give advice."
+
+The Major rose to go. She stretched out her hand to him across Ottilie.
+He pressed it to his lips, and whispered gently: "And for myself, may I
+hope anything?"
+
+"Do not ask me now!" replied Charlotte. "I will tell you another time.
+We have not deserved to be miserable; but neither can we say that we
+have deserved to be happy together."
+
+The Major left her, and went, feeling for Charlotte to the bottom of his
+heart, but not being able to be sorry for the fate of the poor child.
+Such an offering seemed necessary to him for their general happiness. He
+pictured Ottilie to himself with a child of her own in her arms, as the
+most perfect compensation for the one of which she had deprived Edward.
+He pictured himself with his own son on his knee, who should have better
+right to resemble him than the one which was departed.
+
+With such flattering hopes and fancies passing through his mind, he
+returned to the hotel, and on his way back he met Edward, who had been
+waiting for him the whole night through in the open air, since neither
+rocket nor report of cannon would bring him news of the successful issue
+of his undertaking. He had already heard of the misfortune; and he too,
+instead of being sorry for the poor creature, regarded what had befallen
+it, without being exactly ready to confess it to himself, as a
+convenient accident, through which the only impediment in the way of his
+happiness was at once removed.
+
+The Major at once informed him of his wife's resolution, and he
+therefore easily allowed himself to be prevailed upon to return again
+with him to the village, and from thence to go for a while to the little
+town, where they would consider what was next to be done, and make their
+arrangements.
+
+After the Major had left her, Charlotte sat on, buried in her own
+reflections; but it was only for a few minutes. Ottilie suddenly raised
+herself from her lap, and looked full with her large eyes in her
+friend's face. Then she got up from off the ground, and stood upright
+before her.
+
+"This is the second time," began the noble girl, with an irresistible
+solemnity of manner, "this is the second time that the same thing has
+happened to me. You once said to me that similar things often befall
+people more than once in their lives in a similar way, and if they do,
+it is always at important moments. I now find that what you said is
+true, and I have to make a confession to you. Shortly after my mother's
+death, when I was a very little child, I was sitting one day on a
+footstool close to you. You were on a sofa, as you are at this moment,
+and my head rested on your knees. I was not asleep, I was not awake: I
+was in a trance. I knew everything which was passing about me. I heard
+every word which was said with the greatest distinctness, and yet I
+could not stir, I could not speak; and if I had wished it, I could not
+have given a hint that I was conscious. On that occasion you were
+speaking about me to one of your friends; you were commiserating my
+fate, left as I was a poor orphan in the world. You described my
+dependent position, and how unfortunate a future was before me, unless
+some very happy star watched over me. I understood well what you said. I
+saw, perhaps too clearly, what you appeared to hope of me, and what you
+thought I ought to do. I made rules to myself, according to such limited
+insight as I had, and by these I have long lived; by these, at the time
+when you so kindly took charge of me, and had me with you in your house,
+I regulated whatever I did and whatever I left undone.
+
+"But I have wandered out of my course; I have broken my rules; I have
+lost the very power of feeling them. And now, after a dreadful
+occurrence, you have again made clear to me my situation, which is more
+pitiable than the first. While lying in a half torpor on your lap, I
+have again, as if out of another world, heard every syllable which you
+uttered. I know from you how all is with me. I shudder at the thought of
+myself; but again, as I did then, in my half sleep of death, I have
+marked out my new path for myself.
+
+"I am determined, as I was before, and what I have determined I must
+tell you at once. I will never be Edward's wife. In a terrible manner
+God has opened my eyes to see the sin in which I was entangled. I will
+atone for it, and let no one think to move me from my purpose. It is by
+this, my dearest, kindest friend, that you must govern your own conduct.
+Send for the Major to come back to you. Write to him that no steps must
+be taken. It made me miserable that I could not stir or speak when he
+went. I tried to rise--I tried to cry out. Oh, why did you let him leave
+you with such unlawful hopes!"
+
+Charlotte saw Ottilie's condition, and she felt for it; but she hoped
+that by time and persuasion she might be able to prevail upon her. On
+her uttering a few words, however, which pointed to a future--to a time
+when her sufferings would be alleviated, and when there might be better
+room for hope, "No!" Ottilie cried, with vehemence, "do not endeavor to
+move me; do not seek to deceive me. At the moment at which I learn that
+you have consented to the separation, in that same lake I will expiate
+my errors and my crimes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+Friends and relatives, and all persons living in the same house
+together, are apt, when life is going smoothly and peacefully with them,
+to make what they are doing, or what they are going to do, even more
+than is right or necessary, a subject of constant conversation. They
+talk to each other of their plans and their occupations, and, without
+exactly taking one another's advice, consider and discuss together the
+entire progress of their lives. But this is far from being the case in
+serious moments; just when it would seem men most require the assistance
+and support of others, they all draw singly within themselves, every one
+to act for himself, every one to work in his own fashion; they conceal
+from one another the particular means which they employ, and only the
+result, the object, the thing which they realize, is again made common
+property.
+
+After so many strange and unfortunate incidents, a sort of silent
+seriousness had passed over the two ladies, which showed itself in a
+sweet mutual effort to spare each other's feelings. The child had been
+buried privately in the chapel. It rested there as the first offering to
+a destiny full of ominous foreshadowings.
+
+Charlotte, as soon as ever she could, turned back to life and
+occupation, and here she first found Ottilie standing in need of her
+assistance. She occupied herself almost entirely with her, without
+letting it be observed. She knew how deeply the noble girl loved Edward.
+She had discovered by degrees the scene which had preceded the accident,
+and had gathered every circumstance of it, partly from Ottilie herself,
+partly from the letters of the Major.
+
+Ottilie, on her side, made Charlotte's immediate life much more easy for
+her. She was open, and even talkative, but she never spoke of the
+present, or of what had lately passed. She had been a close and
+thoughtful observer. She knew much, and now it all came to the surface.
+She entertained, she amused Charlotte, and the latter still nourished a
+hope in secret to see her married to Edward after all.
+
+But something very different was passing in Ottilie. She had disclosed
+the secret of the course of her life to her friend, and she showed no
+more of her previous restraint and submissiveness. By her repentance and
+her resolution she felt herself freed from the burden of her fault and
+her misfortune. She had no more violence to do to herself. In the bottom
+of her heart she had forgiven herself solely under condition of the
+fullest renunciation, and it was a condition which would remain binding
+for all time to come.
+
+So passed away some time, and Charlotte now felt how deeply house and
+park, and lake and rocks and trees, served to keep alive in them all
+their most painful reminiscences. They wanted change of scene, both of
+them, it was plain enough; but how it was to be effected was not so
+easy to decide.
+
+Were the two ladies to remain together? Edward's previously expressed
+will appeared to enjoin it--his declarations and his threats appeared to
+make it necessary; only it could not be now mistaken that Charlotte and
+Ottilie, with all their good will, with all their sense, with all their
+efforts to conceal it, could not avoid finding themselves in a painful
+situation toward each other. In their conversation there was a constant
+endeavor to avoid doubtful subjects. They were often obliged only half
+to understand some allusion; more often, expressions were
+misinterpreted, if not by their understandings, at any rate by their
+feelings. They were afraid to give pain to each other, and this very
+fear itself produced the evil which they were seeking to avoid.
+
+If they were to try change of scene, and at the same time (at any rate
+for a while) to part, the old question came up again: Where was Ottilie
+to go? There was the grand, rich family, who still wanted a desirable
+companion for their daughter, their attempts to find a person whom they
+could trust having hitherto proved ineffectual. The last time the
+Baroness had been at the castle, she had urged Charlotte to send Ottilie
+there, and she had been lately pressing it again and again in her
+letters. Charlotte now a second time proposed it; but Ottilie expressly
+declined going anywhere, where she would be thrown into what is called
+the great world.
+
+"Do not think me foolish or self-willed, my dear aunt," she said; "I had
+better tell you what I feel, for fear you should judge hardly of me;
+although in any other case it would be my duty to be silent. A person
+who has fallen into uncommon misfortunes, however guiltless he may be,
+carries a frightful mark upon him. His presence, in every one who sees
+him and is aware of his history, excites a kind of horror. People see in
+him the terrible fate which has been laid upon him, and he is the object
+of a diseased and nervous curiosity. It is so with a house, it is so
+with a town, where any terrible action has been done; people enter them
+with awe; the light of day shines less brightly there, and the stars
+seem to lose their lustre.
+
+"Perhaps we ought to excuse it, but how extreme is the indiscretion with
+which people behave toward such unfortunates, with their foolish
+importunities and awkward kindness! You must forgive me for speaking in
+this way, but that poor girl whom Luciana tempted out of her retirement,
+and with such mistaken good nature tried to force into society and
+amusement, has haunted me and made me miserable. The poor creature, when
+she was so frightened and tried to escape, and then sank and swooned
+away, and I caught her in my arms, and the party came all crowding round
+in terror and curiosity!--little did I think, then, that the same fate
+was in store for me. But my feeling for her is as deep and warm and
+fresh as ever it was; and now I may direct my compassion upon myself,
+and secure myself from being the object of any similar exposure."
+
+"But, my dear child," answered Charlotte, "you will never be able to
+withdraw yourself where no one can see you; we have no cloisters now:
+otherwise, there, with your present feelings, would be your resource."
+
+"Solitude would not give me the resource for which I wish, my dear
+aunt," answered Ottilie. "The one true and valuable resource is to be
+looked for where we can be active and useful; all the self-denials and
+all the penances on earth will fail to deliver us from an evil-omened
+destiny, if it be determined to persecute us. Let me sit still in
+idleness and serve as a spectacle for the world, and it will overpower
+me and crush me. But find me some peaceful employment, where I can go
+steadily and unweariedly on doing my duty, and I shall be able to bear
+the eyes of men, when I need not shrink under the eyes of God."
+
+"Unless I am much mistaken," replied Charlotte, "your inclination is to
+return to the school."
+
+"Yes," Ottilie answered; "I do not deny it. I think it a happy
+destination to train up others in the beaten way, after having been
+trained in the strangest myself. And do we not see the same great fact
+in history? some moral calamity drives men out into the wilderness; but
+they are not allowed to remain as they had hoped in their concealment
+there. They are summoned back into the world, to lead the wanderers into
+the right way; and who are fitter for such a service, than those who
+have been initiated into the labyrinths of life? They are commanded to
+be the support of the unfortunate; and who can better fulfil that
+command than those who have no more misfortunes to fear upon earth?"
+
+"You are selecting an uncommon profession for yourself," replied
+Charlotte. "I shall not oppose you, how ever. Let it be as you wish;
+only I hope it will be but for a short time."
+
+"Most warmly I thank you," said Ottilie, "for giving me leave at least
+to try, to make the experiment. If I am not flattering myself too
+highly, I am sure I shall succeed: wherever I am, I shall remember the
+many trials which I went through myself, and how small, how infinitely
+small they were compared to those which I afterward had to undergo. It
+will be my happiness to watch the embarrassments of the little creatures
+as they grow; to cheer them in their childish sorrows, and guide them
+back with a light hand out of their little aberrations. The fortunate is
+not the person to be of help to the unfortunate; it is in the nature of
+man to require ever more and more of himself and others, the more he has
+received. The unfortunate who has himself recovered, knows best how to
+nourish, in himself and them, the feeling that every moderate good ought
+to be enjoyed with rapture."
+
+"I have but one objection to make to what you propose," said Charlotte,
+after some thought, "although that one seems to me of great importance.
+I am not thinking of you, but of another person: you are aware of the
+feelings toward you of that good, right-minded, excellent Assistant. In
+the way in which you desire to proceed, you will become every day more
+valuable and more indispensable to him. Already he himself believes that
+he can never live happily without you, and hereafter, when he has become
+accustomed to have you to work with him, he will be unable to carry on
+his business if he loses you; you will have assisted him at the
+beginning only to injure him in the end."
+
+"Destiny has not dealt with me with too gentle a hand," replied Ottilie;
+"and whoever loves me has perhaps not much better to expect. Our friend
+is so good and so sensible, that I hope he will be able to reconcile
+himself to remaining in a simple relation with me; he will learn to see
+in me a consecrated person, lying under the shadow of an awful calamity,
+and only able to support herself and bear up against it by devoting
+herself to that Holy Being who is invisibly around us, and alone is able
+to shield us from the dark powers which threaten to overwhelm us."
+
+All this, which the dear girl poured out so warmly, Charlotte privately
+reflected over; on many different occasions, although only in the
+gentlest manner, she had hinted at the possibility of Ottilie's being
+brought again in contact with Edward; but the slightest mention of it,
+the faintest hope, the least suspicion, seemed to wound Ottilie to the
+quick. One day when she could not evade it, she expressed herself to
+Charlotte clearly and peremptorily on the subject.
+
+"If your resolution to renounce Edward," returned Charlotte, "is so firm
+and unalterable, then you had better avoid the danger of seeing him
+again. At a distance from the object of our love, the warmer our
+affection, the stronger is the control which we fancy that we can
+exercise on ourselves; because the whole force of the passion, diverted
+from its outward objects, turns inward on ourselves. But how soon, how
+swiftly is our mistake made clear to us, when the thing which we thought
+that we could renounce, stands again before our eyes as indispensable to
+us! You must now do what you consider best suited to your
+circumstances. Look well into yourself; change, if you prefer it, the
+resolution which you have just expressed. But do it of yourself, with a
+free consenting heart. Do not allow yourself to be drawn in by an
+accident; do not let yourself be surprised into your former position. It
+will place you at issue with yourself and will be intolerable to you. As
+I said, before you take this step, before you remove from me, and enter
+upon a new life, which will lead you no one knows in what direction,
+consider once more whether really, indeed, you can renounce Edward for
+the whole time to come. If you have faithfully made up your mind that
+you will do this, then will you enter into an engagement with me, that
+you will never admit him into your presence; and if he seeks you out and
+forces himself upon you, that you will not exchange words with him?"
+
+Ottilie did not hesitate a moment; she gave Charlotte the promise, which
+she had already made to herself.
+
+Now, however, Charlotte began to be haunted with Edward's threat, that
+he would only consent to renounce Ottilie, as long as she was not parted
+from Charlotte. Since that time, indeed, circumstances were so altered,
+so many things had happened, that an engagement which was wrung from him
+in a moment of excitement might well be supposed to have been cancelled.
+She was unwilling, however, in the remotest sense to venture anything or
+to undertake anything which might displease him, and Mittler was
+therefore to find Edward, and inquire what, as things now were, he
+wished to be done.
+
+Since the death of the child, Mittler had often been at the castle to
+see Charlotte, although only for a few moments at a time. The unhappy
+accident which had made her reconciliation with her husband in the
+highest degree improbable, had produced a most painful effect upon him.
+But ever, as his nature was, hoping and striving, he rejoiced secretly
+at the resolution of Ottilie. He trusted to the softening influence of
+passing time; he hoped that it might still be possible to keep the
+husband and the wife from separating; and he tried to regard these
+convulsions of passion only as trials of wedded love and fidelity.
+
+Charlotte, at the very first, had informed the Major by letter of
+Ottilie's declaration. She had entreated him most earnestly to prevail
+on Edward to take no further steps for the present. They should keep
+quiet and wait, and see whether the poor girl's spirits would recover.
+She had let him know from time to time whatever was necessary of what
+had more lately fallen from her. And now Mittler had to undertake the
+really difficult commission of preparing Edward for an alteration in her
+situation. Mittler, however, well knowing that men can be brought more
+easily to submit to what is already done, than to give their consent to
+what is yet to be done, persuaded Charlotte that it would be better to
+send Ottilie off at once to the school.
+
+Consequently, as soon as Mittler was gone, preparations were at once
+made for the journey. Ottilie put her things together; and Charlotte
+observed that neither the beautiful box, nor anything out of it, was to
+go with her. Ottilie had said nothing to her on the subject; and she
+took no notice, but let her alone. The day of the departure came;
+Charlotte's carriage was to take Ottilie the first day as far as a place
+where they were well known, where she was to pass the night, and on the
+second she would go on in it to the school. It was settled that Nanny
+was to accompany her, and remain as her attendant.
+
+This capricious little creature had found her way back to her mistress
+after the death of the child, and now hung about her as warmly and
+passionately as ever; indeed she seemed, with her loquacity and
+attentiveness, as if she wished to make good her past neglect, and
+henceforth devote herself entirely to Ottilie's service. She was quite
+beside herself now for joy at the thought of traveling with her, and of
+seeing strange places, when she had hitherto never been away from the
+scene of her birth; and she ran from the castle to the village to carry
+the news of her good fortune to her parents and her relations, and to
+take leave.
+
+Unluckily for herself, she went, among other places, into a room where
+a person was who had the measles, and caught the infection, which came
+out upon her at once. The journey could not be postponed. Ottilie
+herself was urgent to go. She had traveled once already the same road.
+She knew the people of the hotel where she was to sleep. The coachman
+from the castle was going with her. There could be nothing to fear.
+
+Charlotte made no opposition. She, too, in thought, was making haste to
+be clear of present embarrassments. The rooms which Ottilie had occupied
+at the castle she would have prepared for Edward as soon as possible,
+and restored to the old state in which they had been before the arrival
+of the Captain. The hope of bringing back old happy days burns up again
+and again in us, as if it never could be extinguished. And Charlotte was
+quite right; there was nothing else for her except to hope as she did.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+When Mittler was come to talk the matter over with Edward, he found him
+sitting by himself, with his head supported on his right hand, and his
+arm resting on the table. He appeared in great suffering.
+
+"Is your headache troubling you again?" asked Mittler.
+
+"It is troubling me," answered he; "and yet I cannot wish it were not
+so, for it reminds me of Ottilie. She too, I say to myself, is also
+suffering in the same way at this same moment, and suffering more
+perhaps than I; and why cannot I bear it as well as she? These pains are
+good for me. I might almost say that they were welcome; for they serve
+to bring out before me with the greater vividness her patience and all
+her other graces. It is only when we suffer ourselves, that we feel
+really the true nature of all the high qualities which are required to
+bear suffering."
+
+Mittler, finding his friend so far resigned, did not hesitate to
+communicate the message with which he had been sent. He brought it out
+piecemeal, however; in order of time, as the idea had itself arisen
+between the ladies, and had gradually ripened into a purpose. Edward
+scarcely made an objection. From the little which he said, it appeared
+as if he was willing to leave everything to them; the pain which he was
+suffering at the moment making him indifferent to all besides.
+
+Scarcely, however, was he again alone, than he got up, and walked
+rapidly up and down the room; he forgot his pain, his attention now
+turning to what was external to himself. Mittler's story had stirred the
+embers of his love, and awakened his imagination in all its vividness.
+He saw Ottilie by herself, or as good as by herself, traveling on a road
+which was well known to him--in a hotel with every room of which he was
+familiar. He thought, he considered, or rather he neither thought nor
+considered; he only wished--he only desired. He would see her; he would
+speak to her. Why, or for what good end that was to come of it, he did
+not care to ask himself; but he made up his mind at once. He must do it.
+
+He summoned his valet into his council, and through him he made himself
+acquainted with the day and hour when Ottilie was to set out. The
+morning broke. Without taking any person with him, Edward mounted his
+horse, and rode off to the place where she was to pass the night. He was
+there too soon. The hostess was overjoyed at the sight of him; she was
+under heavy obligations to him for a service which he had been able to
+do for her. Her son had been in the army, where he had conducted himself
+with remarkable gallantry. He had performed one particular action of
+which no one had been a witness but Edward; and the latter had spoken of
+it to the commander-in-chief in terms of such high praise that,
+notwithstanding the opposition of various ill-wishers, he had obtained a
+decoration for him. The mother, therefore, could never do enough for
+Edward. She got ready her best room for him, which indeed was her own
+wardrobe and store-room, with all possible speed. He informed her,
+however, that a young lady was coming to pass the night there, and he
+ordered an apartment for her at the back, at the end of the gallery. It
+sounded a mysterious sort of affair; but the hostess was ready to do
+anything to please her patron, who appeared so interested and so busy
+about it. And he, what were his sensations as he watched through the
+long, weary hours till evening? He examined the room round and round in
+which he was to see her; with all its strangeness and homeliness it
+seemed to him to be an abode for angels. He thought over and over what
+he had better do; whether he should take her by surprise, or whether he
+should prepare her for meeting him. At last the second course seemed the
+preferable one. He sat down and wrote a letter, which she was to read:
+
+EDWARD TO OTTILIE
+
+"While you read this letter, my best beloved, I am close to you. Do not
+agitate yourself; do not be alarmed; you have nothing to fear from me. I
+will not force myself upon you. I will see you or not, as you yourself
+shall choose.
+
+"Consider, oh! consider your condition and mine. How must I not thank
+you, that you have taken no decisive step! But the step which you have
+taken is significant enough. Do not persist in it. Here, as it were, at
+a parting of the ways, reflect once again. Can you be mine:--will you be
+mine? Oh, you will be showing mercy on us all if you will; and on me,
+infinite mercy.
+
+"Let me see you again!--happily, joyfully see you once more! Let me make
+my request to you with my own lips; and do you give me your answer your
+own beautiful self, on my breast, Ottilie! where you have so often
+rested, and which belongs to you for ever!"
+
+As he was writing, the feeling rushed over him that what he was longing
+for was coming--was close--would be there almost immediately. By that
+door she would come in; she would read that letter; she in her own
+person would stand there before him as she used to stand; she for whose
+appearance he had thirsted so long. Would she be the same as she
+was?--was her form, were her feelings changed? He still held the pen in
+his hand; he was going to write as he thought, when the carriage rolled
+into the court. With a few hurried strokes he added: "I hear you coming.
+For a moment, farewell!"
+
+He folded the letter, and directed it. He had no time for sealing. He
+darted into the room through which there was a second outlet into the
+gallery, when the next moment he recollected that he had left his watch
+and seals lying on the table. She must not see these first. He ran back
+and brought them away with him. At the same instant he heard the hostess
+in the antechamber showing Ottilie the way to her apartments. He sprang
+to the bedroom door. It was shut. In his haste, as he had come back for
+his watch, he had forgotten to take out the key, which had fallen out,
+and lay the other side. The door had closed with a spring, and he could
+not open it. He pushed at it with all his might, but it would not yield.
+Oh, how gladly would he have been a spirit, to escape through its
+cracks! In vain. He hid his face against the panels. Ottilie entered,
+and the hostess, seeing him, retired. From Ottilie herself, too, he
+could not remain concealed for a moment. He turned toward her; and there
+stood the lovers once more, in such strange fashion, in each other's
+presence. She looked at him calmly and earnestly, without advancing or
+retiring. He made a movement to approach her, and she withdrew a few
+steps toward the table. He stepped back again. "Ottilie!" he cried
+aloud, "Ottilie! let me break this frightful silence! Are we shadows,
+that we stand thus gazing at each other? Only listen to me; listen to
+this at least. It is an accident that you find me here thus. There is a
+letter on the table, at your side there, which was to have prepared you.
+Read it, I implore you--read it--and then determine as you will!"
+
+She looked down at the letter; and after thinking a few seconds, she
+took it up, opened it, and read it: she finished it without a change of
+expression; and she laid it lightly down; then joining the palms of her
+hands together, turning them upward, and drawing them against her
+breast, she leant her body a little forward, and regarded Edward with
+such a look, that, eager as he was, he was compelled to renounce
+everything he wished or desired of her. Such an attitude cut him to the
+heart; he could not bear it. It seemed exactly as if she would fall upon
+her knees before him, if he persisted. He hurried in despair out of the
+room, and leaving her alone, sent the hostess in to her.
+
+He walked up and down the antechamber. Night had come on, and there was
+no sound in the room. At last the hostess came out and drew the key out
+of the lock. The good woman was embarrassed and agitated, not knowing
+what it would be proper for her to do. At last as she turned to go, she
+offered the key to Edward, who refused it; and putting down the candle,
+she went away.
+
+In misery and wretchedness, Edward flung himself down on the threshold
+of the door which divided him from Ottilie, moistening it with his tears
+as he lay. A more unhappy night had been seldom passed by two lovers in
+such close neighborhood!
+
+Day came at last. The coachman brought round the carriage, and the
+hostess unlocked the door and went in. Ottilie was asleep in her
+clothes; she went back and beckoned to Edward with a significant smile.
+They both entered and stood before her as she lay; but the sight was too
+much for Edward. He could not bear it. She was sleeping so quietly that
+the hostess did not like to disturb her, but sat down opposite her,
+waiting till she woke. At last Ottilie opened her beautiful eyes, and
+raised herself on her feet. She declined taking any breakfast, and then
+Edward went in again and stood before her. He entreated her to speak but
+one word to him; to tell him what she desired. He would do it, be it
+what it would, he swore to her; but she remained silent. He asked her
+once more, passionately and tenderly, whether she would be his. With
+downcast eyes, and with the deepest tenderness of manner she shook her
+head in a gentle _No_. He asked if she still desired to go to the
+school. Without any show of feeling she declined. Would she then go back
+to Charlotte? She inclined her head in token of assent, with a look of
+comfort and relief. He went to the window to give directions to the
+coachman, and when his back was turned she darted like lightning out of
+the room, and was down the stairs and in the carriage in an instant. The
+coachman drove back along the road which he had come the day before, and
+Edward followed at some distance on horseback.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+It was with the utmost surprise that Charlotte saw the carriage drive up
+with Ottilie, and Edward at the same moment ride into the court-yard of
+the castle. She ran down to the hall. Ottilie alighted, and approached
+her and Edward. Violently and eagerly she caught the hands of the wife
+and husband, pressed them together, and hurried off to her own room.
+Edward threw himself on Charlotte's neck and burst into tears. He could
+not give her any explanation; he besought her to have patience with him,
+and to go at once to see Ottilie. Charlotte followed her to her room,
+and she could not enter it without a shudder. It had been all cleared
+out. There was nothing to be seen but the empty walls, which stood there
+looking cheerless, vacant, and miserable. Everything had been carried
+away except the little box, which from an uncertainty what was to be
+done with it, had been left in the middle of the room. Ottilie was lying
+stretched upon the ground, her arm and head leaning across the cover.
+Charlotte bent anxiously over her, and asked what had happened; but she
+received no answer.
+
+Her maid had come with restoratives. Charlotte left her with Ottilie,
+and herself hastened back to Edward. She found him in the saloon, but he
+could tell her nothing.
+
+He threw himself down before her; he bathed her hands with tears; he
+flew to his own room, and she was going to follow him thither, when she
+met his valet. From this man she gathered as much as he was able to
+tell. The rest she put together in her own thoughts as well as she
+could, and then at once set herself resolutely to do what the exigencies
+of the moment required. Ottilie's room was put to rights again as
+quickly as possible; Edward found his, to the last paper, exactly as he
+had left it.
+
+The three appeared again to fall into some sort of relation with one
+another. But Ottilie persevered in her silence, and Edward could do
+nothing except entreat his wife to exert a patience which seemed wanting
+to himself. Charlotte sent messengers to Mittler and to the Major. The
+first was absent from home and could not be found. The latter came. To
+him Edward poured out all his heart, confessing every most trifling
+circumstance to him, and thus Charlotte learnt fully what had passed;
+what it had been which had produced such violent excitement, and how so
+strange an alteration of their mutual position had been brought about.
+
+She spoke with the utmost tenderness to her husband. She had nothing to
+ask of him, except that for the present he would leave the poor girl to
+herself. Edward was not insensible to the worth, the affection, the
+strong sense of his wife; but his passion absorbed him exclusively.
+Charlotte tried to cheer him with hopes. She promised that she herself
+would make no difficulties about the separation; but it had small effect
+with him. He was so much shaken that hope and faith alternately forsook
+him. A species of insanity appeared to have taken possession of him. He
+urged Charlotte to promise to give her hand to the Major. To satisfy him
+and to humor him, she did what he required. She engaged to become
+herself the wife of the Major, in the event of Ottilie consenting to the
+marriage with Edward; with this express condition, however, that for the
+present the two gentlemen should go abroad together. The Major had a
+foreign appointment from the Court, and it was settled that Edward
+should accompany him. They arranged it all together, and in doing so
+found a sort of comfort for themselves in the sense that at least
+something was being done.
+
+In the meantime they had to remark that Ottilie took scarcely anything
+to eat or drink. She still persisted in refusing to speak. They at first
+used to talk to her, but it appeared to distress her, and they left it
+off. We are not, universally at least, so weak as to persist in
+torturing people for their good. Charlotte thought over what could
+possibly be done. At last she fancied it might be well to ask the
+Assistant of the school to come to them. He had much influence with
+Ottilie, and had been writing with much anxiety to inquire the cause of
+her not having arrived at the time he had been expecting her; but as yet
+she had not sent him any answer.
+
+In order not to take Ottilie by surprise, they spoke of their intention
+of sending this invitation in her presence. It did not seem to please
+her; she thought for some little time; at last she appeared to have
+formed some resolution. She retired to her own room, and before the
+evening sent the following letter to the assembled party:
+
+OTTILIE TO HER FRIENDS
+
+"Why need I express in words, my dear friends, what is in itself so
+plain? I have stepped out of my course, and I cannot recover it again. A
+malignant spirit which has gained power over me seems to hinder me from
+without, even if within I could again become at peace with myself.
+
+"My purpose was entirely firm to renounce Edward, and to separate myself
+from him for ever. I had hoped that we might never meet again; it has
+turned out otherwise. Against his own will he stood before me. Too
+literally, perhaps, I have observed my promise never to admit him into
+conversation with me. My conscience and the feelings of the moment kept
+me silent toward him at the time, and now I have nothing more to say. I
+have taken upon myself, under the accidental impulse of the moment, a
+difficult vow, which if it had been formed deliberately, might perhaps
+be painful and distressing. Let me now persist in the observance of it
+so long as my heart shall enjoin it to me. Do not call in any one to
+mediate; do not insist upon my speaking; do not urge me to eat or to
+drink more than I absolutely must. Bear with me and let me alone, and so
+help me on through the time; I am young, and youth has many unexpected
+means of restoring itself. Endure my presence among you; cheer me with
+your love; make me wiser and better with what you say to one another:
+but leave me to my own inward self."
+
+The two friends had made all preparation for their journey, but their
+departure was still delayed by the formalities of the foreign
+appointment of the Major, a delay most welcome to Edward. Ottilie's
+letter had roused all his eagerness again; he had gathered hope and
+comfort from her words, and now felt himself encouraged and justified in
+remaining and waiting. He declared, therefore, that he would not go; it
+would be folly, indeed, he cried, of his own accord, to throw away, by
+over precipitateness, what was most valuable and most necessary to him,
+when although there was a danger of losing it, there was nevertheless a
+chance that it might be preserved. "What is the right name of conduct
+such as that?" he said. "It is only that we desire to show that we are
+able to will and to choose. I myself, under the influences of the same
+ridiculous folly, have torn myself away, days before there was any
+necessity for it, from my friends, merely that I might not be forced to
+go by the definite expiration of my term. This time I will stay: what
+reason is there for my going; is she not already removed far enough from
+me? I am not likely now to catch her hand or press her to my heart; I
+could not even think of it without a shudder. She has not separated
+herself from me; she has raised herself far above me."
+
+And so he remained as he desired, as he was obliged; but he was never
+easy except when he found himself with Ottilie. She, too, had the same
+feeling with him; she could not tear herself away from the same happy
+necessity. On all sides they exerted an indescribable, almost magical
+power of attraction over each other. Living, as they were, under one
+roof, without even so much as thinking of each other, although they
+might be occupied with other things, or diverted this way or that way by
+the other members of the party, they always drew together. If they were
+in the same room, in a short time they were sure to be either standing
+or sitting near each other; they were only easy when as close together
+as they could be, but they were then completely happy. To be near was
+enough; there was no need for them either to look or to speak: they did
+not seek to touch one another, or make sign or gesture, but merely to be
+together. Then there were not two persons, there was but one person in
+unconscious and perfect content, at peace with itself and with the
+world. So it was that, if either of them had been imprisoned at the
+further end of the house, the other would by degrees, without intending
+it, have moved forward like a bird toward its mate; life to them was a
+riddle, the solution of which they could find only in union.
+
+Ottilie was throughout so cheerful and quiet that they were able to feel
+perfectly easy about her; she was seldom absent from the society of her
+friends: all that she had desired was that she might be allowed to eat
+alone, with no one to attend upon her but Nanny.
+
+What habitually befalls any person repeats itself more often than one is
+apt to suppose, because his own nature gives the immediate occasion for
+it. Character, individuality, inclination, tendency, locality,
+circumstance, and habits, form together a whole, in which every man
+moves as in an atmosphere, and where only he feels himself at ease in
+his proper element.
+
+And so we find men, of whose changeableness so many complaints are
+made, after many years, to our surprise, unchanged, and in all their
+infinite tendencies, outward and inward, unchangeable.
+
+Thus in the daily life of our friends, almost everything glided on again
+in its old smooth track. Ottilie still displayed by many silent
+attentions her obliging nature, and the others, like her, continued each
+themselves; and then the domestic circle exhibited an image of their
+former life, so like it that they might be pardoned if at times they
+dreamt that it might all be again as it was.
+
+The autumn days, which were of the same length with those old spring
+days, brought the party back into the house out of the air about the
+same hour. The gay fruits and flowers which belonged to the season might
+have made them fancy it was now the autumn of that first spring, and the
+interval dropped out and forgotten; for the flowers which now were
+blooming were the same as those which then they had sown, and the fruits
+which were now ripening on the trees were those which at that time they
+had seen in blossom.
+
+The Major went backward and forward, and Mittler came frequently. The
+evenings were generally spent in exactly the same way. Edward usually
+read aloud, with more life and feeling than before; much better, and
+even, it may be said, with more cheerfulness. It appeared as if he was
+endeavoring, by light-heartedness as much as by devotion, to quicken
+Ottilie's torpor into life, and dissolve her silence. He seated himself
+in the same position as he used to do, that she might look over his
+book; he was uneasy and distracted unless she was doing so, unless he
+was sure that she was following his words with her eyes.
+
+Every trace had vanished of the unpleasant, ungracious feelings of the
+intervening time. No one had any secret complaint against another; there
+were no cross purposes, no bitterness. The Major accompanied Charlotte's
+playing with his violin, and Edward's flute sounded again, as formerly,
+in harmony with Ottilie's piano. Thus they were now approaching Edward's
+birthday, which the year before they had missed celebrating. This time
+they were to keep it without any outward festivities, in quiet enjoyment
+among themselves. They had so settled it together, half expressly, half
+from a tacit agreement. As they approached nearer to this epoch,
+however, an anxiety about it, which had hitherto been more felt than
+observed, became more noticeable in Ottilie's manner. She was to be seen
+often in the garden examining the flowers: she had signified to the
+gardener that he was to save as many as he could of every sort, and she
+had been especially occupied with the asters, which this year were
+blooming in beautiful profusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The most remarkable feature, however, which was observed about Ottilie
+was that, for the first time, she had now unpacked the box, and had
+selected a variety of things out of it, which she had cut up, and which
+were intended evidently to make one complete suit for her. The rest,
+with Nanny's assistance, she had endeavored to replace again, and she
+had been hardly able to get it done, the space being over full, although
+a portion had been taken out. The covetous little Nanny could never
+satisfy herself with looking at all the pretty things, especially as she
+found provision made there for every article of dress which could be
+wanted, even the smallest. Numbers of shoes and stockings, garters with
+devices on them, gloves, and various other things were left, and she
+begged Ottilie just to give her one or two of them. Ottilie refused to
+do that, but opened a drawer in her wardrobe, and told the girl to take
+what she liked. The latter hastily and awkwardly dashed in her hand and
+seized what she could, running off at once with her booty, to show it
+off and display her good fortune among the rest of the servants.
+
+At last Ottilie succeeded in packing everything carefully into its
+place. She then opened a secret compartment which was contrived in the
+lid, where she kept a number of notes and letters from Edward, many
+dried flowers, the mementos of their early walks together, a lock of his
+hair, and various other little matters. She now added one more to them,
+her father's portrait, and then locked it all up, and hung the delicate
+key by a gold chain about her neck, against her heart.
+
+In the meantime, her friends had now in their hearts begun to entertain
+the best hopes for her. Charlotte was convinced that she would one day
+begin to speak again. She had latterly seen signs about her which
+implied that she was engaged in secret about something; a look of
+cheerful self-satisfaction, a smile like that which hangs about the face
+of persons who have something pleasant and delightful which they are
+keeping concealed from those whom they love. No one knew that she spent
+many hours in extreme exhaustion, and that only at rare intervals, when
+she appeared in public through the power of her will, she was able to
+rouse herself.
+
+Mittler had latterly been a frequent visitor, and when he came he staid
+longer than he usually did at other times. This strong-willed, resolute
+person was only too well aware that there is a certain moment in which
+alone it will answer to smite the iron. Ottilie's silence and reserve he
+interpreted according to his own wishes; no steps had as yet been taken
+toward a separation of the husband and wife. He hoped to be able to
+determine the fortunes of the poor girl in some not undesirable way. He
+listened; he allowed himself to seem convinced; he was discreet and
+unobtrusive, and conducted himself in his own way with sufficient
+prudence. There was but one occasion on which he uniformly forgot
+himself--when he found an opportunity for giving his opinion upon
+subjects to which he attached a great importance. He lived much within
+himself, and when he was with others, his only relation to them
+generally was in active employment on their behalf; but if once, when
+among friends, his tongue broke fairly loose, as on more than one
+occasion we have already seen, he rolled out his words in utter
+recklessness, whether they wounded or whether they pleased, whether they
+did evil or whether they did good.
+
+The evening before the birthday, the Major and Charlotte were sitting
+together expecting Edward, who had gone out for a ride; Mittler was
+walking up and down the saloon; Ottilie was in her own room, laying out
+the dress which she was to wear on the morrow, and making signs to her
+maid about a number of things, which the girl, who perfectly understood
+her silent language, arranged as she was ordered.
+
+Mittler had fallen exactly on his favorite subject. One of the points on
+which he used most to insist was, that in the education of children, as
+well as in the conduct of nations, there was nothing more worthless and
+barbarous than laws and commandments forbidding this and that action.
+"Man is naturally active," he said, "wherever he is; and if you know how
+to tell him what to do, he will do it immediately, and keep straight in
+the direction in which you set him. I myself, in my own circle, am far
+better pleased to endure faults and mistakes, till I know what the
+opposite virtue is that I am to enjoin, than to be rid of the faults and
+to have nothing good to put in their place. A man is really glad to do
+what is right and sensible, if he only knows how to get at it. It is no
+such great matter with him; he does it because he must have something to
+do, and he thinks no more about it afterward than he does of the
+silliest freaks which he engaged in out of the purest idleness. I cannot
+tell you how it annoys me to hear people going over and over those Ten
+Commandments in teaching children. The fifth is a thoroughly beautiful,
+rational, preceptive precept. 'Thou shalt honor thy father and thy
+mother.' If the children will inscribe that well upon their hearts, they
+have the whole day before them to put it in practice. But the sixth now?
+What can we say to that? 'Thou shalt do no murder;' as if any man ever
+felt the slightest general inclination to strike another man dead. Men
+will hate sometimes; they will fly into passions and forget themselves;
+and as a consequence of this or other feelings, it may easily come now
+and then to a murder; but what a barbarous precaution it is to tell
+children that they are not to kill or murder! If the commandment ran,
+'Have a regard for the life of another--put away whatever can do him
+hurt--save him though with peril to yourself--if you injure him,
+consider that you are injuring yourself;'--that is the form which should
+be in use among educated, reasonable people. And in our Catechism
+teaching we have only an awkward clumsy way of sliding into it, through
+a 'what do you mean by that?'
+
+"And as for the seventh; that is utterly detestable. What! to stimulate
+the precocious curiosity of children to pry into dangerous mysteries; to
+obtrude violently upon their imaginations, ideas and notions which
+beyond all things you should wish to keep from them! It were far better
+if such actions as that commandment speaks of were dealt with
+arbitrarily by some secret tribunal, than prated openly of before church
+and congregation--"
+
+At this moment Ottilie entered the room.
+
+"'Thou shalt not commit adultery,'"--Mittler went on--"How coarse! how
+brutal! What a different sound it has, if you let it run, 'Thou shalt
+hold in reverence the bond of marriage. When thou seest a husband and a
+wife between whom there is true love, thou shalt rejoice in it, and
+their happiness shall gladden thee like the cheerful light of a
+beautiful day. If there arise anything to make division between them,
+thou shalt use thy best endeavor to clear it away. Thou shalt labor to
+pacify them, and to soothe them; to show each of them the excellencies
+of the other. Thou shalt not think of thyself, but purely and
+disinterestedly thou shalt seek to further the well-being of others, and
+make them feel what a happiness is that which arises out of all duty
+done; and especially out of that duty which holds man and wife
+indissolubly bound together.'"
+
+Charlotte felt as if she was sitting on hot coals. The situation was
+the more distressing, as she was convinced that Mittler was not thinking
+the least where he was or what he was saying; and before she was able to
+interrupt him, she saw Ottilie, after changing color painfully for a few
+seconds, rise and leave the room.
+
+Charlotte constrained herself to seem unembarrassed. "You will leave us
+the eighth commandment," she said, with a faint smile.
+
+"All the rest," replied Mittler, "if I may only insist first on the
+foundation of the whole of them."
+
+At this moment Nanny rushed in, screaming and crying: "She is dying; the
+young lady is dying; come to her, come."
+
+Ottilie had found her way back with extreme difficulty to her own room.
+The beautiful things which she was to wear the next day were laid out on
+a number of chairs; and the girl, who had been running from one to the
+other, staring at them and admiring them, called out in her ecstasy,
+"Look, dearest madam, only look! There is a bridal dress worthy of you."
+
+Ottilie heard the word, and sank upon the sofa. Nanny saw her mistress
+turn pale, fall back, and faint. She ran for Charlotte, who came. The
+medical friend was on the spot in a moment. He thought it was nothing
+but exhaustion. He ordered some strong soup to be brought. Ottilie
+refused it with an expression of loathing: it almost threw her into
+convulsions, when they put the cup to her lips. A light seemed to break
+on the physician: he asked hastily and anxiously what Ottilie had taken
+that day. The little girl hesitated. He repeated his question, and she
+then acknowledged that Ottilie had taken nothing.
+
+There was a nervousness of manner about Nanny which made him suspicious.
+He carried her with him into the adjoining room; Charlotte followed; and
+the girl threw herself on her knees, and confessed that for a long time
+past Ottilie had taken as good as nothing; at her mistress's urgent
+request, she had herself eaten the food which had been brought for her;
+she had said nothing about it, because Ottilie had by signs alternately
+begged her not to tell any one, and threatened her if she did; and, as
+she innocently added, "because it was so nice."
+
+The Major and Mittler now came up as well. They found Charlotte busy
+with the physician. The pale, beautiful girl was sitting, apparently
+conscious, in the corner of the sofa. They had begged her to lie down;
+she had declined to do this; but she made signs to have her box brought,
+and resting her feet upon it, placed herself in an easy, half recumbent
+position. She seemed to be wishing to take leave; and by her gestures,
+was expressing to all about her the tenderest affection, love,
+gratitude, entreaties for forgiveness, and the most heartfelt farewell.
+
+Edward, on alighting from his horse, was informed of what had happened;
+he rushed to the room; threw himself down at her side; and seizing her
+hand, deluged it with silent tears. In this position he remained a long
+time. At last he called out: "And am I never more to hear your voice?
+Will you not turn back toward life, to give me one single word? Well,
+then, very well. I will follow you yonder, and there we will speak in
+another language."
+
+She pressed his hand with all the strength she had; she gazed at him
+with a glance full of life and full of love; and drawing a long breath,
+and for a little while moving her lips inarticulately, with a tender
+effort of affection she called out, "Promise me to live;" and then fell
+back immediately.
+
+"I promise, I promise!" he cried to her; but he cried only after her;
+she was already gone.
+
+After a miserable night, the care of providing for the loved remains
+fell upon Charlotte. The Major and Mittler assisted her. Edward's
+condition was utterly pitiable. His first thought, when he was in any
+degree recovered from his despair, and able to collect himself, was,
+that Ottilie should not be carried out of the castle; she should be kept
+there, and attended upon as if she were alive: for she was not dead; it
+was impossible that she should be dead. They did what he desired; at
+least, so far as that they did not do what he had forbidden. He did not
+ask to see her.
+
+There was now a second alarm, and a further cause for anxiety. Nanny,
+who had been spoken to sharply by the physician, had been compelled by
+threats to confess, and after her confession had been overwhelmed with
+reproaches, had now disappeared. After a long search she was found; but
+she appeared to be out of her mind. Her parents took her home; but the
+gentlest treatment had no effect upon her, and she had to be locked up
+for fear she would run away again.
+
+They succeeded by degrees in recovering Edward from the extreme agony of
+despair; but only to make him more really wretched. He now saw clearly,
+he could not doubt how, that the happiness of his life was gone from him
+for ever. It was suggested to him that if Ottilie was placed in the
+chapel, she would still remain among the living, and it would be a calm,
+quiet, peaceful home for her. There was much difficulty in obtaining his
+consent; he would only give it under condition that she should be taken
+there in an open coffin; that the vault in which she was laid, if
+covered at all, should be only covered with glass, and a lamp should be
+kept always burning there. It was arranged that this should be done, and
+then he seemed resigned.
+
+They clothed the delicate body in the festal dress, which she had
+herself prepared. A garland of asters was wreathed about her head, which
+shone sadly there like melancholy stars. To decorate the bier and the
+church and chapel, the gardens were robbed of their beauty; they lay
+desolate, as if a premature winter had blighted all their loveliness. In
+the earliest morning she was borne in an open coffin out of the castle,
+and the heavenly features were once more reddened with the rising sun.
+The mourners crowded about her as she was being taken along. None would
+go before; none would follow; every one would be where she was, every
+one would enjoy her presence for the last time. Men and women and little
+boys--there was not one unmoved; least of all to be consoled were the
+girls, who felt most immediately what they had lost.
+
+Nanny was not present; it had been thought better not to allow it, and
+they had kept secret from her the day and the hour of the funeral. She
+was at her parents' house, closely watched, in a room looking toward the
+garden. But when she heard the bells tolling, she knew too well what
+they meant; and her attendant having left her out of curiosity to see
+the funeral, she escaped out of the window into a passage, and from
+thence, finding all the doors locked, into an upper open loft. At this
+moment the funeral was passing through the village, which had been all
+freshly strewed with leaves. Nanny saw her mistress plainly close below
+her, more plainly, more entirely, than any one in the procession
+underneath; she appeared to be lifted above the earth, borne as it were
+on clouds or waves, and the girl fancied she was making signs to her;
+her senses swam, she tottered, swayed herself for a moment on the edge,
+and fell to the ground. The crowd drew asunder on all sides with a cry
+of horror. In the tumult and confusion, the bearers were obliged to set
+down the coffin; the girl lay close by it; it seemed as if every limb
+was broken. They lifted her up, and by accident or providentially she
+was allowed to lean over the body; she appeared, indeed, to be
+endeavoring, with what remained to her of life, to reach her beloved
+mistress. Scarcely, however, had the loosely hanging limbs touched
+Ottilie's robe, and the powerless finger rested on the folded hands,
+than the girl started up, and first raising her arms and eyes toward
+heaven, flung herself down upon her knees before the coffin, and gazed
+with passionate devotion at her mistress.
+
+At last she sprang, as if inspired, from off the ground, and cried with
+a voice of ecstasy: "Yes, she has forgiven me; what no man, what I
+myself could never have forgiven. God forgives me through her look, her
+motion, her lips.
+
+"Now she is lying again so still and quiet, but you saw how she raised
+herself up, and unfolded her hands and blessed me, and how kindly she
+looked at me. You all heard, you can witness that she said to me: 'You
+are forgiven.' I am not a murderess any more. She has forgiven me. God
+has forgiven me, and no one may now say anything more against me."
+
+The people stood crowding around her. They were amazed; they listened
+and looked this way and that, and no one knew what should next be done.
+"Bear her on to her rest," said the girl. "She has done her part; she
+has suffered, and cannot now remain any more amongst us." The bier moved
+on, Nanny now following it; and thus they reached the church and the
+chapel.
+
+So now stood the coffin of Ottilie, with the child's coffin at her head,
+and her box at her feet, inclosed in a resting-place of massive oak. A
+woman had been provided to watch the body for the first part of the
+time, as it lay there so beautiful beneath its glass covering. But Nanny
+would not permit this duty to be taken from herself. She would remain
+alone without a companion, and attend to the lamp which was now kindled
+for the first time; and she begged to be allowed to do it with so much
+eagerness and perseverance, that they let her have her way, to prevent
+any greater evil that might ensue.
+
+But she did not long remain alone. As night was falling, and the hanging
+lamp began to exercise its full right and shed abroad a larger lustre,
+the door opened and the Architect entered the chapel. The chastely
+ornamented walls in the mild light looked more strange, more awful, more
+antique, than he was prepared to see them. Nanny was sitting on one side
+of the coffin. She recognized him immediately; but she pointed in
+silence to the pale form of her mistress. And there stood he on the
+other side, in the vigor of youth and of grace, with his arms drooping,
+and his hands clasped piteously together, motionless, with head and eye
+inclined over the inanimate body.
+
+Once already he had stood thus before in the Belisarius; he had now
+involuntarily fallen into the same attitude. And this time how
+naturally! Here, too, was something of inestimable worth thrown down
+from its high estate. _There_ were courage, prudence, power, rank, and
+wealth in one single man, lost irrevocably; there were qualities which,
+in decisive moments, had been of indispensable service to the nation and
+the prince; but which, when the moment was passed, were no more valued,
+but flung aside and neglected, and cared for no longer. And _here_ were
+many other silent virtues, which had been summoned but a little time
+before by nature out of the depths of her treasures, and now swept
+rapidly away again by her careless hand--rare, sweet, lovely virtues,
+whose peaceful workings the thirsty world had welcomed, while it had
+them, with gladness and joy; and now was sorrowing for them in
+unavailing desire.
+
+Both the youth and the girl were silent for a long time. But when she
+saw the tears streaming fast down his cheeks, and he appeared to be
+sinking under the burden of his sorrow, she spoke to him with so much
+truthfulness and power, with such kindness and such confidence, that,
+astonished at the flow of her words, he was able to recover himself, and
+he saw his beautiful friend floating before him in the new life of a
+higher world. His tears ceased flowing; his sorrow grew lighter: on his
+knees he took leave of Ottilie, and with a warm pressure of the hand of
+Nanny, he rode away from the spot into the night without having seen a
+single other person.
+
+The surgeon had, without the girl being aware of it, remained all night
+in the church; and when he went in the morning to see her, he found her
+cheerful and tranquil. He was prepared for wild aberrations. He thought
+that she would be sure to speak to him of conversations which she had
+held in the night with Ottilie, and of other such apparitions. But she
+was natural, quiet, and perfectly self-possessed. She remembered
+accurately what had happened in her previous life; she could describe
+the circumstances of it with the greatest exactness, and never in
+anything which she said stepped out of the course of what was real and
+natural, except in her account of what had passed with the body, which
+she delighted to repeat again and again, how, Ottilie had raised herself
+up, had blessed her, had forgiven her, and thereby set her at rest for
+ever.
+
+Ottilie remained so long in her beautiful state, which more resembled
+sleep than death, that a number of persons were attracted there to look
+at her. The neighbors and the villagers wished to see her again, and
+every one desired to hear Nanny's incredible story from her own mouth.
+Many laughed at it, most doubted, and some few were found who were able
+to believe.
+
+Difficulties, for which no real satisfaction is attainable, compel us to
+faith. Before the eyes of all the world, Nanny's limbs had been broken,
+and by touching the sacred body she had been restored to strength again.
+Why should not others find similar good fortune? Delicate mothers first
+privately brought their children who were suffering from obstinate
+disorders, and they believed that they could trace an immediate
+improvement. The confidence of the people increased, and at last there
+was no one so old or so weak as not to have come to seek fresh life and
+health and strength at this place. The concourse became so great, that
+they were obliged, except at the hours of divine service, to keep the
+church and chapel closed.
+
+Edward did not venture to look at her again; he lived on mechanically;
+he seemed to have no tears left, and to be incapable of any further
+suffering; his power of taking interest in what was going on diminished
+every day; his appetite gradually failed. The only refreshment which did
+him any good was what he drank out of the glass, which to him, indeed,
+had been but an untrue prophet. He continued to gaze at the intertwining
+initials, and the earnest cheerfulness of his expression seemed to
+signify that he still hoped to be united with her at last. And as every
+little circumstance combines to favor the fortunate, and every accident
+contributes to elate him; so do the most trifling occurrences love to
+unite to crush and overwhelm the unhappy. One day, as Edward raised the
+beloved glass to his lips, he put it down and thrust it from him with a
+shudder. It was the same and not the same. He missed a little private
+mark upon it. The valet was questioned, and had to confess that the real
+glass had not long since been broken, and that one like it belonging to
+the same set had been substituted in its place.
+
+Edward could not be angry. His destiny had spoken out with sufficient
+clearness in the fact, and how should he be affected by the shadow? and
+yet it touched him deeply. He seemed now to dislike drinking, and
+thenceforward purposely to abstain from food and from speaking.
+
+But from time to time a sort of restlessness came over him; he would
+desire to eat and drink something, and would begin again to speak. "Ah!"
+he said, one day to the Major, who now seldom left his side, "how
+unhappy I am that all my efforts are but imitations ever, and false and
+fruitless. What was blessedness to her, is pain to me; and yet for the
+sake of this blessedness I am forced to take this pain upon myself. I
+must go after her; follow her by the same road. But my nature and my
+promise hold me back. It is a terrible difficulty, indeed, to imitate
+the inimitable. I feel clearly, my dear friend, that genius is required
+for everything; for martyrdom as well as the rest."
+
+What shall we say of the endeavors which in this hopeless condition were
+made for him? His wife, his friends, his physician, incessantly labored
+to do something for him. But it was all in vain: at last they found him
+dead. Mittler was the first to make the melancholy discovery; he called
+the physician, and examined closely, with his usual presence of mind,
+the circumstances under which he had been found. Charlotte rushed in to
+them; she was afraid that he had committed suicide, and accused herself
+and accused others of unpardonable carelessness. But the physician on
+natural, and Mittler on moral grounds, were soon able to satisfy her of
+the contrary. It was quite clear that Edward's end had taken him by
+surprise. In a quiet moment he had taken out of his pocketbook and out
+of a casket everything which remained to him as memorials of Ottilie,
+and had spread them out before him--a lock of hair, flowers which had
+been gathered in some happy hour, and every letter which she had written
+to him from the first and which his wife had ominously happened to give
+him. It was impossible that he would intentionally have exposed these to
+the danger of being seen by the first person who might happen to
+discover him.
+
+But so lay the heart, which but a short time before had been so swift
+and eager, at rest now, where it could never be disturbed; and falling
+asleep, as he did, with his thoughts on one so saintly, he might well be
+called blessed. Charlotte gave him his place at Ottilie's side, and
+arranged that thenceforth no other person should be placed with them in
+the same vault. In order to secure this, she made it a condition under
+which she settled considerable sums of money on the church and the
+school.
+
+So lie the lovers, sleeping side by side. Peace hovers above their
+resting-place. Fair angel faces gaze down upon them from the vaulted
+ceiling, and what a happy moment that will be when one day they wake
+again together!
+
+
+
+
+SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE[1]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JULIA FRANKLIN
+
+So much has already been written of Shakespeare that it would seem as if
+nothing remained to be said; yet it is the peculiarity of a great mind
+ever to stimulate other minds. This time I propose to consider
+Shakespeare from more than one point of view--first as a poet in
+general, then as compared with poets ancient and modern, and finally, as
+a strictly dramatic poet. I shall endeavor to show what effect the
+imitation of his art has produced upon us and what effect it is capable
+of producing in general. I shall voice my agreement with what has
+already been said by repeating it upon occasion, but shall express my
+dissent positively and briefly, without involving myself in a conflict
+of opinions. Let us, then, take up the first point.
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A POET IN GENERAL
+
+The highest that man can attain is the consciousness of his own thoughts
+and feelings, and a knowledge of himself which prepares him to fathom
+alien natures as well. There are people who are by nature endowed with
+such a gift and by experience develop it to practical uses. Thence
+springs the ability to conquer something, in a higher sense, from the
+world and affairs. The poet, too, is born with such an endowment, only
+he does not develop it for immediate mundane ends, but for a more
+exalted, universal purpose. If we rate Shakespeare as one of the
+greatest poets, we acknowledge at the same time that it has been
+vouchsafed to few to discern the world as he did: to few, in expressing
+their inward feelings of the world, to give the reader a more realizing
+sense of it. It becomes thoroughly transparent to us; we find ourselves
+suddenly the confidants of virtue and vice, of greatness and
+insignificance, of nobility and depravity--all this, and more, through
+the simplest means. If we seek to discover what those means are, it
+appears as if he wrought for our eyes; but we are deceived.
+Shakespeare's creations are not for the eyes of the body. I shall
+endeavor to explain myself.
+
+Sight may well be termed the clearest of our senses, that through which
+transmissions are most readily made. But our inward sense is still
+clearer and its highest and quickest impressions are conveyed through
+the medium of the word; for that is indeed fructifying, while what we
+apprehend through our eyes may be alien to us and by no means as potent
+in its effects. Now, Shakespeare addresses our inward sense, absolutely;
+through it the realm of fancy created by the imagination is quickened
+into life and thus a world of impressions is produced for which we can
+not account, since the basis of the illusion consists in the fact that
+everything seems to take place before our eyes. But if we examine
+Shakespeare's dramas carefully, we find that they contain far less of
+sensuous acts than of spiritual expressions. He allows events to happen
+which may be readily imagined; nay, that it is better to imagine than to
+see. Hamlet's ghost, the witches in _Macbeth_, many deeds of horror,
+produce their effect through the imagination; and the abundant short
+interludes are addressed solely to that faculty. All such things pass
+before us fittingly and easily in reading, whereas they are a drag in
+representation and appear as disturbing, even as repellent elements.
+
+Shakespeare produces his effects by the living word, and that may be
+best transmitted by recitation; the listener is not distracted by either
+good or inadequate representation. There is no greater or purer delight
+than to listen with closed eyes to a Shakespearean play recited, not
+declaimed, in a natural, correct voice. One follows the simple thread
+which runs through events of the drama. We form a certain conception of
+the characters, it is true, from their designation; but actually we
+have to learn from the course of the words and speeches what goes on
+within, and here all the characters seem to have agreed not to leave us
+in the dark, in doubt, in any particular.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD THEATRE, WEIMAR _From a Water Color by Peter
+Woltze_]
+
+To this end all conspire--heroes and mercenaries, masters and slaves,
+kings and messengers; the subordinate figures, indeed, being often more
+effective in this respect than the superior ones. Everything
+mysteriously brewing in the air at the time of some great world-event,
+all that is hidden in the human soul in moments of supreme experience,
+is given expression; what the spirit anxiously locks up and screens is
+freely and unreservedly exposed; we learn the meaning of life and know
+not how.
+
+Shakespeare mates himself with the world-spirit; like it he pervades the
+world; to neither is anything concealed; but if it is the function of
+the world-spirit to maintain secrecy before, indeed often after, the
+event, it is the poet's aim to divulge the secret and make us confidants
+before the deed, or at least during its occurrence. The vicious man of
+power, well-meaning mediocrity, the passionate enthusiast, the calmly
+reflective character, all wear their hearts upon their sleeves, often
+contrary to all likelihood; every one is inclined to talk, to be
+loquacious. In short, the secret must out, should the stones have to
+proclaim it. Even inanimate objects contribute their share; all
+subordinate things chime in; the elements, the phenomena of the heavens,
+earth and sea, thunder and lightning, wild beasts, raise their voices,
+often apparently in parables, but always acting as accessories.
+
+But the civilized world, too, must render up its treasures; arts and
+sciences, trades and professions, all offer their gifts. Shakespeare's
+creations are a great, animated fair, and for this richness he is
+indebted to his native land.
+
+England, sea-girt, veiled in mist and clouds, turning its active
+interest toward every quarter of the globe, is everywhere. The poet
+lived at a notable and momentous time, and depicted its culture, its
+misculture even, in the merriest vein; indeed, he would not affect us
+so powerfully had he not identified himself with the age in which he
+lived. No one had a greater contempt for the mere material, outward garb
+of man than he; he understands full well that which is within, and here
+all are on the same footing. It is thought that he represented the
+Romans admirably; I do not find it so; they are all true-blue
+Englishmen, but, to be sure, they are men, men through and through, and
+the Roman toga, too, fits them. When we have seized this point of view,
+we find his anachronisms highly laudable, and it is this very disregard
+of the outer raiment that renders his creations so vivid.
+
+Let these few words, which do not by any means exhaust Shakespeare's
+merits, suffice. His friends and worshipers would find much that might
+be added. Yet one remark more It would be difficult to name another poet
+each of whose works has a different underlying conception exerting such
+a dominating influence as we find in Shakespeare's.
+
+Thus _Coriolanus_ is pervaded throughout by anger that the masses will
+not acknowledge the preeminence of their superiors. In _Julius Cæsar_
+everything turns upon the conception that the better people do not wish
+any one placed in supreme authority because they imagine, mistakenly,
+that they can work in unison. _Anthony and Cleopatra,_ calls out with a
+thousand tongues that self-indulgence and action are incompatible. And
+further investigation will rouse our admiration of this variety again
+and again.
+
+
+
+II
+
+SHAKESPEARE COMPARED WITH THE ANCIENT AND THE MOST MODERN POETS
+
+The interest that animates Shakespeare's great spirit lies within the
+limits of the world; for though prophecy and madness, dreams,
+presentiments, portents, fairies and goblins, ghosts, witches and
+sorcerers, form a magic element which color his creations at the fitting
+moment, yet those phantasms are by no means the chief components of his
+productions; it is the verities and experiences of his life that are the
+great basis upon which they rest, and that is why everything that
+proceeds from him appears so genuine and pithy. We perceive, therefore,
+that he belongs not so much to the modern world, which has been termed
+the romantic one, as to a naive world, since, though his significance
+really rests upon the present, he scarcely, even in his tenderest
+moments, touches the borders of longing, and then only at the outermost
+edge.
+
+Nevertheless, more intimately examined, he is a decidedly modern poet,
+divided from the ancients by a tremendous gulf, not as regards outward
+form, which is not to be considered here at all, but as regards the
+inmost, the profoundest significance of his work.
+
+I shall, in the first place, protect myself by saying that it is by no
+means my intention to adduce the following terminology as exhaustive or
+final; my attempt is, rather not so much to add a new contrast to those
+already familiar, as to point out that it is included in them. These
+contrasts are:
+
+    Antique      Modern
+
+    Naive        Sentimental
+
+    Pagan        Christian
+
+    Heroic       Romantic
+
+    Real         Idealistic
+
+    Necessity    Freedom
+
+_Sollen_ (Duty; shall; must; should). _Wollen_ (Desire; inclination;
+would).
+
+The greatest torments, as well as the most frequent, that beset man
+spring from the discordances in us all between duty and desire, between
+duty and performance (_Vollbringen_); and it is these discordances
+that so often embarrass man during his earthly course. The slightest
+confusion, arising from a trivial error which may be cleared up
+unexpectedly and without injury, gives rise to ridiculous situations.
+The greatest confusion, on the contrary, insoluble or unsolved, offers
+us the tragic elements.
+
+Predominant in the ancient dramas is the discordance between duty and
+desire; in the modern, that between desire and performance. Let us, for
+the present, consider this decisive difference among the other
+contrasts, and see what can be done with it in both cases. Now this, now
+that side predominates, as I have remarked; but since duty and desire
+cannot be radically separated in man, both motives must be found
+simultaneously, even though the one should be predominant and the other
+subordinate. Duty is imposed upon man; "must" is a hard taskmaster;
+desire (_das Wollen_) man imposes upon himself; man's own will is his
+heaven. A persistent "should" is irksome; inability to perform is
+terrible; a persistent "would" is gratifying; and the possession of a
+firm will may yield solace even in case of incapacity to perform.
+
+We may look at games of cards as a sort of poetic creation; they, too,
+consist of these two elements. The form of the game, combined with
+chance, takes the place of the "should" as the ancients recognized it
+under the name of fate; the "would," combined with the ability of the
+player, opposes it. Looked at in this way, I should call the game of
+whist ancient. The form of this game restricts chance, nay, the will
+itself; provided with partners and opponents, I must, with the cards
+dealt out to me, guide a long series of chances which there is no way of
+controlling. In the case of ombre and other like games, the contrary
+takes place. Here a great many doors are left open to will and daring; I
+can revoke the cards that fall to my share, can make them count in
+various ways, can discard half or all of them, can appeal from the
+decree of chance, nay, by an inverted course can reap the greatest
+advantage from the worst hand; and thus this class of games exactly
+resembles the modern method in thought and in poetic art.
+
+Ancient tragedy is based upon an unavoidable "should," which is
+intensified and accelerated only by a counteracting "would." This is the
+point of all that is terrible in the oracles, the region where _Oedipus_
+reigns supreme. _Sollen_ appears in a milder light as duty in
+_Antigone_. But all _Sollen_ is despotic, whether it belongs to the
+domain of reason, as ethical and municipal laws, or to that of Nature,
+as the laws of creation, growth, dissolution, of life and death. We
+shudder at all this, without reflecting that it is intended for the
+general good. _Wollen,_ on the contrary, is free, appears free, and
+favors the individual. _Wollen,_ therefore, is flattering, and perforce
+took possession of men as soon as they learned to know it. It is the god
+of the new time; devoted to it, we have a dread of its opposite, and
+that is why there is an impassable gulf between our art, as well as our
+mode of thought, and that of the ancients. Through _Sollen,_ tragedy
+becomes great and forceful; through _Wollen,_ weak and petty. Thus has
+arisen the so-called drama, in which the awful power of Fate was
+dissolved by the will; but precisely because this comes to the aid of
+our weakness do we find ourselves moved if, after painful expectation,
+we finally receive but scant comfort.
+
+If now, after these preliminary reflections, I turn to Shakespeare, I
+can not forbear wishing that my readers should themselves make the
+comparison and the application. Here Shakespeare stands out unique,
+combining the old and the new in incomparable fashion. _Wollen_ and
+_Sollen_ seek by every means, in his plays, to reach an equilibrium;
+they struggle violently with each other, but always in a way that leaves
+the _Wollen_ at a disadvantage.
+
+No one, perhaps, has represented more splendidly the great primal
+connection between _Wollen_ and _Sollen_ in the character of the
+individual. A person, from the point of view of his character, should:
+he is restricted, destined to some definite course; but as a man, he
+wills. He is unlimited and demands freedom of choice. At once there
+arises an inner conflict, and Shakespeare puts it in the forefront. But
+then an outer conflict supervenes, which often becomes acute through the
+pressure of circumstances, in the face of which a deficiency of will may
+rise to the rank of an inexorable fate. This idea I have pointed out
+before in the case of Hamlet; but it occurs repeatedly in Shakespeare;
+for as Hamlet is driven by the ghost into straits which he cannot pass
+through, so is Macbeth by witches, by Hecate, and by the arch-witch, his
+wife; Brutus by his friends; nay, even _in Coriolanus_, we find a
+similar thing--in short, the conception of a will transcending the
+capacity of the individual is modern. But as Shakespeare represents this
+trouble of the will as arising not from within but through outside
+circumstances, it becomes a sort of Fate and approaches the antique. For
+all the heroes of poetic antiquity strive only for what lies within
+man's power, and thence arises that fine balance between will, Fate, and
+performance; yet their Fate appears always as too forbidding, even where
+we admire it, to possess the power of attraction. A necessity which,
+more or less, or completely, precludes all freedom, does not comport
+with the ideas of our time; but Shakespeare approaches these in his own
+way; for, in making necessity ethical, he links, to our gratified
+astonishment, the ancient with the modern. If anything can be learned
+from him, it is this point that we should study in his school. Instead
+of exalting our romanticism--which may not deserve censure or
+contempt--unduly and exclusively, and clinging to it in a partisan
+spirit, whereby its strong, solid, efficient side is misjudged and
+impaired, we should strive to unite within ourselves those great and
+apparently irreconcilable opposites--all the more that this has already
+been achieved by the unique master whom we prize so highly, and, often
+without knowing why, extol above every one. He had, to be sure, the
+advantage of living at the proper harvest-time, of expending his
+activity in a Protestant country teeming with life, where the madness of
+bigotry was silent for a time, so that a man like Shakespeare, imbued
+with a natural piety, was left free to develop his real self religiously
+without regard to any definite creed.
+
+
+
+III
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST
+
+If lovers and friends of art wish fully to enjoy a creation of any kind,
+they delight in it as a whole, are permeated by the unity with which the
+artist has endowed it. To a person, on the other hand, who wishes to
+discuss such productions theoretically, to assert something about them,
+and therefore, to inform and instruct, discrimination becomes a duty. We
+believed we were fulfilling that duty in considering Shakespeare first
+as a poet in general, and then comparing him with the ancient and the
+most modern poets. And now we wish to complete our design by considering
+him as a dramatist.
+
+Shakespeare's name and worth belong to the history of poetry; but it is
+doing an injustice to all the dramatists of earlier and later ages to
+present his entire merit as belonging to the history of the theatre.
+
+A person of universally acknowledged talent may make a doubtful use of
+his endowments. Not everything produced by such a superior mind is done
+in the most perfect way. Thus Shakespeare belongs essentially to the
+history of poetry; in the history of the theatre he figures only
+accidentally. Because we can admire him unqualifiedly in the first, we
+must in the latter take into consideration the conditions to which he
+submitted and not extol those conditions as either virtues or models.
+
+We distinguish closely allied forms of poetic creation, which, however,
+in a vivid treatment often merge into each other: the epic, dialogue,
+drama, stage play, may be differentiated. An epic requires oral delivery
+to the many by a single individual; dialogue, speech in private company,
+where the multitude may, to be sure, be listeners; drama, conversation
+in actions, even though perhaps presented only to the imagination; stage
+play, all three together, inasmuch as it engages the sense of vision and
+may be grasped under certain conditions of local and personal presence.
+
+It is in this sense that Shakespeare's productions are most dramatic; he
+wins the reader by his mode of treatment, of disclosing man's innermost
+life; the demands of the stage appear unessential to him, and thus he
+takes an easy course, and, in an intellectual sense, we serenely follow
+him. We transport ourselves with him from one locality to another; our
+imagination supplies all the intermediate actions that he omits; nay, we
+are grateful to him for arousing our spiritual faculties in so worthy a
+fashion. By producing everything in theatrical form, he facilitates the
+activity of the imagination; for we are more familiar with the "boards
+that mean the world" than with the world itself, and we may read and
+hear the most singular things and yet feel that they might actually take
+place before our eyes on the stage; hence the frequent failure of
+dramatizations of popular novels.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, nothing is dramatic except that which
+strikes the eye as symbolic--an important action which betokens one
+still more important. That Shakespeare could attain this height too is
+evidenced in the scene where the son and heir takes the crown from the
+side of the father slumbering on his deathbed, places it on his own
+head, and struts off with it.[2] But these are only episodes, scattered
+jewels separated by much that is undramatic. Shakespeare's whole mode of
+procedure finds something unaccommodating in the actual stage; his great
+talent is that of an epitomist, and since poets are, on the whole,
+epitomists of Nature, we must here, too, acknowledge Shakespeare's great
+merit; only we deny, at the same time, and that to his credit, that the
+stage was a worthy sphere for his genius. It is precisely this
+limitation of the stage, however, which causes him to restrict himself.
+
+But he does not, like other poets, select particular materials for
+particular works; he makes an idea the central point and refers the
+earth and the universe to it. As he condenses ancient and modern
+history, he can utilize the material of every chronicle, and often
+adheres to it literally. Not so conscientiously does he proceed with the
+tales, as _Hamlet_ attests. _Romeo and Juliet_ is more faithful to
+tradition; yet he almost destroys its tragic content by the two comic
+figures, Mercutio and the nurse, probably presented by two popular
+actors--the nurse undoubtedly acted by a man. If we examine the
+structure of the play very closely, we notice that these two figures and
+the elements touching them, appear only as farcical interludes, which,
+with our love of the logical and harmonious, must strike us as
+intolerable.
+
+But Shakespeare is most marvelous when he adapts and recasts plays
+already in existence. We can institute a comparison in the case of _King
+John_ and _Lear_; for the older dramas are still extant. But in these
+instances, likewise, he is again rather a poet than a dramatist.
+
+But let us, in conclusion, proceed to the solution of the riddle. The
+imperfection of the English stage has been represented to us by
+well-informed men. There is not a trace of those requirements of realism
+to which we have gradually become used through improvements in
+machinery, the art of perspective, the wardrobe, and from which it would
+be difficult to lead us back into the infancy of those beginnings, to
+the days of a stage upon which little was seen, where everything was
+only _indicated_, where the public was satisfied to assume the chamber
+of the king lying behind a green curtain, the trumpeter who sounded the
+trumpet always at a certain spot, and many like things. Who at present
+would permit such assumptions? Under those conditions Shakespeare's
+plays were highly interesting tales, only they were recited by a number
+of persons, who, in order to make somewhat more of an impression, were
+characteristically masked as the occasion demanded, moved about, came
+and went, but left it to the spectator's imagination to fancy at will
+paradise and palaces on the empty stage.
+
+How, indeed, did Schröder achieve the great credit of putting
+Shakespeare's plays upon the German stage but by epitomizing the
+epitomizer? Schröder confined himself entirely to what was effective; he
+discarded everything else, indeed, even much that was essential, when it
+seemed to him that the effect upon his nation, upon his time, would be
+impaired. Thus it is true, for example, that by omitting the first scene
+of _King Lear_ he changed the character of the piece; but he was right,
+after all, for in that scene Lear appears so ridiculous that one can not
+wholly blame his daughters. The old man awakens our pity, but we have no
+sympathy for him, and it is sympathy that Schröder wished to arouse as
+well as abhorrence of the two daughters, who, though unnatural, are not
+absolutely reprehensible.
+
+In the old play which is Shakespeare's source, this scene is productive,
+in the course of the play, of the most pleasing effects. Lear flees to
+France; daughter and son-in-law, in some romantic caprice, make a
+pilgrimage, in disguise, to the seashore, and encounter the old man, who
+does not recognize them. Here all that Shakespeare's lofty, tragic
+spirit has embittered is made sweet. A comparison of these dramas
+affords ever renewed pleasure to the lover of art.
+
+In recent years, however, the notion has crept into Germany that
+Shakespeare must be presented on the German stage word for word, even if
+actors and audience should fairly choke in the process. The attempts,
+induced by an excellent, exact translation,[3] would not succeed
+anywhere--a fact to which the Weimar stage, after honest and repeated
+efforts, can give unexceptionable testimony. If we wish to see a
+Shakespearean play, we must return to Schröder's adaptation; but the
+dogma that, in representing Shakespeare, not a jot or tittle may be
+omitted, senseless as it is, is constantly being reechoed. If the
+advocates of this view should retain the upper hand, Shakespeare would
+in a few years be entirely driven from the German stage. This, indeed,
+would be no misfortune; for the solitary reader, or the reader in
+company with others, would experience so much the purer delight.
+
+The attempt, however, in the other direction, on which we have dilated
+above, was made in the arrangement of _Romeo and Juliet_ for the Weimar
+stage. The principles upon which this was based, we shall set forth at
+the first opportunity, and it will perhaps then be recognized why that
+arrangement--the representation of which is by no means difficult, but
+must be carried out artistically and with precision--had no success on
+the German stage. Similar efforts are now in progress, and perhaps some
+result is in store for the future, even though such undertakings
+frequently fail at the first trial.
+
+
+
+
+ORATION ON WIELAND (1813)[4]
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH. D.
+
+    [To the Memory of the noble Poet, Brother, and Friend, Wieland.]
+
+    Most serene protector!
+    Right worshipful master I
+    Very honorable assembly I
+
+Although under no circumstances does it become the individual to set
+himself in opposition to ancient, venerable customs, or of his own will
+to alter what our ancestors in their wisdom have deemed right and have
+ordained, nevertheless, had I really at my bidding the magician's wand
+which the muses in spirit intrusted to our departed friend, I should in
+an instant transform all these sad surroundings into those of joy. This
+darkness would straightway grow radiant before your eyes, and before you
+there would appear a hall decked for a feast, with varied tapestries and
+garlands of gaiety, joyous and serene as our friend's own life. Then
+your eyes, your spirit, would be attracted by the creations of his
+luxuriant imagination; Olympus with its gods, introduced by the Muses
+and adorned by the Graces, would be a living testimony that he who lived
+amid such glad surroundings, and who also departed from us in the spirit
+of that gladness, should be counted among the most fortunate of mankind,
+and should be interred, not with lamentation, but with expressions of
+joy and of exultation.
+
+And yet, what I cannot present to the outward senses, may be offered to
+the inward. Eighty years, how much in how few syllables! Who of us dares
+hastily to run through so many years and to picture to himself the
+significance of them when well employed? Who of us would dare assert
+that he could in an instant measure and appraise the value of a life
+that was complete from every point of view?
+
+[Illustration: MARTIN WIELAND]
+
+If we accompany our friend step by step through all his days, if we
+regard him as a boy and as a youth, in his prime and in his old age, we
+find that to his lot fell the unusual fortune of plucking the bloom of
+each of these seasons; for even old age has its bloom, and the happiest
+enjoyment of this, also, was vouchsafed him. Only a few months have
+passed since for him the brethren of our lodge crowned their mysterious
+sphinx with roses, to show that, if the aged Anacreon undertook to adorn
+his exalted sensuality with the rose's light twigs, the ethical
+sensuousness, the tempered joy of life and wit which animated our noble
+friend also merited a rich and abundant garland.
+
+Only a few weeks have elapsed since this excellent man was still with
+us, not merely present but active at our gatherings. It was through the
+midst of our intimate circle that he passed from things earthly; we were
+the nearest to him, even at the last; and if his fatherland as well as
+foreign nations celebrate his memory, where ought this to be done
+earlier and more emphatically than by us?
+
+I have not, therefore, dared to disobey the mandates of our masters, and
+before this honorable assembly I speak a few words in his memory, the
+more gladly since they may be fleeting precursors of what in the future
+the world and our brotherhood shall do for him. This is the sentiment,
+and this the purpose, for the sake of which I venture to entreat a
+gracious hearing; and if what I shall say from an affection tested for
+almost forty years rather than for mere rhetorical effect--by no means
+well composed, but rather in brief sentences, and even in desultory
+fashion--may seem worthy neither of him who is honored nor of them who
+honor, then I must remark that here you may expect only a preliminary
+outline, a sketch, yes, only the contents and, if you so will, the
+marginal notes of a future work. And thus, then, without more delay, to
+the theme so dear, so precious, and, indeed, so sacred to us!
+
+Wieland was born in 1733 near Biberach, a small imperial free-town in
+Swabia. His father, a Lutheran clergyman, gave him a careful training
+and imparted to him the first elements of education. He was then sent to
+the monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where the truly pious Abbot
+Steinmetz presided over an educational institution of good repute.
+Thence he went to the University of Tübingen, and then lived for some
+time as a private tutor in Bern, but he was soon attracted to Bodmer, at
+Zurich, who, like Gleim at a later date in North Germany, might be
+called the midwife of genius in South Germany. There he gave himself
+over entirely to the joy that arises from youth's self-creation, when
+talents develop under friendly guidance without being hampered by the
+higher requirements of criticism. Soon, however, he outgrew this stage,
+returned to his native town, and henceforth became his own teacher and
+trainer, while with ceaseless activity he pursued his inclination toward
+literature and poetry.
+
+His mechanical official duties as the chief of the chancery robbed him,
+it is true, of time, though they could not deprive him of joy and
+courage; and that his spirit might not be dwarfed amid such narrow
+surroundings, he fortunately became acquainted with Count Stadion, whose
+estates lay in the vicinity, and who was a minister of the Prince
+Elector of Mainz. In this illustrious and well-appointed house the
+atmosphere of the world and of the court was for the first time wafted
+to him; he became no stranger to domestic and foreign affairs of state;
+and in the count he gained a patron for all his life. In consequence, he
+did not remain unknown to the Prince Elector of Mainz, and since the
+University of Erfurt was to be revived under Emmerich Joseph, our friend
+was summoned thither, thus exemplifying the tolerant sentiments which,
+from the beginning of the century, have spread among men who are akin
+through the Christian faith, and have even permeated humanity as a
+whole.
+
+He could not labor long at Erfurt without becoming known to the Duchess
+Regent of Weimar, at whose court Count von Dalberg, so active in every
+form of good work, did not fail to introduce him. An adequate education
+of her princely sons was the chief object of a tender mother, herself
+highly cultured, and thus he was called thither to employ his literary
+talents and his moral endowments for the best interests of the princely
+house, for our weal, and for the weal of all.
+
+The retirement promised him after the completion of his educational
+duties was given him at once, and since he received a more than promised
+alleviation of his domestic circumstances, he led, for nearly forty
+years, a life of complete conformity to his disposition and to his
+wishes.
+
+The influence of Wieland on the public was uninterrupted and permanent.
+He educated his generation up to himself, giving to the taste and to the
+judgment of his contemporaries a decided trend, so that his merits have
+already been sufficiently recognized, appraised, and even portrayed. In
+many a work on German literature he is discussed as honorably as
+judiciously; I need only recall the laudations which Küttner,
+Eschenburg, Manso, and Eichhorn have bestowed upon him.
+
+And whence came the profound influence which he exercised on the
+Germans? It was a result of the excellence and of the openness of his
+nature. In him man and author had completely interpenetrated; he wrote
+poetry as a living soul, and lived the poet's life. In verse and prose
+he never hid what was at the instant in his mind and what each time he
+felt, so that judging he wrote and writing he judged. From the fertility
+of his mind sprang the fertility of his pen.
+
+I do not employ the term "pen" as a rhetorical phrase; here it is valid
+in the strictest sense, and if a pious reverence pays homage to many an
+author by seeking to gain possession of the quill with which he formed
+his works, the quill of which Wieland availed himself, would surely be
+worthy of this distinction above many another. For the fact that he
+wrote everything with his own hand and most beautifully, and, at the
+same time, with freedom and with thoughtfulness; that he ever had
+before him what he had written, carefully examining, changing,
+improving, indefatigably fashioning and refashioning, never weary even
+of repeatedly transcribing voluminous works--this gave to his
+productions the delicacy, the gracefulness, the clearness, the natural
+elegance which can be bestowed on a work already completed, not by
+effort, but by unruffled, inspired attention.
+
+This careful preparation of his writings had its origin in a happy
+conviction which apparently came to him toward the end of his residence
+in Switzerland, when impatience at production had in some measure
+subsided, and when the desire to present a perfected result to the
+public had become more decidedly and more obviously active.
+
+Since, then, in him the man and the poet were a single individuality, we
+shall also portray the latter when we speak of the former. Irritability
+and versatility, the accompaniments of poetical and of rhetorical
+talents, dominated him to a high degree, but an acquired rather than an
+innate moderation kept them in equilibrium. Our friend was capable of
+enthusiasm in highest measure, and in youth he surrendered himself
+wholly to it, the more actively and assiduously since, in his case, for
+several years that happy period was prolonged when within himself the
+youth feels the worth and the dignity of the most excellent, be it
+attainable or not.
+
+In that pure and happy field of the golden age, in that paradise of
+innocence, he dwelt longer than others. The house where he was born, in
+which a cultivated clergyman ruled as father; the ancient,
+linden-embowered monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where a pious
+teacher kept up his patriarchal activity; Tübingen, still monastic
+in its essential form; those simple Swiss dwellings about which
+the brooks murmured, which the lakes laved, and which the cliffs
+surrounded--everywhere he found another Delphi, everywhere the groves in
+which as a mature and cultivated youth he continued to revel even yet.
+There he was powerfully attracted by the monuments of the manly
+innocence of the Greeks which have been left us. Cyrus, Araspes,
+Panthea, and forms of equal loftiness revived in him; he felt the spirit
+of Plato weaving within him; he felt that he needed that spirit to
+reproduce those pictures for himself and for others--so much the more
+since he desired not so keenly to evoke poetic phantoms as, rather, to
+create a moral influence for actual beings.
+
+Yet the very fact that he had the good fortune to dwell so protractedly
+in these loftier realms, and that he could long regard as the most
+perfect verity all that he thought, felt, imagined, dreamed, and
+fancied--this very fact embittered for him the fruit which he was
+obliged at last to pluck from the tree of knowledge.
+
+Who can escape the conflict with the outer world? Even our friend is
+drawn into this strife; reluctantly he submits to contradiction by
+experience and by life; and since, after a long struggle, he succeeds
+not in uniting these august figures with those of the vulgar world, or
+that high desire with the demands of the day, he resolves to let the
+actual pass current as the necessary, and declares that what has thus
+far seemed real to him is phantasy.
+
+Yet even here the individuality and the energy of his spirit reveals
+itself to be worthy of admiration. Despite all the fulness of his life,
+despite so strong a joy of living, despite noble inward talents and
+honorable spiritual desires and purposes, he feels himself wounded by
+the world and defrauded of his greatest treasures. Henceforth he can in
+experience nowhere find what had constituted his joy for so many years,
+and what had even been the inmost content of his life; yet he does not
+consume himself in idle lamentations, of which we know so many in the
+prose and verse of others, but he resolves upon counter-action. He
+proclaims war on all that cannot be demonstrated in reality; first and
+foremost, therefore, on Platonic love, then on all dogmatizing
+philosophy, especially its two extremes of Stoicism and Pythagoreanism.
+Furthermore, he works implacably against religious fanaticism, and
+against all that to reason appears eccentric.
+
+But he is at once overwhelmed with anxiety lest he go too far, lest he
+himself act fantastically, and now he simultaneously begins battle
+against commonplace reality. He opposes everything which we are
+accustomed to understand under the name Philistinism--musty pedantry,
+provincialism, petty etiquette, narrow criticism, false prudery, smug
+complacency, arrogant dignity, and whatever names may be applied to all
+these unclean spirits, whose name is Legion.
+
+Herein he proceeds in an absolutely natural manner, without preconceived
+purpose or self-consciousness. He stands before the dilemma of the
+conceivable and the real, and, as he must advise moderation to control
+or to unite the two, he must hold himself in check, and must be
+many-sided, since he wishes to be just.
+
+He had long been attracted by the pure, rational uprightness of noble
+Englishmen, and by their influence in the moral sphere, by an Addison,
+by a Steele; but now in their society he finds a man whose type of
+thought is far more agreeable to him.
+
+Shaftesbury, whom I need only mention to recall a great thinker to the
+mind of every well-informed man,--Shaftesbury lived at a time when much
+disturbance reigned in the religion of his native land, when the
+dominant church sought by force to subdue men of other modes of thought.
+State and morals were also threatened by much that must arouse the
+anxiety of the intelligent and right-thinking. The best counter-action
+to all this, he believed, was cheerfulness; in his opinion, only what
+was regarded with serenity would be rightly seen. He who could look
+serenely into his own bosom must be a good man. This was the main thing,
+and from it sprang all other good. Spirit, wit, and humor were, he held,
+the real agencies by which such a disposition should come in contact
+with the world. All objects, even the most serious, must be capable of
+such clarity and freedom if they were not bedizened with a merely
+arrogant dignity, but contained within themselves a true value which did
+not fear the test. In this spirited endeavor to become master of things
+it was impossible to avoid casting about for deciding authorities, and
+thus human reason was set as judge over the content, and taste over the
+manner, of presentation.
+
+In such a man our Wieland now found, not a predecessor whom he was to
+follow, nor a colleague with whom he was to work, but a true elder twin
+brother in the spirit, whom he perfectly resembled, without being formed
+in his likeness; even as it could not be said of the Menæchmi which was
+the original, and which the copy.
+
+What Shaftesbury, born in a higher station, more favored with worldly
+advantages, and more experienced by travel, office, and cosmopolitan
+knowledge, did in a wider circle and at a more serious period in
+sea-girt England, precisely this our friend, proceeding from a point at
+first extremely limited, accomplished through persistent activity and
+through ceaseless toil, in his native land, surrounded on every side by
+hills and dales; and the result was--to employ, in our condensed
+address, a brief but generally intelligible term--that popular
+philosophy whereby a practically trained intelligence is set in decision
+over the moral worth of things, and is made the judge of their aesthetic
+value.
+
+This philosophy, prepared in England and fostered by conditions in
+Germany, was thus spread far and wide by our friend, in company with
+countless sympathizers, by poems and by scholarly works, even by life
+itself.
+
+And yet, if we have found Shaftesbury and Wieland perfectly alike so far
+as point of view, temperament, and insight are concerned, nevertheless,
+the latter was far superior to the former in talent; for what the
+Englishman rationally taught and desired, the German knew how to
+elaborate poetically and rhetorically in verse and prose.
+
+In this elaboration, however, the French mode of treatment was
+necessarily most suitable to him. Serenity, wit, spirit, and elegance
+are already at hand in France; his luxuriant imagination, which now
+desires to be occupied only with light and joyous themes, turns to tales
+of fairies and knights, which grant it the greatest freedom. Here,
+again, in the _Arabian Nights_ and in the _Bibliotheque universelle des
+romans_, France offered him materials half-prepared and adapted, while
+the ancient treasures of this sort, which Germany possesses, still
+remained crude and unavailable.
+
+It is precisely these poems which have most widely spread and most
+firmly established Wieland's fame. Their light-heartedness gained them
+access to everyone, and even the serious Germans deigned to be pleased
+with them; for all these works appeared indeed at a happy and favorable
+time. They were all written in the spirit which we have developed above.
+Frequently the fortunate poet undertook the artistic task of giving a
+high value to very mediocre materials by revising them; and though it
+cannot be denied that he sometimes permits reason to triumph over the
+higher powers, and at other times allows sensuality to prevail over the
+moral qualities, yet we must also grant that, in its proper place,
+everything which can possibly adorn noble souls gains supremacy.
+
+Earlier than most of these works, though not the earliest of all, was
+the translation of Shakespeare. Wieland did not fear impairment of his
+originality by study; on the contrary, he was convinced at an early date
+that a lively, fertile spirit found its best stimulus not only in the
+adaptation of material that was already well known, but also in the
+translation of extant works.
+
+In those days the translation of Shakespeare was a daring thought, for
+even trained _litterateurs_ denied the possibility of the success of
+such an undertaking. Wieland translated freely, grasped the sense of his
+author, and omitted what appeared to him untranslatable; and thus he
+gave to his nation a general idea of the most magnificent works of
+another people, and to his generation an insight into the lofty culture
+of by-gone centuries.
+
+Great as was the effect of this translation in Germany, it appears to
+have exercised little influence upon Wieland himself. He was too
+thoroughly antagonistic to his author, as is sufficiently obvious from
+the passages omitted and passed over, and still more from the appended
+notes, in which the French type of thought is evident.
+
+On the other hand, the Greeks, with their moderation and clarity, are to
+him most precious models. He feels himself allied with them in taste;
+religion, customs, and legislation all give him opportunity to exercise
+his versatility, and since neither the gods nor the philosophers, and
+neither the nation nor the nations are any more compatible than
+politicians and soldiers, he everywhere finds the desired opportunity,
+amid his apparent doubts and jests, of repeatedly inculcating his
+equitable, tolerant, human doctrines.
+
+At the same time, he takes delight in presenting problematical
+characters, and he finds pleasure, for example, in emphasizing the
+lovable qualities of a Musarion, a Lais, and a Phryne without regard to
+womanly chastity, and in exalting their practical wisdom above the
+scholastic wisdom of the philosophers.
+
+But among these he also finds a man whom he can develop and set forth as
+the representative of his own convictions--I mean Aristippus. Here
+philosophy and worldly pleasure are through wise moderation so united in
+serene and welcome fashion that the wish arises to be a contemporary in
+so fair a land, and in such goodly company. Union with these educated,
+right-thinking, cultivated, joyous men is so welcome, and it even seems
+that so long as one may walk with them in thought, one's mind will be as
+theirs, and one will think as they.
+
+In these circles our friend maintained himself by careful experiments,
+which are still more necessary to the translator than to the poet; and
+thus arose the German _Lucian_, which necessarily presented the Greek to
+us the more vividly since the author and the translator could be
+regarded as true kindred spirits.
+
+But however much a man of such talents preaches decency, he will,
+nevertheless, sometimes feel himself tempted to transgress the
+boundaries of propriety and decorum, since from time immemorial genius
+has reckoned such escapades among its prerogatives. Wieland indulged
+this impulse when he sought to assimilate himself to the daring,
+extraordinary Aristophanes, and when he was able to translate his jests,
+as audacious as they were witty, though he toned them down with his own
+innate grace.
+
+For all these presentations an insight into the higher plastic art was
+also obviously necessary, and since our friend was never vouchsafed the
+sight of those ancient masterpieces which still survive, he sought to
+rise to them in thought, to bring them before his eyes by the power of
+imagination; so that we cannot fail to be amazed to see how talent is
+able to form for itself a conception even of what is far away. Moreover,
+he would have been entirely successful if his laudable caution had not
+restrained him from taking decisive steps; for art in general, and
+especially the art of the ancients, can neither be grasped nor
+comprehended without enthusiasm. He who will not commence with amazement
+and with admiration finds no entrance into the holy of holies. Our
+friend, however, was far too cautious, and how could he have been
+expected to make in this single instance an exception from his general
+rule of life?
+
+If, however, he was near akin to the Greeks in taste, in sentiment he
+was still more closely allied to the Romans--not that he would have
+allowed himself to be carried away by republican or by patriotic zeal,
+but he really finds his peers among the Romans, whereas he has, in a
+sense, only fictitiously assimilated himself to the Greeks. Horace has
+much similarity to him; himself an artist, and himself a man of the
+court and of the world, he intelligently estimates life and art; Cicero,
+philosopher, orator, statesman, and active citizen, also closely
+resembles him--and both arose from inconsiderable beginnings to great
+dignities and honors.
+
+While our friend occupies himself with the works of both these men, how
+gladly would he transport himself back into their century and their
+surroundings, and transfer himself to their epoch, in order to transmit
+to us a clear picture of that past; and he succeeds amazingly. Perhaps,
+on the whole, more sympathy might be desired for the men with whom he is
+concerned, but such is his fear of partisanship that he prefers to take
+sides against them rather than on their behalf.
+
+There are two maxims of translation. The one demands that the author of
+an alien nation be brought over to us so that we may regard him as our
+own; the other, on the contrary, lays upon us the obligation that we
+should transfer ourselves to the stranger and accommodate ourselves to
+his conditions, to his diction, and to his peculiarities. The advantages
+of both are sufficiently well known to all cultured men by masterly
+examples. Our friend, who here also sought the middle way, endeavored to
+combine both; yet, as a man of taste and feeling, in doubtful cases he
+gave the preference to the first maxim.
+
+Perhaps no one has so keenly felt as he how complicated a task
+translation is. How deeply was he convinced that not the letter but the
+spirit giveth life! Consider how, in his introductions, he first
+endeavors to shift us to the period and to make us acquainted with the
+personages; how he then makes his author speak in a way which we already
+know, akin to our own thought and familiar to our ear; and how, finally,
+in his annotations, he seeks to explain and to obviate many a detail
+which might remain obscure, rouse doubt, and be offensive. Through this
+triple endeavor one can see clearly that he first has mastered his
+subject, and then he also takes the most praiseworthy pains to put us in
+a position in which his insight can be communicated to us, that we also
+may share the enjoyment with him.
+
+Although he was equally master of many tongues, yet he clung to the two
+in which the value and the dignity of the ancient world have most purely
+been transmitted to us. For little as we would deny that many a treasure
+has been drawn and is still to be drawn from the mines of other ancient
+literatures, so little shall we be contradicted when we assert that the
+language of the Greeks and of the Romans has transmitted to us, down to
+this very day, priceless gifts which in content are equal to the best,
+and in form are superior to every other.
+
+The organization of the German Empire, which includes so many small
+states within itself, herein resembled the Greek. Since the tiniest,
+most unimportant, and even invisible city had its special interests it
+was constrained to cherish and to maintain them, and to defend them
+against its neighbors. Accordingly, its youth were early roused and
+summoned to reflect upon affairs of state. And thus Wieland, too, as the
+chief of the chancery of one of the smallest imperial free-towns, was in
+a position calculated to make of him a patriot and, in the best sense of
+the term, a demagogue; as when later, in one such instance, he resolved
+to bring down upon himself the temporary disfavor of his patron, the
+neighboring Count Stadion, rather than to make an unpatriotic
+submission.
+
+His _Agathon_ itself teaches us that within this sphere as well he gave
+preference to sound principles; nevertheless, he took such interest in
+the realities of life that all his occupations and all his predilections
+ultimately failed to prevent him from thinking about the same. He
+particularly felt himself summoned anew to this when he dared promise
+himself a weighty influence on the training of princes from whom much
+might be expected.
+
+In all the works of this type which he wrote a cosmopolitan spirit is
+manifest, and since they were composed at a time when the power of
+absolute monarchy was not yet shaken, it became his main purpose
+insistently to set their obligations before the rulers and to point them
+to the happiness which they should find in the happiness of their
+subjects.
+
+Now, however, the epoch came when an aroused nation tore down all that
+had thus far stood, and seemed to summon the spirits of all the dwellers
+upon earth to a universal legislation. On this matter, likewise, he
+declared himself with cautious modesty; and by rational presentations,
+which he clothed under a variety of forms, he sought to produce some
+measure of equilibrium in the excited masses. Since, however, the tumult
+of anarchy became more and more furious, and since a voluntary union of
+the masses appeared inconceivable, he was the first once more to counsel
+absolutism and to designate the man to work the miracle of
+reëstablishment.
+
+If, now, it be remembered in this connection that our friend wrote
+concerning these matters not, as it were, after, but during, events, and
+that, as the editor of a widely-read periodical he had occasion--and was
+even compelled--on the spur of the moment to express his views each
+month, then he who is called to trace chronologically the course of his
+life will perceive, not without amazement, how attentively he followed
+the swift events of the day, and how shrewdly he conducted himself
+throughout as a German and as a thinking, sympathetic man. And here is
+the place to recall the periodical which was so important for Germany,
+the _Deutscher Merkur_. This undertaking was not the first of its kind,
+yet at that time it was new and significant. The name of its editor
+immediately created great confidence in it; for the fact that a man who
+was himself a poet also promised to introduce the poems of others into
+the world, and that an author to whom such magnificent works were due
+would himself pass judgment and publicly express his opinion--this
+aroused the greatest hopes. Moreover, men of worth quickly gathered
+about him, and this alliance of preëminent _litterateurs_ was so active
+that the _Merkur_ during a period of several years may be employed as a
+textbook of our literary history. On the public generally its influence
+was profound and significant, for if, on the one hand, reading and
+criticism became the possession of a greater multitude, the desire to
+give instant expression to his thoughts became active in everyone who
+had anything to give. More was sent to the editor than he expected and
+desired; his success awakened imitators; similar periodicals arose which
+crowded upon the public, first monthly, then weekly and daily, and which
+finally produced that confusion of Babel of which we were and are
+witnesses, and which, strictly speaking, springs from the fact that
+everyone wishes to talk, but no one is willing to listen..
+
+The quality which maintained the value and the dignity of the _Deutscher
+Merkur_ for many years was its editor's innate liberality. Wieland was
+not created to be a party leader; he who recognizes moderation as the
+chief maxim cannot make himself guilty of one-sidedness. Whatever
+excited his active spirit he sought to equalize within himself through
+taste and common sense, and thus he also treated his collaborators, for
+none of whom he felt very much enthusiasm; and as, while translating the
+ancient authors whom he so highly esteemed, he was accustomed frequently
+to attack them in his notes, so, by his disapproving annotations, he
+often vexed, and actually estranged, valued and even favorite
+contributors.
+
+Even before this, our friend had been forced to endure full many an
+attack on account of major or minor writings; so much the less as the
+editor of a periodical could he escape literary controversies. Yet here,
+too, he shows himself ever the same. Such a paper war can never last
+long for him, and if it threatens to be in any degree protracted, he
+gives his opponent the last word and goes his wonted path.
+
+Foreigners have sagaciously observed that German authors regard the
+public less than the writers of other nations, and that, therefore, one
+can tell from his writings the man who is developing himself, and the
+man who seeks to create something to his own satisfaction,--and,
+consequently, the character of these two types soon becomes obvious.
+This quality we have already ascribed to Wieland in particular; and it
+will be so much the more interesting to arrange and to follow his
+writings and his life in this sense, since, formerly and latterly, the
+attempt has been made to cast suspicion on our friend's character from
+these very writings. A large number of men are even yet in error
+regarding him, since they fancy that the man of many sides must be
+indifferent, and the versatile man must be wavering; it is forgotten
+that character is concerned simply and solely with the practical. Only
+in that which a man does and continues to do, and in that to which he is
+constant, does he reveal his character, and in this sense there has been
+no more steadfast man, no man constantly more true to himself, than
+Wieland. If he surrendered himself to the multiplicity of his emotions,
+and to the versatility of his thoughts, and if he permitted no single
+impression to gain dominion over him, in this very way he proved the
+firmness and the sureness of his mind. This witty man played gladly with
+his opinions, but--I can summon all contemporaries as witnesses--never
+with his convictions. And thus he won for himself many friends, and kept
+them. That he had any decided enemy is not known to me. In the enjoyment
+of his poetic works he lived for many years in municipal, civic,
+friendly, and social surroundings, and gained the distinction of a
+complete edition of his carefully revised works, and even of an _édition
+de luxe_ of them.
+
+But even in the autumn of his years he was destined to feel the
+influence of the spirit of the age, and in an unforeseen manner to begin
+a new life, a new youth. The blessings of sweet peace had long ruled
+over Germany; general outward safety and repose coincided most happily
+with the inward, human, cosmopolitan views of existence. The peaceful
+townsman seemed no longer to require his walls; they were dispensed
+with; and there was a yearning after rustic life. The security of landed
+property gave confidence to everyone; the untrammelled life of nature
+attracted everyone; and as man, born a social being, can often fancy to
+himself the sweet deceit that he lives better, easier, happier in
+isolation, so Wieland also, who had already been vouchsafed the highest
+literary leisure, seemed to look about him for an abode more quiet in
+which to cultivate the Muses; and when he found opportunity and strength
+to obtain an estate in the very vicinity of Weimar, he formed the
+resolution there to pass the remainder of his life. And here they who
+have often visited him, and who have lived with him, may tell in detail
+how it was precisely here that he appeared in all his charm as head of
+the house and of the family, as friend, and as husband, and especially
+how, since he could indeed withdraw from men but men could not dispense
+with him, he most delightfully developed his social virtues as a
+hospitable host.
+
+While inviting younger friends to elaborate this idyllic portrayal, I
+may merely note, briefly and sympathetically, how this rural joy was
+troubled by the passing away of a dear woman friend who resided with
+them, and then by the death of his esteemed and careful consort. He laid
+these dear remains in his own property, and although he resolved to give
+up agricultural cares, which had become too intricate for him, and to
+dispense with the estate which for some years he had enjoyed, he
+retained for himself the place and the space between his two dear ones
+that there he, too, might find his resting place. And there, then, the
+honorable brethren have accompanied him, yea, brought him, and thus have
+they fulfilled his lovely and pleasant wish that posterity might visit
+and reverence his tomb within a living grove.
+
+Yet not without a higher reason did our friend return to the city, for
+his devotion to his great patroness, the Duchess Dowager, had more than
+once given him sad hours in his rural retirement. He felt only too
+keenly how much it cost him to be far from her. He could not forego
+association with her, and yet he could enjoy it only with inconvenience
+and with discomfort. And thus, after he had seen his household now
+expanded and now contracted, now augmented and now diminished, now
+gathered together and now scattered, the exalted princess draws him into
+her own immediate circle. He returns, occupies a house very close to the
+princely residence, shares in the summer sojourn in Tiefurt, and now
+regards himself as a member of the household and of the court.
+
+In very peculiar measure Wieland was born for the higher circles of
+society, and even the highest would have been his proper element; for
+since he nowhere wished to stand supreme, but gladly sought to take part
+in everything, and was inclined to express himself with moderation
+regarding everything, he must inevitably appear an agreeable companion,
+and in still higher degree he would have been such in a more
+light-hearted nation which did not take too seriously every form of
+recreation.
+
+For his poetic and his literary aspirations were alike addressed
+immediately to life, and though he did not seek a practical end with
+absolute invariability, yet he ever had a practical aim before his eyes,
+whether it was near or far. Therefore his thought was always clear, his
+phraseology was lucid and readily intelligible, and since, with his
+extensive knowledge, he continually held to the interest of the day,
+followed it, and intelligently occupied himself with it, his
+conversation also was diversified and stimulating throughout; so that I
+have not readily become acquainted with anyone who more gladly received
+and more spiritedly responded to whatever happy idea others might bring
+forward.
+
+Bearing in mind his type of thought, his mode of entertaining himself
+and others, and his honorable purpose of influencing his generation, he
+can scarcely be reproached for feeling an antagonism toward the more
+modern philosophical schools. When, at an earlier period, Kant gave
+merely the preludes of his greater theories in his minor writings, and
+in a lighter style seemed to express himself problematically upon
+the most weighty themes, then he still stood close enough to our friend;
+but when the huge system was erected, all those who had thus far gone
+their way poetizing and philosophizing in full freedom, were forced to
+see in Kant's monumental work a menacing citadel which would limit their
+serene excursions over the field of experience.
+
+Yet not merely the philosophers, but also the poets, had much, and,
+indeed, everything, to fear from the new intellectual tendency, so soon
+as large numbers should allow themselves to be attracted by it. It would
+at first appear as though its purpose was mainly directed toward
+knowledge, and then toward the theory of morals and its immediately
+subsidiary subjects. It was readily obvious, however, that, if it was
+intended to establish, more firmly than had hitherto been the case,
+those weighty affairs of higher knowledge and of moral conduct, and if
+there the demand was made for a sterner, more coherent judgment,
+developed from the depths of humanity--it was readily obvious, I repeat,
+that taste also would soon be referred to such principles, and,
+therefore, the attempt would be made absolutely to set aside individual
+fancies, chance culture, and popular peculiarities, and to evoke a more
+general law as a deciding factor.
+
+This was, moreover, actually realized, and in poetry a new epoch emerged
+which was necessarily as antagonistic to our friend as he was to it.
+From this time on he experienced many unfavorable judgments, yet without
+being very deeply influenced by them; and I here expressly mention this
+circumstance, since the consequent struggle in German literature is as
+yet by no means allayed and adjusted, and since a friend who desires to
+value Wieland's merits and sturdily to uphold his memory must be
+perfectly conversant with the situation of affairs, with the rise and
+with the sequence of opinions, and with the character and with the
+talents of the cooperators; he must know well the powers and the
+services of both sides; and, to work impartially, he must, in a sense,
+belong to both factions. Yet from those minor or major controversies
+which arose from his intellectual attitude I am drawn by a serious
+consideration, to which we must now turn.
+
+The peace which for many years had blissfully dwelt amid our mountains
+and hills, and in our delightfully watered valleys, had long been, if
+not disturbed, at least threatened, by military expeditions. When the
+eventful day dawned which filled us with amazement and alarm, since the
+fate of the world was decided in our walks, even in those terrible hours
+toward which our friend's carefree life flowed on, fortune did not
+desert him, for he was saved first through the precaution of a young and
+resolute friend, and then through the attention of the French
+conquerors, who honored in him both the meritorious author, famed
+throughout the world, and a member of their own great literary
+institute.
+
+Soon afterward he had to bear the loss of Amelia, so bitter to us all.
+Court and city endeavored to extend him every compensation, and soon
+afterward he was favored by two emperors with insignia of honor, the
+like of which he had not sought, and had not even expected, throughout
+his long life.
+
+Yet in the day of joy as in the day of sorrow he remained constant to
+himself, and thus he exemplified the superiority of delicate natures,
+whose equanimity knows how to meet with moderation good and evil fortune
+alike.
+
+But he appeared most remarkable of all, considered in body and in
+spirit, after the bitter calamity which befell him in such advanced
+years when, together with a beloved daughter, he was very severely
+injured by the overturning of his carriage. The painful results of the
+accident and the tedium of convalescence he bore with the utmost
+equanimity, and he comforted his friends rather than himself by the
+declaration that he had never met with a like misfortune, and it might
+well have seemed pleasing to the gods that in this way he discharge the
+debt of humanity. Now, moreover, he speedily recovered, since his
+constitution, like that of a youth, was quickly restored, and thus he
+became a proof for us of the way in which great physical strength may be
+combined with delicacy and clean living.
+
+As, then, his philosophy of life remained firm even under this test;
+such an accident produced no change in his convictions or in his mode of
+life. Companionable after his recovery as before, he took part in the
+customary recreations of the social life of the court and of the city,
+and with true affection and with constant endeavor shared in the
+activities of the brethren of our lodge. But however much his eye seemed
+always fixed on things earthly, and on the understanding and utilization
+of them--yet, as a man of exceptional gifts, he could in no wise
+dispense with the extramundane and the supersensual. Here also that
+conflict, which we have deemed it our duty to portray in detail above,
+became evident in a remarkable degree; for though he appeared to reject
+everything which lay outside the bounds of general knowledge, and beyond
+the sphere of what may be exemplified from experience, none the less,
+while he did not transgress the lines so sharply drawn, he could never
+refrain, in tentative fashion, as it were, from peeping over them, and
+from constructing and representing, in his own way, an extramundane
+world, a state concerning which all the innate powers of our soul can
+give us no information.
+
+Single traits of his writings afford manifold examples of this; but I
+may especially recall his _Agathodämon_ and his _Euthanasie_, and also
+those beautiful declarations, as rational as they were sincere, which he
+was permitted, only a short while since, to express openly and frankly
+before this assembly. For a confiding love toward our lodge of brethren
+had developed within him. Acquainted even as a youth with the historical
+traditions regarding the mysteries of the ancients, he indeed shunned,
+in conformity with his serene, lucid mode of thought, those dark
+secrets; yet he did not deny that precisely under these, perhaps
+uncouth, veils, higher conceptions had first been brought to barbarous
+and sensual men, that, through awe-inspiring symbols, powerful,
+illuminating ideas had been awakened, the belief in one God, ruling over
+all, had been introduced, virtue had been represented more desirably,
+and hope for the continuance of our existence had been purified both
+from the false terrors of a dark superstition and from the equally false
+demands of an Epicurean sensuality.
+
+Then, as an aged man left behind on earth by so many valued friends and
+contemporaries, and feeling himself in many respects alone, he drew near
+to our dear lodge. How gladly he entered it, how constantly he attended
+our gatherings, vouchsafed his attention to our affairs, rejoiced in the
+reception of excellent young men, was present at our honorable banquets,
+and did not refrain from expressing his thoughts upon many a weighty
+matter--of this we are all witnesses; we have recognized it with
+friendly gratitude. Indeed, if this ancient lodge, often reëstablished
+after many a change of time, required any testimony here, the most
+perfect would be ready at hand, since a talented man, intelligent,
+cautious, circumspect, experienced, benevolent, and moderate, felt that
+with us he found kindred spirits, and that with us he was in a company
+which he, accustomed to the best, so gladly recognized to be the
+realization of his wishes as a man and as a social being.
+
+Although summoned by our masters to speak a few words concerning the
+departed, before this so distinguished and highly esteemed assembly, I
+might surely have ventured to decline to do so, in the conviction that
+not a fleeting hour, not loose notes superficially jotted down, but
+whole years, and even several well weighed and well ordered volumes are
+requisite worthily to celebrate his memory in consideration of the
+monument which he has worthily erected for himself in his works and in
+his influence. This delightful duty I undertook only in the conviction
+that what I have here said may serve as an introduction to what should
+in future be better done by others at the repeated celebration of his
+memory. If it shall please our honored masters to deposit in their ark,
+together with this essay, all that shall publicly appear concerning our
+friend, and, still more, what our brethren, whom he most greatly and
+most peculiarly influenced and who enjoyed an uninterrupted and a closer
+association with him, may confidentially express and communicate, then
+through this would be collected a treasure of facts, of information, and
+of valuations which might well be unique of its kind, and from which our
+posterity might draw, in after times, in order to protect, to maintain,
+and to hallow for evermore so worthy a memory with love unwavering.
+
+
+
+
+THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (1827)
+
+TRANSLATED BY EDWARD BELL From WILHELM MEISTER'S TRAVELS
+
+Our pilgrims had performed the journey according to program, and
+prosperously reached the frontier of the province in which they were to
+learn so many wonderful things. On their first entry they beheld a most
+fertile region, the gentle slopes of which were favorable to
+agriculture, its higher mountains to sheep-feeding, and its broad
+valleys to the rearing of cattle. It was shortly before the harvest, and
+everything was in the greatest abundance; still, what surprised them
+from the outset, was that they saw neither women nor men, but only boys
+and youths busy getting ready for a prosperous harvest, and even making
+friendly preparations for a joyous harvest-home. They greeted now one,
+and now another, and inquired about the master, of whose whereabouts no
+one could give an account. The address of their letter was: _To the
+Master or to the Three_, and this too the boys could not explain;
+however, they referred the inquirers to an overseer, who was just
+preparing to mount his horse. They explained their object; Felix's frank
+bearing seemed to please him; and so they rode together along the road.
+
+Wilhelm had soon observed that a great diversity prevailed in the cut
+and color of the clothing, which gave a peculiar aspect to the whole of
+the little community. He was just on the point of asking his companion
+about this, when another strange sight was displayed to him; all the
+children, howsoever they might be occupied, stopped their work, and
+turned, with peculiar yet various gestures, toward the party riding
+past; and it was easy to infer that their object was the overseer. The
+youngest folded their arms crosswise on the breast, and looked
+cheerfully toward the sky; the intermediate ones held their arms behind
+them, and looked smiling upon the ground; the third sort stood erect
+and boldly; with arms at the side, they turned the head to the right,
+and placed themselves in a row, instead of remaining alone, like the
+others, where they were first seen.
+
+Accordingly, when they halted and dismounted, just where several
+children had ranged themselves in various attitudes and were being
+inspected by the overseer, Wilhelm asked the meaning of these gestures.
+
+Felix interposed, and said cheerfully: "What position have I to take,
+then?"
+
+"In any case," answered the intendant, "at first the arms across the
+breast, and looking seriously and gladly upward, without turning your
+glance." He obeyed; how ever he soon exclaimed: "This does not please me
+particularly; I see nothing overhead; does it last long? But yes,
+indeed," he exclaimed joyfully, "I see two hawks flying from west to
+east; that must be a good omen!"
+
+"It depends on how you take to it, how you behave yourself," rejoined
+the former; "now go and mingle with them, just as they mingle with each
+other."
+
+He made a sign, the children forsook their attitudes, resumed their
+occupations or went on playing as before. "Will you, and can you,"
+Wilhelm now asked, "explain to me that which causes my wonder? I suppose
+that these gestures, these positions, are greetings, with which they
+welcome you."
+
+"Just so," answered the other; "greetings, that tell me at once at what
+stage of cultivation each of these boys stands."
+
+"But could you," Wilhelm added, "explain to me the meaning of the
+graduation? For that it is such, is easy to see."
+
+"That is the part of better people than me," answered the other; "but I
+can assure you of this much, that they are no empty grimaces, and that,
+on the contrary, we impart to the children, not indeed the highest, but
+still a guiding and intelligible explanation; but at the same time we
+command each to keep and cherish for himself what we may have chosen to
+impart for the information of each: they may not chat about it with
+strangers, nor amongst themselves, and thus the teaching is modified in
+a hundred ways. Besides this the secrecy has very great advantages; for
+if we tell people immediately and perpetually the reason of everything,
+they think that there is nothing behind. To certain secrets, even if
+they may be known, we have to show deference by concealment and silence,
+for this tends to modesty and good morals."
+
+"I understand you," said Wilhelm. "Why should we not also apply
+spiritually, what is so necessary in bodily matters? But perhaps in
+another respect you can satisfy my curiosity. I am surprised at the
+great variety in the cut and color of their clothes, and yet I do not
+see all kinds of color, but a few only, and these in all their shades,
+from the brightest to the darkest. Still I observe, that in this there
+cannot be meant any indication of degrees of either age or merit; since
+the smallest and biggest boys mingled together, may be alike in cut and
+color, whilst those who are alike in gestures do not agree with one
+another in dress."
+
+"As concerns this, too," their companion replied, "I cannot explain any
+further; yet I shall be much mistaken it you depart hence without being
+enlightened about all that you may wish to know."
+
+They were now going in search of the master, whom they thought that they
+had found; but now a stranger could not but be struck by the fact that
+the deeper they got into the country, the more they were met by a
+harmonious sound of singing. Whatsoever the boys set about, in whatever
+work they were found engaged, they were for ever singing, and in fact it
+seemed that the songs were specially adapted to each particular
+occupation, and in similar cases always the same. If several children
+were in any place, they would accompany each other in turns.
+
+Toward evening they came upon some dancing, their steps being animated
+and guided by choruses. Felix from his horse chimed in with his voice,
+and, in truth, not badly; Wilhelm was delighted with this entertainment,
+which made the neighborhood so lively. "I suppose," he observed to his
+companion, "you devote a great deal of care to this kind of instruction,
+for otherwise this ability would not be so widely diffused, or so
+perfectly developed."
+
+"Just so," replied the other; "with us the art of singing forms the
+first step in education; everything else is subservient to it, and
+attained by means of it. With us the simplest enjoyment, as well as the
+simplest instruction, is enlivened and impressed by singing; and even
+what we teach in matters of religion and morals is communicated by the
+method of song. Other advantages for independent ends are directly
+allied; for, whilst we practise the children in writing down by symbols
+on the slate the notes which they produce, and then, according to the
+indication of these signs, in reproducing them in their throats, and
+moreover in adding the text, they exercise at the same time the hand,
+ear, and eye, and attain orthography and calligraphy quicker than you
+would believe; and, finally, since all this must be practised and copied
+according to pure metre and accurately fixed time, they learn to
+understand much sooner than in other ways the high value of measure and
+computation. On this account, of all imaginable means, we have chosen
+music as the first element of our education, for from this equally easy
+roads radiate in every direction."
+
+Wilhelm sought to inform himself further, and did not hide his
+astonishment at hearing no instrumental music.
+
+"We do not neglect it," replied the other, "but we practise it in a
+special place, inclosed in the most charming mountain-valley; and then
+again we take care that the different instruments are taught in places
+lying far apart. Especially are the discordant notes of beginners
+banished to certain solitary spots, where they can drive no one crazy;
+for you will yourself confess, that in well-regulated civil society
+scarcely any more miserable nuisance is to be endured than when the
+neighborhood inflicts upon us a beginner on the flute or on the violin.
+Our beginners, from their own laudable notion of wishing to be an
+annoyance to none, go voluntarily for a longer or shorter period into
+the wilds, and, isolated there, vie with one another in attaining the
+merit of being allowed to draw nearer to the inhabited world; on which
+account they are, from time to time, allowed to make an attempt at
+drawing nearer, which seldom fails, because in these, as in our other
+modes of education, we venture actually to develop and encourage a sense
+of shame and diffidence. I am sincerely glad that your son has got a
+good voice; the rest will be effected all the more easily."
+
+They had now reached a place where Felix was to remain, and make trial
+of his surroundings, until they were disposed to grant a formal
+admission. They already heard from afar a cheerful singing; it was a
+game, which the boys were now enjoying in their play-hour. A general
+chorus resounded, in which each member of a large circle joined
+heartily, clearly, and vigorously in his part, obeying the directions of
+the superintendent. The latter, however, often took the singers by
+surprise, by suspending with a signal the chorus-singing, and bidding
+some one or other single performer, by a touch of his bâton, to adapt
+alone some suitable song to the expiring tune and the passing idea. Most
+of them already showed considerable ability, a few who failed in the
+performance willingly paid their forfeit, without exactly being made a
+laughing-stock. Felix was still child enough to mix at once among them,
+and came tolerably well out of the trial. Thereupon the first style of
+greeting was conceded to him; he forthwith folded his arms on his
+breast, looked upward, and with such a droll expression withal, that it
+was quite plain that no hidden meaning in it had as yet occurred to him.
+
+The pleasant spot, the kind reception, the merry games, all pleased the
+boy so well, that he did not feel particularly sad when he saw his
+father depart; he looked almost more wistfully at the horse as it was
+led away; yet he had no difficulty in understanding, when he was
+informed that he could not keep it in the present locality. On the other
+hand, they promised him that he should find, if not the same, at all
+events an equally lively and well-trained one when he did not expect it.
+
+As the superior could not be found, the overseer said: "I must now leave
+you, to pursue my own avocations; but still I will take you to the
+Three, who preside over holy things: your letter is also addressed to
+them, and together they stand in place of the Superior."
+
+Wilhelm would have liked to learn beforehand about the holy things, but
+the other replied. "The Three in return for the confidence with which
+you have left your son with us, will certainly, in accordance with
+wisdom and justice, reveal to you all that is most necessary. The
+visible objects of veneration, which I have called holy things, are
+included within a particular boundary, are not mingled with anything, or
+disturbed by anything; only at certain times of the year, the pupils,
+according to the stages of their education, are admitted to them, in
+order that they may be instructed historically and through their senses;
+for in this way they carry off with them an impression, enough for them
+to feed upon for a long time in the exercise of their duty."
+
+Wilhelm now stood at the entrance of a forest-valley, inclosed by lofty
+walls; on a given signal a small door was opened, and a serious,
+respectable-looking man received our friend. He found himself within a
+large and beautifully verdant inclosure, shaded with trees and bushes of
+every kind, so that he could scarcely see some stately walls and fine
+buildings through the dense and lofty natural growth; his friendly
+reception by the Three, who came up by-and-by, ultimately concluded in a
+conversation, to which each contributed something of his own, but the
+substance of which we shall put together in brief.
+
+"Since you have intrusted your son to us," they said, "it is our duty
+to let you see more deeply into our methods of proceeding. You have seen
+many external things, that do not carry their significance with them all
+at once; which of these do you most wish to have explained?"
+
+"I have remarked certain seemly yet strange gestures and obeisances, the
+significance of which I should like to learn; with you no doubt what is
+external has reference to what is within, and vice versa; let me
+understand this relation."
+
+"Well-bred and healthy children possess a great deal; Nature has given
+to each everything that he needs for time and continuance: our duty is
+to develop this; often it is better developed by itself. But one thing
+no one brings into the world, and yet it is that upon which depends
+everything through which a man becomes a man on every side. If you can
+find it out yourself, speak out."
+
+Wilhelm bethought himself for a short time, and then shook his head.
+After a suitable pause, they exclaimed "Veneration!"
+
+Wilhelm was startled.
+
+"Veneration," they repeated. "It is wanting in all, and perhaps in
+yourself. You have seen three kinds of gestures, and we teach a
+threefold veneration, which when combined to form a whole, only then
+attains to its highest power and effect. The first is veneration for
+that which is above us. That gesture, the arms folded on the breast, a
+cheerful glance toward the sky, that is precisely what we prescribe to
+our untutored children, at the same time requiring witness of them that
+there is a God up above who reflects and reveals Himself in our parents,
+tutors and superiors. The second, veneration for that which is below us.
+The hands folded on the back as if tied together, the lowered, smiling
+glance, bespeak that we have to regard the earth well and cheerfully; it
+gives us an opportunity to maintain ourselves; it affords unspeakable
+joys; but it brings disproportionate sufferings. If one hurts oneself
+bodily, whether faultily or innocently; if others hurt one,
+intentionally or accidentally; if earthly chance does one any harm--let
+these be well thought of, for such danger accompanies us all our life
+long. But from this condition we deliver our pupil as soon as possible,
+directly we are convinced that the teachings of this stage have made a
+sufficient impression upon him; but then we bid him be a man, look to
+his companions, and guide himself with reference to them. Now he stands
+erect and bold, yet not selfishly isolated; only in a union with his
+equals does he present a front toward the world. We are unable to add
+anything further."
+
+"I see it all," replied Wilhelm; "it is probably on this account that
+the multitude is so inured to vice, because it takes pleasure only in
+the element of ill-will and evil speech; he who indulges in this, soon
+becomes indifferent to God, contemptuous toward the world, and a hater
+of his fellows; but the true, genuine, indispensable feeling of
+self-respect is ruined in conceit and presumption."
+
+"Allow me, nevertheless," Wilhelm went on, "to make one objection: Has
+it not ever been held that the fear evinced by savage nations in the
+presence of mighty natural phenomena, and other inexplicable foreboding
+events, is the germ from which a higher feeling, a purer disposition,
+should gradually be developed?"
+
+To this the other replied: "Fear, no doubt, is consonant with nature,
+but not reverence; people fear a known or unknown powerful being; the
+strong one tries to grapple with it, the weak to avoid it; both wish to
+get rid of it, and feel happy when in a short space they have conquered
+it, when their nature in some measure has regained its freedom and
+independence. The natural man repeats this operation a million times
+during his life; from fear he strives after liberty, from liberty he is
+driven back into fear, and does not advance one step further. To fear is
+easy, but unpleasant; to entertain reverence is difficult but pleasing.
+Man determines himself unwillingly to reverence, or rather never
+determines himself to it; it is a loftier sense which must be imparted
+to his nature, and which is self-developed only in the most
+exceptionally gifted ones, whom therefore from all time we have regarded
+as saints, as gods. In this consists the dignity, in this the function
+of all genuine religions, of which also there exist only three,
+according to the objects toward which they direct their worship."
+
+The men paused. Wilhelm remained silent for awhile in thought; as he did
+not feel himself equal to pointing these strange words, he begged the
+worthy men to continue their remarks, which too they at once consented
+to do.
+
+"No religion," they said, "which is based on fear, is esteemed among us.
+With the reverence which a man allows himself to entertain, whilst he
+accords honor, he may preserve his own honor; he is not at discord with
+himself, as in the other case. The religion which rests on reverence for
+that which is above us, we call the ethnical one; it is the religion of
+nations, and the first happy redemption from a base fear; all so-called
+heathen religions are of this kind, let them have what names they will.
+The second religion, which is founded on that reverence which we have
+for what is like ourselves, we call the Philosophic; for the
+philosopher, who places himself in the middle, must draw downward to
+himself all that is higher, and upward to himself all that is lower, and
+only in this central position does he deserve the name of the sage. Now,
+whilst he penetrates his relations to his fellows, and therefore to the
+whole of humanity, and his relations to all other earthly surroundings,
+necessary or accidental, in the cosmical sense he lives only in the
+truth. But we must now speak of the third religion, based on reverence
+for that which is below us; we call it the Christian one, because this
+disposition of mind is chiefly revealed in it; it is the last one which
+humanity could and was bound to attain. Yet what was not demanded for
+it? not merely to leave earth below, and claim a higher origin, but to
+recognize as divine even humility and poverty, scorn and contempt,
+shame and misery, suffering and death; nay, to revere and make lovable
+even sin and crime, not as hindrances but as furtherances of holiness!
+Of this there are indeed found traces throughout all time; but a track
+is not a goal, and this having once been reached, humanity cannot turn
+backward; and it may be maintained, that the Christian religion having
+once appeared, can never disappear again; having once been divinely
+embodied, cannot again be dissolved."
+
+"Which of these religions do you then profess more particularly?" said
+Wilhelm.
+
+"All three," answered the others, "for, in point of fact, they together
+present the true religion; from these three reverences outsprings the
+highest reverence, reverence for oneself, and the former again develop
+themselves from the latter, so that man attains to the highest he is
+capable of reaching, in order that he may consider himself the best that
+God and nature have produced; nay, that he may be able to remain on this
+height without being drawn through conceit or egoism into what is base."
+
+"Such a profession of faith, developed in such a manner, does not
+estrange me," replied Wilhelm; "it agrees with all that one learns here
+and there in life, only that the very thing unites you, that severs the
+others."
+
+To this the others replied: "This confession is already adhered to by a
+large part of the world, though unconsciously."
+
+"How so, and where?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"In the Creed!" exclaimed the others, loudly; "for the first article is
+ethnical, and belongs to all nations: the second is Christian, for those
+struggling against sufferings and glorified in sufferings; the third
+finally teaches a spiritual communion of saints, to wit, of those in the
+highest degree good and wise: ought not therefore in fairness the three
+divine Persons, under whose likeness and name such convictions and
+promises are uttered, to pass also for the highest Unity?"
+
+"I thank you," replied the other, "for having so clearly and coherently
+explained this to me--to whom, as a full-grown man, the three
+dispositions of mind are not new; and when I recall, that you teach the
+children these high truths, first through material symbols, then through
+a certain symbolic analogy, and finally develop in them the highest
+interpretation, I must needs highly approve of it."
+
+"Exactly so," replied the former; "but now you must still learn
+something more, in order that you may be convinced that your son is in
+the best hands. However, let this matter rest for the morning hours;
+rest and refresh yourself, so that, contented and humanly complete, you
+may accompany us farther into the interior tomorrow."
+
+
+
+
+WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE (1804)
+
+TRANSLATED BY GEORGE KRIEHN, PH. D.
+
+TO HER MOST SERENE HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS ANNA AMALIA OF SAXE-WEIMAR AND
+EISENACH
+
+_Most Serene Princess,_
+
+_Most Gracious Lady,_
+
+Another benefaction has been added to the many which art and science owe
+to Your Highness by the most gracious permission to publish the
+following letters of Winckelmann. They are addressed to a man who had
+the happiness of counting himself among your servants, and soon
+afterward of living in close relation with Your Highness, at the time
+when Winckelmann found himself in the most embarrassing circumstances,
+the straightforward and touching narration of which one cannot read
+without sympathy.
+
+Had these pages come to the attention of Your Highness in those days,
+the dictates of your noble and charitable heart would have immediately
+put an end to such distress, changed the fate of a most excellent man,
+and directed it more happily for the future.
+
+But who indeed ought to think of what might have happened, when so many
+gratifying things that actually took place lie before us?
+
+Your Highness has, since that time, established and supported much that
+is useful and promotive of happiness, while our gracious and sympathetic
+Prince adds constantly to the great number of his benefactions.
+
+One may without vainglory recall the good that for us and for others has
+been accomplished in our limited circle, the least significant aspects
+of which cannot but excite the observer's admiration, which would be
+greatly increased if a well informed writer should take the trouble to
+describe its origin and growth.
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS AMALIA]
+
+The intention of the benefactors was never selfish but was always
+directed toward the good to be accomplished. The higher culture of this
+land all the more deserves an annalist, since much formerly existed and
+flourished of which all visible traces have now disappeared. May Your
+Highness, in the consciousness of having been the prime mover and
+constant participant in these enterprizes, attain that peculiar domestic
+happiness, a hale and hearty old age, and long continue to enjoy the
+brilliant period now opening for our circle, in which we hope that all
+that has been accomplished will be further increased, unified and
+strengthened, and thus handed down to posterity.
+
+Cherishing the flattering hope that I shall continue to rejoice in that
+inestimable favor with which Your Highnesses have deigned to adorn my
+life, I am, with respectful devotion,
+
+Your Most Serene Highness' obedient servant,
+
+J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+PREFACE
+
+The friends of art who have for several years been associated at Weimar
+are surely privileged to speak of their relation to the general public,
+because (and this is the final test) they have always expressed similar
+convictions and have been guided by well tried principles. Not that,
+limited to certain modes of apprehending matters, they have obstinately
+maintained a single point of view. On the contrary, they willingly
+confess that they have learned much from diverse expression of opinion,
+all the more so as they now learn with pleasure that their efforts in
+behalf of culture are constantly becoming more closely allied to the
+general progress of higher education in Germany.
+
+With much gratification they call attention to the _Propyloea_, to the
+critical and descriptive programs of no less than six exhibitions of
+painting and statuary, to the many expressions of opinion in the
+_Jenaisische Litteraturzeitung, and to the published translation of the
+Life of Benvenuto Cellini.
+
+Although these writings have not been printed and bound in the same
+volumes and do not form parts of a single work, they have, nevertheless,
+all been written in the same spirit. They have proved a leaven to the
+whole, as we are learning slowly, but not without gratification; so that
+there is no longer occasion to remember ingratitude often experienced,
+and open or secret opposition.
+
+The present publication is an immediate sequel to the foregoing works,
+and of its contents we mention here only the most important.
+
+PLAN FOR A HISTORY OF ART DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
+
+The historical conception of related conditions promotes the more rapid
+development of the artist as well as of the man. Every individual,
+especially if he be a man of capacity, at first seems far too important
+to himself. Trusting in his independent power, he is inclined to
+champion far too quickly this or that maxim; he strives and labors with
+energy along the path he has himself chosen; and when at length he
+becomes conscious of his one-sidedness and his error, he changes just as
+violently, enters upon another perhaps equally erroneous course, and
+clings to principles equally faulty. Not until late in life does he
+become aware of his own history and realize how much further a constant
+development in accordance with well tested principles might have led
+him.
+
+If the connoisseur owes his insight to history alone, which embodies the
+ideas which give rise to art, for the young artist the history of art is
+of the greatest importance.
+
+ [Illustration: WINCKELMANN]
+
+He should not, however, search in it for indistinct models, to be
+pursued passionately, but for the means of realizing himself and his
+point of view, with its limitations. But unfortunately, even the
+immediate past is seldom instructive to man, through no fault of his
+own. For while we are learning to understand the mistakes of our
+predecessors, time is itself producing new errors which, unobserved,
+ensnare us, and the account of which is left to the future historian
+with just as little advantage to his own generation.
+
+But who would indulge in such mournful observations, and not rather
+endeavor to promote the greatest possible clearness of view in his own
+branch of study? This is the duty assumed by the writer of the present
+sketch, the difficulty of which will be seen by connoisseurs, who, it is
+hoped, will point out its deficiencies and correct its imperfections,
+thereby making a satisfactory future work possible.
+
+WINCKELMANN'S LETTERS To BERENDIS
+
+Letters are among the most important monuments which the individual
+leaves behind him. Imaginative persons often picture to themselves, even
+in solitary musings, the presence of a distant friend, to whom they
+impart their most private opinions; and in the same manner a letter is a
+kind of soliloquy. For often the friend to whom, we write is rather the
+occasion than the subject of the letter. Whatever rejoices or pains,
+oppresses or occupies us, is poured forth from the heart. As lasting
+evidences of an existence or a condition, such papers are the more
+important for posterity, the more the writer lives in the moment and the
+less he is concerned with the future. Winckelmann's letters sometimes
+have this desirable character.
+
+Although this excellent man, who educated himself in solitude, was
+reticent in society, serious and discreet in his personal life and
+conduct toward others, he was free and unconstrained in his letters, in
+which he often reveals himself, without hesitation, just as he felt. We
+see him worried, troubled, confused, doubting and dilatory, but also
+cheerful, alert, bold, daring, and unrestrained to the degree of
+cynicism; altogether, however, as a man of tempered character and
+confident in himself; who, although the outer conditions offered to his
+imagination so much to choose from, usually chose the best way, except
+when he took the last impatient step which cost him his life.
+
+His letters, having the general characteristics of rectitude and
+directness, differ according to the persons to whom they are addressed,
+which is always the case when a clever correspondent imagines those
+present with whom he is speaking at a distance, and therefore no more
+neglects what is proper and suitable than he would in their presence.
+
+Thus the letters addressed to Stosch (to mention only a few of the
+larger groups of Winckelmann's letters) seem to us fine testimonials of
+honest cooperation with a friend for a definite purpose; a proof of his
+great endurance in a difficult task, thoughtlessly undertaken without
+proper preparation, but courageously and happily concluded; they sparkle
+with the liveliest literary, political, and society news, and form a
+charming picture of life, which would have been more interesting if they
+could have been printed entire and unmutilated. Charming also is his
+frankness, even in passionate disapproval of a friend for whom the
+writer was never tired of testifying as much respect as love, as much
+gratitude as attachment.
+
+The consciousness of his own superiority and dignity, combined with a
+genuine appreciation of others, the expression of friendship,
+cordiality, playfulness and pleasantry, which characterize the letters
+to his Swiss friends, make this collection extremely interesting and
+lovable as well as exceedingly instructive, although Winckelmann's
+letters cannot on the whole be termed instructive.
+
+The first letters to Count Bünau, in the valuable Dassdorf collection,
+reveal an oppressed, self-absorbed spirit, which hardly ventures to
+look up to such an exalted patron. That remarkable letter in which
+Winckelmann announces his change of religion is a real galimatias, an
+unfortunate and confused document.
+
+The first half of our own collection serves to make this period
+comprehensible, yea, immediately intelligible. They were written partly
+at Nöthenitz, partly at Dresden, and are directed to an intimate and
+trusted friend and comrade. The writer stands revealed in all his
+distress, with his pressing, irresistible desires, but on the road to a
+new and distant happiness, earnestly sought.
+
+The other half of our letters are written from Italy. They preserve
+their direct, unrestrained character; but above them hovers the
+joyfulness of the southern sky, and they are inspired with an exuberant
+delight in the goal which he has attained. Besides this, they give,
+compared with other contemporary letters that are already known, a more
+complete view of his position.
+
+The pleasure of appreciating and passing judgment upon the importance of
+this collection, which is perhaps greater from the psychological than
+from the literary point of view, we leave to receptive hearts and
+judicious minds. We shall add only a few words about the man to whom
+they were written, in accordance with our available information.
+
+Hieronymus Dieterich Berendis was born at Seehausen in the Altmark in
+the year 1720, studied law in the University of Halle, and was for some
+years after his student days auditor of the Royal Prussian Regiment of
+Hussars, usually called the Black Hussars from their uniform, but at the
+time named after their Commander von Ruesch. After leaving that rude
+life, he continued his studies in Berlin. During a sojourn at Seehausen
+he made the acquaintance of Winckelmann, whose intimate friend he
+became, and through whose recommendation he was afterward engaged as
+tutor of the youngest Count Bünau. He conducted his pupil to Brunswick
+where the latter studied at the Karolinum. When the Count afterward
+entered the French service, his father, who was at that time minister
+of state at Weimar, conducted Berendis into the service of the Duke, in
+which he first became military counsellor, entering afterward the
+service of the Dowager Duchess as Financial Councillor and Keeper of the
+Privy Purse. He died on the 26th of October, 1783, at Weimar.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF WINCKELMANN
+
+The most deserving citizen, no matter how great his service may have
+been to his country and his city in a wider or narrower field, receives
+but one funeral. Others, however, have so distinguished themselves by
+worthy benefactions that they are honored by a public celebration of the
+anniversary of their death, on which occasion the lasting influence of
+their beneficence is praised. In the same sense we have every cause to
+offer from time to time a well meaning tribute to the memory of the men
+who have bestowed inexhaustible mental benefactions upon us.
+
+From this point of view the slight tribute which friends of similar
+opinions now offer should be regarded as a testimonial of their
+appreciation, not as an account of his services. The feast at which it
+is offered will be participated in by all appreciative minds on the
+occasion of the recently discovered letters of Winckelmann, now for the
+first time published.
+
+SKETCHES FOR AN ESSAY ON WINCKELMANN
+
+PREFACE
+
+The following essays, written by three friends, whose opinions on art in
+general, as well as on the services of Winckelmann, coincide, were
+intended as a basis for a more extended essay on this remarkable man,
+and to furnish the materials for a work which should have at once the
+merit of diversity and of unity.
+
+ [Illustration: WEIMAR SEEN FROM THE NORTH]
+
+But as in life many an undertaking encounters all kinds of obstacles,
+which hardly allow the requisite material to be collected, to say
+nothing of giving it the desired form, so here only half of the whole as
+planned appears.
+
+In the present instance, however, the half may be prized more than the
+whole, since, by the study of three individual opinions on the same
+subject, the reader may to a greater extent be stimulated and incited to
+form an individual conception of the significant life and character of
+Winckelmann, which can now be easily accomplished by the aid of the
+earlier and more recently published materials. We therefore hope to
+merit gratitude if, instead of waiting for a later opportunity and
+promising a future achievement, we freely offer, in Winckelmann's own
+refreshing manner, only that which is already prepared, even though it
+be not complete, in order that it may after its own fashion exert a
+timely influence in the great world of life and culture.
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The memory of noteworthy men and the presence of important works of art,
+awaken from time to time a spirit of contemplation. Both stand before us
+as legacies of each succeeding generation, the former by reason of their
+deeds and fame, the latter actually preserved as indefinable realities.
+Every judicious observer knows full well that only the contemplation of
+these men and monuments in their entirety would be of real value, and
+yet we are always attempting to make them more comprehensible by our
+reflection and our words.
+
+One is especially impelled to this when something new relating to such
+subjects is discovered and made known. We trust therefore that the
+public will find our renewed observations on Winckelmann, his character
+and his achievements a timely contribution, since the letters which are
+now published throw a more vivid light upon his mode of thought and the
+conditions under which he labored.
+
+ENTER WINCKELMANN
+
+Even to ordinary mortals Nature has not denied a very precious
+endowment--I refer to that lively impulse felt from earliest childhood,
+to take hold of the external world, to learn to know it, to enter into
+relation with it, and to form with it a complete whole. Certain chosen
+spirits, on the other hand, often have the peculiarity of feeling a kind
+of aversion to actual life, withdraw into themselves, and create in
+themselves a world of their own, in this wise achieving the highest
+inner development.
+
+But when, in especially gifted men, appears the need common to all of us
+of seeking in the external world a corresponding realization for all the
+gifts with which Nature has endowed them, thereby raising their inner
+being to a self-relying whole, we may be assured of the development of a
+character in which both the present and the future world will rejoice.
+
+Winckelmann was a man of this kind. Nature had placed in him whatever
+makes and adorns the true man. Furthermore, he devoted his entire life
+to the search for that which is harmonious and worthy in man and in art,
+which is primarily concerned with man.
+
+An obscure childhood, insufficient instruction in his youth, disjointed
+and scattered studies in early manhood, the pressure of a school
+position, and all the worry and annoyance that are experienced in such a
+career--all these he had suffered as many others have. He had reached
+the age of thirty without having enjoyed a single favor at the hands of
+fate; yet in him were planted the germs of an enviable happiness, very
+possible to realize.
+
+Even in these unhappy days we find the trace of that impulse to know for
+himself with his own eyes the conditions of the world, gloomy and
+disjointed traces it is true, but expressed with sufficient decision. A
+few attempts to see strange lands, undertaken without sufficient
+reflection, were unsuccessful. He dreamed of a journey to Egypt; he set
+out by way of France, but unforeseen obstacles turned him back. More
+wisely guided by his genius, he at last seized upon the idea of forcing
+his way to Rome. He felt how very profitable a sojourn in the Eternal
+City would be for him. This was no whim, no mere thought; it was a
+decided plan, which he undertook to realize with cleverness and
+decision.
+
+THE ANTIQUE
+
+Man can accomplish much by the opportune use of individual powers, he
+can even accomplish extraordinary things by the combination of several
+powers; but the unique, the startling, he can only achieve when all
+capabilities are evenly united in him. This last was the happy lot of
+the ancients, especially of the Greeks in their best period; to the
+other two alternatives we moderns are unfortunately limited by fate.
+
+When the healthy nature of man acts as a unit, when he realizes his
+place in the world as part of a great and worthy whole, when a
+harmonious well-being accords him a pure and free happiness--then the
+universe, if it had the power of self-realization, its end attained,
+would rejoice and admire this culmination of its own genesis and
+existence. For to what purpose is the array of suns, planets and moons,
+of stars and milky ways, of comets and nebulae, of worlds existing and
+arising, if it be not that a happy man may unconsciously rejoice in his
+own existence?
+
+While, in almost every act of contemplation, the modern thinker, as we
+have just done, projects himself into the infinite, to return only in
+the end--if he is happy enough in succeeding therein--to a limited
+proposition, the ancients, without following a long, round-about path,
+found their exclusive happiness within the lovely confines of this
+world. Here they were placed, to this end they had been called, here
+their activity found its field, their passion its object and
+nourishment.
+
+Why are their poets and historians the wonder of the judicious, the
+despair of rivals, unless it be because the actors introduced by them
+were so deeply concerned in their own selves, in the narrow circle of
+the fatherland, within the circumscribed path of their own life as well
+as that of their fellow citizens, and because with all their mind,
+inclination, and power, they worked in and for the present? Under such
+conditions it could not be difficult for a writer of their opinion to
+immortalize such a present. What was actually occurring was for them the
+only thing of value, just as for us only what is thought or felt seems
+of greatest worth.
+
+In a certain sense the poet lived in his imagination, just as the
+historian lived in the political, and the investigator in the natural
+world. All held fast to the nearest, the true, the actual, and even the
+pictures of their fantasy have bone and marrow. Man, and whatever was
+human, was considered of the highest value, and all his inner and
+external relations to the world were represented with the same great
+intelligence with which they were observed. Feeling and observation had
+not been separated; that almost incurable breach in the healthy power of
+man had not yet occurred.
+
+Not only in enjoying happiness, but in enduring unhappiness also, these
+natures were remarkably gifted. For as a healthy tissue resists illness
+and is speedily restored after every attack, so the wholesome mind of
+such natures quickly and easily recovers from internal and external
+misfortune. Such an antique nature, in so far as one can make this
+statement of any of our contemporaries, was reincarnated in Winckelmann.
+At the very beginning it endured its mighty probation, and was not tamed
+by thirty years of humility, discomfort, and sorrow; it could neither be
+diverted from its path, nor blunted by adversity. As soon as he attained
+a worthy freedom, he appears well rounded and complete, quite in the
+antique sense. He was to live a life of action, enjoyment and self
+denial, joy and suffering, possession and loss, exaltation and
+debasement--yet in such a strange medley he was always satisfied with
+the beautiful world in which such a variable fate befalls us.
+
+Just as in life he possessed a really antique spirit, so in his studies
+he was faithful to the same ideal. In the treatment of science in
+general the ancients were in a rather unfortunate position, since for
+the comprehension of the varied objects of nature a division of powers
+and capabilities, a disintegration of unity (so to speak) is almost
+unavoidable. In a like case the modern scholar encounters an even
+greater danger, because in the detailed investigation of manifold
+subjects, he runs the risk of scattering his energies and of losing
+himself in disconnected knowledge, without supplementing the incomplete,
+as the ancients succeeded in doing, by the completeness of his own
+personality.
+
+However much Winckelmann wandered about in the fields of possible and
+profitable knowledge, guided partly by pleasure and inclination, partly
+by necessity, he always came back sooner or later to antiquity,
+especially to Greek antiquity, with which he felt himself most closely
+related, and with which he was destined so happily to be united in his
+best days.
+
+PAGANISM
+
+The description of the ancient point of view, concerned only with this
+world and its assets, leads us directly to the observation that such
+advantages are conceivable only in a pagan mind. That confidence in
+oneself, that activity in the present, the pure worship of the gods as
+ancestors and the admiration of them _quasi_ as artistic creations only,
+resignation to an all-powerful fate, the yearning for future fame,
+itself dependent upon activities in this world--all these belonging
+necessarily together, constitute such an inseparable whole that they
+form a condition of human existence planned by Nature herself. In the
+highest moment of happiness, as well as in the deepest of sacrifice,
+even of destruction, we are always conscious of an indestructible
+well-being.
+
+This pagan point of view pervades Winckelmann's deeds and writings, and
+is expressed especially in his early letters, where he is still wearing
+himself out in the conflict with more modern religious opinions. This
+mode of thought, this remoteness from the Christian point of view,
+indeed his repugnance of it, must be remembered in judging his so-called
+change of religion. The churches into which the Christian religion is
+divided were a matter of complete indifference to him, because in his
+inmost nature he never belonged to any of them.
+
+FRIENDSHIP
+
+Since the ancients, as we boast, were really entire men, they must, as
+they found all happiness in themselves and the world, have learned to
+know the relations of human beings in the widest sense; they could not
+therefore be lacking in that delight which arises from the attachment of
+similar natures.
+
+Here also a remarkable difference between ancient and modern times is
+revealed. The relation to woman, which with us has become so tender and
+spiritual, hardly rose above the limits of the lowest satisfaction. The
+relation of parents to children seems to have been of a somewhat more
+tender character. The friendship of persons of the male sex for one
+another, with them took the place of all other sentiments; although they
+pictured the maidens Chloris and Thyia as inseparable friends, even in
+Hades.
+
+The passionate fulfilment of loving duties, the joy of inseparability,
+the devotion of one for the other, their avowed allegiance during life,
+and the duty of sharing death itself, if necessary, fill us with
+astonishment. One even feels ashamed of one's own generation when poets,
+historians, philosophers and orators overwhelm one with amazing stories,
+events, sentiments and opinions, all of the same tenor and purport.
+
+For a friendship of this character, Winckelmann felt himself born--not
+only capable of it, but requiring it to the highest degree. He realized
+himself only in the relation of friendship; he recognized himself only
+in that image of the whole which requires a third for its completion.
+
+Even at an early period he applied this ideal to a probably unworthy
+object; to whom he consecrated himself, for whom he vowed himself to
+live and to suffer; for whom he found even in his poverty the means of
+being rich, of giving and of sacrificing; indeed he would not have
+hesitated to surrender his existence, his very life. It is in this
+relation that Winckelmann, even in the midst of poverty and need, feels
+rich, generous and happy, because he is able to do something for him
+whom he loves above everything else, and in whom he has, as the highest
+sacrifice, to excuse even ingratitude.
+
+However the times and circumstances might alter, Winckelmann reshaped
+every object of worth with which he came in contact, to fit this ideal
+of friendship. Although many of these attachments easily and quickly
+vanish, the fine sentiment underlying them won for him the heart of many
+an excellent man, and brought him the happiness of living in the most
+beautiful relation with the best men of his age and environment.
+
+BEAUTY
+
+Although such a deep need of friendship really creates and idealizes the
+object of its affection, the lover of antiquity would, through it alone,
+achieve only a one-sided moral excellence. The external world would
+offer him little, if along with it a related, similar need and a
+satisfying object of this need did not fortunately appear--we refer to
+the demand for the sensuously beautiful, as revealed in a tangible
+object. For the supreme product of an ever evolving nature is the
+beautiful man. It is true that Nature can but seldom produce him,
+because the ideal is opposed by many existing conditions, and even her
+almighty power cannot tarry long with the perfect, and perpetuate the
+beauty it has produced; for, to be exact, we may say it is only for a
+moment that the beautiful man remains beautiful.
+
+Against this mutability art now enters the lists. For, by being placed
+at the summit of nature, man views himself as a complete nature, which
+must now produce another consummation. He attains this end by striving
+for virtue and perfection, by appealing to selection, arrangement,
+harmony and significance, through which he at length rises to the
+production of a work of art, which achieves a brilliant place among his
+other works and actions. Once achieved and standing in its ideal reality
+before the world, it produces a lasting and supreme effect. For in its
+spiritual development from all of man's powers, it adopts all that is
+noble and lovable; and by spiritualizing the human form and raising man
+above himself, it closes the circle of his life and activity, and
+deifies him in the present, in which both past and future are included.
+By such emotions were those overwhelmed who saw the Olympian Jupiter, as
+we gather from the descriptions and testimony of the ancients. God had
+become man in order to raise man to God. One beheld supreme dignity and
+was inspired by supreme beauty. In this sense we can only acknowledge
+that the ancients were right when they said, with profoundest
+conviction, that it was a misfortune to die without having seen this
+great work.
+
+For the appreciation of this beauty Winckelmann was by nature fitted. He
+first learned of it in the writings of the ancients, but encountered it
+personified in the works of art, in which we all first learn to know it,
+that we may recognize and treasure it in nature's living creations.
+
+When, however, the requirements of friendship and of beauty both find
+inspiration in the same object, the happiness and gratitude of man seem
+to pass all bounds. All that he possesses he would gladly give as a
+feeble testimony of his attachment and his devotion.
+
+So we often find Winckelmann in friendship with beautiful youths, and
+never does he appear more animated and lovable than in such, though
+often only flitting, moments.
+
+CATHOLICISM
+
+With such opinions, with such needs and longings, Winckelmann for a long
+time served objects alien to his own desires. Nowhere about him did he
+see the least hope of help and assistance.
+
+Count Bünau, in his capacity of a private gentleman, needed only to buy
+one valuable book less in order to open for Winckelmann the road to
+Rome; as a minister of state he had influence enough to have helped this
+excellent man out of every difficulty; but he was probably unwilling to
+lose so capable a servant, or else he had no appreciation of the great
+service he would have rendered the world by encouraging a gifted man.
+The Court at Dresden, from which Winckelmann might eventually hope for
+adequate support, professed the Roman faith, and there was scarcely any
+other way to attain favor and consideration than through confessors and
+other members of the clergy.
+
+The example of a Prince is a mighty influence in his country, and
+incites with secret power every citizen to like actions in private life,
+especially to moral actions. The religion of a Prince always remains in
+a certain sense the ruling religion, and the Roman faith, like a
+whirlpool, draws the quietly passing waves to itself and into its
+vortex.
+
+In addition to this Winckelmann must have felt that a man, in order to
+be a Roman in Rome, in order to identify himself with the life there,
+and to enjoy confidential association, must necessarily profess the
+religion of his associates, must yield to their faith, and accommodate
+himself to their usages. The final result actually shows that he could
+not have attained his end without this early decision, which was made
+much easier for him by the fact that, as a thorough heathen by nature,
+he had never become Christianized by his Protestant baptism.
+
+Yet this change in his condition was not achieved without a bitter
+struggle. We may, in accordance with our convictions, and for reasons
+sufficiently weighty, make a final decision which is in perfect harmony
+with our volition, desires and needs, which indeed seems unavoidable for
+the maintenance and continuance of our very existence, so that we are in
+perfect accord with ourselves. But such a decision may contradict the
+prevailing opinion and the convictions of many people. Then a new
+struggle begins, which, while it may cause no uncertainty, yet may
+occasion discomfort, impatience and annoyance, because we discover
+occasional inconsistencies in our actions while we suspect the existence
+of many more in ourselves.
+
+And so Winckelmann, before his intended step, seemed anxious, fearful,
+sorrowful and swayed by deep emotion when he thought of its probable
+effect, especially upon his first patron, Count Bünau. How beautiful,
+sincere and upright are his confidential expressions upon this point!
+
+For every man who changes his religion is marked by a certain stigma
+from which it seems impossible to free him. From this it is evident that
+men cherish a steadfast purpose above all else, all the more so because
+they, divided into factions, constantly have their own safety and
+stability in mind. This is not a matter of feeling or conviction. We
+should be steadfast precisely there where fate rather than choice places
+us. To remain faithful to one people, one city, one Prince, one friend,
+one woman; to trace back everything to them; to labor, want and suffer
+everything for their sake--this is estimable. To desert them is hateful;
+inconstancy is contemptible.
+
+Thus is indeed the harsh, the very serious side of the question, but it
+may also be viewed from another point of view from which it has a more
+pleasing and less serious aspect. Certain conditions of society, which
+we in no sense approve of, certain moral blemishes in others, have an
+especial charm for the imagination. If the comparison be permitted, we
+might say that it is in this matter as it is with game which, to the
+cultivated palate, tastes far better slightly tainted than when fresh. A
+divorced woman or a renegade make an especially interesting impression.
+Persons who would otherwise appear to be merely interesting and
+agreeable, now appear admirable. It cannot be denied that Winckelmann's
+change of religion considerably heightens in our imagination the
+romantic side of his life and being.
+
+But to Winckelmann himself the Catholic religion presented nothing
+attractive. He saw in it only the masquerade dress which he threw around
+him, and expressed himself bitterly enough about it. Even at a later
+period he does not seem to have sufficiently observed its usages, and by
+loose speech he perhaps made himself suspicious to devout
+believers--here and there at least a slight fear of the Inquisition is
+perceptible.
+
+REALIZATION OF GREEK ART
+
+The transition from literature, even from the highest things that have
+been expressed in word and language, from poetry and rhetoric, to the
+plastic and graphic arts is difficult, indeed almost impossible. For
+there lies between the two a tremendous chasm, over which only a
+specially adapted nature can help us. We have now a sufficiently large
+number of documents lying before us to enable us to judge how far
+Winckelmann succeeded in doing this.
+
+Through the joy of appreciation he was first attracted to the treasures
+of art; but in order to use and judge them, he required artists as
+intermediaries, whose more or less authoritative opinions he was able to
+comprehend, revise, and express. In this manner originated his treatise
+_Concerning the Imitation of Greek Masterpieces in Painting and
+Sculpture_, with two appendices, published while he was still in
+Dresden.
+
+However much Winckelmann appears, even here, to be upon the right path;
+however many delightful, fundamental passages these writings contain,
+however correctly the final aim of art is already defined in them, they
+are nevertheless, both as regards form and subject, so baroque and
+curious, that one would in vain seek their meaning, unless he had
+definite information concerning the personality of the connoisseurs and
+judges of art at that time assembled in Saxony, and concerning their
+abilities, opinions, inclinations and whims. These writings will
+therefore remain a sealed book to posterity, unless well informed
+connoisseurs of art, who lived nearer those times, should soon decide
+either to write or cause to be written a description of the then
+existing conditions, in so far as this is still possible. Lippert,
+Hagedorn, Oeser, Dietrich, Heinecken and Oesterreich loved, practised
+and promoted art, each in his own way. Their purposes were restricted,
+their maxims were one-sided, yea, very often, freakish. They circulated
+stories and anecdotes, the varied application of which was intended not
+only to entertain but also to instruct society. From such elements arose
+the earliest treatises of Winckelmann, which he himself very soon found
+unsatisfactory, as indeed he did not conceal from his friends.
+
+Although not sufficiently prepared, yet with some practical experience,
+he at length began his journey, and reached that country where for the
+receptive mind the time of real culture begins--that culture which
+permeates the entire being, and finds expression in creations which must
+be as real as they are harmonious, because they have, as a matter of
+fact, proved powerful as a firm bond of union between most different
+natures.
+
+ROME
+
+Winckelmann was at last in Rome, and who could be worthier to feel the
+influence which that great privilege is able to produce upon a truly
+perceptive nature! He sees his wish fulfilled, his happiness
+established, his hopes more than satisfied. His ideals stand embodied
+about him. He wanders astonished through the ruins of a gigantic age,
+the greatest that art has produced, under the open sky; freely he lifts
+his eyes to these wonderful works as to the stars of the firmament, and
+every locked treasure is opened for a small gift. Like a pilgrim, the
+newcomer creeps about unobserved; he approaches the most sublime and
+holy treasures in an unseemly garment. As yet he permits no detail to
+distract him, the whole affects him with endless variety, and he already
+feels the harmony which finally must arise for him out of these
+infinitely diversified elements. He gazes upon, he examines everything,
+and to make his happiness complete, he is taken for an artist, as every
+one in his heart would gladly be.
+
+In lieu of further observations, we submit to our readers the
+overpowering influence of the situation, as a friend has clearly and
+sympathetically described it.
+
+"Rome is a place where all antiquity is concentrated into a unity for
+our inspection. What we have felt with the ancient poets, concerning
+ancient forms of government, we believe more than ever to feel, even to
+see, in Rome. As Homer cannot be compared with other poets, so Rome can
+be compared with no other city, the Roman country with no other
+landscape. Most of this impression is no doubt due, it is true, to
+ourselves, and not to the subject; but it is not only the sentimental
+thought of standing where this or that great man has stood, it is an
+irresistible attraction toward what we regard as--although it may be
+through a necessary deception--a noble and sublime past; a power which
+even he who wished to cannot resist, because the desolation in which the
+present inhabitants leave the land and the incredible masses of ruins
+themselves attract and convince the eye. And as this past appears to the
+mind in a grandeur which excludes all envy, in which one is more than
+happy to take part, if only with the imagination (indeed, no other
+participation is conceivable); and as the senses too are charmed by the
+beauty of form, the grandeur and simplicity of the figures, the richness
+of the vegetation (though not luxuriant like that of a more southern
+region), the precision of the outlines in the clear air and the beauty
+of the colors in their transparency--so the enjoyment of nature is here
+a purely artistic one, free from everything distracting. Everywhere else
+the ideas of contrast appear and the enjoyment of nature is elegiac or
+satiric. It is true that these sentiments exist only for us. To Horace,
+Tibur seemed more modern than does Tivoli to us, as is proved by his
+'Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,' but it is only an illusion to imagine
+that we ourselves would like to be inhabitants of Athens or Rome. Only
+in the distance, separated from everything common, only as a thing of
+the past, must antiquity appear to us. This is the sentiment of a friend
+and myself, at least, in regard to the ruins; we are always incensed
+when a half sunken ruin is excavated; for this can only be a gain for
+scholarship at the expense of the imagination. There are only two things
+which inspire me with an equal horror: that the Campagna di Roma should
+be built up, and that Rome should become a well policed city, in which
+no man any longer carried a knife. Should such an order-loving Pope
+appear--which may the seventy-two cardinals prevent--shall move
+away. Only if such divine anarchy and such a heavenly wilderness remain
+in Rome, is there place for the shadows, one of which is worth more than
+the whole present race."
+
+RAFAEL MENGS
+
+But Winckelmann might have groped a long time among the multitudes of
+antique survivals in search of the most valuable objects and those most
+worthy of his observation, if good fortune had not immediately brought
+him into contact with Mengs. The latter, whose own great talent was
+enthralled by the ancient works of art and especially by such as were
+beautiful, immediately introduced his friend to the most excellent--a
+fact worthy of our attention. Here Winckelmann learned to recognize
+beauty of form and its treatment, and was immediately inspired to
+undertake a treatise, _Concerning the Taste of the Greek Artists_. But
+one cannot go about studying works of art for any length of time
+without discovering that they are the productions not only of different
+artists but of different epochs, and that all investigations concerning
+the place of their origin, their age, their individual merit must be
+undertaken together. Winckelmann, with his unerring perception, soon
+found that this was the axis on which the entire knowledge of art
+revolves. He confined himself at first to the most sublime works, which
+he intended to present in a treatise, _Concerning the Style of Sculpture
+in the Age of Phidias_, but he soon rose above these details to the idea
+of a history of art, and discovered a new Columbus, a land long
+surmised, hinted at and discussed--yea, a land, we might say, that had
+formerly been known and forgotten.
+
+It is sad to observe how at first through the Romans, afterward through
+the invasion of northern peoples, and the confusion arising in
+consequence, mankind came into such a state that all true and pure
+culture was for a long time retarded in its development, indeed was
+almost made impossible for the entire future. In any field of art and
+science that we may contemplate, a direct and unerring perception had
+already revealed much to the ancient investigator which, during the
+barbarism which followed, and through the barbaric manner of escaping
+from barbarism, became and remained a secret; which it will long
+continue to be for the masses, because the general progress of higher
+culture in modern times is but slow. This remark does not apply to
+technical progress, of which mankind happily makes use without asking
+questions as to whence it comes and whither it leads.
+
+We are impelled to this observation by certain passages of ancient
+authors, in which anticipations, even indications, of a possible and
+necessary history of art appear. Velleius Paterculus observes with great
+interest, the coincidence in the rise and fall of all the arts. As a man
+of the world, he was especially concerned with the observation that they
+could be maintained only for a short time at the highest point which it
+was possible for them to reach.
+
+From his standpoint he could not regard all arts as a living entity
+[Greek: (psoon)], which must necessarily reveal an imperceptible
+beginning, a slow growth, a short and brilliant period of perfection,
+and a gradual decline--like every other organic being, except that it is
+manifested in a number of individuals. He therefore assigns only moral
+causes, which certainly must be included as contributory, but hardly
+satisfy his own great sagacity, because he probably feels that a
+necessity here exists which cannot be compounded out of detached
+elements.
+
+"That the grammarians, painters and sculptors fared as did also the
+orators, every one will find who examines the testimony of the ages; the
+highest development of every art is invariably circumscribed by a very
+short space of time. Just why a number of similarly endowed, capable men
+make their appearance within a certain cycle of years and devote
+themselves to the same art and its advancement, is a matter upon which I
+have often reflected, without discovering any cause that I might present
+as true. Among the most probable causes the following seem to me the
+most important: Rivalry nourishes the talents; here envy, and there
+admiration, incite to imitation, and the art promoted with so much
+diligence quickly reaches its culmination. It is difficult to remain in
+a state of perfection, and what does not advance retrogrades. And so in
+the beginning we endeavor to attain our models, but when we despair of
+surpassing or even approaching them, diligence and hope grow old, and
+what we fail to attain, is no longer pursued. We cease to strive after
+the possession already obtained by another, and search for something
+new. Relinquishing that in which we cannot shine, we seek another goal
+for our efforts. From this inconstancy, it seems to me, arises the
+greatest obstacle to the production of perfect works of art."
+
+A passage of Quintilian, containing a concise outline of the history of
+ancient art, also deserves to be pointed out as an important document in
+this domain. In his conversations with Roman art lovers, Quintilian
+must also have noticed a striking resemblance between the character of
+Greek artists and Roman orators, and then have sought to gain more exact
+information from connoisseurs and art-lovers. In his comparative
+presentation, in which the character of the art is each time associated
+with that of the age, he is compelled, without knowing or wishing it, to
+present a history of art.
+
+They say that the first celebrated painters whose works are visited not
+by reason of their antiquity alone, were Polygnotus and Aglaophon. Their
+simple color still finds eager admirers, who prefer such crude
+productions and the beginnings of an art just evolving, to the greatest
+masters of the following epoch--as it seems to me in accordance with a
+point of view peculiar to themselves. Afterward Zeuxis and Parrhasius,
+who lived at about the same period--at the time of the Peloponnesian
+war--greatly promoted art. The former is said to have discovered the
+laws of light and shadow, the latter to have devoted himself to a
+careful investigation of lines. Furthermore, Zeuxis gave more content to
+the limbs and painted them fuller and more portly. In this regard, as is
+believed, he followed Homer, who delights in the most powerful forms,
+even in women. Parrhasius, however, has such a determinative influence
+that he is called the law-giver of painting, because the types of gods
+and heroes which he created were followed and adopted by others as
+norms.
+
+Thus painting flourished from about the time of Philip to that of the
+successors of Alexander, but with great diversity of talent. Protogenes
+surpassed all inexactitude, Pamphilius and Melanthius in thoughtfulness,
+Antiphilus in facility, Theon the Samian in invention of strange
+apparitions called fantasies, Apelles in spirit and charm. Euphranor is
+admired because he must be counted among the best in all the
+requirements of art, and excelled at the same time in painting and
+sculpture.
+
+"The same difference is also found in sculpture. Kalon and Hegesias
+worked in a severe style, like that of the Etruscans; Kalamis was less
+austere; Myron more delicate still.
+
+"Polyclitus possessed diligence and elegance above all others. By many
+the palm is assigned to him; but that some fault might be ascribed to
+him, it was said that he lacked dignity. For while he has made the human
+form more graceful than nature reveals it, he does not seem to have been
+able to present the dignity of the gods. Indeed, he is said in his art
+to have avoided representing mature age, and never to have ventured
+beyond unfurrowed cheeks.
+
+"But what Polyclitus lacked is ascribed to Phidias and Alcamenes.
+Phidias is said to have formed the images of gods and men most
+perfectly, and to have far surpassed his rivals, especially in ivory.
+One would form this judgment even if he had designed nothing else than
+the Minerva of Athens or the Olympian Jupiter at Elis, the beauty of
+which was of great advantage, as has been said, to the established
+religion; so closely does the work approach the majesty of the god
+himself.
+
+"Lysippus and Praxiteles have, according to the universal opinion, most
+nearly approached truth; Demetrius, on the other hand, is blamed because
+he went too far in this direction, in that he preferred mere resemblance
+to beauty."
+
+LITERARY PROFESSION
+
+Man is rarely fortunate enough to secure the aids for his higher
+education from quite unselfish patrons. Even those who believe that they
+have the best intentions only promote that which they love and know, or,
+more readily still, what is of advantage to them. Thus it was literary
+and bibliographical accomplishments which recommended Winckelmann
+formerly to Count Bünau and later to Cardinal Passione.
+
+The connoisseur of books is everywhere welcome, and he was even more so
+at a time when the pleasure of collecting notable and rare books was
+livelier than it now is, and the profession of librarian was more
+restricted. A great German library resembled a great Roman library; they
+could vie with each other in the possession of books. The librarian of a
+German count was a desirable member of a cardinal's household, and
+immediately found himself at home there. Libraries were real
+treasure-houses, instead of being, as now, with the rapid progress of
+the sciences and the useful and useless accumulation of printed
+matter--nothing more than useful store-rooms and useless lumber-rooms.
+So that a librarian has cause, now far more than before, to be informed
+of the progress of science and of the value and worthlessness of
+writings, and a German librarian has to possess attainments which would
+be lost in other countries.
+
+But only for a short time, and only as long as it was necessary to
+secure a moderate means of support, did Winckelmann remain true to his
+original literary occupation. He soon lost interest also in everything
+that related to critical investigation, and was willing neither to
+compare manuscripts nor to give information to German scholars who
+wished to question him upon many subjects.
+
+But even before this his attainments had served him as an advantageous
+introduction. The private life of the Italians, especially of the
+Romans, has, for many reasons, something of a secret character. This
+secrecy, this isolation, if you will, extended also to literature. Many
+a scholar devoted his life in secret to an important work, without
+either desiring or being able to have it published. Here also, more than
+in any other land, were to be found men who, with diverse attainments
+and great insight, could not be moved to make them known, either in
+written or printed form. The way to the society of such men Winckelmann
+soon found opened. He mentions particularly among them Giacomelli and
+Baldani, and speaks with pleasure of his increasing acquaintances and
+his growing influence.
+
+CARDINAL ALBANI
+
+But his greatest good fortune was to become a member of the household of
+Cardinal Albani. This prelate, possessed of a large fortune and wielding
+a powerful influence, showed from his very youth a great love of art; he
+had also the best opportunity of satisfying it and a luck in collecting
+which verged upon the miraculous. In later years he found his greatest
+pleasure in the task of placing this collection in worthy surroundings,
+in this wise rivaling those Roman families who had at an earlier period
+been cognizant of the value of such treasures. It was, in fact, his
+chief pleasure to overload the assigned spaces, in accordance with the
+manner of the ancients. Building crowded upon building, hall upon hall,
+corridor upon corridor; fountains and obelisks, caryatides and
+bas-reliefs, statues and vases were lacking neither in court-yard nor in
+garden, while the greater or smaller rooms, galleries and cabinets
+contained the choicest art specimens of all times.
+
+We observed in passing that the ancients had in a similar manner filled
+their palaces and gardens. The Romans so overloaded their capital that
+it seems impossible that everything recorded could have found place
+there. The Via Sacra, the Forum, the Palatine were so overloaded with
+buildings and monuments that the imagination can hardly conceive of a
+crowd of people finding room in any of them. Fortunately the actual
+results of excavated cities come to our assistance, and we can see with
+our own eyes how narrow, how small, how, so to speak, like architectural
+models rather than real buildings these structures are. This remark is
+true even of the Villa of Hadrian, in the construction of which there
+were space and wealth enough for something extensive.
+
+In such an overloaded condition was the villa of his lord and friend
+when Winckelmann departed this scene of his highest and most gratifying
+education. So also it remained after the death of the cardinal, to the
+joy and wonder of the world, until in the course of all-changing,
+all-dispersing time, it was robbed of its entire adornment. The statues
+were removed from their niches and pedestals, the bas-reliefs were torn
+from the walls, and the whole enormous collection was packed for
+transportation. Through an extraordinary change of affairs these
+treasures were conducted only as far as the Tiber. In a short time they
+were returned to the possessor, and the greatest part of them, except a
+few jewels, still remain in the old location. Winckelmann might have
+witnessed the first sad fate of this Elysium of art and its
+extraordinary return; but happily for him, death spared him this earthly
+suffering for which the joy of the restoration would hardly have made
+sufficient amends.
+
+GOOD FORTUNE
+
+But he also encountered many a good fortune upon life's journey. Not
+only did the excavations of antiquities proceed energetically and
+fortunately at Rome, but the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii were
+at that time partly new, or had remained partly unknown through envy,
+secrecy and delay. He thus reaped a harvest which furnished work enough
+for his mind and his activities.
+
+It is a sad thing when one is compelled to consider the existing as
+accomplished and completed. Armories, galleries and museums to which
+nothing is added have something funereal and ghostly about them; the
+mind is restricted in such a limited field of art. One becomes
+accustomed to regard such collections as completed, instead of being
+reminded of the necessity of constant acquisition and of the fact that,
+in art as in life, nothing is completed but is constantly changing.
+
+Winckelmann found himself in a fortunate position. The earth gave up her
+treasures, and through a constant, active commerce in art many ancient
+possessions came to light, passed before his eyes, aroused his
+enthusiasm, challenged his judgment, and increased his knowledge.
+
+No small advantage accrued to him through his relations with the heir
+of the large Stosch collection. Not until after the death of the
+collector did he become acquainted with this little world of art, over
+which he presided in accordance with his best judgment and convictions.
+It is true that all parts of this exceedingly valuable collection were
+not treated with equal care; the whole of it deserved a catalogue for
+the delectation and the use of later amateurs and collectors. Much was
+squandered; but in order to make the excellent gems which it contained
+better known and more marketable, Winckelmann undertook in conjunction
+with the heir of Stosch to write a catalogue, concerning which
+undertaking, its hasty but always able treatment, the surviving
+correspondence furnishes remarkable testimony.
+
+Our friend was thus intently occupied with the Stosch possessions before
+their dispersal and with the ever increasing Albani collection; and
+everything which passed through his hands, either for collection or
+dispersal, increased the treasure with which he was storing his mind.
+
+Even when Winckelmann first approached the study of art and learned to
+know the artists in Dresden, appearing in this branch as a beginner, he
+was fully developed as a writer. He had a comprehensive view of ancient
+history and, in many ways, of the development of the various sciences.
+Even in his previous humble condition he felt and knew antiquity, as
+well as what was worthy in the life and in the character of the present.
+He had already formed a style. In the new school which he entered, he
+listened to his masters, not only as a docile pupil but as a learned
+disciple. He easily acquired their special attainments, and began
+immediately to use and to adapt to his purposes everything that he
+learned.
+
+In a higher sphere of action than was his at Dresden, in the nobler
+world revealed to him at Rome, he remained the same. What he learned
+from Mengs, what he was taught by his surroundings, he did not keep long
+to himself; he did not let the new wine ferment and clarify; but rather
+as we say that one learns from teaching, so he learned while planning
+and writing. How many a title has he left us, how many subjects has he
+not mentioned upon which a work was to follow! Like this beginning was
+his entire antiquarian career. We find him always active--occupied with
+the moment, which he seizes and holds fast as if it only could be
+complete and satisfactory, and even so he let himself be instructed by
+the following moment. This attitude of mind should be remembered in
+forming an estimate of his works.
+
+That they ultimately received their present form, printed directly from
+Winckelmann's manuscript notes, is due to many often unimportant
+circumstances. A single month later and we should have had works, more
+correct in content, more precise in form, perhaps something quite
+different. Just for this reason we so deeply regret his premature death,
+because he would have constantly rewritten his works and enriched them
+with the attainments of the (ever) later phases of his life.
+
+Everything that he has left us, therefore, was written as something
+living for the living, not for those who are dead in the letter. His
+works, combined with his correspondence, are the story of a life; they
+are a life itself. Like the life of most people, they resemble rather a
+preparation for a work than the latter in its accomplishment. They give
+cause for hopes, for wishes, for premonitions. If one tries to correct
+them he sees that he must first correct himself; if he wishes to
+criticize them, he sees that he might himself, upon a higher plane of
+knowledge, be subjected to the same criticism; for limitation is
+everywhere our lot.
+
+PHILOSOPHY
+
+With the progress of civilization, not all parts of human labor and
+activity in which culture is revealed, flourish equally; rather in
+accordance with the favorable character of persons and conditions, one
+necessarily surpasses the other, and thus arouses a more general
+interest. A certain jealous displeasure often arises in consequence,
+among members of a family so varied in its branches, who often are the
+less able to endure one another, the more closely they are related.
+
+It is for the most part a baseless complaint, when this or that adept in
+science and art complains that just his branch is being neglected by
+contemporaries; for an able master has only to appear in order to
+concentrate attention upon himself. If Raphael should reappear today, we
+should bestow upon him a superabundance of honor and riches. An able
+master arouses excellent pupils and their activities extend their
+ramifications into the infinite.
+
+From the earliest times philosophers especially have incurred the
+hatred, not only of their fellow scientists, but of men of the world and
+_bons vivants_, perhaps more by the position they assume than by their
+own fault. For as philosophy in accordance with her nature must make
+demands upon the universal and the highest, she must regard worldly
+objects as included in and subordinated to herself.
+
+Nor are these pretentious demands specifically denied; every man rather
+believes that he has a right to take part in her discoveries, to make
+use of her maxims, and to appropriate whatever else she may have to
+offer. But as philosophy, in order to become universal, must make use of
+her own vocabulary of unfamiliar combinations and difficult
+explanations, which are in harmony neither with the life nor with the
+momentary needs of men of the world, she is despised by those who cannot
+find the handle by which she might easily be grasped.
+
+Yet, if, on the other hand, one wished to accuse the philosophers
+because they do not know how to translate doctrine into life, and
+because they make the most mistakes exactly where all their convictions
+should be converted into action, thereby diminishing their own credit in
+the eyes of the world--no lack of examples might be found to verify such
+accusations.
+
+Winckelmann often complains bitterly of the philosophers of his day and
+their widespread influence; but I think one can escape from every
+influence by limiting oneself to his own line of work. It is strange
+that Winckelmann did not attend the University at Leipsic, where, under
+the direction of Johann Friedrich Christ, he might, without troubling
+himself about a single philosopher in existence, have made much more
+comfortable progress in his favorite study.
+
+This is perhaps the proper place for an observation which we should like
+to make, in view of recent events--that no scholar can afford to reject,
+oppose, or scorn the great philosophical movement begun by Kant, except
+the true investigators of antiquity, who by the peculiarity of their
+study seem to be especially favored above all other men. For since they
+are occupied with the best that the world has produced and only examine
+the trivial and the inferior in their relation to the most excellent,
+their attainments reach such fullness, their judgment such certainty,
+their taste such consistency, that they appear within their own circle
+most wonderfully, even astonishingly, cultured. Winckelmann also
+attained this good fortune, in which indeed he was greatly assisted by
+the influence of the fine arts and of life itself.
+
+POETRY
+
+Although Winckelmann in reading the ancient authors paid great attention
+to the poets, an exact examination of his studies and of the course of
+his life reveals no particular inclination to poetry; on the contrary,
+an aversion occasionally appears. His preference for the old and
+accustomed Lutheran church hymns and his desire to possess an uncensored
+song book of this kind in Rome reveals the typical and sturdy German,
+but not the friend of poetry.
+
+The works of the poets of past ages appear to have interested him at
+first as documents of ancient languages and literature, later as
+witnesses for the fine arts. It is all the more wonderful and gratifying
+when he himself appears as a poet, as an able, unmistakable one, in his
+description of statues and in almost all of his later writings. He sees
+with his eyes, he grasps with his mind, works indescribable, and yet he
+feels an irresistible impulse to master them by the spoken and the
+written word. The perfect master-work, the idea in which it had its
+origin, the emotion that was awakened in him in beholding it, he wishes
+to impart to the hearer or the reader. Reviewing the array of his
+aptitudes, he finds himself compelled to seize upon the most powerful
+and dignified expression at his command. He is compelled to be a poet,
+whatever he may think, whether he wishes or not.
+
+ATTAINED INSIGHT
+
+As much value as Winckelmann placed upon the world's esteem, as much as
+he desired a literary reputation, as much as he endeavored to present
+his work in the best form and to elevate it by a certain dignified
+style, he was nevertheless in no wise blind to its faults, but rather
+was the first to observe them, as one would expect from a man of his
+progressive nature, always seizing upon and working over new materials.
+The more he had labored upon a subject, dogmatically and didactically,
+had maintained and established this or that interpretation of a
+monument, this or that explanation or application of a passage, the more
+conspicuous did his own mistakes seem to him. As soon as he had
+convinced himself of them by new data, the more quickly was he inclined
+to correct them in any way possible.
+
+If the manuscript was at hand, it was rewritten; if it had been sent to
+the printer, corrections and additions were appended. Of all this
+penance he made no secret to his friends, for his character was based
+upon truth, straight-forwardness, frankness, and honesty.
+
+LATER WORKS
+
+A happy thought became clear to him, not suddenly but as the work
+progressed--we mean his _Monumenti Inediti_. It is quite evident that he
+was at first tempted by his desire to make new subjects known, to
+explain them in a happy manner and to enlarge the study of antiquity to
+the greatest possible extent; added to this was the interest of testing
+the method once set forth in his history of art, by means of objects
+which he laid before the eyes of the reader. For he had finally
+developed the felicitous resolve, in this preliminary treatise, quietly
+to correct, purify, compress, and perhaps even partly supplant, his
+already completed work on the history of art.
+
+Conscious of former mistakes which people who were not inhabitants of
+Rome could scarcely have reproached him with, he wrote a work in the
+Italian language, which he intended should be appreciated in Rome
+itself. Not only did he devote to it the greatest attention, but he also
+selected friendly connoisseurs with whom he carefully went over the
+work, most cleverly using their insight and judgment, and thus created a
+work which will go down as a heritage for all ages. Not only did he
+write it, but he undertook its publication, achieving, as a poor layman,
+that which would do honor to a well established publisher, or to
+academies of large means.
+
+THE POPE
+
+Should so much be said of Rome without remembering the Pope, who had, at
+least indirectly, conferred many, many benefits upon Winckelmann?
+Winckelmann's sojourn in Rome fell for the most part under the
+government of Benedict XIV. Lambertini, a gay and easy-going man, who
+preferred letting others rule to ruling, himself; and so the different
+positions which Winckelmann filled may have come to him rather through
+the favor of his exalted friends than through the appreciation of his
+services by the Pope.
+
+Nevertheless, we find him on one important occasion in the presence of
+the Head of the Church; he was honored by being allowed to read several
+passages of the _Monumenti Inediti_ to the Pope, thus achieving also,
+along this line, the highest honor which an author could receive.
+
+CHARACTER
+
+In the case of very many men, especially in the case of scholars, their
+achievements seem the important thing, and in these their character
+finds little expression. With Winckelmann the reverse was the case. All
+that he produced is principally important and valuable because his
+character is always revealed in it. As we have already expressed certain
+generalities concerning his character under the headings, The Antique,
+Paganism, Friendship, and Beauty, the more detailed account deserves a
+place here, near the end of our essay.
+
+Winckelmann was in all respects a character who was honest with himself
+and with others. His native love of truth constantly developed, the more
+independent and unhampered he felt, until he finally considered the
+polite indulgence of errors traditional in life and in literature to be
+a crime.
+
+Such a nature could comfortably withdraw into itself; vet even here we
+discover in him the ancient characteristic of always being occupied with
+himself, but without really observing himself. He thinks only of
+himself, not about himself; his mind is occupied with what he has before
+him; he is interested in his whole being, in its entire compass, and he
+cherishes the belief that his friends are likewise interested therein.
+We, therefore, find everything mentioned in his letters, from the
+highest moral to the most common physical need; indeed he directly
+states that he preferred to be entertained with personal trifles rather
+than with important affairs. At the same time he remains a complete
+riddle to himself, and even expresses astonishment over his own being,
+especially in consideration of what he was and what he had become. But
+every man may thus be regarded as a charade of many syllables, of which
+he himself can spell only a few, while others easily decipher the whole
+word.
+
+Nor do we find in him any pronounced principles. His unerring feeling
+and cultured mind served him as a guide in morals as well as in
+aesthetics. His ideal was a kind of natural religion, in which God
+appears as the ultimate source of the beautiful and hardly as a being
+having any other relation to man. His conduct was most beautiful in all
+cases involving duty and gratitude.
+
+His provision for himself was moderate, and not the same at all times.
+He always labored most diligently to secure a competence for his old
+age. His means are noble; in his efforts to attain every end he shows
+himself honest, straightforward, even defiant, and at the same time
+clever and persevering. He never works after a fixed plan, but always
+instinctively and passionately. His pleasure in every discovery is
+intense, for which reason errors are unavoidable, which, however, in his
+rapid progress are corrected as quickly as he sees them. Here also he
+always maintains an antique principle; the certainty of the point of
+departure, the uncertainty of the aim to be reached, as well as the
+incomplete and imperfect character of the treatment as soon as it
+becomes extensive.
+
+SOCIETY
+
+Little prepared by his early mode of life, Winckelmann did not at first
+feel at ease in company, but a feeling of dignity soon took the place of
+education and custom, and he learned very rapidly to conduct himself in
+accordance with his surroundings. The gratification felt in association
+with distinguished, wealthy and celebrated people and the pleasure of
+being esteemed by them everywhere appears. As regards facility of
+intercourse, he could not have found himself in a better place than
+Rome.
+
+He himself observes, that however ceremonious the Roman grandees,
+especially the clerical, appeared in public, at home they were pleasant
+and intimate with the members of their household; but he did not observe
+that this intimacy concealed the oriental relation of lord and servant.
+All southern nations would find it intolerably tiresome to have to
+maintain the constant mutual tension in association with their
+dependents which the northerners are accustomed to.
+
+Travelers have observed that the slaves in Turkey behave toward their
+masters with more ease than northern courtiers toward their princes, or
+dependents with us toward their superiors. Yet, examined closely, these
+marks of consideration have been really introduced for the benefit of
+the dependents, who by these means always remind their superior what is
+due them.
+
+The southerner, however, craves for hours in which to take his ease, and
+this accrues to the advantage of his household. Such scenes are
+described by Winckelmann with great relish; they lighten whatever
+dependence he may feel, and nourish his sense of freedom which was
+averse to every fetter that might restrain him.
+
+STRANGERS
+
+Although Winckelmann was very happy in his association with the natives,
+he suffered all the more annoyance and tribulation from strangers. It is
+true that nothing can be more exasperating than the usual stranger in
+Rome. In every other place the traveler can better look out for himself
+and find something suitable to his needs; but whoever does not
+accommodate himself to Rome is an abomination to the man of real Roman
+sentiment.
+
+The English are reproached because they take their tea-kettles
+everywhere along with them, even dragging them to the summit of Mt.
+Ætna. But has not every nation its own tea-kettle, in which its citizens
+on their travels brew a bundle of dried herbs brought along from home?
+
+Such hurrying and arrogant strangers, never looking about them, and
+judging everything in accordance with their own narrow limitations, were
+denounced by Winckelmann more than once; he vows never to show them
+about, and yet finally allows himself to be persuaded to do it. He jests
+over his inclination to play the schoolmaster, to teach and to convince,
+and indeed many advantages accrued to him through the association with
+persons important by reason of their rank and services. We mention only
+the Prince of Dessan, the Crown Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and
+Brunswick, and Baron von Riedesel, a man who showed himself quite worthy
+of our friend in his attitude toward art and antiquity.
+
+THE WORLD
+
+Winckelmann constantly sought after esteem and consideration; but he
+wished to achieve them through real merit. He always insists upon
+thoroughness of subject, of means, and of treatment, and is therefore
+very hostile toward French superficiality.
+
+He found in Rome opportunities to associate with strangers of all
+nations, and maintained such connections in a clever, effective manner.
+He was pleased with, indeed he sought after, honorary degrees of
+academies and learned societies.
+
+But he achieved greatest prominence by that great document of his
+merits, over which he silently labored with great diligence--I refer to
+his _History of Ancient Art_. It was immediately translated into the
+French language, and made him known far and wide.
+
+The real value of such a work is perhaps best appreciated immediately
+after its publication: its efficiency is recognized, the new matter is
+quickly adopted. The contemporaries are astonished at the sudden
+assistance they obtained, while a colder posterity nibbles disgustedly
+at the works of its masters and teachers, and makes demands which would
+never have occurred to it, if the very men criticised had not
+accomplished so much.
+
+And so Winckelmann was recognized by the cultured nations of Europe at a
+time when he was sufficiently established at Rome to be honored with the
+important position of Director of Antiquities.
+
+RESTLESSNESS
+
+Notwithstanding his recognized and often vaunted happiness, Winckelmann
+was always tortured by a restlessness which, as its foundations lay deep
+in his nature, assumed various forms.
+
+During the times of his early poverty and his later dependence upon the
+bounty of a court and the favor of many a wellwisher, he always limited
+himself to the smallest needs, that he might not become dependent or at
+least not more dependent than absolutely necessary. In the meantime he
+was always strenuously occupied in gaining by his own exertions a
+livelihood for the present and for the future, for which at length the
+successful illustrated edition of his Monumenti Inediti offered the
+fairest hope.
+
+But these uncertain conditions accustomed him to look for his
+subsistence now here, then there; now to accept a position with small
+advantage to himself--in the house of a cardinal, in the Vatican or
+elsewhere; then, when he saw some other prospect, magnanimously to give
+up his place, while looking about for something else and lending an ear
+to many a proposition.
+
+Further, one who lives in Rome is constantly exposed to the passion for
+traveling to all parts of the world. He finds himself in the centre of
+the ancient world, and the lands most interesting to the investigator of
+antiquity lie close about him. Magna Græcia, Sicily, Dalmatia, the
+Peloponnesus, Ionia, and Egypt--all of them are, so to say, offered to
+the inhabitants of Rome, and awaken an inexpressible longing in one who,
+like Winckelmann, was born with the desire to see. This is increased by
+the great number of strangers on their passage through Rome making
+sensible or useless preparations to travel in these lands, and who on
+their return never tire of describing distant wonders and exhibiting
+specimens of them.
+
+And so Winckelmann planned to travel everywhere, partly on his own
+responsibility, partly in company with such wealthy travelers as would
+recognize the value of a scholarly and talented comrade.
+
+Another cause of this inner restlessness and discomfort does honor to
+his heart--the irresistible longing for absent friends. Upon this the
+ardent desire of a man that otherwise lived so much in the present seems
+to have been peculiarly concentrated; he sees his friends before him, he
+converses with them through letters, he longs for their embraces, and
+wishes to repeat the days formerly lived together.
+
+These wishes, especially directed toward his friends in the North, were
+awakened anew by the Peace of Hubertusbury (Feb., 1763). It would have
+been his pride to present himself before the great king who had already
+honored him with an offer to enter his service; to see again the Prince
+of Dessau, whose exalted, reposeful nature he regarded as a gift of God
+to the earth; to pay his respects to the Duke of Brunswick, whose great
+capacities he well knew how to prize; to praise in person Minister of
+State von Münchausen, who had done so much for science, and to admire
+his immortal foundation at Göttingen; to rejoice again in the lively and
+intimate intercourse with his Swiss friends--such allurements filled his
+heart and his imagination; with such images was his mind so long
+occupied that he unfortunately followed this impulse and so went to his
+death.
+
+He was devoted body and soul to his Italian lot to such an extent that
+every other one seemed insufferable to him. On his former journey, the
+cliffs and mountains of Tyrol had interested, yea, delighted him, and
+now, on his return to the fatherland, he felt terrified, as if he were
+being dragged through the Cimmerian portal and convinced of the
+impossibility of continuing his journey.
+
+DEPARTURE
+
+And thus upon the highest pinnacle of happiness that he could himself
+have wished for, he departed this earth. His fatherland awaited him, his
+friends stretched their arms toward him; all the expressions of love
+which he so deeply needed, all testimonials of public honor, which he
+valued so highly, awaited his appearance, to be heaped upon him. And in
+this sense we may count him happy, that from the summit of human
+existence he ascended to the blessed, that a momentary shock, a sudden,
+quick pain removed him from the living. The infirmities of old age, the
+diminution of mental power, he did not experience; the dispersal of the
+treasures of art, which he had foretold, although in another sense, did
+not occur before his eyes. He lived as a man and departed hence as a
+complete man. Now he enjoys in the memory of posterity the advantage of
+appearing only as one eternally vigorous and powerful; for in the image
+in which a man leaves the earth he wanders among the shadows, and so
+Achilles remains for us an ever-striving youth. That Winckelmann
+departed so early, works also to our advantage. From his grave the
+breath of his power strengthens us, and awakens in us the intense desire
+always to continue with zeal and love the work that he has begun.
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE AND HIS SECRETARY J. J. Schmeller ]
+
+
+
+
+MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS OF GOETHE[5]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY BAILEY SAUNDERS
+
+There is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must
+only try to think it again.
+
+How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try
+to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth. But what
+is your duty? The claims of the day.
+
+The longer I live, the more it grieves me to see man, who occupies his
+supreme place for the very purpose of imposing his will upon nature, and
+freeing himself and his from an outrageous necessity--to see him taken
+up with some false notion, and doing just the opposite of what he wants
+to do; and then, because the whole bent of his mind is spoilt, bungling
+miserably over everything.
+
+In the works of mankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive
+which is chiefly worth attention.
+
+In Botany there is a species of plants called Incompletæ; and just in
+the same way it can be said there are men who are incomplete and
+imperfect. They are those whose desires and struggles are out of
+proportion to their actions and achievements.
+
+It is a great error to take oneself for more than one is, or for less
+than one is worth.
+
+From time to time I meet with a youth in whom I can wish for no
+alteration or improvement, only I am sorry to see how often his nature
+makes him quite ready to swim with the stream of the time; and it is on
+this that I would always insist, that man in his fragile boat has the
+rudder placed in his hand, just that he may not be at the mercy of the
+waves, but follow the direction of his own insight.
+
+If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed
+positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.
+
+Piety is not an end, but a means: a means of attaining the highest
+culture by the purest tranquility of soul. Hence it may be observed that
+those who set up piety as an end and object are mostly hypocrites.
+
+Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing
+something; believing ought to mean comprehending; when you desire a
+thing, you will have to take it; when you demand it, you will not get
+it; and when you are experienced, you ought to be useful to others.
+
+The stream is friendly to the miller whom it serves; it likes to pour
+over the mill wheels; what is the good of it stealing through the valley
+in apathy?
+
+Theory is in itself of no use, except in so far as it makes us believe
+in the connection of phenomena.
+
+"_Le sens common est le génie de l'humanité_." Common-sense, which is
+here put forward as the genius of humanity, must be examined first of
+all in the way it shows itself. If we inquire the purpose to which
+humanity puts it, we find as follows: Humanity is conditioned by needs.
+If they are not satisfied, men become impatient; and if they are, it
+seems not to affect them. The normal man moves between these two states,
+and he applies his understanding--his so-called common sense--to the
+satisfaction of his needs. When his needs are satisfied, his task is to
+fill up the waste spaces of indifference. Here, too, he is successful,
+if his needs are confined to what is nearest and most necessary. But if
+they rise and pass beyond the sphere of ordinary wants, common-sense is
+no longer sufficient; it is a genius no more, and humanity enters on the
+region of error.
+
+There is no piece of foolishness but it can be corrected by intelligence
+or accident; no piece of wisdom but it can miscarry by lack of
+intelligence or by accident.
+
+Justice insists on obligation, law on decorum. Justice weighs and
+decides, law superintends and orders. Justice refers to the individual,
+law to society.
+
+The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the
+nations one after the other emerge.
+
+If a man is to achieve all that is asked of him, he must take himself
+for more than he is, and as long as he does not carry it to an absurd
+length, we willingly put up with it.
+
+People whip curds to see if they cannot make cream of them.
+
+Wisdom lies only in truth.
+
+When I err, every one can see it; but not when I lie.
+
+Before the storm breaks, the dust rises violently for the last time--the
+dust that is soon to be laid for ever.
+
+Men do not come to know one another easily, even with the best will and
+the best purpose. And then ill-will comes in and distorts everything.
+
+In the world the point is, not to know men, but at any given moment to
+be cleverer than the man who stands before you. You can prove this at
+every fair and from every charlatan.
+
+Not everywhere where there is water, are there frogs; but where you have
+frogs, there you will find water.
+
+In the formation of species Nature gets, as it were, into a cul-de-sac;
+she cannot make her way through, and is disinclined to turn back. Hence
+the stubbornness of national character.
+
+Many a man knocks about on the wall with his hammer, and believes that
+he hits the right nail on the head every time.
+
+Those who oppose intellectual truths do but stir up the fire, and the
+cinders fly about and burn what they had else not touched.
+
+Those from whom we are always learning are rightly called our masters;
+but not every one who teaches us deserves this title.
+
+It is with you as with the sea: the most varied names are given to what
+is in the end only salt water.
+
+It is said that vain self-praise stinks in the nostrils. That may be so;
+but for the kind of smell which comes from unjust blame by others the
+public has no nose at all.
+
+There are problematical natures which are equal to no position in which
+they find themselves, and which no position satisfies. This it is that
+causes that hideous conflict which wastes life and deprives it of all
+pleasure.
+
+Dirt glitters as long as the sun shines.
+
+He is the happiest man who can set the end of his life in connection
+with the beginning.
+
+A state of things in which every day brings some new trouble is not the
+right one.
+
+The Hindoos of the Desert make a solemn vow to eat no fish.
+
+To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess it may be taken,
+but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.
+
+Truth belongs to the man, error to his age. This is why it has been said
+that, while the misfortune of the age caused his error, the force of his
+soul made him emerge from the error with glory.
+
+I pity those who make much ado about the transitory nature of all things
+and are lost in the contemplation of earthly vanity: are we not here to
+make the transitory permanent? This we can do only if we know how to
+value both.
+
+A rainbow which lasts a quarter of an hour is looked at no more.
+
+Faith is private capital, kept in one's own house. There are public
+savings-banks and loan-offices, which supply individuals in their day of
+need; but here the creditor quietly takes his interest for himself.
+
+During a prolonged study of the lives of various men both great and
+small, I came upon this thought: In the web of the world the one may
+well be regarded as the warp, the other as the woof. It is the little
+men, after all, who give breadth to the web, and the great men firmness
+and solidity; perhaps, also, the addition of some sort of pattern. But
+the scissors of the Fates determine its length, and to that all the rest
+must join in submitting itself.
+
+Truth is a torch, but a huge one, and so it is only with blinking eyes
+that we all of us try to get past it, in actual terror of being burnt.
+
+The really foolish thing in men who are otherwise intelligent is that
+they fail to understand what another person says, when he does not
+exactly hit upon the right way of saying it.
+
+One need only grow old to become gentler in one's judgments. I see no
+fault committed which I could not have committed myself.
+
+Why should those who are happy expect one who is miserable to die before
+them in a graceful attitude, like the gladiator before the Roman mob?
+
+By force of habit we look at a clock that has run down as if it were
+still going, and we gaze at the face of a beauty as though she still
+loved.
+
+Dilettantism treated seriously, and knowledge pursued mechanically, end
+by becoming pedantry.
+
+No one but the master can promote the cause of Art. Patrons help the
+master--that is right and proper; but that does not always mean that Art
+is helped.
+
+The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that
+they forfeit their originality in recognizing a truth which has already
+been recognized by others.
+
+It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; for error lies
+on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to
+search for it is not given to every one.
+
+No one should desire to live in irregular circumstances; but if by
+chance a man falls into them, they test his character and show of how
+much determination he is capable.
+
+An honorable man with limited ideas often sees through the rascality of
+the most cunning jobber.
+
+Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must
+act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him.
+
+The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always
+a burden to them.
+
+If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them
+well.
+
+I can promise to be sincere, but not to be impartial.
+
+Word and picture are correlatives which are continually in quest of each
+other, as is sufficiently evident in the case of metaphors and similes.
+So from all time what was said or sung inwardly to the ear had to be
+presented equally to the eye. And so in childish days we see word and
+picture in continual balance; in the book of the law and in the way of
+salvation, in the Bible and in the spelling-book. When something was
+spoken which could not be pictured, and something pictured which could
+not be spoken, all went well; but mistakes were often made, and a word
+was used instead of a picture; and thence arose those monsters of
+symbolical mysticism, which are doubly an evil.
+
+The importunity of young dilettanti must be borne with good-will; for as
+they grow old they become the truest worshippers of Art and the Master.
+
+People have to become really bad before they care for nothing but
+mischief, and delight in it.
+
+Clever people are the best encyclopædia.
+
+There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do
+anything worth doing.
+
+A man cannot live for every one; least of all for those with whom he
+would not care to live.
+
+I should like to be honest with you, without our falling out; but it
+will not do. You act wrongly, and fall between two stools; you win no
+adherents and lose your friends. What is to be the end of it?
+
+If a clever man commits a folly, it is not a small one.
+
+I went on troubling myself about general ideas until I learnt to
+understand the particular achievements of the best men.
+
+The errors of a man are what make him really lovable.
+
+As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so
+apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more
+potent, in which most men live.
+
+Mankind is like the Red Sea; the staff has scarcely parted the waves
+asunder before they flow together again. Thoughts come back; beliefs
+persist; facts pass by never to return.
+
+Of all peoples, the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life the best.
+
+We readily bow to antiquity, but not to posterity. It is only a father
+that does not grudge talent to his son. The whole art of living consists
+in giving up existence in order to exist.
+
+All our pursuits and actions are a wearying process. Well is it for him
+who wearies not.
+
+Hope is the second soul of the unhappy.
+
+At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have
+worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by
+poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike.
+
+If a man knows where to get good advice, it is as though he could supply
+it himself.
+
+A man must pay dear for his errors if he wishes to get rid of them, and
+even then he is lucky.
+
+Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away
+by it.
+
+Error is related to truth as sleep to waking. I have observed that on
+awakening from error a man turns again to truth as with new vigor.
+
+Every one suffers who does not work for himself. A man works for others
+to have them share in his joy.
+
+Common-sense is born pure in the healthy man, is self-developed, and is
+revealed by a resolute perception and recognition of what is necessary
+and useful. Practical men and women avail themselves of it with
+confidence. Where it is absent, both sexes find anything necessary when
+they desire it, and useful when it gives them pleasure.
+
+All men, as they attain freedom, give play to their errors. The strong
+do too much, and the weak too little.
+
+The conflict of the old, the existing, the continuing, with development,
+improvement and reform, is always the same. Order of every kind turns at
+last to pedantry, and to get rid of the one, people destroy the other;
+and so it goes on for a while, until people perceive that order must be
+established anew. Classicism and Romanticism; close corporations and
+freedom of trade; the maintenance of large estates and the division of
+the land--it is always the same conflict which ends by producing a new
+one. The best policy of those in power would be so to moderate this
+conflict as to let it right itself without the destruction of either
+element. But this has not been granted to men, and it seems not to be
+the will of God.
+
+A great work limits us for the moment, because we feel it above our
+powers; and only in so far as we afterward incorporate it with our
+culture, and make it part of our mind and heart, does it become a dear
+and worthy object.
+
+There are many things in the world that are at once good and excellent,
+but they do not come into contact.
+
+When men have to do with women, they get spun off like a distaff.
+
+It may well be that a man is at times horribly threshed by misfortunes,
+public and private: but the reckless flail of Fate, when it beats the
+rich sheaves, crushes only the straw; and the corn feels nothing of it
+and dances merrily on the floor, careless whether its way is to the mill
+or the furrow.
+
+In the matter of knowledge, it has happened to me as to one who rises
+early and in the dark impatiently awaits the dawn and then the sun, but
+is blinded when it appears.
+
+People often say to themselves in life that they should avoid a variety
+of occupation, and, more particularly, be the less willing to enter upon
+new work the older they grow. But it is easy to talk, easy to give
+advice to oneself and others. To grow old is itself to enter upon a new
+business; all the circumstances change, and a man must either cease
+acting altogether, or willingly and consciously take over the new rôle.
+
+To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were
+possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea
+and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for
+thousands of years.
+
+Napoleon lived wholly in a great idea, but he was unable to take
+conscious hold of it. After utterly disavowing all ideals and denying
+them any reality, he zealously strove to realize them. His clear,
+incorruptible intellect could not, however, tolerate such a perpetual
+conflict within; and there is much value in the thoughts which he was
+compelled, as it were, to utter, and which are expressed very peculiarly
+and with much charm.
+
+Man is placed as a real being in the midst of a real world, and endowed
+with such organs that he can perceive and produce the real and also the
+possible.
+
+All healthy men have the conviction of their own existence and of an
+existence around them. However, even the brain contains a hollow spot,
+that is to say, a place in which no object is mirrored; just as in the
+eye itself there is a little spot that does not see. If a man pays
+particular attention to this spot and is absorbed in it, he falls into a
+state of mental sickness, has presentiments of 'things of another
+world,' which are, in reality, no things at all, possessing neither form
+nor limit, but alarming him like dark, empty tracts of night, and
+pursuing him as something more than phantoms, if he does not tear
+himself free from them.
+
+To the several perversities of the day a man should always oppose only
+the great masses of universal history. That we have many criticisms to
+make on those who visit us, and that, as soon as they depart, we pass no
+very amiable judgment upon them, seems to me almost natural; for we
+have, so to speak, a right to measure them by our own standard. Even
+intelligent and fair-minded men hardly refrain from sharp censure on
+such occasions.
+
+But if, on the contrary, we have been in their homes, and have seen them
+in their surroundings and habits and the circumstances which are
+necessary and inevitable for them; if we have seen the kind of influence
+they exert on those around them, or how they behave, it is only
+ignorance and ill-will that can find food for ridicule in what must
+appear to us in more than one sense worthy of respect.
+
+Women's society is the element of good manners.
+
+The most privileged position, in life as in society, is that of an
+educated soldier. Rough warriors, at any rate, remain true to their
+character, and as great strength is usually the cover for good nature,
+we get on with them at need.
+
+No one would come into a room with spectacles on his nose, if he knew
+that women at once lose any inclination to look at or talk to him.
+
+There is no outward sign of politeness that will be found to lack some
+deep moral foundation. The right kind of education would be that which
+conveyed the sign and the foundation at the same time.
+
+A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait.
+
+Against the great superiority of another there is no remedy but love.
+
+It is a terrible thing for an eminent man to be gloried in by fools.
+
+It is said that no man is a hero to his valet. That is only because a
+hero can be recognized only by a hero. The valet will probably know how
+to appreciate his like--his fellow-valet.
+
+Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the
+half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
+
+To see a difficult thing lightly handled gives us the impression of the
+impossible.
+
+Difficulties increase the nearer we come to our aim.
+
+Sowing is not so painful as reaping.
+
+If any one meets us who owes us a debt of gratitude, it immediately
+crosses our mind. How often can we meet some one to whom we owe
+gratitude, without thinking of it!
+
+To communicate oneself is Nature; to receive a communication as it is
+given is Culture.
+
+Contradiction and flattery make, both of them, bad conversation.
+
+By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they
+laugh at.
+
+An intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, a wise man hardly
+anything.
+
+A man well on in years was reproved for still troubling himself about
+young women. "It is the only means," he replied, "of regaining one's
+youth; and that is something every one wishes to do."
+
+A man does not mind being blamed for his faults, and being punished for
+them, and he patiently suffers much for the sake of them; but he becomes
+impatient if he is required to give them up.
+
+Passion is enhanced and tempered by avowal. In nothing, perhaps, is the
+middle course more desirable than in confidence and reticence toward
+those we love.
+
+To sit in judgment on the departed is never likely to be equitable. We
+all suffer from life; who, except God, can call us to account? Let not
+their faults and sufferings, but what they have accomplished and done,
+occupy the survivors.
+
+It is failings that show human nature, and merits that distinguish the
+individual; faults and misfortunes we all have in common; virtues belong
+to each one separately.
+
+It would not be worth while to see seventy years if all the wisdom of
+this world were foolishness with God. The true is Godlike; we do not see
+it itself; we must guess at it through its manifestations.
+
+The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and
+draws near the master.
+
+In the smithy the iron is softened by blowing up the fire, and taking
+the dross from the bar. As soon as it is purified, it is beaten and
+pressed, and becomes firm again by the addition of fresh water. The same
+thing happens to a man at the hands of his teacher.
+
+What belongs to a man he cannot get rid of, even though he throws it
+away.
+
+Of true religions there are only two: one of them recognizes and
+worships the Holy that, without form or shape, dwells in and around us;
+and the other recognizes and worships it in its fairest form. Everything
+that lies between these two is idolatry.
+
+The Saints were all at once driven from heaven; and senses, thought and
+heart were turned from a divine mother with a tender child, to the grown
+man doing good and suffering evil, who was later transfigured into a
+being half-divine in its nature, and then recognized and honored as God
+himself. He stood against a background where the Creator had opened out
+the universe; a spiritual influence went out from him; his sufferings
+were adopted as an example, and his transfiguration was the pledge of
+ever-lastingness.
+
+As a coal is revived by incense, so prayer revives the hopes of the
+heart.
+
+From a strict point of view we must have a reformation of ourselves
+every day, and protest against others, even though it be in no religious
+sense.
+
+It should be our earnest endeavor to use words coinciding as closely as
+possible with what we feel, see, think, experience, imagine and reason.
+It is an endeavor which we cannot evade, and which is daily to be
+renewed.
+
+Let every man examine himself, and he will find this a much harder task
+than he might suppose; for, unhappily, a man usually takes words as mere
+make-shifts; his knowledge and his thought are in most cases better than
+his method of expression.
+
+False, irrelevant, and futile ideas may arise in ourselves and others,
+or find their way into us from without. Let us persist in the effort to
+remove them as far as we can, by plain and honest purpose.
+
+Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.
+
+A man is not deceived by others; he deceives himself.
+
+Laws are all made by old people and by men. Youths and women want the
+exceptions, old people the rules.
+
+Chinese, Indian and Egyptian antiquities are never more than
+curiosities; it is well to make acquaintance with them; but in point of
+moral and æsthetic culture they can help us little.
+
+The German runs no greater danger than to advance with and by the
+example of his neighbors. There is perhaps no nation that is fitter for
+the process of self-development; so that it has proved of the greatest
+advantage to Germany to have obtained the notice of the world so late.
+
+The greatest difficulties lie where we do not look for them.
+
+The mind endowed with active powers and keeping with a practical object
+to the task that lies nearest, is the worthiest there is on earth.
+
+Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the
+measure of man.
+
+When a great idea enters the world as a Gospel, it becomes an offense to
+the multitude, which stagnates in pedantry; and to those who have much
+learning, but little depth, it is folly.
+
+You may recognize the utility of an idea, and yet not quite understand
+how to make a perfect use of it.
+
+_Credo Deum_! That is a fine, a worthy thing to say; but to recognize
+God where and as he reveals himself, is the only true bliss on earth.
+
+Kepler said: 'My wish is that I may perceive the God whom I find
+everywhere in the external world, in like manner also within and inside
+me.' The good man was not aware that, in that very moment, the divine in
+him stood in the closest connection with the divine in the Universe.
+
+What is predestination? It is this: God is mightier and wiser than we
+are, and so he does with us as he pleases.
+
+Toleration should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought
+to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to
+affront him.
+
+Faith, Love and Hope once felt, in a quiet sociable hour, a plastic
+impulse in their nature; they worked together and created a lovely
+image, a Pandora in the higher sense, Patience.
+
+'I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted.' It must have
+been an old forester who said that.
+
+Does the sparrow know how the stork feels?
+
+Lamps make oil spots, and candles want snuffing; it is only the light of
+heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.
+
+If you miss the first button-hole, you will not succeed in buttoning up
+your coat.
+
+A burnt child dreads the fire; an old man who has often been singed is
+afraid of warming himself.
+
+It is not worth while to do anything for the world that we have with us,
+as the existing order may in a moment pass away. It is for the past and
+the future that we must work: for the past, to acknowledge its merits;
+for the future, to try to increase its value.
+
+Let no one think that people have waited for him as for the Savior.
+
+Character in matters great and small consists in a man steadily pursuing
+the things of which he feels himself capable.
+
+Can a nation become ripe? That is a strange question. I would answer,
+Yes! if all the men could be born thirty years of age. But as youth will
+always be too forward and old age too backward, the really mature man is
+always hemmed in between them, and has to resort to strange devices to
+make his way through.
+
+The most important matters of feeling as of reason, of experience as of
+reflection, should be treated of only by word of mouth. The spoken word
+at once dies if it is not kept alive by some other word following on it
+and suited to the hearer. Observe what happens in social converse. If
+the word is not dead when it reaches the hearer, he murders it at once
+by a contradiction, a stipulation, a condition, a digression, an
+interruption, and all the thousand tricks of conversation. With the
+written word the case is still worse. No one cares to read anything to
+which he is not already to some extent accustomed; he demands the known
+and the familiar under an altered form. Still, the written word has this
+advantage, that it lasts and can await the time when it is allowed to
+take effect.
+
+Opponents fancy they refute us when they repeat their own opinion and
+pay no attention to ours.
+
+It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it
+may be past, present or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the
+more difficult are the problems that appear.
+
+Every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined
+plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be
+steep and inaccessible.
+
+If a man would enter upon some course of knowledge, he must either be
+deceived or deceive himself, unless external necessity irresistibly
+determines him. Who would become a physician if, at one and the same
+time, he saw before him all the horrible sights that await him?
+
+Literature is a fragment of fragments: the least of what happened and
+was spoken, has been written; and of the things that have been written,
+very few have been preserved.
+
+And yet, with all the fragmentary nature of literature, we find
+thousandfold repetition; which shows how limited is man's mind and
+destiny.
+
+We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive,
+are anxious to say something important, and the results are most
+curious.
+
+Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to
+let us know that the author has known something.
+
+An author can show no greater respect for his public than by never
+bringing it what it expects, but what he himself thinks right and proper
+in that stage of his own and others' culture in which for the time he
+finds himself.
+
+That glorious hymn, _Veni Creator Spiritus_, is really an appeal to
+genius. That is why it speaks so powerfully to men of intellect and
+power.
+
+Translators are like busy match-makers; they sing the praises of some
+half-veiled beauty, and extol her charms, and arouse an irresistible
+longing for the original.
+
+My relations with Schiller rested on the decided tendency of both of us
+toward a single aim, and our common activity rested on the diversity of
+the means by which we endeavored to attain that aim.
+
+The best that history gives us is the enthusiasm it arouses.
+
+We really learn only from those books which we cannot criticise. The
+author of a book which we could criticise would have to learn from us.
+
+That is the reason why the Bible will never lose its power; because, as
+long as the world lasts, no one can stand up and say: I grasp it as a
+whole and understand all the parts of it. But we say humbly: as a whole
+it is worthy of respect, and in all its parts it is applicable.
+
+There is and will be much discussions as to the use and harm of
+circulating the Bible. One thing is clear to me mischief will result, as
+heretofore, by using it fantastically as a system of dogma; benefit, as
+heretofore, by a loving acceptance of its teachings.
+
+I am convinced that the Bible will always be more beautiful the more it
+is understood; the more, that is, we see and observe that every word
+which we take in a general sense and apply specially to ourselves, had,
+under certain circumstances of time and place, a peculiar, special and
+directly individual reference.
+
+If one has not read the newspapers for some months and then reads them
+altogether, one sees, as one never saw before, how much time is wasted
+with this kind of literature.
+
+Shakespeare's Henry IV. If everything were lost that has ever been
+preserved to us of this kind of writing, the arts of poetry and rhetoric
+could be completely restored out of this one play.
+
+Shakespeare's finest dramas are wanting here and there in facility: they
+are something more than they should be, and for that very reason
+indicate the great poet.
+
+The dignity of Art appears perhaps most conspicuously in Music; for in
+Music there is no material to be deducted. It is wholly form and
+intrinsic value, and it raises and ennobles all that it expresses.
+
+It is only by Art, and especially by Poetry, that the imagination is
+regulated. Nothing is more frightful than imagination without taste.
+
+Art rests upon a kind of religious sense; it is deeply and ineradicably
+in earnest. Thus it is that Art so willingly goes hand in hand with
+Religion.
+
+A noble philosopher spoke of architecture as frozen music; and it was
+inevitable that many people should shake their heads over his remark. We
+believe that no better repetition of this fine thought can be given than
+by calling architecture a speechless music.
+
+In every artist there is a germ of daring, without which no talent is
+conceivable.
+
+Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than
+lower ones quite attained.
+
+In every Italian school the butterfly breaks loose from the chrysalis.
+
+Let us be many-sided! Turnips are good, but they are best mixed with
+chestnuts. And these two noble products of the earth grow far apart.
+
+In the presence of Nature even moderate talent is always possessed of
+insight; hence drawings from Nature that are at all carefully done
+always give pleasure.
+
+A man cannot well stand by himself, and so he is glad to join a party;
+because if he does not find rest there, he at any rate finds quiet and
+safety.
+
+It is difficult to know how to treat the errors of the age. If a man
+oppose them, he stands alone; if he surrender to them, they bring him
+neither joy nor credit.
+
+There are some hundred Christian sects, every one of them acknowledging
+God and the Lord in its own way, without troubling themselves further
+about one another. In the study of nature, nay, in every study, things
+must of necessity come to the same pass. For what is the meaning of
+every one speaking of toleration, and trying to prevent others from
+thinking and expressing themselves after their own fashion?
+
+We more readily confess to errors, mistakes and short-comings in our
+conduct than in our thought. And the reason of it is that the
+conscience is humble and even takes a pleasure in being ashamed. But the
+intellect is proud, and if forced to recant is driven to despair. * * *
+
+This also explains how it is that truths which have been recognized are
+at first tacitly admitted, and then gradually spread, so that the very
+thing which was obstinately denied appears at last as something quite
+natural.
+
+Ignorant people raise questions which were answered by the wise
+thousands of years ago.
+
+Our advice is that every man should remain in the path he has struck out
+for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by
+prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion.
+
+Every investigator must, before all things, look upon himself as one who
+is summoned to serve on a jury. He has only to consider how far the
+statement of the case is complete and clearly set forth by the evidence.
+Then he draws his conclusion and gives his vote, whether it be that his
+opinion coincides with that of the foreman or not.
+
+The history of philosophy, of science, of religion, all shows that
+opinions spread in masses, but that that always comes to the front
+which is more easily grasped, that is to say, is most suited and
+agreeable to the human mind in its ordinary condition. Nay, he who has
+practised self-culture in the higher sense may always reckon upon
+meeting an adverse majority.
+
+What is a musical string, and all its mechanical division, in comparison
+with the musician's ear? May we not also say, what are the elementary
+phenomena of nature itself compared with man, who must control and
+modify them all before he can in any way assimilate them to himself?
+
+Everything that we call Invention or Discovery in the higher sense of
+the word is the serious exercise and activity of an original feeling for
+truth, which, after a long course of silent cultivation, suddenly
+flashes out into fruitful knowledge. It is a revelation working from
+within on the outer world, and lets a man feel that he is made in the
+image of God. It is a synthesis of World and Mind, giving the most
+blessed assurance of the eternal harmony of things.
+
+A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is
+comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it. A man does not
+need to have seen or experienced everything himself. But if he is to
+commit himself to another's experiences and his way of putting them, let
+him consider that he has to do with three things--the object in question
+and two subjects.
+
+If we look at the problems raised by Aristotle, we are astonished at his
+gift of observation. What wonderful eyes the Greeks had for many things!
+Only they committed the mistake of being overhasty, of passing
+straightway from the phenomenon to the explanation of it, and thereby
+produced certain theories that are quite inadequate. But this is the
+mistake of all times, and still made in our own day.
+
+Hypotheses are cradle-songs by which the teacher lulls his scholars to
+sleep. The thoughtful and honest observer is always learning more and
+more of his limitations; he sees that the further knowledge spreads,
+the more numerous are the problems that make their appearance.
+
+If many a man did not feel obliged to repeat what is untrue, because he
+has said it once, the world would have been quite different.
+
+There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few
+powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive
+weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the
+least knowing their own mind.
+
+When I observe the luminous progress and expansion of natural science in
+modern times, I seem to myself like a traveler going eastward at dawn,
+and gazing at the growing light with joy, but also with impatience;
+looking forward with longing to the advent of the full and final light,
+but, nevertheless, having to turn away his eyes when the sun appeared,
+unable to bear the splendor he had awaited with so much desire.
+
+We praise the eighteenth century for concerning itself chiefly with
+analysis. The task remaining to the nineteenth is to discover the false
+syntheses which prevail, and to analyze their contents anew.
+
+A school may be regarded as a single individual who talks to himself for
+a hundred years, and takes an extraordinary pleasure in his own being,
+however foolish and silly it may be.
+
+In science it is a service of the highest merit to seek out those
+fragmentary truths attained by the ancients, and to develop them
+further.
+
+Nature fills all space with her limitless productivity. If we observe
+merely our own earth, everything that we call evil and unfortunate is so
+because Nature cannot provide room for everything that comes into
+existence, and still less endow it with permanence.
+
+The finest achievement for a man of thought is to have fathomed what may
+be fathomed, and quietly to revere the unfathomable.
+
+There are two things of which a man cannot be careful enough: of
+obstinacy, if he confines himself to his own line of thought; of
+incompetency, if he goes beyond it.
+
+The century advances; but every individual begins anew.
+
+What friends do with us and for us is a real part of our life; for it
+strengthens and advances our personality. The assault of our enemies is
+not part of our life; it is only part of our experience; we throw it off
+and guard ourselves against it as against frost, storm, rain, hail or
+any other of the external evils which may be expected to happen.
+
+A man cannot live with every one, and therefore he cannot live for every
+one. To see this truth aright is to place a high value upon one's
+friends, and not to hate or persecute one's enemies. Nay, there is
+hardly any greater advantage for a man to gain than to find out, if he
+can, the merits of his opponents: it gives him a decided ascendency over
+them.
+
+Every one knows how to value what he has attained in life; most of all
+the man who thinks and reflects in his old age. He has a comfortable
+feeling that it is something of which no one can rob him.
+
+The best metempsychosis is for us to appear again in others.
+
+It is very seldom that we satisfy ourselves; all the more consoling is
+it to have satisfied others.
+
+We look back upon our life only as on a thing of broken pieces, because
+our misses and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh
+in our imagination what we have done and attained.
+
+Nature! We are surrounded by her and locked in her clasp--powerless to
+leave her, and powerless to come closer to her. Unasked and unwarned she
+takes us up into the whirl of her dance, and hurries on with us till we
+are weary and fall from her arms.
+
+We live in the midst of her and are strangers. She speaks to us
+unceasingly and betrays not her secret.
+
+We are always influencing her and yet can do her no violence.
+
+Individuality seems to be all her aim, and she cares naught for
+individuals. She is always building and always destroying, and her
+work-shop is not to be approached.
+
+Nature lives in her children only, and the mother, where is she? She is
+the sole artist--out of the simplest materials the greatest diversity;
+attaining, with no trace of effort, the finest perfection, the closest
+precision, always softly veiled. Each of her works has an essence of its
+own; every shape that she takes is in idea utterly isolated; and yet all
+forms one.
+
+She plays a drama; whether she sees it herself, we know not; and yet she
+plays it for us who stand but a little way off.
+
+She has thought, and she ponders unceasingly; not as a man, but as
+Nature. The meaning of the whole she keeps to herself, and no one can
+learn it of her.
+
+She rejoices in illusion. If a man destroys this in himself and others,
+she punishes him like the hardest tyrant. If he follows her in
+confidence, she presses him to her heart as if it were her child.
+
+Her children are numberless. To no one of them is she altogether
+niggardly; but she has her favorites, on whom she lavishes much, and for
+whom she makes many a sacrifice. Over the great she has spread the
+shield of her protection.
+
+She spurts forth her creatures out of nothing, and tells them not whence
+they come and whither they go. They have only to go their way; she knows
+the path.
+
+The drama she plays is always new, because she is always bringing new
+spectators. Life is her fairest invention, and Death is her device for
+having life in abundance.
+
+She envelops man in darkness, and urges him constantly to the light. She
+makes him dependent on the earth, heavy and sluggish, and always rouses
+him up afresh.
+
+She creates wants, because she loves movement. How marvelous that she
+gains it all so easily! Every want is a benefit, soon satisfied, soon
+growing again. If she gives more, it is a new source of desire; but the
+balance quickly rights itself.
+
+She lets every child work at her, every fool judge of her, and thousands
+pass her by and see nothing; and she has her joy in them all, and in
+them all finds her account.
+
+Man obeys her laws even in opposing them; he works with her even when he
+wants to work against her.
+
+Speech or language she has none; but she creates tongues and hearts
+through which she feels and speaks.
+
+Her crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts
+gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She
+isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few
+draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.
+
+She is all things. She rewards herself and punishes herself; and in
+herself rejoices and is distressed. She is rough and gentle, loving and
+terrible, powerless and almighty. In her everything is always present.
+Past or Future she knows not. The present is her Eternity. She is kind.
+I praise her with all her works. She is wise and still. No one can force
+her to explain herself, or frighten her into a gift that she does not
+give willingly. She is crafty, but for a good end; and it is best not to
+notice her cunning.
+
+She is whole, and yet never finished. As she works now, so can she work
+forever.
+
+She has placed me in this world; she will also lead me out of it. I
+trust myself to her. She may do with me as she pleases. She will not
+hate her work. I did not speak of her. No! what is true and what is
+false, she has spoken it all. Everything is her fault, everything is her
+merit.
+
+
+
+ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH GOETHE[6]
+
+(Extracts from the Author's Preface.) TRANSLATED BY JOHN OXENFORD
+
+This collection of Conversations with Goethe took its rise chiefly from
+an impulse, natural to my mind, to appropriate to myself by writing any
+part of my experience which strikes me as valuable or remarkable.
+
+Moreover, I felt constantly the need of instruction, not only when I
+first met with that extraordinary man, but also after I had lived with
+him for years; and I loved to seize on the import of his words, and to
+note it down, that I might possess them for the rest of my life.
+
+When I think how rich and full were the communications by which he made
+me so happy for a period of nine years, and now observe how small a part
+I have retained in writing, I seem to myself like a child who,
+endeavoring to catch the refreshing spring shower with open hands, finds
+that the greater part of it runs through his fingers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I think that these conversations not only contain many valuable
+explanations and instructions on science, art, and practical life, but
+that these sketches of Goethe, taken directly from life, will be
+especially serviceable in completing the portrait which each reader may
+have formed of Goethe from his manifold works.
+
+Still, I am far from imagining that the whole internal Goethe is here
+adequately portrayed. We may, with propriety, compare this extraordinary
+mind and man to a many-sided diamond, which in each direction shines
+with a different hue. And as, under different circumstances and with
+different persons, he became another being, so I, too, can only say, in
+a very modest sense, this is _my_ Goethe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE'S STUDY]
+
+My relation to him was peculiar, and of a very intimate kind: it was
+that of the scholar to the master; of the son to the father; of the poor
+in culture to the rich in culture. He drew me into his own circle, and
+let me participate in the mental and bodily enjoyments of a higher state
+of existence. Sometimes I saw him but once a week, when I visited him in
+the evening; sometimes every day, when I had the happiness to dine with
+him either alone or in company. His conversation was as varied as his
+works. He was always the same, and always different. Now he was occupied
+by some great idea, and his words flowed forth rich and inexhaustible;
+they were often like a garden in spring where all is in blossom, and
+where one is so dazzled by the general brilliancy that one does not
+think of gathering a nosegay. At other times, on the contrary, he was
+taciturn and laconic, as if a cloud pressed upon his soul; nay, there
+were days when it seemed as if he were filled with icy coldness, and a
+keen wind was sweeping over plains of frost and snow. When one saw him
+again he was again like a smiling summer's day, when all the warblers of
+the wood joyously greet us from hedges and bushes, when the cuckoo's
+voice resounds through the blue sky, and the brook ripples through
+flowery meadows. Then it was a pleasure to hear him; his presence then
+had a beneficial influence, and the heart expanded at his words.
+
+Winter and summer, age and youth, seemed with him to be engaged in a
+perpetual strife and change; nevertheless, it was admirable in him, when
+from seventy to eighty years old, that youth always recovered the
+ascendancy; those autumnal and wintry days I have indicated were only
+rare exceptions.
+
+His self-control was great--nay, it formed a prominent peculiarity in
+his character. It was akin to that lofty deliberation (_Besonnenheit_)
+through which he always succeeded in mastering his material, and giving
+his single works that artistical finish which we admire in them. Through
+the same quality he was often concise and circumspect, not only in many
+of his writings, but also in his oral expressions. When, however, in
+happy moments, a more powerful demon[7] was active within him, and that
+self-control abandoned him, his discourse rolled forth with youthful
+impetuosity, like a mountain cataract. In such moments he expressed what
+was best and greatest in his abundant nature, and such moments are to be
+understood when his earlier friends say of him, that his spoken words
+were better than those which he wrote and printed. Thus Marmontel said
+of Diderot, that whoever knew him from his writings only knew him but
+half; but that as soon as he became animated in actual conversation he
+was incomparable, and irresistibly carried his hearers along.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1823
+
+_Weimar, June 10.[8]--I arrived here a few days ago, but did not see
+Goethe till today. He received me with great cordiality; and the
+impression he made on me was such, that I consider this day as one of
+the happiest in my life.
+
+Yesterday, when I called to inquire, he fixed today at twelve o'clock as
+the time when he would be glad to see me. I went at the appointed time,
+and found a servant waiting for me, preparing to conduct me to him.
+
+The interior of the house made a very pleasant impression upon me;
+without being showy, everything was extremely simple and noble; even the
+casts from antique statues, placed upon the stairs, indicated Goethe's
+especial partiality for plastic art, and for Grecian antiquity. I saw
+several ladies moving busily about in the lower part of the house, and
+one of Ottilie's beautiful boys, who came familiarly up to me, and
+looked fixedly in my face.
+
+After I had cast a glance around, I ascended the stairs, with the very
+talkative servant, to the first floor.
+
+He opened a room, on the threshold of which the motto _Salve_ was
+stepped over as a good omen of a friendly welcome. He led me through
+this apartment and opened another, somewhat more spacious, where he
+requested me to wait, while he went to announce me to his master. The
+air here was most cool and refreshing; on the floor was spread a carpet;
+the room was furnished with a crimson sofa and chairs, which gave a
+cheerful aspect; on one side stood a piano; and the walls were adorned
+with many pictures and drawings, of various sorts and sizes.
+
+Through an open door opposite, one looked into a farther room, also hung
+with pictures, through which the servant had gone to announce me.
+
+It was not long before Goethe came in, dressed in a blue frock-coat, and
+with shoes. What a sublime form! The impression upon me was surprising.
+But he soon dispelled all uneasiness by the kindest words. We sat down
+on the sofa. I felt in a happy perplexity, through his look and his
+presence, and could say little or nothing.
+
+He began by speaking of my manuscript. "I have just come from _you_,"
+said he; "I have been reading your writing all the morning; it needs no
+recommendation--it recommends itself." He praised the clearness of the
+style, the flow of the thought, and the peculiarity that all rested on a
+solid basis and had been thoroughly considered. "I will soon forward
+it," said he; "today I shall write to Cotta by post, and send him the
+parcel tomorrow." I thanked him with words and looks.
+
+We then talked of my proposed excursion. I told him that my design was
+to go into the Rhineland, where I intended to stay at a suitable place,
+and write something new. First, however, I would go to Jena, and there
+await Herr von Cotta's answer.
+
+Goethe asked whether I had acquaintance in Jena. I replied that I hoped
+to come in contact with Herr von Knebel; on which he promised me a
+letter which would insure me a more favorable reception. "And, indeed,"
+said he, "while you are in Jena, we shall be near neighbors, and can see
+or write to one another as often as we please." We sat a long while
+together, in a tranquil, affectionate mood. I was close to him; I forgot
+to speak for looking at him--I could not look enough. His face is so
+powerful and brown! full of wrinkles, and each wrinkle full of
+expression! And everywhere there is such nobleness and firmness, such
+repose and greatness! He spoke in a slow, composed manner, such as you
+would expect from an aged monarch. You perceive by his air that he
+reposes upon himself, and is elevated far above both praise and blame. I
+was extremely happy near him; I felt becalmed like one who, after many
+toils and tedious expectations, finally sees his dearest wishes
+gratified.
+
+_Thursday, September_ 18.--"The world is so great and rich, and life so
+full of variety, that you can never want occasions for poems. But they
+must all be occasional[9] poems; that is to say, reality must give both
+impulse and material for their production. A particular case becomes
+universal and poetic by the very circumstance that it is treated by a
+poet. All my poems are occasional poems, suggested by real life, and
+having therein a firm foundation. I attach no value to poems snatched
+out of the air.
+
+"Let no one say that reality wants poetical interest; for in this the
+poet proves his vocation, that he has the art to win from a common
+subject an interesting side. Reality must give the motive, the points to
+be expressed, the kernel, as I may say; but to work out of it a
+beautiful, animated whole, belongs to the poet. You know Fürnstein,
+called the Poet of Nature; he has written the prettiest poem possible,
+on the cultivation of hops.
+
+"I have now proposed to him to make songs for the different crafts of
+working-men, particularly a weaver's song, and I am sure he will do it
+well, for he has lived among such people from his youth; he understands
+the subject thoroughly, and is therefore master of his material. That is
+exactly the advantage of small works; you need only choose those
+subjects of which you are master. With a great poem, this cannot be: no
+part can be evaded; all which belongs to the animation of the whole, and
+is interwoven into the plan, must be represented with precision. In
+youth, however, the knowledge of things is only one-sided. A great work
+requires many-sidedness, and on that rock the young author splits."
+
+[Illustration: THE GARDEN AT GOETHE'S CITY HOUSE WEIMAR After a Water
+Color by PETER WOLTZE]
+
+I told Goethe that I had contemplated writing a great poem upon the
+seasons, in which I might interweave the employments and amusements of
+all classes. "Here is the very case in point," replied Goethe; "you may
+succeed in many parts, but fail in others which refer to what you have
+not duly investigated. Perhaps you would do the fisherman well, and the
+huntsman ill; and if you fail anywhere, the whole is a failure, however
+good single parts may be, and you have not produced a perfect work. Give
+separately the single parts to which you are equal, and you make sure of
+something good.
+
+"I especially warn you against great inventions of your own; for then
+you would try to give a view of things, and for that purpose youth is
+seldom ripe. Further, character and views detach themselves as sides
+from the poet's mind, and deprive him of the fulness requisite for
+future productions. And, finally, how much time is lost in invention,
+internal arrangement, and combination, for which nobody thanks us, even
+supposing our work is happily accomplished.
+
+"With a _given_ material, on the other hand, all goes easier and better.
+Facts and characters being provided, the poet has only the task of
+animating the whole. He preserves his own fulness, for he needs to part
+with but little of himself, and there is much less loss of time and
+power, since he has only the trouble of execution. Indeed, I would
+advise the choice of subjects which have been worked before. How many
+Iphigenias have been written! yet they are all different, for each
+writer considers and arranges the subject differently; namely, after his
+own fashion.
+
+"But, for the present, you had better lay aside all great undertakings.
+You have striven long enough; it is time that you should enter into the
+cheerful period of life, and for the attainment of this, the working out
+of small subjects is the best expedient."
+
+_Sunday, October_ 19.--Today, I dined for the first time with Goethe. No
+one was present except Frau von Goethe, Fräulein Ulrica, and little
+Walter, and thus we were all very comfortable. Goethe appeared now
+solely as father of a family, helping to all the dishes, carving the
+roast fowls with great dexterity, and not forgetting between whiles to
+fill the glasses. We had much lively chat about the theatre, young
+English people, and other topics of the day; Fräulein Ulrica was
+especially lively and entertaining. Goethe was generally silent, coming
+out only now and then with some pertinent remark. From time to time he
+glanced at the newspaper, now and then reading us some passages,
+especially about the progress of the Greeks.
+
+They then talked about the necessity of my learning English, and Goethe
+earnestly advised me to do so, particularly on account of Lord Byron;
+saying, that a character of such eminence had never existed before, and
+probably would never come again. They discussed the merits of the
+different teachers here, but found none with a thoroughly good
+pronunciation; on which account they deemed it better to go to some
+young Englishman.
+
+After dinner, Goethe showed me some experiments relating to his theory
+of colors. The subject was, however, new to me; I neither understood
+the phenomena, nor what he said about them. Nevertheless, I hoped that
+the future would afford me leisure and opportunity to initiate myself a
+little into this science.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, November_ 13.--Some days ago, as I was walking one fine
+afternoon towards Erfurt, I was joined by an elderly man, whom I
+supposed, from his appearance, to be an opulent citizen. We had not
+talked together long, before the conversation turned upon Goethe. I
+asked him whether he knew Goethe. "Know him?" said he, with some
+delight; "I was his valet almost twenty years!" He then launched into
+the praises of his former master. I begged to hear something of Goethe's
+youth, and he gladly consented to gratify me.
+
+"When I first lived with him," said he, "he might have been about
+twenty-seven years old; he was thin, nimble, and elegant in his person.
+I could easily have carried him in my arms."
+
+I asked whether Goethe, in that early part of his life here, had not
+been very gay. "Certainly," replied he; "he was always gay with the gay,
+but never when they passed a certain limit; in that case he usually
+became grave. Always working and seeking; his mind always bent on art
+and science; that was generally the way with my master. The duke often
+visited him in the evening, and then they often talked on learned topics
+till late at night, so that I got extremely tired, and wondered when the
+duke would go. Even then he was interested in natural science.
+
+"One time he rang in the middle of the night, and when I entered his
+room I found he had rolled his iron bed to the window, and was lying
+there, looking out upon the heavens. 'Have you seen nothing in the sky?'
+asked he; and when I answered in the negative, he bade me run to the
+guard-house, and ask the man on duty if he had seen nothing. I went
+there; the guard said he had seen nothing, and I returned with this
+answer to my master, who was still in the same position, lying in his
+bed, and gazing upon the sky. 'Listen,' said he to me; 'this is an
+important moment; there is now an earthquake, or one is just going to
+take place;' then he made me sit down on the bed, and showed me by what
+signs he knew this."
+
+I asked the good old man "what sort of weather it was." "It was very
+cloudy," he replied; "no air stirring; very still and sultry."
+
+I asked if he at once believed there was an earthquake on Goethe's word.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I believed it, for things always happened as he said
+they would. Next day he related his observations at court, when a lady
+whispered to her neighbor, 'Only listen, Goethe is dreaming.' But the
+duke, and all the men present, believed Goethe, and the correctness of
+his observations was soon confirmed; for, in a few weeks, the news came
+that a part of Messina, on that night, had been destroyed by an
+earthquake."
+
+_Friday, November_ 14.--Towards evening Goethe sent me an invitation to
+call upon him. Humboldt, he said, was at court, and therefore I should
+be all the more welcome. I found him, as I did some days ago, sitting in
+his armchair; he gave me a friendly shake of the hand, and spoke to me
+with heavenly mildness. The chancellor soon joined us. We sat near
+Goethe, and carried on a light conversation, that he might only have to
+listen. The physician, Counsellor Rehbein, soon came also. To use his
+own expression, he found Goethe's pulse quite lively and easy. At this
+we were highly pleased, and joked with Goethe on the subject. "If I
+could only get rid of the pain in my left side!" he said. Rehbein
+prescribed a plaster there; we talked on the good effect of such a
+remedy, and Goethe consented to it. Rehbein turned the conversation to
+Marienbad, and this appeared to awaken pleasant reminiscences in Goethe.
+Arrangements were made to go there again, it was said that the great
+duke would join the party, and these prospects put Goethe in the most
+cheerful mood. They also talked about Madame Szymanowska, and mentioned
+the time when she was here, and all the men were solicitous for her
+favor.
+
+When Rehbein was gone, the chancellor read the Indian poems, and Goethe,
+in the meanwhile, talked to me about the Marienbad Elegy.
+
+At eight o'clock, the chancellor went, and I was going, too, but Goethe
+bade me stop a little, and I sat down. The conversation turned on the
+stage, and the fact that _Wallenstein_ was to be done tomorrow. This
+gave occasion to talk about Schiller.
+
+"I have," said I, "a peculiar feeling towards Schiller. Some scenes of
+his great dramas I read with genuine love and admiration; but presently
+I meet with something which violates the truth of nature, and I can go
+no further. I feel this even in reading _Wallenstein_. I cannot but
+think that Schiller's turn for philosophy injured his poetry, because
+this led him to consider the idea far higher than all nature; indeed,
+thus to annihilate nature. What he could conceive must happen, whether
+it were in conformity with nature or not."
+
+"It was sad," said Goethe, "to see how so highly gifted a man tormented
+himself with philosophical disquisitions which could in no way profit
+him. Humboldt has shown me letters which Schiller wrote to him in those
+unblest days of speculation. There we see how he plagued himself with
+the design of perfectly separating sentimental from _naive_ poetry. For
+the former he could find no proper soil, and this brought him into
+unspeakable perplexity."
+
+"As if," continued he, smiling, "sentimental poetry could exist at all
+without the _naive_ ground in which, as it were, it has its root."
+
+"It was not Schiller's plan," continued Goethe, "to go to work with a
+certain unconsciousness, and as it were instinctively; he was forced, on
+the contrary, to reflect on all he did. Hence it was that he never could
+leave off talking about his poetical projects, and thus he discussed
+with me all his late pieces, scene after scene.
+
+"On the other hand, it was contrary to my nature to talk over my poetic
+plans with anybody--even with Schiller. I carried everything about with
+me in silence, and usually nothing was known to any one till the whole
+was completed. When I showed Schiller my _Hermann and Dorothea_
+finished, he was astonished, for I had said not a syllable to him of any
+such plan.
+
+"But I am curious to hear what you will say of _Wallenstein_ tomorrow.
+You will see noble forms, and the piece will make an impression on you
+such as you probably do not dream of."
+
+_Saturday, November_ 15.--In the evening I was in the theatre, where I
+for the first time saw _Wallenstein_. Goethe had not said too much; the
+impression was great, and stirred my inmost soul. The actors, who had
+almost all belonged to the time when they were under the personal
+influence of Schiller and Goethe, gave an ensemble of significant
+personages, such as on a mere reading were not presented to my
+imagination with all their individuality. On this account the piece had
+an extraordinary effect upon me, and I could not get it out of my head
+the whole night.
+
+_Sunday, November 16_.--In the evening at Goethe's; he was still sitting
+in his elbow-chair, and seemed rather weak. His first question was about
+_Wallenstein_. I gave him an account of the impression the piece had
+made upon me as represented on the stage, and he heard me with visible
+satisfaction.
+
+M. Soret came in, led in by Frau von Goethe, and remained about an hour.
+He brought from the duke some gold medals, and by showing and talking
+about these seemed to entertain Goethe very pleasantly.
+
+Frau von Goethe and M. Soret went to court, and I was left alone with
+Goethe.
+
+Remembering his promise to show me again his Marienbad Elegy at a
+fitting opportunity, Goethe arose, put a light on the table, and gave
+me the poem. I was delighted to have it once more before me. He quietly
+seated himself again, and left me to an undisturbed perusal of the
+piece.
+
+After I had been reading a while, I turned to say something to him, but
+he seemed to be asleep. I therefore used the favorable moment, and read
+the poem again and again with a rare delight. The most youthful glow of
+love, tempered by the moral elevation of the mind, seemed to me its
+pervading characteristic. Then I thought that the feelings were more
+strongly expressed than we are accustomed to find in Goethe's other
+poems, and imputed this to the influence of Byron--which Goethe did not
+deny.
+
+"You see the product of a highly impassioned mood," said he. "While I
+was in it I would not for the world have been without it, and now I
+would not for any consideration fall into it again.
+
+"I wrote that poem immediately after leaving Marienbad, while the
+feeling of all I had experienced there was fresh. At eight in the
+morning, when we stopped at the first stage, I wrote down the first
+strophe; and thus I went on composing in the carriage, and writing down
+at every stage what I had just composed in my head, so that by the
+evening the whole was on paper. Thence it has a certain directness, and
+is, as I may say, poured out at once, which may be an advantage to it as
+a whole."
+
+"It is," said I, "quite peculiar in its kind, and recalls no other poem
+of yours."
+
+"That," said he, I "may be, because I staked upon the present moment as
+a man stakes a considerable sum upon a card, and sought to enhance its
+value as much as I could without exaggeration."
+
+These words struck me as very important, inasmuch as they threw a light
+on Goethe's method so as to explain that many-sidedness which has
+excited so much admiration.
+
+1824
+
+_Friday, January 2._--Dined at Goethe's, and enjoyed some cheerful
+conversation. Mention was made of a young beauty belonging to the Weimar
+society, when one of the guests remarked that he was on the point of
+falling in love with her, although her understanding could not exactly
+be called brilliant.
+
+"Pshaw," said Goethe, laughing, "as if love had anything to do with the
+understanding. The things that we love in a young lady are something
+very different from the understanding. We love in her beauty,
+youthfulness, playfulness, trustingness, her character, her faults, her
+caprices, and God knows what _'je ne sais quoi'_ besides; but we do not
+_love_ her understanding. We respect her understanding when it is
+brilliant, and by it the worth of a girl can be infinitely enhanced in
+our eyes. Understanding may also serve to fix our affections when we
+already love; but the understanding is not that which is capable of
+firing our hearts, and awakening a passion."
+
+We found much that was true and convincing in Goethe's words, and were
+very willing to consider the subject in that light. After dinner, and
+when the rest of the party had departed, I remained sitting with Goethe,
+and conversed with him on various interesting topics.
+
+We discoursed upon English literature, on the greatness of Shakespeare,
+and on the unfavorable position held by all English dramatic authors who
+had appeared after that poetical giant.
+
+"A dramatic talent of any importance," said Goethe, "could not forbear
+to notice Shakespeare's works, nay, could not forbear to study them.
+Having studied them, he must be aware that Shakespeare has already
+exhausted the whole of human nature in all its tendencies, in all its
+heights and depths, and that, in fact, there remains for him, the
+aftercomer, nothing more to do. And how could one get courage only to
+put pen to paper, if one were conscious in an earnest, appreciating
+spirit, that such unfathomable and unattainable excellences were
+already in existence!
+
+"It fared better with me fifty years ago in my own dear Germany. I could
+soon come to an end with all that then existed; it could not long awe
+me, or occupy my attention. I soon left behind me German literature, and
+the study of it, and turned my thoughts to life and to production. So on
+and on I went in my own natural development, and on and on I fashioned
+the productions of epoch after epoch. And at every step of life and
+development, my standard of excellence was not much higher than what at
+such step I was able to attain. But had I been born an Englishman, and
+had all those numerous masterpieces been brought before me in all their
+power, at my first dawn of youthful consciousness, they would have
+overpowered me, and I should not have known what to do. I could not have
+gone on with such fresh light-heartedness, but should have had to
+bethink myself, and look about for a long time, to find some new
+outlet."
+
+I turned the conversation back to Shakespeare. "When one, to some
+degree, disengages him from English literature," said I, "and considers
+him transformed into a German, one cannot fail to look upon his gigantic
+greatness as a miracle. But if one seeks him in his home, transplants
+oneself to the soil of his country, and to the atmosphere of the century
+in which he lived; further, if one studies his contemporaries, and his
+immediate successors, and inhales the force wafted to us from Ben
+Jonson, Massinger, Marlowe, and Beaumont and Fletcher, Shakespeare
+still, indeed, appears a being of the most exalted magnitude; but still,
+one arrives at the conviction that many of the wonders of his genius
+are, in some measure, accessible, and that much is due to the powerfully
+productive atmosphere of his age and time."
+
+"You are perfectly right," returned Goethe. "It is with Shakespeare as
+with the mountains of Switzerland. Transplant Mont Blanc at once into
+the large plain of Lüneburg Heath, and we should find no words to
+express our wonder at its magnitude. Seek it, however, in its gigantic
+home, go to it over its immense neighbors, the Jungfrau, the
+Finsteraarhorn, the Eiger, the Wetterhorn, St. Gotthard, and Monte Rosa;
+Mont Blanc will, indeed, still remain a giant, but it will no longer
+produce in us such amazement."
+
+"Besides, let him who will not believe," continued Goethe, "that much of
+Shakespeare's greatness appertains to his great vigorous time, only ask
+himself the question, whether a phenomenon so astounding would be
+possible in the present England of 1824, in these evil days of
+criticising and hair-splitting journals?"
+
+"That undisturbed, innocent, somnambulatory production, by which alone
+anything great can thrive, is no longer possible. Our talents at present
+lie before the public. The daily criticisms which appear in fifty
+different places, and the gossip that is caused by them amongst the
+public, prevent the appearance of any sound production. In the present
+day, he who does not keep aloof from all this, and isolate himself by
+main force, is lost. Through the bad, chiefly negative, æsthetical and
+critical tone of the journals, a sort of half culture finds its way into
+the masses; but to productive talent it is a noxious mist, a dropping
+poison, which destroys the tree of creative power, from the ornamental
+green leaves, to the deepest pith and the most hidden fibres.
+
+"And then how tame and weak has life itself become during the last two
+shabby centuries. Where do we now meet an original nature? and where is
+the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
+This, however, affects the poet, who must find all within himself, while
+he is left in the lurch by all without."
+
+The conversation now turned on _Werthe_. "That," said Goethe, "is a
+creation which I, like the pelican, fed with the blood of my own heart.
+It contains so much from the innermost recesses of my breast--so much
+feeling and thought, that it might easily be spread into a novel of ten
+such volumes. Besides, as I have often said, I have only read the book
+once since its appearance, and have taken good care not to read it
+again. It is a mass of congreve-rockets. I am uncomfortable when I look
+at it; and I dread lest I should once more experience the peculiar
+mental state from which it was produced."
+
+I reminded him of his conversation with Napoleon, of which I knew by the
+sketch amongst his unpublished papers, which I had repeatedly urged him
+to give more in detail. "Napoleon," said I, "pointed out to you a
+passage in _Werther_, which, it appeared to him, would not stand a
+strict examination; and this you allowed. I should much like to know
+what passage he meant."
+
+"Guess!" said Goethe, with a mysterious smile.
+
+"Now," said I, "I almost think it is where Charlotte sends the pistols
+to Werther, without saying a word to Albert, and without imparting to
+him her misgivings and apprehensions. You have given yourself great
+trouble to find a motive for this silence, but it does not appear to
+hold good against the urgent necessity where the life of the friend was
+at stake."
+
+"Your remark," returned Goethe, "is really not bad; but I do not think
+it right to reveal whether Napoleon meant this passage or another.
+However, be that as it may, your observation is quite as correct as
+his."
+
+I asked the question, whether the great effect produced by the
+appearance of _Werther_ was really to be attributed to the period. "I
+cannot," said I, "reconcile to myself this view, though it is so
+extensively spread. _Werther_ made an epoch because it appeared--not
+because it appeared at a certain time. There is in every period so much
+unexpressed sorrow--so much secret discontent and disgust for life, and,
+in single individuals, there are so many disagreements with the
+world--so many conflicts between their natures and civil regulations,
+that _Werther_ would make an epoch even if it appeared today for the
+first time."
+
+"You are quite right," said Goethe; "it is on that account that the book
+to this day influences youth of a certain age, as it did formerly. It
+was scarcely necessary for me to deduce my own youthful dejection from
+the general influence of my time, and from the reading of a few English
+authors. Rather was it owing to individual and immediate circumstances
+which touched me to the quick, and gave me a great deal of trouble, and
+indeed brought me into that frame of mind which produced _Werther_. I
+had lived, loved, and suffered much--that was it."
+
+"On considering more closely the much-talked-of _Werther_ period, we
+discover that it does not belong to the course of universal culture, but
+to the career of life in every individual, who, with an innate free
+natural instinct, must accommodate himself to the narrow limits of an
+antiquated world. Obstructed fortune, restrained activity, unfulfilled
+wishes, are not the calamities of any particular time, but those of
+every individual man; and it would be bad, indeed, if every one had not,
+once in his life, known a time when Werther seemed as if it had been
+written for him alone."
+
+_Sunday, January_ 4.--Today, after dinner, Goethe went through a
+portfolio, containing some works of Raphael, with me. He often busies
+himself with Raphael, in order to keep up a constant intercourse with
+that which is best, and to accustom himself to muse upon the thoughts of
+a great man. At the same time, it gives him pleasure to introduce me to
+such things.
+
+We afterwards spoke about the _Divan_[10]--especially about the "book of
+ill-humor," in which much is poured forth that he carried in his heart
+against his enemies.
+
+"If I have, however," continued he, "been very moderate: if I had
+uttered all that vexed me or gave me trouble, the few pages would soon
+have swelled to a volume.
+
+"People were never thoroughly contented with me, but always wished me
+otherwise than it has pleased God to make me. They were also seldom
+contented with my productions. When I had long exerted my whole soul to
+favor the world with a new work, it still desired that I should thank it
+into the bargain for considering the work endurable. If any one praised
+me, I was not allowed, in self-congratulation, to receive it as a
+well-merited tribute; but people expected from me some modest
+expression, humbly setting forth the total unworthiness of my person and
+my work. However, my nature opposed this; and I should have been a
+miserable hypocrite, if I had so tried to lie and dissemble. Since I was
+strong enough to show myself in my whole truth, just as I felt, I was
+deemed proud, and am considered so to the present day.
+
+"In religious, scientific, and political matters, I generally brought
+trouble upon myself, because I was no hypocrite, and had the courage to
+express what I felt.
+
+"I believed in God and in Nature, and in the triumphs of good over evil;
+but this was not enough for pious souls; I was also required to believe
+other points, which were opposed to the feeling of my soul for truth;
+besides, I did not see that these would be of the slightest service to
+me.
+
+"It was also prejudicial to me that I discovered Newton's theory of
+light and color to be an error, and that I had the courage to contradict
+the universal creed. I discovered light in its purity and truth, and I
+considered it my duty to fight for it. The opposite party, however, did
+their utmost to darken the light; for they maintained that _shade is a
+part of light_. It sounds absurd when I express it; but so it is: for
+they said that _colors_, which are shadow and the result of shade, _are
+light itself_, or, which amounts to the same thing, _are the beams of
+light, broken now in one way, now in another_."
+
+Goethe was silent, whilst an ironical smile spread over his expressive
+countenance. He continued--
+
+"And now for political matters. What trouble I have taken, and what I
+have suffered, on that account, I cannot tell you. Do you know my
+'Aufgeregten?'"[11]
+
+"Yesterday, for the first time," returned I, "I read the piece, in
+consequence of the new edition of your works; and I regret from my heart
+that it remains unfinished. But, even as it is, every right-thinking
+person must coincide with your sentiments."
+
+"I wrote it at the time of the French Revolution," continued Goethe,
+"and it may be regarded, in some measure, as my political confession of
+faith at that time. I have taken the countess as a type of the nobility;
+and, with the words which I put into her mouth, I have expressed how the
+nobility really ought to think. The countess has just returned from
+Paris; she has there been an eye-witness of the revolutionary events,
+and has drawn, therefore, for herself, no bad doctrine. She has
+convinced herself that the people may be ruled, but not oppressed, and
+that the revolutionary outbreaks of the lower classes are the
+consequence of the injustice of the higher classes. 'I will for the
+future,' says she, 'strenuously avoid every action that appears to me
+unjust, and will, both in society and at court, loudly express my
+opinion concerning such actions in others. In no case of injustice will
+I be silent, even though I should be cried down as a democrat.'
+
+"I should have thought this sentiment perfectly respectable," continued
+Goethe; "it was mine at that time, and it is so still; but as a reward
+for it, I was endowed with all sorts of titles, which I do not care to
+repeat."
+
+"One need only read _Egmont_," answered I, "to discover what you think.
+I know no German piece in which the freedom of the people is more
+advocated than in this."
+
+"Sometimes," said Goethe, "people do not like to look on me as I am,
+but turn their glances from everything which could show me in my true
+light. Schiller, on the contrary--who, between ourselves, was much more
+of an aristocrat than I am, but who considered what he said more than
+I--had the wonderful fortune to be looked upon as a particular friend of
+the people. I give it up to him with all my heart, and console myself
+with the thought that others before me had fared no better.
+
+"It is true that I could be no friend to the French Revolution; for its
+horrors were too near me, and shocked me daily and hourly, whilst its
+beneficial results were not then to be discovered. Neither could I be
+indifferent to the fact that the Germans were endeavoring, artificially,
+to bring about such scenes here, as were, in France, the consequence of
+a great necessity.
+
+"But I was as little a friend to arbitrary rule. Indeed, I was perfectly
+convinced that a great revolution is never a fault of the people, but of
+the government. Revolutions are utterly impossible as long as
+governments are constantly just and constantly vigilant, so that they
+may anticipate them by improvements at the right time, and not hold out
+until they are forced to yield by the pressure from beneath.
+
+"Because I hated the Revolution, the name of the '_Friend of the powers
+that be_' was bestowed upon me. That is, however, a very ambiguous
+title, which I would beg to decline. If the 'powers that be' were all
+that is excellent, good, and just, I should have no objection to the
+title; but, since with much that is good there is also much that is bad,
+unjust, and imperfect, a friend of the 'powers that be' means often
+little less than the friend of the obsolete and bad.[12]
+
+"But time is constantly progressing, and human affairs wear every fifty
+years a different aspect; so that an arrangement which, in the year
+1800, was perfection, may, perhaps, in the year 1850, be a defect.
+
+"And, furthermore, nothing is good for a nation but that which arises
+from its own core and its own general wants, without apish imitation of
+another; since what to one race of people, of a certain age, is a
+wholesome nutriment, may perhaps prove a poison for another. All
+endeavors to introduce any foreign innovation, the necessity for which
+is not rooted in the core of the nation itself, are therefore foolish;
+and all premeditated revolutions of the kind are I unsuccessful, _for
+they are without God, who keeps aloof from such bungling_. If, however,
+there exists an actual necessity for a great reform amongst a people,
+God is with it, and it prospers. He was visibly with Christ and his
+first adherents; for the appearance of the new doctrine of love was a
+necessity to the people. He was also visibly with Luther; for the
+purification of the doctrine corrupted by the priests was no less a
+necessity. Neither of the great powers whom I have named was, however, a
+friend of the permanent; much more were both of them convinced that the
+old leaven must be got rid of, and that it would be impossible to go on
+and remain in the untrue, unjust, and defective way."
+
+_Tuesday, January 27._--Goethe talked with me about the continuation of
+his memoirs, with which he is now busy. He observed that this later
+period of his life would not be narrated with such minuteness as the
+youthful epoch of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_.[13] "I must," said he, "treat
+this later period more in the fashion of annals: my outward actions must
+appear rather than my inward life. Altogether, the most important part
+of an individual's life is that of development, and mine is concluded in
+the detailed volumes of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_. Afterwards begins the
+conflict with the world, and that is interesting only in its results.
+
+"And then the life of a learned German--what is it? What may have been
+really good in my case cannot be communicated, and what can be
+communicated is not worth the trouble. Besides, where are the hearers
+whom one could entertain with any satisfaction?
+
+"When I look back to the earlier and middle periods of my life, and now
+in my old age think how few are left of those who were young with me, I
+always think of a summer residence at a bathing-place. When you arrive,
+you make acquaintance and friends of those who have already been there
+some time, and who leave in a few weeks. The loss is painful. Then you
+turn to the second generation, with which you live a good while, and
+become most intimate. But this goes also, and leaves us alone with the
+third, which comes just as we are going away, and with which we have,
+properly, nothing to do.
+
+"I have ever been esteemed one of Fortune's chiefest favorites; nor will
+I complain or find fault with the course my life has taken. Yet, truly,
+there has been nothing but toil and care; and I may say that, in all my
+seventy-five years, I have never had a month of genuine comfort. It has
+been the perpetual rolling of a stone, which I have always had to raise
+anew. My annals will render clear what I now say. The claims upon my
+activity, both from within and without, were too numerous.
+
+"My real happiness was my poetic meditation and production. But how was
+this disturbed, limited, and hindered by my external position! Had I
+been able to abstain more from public business, and to live more in
+solitude, I should have been happier, and should have accomplished much
+more as a poet. But, soon after my _Goetz and Werther_, that saying of a
+sage was verified for me--'If you do anything for the sake of the world,
+it will take good care that you shall not do it a second time.'
+
+"A wide-spread celebrity, an elevated position in life, are good
+things. But, for all my rank and celebrity, I am still obliged to be
+silent as to the opinion of others, that I may not give offense. This
+would be but poor sport, if by this means I had not the advantage of
+learning the thoughts of others without their being able to learn mine."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wednesday, February 25.--Today, Goethe showed me two very remarkable
+poems, both highly moral in their tendency, but in their several motives
+so unreservedly natural and true, that they are of the kind which the
+world styles immoral. On this account he keeps them to himself, and does
+not intend to publish them.
+
+"Could intellect and high cultivation," said he, "become the property of
+all, the poet would have fair play; he could be always thoroughly true,
+and would not be compelled to fear uttering his best thoughts. But, as
+it is, he must always keep on a certain level; must remember that his
+works will fall into the hands of a mixed society; and must, therefore,
+take care lest by over-great openness he may give offense to the
+majority of good men. Then Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical
+tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one
+says and does. We cannot, with propriety, say things which were
+permitted to the ancient Greeks; and the Englishmen of 1820 cannot
+endure what suited the vigorous contemporaries of Shakespeare; so that,
+at the present day, it is found necessary to have a Family Shakespeare."
+
+"Then," said I, "there is much in the form also. The one of these two
+poems, which is composed in the style and metre of the ancients, would
+be far less offensive than the other. Isolated parts would displease,
+but the treatment throws so much grandeur and dignity over the whole,
+that we seem to hear a strong ancient, and to be carried back to the age
+of the Greek heroes. But the other, being in the style and metre of
+Messer Ariosto, is far more hazardous. It relates an event of our day,
+in the language of our day, and as it thus comes quite unveiled into
+our presence, the particular features of boldness seem far more
+audacious."
+
+"You are right," said he; "mysterious and great effects are produced by
+different poetical forms. If the import of my Romish elegies were put
+into the measure and style of Byron's _Don Juan_, the whole would be
+found infamous."
+
+The French newspapers were brought. The campaign of the French in Spain
+under the Duke d'Angoulême, which was just ended, had great interest for
+Goethe. "I must praise the Bourbons for this measure," said he; "they
+had not really gained the throne till they had gained the army, and that
+is now accomplished. The soldier returns with loyalty, to his king; for
+he has, from his own victories, and the discomfitures of the many-headed
+Spanish host, learned the difference between obeying one and many. The
+army has sustained its ancient fame, and shown that it is brave in
+itself, and can conquer without Napoleon."
+
+Goethe then turned his thoughts backward into history, and talked much
+of the Prussian army in the Seven Years' War, which, accustomed by
+Frederic the Great to constant victory, grew careless, so that, in after
+days, it lost many battles from over-confidence. All the minutest
+details were present to his mind, and I had reason to admire his
+excellent memory.
+
+"I had the great advantage," said he, "of being born at a time when the
+greatest events which agitated the world occurred, and such have
+continued to occur during my long life; so that I am a living witness of
+the Seven Years' War, of the separation of America from England, of the
+French Revolution, and of the whole Napoleon era, with the downfall of
+that hero, and the events which followed. Thus I have attained results
+and insight impossible to those who are born now and must learn all
+these things from books which they will not understand.
+
+"What the next years will bring I cannot predict; but I fear we shall
+not soon have repose. It is not given to the world to be contented; the
+great are not such that there will be no abuse of power; the masses not
+such that, in hope of gradual improvement, they will be contented with a
+moderate condition. Could we perfect human nature, we might also expect
+a perfect state of things; but, as it is, there will always be a
+wavering hither and thither; one part must suffer while the other is at
+ease, envy and egotism will be always at work like bad demons, and party
+strife will be without end.
+
+"The most reasonable way is for every one to follow his own vocation to
+which he has been born, and which he has learned, and to avoid hindering
+others from following theirs. Let the shoemaker abide by his last, the
+peasant by his plough, and let the king know how to govern; for, this is
+also a business which must be learned, and with which no one should
+meddle who does not understand it."
+
+Returning to the French papers, Goethe said: "The liberals may speak,
+for when they are reasonable we like to hear them; but with the
+royalists, who have the executive power in their hands, talking comes
+amiss--they should act. They may march troops, and behead and hang--that
+is all right; but attacking opinions, and justifying their measures in
+public prints, does not become them. If there were a public of kings,
+they might talk.
+
+"For myself," he continued, "I have always been a royalist. I have let
+others babble, and have done as I saw fit. I understood my course, and
+knew my own object. If I committed a fault as a single individual, I
+could make it good again; but if I committed it jointly with three or
+four others, it would be impossible to make it good, for among many
+there are many opinions."
+
+Goethe was in excellent spirits today. He showed me Frau von Spiegel's
+album, in which he had written some very beautiful verses. A place had
+been left open for him for two years, and he rejoiced at having been
+able to perform at last an old promise. After I had read the "Poem to
+Frau von Spiegel," I turned over the leaves of the book, in which I
+found many distinguished names. On the very next page was a poem by
+Tiedge, written in the very spirit and style of his _Urania_. "In a
+saucy mood," said Goethe, "I was on the point of writing some verses
+beneath those; but I am glad I did not. It would not have been the first
+time that, by rash expressions, I had repelled good people, and spoiled
+the effect of my best works.
+
+"However," continued Goethe, "I have had to endure not a little from
+Tiedge's _Urania_; for, at one time, nothing was sung and nothing was
+declaimed but this same Urania. Wherever you went, you found _Urania_ on
+the table. _Urania_ and immortality were the topics of every
+conversation. I would by no means dispense with the happiness of
+believing in a future existence, and, indeed, would say, with Lorenzo
+de' Medici, that those are dead even for this life who hope for no
+other. But such incomprehensible matters lie too far off to be a theme
+of daily meditation and thought-distracting speculation. Let him who
+believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence, he has no reason
+to give himself airs about it. The occasion of Tiedge's _Urania_ led me
+to observe that piety, like nobility, has its aristocracy. I met stupid
+women, who plumed themselves on believing, with Tiedge, in immortality,
+and I was forced to bear much dark examination on this point. They were
+vexed by my saying I should be well pleased if, after the close of this
+life, we were blessed with another, only I hoped I should hereafter meet
+none of those who had believed in it here. For how should I be
+tormented! The pious would throng around me, and say, 'Were we not
+right? Did we not predict it? Has not it happened just as we said?' And
+so there would be ennui without end, even in the other world.
+
+"This occupation with the ideas of immortality," he continued, "is for
+people of rank, and especially ladies, who have nothing to do. But an
+able man, who has some thing regular to do here, and must toil and
+struggle and produce day by day, leaves the future world to itself, and
+is active and useful in this. Thoughts about immortality are also good
+for those who have not been very successful here; and I would wager
+that, if the good Tiedge had enjoyed a better lot, he would also have
+had better thoughts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Tuesday, November 9_.--I passed this evening with Goethe. We talked of
+Klopstock and Herder; and I liked to listen to him, as he explained to
+me the merits of those men.
+
+"Without those powerful precursors," said Goethe, "our literature could
+not have become what it now is. When they appeared, they were before
+their age, and were obliged, as it were, to drag it after them; but now
+the age has far outrun them, and they who were once so necessary and
+important have now ceased to be _means to an end_. A young man who would
+take Klopstock and Herder for his teachers nowadays would be far
+behindhand."
+
+We talked over Klopstock's _Messiah_ and his Odes, touching on their
+merits and their defects. We agreed that he had no faculty for observing
+and apprehending the visible world, or for drawing characters; and that
+he therefore wanted the qualities most essential to the epic and
+dramatic poet, or, perhaps it might be said, to the poet generally.
+
+"An ode occurs to me," said Goethe, "where he makes the German Muse run
+a race with the British; and, indeed, when one thinks what a picture it
+is, where the two girls run one against the other, throwing about their
+legs and kicking up the dust, one must assume that the good Klopstock
+did not really have before his eyes such pictures as he wrote, else he
+could not possibly have made such mistakes."
+
+I asked how he had felt towards Klopstock in his youth. "I venerated
+him," said Goethe, "with the devotion which was peculiar to me; I looked
+upon him as my uncle. I revered whatever he had done, and never thought
+of reflecting upon it, or finding fault with it. I let his fine
+qualities work upon me; for the rest, I went my own way."
+
+We came back to Herder, and I asked Goethe which of his works he
+thought the best. "_His Idea for the History of Mankind" (Ideen zur
+Geschichte der Menschheit)_, replied Goethe, "are undoubtedly the best.
+In after days, he took the negative side, and was not so agreeable."
+
+"Considering the great weight of Herder," said I, "I cannot understand
+how he had so little judgment on some subjects. For instance, I cannot
+forgive him, especially at that period of German literature, for sending
+back the manuscript of _Goetz von Berlichingen_ without any praise of
+its merits, and with taunting remarks. He must have utterly wanted
+organs to perceive some objects."
+
+"Yes, Herder was unfortunate in this respect," replied Goethe; "nay,"
+added he, with vivacity, "if his spirit were present at this
+conversation, it would not understand us."
+
+"On the other hand," said I, "I must praise Merck, who urged you to
+print _Goetz_."
+
+"He was indeed an odd but important man," said Goethe. "'Print the
+thing,' quoth he, 'it is worth nothing, but print it.' He did not wish
+me to make any alteration in it, and he was right; for it would have
+been different, but not better."
+
+_Wednesday, November 24_.--I went to see Goethe this evening, before
+going to the theatre, and found him very well and cheerful. He inquired
+about the young Englishmen who are here. I told him that I proposed
+reading with Mr. Doolan a German translation of Plutarch. This led the
+conversation to Roman and Grecian history; and Goethe expressed himself
+as follows:
+
+"The Roman history," said he, "is no longer suited to us. We have become
+too humane for the triumphs of Cæsar not to be repugnant to our
+feelings. Neither are we much charmed by the history of Greece. When
+this people turns against a foreign foe, it is, indeed, great and
+glorious; but the division of the states, and their eternal wars with
+one another, where Greek fights against Greek, are insufferable.
+Besides, the history of our own time is thoroughly great and important;
+the battles of Leipsic and Waterloo stand out with such prominence that
+that of Marathon and others like it are gradually eclipsed. Neither are
+our individual heroes inferior to theirs; the French Marshals, Blücher,
+and Wellington, vie with any of the heroes of antiquity."
+
+We then talked of the late French literature, and the daily increasing
+interest in German works manifested by the French.
+
+"The French," said Goethe, "do well to study and translate our writers;
+for, limited as they are both in form and motives, they can only look
+without for means. We Germans may be reproached for a certain
+formlessness; but in matter we are their superiors. The theatrical
+productions of Kotzebue and Iffland are so rich in motives that they may
+pluck them a long time before all is used up. But, especially, our
+philosophical Ideality is welcome to them; for every Ideal is
+serviceable to revolutionary aims.
+
+"The French have understanding and _esprit_, but neither a solid basis
+nor piety. What serves the moment, what helps his party, seems right to
+the Frenchman. Hence they praise us, never from an acknowledgment of our
+merits, but only when they can strengthen their party by our views."
+
+We then talked about our own literature, and of the obstacles in the way
+of some of our latest young poets.
+
+"The majority of our young poets," said Goethe, "have no fault but this,
+that their subjectivity is not important, and that they cannot find
+matter in the objective. At best, they only find a material, which is
+similar to themselves, which corresponds to their own subjectivity; but
+as for taking the material on its own account, when it is repugnant to
+the subjectivity, merely because it is poetical, such a thing is never
+thought of.
+
+"Still, as I have said, if we only had important personages, formed by
+great studies and situations in life, it might still go well with us,
+at least as far as our young lyric poets are concerned."
+
+1825
+
+_Monday, January 10._--Goethe, consistently with his great interest for
+the English, has desired me to introduce to him the young Englishmen who
+are here at present.
+
+After we had waited a few minutes, Goethe came in, and greeted us
+cordially. He said to Mr. H., "I presume I may address you in German, as
+I hear you are already well versed in our language." Mr. H. answered
+with a few polite words, and Goethe requested us to be seated.
+
+Mr. H.'s manners and appearance must have made a good impression on
+Goethe; for his sweetness and mild serenity were manifested towards the
+stranger in their real beauty. "You did well," said he "to come hither
+to learn German; for here you will quickly and easily acquire, not only
+a knowledge of the language, but also of the elements on which it rests,
+our soil, climate, mode of life, manners, social habits, and
+constitution, and carry it away with you to England."
+
+Mr. H. replied, "The interest taken in the German language is now great,
+so that there is now scarcely a young Englishman of good family who does
+not learn German."
+
+"We Germans," said Goethe, good-humoredly, "have, however, been half a
+century before your nation in this respect. For fifty years I have been
+busy with the English language and literature; so that I am well
+acquainted with your writers, your ways of living, and the
+administration of your country. If I went over to England, I should be
+no stranger there.
+
+"But, as I said before, your young men do well to come to us and learn
+our language; for, not only does our literature merit attention on its
+own account, but no one can deny that he who now knows German well can
+dispense with many other languages. Of the French, I do not speak; it is
+the language of conversation, and is indispensable in traveling,
+because everybody understands it, and in all countries we can get on
+with it instead of a good interpreter. But as for Greek, Latin, Italian,
+and Spanish, we can read the best works of those nations in such
+excellent German translations, that, unless we have some particular
+object in view, we need not spend much time upon the toilsome study of
+those languages. It is in the German nature duly to honor, after its
+kind, everything produced by other nations, and to accommodate itself to
+foreign peculiarities. This, with the great flexibility of our language,
+makes German translations thoroughly faithful and complete. And it is
+not to be denied that, in general, you get on very far with a good
+translation. Frederick the Great did not know Latin, but he read Cicero
+in the French translation with as much profit as we who read him in the
+original."
+
+Then, turning the conversation on the theatre, he asked Mr. H. whether
+he went frequently thither. "Every evening," he replied, "and find that
+I thus gain much towards the understanding of the language."
+
+"It is remarkable," said Goethe, "that the ear, and generally the
+understanding, gets the start of speaking; so that a man may very soon
+comprehend all he hears, but by no means express it all."
+
+"I experience daily," said Mr. H., "the truth of that remark. I
+understand very well whatever I hear or read; I even feel when an
+incorrect expression is made use of in German. But when I speak, nothing
+will flow, and I cannot express myself as I wish. In light conversation
+at court, jests with the ladies, a chat at balls, and the like, I
+succeed pretty well. But, if I try to express an opinion on any
+important topic, to say anything peculiar or luminous, I cannot get on."
+
+"Be not discouraged by that," said Goethe, "since it is hard enough to
+express such uncommon matters in one's own mother tongue."
+
+He then asked what Mr. H. read in German literature. "I have read
+_Egmont_," he replied, "and found so much pleasure in the perusal that
+I returned to it three times. _Torquato Tasso_, too, has afforded me
+much enjoyment. Now I am reading _Faust_, but find that it is somewhat
+difficult."
+
+Goethe laughed at these last words. "Really," said he, "I would
+not have advised you to undertake _Faust_. It is mad stuff, and
+goes quite beyond all ordinary feeling. But since you have done it of
+your own accord, without asking my advice, you will see how you will get
+through. Faust is so strange an individual that only few can sympathize
+with his internal condition. Then the character of Mephistopheles is, on
+account of his irony, and also because he is a living result of an
+extensive acquaintance with the world, also very difficult. But you will
+see what lights open upon you. _Tasso_, on the other hand, lies far
+nearer the common feelings of mankind, and the elaboration of its form
+is favorable to an easy comprehension of it."
+
+"Yet," said Mr. H., "_Tasso_ is thought difficult in Germany, and people
+have wondered to hear me say that I was reading it."
+
+"What is chiefly needed for _Tasso_," replied Goethe, "is that one
+should be no longer a child, and should have been in good society. A
+young man of good family, with sufficient mind and delicacy, and also
+with enough outward culture, such as will be produced by intercourse
+with accomplished men of the higher class, will not find' Tasso
+difficult."
+
+The conversation turning upon _Egmont_, he said, "I wrote _Egmont_ in
+1775--fifty years ago. I adhered closely to history, and strove to be as
+accurate as possible. Ten years afterwards, when I was in Rome, I read
+in the newspapers that the revolutionary scenes in the Nether lands
+there described were exactly repeated. I saw from this that the world
+remains ever the same, and that my picture must have some life in it."
+
+Amid this and similar conversation, the hour for the theatre had come.
+We arose, and Goethe dismissed us in a friendly manner.
+
+As we went homeward, I asked Mr. H. how he was pleased with Goethe. "I
+have never," said he, "seen a man who, with all his attractive
+gentleness, had so much native dignity. However he may condescend, he is
+always the great man."
+
+Professor Riemer was announced, Rehbein took leave, and Riemer sat down
+with us. The conversation still turned on the _motives_ of the Servian
+love-poems. Riemer was acquainted with the topic, and made the remark
+that, according to the table of contents given above, not only could
+poems be made, but that the same motives had been already used by the
+Germans, without any knowledge that they had been treated in Servia. He
+mentioned some poems of his own, and I mentioned some poems by Goethe,
+which had occurred to me during the reading.
+
+"The world," said Goethe, "remains always the same; situations are
+repeated; one people lives, loves, and feels like another; why should
+not one poet write like another? The situations of life are alike; why,
+then, should those of poems be unlike?"
+
+"This very similarity in life and sensation," said Riemer, "makes us all
+able to appreciate the poetry of other nations. If this were not the
+case, we should never know what foreign poems were about."
+
+"I am, therefore," said I, "always surprised at the learned, who seem to
+suppose that poetizing proceeds not from life to the poem, but from the
+book to the poem. They are always saying, 'He got this here; he got that
+there.' If, for instance, they find passages in Shakespeare which are
+also to be found in the ancients, they say he must have taken them from
+the ancients. Thus there is a situation in Shakespeare, where, on the
+sight of a beautiful girl, the parents are congratulated who call her
+daughter, and the youth who will lead her home as his bride. And
+because the same thing occurs in Homer, Shakespeare, forsooth, has
+taken it from Homer. How odd! As if one had to go so far for such
+things, and did not have them before one's eyes, feel them and utter
+them every day." "Ah, yes," said Goethe, "it is very ridiculous."
+
+"Lord Byron, too," said I, "is no wiser, when he takes _Faust_ to
+pieces, and thinks you found one thing here, the other there."
+
+"The greater part of those fine things cited by Lord Byron," said
+Goethe, "I have never even read, much less did I think of them, when
+I was writing _Faust_. But Lord Byron is great only as a poet; as
+soon as he reflects, he is a child. He knows not how to help himself
+against the stupid attacks of the same kind made upon him by his own
+countrymen. He ought to have expressed himself more strongly against
+them. 'What is there is mine,' he should have said, 'and whether I got
+it from a book or from life, is of no consequence; the only point is,
+whether I have made a right use of it.' Walter Scott used a scene from
+my _Egmont_, and he had a right to do so; and because he did it
+well, he deserves praise. He has also copied the character of my Mignon
+in one of his romances; but whether with equal judgment, is another
+question. Lord Byron's transformed Devil[14] is a continuation of
+Mephistopheles, and quite right too. If, from the whim of originality,
+he had departed from the model, he would certainly have fared worse.
+Thus, my Mephistopheles sings a song from Shakespeare, and why should
+he not? Why should I give myself the trouble of inventing one of my
+own, when this said just what was wanted. If, too, the prologue to my
+_Faust_ is something like the beginning of Job, that is again
+quite right, and I am rather to be praised than censured."
+
+Goethe was in the best humor. He sent for a bottle of wine, and filled
+for Riemer and me; he himself drank Marienbad water. He seemed to have
+appointed this evening for looking over, with Riemer, the manuscript of
+the continuation of his autobiography, perhaps in order to improve it
+here and there, in point of expression. "Let Eckermann stay and hear it
+too," said Goethe; which words I was very glad to hear, and he then laid
+the manuscript before Riemer, who began to read, commencing with the
+year 1795.
+
+I had already, in the course of the summer, had the pleasure of
+repeatedly reading and reflecting on the still unpublished record of
+those years, down to the latest time. But now to hear them read aloud in
+Goethe's presence, afforded quite a new enjoyment. Riemer paid especial
+attention to the mode of expression; and I had occasion to admire his
+great dexterity, and his affluence of words and phrases. But in Goethe's
+mind the epoch of life described was revived; he revelled in
+recollections, and on the mention of single persons and events, filled
+out the written narrative by the details he orally gave us. That was a
+precious evening! The most distinguished of his contemporaries were
+talked over; but the conversation always came back to Schiller, who was
+so interwoven with this period, from 1795 to 1800. The theatre had been
+the object of their united efforts, and Goethe's best works belong to
+this time. _Wilhelm Meister_ was completed; _Hermann and Dorothea_
+planned and written; _Cellini_ translated for the "Horen;" the "Xenien"
+written by both for Schiller's _Musenalmanach_; every day brought with
+it points of contact. Of all this we talked this evening, and Goethe had
+full opportunity for the most interesting communications.
+
+"_Hermann and Dorothea_," said he, "is almost the only one of my larger
+poems which still satisfies me; I can never read it without strong
+interest. I love it best in the Latin translation; there it seems to me
+nobler, and as if it had returned to its original form."
+
+_Wilhelm Meister_ was often a subject of discourse. "Schiller blamed me
+for interweaving tragic elements which do not belong to the novel. Yet
+he was wrong, as we all know. In his letters to me, there are most
+important views and opinions with respect to _Wilhelm Meister_. But this
+work is one of the most incalculable productions; I myself can scarcely
+be said to have the key to it. People seek a central point, and that is
+hard, and not even right. I should think a rich, manifold life, brought
+close to our eyes, would be enough in itself, without any express
+tendency, which, after all, is only for the intellect. But if anything
+of the sort is insisted upon, it will perhaps be found in the words
+which Frederic, at the end, addresses to the hero, when he says--'Thou
+seem'st to me like Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his
+father's asses, and found a kingdom.' Keep only to this; for, in fact,
+the whole work seems to say nothing more than that man, despite all his
+follies and errors, being led by a higher hand, reaches some happy goal
+at last."
+
+We then talked of the high degree of culture which, during the last
+fifty years, had become general among the middle classes of Germany, and
+Goethe ascribed the merit of this not so much to Lessing as to Herder
+and Wieland. "Lessing," said he, "was of the very highest understanding,
+and only one equally great could truly learn of him. To a half faculty
+he was dangerous." He mentioned a journalist who had formed himself on
+Lessing, and at the end of the last century had played a part indeed,
+but far from a noble one, because he was so inferior to his great
+predecessor.
+
+"All Upper Germany," said he, "is indebted to Wieland for its style. It
+has learned much from him; and the capability of expressing itself
+correctly is not the least."
+
+On mentioning the _Xenien_,[15] he especially praised those of
+Schiller, which he called sharp and biting, while he called his own
+innocent and trivial.
+
+"The _Thierkreis_ (Zodiac), which is by Schiller," said he, "I always
+read with admiration. The good effects which the _Xenien_ had upon the
+German literature of their time are beyond calculation." Many persons
+against whom the _Xenien_ were directed, were mentioned on this
+occasion, but their names have escaped my memory.
+
+After we had read and talked over the manuscript to the end of the year
+1800, interrupted by these and innumerable other observations from
+Goethe, he put aside the papers, and had a little supper placed at one
+end of the table at which we were sitting. We partook of it, but Goethe
+did not touch a morsel; indeed, I have never seen him eat in the
+evening. He sat down with us, filled our glasses, snuffed the candles,
+and intellectually regaled us with the most agreeable conversation. His
+remembrance of Schiller was so lively, that the conversation during the
+latter part of the evening was devoted to him alone.
+
+Riemer spoke of Schiller's personal appearance. "The build of his limbs,
+his gait in the street, all his motions," said he, "were proud; his eyes
+only were soft."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "everything else about him was proud and majestic,
+only the eyes were soft. And his talent was like his outward form. He
+seized boldly on a great subject, and turned it this way and that, and
+handled it this way and that. But he saw his object, as it were, only in
+the outside; a quiet development from its interior was not within his
+province. His talent was desultory. Thus he was never decided--could
+never have done. He often changed a part just before a rehearsal.
+
+"And, as he went so boldly to work, he did not take sufficient pains
+about _motives_. I recollect what trouble I had with him, when he wanted
+to make Gessler, in Tell, abruptly break an apple from the tree, and
+have it shot from the boy's head. This was quite against my nature, and
+I urged him to give at least some motive to this barbarity, by making
+the boy boast to Gessler of his father's dexterity, and say that he
+could shoot an apple from a tree at a hundred paces. Schiller, at first,
+would have nothing of the sort: but at last he yielded to my arguments
+and intentions, and did as I advised him. I, on the other hand, by too
+great attention to _motives_, kept my pieces from the theatre. My
+_Eugenie_[16] is nothing but a chain of _motives_, and this cannot
+succeed on the stage.
+
+"Schiller's genius was really made for the theatre. With every piece he
+progressed, and became more finished; but, strange to say, a certain
+love for the horrible adhered to him from the time of _The Robbers_,
+which never quite left him even in his prime. I still recollect
+perfectly well, that in the prison scene in my 'Egmont,' where the
+sentence is read to him, Schiller would have made Alva appear in the
+background, masked and muffled in a cloak, enjoying the effect which the
+sentence would produce on Egmont. Thus Alva was to show himself
+insatiable in revenge and malice. I, however, protested, and prevented
+the apparition. He was a great, odd man.
+
+"Every week he became different and more finished; each time that I saw
+him, he seemed to me to have advanced in learning and judgment. His
+letters are the fairest memorials of him which I possess, and they are
+also among the most excellent of his writings. His last letter I
+preserve as a sacred relic, among my treasures." He rose and fetched it.
+"See and read it," said he; giving it to me.
+
+It was a very fine letter, written in a bold hand. It contained an
+opinion of Goethe's notes to "Rameau's Nephew," which exhibit French
+literature at that time, and which he had given Schiller to look over. I
+read the letter aloud to Riemer.
+
+"You see," said Goethe, "how apt and consistent is his judgment, and
+that the handwriting nowhere betrays any trace of weakness. He was a
+splendid man, and went from us in all the fulness of his strength. This
+letter is dated the 24th of April, 1805. Schiller died on the 9th of
+May."
+
+We looked at the letter by turns, and were pleased both with the clear
+style and the fine handwriting. Goethe bestowed several other words of
+affectionate reminiscence upon his friend, until it was nearly eleven
+o'clock, and we departed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, October_ 15.--I found Goethe in a very elevated mood this
+evening, and had the pleasure of hearing from him many significant
+remarks. We talked about the state of the newest literature, when Goethe
+expressed himself as follows:
+
+"Deficiency of character in individual investigators and writers is," he
+said, "the source of all the evils of our newest literature.
+
+"In criticism, especially, this defect produces mischief to the world,
+for it either diffuses the false instead of the true, or by a pitiful
+truth deprives us of something great, that would be better.
+
+"Till lately, the world believed in the heroism of a Lucretia--of a
+Mucius Scævola--and suffered itself, by this belief, to be warmed and
+inspired. But now comes your historical criticism, and says that those
+persons never lived, but are to be regarded as fables and fictions,
+divined by the great mind of the Romans. What are we to do with so
+pitiful a truth? If the Romans were great enough to invent such stories,
+we should at least be great enough to believe them.
+
+"Till lately, I was always pleased with a great fact in the thirteenth
+century, when the Emperor Frederic the Second was at variance with the
+Pope, and the north of Germany was open to all sorts of hostile attacks.
+Asiatic hordes had actually penetrated as far as Silesia, when the Duke
+of Liegnitz terrified them by one great defeat. They then turned to
+Moravia, but were here defeated by Count Sternberg. These valiant men
+had on this account been living in my heart as the great saviors of the
+German nation. But now comes historical criticism, and says that these
+heroes sacrificed themselves quite uselessly, as the Asiatic army was
+already recalled, and would have returned of its own accord. Thus is a
+great national fact crippled and destroyed, which seems to me most
+abominable."
+
+After these remarks on historical critics, Goethe spoke of another class
+of seekers and literary men.
+
+"I could never," said he, "have known so well how paltry men are, and
+how little they care for really high aims, if I had not tested them by
+my scientific researches. Thus I saw that most men care for science only
+so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when
+it affords them a subsistence.
+
+"In _belles lettres_ it is no better. There, too, high aims and genuine
+love for the true and sound, and for their diffusion, are very rare
+phenomena. One man cherishes and tolerates another, because he is by him
+cherished and tolerated in return. True greatness is hateful to them;
+they would fain drive it from the world, so that only such as they might
+be of importance in it. Such are the masses; and the prominent
+individuals are not better.
+
+"---- 's great talents and world-embracing learning might have done much
+for his country. But his want of character has deprived the world of
+such great results, and himself of the esteem of the country.
+
+"We want a man like Lessing. For how was he great, except in
+character--in firmness? There are many men as clever and as cultivated,
+but where is such character?
+
+"Many are full of _esprit_ and knowledge, but they are also full of
+vanity; and that they may shine as wits before the short-sighted
+multitude, they have no shame or delicacy--nothing is sacred to them.
+
+"Madame de Genlis was therefore perfectly right when she declaimed
+against the freedoms and profanities of Voltaire. Clever as they all may
+be, the world has derived no profit from them; they afford a foundation
+for nothing. Nay, they have been of the greatest injury, since they have
+confused men and robbed them of their needful support.
+
+"After all, what do we know, and how far can we go with all our wit?
+
+"Man is born not to solve the problems of the universe, but to find out
+where the problem begins, and then to restrain himself within the limits
+of the comprehensible.
+
+"His faculties are not sufficient to measure the actions of the
+universe; and an attempt to explain the outer world by reason is, with
+his narrow point of view, but a vain endeavor. The reason of man and the
+reason of the Deity are two very different things.
+
+"If we grant freedom to man, there is an end to the omniscience of God;
+for if the Divinity knows how I shall act, I must act so perforce. I
+give this merely as a sign how little we know, and to show that it is
+not good to meddle with divine mysteries.
+
+"Moreover, we should only utter higher maxims so far as they can benefit
+the world. The rest we should keep within ourselves, and they will
+diffuse over our actions a lustre like the mild radiance of a hidden
+sun."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 25.--"I have of late made an observation, which I
+will impart to you.
+
+"Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does
+not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad; frequently the
+reverse takes place. Some time since, I made a mistake in one of these
+transactions with booksellers, and was sorry that I had done so. But now
+circumstances have so altered, that, if I had not made that very
+mistake, I should have made a greater one. Such instances occur
+frequently in life, and hence we see men of the world, who know this,
+going to work with great freedom and boldness."
+
+I was struck by this remark, which was new to me.
+
+I then turned the conversation to some of his works, and we came to the
+elegy _Alexis and Dora_.
+
+"In this poem," said Goethe, "people have blamed the strong, passionate
+conclusion, and would have liked the elegy to end gently and peacefully,
+without that outbreak of jealousy; but I could not see that they were
+right. Jealousy is so manifestly an ingredient of the affair, that the
+poem would be incomplete if it were not introduced at all. I myself knew
+a young man who, in the midst of his impassioned love for an easily-won
+maiden, cried out, 'But would she not act to another as she has acted to
+me?'"
+
+I agreed entirely with Goethe, and then mentioned the peculiar
+situations in this elegy, where, with so few strokes and in so narrow a
+space, all is so well delineated that we think we see the whole life and
+domestic environment of the persons engaged in the action. "What you
+have described," said I, "appears as true as if you had worked from
+actual experience."
+
+"I am glad it seems so to you," said Goethe. "There are, however, few
+men who have imagination for the truth of reality; most prefer strange
+countries and circumstances, of which they know nothing, and by which
+their imagination may be cultivated, oddly enough.
+
+"Then there are others who cling altogether to reality, and, as they
+wholly want the poetic spirit, are too severe in their requisitions. For
+instance, in this elegy, some would have had me give Alexis a servant to
+carry his bundle, never thinking that all that was poetic and idyllic in
+the situation would thus have been destroyed."
+
+From _Alexis and Dora_, the conversation then turned to _Wilhelm
+Meister_. "There are odd critics in this world," said Goethe; "they
+blamed me for letting the hero of this novel live so much in bad
+company; but by this very circumstance that I considered this so-called
+bad company as a vase into which I could put everything I had to say
+about good society, I gained a poetical body, and a varied one into the
+bargain. Had I, on the contrary, delineated good society by the
+so-called good society, nobody would have read the book.
+
+"In the seeming trivialities of _Wilhelm Meister_, there is always
+something higher at bottom, and nothing is required but eyes, knowledge
+of the world, and power of comprehension to perceive the great in the
+small. For those who are without such qualities, let it suffice to
+receive the picture of life as real life."
+
+Goethe then showed me a very interesting English work, which illustrated
+all Shakespeare in copper plates. Each page embraced, in six small
+designs, one piece with some verses written beneath, so that the leading
+idea and the most important situations of each work were brought before
+the eyes. All these immortal tragedies and comedies thus passed before
+the mind like processions of masks.
+
+"It is even terrifying," said Goethe, "to look through these little
+pictures. Thus are we first made to feel the infinite wealth and
+grandeur of Shakespeare. There is no motive in human life which he has
+not exhibited and expressed! And all with what ease and freedom!
+
+"But we cannot talk about Shakespeare; everything is inadequate. I have
+touched upon the subject in my _Wilhelm Meister_ but that is not saying
+much. He is not a theatrical poet; he never thought of the stage; it was
+far too narrow for his great mind: nay, the whole visible world was too
+narrow.
+
+"He is even too rich and too powerful. A productive _nature_[17] ought
+not to read more than one of his dramas in a year if it would not be
+wrecked entirely. I did well to get rid of him by writing _Goetz_, and
+_Egmont_,[18] and Byron did well by not having too much respect and
+admiration for him, but going his own way. How many excellent Germans
+have been ruined by him and Calderon!
+
+"Shakespeare gives us golden apples in silver dishes. We get, indeed,
+the silver dishes by studying his works; but, unfortunately, we have
+only potatoes to put into them."
+
+I laughed, and was delighted with this admirable simile.
+
+Goethe then read me a letter from Zelter, describing a representation of
+Macbeth at Berlin, where the music could not keep pace with the grand
+spirit and character of the piece, as Zelter set forth by various
+intimations. By Goethe's reading, the letter gained its full effect, and
+he often paused to admire with me the point of some single passage.
+
+"_Macbeth_," said Goethe, "is Shakespeare's best acting play, the one in
+which he shows most understanding with respect to the stage. But would
+you see his mind unfettered, read _Troilus and Cressida_, where he
+treats the materials of the _Iliad_ in his own fashion."
+
+The conversation turned upon Byron--the disadvantage in which he appears
+when placed beside the innocent cheerfulness of Shakespeare, and the
+frequent and generally not unjust blame which he drew upon himself by
+his manifold works of negation.
+
+"If Lord Byron," said Goethe, "had had an opportunity of working off all
+the opposition in his character, by a number of strong parliamentary
+speeches, he would have been much more pure as a poet. But, as he
+scarcely ever spoke in parliament, he kept within himself all his
+feelings against his nation, and to free himself from them, he had no
+other means than to express them in poetical form. I could, therefore,
+call a great part of Byron's works of negation 'suppressed parliamentary
+speeches,' and think this would be no bad name for them."
+
+We then mentioned one of our most modern German poets, Platen, who had
+lately gained a great name, and whose negative tendency was likewise
+disapproved. "We cannot deny," said Goethe, "that he has many brilliant
+qualities, but he is wanting in--love. He loves his readers and his
+fellow-poets as little as he loves himself, and thus we may apply to him
+the maxim of the apostle--'Though I speak with the tongues of men and
+angels, and have not love (charity), I am become as sounding brass and a
+tinkling cymbal.' I have lately read the poems of Platen, and cannot
+deny his great talent. But, as I said, he is deficient in _love_, and
+thus he will never produce the effect which he ought. He will be feared,
+and will be the idol of those who would like to be as negative as
+himself, but have not his talent."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1827
+
+_Thursday evening, January_ 18.--The conversation now turned wholly on
+Schiller, and Goethe proceeded thus: "Schiller's proper productive
+talent lay in the ideal; and it may be said he has not his equal in
+German or any other literature. He has almost everything that Lord Byron
+has; but Lord Byron is his superior in knowledge of the world. I wish
+Schiller had lived to know Lord Byron's works, and wonder what he would
+have said to so congenial a mind. Did Byron publish anything during
+Schiller's life?"
+
+I could not say with certainty. Goethe took down the Conversations
+Lexicon, and read the article on Byron, making many hasty remarks as he
+proceeded. It appeared that Byron had published nothing before 1807, and
+that therefore Schiller could have seen nothing of his.
+
+"Through all Schiller's works," continued Goethe, "goes the idea of
+freedom; though this idea assumed a new shape as Schiller advanced in
+his culture and became another man. In his youth it was physical freedom
+which occupied him, and influenced his poems; in his later life it was
+ideal freedom.
+
+"Freedom is an odd thing, and every man has enough of it, if he can
+only satisfy himself. What avails a superfluity of freedom which we
+cannot use? Look at this chamber and the next, in which, through the
+open door, you see my bed. Neither of them is large; and they are
+rendered still narrower by necessary furniture, books, manuscripts, and
+works of art; but they are enough for me. I have lived in them all the
+winter, scarcely entering my front rooms. What have I done with my
+spacious house, and the liberty of going from one room to another, when
+I have not found it requisite to make use of them?
+
+"If a man has freedom enough to live healthy, and work at his craft, he
+has enough; and so much all can easily obtain. Then all of us are only
+free under certain conditions, which we must fulfil. The citizen is as
+free as the nobleman, when he restrains himself within the limits which
+God appointed by placing him in that rank. The nobleman is as free as
+the prince; for, if he will but observe a few ceremonies at court, he
+may feel himself his equal. Freedom consists not in refusing to
+recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above
+us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and by our very
+acknowledgment make manifest that we bear within ourselves what is
+higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.
+
+"I have, on my journeys, often met merchants from the north of Germany,
+who fancied they were my equals, if they rudely seated themselves next
+me at table. They were, by this method, nothing of the kind; but they
+would have been so if they had known how to value and treat me.
+
+"That this physical freedom gave Schiller so much trouble in his
+youthful years, was caused partly by the nature of his mind, but still
+more by the restraint which he endured at the military school. In later
+days, when he had enough physical freedom, he passed over to the ideal;
+and I would almost say that this idea killed him, since it led him to
+make demands on his physical nature which were too much for his
+strength.
+
+"The Grand Duke fixed on Schiller, when he was established here, an
+income of one thousand dollars yearly, and offered to give him twice as
+much in case he should be hindered by sickness from working. Schiller
+declined this last offer, and never availed himself of it. 'I have
+talent,' said he, 'and must help myself.' But as his family enlarged of
+late years, he was obliged, for a livelihood, to write two dramas
+annually; and to accomplish this, he forced himself to write days and
+weeks when he was not well. He would have his talent obey him at any
+hour. He never drank much; he was very temperate; but, in such hours of
+bodily weakness, he was obliged to stimulate his powers by the use of
+spirituous liquors. This habit impaired his health, and was likewise
+injurious to his productions. The faults which some wiseacres find in
+his works I deduce from this source. All the passages which they say are
+not what they ought to be, I would call pathological passages; for he
+wrote them on those days when he had not strength to find the right and
+true motives. I have every respect for the categorical imperative. I
+know how much good may proceed from it; but one must not carry it too
+far, for then this idea of ideal freedom certainly leads to no good."
+
+Amid these interesting remarks, and similar discourse on Lord Byron and
+the celebrated German authors, of whom Schiller had said that he liked
+Kotzebue best, for he, at any rate, produced something, the hours of
+evening passed swiftly along, and Goethe gave me the novel, that I might
+study it quietly at home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, February 21_.--Dined with Goethe. He spoke much, and with
+admiration, of Alexander von Humboldt, whose work on Cuba and Colombia
+he had begun to read and whose views as to the project for making a
+passage through the Isthmus of Panama appeared to have a particular
+interest for him. "Humboldt," said Goethe, "has, with a great knowledge
+of his subject, given other points where, by making use of some streams
+which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, the end may be perhaps better
+attained than at Panama. All this is reserved for the future, and for an
+enterprising spirit. So much, however, is certain, that, if they succeed
+in cutting such a canal that ships of any burden and size can be
+navigated through it from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean,
+innumerable benefits would result to the whole human race, civilized and
+uncivilized. But I should wonder if the United States were to let an
+opportunity escape of getting such work into their own hands. It may be
+foreseen that this young state, with its decided predilection to the
+West, will, in thirty or forty years, have occupied and peopled the
+large tract of land beyond the Rocky Mountains. It may, furthermore, be
+foreseen that along the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean, where nature
+has already formed the most capacious and secure harbors, important
+commercial towns will gradually arise, for the furtherance of a great
+intercourse between China and the East Indies and the United States. In
+such a case, it would not only be desirable, but almost necessary, that
+a more rapid communication should be maintained between the eastern and
+western shores of North America, both by merchant-ships and men-of-war,
+than has hitherto been possible with the tedious, disagreeable, and
+expensive voyage round Cape Horn. I therefore repeat, that it is
+absolutely indispensable for the United States to effect a passage from
+the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean; and I am certain that they will
+do it.
+
+"Would that I might live to see it!--but I shall not. I should like to
+see another thing--a junction of the Danube and the Rhine. But this
+undertaking is so gigantic that I have doubts of its completion,
+particularly when I consider our German resources. And thirdly, and
+lastly, I should wish to see England in possession of a canal through
+the Isthmus of Suez. Would I could live to see these three great works!
+it would be well worth the trouble to last some fifty years more for the
+very purpose."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, May 3_.--The highly successful translation of Goethe's
+dramatic works, by Stapfer, was noticed by Monsieur J. J. Ampere in the
+_Parisian Globe_ of last year, in a manner no less excellent, and this
+affected Goethe so agreeably that he very often recurred to it, and
+expressed his great obligations to it.
+
+"Ampere's point of view is a very high one," said he.
+
+"When German critics on similar occasions start from philosophy, and in
+the consideration and discussion of a poetical production proceed in a
+manner that what they intend as an elucidation is only intelligible to
+philosophers of their own school, while for other people it is far more
+obscure than the work upon which they intended to throw a light, M.
+Ampere, on the contrary, shows himself quite practical and popular. Like
+one who knows his profession thoroughly, he shows the relation between
+the production and the producer, and judges the different poetical
+productions as different fruits of different epochs of the poet's life.
+
+"He has studied most profoundly the changing course of my earthly
+career, and of the condition of my mind, and has had the faculty of
+seeing what I have not expressed, and what, so to speak, could only be
+read between the lines. How truly has he remarked that, during the first
+ten years of my official and court life at Weimar, I scarcely did
+anything; that despair drove me to Italy; and that I there, with new
+delight in producing, seized upon the history of Tasso, in order to free
+myself, by the treatment of this agreeable subject, from the painful and
+troublesome impressions and recollections of my life at Weimar. He
+therefore very happily calls Tasso an elevated Werther.
+
+"Then, concerning Faust, his remarks are no less clever, since he not
+only notes, as part of myself, the gloomy, discontented striving of the
+principal character, but also the scorn and the bitter irony of
+Mephistopheles."
+
+In this, and a similar spirit of acknowledgment, Goethe often spoke of
+M. Ampere. We took a decided interest in him; we endeavored to picture
+to ourselves his personal appearance, and, if we could not succeed in
+this, we at least agreed that he must be a man of middle age to
+understand the reciprocal action of life and poetry on each other. We
+were, therefore, extremely surprised when M. Ampere arrived in Weimar a
+few days ago, and proved to be a lively youth, some twenty years old;
+and we were no less surprised when, in the course of further
+intercourse, he told us that the whole of the contributors of the.
+_Globe_, whose wisdom, moderation, and high degree of cultivation we had
+often admired, were only young people like himself.
+
+"I can well comprehend," said I, "that a person may be young and may
+still produce something of importance--like Mérimée, for instance, who
+wrote excellent pieces in his twentieth year; but that any one at so
+early an age should have at his command such a comprehensive view, and
+such deep insight, as to attain such mature judgment as the gentlemen of
+the _Globe_, is to me something entirely new."
+
+"To you, in your Heath,"[19] returned Goethe, "it has not been so easy;
+and we others also, in Central Germany, have been forced to buy our
+little wisdom dearly enough. Then we all lead a very isolated miserable
+sort of life! From the people, properly so called, we derive very little
+culture. Our talents and men of brains are scattered over the whole of
+Germany. One is in Vienna, another in Berlin, another in Königsberg,
+another in Bonn or Düseldorf--all about a hundred miles apart from one
+another, so that personal contact and personal exchange of thought may
+be considered as rarities. I feel what this must be, when such men as
+Alexander von Humboldt come here, and in one single day lead me nearer
+to what I am seeking and what I require to know than I should have done
+for years in my own solitary way."
+
+"But now conceive a city like Paris, where the highest talents of a
+great kingdom are all assembled in a single spot, and by daily
+intercourse, strife, and emulation, mutually instruct and advance each
+other; where the best works, both of nature and art, from all the
+kingdoms of the earth, are open to daily inspection; conceive this
+metropolis of the world, I say, where every walk over a bridge or
+across a square recalls some mighty past, and where some historical
+event is connected with every corner of a street. In addition to all
+this, conceive not the Paris of a dull, spiritless time, but the
+Paris of the nineteenth century, in which, during three generations,
+such men as Molière, Voltaire, Diderot, and the like, have kept up
+such a current of intellect as cannot be found twice in a single spot
+in the whole world, and you will comprehend that a man of talent like
+Ampere, who has grown up amid such abundance, can easily be something
+in his four-and-twentieth year.
+
+"You said just now," said Goethe, "that you could well understand how
+any one in his twentieth year could write pieces as good as those of
+Mérimée. I have nothing to oppose to this; and I am, on the whole, quite
+of your opinion that good productiveness is easier than good judgment in
+a youthful man. But, in Germany, one had better not, when so young as
+Mérimée, attempt to produce anything so mature as he has done in his
+pieces of _Clara Gazul_. It is true, Schiller was very young when he
+wrote his _Robbers_, his _Love and Intrigue_, his _Fiesco_; but, to
+speak the truth, all three pieces are rather the utterances of an
+extraordinary talent than signs of mature cultivation in the author.
+This, however, is not Schiller's fault, but rather the result of the
+state of culture of his nation, and the great difficulty which we all
+experience in assisting ourselves on our solitary way.
+
+"On the other hand, take up Béranger. He is the son of poor parents, the
+descendant of a poor tailor; at one time a poor printer's apprentice,
+then placed in some office with a small salary; he has never been to a
+classical school or university; and yet his songs are so full of mature
+cultivation, so full of wit and the most refined irony, and there is
+such artistic perfection and masterly handling of the language that he
+is the admiration, not only of France, but of all civilized Europe.
+
+"But imagine this same Béranger--instead of being born in Paris, and
+brought up in this metropolis of the world--the son of a poor tailor in
+Jena or Weimar, and let him commence his career, in an equally miserable
+manner, in such small places--then ask yourself what fruit would have
+been produced by this same tree grown in such a soil and in such an
+atmosphere.
+
+"Therefore, my good friend, I repeat that, if a talent is to be speedily
+and happily developed, the great point is that a great deal of intellect
+and sound culture should be current in a nation.
+
+"We admire the tragedies of the ancient Greeks; but, to take a correct
+view of the case, we ought rather to admire the period and the nation in
+which their production was possible than the individual authors; for
+though each of these pieces differs a little from every other, and
+though one of these poets appears somewhat greater and more finished
+than the other, still, taking all things together, only one decided
+character runs through the whole.
+
+"This is the character of grandeur, fitness, soundness, human
+perfection, elevated wisdom, sublime thought, pure, strong intuition,
+and whatever other qualities one might enumerate. But when we find all
+these qualities, not only in the dramatic works that have come down to
+us but also in lyrical and epic works, in the philosophers, the orators,
+and the historians, and in an equally high degree in the works of
+plastic art that have come down to us, we must feel convinced that such
+qualities did not merely belong to individuals, but were the current
+property of the nation and the whole period.
+
+"Now, take up Burns. How is he great, except through the circumstance
+that the whole songs of his predecessors lived in the mouth of the
+people--that they were, so to speak, sung at his cradle; that, as a boy,
+he grew up amongst them, and the high excellence of these models so
+pervaded him that he had therein a living basis on which he could
+proceed further? Again, why is he great, but from this, that his own
+songs at once found susceptible ears amongst his compatriots; that, sung
+by reapers and sheaf-binders, they at once greeted him in the field; and
+that his boon-companions sang them to welcome him at the ale-house?
+Something was certainly to be done in this way.
+
+"On the other hand, what a pitiful figure is made by us Germans! Of our
+old songs--no less important than those of Scotland--how many lived
+among the people in the days of my youth? Herder and his successors
+first began to collect them and rescue them from oblivion; then they
+were at least printed in the libraries. Then, more lately, what songs
+have not Bürger and Voss composed! Who can say that they are more
+insignificant or less popular than those of the excellent Burns? but
+which of them so lives among us that it greets us from the mouth of the
+people? They are written and printed, and they remain in the libraries,
+quite in accordance with the general fate of German poets. Of my own
+songs, how many live? Perhaps one or another of them may be sung by a
+pretty girl to the piano; but among the people, properly so called, they
+have no sound. With what sensations must I remember the time when
+passages from Tasso were sung to me by Italian fishermen!
+
+"We Germans are of yesterday. We have indeed been properly cultivated
+for a century; but a few centuries more must still elapse before so much
+mind and elevated culture will become universal amongst our people that
+they will appreciate beauty like the Greeks, that they will be inspired
+by a beautiful song, and that it will be said of them 'it is long since
+they were barbarians.'"
+
+_Tuesday, December 16_.--I dined today with Goethe alone, in his
+work-room. We talked on various literary topics.
+
+"The Germans," said he, "cannot cease to be Philistines. They are now
+squabbling about some verses, which are printed both in Schiller's works
+and mine, and fancy it is important to ascertain which really belong to
+Schiller and which to me; as if anything could be gained by such
+investigation--as if the existence of such things were not enough.
+Friends, such as Schiller and I, intimate for years, with the same
+interests, in habits of daily intercourse, and under reciprocal
+obligations, live so completely in each other that it is hardly possible
+to decide to which of the two the particular thoughts belong.
+
+"We have made many distiches together; sometimes I gave the thought, and
+Schiller made the verse; sometimes the contrary was the case; sometimes
+he made one line, and I the other. What matters the mine and thine? One
+must be a thorough Philistine, indeed, to attach the slightest
+importance to the solution of such questions."
+
+"Something similar," said I, "often happens in the literary world, when
+people, for instance, doubt the originality of this or that celebrated
+man, and seek to trace out the sources from whence he obtained his
+cultivation."
+
+"That is very ridiculous," said Goethe; "we might as well question a
+strong man about the oxen, sheep, and swine, which he has eaten, and
+which have given him strength.
+
+"We are indeed born with faculties; but we owe our development to a
+thousand influences of the great world, from which we appropriate to
+ourselves what we can, and what is suitable to us. I owe much to the
+Greeks and French; I am infinitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne, and
+Goldsmith; but in saying this I do not show the sources of my culture;
+that would be an endless as well as an unnecessary task. What is
+important is to have a soul which loves truth, and receives it wherever
+it finds it.
+
+"Besides, the world is now so old, so many eminent men have lived and
+thought for thousands of years, that there is little new to be
+discovered or expressed. Even my theory of colors is not entirely new.
+Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, any many other excellent men, have before me
+found and expressed the same thing in a detached form: my merit is, that
+I have found it also, that I have said it again, and that I have striven
+to bring the truth once more into a confused world.
+
+"The truth must be repeated over and over again, because error is
+repeatedly preached among us, not only by individuals, but by the
+masses. In periodicals and cyclopædias, in schools and universities;
+everywhere, in fact, error prevails, and is quite easy in the feeling
+that it has a decided majority on its side.
+
+"Often, too, people teach truth and error together, and stick to the
+latter. Thus, a short time ago, I read in an English cyclopædia the
+doctrine of the origin of Blue. First came the correct view of Leonardo
+da Vinci, but then followed, as quietly as possible, the error of
+Newton, coupled with remarks that this was to be adhered to because it
+was the view generally adopted."
+
+I could not help laughing with surprise when I heard this. "Every
+wax-taper," I said, "every illuminated cloud of smoke from the kitchen,
+that has anything dark behind it, every morning mist, when it lies
+before a steady spot, daily convinces me of the origin of blue color,
+and makes me comprehend the blueness of the sky. What the Newtonians
+mean when they say that the air has the property of absorbing other
+colors, and of repelling blue alone, I cannot at all understand, nor do
+I see what use or pleasure is to be derived from a doctrine in which all
+thought stands still, and all sound observation completely vanishes."
+
+"My good innocent friend," said Goethe, "these people do not care a jot
+about thoughts and observations. They are satisfied if they have only
+words which they can pass as current, as was well shown and not
+ill-expressed by my own Mephistopheles:
+
+  "Mind, above all, you stick to words,
+  Thus through the safe gate you will go
+  Into the fane of certainty;
+  For when ideas begin to fail
+  A word will aptly serve your turn," etc.
+
+Goethe recited this passage laughing, and seemed altogether in the best
+humor. "It is a good thing," said he, "that all is already in print, and
+I shall go on printing as long as I have anything to say against false
+doctrine, and those who disseminate it.
+
+"We have now excellent men rising up in natural science," he continued,
+after a pause, "and I am glad to see them. Others begin well, but
+afterwards fall off; their predominating subjectivity leads them astray.
+Others, again, set too much value on facts, and collect an infinite
+number, by which nothing is proved. On the whole, there is a want of
+originating mind to penetrate back to the original phenomena, and master
+the particulars that make their appearance."
+
+A short visit interrupted our discourse, but when we were again alone
+the conversation returned to poetry, and I told Goethe that I had of
+late been once more studying his little poems, and had dwelt especially
+upon two of them, viz., the ballad[20] about the children and the old
+man, and the "Happy Couple" (_die glücklichen Gatten_).
+
+"I myself set some value on these two poems," said Goethe, "although the
+German public have hitherto not been able to make much out of them."
+
+"In the ballad," I said, "a very copious subject is brought into a very
+limited compass, by means of all sorts of poetical forms and artifices,
+among which I especially praise the expedient of making the old man tell
+the children's past history down to the point where the present moment
+comes in, and the rest is developed before our eyes."
+
+"I carried the ballad a long time about in my head," said Goethe,
+"before I wrote it down. Whole years of reflection are comprised in it,
+and I made three or four trials before I could reduce it to its present
+shape."
+
+"The poem of the 'Happy Couple,'" continued Goethe, "is likewise rich in
+_motives_; whole landscapes and passages of human life appear in it,
+warmed by the sunlight of a charming spring sky, which is diffused over
+the whole."
+
+"I have always liked that poem," said Goethe, "and I am glad that you
+have regarded it with particular interest. The ending of the whole
+pleasantry with a double christening is, I think, pretty enough."
+
+We then came to the _Bürgergeneral_ (Citizengeneral); with respect to
+which I said that I had been lately reading this piece with an
+Englishman, and that we had both felt the strongest desire to see it
+represented on the stage. "As far as the spirit of the work is
+concerned," said I, "there is nothing antiquated about it; and with
+respect to the details of dramatic development, there is not a touch
+that does not seem designed for the stage."
+
+"It was a very good piece in its time," said Goethe, "and caused us many
+a pleasant evening. It was, indeed, excellently cast, and had been so
+admirably studied that the dialogue moved along as glibly as possible.
+Malcolmi played Märten, and nothing could be more perfect.
+
+"The part of Schnaps," said I, "seems to me no less felicitous. Indeed,
+I should not think there were many better or more thankful parts in the
+repertoire. There is in this personage, as in the whole piece, a
+clearness, an actual presence, to the utmost extent that can be desired
+for a theatre. The scene where he comes in with the knapsack, and
+produces the things one after another, where he puts the _moustache_ on
+Märten, and decks himself with the cap of liberty, uniform, and sword,
+is among the best." "This scene," said Goethe, "used always to be very
+successful on our stage. Then the knapsack, with the articles in it, had
+really an historical existence. I found it in the time of the
+Revolution, on my travels along the French border, when the emigrants,
+on their flight, had passed through, and one of them might have lost it
+or thrown it away. The articles it contained were just the same as in
+the piece. I wrote the scene upon it, and the knapsack, with all its
+appurtenances, was always introduced, to the no small delight of our
+actors."
+
+The question whether the _Bürgergeneral_ could still be played with any
+interest or profit, was for a while the subject of our conversation.
+
+Goethe then asked about my progress in French literature, and I told him
+that I still took up Voltaire from time to time, and that the great
+talent of this man gave me the purest delight.
+
+"I still know but little of him," said I; "I keep to his short poems
+addressed to persons, which I read over and over again, and which I
+cannot lay aside."
+
+"Indeed," said Goethe, "all is good which is written by so great a
+genius as Voltaire, though I cannot excuse all his profanity. But you
+are right to give so much time to those little poems addressed to
+persons; they are unquestionably among the most charming of his works.
+There is not a line which is not full of thought, clear, bright, and
+graceful."
+
+"And we see," said I, "his relations to all the great and mighty of the
+world, and remark with pleasure the distinguished position taken by
+himself, inasmuch as he seems to feel himself equal to the highest, and
+we never find that any majesty can embarrass his free mind even for a
+moment."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "he bore himself like a man of rank. And with all
+his freedom and audacity, he ever kept within the limits of strict
+propriety, which is, perhaps, saying still more. I may cite the Empress
+of Austria as an authority in such matters; she has repeatedly assured
+me, that in those poems of Voltaire's, there is no trace of crossing the
+line of _convenance_."
+
+"Does your excellency," said I, "remember the short poem in which he
+makes to the Princess of Prussia, afterwards Queen of Sweden, a pretty
+declaration of love, by saying that he dreamed of being elevated to the
+royal dignity?"
+
+"It is one of his best," said Goethe, and he recited the lines--
+
+    "Je vous aimais, princesse, et j'osais vous le dire;
+  Les Dieux et mon reveil ne m'ont pas tout ôté,
+    Je n'ai perdu que mon empire."
+
+"How pretty that is! And never did poet have his talent so completely at
+command every moment as Voltaire. I remember an anecdote, when he had
+been for some time on a visit to Madame du Chatelet. Just as he was
+going away, and the carriage was standing at the door, he received a
+letter from a great number of young girls in a neighboring convent, who
+wished to play the 'Death of Julius Cæsar' on the birthday of their
+abbess, and begged him to write them a prologue. The case was too
+delicate for a refusal; so Voltaire at once called for pen and paper,
+and wrote the desired prologue, standing, upon the mantlepiece. It is a
+poem of perhaps twenty lines, thoroughly digested, finished, perfectly
+suited to the occasion, and, in short, of the very best class."
+
+"I am very desirous to read it," said I.
+
+"I doubt," said Goethe, "whether you will find it in your collection. It
+has only lately come to light, and, indeed, he wrote hundreds of such
+poems, of which many may still be scattered about among private
+persons."
+
+"I found of late a passage in Lord Byron," said I, "from which I
+perceived with delight that even Byron had an extraordinary esteem for
+Voltaire. We may see in his works how much he liked to read, study, and
+make use of Voltaire.
+
+"Byron," said Goethe, "knew too well where anything was to be got, and
+was too clever not to draw from this universal source of light."
+
+The conversation then turned entirely upon Byron and several of his
+works, and Goethe found occasion to repeat many of his former
+expressions of admiration for that great genius.
+
+"To all that your excellency says of Byron," said I, "I agree from the
+bottom of my heart; but, however great and remarkable that poet may be
+as a genius, I very much doubt whether a decided gain for pure human
+culture is to be derived from his writings."
+
+"There I must contradict you," said Goethe; "the audacity and grandeur
+of Byron must certainly tend towards culture. We should take care not to
+be always looking for it in the decidedly pure and moral. Everything
+that is great promotes cultivation as soon as we are aware of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, February 12_.--Goethe read me the thoroughly noble poem,
+"Kein Wesen kann zu nichts zerfallen" (No being can dissolve to
+nothing), which he had lately written.
+
+"I wrote this poem," said he, "in contradiction to my lines--
+
+    'Denn alles muss zu nichts zerfallen
+    Wenn es im Seyn beharren will,' etc.
+
+   ('For all must melt away to nothing
+    Would it continue still to be')--
+
+which are stupid, and which my Berlin friends, on the occasion of the
+late assembly of natural philosophers, set up in golden letters, to my
+annoyance."
+
+The conversation turned on the great mathematician, Lagrange, whose
+excellent character Goethe highly extolled.
+
+"He was a good man," said he, "and on that very account, a great man.
+For when a good man is gifted with talent, he always works morally for
+the salvation of the world, as poet, philosopher, artist, or in whatever
+way it may be.
+
+"I am glad," continued Goethe, "that you had an opportunity yesterday of
+knowing Coudray better. He says little in general society, but, here
+among ourselves, you have seen what an excellent mind and character
+reside in the man. He had, at first, much opposition to encounter, but
+he has now fought through it all and enjoys the entire confidence and
+favor of the court. Coudray is one of the most skilful architects of our
+time. He has adhered to me and I to him, and this has been of service to
+us both. If I had but known him fifty years ago!"
+
+We then talked about Goethe's own architectural knowledge. I remarked
+that he must have acquired much in Italy.
+
+"Italy gave me an idea of earnestness and greatness," said he, "but no
+practical skill. The building of the castle here in Weimar advanced me
+more than anything. I was obliged to assist, and even to make drawings
+of entablatures. I had a certain advantage over the professional people,
+because I was superior to them in intention."
+
+We talked of Zelter.
+
+"I have a letter from him," said Goethe, "in which he complains that the
+performance of the oratorio of the Messiah was spoiled for him by one of
+his female scholars, who sang an aria too weakly and sentimentally.
+Weakness is a characteristic of our age. My hypothesis is, that it is a
+consequence of the efforts made in Germany to get rid of the French.
+Painters, natural philosophers, sculptors, musicians, poets, with but
+few exceptions, all are weak, and the general mass is no better."
+
+"Yet I do not give up the hope," said I, "of seeing suitable music
+composed for _Faust_."
+
+"Quite impossible!" said Goethe. "The awful and repulsive passages
+which must occasionally occur, are not in the style of the time. The
+music should be like that of Don Juan. Mozart should have composed for
+_Faust_. Meyerbeer would, perhaps, be capable; but he would not touch
+anything of the kind;[21] he is too much engaged with the Italian
+theatres."
+
+Afterwards--I do not recollect in connection to what--Goethe made the
+following important remark:
+
+"All that is great and skilful exists with the minority. There have been
+ministers who have had both king and people against them, and have
+carried out their great plans alone. It is not to be imagined that
+reason can ever be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular;
+but reason always remains the sole property of a few eminent
+individuals."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 6.--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the first
+scene of the second act of _Faust_.[22] The effect was great, and gave
+me a high satisfaction. We are once more transported into Faust's study,
+where Mephistopheles finds all just as he had left it. He takes from the
+hook Faust's old study-gown, and a thousand moths and insects flutter
+out from it. By the directions of Mephistopheles as to where these are
+to settle down, the locality is brought very clearly before our eyes. He
+puts on the gown, while Faust lies behind a curtain in a state of
+paralysis, intending to play the doctor's part once more. He pulls the
+bell, which gives such an awful tone among the old solitary convent
+halls, that the doors spring open and the walls tremble. The servant
+rushes in, and finds in Faust's seat Mephistopheles, whom he does not
+recognize, but for whom he has respect. In answer to inquiries he gives
+news of Wagner, who has now become a celebrated man, and is hoping for
+the return of his master. He is, we hear, at this moment deeply occupied
+in his laboratory, seeking to produce a Homunculus. The servant retires,
+and the bachelor enters--the same whom we knew some years before as a
+shy young student, when Mephistopheles (in Faust's gown) made game of
+him. He is now become a man, and is so full of conceit that even
+Mephistopheles can do nothing with him, but moves his chair further and
+further, and at last addresses the pit.
+
+Goethe read the scene quite to the end. I was pleased with his youthful
+productive strength, and with the closeness of the whole. "As the
+conception," said Goethe, "is so old--for I have had it in my mind for
+fifty years--the materials have accumulated to such a degree, that the
+difficult operation is to separate and reject. The invention of the
+whole second part is really as old as I say; but it may be an advantage
+that I have not written it down till now, when my knowledge of the world
+is so much clearer. I am like one who in his youth has a great deal of
+small silver and copper money, which in the course of his life he
+constantly changes for the better, so that at last the property of his
+youth stands before him in pieces of pure gold."
+
+We spoke about the character of the Bachelor. "Is he not meant," said I,
+"to represent a certain class of ideal philosophers?"
+
+"No," said Goethe, "the arrogance which is peculiar to youth, and of
+which we had such striking examples after our war for freedom, is
+personified in him. Indeed, every one believes in his youth that the
+world really began with him, and that all merely exists for his sake.
+
+"Thus, in the East, there was actually a man who every morning collected
+his people about him, and would not go to work till he had commanded the
+sun to rise. But he was wise enough not to speak his command till the
+sun of its own accord was really on the point of appearing."
+
+Goethe remained a while absorbed in silent thought; then he began as
+follows: "When one is old one thinks of worldly matters otherwise than
+when one is young. Thus I cannot but think that the demons, to teaze and
+make sport with men, have placed among them single figures, which are so
+alluring that every one strives after them, and so great that nobody
+reaches them. Thus they set up Raffael, with whom thought and act were
+equally perfect; some distinguished followers have approached him, but
+none have equalled him. Thus, too, they set up Mozart as something
+unattainable in music; and thus Shakespeare in poetry. I know what you
+can say against this thought; but I only mean natural character, the
+great innate qualities. Thus, too, Napoleon is unattainable. That the
+Russians were so moderate as not to go to Constantinople is indeed very
+great; but we find a similar trait in Napoleon, for he had the
+moderation not to go to Rome."
+
+Much was associated with this copious theme; I thought to myself in
+silence that the demons had intended something of the kind with Goethe,
+inasmuch as he is a form too alluring not to be striven after, and too
+great to be reached.
+
+_Wednesday, December 16._--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the
+second scene of the second act of "Faust," where Mephistopheles visits
+Wagner, who is on the point of making a human being by chemical means.
+The work succeeds; the Homunculus appears in the phial, as a shining
+being, and is at once active. He repels Wagner's questions upon
+incomprehensible subjects; reasoning is not his business; he wishes to
+act, and begins with our hero, Faust, who, in his paralyzed condition,
+needs a higher aid. As a being to whom the present is perfectly clear
+and transparent, the Homunculus sees into the soul of the sleeping
+Faust, who, enraptured by a lovely dream, beholds Leda visited by swans,
+while she is bathing in a pleasant spot. The Homunculus, by describing
+this dream, brings a most charming picture before our eyes.
+Mephistopheles sees nothing of it, and the Homunculus taunts him with
+his northern nature.
+
+"Generally," said Goethe, "you will perceive that Mephistopheles
+appears to disadvantage beside the Homunculus, who is like him in
+clearness of intellect, and so much superior to him in his tendency to
+the beautiful and to a useful activity. He styles him cousin; for such
+spiritual beings as this Homunculus, not yet saddened and limited by a
+thorough assumption of humanity, were classed with the demons, and thus
+there is a sort of relationship between the two."
+
+"Certainly," said I, "Mephistopheles appears here in a subordinate
+situation; yet I cannot help thinking that he has had a secret influence
+on the production of the Homunculus. We have known him in this way
+before; and, indeed, in the 'Helena' he always appears as a being
+secretly working. Thus he again elevates himself with regard to the
+whole, and in his lofty repose he can well afford to put up with a
+little in particulars."
+
+"Your feeling of the position is very correct," said Goethe; "indeed, I
+have doubted whether I ought not to put some verses into the mouth of
+Mephistopheles as he goes to Wagner, and the Homunculus is still in a
+state of formation, so that his cooperation may be expressed and
+rendered plain to the reader.
+
+"It would do no harm," said I. "Yet this is intimated by the words with
+which Mephistopheles closes the scene--
+
+  Am Ende hangen wir doch ab
+  Von Creaturen die wir machten.
+
+  We are dependent after all,
+  On creatures that we make."
+
+"True," said Goethe, "that would be almost enough for the attentive; but
+I will think about some additional verses."
+
+"But," said I, "those concluding words are very great, and will not
+easily be penetrated to their full extent."
+
+"I think," said Goethe, "I have given them a bone to pick. A father who
+has six sons is a lost man, let him do what he may. Kings and
+ministers, too, who have raised many persons to high places, may have
+something to think about from their own experience."
+
+Faust's dream about Leda again came into my head, and I regarded this as
+a most important feature in the composition.
+
+"It is wonderful to me," said I, "how the several parts of such a work
+bear upon, perfect, and sustain one another! By this dream of Leda,
+_Helena_ gains its proper foundation. There we have a constant allusion
+to swans and the child of a swan; but here we have the act itself, and
+when we come afterwards to Helena, with the sensible impression of such
+a situation, how much more clear and perfect does all appear!"
+
+Goethe said I was right, and was pleased that I remarked this.
+
+"Thus you will see," said he, "that in these earlier acts the chords of
+the classic and romantic are constantly struck, so that, as on a rising
+ground, where both forms of poetry are brought out, and in some sort
+balance each other, we may ascend to 'Helena.'
+
+"The French," continued Goethe, "now begin to think justly of these
+matters. Both classic and romantic, say they, are equally good. The only
+point is to use these forms with judgment, and to be capable of
+excellence. You can be absurd in both, and then one is as worthless as
+the other. This, I think, is rational enough, and may content us for a
+while."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1830.
+
+_Sunday, March 14._--This evening at Goethe's. He showed me all the
+treasures, now put in order, from the chest which he had received from
+David, and with the unpacking of which I had found him occupied some
+days ago. The plaster medallions, with the profiles of the principal
+young poets of France, he had laid in order side by side upon tables.
+On this occasion, he spoke once more of the extraordinary talent of
+David, which was as great in conception as in execution. He also showed
+me a number of the newest works, which had been presented to him,
+through the medium of David, as gifts from the most distinguished men of
+the romantic school. I saw works by St. Veuve, Ballanche, Victor Hugo,
+Balzac, Alfred de Vigny, Jules Janin, and others.
+
+"David," said he, "has prepared happy days for me by this present. The
+young poets have already occupied me the whole week, and afford me new
+life by the fresh impressions which I receive from them. I shall make a
+separate catalogue of these much esteemed portraits and books, and shall
+give them both a special place in my collection of works of art and my
+library."
+
+One could see from Goethe's manner that this homage from the young poets
+of France afforded him the heartiest delight.
+
+He then read something from the _Studies_, by Emile Deschamps. He
+praised the translation of the _Bride of Corinth_, as faithful, and very
+successful.
+
+"I possess," said he, "the manuscript of an Italian translation of this
+poem, which gives the original, even to the rhymes."
+
+_The Bride of Corinth_ induced Goethe to speak of the rest of his
+ballads. "I owe them, in a great measure, to Schiller," said he, "who
+impelled me to them, because he always wanted something new for his
+_Horen_. I had already carried them in my head for many years; they
+occupied my mind as pleasant images, as beautiful dreams, which came and
+went, and by playing with which my fancy made me happy. I unwillingly
+resolved to bid farewell to these brilliant visions, which had so long
+been my solace, by embodying them in poor, inadequate words. When I saw
+them on paper, I regarded them with a mixture of sadness. I felt as if I
+were about to be separated for ever from a beloved friend."
+
+"At other times," continued Goethe, "it has been totally different with
+my poems. They have been preceded by no impressions or forebodings, but
+have come suddenly upon me, and have insisted on being composed
+immediately, so that I have felt an instinctive and dreamy impulse to
+write them down on the spot. In such a somnambulistic condition, it has
+often happened that I have had a sheet of paper lying before me all on
+one side, and I have not discovered it till all has been written, or I
+have found no room to write any more. I have possessed many such sheets
+written crossways, but they have been lost one after another, and I
+regret that I can no longer show any proofs of such poetic abstraction."
+
+The conversation then returned to the French literature, and the modern
+ultra-romantic tendency of some not unimportant men of genius. Goethe
+was of opinion that this poetic revolution, which was still in its
+infancy, would be very favorable to literature, but very prejudicial to
+the individual authors who effect it.
+
+"Extremes are never to be avoided in any revolution," said he. "In a
+political one, nothing is generally desired in the beginning but the
+abolition of abuses; but before people are aware, they are deep in
+bloodshed and horror. Thus the French, in their present literary
+revolution, desired nothing at first but a freer form; however, they
+will not stop there, but will reject the traditional contents together
+with the form. They begin to declare the representation of noble
+sentiments and deeds as tedious, and attempt to treat of all sorts of
+abominations. Instead of the beautiful subjects from Grecian mythology,
+there are devils, witches, and vampires, and the lofty heroes of
+antiquity must give place to jugglers and galley slaves. This is
+piquant! This is effective! But after the public has once tasted this
+highly seasoned food, and has become accustomed to it, it will always
+long for more, and that stronger. A young man of talent, who would
+produce an effect and be acknowledged, and who is great enough to go his
+own way, must accommodate himself to the taste of the day--nay, must
+seek to outdo his predecessors in the horrible and frightful. But in
+this chase after outward means of effect, all profound study, and all
+gradual and thorough development of the talent and the man from within,
+is entirely neglected. And this is the greatest injury which can befall
+a talent, although literature in general will gain by this tendency of
+the moment."
+
+"But," added I, "how can an attempt which destroys individual talents be
+favorable to literature in general?"
+
+"The extremes and excrescences which I have described," returned Goethe,
+"will gradually disappear; but at last this great advantage will
+remain--besides a freer form, richer and more diversified subjects will
+have been attained, and no object of the broadest world and the most
+manifold life will be any longer excluded as unpoetical. I compare the
+present literary epoch to a state of violent fever, which is not in
+itself good and desirable, but of which improved health is the happy
+consequence. That abomination which now often constitutes the whole
+subject of a poetical work, will in future only appear as an useful
+expedient; aye, the pure and the noble, which is now abandoned for the
+moment, will soon be resought with additional ardor."
+
+"It is surprising to me," remarked I, "that even Mérimée, who is one of
+your favorites, has entered upon this ultra-romantic path, through the
+horrible subjects of his _Guzla_."
+
+"Mérimée," returned Goethe, "has treated these things very differently
+from his fellow-authors. These poems certainly are not deficient in
+various horrible _motives_, such as churchyards, nightly crossways,
+ghosts and vampires; but the repulsive themes do not touch the intrinsic
+merit of the poet. On the contrary, he treats them from a certain
+objective distance, and, as it were, with irony. He goes to work with
+them like an artist, to whom it is an amusement to try anything of the
+sort. He has, as I have said before, quite renounced himself, nay, he
+has ever renounced the Frenchman, and that to such a degree that at
+first these poems of Guzla were deemed real Illyrian popular poems, and
+thus little was wanting for the success of the imposition he had
+intended."
+
+"Mérimée," continued Goethe, "is indeed a thorough fellow! Indeed,
+generally, more power and genius are required for the objective
+treatment of a subject than is supposed. Thus, too, Lord Byron,
+notwithstanding his predominant personality, has sometimes had the power
+of renouncing himself altogether, as may be seen in some of his dramatic
+pieces, particularly in his _Marino Faliero_. In this piece one quite
+forgets that Lord Byron, or even an Englishman, wrote it. We live
+entirely in Venice, and entirely in the time in which the action takes
+place. The personages speak quite from themselves and from their own
+condition, without having any of the subjective feelings, thoughts, and
+opinions of the poet. That is as it should be. Of our young French
+romantic writers of the exaggerating sort, one cannot say as much. What
+I have read of them--poems, novels, dramatic works--have all borne the
+personal coloring of the author, and none of them ever makes me forget
+that a Parisian--that a Frenchman--wrote them. Even in the treatment of
+foreign subjects one still remains in France and Paris, quite absorbed
+in all the wishes, necessities, conflicts, and fermentations of the
+present day."
+
+"Béranger also," I threw in experimentally, "has only expressed the
+situation of the great metropolis, and his own interior."
+
+"That is a man," said Goethe, "whose power of representation and whose
+interior are worth something. In him is all the substance of an
+important personality. Béranger is a nature most happily endowed, firmly
+grounded in himself, purely developed from himself, and quite in harmony
+with himself. He has never asked--what would suit the times? what
+produces an effect? what pleases? what are others doing?--in order that
+he might do the like. He has always worked only from the core of his own
+nature, without troubling himself as to what the public, or what this or
+that party, expects. He has certainly, at different critical epochs,
+been influenced by the mood, wishes, and necessities of the people; but
+that has only confirmed him in himself, by proving to him that his own
+nature is in harmony with that of the people; and has never seduced him
+into expressing anything but what already lay in his heart.
+
+"You know that I am, upon the whole, no friend to what is called
+political poems, but such as Béranger has composed I can tolerate. With
+him there is nothing snatched out of the air, nothing of merely imagined
+or imaginary interest; he never shoots at random; but, on the contrary,
+has always the most decided, the most important subjects. His
+affectionate admiration of Napoleon, and his reminiscences of the great
+warlike deeds which were performed under him, and that at a time when
+these recollections were a consolation to the somewhat oppressed French;
+then his hatred of the domination of priests, and of the darkness which
+threatened to return with the Jesuits--these are things to which one
+cannot refuse hearty sympathy. And how masterly is his treatment on all
+occasions! How he turns about and rounds off every subject in his own
+mind before he expresses it! And then, when all is matured, what wit,
+spirit, irony, and persiflage, and what heartiness, naivete, and grace,
+are unfolded at every step! His songs have every year made millions of
+joyous men; they always flow glibly from the tongue, even with the
+working-classes, whilst they are so far elevated above the level of the
+commonplace, that the populace, in converse with these pleasant spirits,
+becomes accustomed and compelled to think itself better and nobler. What
+more would you have? and, altogether, what higher praise could be given
+to a poet?"
+
+"He is excellent, unquestionably!" returned I. "You know how I loved him
+for years, and can imagine how it gratifies me to hear you speak of him
+thus. But if I must say which of his songs I prefer, his amatory poems
+please me more than his political, in which the particular references
+and allusions are not always clear to me."
+
+"That happens to be your case," returned Goethe; "the political poems
+were not written for you; but ask the French, and they will tell you
+what is good in them. Besides, a political poem, under the most
+fortunate circumstances, is to be looked upon only as the organ of a
+single nation, and, in most cases, only as the organ of a single party;
+but it is seized with enthusiasm by this nation and this party when it
+is good. Again, a political poem should always be looked upon as the
+mere result of a certain state of the times; which passes by, and with
+respect to succeeding times takes from the poem the value which it
+derived from the subject. As for Béranger, his was no hard task. Paris
+is France. All the important interests of his great country are
+concentrated in the capital, and there have their proper life and their
+proper echo. Besides, in most of his political songs he is by no means
+to be regarded as the mere organ of a single party; on the contrary, the
+things against which he writes are for the most part of so universal and
+national an interest, that the poet is almost always heard as a great
+_voice_ of the people. With us, in Germany, such a thing is not
+possible. We have no city, nay, we have no country, of which we could
+decidedly say--_Here is Germany_! If we inquire in Vienna, the answer
+is--this is Austria! and if in Berlin, the answer is--this is Prussia!
+Only sixteen years ago, when we tried to get rid of the French, was
+Germany everywhere. Then a political poet could have had an universal
+effect; but there was no need of one! The universal necessity, and the
+universal feeling of disgrace, had seized upon the nation like something
+dæmonic; the inspiring fire which the poet might have kindled was
+already burning everywhere of its own accord. Still, I will not deny
+that Arndt, Körner, and Rückert, have had some effect."
+
+"You have been reproached," remarked I, rather inconsiderately, "for not
+taking up arms at that great period, or at least cooperating as a poet."
+
+"Let us leave that point alone, my good friend," returned Goethe. "It is
+an absurd world, which does not know what it wants, and which one must
+allow to have its own way. How could I take up arms without hatred, and
+how could I hate without youth? If such an emergency had befallen me
+when twenty years old, I should certainly not have been the last; but it
+found me as one who had already passed the first sixties.
+
+"Besides, we cannot all serve our country in the same way, but each does
+his best, according as God has endowed him. I have toiled hard enough
+during half a century. I can say, that in those things which nature has
+appointed for my daily work, I have permitted myself no repose or
+relaxation night or day, but have always striven, investigated, and done
+as much, and that as well, as I could. If every one can say the same of
+himself, it will prove well with all."
+
+"The fact is," said I, by way of conciliation, "that you should not be
+vexed at that reproach, but should rather feel flattered at it. For what
+does it show but that the opinion of the world concerning you is so
+great that it desires that he who has done more for the culture of his
+nation than any other should at last do everything!"
+
+"I will not say what I think," returned Goethe. "There is more ill-will
+towards me hidden beneath that remark than you are aware of. I feel
+therein a new form of the old hatred with which people have persecuted
+me, and endeavored quietly to wound me for years. I know very well that
+I am an eyesore to many; that they would all willingly get rid of me;
+and that, since they cannot touch my talent, they aim at my character.
+Now, it is said, I am proud; now, egotistical; now, full of envy towards
+young men of genius; now, immersed in sensuality; now, without
+Christianity; and now, without love for my native country, and my own
+dear Germans. You have now known me sufficiently for years, and you feel
+what all that talk is worth. But if you would learn what I have
+suffered, read my '_Xenien_', and it will be clear to you, from my
+retorts, how people have from time to time sought to embitter my life.
+
+"A German author is a German martyr! Yes, my friend, you will not find
+it otherwise! And I myself can scarcely complain; none of the others has
+fared better--most have fared worse; and in England and France it is
+quite the same as with us. What did not Molière suffer? What Rousseau
+and Voltaire? Byron was driven from England by evil tongues, and would
+have fled to the end of the world, if an early death had not delivered
+him from the Philistines and their hatred.
+
+"And if it were only the narrow-minded masses that persecuted noble men!
+But no! one gifted man and one genius persecutes another; Platen
+scandalizes Heine, and Heine Platen, and each seeks to make the other
+hateful; while the world is wide enough for all to live and to let live;
+and every one has an enemy in his own talent, who gives him quite enough
+to do.
+
+"To write military songs, and sit in a room! That forsooth was my duty!
+To have written them in the bivouac, when the horses at the enemy's
+outposts are heard neighing at night, would have been well enough;
+however, that was not my life and not my business, but that of Theodore
+Körner. His war-songs suit him perfectly. But to me, who am not of a
+warlike nature, and who have no warlike sense, war-songs would have been
+a mask which would have fitted my face very badly.
+
+"I have never affected anything in my poetry. I have never uttered
+anything which I have not experienced, and which has not urged me to
+production. I have composed love-songs only when I have loved. How could
+I write songs of hatred without hating! And, between ourselves, I did
+not hate the French, although I thanked God that we were free from them.
+How could I, to whom culture and barbarism are alone of importance, hate
+a nation which is among the most cultivated of the earth, and to which I
+owe so great a part of my own cultivation?
+
+"Altogether," continued Goethe, "national hatred is something peculiar.
+You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the
+lowest degree of culture. But there is a degree where it vanishes
+altogether, and where one stands to a certain extent above nations, and
+feels the weal or woe of a neighboring people, as if it had happened to
+one's own. This degree of culture was conformable to my nature, and I
+had become strengthened in it long before I had reached my sixtieth
+year."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1832.
+
+_Sunday_, March 11.--The conversation turned upon the great men who had
+lived before Christ, among the Chinese, the Indians, the Persians, and
+the Greeks; and it was remarked, that the divine power had been as
+operative in them as in some of the great Jews of the Old Testament. We
+then came to the question how far God influenced the great natures of
+the present world in which we live?
+
+"To hear people speak," said Goethe, "one would almost believe that they
+were of opinion that God had withdrawn into silence since those old
+times, and that man was now placed quite upon his own feet, and had to
+see how he could get on without God, and his daily invisible breath. In
+religious and moral matters a divine influence is indeed still allowed,
+but in matters of science and art it is believed that they are merely
+earthly and nothing but the product of human powers.
+
+[Illustration: SCHILLER'S GARDEN HOUSE AT JENA Drawing by Goethe]
+
+"Let any one only try, with human will and human power, to produce
+something which may be compared with the creations that bear the names
+of Mozart, Raphael, or Shakespeare. I know very well that these three
+noble beings are not the only ones, and that in every province of art
+innumerable excellent geniuses have operated, who have produced things
+as perfectly good as those just mentioned. But if they were as great as
+those, they rose above ordinary human nature, and in the same proportion
+were as divinely endowed as they.
+
+"And, after all, what does it all come to? God did not retire to rest
+after the well-known six days of creation, but, on the contrary, is
+constantly active as on the first. It would have been for Him a poor
+occupation to compose this heavy world out of simple elements, and to
+keep it rolling in the sunbeams from year to year, if He had not had the
+plan of founding a nursery for a world of spirits upon this material
+basis. So He is now constantly active in higher natures to attract the
+lower ones."
+
+Goethe was silent. But I cherished his great and good words in my heart.
+
+_Early in March_.[23]--Goethe mentioned at table that he had received a
+visit from Baron Carl Von Spiegel, and that he had been pleased with him
+beyond measure.
+
+"He is a very fine young man," said Goethe; "in his mien and manners he
+has something by which the nobleman is seen at once. He could as little
+dissemble his descent as any one could deny a higher intellect; for
+birth and intellect both give him who once possesses them a stamp which
+no incognito can conceal. Like beauty, these are powers which one cannot
+approach without feeling that they are of a higher nature."
+
+_Some days later_.--We talked of the tragic idea of Destiny among the
+Greeks.
+
+"It no longer suits our way of thinking," said Goethe; "it is obsolete,
+and is also in contradiction with our religious views. If a modern poet
+introduces such antique ideas into a drama, it always has an air of
+affectation. It is a costume which is long since out of fashion, and
+which, like the Roman toga, no longer suits us.
+
+"It is better for us moderns to say with Napoleon, 'Politics are
+Destiny.' But let us beware of saying, with our latest literati, that
+politics are poetry, or a suitable subject for the poet. The English
+poet Thomson wrote a very good poem on the Seasons, but a very bad one
+on Liberty, and that not from want of poetry in the poet, but from want
+of poetry in the subject."
+
+"If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party;
+and so soon as he does that, he is lost as a poet; he must bid farewell
+to his free spirit, his unbiased view, and draw over his ears the cap of
+bigotry and blind hatred.
+
+"The poet, as a man and citizen, will love his native land; but the
+native land of his poetic powers and poetic action is the good, noble,
+and beautiful, which is confined to no particular province or country,
+and which he seizes upon and forms wherever he finds it. Therein is he
+like the eagle, who hovers with free gaze over whole countries, and to
+whom it is of no consequence whether the hare on which he pounces is
+running in Prussia or in Saxony.
+
+"And, then, what is meant by love of one's country? What is meant by
+patriotic deeds? If the poet has employed a life in battling with
+pernicious prejudices, in setting aside narrow views, in enlightening
+the minds, purifying the tastes, ennobling the feelings and thoughts of
+his countrymen, what better could he have done? How could he have acted
+more patriotically?
+
+"To make such ungrateful and unsuitable demands upon a poet is just as
+if one required the captain of a regiment to show himself a patriot, by
+taking part in political innovations and thus neglecting his proper
+calling. The captain's country is his regiment, and he will show himself
+an excellent patriot by troubling himself about political matters only
+so far as they concern him, and bestowing all his mind and all his
+care on the battalions under him, trying so to train and discipline them
+that they may do their duty if ever their native land should be in
+peril.
+
+[Illustration: THE MOAT AT JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+"I hate all bungling like sin, but most of all bungling in
+state-affairs, which produces nothing but mischief to thousands and
+millions.
+
+"You know that, on the whole, I care little what is written about me;
+but yet it comes to my ears, and I know well enough that, hard as I have
+toiled all my life, all my labors are as nothing in the eyes of certain
+people, just because I have disdained to mingle in political parties. To
+please such people I must have become a member of a Jacobin club, and
+preached bloodshed and murder. However, not a word more upon this
+wretched subject, lest I become unwise in railing against folly."
+
+In the same manner he blamed the political course, so much praised by
+others, of Uhland.
+
+"Mind," said he, "the politician will devour the poet. To be a member of
+the States, and to live amid daily jostlings and excitements, is not for
+the delicate nature of a poet. His song will cease, and that is in some
+sort to be lamented. Swabia has plenty of men, sufficiently well
+educated, well meaning, able, and eloquent, to be members of the States,
+but only one poet of Uhland's class."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last stranger whom Goethe entertained as his guest was the eldest
+son of Frau von Arnim; the last words he wrote were some verses in the
+album of this young friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once
+again upon his earthly garment. His faithful servant, Frederic, opened
+for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he
+reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the
+features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet
+to harbor thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence
+prevented me from cutting it off. The body lay naked, wrapped only in a
+white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it
+fresh as long as possible. Frederic drew aside the sheet, and I was
+astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. The breast was
+powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were full, and softly
+muscular; the feet were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere,
+on the whole body, was there a trace either of fat or of leanness and
+decay. A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture
+which the sight caused made me forget for a moment that the immortal
+spirit had left such an abode. I laid my hand on his heart--there was a
+deep silence--and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed
+tears.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW INTO THE SAALE VALLEY NEAR JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+
+
+LETTERS TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH.D. GOETHE TO KAROLINE VON HUMBOLDT
+
+January 25, 1804.
+
+How many an hour have I thought of you with genuine and lively interest;
+and nearly every time I have marveled at the outrageous intention which
+correspondents can express, that, when far apart, they will write to
+each other once a month. Distance absolutely precludes interest in
+trifles that are close to us; how can we tell each other our daily joys
+and sorrows, when the voice which speaks must wait so long for the sound
+of the answering voice; and then those unexpected chances happen which
+in an instant destroy our careful plans so that, when we would continue,
+we know not where we should begin.
+
+This time, in remembrance of so much that has passed, and in
+anticipation of so much that is to be, I intend to write you a long
+letter that the stream may run once more.
+
+Meanwhile you have suffered a bitter loss, of which I shall not speak. I
+trust that all the agencies which nature has contrived for man to
+alleviate such woes may have been and may in the future be at your
+behest; for they alone can repair the evil they have wrought.
+
+Fernow has come to us; he bears himself gallantly and well, though an
+unfortunate fever has given him a deal of trouble. Since he is in
+earnest about what he does, and is essentially of an honest disposition,
+we are having a good, profitable, and pleasant time together.
+
+Riemer is staying with my August, and I hope they will get along right
+well together.
+
+Schiller is continually advancing with great strides, as usual; his
+_Tell_ is magnificently planned and, so far as I have seen it, executed
+in masterly fashion.
+
+I myself have been placed, by the swindling spirit which has come over
+the gentlemen of Jena, and especially over the proprietors of the
+_Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung_, under the lamentable necessity of again
+laboring in person on behalf of this antiquated body of municipal
+teachers, wherein I have lost nearly four months of my own time--not
+precisely because I did much, but because, notwithstanding, everything
+had to be done, and everything that must be done takes time; and thus
+for the last three months I have been unable to present you with even a
+single little poem.
+
+Meanwhile life has brought us much of interest. Professor Wolf of Halle
+spent two weeks with us; Johannes von Müller is here now; and for four
+weeks Madame de Staël has also honored us with her presence.
+
+The drawings of the late Herr Carstens, which Fernow brought with him,
+have given me much pleasure, since through them I have first learned to
+know this rare talent, which, alas, was held back by circumstances in
+earlier days, and which at last was mown down even yet unripe.
+
+A couple of large pictures by Hackert have arrived, and anything more
+perfect, as faithful copies of reality, could scarcely be imagined.
+
+As to my studies and hobbies, I do not know whether I have ever said
+anything to you about my collection of modern medals in bronze and
+copper, beginning with the second half of the fifteenth century, and
+coming down to the most recent times.
+
+I chanced upon this in connection with my revision of Cellini; for,
+since in the north we must be content with crumbs, it seemed possible
+for me to gain even an approximately clear survey of plastic art only
+through the aid of original medals from the various centuries, which, as
+is generally known, invariably kept close to the sculpture of their
+time. Through exertion, favor, and good fortune I have already
+succeeded extremely well in making a rather important collection. Permit
+me to include a couple of commissions and desiderata.
+
+1. For a couple of old medals said to be in the possession of
+Mercandetti.[24]
+
+2. For papal medals from Innocent XIII inclusive; I have very fine
+specimens of Hamerani's[25] medals of Clement XI.
+
+3. For a medal to be ordered from Mercandetti, a commission which I
+especially urge both on you and on Humboldt; for the enterprise is, I
+must admit, a serious one; in the long run, some satisfaction may
+probably be gained; but should it fail, money will be lost and vexation
+will be the result.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+July 30, 1804.
+
+Months ago I wrote the inclosed sheet to your dear wife. She has
+recently been here, and I have had the pleasure of conversing with her;
+she has, so I hear, safely reached Paris and been delivered. I trust
+that, ere long, she may there embrace your dear brother, who has, in a
+sense, risen for us from the dead. Your precious letter of February 25
+reached me safely in good time, and as I reflect on the long interval
+during which I have left you without news from me, I now note through
+what singular emotions I have passed during this time.
+
+Schiller's _Tell_ has been completed for some time and is now on the
+stage. It is an extraordinary production wherein his dramatic skill puts
+forth new branches, and it justly creates a profound sensation. You will
+surely receive it before long, for it is already in press.
+
+I have permitted myself to be persuaded to try to make my _Götz von
+Berlichingen_ suitable for the stage.
+
+This was an undertaking well-nigh impossible, for its very trend is
+untheatrical; like Penelope, I, too, have ceaselessly woven and unwoven
+it for a year; and in the process I have learned much, though, I fear, I
+have not perfectly attained the end which I had in view. In about six
+weeks I hope to present it, and Schiller will, no doubt, speak to you
+about it.
+
+Have you chanced to see our Jena _Literatur-Zeitung_ for this year, and
+has anything which it contained aroused your interest?
+
+I am extremely grateful to you for the very welcome information which
+you give me regarding an improvisatrice. Could I possibly dare to make
+use of it in the advertising columns of the _Literatur-Zeitung_? What
+you have said I would modify in every way consonant with its relation to
+the public, which needs not know everything. If you could occasionally
+communicate to me some information of this type from the wealth of your
+observations, you would confer a great pleasure upon us.
+
+Since Jagemann's death, Fernow has received an appointment at the
+library of the Duchess Dowager, and his connection with it is of great
+value for her house and for the society which assembles there; he makes
+love for Italian literature a living force and gives occasion for witty
+readings and conversations.
+
+Generally speaking, Weimar is like heaven since the Bottiger goblin [26]
+has been banished; and our school is also going very well indeed. A
+professorship has been given to Voss's eldest son, who inherits from his
+father that fundamental love for antiquity, especially from the
+linguistic side, which, after all, is the principal thing in a teacher
+of the classics.
+
+Riemer also conducts himself very well in my house, and I am fairly
+satisfied with the progress of my boy, who, I must admit, has a greater
+interest in subject-matter than in diction.
+
+Madame de Staël's intention of spending a portion of the summer here has
+been frustrated by her father's death. She has taken Schlegel with her
+from Berlin; they are together in Coppet; and will probably go to Italy
+toward winter. Such a visit would doubtless be more delightful to you,
+dear friend, than many another.
+
+My warmest thanks are due you for sending me the _Odes of Pindar_ in
+translation; they have given a very pleasant hour of recreation to
+Riemer and myself.
+
+I trust to your goodness to see that the inclosed memorandum is
+delivered to Mercandetti, and perhaps to confer with him in person about
+the matter. Then among your ministering spirits you perhaps have some
+one who would keep an eye on the affair in future. I should be glad if
+our old patron[27] were given such a public token of gratitude, which
+should also be noteworthy from the artistic side, but it must be
+acknowledged that it is always a daring venture to place any order at
+such a distance, and, therefore, I entreat your friendly participation.
+
+Above all things it is important that Mercandetti should make a moderate
+charge. He demands three piasters for his Alfieri, which he offers for
+sale and which is said to be as large as his Galvani. If, now, he asks
+somewhat more for the archchancellor's medal, which is ordered and which
+is not supposed to be any larger, surely the extra expense should not be
+much, and if it is relatively cheap, I am confident of securing him two
+hundred subscribers. As has already been noted in the memorandum, he
+will render himself better known in Germany through this medal than
+through any other work, a fact which cannot fail to be of great moment
+to him in the series of distinguished men of the previous century, which
+he intends to issue. Forgive me for adding this new burden to your many
+duties, and yet endeavor to conduct the affair so that it will not
+require much writing to and fro, and so that, in his reply to the
+memorandum, Mercandetti will accept our offer. Letters are now delayed
+intolerably; one from Florence here takes twenty days, and more.
+
+It comforts me greatly that you have been pleased with my _Natural
+Daughter_, for though at times I long remain silent toward my absent
+friends, my desire is, nevertheless, suddenly to resume relations with
+them through that which I have toiled over in silence. Unfortunately, I
+have given up this play, and do not know when I shall be able to resume
+work on it.
+
+Have you seen the twenty lyric poems which have been published by me in
+my _Annual_ of this year? Among them are some that ought not to
+displease you. Do not render like for like, but write me soon.
+Communicate to me many observations on lands, nations, men, and
+languages, which are so instructive and so stimulating. Do not delay,
+moreover, to give me some information regarding your own health and that
+of your dear wife.
+
+Weimar, July 30, 1804.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+August 31, 1812.
+
+Faithful to its nature, Teplitz continues to be, esteemed friend,
+unfavorable to our coming together. This inconvenience is doubly
+vexatious to me now that, after your departure from Karlsbad, I
+deliberately thought over the value of your presence, and wished to
+continue our interviews. I was especially grieved that your beautiful
+presentation of the manner in which languages received their expansion
+over the world was not completely drawn up, although the most of it
+remained with me. If you wish to give me a real proof of friendship,
+have the kindness to write out for me such an abstract, and I shall
+have a hemispherical map colored for myself accordingly and add it to
+Lesage's _Atlas_, since, in view of my residence abroad for so much of
+the year, I am compelled to think more and more of my general need of a
+compendious and tabulated traveling library. Thus, with the assistance
+of Aulic Councillor Meyer, the history of the plastic arts and of
+painting is now being written on the margin of Bredow's _Tabellen_, and
+thus in a very large number of cases your linguistic map will help to
+refresh my memory and serve as a guide in much of my reading.
+
+I would gladly have spoken with you in detail regarding Berlin and all
+that which, according to your previous preparations and suggestions, is
+going on there. Great cities always contain within themselves the image
+of whole empires, and even though distorted by exaggerations which
+degenerate into caricature, they nevertheless present the nation in
+concentrated form to the eye.
+
+State Councillor Langermann, whose good will and energy are so
+beautifully balanced, has now delighted me for two weeks with his
+instructive conversation, and both by word and by example revived my
+courage for many things which I had been on the point of abandoning. It
+is very enlivening indeed to re-behold the world in its entirety through
+the medium of a truly energetic man; for the Germans seldom know how to
+inspire in details, and never as a whole.
+
+I here find an entirely natural transition to the information which you
+give me--that our friend Wolf is not satisfied with Niebuhr's work,
+although he preëminently should have had reason to be. I feel, however,
+very calm about it, for I value Wolf infinitely when he works and acts,
+but I have never known him to be sympathetic, especially as regards the
+affairs of the present, and herein he is a true German. Moreover, he
+knows entirely too much to permit himself to be instructed further and
+not to discover the gaps in the knowledge of others. He has his own
+mode of thought; how should he recognize the merits of the views of
+others? And the great endowments which he possesses are the very ones
+which are adapted to rouse and to maintain the spirit of contradiction
+and of rejection.
+
+As to myself, a layman, I have been very greatly indebted to Niebuhr's
+first volume, and I hope that the second will increase my gratitude
+toward him. I am very curious about his development of the _lex
+agraria_. We have heard of it from the time of our youth without gaining
+any clear conception of it. How pleasant it is to listen to a learned
+and original man on such a theme, especially in these days, when the
+summons comes for a more free and unprejudiced consideration of the law
+of states and nations, as well as of all the relations of civil law. It
+becomes obvious what an advantage it is to know little, and to have
+forgotten very much of that little. I never love to mingle in the
+wrangles of the day, but I cannot forego the delight of quietly snapping
+my fingers at them. I trust that the small leaf inclosed may win a smile
+from you.
+
+I beg you to give my best regards to your wife, and convey my kindest
+greetings to the Körners. When the young man [28] again has anything
+ready, I beg that it may be sent me at once. This time I should be most
+happy to receive a rather large article for January 30, the birthday of
+the duchess. A thousand fare-you-wells!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, February 8, 1813.
+
+With sincere thanks I recognize the fact that you have been able so
+quickly and so perfectly to fulfil your friendly promise. Your
+beautiful sketch has given me an entirely new impulse to studies of all
+sorts. It is no longer possible for me to collect materials; but when
+they are brought to me in so concentrated a form, it becomes a source of
+very real pleasure for me speedily to fill the gaps in my knowledge and
+to discover a thousand relations to what information I already possess.
+
+As soon as I can spend a few quiet weeks at Jena in March, I shall get
+about my task, which, after your preliminary work, is in reality only a
+pastime. Bertuch has had some maps of Europe printed for me in a
+brownish tint. One of these is to be laid on a large drawing-board, and
+the boundaries are to be colored. I shall then indicate the main
+languages and, so far as possible, the dialects as well, by attaching
+little slips; and Bertuch is not unwilling then to have such a map
+engraved, an easy task in his great establishment which is provided with
+artists of every kind. Please have the kindness, therefore, to proceed
+and to send me the continuation at the earliest possible moment. A map
+of the two hemispheres is now ready and is to have the languages
+indicated in like fashion. From my inmost heart I wish success to your
+translation of Æschylus, which continually becomes more and more
+elaborate, and I rejoice that you have not let yourself be frightened
+away from this good work by the threats of the Heidelberg Cyclops[29]
+and his crew. At the present moment they menace our friend Wolf, who
+certainly is no kitten, with ignominious execution, because he also
+dared to land on the translation island which they have received from
+Father Neptune in private fief, and to bring with him a readable
+Aristophanes. It is written, "Blessed are the dead which die in the
+Lord," but still more blessed are they who go mad over some
+conceitedness.
+
+Our friend Wieland is blessed in the first sense; he has died in his
+Lord, and without particular suffering has passed over to his gods and
+heroes. What talent and spirit, learning, common sense, receptivity,
+and versatility, conjoined with industry and endurance, can accomplish,
+_utile nobis proposuit exemplar_. If every man would so employ his gifts
+and his time, what marvels would then take place!
+
+I have passed my winter as usual, much distracted with my work, yet with
+tolerable health, so that it has gone quickly and not without profit. In
+November and December my plans were disarranged by theatrical
+preparations for the long-expected Iffland, who did not come till toward
+the close of the year, and also by preparations for his performances,
+which gave me great pleasure. In January and February there were four
+birthdays, when either our inventive genius or our collaboration was
+demanded; and thus much has been frittered away, willingly, to be sure,
+but fruitlessly.
+
+What I have done meanwhile with pleasure and real interest has been to
+make a renewed effort to find among extant monuments a trace of those of
+which descriptions have come down to us. Philostrati were again the
+order of the day, and as to the statues, I believe that I have got on
+the track of the Olympian Zeus, on which so many preliminary studies
+have already been made, and also on that of the Hera of Samos, the
+Doryphorus of Polycletes, and especially on that of the Cow of Myron and
+of the bull that carried Europa. Meyer, whose history of ancient art,
+now written in a fair copy, furnished the chief inspiration, takes a
+lively interest, since both his doubt and his agreement are invariably
+well-founded.
+
+And thus I shall now close for this time, in the hope of soon seeing
+something from your dear hand once more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Tennstädt, September 1, 1816. The great work to which you, dearest
+friend, have devoted a large portion of your life, could not have
+reached me at a better time; it finds me here in Tennstädt, a little
+provincial Thuringian bathing town which is probably not entirely
+unknown to you. Here I have now been for five weeks, and alone, since my
+friend Meyer left me.
+
+Here, at first, I indulged in a cursory reading both of the introduction
+and of the drama[30] itself, to my no small edification; and inasmuch as
+I am now, for the second time, enjoying the details together with the
+whole, I will no longer withhold my thanks for this gift.
+
+For even though one sympathetically concerns one's self with all the
+praiseworthy and with all the good that the most ancient and the most
+modern times afford, nevertheless, such a pre-ancient giant figure,
+formed like a prodigy, appears amazing to us, and we must collect all
+our senses to stand over against it in an attitude even approximately
+worthy of it. At such a moment there is no doubt that here the work of
+all works of art is seen, or, in more moderate language, a model of the
+highest type. That we now can control this easily is our indebtedness to
+you; and continuous thanks must fervently reward your efforts, though in
+themselves they bring their own reward.
+
+This drama has always been to me one of those most worthy of
+consideration, and through your interest it has been made accessible
+earlier than the rest. But, more than ever, the texture of this primeval
+tapestry now seems most marvelous to me; past, present, and future are
+so happily interwoven that the reader himself becomes the seer, that is,
+he becomes like unto God, and yet, in the last resort, that is the
+triumph of all poetry in the greatest and in the least.
+
+But if we here perceive how the poet had at his service each and every
+means by which so tremendous an effort may be produced, we cannot
+refrain from the highest admiration. How happily the epic, lyric, and
+dramatic diction is interwoven, not compelling, but enticing us to
+sympathize with such cruel fates! And how well the scanty didactic
+reflection becomes the chorus as it speaks! All this cannot receive too
+high a mead of praise.
+
+Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering. I
+could truly continue thus forever, and tell you what you yourself have
+long since better known. Thus I have once more been astonished to see
+that each character, except Clytemnestra, the linker of evil unto evil,
+has her exclusive Aristeia, so that each one acts an entire poem, and
+does not return later for the possible purpose of again burdening us
+with her affairs. In every good poem poetry in its entirety must be
+contained; but this is a flugleman.
+
+The ideas in your introduction regarding synonymy are precious; would
+that our linguistic purists were imbued with them! We will not, however,
+contaminate such lofty affairs with the lamentable blunders whereby the
+German nation is corrupting its language from the very foundation, an
+evil which will not be perceived for thirty years.
+
+You, however, my dearest friend, be and remain blessed for the
+benefaction which you have done us. This your _Agamemnon_ shall never
+again leave my side.
+
+I cannot judge the rhythmic merit, but I believe I feel it. Our
+admirable, talented, and original friend Wolf--although he becomes
+intractable in case of contradiction--who spent a number of days with
+me, speaks very highly of your careful work. It will be instructive to
+see how the Heidelberg gentlemen[31] conduct themselves.
+
+Let me have a word from you before you go to Paris, and give my
+greetings to your dear wife. How much I had wished to see you this
+summer, for so many things are in progress on every side that only days
+suffice to consider what is to be furthered and how. Fortunately for me,
+nothing is approaching that I must absolutely refuse, even though
+everything is not undertaken and conducted according to my convictions.
+And it is precisely this bitter-sweet which can be treated only orally
+and in person.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, June 22, 1823.
+
+Your letter, dear and honored friend, came at a remarkable juncture
+which made it doubly interesting; Schiller's letters had just been
+collected, and I was looking them through from the very first, finding
+there the most charming traces of the happy and fruitful hours which we
+passed together. The invitation to the _Horen_ is contained in the first
+letter of June 13, 1794; then the correspondence continues, and with
+every letter admiration for Schiller's extraordinary spirit and joy over
+his influence on our entire development increases in intensity and
+elevation. His letters are an infinite treasure, of which you also
+possess rich store; and as, through them, we have made noteworthy
+progress, so we must read them again to be protected against backward
+steps to which the precious world about us is inclined to tempt us day
+by day and hour by hour.
+
+Just imagine to yourself now, my dearest friend, how highly welcome your
+announcement seemed to me at this moment when, after ripe reflection, I
+desired to give you very friendly counsel to visit us toward the end of
+October. Should the gods not dispose otherwise concerning us, you will
+surely find me, and whatever else is near and dear to you, assembled
+here; quiet, personal communication may very happily alternate with
+social recreations, and, above all things, we can take delight in
+Schiller's correspondence, since then you will also bring with you the
+letters of several years, and in the fruitful present we may edify and
+refresh ourselves with the fair bloom of by-gone days. Riemer sends his
+very best greetings; he is well; our relation is permanent, mutually
+beneficial, and profitable. Aulic Councillor Meyer has left for
+Wiesbaden; unfortunately, his health is not of the best.
+
+Two new numbers of _Ueber Kunst und Alterthum_ and _Zur
+Naturwissenschaft_ are about to appear--the fruits of my winter's
+labors. Fortunately, they have been so carefully prepared that no
+noteworthy hindrance was presented by my troubles and by the subsequent
+illness of our Grand Duchess, which filled us all, especially my
+convalescent self, with fear and anxiety.
+
+Please give my kindest regards to your wife, and, by the way, I need not
+assure you that you will certainly be most highly welcome to our most
+gracious court. In my household children and grandchildren will meet you
+with joyous faces; our nearest friends we shall assemble as we wish. If
+in the interval you should have some message for me, I beg you to send
+it to my address here, for then it will reach me most quickly.
+
+And now I again send the very best of all kind greetings to your dear
+wife; may good fortune bring me once more to her side. Pardon a somewhat
+distracted way of writing, indicative of packing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 22, 1826.
+
+Your letter and package, most honored friend, gave me a very welcome
+token of your continuous remembrance and friendly sympathy. I wish,
+however, that I might have received an equal assurance of your good
+health. For my own part, I cannot complain; a ship that is no longer a
+deep-sea sailer may perhaps still be useful as a coaster.
+
+I have passed the entire summer at home, laboring undisturbed at editing
+my works. Possibly you still remember, my dearest friend, a dramatic
+_Helena_, which was to appear in the second part of _Faust_. From
+Schiller's letters at the beginning of the century I see that I showed
+him the commencement of it, and also that he, with true friendship,
+counseled me to continue it. It is one of my oldest conceptions, resting
+on the marionette tradition that Faust compelled Mephistopheles to
+produce Helen of Troy for his nuptials. From time to time I have
+continued to work on it, but the piece could not be completed except in
+the fulness of time, for its action has now covered three thousand
+years, from the fall of Troy to the capture of Missolonghi. This can,
+therefore, also be regarded as a unity of time in the higher sense of
+the term; the unities of place and action are, however, likewise most
+carefully regarded in the usual acceptation of the word. It appears
+under the title:
+
+      Helena
+
+    Classico-Romantic Phantasmagoria.
+
+      Interlude to Faust.
+
+This says little indeed, and yet enough, I hope, to direct your
+attention more vividly to the first instalment of my works which I hope
+to present at Easter.
+
+I next ask, with more confidence, whether perchance you still remember
+an epic poem which I had in mind immediately after the completion of
+_Hermann and Dorothea_--in a modern hunt a tiger and a lion were
+concerned. At the time you dissuaded me from elaborating the idea, and I
+abandoned it; now, in searching through old papers, I find the plot
+again, and cannot refrain from executing it in prose; for it may then
+pass as a tale, a rubric under which an extremely large amount of
+remarkable stuff circulates.
+
+Very recently there has reached my hermitage the portrayal of the very
+active life of a man of the world, which highly entertains me--the
+journal of Duke Bernhard of Weimar, who left Ghent in April, 1825, and
+who returned to us only a short time past. It is written
+uninterruptedly, and since his station, his mode of thought, and his
+demeanor introduced him to the highest circles of society, and since he
+was at ease among the middle classes and did not disdain the most
+humble, his reader is very agreeably conducted through most diverse
+situations, which, for me at least, it was highly important to survey
+directly.
+
+Now, however, I must assure you that the outline which you have sent is
+extremely profitable to Riemer and myself, and has given a most
+admirable opportunity for discussions on linguistics and philosophy. I
+am by no means averse to the literature of India, but I am afraid of it;
+for it draws my imaginative power towards the formless and the deformed,
+against which I am forced to guard myself more than ever; but if it
+comes over the signature of a valued friend, it will always be welcome,
+for it gives me the desired opportunity to converse with him on what
+interests him, and what must certainly be of importance.
+
+Now, as I prepare to close, I simply say that I am engaged in combining
+and uniting the scattered _Wanderings of Wilhelm Meister_, in its old
+and new portions, as two volumes. While engaged in which task nothing
+could give me greater delight than to welcome the chief of wanderers,
+your highly esteemed brother, to our house, and to learn directly of his
+ceaseless activity; nor do I fail to express my hearty wishes to your
+dear wife for the best results from the cure which she is seeking in
+such lofty regions.
+
+And so, for ever and ever, in truest sympathy, GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 19, 1830.
+
+How often during these weeks, my dear and honored friend, have I sought
+refuge at your side, again taken out your magnificent letters, and found
+refreshment in them!
+
+As almost in an instant the earthquake of Lisbon caused its influences
+to be felt in the remotest lakes and springs, so we also have been
+shaken directly by that western explosion, as was the case forty years
+ago.
+
+How comforting it must have been for me in such moments to take up your
+priceless letters, you yourself will feel and graciously express.
+Through a decided antithesis I was carried back to those times when we
+felt mutually pledged to procure a preliminary culture, when, united
+with our great and noble friend, we strove after concrete truths, and
+most faithfully and diligently sought to attain all that was most
+beautiful and sublime in the world about us, for the edification of our
+willing, yearning spirits, and to fill to its full an atmosphere which
+required substance and contents.
+
+How beautiful and splendid is it now that you should lay the foundations
+for your latest composition (_Review of Goethe's Italian Travels_) in
+that happy soil, that you should seek to explain me and my endeavors at
+that laborious time, and that attentively and lovingly you should have
+traced back that which in my efforts might seem incidental or lacking in
+coherence, in sequence, to a spiritual necessity and to individual
+characteristic combinations.
+
+Here, now, there would be a most beautiful theme for discussion by word
+of mouth. It is impossible to commit to writing how I was mirrored in
+your words; how I received elucidation on many things; how, at the same
+time, I was again challenged to reflect on the many enigmas that ever
+remain unsolved in man, even as regards himself; and seriously to
+reflect on the inner nexus of many qualities which cross in the
+individual and which, despite a certain degree of contradiction, are
+intertwined and united.
+
+Here belongs preëminently my relation to plastic art, to which you have
+devoted an attention so deserving of thanks. It is marvelous enough that
+man feels an irresistible impulse to prosecute what he cannot achieve,
+and yet that by this very process he is most essentially furthered in
+his actual achievements.
+
+That, however, this long-delayed letter may no further lag behind, I
+shall close, but shall, nevertheless, at the same time inform you that,
+while I uttered the sentiments written above, I once more returned to
+your letters, and by seeing myself mirrored in them afresh was
+challenged to new considerations, and was powerfully reminded of those
+times when, united in spirit though not in body, we, already advanced in
+years, enjoyed with the strength of youth and with delight those idyllic
+days.
+
+For six months [32] now my son has shared in the exuberance with which,
+on the priceless peninsula, nature and centuries have, with most
+marvelous intricacy, amassed and destroyed in life, created and
+demolished in the arts, and played with the fates of men and nations.
+
+He went by steamer from Leghorn to Naples, where he may be even yet, a
+decision which, once carried out, has brought very special advantages.
+He found Professor Zahn there, and himself, under this scholar's
+guidance, completely at home both above and below the ground.
+
+Since now you, too, my dearest friend, are accustoming yourself to
+dictating, send me in a happy hour of leisure often a tiny friendly
+word, so that, from time to time, I may more frequently and concretely
+be aware of the coexistence which has already so long been vouched us on
+this terrestrial ball. I tear myself unwillingly from this
+communication; how much I have to say floats before me, but at this time
+I shall delay only to bless the fortunate star which at this moment
+rises over you and your estimable brother. May what has so charmingly
+been inaugurated endure for the enjoyment of rich results to you and to
+us all!
+
+And so ever!
+
+Weimar, October 19, 1830. J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, December 1, 1831.
+
+Already informed by the public press, honored friend, that the beating
+waves of that wild Baltic have exercised so happy an influence on the
+constitution of my dearest friend, I have rejoiced in a high degree,
+and have done all honor and reverence to the waters which so often wreak
+destruction. Your welcome note gave the fairest and the best of all
+substantiation to these good tidings, so that with comfort I could look
+forth from my hermitage over the monastery gardens veiled in snow, since
+I could fancy to myself my dearest friend in his four-towered castle,
+amid roomy surroundings, surveying a landscape over which winter had
+spread far and wide, and at the same time with good courage pursuing to
+the minutest detail his deep-founded tasks.
+
+Generally speaking, I can perhaps say that the apperception of great
+productive maxims of nature absolutely compels us to continue our
+investigations to the minutest possible details, just as the final
+ramifications of the arteries meet, at the extreme finger-tips, the
+nerves to which they are linked. In particular I might perhaps say that
+I have often been brought more closely to you than you probably know;
+for conversations with Riemer very often turn on a word, its
+etymological signification, formation and mutation, relationship, and
+strangeness.
+
+I have been highly grateful to your brother, for whom I find no epithet,
+for several hours of frank, friendly conversation; for although
+assimilation of his theory of geology, and practical work in accordance
+with it, are impossible for my mental process, yet I have seen with true
+sympathy and admiration how that of which I cannot convince myself in
+him obtains a logical coherence and is amalgamated with the tremendous
+mass of his knowledge, where it is then held together by his priceless
+character.
+
+If I may express myself with my old frankness, my most honored friend, I
+gladly admit that in my advanced years everything becomes more and more
+historical to me. Whether a thing has happened in days gone by, in
+distant realms, or very close to myself, is quite immaterial; I even
+seem to become more and more historical to myself; and when, in the
+evening, Plutarch is read to me, I often appear ridiculous to myself,
+should I narrate my biography in this way.
+
+Forgive me expressions of this character! In old age men become
+garrulous, and since I dictate, it is very easy for this natural
+tendency to get the better of me.
+
+Of my _Faust_ there is much and little to say; at a peculiarly happy
+time the apothegm occurred to me:
+
+  "If bards ye are, as ye maintain;
+  Now let your inspiration show it."
+
+And through a mysterious psychological turn, which probably deserves
+investigation, I believe that I have risen to a type of production which
+with entire consciousness has brought forth that which I myself still
+approve of--though perhaps without being able ever again to swim in this
+current--but which Aristotle and other prose-writers would even ascribe
+to a sort of madness. The difficulty of succeeding consisted in the fact
+that the second part of _Faust_--to whose printed portions you have
+possibly devoted some attention--has been pondered for fifty years in
+its ends and aims, and has been elaborated in fragmentary fashion, as
+one or the other situation occurred to me; but the whole has remained
+incomplete.
+
+Now, the second part of _Faust_ demands more of the understanding than
+the first does, and therefore it was necessary to prepare the reader,
+even though he must still supply bridges. The filling of certain gaps
+was obligatory both for historical and for æsthetic unity, and this I
+continued until at last I deemed it advisable to cry:
+
+"Close ye the wat'ring canal; to their fill have the meadows now drunken."
+
+And now I had to take heart to seal the stitched copy in which printed
+and unprinted are thrust side by side, lest I might possibly be led into
+temptation to elaborate it here and there; at the same time I regret
+that I cannot communicate it to, my most valued friends, as the poet so
+gladly does.
+
+I will not send my _Metamorphosis of Plants_, translated, with an
+appendix, by M. Soret, unless certain confessions of life would satisfy
+your friendship. Recently I have become more and more entangled in these
+phenomena of nature; they have enticed me to continue my labors in my
+original field, and have finally compelled me to remain in it. We shall
+see what is to be done there likewise, and shall trust the rest to the
+future, which, between ourselves, we burden with a heavier task than
+would be supposed.
+
+From time to time let us not miss on either side an echo of continued
+existence.
+
+G.
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, March 17, 1832.
+
+After a long, involuntary pause I begin as follows, and yet simply on
+the spur of the moment. Animals, the ancients said, were taught by their
+organs. I add to this, men also, although they have the advantage of
+teaching their organs in return.
+
+For every act, and, consequently, for every talent, an innate tendency
+is requisite, working automatically, and unconsciously carrying with
+itself the necessary predisposition; yet, for this very reason, it works
+on and on inconsequently, so that, although it contains its laws within
+itself, it may, nevertheless, ultimately run out, devoid of end or aim.
+The earlier a man perceives that there is a handicraft or an art which
+will aid him to attain a normal increase of his natural talents, the
+more fortunate is he. Moreover, what he receives from without does not
+impair his innate individuality. The best genius is that which absorbs
+everything within itself, which knows how to adapt everything, without
+prejudicing in the least the real fundamental essence--the quality which
+is called character--so that it becomes the element which truly elevates
+that quality and endows it throughout so far as may be possible.
+
+Here, now, appear the manifold relations between the conscious and the
+unconscious. Imagine a musical talent that is to compose an important
+score; consciousness and unconsciousness will be related like the warp
+and the woof, a simile that I am so fond of using. Through practice,
+teaching, reflection, failure, furtherance, opposition, and renewed
+reflection the organs of man unconsciously unite, in a free activity,
+the acquired and the innate, so that this process creates a unity which
+sets the world in amaze. This generalization may serve as a speedy reply
+to your query and as an explanation of the note that is herewith
+returned.
+
+Over sixty years have passed since, in my youth, the conception of Faust
+lay before me clear from the first, although the entire sequence was
+present in less detailed form. Now, I have always kept my purpose in the
+back of my mind and I have elaborated only the passages that were of
+special interest to me, so that gaps remain in the second part which are
+to be connected with the remainder through the agency of a uniform
+interest. Here, I must admit, appeared the great difficulty of attaining
+through resolution and character what should properly belong only to a
+nature voluntarily active. It would, however, not have been well had
+this not been feasible after so long a life of active reflection, and I
+let no fear assail me that it may be possible to distinguish the older
+from the newer, and the later from the earlier; which point, then, we
+shall intrust to future readers for their friendly examination.
+
+Beyond all question it will give me infinite pleasure to dedicate and
+communicate these very serious jests to my valued, ever thankfully
+recognized, and widely scattered friends while still living, and to
+receive their reply. But, as a matter of fact, the age is so absurd and
+so insane that I am convinced that the candid efforts which I have long
+expended upon this unusual structure would be ill rewarded, and that,
+driven ashore, they will lie like a wreck in ruins and speedily be
+covered over by the sand-dunes of time. In theory and practice,
+confusion rules the world, and I have no more urgent task than to
+augment, wherever possible, what is and has remained within me, and to
+redistill my peculiarities, as you also, worthy friend, surely also do
+in your castle.
+
+But do you likewise tell me something about your work. Riemer is, as you
+doubtless know, absorbed in the same and similar studies, and our
+evening conversations often lead to the confines of this specialty.
+Forgive this delayed letter! Despite my retirement, there is seldom an
+hour when these mysteries of life may be realized.
+
+
+
+
+GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH ZELTER
+
+TRANSLATED BY FRANCES H. KING
+
+LETTER 512
+
+Weimar, July 28, 1803.
+
+I have followed you so often in my thoughts that unfortunately I have
+neglected to do so in writing. Just a few lines today, to accompany the
+inclosed page. Of Mozart's Biography I have heard nothing further, but I
+will inquire about it and also about the author. Your beautiful Queen
+made many happy while on her journey, and no one happier than my mother;
+nothing could have caused her greater joy in her declining years.
+
+Do write me something about the performance of The _Natural Daughter_,
+frankly and without consideration for my feelings. I have a mind anyhow
+to shorten some of the scenes, which must seem long, even if they are
+excellently acted. Will you outline for me sometime the duties of a
+concert conductor, so much, at all events, as one of our kind needs to
+know in order to form a judgment of such a man, and in case of need, to
+be able to direct him? Madame Mara sang on Tuesday in Lauchstaedt; how
+it went off I do not yet know. For the songs which I received through
+Herr von Wolzogen I thank you mostly heartily in my own name and in the
+name of our friends. It was no time to think of producing them. I hope
+soon to send you the proof-sheets of my songs, and I beg you to keep
+them secret at first, until they have appeared in print.
+
+_Inclosure_
+
+You now have the _Bride of Messina_ before you in print and as you learn
+the poet's intentions from his introductory essay, you will know better
+how to appreciate what he has done, and how far you can agree with
+him. I will, regarding your letter, jot down my thoughts on the subject;
+we can come to an understanding in a few words.
+
+[Illustration: K. F. ZELTER, E. A. Seemann]
+
+In Greek tragedy four forms of the chorus are found, representing four
+epochs. In the first, between the songs in which gods and heroes are
+extolled and genealogies, great deeds, and monstrous destinies are
+brought before the imagination, a few persons appear and carry the
+spectator back into the past. Of this we find an approximate example in
+the _Seven before Thebes_ of, _Eschylus_. Here, therefore, are the
+beginnings of dramatic art, the old style. The second epoch shows us the
+chorus in the mass as the mystical, principal personage of the piece, as
+in the _Eumenides_ and _Supplicants_. Here I am inclined to find the
+grand style. The chorus is independent, the interest centres in it; one
+might call this the Republican period of dramatic art; the rulers and
+the gods are only attendant personages. In the third epoch it is the
+chorus which plays the secondary part; the interest is transferred to
+the families, and the members and heads who represent them in the play,
+with whose fate that of the surrounding people is only loosely
+connected. Then, the chorus is subordinate, and the figures of the
+princes and heroes stand preëminent in all their exclusive magnificence.
+This I consider the beautiful style. The pieces of Sophocles stand on
+this plane. Since the crowd is forced merely to look on at the heroes
+and at fate, and can have no effect on either their special or general
+nature, it takes refuge in reflection and assumes the office of an able
+and welcome spectator. In the fourth epoch the action withdraws more and
+more into the sphere of private interests, and the chorus often appears
+as a burdensome custom, as an inherited fixture. It becomes unnecessary,
+and therefore, as a part of a living poetic composition, it is useless,
+wearisome, and disturbing; as, for example, when it is called upon to
+guard secrets in which it has no interest, and things of that sort.
+Several examples are to be found in the pieces of Euripides, of which I
+will mention _Helen_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_.
+
+From all this you will see that, for a musical reconstruction of the
+chorus, it would be necessary to make experiments in the style of the
+first two epochs; and this might be accomplished by means of quite short
+oratorios.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 553
+
+Weimar, June 1, 1805.
+
+Since writing to you last, I have had few happy days. I thought I should
+die myself, and instead I lose a friend,[33] and with him the half of my
+being. I would really begin a different mode of life, but for one of my
+years there is no way of doing that. I only look straight ahead of me
+each day, and do the thing nearest to me without thinking of the
+consequences.
+
+But as people in every loss and misfortune try to find a pretext for
+amusement, I have been urgently solicited in behalf of our theatre, and
+on many other sides, to celebrate on the stage the memory of the
+departed one. I wish to say nothing further on the subject, except that
+I am not disinclined to it, and all I would ask of you now is whether
+you are willing to assist me in the matter; and, first, whether you
+would furnish me with your motet--"Man lives," etc., about which I have
+read in the _Musical Review_, No. 27; also whether you would either
+compose some other pieces of a solemn character, or else select and make
+over to me some musical pieces already composed--the style of which I
+will indicate later--as a foundation for appropriate compositions. As
+soon as I know your real opinion on the subject, you shall receive
+further details.
+
+Your beautiful series of little essays on orchestra organization I have
+left lying around till now, and the reason is that they contained a sort
+of satire on our own conditions.
+
+Now Reichard wishes them for the _Musical Review_. I hunt them up
+again, look them over, and I feel that I really could not deprive the
+Intelligence Page of our _Literatur-Zeitung_ of them. Some of our
+conditions here have changed, and, after all, a man may surely be
+allowed to censure those things which he did not try to hinder.
+
+Privy Councillor Wolf of Halle is here at present. If only I could hope
+to see you also here this year! Would it not be possible for you to come
+to Lauchstaedt the end of July, so as to help, there on the spot, in the
+preparation and performance of the above-mentioned work?
+
+Think it over and only tell me there is a possibility of it; we shall
+then be able to devise the means of bringing it to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 606
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1808.
+
+The world of art is just now too much run down for a young man to be
+able to realize exactly where he stands. People always search for
+inspiration everywhere but in the place where it originates, and if they
+do once catch sight of the source, then they cannot find the path
+leading to it. Therefore I am reduced to despair by half a dozen of the
+younger poetic spirits, who, though endowed with extraordinary natural
+talent, will scarcely accomplish much that I can ever take pleasure in.
+Werner, Ochlenschlaeger, Arnim, Brentano and others are still working
+and practising at their art, but everything they do is absolutely
+lacking in form and character. Not one of them can understand that the
+highest and only operation of nature and art is the creation of form,
+and in the form, detail, so that each single thing shall become, be, and
+remain something separate and important. There is no art in letting your
+talent go to suit your humor and convenience.
+
+The sad part of it is that the humorous, because it has no support and
+no law within itself, sooner or later degenerates into melancholy and
+bad temper. We have been forced to experience the most horrible examples
+of this in Jean Paul (see his last production in the _Ladies' Calendar_)
+and in Görres (see his _Specimens of Writing_). Moreover, there are
+always people enough to admire and esteem that sort of thing, because
+the public is always grateful to every one who tries to turn its head.
+
+Will you be obliging enough, when you have a quarter of an hour's spare
+time, to sketch for me, in a few rough lines, the aberrations of our
+youthful musicians? I should like to compare them with the errors of the
+painters; for a man must once for all set his heart at rest about these
+things, execrate the whole business, stop thinking about the culture of
+others, and employ the short time that remains to him on his own works.
+But even while I express myself thus disagreeably, I must, as always
+happens to good-natured blusterers, contradict myself immediately, and
+beg you to continue your interest in Eberwein at least until Easter; for
+then I will send him to you again. He has acquired great confidence in
+you, and great respect for your institution, but unhappily even that
+does not mean much with young people. They still secretly think it would
+also be possible to produce something extraordinary by their own foolish
+methods. Many people gain some comprehension that there is a goal, but
+they would like very much to reach it by loitering along mazy paths.
+
+You have been sufficiently reminded of us throughout this month by the
+newspapers. It was worth much to be present in person at these events. I
+also came in for a share of the favorable influence of such an unusual
+constellation. The Emperor of France was very gracious to me. Both
+Emperors decorated me with stars and ribbons, which we desire in all
+modesty thankfully to acknowledge. Forgive me for not writing you more
+about the latest events. You must have already wondered when you read
+the papers that this stream of the great and mighty ones of earth
+should have rolled on as far as Weimar, and even over the battlefield of
+Jena. I cannot refrain from inclosing to you a remarkable engraving. The
+point where the temple is placed, is the farthest point toward the
+north-east reached by Napoleon on this tour. When you visit us, I will
+place you on the spot where the little man with the cane is shown
+parceling off the world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 640
+
+Weimar, February 28, 1811.
+
+I have read somewhere that the celebrated first secretary of the London
+Society, Oldenburg, never opened a letter until he had placed pen, ink,
+and paper before him, and that he then and there, immediately after the
+first reading, wrote down his answer. Thus he was able to meet
+comfortably the demands of an immense correspondence. If I could have
+imitated this virtue, so many people would not now be complaining of my
+silence. But this time your dear letter just received has roused in me
+such a desire to answer, by recalling to my mind all the fullness of our
+life during the summer, that I am writing these lines, if not
+immediately after the first reading, at least on awaking the next
+morning.
+
+I think I anticipated that the good _Pandora_ would slow down somewhat
+when she reached home again. Life in Töplitz was really too favorable to
+this sort of work, and your meditations and efforts were so steadily and
+undividedly centred upon it, that an interruption could not help calling
+forth a pause. But leave it alone; there is so much done on it already
+that, at the right moment, the remainder will, in all likelihood, come
+of its own accord.
+
+I cannot blame you for declining to compose the music to _Faust_. My
+proposition was somewhat ill-considered, like the undertaking itself.
+It can very well rest in peace for another year; for the trouble which I
+had in working over the _Resolute Prince_[34] has about exhausted the
+inclination which we must feel when we set about things of that sort.
+This piece has indeed turned out beyond all expectation, and it has
+given much pleasure to me and to others. It is no small undertaking to
+conjure up a work written almost two hundred years ago, for an entirely
+different clime, for a people of entirely different customs, religion,
+and culture, and to make it appear fresh and new to the eyes of a
+spectator. For nowhere is anything antiquated and without direct appeal
+more out of place than on the stage.
+
+Touching my works you shall, before everything else, receive the
+thirteenth volume. It is very kind of you not to neglect the _Theory of
+Color_; and the fact that you absorb it in small doses will have its
+good effect too. I know very well that my way of handling the matter,
+natural as it is, differs very widely from the usual way, and I cannot
+demand that every one should immediately perceive and appropriate its
+advantages. The mathematicians are foolish people, and are so far from
+having the least idea what my work means that one really must overlook
+their presumption. I am very curious about the first one who gets an
+insight into the matter and behaves honestly about it; for not all of
+them are blindfolded or malicious. But, at any rate, I now see more
+clearly than ever what I have long held in secret, that the training
+which mathematics give to the mind is extremely one-sided and narrow.
+Yes, Voltaire is bold enough to say somewhere: "I have always remarked
+that geometry leaves the mind just where it found it." Franklin also has
+clearly and plainly expressed a special aversion to mathematicians, in
+respect to their social qualities, and finds their petty contradictory
+spirit unbearable.
+
+As concerns the real Newtonians, they are in the same case as the old
+Prussians in October, 1806. The latter believed that they were winning
+tactically, when they had long since been conquered strategically. When
+once their eyes are opened they will be startled to find me already in
+Naumburg and Leipzig, while they are still creeping along near Weimar
+and Blankenheim. That battle was lost in advance; and so is this. The
+Newtonian Theory is already annihilated, while the gentlemen still think
+their adversary despicable. Forgive my boasting; I am just as little
+ashamed of it as those gentlemen are of their pettiness. I am going
+through a strange experience with Kugelchen, as I have done with many
+others. I thought I was making him the nicest compliment possible; for
+really the picture and the frame had turned out most acceptably, and now
+the good man takes offence at a superficial act of politeness, which one
+really ought not to neglect, since many persons' feelings are hurt if we
+omit it. A certain lack of etiquette on my part in such matters has
+often been taken amiss, and now here I am troubling some excellent
+people with my formality. Never get rid of an old fault, my dear friend;
+you will either fall into a new one, or else people will look upon your
+newly acquired virtue as a fault; and no matter how you behave, you will
+never satisfy either yourself or others. In the meantime I am glad that
+I know what the matter is; for I wish to be on good terms with this
+excellent man.
+
+Regarding the antique bull, I should propose to have him carefully
+packed in a strong case, and sent to me for inspection. In ancient times
+these things were often made in replica, and the specimens differ
+greatly in value. To give any good bronze in exchange for another would
+be a bad bargain, as there are scarcely ever duplicates of them, and
+those that we do find are doubly interesting on account of their
+resemblances and dissimilarities. The offer I could make at present is
+as follows: I have a very fine collection of medals, mostly in bronze,
+from the middle of the fifteenth century up to our day. It was collected
+principally in order to illustrate to amateurs and experts the progress
+of plastic art, which is always reflected in the medals. Among these
+medals I have some very beautiful and valuable duplicates, so that I
+could probably get together a most instructive series of them to give
+away. An art lover, who as yet possessed nothing of this description,
+would in them get a good foundation for a collection, and a sufficient
+inducement to continue. Further, such a collection, like a set of Greek
+and Roman coins, affords opportunity for very interesting observations;
+indeed it completes the conception furnished us by the coins, and brings
+it up to present times. I may also say that the bull would have to be
+very perfect, if I am not to have a balance to my credit in the bargain
+above indicated.
+
+Something very pleasing has occurred to me in the last few days; it was
+the presentation to me, from the Empress of Austria, of a beautiful gold
+snuff-box with a diamond wreath, and the name Louisa engraved in full.
+I know you too will take an interest in this event, as it is not often
+that we meet with such unexpected and refreshing good fortune.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 665
+
+Weimar, December 3, 1812.
+
+Your letter telling me of the great misfortune which has befallen your
+house,[35] depressed me very much, indeed quite bowed me down; for it
+reached me in the midst of very serious reflections on life, and it is
+owing to you alone that I have been able to pluck up courage. You have
+proved yourself to be pure refined gold when tried by the black
+touchstone of death. How beautiful is a character when it is so compact
+of mind and soul, and how beautiful must be a talent that rests on such
+a foundation.
+
+Of the deed or the misdeed itself, I know of nothing to say. When the
+_toedium vitoe_ lays hold on a man, he is to be pitied, not to be
+blamed. That all the symptoms of this strange, natural, as well as
+unnatural, disease have raged within me--of that _Werther_ leaves no one
+in doubt. I know right well what amount of resolution and effort it cost
+me then to escape from the waves of death, with what difficulty I saved
+myself from many a later shipwreck, and how hard it was for me to
+recover. And all the stories of mariners and fishermen are the same.
+After the night of storm the shore is reached again; he who was wet
+through dries himself, and the next morning when the beautiful sun
+shines once more on the sparkling waves "the sea has regained its
+appetite for new victims."
+
+When we see not only that the world in general, and especially the
+younger generation, are given over to their lusts and passions, but also
+that what is best and highest in them is misplaced and distorted through
+the serious follies of the age; when we see that what should lead them
+to salvation really contributes to their damnation--to say nothing of
+the unspeakable stress brought to bear upon them from without--then we
+cease to wonder at the misdeeds which a man performs in rage against
+himself and others. I believe I am capable of writing another _Werther_,
+which would make people's hair stand on end, even more than the first
+did. Let me add one remark. Most young people, who feel themselves
+possessed of merit, demand of themselves more than is right. They are,
+however, pressed and forced into it by their gigantic surroundings. I
+know half a dozen of that kind who will certainly perish, and whom it
+would be impossible to help, even if one could make clear to them where
+their real advantage lies. Nobody realizes that reason, courage, and
+will-power are given to us so that we shall refrain, not only from evil,
+but from excess of goodness.
+
+I thank you for your comments on the pages of my autobiography. I had
+already heard much that was good and kind about them in a general way.
+You are the first and only one who has gone into the heart of the
+matter.
+
+I am glad that the description of my father impressed you favorably. I
+will not deny that I am heartily tired of the German bourgeois, these
+_Lorenz Starks_, or whatever they may be called, who, in humorous gloom,
+give free play to their pedantic temperament, and by standing dubiously
+in the way of their good-natured desires, destroy them, as well as the
+happiness of other people. In the two following volumes the figure of my
+father is completely developed, and if on his side as well as on the
+side of his son, a grain of mutual understanding had entered into this
+precious family relationship, both would have been spared much. But it
+was not to be; and indeed such is life. The best laid plan for a journey
+is upset by the stupidest kind of accident, and a man goes farthest when
+he does not know where he is going.
+
+Do have the goodness to continue your comments; for I go slowly, as the
+subject demands, and keep much _in petto_ (on which account many readers
+grow impatient who would be quite satisfied to have the whole meal from
+beginning to end, well braised and roasted, served up at one sitting, so
+that they could the sooner swallow it, and on the morrow seek better or
+worse cheer at random, in a different eating-house or cook's-shop). But
+I, as I have already said, remain in ambush, in order to let my lancers
+and troopers rush forward at the right moment. It is, therefore, very
+interesting for me to learn what you, as an experienced Field-Marshal,
+have already noticed about the vanguard. I have as yet read no
+criticisms of this little work; I will read them all at once after the
+next two volumes are printed. For many years I have observed that those
+who should and would speak of me in public, be their intentions good or
+bad, seem to find themselves in a painful position, and I have hardly
+ever come face to face with a critic who did not sooner or later show
+the famous countenance of Vespasian, and a _faciem duram_.
+
+If you could sometime give me a pleasant surprise by sending the
+_Rinaldo_, I should consider it a great favor.
+
+It is only through you that I can keep in touch with music. We are
+really living here absolutely songless and soundless. The opera, with
+its old standbys, and its novelties dressed up to suit a little theatre,
+and produced at pretty long intervals, is no consolation. At the same
+time I am glad that the court and the city can delude themselves into
+thinking that they have a species of enjoyment handy. The inhabitant of
+a large city is to be accounted happy in this respect, because so much
+that is of importance in other lands is attracted thither.
+
+You have made a point-blank shot at Alfieri. He is more remarkable than
+enjoyable. His works are explained by his life. He torments his readers
+and listeners, just as he torments himself as an author. He had the true
+nature of a count and was therefore blindly aristocratic. He hated
+tyranny, because he was aware of a tyrannical vein in himself, and fate
+had meted out to him a fitting tribulation, when it punished him,
+moderately enough, at the hands of the Sansculottes. The essential
+patrician and courtly nature of the man comes at last very laughably
+into evidence, when he can think of no better way to reward himself for
+his services than by having an order of knighthood manufactured for
+himself. Could he have showed more plainly how ingrained these
+formalities were in his nature? In the same way I must agree to what you
+say of Rousseau's _Pygmalion_. This production certainly belongs among
+the monstrosities, and is most remarkable as a symptom of the chief
+malady of that period, when State and custom, art and talent were
+destined to be stirred into a porridge with a nameless substance--which
+was, however, called nature--yes, when they were indeed thus stirred and
+beaten up together. I hope that my next volume will bring this operation
+to light; for was not I, too, attacked by this epidemic, and was it not
+beneficently responsible for the development of my being, which I cannot
+now picture to myself as growing in any other fashion?
+
+Now I must answer your question about the first Walpurgis-night. The
+state of the case is as follows: Among historians there are some, and
+they are men to whom one cannot refuse one's esteem, who try to find a
+foundation in reality for every fable, every tradition, let it be as
+fantastic and absurd as it will, and, inside the envelope of the
+fairy-tale, believe they can always find a kernel of fact.
+
+We owe much that is good to this method of treatment. For in order to go
+into the matter great knowledge is required; yes, intelligence, wit, and
+imagination are necessary to turn poetry into prose in this way. So now,
+in this case, one of our German antiquarians has tried to vindicate the
+ride of the witches and devils in the Hartz mountains, which has been
+well known to us in Germany for untold ages, and to place it upon a firm
+foundation, by the discovery of an historical origin. Which is, namely,
+that the German heathen priests and forefathers, after they had been
+driven from their sacred groves, and Christianity had been forced upon
+the people, betook themselves with their faithful followers, at the
+beginning of Spring, to the wild inaccessible mountains of the Hartz;
+and there, according to their old custom, they offered prayers and fire
+to the incorporeal God of Heaven and earth. In order to secure
+themselves against the spying, armed converters, they hit upon the idea
+of masking a number of their party, so as to keep their superstitious
+opponents at a distance, and thus, protected by caricatures of devils,
+to finish in peace the pure worship of God.
+
+I found this explanation somewhere, but cannot put my finger on the
+author; the idea pleased me and I have turned this fabulous history into
+a poetical fable again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 433
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1824.
+
+It had long been my wish that you might be invited to take a trip,
+because I was certain that I should then hear something from you; for,
+of course, I am convinced that in over-lively Berlin no one is likely to
+remember to write letters to those who are far away. Now a perilous and
+hazardous journey gives my worthy friend an opportunity for a very
+characteristic and pleasing description; a crowded family party
+furnishes material for a sketch that would certainly find a place in any
+English novel. For my part, I will reply with a couple of matters from
+my quiet sphere.
+
+In the first place, then, my sojourn at home has this time been quite
+successful; yet we must not boast of it, only quietly and modestly
+continue our activities.
+
+Langermann has probably communicated to you what I sent him. The
+introductory poem to _Werther_ I lately resurrected and read to myself,
+quietly and thoughtfully, and immediately afterward the _Elegie_ which
+harmonizes with it very well; only I missed in them the direct effect of
+your pleasing melody, although it gradually revived and rose out of my
+inner consciousness.
+
+I am now also concluding the instalment on natural science, which was
+inconveniently delayed this year, and am editing my _Correspondence with
+Schiller from 1794_ to 1805. A great boon will be offered to the
+Germans, yes, I might even say to humanity in general, revealing the
+intimacy between two friends, of the kind who keep contributing to each
+other's development in the very act of pouring out their hearts to each
+other. I have a strange feeling at my task, for I am learning what I
+once was. However, it is most instructive of all to see how two people
+who mutually further their purposes _par force_, fritter away their time
+through inner over-activity and outer excitement and disturbance; so
+that there is, after all, no result fully worthy of their capacities,
+tendencies, aims. The effect will be extremely edifying; for every
+thoughtful man will be able to find in it consolation for himself.
+
+Moreover, it contributes to various other things which are revived by
+the excited life of that period. If what you recognized a year ago as
+the cause of my illness now proves itself the apparent element of my
+good health, everything will be running smoothly and you will hear
+pleasant news from time to time.
+
+In order that I may, however, hear from you soon, I wish to inform you
+that it would give me especial pleasure to receive a concise, forceful
+description of the Konigstadter theatricals. From what they are playing
+and rehearsing and from the notices and criticisms that reach me in the
+newspapers, I can form some notion for myself, to be sure; but, in any
+case, you will correct and strengthen my ideas. At your suggestion the
+architect sent me a plan which I found very acceptable, because, from it
+I can see for myself that the theatre is situated in a large residential
+section. This probably makes it very nice and cheerful, just as setting
+back the various rows of boxes is a very convenient arrangement for the
+audience who wish to be seen while they themselves see. This much I
+already know, and you, with a few strokes, will assist me to picture the
+most vivid actuality.
+
+J. A. Stumpff, of London, Harp Maker to his Majesty, is just leaving me.
+A native of Ruhl, he was sent at an early age to England, where he is
+now working as an able mechanic, a sturdy man of good stature in which
+you would take delight; at the same time he manifests the most patriotic
+sentiments for our language and literature. Through Schiller and myself
+he has been awakened to all that is good, and he is highly pleased to
+see our literary products become gradually known and appreciated. He
+revealed a remarkable personality.
+
+Our sonorous bells are just announcing the celebration of the
+anniversary of the Reformation. It resounds with a ring that must not
+leave us indifferent. Keep us, Lord, in Thy word, and guide.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: _Morgenblatt_ 1815. Nr. 113 12. Mai.]
+
+[Footnote 2: (King Henry IV, Part II, Act 4, Scene 4.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: The works referred to are the nine volumes of A. W.
+Schlegel's translation, which appeared 1797-1810, and were subsequently
+(since 1826) supplemented by the missing dramas, translated under
+Tieck's direction.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Delivered before the Amalia Lodge of Freemasons in Weimar,
+February 1813.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell & Sons,
+London.]
+
+[Footnote 7: It is almost needless to observe that the word "demon" is
+her reference to its Greek origin, and implies nothing evil.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 8: This is the first day in Eckermann's first book, and the
+first time in which he speaks in this book, as distinguished from
+Soret.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 9: The word "Gelegenheitsgedicht" (occasional poem) properly
+applies to poems written for special occasions, such as birthdays,
+weddings, etc., but Goethe here extends the meaning, as he himself
+explains. As the English word "occasional" often implies no more than
+"occurrence now and then," the phrase "occasional poem" is not very
+happy, and is only used for want of a better. The reader must conceive
+the word in the limited sense, produced on some special
+event.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 10: Goethe's "West-östliche (west-eastern) Divan," one of the
+twelve divisions of which is entitled "Das Buch des Unmuths" (The Book
+of Ill-Humor).--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Die Aufgeregten_ (the Agitated, in a political sense) is
+an unfinished drama by Goethe.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The German phrase "Freund des Bestehenden," which, for
+want of a better expression, has been rendered above "friend of the
+powers that be," literally means "friend of the permanent," and was used
+by the detractors of Goethe to denote the "enemy of the
+progressive."--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 13: Poetry and Truth, the title of Goethe's
+autobiography.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 14: This, doubtless, means the "Deformed Transformed," and the
+fact that this poem was not published till January, 1824, rendering it
+probable that Goethe had not actually seen it, accounts for the
+inaccuracy of the expression.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 15: It need scarcely be mentioned that this is the name given
+to a collection of sarcastic epigrams by Goethe and Schiller.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Die Natürliche Tochter" (the Natural
+Daughter).--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 17: Vide p. 185, where a remark is made on the word _nature_,
+as applied to a person.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 18: These plays were intended to be in the Shakesperian style,
+and Goethe means that by writing them he freed himself from Shakespeare,
+just as by writing _Werther_ he freed himself from thoughts of
+suicide.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 19: This doubtless refers to the Heath country in which
+Eckermann was born.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This poem is simply entitled "Ballade," and begins
+"Herein, O du Guter! du Alter herein!"--_Trans_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: A It must be borne in mind that this was said before the
+appearance of "Robert le Diable," which was first produced in Paris, in
+November, 1831.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 22: B That is, the second act of the second part of "Faust,"
+which was not published entire till after Goethe's death.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 23: In the original book this conversation follows immediately
+the one of December 21, 1831, and with the remainder of the book is
+prefaced thus:--"The following I noted down shortly afterwards (that is,
+after they took place) from memory."--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 24: A distinguished die-cutter in Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Giovanni Hamerani was papal die-cutter from 1675 to 1705.]
+
+[Footnote 26: A C. A. Bottiger had surrendered his position as director
+of the Gymnasium of Weimar and had gone to Dresden, while Heinrich Voss
+(1779-1822), an enthusiastic young admirer of Goethe, had come to the
+gymnasium.]
+
+[Footnote 27: An association of civil officials of Mannheim had
+intrusted to Goethe a sum of money to erect a memorial to Count von
+Dalberg, but the plan was never carried out.]
+
+[Footnote 28: a Theodor Körner (1791-1813), at that time a dramatist in
+Vienna, and closely connected with the Humboldt family through Wilhelm's
+friendship for Christian G. Körner.]
+
+[Footnote 29: J. H. Voss, although his translation of Æschylus was not
+printed until 1826.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Humboldt's translation of the _Agamemnon of Æschylus_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Voss and his son.]
+
+[Footnote 32: August, who went to Italy, in March, 1830, and died there
+eight days after this letter was written.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Schiller died May 9, 1805]
+
+[Footnote 34: By Calderon]
+
+[Footnote 35: Zelter's eldest son had shot himself.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth
+and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11366 ***
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+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #11366 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11366)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth and
+Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II
+       Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. In Twenty Volumes
+
+Author: Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
+Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11366]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN CLASSICS, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
+
+
+
+THE GERMAN CLASSICS
+
+
+MASTERPIECES OF GERMAN LITERATURE
+
+TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
+
+
+
+IN TWENTY VOLUMES
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+
+1914
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
+
+
+      INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         By Calvin Thomas
+
+      THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         Translated by James Anthony Froude and R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE.
+         Translated by Julia Franklin
+
+      ORATION ON WIELAND.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (from "Wilhelm Meister's Travels").
+         Translated by R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE.
+         Translated by George Krielin
+
+      MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS.
+         Translated by Bailey Saunders
+
+      ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOETHE.
+         Translated by John Oxenford
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH K. F. ZELTER.
+         Translated by Frances H. King
+
+
+
+
+    ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME II
+
+    Capri
+
+    Edward reading aloud to Charlotte and the Captain
+
+    Charlotte receives Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward and Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward, Charlotte, Ottilie and the Captain discuss
+      the new plan of the house. By Franz Simm
+
+    Ottilie examines Edward's Presents. By P Grotjohann
+
+    Luciana posing as Queen Artemisia. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Ottilie. By Wilhelm von Kaulbach
+
+    The Old Theatre, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Martin Wieland. By E. Hader
+
+    Princess Amalia
+
+    Winckelmann
+
+    Weimar seen from the North
+
+    Goethe and his Secretary. By Johann Josef Schmeller
+
+    Goethe's Study
+
+    The Garden at Goethe's City House, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Schiller's Garden House at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    The float at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    View into the Saale Valley near Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    K.F. Zelter
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+In the spring of the year 1807 Goethe began work on the second part of
+_Wilhelm Meister_. He had no very definite plot in view, but proposed to
+make room for a number of short stories, all relating to the subject of
+renunciation, which was to be the central theme of the _Wanderjahre_. In
+the course of the summer, while he was taking the waters at Karlsbad,
+two or three of the stories were written. The following spring he set
+about elaborating another tale of renunciation, the idea of which had
+occurred to him some time before. But somehow it refused to be confined
+within the limits of a novelette. As he proceeded the matter grew apace,
+until it finally developed into the novel which was given to the world
+in 1809 under the title of _The Elective Affinities_.
+
+When that which should be a short story is expanded into a novel one can
+usually detect the padding and the embroidery. So it is certainly in
+this case. Those long descriptions of landscape-gardening; the copious
+extracts from Ottilie's diary, containing many thoughts which would
+hardly have entered the head of such a girl; the pages given to
+subordinate characters, whose comings and goings have no very obvious
+connection with the story,--all these retard the narrative and tend to
+hide the essential idea. The strange title, too, has served to divert
+attention from the real centre of gravity. Had the tale been called,
+say, "Ottilie's Expiation," there would have been less room for
+misunderstanding and irrelevant criticism; there would have been less
+concern over the moral, and more over the artistic, aspect of the story.
+
+What then was the essential idea? Simply to describe a peculiar tragedy
+resulting from the invasion of the marriage relation by lawless passion.
+As for the title, it should be remembered that there was just then a
+tendency to look for curious analogies between physical law and the
+operations of the human mind. Great interest was felt in suggestion,
+occult influence, and all that sort of thing. Goethe himself had lately
+been lecturing on magnetism. He had also observed, as no one can fail to
+observe, that the sexual attraction sometimes seems to act like chemical
+affinity: it breaks up old unions, forms new combinations, destroys
+pre-existing bodies, as if it were a law that _must_ work itself out,
+whatever the consequences. Such a process will now and then defy
+prudence, self-respect, duty, even religion,--going its way like a blind
+and ruthless law of physics. But if this is to happen the recombining
+elements must, of course, have each its specific character; else there
+is no affinity and no tragedy.
+
+It is no part of the analogy that the pressure of sex is always and by
+its very nature like the attraction of atoms. Aside from the fact that
+character consists largely in the steady inhibition of instinct and
+passion by the will, there is this momentous difference between atoms or
+molecules, on the one hand, and souls on the other: the character of the
+atom or molecule is constant, that of the soul is highly variable. There
+is no room here for remarks on free will and determinism; suffice it to
+say that Goethe does not preach any doctrine of mechanical determinism
+in human relations. The scientific analogy must not be pressed too hard.
+It is really not important, since after all nothing turns on it.
+Whatever interest the novel has it would have if all reference to
+chemistry had been omitted. Goethe's thesis, if he can be said to have
+one, is simply that character is fate.
+
+He imagines a middle-aged man and woman, Edward and Charlotte, who are,
+to all seeming, happily united in marriage. Each has been married before
+to an unloved mate who has conveniently died, leaving them both free to
+yield to the gentle pull of long-past youthful attachment. Their feeling
+for each other is only a mild friendship, but that does not appear to
+augur ill, since they are well-to-do, and their fine estate offers them
+both a plenty of interesting work. Edward has a highly esteemed friend
+called the Captain, who is for the moment without suitable employment
+for his ability and energy. Edward can give him just the needed work,
+with great advantage to the property, and would like to do so. Charlotte
+fears that the presence of the Captain may disturb their pleasant idyl,
+but finally yields. She herself has a niece, Ottilie, a beautiful girl
+whom no one understands and who is not doing well at her
+boarding-school. Charlotte would like to have the girl under her own
+care. After much debate the pair take both the Captain and Ottilie into
+their spacious castle.
+
+And now the elective affinity begins to do its disastrous work. Edward,
+who has always indulged himself in every whim and has no other standard
+of conduct, falls madly in love with the charming Ottilie, who has a
+passion for making herself useful and serving everybody. She adapts
+herself to Edward, fails to see what a shabby specimen of a man he
+really is, humors his whims, and worships him--at first in an innocent
+girlish way. Charlotte is not long in discovering that the Captain is a
+much better man than her husband; she loves him, but within the limits
+of wifely duty. In the vulgar world of prose such a tangle could be most
+easily straightened out by divorce and remarriage. This is what Edward
+proposes and tries to bring about. The others are almost won over to
+this solution when the event happens that precipitates the tragedy: the
+child of Edward and Charlotte is accidentally drowned by Ottilie's
+carelessness.
+
+It is a very dubious link in Goethe's fiction that this child, while the
+genuine offspring of Edward and Charlotte, has the features of Ottilie
+and the Captain. From the moment of the drowning Ottilie is a changed
+being. Her character quickly matures; like a wakened sleep-walker she
+sees what a dangerous path she has been treading. She feels that
+marriage with Edward would be a crime. She resists his passionate
+appeals, and her remorse takes on a morbid tinge. It becomes a fixed
+idea. Happiness is not for her. She must renounce it all. She must
+atone--atone--for her awful sin. For a moment they plan to send her back
+to school, but she cannot tear herself away from Edward's sinister
+presence. At last she refuses food and gradually starves herself to
+death. The wretched Edward does likewise.
+
+Any just appreciation of Goethe's art in _The Elective Affinities_ must
+begin by recognizing that it is about Ottilie. For her sake the book was
+written. It is a study of a delicately organized virgin soul caught in
+the meshes of an ignoble fate and beating its wings in hopeless misery
+until death ends the struggle. The other characters are ordinary people:
+Charlotte and the Captain ordinary in their good sense and self-control,
+Edward ordinary in his moral flabbiness and his foolish infatuation. His
+death, to be sure, is unthinkable for such a man and does but testify to
+the unearthly attraction with which the girl is invested by Goethe's
+art. The figure of Ottilie, like that of her spiritual sister Mignon, is
+irradiated by a light that never was on sea or land. She is a creature
+of romance, and we learn without much surprise that her dead body
+performs miracles. One is reminded of that medieval lady who is doomed
+to eat the heart of her crusading lover and then refuses all other food
+and dies. That Edward is quite unworthy of the girl's love, that the
+death of the child is no sufficient reason for her morbid remorse, is
+quite immaterial, since at the end of the tale we are no longer in the
+realm of normal psychology. A season of dreamy happiness, as she moves
+about in a world unrealized; then a terrible shock, and after that,
+remorse, renunciation, hopelessness, the will to die. Such is the logic
+of the tale.
+
+
+
+
+THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE AND R. DILLON BOYLAN
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Edward--so we shall call a wealthy nobleman in the prime of life--had
+been spending several hours of a fine April morning in his
+nursery-garden, budding the stems of some young trees with cuttings
+which had been recently sent to him.
+
+He had finished what he was about, and having laid his tools together in
+their box, was complacently surveying his work, when the gardener came
+up and complimented his master on his industry.
+
+"Have you seen my wife anywhere?" inquired Edward, as he moved to go
+away.
+
+"My lady is alone yonder in the new grounds," said the man; "the
+summer-house which she has been making on the rock over against the
+castle is finished today, and really it is beautiful. It cannot fail to
+please your grace. The view from it is perfect:--the village at your
+feet; a little to your right the church, with its tower, which you can
+just see over; and directly opposite you, the castle and the garden."
+
+"Quite true," replied Edward; "I can see the people at work a few steps
+from where I am standing."
+
+"And then, to the right of the church again," continued the gardener,
+"is the opening of the valley; and you look along over a range of wood
+and meadow far into the distance. The steps up the rock, too, are
+excellently arranged. My gracious lady understands these things; it is a
+pleasure to work under her."
+
+"Go to her," said Edward, "and desire her to be so good as to wait for
+me there. Tell her I wish to see this new creation of hers, and enjoy it
+with her."
+
+The gardener went rapidly off, and Edward soon followed. Descending the
+terrace, and stopping as he passed to look into the hot-houses and the
+forcing-pits, he came presently to the stream, and thence, over a narrow
+bridge, to a place where the walk leading to the summer-house branched
+off in two directions. One path led across the churchyard, immediately
+up the face of the rock. The other, into which he struck, wound away to
+the left, with a more gradual ascent, through a pretty shrubbery. Where
+the two paths joined again, a seat had been made, where he stopped a few
+moments to rest; and then, following the now single road, he found
+himself, after scrambling along among steps and slopes of all sorts and
+kinds, conducted at last through a narrow more or less steep outlet to
+the summer-house.
+
+Charlotte was standing at the door to receive her husband. She made him
+sit down where, without moving, he could command a view of the different
+landscapes through the door and window--these serving as frames, in
+which they were set like pictures. Spring was coming on; a rich,
+beautiful life would soon everywhere be bursting; and Edward spoke of it
+with delight.
+
+"There is only one thing which I should observe," he added, "the
+summer-house itself is rather small."
+
+"It is large enough for you and me, at any rate," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Certainly," said Edward; "there is room for a third, too, easily."
+
+"Of course; and for a fourth also," replied Charlotte. "For larger
+parties we can contrive other places."
+
+"Now that we are here by ourselves, with no one to disturb us, and in
+such a pleasant mood," said Edward, "it is a good opportunity for me to
+tell you that I have for some time had something on my mind, about which
+I have wished to speak to you, but have never been able to muster up my
+courage."
+
+"I have observed that there has been something of the sort," said
+Charlotte.
+
+"And even now," Edward went on, "if it were not for a letter which the
+post brought me this morning, and which obliges me to come to some
+resolution today, I should very likely have still kept it to myself."
+
+"What is it, then" asked Charlotte, turning affectionately toward him.
+
+"It concerns our friend the Captain," answered Edward; "you know the
+unfortunate position in which he, like many others, is placed. It is
+through no fault of his own; but you may imagine how painful it must be
+for a person with his knowledge and talents and accomplishments, to find
+himself without employment. I--I will not hesitate any longer with what
+I am wishing for him. I should like to have him here with us for a
+time."
+
+"We must think about that," replied Charlotte; "it should be considered
+on more sides than one."
+
+"I am quite ready to tell you what I have in view," returned Edward.
+"Through his last letters there is a prevailing tone of despondency; not
+that he is really in any want. He knows thoroughly well how to limit his
+expenses; and I have taken care for everything absolutely necessary. It
+is no distress to him to accept obligations from me; all our lives we
+have been in the habit of borrowing from and lending to each other; and
+we could not tell, if we would, how our debtor and creditor account
+stands. It is being without occupation which is really fretting him. The
+many accomplishments which he has cultivated in himself, it is his only
+pleasure--indeed, it is his passion--to be daily and hourly exercising
+for the benefit of others. And now, to sit still, with his arms folded;
+or to go on studying, acquiring, and acquiring, when he can make no use
+of what he already possesses;--my dear creature, it is a painful
+situation; and alone as he is, he feels it doubly and trebly."
+
+"But I thought," said Charlotte, "that he had had offers from many
+different quarters. I myself wrote to numbers of my own friends, male
+and female, for him; and, as I have reason to believe, not without
+effect."
+
+"It is true," replied Edward; "but these very offers--these various
+proposals--have only caused him fresh embarrassment. Not one of them is
+at all suitable to such a person as he is. He would have nothing to do;
+he would have to sacrifice himself, his time, his purposes, his whole
+method of life; and to that he cannot bring himself. The more I think of
+it all, the more I feel about it, and the more anxious I am to see him
+here with us."
+
+"It is very beautiful and amiable in you," answered Charlotte, "to enter
+with so much sympathy into your friend's position; only you must allow
+me to ask you to think of yourself and of me, as well."
+
+"I have done that," replied Edward. "For ourselves, we can have nothing
+to expect from his presence with us, except pleasure and advantage. I
+will say nothing of the expense. In any case, if he came to us, it would
+be but small; and you know he will be of no inconvenience to us at all.
+He can have his own rooms in the right wing of the castle, and
+everything else can be arranged as simply as possible. What shall we not
+be thus doing for him! and how agreeable and how profitable may not his
+society prove to us! I have long been wishing for a plan of the property
+and the grounds. He will see to it, and get it made. You intend yourself
+to take the management of the estate, as soon as our present steward's
+term is expired; and that, you know, is a serious thing. His various
+information will be of immense benefit to us; I feel only too acutely
+how much I require a person of this kind. The country people have
+knowledge enough, but their way of imparting it is confused, and not
+always honest. The students from the towns and universities are
+sufficiently clever and orderly, but they are deficient in personal
+experience. From my friend, I can promise myself both knowledge and
+method, and hundreds of other circumstances I can easily conceive
+arising, affecting you as well as me, and from which I can foresee
+innumerable advantages. Thank you for so patiently listening to me. Now,
+do you say what you think, and say it out freely and fully; I will not
+interrupt you."
+
+"Very well," replied Charlotte; "I will begin at once with a general
+observation. Men think most of the immediate--the present; and rightly,
+their calling being to do and to work; women, on the other hand, more of
+how things hang together in life; and that rightly too, because their
+destiny--the destiny of their families--is bound up in this
+interdependence, and it is exactly this which it is their mission to
+promote. So now let us cast a glance at our present and our past life;
+and you will acknowledge that the invitation of the Captain does not
+fall in so entirely with our purposes, our plans, and our arrangements.
+I will go back to those happy days of our earliest intercourse. We loved
+each other, young as we then were, with all our hearts. We were parted:
+you from me--your father, from an insatiable desire of wealth, choosing
+to marry you to an elderly and rich lady; I from you, having to give my
+hand, without any especial motive, to an excellent man, whom I
+respected, if I did not love. We became again free--you first, your poor
+mother at the same time leaving you in possession of your large fortune;
+I later, just at the time when you returned from abroad. So we met once
+more. We spoke of the past; we could enjoy and love the recollection of
+it; we might have been contented, in each other's society, to leave
+things as they were. You were urgent for our marriage. I at first
+hesitated. We were about the same age; but I as a woman had grown older
+than you as a man. At last I could not refuse you what you seemed to
+think the one thing you cared for. All the discomfort which you had ever
+experienced, at court, in the army, or in traveling, you were to recover
+from at my side; you would settle down and enjoy life; but only with me
+for your companion. I settled my daughter at a school, where she could
+be more completely educated than would be possible in the retirement of
+the country; and I placed my niece Ottilie there with her as well, who,
+perhaps, would have grown up better at home with me, under my own care.
+This was done with your consent, merely that we might have our own
+lives to ourselves--merely that we might enjoy undisturbed our
+so-long-wished-for, so-long-delayed happiness. We came here and settled
+ourselves. I undertook the domestic part of the ménage, you the
+out-of-doors and the general control. My own principle has been to meet
+your wishes in everything, to live only for you. At least, let us give
+ourselves a fair trial how far in this way we can be enough for each
+other."
+
+"Since the interdependence of things, as you call it, is your especial
+element," replied Edward, "one should either never listen to any of your
+trains of reasoning, or make up one's mind to allow you to be in the
+right; and, indeed, you have been in the right up to the present day.
+The foundation which we have hitherto been laying for ourselves, is of
+the true, sound sort; only, are we to build nothing upon it? is nothing
+to be developed out of it? All the work we have done--I in the garden,
+you in the park--is it all only for a pair of hermits?"
+
+"Well, well," replied Charlotte, "very well. What we have to look to is,
+that we introduce no alien element, nothing which shall cross or
+obstruct us. Remember, our plans, even those which only concern our
+amusements, depend mainly on our being together. You were to read to me,
+in consecutive order, the journal which you made when you were abroad.
+You were to take the opportunity of arranging it, putting all the loose
+matter connected with it in its place; and with me to work with you and
+help you, out of these invaluable but chaotic leaves and sheets to put
+together a complete thing, which should give pleasure to ourselves and
+to others. I promised to assist you in transcribing; and we thought it
+would be so pleasant, so delightful, so charming, to travel over in
+recollection the world which we were unable to see together. The
+beginning is already made. Then, in the evenings, you have taken up your
+flute again, accompanying me on the piano, while of visits backwards and
+forwards among the neighborhood, there is abundance. For my part, I
+have been promising myself out of all this the first really happy summer
+I have ever thought to spend in my life."
+
+"Only I cannot see," replied Edward, rubbing his forehead, "how, through
+every bit of this which you have been so sweetly and so sensibly laying
+before me, the Captain's presence can be any interruption; I should
+rather have thought it would give it all fresh zest and life. He was my
+companion during a part of my travels. He made many observations from a
+different point of view from mine. We can put it all together, and so
+make a charmingly complete work of it."
+
+"Well, then, I will acknowledge openly," answered Charlotte, with some
+impatience, "my feeling is against this plan. I have an instinct which
+tells me no good will come of it."
+
+"You women are invincible in this way," replied Edward. "You are so
+sensible, that there is no answering you, then so affectionate, that one
+is glad to give way to you; full of feelings, which one cannot wound,
+and full of forebodings, which terrify one."
+
+"I am not superstitious," said Charlotte; "and I care nothing for these
+dim sensations, merely as such; but in general they are the result of
+unconscious recollections of happy or unhappy consequences, which we
+have experienced as following on our own or others' actions. Nothing is
+of greater moment, in any state of things, than the intervention of a
+third person. I have seen friends, brothers and sisters, lovers,
+husbands and wives, whose relation to each other, through the accidental
+or intentional introduction of a third person, has been altogether
+changed--whose whole moral condition has been inverted by it."
+
+"That may very well be," replied Edward, "with people who live on
+without looking where they are going; but not, surely, with persons whom
+experience has taught to understand themselves."
+
+"That understanding ourselves, my dearest husband," insisted Charlotte,
+"is no such certain weapon. It is very often a most dangerous one for
+the person who bears it. And out of all this, at least so much seems to
+arise, that we should not be in too great a hurry. Let me have a few
+days to think; don't decide."
+
+"As the matter stands," returned Edward, "wait as many days as we will,
+we shall still be in too great a hurry. The arguments for and against
+are all before us; all we want is the conclusion, and as things are, I
+think the best thing we can do is to draw lots."
+
+"I know," said Charlotte, "that in doubtful cases it is your way to
+leave them to chance. To me, in such a serious matter, this seems almost
+a crime."
+
+"Then what am I to write to the Captain?" cried Edward; "for write I
+must at once."
+
+"Write him a kind, sensible, sympathizing letter," answered Charlotte.
+
+"That is as good as none at all," replied Edward.
+
+"And there are many cases," answered she, "in which we are obliged, and
+in which it is the real kindness, rather to write nothing than not to
+write."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Edward was alone in his room. The repetition of the incidents of his
+life from Charlotte's lips; the representation of their mutual
+situation, their mutual purposes, had worked him, sensitive as he was,
+into a very pleasant state of mind. While close to her--while in her
+presence--he had felt so happy, that he had thought out a warm, kind,
+but quiet and indefinite epistle which he would send to the Captain.
+When, however, he had settled himself at his writing-table, and taken up
+his friend's letter to read it over once more, the sad condition of this
+excellent man rose again vividly before him. The feelings which had been
+all day distressing him again awoke, and it appeared impossible to him
+to leave one whom he called his friend in such painful embarrassment.
+
+Edward was unaccustomed to deny himself anything. The only child, and
+consequently the spoilt child, of wealthy parents, who had persuaded him
+into a singular, but highly advantageous marriage with a lady far older
+than himself; and again by her petted and indulged in every possible
+way, she seeking to reward his kindness to her by the utmost liberality;
+after her early death his own master, traveling independently of every
+one, equal to all contingencies and all changes, with desires never
+excessive, but multiple and various--free-hearted, generous, brave, at
+times even noble--what was there in the world to cross or thwart him?
+
+Hitherto, everything had gone as he desired! Charlotte had become his;
+he had won her at last, with an obstinate, a romantic fidelity; and now
+he felt himself, for the first time, contradicted, crossed in his
+wishes, when those wishes were to invite to his home the friend of his
+youth--just as he was longing, as it were, to throw open his whole heart
+to him. He felt annoyed, impatient; he took up his pen again and again,
+and as often threw it down again, because he could not make up his mind
+what to write. Against his wife's wishes he would not go; against her
+expressed desire he could not. Ill at ease as he was, it would have been
+impossible for him, even if he had wished, to write a quiet, easy
+letter. The most natural thing to do, was to put it off. In a few words,
+he begged his friend to forgive him for having left his letter
+unanswered; that day he was unable to write circumstantially; but
+shortly, he hoped to be able to tell him what he felt at greater length.
+
+The next day, as they were walking to the same spot, Charlotte took the
+opportunity of bringing back the conversation to the subject, perhaps
+because she knew that there is no surer way of rooting out any plan or
+purpose than by often talking it over.
+
+It was what Edward was wishing. He expressed him self in his own way,
+kindly and sweetly. For although, sensitive as, he was, he flamed up
+readily--although the vehemence with which he desired anything made him
+pressing, and his obstinacy made him impatient--his words were so
+softened by his wish to spare the feelings of those to whom he was
+speaking, that it was impossible not to be charmed, even when one most
+disagreed, with him.
+
+This morning, he first contrived to bring Charlotte into the happiest
+humor, and then so disarmed her with the graceful turn which he gave to
+the conversation, that she cried out at last:
+
+"You are determined that what I refused to the husband you will make me
+grant to the lover. At least, my dearest," she continued, "I will
+acknowledge that your wishes,--and the warmth and sweetness with which
+you express them, have not left me untouched, have not left me unmoved.
+You drive me to make a confession;--till now, I too have had a
+concealment from you; I am in exactly the same position with you, and I
+have hitherto been putting the same restraint on my inclination which I
+have been exhorting you to put on yours."
+
+"Glad am I to hear that," said Edward. "In the married state, a
+difference of opinion now and then, I see, is no bad thing; we learn
+something of each other by it."
+
+"You are to learn at present, then," said Charlotte, "that it is with me
+about Ottilie as it is with you about the Captain. The dear child is
+most uncomfortable at the school, and I am thoroughly uneasy about her.
+Luciana, my daughter, born as she is for the world, is there training
+hourly for the world; languages, history, everything that is taught
+there, she acquires with so much ease that, as it were, she learns them
+off at sight. She has quick natural gifts, and an excellent memory; one
+may almost say she forgets everything, and in a moment calls it all back
+again. She distinguishes herself above every one at the school with the
+freedom of her carriage, the grace of her movement, and the elegance of
+her address, and with the inborn royalty of nature makes herself the
+queen of the little circle there. The superior of the establishment
+regards her as a little divinity, who, under her hands, is shaping into
+excellence, and who will do her honor, gain her reputation, and bring
+her a large increase of pupils; the first pages of this good lady's
+letters, and her monthly notices of progress, are forever hymns about
+the excellence of such a child, which I have to translate into my own
+prose; while her concluding sentences about Ottilie are nothing but
+excuse after excuse--attempts at explaining how it can be that a girl in
+other respects growing up so lovely seems coming to nothing, and shows
+neither capacity nor accomplishment. This, and the little she has to say
+besides, is no riddle to me, because I can see in this dear child the
+same character as that of her mother, who was my own dearest friend; who
+grew up with myself, and whose daughter, I am certain, if I had the care
+of her education, would form into an exquisite creature.
+
+"This, however, has not fallen in with our plan, and as one ought not to
+be picking and pulling, or for ever introducing new elements among the
+conditions of our lives, I think it better to bear, and to conquer as I
+can, even the unpleasant impression that my daughter, who knows very
+well that poor Ottilie is entirely dependent upon us, does not refrain
+from flourishing her own successes in her face, and so, to a certain
+extent, destroys the little good which we have done for her. Who are
+well trained enough never to wound others by a parade of their own
+advantages? and who stands so high as not at times to suffer under such
+a slight? In trials like these, Ottilie's character is growing in
+strength, but since I have clearly known the painfulness of her
+situation, I have been thinking over all possible ways to make some
+other arrangement. Every hour I am expecting an answer to my own last
+letter, and then I do not mean to hesitate any more. So, my dear Edward,
+it is with me. We have both, you see, the same sorrows to bear, touching
+both our hearts in the same point. Let us bear them together, since we
+neither of us can press our own against the other."
+
+"We are strange creatures," said Edward, smiling. "If we can only put
+out of sight anything which troubles us, we fancy at once we have got
+rid of it. We can give up much in the large and general; but to make
+sacrifices in little things is a demand to which we are rarely equal. So
+it was with my mother,--as long as I lived with her, while a boy and a
+young man, she could not bear to let me be a moment out of her sight. If
+I was out later than usual in my ride, some misfortune must have
+happened to me. If I got wet through in a shower, a fever was
+inevitable. I traveled; I was absent from her altogether; and, at once,
+I scarcely seemed to belong to her. If we look at it closer," he
+continued, "we are both acting very foolishly, very culpably. Two very
+noble natures, both of which have the closest claims on our affection,
+we are leaving exposed to pain and distress, merely to avoid exposing
+ourselves to a chance of danger. If this is not to be called selfish,
+what is? You take Ottilie. Let me have the Captain; and, for a short
+period, at least, let the trial be made."
+
+"We might venture it," said Charlotte, thoughtfully, "if the danger were
+only to ourselves. But do you think it prudent to bring Ottilie and the
+Captain into a situation where they must necessarily be so closely
+intimate; the Captain, a man no older than yourself, of an age (I am not
+saying this to flatter you) when a man becomes first capable of love and
+first deserving of it, and a girl of Ottilie's attractiveness?"
+
+"I cannot conceive how you can rate Ottilie so high," replied Edward. "I
+can only explain it to myself by supposing her to have inherited your
+affection for her mother. Pretty she is, no doubt. I remember the
+Captain observing it to me, when we came back last year, and met her at
+your aunt's. Attractive she is,--she has particularly pretty eyes; but I
+do not know that she made the slightest impression upon me."
+
+"That was quite proper in you," said Charlotte, "seeing that I was
+there; and, although she is much younger than I, the presence of your
+old friend had so many charms for you, that you overlooked the promise
+of the opening beauty. It is one of your ways; and that is one reason
+why it is so pleasant to live with you."
+
+Charlotte, openly as she appeared to be speaking, was keeping back
+something, nevertheless; which was that at the time when Edward came
+first back from abroad, she had purposely thrown Ottilie in his way, to
+secure, if possible, so desirable a match for her protégée. For of
+herself, at that time, in connection with Edward, she never thought at
+all. The Captain, also, had a hint given to him to draw Edward's
+attention to her; but the latter, who was clinging determinately to his
+early affection for Charlotte, looked neither right nor left, and was
+only happy in the feeling that it was at last within his power to obtain
+for himself the one happiness which he so earnestly desired; and which a
+series of incidents had appeared to have placed forever beyond his
+reach.
+
+They were on the point of descending the new grounds, in order to return
+to the castle, when a servant came hastily to meet them, and, with a
+laugh on his face, called up from below, "Will your grace be pleased to
+come quickly to the castle? The Herr Mittler has just galloped into the
+court. He shouted to us, to go all of us in search of you, and we were
+to ask whether there was need; 'whether there is need,' he cried after
+us, 'do you hear? But be quick, be quick.'"
+
+"The odd fellow," exclaimed Edward. "But has he not come at the right
+time, Charlotte? Tell him, there is need,--grievous need. He must
+alight. See his horse taken care of. Take him into the saloon, and let
+him have some luncheon. We shall be with him immediately."
+
+"Let us take the nearest way," he said to his wife, and struck into the
+path across the churchyard, which he usually avoided. He was not a
+little surprised to find here, too, traces of Charlotte's delicate hand.
+Sparing, as far as possible, the old monuments, she had contrived to
+level it, and lay it carefully out, so as to make it appear a pleasant
+spot on which the eye and the imagination could equally repose with
+pleasure. The oldest stones had each their special honor assigned them.
+They were ranged according to their dates along the wall, either leaning
+against it, or let into it, or however it could be contrived; and the
+string-course of the church was thus variously ornamented.
+
+Edward was singularly affected as he came in upon it through the little
+wicket; he pressed Charlotte's hand, and tears started into his eyes.
+But these were very soon put to flight, by the appearance of their
+singular visitor. This gentleman had declined sitting down in the
+castle; he had ridden straight through the village to the churchyard
+gate; and then, halting, he called out to his friends, "Are you not
+making a fool of me? Is there need, really? If there is, I can stay till
+mid-day. But don't keep me. I have a great deal to do before night."
+
+"Since you have taken the trouble to come so far," cried Edward to him,
+in answer, "you had better come through the gate. We meet at a solemn
+spot. Come and see the variety which Charlotte has thrown over its
+sadness."
+
+"Inside there," called out the rider, "come I neither on horseback, nor
+in carriage, nor on foot. These here rest in peace: with them I have
+nothing to do. One day I shall be carried in feet foremost. I must bear
+that as I can. Is it serious, I want to know?"
+
+"Indeed it is," cried Charlotte, "right serious. For the first time in
+our married lives, we are in a strait and difficulty, from which we do
+not know how to extricate ourselves."
+
+"You do not look as if it were so," answered he. "But I will believe
+you. If you are deceiving me, for the future you shall help yourselves.
+Follow me quickly, my horse will be none the worse for a rest."
+
+The three speedily found themselves in the saloon together. Luncheon was
+brought in, and Mittler told them what that day he had done, and was
+going to do. This eccentric person had in early life been a clergyman,
+and had distinguished himself in his office by the never-resting
+activity with which he contrived to make up and put an end to quarrels:
+quarrels in families, and quarrels between neighbors; first among the
+individuals immediately about him, and afterward among whole
+congregations, and among the country gentlemen round. While he was in
+the ministry, no married couple was allowed to separate; and the
+district courts were untroubled with either cause or process. A
+knowledge of the law, he was well aware, was necessary to him. He gave
+himself with all his might to the study of it, and very soon felt
+himself a match for the best trained advocate. His circle of activity
+extended wonderfully, and people were on the point of inducing him to
+move to the Residence, where he would find opportunities of exercising
+in the higher circles what he had begun in the lowest, when he won a
+considerable sum of money in a lottery. With this, he bought himself a
+small property. He let the ground to a tenant, and made it the centre of
+his operations, with the fixed determination, or rather in accordance
+with his old customs and inclinations, never to enter a house when there
+was no dispute to make up, and no help to be given. People who were
+superstitious about names, and about what they imported, maintained that
+it was his being called Mittler which drove him to take upon himself
+this strange employment.
+
+Luncheon was laid on the table, and the stranger then solemnly pressed
+his host not to wait any longer with the disclosure which he had to
+make. Immediately after refreshing himself he would be obliged to leave
+them.
+
+Husband and wife made a circumstantial confession; but scarcely had he
+caught the substance of the matter, when he started angrily up from the
+table, rushed out of the saloon, and ordered his horse to be saddled
+instantly.
+
+"Either you do not know me, you do not understand me," he cried, "or you
+are sorely mischievous. Do you call this a quarrel? Is there any want
+of help here? Do you suppose that I am in the world to give _advice_? Of
+all occupations which man can pursue, that is the most foolish. Every
+man must be his own counsellor, and do what he cannot let alone. If all
+go well, let him be happy, let him enjoy his wisdom and his fortune; if
+it go ill, I am at hand to do what I can for him. The man who desires to
+be rid of an evil knows what he wants; but the man who desires something
+better than he has got is stone blind. Yes, yes, laugh as you will, he
+is playing blindman's-buff; perhaps he gets hold of something, but the
+question is what he has got hold of. Do as you will, it is all one.
+Invite your friends to you, or let them be, it is all the same. The most
+prudent plans I have seen miscarry, and the most foolish succeed. Don't
+split your brains about it; and if, one way or the other, evil comes of
+what you settle, don't fret; send for me, and you shall be helped. Till
+which time, I am your humble servant."
+
+So saying, he sprang on his horse, without waiting the arrival of the
+coffee.
+
+"Here you see," said Charlotte, "the small service a third person can
+be, when things are off their balance between two persons closely
+connected; we are left, if possible, more confused and more uncertain
+than we were."
+
+They would both, probably, have continued hesitating some time longer,
+had not a letter arrived from the Captain, in reply to Edward's last. He
+had made up his mind to accept one of the situations which had been
+offered him, although it was not in the least up to his mark. He was to
+share the ennui of certain wealthy persons of rank, who depended on his
+ability to dissipate it.
+
+Edward's keen glance saw into the whole thing, and he pictured it out in
+just, sharp lines.
+
+"Can we endure to think of our friend in such a position?" he cried;
+"you cannot be so cruel, Charlotte."
+
+"That strange Mittler is right after all," replied Charlotte; "all such
+undertakings are ventures; what will come of them it is impossible to
+foresee. New elements introduced among us may be fruitful in fortune or
+in misfortune, without our having to take credit to ourselves for one or
+the other. I do not feel myself firm enough to oppose you further. Let
+us make the experiment; only one thing I will entreat of you--that it be
+only for a short time. You must allow me to exert myself more than ever,
+to use all my influence among all my connections, to find him some
+position which will satisfy him in his own way."
+
+Edward poured out the warmest expressions of gratitude. He hastened,
+with a light, happy heart, to write off his proposals to his friend.
+Charlotte, in a postscript, was to signify her approbation with her own
+hand, and unite her own kind entreaties with his. She wrote, with a
+rapid pen, pleasantly and affectionately, but yet with a sort of haste
+which was not usual with her; and, most unlike herself, she disfigured
+the paper at last with a blot of ink, which put her out of temper, and
+which she only made worse with her attempts to wipe it away.
+
+Edward laughed at her about it, and, as there was still room, added a
+second postscript, that his friend was to see from this symptom the
+impatience with which he was expected, and measure the speed at which he
+came to them by the haste in which the letter was written.
+
+The messenger was gone; and Edward thought he could not give a more
+convincing evidence of his gratitude, than in insisting again and again
+that Charlotte should at once send for Ottilie from the school. She said
+she would think about it; and, for that evening, induced Edward to join
+with her in the enjoyment of a little music. Charlotte played
+exceedingly well on the piano, Edward not quite so well on the flute. He
+had taken a great deal of pains with it at times; but he was without the
+patience, without the perseverance, which are requisite for the
+completely successful cultivation of such a talent; consequently, his
+part was done unequally, some pieces well, only perhaps too
+quickly--while with others he hesitated, not being quite familiar with
+them; so that, for any one else, it would have been difficult to have
+gone through a duet with him. But Charlotte knew how to manage it. She
+held in, or let herself be run away with, and fulfilled in this way the
+double part of a skilful conductor and a prudent housewife, who are able
+always to keep right on the whole, although particular passages will now
+and then fall out of order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+The Captain came, having previously written a most sensible letter,
+which had entirely quieted Charlotte's apprehensions. So much clearness
+about himself, so just an understanding of his own position and the
+position of his friends, promised everything which was best and
+happiest.
+
+The conversation of the first few hours, as is generally the case with
+friends who have not met for a long time, was eager, lively, almost
+exhausting. Toward evening, Charlotte proposed a walk to the new
+grounds. The Captain was delighted with the spot, and observed every
+beauty which had been first brought into sight and made enjoyable by the
+new walks. He had a practised eye, and at the same time one easily
+satisfied; and although he knew very well what was really valuable, he
+never, as so many persons do, made people who were showing him things of
+their own uncomfortable, by requiring more than the circumstances
+admitted of, or by mentioning anything more perfect, which he remembered
+having seen elsewhere.
+
+When they arrived at the summer-house, they found it dressed out for a
+holiday, only, indeed, with artificial flowers and evergreens, but with
+some pretty bunches of natural corn-ears among them, and other field and
+garden fruit, so as to do credit to the taste which had arranged them.
+
+"Although my husband does not like in general to have his birthday or
+christening-day kept," Charlotte said, "he will not object today to
+these few ornaments being expended on a treble festival."
+
+"Treble?" cried Edward.
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "Our friend's arrival here we are bound to
+keep as a festival; and have you never thought, either of you, that this
+is the day on which you were both christened? Are you not both named
+Otto?"
+
+The two friends shook hands across the little table.
+
+"You bring back to my mind," Edward said, "this little link of our
+boyish affection. As children, we were both called so; but when we came
+to be at school together, it was the cause of much confusion, and I
+readily made over to him all my right to the pretty laconic name."
+
+"Wherein you were not altogether so very high-minded," said the Captain;
+"for I well remember that the name of Edward had then begun to please
+you better, from its attractive sound when spoken by certain pretty
+lips."
+
+They were now sitting all three round the same table where Charlotte had
+spoken so vehemently against their guest's coming to them. Edward, happy
+as he was, did not wish to remind his wife of that time; but he could
+not help saying, "There is good room here for one more person."
+
+At this moment the notes of a bugle were heard across from the castle.
+Full of happy thoughts and feelings as the friends all were together,
+the sound fell in among them with a strong force of answering harmony.
+They listened silently, each for the moment withdrawing into himself,
+and feeling doubly happy in the fair circle of which he formed a part.
+The pause was first broken by Edward, who started up and walked out in
+front of the summer-house.
+
+"Our friend must not think," he said to Charlotte, "that this narrow
+little valley forms the whole of our domain and possessions. Let us take
+him up to the top of the hill, where he can see farther and breathe more
+freely."
+
+"For this once, then," answered Charlotte, "we must climb up the old
+footpath, which is not too easy. By the next time, I hope my walks and
+steps will have been carried right up."
+
+And so, among rocks, and shrubs, and bushes, they made their way to the
+summit, where they found themselves, not on a level flat, but on a
+sloping grassy terrace, running along the ridge of the hill. The
+village, with the castle behind it, was out of sight. At the bottom of
+the valley, sheets of water were seen spreading out right and left, with
+wooded hills rising immediately from their opposite margin, and, at the
+end of the upper water, a wall of sharp, precipitous rocks directly
+overhanging it, their huge forms reflected in its level surface. In the
+hollow of the ravine, where a considerable brook ran into the lake, lay
+a mill, half hidden among the trees, a sweetly retired spot, most
+beautifully surrounded; and through the entire semicircle, over which
+the view extended, ran an endless variety of hills and valleys, copse
+and forest, the early green of which promised the near approach of a
+luxuriant clothing of foliage. In many places particular groups of trees
+caught the eye; and especially a cluster of planes and poplars directly
+at the spectator's feet, close to the edge of the centre lake. They were
+at their full growth, and they stood there, spreading out their boughs
+all around them, in fresh and luxuriant strength.
+
+To these Edward called his friend's attention.
+
+"I myself planted them," he cried, "when I was a boy. They were small
+trees which I rescued when my father was laying out the new part of the
+great castle garden, and in the middle of one summer had rooted them
+out. This year you will no doubt see them show their gratitude in a
+fresh set of shoots."
+
+They returned to the castle in high spirits, and mutually pleased with
+each other. To the guest was allotted an agreeable and roomy set of
+apartments in the right wing of the castle; and here he rapidly got his
+books and papers and instruments in order, to go on with his usual
+occupation. But Edward, for the first few days, gave him no rest. He
+took him about everywhere, now on foot, now on horseback, making him
+acquainted with the country and with the estate; and he embraced the
+opportunity of imparting to him the wishes which he had been long
+entertaining, of getting at some better acquaintance with it, and
+learning to manage it more profitably.
+
+"The first thing we have to do," said the Captain, "is to make a
+magnetic survey of the property. That is a pleasant and easy matter; and
+if it does not admit of entire exactness, it will be always useful, and
+will do, at any rate, for an agreeable beginning. It can be made, too,
+without any great staff of assistants, and one can be sure of getting it
+completed. If by-and-by you come to require anything more exact, it will
+be easy then to find some plan to have it made."
+
+The Captain was exceedingly skilful at work of thus kind. He had brought
+with him whatever instruments he required, and commenced immediately.
+Edward provided him with a number of foresters and peasants, who, with
+his instruction, were able to render him all necessary assistance. The
+weather was favorable. The evenings and the early mornings were devoted
+to the designing and drawing, and in a short time it was all filled in
+and colored. Edward saw his possessions grow out like a new creation
+upon the paper; and it seemed as if now for the first time he knew what
+they were, as if they now first were properly his own.
+
+Thus there came occasion to speak of the park, and of the ways of laying
+it out; a far better disposition of things being made possible after a
+survey of this kind, than could be arrived at by experimenting on
+nature, on partial and accidental impressions.
+
+"We must make my wife understand this," said Edward.
+
+"We must do nothing of the kind," replied the Captain, who did not like
+bringing his own notions in collision with those of others. He had
+learnt by experience that the motives and purposes by which men are
+influenced are far too various to be made to coalesce upon a single
+point, even on the most solid representations. "We must not do it," he
+cried; "she will be only confused. With her, as with all people who
+employ themselves on such matters merely as amateurs, the important
+thing is, rather that she shall do something, than that something shall
+be done. Such persons feel their way with nature. They have fancies for
+this plan or that; they do not venture on removing obstacles. They are
+not bold enough to make a sacrifice. They do not know beforehand in what
+their work is to result. They try an experiment--it succeeds--it fails;
+they alter it; they alter, perhaps, what they ought to leave alone, and
+leave what they ought to alter; and so, at last, there always remains
+but a patchwork, which pleases and amuses, but never satisfies."
+
+"Acknowledge candidly," said Edward, "that you do not like this new work
+of hers."
+
+"The idea is excellent," he replied; "if the execution were equal to it,
+there would be no fault to find. But she has tormented herself to find
+her way up that rock; and she now torments every one, if you must have
+it, that she takes up after her. You cannot walk together, you cannot
+walk behind one another, with any freedom. Every moment your step is
+interrupted one way or another. There is no end to the mistakes which
+she has made."
+
+"Would it have been easy to have done it otherwise?" asked Edward.
+
+"Perfectly," replied the Captain. "She had only to break away a corner
+of the rock, which is now but an unsightly object, made up as it is of
+little pieces, and she would at once have a sweep for her walk and stone
+in abundance for the rough masonry work, to widen it in the bad places,
+and make it smooth. But this I tell you in strictest confidence. Her it
+would only confuse and annoy. What is done must remain as it is. If any
+more money and labor is to be spent there, there is abundance to do
+above the summer-house on the hill, which we can settle our own way."
+
+If the two friends found in their occupation abundance of present
+employment, there was no lack either of entertaining reminiscences of
+early times, in which Charlotte took her part as well. They determined,
+moreover, that as soon as their immediate labors were finished, they
+would go to work upon the journal, and in this way, too, reproduce the
+past.
+
+For the rest, when Edward and Charlotte were alone, there were fewer
+matters of private interest between them than formerly. This was
+especially the case since the fault-finding about the grounds, which
+Edward thought so just, and which he felt to the quick. He held his
+tongue about what the Captain had said for a long time; but at last,
+when he saw his wife again preparing to go to work above the
+summer-house, with her paths and steps, he could not contain himself any
+longer, but, after a few circumlocutions, came out with his new views.
+
+Charlotte was thoroughly disturbed. She was sensible enough to perceive
+at once that they were right, but there was the difficulty with what was
+already done--and what was made was made. She had liked it; even what
+was wrong had become dear to her in its details. She fought against her
+convictions; she defended her little creations; she railed at men who
+were forever going to the broad and the great. They could not let a
+pastime, they could not let an amusement alone, she said, but they must
+go and make a work out of it, never thinking of the expense which their
+larger plans involved. She was provoked, annoyed, and angry. Her old
+plans she could not give up, the new she would not quite throw from her;
+but, divided as she was, for the present she put a stop to the work, and
+gave herself time to think the thing over, and let it ripen by itself.
+
+At the same time that she lost this source of active amusement, the
+others were more and more together over their own business. They took
+to occupying themselves, moreover, with the flower-garden and the
+hot-houses; and as they filled up the intervals with the ordinary
+gentlemen's amusements, hunting, riding, buying, selling, breaking
+horses, and such matters, she was every day left more and more to
+herself. She devoted herself more assiduously than ever to her
+correspondence on account of the Captain; and yet she had many lonely
+hours; so that the information which she now received from the school
+became of more agreeable interest.
+
+To a long-drawn letter of the superior of the establishment, filled with
+the usual expressions of delight at her daughter's progress, a brief
+postscript was attached, with a second from the hand of a gentleman in
+employment there as an Assistant, both of which we here communicate.
+
+POSTSCRIPT OF THE SUPERIOR
+
+"Of Ottilie, I can only repeat to your ladyship what I have already
+stated in my former letters. I do not know how to find fault with her,
+yet I cannot say that I am satisfied. She is always unassuming, always
+ready to oblige others; but it is not pleasing to see her so timid, so
+almost servile.
+
+"Your ladyship lately sent her some money, with several little matters
+for her wardrobe. The money she has never touched, the dresses lie
+unworn in their place. She keeps her things very nice and very clean;
+but this is all she seems to care about. Again, I cannot praise her
+excessive abstemiousness in eating and drinking. There is no
+extravagance at our table, but there is nothing that I like better than
+to see the children eat enough of good, wholesome food. What is
+carefully provided and set before them ought to be taken; and to this I
+never can succeed in bringing Ottilie. She is always making herself some
+occupation or other, always finding something which she must do,
+something which the servants have neglected, to escape the second course
+or the dessert; and now it has to be considered (which I cannot help
+connecting with all this) that she frequently suffers, I have lately
+learnt, from pain in the left side of her head. It is only at times, but
+it is distressing, and may be of importance. So much upon this otherwise
+sweet and lovely girl."
+
+SECOND POSTSCRIPT, BY THE ASSISTANT
+
+"Our excellent superior commonly permits me to read the letters in which
+she communicates her observations upon her pupils to their parents and
+friends. Such of them as are addressed to your ladyship I ever read with
+twofold attention and pleasure. We have to congratulate you upon a
+daughter who unites in herself every brilliant quality with which people
+distinguish themselves in the world; and I at least think you no less
+fortunate in having had bestowed upon you, in your step-daughter, a
+child who has been born for the good and happiness of others, and
+assuredly also for her own. Ottilie is almost our only pupil about whom
+there is a difference of opinion between myself and our reverend
+superior. I do not complain of the very natural desire in that good lady
+to see outward and definite fruits arising from her labors. But there
+are also fruits which are not outward, which are of the true germinal
+sort, and which develop themselves sooner or later in a beautiful life.
+And this I am certain is the case with your protégée. So long as she has
+been under my care, I have watched her moving with an even step, slowly,
+steadily forward--never back. As with a child it is necessary to begin
+everything at the beginning, so it is with her. She can comprehend
+nothing which does not follow from what precedes it; let a thing be as
+simple and easy as possible, she can make nothing of it if it is not in
+a recognizable connection; but find the intermediate links, and make
+them clear to her, and then nothing is too difficult for her.
+
+"Progressing with such slow steps, she remains behind her companions,
+who, with capacities of quite a different kind, hurry on and on, learn
+everything readily, connected or unconnected, recollect it with ease,
+and apply it with correctness. And again, some of the lessons here are
+given by excellent, but somewhat hasty and impatient teachers, who pass
+from result to result, cutting short the process by which they are
+arrived at; and these are not of the slightest service to her; she
+learns nothing from them. There is a complaint of her handwriting. They
+say she will not, or cannot, understand how to form her letters. I have
+examined closely into this. It is true she writes slowly, stiffly, if
+you like; but the hand is neither timid nor without character. The
+French language is not my department, but I have taught her something of
+it, in the step-by-step fashion; and this she understands easily.
+Indeed, it is singular that she knows a great deal, and knows it well,
+too; and yet when she is asked a question, it seems as if she knew
+nothing.
+
+"To conclude generally, I should say she learns nothing like a person
+who is being educated, but she learns like one who is to educate--not
+like a pupil, but like a future teacher. Your ladyship may think it
+strange that I, as an educator and a teacher, can find no higher praise
+to give to any one than by a comparison with myself. I may leave it to
+your own good sense, to your deep knowledge of the world and of mankind,
+to make the best of my most inadequate, but well-intended expressions.
+You may satisfy yourself that you have much happiness to promise
+yourself from this child. I commend myself to your ladyship, and I
+beseech you to permit me to write to you again as soon as I see reason
+to believe that I have anything important or agreeable to communicate."
+
+This letter gave Charlotte great pleasure. The contents of it coincided
+very closely with the notions which she had herself conceived of
+Ottilie. At the same time, she could not help smiling at the excessive
+interest of the Assistant, which seemed greater than the insight into a
+pupil's excellence usually calls forth. In her quiet, unprejudiced way
+of looking at things, this relation, among others, she was contented to
+permit to lie before her as a possibility; she could value the interest
+of so sensible a man in Ottilie, having learnt, among the lessons of her
+life, to see how highly true regard is to be prized in a world where
+indifference or dislike are the common natural residents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+The topographical chart of the property and its environs was completed.
+It was executed on a considerable scale; the character of the particular
+localities was made intelligible by various colors; and by means of a
+trigonometrical survey the Captain had been able to arrive at a very
+fair exactness of measurement. He had been rapid in his work. There was
+scarcely ever any one who could do with less sleep than this most
+laborious man; and, as his day was always devoted to an immediate
+purpose, every evening something had been done.
+
+"Let us now," he said to his friend, "go on to what remains for us, to
+the statistics of the estate. We shall have a good deal of work to get
+through at the beginning, and afterward we shall come to the farm
+estimates, and much else which will naturally arise out of them. Only we
+must have one thing distinctly settled and adhered to. Everything which
+is properly _business_ we must keep carefully separate from life.
+Business requires earnestness and method; _life_ must have a freer
+handling. Business demands the utmost stringency and sequence; in life,
+inconsecutiveness is frequently necessary, indeed, is charming and
+graceful. If you are firm in the first, you can afford yourself more
+liberty in the second; while if you mix them, you will find the free
+interfering with and breaking in upon the fixed."
+
+In these sentiments Edward felt a slight reflection upon himself. Though
+not naturally disorderly, he could never bring himself to arrange his
+papers in their proper places. What he had to do in connection with
+others, was not kept separate from what depended only on himself.
+Business got mixed up with amusement, and serious work with recreation.
+Now, however, it was easy for him, with the help of a friend who would
+take the trouble upon himself; and a second "I" worked out the
+separation, to which the single "I" was always unequal.
+
+In the Captain's wing, they contrived a depository for what concerned
+the present, and an archive for the past. Here they brought all the
+documents, papers, and notes from their various hiding-places, rooms,
+drawers, and boxes, with the utmost speed. Harmony and order were
+introduced into the wilderness, and the different packets were marked
+and registered in their several pigeon-holes. They found all they wanted
+in greater completeness even than they had expected; and here an old
+clerk was found of no slight service, who for the whole day and part of
+the night never left his desk, and with whom, till then, Edward had been
+always dissatisfied.
+
+"I should not know him again," he said to his friend, "the man is so
+handy and useful."
+
+"That," replied the Captain, "is because we give him nothing fresh to do
+till he has finished, at his convenience, what he has already; and so,
+as you perceive, he gets through a great deal. If you disturb him, he
+becomes useless at once."
+
+Spending their days together in this way, in the evenings they never
+neglected their regular visits to Charlotte. If there was no party from
+the neighborhood, as was often the case, they read and talked,
+principally on subjects connected with the improvement of the condition
+and comfort of social life.
+
+Charlotte, always accustomed to make the most of opportunities, not only
+saw her husband pleased, but found personal advantages for herself.
+Various domestic arrangements, which she had long wished to make, but
+which she did not know exactly how to set about, were managed for her
+through the contrivance of the Captain. Her domestic medicine-chest,
+hitherto but poorly furnished, was enlarged and enriched, and Charlotte
+herself, with the help of good books and personal instruction, was put
+in the way of being able to exercise her disposition to be of practical
+assistance more frequently and more efficiently than before.
+
+In providing against accidents, which, though common, yet only too often
+find us unprepared, they thought it especially necessary to have at hand
+whatever is required for the recovery of drowning men--accidents of this
+kind, from the number of canals, reservoirs, and waterworks in the
+neighborhood, being of frequent occurrence. This department the Captain
+took expressly into his own hands; and the observation escaped Edward,
+that a case of this kind had made a very singular epoch in the life of
+his friend. The latter made no reply, but seemed to be trying to escape
+from a painful recollection. Edward immediately stopped; and Charlotte,
+who, as well as he, had a general knowledge of the story, took no notice
+of the expression.
+
+"These preparations are all exceedingly valuable," said the Captain, one
+evening. "Now, however, we have not got the one thing which is most
+essential--a sensible man who understands how to manage it all. I know
+an army surgeon, whom I could exactly recommend for the place. You might
+get him at this moment, on easy terms. He is highly distinguished in his
+profession, and has frequently done more for me, in the treatment even
+of violent inward disorders, than celebrated physicians. Help upon the
+spot, is the thing you often most want in the country."
+
+He was written for at once; and Edward and Charlotte were rejoiced to
+have found so good and necessary an object on which to expend so much of
+the money which they set apart for such accidental demands upon them.
+
+Thus Charlotte, too, found means of making use, for her purposes, of the
+Captain's knowledge and practical skill; and she began to be quite
+reconciled to his presence, and to feel easy about any consequences
+which might ensue. She commonly prepared questions to ask him; among
+other things, it was one of her anxieties to provide against whatever
+was prejudicial to health and comfort, against poisons and such like.
+The lead-glazing on the china, the verdigris which formed about her
+copper and bronze vessels, etc., had long been a trouble to her. She got
+him to tell her about these, and, naturally, they often had to fall back
+on the first elements of medicine and chemistry.
+
+An accidental, but welcome occasion for entertainment of this kind, was
+given by an inclination of Edward to read aloud. He had a particularly
+clear, deep voice, and earlier in life had earned himself a pleasant
+reputation for his feeling and lively recitations of works of poetry and
+oratory. At this time he was occupied with other subjects, and the books
+which, for some time past, he had been reading, were either chemical or
+on some other branch of natural or technical science.
+
+One of his especial peculiarities--which, by-the-by, he very likely
+shares with a number of his fellow-creatures--was, that he could not
+bear to have any one looking over him when he was reading. In early
+life, when he used to read poems, plays, or stories, this had been the
+natural consequence of the desire which the reader feels, like the poet,
+or the actor, or the story-teller, to make surprises, to pause, to
+excite expectation; and this sort of effect was naturally defeated when
+a third person's eyes could run on before him, and see what was coming.
+On such occasions, therefore, he was accustomed to place himself in such
+a position that no one could get behind him. With a party of only three,
+this was unnecessary; and as with the present subject there was no
+opportunity for exciting feelings or giving the imagination a surprise,
+he did not take any particular pains to protect himself.
+
+One evening he had placed himself carelessly, and Charlotte happened by
+accident to cast her eyes upon the page. His old impatience was aroused;
+he turned to her, and said, almost unkindly:
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD READING ALOUD TO CHARLOTTE AND THE CAPTAIN]
+
+"I do wish, once for all, you would leave off doing a thing so out of
+taste and so disagreeable. When I read aloud to a person, is it not
+the same as if I was telling him something by word of mouth? The
+written, the printed word, is in the place of my own thoughts, of my own
+heart. If a window were broken into my brain or into my heart, and if
+the man to whom I am counting out my thoughts, or delivering my
+sentiments, one by one, knew beforehand exactly what was to come out of
+me, should I take the trouble to put them into words? When anybody looks
+over my book, I always feel as if I were being torn in two."
+
+Charlotte's tact, in whatever circle she might be, large or small, was
+remarkable, and she was able to set aside disagreeable or excited
+expressions without appearing to notice them. When a conversation grew
+tedious, she knew how to interrupt it; when it halted, she could set it
+going. And this time her good gift did not forsake her.
+
+"I am sure you will forgive me my fault," she said, when I tell you what
+it was this moment which came over me. I heard you reading something
+about Affinities, and I thought directly of some relations of mine, two
+of whom are just now occupying me a great deal. Then my attention went
+back to the book. I found it was not about living things at all, and I
+looked over to get the thread of it right again."
+
+"It was the comparison which led you wrong and confused you," said
+Edward. "The subject is nothing but earths and minerals. But man is a
+true Narcissus; he delights to see his own image everywhere; and he
+spreads himself underneath the universe, like the amalgam behind the
+glass."
+
+"Quite true," continued the Captain. "That is the way in which he treats
+everything external to himself. His wisdom and his folly, his will and
+his caprice, he attributes alike to the animal, the plant, the elements,
+and the gods."
+
+"Would you," said Charlotte, "if it is not taking you away too much from
+the immediate subject, tell me briefly what is meant here by
+Affinities?"
+
+"I shall be very glad indeed," replied the Captain, to whom Charlotte
+had addressed herself. "That is, I will tell you as well as I can. My
+ideas on the subject date ten years back; whether the scientific world
+continues to think the same about it, I cannot tell."
+
+"It is most disagreeable," cried Edward, "that one cannot now-a-days
+learn a thing once for all, and have done with it. Our forefathers could
+keep to what they were taught when they were young; but we have, every
+five years, to make revolutions with them, if we do not wish to drop
+altogether out of fashion."
+
+"We women need not be so particular," said Charlotte; "and, to speak the
+truth, I only want to know the meaning of the word. There is nothing
+more ridiculous in society than to misuse a strange technical word; and
+I only wish you to tell me in what sense the expression is made use of
+in connection with these things. What its scientific application is I am
+quite contented to leave to the learned; who, by-the-by, as far as I
+have been able to observe, do not find it easy to agree among
+themselves."
+
+"Whereabouts shall we begin," said Edward, after a pause, to the
+Captain, "to come most quickly to the point?"
+
+The latter, after thinking as little while, replied shortly:
+
+"You must let me make what will seem a wide sweep; we shall be on our
+subject almost immediately."
+
+Charlotte settled her work at her side, promising the fullest attention.
+
+The Captain began:
+
+"In all natural objects with which we are acquainted, we observe
+immediately that they have a certain relation to themselves. It may
+sound ridiculous to be asserting what is obvious to every one; but it is
+only by coming to a clear understanding together about what we know,
+that we can advance to what we do not know."
+
+"I think," interrupted Edward, "we can make the thing more clear to her,
+and to ourselves, with examples; conceive water, or oil, or quicksilver;
+among these you will see a certain oneness, a certain connection of
+their parts; and this oneness is never lost, except through force or
+some other determining cause. Let the cause cease to operate, and at
+once the parts unite again."
+
+"Unquestionably," said Charlotte, "that is plain; rain-drops readily
+unite and form streams; and when we were children, it was our delight to
+play with quicksilver, and wonder at the little globules splitting and
+parting and running into one another."
+
+"And here," said the Captain, "let me just cursorily mention one
+remarkable thing--I mean, that the full, complete correlation of parts
+which the fluid state makes possible, shows itself distinctly and
+universally in the globular form. The falling water-drop is round; you
+yourself spoke of the globules of quicksilver; and a drop of melted lead
+let fall, if it has time to harden before it reaches the ground, is
+found at the bottom in the shape of a ball."
+
+"Let me try and see," said Charlotte, "whether I can understand where
+you are bringing me. As everything has a reference to itself, so it must
+have some relation to others."
+
+"And that," interrupted Edward, "will be different according to the
+natural differences of the things themselves. Sometimes they will meet
+like friends and old acquaintances; they will come rapidly together, and
+unite without either having to alter itself at all--as wine mixes with
+water. Others, again, will remain as strangers side by side, and no
+amount of mechanical mixing or forcing will succeed in combining them.
+Oil and water may be shaken up together, and the next moment they are
+separate again, each by itself."
+
+"One can almost fancy," said Charlotte, "that in these simple forms one
+sees people that one is acquainted with; one has met with just such
+things in the societies amongst which one has lived; and the strangest
+likenesses of all with these soulless creatures are in the masses in
+which men stand divided one against the other, in their classes and
+professions; the nobility and the third estate, for instance, or
+soldiers and civilians."
+
+"Then again," replied Edward, "as these are united under common laws and
+customs, so there are intermediate members in our chemical world which
+will combine elements that are mutually repulsive."
+
+"Oil, for instance," said the Captain, "we make combine with water with
+the help of alkalis----"
+
+"Do not go on too fast with your lesson," said Charlotte. "Let me see
+that I keep step with you. Are we not here arrived among the
+affinities?"
+
+"Exactly," replied the Captain; "we are on the point of apprehending
+them in all their power and distinctness; such natures as, when they
+come in contact, at once lay hold of each other, each mutually affecting
+the other, we speak of as having an affinity one for the other. With the
+alkalis and acids, for instance, the affinities are strikingly marked.
+They are of opposite natures; very likely their being of opposite
+natures is the secret of their inter-relational effect--each reaches out
+eagerly for its companion, they lay hold of each other, modify each
+other's character, and form in connection an entirely new substance.
+There is lime, you remember, which shows the strongest inclination for
+all sorts of acids--a distinct desire of combining with them. As soon as
+our chemical chest arrives, we can show you a number of entertaining
+experiments which will give you a clearer idea than words, and names,
+and technical expressions."
+
+"It appears to me," said Charlotte, "that, if you choose to call these
+strange creatures of yours related, the relationship is not so much a
+relationship of blood as of soul or of spirit. It is the way in which we
+see all really deep friendship arise among men, opposite peculiarities
+of disposition being what best makes internal union possible. But I will
+wait to see what you can really show me of these mysterious proceedings;
+and for the present," she added, turning to Edward, "I will promise not
+to disturb you any more in your reading. You have taught me enough of
+what it is about to enable me to attend to it."
+
+"No, no," replied Edward, "now that you have once stirred the thing, you
+shall not get off so easily. It is just the most complicated cases which
+are the most interesting. In these you come first to see the degrees of
+the affinities, to watch them as their power of attraction is weaker or
+stronger, nearer or more remote. Affinities begin really to interest
+only when they bring about separations."
+
+"What!" cried Charlotte, "is that miserable word, which unhappily we
+hear so often now-a-days in the world; is that to be found in nature's
+lessons too?"
+
+"Most certainly," answered Edward; "the title with which chemists were
+supposed to be most honorably distinguished was, artists of separation."
+
+"It is not so any more," replied Charlotte; "and it is well that it is
+not. It is a higher art, and it is a higher merit, to unite. An artist
+of union is what we should welcome in every province of the universe.
+However, as we are on the subject again, give me an instance or two of
+what you mean."
+
+"We had better keep," said the Captain, "to the same instances of which
+we have already been speaking. Thus, what we call limestone is a more or
+less pure calcareous earth in combination with a delicate acid, which is
+familiar to us in the form of a gas. Now, if we place a piece of this
+stone in diluted sulphuric acid, this will take possession of the lime,
+and appear with it in the form of gypsum, the gaseous acid at the same
+time going off in vapor. Here is a case of separation; a combination
+arises, and we believe ourselves now justified in applying to it the
+words 'Elective Affinity;' it really looks as if one relation had been
+deliberately chosen in preference to another.
+
+"Forgive me," said Charlotte, "as I forgive the natural philosopher. I
+cannot see any choice in this; I see a natural necessity rather, and
+scarcely that. After all, it is perhaps merely a case of opportunity.
+Opportunity makes relations as it makes thieves; and as long as the
+talk is only of natural substances, the choice to me appears to be
+altogether in the hands of the chemist who brings the creatures
+together. Once, however, let them be brought together, and then God have
+mercy on them. In the present case, I cannot help being sorry for the
+poor acid gas, which is driven out up and down infinity again."
+
+"The acid's business," answered the Captain, "is now to get connected
+with water, and so serve as a mineral fountain for the refreshing of
+sound or disordered mankind."
+
+"That is very well for the gypsum to say," said Charlotte. "The gypsum
+is all right, is a body, is provided for. The other poor, desolate
+creature may have trouble enough to go through before it can find a
+second home for itself."
+
+"I am much mistaken," said Edward, smiling, "if there be not some little
+_arrière pensée_ behind this. Confess your wickedness! You mean me by
+your lime; the lime is laid hold of by the Captain, in the form of
+sulphuric acid, torn away from your agreeable society, and metamorphosed
+into a refractory gypsum."
+
+"If your conscience prompts you to make such a reflection," replied
+Charlotte, "I certainly need not distress myself. These comparisons are
+pleasant and entertaining; and who is there that does not like playing
+with analogies? But man is raised very many steps above these elements;
+and if he has been somewhat liberal with such fine words as Election and
+Elective Affinities, he will do well to turn back again into himself,
+and take the opportunity of considering carefully the value and meaning
+of such expressions. Unhappily, we know cases enough where a connection
+apparently indissoluble between two persons, has, by the accidental
+introduction of a third, been utterly destroyed, and one or the other of
+the once happily united pair been driven out into the wilderness."
+
+"Then you see how much more gallant the chemists are," said Edward.
+"They at once add a fourth, that neither may go away empty."
+
+"Quite so," replied the Captain. "And those are the cases which are
+really most important and remarkable--cases where this attraction, this
+affinity, this separating and combining, can be exhibited, the two pairs
+severally crossing each other; where four creatures, connected
+previously, as two and two, are brought into contact, and at once
+forsake their first combination to form into a second. In this forsaking
+and embracing, this seeking and flying, we believe that we are indeed
+observing the effects of some higher determination; we attribute a sort
+of will and choice to such creatures, and feel really justified in using
+technical words, and speaking of 'Elective Affinities.'"
+
+"Give me an instance of this," said Charlotte.
+
+"One should not spoil such things with words," replied the Captain. "As
+I said before, as soon as I can show you the experiment, I can make it
+all intelligible and pleasant for you. For the present, I can give you
+nothing but horrible scientific expressions, which at the same time will
+give you no idea about the matter. You ought yourself to see these
+creatures, which seem so dead, and which are yet so full of inward
+energy and force, at work before your eyes. You should observe them with
+a real personal interest. Now they seek each other out, attract each
+other, seize, crush, devour, destroy each other, and then suddenly
+reappear again out of their combinations, and come forward in fresh,
+renovated, unexpected form; thus you will comprehend how we attribute to
+them a sort of immortality--how we speak of them as having sense and
+understanding; because we feel our own senses to be insufficient to
+observe them adequately, and our reason too weak to follow them."
+
+"I quite agree," said Edward, "that the strange scientific nomenclature,
+to persons who have not been reconciled to it by a direct acquaintance
+with or understanding of its object, must seem unpleasant, even
+ridiculous; but we can easily, just for once, contrive with symbols to
+illustrate what we are speaking of."
+
+"If you do not think it looks pedantic," answered the Captain, "I can
+put my meaning together with letters. Suppose an A connected so closely
+with a B, that all sorts of means, even violence, have been made use of
+to separate them, without effect. Then suppose a C in exactly the same
+position with respect to D. Bring the two pairs into contact; A will
+fling himself on D, C on B, without its being possible to say which had
+first left its first connection, or made the first move toward the
+second."
+
+"Now then," interposed Edward, "till we see all this with our eyes, we
+will look upon the formula as an analogy, out of which we can devise a
+lesson for immediate use. You stand for A, Charlotte, and I am your B;
+really and truly I cling to you, I depend on you, and follow you, just
+as B does with A. C is obviously the Captain, who at present is in some
+degree withdrawing me from you. So now it is only just that if you are
+not to be left to solitude a D should be found for you, and that is
+unquestionably the amiable little lady, Ottilie. You will not hesitate
+any longer to send and fetch her."
+
+"Good," replied Charlotte; "although the example does not, in my
+opinion, exactly fit our case. However, we have been fortunate, at any
+rate, in today for once having met all together; and these natural or
+elective affinities have served to unite us more intimately. I will tell
+you, that since this afternoon I have made up my mind to send for
+Ottilie. My faithful housekeeper, on whom I have hitherto depended for
+everything, is going to leave me shortly, to be married. (It was done at
+my own suggestion, I believe, to please me.) What it is which has
+decided me about Ottilie, you shall read to me. I will not look over the
+pages again. Indeed, the contents of them are already known to me. Only
+read, read!"
+
+With these words, she produced a letter, and handed it to Edward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+LETTER OF THE LADY SUPERIOR
+
+"Your ladyship will forgive the brevity of my present letter. The public
+examinations are but just concluded, and I have to communicate to all
+the parents and guardians the progress which our pupils have made during
+the past year. To you I may well be brief, having to say much in few
+words. Your ladyship's daughter has proved herself first in every sense
+of the word. The testimonials which I inclose, and her own letter, in
+which she will detail to you the prizes which she has won, and the
+happiness which she feels in her success, will surely please, and I hope
+delight you. For myself, it is the less necessary that I should say
+much, because I see that there will soon be no more occasion to keep
+with us a young lady so far advanced. I send my respects to your
+ladyship, and in a short time I shall take the liberty of offering you
+my opinion as to what in future may be of most advantage to her.
+
+"My good assistant will tell you about Ottilie."
+
+LETTER OF THE ASSISTANT.
+
+"Our reverend superior leaves it to me to write to you of Ottilie,
+partly because, with her ways of thinking about it, it would be painful
+to her to say what has to be said; partly, because she herself requires
+some excusing, which she would rather have done for her by me.
+
+"Knowing, as I did too well, how little able the good Ottilie was to
+show out what lies in her, and what she is capable of, I was all along
+afraid of this public examination. I was the more uneasy, as it was to
+be of a kind which does not admit of any especial preparation; and even
+if it had been conducted as usual, Ottilie never can be prepared to make
+a display. The result has only too entirely justified my anxiety. She
+has gained no prize; she is not even amongst those whose names have been
+mentioned with approbation. I need not go into details. In writing, the
+letters of the other girls were not so well formed, but their strokes
+were far more free. In arithmetic, they were all quicker than she; and
+in the more difficult problems, which she does the best, there was no
+examination. In French, she was outshone and out-talked by many; and in
+history she was not ready with her names and dates. In geography, there
+was a want of attention to the political divisions; and for what she
+could do in music there was neither time nor quiet enough for her few
+modest melodies to gain attention. In drawing she certainly would have
+gained the prize; her outlines were clear, and the execution most
+careful and full of spirit; unhappily, she had chosen too large a
+subject, and it was incomplete.
+
+"After the pupils were dismissed, the examiners consulted together, and
+we teachers were partially admitted into the council. I very soon
+observed that of Ottilie either nothing would be said at all, or if her
+name was mentioned, it would be with indifference, if not absolute
+disapproval. I hoped to obtain some favor for her by a candid
+description of what she was, and I ventured it with the greater
+earnestness, partly because I was only speaking my real convictions, and
+partly because I remembered in my own younger years finding myself in
+the same unfortunate case. I was listened to with attention, but as soon
+as I had ended, the presiding examiner said to me very kindly but
+laconically, 'We presume capabilities: they are to be converted into
+accomplishments. This is the aim of all education. It is what is
+distinctly intended by all who have the care of children, and silently
+and indistinctly by the children themselves. This also is the object of
+examinations, where teachers and pupils are alike standing their trial.
+From what we learn of you, we may entertain good hopes of the young
+lady, and it is to your own credit also that you have paid so much
+attention to your pupil's capabilities. If in the coming year you can
+develop these into accomplishments, neither yourself nor your pupil
+shall fail to receive your due praise.'
+
+"I had made up my mind to what must follow upon all this; but there was
+something worse that I had not anticipated, which had soon to be added
+to it. Our good Superior, who like a trusty shepherdess could not bear
+to have one of her flock lost, or, as was the case here, to see it
+undistinguished, after the examiners were gone could not contain her
+displeasure, and said to Ottilie, who was standing quite quietly by the
+window, while the others were exulting over their prizes: 'Tell me, for
+heaven's sake, how can a person look so stupid if she is not so?'
+Ottilie replied, quite calmly, 'Forgive me, my dear mother, I have my
+headache again today, and it is very painful.' Kind and sympathizing as
+she generally is, the Superior this time answered, 'No one can believe
+that,' and turned angrily away.
+
+"Now it is true--no one can believe it--for Ottilie never alters the
+expression of her countenance. I have never even seen her move her hand
+to her head when she has been asleep.
+
+"Nor was this all. Your ladyship's daughter, who is at all times
+sufficiently lively and impetuous, after her triumph today was
+overflowing with the violence of her spirits. She ran from room to room
+with her prizes and testimonials, and shook them in Ottilie's face. 'You
+have come badly off this morning,' she cried. Ottilie replied in her
+calm, quiet way, 'This is not the last day of trial.' 'But you will
+always remain the last,' cried the other, and ran away.
+
+"No one except myself saw that Ottilie was disturbed. She has a way when
+she experiences any sharp unpleasant emotion which she wishes to resist,
+of showing it in the unequal color of her face; the left cheek becomes
+for a moment flushed, while the right turns pale. I perceived this
+symptom, and I could not prevent myself from saying something. I took
+our Superior aside, and spoke seriously to her about it. The excellent
+lady acknowledged that she had been wrong. We considered the whole
+affair; we talked it over at great length together, and not to weary
+your ladyship, I will tell you at once the desire with which we
+concluded, namely, that you will for a while have Ottilie with yourself.
+Our reasons you will yourself readily perceive. If you consent, I will
+say more to you on the manner in which I think she should be treated.
+The young lady your daughter we may expect will soon leave us, and we
+shall then with pleasure welcome Ottilie back to us.
+
+"One thing more, which another time I might forget to mention: I have
+never seen Ottilie eager for anything, or at least ask pressingly for
+anything. But there have been occasions, however rare, when on the other
+hand she has wished to decline things which have been pressed upon her,
+and she does it with a gesture which to those who have caught its
+meaning is irresistible. She raises her hands, presses the palms
+together, and draws them against her breast, leaning her body a little
+forward at the same time, and turns such a look upon the person who is
+urging her that he will be glad enough to cease to ask or wish for
+anything of her. If your ladyship ever sees this attitude, as with your
+treatment of her it is not likely that you will, think of me, and spare
+Ottilie."
+
+Edward read these letters aloud, not without smiles and shakes of the
+head. Naturally, too, there were observations made on the persons and on
+the position of the affair.
+
+"Enough!" Edward cried at last, "it is decided. She comes. You, my love,
+are provided for, and now we can get forward with our work. It is
+becoming highly necessary for me to move over to the right wing to the
+Captain; evenings and mornings are the time for us best to work
+together, and then you, on your side, will have admirable room for
+yourself and Ottilie."
+
+Charlotte made no objection, and Edward sketched out the method in which
+they should live. Among other things, he cried, "It is really very
+polite in this niece to be subject to a slight pain on the left side of
+her head. I have it frequently an the right. If we happen to be
+afflicted together, and sit opposite one another--I leaning on my right
+elbow, and she on her left, and our heads on the opposite sides, resting
+on our hands--what a pretty pair of pictures we shall make."
+
+The Captain thought that might be dangerous. "No, no!" cried out Edward.
+"Only do you, my dear friend, take care of the D, for what will become
+of B, if poor C is taken away from it?"
+
+"That, I should have thought, would have been evident enough," replied
+Charlotte.
+
+"And it is, indeed," cried Edward; "he would turn back to his A, to his
+Alpha and Omega;" and he sprung up and taking Charlotte in his arms,
+pressed her to his breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The carriage which brought Ottilie drove up to the door. Charlotte went
+out to receive her. The dear girl ran to meet her, threw herself at her
+feet, and embraced her knees.
+
+"Why such humility?" said Charlotte, a little embarrassed, and
+endeavoring to raise her from the ground.
+
+"It is not meant for humility," Ottilie answered, without moving from
+the position in which she had placed herself; "I am only thinking of the
+time when I could not reach higher than to your knees, and when I had
+just learnt to know how you loved me."
+
+She stood up, and Charlotte embraced her warmly. She was introduced to
+the gentlemen, and was at once treated with especial courtesy as a
+visitor. Beauty is a welcome guest everywhere. She appeared attentive to
+the conversation, without taking a part in it.
+
+The next morning Edward said to Charlotte, "What an agreeable,
+entertaining girl she is!"
+
+"Entertaining!" answered Charlotte, with a smile; "why, she has not
+opened her lips yet!"
+
+"Indeed!" said Edward, as he seemed to bethink himself; "that is very
+strange."
+
+Charlotte had to give the new-comer but a very few hints on the
+management of the household. Ottilie saw rapidly all the arrangements,
+and what was more, she felt them. She comprehended easily what was to be
+provided for the whole party, and what for each particular member of it.
+Everything was done with the utmost punctuality; she knew how to direct,
+without appearing to be giving orders, and when any one had left
+anything undone, she at once set it right herself.
+
+As soon as she had found how much time she would have to spare, she
+begged Charlotte to divide her hours for her, and to these she adhered
+exactly. She worked at what was set before her in the way which the
+Assistant had described to Charlotte. They let her alone. It was but
+seldom that Charlotte interfered. Sometimes she changed her pens for
+others which had been written with, to teach her to make bolder strokes
+in her handwriting, but these, she found, would be soon cut sharp and
+fine again.
+
+The ladies had agreed with one another when they were alone to speak
+nothing but French, and Charlotte persisted in it the more, as she found
+Ottilie more ready to talk in a foreign language, when she was told it
+was her duty to exercise herself in it. In this way she often said more
+than she seemed to intend. Charlotte was particularly pleased with a
+description, most complete, but at the same time most charming and
+amiable, which she gave her one day, by accident, of the school. She
+soon felt her to be a delightful companion, and before long she hoped to
+find in her an attached friend.
+
+At the same time she looked over again the more early accounts which had
+been sent her of Ottilie, to refresh her recollection with the opinion
+which the Superior and the Assistant had formed about her, and compare
+them with her in her own person. For Charlotte was of opinion that we
+cannot too quickly become acquainted with the character of those with
+whom we have to live, that we may know what to expect of them; where we
+may hope to do anything in the way of improvement with them, and what
+we must make up our minds, once for all, to tolerate and let alone.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE RECEIVES OTTILIE]
+
+This examination led her to nothing new, indeed; but much which she
+already knew became of greater meaning and importance. Ottilie's
+moderation in eating and drinking, for instance, became a real distress
+to her.
+
+The next thing on which the ladies were employed was Ottilie's toilet.
+Charlotte wished her to appear in clothes of a richer and more
+_recherché_ sort, and at once the clever active girl herself cut out the
+stuff which had been previously sent to her, and with a very little
+assistance from others was able, in a short time, to dress herself out
+most tastefully. The new fashionable dresses set off her figure. An
+agreeable person, it is true, will show through all disguises; but we
+always fancy it looks fresher and more graceful when its peculiarities
+appear under some new drapery. And thus, from the moment of her first
+appearance, she became more and more a delight to the eyes of all who
+beheld her. As the emerald refreshes the sight with its beautiful hues,
+and exerts, it is said, a beneficent influence on that noble sense, so
+does human beauty work with far larger potency on the outward and on the
+inward sense; whoever looks upon it is charmed against the breath of
+evil, and feels in harmony with himself and with the world.
+
+In many ways, therefore, the party had gained by Ottilie's arrival. The
+Captain and Edward kept regularly to the hours, even to the minutes, for
+their general meeting together. They never kept the others waiting for
+them either for dinner or tea, or for their walks; and they were in less
+haste, especially in the evenings, to leave the table. This did not
+escape Charlotte's observation; she watched them both, to see whether
+one more than the other was the occasion of it. But she could not
+perceive any difference. They had both become more companionable. In
+their conversation they seemed to consider what was best adapted to
+interest Ottilie; what was most on a level with her capacities and her
+general knowledge. If she left the room when they were reading or
+telling stories, they would wait till she returned. They had grown
+softer and altogether more united.
+
+In return for this, Ottilie's anxiety to be of use increased every day;
+the more she came to understand the house, its inmates, and their
+circumstances, the more eagerly she entered into everything, caught
+every look and every motion; half a word, a sound, was enough for her.
+With her calm attentiveness, and her easy, unexcited activity, she was
+always the same. Sitting, rising up, going, coming, fetching, carrying,
+returning to her place again, it was all in the most perfect repose; a
+constant change, a constant agreeable movement; while, at the same time,
+she went about so lightly that her step was almost inaudible.
+
+This cheerful obligingness in Ottilie gave Charlotte the greatest
+pleasure. There was one thing, however, which she did not exactly like,
+of which she had to speak to her. "It is very polite in you," she said
+one day to her, "when people let anything fall from their hand, to be so
+quick in stooping and picking it up for them; at the same time, it is a
+sort of confession that they have a right to require such attention, and
+in the world we are expected to be careful to whom we pay it. Toward
+women, I will not prescribe any rule as to how you should conduct
+yourself. You are young. To those above you, and older than you,
+services of this sort are a duty; toward your equals they are polite; to
+those younger than yourself and your inferiors you may show yourself
+kind and good-natured by such things--only it is not becoming in a young
+lady to do them for men."
+
+"I will try to forget the habit," replied Ottilie; "I think, however,
+you will in the meantime forgive me for my want of manners, when I tell
+you how I came by it. We were taught history at school; I have not
+gained as much out of it as I ought, for I never knew what use I was to
+make of it; a few little things, however, made a deep impression upon
+me, among which was the following: When Charles the First of England
+was standing before his so-called judges, the gold top came off the
+stick which he had in his hand, and fell down. Accustomed as he had been
+on such occasions to have everything done for him, he seemed to look
+around and expect that this time too some one would do him this little
+service. No one stirred, and he stooped down for it himself. It struck
+me as so piteous, that from that moment I have never been able to see
+any one let a thing fall, without myself picking it up. But, of course,
+as it is not always proper, and as I cannot," she continued, smiling,
+"tell my story every time I do it, in future I will try to contain
+myself."
+
+In the meantime the fine arrangements which the two friends had been led
+to make for themselves, went uninterruptedly forward. Every day they
+found something new to think about and undertake.
+
+One day as they were walking together through the village, they had to
+remark with dissatisfaction how far behind-hand it was in order and
+cleanliness, compared to villages where the inhabitants were compelled
+by the expense of building-ground to be careful about such things.
+
+"You remember a wish we once expressed when we were traveling in
+Switzerland together," said the Captain, "that we might have the laying
+out of some country park, and how beautiful we would make it by
+introducing into some village situated like this, not the Swiss style of
+building, but the Swiss order and neatness which so much improve it."
+
+"And how well it would answer here! The hill on which the castle stands,
+slopes down to that projecting angle. The village, you see, is built in
+a semicircle, regularly enough, just opposite to it. The brook runs
+between. It is liable to floods; and do observe the way the people set
+about protecting themselves from them; one with stones, another with
+stakes; the next puts up a boarding, and a fourth tries beams and
+planks; no one, of course, doing any good to another with his
+arrangement, but only hurting himself and the rest too. And then there
+is the road going along just in the clumsiest way possible,--up hill and
+down, through the water, and over the stones. If the people would only
+lay their hands to the business together, it would cost them nothing but
+a little labor to run a semi-circular wall along here, take the road in
+behind it, raising it to the level of the houses, and so give themselves
+a fair open space in front, making the whole place clean, and getting
+rid, once for all, in one good general work, of all their little
+trifling ineffectual makeshifts."
+
+"Let us try it," said the Captain, as he ran his eyes over the lay of
+the ground, and saw quickly what was to be done.
+
+"I can undertake nothing in company with peasants and shopkeepers,"
+replied Edward, "unless I may have unrestricted authority over them."
+
+"You are not so wrong in that," returned the Captain; "I have
+experienced too much trouble myself in life in matters of that kind. How
+difficult it is to prevail on a man to venture boldly on making a
+sacrifice for an after-advantage! How hard to get him to desire an end,
+and not hesitate at the means! So many people confuse means with ends;
+they keep hanging over the first, without having the other before their
+eyes. Every evil is to be cured at the place where it comes to the
+surface, and they will not trouble themselves to look for the cause
+which produces it, or the remote effect which results from it. This is
+why it is so difficult to get advice listened to, especially among the
+many: they can see clearly enough from day to day, but their scope
+seldom reaches beyond the morrow; and if it comes to a point where with
+some general arrangement one person will gain while another will lose,
+there is no prevailing on them to strike a balance. Works of public
+advantage can be carried through only by an uncontrolled absolute
+authority."
+
+While they were standing and talking, a man came up and begged of them.
+He looked more impudent than really in want, and Edward, who was
+annoyed at being interrupted, after two or three fruitless attempts to
+get rid of him by a gentler refusal, spoke sharply to him. The fellow
+began to grumble and mutter abusively; he went off with short steps,
+talking about the right of beggars. It was all very well to refuse them
+an alms, but that was no reason why they should be insulted. A beggar,
+and everybody else too, was as much under God's protection as a lord. It
+put Edward out of all patience.
+
+The Captain, to pacify him, said, "Let us make use of this as an
+occasion for extending our rural police arrangements to such cases. We
+are bound to give away money, but we do better in not giving it in
+person, especially at home. We should be moderate and uniform in
+everything, in our charities as in all else; too great liberality
+attracts beggars instead of helping them on their way. At the same time
+there is no harm when one is on a journey, or passing through a strange
+place, in appearing to a poor man in the street in the form of a chance
+deity of fortune and making him some present which shall surprise him.
+The position of the village and of the castle makes it easy for us to
+put our charities here on a proper footing. I have thought about it
+before. The public-house is at one end of the village, a respectable old
+couple live at the other. At each of these places deposit a small sum of
+money, and let every beggar, not as he comes in, but as he goes out,
+receive something. Both houses lie on the roads which lead to the
+castle, so that any one who goes there can be referred to one or the
+other."
+
+"Come," said Edward, "we will settle that on the spot. The exact sum can
+be made up another time."
+
+They went to the innkeeper, and to the old couple and the thing was
+done.
+
+"I know very well," Edward said, as they were walking up the hill to the
+castle together, "that everything in this world depends on distinctness
+of idea and firmness of purpose. Your judgment of what my wife has been
+doing in the park was entirely right; and you have already given me a
+hint how it might be improved. I will not deny that I told her of it."
+
+"So I have been led to suspect," replied the Captain; "and I could not
+approve of your having done so. You have perplexed her. She has left off
+doing anything; and on this one subject she is vexed with us. She avoids
+speaking of it. She has never since invited us to go with her to the
+summer-house, although at odd hours she goes up there with Ottilie."
+
+"We must not allow ourselves to be deterred by that," answered Edward.
+"If I am once convinced about anything good, which could and should be
+done, I can never rest till I see it done. We are clever enough at other
+times in introducing what we want, into the general conversation;
+suppose we have out some descriptions of English parks, with
+copper-plates, for our evening's amusement. Then we can follow with your
+plan. We will treat it first problematically, and as if we were only in
+jest. There will be no difficulty in passing into earnest."
+
+The scheme was concerted, and the books were opened. In each group of
+designs they first saw a ground-plan of the spot, with the general
+character of the landscape, drawn in its rude, natural state. Then
+followed others, showing the changes which had been produced by art, to
+employ and set off the natural advantages of the locality. From these to
+their own property and their own grounds, the transition was easy.
+
+Everybody was pleased. The chart which the Captain had sketched was
+brought and spread out. The only difficulty was, that they could not
+entirely free themselves of the plan in which Charlotte had begun.
+However, an easier way up the hill was found; a lodge was suggested to
+be built on the height at the edge of the cliff, which was to have an
+especial reference to the castle. It was to form a conspicuous object
+from the castle windows, and from it the spectator was to be able to
+overlook both the castle and the garden.
+
+The Captain had thought it all carefully over, and taken his
+measurements; and now he brought up again the village road and the wall
+by the brook, and the ground which was to be raised behind it.
+
+"Here you see," said he, "while I make this charming walk up the height,
+I gain exactly the quantity of stone which I require for that wall. Let
+one piece of work help the other, and both will be carried out most
+satisfactorily and most rapidly."
+
+"But now," said Charlotte, "comes my side of the business. A certain
+definite outlay of money will have to be made. We ought to know how much
+will be wanted for such a purpose, and then we can apportion it out--so
+much work, and so much money, if not by weeks, at least by months. The
+cash-box is under my charge. I pay the bills, and I keep the accounts."
+
+"You do not appear to have overmuch confidence in us," said Edward.
+
+"I have not much in arbitrary matters," Charlotte answered. "Where it is
+a case of inclination, we women know better how to control ourselves
+than you."
+
+It was settled; the dispositions were made, and the work was begun at
+once.
+
+The Captain being always on the spot, Charlotte was almost daily a
+witness to the strength and clearness of his understanding. He, too,
+learnt to know her better; and it became easy for them both to work
+together, and thus bring something to completeness. It is with work as
+with dancing; persons who keep the same step must grow indispensable to
+one another. Out of this a mutual kindly feeling will necessarily arise;
+and that Charlotte had a real kind feeling toward the Captain, after she
+came to know him better, was sufficiently proved by her allowing him to
+destroy her pretty seat, which in her first plans she had taken such
+pains in ornamenting, because it was in the lay of his own, without
+experiencing the slightest feeling about the matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Now that Charlotte was occupied with the Captain, it was a natural
+consequence that Edward should attach himself more to Ottilie.
+Independently of this, indeed, for some time past he had begun to feel a
+silent kind of attraction toward her. Obliging and attentive she was to
+every one, but his self-love whispered that toward him she was
+particularly so. She had observed his little fancies about his food. She
+knew exactly what things he liked, and the way in which he liked them to
+be prepared; the quantity of sugar which he liked in his tea; and so on.
+Moreover, she was particularly careful to prevent draughts, about which
+he was excessively sensitive, and, indeed, about which, with his wife,
+who could never have air enough, he was often at variance. So, too, she
+had come to know about fruit-gardens and flower-gardens; whatever he
+liked, it was her constant effort to procure for him, and to keep away
+whatever annoyed him; so that very soon she grew indispensable to
+him--she became like his guardian angel, and he felt it keenly whenever
+she was absent. Besides all this, too, she appeared to grow more open
+and conversible as soon as they were alone together.
+
+Edward, as he advanced in life, had retained something childish about
+himself, which corresponded singularly well with the youthfulness of
+Ottilie. They liked talking of early times, when they had first seen
+each other; and these reminiscences led them up to the first epoch of
+Edward's affection for Charlotte. Ottilie declared that she remembered
+them both as the handsomest pair about the court; and when Edward would
+question the possibility of this, when she must have been so exceedingly
+young, she insisted that she recollected one particular incident as
+clearly as possible. He had come into the room where her aunt was, and
+she had hid her face in Charlotte's lap--not from fear, but from a
+childish surprise. She might have added, because he had made so strong
+an impression upon her--because she had liked him so much.
+
+While they were occupied in this way, much of the business which the
+two friends had undertaken together had come to a standstill; so that
+they found it necessary to inspect how things were going on--to work up
+a few designs and get letters written. For this purpose, they betook
+themselves to their office, where they found their old copyist at his
+desk. They set themselves to their work, and soon gave the old man
+enough to do, without observing that they were laying many things on his
+shoulders which at other times they had always done for themselves. At
+the same time, the first design the Captain tried would not answer, and
+Edward was as unsuccessful with his first letter. They fretted for a
+while, planning and erasing, till at last Edward, who was getting on the
+worst, asked what o'clock it was. And then it appeared that the Captain
+had forgotten, for the first time for many years, to wind up his
+chronometer; and they seemed, if not to feel, at least to have a dim
+perception, that time was beginning to be indifferent to them.
+
+In the meanwhile, as the gentlemen were thus rather slackening in their
+energy, the activity of the ladies increased all the more. The every-day
+life of a family, which is composed of given persons, and is shaped out
+of necessary circumstances, may easily receive into itself an
+extraordinary affection, an incipient passion--may receive it into
+itself as into a vessel; and a long time may elapse before the new
+ingredient produces a visible effervescence, and runs foaming over the
+edge.
+
+With our friends, the feelings which were mutually arising had the most
+agreeable effects. Their dispositions opened out, and a general goodwill
+arose out of the several individual affections. Every member of the
+party was happy; and they each shared their happiness with the rest.
+
+Such a temper elevates the spirit, while it enlarges the heart, and
+everything which, under the influence of it, people do and undertake,
+has a tendency toward the illimitable. The friends could not remain any
+more shut up at home; their walks extended themselves further and
+further. Edward would hurry on before with Ottilie, to choose the path
+or pioneer the way; and the Captain and Charlotte would follow quietly
+on the track of their more hasty precursors, talking on some grave
+subject, or delighting themselves with some spot they had newly
+discovered, or some unexpected natural beauty.
+
+One day their walk led them down from the gate at the right wing of the
+castle, in the direction of the hotel, and thence over the bridge toward
+the ponds, along the sides of which they proceeded as far as it was
+generally thought possible to follow the water; thickly wooded hills
+sloped directly up from the edge, and beyond these a wall of steep
+rocks, making further progress difficult, if not impossible. But Edward,
+whose hunting experience had made him thoroughly familiar with the spot,
+pushed forward along an overgrown path with Ottilie, knowing well that
+the old mill could not be far off, which was somewhere in the middle of
+the rocks there. The path was so little frequented, that they soon lost
+it; and for a short time they were wandering among mossy stones and
+thickets; it was not for long, however, the noise of the water-wheel
+speedily telling them that the place which they were looking for was
+close at hand. Stepping forward on a point of rock, they saw the strange
+old, dark, wooden building in the hollow before them, quite shadowed
+over with precipitous crags and huge trees. They determined directly to
+climb down amidst the moss and the blocks of stone. Edward led the way;
+and when he looked back and saw Ottilie following, stepping lightly,
+without fear or nervousness, from stone to stone, so beautifully
+balancing herself, he fancied he was looking at some celestial creature
+floating above him; while if, as she often did, she caught the hand
+which in some difficult spot he would offer her, or if she supported
+herself on his shoulder, then he was left in no doubt that it was a very
+exquisite human creature who touched him. He almost wished that she
+might slip or stumble, that he might catch her in his arms and press
+her to his heart. This, however, he would under no circumstances have
+done, for more than one reason. He was afraid to wound her, and he was
+afraid to do her some bodily injury.
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD AND OTTILIE]
+
+What the meaning of this could be, we shall immediately learn. When they
+had got down, and were seated opposite each other at a table under the
+trees, and when the miller's wife had gone for milk, and the miller, who
+had come out to them, was sent to meet Charlotte and the Captain,
+Edward, with a little embarrassment, began to speak:
+
+"I have a request to make, dear Ottilie; you will forgive me for asking
+it, if you will not grant it. You make no secret (I am sure you need not
+make any), that you wear a miniature under your dress against your
+breast. It is the picture of your noble father. You could hardly have
+known him; but in every sense he deserves a place by your heart. Only,
+forgive me, the picture is exceedingly large, and the metal frame and
+the glass, if you take up a child in your arms, if you are carrying
+anything, if the carriage swings violently, if we are pushing through
+bushes, or just now, as we were coming down these rocks--cause me a
+thousand anxieties for you. Any unforeseen blow, a fall, a touch, may be
+fatally injurious to you; and I am terrified at the possibility of it.
+For my sake do this: put away the picture, not out of your affections,
+not out of your room; let it have the brightest, the holiest place which
+you can give it; only do not wear upon your breast a thing, the presence
+of which seems to me, perhaps from an extravagant anxiety, so
+dangerous."
+
+Ottilie said nothing, and while he was speaking she kept her eyes fixed
+straight before her; then, without hesitation and without haste, with a
+look turned more toward heaven than on Edward, she unclasped the chain,
+drew out the picture, and pressed it against her forehead, and then
+reached it over to her friend, with the words:
+
+"Do you keep it for me till we come home; I cannot give you a better
+proof how deeply I thank you for your affectionate care."
+
+He did not venture to press the picture to his lips; but he caught her
+hand and raised it to his eyes. They were, perhaps, two of the most
+beautiful hands which had ever been clasped together. He felt as if a
+stone had fallen from his heart, as if a partition-wall had been thrown
+down between him and Ottilie.
+
+Under the miller's guidance, Charlotte and the Captain came down by an
+easier path, and now joined them. There was the meeting, and a happy
+talk, and then they took some refreshments. They would not return by the
+same way as they came; and Edward struck into a rocky path on the other
+side of the stream, from which the ponds were again to be seen. They
+made their way along it, with some effort, and then had to cross a
+variety of wood and copse--getting glimpses, on the land side, of a
+number of villages and manor-houses, with their green lawns and
+fruit-gardens; while very near them, and sweetly situated on a rising
+ground, a farm lay in the middle of the wood. From a gentle ascent, they
+had a view, before and behind, which showed them the richness of the
+country to the greatest advantage; and then, entering a grove of trees,
+they found themselves, on again emerging from it, on the rock opposite
+the castle.
+
+They came upon it rather unexpectedly, and were of course delighted.
+They had made the circuit of a little world; they were standing on the
+spot where the new building was to be erected, and were looking again at
+the windows of their home.
+
+They went down to the summer-house, and sat all four in it for the first
+time together; nothing was more natural than that with one voice it
+should be proposed to have the way they had been that day, and which, as
+it was, had taken them much time and trouble, properly laid out and
+gravelled, so that people might loiter along it at their leisure. They
+each said what they thought; and they reckoned up that the circuit, over
+which they had taken many hours, might be traveled easily with a good
+road all the way round to the castle, in a single one.
+
+Already a plan was being suggested for making the distance shorter, and
+adding a fresh beauty to the landscape, by throwing a bridge across the
+stream, below the mill, where it ran into the lake; when Charlotte
+brought their inventive imagination somewhat to a standstill, by putting
+them in mind of the expense which such an undertaking would involve.
+
+"There are ways of meeting that too," replied Edward; "we have only to
+dispose of that farm in the forest which is so pleasantly situated, and
+which brings in so little in the way of rent: the sum which will be set
+free will more than cover what we shall require, and thus, having gained
+an invaluable walk, we shall receive the interest of well-expended
+capital in substantial enjoyment--instead of, as now, in the summing up
+at the end of the year, vexing and fretting ourselves over the pitiful
+little income which is returned for it."
+
+Even Charlotte, with all her prudence, had little to urge against this.
+There had been, indeed, a previous intention of selling the farm. The
+Captain was ready immediately with a plan for breaking up the ground
+into small portions among the peasantry of the forest. Edward, however,
+had a simpler and shorter way of managing it. His present steward had
+already proposed to take it off his hands--he was to pay for it by
+instalments--and so, gradually, as the money came in, they would get
+their work forward from point to point.
+
+So reasonable and prudent a scheme was sure of universal approbation,
+and already, in prospect, they began to see their new walk winding along
+its way, and to imagine the many beautiful views and charming spots
+which they hoped to discover in its neighborhood.
+
+To bring it all before themselves with greater fulness of detail, in the
+evening they produced the new chart. With the help of this they went
+over again the way that they had come, and found various places where
+the walk might take a rather different direction with advantage. Their
+other scheme was now once more talked through, and connected with the
+fresh design. The site for the new house in the park, opposite the
+castle, was a second time examined into and approved, and fixed upon for
+the termination of the intended circuit.
+
+Ottilie had said nothing all this time. At length Edward pushed the
+chart, which had hitherto been lying before Charlotte, across to her,
+begging her to give her opinion; she still hesitated for a moment.
+Edward in his gentlest way again pressed her to let them know what she
+thought--nothing had as yet been settled--it was all as yet in embryo.
+
+"I would have the house built here," she said, as she pointed with her
+finger to the highest point of the slope on the hill. "It is true you
+cannot see the castle from thence, for it is hidden by the wood; but for
+that very reason you find yourself in another quite new world; you lose
+village and houses and all at the same time. The view of the ponds with
+the mill, and the hills and mountains in the distance, is singularly
+beautiful--I have often observed it when I have been there."
+
+"She is right," Edward cried; "how could we have overlooked it. This is
+what you mean, Ottilie, is it not?" He took a lead pencil, and drew a
+great black rectangular figure on the summit of the hill.
+
+It went through the Captain's soul to see his carefully and
+clearly-drawn chart disfigured in such a way. He collected himself,
+however, after a slight expression of his disapproval and went into the
+idea. "Ottilie is right," he said; "we are ready enough to walk any
+distance to drink tea or eat fish, because they would not have tasted as
+well at home--we require change of scene and change of objects. Your
+ancestors showed their judgment in the spot which they chose for the
+castle; for it is sheltered from the wind, with the conveniences of life
+close at hand. A place, on the contrary, which is more for pleasure
+parties than for a regular residence, may be very well yonder
+there, and in the fair time of year the most agreeable hours may be
+spent there."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE, OTTILIE, EDWARD AND THE CAPTAIN DISCUSS THE
+NEW PLAN OF THE HOUSE _From the Painting by Franz Simm_]
+
+The more they talked it over, the more conclusive was their judgment in
+favor of Ottilie; and Edward could not conceal his triumph that the
+thought had been hers. He was as proud as if he had hit upon it himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Early the following morning the Captain examined the spot: he first
+threw off a sketch of what should be done, and afterward, when the thing
+had been more completely decided on, he made a complete design, with
+accurate calculations and measurements. It cost him a good deal of
+labor, and the business connected with the sale of the farm had to be
+gone into, so that both the gentlemen now found a fresh impulse to
+activity.
+
+The Captain made Edward observe that it would be proper, indeed that it
+would be a kind of duty, to celebrate Charlotte's birthday with laying
+the foundation-stone. Not much was wanted to overcome Edward's
+disinclination for such festivities--for he quickly recollected that a
+little later Ottilie's birthday would follow, and that he could have a
+magnificent celebration for that.
+
+Charlotte, to whom all this work and what it would involve was a subject
+for much serious and almost anxious thought, busied herself in carefully
+going through the time and outlay which it was calculated would be
+expended on it. During the day they rarely saw each other, so that the
+evening meeting was looked forward to with all the more anxiety.
+
+Ottilie meantime was complete mistress of the household--and how could
+it be otherwise, with her quick methodical rays of working? Indeed, her
+whole mode of thought was suited better to home life than to the world,
+and to a more free existence. Edward soon observed that she only walked
+about with them out of a desire to please; that when she stayed out late
+with them in the evening it was because she thought it a sort of social
+duty, and that she would often find a pretext in some household matter
+for going in again--consequently he soon managed so to arrange the walks
+which they took together, that they should be at home before sunset; and
+he began again, what he had long left off, to read aloud
+poetry--particularly such as had for its subject the expression of a
+pure but passionate love.
+
+They ordinarily sat in the evening in the same places round a small
+table--Charlotte on the sofa, Ottilie on a chair opposite to her, and
+the gentlemen on each side. Ottilie's place was on Edward's right, the
+side where he put the candle when he was reading--at such times she
+would draw her chair a little nearer to look over him, for Ottilie also
+trusted her own eyes better than another person's lips, and Edward would
+then always make a move toward her, that it might be as easy as possible
+for her--indeed he would frequently make longer stops than necessary,
+that he might not turn over before she had got to the bottom of the
+page.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain observed this, and exchanged many a quiet
+smile at it; but they were both taken by surprise at another symptom, in
+which Ottilie's latent feeling accidentally displayed itself.
+
+One evening, which had been partly spoilt for them by a tedious visit,
+Edward proposed that they should not separate so early--he felt inclined
+for music--he would take his flute, which he had not done for many days
+past. Charlotte looked for the sonatas which they generally played
+together, and they were not to be found. Ottilie, with some hesitation,
+said that they were in her room--she had taken them there to copy them.
+
+"And you can, you will, accompany me on the piano?" cried Edward, his
+eyes sparkling with pleasure. "I think perhaps I can," Ottilie answered.
+She brought the music and sat down to the instrument. The others
+listened, and were sufficiently surprised to hear how perfectly Ottilie
+had taught herself the piece--but far more surprised were they at the
+way in which she contrived to adapt herself to Edward's style of
+playing. Adapt herself, is not the right expression--Charlotte's skill
+and power enabled her, in order to please her husband, to keep up with
+him when he went too fast, and hold in for him if he hesitated; but
+Ottilie, who had several times heard them play the sonata together,
+seemed to have learnt it according to the idea in which they accompanied
+each other--she had so completely made his defects her own, that a kind
+of living whole resulted from it, which did not move indeed according to
+exact rule, but the effect of which was in the highest degree pleasant
+and delightful. The composer himself would have been pleased to hear his
+work disfigured in a manner so charming.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain watched this strange unexpected occurrence in
+silence, with the kind of feeling with which we often observe the
+actions of children--unable exactly to approve of them, from the serious
+consequences which may follow, and yet without being able to find fault,
+perhaps with a kind of envy. For, indeed, the regard of these two for
+one another was growing also, as well as that of the others--and it was
+perhaps only the more perilous because they were both stronger, more
+certain of themselves, and better able to restrain themselves.
+
+The Captain had already begun to feel that a habit which he could not
+resist was threatening to bind him to Charlotte. He forced himself to
+stay away at the hour when she commonly used to be at the works; by
+getting up very early in the morning he contrived to finish there
+whatever he had to do, and went back to the castle to his work in his
+own room. The first day or two Charlotte thought it was an accident--she
+looked for him in every place where she thought he could possibly be.
+Then she thought she understood him--and admired him all the more.
+
+Avoiding, as the Captain now did, being alone with Charlotte, the more
+industriously did he labor to hurry forward the preparations for keeping
+her rapidly-approaching birthday with all splendor. While he was
+bringing up the new road from below behind the village, he made the men,
+under pretence that he wanted stones, begin working at the top as well,
+and work down, to meet the others; and he had calculated his
+arrangements so that the two should exactly meet on the eve of the day.
+The excavations for the new house were already done; the rock was blown
+away with gunpowder; and a fair foundation-stone had been hewn, with a
+hollow chamber, and a flat slab adjusted to cover it.
+
+This outward activity, these little mysterious purposes of friendship,
+prompted by feelings which more or less they were obliged to repress,
+rather prevented the little party when together from being as lively as
+usual. Edward, who felt that there was a sort of void, one evening
+called upon the Captain to fetch his violin--Charlotte should play the
+piano, and he should accompany her. The Captain was unable to refuse the
+general request, and they executed together one of the most difficult
+pieces of music with an ease, and freedom, and feeling, which could not
+but afford themselves, and the two who were listening to them, the
+greatest delight. They promised themselves a frequent repetition of it,
+as well as further practice together. "They do it better than we,
+Ottilie," said Edward; "we will admire them--but we can enjoy ourselves
+together too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The birthday was come, and everything was ready. The wall was all
+complete which protected the raised village road against the water, and
+so was the walk; passing the church, for a short time it followed the
+path which had been laid out by Charlotte, and then winding upward among
+the rocks, inclined first under the summer-house to the right, and then,
+after a wide sweep, passed back above it to the right again, and so by
+degrees out on to the summit. A large party had assembled for the
+occasion. They went first to church, where they found the whole
+congregation assembled in their holiday dresses. After service, they
+filed out in order; first the boys, then the young men, then the old;
+after them came the party from the castle, with their visitors and
+retinue; and the village maidens, young girls, and women, brought up the
+rear.
+
+At the turn of the walk, a raised stone seat had been contrived, where
+the Captain made Charlotte and the visitors stop and rest. From here
+they could see over the whole distance from the beginning to the
+end--the troops of men who had gone up before them, the file of women
+following, and now drawing up to where they were. It was lovely weather,
+and the whole effect was singularly beautiful. Charlotte was taken by
+surprise, she was touched, and she pressed the Captain's hand warmly.
+
+They followed the crowd who had slowly ascended, and were now forming a
+circle round the spot where the future house was to stand. The lord of
+the castle, his family, and the principal strangers were now invited to
+descend into the vault, where the foundation-stone, supported on one
+side, lay ready to be let down. A well-dressed mason, a trowel in one
+hand and a hammer in the other, came forward, and with much grace spoke
+an address in verse, of which in prose we can give but an imperfect
+rendering.
+
+"Three things," he began, "are to be looked to in a building--that it
+stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be
+successfully executed. The first is the business of the master of the
+house--his and his only. As in the city the prince and the council alone
+determine where a building shall be, so in the country it is the right
+of the lord of the soil that he shall say, 'Here my dwelling shall
+stand; here, and nowhere else.'"
+
+Edward and Ottilie were standing opposite one another, as these words
+were spoken; but they did not venture to look up and exchange glances.
+
+"To the third, the execution, there is neither art nor handicraft which
+must not in some way contribute. But the second, the founding, is the
+province of the mason; and, boldly to speak it out, it is the head and
+front of all the undertaking--a solemn thing it is--and our bidding you
+descend hither is full of meaning. You are celebrating your Festival in
+the deep of the earth. Here within this small hollow spot, you show us
+the honor of appearing as witnesses of our mysterious craft. Presently
+we shall lower down this carefully-hewn stone into its place; and soon
+these earth-walls, now ornamented with fair and worthy persons, will be
+no more accessible--but will be closed in forever!
+
+"This foundation-stone, which with its angles typifies the just angles
+of the building, with the sharpness of its molding, the regularity of
+it, and with the truth of its lines to the horizontal and perpendicular,
+the uprightness and equal height of all the walls, we might now without
+more ado let down--it would rest in its place with its own weight. But
+even here there shall not fail of lime and means to bind it. For as
+human beings who may be well inclined to each other by nature, yet hold
+more firmly together when the law cements them, so are stones also,
+whose forms may already fit together, united far better by these binding
+forces. It is not seemly to be idle among the working, and here you will
+not refuse to be our fellow-laborer;" with these words he reached the
+trowel to Charlotte, who threw mortar with it under the stone--several
+of the others were then desired to do the same, and then it was at once
+let fall. Upon which the hammer was placed next in Charlotte's, and then
+in the others' hands, to strike three times with it, and conclude, in
+this expression, the wedlock of the stone with the earth.
+
+"The work of the mason," went on the speaker, "now under the free sky as
+we are, if it be not done in concealment, yet must pass into
+concealment--the soil will be laid smoothly in, and thrown over this
+stone, and with the walls which we rear into the daylight we in the end
+are seldom remembered. The works of the stone-cutter and the carver
+remain under the eyes; but for us it is not to complain when the
+plasterer blots out the last trace of our hands, and appropriates our
+work to himself; when he overlays it, and smooths it, and colors it.
+
+"Not from regard for the opinion of others, but from respect for
+himself, the mason will be faithful in his calling. There is none who
+has more need to feel in himself the consciousness of what he is. When
+the house is finished, when the soil is smoothed, the surface plastered
+over, and the outside all overwrought with ornament, he can even
+penetrate through all disguises and still recognize those exact and
+careful adjustments to which the whole is indebted for its being and for
+its persistence.
+
+"But as the man who commits some evil deed has to fear, that,
+notwithstanding all precautions, it will one day come to light--so too
+must he expect who has done some good thing in secret, that it also, in
+spite of himself, will appear in the day; and therefore we make this
+foundation-stone at the same time a stone of memorial. Here, in these
+various hollows which have been hewn into it, many things are now to be
+buried, as a witness to some far-off world--these metal cases
+hermetically sealed contain documents in writing; matters of various
+note are engraved on these plates; in these fair glass bottles we bury
+the best old wine, with a note of the year of its vintage. We have coins
+too of many kinds, from the mint of the current year. All this we have
+received through the liberality of him for whom we build. There is space
+yet remaining, if guest or spectator desires to offer anything to the
+after-world!"
+
+After a slight pause the speaker looked round; but, as is commonly the
+case on such occasions, no one was prepared; they were all taken by
+surprise. At last, a merry-looking young officer set the example, and
+said, "If I am to contribute anything which as yet is not to be found in
+this treasure-chamber, it shall be a pair of buttons from my uniform--I
+don't see why they do not deserve to go down to posterity!" No sooner
+said than done, and then a number of persons found something of the
+same sort which they could do; the young ladies did not hesitate to
+throw in some of their side hair combs--smelling bottles and other
+trinkets were not spared. Only Ottilie hung back; till a kind word from
+Edward roused her from the abstraction in which she was watching the
+various things being heaped in. Then she unclasped from her neck the
+gold chain on which her father's picture had hung, and with a light
+gentle hand laid it down on the other jewels. Edward rather disarranged
+the proceedings, by at once, in some haste, having the cover let fall,
+and fastened down.
+
+The young mason who had been most active through all this, again took
+his place as orator, and went on: "We lay down this stone for ever, for
+the establishing the present and the future possessors of this house.
+But in that we bury this treasure together with it, we do it in the
+remembrance--in this most enduring of works--of the perishableness of
+all human things. We remember that a time may come when this cover so
+fast sealed shall again be lifted; and that can only be when all shall
+again be destroyed which as yet we have not brought into being.
+
+"But now--now that at once it may begin to be, back with our thoughts
+out of the future--back into the present. At once, after the feast,
+which we have this day kept together, let us on with our labor; let no
+one of all those trades which are to work on our foundation, through us
+keep unwilling holiday. Let the building rise swiftly to its height, and
+out of the windows, which as yet have no existence, may the master of
+the house, with his family and with his guests, look forth with a glad
+heart over his broad lands. To him and to all here present herewith be
+health and happiness."
+
+With these words he drained a richly cut tumbler at a draught, and flung
+it into the air, thereby to signify the excess of pleasure by destroying
+the vessel which had served for such a solemn occasion. This time,
+however, it fell out otherwise. The glass did not fall back to the
+earth, and indeed without a miracle.
+
+In order to get forward with the buildings, they had already thrown out
+the whole of the soil at the opposite corner; indeed, they had begun to
+raise the wall, and for this purpose had reared a scaffold as high as
+was absolutely necessary. On the occasion of the festival, boards had
+been laid along the top of this, and a number of spectators were allowed
+to stand there. It had been meant principally for the advantage of the
+workmen themselves. The glass had flown up there, and had been caught by
+one of them, who took it as a sign of good luck for himself. He waved it
+round without letting it out of his hand, and the letters E and O were
+to be seen very richly cut upon it, running one into the other. It was
+one of the glasses which had been executed for Edward when he was a boy.
+
+The scaffoldings were again deserted, and the most active among the
+party climbed up to look round them, and could not speak enough in
+praise of the beauty of the prospect on all sides. How many new
+discoveries does not a person make when on some high point he ascends
+but a single story higher. Inland many fresh villages came in sight. The
+line of the river could be traced like a thread of silver; indeed, one
+of the party thought that he distinguished the spires of the capital. On
+the other side, behind the wooded hill, the blue peaks of the far-off
+mountains were seen rising, and the country immediately about them was
+spread out like a map.
+
+"If the three ponds," cried some one, "were but thrown together to make
+a single sheet of water, there would be everything here which is noblest
+and most excellent."
+
+"That might easily be effected," the Captain said. "In early times they
+must have formed all one lake among the hills here."
+
+"Only I must beseech you to spare my clump of planes and poplars that
+stand so prettily by the centre pond," said Edward. "See!" He turned to
+Ottilie, bringing her a few steps forward, and pointing down--"those
+trees I planted myself."
+
+"How long have they been standing there?" asked Ottilie.
+
+"Just about as long as you have been in the world," replied Edward.
+"Yes, my dear child, I planted them when you were still lying in your
+cradle."
+
+The party now betook themselves back to the castle. After dinner was
+over they were invited to walk through the village to take a glance at
+what had been done there as well. At a hint from the Captain, the
+inhabitants had collected in front of the houses. They were not standing
+in rows, but formed in natural family groups; part were occupied at
+their evening work, part out enjoying themselves on the new benches.
+They had determined, as an agreeable duty which they imposed upon
+themselves, to have everything in its present order and cleanliness, at
+least every Sunday and holiday.
+
+A little party, held together by such feelings as had grown up among our
+friends, is always unpleasantly interrupted by a large concourse of
+people. All four were delighted to find themselves again alone in the
+large drawing-room, but this sense of home was a little disturbed by a
+letter which was brought to Edward, giving notice of fresh guests who
+were to arrive the following day.
+
+"It is as we supposed," Edward cried to Charlotte. "The Count will not
+stay away; he is coming tomorrow."
+
+"Then the Baroness, too, is not far off," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Doubtless not," said Edward. "She is coming, too, tomorrow, from
+another place. They only beg to be allowed to stay for a night; the next
+day they will go on together."
+
+"We must prepare for them in time, Ottilie," said Charlotte.
+
+"What arrangement shall I desire to be made?" Ottilie asked.
+
+Charlotte gave a general direction, and Ottilie left the room.
+
+The Captain inquired into the relation in which these two persons stood
+toward each other, and with which he was only very generally acquainted.
+They had some time before, both being already married, fallen violently
+in love with each other; a double marriage was not to be interfered with
+without attracting attention. A divorce was proposed. On the Baroness's
+side it could be effected, on that of the Count it could not. They were
+obliged seemingly to separate, but their position toward each other
+remained unchanged, and though in the winter at the Residence they were
+unable to be together, they indemnified themselves in the summer, while
+making tours and staying at watering-places.
+
+They were both slightly older than Edward and Charlotte, and had been
+intimate with them from early times at court. The connection had never
+been absolutely broken off, although it was impossible to approve of
+their proceedings. On the present occasion their coming was most
+unwelcome to Charlotte; and if she had looked closely into her reasons
+for feeling it so, she would have found it was on account of Ottilie.
+The poor innocent girl should not have been brought so early in contact
+with such an example.
+
+"It would have been more convenient if they had not come till a couple
+of days later," Edward was saying; as Ottilie re-entered, "till we had
+finished with this business of the farm. The deed of sale is complete.
+One copy of it I have here, but we want a second, and our old clerk has
+fallen ill." The Captain offered his services, and so did Charlotte, but
+there was something or other to object to in both of them.
+
+"Give it to me," cried Ottilie, a little hastily.
+
+"You will never be able to finish it," said Charlotte.
+
+"And really I must have it early the day after tomorrow, and it is
+long," Edward added.
+
+"It shall be ready," Ottilie cried; and the paper was already in her
+hands.
+
+The next morning, as they were looking out from their highest windows
+for their visitors, whom they intended to go some way and meet, Edward
+said, "Who is that yonder, riding slowly along the road?"
+
+The Captain described accurately the figure of the horse-man.
+
+"Then it is he," said Edward; "the particulars, which you can see better
+than I, agree very well with the general figure, which I can see too. It
+is Mittler; but what is he doing, coming riding at such a pace as that?"
+
+The figure came nearer, and Mittler it veritably was. They received him
+with warm greetings as he came slowly up the steps.
+
+"Why did you not come yesterday?" Edward cried, as he approached.
+
+"I do not like your grand festivities," answered he; "but I am come
+today to keep my friend's birthday with you quietly."
+
+"How are you able to find time enough?" asked Edward, with a laugh.
+
+"My visit, if you can value it, you owe to an observation which I made
+yesterday. I was spending a right happy afternoon in a house where I had
+established peace, and then I heard that a birthday was being kept here.
+Now this is what I call selfish, after all, said I to myself: you will
+only enjoy yourself with those whose broken peace you have mended. Why
+cannot you for once go and be happy with friends who keep the peace for
+themselves? No sooner said than done. Here I am, as I determined with
+myself that I would be."
+
+"Yesterday you would have met a large party here; today you will find
+but a small one," said Charlotte; "you will meet the Count and the
+Baroness, with whom you have had enough to do already, I believe."
+
+Out of the middle of the party, who had all four come down to welcome
+him, the strange man dashed in the keenest disgust, seizing at the same
+time his hat and whip. "Some unlucky star is always over me," he cried,
+"directly I try to rest and enjoy myself. What business have I going out
+of my proper character? I ought never to have come, and now I am
+persecuted away. Under one roof with those two I will not remain, and
+you take care of yourselves. They bring nothing but mischief; their
+nature is like leaven, and propagates its own contagion."
+
+They tried to pacify him, but it was in vain. "Whoever strikes at
+marriage," he cried;--"whoever, either by word or act, undermines this,
+the foundation of all moral society, that man has to settle with me, and
+if I cannot become his master, I take care to settle myself out of his
+way. Marriage is the beginning and the end of all culture. It makes the
+savage mild; and the most cultivated has no better opportunity for
+displaying his gentleness. Indissoluble it must be, because it brings so
+much happiness that what small exceptional unhappiness it may bring
+counts for nothing in the balance. And what do men mean by talking of
+unhappiness? Impatience it is which from time to time comes over them,
+and then they fancy themselves unhappy. Let them wait till the moment is
+gone by, and then they will bless their good fortune that what has stood
+so long continues standing. There never can be any adequate ground for
+separation. The condition of man is pitched so high, in its joys and in
+its sorrows, that the sum which two married people owe to each other
+defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged
+through all eternity.
+
+"Its annoyances marriage may often have; I can well believe that, and it
+is as it should be. We are all married to our consciences, and there are
+times when we should be glad to be divorced from them; mine gives me
+more annoyance than ever a man or a woman can give."
+
+All this he poured out with the greatest vehemence: he would very likely
+have gone on speaking longer, had not the sound of the postilions'
+horns given notice of the arrival of the visitors, who, as if on a
+concerted arrangement, drove into the castle-court from opposite sides
+at the same moment. Mittler slipped away as their host hastened to
+receive them, and desiring that his horse might be brought out
+immediately, rode angrily off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+The visitors were welcomed and brought in. They were delighted to find
+themselves again in the same house and in the same rooms where in early
+times they had passed many happy days, but which they had not seen for a
+long time. Their friends too were very glad to see them. The Count and
+the Baroness had both those tall fine figures which please in middle
+life almost better than in youth. If something of the first bloom had
+faded off them, yet there was an air in their appearance which was
+always irresistibly attractive. Their manners too were thoroughly
+charming. Their free way of taking hold of life and dealing with it,
+their happy humor, and apparent easy unembarrassment, communicated
+itself at once to the rest; and a lighter atmosphere hung about the
+whole party, without their having observed it stealing on them.
+
+The effect made itself felt immediately on the entrance of the
+new-comers. They were fresh from the fashionable world, as was to be
+seen at once, in their dress, in their equipment, and in everything
+about them; and they formed a contrast not a little striking with our
+friends, their country style, and the vehement feelings which were at
+work underneath among them. This, however, very soon disappeared in the
+stream of past recollection and present interests, and a rapid, lively
+conversation soon united them all. After a short time they again
+separated. The ladies withdrew to their own apartments, and there found
+amusement enough in the many things which they had to tell one another,
+and in setting to work at the same time to examine the new fashions, the
+spring dresses, bonnets, and such like; while the gentlemen were
+employing themselves looking at the new traveling chariots, trotting out
+the horses, and beginning at once to bargain and exchange.
+
+They did not meet again till dinner; in the meantime they had changed
+their dress. And here, too, the newly arrived pair showed to all
+advantage. Everything they wore was new, and in a style which their
+friends at the castle had never seen, and yet, being accustomed to it
+themselves, it appeared perfectly natural and graceful.
+
+The conversation was brilliant and well sustained, as, indeed, in the
+company of such persons everything and nothing appears to interest. They
+spoke in French that the attendants might not understand what they said,
+and swept in happiest humor over all that was passing in the great or
+the middle world. On one particular subject they remained, however,
+longer than was desirable. It was occasioned by Charlotte asking after
+one of her early friends, of whom she had to learn, with some distress,
+that she was on the point of being separated from her husband.
+
+"It is a melancholy thing," Charlotte said, "when we fancy our absent
+friends are finally settled, when we believe persons very dear to us to
+be provided for for life, suddenly to hear that their fortunes are cast
+loose once more; that they have to strike into a fresh path of life, and
+very likely a most insecure one."
+
+"Indeed, my dear friend," the Count answered, "it is our own fault if we
+allow ourselves to be surprised at such things. We please ourselves with
+imagining matters of this earth, and particularly matrimonial
+connections, as very enduring; and as concerns this last point, the
+plays which we see over and over again help to mislead us; being, as
+they are, so untrue to the course of the world. In a comedy we see a
+marriage as the last aim of a desire which is hindered and crossed
+through a number of acts, and at the instant when it is reached the
+curtain falls, and the momentary satisfaction continues to ring on in
+our ears. But in the world it is very different. The play goes on still
+behind the scenes, and when the curtain rises again we may see and hear,
+perhaps, little enough of the marriage."
+
+"It cannot be so very bad, however," said Charlotte, smiling. "We see
+people who have gone off the boards of the theatre, ready enough to
+undertake a part upon them again."
+
+"There is nothing to say against that," said the Count. "In a new
+character a man may readily venture on a second trial; and when we know
+the world we see clearly that it is only this positive, eternal duration
+of marriage in a world where everything is in motion, which has anything
+unbecoming about it. A certain friend of mine, whose humor displays
+itself principally in suggestions for new laws, maintained that every
+marriage should be concluded only for five years. Five, he said, was a
+sacred number--pretty and uneven. Such a period would be long enough for
+people to learn each other's character, bring a child or two into the
+world, quarrel, separate, and what is best, get reconciled again. He
+would often exclaim, 'How happily the first part of the time would pass
+away!' Two or three years, at least, would be perfect bliss. On one side
+or the other there would not fail to be a wish to have the relation
+continue longer, and the amiability would increase the nearer they got
+to the parting time. The indifferent, even the dissatisfied party, would
+be softened and gained over by such behavior; they would forget, as in
+pleasant company the hours pass always unobserved, how the time went by,
+and they would be delightfully surprised when, after the term had run
+out, they first observed that they had unknowingly prolonged it."
+
+Charming and pleasant as all this sounded, and deep (Charlotte felt it
+to her soul) as was the moral significance which lay below it,
+expressions of this kind, on Ottilie's account, were most distasteful to
+her. She knew very well that nothing was more dangerous than the
+licentious conversation which treats culpable or semi-culpable actions
+as if they were common, ordinary, and even laudable, and of such
+undesirable kind assuredly were all which touched on the sacredness of
+marriage. She endeavored, therefore, in her skilful way, to give the
+conversation another turn, and, when she found that she could not, it
+vexed her that Ottilie had managed everything so well that there was no
+occasion for her to leave the table. In her quiet observant way a nod or
+a look was enough for her to signify to the head servant whatever was to
+be done, and everything went off perfectly, although there were a couple
+of strange men in livery in the way who were rather a trouble than a
+convenience. And so the Count, without feeling Charlotte's hints, went
+on giving his opinions on the same subject. Generally, he was little
+enough apt to be tedious in conversation; but this was a thing which
+weighed so heavily on his heart, and the difficulties which he found in
+getting separated from his wife were so great that it had made him
+bitter against everything which concerned the marriage bond--that very
+bond which, notwithstanding, he was so anxiously desiring between
+himself and the Baroness.
+
+"The same friend," he went on, "has another law which he proposes. A
+marriage shall be held indissoluble only when either both parties, or at
+least one or the other, enter into it for the third time. Such persons
+must be supposed to acknowledge beyond a doubt that they find marriage
+indispensable for themselves; they have had opportunities of thoroughly
+knowing themselves; of knowing how they conducted themselves in their
+earlier unions; whether they have any peculiarities of temper, which are
+a more frequent cause of separation than bad dispositions. People would
+then observe each other more closely; they would pay as much attention
+to the married as to the unmarried, no one being able to tell how things
+may turn out."
+
+"That would add no little to the interest of society," said Edward. "As
+things are now, when a man is married nobody cares any more either for
+his virtues or for his vices."
+
+"Under this arrangement," the Baroness struck in, laughing, "our good
+hosts have passed successfully over their two steps, and may make
+themselves ready for their third."
+
+"Things have gone happily with them," said the Count. "In their case
+death has done with a good will what in others the consistorial courts
+do with a very bad one.
+
+"Let the dead rest," said Charlotte, with a half serious look.
+
+"Why so," persevered the Count, "when we can remember them with honor?
+They were generous enough to content themselves with less than their
+number of years for the sake of the larger good which they could leave
+behind them."
+
+"Alas! that in such cases," said the Baroness, with a suppressed sigh,
+"happiness is bought only with the sacrifice of our fairest years."
+
+"Indeed, yes," answered the Count; "and it might drive us to despair, if
+it were not the same with everything in this world. Nothing goes as we
+hope. Children do not fulfil what they promise; young people very
+seldom; and if they keep their word, the world does not keep its word
+with them."
+
+Charlotte, who was delighted that the conversation had taken a turn at
+last, replied cheerfully:
+
+"Well, then, we must content ourselves with enjoying what good we are to
+have in fragments and pieces, as we can get it; and the sooner we can
+accustom ourselves to this the better."
+
+"Certainly," the Count answered, "you two have had the enjoyment of very
+happy times. When I look back upon the years when you and Edward were
+the loveliest couple at the court, I see nothing now to be compared with
+those brilliant times, and such magnificent figures. When you two used
+to dance together, all eyes were turned upon you, fastened upon you,
+while you saw nothing but each other."
+
+"So much has changed since those days," said Charlotte, "that we can
+listen to such pretty things about ourselves without our modesty being
+shocked at them."
+
+"I often privately found fault with Edward," said the Count, "for not
+being more firm. Those singular parents of his would certainly have
+given way at last; and ten fair years is no trifle to gain."
+
+"I must take Edward's part," struck in the Baroness. "Charlotte was not
+altogether without fault--not altogether free from what we must call
+prudential considerations; and although she had a real, hearty love for
+Edward, and did in her secret soul intend to marry him, I can bear
+witness how sorely she often tried him; and it was through this that he
+was at last unluckily prevailed upon to leave her and go abroad, and try
+to forget her."
+
+Edward bowed to the Baroness, and seemed grateful for her advocacy.
+
+"And then I must add this," she continued, "in excuse for Charlotte. The
+man who was at that time suing for her, had for a long time given proofs
+of his constant attachment to her; and, when one came to know him well,
+was a far more lovable person than the rest of you may like to
+acknowledge."
+
+"My dear friend," the Count replied, a little pointedly, "confess, now,
+that he was not altogether indifferent to yourself, and that Charlotte
+had more to fear from you than from any other rival. I find it one of
+the highest traits in women, that they continue so long in their regard
+for a man, and that absence of no duration will serve to disturb or
+remove it."
+
+"This fine feature, men possess, perhaps, even more," answered the
+Baroness. "At any rate, I have observed with you, my dear Count, that no
+one has more influence over you than a lady to whom you were once
+attached. I have seen you take more trouble to do things when a certain
+person has asked you, than the friend of this moment would have obtained
+of you, if she had tried."
+
+"Such a charge as that one must bear the best way one can," replied the
+Count. "But as to what concerns Charlotte's first husband, I could not
+endure him, because he parted so sweet a pair from each other--a really
+predestined pair, who, once brought together, have no reason to fear the
+five years, or be thinking of a second or third marriage."
+
+"We must try," Charlotte said, "to make up for what we then allowed to
+slip from us."
+
+"Aye, and you must keep to that," said the Count; "your first
+marriages," he continued, with some vehemence, "were exactly marriages
+of the true detestable sort. And, unhappily, marriages generally, even
+the best, have (forgive me for using a strong expression) something
+awkward about them. They destroy the delicacy of the relation;
+everything is made to rest on the broad certainty out of which one side
+or other, at least, is too apt to make their own advantage. It is all a
+matter of course; and they seem only to have got themselves tied
+together, that one or the other, or both, may go their own way the more
+easily."
+
+At this moment, Charlotte, who was determined once for all that she
+would put an end to the conversation, made a bold effort at turning it,
+and succeeded. It then became more general. She and her husband and the
+Captain were able to take a part in it. Even Ottilie had to give her
+opinion; and the dessert was enjoyed in the happiest humor. It was
+particularly beautiful, being composed almost entirely of the rich
+summer fruits in elegant baskets, with epergnes of lovely flowers
+arranged in exquisite taste.
+
+The new laying-out of the park came to be spoken of; and immediately
+after dinner they went to look at what was going on. Ottilie withdrew,
+under pretence of having household matters to look to; in reality, it
+was to set to work again at the transcribing. The Count fell into
+conversation with the Captain, and Charlotte afterward joined them. When
+they were at the summit of the height, the Captain good-naturedly ran
+back to fetch the plan, and in his absence the Count said to Charlotte:
+
+"He is an exceedingly pleasing person. He is very well informed, and his
+knowledge is always ready. His practical power, too, seems methodical
+and vigorous. What he is doing here would be of great importance in some
+higher sphere."
+
+Charlotte listened to the Captain's praises with an inward delight. She
+collected herself, however, and composedly and clearly confirmed what
+the Count had said. But she was not a little startled when he continued:
+
+"This acquaintance falls most opportunely for me. I know of a situation
+for which he is perfectly suited, and I shall be doing the greatest
+favor to a friend of mine, a man of high rank, by recommending to him a
+person who is so exactly everything which he desires."
+
+Charlotte felt as if a thunder-stroke had fallen on her. The Count did
+not observe it: women, being accustomed at all times to hold themselves
+in restraint, are always able, even in the most extraordinary cases, to
+maintain an apparent composure; but she heard not a word more of what
+the Count said, though he went on speaking.
+
+"When I have made up my mind upon a thing," he added, "I am quick about
+it. I have put my letter together already in my head, and I shall write
+it immediately. You can find me some messenger who can ride off with it
+this evening."
+
+Charlotte was suffering agonies. Startled with the proposal, and shocked
+at herself, she was unable to utter a word. Happily, the Count continued
+talking of his plans for the Captain, the desirableness of which was
+only too apparent to Charlotte.
+
+It was time that the Captain returned. He came up and unrolled his
+design before the Count. But with what changed eyes Charlotte now looked
+at the friend whom she was to lose. In her necessity, she bowed and
+turned away, and hurried down to the summer-house. Before she was half
+way there, the tears were streaming from her eyes, and she flung herself
+into the narrow room in the little hermitage, and gave herself up to an
+agony, a passion, a despair, of the possibility of which, but a few
+moments before, she had not had the slightest conception.
+
+Edward had gone with the Baroness in the other direction toward the
+ponds. This ready-witted lady, who liked to be in the secret about
+everything, soon observed, in a few conversational feelers which she
+threw out, that Edward was very fluent and free-spoken in praise of
+Ottilie. She contrived in the most natural way to lead him out by
+degrees so completely that at last she had not a doubt remaining that
+here was not merely an incipient fancy, but a veritable, full-grown
+passion.
+
+Married women, if they have no particular love for one another, yet are
+silently in league together, especially against young girls. The
+consequences of such an inclination presented themselves only too
+quickly to her world-experienced spirit. Added to this, she had been
+already, in the course of the day, talking to Charlotte about Ottilie;
+she had disapproved of her remaining in the country, particularly being
+a girl of so retiring a character; and she had proposed to take Ottilie
+with her to the residence of a friend who was just then bestowing great
+expense on the education of an only daughter, and who was only looking
+about to find some well-disposed companion for her--to put her in the
+place of a second child, and let her share in every advantage. Charlotte
+had taken time to consider. But now this glimpse of the Baroness into
+Edward's heart changed what had been but a suggestion at once into a
+settled determination; and the more rapidly she made up her mind about
+it, the more she outwardly seemed to flatter Edward's wishes. Never was
+there any one more self-possessed than this lady; and to have mastered
+ourselves in extraordinary cases, disposes us to treat even a common
+case with dissimulation--it makes us inclined, as we have had to do so
+much violence to ourselves, to extend our control over others, and
+hold ourselves in a degree compensated in what we outwardly gain for
+what we inwardly have been obliged to sacrifice. To this feeling there
+is often joined a kind of secret, spiteful pleasure in the blind,
+unconscious ignorance with which the victim walks on into the snare. It
+is not the immediately doing as we please which we enjoy, but the
+thought of the surprise and exposure which is to follow. And thus was
+the Baroness malicious enough to invite Edward to come with Charlotte
+and pay her a visit at the grape-gathering; and, to his question whether
+they might bring Ottilie with them, to frame an answer which, if he
+pleased, he might interpret to his wishes.
+
+Edward had already begun to pour out his delight at the beautiful
+scenery, the broad river, the hills, the rocks, the vineyard, the old
+castles, the water-parties, and the jubilee at the grape-gathering, the
+wine-pressing, etc., in all of which, in the innocence of his heart, he
+was only exuberating in the anticipation of the impression which these
+scenes were to make on the fresh spirit of Ottilie. At this moment they
+saw her approaching, and the Baroness said quickly to Edward that he had
+better say nothing to her of this intended autumn expedition--things
+which we set our hearts upon so long before so often failing to come to
+pass. Edward gave his promise; but he obliged his companion to move more
+quickly to meet her; and at last, when they came very close, he ran on
+several steps in advance. A heartfelt happiness expressed itself in his
+whole being. He kissed her hand as he pressed into it a nosegay of wild
+flowers which he had gathered on his way.
+
+The Baroness felt bitter in her heart at the sight of it. Even whilst
+she was able to disapprove of what was really objectionable in this
+affection, she could not bear to see what was sweet and beautiful in it
+thrown away on such a poor paltry girl.
+
+When they had collected again at the supper-table, an entirely different
+temper was spread over the party. The Count, who had in the meantime
+written his letter and dispatched a messenger with it, occupied himself
+with the Captain, whom he had been drawing out more and more--spending
+the whole evening at his side, talking of serious matters. The Baroness,
+who sat on the Count's right, found but small amusement in this; nor did
+Edward find any more. The latter, first because he was thirsty, and then
+because he was excited, did not spare the wine, and attached himself
+entirely to Ottilie, whom he had made sit by him. On the other side,
+next to the Captain, sat Charlotte; for her it was hard, it was almost
+impossible, to conceal the emotion under which she was suffering.
+
+The Baroness had sufficient time to make her observations at leisure.
+She perceived Charlotte's uneasiness, and occupied as she was with
+Edward's passion for Ottilie, she easily satisfied herself that her
+abstraction and distress were owing to her husband's behavior; and she
+set herself to consider in what way she could best compass her ends.
+
+Supper was over, and the party remained divided. The Count, whose object
+was to probe the Captain to the bottom, had to try many turns before he
+could arrive at what he wished with so quiet, so little vain, but so
+exceedingly laconic a person. They walked up and down together on one
+side of the saloon, while Edward, excited with wine and hope, was
+laughing with Ottilie at a window, and Charlotte and the Baroness were
+walking backward and forward, without speaking, on the other side. Their
+being so silent, and their standing about in this uneasy, listless way,
+had its effect at last in breaking up the rest of the party. The ladies
+withdrew to their rooms, the gentlemen to the other wing of the castle;
+and so this day appeared to be concluded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Edward went with the Count to his room. They continued talking, and he
+was easily prevailed upon to stay a little time longer there. The Count
+lost himself in old times, spoke eagerly of Charlotte's beauty, which,
+as a critic, he dwelt upon with much warmth.
+
+"A pretty foot is a great gift of nature," he said. "It is a grace which
+never perishes. I observed it today, as she was walking. I should almost
+have liked even to kiss her shoe, and repeat that somewhat barbarous but
+significant practice of the Sarmatians, who know no better way of
+showing reverence for any one they love or respect, than by using his
+shoe to drink his health out of."
+
+The point of the foot did not remain the only subject of praise between
+two old acquaintances; they went from the person back upon old stories
+and adventures, and came on the hindrances which at that time people had
+thrown in the way of the lovers' meetings--what trouble they had taken,
+what arts they had been obliged to devise, only to be able to tell each
+other that they loved.
+
+"Do you remember," continued the Count, "an adventure in which I most
+unselfishly stood your friend when their High Mightinesses were on a
+visit to your uncle, and were all together in that great, straggling
+castle? The day went in festivities and glitter of all sorts; and a part
+of the night at least in pleasant conversation."
+
+"And you, in the meantime, had observed the back-way which led to the
+court ladies' quarter," said Edward, "and so managed to effect an
+interview for me with my beloved."
+
+"And she," replied the Count, "thinking more of propriety than of my
+enjoyment, had kept a frightful old duenna with her. So that, while you
+two, between looks and words, got on extremely well together, my lot, in
+the meanwhile, was far from pleasant."
+
+"It was only yesterday," answered Edward, "when we heard that you were
+coming, that I was talking over the story with my wife and describing
+our adventure on returning. We missed the road, and got into the
+entrance-hall from the garden. Knowing our way from thence as well as we
+did, we supposed we could get along easily enough.
+
+"But you remember our surprise on opening the door. The floor was
+covered over with mattresses on which the giants lay in rows stretched
+out and sleeping. The single sentinel at his post looked wonderingly at
+us; but we, in the cool way young men do things, strode quietly on over
+the outstretched boots, without disturbing a single one of the snoring
+children of Anak."
+
+"I had the strongest inclination to stumble," the Count said, "that
+there might be an alarm given. What a resurrection we should have
+witnessed."
+
+At this moment the castle clock struck twelve.
+
+"It is deep midnight," the Count added, laughing, "and just the proper
+time; I must ask you, my dear Edward, to show me a kindness. Do you
+guide me tonight, as I guided you then. I promised the Baroness that I
+would see her before going to bed. We have had no opportunity of any
+private talk together the whole day. We have not seen each other for a
+long time, and it is only natural that we should wish for a confidential
+hour. If you will show me the way there, I will manage to get back
+again; and in any case, there will be no boots for me to stumble over."
+
+"I shall be very glad to show you such a piece of hospitality," answered
+Edward; "only the three ladies are together in the same wing. Who knows
+whether we shall not find them still with one another, or make some
+other mistake, which may have a strange appearance?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," said the Count; "the Baroness expects me. She is
+sure by this time to be in her own room, and alone."
+
+"Well, then, the thing is easy enough," Edward answered.
+
+He took a candle, and lighted the Count down a private staircase leading
+into a long gallery. At the end of this, he opened a small door. They
+mounted a winding flight of stairs, which brought them out upon a narrow
+landing-place; and then, putting the candle in the Count's hand, he
+pointed to a tapestried door on the right, which opened readily at the
+first trial, and admitted the Count, leaving Edward outside in the dark.
+
+Another door on the left led into Charlotte's sleeping-room. He heard
+her voice, and listened. She was speaking to her maid. "Is Ottilie in
+bed?" she asked. "No," was the answer; "she is sitting writing in the
+room below." "You may light the night-lamp," said Charlotte; "I shall
+not want you any more. It is late. I can put out the candle, and do
+whatever I may want else myself."
+
+It was a delight to Edward to hear that Ottilie was writing still. She
+is working for me, he thought triumphantly. Through the darkness, he
+fancied he could see her sitting all alone at her desk. He thought he
+would go to her, and see her; and how she would turn to receive him. He
+felt a longing, which he could not resist, to be near her once more.
+But, from where he was, there was no way to the apartments which she
+occupied. He now found himself immediately at his wife's door. A
+singular change of feeling came over him. He tried the handle, but the
+bolts were shot. He knocked gently. Charlotte did not hear him. She was
+walking rapidly up and down in the large dressing-room adjoining. She
+was repeating over and over what, since the Count's unexpected proposal,
+she had often enough had to say to herself. The Captain seemed to stand
+before her. At home, and everywhere, he had become her all in all. And
+now he was to go; and it was all to be desolate again. She repeated
+whatever wise things one can say to oneself; she even anticipated, as
+people so often do, the wretched comfort that time would come at last to
+her relief; and then she cursed the time which would have to pass before
+it could lighten her sufferings--she cursed the dead, cold time when
+they would be lightened. At last she burst into tears; they were the
+more welcome, since tears with her were rare. She flung herself on the
+sofa, and gave herself up unreservedly to her sufferings. Edward,
+meanwhile, could not take himself from the door. He knocked again; and a
+third time rather louder; so that Charlotte, in the stillness of the
+night, distinctly heard it, and started up in fright. Her first thought
+was--it can only be, it must be, the Captain; her second, that it was
+impossible. She thought she must have been deceived. But surely she had
+heard it; and she wished, and she feared to have heard it. She went into
+her sleeping-room, and walked lightly up to the bolted tapestry-door.
+She blamed herself for her fears. "Possibly it may be the Baroness
+wanting something," she said to herself; and she called out quietly and
+calmly, "Is anybody there?" A light voice answered, "It is I." "Who?"
+returned Charlotte, not being able to make out the voice. She thought
+she saw the Captain's figure standing at the door. In a rather louder
+tone, she heard the word "Edward!" She drew back the bolt, and her
+husband stood before her. He greeted her with some light jest. She was
+unable to reply in the same tone. He complicated the mysterious visit by
+his mysterious explanation of it.
+
+"Well, then," he said at last, "I will confess, the real reason why I am
+come is, that I have made a vow to kiss your shoe this evening."
+
+"It is long since you thought of such a thing as that," said Charlotte.
+
+"So much the worse," he answered; "and so much the better."
+
+She had thrown herself back in an armchair, to prevent him from seeing
+the slightness of her dress. He flung himself down before her, and she
+could not prevent him from giving her shoe a kiss. And when the shoe
+came off in his hand, he caught her foot and pressed it tenderly against
+his breast.
+
+Charlotte was one of those women who, being of naturally calm
+temperaments, continue in marriage, without any purpose or any effort,
+the air and character of lovers. She was never expressive toward her
+husband; generally, indeed, she rather shrank from any warm
+demonstration on his part. It was not that she was cold, or at all hard
+and repulsive, but she remained always like a loving bride, who draws
+back with a kind of shyness even from what is permitted. And so Edward
+found her this evening, in a double sense. How sorely did she not long
+that her husband would go; the figure of his friend seemed to hover in
+the air and reproach her. But what should have had the effect of driving
+Edward away only attracted him the more. There were visible traces of
+emotion about her. She had been crying; and tears, which with weak
+persons detract from their graces, add immeasurably to the
+attractiveness of those whom we know commonly as strong and
+self-possessed.
+
+Edward was so agreeable, so gentle, so pressing; he begged to be allowed
+to stay with her. He did not demand it, but half in fun, half in
+earnest, he tried to persuade her; he never thought of his rights. At
+last, as if in mischief, he blew out the candle.
+
+In the dim lamplight, the inward affection, the imagination, maintained
+their rights over the real; it was Ottilie that was resting in Edward's
+arms; and the Captain, now faintly, now clearly, hovered before
+Charlotte's soul. And so, strangely intermingled, the absent and the
+present flowed in a sweet enchantment one into the other.
+
+And yet the present would not let itself be robbed of its own unlovely
+right. They spent a part of the night talking and laughing at all sorts
+of things, the more freely as the heart had no part in it. But when
+Edward awoke in the morning, on his wife's breast, the day seemed to
+stare in with a sad, awful look, and the sun to be shining in upon a
+crime. He stole lightly from her side; and she found herself, with
+strange enough feelings, when she awoke, alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+When the party assembled again at breakfast, an attentive observer might
+have read in the behavior of its various members the different things
+which were passing in their inner thoughts and feelings. The Count and
+the Baroness met with the air of happiness which a pair of lovers feel,
+who, after having been forced to endure a long separation, have mutually
+assured each other of their unaltered affection. On the other hand,
+Charlotte and Edward equally came into the presence of the Captain and
+Ottilie with a sense of shame and remorse. For such is the nature of
+love that it believes in no rights except its own, and all other rights
+vanish away before it. Ottilie was in child-like spirits. For her--she
+was almost what might be called open. The Captain appeared serious. His
+conversation with the Count, which had roused in him feelings that for
+some time past had been at rest and dormant, had made him only too
+keenly conscious that here he was not fulfilling his work, and at bottom
+was but squandering himself in a half-activity of idleness.
+
+Hardly had their guests departed, when fresh visitors were announced--to
+Charlotte most welcomely, all she wished for being to be taken out of
+herself, and to have her attention dissipated. They annoyed Edward, who
+was longing to devote himself to Ottilie; and Ottilie did not like them
+either; the copy which had to be finished the next morning early being
+still incomplete. They staid a long time, and immediately that they were
+gone she hurried off to her room.
+
+It was now evening. Edward, Charlotte, and the Captain had accompanied
+the strangers some little way on foot, before the latter got into their
+carriage, and previous to returning home they agreed to take a walk
+along the water-side.
+
+A boat had come, which Edward had had fetched from a distance, at no
+little expense; and they decided that they would try whether it was easy
+to manage. It was made fast on the bank of the middle pond, not far from
+some old ash trees on which they calculated to make an effect in their
+future improvements. There was to be a landing-place made there, and
+under the trees a seat was to be raised, with some wonderful
+architecture about it: it was to be the point for which people were to
+make when they went across the water.
+
+"And where had we better have the landing-place on the other side?" said
+Edward. "I should think under my plane trees."
+
+"They stand a little too far to the right," said the Captain. "You are
+nearer the castle if you land further down. However, we must think about
+it."
+
+The Captain was already standing in the stern of the boat, and had taken
+up an oar. Charlotte got in, and Edward with her--he took the other oar;
+but as he was on the point of pushing off, he thought of Ottilie--he
+recollected that this water-party would keep him out late; who could
+tell when he would get back? He made up his mind shortly and promptly;
+sprang back to the bank, and reaching the other oar to the Captain,
+hurried home--making excuses to himself as he ran.
+
+Arriving there he learnt that Ottilie had shut herself up--she was
+writing. In spite of the agreeable feeling that she was doing something
+for him, it was the keenest mortification to him not to be able to see
+her. His impatience increased every moment. He walked up and down the
+large drawing-room; he tried a thousand things, and could not fix his
+attention upon any. He was longing to see her alone, before Charlotte
+came back with the Captain. It was dark by this time, and the candles
+were lighted.
+
+At last she came in beaming with loveliness: the sense that she had done
+something for her friend had lifted all her being above itself. She put
+down the original and her transcript on the table before Edward.
+
+"Shall we collate them?" she said, with a smile.
+
+Edward did not know what to answer. He looked at her--he looked at the
+transcript. The first few sheets were written with the greatest
+carefulness in a delicate woman's hand--then the strokes appeared to
+alter, to become more light and free--but who can describe his surprise
+as he ran his eyes over the concluding page? "For heaven's sake," he
+cried, "what is this? this is my hand!" He looked at Ottilie, and again
+at the paper; the conclusion, especially, was exactly as if he had
+written it himself. Ottilie said nothing, but she looked at him with her
+eyes full of the warmest delight. Edward stretched out his arms. "You
+love me!" he cried: "Ottilie, you love me!" They fell on each other's
+breast--which had been the first to catch the other it would have been
+impossible to distinguish.
+
+From that moment the world was all changed for Edward. He was no longer
+what he had been, and the world was no longer what it had been. They
+parted--he held her hands; they gazed in each other's eyes. They were on
+the point of embracing each other again.
+
+Charlotte entered with the Captain. Edward inwardly smiled at their
+excuses for having stayed out so long. Oh! how far too soon you have
+returned, he said to himself.
+
+They sat down to supper. They talked about the people who had been there
+that day. Edward, full of love and ecstasy, spoke well of every
+one--always sparing, often approving. Charlotte, who was not altogether
+of his opinion, remarked this temper in him, and jested with him about
+it--he who had always the sharpest thing to say on departed visitors,
+was this evening so gentle and tolerant.
+
+With fervor and heartfelt conviction, Edward cried, "One has only to
+love a single creature with all one's heart, and the whole world at once
+looks lovely!"
+
+Ottilie dropped her eyes on the ground, and Charlotte looked straight
+before her.
+
+The Captain took up the word, and said, "It is the same with deep
+feelings of respect and reverence: we first learn to recognize what
+there is that is to be valued in the world, when we find occasion to
+entertain such sentiments toward a particular object."
+
+Charlotte made an excuse to retire early to her room where she could
+give herself up to thinking over what had passed in the course of the
+evening between herself and the Captain.
+
+When Edward sprang on shore, and, pushing off the boat, had himself
+committed his wife and his friend to the uncertain element, Charlotte
+found herself face to face with the man on whose account she had been
+already secretly suffering so bitterly, sitting in the twilight before
+her, and sweeping along the boat with the sculls in easy motion. She
+felt a depth of sadness, very rare with her, weighing on her spirits.
+The undulating movement of the boat, the splash of the oars, the faint
+breeze playing over the watery mirror, the sighing of the reeds, the
+long flight of the birds, the fitful twinkling of the first stars--there
+was something spectral about it all in the universal stillness. She
+fancied her friend was bearing her away to set her on some far-off
+shore, and leave her there alone; strange emotions were passing through
+her, and she could not give way to them and weep.
+
+The Captain was describing to her the manner in which, in his opinion,
+the improvements should be continued. He praised the construction of the
+boat; it was so convenient, he said, because one person could so easily
+manage it with a pair of oars. She should herself learn how to do this;
+there was often a delicious feeling in floating along alone upon the
+water, one's own ferryman and steersman.
+
+The parting which was impending sank on Charlotte's heart as he was
+speaking. Is he saying this on purpose? she thought to herself. Does he
+know it yet? Does he suspect it or is it only accident? And is he
+unconsciously foretelling me my fate?
+
+A weary, impatient heaviness took hold of her; she begged him to make
+for land as soon as possible and return with her to the castle.
+
+It was the first time that the Captain had been upon the water, and,
+though generally he had acquainted himself with its depth, he did not
+know accurately the particular spots. Dusk was coming on; he directed
+his course to a place where he thought it would be easy to get on shore,
+and from which he knew the footpath which led to the castle was not far
+distant. Charlotte, however, repeated her wish to get to land quickly,
+and the place which he thought of being at a short distance, he gave it
+up, and exerting himself as much as he possibly could, made straight for
+the bank. Unhappily the water was shallow, and he ran aground some way
+off from it. From the rate at which he was going the boat was fixed
+fast, and all his efforts to move it were in vain. What was to be done?
+There was no alternative but to get into the water and carry his
+companion ashore.
+
+It was done without difficulty or danger. He was strong enough not to
+totter with her, or give her any cause for anxiety; but in her agitation
+she had thrown her arms about his neck. He held her fast, and pressed
+her to himself--and at last laid her down upon a grassy bank, not
+without emotion and confusion * * * she still lay upon his neck * * * he
+caught her up once more in his arms, and pressed a warm kiss upon her
+lips. The next moment he was at her feet: he took her hand, and held it
+to his mouth, and cried:
+
+"Charlotte, will you forgive me?"
+
+The kiss which he had ventured to give, and which she had all but
+returned to him, brought Charlotte to herself again--she pressed his
+hand--but she did not attempt to raise him up. She bent down over him,
+and laid her hand upon his shoulder and said:
+
+"We cannot now prevent this moment from forming an epoch in our lives;
+but it depends on us to bear ourselves in a manner which shall be worthy
+of us. You must go away, my dear friend; and you are going. The Count
+has plans for you, to give you better prospects--I am glad, and I am
+sorry. I did not mean to speak of it till it was certain but this moment
+obliges me to tell you my secret * * * Since it does not depend on
+ourselves to alter our feelings, I can only forgive you, I can only
+forgive myself, if we have the courage to alter our situation." She
+raised him up, took his arm to support herself, and they walked back to
+the castle without speaking.
+
+But now she was standing in her own room, where she had to feel and to
+know that she was Edward's wife. Her strength and the various discipline
+in which through life she had trained herself, came to her assistance in
+the conflict. Accustomed as she had always been to look steadily into
+herself and to control herself, she did not now find it difficult, with
+an earnest effort, to come to the resolution which she desired. She
+could almost smile when she remembered the strange visit of the night
+before. Suddenly she was seized with a wonderful instinctive feeling, a
+thrill of fearful delight which changed into holy hope and longing. She
+knelt earnestly down, and repeated the oath which she had taken to
+Edward before the altar.
+
+Friendship, affection, renunciation, floated in glad, happy images
+before her. She felt restored to health and to herself. A sweet
+weariness came over her. She lay down, and sank into a calm, quiet
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Edward, on his part, was in a very different temper. So little he
+thought of sleeping that it did not once occur to him even to undress
+himself. A thousand times he kissed the transcript of the document, but
+it was the beginning of it, in Ottilie's childish, timid hand; the end
+he scarcely dared to kiss, for he thought it was his own hand which he
+saw. Oh, that it were another document! he whispered to himself; and, as
+it was, he felt it was the sweetest assurance that his highest wish
+would be fulfilled. Thus it remained in his hands, thus he continued to
+press it to his heart, although disfigured by a third name subscribed to
+it. The waning moon rose up over the wood. The warmth of the night drew
+Edward out into the free air. He wandered this way and that way; he was
+at once the most restless and the happiest of mortals. He strayed
+through the gardens--they seemed too narrow for him; he hurried out
+into the park, and it was too wide. He was drawn back toward the castle;
+he stood under Ottilie's window. He threw himself down on the steps of
+the terrace below. "Walls and bolts," he said to himself, "may still
+divide us, but our hearts are not divided. If she were here before me,
+into my arms she would fall, and I into hers; and what can one desire
+but that sweet certainty!" All was stillness round him; not a breath was
+moving;--so still it was, that he could hear the unresting creatures
+underground at their work, to whom day or night are alike. He abandoned
+himself to his delicious dreams; at last he fell asleep, and did not
+wake till the sun with his royal beams was mounting up in the sky and
+scattering the early mists.
+
+He found himself the first person awake on his domain. The laborers
+seemed to be staying away too long: they came; he thought they were too
+few, and the work set out for the day too slight for his desires. He
+inquired for more workmen; they were promised, and in the course of the
+day they came. But these, too, were not enough for him to carry his
+plans out as rapidly as he wished. To do the work gave him no pleasure
+any longer; it should all be done. And for whom? The paths should be
+gravelled that Ottilie might walk presently upon them; seats should be
+made at every spot and corner that Ottilie might rest on them. The new
+park house was hurried forward. It should be finished for Ottilie's
+birthday. In all he thought and all he did, there was no more
+moderation. The sense of loving and of being loved, urged him out into
+the unlimited. How changed was now to him the look of all the rooms,
+their furniture, and their decorations! He did not feel as if he was in
+his own house any more. Ottilie's presence absorbed everything. He was
+utterly lost in her; no other thought ever rose before him; no
+conscience disturbed him; every restraint which had been laid upon his
+nature burst loose. His whole being centered upon Ottilie. This
+impetuosity of passion did not escape the Captain, who longed, if he
+could, to prevent its evil consequences. All those plans which were now
+being hurried on with this immoderate speed, had been drawn out and
+calculated for a long, quiet, easy execution. The sale of the farm had
+been completed; the first instalment had been paid. Charlotte, according
+to the arrangement, had taken possession of it. But the very first week
+after, she found it more than usually necessary to exercise patience and
+resolution, and to keep her eye on what was being done. In the present
+hasty style of proceeding, the money which had been set apart for the
+purpose would not go far.
+
+Much had been begun, and much yet remained to be done. How could the
+Captain leave Charlotte in such a situation? They consulted together,
+and agreed that it would be better that they themselves should hurry on
+the works, and for this purpose employ money which could be made good
+again at the period fixed for the discharge of the second instalment of
+what was to be paid for the farm. It could be done almost without loss.
+They would have a freer hand. Everything would progress simultaneously.
+There were laborers enough at hand, and they could get more accomplished
+at once, and arrive swiftly and surely at their aim. Edward gladly gave
+his consent to a plan which so entirely coincided with his own views.
+
+During this time Charlotte persisted with all her heart in what she had
+determined for herself, and her friend stood by her with a like purpose,
+manfully. This very circumstance, however, produced a greater intimacy
+between them. They spoke openly to each other of Edward's passion, and
+consulted what had better be done. Charlotte kept Ottilie more about
+herself, watching her narrowly; and the more she understood her own
+heart, the deeper she was able to penetrate into the heart of the poor
+girl. She saw no help for it, except in sending her away.
+
+It now appeared a happy thing to her that Luciana had gained such high
+honors at the school; for her great aunt, as soon as she heard of it,
+desired to take her entirely to herself, to keep her with her, and
+bring her out into the world. Ottilie could, therefore, return thither.
+The Captain would leave them well provided for, and everything would be
+as it had been a few months before; indeed, in many respects better. Her
+own position in Edward's affection, Charlotte thought, she could soon
+recover; and she settled it all, and laid it all out before herself so
+sensibly that she only strengthened herself more completely in her
+delusion, as if it were possible for them to return within their old
+limits--as if a bond which had been violently broken could again be
+joined together as before.
+
+In the meantime Edward felt very deeply the hindrances which were thrown
+in his way. He soon observed that they were keeping him and Ottilie
+separate; that they made it difficult for him to speak with her alone,
+or even to approach her, except in the presence of others. And while he
+was angry about this, he was angry at many things besides. If he caught
+an opportunity for a few hasty words with Ottilie, it was not only to
+assure her of his love, but to complain of his wife and of the Captain.
+He never felt that with his own irrational haste he was on the way to
+exhaust the cash-box. He found bitter fault with them, because in the
+execution of the work they were not keeping to the first agreement, and
+yet he had been himself a consenting party to the second; indeed, it was
+he who had occasioned it and made it necessary.
+
+Hatred is a partisan, but love is even more so. Ottilie also estranged
+herself from Charlotte and the Captain. As Edward was complaining one
+day to Ottilie of the latter, saying that he was not treating him like a
+friend, or, under the circumstances, acting quite uprightly, she
+answered unthinkingly, "I have once or twice had a painful feeling that
+he was not quite honest with you. I heard him say once to Charlotte: 'If
+Edward would but spare us that eternal flute of his! He can make nothing
+of it, and it is too disagreeable to listen to him.' You may imagine how
+it hurt me, when I like accompanying you so much."
+
+She had scarcely uttered the words when her conscience whispered to her
+that she had much better have been silent. However, the thing was said.
+Edward's features worked violently. Never had anything stung him more.
+He was touched on his tenderest point. It was his amusement; he followed
+it like a child. He never made the slightest pretensions; what gave him
+pleasure should be treated with forbearance by his friends. He never
+thought how intolerable it is for a third person to have his ears
+lacerated by an unsuccessful talent. He was indignant; he was hurt in a
+way which he could not forgive. He felt himself discharged from all
+obligations.
+
+The necessity of being with Ottilie, of seeing her, whispering to her,
+exchanging his confidence with her, increased with every day. He
+determined to write to her, and ask her to carry on a secret
+correspondence with him. The strip of paper on which he had, laconically
+enough, made his request, lay on his writing-table, and was swept off by
+a draught of wind as his valet entered to dress his hair. The latter was
+in the habit of trying the heat of the iron by picking up any scraps of
+paper which might be lying about. This time his hand fell on the billet;
+he twisted it up hastily, and it was burnt. Edward observing the
+mistake, snatched it out of his hand. After the man was gone, he sat
+himself down to write it over again. The second time it would not run so
+readily off his pen. It gave him a little uneasiness; he hesitated, but
+he got over it. He squeezed the paper into Ottilie's hand the first
+moment he was able to approach her. Ottilie answered him immediately. He
+put the note unread in his waistcoat pocket, which, being made short in
+the fashion of the time, was shallow, and did not hold it as it ought.
+It worked out, and fell without his observing it on the ground.
+Charlotte saw it, picked it up, and after giving a hasty glance at it,
+reached it to him.
+
+"Here is something in your handwriting," she said, "which you may be
+sorry to lose."
+
+He was confounded. Is she dissembling? he thought to himself. Does she
+know what is in the note, or is she deceived by the resemblance of the
+hand? He hoped, he believed the latter. He was warned--doubly warned;
+but those strange accidents, through which a higher intelligence seems
+to be speaking to us, his passion was not able to interpret. Rather, as
+he went further and further on, he felt the restraint under which his
+friend and his wife seemed to be holding him the more intolerable. His
+pleasure in their society was gone. His heart was closed against them,
+and though he was obliged to endure their society, he could not succeed
+in re-discovering or in re-animating within his heart anything of his
+old affection for them. The silent reproaches which he was forced to
+make to himself about it were disagreeable to him. He tried to help
+himself with a kind of humor which, however, being without love, was
+also without its usual grace.
+
+Over all such trials Charlotte found assistance to rise in her own
+inward feelings. She knew her own determination. Her own affection, fair
+and noble as it was, she would utterly renounce.
+
+And sorely she longed to go to the assistance of the other two.
+Separation, she knew well, would not alone suffice to heal so deep a
+wound. She resolved that she would speak openly about it to Ottilie
+herself. But she could not do it. The recollection of her own weakness
+stood in her way. She thought she could talk generally to her about the
+sort of thing. But general expressions about "the sort of thing," fitted
+her own case equally well, and she could not bear to touch it. Every
+hint which she would give Ottilie recoiled on her own heart. She would
+warn, and she was obliged to feel that she might herself still be in
+need of warning.
+
+She contented herself, therefore, with silently keeping the lovers more
+apart, and by this gained nothing. The slight hints which frequently
+escaped her had no effect upon Ottilie; for Ottilie had been assured by
+Edward that Charlotte was devoted to the Captain, that Charlotte
+herself wished for a separation, and that he was at this moment
+considering the readiest means by which it could be brought about.
+
+Ottilie, led by the sense of her own innocence along the road to the
+happiness for which she longed, lived only for Edward. Strengthened by
+her love for him in all good, more light and happy in her work for his
+sake, and more frank and open toward others, she found herself in a
+heaven upon earth.
+
+So all together, each in his or her own fashion, reflecting or
+unreflecting, they continued on the routine of their lives. All seemed
+to go its ordinary way, as, in monstrous cases, when everything is at
+stake, men will still live on, as if it were all nothing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+In the meantime a letter came from the Count to the Captain--two,
+indeed--one which he might produce, holding out fair, excellent
+prospects in the distance; the other containing a distinct offer of an
+immediate situation, a place of high importance and responsibility at
+the Court, his rank as Major, a very considerable salary, and other
+advantages. A number of circumstances, however, made it desirable that
+for the moment he should not speak of it, and consequently he only
+informed his friends of his distant expectations, and concealed what was
+so nearly impending.
+
+He went warmly on, at the same time, with his present occupation, and
+quietly made arrangements to insure the continuance of the works without
+interruption after his departure. He was now himself desirous that as
+much as possible should be finished off at once, and was ready to hasten
+things forward to prepare for Ottilie's birthday. And so, though without
+having come to any express understanding, the two friends worked side by
+side together. Edward was now well pleased that the cash-box was filled
+by their having taken up money. The whole affair went forward at
+fullest speed.
+
+The Captain had done his best to oppose the plan of throwing the three
+ponds together into a single sheet of water. The lower embankment would
+have to be made much stronger, the two intermediate embankments to be
+taken away, and altogether, in more than one sense, it seemed a very
+questionable proceeding. However, both these schemes had been already
+undertaken; the soil which was removed above being carried at once down
+to where it was wanted. And here there came opportunely on the scene a
+young architect, an old pupil of the Captain, who partly by introducing
+workmen who understood work of this nature, and partly by himself,
+whenever it was possible, contracting for the work itself, advanced
+things not a little, while at the same time they could feel more
+confidence in their being securely and lastingly executed. In secret
+this was a great pleasure to the Captain. He could now be confident that
+his absence would not be so severely felt. It was one of the points on
+which he was most resolute with himself, never to leave anything which
+he had taken in hand uncompleted, unless he could see his place
+satisfactorily supplied. And he could not but hold in small respect,
+persons who introduce confusion around themselves only to make their
+absence felt and are ready to disturb in wanton selfishness what they
+will not be at hand to restore.
+
+So they labored on, straining every nerve to make Ottilie's birthday
+splendid, without any open acknowledgment that this was what they were
+aiming at, or, indeed, without their directly acknowledging it to
+themselves. Charlotte, wholly free from jealousy as she was, could not
+think it right to keep it as a real festival. Ottilie's youth, the
+circumstances of her fortune, and her relationship to their family, were
+not at all such as made it fit that she should appear as the queen of
+the day; and Edward would not have it talked about, because everything
+was to spring out, as it were, of itself, with a natural and delightful
+surprise.
+
+They, therefore, came all of them to a sort of tacit understanding that
+on this day, without further circumstance, the new house in the park was
+to be opened, and they might take the occasion to invite the
+neighborhood and give a holiday to their own people. Edward's passion,
+however, knew no bounds. Longing as he did to give himself to Ottilie,
+his presents and his promises must be infinite. The birthday gifts which
+on the great occasion he was to offer to her seemed, as Charlotte had
+arranged them, far too insignificant. He spoke to his valet, who had the
+care of his wardrobe, and who consequently had extensive acquaintance
+among the tailors and mercers and fashionable milliners; and he, who not
+only understood himself what valuable presents were, but also the most
+graceful way in which they should be offered, immediately ordered an
+elegant box, covered with red morocco and studded with steel nails, to
+be filled with presents worthy of such a shell. Another thing, too, he
+suggested to Edward. Among the stores at the castle was a small show of
+fireworks which had never been let off. It would be easy to get some
+more, and have something really fine. Edward caught the idea, and his
+servant promised to see to its being executed. This matter was to remain
+a secret.
+
+While this was going on, the Captain, as the day drew nearer, had been
+making arrangements for a body of police to be present--a precaution
+which he always thought desirable when large numbers of men are to be
+brought together. And, indeed, against beggars, and against all other
+inconveniences by which the pleasure of a festival can be disturbed, he
+had made effectual provision.
+
+Edward and his confidante, on the contrary, were mainly occupied with
+their fireworks. They were to be let off on the side of the middle water
+in front of the great ash-tree. The party were to be collected on the
+opposite side, under the planes, that at a sufficient distance from the
+scene, in ease and safety, they might see them to the best effect, with
+the reflections on the water, the water-rockets, and floating-lights,
+and all the other designs.
+
+Under some other pretext, Edward had the ground underneath the
+plane-trees cleared of bushes and grass and moss. And now first could be
+seen the beauty of their forms, together with their full height and
+spread, right up from the earth. He was delighted with them. It was just
+this very time of the year that he had planted them. How long ago could
+it have been? he asked himself. As soon as he got home he turned over
+the old diary books, which his father, especially when in the country,
+was very careful in keeping. He might not find an entry of this
+particular planting, but another important domestic matter, which Edward
+well remembered, and which had occurred on the same day, would surely be
+mentioned. He turned over a few volumes. The circumstances he was
+looking for was there. How amazed, how overjoyed he was, when he
+discovered the strangest coincidence! The day and the year on which he
+had planted those trees, was the very day, the very year, when Ottilie
+was born.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE long-wished-for morning dawned at last on Edward; and very soon a
+number of guests arrived. They had sent out a large number of
+invitations, and many who had missed the laying of the foundation-stone,
+which was reported to have been so charming, were the more careful not
+to be absent on the second festivity.
+
+Before dinner the carpenter's people appeared, with music, in the court
+of the castle. They bore an immense garland of flowers, composed of a
+number of single wreaths, winding in and out, one above the other;
+saluting the company, they made request, according to custom, for silk
+handkerchiefs and ribands, at the hands of the fair sex, with which to
+dress themselves out. When the castle party went into the dining-hall,
+they marched off singing and shouting, and after amusing themselves a
+while in the village, and coaxing many a riband out of the women there,
+old and young, they came at last, with crowds behind them and crowds
+expecting them, out upon the height where the park-house was now
+standing. After dinner, Charlotte rather held back her guests. She did
+not wish that there should be any solemn or formal procession, and they
+found their way in little parties, broken up, as they pleased, without
+rule or order, to the scene of action. Charlotte staid behind with
+Ottilie, and did not improve matters by doing so. For Ottilie being
+really the last that appeared, it seemed as if the trumpets and the
+clarionets had only been waiting for her, and as if the gaieties had
+been ordered to commence directly on her arrival.
+
+To take off the rough appearance of the house, it had been hung with
+green boughs and flowers. They had dressed it out in an architectural
+fashion, according to a design of the Captain's; only that, without his
+knowledge, Edward had desired the Architect to work in the date upon the
+cornice in flowers, and this was necessarily permitted to remain. The
+Captain had arrived on the scene just in time to prevent Ottilie's name
+from figuring in splendor on the gable. The beginning, which had been
+made for this, he contrived to turn skilfully to some other use, and to
+get rid of such of the letters as had been already finished.
+
+The garland was set up, and was to be seen far and wide about the
+country. The flags and the ribands fluttered gaily in the air; and a
+short oration was, the greater part of it, dispersed by the wind. The
+solemnity was at an end. There was now to be a dance on the smooth lawn
+in front of the building, which had been inclosed with boughs and
+branches. A gaily-dressed working mason took Edward up to a
+smart-looking girl of the village, and called himself upon Ottilie, who
+stood out with him. These two couples speedily found others to follow
+them, and Edward contrived pretty soon to change partners, catching
+Ottilie, and making the round with her. The younger part of the company
+joined merrily in the dance with the people, while the elder among them
+stood and looked on.
+
+Then, before they broke up and walked about, an order was given that
+they should all collect again at sunset under the plane-trees. Edward
+was the first upon the spot, ordering everything, and making his
+arrangements with his valet, who was to be on the other side, in company
+with the firework-maker, managing his exhibition of the spectacle.
+
+The Captain was far from satisfied at some of the preparations which he
+saw made; and he endeavored to get a word with Edward about the crush of
+spectators which was to be expected. But the latter, somewhat hastily,
+begged that he might be allowed to manage this part of the day's
+amusements himself.
+
+The upper end of the embankment having been recently raised, was still
+far from compact. It had been staked, but there was no grass upon it,
+and the earth was uneven and insecure. The crowd pressed on, however, in
+great numbers. The sun went down, and the castle party was served with
+refreshments under the plane-trees, to pass the time till it should have
+become sufficiently dark. The place was approved of beyond measure, and
+they looked forward to a frequent enjoyment of the view over so lovely a
+sheet of water, on future occasions.
+
+A calm evening, a perfect absence of wind, promised everything in favor
+of the spectacle, when suddenly loud and violent shrieks were heard.
+Large masses of the earth had given way on the edge of the embankment,
+and a number of people were precipitated into the water. The pressure
+from the throng had gone on increasing till at last it had become more
+than the newly laid soil would bear, and the bank had fallen in.
+Everybody wanted to obtain the best place, and now there was no getting
+either backward or forward.
+
+People ran this and that way, more to see what was going on than to
+render assistance. What could be done when no one could reach the place?
+
+The Captain, with a few determined persons, hurried down and drove the
+crowd off the embankment back upon the shore, in order that those who
+were really of service might have free room to move. One way or another
+they contrived to seize hold of such as were sinking; and with or
+without assistance all who had been in the water were got out safe upon
+the bank, with the exception of one boy, whose struggles in his fright,
+instead of bringing him nearer to the embankment, had only carried him
+further from it. His strength seemed to be failing--now only a hand was
+seen above the surface, and now a foot. By an unlucky chance the boat
+was on the opposite shore filled with fireworks--it was a long business
+to unload it, and help was slow in coming. The Captain's resolution was
+taken; he flung off his coat; all eyes were directed toward him, and his
+sturdy vigorous figure gave every one hope and confidence: but a cry of
+surprise rose out of the crowd as they saw him fling himself into the
+water--every eye watched him as the strong swimmer swiftly reached the
+boy, and bore him, although to appearance dead, to the embankment.
+
+Now came up the boat. The Captain stepped in and examined whether there
+were any still missing, or whether they were all safe. The surgeon was
+speedily on the spot, and took charge of the inanimate boy. Charlotte
+joined them, and entreated the Captain to go now and take care of
+himself, to hurry back to the castle and change his clothes. He would
+not go, however, till persons on whose sense he could rely, who had been
+close to the spot at the time of the accident, and who had assisted in
+saving those who had fallen in, assured him that all were safe.
+
+Charlotte saw him on his way to the house, and then she remembered that
+the wine and the tea, and everything else which he could want, had been
+locked up, for fear any of the servants should take advantage of the
+disorder of the holiday, as on such occasions they are too apt to do.
+She hurried through the scattered groups of her company, which were
+loitering about the plane-trees. Edward was there, talking to every
+one--beseeching every one to stay. He would give the signal directly,
+and the fireworks should begin. Charlotte went up to him, and entreated
+him to put off an amusement which was no longer in place, and which at
+the present moment no one could enjoy. She reminded him of what ought to
+be done for the boy who had been saved, and for his preserver.
+
+"The surgeon will do whatever is right, no doubt," replied Edward. "He
+is provided with everything which he can want, and we should only be in
+the way if we crowded about him with our anxieties."
+
+Charlotte persisted in her opinion, and made a sign to Ottilie, who at
+once prepared to retire with her. Edward seized her hand, and cried, "We
+will not end this day in a lazaretto. She is too good for a sister of
+mercy. Without us, I should think, the half-dead may wake, and the
+living dry themselves."
+
+Charlotte did not answer, but went. Some followed her--others followed
+these: in the end, no one wished to be the last, and all followed.
+Edward and Ottilie found themselves alone under the plane-trees. He
+insisted that stay he would, earnestly, passionately, as she entreated
+him to go back with her to the castle. "No, Ottilie!" he cried; "the
+extraordinary is not brought to pass in the smooth common way--the
+wonderful accident of this evening brings us more speedily together. You
+are mine--I have often said it to you, and sworn it to you. We will not
+say it and swear it any more--we will make it BE."
+
+The boat came over from the other side. The valet was in it--he asked,
+with some embarrassment, what his master wished to have done with the
+fireworks?
+
+"Let them off!" Edward cried to him: "let them off! It was only for you
+that they were provided, Ottilie, and you shall be the only one to see
+them! Let me sit beside you, and enjoy them with you." Tenderly,
+timidly, he sat down at her side, without touching her.
+
+Rockets went hissing up--cannon thundered--Roman candles shot out their
+blazing balls--squibs flashed and darted--wheels spun round, first
+singly, then in pairs, then all at once, faster and faster, one after
+the other, and more and more together. Edward, whose bosom was on fire,
+watched the blazing spectacle with eyes gleaming with delight; but
+Ottilie, with her delicate and nervous feelings, in all this noise and
+fitful blazing and flashing, found more to distress her than to please.
+She leant shrinking against Edward, and he, as she drew to him and clung
+to him, felt the delightful sense that she belonged entirely to him.
+
+The night had scarcely reassumed its rights, when the moon rose and
+lighted their path as they walked back. A figure, with his hat in his
+hand, stepped across their way, and begged an alms of them--in the
+general holiday he said that he had been forgotten. The moon shone upon
+his face, and Edward recognized the features of the importunate beggar;
+but, happy as he then was, it was impossible for him to be angry with
+any one. He could not recollect that, especially for that particular
+day, begging had been forbidden under the heaviest penalties--he thrust
+his hand into his pocket, took the first coin which he found, and gave
+the fellow a piece of gold. His own happiness was so unbounded that he
+would have liked to share it with every one.
+
+In the meantime all had gone well at the castle. The skill of the
+surgeon, everything which was required being ready at hand, Charlotte's
+assistance--all had worked together, and the boy was brought to life
+again. The guests dispersed, wishing to catch a glimpse or two of what
+was to be seen of the fireworks from the distance; and, after a scene of
+such confusion, were glad to get back to their own quiet homes.
+
+The Captain also, after having rapidly changed his dress, had taken an
+active part in what required to be done. It was now all quiet again, and
+he found himself alone with Charlotte--gently and affectionately he now
+told her that his time for leaving them approached. She had gone
+through so much that evening, that this discovery made but a slight
+impression upon her--she had seen how her friend could sacrifice
+himself; how he had saved another, and had himself been saved. These
+strange incidents seemed to foretell an important future to her--but not
+an unhappy one.
+
+Edward, who now entered with Ottilie, was informed at once of the
+impending departure of the Captain. He suspected that Charlotte had
+known longer how near it was; but he was far too much occupied with
+himself, and with his own plans, to take it amiss, or care about it.
+
+On the contrary, he listened attentively, and with signs of pleasure, to
+the account of the excellent and honorable position in which the Captain
+was to be placed. The course of the future was hurried impetuously
+forward by his own secret wishes. Already he saw the Captain married to
+Charlotte, and himself married to Ottilie. It would have been the
+richest present which any one could have made him, on the occasion of
+the day's festival!
+
+But how surprised was Ottilie, when, on going to her room, she found
+upon her table the beautiful box! Instantly she opened it; inside, all
+the things were so nicely packed and arranged that she did not venture
+to take them out; she scarcely even ventured to lift them. There were
+muslin, cambric, silk, shawls and lace, all rivalling one another in
+delicacy, beauty, and costliness--nor were ornaments forgotten. The
+intention had been, as she saw well, to furnish her with more than one
+complete suit of clothes but it was all so costly, so little like what
+she had been accustomed to, that she scarcely dared, even in thought, to
+believe it could be really for her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+The next morning the Captain had disappeared, having left a grateful,
+feeling letter addressed to his friends upon his table.
+
+[Illustration: P. GROTJOHANN OTTILIE EXAMINES EDWARD'S PRESENTS]
+
+He and Charlotte had already taken a half leave of each other the
+evening before--she felt that the parting was for ever, and she resigned
+herself to it; for in the Count's second letter, which the Captain had
+at last shown to her, there was a hint of a prospect of an advantageous
+marriage, and, although he had paid no attention to it at all, she
+accepted it for as good as certain, and gave him up firmly and fully.
+
+Now, therefore, she thought that she had a right to require of others
+the same control over themselves which she had exercised herself: it had
+not been impossible to her, and it ought not to be impossible to them.
+With this feeling she began the conversation with her husband; and she
+entered upon it the more openly and easily, from a sense that the
+question must now, once for all, be decisively set at rest.
+
+"Our friend has left us," she said; "we are now once more together as we
+were--and it depends upon ourselves whether we choose to return
+altogether into our old position."
+
+Edward, who heard nothing except what flattered his own passion,
+believed that Charlotte, in these words, was alluding to her previous
+widowed state, and, in a roundabout way, was making a suggestion for a
+separation; so that he answered, with a laugh, "Why not? all we want is
+to come to an understanding." But he found himself sorely enough
+undeceived, as Charlotte continued, "And we have now a choice of
+opportunities for placing Ottilie in another situation. Two openings
+have offered themselves for her, either of which will do very well.
+Either she can return to the school, as my daughter has left it and is
+with her great-aunt; or she can be received into a desirable family,
+where, as the companion of an only child, she will enjoy all the
+advantages of a solid education."
+
+Edward, with a tolerably successful effort at commanding himself,
+replied, "Ottilie has been so much spoilt, by living so long with us
+here, that she will scarcely like to leave us now."
+
+"We have all of us been too much spoilt," said Charlotte; "and yourself
+not least. This is an epoch which requires us seriously to bethink
+ourselves. It is a solemn warning to us to consider what is really for
+the good of all the members of our little circle--and we ourselves must
+not be afraid of making sacrifices."
+
+"At any rate I cannot see that it is right that Ottilie should be made a
+sacrifice," replied Edward; "and that would be the case if we were now
+to allow her to be sent away among strangers. The Captain's good genius
+has sought him out here--we can feel easy, we can feel happy, at seeing
+him leave us; but who can tell what may be before Ottilie? There is no
+occasion for haste."
+
+"What is before us is sufficiently clear," Charlotte answered, with some
+emotion; and as she was determined to have it all out at once, she went
+on: "You love Ottilie; every day you are becoming more attached to her.
+A reciprocal feeling is rising on her side as well, and feeding itself
+in the same way. Why should we not acknowledge in words what every hour
+makes obvious? and are we not to have the common prudence to ask
+ourselves in what it is to end?"
+
+"We may not be able to find an answer on the moment," replied Edward,
+collecting himself; "but so much may be said, that if we cannot exactly
+tell what will come of it, we may resign ourselves to wait and see what
+the future may tell us about it."
+
+"No great wisdom is required to prophesy here," answered Charlotte;
+"and, at any rate, we ought to feel that you and I are past the age when
+people may walk blindly where they should not or ought not to go. There
+is no one else to take care of us--we must be our own friends, our own
+managers. No one expects us to commit ourselves in an outrage upon
+decency: no one expects that we are going to expose ourselves to censure
+or to ridicule."
+
+"How can you so mistake me?" said Edward, unable to reply to his wife's
+clear, open words. "Can you find it a fault in me, if I am anxious
+about Ottilie's happiness? I do not mean future happiness--no one can
+count on that--but what is present, palpable, and immediate. Consider,
+don't deceive yourself; consider frankly Ottilie's case, torn away from
+us, and sent to live among strangers. I, at least, am not cruel enough
+to propose such a change for her!"
+
+Charlotte saw too clearly into her husband's intentions, through this
+disguise. For the first time she felt how far he had estranged himself
+from her. Her voice shook a little. "Will Ottilie be happy if she
+divides us?" she asked. "If she deprives me of a husband, and his
+children of a father!"
+
+"Our children, I should have thought, were sufficiently provided for,"
+said Edward, with a cold smile; adding, rather more kindly, "but why at
+once expect the very worst?"
+
+"The very worst is too sure to follow this passion of yours," returned
+Charlotte; "do not refuse good advice while there is yet time; do not
+throw away the means which I propose to save us. In troubled cases those
+must work and help who see the clearest--this time it is I. Dear,
+dearest Edward! listen to me--can you propose to me that now at once I
+shall renounce my happiness! renounce my fairest rights! renounce you!"
+
+"Who says that?" replied Edward, with some embarrassment.
+
+"You, yourself," answered Charlotte; "in determining to keep Ottilie
+here, are you not acknowledging everything which must arise out of it? I
+will urge nothing on you--but if you cannot conquer yourself, at least
+you will not be able much longer to deceive yourself."
+
+Edward felt how right she was. It is fearful to hear spoken out, in
+words, what the heart has gone on long permitting to itself in secret.
+To escape only for a moment, Edward answered, "It is not yet clear to me
+what you want."
+
+"My intention," she replied, "was to talk over with you these two
+proposals--each of them has its advantages. The school would be best
+suited to her, as she now is; but the other situation is larger, and
+wider, and promises more, when I think what she may become." She then
+detailed to her husband circumstantially what would lie before Ottilie
+in each position, and concluded with the words, "For my own part I
+should prefer the lady's house to the school, for more reasons than one;
+but particularly because I should not like the affection, the love
+indeed, of the young man there, which Ottilie has gained, to increase."
+
+Edward appeared to approve; but it was only to find some means of delay.
+Charlotte, who desired to commit him to a definite step, seized the
+opportunity, as Edward made no immediate opposition, to settle Ottilie's
+departure, for which she had already privately made all preparations,
+for the next day.
+
+Edward shuddered--he thought he was betrayed. His wife's affectionate
+speech he fancied was an artfully contrived trick to separate him for
+ever from his happiness. He appeared to leave the thing entirely to her;
+but in his heart his resolution was already taken. To gain time to
+breathe, to put off the immediate intolerable misery of Ottilie's being
+sent away, he determined to leave his house. He told Charlotte he was
+going; but he had blinded her to his real reason, by telling her that he
+would not be present at Ottilie's departure; indeed, that, from that
+moment, he would see her no more. Charlotte, who believed that she had
+gained her point, approved most cordially. He ordered his horse, gave
+his valet the necessary directions what to pack up, and where he should
+follow him; and then, on the point of departure, he sat down and wrote:
+
+"EDWARD TO CHARLOTTE
+
+"The misfortune, my love, which has befallen us, may or may not admit of
+remedy; only this I feel, that if I am not at once to be driven to
+despair, I must find some means of delay for myself, and for all of us.
+In making myself the sacrifice, I have a right to make a request. I am
+leaving my home, and I return to it only under happier and more peaceful
+auspices. While I am away, you keep possession of it--_but with
+Ottilie_. I choose to know that she is with you, and not among
+strangers. Take care of her; treat her as you have treated her--only
+more lovingly, more kindly, more tenderly! I promise that I will not
+attempt any secret intercourse with her. Leave me, as long a time as you
+please, without knowing anything about you. I will not allow myself to
+be anxious--nor need you be uneasy about me: only, with all my heart and
+soul, I beseech you, make no attempt to send Ottilie away, or to
+introduce her into any other situation. Beyond the circle of the castle
+and the park, placed in the hands of strangers, she belongs to me, and I
+will take possession of her! If you have any regard for my affection,
+for my wishes, for my sufferings, you will leave me alone to my madness;
+and if any hope of recovery from it should ever hereafter offer itself
+to me, I will not resist."
+
+Thus last sentence ran off his pen--not out of his heart. Even when he
+saw it upon the paper, he began bitterly to weep. That he, under any
+circumstances, should renounce the happiness--even the wretchedness--of
+loving Ottilie! He only now began to feel what he was doing--he was
+going away without knowing what was to be the result. At any rate he was
+not to see her again _now_--with what certainty could he promise himself
+that he would ever see her again? But the letter was written--the horses
+were at the door; every moment he was afraid he might see Ottilie
+somewhere, and then his whole purpose would go to the winds. He
+collected himself--he remembered that, at any rate, he would be able to
+return at any moment he pleased; and that by his absence he would have
+advanced nearer to his wishes: on the other side, he pictured Ottilie to
+himself forced to leave the house if he stayed. He sealed the letter,
+ran down the steps, and sprang upon his horse.
+
+As he rode past the hotel, he saw the beggar to whom he had given so
+much money the night before, sitting under the trees; the man was busy
+enjoying his dinner, and, as Edward passed, stood up, and made him the
+humblest obeisance. That figure had appeared to him yesterday, when
+Ottilie was on his arm; now it only served as a bitter reminiscence of
+the happiest hour of his life. His grief redoubled. The feeling of what
+he was leaving behind was intolerable. He looked again at the beggar.
+"Happy wretch!" he cried, "you can still feed upon the alms of
+yesterday--and I cannot any more on the happiness of yesterday!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Ottilie heard some one ride away, and went to the window in time just to
+catch a sight of Edward's back. It was strange, she thought, that he
+should have left the house without seeing her, without having even
+wished her good morning. She grew uncomfortable, and her anxiety did not
+diminish when Charlotte took her out for a long walk, and talked of
+various other things; but not once, and apparently on purpose,
+mentioning her husband. When they returned she found the table laid with
+only two covers. It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing
+to which we have been accustomed. In serious things such a loss becomes
+miserably painful. Edward and the Captain were not there. The first
+time, for a long while, Charlotte sat at the head of the table
+herself--and it seemed to Ottilie as if she was deposed. The two ladies
+sat opposite each other; Charlotte talked, without the least
+embarrassment, of the Captain and his appointment, and of the little
+hope there was of seeing him again for a long time. The only comfort
+Ottilie could find for herself was in the idea that Edward had ridden
+after his friend, to accompany him a part of his journey.
+
+On rising from table, however, they saw Edward's traveling carriage
+under the window. Charlotte, a little as if she was put out, asked who
+had had it brought round there. She was told it was the valet, who had
+some things there to pack up. It required all Ottilie Is self-command to
+conceal her wonder and her distress.
+
+The valet came in, and asked if they would be so good as to let him have
+a drinking cup of his master's, a pair of silver spoons, and a number of
+other things, which seemed to Ottilie to imply that he was gone some
+distance, and would be away for a long time.
+
+Charlotte gave him a very cold, dry answer. She did not know what he
+meant--he had everything belonging to his master under his own care.
+What the man wanted was to speak a word to Ottilie, and on some pretence
+or other to get her out of the room; he made some clever excuse, and
+persisted in his request so far that Ottilie asked if she should go to
+look for the things for him? But Charlotte quietly said that she had
+better not. The valet had to depart, and the carriage rolled away.
+
+It was a dreadful moment for Ottilie. She understood
+nothing--comprehended nothing. She could only feel that Edward had been
+parted from her for a long time. Charlotte felt for her situation, and
+left her to herself.
+
+We will not attempt to describe what she went through, or how she wept.
+She suffered infinitely. She prayed that God would help her only over
+this one day. The day passed, and the night, and when she came to
+herself again she felt herself a changed being.
+
+She had not grown composed. She was not resigned, but after having lost
+what she had lost, she was still alive, and there was still something
+for her to fear. Her anxiety, after returning to consciousness, was at
+once lest, now that the gentlemen were gone, she might be sent away too.
+She never guessed at Edward's threats, which had secured her remaining
+with her aunt. Yet Charlotte's manner served partially to reassure her.
+The latter exerted herself to find employment for the poor girl, and
+hardly ever,--never, if she could help it,--left her out of her sight;
+and although she knew well how little words can do against the power of
+passion, yet she knew, too, the sure though slow influence of thought
+and reflection, and therefore missed no opportunity of inducing Ottilie
+to talk with her on every variety of subject.
+
+It was no little comfort to Ottilie when one day Charlotte took an
+opportunity of making (she did it on purpose) the wise observation, "How
+keenly grateful people were to us when we were able by stilling and
+calming them to help them out of the entanglements of passion! Let us
+set cheerfully to work," she said, "at what the men have left
+incomplete: we shall be preparing the most charming surprise for them
+when they return to us, and our temperate proceedings will have carried
+through and executed what their impatient natures would have spoilt."
+
+"Speaking of temperance, my dear aunt, I cannot help saying how I am
+struck with the intemperance of men, particularly in respect of wine. It
+has often pained and distressed me, when I have observed how, for hours
+together, clearness of understanding, judgment, considerateness, and
+whatever is most amiable about them, will be utterly gone, and instead
+of the good which they might have done if they had been themselves, most
+disagreeable things sometimes threaten. How often may not wrong, rash
+determinations have arisen entirely from that one cause!"
+
+Charlotte assented, but she did not go on with the subject. She saw only
+too clearly that it was Edward of whom Ottilie was thinking. It was not
+exactly habitual with him, but he allowed himself much more frequently
+than was at all desirable to stimulate his enjoyment and his power of
+talking and acting by such indulgence. If what Charlotte had just said
+had set Ottilie thinking again about men, and particularly about Edward,
+she was all the more struck and startled when her aunt began to speak of
+the impending marriage of the Captain as of a thing quite settled and
+acknowledged. This gave a totally different aspect to affairs from what
+Edward had previously led her to entertain. It made her watch every
+expression of Charlotte's, every hint, every action, every step. Ottilie
+had become jealous, sharp-eyed, and suspicious, without knowing it.
+
+Meanwhile, Charlotte with her clear glance looked through the whole
+circumstances of their situation, and made arrangements which would
+provide, among other advantages, full employment for Ottilie. She
+contracted her household, not parsimoniously, but into narrower
+dimensions; and, indeed, in one point of view, these moral aberrations
+might be taken for a not unfortunate accident. For in the style in which
+they had been going on, they had fallen imperceptibly into extravagance;
+and from a want of seasonable reflection, from the rate at which they
+had been living, and from the variety of schemes into which they had
+been launching out, their fine fortune, which had been in excellent
+condition, had been shaken, if not seriously injured.
+
+The improvements which were going on in the park she did not interfere
+with; she rather sought to advance whatever might form a basis for
+future operations. But here, too, she assigned herself a limit. Her
+husband on his return should still find abundance to amuse himself with.
+
+In all this work she could not sufficiently value the assistance of the
+young architect. In a short time the lake lay stretched out under her
+eyes, its new shores turfed and planted with the most discriminating and
+excellent judgment. The rough work at the new house was all finished.
+Everything which was necessary to protect it from the weather she took
+care to see provided, and there for the present she allowed it to rest
+in a condition in which what remained to be done could hereafter be
+readily commenced again. Thus hour by hour she recovered her spirits and
+her cheerfulness. Ottilie only seemed to have done so. She was only for
+ever watching, in all that was said and done, for symptoms which might
+show her whether Edward would be soon returning: and this one thought
+was the only one in which she felt any interest.
+
+It was, therefore, a very welcome proposal to her when it was suggested
+that they should get together the boys of the peasants, and employ them
+in keeping the park clean and neat. Edward had long entertained the
+idea. A pleasant--looking sort of uniform was made for them, which they
+were to put on in the evenings after they had been properly cleaned and
+washed. The wardrobe was kept in the castle; the more sensible and ready
+of the boys themselves were intrusted with the management of it--the
+Architect acting as chief director. In a very short time, the children
+acquired a kind of character. It was found easy to mold them into what
+was desired; and they went through their work not without a sort of
+manoeuvre. As they marched along, with their garden shears, their
+long-handled pruning-knives, their rakes, their little spades and hoes,
+and sweeping-brooms; others following after these with baskets to carry
+off the stones and rubbish; and others, last of all, trailing along the
+heavy iron roller--it was a thoroughly pretty, delightful procession.
+The Architect observed in it a beautiful series of situations and
+occupations to ornament the frieze of a garden-house. Ottilie, on the
+other hand, could see nothing in it but a kind of parade, to salute the
+master of the house on his near return.
+
+And this stimulated her and made her wish to begin something of the sort
+herself. They had before endeavored to encourage the girls of the
+village in knitting, and sewing, and spinning, and whatever else women
+could do; and since what had been done for the improvement of the
+village itself, there had been a perceptible advance in these
+descriptions of industry. Ottilie had given what assistance was in her
+power, but she had given it at random, as opportunity or inclination
+prompted her; now she thought she--would go to work more satisfactorily
+and methodically. But a company is not to be formed out of a number of
+girls, as easily as out of a number of boys. She followed her own good
+sense, and,--without being exactly conscious of it, her efforts were
+solely directed toward connecting every girl as closely as possible
+each with her own home, her own parents, brothers and sisters: and she
+succeeded with many of them. One lively little creature only was
+incessantly complained of as showing no capacity for work, and as never
+likely to do anything if she were left at home.
+
+Ottilie could not be angry with the girl, for to herself the little
+thing was especially attached--she clung to her, went after her, and ran
+about with her, whenever she was permitted--and then she would be active
+and cheerful and never tire. It appeared to be a necessity of the
+child's nature to hang about a beautiful mistress. At first, Ottilie
+allowed her to be her companion; then she herself began to feel a sort
+of affection for her; and, at last, they never parted at all, and Nanny
+attended her mistress wherever she went.
+
+The latter's footsteps were often bent toward the garden, where she
+liked to watch the beautiful show of fruit. It was just the end of the
+raspberry and cherry season, the few remains of which were no little
+delight to Nanny. On the other trees there was a promise of a
+magnificent bearing for the autumn, and the gardener talked of nothing
+but his master and how he wished that he might be at home to enjoy it.
+Ottilie could listen to the good old man forever! He thoroughly
+understood his business; and Edward--Edward--Edward--was for ever the
+theme of his praise!
+
+Ottilie observed how well all the grafts which had been budded in the
+spring had taken. "I only wish," the gardener answered, "my good master
+may come to enjoy them. If he were here this autumn, he would see what
+beautiful sorts there are in the old castle garden, which the late lord,
+his honored father, put there. I think the fruit-gardeners there are now
+don't succeed as well as the Carthusians used to do. We find many fine
+names in the catalogue, and then we bud from them, and bring up the
+shoots, and, at last, when they come to bear, it is not worth while to
+have such trees standing in our garden."
+
+Over and over again, whenever the faithful old servant saw Ottilie, he
+asked when his master might be expected home; and when Ottilie had
+nothing to tell him, he would look vexed, and let her see in his manner
+that he thought she did not care to tell him: the sense of uncertainty
+which was thus forced upon her became painful beyond measure, and yet
+she could never be absent from these beds and borders. What she and
+Edward had sown and planted together were now in full flower, requiring
+no further care from her, except that Nanny should be at hand with the
+watering-pot; and who shall say with what sensations she watched the
+later flowers, which were just beginning to show, and which were to be
+in the bloom of their beauty on Edward's birthday, the holiday to which
+she had looked forward with such eagerness, when these flowers were to
+have expressed her affection and her gratitude to him! But the hopes
+which she had formed of that festival were dead now, and doubt and
+anxiety never ceased to haunt the soul of the poor girl.
+
+Into real open, hearty understanding with Charlotte, there was no more a
+chance of her being able to return; for indeed, the position of these
+two ladies was very different. If things could remain in their old
+state--if it were possible that they could return again into the smooth,
+even way of calm, ordered life, Charlotte gained everything; she gained
+happiness for the present, and a happy future opened before her. On the
+other hand, for Ottilie all was lost--one may say, all; for she had
+first found in Edward what life and happiness meant; and, in her present
+position, she felt an infinite and dreary chasm of which before she
+could have formed no conception. A heart which seeks, feels well that it
+wants something; a heart which has lost, feels that something is
+gone--its yearning and its longing change into uneasy impatience--and a
+woman's spirit, which is accustomed to waiting and to enduring, must now
+pass out from its proper sphere, must become active and attempt and do
+something to make its own happiness. Ottilie had not given up Edward--how
+could she? Although Charlotte, wisely enough, in spite of her
+conviction to the contrary, assumed it as a thing of course, and
+resolutely took it as decided that a quiet rational regard was possible
+between her husband and Ottilie. How often, however, did not Ottilie
+remain at nights, after bolting herself into her room, on her knees
+before the open box, gazing at the birthday presents, of which as yet
+she had not touched a single thing--not cut out or made up a single
+dress! How often with the sunrise did the poor girl hurry out of the
+house, in which she once had found all her happiness, away into the free
+air, into the country which then had had no charms for her. Even on the
+solid earth she could not bear to stay; she would spring into the boat,
+row out into the middle of the lake, and there, drawing out some book of
+travels, lie rocked by the motion of the waves, reading and dreaming
+that she was far away, where she would never fail to find her
+friend--she remaining ever nearest to his heart, and he to hers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+It may easily be supposed that the strange, busy gentleman, whose
+acquaintance we have already made--Mittler--as soon as he received
+information of the disorder which had broken out among his friends, felt
+desirous, though neither side had as yet called on him for assistance,
+to fulfil a friend's part toward them, and do what he could to help them
+in their misfortune. He thought it advisable, however, to wait first a
+little while; knowing too well, as he did, that it was more difficult to
+come to the aid of cultivated persons in their moral perplexities, than
+of the uncultivated. He left them, therefore, for some time to
+themselves; but at last he could withhold no longer, and he hastened to
+seek out Edward, on whose traces he had already lighted. His road led
+him to a pleasant, pretty valley, with a range of green, sweetly-wooded
+meadows, down the centre of which ran a never-failing stream, sometimes
+winding slowly along, then tumbling and rushing among rocks and stones.
+The hills sloped gently up on either side, covered with rich corn-fields
+and well-kept orchards. The villages were at proper distances from one
+another. The whole had a peaceful character about it, and the detached
+scenes seemed designed expressly, if not for painting, at least for
+life.
+
+At last a neatly kept farm, with a clean, modest dwelling-house,
+situated in the middle of a garden, fell under his eye. He conjectured
+that this was Edward's present abode; and he was not mistaken.
+
+Of this our friend in his solitude we have only thus much to say--that
+in his seclusion he was resigning himself utterly to the feeling of his
+passion, thinking out plan after plan, and feeding himself with
+innumerable hopes. He could not deny that he longed to see Ottilie
+there; that he would like to carry her off there, to tempt her there;
+and whatever else (putting, as he now did, no check upon his thoughts)
+pleased to suggest itself, whether permitted or unpermitted. Then his
+imagination wandered up and down, picturing every sort of possibility.
+If he could not have her there, if he could not lawfully possess her, he
+would secure to her the possession of the property for her own. There
+she should live for herself, silently, independently; she should be
+happy in that spot--sometimes his self-torturing mood would lead him
+further--be happy in it, perhaps, with another.
+
+So days flowed away in increasing oscillation between hope and
+suffering, between tears and happiness--between purposes, preparations,
+and despair. The sight of Mittler did not surprise him; he had long
+expected that he would come; and now that he did, he was partly welcome
+to him. He believed that he had been sent by Charlotte. He had prepared
+himself with all manner of excuses and delays; and if these would not
+serve, with decided refusals; or else, perhaps, he might hope to learn
+something of Ottilie--and then he would be as dear to him as a
+messenger from heaven.
+
+Not a little vexed and annoyed was Edward, therefore, when he
+understood that Mittler had not come from the castle at all, but of his
+own free accord. His heart closed up, and at first the conversation
+would not open itself. Mittler, however, knew very well that a heart
+that is occupied with love has an urgent necessity to express itself--to
+pour out to a friend what is passing within it; and he allowed himself,
+therefore, after a few speeches backward and forward, for this once to
+go out of his character and play the confidant in place of the mediator.
+He had calculated justly. He had been finding fault in a good-natured
+way with Edward for burying himself in that lonely place, upon which
+Edward replied:
+
+"I do not know how I could spend my time more agreeably. I am always
+occupied with her; I am always close to her. I have the inestimable
+comfort of being able to think where Ottilie is at each moment--where
+she is going, where she is standing, where she is reposing. I see her
+moving and acting before me as usual; ever doing or designing something
+which is to give me pleasure. But this will not always answer; for how
+can I be happy away from her? And then my fancy begins to work; I think
+what Ottilie should do to come to me; I write sweet, loving letters in
+her name to myself, and then I answer them, and keep the sheets
+together. I have promised that I will take no steps to seek her; and
+that promise I will keep. But what binds her that she should make no
+advances to me I Has Charlotte had the barbarity to exact a promise, to
+exact an oath from her, not to write to me, not to send me a word, a
+hint, about herself? Very likely she has. It is only natural; and yet to
+me it is monstrous, it is horrible. If she loves me--as I think, as I
+know that she does--why does she not resolve, why does she not venture
+to fly to me, and throw herself into my arms? I often think she ought to
+do it; and she could do it. If I ever hear a noise in the hall, I look
+toward the door. It must be her--she is coming--I look up to see her.
+Alas! because the possible is impossible, I let myself imagine that the
+impossible must become possible. At night, when I lie awake, and the
+lamp flings an uncertain light about the room, her form, her spirit, a
+sense of her presence, sweeps over me, approaches me, seizes me. It is
+but for a moment; it is that I may have an assurance that she is
+thinking of me, that she is mine. Only one pleasure remains to me. When
+I was with her I never dreamt of her; now when I am far away, and, oddly
+enough, since I have made the acquaintance of other attractive persons
+in this neighborhood, for the first time her figure appears to me in my
+dreams, as if she would say to me, 'Look on them, and on me. You will
+find none more beautiful, more lovely than I.' And so she is present in
+every dream I have. In whatever happens to me with her, we are woven in
+and in together. Now we are subscribing a contract together. There is
+her hand, and there is mine; there is her name, and there is mine; and
+they move one into the other, and seem to devour each other. Sometimes
+she does something which injures the pure idea which I have of her; and
+then I feel how intensely I love her, by the indescribable anguish which
+it causes me. Again, unlike herself, she will rally and vex me; and then
+at once the figure changes--her sweet, round, heavenly face draws out;
+it is not she, it is another; but I lie vexed, dissatisfied and
+wretched. Laugh not, dear Mittler, or laugh on as you will. I am not
+ashamed of this attachment, of this--if you please to call it
+so--foolish, frantic passion. No, I never loved before. It is only now
+that I know what to love means. Till now, what I have called life was
+nothing but its prelude--amusement, sport to kill the time with. I never
+lived till I knew her, till I loved her--entirely and only loved her.
+People have often said of me, not to my face, but behind my back, that
+in most things I was but a botcher and a bungler. It may be so; for I
+had not then found in what I could show myself a master. I should like
+to see the man who outdoes me in the talent of love. A miserable life it
+is, full of anguish and tears; but it is so natural, so dear to me,
+that I could hardly change it for another."
+
+Edward had relieved himself slightly by this violent unloading of his
+heart. But in doing so every feature of his strange condition had been
+brought out so clearly before his eyes that, overpowered by the pain of
+the struggle, he burst into tears, which flowed all the more freely as
+his heart had been made weak by telling it all.
+
+Mittler, who was the less disposed to put a check on his inexorable good
+sense and strong, vigorous feeling, because by this violent outbreak of
+passion on Edward's part he saw himself driven far from the purpose of
+his coming, showed sufficiently decided marks of his disapprobation.
+Edward should act as a man, he said; he should remember what he owed to
+himself as a man. He should not forget that the highest honor was to
+command ourselves in misfortune; to bear pain, if it must be so, with
+equanimity and self-collectedness. That was what we should do, if we
+wished to be valued and looked up to as examples of what was right.
+
+Stirred and penetrated as Edward was with the bitterest feelings, words
+like these could but have a hollow, worthless sound.
+
+"It is well," he cried, "for the man who is happy, who has all that he
+desires, to talk; but he would be ashamed of it if he could see how
+intolerable it was to the sufferer. Nothing short of an infinite
+endurance would be enough, and easy and contented as he was, what could
+he know of an infinite agony? There are cases," he continued, "yes,
+there are, where comfort is a lie, and despair is a duty. Go, heap your
+scorn upon the noble Greek, who well knows how to delineate heroes, when
+in their anguish he lets those heroes weep. He has even a proverb, 'Men
+who can weep are good.' Leave me, all you with dry heart and dry eye.
+Curses on the happy, to whom the wretched serve but for a spectacle.
+When body and soul are torn in pieces with agony, they are to bear
+it--yes, to be noble and bear it, if they are to be allowed to go off
+the scene with applause. Like the gladiators, they must die gracefully
+before the eyes of the multitude. My dear Mittler, I thank you for your
+visit; but really you would oblige me much, if you would go out and look
+about you in the garden. We will meet again. I will try to compose
+myself, and become more like you."
+
+Mittler was unwilling to let a conversation drop which it might be
+difficult to begin again, and still persevered. Edward, too, was quite
+ready to go on with it; besides that of itself, it was tending toward
+the issue which he desired.
+
+"Indeed," said the latter, "This thinking and arguing backward and
+forward leads to nothing. In this very conversation I myself have first
+come to understand myself; I have first felt decided as to what I must
+make up my mind to do. My present and my future life I see before me; I
+have to choose only between misery and happiness. Do you, my best
+friend, bring about the separation which must take place, which, in
+fact, is already made; gain Charlotte's consent for me. I will not enter
+upon the reasons why I believe there will be the less difficulty in
+prevailing upon her. You, my dear friend, must go. Go, and give us all
+peace; make us all happy."
+
+Mittler hesitated. Edward continued:
+
+"My fate and Ottilie's cannot be divided, and shall not be shipwrecked.
+Look at this glass; our initials are engraved upon it. A gay reveller
+flung it into the air, that no one should drink of it more. It was to
+fall on the rock and be dashed to pieces; but it did not fall; it was
+caught. At a high price I bought it back, and now I drink out of it
+daily--to convince myself that the connection between us cannot be
+broken; that destiny has decided."
+
+"Alas! alas!" cried Mittler, "what must I not endure with my friends?
+Here comes superstition, which of all things I hate the worse--the most
+mischievous and accursed of all the plagues of mankind. We trifle with
+prophecies, with forebodings, and dreams, and give a seriousness to our
+every-day life with them; but when the seriousness of life itself begins
+to show, when everything around us is heaving and rolling, then come in
+these spectres to make the storm more terrible."
+
+"In this uncertainty of life," cried Edward, "poised as it is between
+hope and fear, leave the poor heart its guiding-star. It may gaze toward
+it, if it cannot steer toward it."
+
+"Yes, I might leave it; and it would be very well," replied Mittler, "if
+there were but one consequence to expect; but I have always found that
+nobody will attend to symptoms of warning. Man cares for nothing except
+what flatters him and promises him fair; and his faith is alive
+exclusively for the sunny side."
+
+Mittler, finding himself carried off into the shadowy regions, in which
+the longer he remained the more uncomfortable he always felt, was the
+more ready to assent to Edward's eager wish that he should go to
+Charlotte. Indeed, if he stayed, what was there further which at that
+moment he could urge on Edward? To gain time, to inquire in what state
+things were with the ladies, was the best thing which even he himself
+could suggest as at present possible.
+
+He hastened to Charlotte, whom he found as usual, calm and in good
+spirits. She told him readily of everything which had occurred; for from
+what Edward had said he had only been able to gather the effects. On his
+own side, he felt his way with the utmost caution. He could not prevail
+upon himself even cursorily to mention the word separation. It was a
+surprise, indeed, to him, but from his point of view an unspeakably
+delightful one, when Charlotte, at the end of a number of unpleasant
+things, finished with saying:
+
+"I must believe, I must hope, that things will all work round again, and
+that Edward will return to me. How can it be otherwise as soon as I
+become a mother?"
+
+"Do I understand you right?" returned Mittler.
+
+"Perfectly," Charlotte answered.
+
+"A thousand times blessed be this news!" he cried, clasping his hands
+together. "I know the strength of this argument on the mind of a man.
+Many a marriage have I seen first cemented by it, and restored again
+when broken. Such a good hope as this is worth more than a thousand
+words. Now indeed it is the best hope which we can have. For myself,
+though," he continued, "I have all reason to be vexed about it. In this
+case I can see clearly no self-love of mine will be flattered. I shall
+earn no thanks from you by my services; I am in the same case as a
+certain medical friend of mine, who succeeds in all cures which he
+undertakes with the poor for the love of God; but can seldom do anything
+for the rich who will pay him. Here, thank God, the thing cures itself,
+after all my talking and trying had proved fruitless."
+
+Charlotte now asked him if he would carry the news to Edward: if he
+would take a letter to him from her, and then see what should be done.
+But he declined undertaking this. "All is done," he cried; "do you write
+your letter--any messenger will do as well as I--I will come back to wish
+you joy. I will come to the christening!"
+
+For this refusal she was vexed with him--as she frequently was. His
+eager, impetuous character brought about much good; but his over-haste
+was the occasion of many a failure. No one was more dependent than he on
+the impressions which he formed on the moment. Charlotte's messenger
+came to Edward, who received him half in terror. The letter was to
+decide his fate, and it might as well contain No as Yes. He did not
+venture, for a long time, to open it. At last he tore off the cover, and
+stood petrified at the following passage, with which it concluded:
+
+"Remember the night-adventure when you visited your wife as a
+lover--how you drew her to you, and clasped her as a well-beloved bride
+in your arms. In this strange accident let us revere the providence of
+heaven, which has woven a new link to bind us, at the moment when the
+happiness of our lives was threatening to fall asunder and to vanish."
+
+What passed from that moment in Edward's soul it would be difficult to
+describe! Under the weight of such a stroke, old habits and fancies come
+out again to assist to kill the time and fill up the chasms of life.
+Hunting and fighting are an ever-ready resource of this kind for a
+nobleman; Edward longed for some outward peril, as a counterbalance to
+the storm within him. He craved for death, because the burden of life
+threatened to become too heavy for him to bear. It comforted him to
+think that he would soon cease to be, and so would make those whom he
+loved happy by his departure.
+
+No one made any difficulty in his doing what he purposed--because he
+kept his intention a secret. He made his will with all due formalities.
+It gave him a very sweet feeling to secure Ottilie's fortune--provision
+was made for Charlotte, for the unborn child, for the Captain, and for
+the servants. The war, which had again broken out, favored his wishes:
+he had disliked exceedingly the half-soldiering which had fallen to him
+in his youth, and that was the reason why he had left the service. Now
+it gave him a fine exhilarating feeling to be able to rejoin it under a
+commander of whom it could be said that, under his conduct, death was
+likely and victory was sure.
+
+Ottilie, when Charlotte's secret was made known to her, bewildered by
+it, like Edward, and more than he, retired into herself--she had nothing
+further to say: hope she could not, and wish she dared not. A glimpse
+into what was passing in her we can gather from her Diary, some passages
+of which we think to communicate.
+
+There often happens to us in common life what, in an epic poem, we are
+accustomed to praise as a stroke of art in the poet; namely, that when
+the chief figures go off the scene, conceal themselves or retire into
+inactivity, some other or others, whom hitherto we have scarcely
+observed, come forward and fill their places. And these putting out all
+their force, at once fix our attention and sympathy on themselves, and
+earn our praise and admiration.
+
+Thus, after the Captain and Edward were gone, the Architect, of whom we
+have spoken, appeared every day a more important person. The ordering
+and executing of a number of undertakings depended entirely upon him,
+and he proved himself thoroughly understanding and businesslike in the
+style in which he went to work; while in a number of other ways he was
+able also to make himself of assistance to the ladies, and find
+amusement for their weary hours. His outward air and appearance were of
+the kind which win confidence and awake affection. A youth in the full
+sense of the word, well-formed, tall, perhaps a little too stout; modest
+without being timid, and easy without being obtrusive, there was no work
+and no trouble which he was not delighted to take upon himself; and as
+he could keep accounts with great facility, the whole economy of the
+household soon was no secret to him, and everywhere his salutary
+influence made itself felt. Any stranger who came he was commonly set to
+entertain, and he was skilful either at declining unexpected visits, or
+at least so far preparing the ladies for them as to spare them any
+disagreeableness.
+
+Among others, he had one day no little trouble with a young lawyer, who
+had been sent by a neighboring nobleman to speak about a matter which,
+although of no particular moment, yet touched Charlotte to the quick. We
+have to mention this incident because it gave occasion for a number of
+things which otherwise might perhaps have remained long untouched.
+
+We remember certain alterations which Charlotte had made in the
+churchyard. The entire body of the monuments had been removed from their
+places, and had been ranged along the walls of the church, leaning
+against the string-course. The remaining space had been levelled, except
+a broad walk which led up to the church, and past it to the opposite
+gate; and it had been all sown with various kinds of trefoil, which had
+shot up and flowered most beautifully.
+
+The new graves were to follow one after another in a regular order from
+the end, but the spot on each occasion was to be carefully smoothed over
+and again sown. No one could deny that on Sundays and holidays when the
+people went to church the change had given it a most cheerful and
+pleasant appearance. At the same time the clergyman, an old man and
+clinging to old customs, who at first had not been especially pleased
+with the alteration, had become thoroughly delighted with it, all the
+more because when he sat out like Philemon with his Baucis under the old
+linden trees at his back door, instead of the humps and mounds he had a
+beautiful clean lawn to look out upon; and which, moreover, Charlotte
+having secured the use of the spot to the Parsonage, was no little
+convenience to his household.
+
+Notwithstanding this, however, many members of the congregation had been
+displeased that the means of marking the spots where their forefathers
+rested had been removed, and all memorials of them thereby obliterated.
+However well preserved the monuments might be, they could only show who
+had been buried, but not where he had been buried, and the _where_, as
+many maintained, was everything.
+
+Of this opinion was a family in the neighborhood, who for many years had
+been in possession of a considerable vault for a general resting-place
+of themselves and their relations, and in consequence had settled a
+small annual sum for the use of the church. And now this young lawyer
+had been sent to cancel this settlement, and to show that his client did
+not intend to pay it any more, because the conditions under which it had
+been hitherto made had not been observed by the other party, and no
+regard had been paid to objection and remonstrance. Charlotte, who was
+the originator of the alteration herself, chose to speak to the young
+man, who in a decided though not a violent manner, laid down the grounds
+on which his client proceeded, and gave occasion in what he said for
+much serious reflection.
+
+"You see," he said, after a slight introduction, in which he sought to
+justify his peremptoriness; "you see, it is right for the lowest as well
+as for the highest to mark the spot which holds those who are dearest to
+him. The poorest, peasant, who buries a child, finds it some consolation
+to plant a light wooden cross upon the grave, and hang a garland upon
+it, to keep alive the memorial, at least as long as the sorrow remains;
+although such a mark, like the mourning, will pass away with time. Those
+better off change the cross of wood into iron, and fix it down and guard
+it in various ways; and here we have endurance for many years. But
+because this too will sink at last, and become invisible, those who are
+able to bear the expense see nothing fitter than to raise a stone which
+shall promise to endure for generations, and which can be restored and
+made fresh again by posterity. Yet this stone it is not which attracts
+us; it is that which is contained beneath it, which is intrusted, where
+it stands, to the earth. It is not the memorial so much of which we
+speak, as of the person himself; not of what once was, but of what is.
+Far better, far more closely, can I embrace some dear departed one in
+the mound which rises over his bed, than in a monumental writing which
+only tells us that once he was. In itself, indeed, it is but little; but
+around it, as around a central mark, the wife, the husband, the kinsman,
+the friend, after their departure, shall gather in again; and the living
+shall have the right to keep far off all strangers and evil-wishers
+from the side of the dear one who is sleeping there. And, therefore, I
+hold it quite fair and fitting that my principal shall withdraw his
+grant to you. It is, indeed, but too reasonable that he should do it,
+for the members of his family are injured in a way for which no
+compensation could be even proposed. They are deprived of the sad sweet
+feelings of laying offerings on the remains of their dead, and of the
+one comfort in their sorrow of one day lying down at their side."
+
+"The matter is not of that importance," Charlotte answered, "that we
+should disquiet ourselves about it with the vexation of a lawsuit. I
+regret so little what I have done, that I will gladly myself indemnify
+the church for what it loses through you. Only I must confess candidly
+to you, your arguments have not convinced me; the pure feeling of an
+universal equality at last, after death, seems to me more composing than
+this hard determined persistence in our personalities and in the
+conditions and circumstances of our lives. What do you say to it?" she
+added, turning to the Architect.
+
+"It is not for me," replied he, "either to argue, or to attempt to judge
+in such a case. Let me venture, however, to say what my own art and my
+own habits of thinking suggest to me. Since we are no longer so happy as
+to be able to press to our breasts the in-urned remains of those we have
+loved; since we are neither wealthy enough nor of cheerful heart enough
+to preserve them undecayed in large elaborate sarcophagi; since, indeed,
+we cannot even find place any more for ourselves and ours in the
+churches, and are banished out into the open air, we all, I think, ought
+to approve the method which you, my gracious lady, have introduced. If
+the members of a common congregation are laid out side by side, they are
+resting by the side of, and among their kindred; and, if the earth be
+once to receive us all, I can find nothing more natural or more
+desirable than that the mounds, which, if they are thrown up, are sure
+to sink slowly in again together, should be smoothed off at once, and
+the covering, which all bear alike, will press lighter upon each."
+
+"And is it all, is it all to pass away," asked Ottilie, "without one
+token of remembrance, without anything to call back the past?"
+
+"By no means," continued the Architect; "it is not from remembrance, it
+is from place that men should be set free. The architect, the sculptor,
+are highly interested that men should look to their art--to their hand,
+for a continuance of their being; and, therefore, I should wish to see
+well-designed, well-executed monuments; not sown up and down by
+themselves at random, but erected all in a single spot, where they can
+promise themselves endurance. Inasmuch as even the good and the great
+are contented to surrender the privilege of resting in person in the
+churches, _we_ may, at least, erect there or in some fair hall near the
+burying place, either monuments or monumental writings. A thousand forms
+might be suggested for them, and a thousand ornaments with which they
+might be decorated."
+
+"If the artists are so rich," replied Charlotte, "then tell me how it is
+that they are never able to escape from little obelisks, dwarf pillars,
+and urns for ashes? Instead of your thousand forms of which you boast, I
+have never seen anything but a thousand repetitions."
+
+"It is very generally so with us," returned the Architect, "but it is
+not universal; and very likely the right taste and the proper
+application of it may be a peculiar art. In this case especially we have
+this great difficulty, that the monument must be something cheerful and
+yet commemorate a solemn subject; while its matter is melancholy, it
+must not itself be melancholy. As regards designs for monuments of all
+kinds, I have collected numbers of them, and I will take some
+opportunity of showing them to you; but at all times the fairest
+memorial of a man remains some likeness of himself. This better than
+anything else, will give a notion of what he was; it is the best text
+for many or for few notes, only it ought to be made when he is at his
+best age, and that is generally neglected; no one thinks of preserving
+forms while they are alive, and if it is done at all, it is done
+carelessly and incompletely; and then comes death; a cast is taken
+swiftly of the face; this mask is set upon a block of stone, and that is
+what is called a bust. How seldom is the artist in a position to put any
+real life into such things as these!"
+
+"You have contrived," said Charlotte, "without perhaps knowing it or
+wishing it, to lead the conversation altogether in my favor. The
+likeness of a man is quite independent; everywhere that it stands, it
+stands for itself, and we do not require it to mark the site of a
+particular grave. But I must acknowledge to you to having a strange
+feeling; even to likenesses I have a kind of disinclination. Whenever I
+see them they seem to be silently reproaching me. They point to
+something far away from us--gone from us; and they remind me how
+difficult it is to pay right honor to the present. If we think how many
+people we have seen and known, and consider how little we have been to
+them and how little they have been to us, it is no very pleasant
+reflection. We have met a man of genius without having enjoyed much with
+him--a learned man without having learnt from him--a traveler without
+having been instructed,--a man to love without having shown him any
+kindness.
+
+"And, unhappily, this is not the case only with accidental meetings.
+Societies and families behave in the same way toward their dearest
+members, towns toward their worthiest citizens, people toward their most
+admirable princes, nations toward their most distinguished men.
+
+"I have heard it asked why we heard nothing but good spoken of the dead,
+while of the living it is never without some exception. It should be
+answered, because from the former we have nothing any more to fear,
+while the latter may still, here or there, fall in our way. So unreal is
+our anxiety to preserve the memory of others--generally no more than a
+mere selfish amusement; and the real, holy, earnest feeling would be
+what should prompt us to be more diligent and assiduous in our
+attentions toward those who still are left to us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Under the stimulus of this accident, and of the conversations which
+arose out of it, they went the following day to look over the
+burying-place, for the ornamenting of which and relieving it in some
+degree of its sombre look, the Architect made many a happy proposal. His
+interest too had to extend itself to the church as well; a building
+which had caught his attention from the moment of his arrival.
+
+It had been standing for many centuries, built in old German style, the
+proportions good, the decorating elaborate and excellent; and one might
+easily gather that the architect of the neighboring monastery had left
+the stamp of his art and of his love on this smaller building also; it
+worked on the beholder with a solemnity and a sweetness, although the
+change in its internal arrangements for the Protestant service had taken
+from it something of its repose and majesty.
+
+The Architect found no great difficulty in prevailing on Charlotte to
+give him a considerable sum of money to restore it externally and
+internally, in the original spirit, and thus, as he thought, to bring it
+into harmony with the resurrection-field which lay in front of it. He
+had himself much practical skill, and a few laborers who were still busy
+at the lodge might easily be kept together, until this pious work too
+should be completed.
+
+The building itself, therefore, with all its environs, and whatever was
+attached to it, was now carefully and thoroughly examined; and then
+showed itself, to the greatest surprise and delight of the Architect, a
+little side chapel, which nobody had thought of, beautifully and
+delicately proportioned, and displaying still greater care and pains in
+its decoration. It contained at the same time many remnants, carved
+and painted, of the implements used in the old services, when the
+different festivals were distinguished by a variety of pictures and
+ceremonies, and each was celebrated in its own peculiar style.
+
+It was impossible for him not at once to take this chapel into his plan;
+and he determined to bestow especial pains on the restoring of this
+little spot, as a memorial of old times and of their taste. He saw
+exactly how he would like to have the vacant surfaces of the walls
+ornamented, and delighted himself with the prospect, of exercising his
+talent for painting upon them; but of this, at first, he made a secret
+to the rest of the party.
+
+Before doing anything else, he fulfilled his promise of showing the
+ladies the various imitations of, and designs from, old monuments,
+vases, and other such things which he had made, and when they came to
+speak of the simple barrow-sepulchres of the northern nations, he
+brought a collection of weapons and implements which had been found in
+them. He had got them exceedingly nicely and conveniently arranged in
+drawers and compartments, laid on boards cut to fit them, and covered
+over with cloth; so that these solemn old things, in the way he treated
+them, had a smart dressy appearance, and it was like looking into the
+box of a trinket merchant.
+
+Having once begun to show his curiosities, and finding them prove
+serviceable to entertain our friends in their loneliness, every evening
+he would produce one or other of his treasures. They were most of them
+of German origin--pieces of metal, old coins, seals, and such like. All
+these things directed the imagination back upon old times; and when at
+last they came to amuse themselves with the first specimens of printing,
+woodcuts, and the earliest copper-plate engraving, and when the church,
+in the same spirit, was growing out, every day, more and more in form
+and color like the past, they had almost to ask themselves whether they
+really were living in a modern time, whether it were not a dream, that
+manners, customs, modes of life, and convictions were all really so
+changed.
+
+After such preparation, a great portfolio, which at last he produced,
+had the best possible effect. It contained indeed principally only
+outlines and figures, but as these had been traced upon original
+pictures, they retained perfectly their ancient character, and most
+captivating indeed this character was to the spectators. All the figures
+breathed only the purest feeling; every one, if not noble, at any rate
+was good; cheerful composure, ready recognition of One above us, to whom
+all reverence is due; silent devotion, in love and tranquil expectation,
+was expressed on every face, on every gesture. The old bald-headed man,
+the curly-pated boy, the light-hearted youth, the earnest man, the
+glorified saint, the angel hovering in the air, all seemed happy in an
+innocent, satisfied, pious expectation. The commonest object had a trait
+of celestial life; and every nature seemed adapted to the service of
+God, and to be, in some way or other, employed upon it.
+
+Toward such a region most of them gazed as toward a vanished golden age,
+or on some lost paradise; only perhaps Ottilie had a chance of finding
+herself among beings of her own nature. Who could offer any proposition
+when the Architect asked to be allowed to paint the spaces between the
+arches and the walls of the chapel in the style of these old pictures
+and thereby leave his own distinct memorial at a place where life had
+gone so pleasantly with him?
+
+He spoke of it with some sadness, for he could see, in the state in
+which things were, that his sojourn in such delightful society could not
+last forever; indeed, that perhaps it would now soon be ended.
+
+For the rest, these days were not rich in incidents; yet full of
+occasion for serious entertainment. We therefore take the opportunity of
+communicating something of the remarks which Ottilie noted down among
+her manuscripts, to which we cannot find a fitter transition than
+through a simile which suggested itself to us on contemplating her
+exquisite pages.
+
+There is, we are told, a curious contrivance in the service of the
+English marine. The ropes in use in the royal navy, from the largest to
+the smallest, are so twisted that a red thread runs through them from
+end to end, which cannot be extracted without undoing the whole; and by
+which the smallest pieces may be recognized as belonging to the crown.
+
+Just so is there drawn through Ottilie Is diary, a thread of attachment
+and affection which connects it all together, and characterizes the
+whole. And thus these remarks, these observations, these extracted
+sentences, and whatever else it may contain, were, to the writer, of
+peculiar meaning. Even the few separate pieces which we select and
+transcribe will sufficiently explain our meaning.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"To rest hereafter at the side of those whom we love is the most
+delightful thought which man can have when once he looks out beyond the
+boundary of life. What a sweet expression is that--'He was gathered to
+his fathers!'"
+
+"Of the various memorials and tokens which bring nearer to us the
+distant and the separated--none is so satisfactory as a picture. To sit
+and talk to a beloved picture, even though it be unlike, has a charm in
+it, like the charm which there sometimes is in quarrelling with a
+friend. We feel, in a strange sweet way, that we are divided and yet
+cannot separate."
+
+"We entertain ourselves often with a present person as with a picture.
+He need not speak to us, he need not look at us, or take any notice of
+us; we look at him, we feel the relation in which we stand to him; such
+relation can even grow without his doing anything toward it, without his
+having any feeling of it: he is to us exactly as a picture."
+
+"One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows. I
+have always felt for the portrait-painter on this account. One so seldom
+requires of people what is impossible, and of them we do really require
+what is impossible; they must gather up into their picture the relation
+of every body to its subject, all their likings and all dislikings; they
+must not only paint a man as they see him, but as every one else sees
+him. It does not surprise me if such artists become by degrees stunted,
+indifferent, and of but one idea; and indeed it would not matter what
+came of it, if it were not that in consequence we have to go without the
+pictures of so many persons near and dear to us."
+
+"It is too true, the Architect's collection of weapons and old
+implements, which were found with the bodies of their owners, covered in
+with great hills of earth and rock, proves to us how useless is man's so
+great anxiety to preserve his personality after he is dead; and so
+inconsistent people are, the Architect confesses to have himself opened
+these barrows of his forefathers, and yet goes on occupying himself with
+memorials for posterity."
+
+"But after all why should we take it so much to heart? Is all that we
+do, done for eternity? Do we not put on our dress in the morning, to
+throw it off again at night? Do we not go abroad to return home again?
+And why should we not wish to rest by the side of our friends, though it
+were but for a century?"
+
+"When we see the many gravestones which have fallen in, which have been
+defaced by the footsteps of the congregation, which lie buried under the
+ruins of the churches, that have themselves crumbled together over them,
+we may fancy the life after death to be as a second life, into which a
+man enters in the figure, or the picture, or the inscription, and lives
+longer there than when he was really alive. But this figure also, this
+second existence, dies out too, sooner or later. Time will not allow
+himself to be cheated of his rights with the monuments of men or with
+themselves."
+
+It causes us so agreeable a sensation to occupy ourselves with what we
+can only half do, that no person ought to find fault with the
+dilettante, when he is spending his time over an art which he can never
+learn; nor blame the artist if he chooses to pass out over the border of
+his own art, and amuse himself in some neighboring field. With such
+complacency of feeling we regard the preparation of the Architect for
+painting the chapel. The colors were got ready, the measurements taken,
+the cartoons designed. He had made no attempt at originality, but kept
+close to his outlines; his only care was to make a proper distribution
+of the sitting and floating figures, so as tastefully to ornament his
+space with them.
+
+The scaffoldings were erected. The work went forward; and as soon as
+anything had been done on which the eye could rest, he could have no
+objection to Charlotte and Ottilie coming to see how he was getting on.
+
+The life-like faces of the angels, their robes waving against the blue
+sky-ground, delighted the eye, while their still and holy air calmed and
+composed the spirit, and produced the most delicate effect.
+
+The ladies ascended the scaffolding to him, and Ottilie had scarcely
+observed how easily and regularly the work was being done when the power
+which had been fostered in her by her early education at once appeared
+to develop. She took a brush, and with a few words of direction, painted
+a richly folding robe, with as much delicacy as skill.
+
+Charlotte, who was always glad when Ottilie would occupy or amuse
+herself with anything, left them both in the chapel, and went to follow
+the train of her own thoughts, and work her way for herself through her
+cares and anxieties which she was unable to communicate to a creature.
+
+When ordinary men allow themselves to be worked up by common every-day
+difficulties into fever-fits of passion, we can give them nothing but a
+compassionate smile. But we look with a kind of awe on a spirit in
+which the seed of a great destiny has been sown, which must abide the
+unfolding of the germ, and neither dare nor can do anything to
+precipitate either the good or the ill, either the happiness or the
+misery, which is to arise out of it.
+
+Edward had sent an answer by Charlotte's messenger, who had come to him
+in his solitude. It was written with kindness and interest, but it was
+rather composed and serious than warm and affectionate. He had vanished
+almost immediately after, and Charlotte could learn no news about him;
+till at last she accidentally found his name in the newspaper, where he
+was mentioned with honor among those who had most distinguished
+themselves in a late important engagement. She now understood the method
+which he had taken; she perceived that he had escaped from great danger;
+only she was convinced at the same time that he would seek out greater;
+and it was all too clear to her that in every sense he would hardly be
+withheld from any extremity.
+
+She had to bear about this perpetual anxiety in her thoughts, and turn
+which way she would, there was no light in which she could look at it
+that would give her comfort.
+
+Ottilie, never dreaming of anything of this, had taken to the work in
+the chapel with the greatest interest, and she had easily obtained
+Charlotte's permission to go on with it regularly. So now all went
+swiftly forward, and the azure heaven was soon peopled with worthy
+inhabitants. By continual practice both Ottilie and the Architect had
+gained more freedom with the last figures; they became perceptibly
+better. The faces, too, which had been all left to the Architect to
+paint, showed by degrees a very singular peculiarly. They began all of
+them to resemble Ottilie. The neighborhood of the beautiful girl had
+made so strong an impression on the soul of the young man, who had no
+variety of faces preconceived in his mind, that by degrees, on the way
+from the eye to the hand, nothing was lost, and both worked in exact
+harmony together. Enough; one of the last faces succeeded perfectly; so
+that it seemed as if Ottilie herself was looking down out of the spaces
+of the sky.
+
+They had finished with the arching of the ceiling. The walls they
+proposed to leave plain, and only to cover them over with a bright brown
+color. The delicate pillars and the quaintly molded ornaments were to be
+distinguished from them by a dark shade. But as in such things one thing
+ever leads on to another, they determined at least on having festoons of
+flowers and fruit, which should, as it were, unite heaven and earth.
+Here Ottilie was in her element. The gardens provided the most perfect
+patterns; and although the wreaths were as rich as they could make them,
+it was all finished sooner than they had supposed possible.
+
+It was still looking rough and disorderly. The scaffolding poles had
+been run together, the planks thrown one on the top of the other; the
+uneven pavement was yet more disfigured by the parti-colored stains of
+the paint which had been spilt over it.
+
+The Architect begged that the ladies would give him a week to himself,
+and during that time would not enter the chapel; at the end of it, one
+fine evening, he came to them, and begged them both to go and see it. He
+did not wish to accompany them, he said, and at once took his leave.
+
+"Whatever surprise he may have designed for us," said Charlotte, as soon
+as he was gone, "I cannot myself just now go down there. You can go by
+yourself, and tell me all about it. No doubt he has been doing something
+which we shall like. I will enjoy it first in your description, and
+afterwards it will be the more charming in the reality."
+
+Ottilie, who knew well that in many cases Charlotte took care to avoid
+everything which could produce emotion, and particularly disliked to be
+surprised, set off down the walk by herself and looked round
+involuntarily for the Architect, who, however, was nowhere to be seen
+and must have concealed himself somewhere. She walked into the church,
+which she found open. This had been finished before; it had been cleaned
+up, and service had been performed in it. She went on to the chapel
+door; its heavy mass, all overlaid with iron, yielded easily to her
+touch, and she found an unexpected sight in a familiar spot.
+
+A solemn, beautiful light streamed in through the one tall window. It
+was filled with stained glass, gracefully put together. The entire
+chapel had thus received a strange tone, and a peculiar genius was
+thrown over it. The beauty of the vaulted ceiling and the walls was set
+off by the elegance of the pavement, which was composed of peculiarly
+shaped tiles, fastened together with gypsum, and forming exquisite
+patterns as they lay. This and the colored glass for the windows the
+Architect had prepared without their knowledge, and a short time was
+sufficient to have it put in its place.
+
+Seats had been provided as well. Among the relics of the old church some
+finely carved chancel chairs had been discovered, which now were
+standing about at convenient places along the walls.
+
+The parts which she knew so well now meeting her as an unfamiliar whole,
+delighted Ottilie. She stood still, walked up and down, looked and
+looked again; at last she seated herself in one of the chairs, and it
+seemed, as she gazed up and down, as if she was, and yet was not--as if
+she felt and did not feel--as if all this would vanish from before her,
+and she would vanish from herself; and it was only when the sun left the
+window, on which before it had been shining full, that she awoke to
+possession of herself and hastened back to the castle.
+
+She did not hide from herself the strange epoch at which this surprise
+had occurred to her. It was the evening of Edward's birthday. Very
+differently she had hoped to keep it. How was not every thing to be
+dressed out for this festival and now all the splendor of the autumn
+flowers remained ungathered! Those sunflowers still turned their faces
+to the sky; those asters still looked out with quiet, modest eye; and
+whatever of them all had been wound into wreaths had served as patterns
+for the decorating a spot which, if it was not to remain a mere
+artist's fancy, was only adapted as a general mausoleum.
+
+And then she had to remember the impetuous eagerness with which Edward
+had kept her birthday-feast. She. thought of the newly erected lodge,
+under the roof of which they had promised themselves so much enjoyment.
+The fireworks flashed and hissed again before her eyes and ears; the
+more lonely she was, the more keenly her imagination brought it all
+before her. But she felt herself only the more alone. She no longer
+leant upon his arm, and she had no hope ever any more to rest herself
+upon it.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"I have been struck with an observation of the young architect.
+
+"In the case of the creative artist, as in that of the artisan, it is
+clear that man is least permitted to appropriate to himself what is most
+entirely his own. His works forsake him as the birds forsake the nest in
+which they were hatched.
+
+"The fate of the Architect is the strangest of all in this way. How
+often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce
+buildings into which he himself may never enter. The halls of kings owe
+their magnificence to him; but he has no enjoyment of them in their
+splendor. In the temple he draws a partition line between himself and
+the Holy of Holies; he may never more set his foot upon the steps which
+he has laid down for the heart-thrilling ceremonial, as the goldsmith
+may only adore from far off the _monstrance_ whose enamel and whose
+jewels he has himself set together. The builder surrenders to the rich
+man, with the key of his palace, all pleasure and all right there, and
+never shares with him in the enjoyment of it. And must not art in this
+way, step by step, draw off from the artist, when the work, like a child
+who is provided for, has no more to fall back upon its father? And what
+a power there must be in art itself for its own self-advancing, when it
+has been obliged to shape itself almost solely out of what was open to
+all, only out of what was the property of every one, and therefore also
+of the artist!"
+
+"There is a conception among old nations which is awful, and may almost
+seem terrible. They pictured their forefathers to themselves sitting
+round on thrones, in enormous caverns, in silent converse; when a new
+comer entered, if he were worthy enough, they rose up, and inclined
+their heads to welcome him. Yesterday, as I was sitting in the chapel,
+and other carved chairs stood round like that in which I was, the
+thought of this came over me with a soft, pleasant feeling. Why cannot
+you stay sitting here? I said to myself; stay here sitting meditating
+with yourself long, long, long, till at last your friends come, and you
+rise up to them, and with a gentle inclination direct them to their
+places. The colored window panes convert the day into a solemn twilight;
+and some one should set up for us an ever-burning lamp, that the night
+might not be utter darkness."
+
+"We may imagine ourselves in what situation we please, we always
+conceive ourselves as _seeing_. I believe men only dream that they may
+not cease to see. Some day, perhaps, the inner light will come out from
+within us, and we shall not any more require another.
+
+"The year dies away, the wind sweeps over the stubble, and there is
+nothing left to stir under its touch. But the red berries on yonder tall
+tree seem as if they would still remind us of brighter things; and the
+stroke of the thrasher's flail awakes the thought how much of
+nourishment and life lie buried in the sickled ear."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+How strangely, after all this, with the sense so vividly impressed on
+her of mutability and perishableness, must Ottilie have been affected by
+the news which could not any longer be kept concealed from her, that
+Edward had exposed himself to the uncertain chances of war! Unhappily,
+none of the observations which she had occasion to make upon it escaped
+her. But it is well for us that man can only endure a certain degree of
+unhappiness; what is beyond that either annihilates him, or passes by
+him, and leaves him apathetic. There are situations in which hope and
+fear run together, in which they mutually destroy one another, and lose
+themselves in a dull indifference. If it were not so, how could we bear
+to know of those who are most dear to us being in hourly peril, and yet
+go on as usual with our ordinary everyday life?
+
+It was therefore as if some good genius was caring for Ottilie, that,
+all at once, this stillness, in which she seemed to be sinking from
+loneliness and want of occupation, was suddenly invaded by a wild army,
+which, while it gave her externally abundance of employment, and so took
+her out of herself, at the same time awoke in her the consciousness of
+her own power.
+
+Charlotte's daughter, Luciana, had scarcely left the school and gone out
+into the great world; scarcely had she found herself at her aunt's house
+in the midst of a large society, than her anxiety to please produced its
+effect in really pleasing; and a young, very wealthy man, soon
+experienced a passionate desire to make her his own. His large property
+gave him a right to have the best of everything for his use, and nothing
+seemed to be wanting to him except a perfect wife, for whom, as for the
+rest of his good fortune, he should be the envy of the world.
+
+This incident in her family had been for some time occupying Charlotte.
+It had engaged all her attention, and taken up her whole correspondence,
+except so far as this was directed to the obtaining news of Edward; so
+that latterly Ottilie had been left more than was usual to herself. She
+knew, indeed, of an intended visit from Luciana. She had been making
+various changes and arrangements in the house in preparation for it; but
+she had no notion that it was so near. Letters, she supposed, would
+first have to pass, settling the time, and unsettling it; and at last a
+final fixing: when the storm broke suddenly over the castle and over
+herself.
+
+Up drove, first, lady's maids and men-servants, their carriage loaded
+with trunks and boxes. The household was already swelled to double or to
+treble its size, and then appeared the visitors themselves. There was
+the great aunt, with Luciana and some of her friends; and then the
+bridegroom with some of his friends. The entrance-hall was full of
+things--bags, portmanteaus, and leather articles of every sort. The
+boxes had to be got out of their covers, and that was infinite trouble;
+and of luggage and of rummage there was no end. At intervals, moreover,
+there were violent showers, giving rise to much inconvenience. Ottilie
+encountered all this confusion with the easiest equanimity, and her
+happy talent showed in its fairest light. In a very little time she had
+brought things to order, and disposed of them. Every one found his
+room--every one hand his things exactly as they wished, and all thought
+themselves well attended to, because they were not prevented from
+attending on themselves.
+
+The journey had been long and fatiguing, and they would all have been
+glad of a little rest after it. The bridegroom would have liked to pay
+his respects to his mother-in-law, express his pleasure, his gratitude,
+and so on. But Luciana could not rest. She had now arrived at the
+happiness of being able to mount a horse. The bridegroom had beautiful
+horses, and mount they must on the spot. Clouds and wind, rain and
+storm, they were nothing to Luciana, and now it was as if they only
+lived to get wet through, and to dry themselves again. If she took a
+fancy to go out walking, she never thought what sort of dress she had
+on, or what her shoes were like; she must go and see the grounds of
+which she had heard so much; what could not be done on horseback, she
+ran through on foot. In a little while she had seen everything, and
+given her opinion about everything; and with such rapidity of character
+it was not easy to contradict or oppose her. The whole household had
+much to suffer, but most particularly the lady's maids, who were at work
+from morning to night, washing, and ironing, and stitching.
+
+As soon as she had exhausted the house and the park, she thought it was
+her duty to pay visits all around the neighborhood. Although they rode
+and drove fast, "all around the neighborhood" was a goodly distance. The
+castle was flooded with return visits, and that they might not miss one
+another, it soon came to days being fixed for them.
+
+Charlotte, in the meantime, with her aunt, and the man of business of
+the bridegroom, were occupied in determining about the settlements, and
+it was left to Ottilie, with those under her, to take care that all this
+crowd of people were properly provided for. Gamekeepers and gardeners,
+fishermen and shopdealers, were set in motion, Luciana always showing
+herself like the blazing nucleus of a comet with its long tail trailing
+behind it. The ordinary amusements of the parties soon became too
+insipid for her taste. Hardly would she leave the old people in peace at
+the card-table. Whoever could by any means be set moving (and who could
+resist the charm of being pressed by her into service?) must up, if not
+to dance, then to play at forfeits, or some other game, where they were
+to be victimized and tormented. Notwithstanding all that, however, and
+although afterward the redemption of the forfeits had to be settled with
+herself, yet of those who played with her, never any one, especially
+never any man, let him be of what sort he would, went quite empty-handed
+away. Indeed, some old people of rank who were there she succeeded in
+completely winning over to herself, by having contrived to find out
+their birthdays or christening days, and marking them with some
+particular celebration. In all this she showed a skill not a little
+remarkable. Every one saw himself favored, and each considered himself
+to be the one most favored, a weakness of which the oldest person of the
+party was the most notably guilty.
+
+It seemed to be a sort of pride with her that men who had anything
+remarkable about them--rank, character, or fame--she must and would gain
+for herself. Gravity and seriousness she made give way to her, and,
+wild, strange creature as she was, she found favor even with discretion
+itself. Not that the young were at all cut short in consequence.
+Everybody had his share, his day, his hour, in which she contrived to
+charm and to enchain him. It was therefore natural enough that before
+long she should have had the Architect in her eye, looking out so
+unconsciously as he did from under his long black hair, and standing so
+calm and quiet in the background. To all her questions she received
+short, sensible answers; but he did not seem inclined to allow himself
+to be carried away further, and at last, half provoked, half in malice,
+she resolved that she would make him the hero of a day, and so gain him
+for her court.
+
+It was not for nothing that she had brought that quantity of luggage
+with her. Much, indeed, had followed her afterward. She had provided
+herself with an endless variety of dresses. When it took her fancy she
+would change her dress three or four times a day, usually wearing
+something of an ordinary kind, but making her appearance suddenly at
+intervals in a thorough masquerade dress, as a peasant girl or a
+fish-maiden, as a fairy or a flower-girl; and this would go on from
+morning till night. Sometimes she would even disguise herself as an old
+woman, that her young face might peep out the fresher from under the
+cap; and so utterly in this way did she confuse and mix together the
+actual and the fantastic, that people thought they were living with a
+sort of drawing-room witch.
+
+But the principal use which she had for these disguises were pantomimic
+tableaux and dances, in which she was skilful in expressing a variety of
+character. A cavalier in her suite had taught himself to accompany her
+action on the piano with the little music which was required; they
+needed only to exchange a few words and they at once understood each
+other.
+
+One day, in a pause of a brilliant ball, they were called upon suddenly
+to extemporize (it was on a private hint from themselves) one of these
+exhibitions. Luciana seemed embarrassed, taken by surprise, and contrary
+to her custom let herself be asked more than once. She could not decide
+upon her character, desired the party to choose, and asked, like an
+improvisatore, for a subject. At last her piano-playing companion, with
+whom it had been all previously arranged, sat down at the instrument,
+and began to play a mourning march, calling on her to give them the
+Artemisia which she had been studying so admirably. She consented; and
+after a short absence reappeared, to the sad tender music of the dead
+march, in the form of the royal widow, with measured step, carrying an
+urn of ashes before her. A large black tablet was borne in after her,
+and a carefully cut piece of chalk in a gold pencil case.
+
+One of her adorers and adjutants, into whose ear she whispered
+something, went directly to call the Architect, to desire him, and, if
+he would not come, to drag him up, as master-builder, to draw the grave
+for the mausoleum, and to tell him at the same time that he was not to
+play the statist, but enter earnestly into his part as one of the
+performers.
+
+Embarrassed as the Architect outwardly appeared (for in his black,
+close-fitting, modern civilian's dress, he formed a wonderful contrast
+with the gauze crape fringes, tinsel tassels, and crown), he very soon
+composed himself internally, and the scene became all the more strange.
+With the greatest gravity he placed himself in front of the tablet,
+which was supported by a couple of pages, and drew carefully an
+elaborate tomb, which indeed would have suited better a Lombard than a
+Carian prince; but it was in such beautiful proportions, so solemn in
+its parts, so full of genius in its decoration, that the spectators
+watched it growing with delight, and wondered at it when it was
+finished.
+
+All this time he had not once turned toward the queen, but had given his
+whole attention to what he was doing. At last he inclined his head
+before her, and signified that he believed he had now fulfilled her
+commands. She held the urn out to him, expressing her desire to see it
+represented on the top of the monument. He complied, although
+unwillingly, as it would not suit the character of the rest of his
+design. Luciana was now at last released from her impatience. Her
+intention had been by no means to get a scientific drawing out of him.
+If he had only made a few strokes, sketched out something which should
+have looked like a monument, and devoted the rest of his time to her, it
+would have been far more what she had wished, and would have pleased her
+a great deal better. His manner of proceeding had thrown her into the
+greatest embarrassment. For although in her sorrow, in her directions,
+in her gestures, in her approbation of the work as it slowly rose before
+her, she had tried to manage some sort of change of expression, and
+although she had hung about close to him, only to place herself into
+some sort of relation to him, yet he had kept himself throughout too
+stiff, so that too often she had been driven to take refuge with her
+urn; she had to press it to her heart and look up to heaven, and at
+last, a situation of that kind having a necessary tendency to intensify,
+she made herself more like a widow of Ephesus than a Queen of Caria. The
+representation had to lengthen itself out and became tedious. The
+pianoforte player, who had usually patience enough, did not know into
+what tune he could escape. He thanked God when he saw the urn standing
+on the pyramid, and fell involuntarily as the queen was going to express
+her gratitude, into a merry air; by which the whole thing lost its
+character, the company, however, being thoroughly cheered up by it, who
+forthwith divided, some going up to express their delight and admiration
+of the lady for her excellent performance, and some praising the
+Architect for his most artistlike and beautiful drawing.
+
+[Illustration: LUCIANA POSING AS QUEEN ARTEMISIA P. Grotjohann]
+
+The bridegroom especially paid marked attention to the Architect. "I am
+vexed," he said, "that the drawing should be so perishable; you will
+permit me, however, to have it taken to my room, where I should much
+like to talk to you about it."
+
+"If it would give you any pleasure," said the Architect, "I can lay
+before you a number of highly finished designs for buildings and
+monuments of this kind, of which this is but a mere hasty sketch."
+
+Ottilie was standing at no great distance, and went up to them. "Do not
+forget," she said to the Architect, "to take an opportunity of letting
+the Baron see your collection. He is a friend of art and of antiquity. I
+should like you to become better acquainted."
+
+Luciana was passing at the moment. "What are they speaking of?" she
+asked.
+
+"Of a collection of works of art," replied the Baron, "which this
+gentleman possesses, and which he is good enough to say that he will
+show us."
+
+"Oh, let him bring them immediately," cried Luciana. "You will bring
+them, will you not?" she added, in a soft and sweet tone, taking both
+his hands in hers.
+
+"The present is scarcely a fitting time," the Architect answered.
+
+"What!" Luciana cried, in a tone of authority; "you will not obey the
+command of your queen!" and then she begged him again with some piece of
+absurdity.
+
+"Do not be obstinate," said Ottilie, in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+The Architect left them with a bow, which said neither yes nor no.
+
+He was hardly gone, when Luciana was flying up and down the saloon with
+a greyhound. "Alas!" she exclaimed, as she ran accidentally against her
+mother, "am I not an unfortunate creature? I have not brought my monkey
+with me. They told me I had better not; but I am sure it was nothing
+but the laziness of my people, and it is such a delight to me. But I
+will have it brought after me; somebody shall go and fetch it. If I
+could only see a picture of the dear creature, it would be a comfort to
+me; I certainly will have his picture taken, and it shall never be out
+of my sight."
+
+"Perhaps I can comfort you," replied Charlotte. "There is a whole volume
+full of the most wonderful ape faces in the library, which you can have
+fetched if you like."
+
+Luciana shrieked for joy. The great folio was produced instantly. The
+sight of these hideous creatures, so like to men, and with the
+resemblance even more caricatured by the artist, gave Luciana the
+greatest delight. Her amusement with each of the animals, was to find
+some one of her acquaintance whom it resembled. "Is that not like my
+uncle?" she remorselessly exclaimed; "and here, look, here is my
+milliner M., and here is Parson S., and here the image of that
+creature--bodily! After all, these monkeys are the real _incroyables_,
+and it is inconceivable why they are not admitted into the best
+society."
+
+It was in the best society that she said this, and yet no one took it
+ill of her. People had become accustomed to allow her so many liberties
+in her prettinesses, that at last they came to allow them in what was
+unpretty.
+
+During this time, Ottilie was talking to the bridegroom; she was looking
+anxiously for the return of the Architect, whose serious and tasteful
+collection was to deliver the party from the apes; and in the
+expectation of it, she had made it the subject of her conversation with
+the Baron, and directed his attention on various things which he was to
+see. But the Architect stayed away, and when at last he made his
+appearance, he lost himself in the crowd, without having brought
+anything with him, and without seeming as if he had been asked for
+anything.
+
+For a moment Ottilie became--what shall we call it?--annoyed, put out,
+perplexed. She had been saying so much about him--she had promised the
+bridegroom an hour of enjoyment after his own heart; and with all the
+depth of his love for Luciana, he was evidently suffering from her
+present behavior.
+
+The monkeys had to give place to a collation. Round games followed, and
+then more dancing; at last, a general uneasy vacancy, with fruitless
+attempts at resuscitating exhausted amusements, which lasted this time,
+as indeed they usually did, far beyond midnight. It had already become a
+habit with Luciana to be never able to get out of bed in the morning or
+into it at night.
+
+About this time, the incidents noticed in Ottilie's diary become more
+rare, while we find a larger number of maxims and sentences drawn from
+life and relating to life. It is not conceivable that the larger
+proportion of these could have arisen from her own reflection, and most
+likely some one had shown her varieties of them, and she had written out
+what took her fancy. Many, however, with an internal bearing, can be
+easily recognized by the red thread.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We like to look into the future, because the undetermined in it, which
+may be affected this or that way, we feel as if we could guide by our
+silent wishes in our own favor."
+
+"We seldom find ourselves in a large party without thinking; the
+accident which brings so many here together, should bring our friends to
+us as well."
+
+"Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or
+creditors before we have had time to look round."
+
+"If we meet a person who is under an obligation to us, we remember it
+immediately. But how often may we meet people to whom we are, ourselves,
+under obligation, without its even occurring to us!"
+
+"It is nature to communicate one's-self; it is culture to receive what
+is communicated as it is given."
+
+"No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he
+misunderstands others."
+
+"One alters so much what one has heard from others in repeating it, only
+because one has not understood it."
+
+"Whoever indulges long in monologue in the presence of others, without
+flattering his listeners, provokes ill-will."
+
+"Every word a man utters provokes the opposite opinion."
+
+"Argument and flattery are but poor elements out of which to form a
+conversation."
+
+"The pleasantest society is when the members of it have an easy and
+natural respect for one another."
+
+"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in
+what they find to laugh at."
+
+"The ridiculous arises out of a moral contrast, in which two things are
+brought together before the mind in an innocent way."
+
+"The foolish man often laughs where there is nothing to laugh at.
+Whatever touches him, his inner nature comes to the surface."
+
+"The man of understanding finds almost everything ridiculous; the man of
+thought scarcely anything."
+
+"Some one found fault with an elderly man for continuing to pay
+attention to young ladies. 'It is the only means,' he replied, 'of
+keeping one's-self young, and everybody likes to do that.'"
+
+"People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let
+themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things
+because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them
+aside."
+
+"Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality. We
+should not be pleased, if old friends were to lay aside certain
+peculiarities."
+
+"There is a saying, 'He will die soon,' when a man acts unlike
+himself."
+
+"What kind of defects may we bear with and even cultivate in ourselves?
+Such as rather give pleasure to others than injure them."
+
+"The passions are defects or excellencies only in excess."
+
+"Our passions are true phoenixes: as the old burn out, the new straight
+rise up out of the ashes."
+
+"Violent passions are incurable diseases; the means which will cure them
+are what first make them thoroughly dangerous."
+
+"Passion is both raised and softened by confession. In nothing, perhaps,
+were the middle way more desirable than in knowing what to say and what
+not to say to those we love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+So swept on Luciana in the social whirlpool, driving the rush of life
+along before her. Her court multiplied daily, partly because her
+impetuosity roused and attracted so many, partly because she knew how to
+attach the rest to her by kindness and attention. Generous she was in
+the highest degree; her aunt's affection for her, and her bridegroom's
+love, had heaped her with beautiful and costly presents, but she seemed
+as if nothing which she had was her own, and as if she did not know the
+value of the things which had streamed in upon her. One day she saw a
+young lady looking rather poorly dressed by the side of the rest of the
+party, and she did not hesitate a moment to take off a rich shawl which
+she was wearing and hang it over her--doing it, at the same time, in
+such a humorous, graceful way that no one could refuse such a present so
+given. One of her courtiers always carried about a purse, with orders,
+whatever place they passed through, to inquire there for the most aged
+and most helpless persons, and give them relief, at least for the
+moment. In this way she gained for herself all round the country a
+reputation for charitableness which caused her not a little
+inconvenience, attracting about her far too many troublesome sufferers.
+
+Nothing, however, so much added to her popularity as her steady and
+consistent kindness toward an unhappy young man, who shrank from society
+because, while otherwise handsome and well-formed, he had lost his right
+hand, although with high honor, in action. This mutilation weighed so
+heavily upon his spirits, it was so annoying to him, that every new
+acquaintance he made had to be told the story of his misfortune, that he
+chose rather to shut himself up altogether, devoting himself to reading
+and other studious pursuits, and once for all would have nothing more to
+do with society.
+
+She heard of the state of this young man. At once she contrived to
+prevail upon him to come to her, first to small parties, then to
+greater, and then out into the world with her. She showed more attention
+to him than to any other person; particularly she endeavored, by the
+services which she pressed upon him, to make him sensible of what he had
+lost in laboring herself to supply it. At dinner, she would make him sit
+next to her; she cut up his food for him, that he might have to use only
+his fork. If people older or of higher rank prevented her from being
+close to him, she would stretch her attention across the entire table,
+and the servants were hurried off to make up to him what distance
+threatened to deprive him of. At last she encouraged him to write with
+his left hand. All his attempts he was to address to her and thus,
+whether far or near, she always kept herself in correspondence with him.
+The young man did not know what had happened to him, and from that
+moment a new life opened out before him.
+
+One may perhaps suppose that such behavior must have caused some
+uneasiness to her bridegroom. But, in fact, it was quite the reverse. He
+admired her exceedingly for her exertions, and he had the more reason
+for feeling entirely satisfied about her, as she had certain features in
+her character almost in excess, which kept anything in the slightest
+degree dangerous utterly at a distance. She would run about with
+anybody, just as she fancied; no one was free from danger of a push or a
+pull, or of being made the object of some sort of freak. But no person
+ever ventured to do the same to her; no person dared to touch her, or
+return, in the remotest degree, any liberty which she had taken herself.
+She kept every one within the strictest barriers of propriety in their
+behavior to herself, while she, in her own behavior, was every moment
+overleaping them.
+
+On the whole, one might have supposed it had been a maxim with her to
+expose herself indifferently to praise or blame, to regard or to
+dislike. If in many ways she took pains to gain people, she commonly
+herself spoiled all the good she had done, by an ill tongue, which
+spared no one. Not a visit was ever paid in the neighborhood, not a
+single piece of hospitality was ever shown to herself and her party
+among the surrounding castles or mansions, but what, on her return, her
+excessive recklessness let it appear that all men and all human things
+she was only inclined to see on the ridiculous side.
+
+There were three brothers who, purely out of compliment to one another,
+kept up a good-natured and urbane controversy as to which should marry
+first, had been overtaken by old age before they had got the question
+settled; here was a little young wife with a great old husband; there,
+on the other hand, was a dapper little man and an unwieldy giantess. In
+one house, every step one took one stumbled over a child; another,
+however many people were crammed into it, never would seem full, because
+there were no children there at all. Old husbands (supposing the estate
+was not entailed) should get themselves buried as quickly as possible,
+that such a thing as a laugh might be heard again in the house. Young
+married people should travel: housekeeping did not sit well upon them.
+And as she treated the persons, so she treated what belonged to them;
+their houses, their furniture, their dinner-services--everything. The
+ornaments of the walls of the rooms most particularly provoked her saucy
+remarks. From the oldest tapestry to the most modern printed paper; from
+the noblest family pictures to the most frivolous new copper-plate: one
+as well as the other had to suffer--one as well as the other had to be
+pulled in pieces by her satirical tongue, so that, indeed, one had to
+wonder how, for twenty miles round, anything continued to exist.
+
+It was not, perhaps, exactly malice which produced all this
+destructiveness; wilfulness and selfishness were what ordinarily set her
+off upon it: but a genuine bitterness grew up in her feelings toward
+Ottilie.
+
+She looked down with disdain on the calm, uninterrupted activity of the
+sweet girl, which every one had observed and admired; and when something
+was said of the care which Ottilie took of the garden and of the
+hot-houses, she not only spoke scornfully of it, in affecting to be
+surprised, if it were so, at there being neither flowers nor fruit to be
+seen, not caring to consider that they were living in the depth of
+winter, but every faintest scrap of green, every leaf, every bud which
+showed, she chose to have picked every day and squandered on ornamenting
+the rooms and tables, and Ottilie and the gardener were not a little
+distressed to see their hopes for the next year, and perhaps for a
+longer time, destroyed in this wanton recklessness.
+
+As little would she be content to leave Ottilie to her quiet work at
+home, in which she could live with so much comfort. Ottilie must go with
+them on their pleasure-parties and sledging-parties; she must be at the
+balls which were being got up all about the neighborhood. She was not to
+mind the snow, or the cold, or the night-air, or the storm; other people
+did not die of such things, and why should she? The delicate girl
+suffered not a little from it all, but Luciana gained nothing. For
+although Ottilie went about very simply dressed, she was always, at
+least so the men thought, the most beautiful person present. A soft
+attractiveness gathered them all about her; no matter whereabouts in
+the great rooms she was, first or last, it was always the same. Even
+Luciana's bridegroom was constantly occupied with her; the more so,
+indeed, because he desired her advice and assistance in a matter with
+which he was just then engaged.
+
+He had cultivated the acquaintance of the Architect. On seeing his
+collection of works of art, he had taken occasion to talk much with him
+on history and on other matters, and especially from seeing the chapel
+had learnt to appreciate his talent. The Baron was young and wealthy. He
+was a collector; he wished to build. His love for the arts was keen, his
+knowledge small. In the Architect he thought that he had found the man
+he wanted; that with his assistance there was more than one aim at which
+he could arrive at once. He had spoken to his bride of what he wished.
+She praised him for it, and was infinitely delighted with the proposal.
+But it was more, perhaps, that she might carry off this young man from
+Ottilie (for whom she fancied she saw in him a kind of inclination),
+than because she thought of applying his talents to any purpose. He had
+shown himself, indeed, very ready to help at any of her extemporized
+festivities, and had suggested various resources for this thing and
+that. But she always thought she understood better than he what should
+be done, and as her inventive genius was usually somewhat common, her
+designs could be as well executed with the help of a tolerably handy
+domestic as with that of the most finished artist. Further than to an
+altar on which something was to be offered, or to a crowning, whether of
+a living head or of one of plaster of paris, the force of her
+imagination could not ascend, when a birthday, or other such occasion,
+made her wish to pay some one an especial compliment.
+
+Ottilie was able to give the Baron the most satisfactory answer to his
+inquiries as to the relation of the Architect with their family.
+Charlotte had already, as she was aware, been exerting herself to find
+some situation for him; had it not been indeed for the arrival of the
+party, the young man would have left them immediately on the completion
+of the chapel, the winter having brought all building operations to a
+standstill; and it was, therefore, most fortunate if a new patron could
+be found to assist him, and to make use of his talents.
+
+Ottilie's own personal position with the Architect was as pure and
+unconscious as possible. His agreeable presence, and his industrious
+nature, had charmed and entertained her, as the presence of an elder
+brother might. Her feelings for him remained at the calm unimpassioned
+level of blood relationship. For in her heart there was no room for
+more; it was filled to overflowing with love for Edward; only God, who
+interpenetrates all things, could share with him the possession of that
+heart.
+
+Meanwhile the winter sank deeper; the weather grew wilder, the roads
+more impracticable, and therefore it seemed all the pleasanter to spend
+the waning days in agreeable society. With short intervals of ebb, the
+crowd from time to time flooded up over the house. Officers found their
+way there from distant garrison towns; the cultivated among them being a
+most welcome addition, the ruder the inconvenience of every one. Of
+civilians too there was no lack; and one day the Count and the Baroness
+quite unexpectedly came driving up together.
+
+Their presence gave the castle the air of a thorough court. The men of
+rank and character formed a circle about the Baron, and the ladies
+yielded precedence to the Baroness. The surprise at seeing both
+together, and in such high spirits, was not allowed to be of long
+continuance. It came out that the Count's wife was dead, and the new
+marriage was to take place as soon as ever decency would allow it.
+
+Well did Ottilie remember their first visit, and every word which was
+then uttered about marriage and separation, binding and dividing, hope,
+expectation, disappointment, renunciation. Here were these two persons,
+at that time without prospect for the future, now standing before her,
+so near their wished-for happiness, and an involuntary sigh escaped out
+of her heart.
+
+No sooner did Luciana hear that the Count was an amateur of music, than
+at once she must get up something of a concert. She herself would sing
+and accompany herself on the guitar. It was done. The instrument she did
+not play without skill; her voice was agreeable: as for the words one
+understood about as little of them as one commonly does when a German
+beauty sings to the guitar. However, every one assured her that she had
+sung with exquisite expression, and she found quite enough approbation
+to satisfy her. A singular misfortune befell her, however, on this
+occasion. Among the party there happened to be a poet, whom she hoped
+particularly to attach to herself, wishing to induce him to write a song
+or two, and address them to her. This evening, therefore, she produced
+scarcely anything except songs of his composing. Like the rest of the
+party he was perfectly courteous to her, but she had looked for more.
+She spoke to him several times, going as near the subject as she dared,
+but nothing further could she get. At last, unable to bear it any
+longer, she sent one of her train to him, to sound him and find out
+whether he had not been delighted to hear his beautiful poems so
+beautifully executed.
+
+"My poems?" he replied, with amazement; "pray excuse me, my dear sir,"
+he added, "I heard nothing but the vowels, and not all of those;
+however, I am in duty bound to express all gratitude for so amiable an
+intention." The dandy said nothing and kept his secret; the other
+endeavored to get himself out of the scrape by a few well-timed
+compliments. She did not conceal her desire to have something of his
+which should be written for herself.
+
+If it would not have been too ill-natured, he might have handed her the
+alphabet, to imagine for herself, out of that, such laudatory poem as
+would please her, and set it to the first melody that came to hand; but
+she was not to escape out of this business without mortification. A
+short time after, she had to learn that the very same evening he had
+written, at the foot of one of Ottilie's favorite melodies, a most
+lovely poem, which was something more than complimentary.
+
+Luciana, like all persons of her sort, who never can distinguish between
+where they show to advantage and where to disadvantage, now determined
+to try her fortune in reciting. Her memory was good, but, if the truth
+must be told, her execution was spiritless, and she was vehement without
+being passionate. She recited ballad stories, and whatever else is
+usually delivered in declamation. At the same time she had contracted an
+unhappy habit of accompanying what she delivered with gestures, by
+which, in a disagreeable way, what is purely epic and lyric is more
+confused than connected with the dramatic.
+
+The Count, a keen-sighted man, soon saw through the party, their
+inclinations, dispositions, wishes, and capabilities, and by some means
+or other contrived to bring Luciana to a new kind of exhibition, which
+was perfectly suited to her.
+
+"I see here," he said, "a number of persons with fine figures, who would
+surely be able to imitate pictorial emotions and postures. Suppose they
+were to try, if the thing is new to them, to represent some real and
+well-known picture. An imitation of this kind, if it requires some labor
+in arrangement, has an inconceivably charming effect."
+
+Luciana was quick enough in perceiving that here she was on her own
+ground entirely. Her fine shape, her well-rounded form, the regularity
+and yet expressiveness of her features, her light-brown braided hair,
+her long neck--she ran them all over in her mind, and calculated on
+their pictorial effects, and if she had only known that her beauty
+showed to more advantage when she was still than when she was in motion,
+because in the last case certain ungracefulness continually escaped her,
+she would have entered even more eagerly than she did into this natural
+picture-making.
+
+They looked out the engravings of celebrated pictures, and the first
+which they chose was Van Dyk's Belisarius. A large well-proportioned
+man, somewhat advanced in years, was to represent the seated, blind
+general. The Architect was to be the affectionate soldier standing
+sorrowing before him, there really being some resemblance between them.
+Luciana, half from modesty, had chosen the part of the young woman in
+the background, counting out some large alms into the palm of his hand,
+while an old woman beside her is trying to prevent her, and representing
+that she is giving too much. Another woman who is in the act of giving
+him something, was not forgotten. Into this and other pictures they
+threw themselves with all earnestness. The Count gave the Architect a
+few hints as to the best style of arrangement, and he at once set up a
+kind of theatre, all necessary pains being taken for the proper lighting
+of it. They were already deep in the midst of their preparations, before
+they observed how large an outlay what they were undertaking would
+require, and that in the country, in the middle of winter, many things
+which they required it would be difficult to procure; consequently, to
+prevent a stoppage, Luciana had nearly her whole wardrobe cut in pieces,
+to supply the various costumes which the original artist had arbitrarily
+selected.
+
+The appointed evening came, and the exhibition was carried out in the
+presence of a large assemblage, and to the universal satisfaction. They
+had some good music to excite expectation, and the performance opened
+with the Belisarius. The figures were so successful, the colors were so
+happily distributed, and the lighting managed so skilfully, that they
+might really have fancied themselves in another world, only that the
+presence of the real instead of the apparent produced a kind of
+uncomfortable sensation.
+
+The curtain fell, and was more than once raised again by general desire.
+A musical interlude kept the assembly amused while preparation was
+going forward, to surprise them with a picture of a higher stamp; it was
+the well-known design of Poussin, Ahasuerus and Esther. This time
+Luciana had done better for herself. As the fainting, sinking queen she
+had put out all her charms, and for the attendant maidens who were
+supporting her, she had cunningly selected pretty, well-shaped figures,
+not one among whom, however, had the slightest pretension to be compared
+with herself. From this picture, as from all the rest, Ottilie remained
+excluded. To sit on the golden throne and represent the Zeus-like
+monarch, Luciana had picked out the finest and handsomest man of the
+party, so that this picture was really of inimitable perfection.
+
+For a third they had taken the so-called "Father's Admonition" of
+Terburg, and who does not know Wille's admirable engraving of this
+picture? One foot thrown over the other, sits a noble knightly-looking
+father; his daughter stands before him, to whose conscience he seems to
+be addressing himself. She, a fine striking figure, in a folding drapery
+of white satin, is only to be seen from behind, but her whole bearing
+appears to signify that she is collecting herself. That the admonition
+is not too severe, that she is not being utterly put to shame, is to be
+gathered from the air and attitude of the father, while the mother seems
+as if she were trying to conceal some slight embarrassment--she is
+looking into a glass of wine, which she is on the point of drinking.
+
+Here was an opportunity for Luciana to appear in her highest splendor.
+Her back hair, the form of her head, neck, and shoulders, were beyond
+all conception beautiful; and the waist, which in the modern antique of
+the ordinary dresses of young ladies is hardly visible, showed to the
+greatest advantage in all its graceful, slender elegance in the really
+old costume. The Architect had contrived to dispose the rich folds of
+the white satin with the most exquisite nature, and, without any
+question whatever, this living imitation far exceeded the original
+picture, and produced universal delight.
+
+The spectators could never be satisfied with demanding a repetition of
+the performance, and the very natural wish to see the face and front of
+so lovely a creature, when they had done looking at her from behind, at
+last became so decided that a merry impatient young wit cried out aloud
+the words one is accustomed to write at the bottom of a page, "Tournez,
+s'il vous plait," which was echoed all round the room.
+
+The performers, however, understood their advantage too well, and had
+mastered too completely the idea of these works of art to yield to the
+most general clamor. The daughter remained standing in her shame,
+without favoring the spectators with the expression of her face. The
+father continued to sit in his attitude of admonition, and the mother
+did not lift nose or eyes out of the transparent glass, in which,
+although she seemed to be drinking, the wine did not diminish.
+
+We need not describe the number of smaller after-pieces for which had
+been chosen Flemish public-house scenes and fair and market days.
+
+The Count and the Baroness departed, promising to return in the first
+happy weeks of their approaching union. And Charlotte now had hopes,
+after having endured two weary months of it, of ridding herself of the
+rest of the party at the same time. She was assured of her daughter's
+happiness, as soon as the first tumult of youth and betrothal should
+have subsided in her; for the bridegroom considered himself the most
+fortunate person in the world. His income was large, his disposition
+moderate and rational, and now he found himself further wonderfully
+favored in the happiness of becoming the possessor of a young lady with
+whom all the world must be charmed. He had so peculiar a way of
+referring everything to her, and only to himself through her, that it
+gave him an unpleasant feeling when any newly-arrived person did not
+devote himself heart and soul to her, and was far from flattered if, as
+occasionally happened, particularly with elderly men, he neglected her
+for a close intimacy with himself. Every thing was settled about the
+Architect. On New Year's day he was to follow him and spend the Carnival
+at his house in the city, where Luciana was promising herself infinite
+happiness from a repetition of her charmingly successful pictures, as
+well as from a hundred other things; all the more as her aunt and her
+bridegroom seemed to make so light of the expense which was required for
+her amusements.
+
+And now they were to break up. But this could not be managed in an
+ordinary way. They were one day making fun of Charlotte aloud, declaring
+that they would soon have eaten out her winter stores, when the nobleman
+who had represented Belisarius, being fortunately a man of some wealth,
+carried away by Luciana's charms to which he had been so long devoting
+himself, cried out unthinkingly, "Why not manage then in the Polish
+fashion? You come now and eat up me, and then we will go on round the
+circle." No sooner said than done. Luciana willed that it should be so.
+The next day they all packed up and the swarm alighted on a new
+property. There indeed they found room enough, but few conveniences and
+no preparations to receive them. Out of this arose many _contretemps_,
+which entirely enchanted Luciana; their life became ever wilder and
+wilder. Huge hunting-parties were set on foot in the deep snow, attended
+with every sort of disagreeableness; women were not allowed to excuse
+themselves any more than men, and so they trooped on, hunting and
+riding, sledging and shouting, from one place to another, till at last
+they approached the residence, and there the news of the day and the
+scandals and what else forms the amusement of people at courts and
+cities gave the imagination another direction, and Luciana with her
+train of attendants (her aunt had gone on some time before) swept at
+once into a new sphere of life.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We accept every person in the world as that for which he gives himself
+out, only he must give himself out for something. We can put up with the
+unpleasant more easily than we can endure the insignificant.
+
+"We venture upon anything in society except only what involves a
+consequence.
+
+"We never learn to know people when they come to us: we must go to them
+to find out how things stand with them.
+
+"I find it almost natural that we should see many faults in visitors,
+and that directly they are gone we should judge them not in the most
+amiable manner. For we have, so to say, a right to measure them by our
+own standard. Even cautious, sensible men can scarcely keep themselves
+in such cases from being sharp censors.
+
+"When, on the contrary, we are staying at the houses of others, when we
+have seen them in the midst of all their habits and environments among
+those necessary conditions from which they cannot escape, when we have
+seen how they affect those about them, and how they adapt themselves to
+their circumstances, it is ignorance nay, worse, it is ill-will, to find
+ridiculous what in more than one sense has a claim on our respect.
+
+"That which we call politeness and good breeding effects what otherwise
+can only be obtained by violence, or not even by that.
+
+"Intercourse with women is the element of good manners.
+
+"How can the character, the individuality, of a man co-exist with polish
+of manner?
+
+"The individuality can only be properly made prominent through good
+manners. Every one likes what has something in it, only it not be a
+disagreeable something.
+
+"In life generally, and in society, no one has such high advantages as
+a well-cultivated soldier.
+
+"The rudest fighting people at least do not go out of their character,
+and generally behind the roughness there is a certain latent good humor,
+so that in difficulties it is possible to get on, even with them.
+
+"No one is more intolerable than an underbred civilian. From him one has
+a right to look for a delicacy, as he has no rough work to do.
+
+"When we are living with people who have a delicate sense of propriety,
+we are in misery on their account when anything unbecoming is committed.
+So I always feel for and with Charlotte, when a person is tipping his
+chair. She cannot endure it.
+
+"No one would ever come into a mixed party with spectacles on his nose,
+if he did but know that at once we women lose all pleasure in looking at
+him or listening to what he has to say.
+
+"Free-and-easiness, where there ought to be respect, is always
+ridiculous. No one would put his hat down when he had scarcely paid the
+ordinary compliments if he knew how comical it looks.
+
+"There is no outward sign of courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral
+foundation. The proper education would be that which communicated the
+sign and the foundation of it at the same time.
+
+"Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.
+
+"There is a courtesy of the heart. It is akin to love. Out of it arises
+the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
+
+"A freely offered homage is the most beautiful of all relations. And how
+were that possible without love?
+
+"We are never further from our wishes than when we imagine that we
+possess what we have desired.
+
+"No one is more a slave than the man who thinks himself free while he
+is not.
+
+"A man has only to declare that he is free, and the next moment he feels
+the conditions to which he is subject. Let him venture to declare that
+he is under conditions, and then he will feel that he is free.
+
+"Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending
+ourselves except love.
+
+"There is something terrible in the sight of a highly-gifted man lying
+under obligations to a fool.
+
+"'No man is a hero to his valet,' the proverb says. But that is only
+because it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The valet will probably
+know how to value the valet-hero.
+
+"Mediocrity has no greater consolation than in the thought that genius
+is not immortal.
+
+"The greatest men are connected with their own century always through
+some weakness.
+
+"One is apt to regard people as more dangerous than they are.
+
+"Fools and modest people are alike innocuous. It is only your half-fools
+and your half-wise who are really and truly dangerous.
+
+"There is no better deliverance from the world than through art; and a
+man can form no surer bond with it than through art.
+
+"Alike in the moment of our highest fortune and our deepest necessity,
+we require the artist.
+
+"The business of art is with the difficult and the good.
+
+"To see the difficult easily handled, gives us the feeling of the
+impossible.
+
+"Difficulties increase the nearer we are to our end.
+
+"Sowing is not so difficult as reaping."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The very serious discomfort which this visit had caused to Charlotte was
+in some way compensated to her through the fuller insight which it had
+enabled her to gain into her daughter's character. In this, her
+knowledge of the world was of no slight service to her. It was not the
+first time that so singular a character had come across her, although
+she had never seen any in which the unusual features were so largely
+developed; and she had had experience enough to show her that such
+persons, after having felt the discipline of life, after having gone
+through something of it, and been in intercourse with older people, may
+come out at last really charming and amiable; the selfishness may soften
+and eager restless activity find a definite direction for itself. And
+therefore, as a mother, Charlotte was able to endure the appearance of
+symptoms which for others might perhaps have been unpleasing, from a
+sense that where strangers only desire to enjoy, or at least not to have
+their taste offended, the business of parents is rather to hope.
+
+After her daughter's departure, however, she had to be pained in a
+singular and unlooked-for manner, in finding that, not so much through
+what there really was objectionable in her behavior, as through what was
+good and praiseworthy in it, she had left an ill report of herself
+behind her. Luciana seemed to have prescribed it as a rule to herself
+not only to be merry with the merry, but miserable with the miserable;
+and in order to give full swing to the spirit of contradiction in her,
+often to make the happy, uncomfortable, and the sad, cheerful. In every
+family among whom she came, she inquired after such members of it as
+were ill or infirm, and unable to appear in society. She would go to see
+them in their rooms, enact the physician, and insist on prescribing
+powerful doses for them out of her own traveling medicine-chest, which
+she constantly took with her in her carriage; her attempted cures, as
+may be supposed, either succeeding or failing as chance happened to
+direct.
+
+In this sort of benevolence she was thoroughly cruel, and would listen
+to nothing that was said to her, because she was convinced that she was
+managing admirably. One of these attempts of hers on the moral side
+failed very disastrously, and this it was which gave Charlotte so much
+trouble, inasmuch as it involved consequences and every one was talking
+about it. She never had heard of the story till Luciana was gone;
+Ottilie, who had made one of the party present at the time, had to give
+her a circumstantial account of it.
+
+One of several daughters of a family of rank had the misfortune to have
+caused the death of one of her younger sisters; it had destroyed her
+peace of mind, and she had never been properly herself since. She lived
+in her own room, occupying herself and keeping quiet; and she could only
+bear to see the members of her own family when they came one by one. If
+there were several together, she suspected at once that they were making
+reflections upon her, and upon her condition. To each of them singly she
+would speak rationally enough, and talk freely for an hour at a time.
+
+Luciana had heard of this, and had secretly determined with herself, as
+soon as she got into the house, that she would forthwith work a miracle,
+and restore the young lady to society. She conducted herself in the
+matter more prudently than usual, managed to introduce herself alone to
+the poor sick-souled girl, and, as far as people could understand, had
+wound her way into her confidence through music. At last came her fatal
+mistake; wishing to make a scene, and fancying that she had sufficiently
+prepared her for it, one evening she suddenly introduced the beautiful
+pale creature into the midst of the brilliant, glittering assembly; and
+perhaps, even then, the attempt might not have so utterly failed, had
+not the crowd themselves, between curiosity and apprehension, conducted
+themselves so unwisely, first gathering about the invalid, and then
+shrinking from her again; and with their whispers, and shaking their
+heads together, confusing and agitating her. Her delicate sensibility
+could not endure it. With a dreadful shriek, which expressed, as it
+seemed, a horror at some monster that was rushing upon her, she fainted.
+The crowd fell back in terror on every side, and Ottilie had been one of
+those who had carried back the sufferer utterly insensible to her room.
+
+Luciana meanwhile, just like herself, had been reading an angry lecture
+to the rest of the party, without reflecting for a moment that she
+herself was entirely to blame, and without letting herself be deterred
+by this and other failures, from going on with her experimentalizing.
+
+The state of the invalid herself had since that time become more and
+more serious; indeed, the disorder had increased to such a degree that
+the poor thing's parents were unable to keep her any longer at home, and
+had been forced to confide her to the care of a public institution.
+Nothing remained for Charlotte, except, by the delicacy of her own
+attention to the family, in some degree to alleviate the pain which had
+been occasioned by her daughter. On Ottilie, the thing made a deep
+impression. She felt the more for the unhappy girl, as she was
+convinced, she did not attempt to deny it to Charlotte, that by a
+careful treatment the disorder might have been unquestionably removed.
+
+So there came, too, as it often happens, that we dwell more on past
+disagreeables than on past agreeables, a slight misunderstanding to be
+spoken of, which had led Ottilie to a wrong judgment of the Architect,
+when he did not choose to produce his collection that evening, although
+she had so eagerly begged him to produce it. His practical refusal had
+remained, ever since, hanging about her heart, she herself could not
+tell why. Her feelings about the matter were undoubtedly just; what a
+young lady like Ottilie could desire, a young man like the Architect
+ought not to have refused. The latter, however, when she took occasion
+to give him a gentle reproof for it, had a very valid excuse to offer
+for himself.
+
+"If you knew," he said, "how roughly even cultivated people allow
+themselves to handle the most valuable works of art, you would forgive
+me for not producing mine among the crowd. No one will take the trouble
+to hold a medal by the rim. They will finger the most beautiful
+impressions, and the smoothest surfaces; they will take the rarest coins
+between the thumb and forefinger, and rub them up and down, as if they
+were testing the execution with the touch. Without remembering that a
+large sheet of paper ought to be held in two hands, they will lay hold,
+with one, of an invaluable proof-engraving of some drawing which cannot
+be replaced, like a conceited politician laying hold of a newspaper, and
+passing judgment by anticipation, as he is cutting the pages, on the
+occurrences of the world. Nobody cares to recollect that if twenty
+people, one after the other, treat a work of art in this way, the
+one-and-twentieth will not find much to see there."
+
+"Have not I often vexed you in this way?" asked Ottilie. "Have not I,
+through my carelessness, many times injured your treasures?"
+
+"Never once," answered the Architect, "never. For you it would be
+impossible. In you the right thing is innate."
+
+"In any case," replied Ottilie, "it would not be a bad plan, if in the
+next edition of the book of good manners, after the chapters which tell
+us how we ought to eat and drink in company, a good circumstantial
+chapter were inserted, telling how to behave among works of art and in
+museums."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said the Architect; "and then curiosity-collectors and
+amateurs would be better contented to show their valuable treasures to
+the world."
+
+Ottilie had long, long forgiven him; but as he seemed to have taken her
+reproof sorely to heart, and assured her again and again that he would
+gladly produce everything--that he was delighted to do anything for
+his friends--she felt that she had wounded his feelings, and that she
+owed him some compensation. It was not easy for her, therefore, to give
+an absolute refusal to a request which he made her in the conclusion of
+this conversation, although when she called her heart into counsel about
+it, she did not see how she could allow herself to do what he wished.
+
+The circumstances of the matter were these: Ottilie's exclusion from the
+picture-exhibition by Luciana's jealousy had irritated him in the
+highest degree; and at the same time he had observed with regret, that
+at this, the most brilliant part of all the amusements at the castle,
+ill health had prevented Charlotte from being more than rarely present;
+and now he did not wish to go away without some additional proof of his
+gratitude, which, for the honor of one and the entertainment of the
+other, should take the thoughtful and attractive form of preparing a far
+more beautiful exhibition than any of those which had preceded it.
+Perhaps, too, unknown to himself, another secret motive was working on
+him. It was so hard for him to leave the house, and to leave the family.
+It seemed impossible to him to go away from Ottilie's eyes, under the
+calm, sweet, gentle glance of which the latter part of the time he had
+been living almost entirely alone.
+
+The Christmas holidays were approaching; and it became at once clear to
+him that the very thing which he wanted was a representation with real
+figures of one of those pictures of the scene in the stable--a sacred
+exhibition such as at this holy season good Christians delight to offer
+to the divine Mother and her Child, of the manner in which she, in her
+seeming lowliness, was honored first by the shepherds and afterward by
+kings.
+
+He had thoroughly brought before himself how such a picture should be
+contrived. A fair, lovely child was found, and there would be no lack of
+shepherds and shepherdesses. But without Ottilie the thing could not be
+done. The young man had exalted her in his design to be the mother of
+God, and if she refused, there was no question but the undertaking must
+fall to the ground. Ottilie, half embarrassed at the proposal, referred
+him and his request to Charlotte. The latter gladly gave her permission,
+and lent her assistance in overcoming and overpersuading Ottilie's
+hesitation in assuming so sacred a personality. The Architect worked day
+and night, that by Christmas-eve everything might be ready.
+
+Day and night, indeed, in the literal sense. At all times he was a man
+who had but few necessities; and Ottilie's presence seemed to be to him
+in the place of all delicacies. When he was working for her, it was as
+if he required no sleep; when he was busy about her, as if he could do
+without food. Accordingly, by the hour of the evening solemnity, all was
+completed. He had found the means of collecting some well-toned wind
+instruments to form an introduction, and produce the desired temper of
+thought and feeling. But when the curtain rose, Charlotte was taken
+completely by surprise. The picture which presented itself to her had
+been repeated so often in the world, that one could scarcely have
+expected any new impression to be produced. But here, the reality as
+representing the picture had its especial advantages. The whole space
+was the color rather of night than of twilight, and there was nothing
+even of the details of the scene which was obscure. The inimitable idea
+that all the light should proceed from the child, the artist had
+contrived to carry out by an ingenious method of illumination which was
+concealed by the figures in the foreground, who were all in shadow.
+Bright looking boys and girls were standing around, their fresh faces
+sharply lighted from below; and there were angels too, whose own
+brilliancy grew pale before the divine, whose ethereal bodies showed dim
+and dense, and needing other light in the presence of the body of the
+divine humanity. By good fortune the infant had fallen asleep in the
+loveliest attitude, so that nothing disturbed the contemplation when
+the eye rested on the seeming mother, who with infinite grace had
+lifted off a veil to reveal her hidden treasure. At this moment the
+picture seemed to have been caught, and there to have remained fixed.
+Physically dazzled, mentally surprised, the people round appeared to
+have just moved to turn away their half-blinded eyes, to be glancing
+again toward the child with curious delight, and to be showing more
+wonder and pleasure than awe and reverence--although these emotions were
+not forgotten, and were to be traced upon the features of some of the
+older spectators.
+
+But Ottilie's figure, expression, attitude, glance, excelled all which
+any painter has ever represented. A man who had true knowledge of art,
+and had seen this spectacle, would have been in fear lest any portion of
+it should move; he would have doubted whether anything could ever so
+much please him again. Unluckily, there was no one present who could
+comprehend the whole of this effect. The Architect alone, who, as a
+tall, slender shepherd, was looking in from the side over those who were
+kneeling, enjoyed, although he was not in the best position for seeing,
+the fullest pleasure. And who can describe the mien of the new-made
+queen of heaven? The purest humility, the most exquisite feeling of
+modesty, at the great honor which had undeservedly been bestowed upon
+her, with indescribable and immeasurable happiness, was displayed upon
+her features, expressing as much her own personal emotion as that of the
+character which she was endeavoring to represent.
+
+Charlotte was delighted with the beautiful figures; but what had most
+effect on her was the child. Her eyes filled with tears, and her
+imagination presented to her in the liveliest colors the hope that she
+might soon have such another darling creature on her own lap.
+
+They had let down the curtain, partly to give the exhibitors some little
+rest, partly to make an alteration in the exhibition. The artist had
+proposed to himself to transmute the first scene of night and lowliness
+into a picture of splendor and glory; and for this purpose had prepared
+a blaze of light to fall in from every side, which this interval was
+required to kindle.
+
+Ottilie, in the semi-theatrical position in which she found herself, had
+hitherto felt perfectly at her ease, because, with the exception of
+Charlotte and a few members of the household, no one had witnessed this
+devout piece of artistic display. She was, therefore, in some degree
+annoyed when in the interval she learnt that a stranger had come into
+the saloon, and had been warmly received by Charlotte. Who it was no one
+was able to tell her. She therefore made up her mind not to produce a
+disturbance, and to go on with her character. Candles and lamps blazed
+out, and she was surrounded by splendor perfectly infinite. The curtain
+rose. It was a sight to startle the spectators. The whole picture was
+one blaze of light; and instead of the full depth of shadow, there now
+were only the colors left remaining, which, from the skill with which
+they had been selected, produced a gentle softening of tone. Looking out
+under her long eyelashes, Ottilie perceived the figure of a man sitting
+by Charlotte. She did not recognize him; but the voice she fancied was
+that of the Assistant at the school. A singular emotion came over her.
+How many things had happened since she last heard the voice of him, her
+kind instructor. Like a flash of forked lightning the stream of her joys
+and her sorrow rushed swiftly before her soul, and the question rose in
+her heart: Dare you confess, dare you acknowledge it all to him? If not,
+how little can you deserve to appear before him under this sainted form;
+and how strange must it not seem to him who has only known you as your
+natural self to see you now under this disguise? In an instant, swift as
+thought, feeling and reflection began to clash and gain within her. Her
+eyes filled with tears, while she forced herself to continue to appear
+as a motionless figure, and it was a relief, indeed, to her when the
+child began to stir--and the artist saw himself compelled to give the
+sign that the curtain should fall again.
+
+If the painful feeling of being unable to meet a valued friend had,
+during the last few moments, been distressing Ottilie in addition to her
+other emotions, she was now in still greater embarrassment. Was she to
+present herself to him in this strange disguise? or had she better
+change her dress? She did not hesitate--she did the last; and in the
+interval she endeavored to collect and to compose herself; nor did she
+properly recover her self-possession until at last, in her ordinary
+costume, she had welcomed the new visitor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+In so far as the Architect desired the happiness of his kind
+patronesses, it was a pleasure to him, now that at last he was obliged
+to go, to know that he was leaving them in good society with the
+estimable Assistant. At the same time, however, when he thought of their
+goodness in its relation to himself, he could not help feeling it a
+little painful to see his place so soon, and as it seemed to his
+modesty, so well, so completely supplied. He had lingered and lingered,
+but now he forced himself away; what, after he was gone, he must endure
+as he could, at least he could not stay to witness with his own eyes.
+
+To the great relief of this half-melancholy feeling, the ladies at his
+departure made him a present of a waistcoat, upon which he had watched
+them both for some time past at work, with a silent envy of the
+fortunate unknown, to whom it was by-and-by to belong. Such a present is
+the most agreeable which a true-hearted man can receive; for while he
+thinks of the unwearied play of the beautiful fingers at the making of
+it, he cannot help flattering himself that in so long-sustained a labor
+the feeling could not have remained utterly without an interest in its
+accomplishment.
+
+The ladies had now a new visitor to entertain, for whom they felt a real
+regard, and whose stay with them it would be their endeavor to make as
+agreeable as they could. There is in all women a peculiar circle of
+inward interests, which remain always the same, and from which nothing
+in the world can divorce them. In outward social intercourse, on the
+other hand, they will gladly and easily allow themselves to take their
+tone from the person with whom at the moment they are occupied; and thus
+by a mixture of impassiveness and susceptibility, by persisting and by
+yielding, they continue to keep the government to themselves, and no man
+in the cultivated world can ever take it from them.
+
+The Architect, following at the same time his own fancy and his own
+inclination, had been exerting himself and putting out his talents for
+their gratification and for the purposes of his friends; and business
+and amusement, while he was with them, had been conducted in this
+spirit, and directed to the ends which most suited his taste. But now in
+a short time, through the presence of the Assistant, quite another sort
+of life was commenced. His great gift was to talk well, and to treat in
+his conversation of men and human relations, particularly in reference
+to the cultivation of young people. Thus arose a very perceptible
+contrast to the life which had been going on hitherto, all the more as
+the Assistant could not entirely approve of their having interested
+themselves in such subjects so exclusively.
+
+Of the impersonated picture which received him on his arrival, he never
+said a single word. On the other hand, when they took him to see the
+church and the chapel with their new decorations, expecting to please
+him as much as they were pleased themselves, he did not hesitate to
+express a very contrary opinion about it.
+
+"This mixing up of the holy with the sensuous," he said, "is anything
+but pleasing to my taste; I cannot like men to set apart certain special
+places, consecrate them, and deck them out, that by so doing they may
+nourish in themselves a temper of piety. No ornaments, not even the very
+simplest, should disturb in us that sense of the Divine Being which
+accompanies us wherever we are, and can consecrate every spot into a
+temple. What pleases me is to see a home-service of God held in the
+saloon where people come together to eat, where they have their
+parties, and amuse themselves with games and dances. The highest, the
+most excellent in men, has no form; and one should be cautious how one
+gives it any form except noble action."
+
+Charlotte, who was already generally acquainted with his mode of
+thinking, and, in the short time he had been at the castle, had already
+probed it more deeply, found something also which he might do for her in
+his own department; and she had her garden-children, whom the Architect
+had reviewed shortly before his departure, marshalled up into the great
+saloon. In their bright, clean uniforms, with their regular orderly
+movement, and their own natural vivacity, they looked exceedingly well.
+The Assistant examined them in his own way, and by a variety of
+questions, and by the turns which he gave them, soon brought to light
+the capacities and dispositions of the children; and without its seeming
+so, in the space of less than one hour he had really given them
+important instruction and assistance.
+
+"How did you manage that?" asked Charlotte, as the children marched
+away. "I listened with all my attention. Nothing was brought forward
+except things which were quite familiar, and yet I cannot tell the least
+how I should begin to bring them to be discussed in so short a time so
+methodically, with all this questioning and answering."
+
+"Perhaps," replied the Assistant, "we ought to make a secret of the
+tricks of our own handicraft. However, I will not hide from you one very
+simple maxim, with the help of which you may do this, and a great deal
+more than this. Take any subject, a substance, an idea, whatever you
+like; keep fast hold of it; make yourself thoroughly acquainted with it
+in all its parts, and then it will be easy for you, in conversation, to
+find out, with a mass of children, how much about it has already
+developed itself in them; what requires to be stimulated, what to be
+directly communicated. The answers to your questions may be as
+unsatisfactory as they will, they may wander wide of the mark; if you
+only take care that your counter-question shall draw their thoughts and
+senses inwards again; if you do not allow yourself to be driven from
+your own position--the children will at last reflect, comprehend, learn
+only what the teacher desires them to learn, and the subject will be
+presented to them in the light in which he wishes them to see it. The
+greatest mistake which he can make is to allow himself to be run away
+with from the subject; not to know how to keep fast to the point with
+which he is engaged. Do you try this on your own account the next time
+the children come; you will find you will be greatly entertained by it
+yourself."
+
+"That is very good," said Charlotte. "The right method of teaching is
+the reverse, I see, of what we must do in life. In society we must keep
+the attention long upon nothing, and in instruction the first
+commandment is to permit no dissipation of it."
+
+"Variety, without dissipation, were the best motto for both teaching and
+life, if this desirable equipoise were easy to be preserved," said the
+Assistant; and he was going on further with the subject, when Charlotte
+called out to him to look again at the children, whose merry troop were
+at the moment moving across the court. He expressed his satisfaction at
+seeing them wearing a uniform. "Men," he said, "should wear a uniform
+from their childhood upwards. They have to accustom themselves to work
+together; to lose themselves among their equals; to obey in masses, and
+to work on a large scale. Every kind of uniform, moreover, generates a
+military habit of thought, and a smart, straight-forward carriage. All
+boys are born soldiers, whatever you do with them. You have only to
+watch them at their mock fights and games, their storming parties and
+scaling parties."
+
+"On the other hand, you will not blame me," replied Ottilie, "if I do
+not insist with my girls on such unity of costume. When I introduce them
+to you, I hope to gratify you by a parti-colored mixture."
+
+"I approve of that, entirely," replied the other. "Women should go about
+in every sort of variety of dress; each following her own style and her
+own likings, that each may learn to feel what sits well upon her and
+becomes her. And for a more weighty reason as well--because it is
+appointed for them to stand alone all their lives, and work alone."
+
+"That seems to me to be a paradox," answered Charlotte. "Are we then to
+be never anything for ourselves?"
+
+"O, yes!" replied the Assistant. "In respect of other women assuredly.
+But observe a young lady as a lover, as a bride, as a housewife, as a
+mother. She always stands isolated. She is always alone, and will be
+alone. Even the most empty-headed woman is in the same case. Each one of
+them excludes all others. It is her nature to do so; because of each one
+of them is required everything which the entire sex have to do. With a
+man it is altogether different. He would make a second man if there were
+none. But a woman might live to an eternity, without even so much as
+thinking of producing a duplicate of herself."
+
+"One has only to say the truth in a strange way," said Charlotte, "and
+at last the strangest thing will seem to be true. We will accept what is
+good for us out of your observations, and yet as women we will hold
+together with women, and do common work with them too; not to give the
+other sex too great an advantage over us. Indeed, you must not take it
+ill of us, if in future we come to feel a little malicious satisfaction
+when our lords and masters do not get on in the very best way together."
+
+With much care, this wise, sensible person went on to examine more
+closely how Ottilie proceeded with her little pupils, and expressed his
+marked approbation of it. "You are entirely right," he said, "in
+directing these children only to what they can immediately and usefully
+put in practice. Cleanliness, for instance, will accustom them to wear
+their clothes with pleasure to themselves; and everything is gained if
+they can be induced to enter into what they do with cheerfulness and
+self-reflection."
+
+In other ways he found, to his great satisfaction, that nothing had been
+done for outward display; but all was inward, and designed to supply
+what was indispensably necessary. "In how few words," he cried, "might
+the whole business of education be summed up, if people had but ears to
+hear!"
+
+"Will you try whether I have any ears?" said Ottilie, smiling.
+
+"Indeed I will," answered he, "only you must not betray me. Educate the
+boys to be servants, and the girls to be mothers, and everything is as
+it should be."
+
+"To be mothers?" replied Ottilie. "Women would scarcely think that
+sufficient. They have to look forward, without being mothers, to going
+out into service. And, indeed, our young men think themselves a great
+deal too good for servants. One can see easily, in every one of them,
+that he holds himself far fitter to be a master."
+
+"And for that reason we should say nothing about it to them," said the
+Assistant. "We flatter ourselves on into life; but life flatters not us.
+How many men would like to acknowledge at the outset, what at the end
+they must acknowledge whether they like it or not? But let us leave
+these considerations, which do not concern us here.
+
+"I consider you very fortunate in having been able to go so methodically
+to work with your pupils. If your very little ones run about with their
+dolls, and stitch together a few petticoats for them; if the elder
+sisters will then take care of the younger, and the whole household know
+how to supply its own wants, and one member of it help the others, the
+further step into life will not then be great, and such a girl will find
+in her husband what she has lost in her parents.
+
+"But among the higher ranks the problem is a sorely intricate one. We
+have to provide for higher, finer, more delicate relations; especially
+for such as arise out of society. We are, therefore, obliged to give our
+pupils an outward cultivation. It is indispensable, it is necessary, and
+it may be really valuable, if we do not overstep the proper measure in
+it. Only it is so easy, while one is proposing to cultivate the
+children for a wider circle, to drive them out into the indefinite,
+without keeping before our eyes the real requisites of the inner nature.
+Here lies the problem which more or less must be either solved or
+blundered over by all educators.
+
+"Many things, with which we furnish our scholars at the school, do not
+please me; because experience tells me of how little service they are
+likely to be in after-life. How much is in a little while stripped off;
+how much at once committed to oblivion, as soon as the young lady finds
+herself in the position of a housewife or a mother!
+
+"In the meantime, since I have devoted myself to this occupation, I
+cannot but entertain a devout hope that one day, with the companionship
+of some faithful helpmate, I may succeed in cultivating purely in my
+pupils that, and that only, which they will require when they pass out
+into the field of independent activity and self-reliance; that I may be
+able to say to myself, in this sense is their education completed.
+Another education there is indeed which will again speedily recommence,
+and work on well nigh through all the years of our life--the education
+which circumstances will give us, if we do not give it to ourselves."
+
+How true Ottilie felt were these words! What had not a passion, little
+dreamed of before, done to educate her in the past year! What trials did
+she not see hovering before her if she looked forward only to the
+next--to the very next, which was now so near!
+
+It was not without a purpose that the young man had spoken of a
+helpmate--of a wife; for with all his diffidence, he could not refrain
+from thus remotely hinting at his own wishes. A number of circumstances
+and accidents, indeed, combined to induce him on this visit to approach
+a few steps toward his aim.
+
+The Lady Superior of the school was advanced in years. She had been
+already for some time looking about among her fellow-laborers, male and
+female, for some person whom she could take into partnership with
+herself, and at last had made proposals to the Assistant, in whom she
+had the highest ground for feeling confidence. He was to conduct the
+business of the school with herself. He was to work with her in it, as
+if it was his own; and after her death, as her heir, to enter upon it as
+sole proprietor.
+
+The principal thing now seemed to be, that he should find a wife who
+would cooperate with him. Ottilie was secretly before his eyes and
+before his heart. A number of difficulties suggested themselves, and yet
+again there were favorable circumstances on the other side to
+counterbalance them. Luciana had left the school; Ottilie could
+therefore return with the less difficulty. Of the affair with Edward,
+some little had transpired. It passed, however, as many such things do,
+as a matter of indifference, and this very circumstance might make it
+desirable that she should leave the castle. And yet, perhaps, no
+decision would have been arrived at, no step would have been taken, had
+not an unexpected visit given a special impulse to his hesitation. The
+appearance of remarkable people, in any and every circle, can never be
+without its effects.
+
+The Count and the Baroness, who often found themselves asked for their
+opinion, almost every one being in difficulty about the education of
+their children, as to the value of the various schools, had found it
+desirable to make themselves particularly acquainted with this one,
+which was generally so well spoken of; and under their present
+circumstances, they were more easily able to carry on these inquiries in
+company.
+
+The Baroness, however, had something else in view as well. While she was
+last at the castle, she had talked over with Charlotte the whole affair
+of Edward and Ottilie. She had insisted again and again that Ottilie
+must be sent away. She tried every means to encourage Charlotte to do
+it, and to keep her from being frightened by Edward's threats. Several
+modes of escape from the difficulty were suggested. Accidentally the
+school was mentioned, and the Assistant and his incipient passion,
+which made the Baroness more resolved than ever to pay her intended
+visit there.
+
+She went; she made acquaintance with the Assistant; looked over the
+establishment, and spoke of Ottilie. The Count also spoke with much
+interest of her, having in his recent visit learnt to know her better.
+She had been drawn toward him; indeed, she had felt attracted by him;
+believing that she could see, that she could perceive in his solid,
+substantial conversation, something to which hitherto she had been an
+entire stranger. In her intercourse with Edward, the world had been
+utterly forgotten; in the presence of the Count, the world appeared
+first worth regarding. The attraction was mutual. The Count conceived a
+liking for Ottilie; he would have been glad to have had her for a
+daughter. Thus a second time, and worse than the first time, she was in
+the way of the Baroness. Who knows what, in times when passions ran
+hotter than they do now-a-days, this lady might not have devised against
+her? As things were, it was enough if she could get her married, and
+render her more innocuous for the future to the peace of mind of married
+women. She therefore artfully urged the Assistant, in a delicate, but
+effective manner, to set out on a little excursion to the castle; where
+his plans and his wishes, of which he made no secret to the lady, he
+might forthwith take steps to realize.
+
+With the fullest consent of the Superior he started off on his
+expedition, and in his heart he nourished good hopes of success. He knew
+that Ottilie was not ill-disposed toward him; and although it was true
+there was some disproportion of rank between them, yet distinctions of
+this kind were fast disappearing in the temper of the time. Moreover,
+the Baroness had made him perceive clearly that Ottilie must always
+remain a poor, portionless maiden. To be related to a wealthy family, it
+was said, could be of service to nobody. For even with the largest
+property, men have a feeling that it is not right to deprive of any
+considerable sum, those who, as standing in a nearer degree of
+relationship, appear to have a fuller right to possession; and really
+it is a strange thing, that the immense privilege which a man has of
+disposing of his property after his death, he so very seldom uses for
+the benefit of those whom he loves, only out of regard to established
+usage appearing to consider those who would inherit his estate from him,
+supposing he made no will at all.
+
+Thus, while on his journey, he grew to feel himself entirely on a level
+with Ottilie. A favorable reception raised his hopes. He found Ottilie
+indeed not altogether so open with him as usual, but she was
+considerably matured, more developed, and, if you please, generally more
+conversible than he had known her. She was ready to give him the fullest
+insight into many things which were in any way connected with his
+profession; but when he attempted to approach his proper object, a
+certain inward shyness always held him back.
+
+Once, however, Charlotte gave him an opportunity for saying something.
+In Ottilie's presence she said to him, "Well now, you have looked
+closely enough into everything which is going forward in my circle. How
+do you find Ottilie? You had better say while she is here."
+
+Hereupon the Assistant signified, with a clear perception and composed
+expression, how that, in respect of a freer carriage, of an easier
+manner in speaking, of a higher insight into the things of the world,
+which showed itself more in actions than in words, he found Ottilie
+altered much for the better; but that he still believed it might be of
+serious advantage to her if she would go back for some little time to
+the school, in order methodically and thoroughly to make her own forever
+what the world was only imparting to her in fragments and pieces, rather
+perplexing her than satisfying her, and often too late to be of service.
+He did not wish to be prolix about it. Ottilie herself knew best how
+much method and connection there was in the style of instruction out of
+which, in that case, she would be taken.
+
+Ottilie had nothing to say against this; she could not acknowledge what
+it was which these words made her feel, because she was hardly able to
+explain it to herself. It seemed to her as if nothing in the world was
+disconnected so long as she thought of the one person whom she loved;
+and she could not conceive how, without him, anything could be connected
+at all.
+
+Charlotte replied to the proposal with a wise kindness. She said that
+she herself, as well as Ottilie, had long desired her return to the
+school. At that time, however, the presence of so dear a companion and
+helper had become indispensable to herself; still she would offer no
+obstacle at some future period, if Ottilie continued to wish it, to her
+going back there for such a time as would enable her to complete what
+she had begun, and to make entirely her own what had been interrupted.
+
+The Assistant listened with delight to this qualified assent. Ottilie
+did not venture to say anything against it, although the very thought
+made her shudder. Charlotte, on her side, thought only how to gain time.
+She hoped that Edward would soon come back and find himself a happy
+father; then she was convinced all would go right; and one way or
+another they would be able to settle something for Ottilie.
+
+After an important conversation which has furnished matter for
+after-reflection to all who have taken part in it, there commonly
+follows a sort of pause, which in appearance is like a general
+embarrassment. They walked up and down the saloon. The Assistant turned
+over the leaves of various books, and came at last on the folio of
+engravings which had remained lying there since Luciana's time. As soon
+as he saw that it contained nothing but apes, he shut it up again.
+
+It may have been this, however, which gave occasion to a conversation of
+which we find traces in Ottilie's diary.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"It is strange how men can have the heart to take such pains with the
+pictures of those hideous monkeys. One lowers one's-self sufficiently
+when one looks at them merely as animals, but it is really wicked to
+give way to the inclination to look for people whom we know behind such
+masks."
+
+"It is a sure mark of a certain obliquity, to take pleasure in
+caricatures and monstrous faces, and pigmies. I have to thank our kind
+Assistant that I have never been vexed with natural history; I could
+never make myself at home with worms and beetles."
+
+"Just now he acknowledged to me, that it was the same with him. 'Of
+nature,' he said, 'we ought to know nothing except what is actually
+alive immediately around us. With the trees which blossom and put out
+leaves and bear fruit in our own neighborhood, with every shrub which we
+pass by, with every blade of grass on which we tread, we stand in a real
+relation. They are our genuine compatriots. The birds which hop up and
+down among our branches, which sing among our leaves, belong to us; they
+speak to us from our childhood upward, and we learn to understand their
+language. But let a man ask himself whether or not every strange
+creature, torn out of its natural environment, does not at first sight
+make a sort of painful impression upon him, which is only deadened by
+custom. It is a mark of a motley, dissipated sort of life, to be able to
+endure monkeys, and parrots, and black people, about one's self."
+
+"Many times when a certain longing curiosity about these strange objects
+has come over me, I have envied the traveler who sees such marvels in
+living, everyday connection with other marvels. But he, too, must have
+become another man. Palm-trees will not allow a man to wander among them
+with impunity; and doubtless his tone of thinking becomes very different
+in a land where elephants and tigers are at home."
+
+"The only inquirers into nature whom we care to respect, are such as
+know how to describe and to represent to us the strange wonderful things
+which they have seen in their proper locality, each in its own especial
+element. How I should enjoy once hearing Humboldt talk!"
+
+"A cabinet of natural curiosities we may regard like an Egyptian
+burying-place, where the various plant gods and animal gods stand about
+embalmed. It may be well enough for a priest-caste to busy itself with
+such things in a twilight of mystery. But in general instruction, they
+have no place or business; and we must beware of them all the more,
+because what is nearer to us, and more valuable, may be so easily thrust
+aside by them."
+
+"A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one
+single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with
+rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form. For what
+is the result of all these, except what we know as well without them,
+that the human figure preëminently and peculiarly is made in the image
+and likeness of God?"
+
+"Individuals may be left to occupy themselves with whatever amuses them,
+with whatever gives them pleasure, whatever they think useful; but 'the
+proper study of mankind is man.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+There are but few men who care to occupy themselves with the immediate
+past. Either we are forcibly bound up in the present, or we lose
+ourselves in the long gone-by, and seek back for what is utterly lost,
+as if it were possible to summon it up again, and rehabilitate it. Even
+in great and wealthy families who are under large obligations to their
+ancestors, we commonly find men thinking more of their grandfathers than
+their fathers.
+
+Such reflections as these suggested themselves to our Assistant, as, on
+one of those beautiful days in which the departing winter is accustomed
+to imitate the spring, he had been walking up and down the great old
+castle garden, and admiring the tall avenues of the lindens, and the
+formal walks and flower-beds which had been laid out by Edward's father.
+The trees had thriven admirably, according to the design of him who had
+planted them, and now when they ought to have begun to be valued and
+enjoyed, no one ever spoke of them. Hardly any one even went near them,
+and the interest and the outlay was now directed to the other side, out
+into the free and the open.
+
+He remarked upon it to Charlotte on his return; she did not take it
+unkindly. "While life is sweeping us forward," she replied, "we fancy
+that we are acting out our own impulses; we believe that we choose
+ourselves what we will do, and what we will enjoy. But in fact, if we
+look at it closely, our actions are no more than the plans and the
+desires of the time which we are compelled to carry out."
+
+"No doubt," said the Assistant. "And who is strong enough to withstand
+the stream of what is around him? Time passes on, and in it, opinions,
+thoughts, prejudices, and interests. If the youth of the son falls in
+the era of revolution, we may feel assured that he will have nothing in
+common with his father. If the father lived at a time when the desire
+was to accumulate property, to secure the possession of it, to narrow
+and to gather one's-self in, and to base one's enjoyment in separation
+from the world, the son will at once seek to extend himself, to
+communicate himself to others, to spread himself over a wide surface,
+and open out his closed stores."
+
+"Entire periods," replied Charlotte, "resemble this father and son whom
+you have been describing. Of the state of things when every little town
+was obliged to have its walls and moats, when the castle of the nobleman
+was built in a swamp, and the smallest manor-houses were only accessible
+by a draw-bridge, we are scarcely able to form a conception. In our
+days, the largest cities take down their walls, the moats of the
+princes' castles are filled in; cities are no more than great _places_,
+and when one travels and sees all this, one might fancy that universal
+peace was just established, and the golden age was before the door. No
+one feels himself easy in a garden which does not look like the open
+country. There must be nothing to remind him of form and constraint, we
+choose to be entirely free, and to draw our breath without sense of
+confinement. Do you conceive it possible, my friend, that we can ever
+return again out of this into another, into our former condition?"
+
+"Why should we not?" replied the Assistant. "Every condition has its own
+burden along with it, the most relaxed as well as the most constrained.
+The first presupposes abundance, and leads to extravagance. Let want
+reappear, and the spirit of moderation is at once with us again. Men who
+are obliged to make use of their space and their soil, will speedily
+enough raise walls up round their gardens to be sure of their crops and
+plants. Out of this will arise by degrees a new phase of things: the
+useful will again gain the upper hand; and even the man of large
+possessions will feel at last that he must make the most of all which
+belongs to him. Believe me, it is quite possible that your son may
+become indifferent to all which you have been doing in the park, and
+draw in again behind the solemn walls and the tall lindens of his
+grandfather."
+
+The secret pleasure which it gave Charlotte to have a son foretold to
+her, made her forgive the Assistant his somewhat unfriendly prophecy of
+how it might one day fare with her lovely, beautiful park. She therefore
+answered without any discomposure: "You and I are not old enough yet to
+have lived through very much of these contradictions; and yet when I
+look back into my own early youth, when I remember the style of
+complaints which I used then to hear from older people, and when I think
+at the same time of what the country and the town then were, I have
+nothing to advance against what you say. But is there nothing which one
+can do to remedy this natural course of things? Are father and son,
+parents and children, to be always thus unable to understand each
+other? You have been so kind as to prophesy a boy to me. Is it necessary
+that he must stand in contradiction to his father? Must he destroy what
+his parents have erected, instead of completing it, instead of following
+on upon the same idea, and elevating it?"
+
+"There is a rational remedy for it," replied the Assistant. "But it is
+one which will be but seldom put in practice by men. The father should
+raise his son to a joint ownership with himself. He should permit him to
+plant and to build; and allow him the same innocent liberty which he
+allows to himself. One form of activity may be woven into another, but
+it cannot be pieced on to it. A young shoot may be readily and easily
+grafted with an old stem, to which no grown branch admits of being
+fastened."
+
+The Assistant was glad to have had the opportunity, at the moment when
+he saw himself obliged to take his leave, of saying something agreeable
+to Charlotte, and thus making himself a new link to secure her favor. He
+had been already too long absent from home, and yet he could not make up
+his mind to return there until after a full conviction that he must
+allow the approaching epoch of Charlotte's confinement first to pass by
+before he could look for any decision from her in respect to Ottilie. He
+therefore accommodated himself to the circumstances, and returned with
+these prospects and hopes to the Superior.
+
+Charlotte's confinement was now approaching; she kept more in her own
+room. The ladies who had gathered about her were her closest companions.
+Ottilie managed all domestic matters, hardly able, however, the while,
+to think what she was doing. She had indeed utterly resigned herself;
+she desired to continue to exert herself to the extent of her power for
+Charlotte, for the child, for Edward. But she could not see how it would
+be possible for her. Nothing could save her from utter distraction,
+except patiently to do the duty which each day brought with it.
+
+A son was brought happily into the world, and the ladies declared, with
+one voice, it was the very image of its father. Only Ottilie, as she
+wished the new mother joy, and kissed the child with all her heart, was
+unable to see the likeness. Once already Charlotte had felt most
+painfully the absence of her husband, when she had to make preparations
+for her daughter's marriage. And now the father could not be present at
+the birth of his son. He could not have the choosing of the name by
+which the child was hereafter to be called.
+
+The first among all Charlotte's friends who came to wish her joy was
+Mittler. He had placed expresses ready to bring him news the instant the
+event took place. He was admitted to see her, and, scarcely able to
+conceal his triumph even before Ottilie, when alone with Charlotte he
+broke fairly out with it; and was at once ready with means to remove all
+anxieties, and set aside all immediate difficulties. The baptism should
+not be delayed a day longer than necessary. The old clergyman, who had
+one foot already in the grave, should leave his blessing, to bind
+together the past and the future. The child should be called Otto; what
+name would he bear so fitly as that of his father and of his father's
+friend?
+
+It required the peremptory resolution of this man to set aside the
+innumerable considerations, arguments, hesitations, difficulties; what
+this person knew, and that person knew better; the opinions, up and
+down, and backward and forward, which every friend volunteered. It
+always happens on such occasions that when one inconvenience is removed,
+a fresh inconvenience seems to arise; and in wishing to spare all sides,
+we inevitably go wrong on one side or the other.
+
+The letters to friends and relations were all undertaken by Mittler, and
+they were to be written and sent off at once. It was highly necessary,
+he thought, that the good fortune which he considered so important for
+the family, should be known as widely as possible through the
+ill-natured and misinterpreting world. For indeed these late
+entanglements and perplexities had got abroad among the public, which at
+all times has a conviction that, whatever happens, happens only in order
+that it may have something to talk about.
+
+The ceremony of the baptism was to be observed with all due honor, but
+it was to be as brief and as private as possible. The people came
+together; Ottilie and Mittler were to hold the child as sponsors. The
+old pastor, supported by the servants of the church, came in with slow
+steps; the prayers were offered. The child lay in Ottilie's arms, and as
+she was looking affectionately down at it, it opened its eyes and she
+was not a little startled when she seemed to see her own eyes looking at
+her. The likeness would have surprised any one. Mittler, who next had to
+receive the child, started as well; he fancying he saw in the little
+features a most striking likeness to the Captain. He had never seen a
+resemblance so marked.
+
+The infirmity of the good old clergyman had not permitted him to
+accompany the ceremony with more than the usual liturgy.
+
+Mittler, however, who was full of his subject, recollected his old
+performances when he had been in the ministry, and indeed it was one of
+his peculiarities that, on every sort of occasion, he always thought
+what he would like to say, and how he would express himself about it.
+
+At this time he was the less able to contain himself, as he was now in
+the midst of a circle consisting entirely of well-known friends. He
+began, therefore, toward the conclusion of the service, to put himself
+quietly into the place of the clergyman; to make cheerful speeches
+aloud, expressive of his duty and his hopes as godfather, and to dwell
+all the longer on the subject, as he thought he saw in Charlotte's
+gratified manner that she was pleased with his doing so.
+
+It altogether escaped the eagerness of the orator, that the good old man
+would gladly have sat down; still less did he think that he was on the
+way to occasion a more serious evil. After he had described with all his
+power of impressiveness the relation in which every person present stood
+toward the child, thereby putting Ottilie's composure sorely to the
+proof, he turned at last to the old man with the words, "And you, my
+worthy father, you may now well say with Simeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou
+thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the savior of this
+house.'"
+
+He was now in full swing toward a brilliant peroration, when he
+perceived the old man to whom he held out the child, first appear a
+little to incline toward it, and immediately after to totter and sink
+backward. Hardly prevented from falling, he was lifted to a seat; but,
+notwithstanding the instant assistance which was rendered, he was found
+to be dead.
+
+To see thus side by side birth and death, the coffin and the cradle, to
+see them and to realize them, to comprehend not with the eye of
+imagination, but with the bodily eye, at one moment these fearful
+opposites, was a hard trial to the spectators; the harder, the more
+utterly it had taken them by surprise. Ottilie alone stood contemplating
+the slumberer, whose features still retained their gentle sweet
+expression, with a kind of envy. The life of her soul was killed; why
+should the bodily life any longer drag on in weariness?
+
+But though Ottilie was frequently led by melancholy incidents which
+occurred in the day to thoughts of the past, of separation and of loss,
+at night she had strange visions given her to comfort her, which assured
+her of the existence of her beloved, and thus strengthened her, and gave
+her life for her own. When she laid herself down at night to rest, and
+was floating among sweet sensations between sleep and waking, she seemed
+to be looking into a clear but softly illuminated space. In this she
+would see Edward with the greatest distinctness, and not in the dress in
+which she had been accustomed to see him, but in military uniform;
+never in the same position, but always in a natural one, and not the
+least with anything fantastic about him, either standing or walking, or
+lying down or riding. The figure, which was painted with the utmost
+minuteness, moved readily before her without any effort of hers, without
+her willing it or exerting her imagination to produce it. Frequently she
+saw him surrounded with something in motion, which was darker than the
+bright ground; but the figures were shadowy, and she could scarcely
+distinguish them--sometimes they were like men, sometimes they were like
+horses, or like trees, or like mountains. She usually went to sleep in
+the midst of the apparition, and when, after a quiet night, she woke
+again in the morning, she felt refreshed and comforted; she could say to
+herself, Edward still lives, and she herself was still remaining in the
+closest relation toward him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The spring was come; it was late, but it therefore burst out more
+rapidly and more exhilaratingly than usual. Ottilie now found in the
+garden the fruits of her carefulness. Everything shot up and came out in
+leaf and flower at its proper time. A number of plants which she had
+been training up under glass frames and in hotbeds, now burst forward at
+once to meet, at last, the advances of nature; and whatever there was to
+do, and to take care of, it did not remain the mere labor of hope which
+it had been, but brought its reward in immediate and substantial
+enjoyment.
+
+There was many a chasm, however, among the finest shoots produced by
+Luciana's wild ways, for which she had to console the gardener, and the
+symmetry of many a leafy coronet was destroyed. She tried to encourage
+him to hope that it would all be soon restored again, but he had too
+deep a feeling, and too pure an idea of the nature of his business, for
+such grounds of comfort to be of much service to him. Little as the
+gardener allowed himself to have his attention dissipated by other
+tastes and inclinations, he could the less bear to have the peaceful
+course interrupted which the plant follows toward its enduring or its
+transient perfection. A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we
+can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way. A
+calm eye, a silent method, in all seasons of the year, and at every
+hour, to do exactly what has then to be done, is required of no one
+perhaps more than of a gardener. These qualities the good man possessed
+in an eminent degree, and it was on that account that Ottilie liked so
+well to work with him; but for some time past he had not found himself
+able to exercise his peculiar talent with any pleasure to himself.
+Whatever concerned the fruit-gardening or kitchen-gardening, as well as
+whatever had in time past been required in the ornamental gardens, he
+understood perfectly. One man succeeds in one thing, another in another;
+he succeeded in these. In his management of the orangery, of the bulbous
+flowers, in budding shoots and growing cuttings from the carnations and
+auriculas, he might challenge nature herself. But the new ornamental
+shrubs and fashionable flowers remained in a measure strange to him. He
+had a kind of shyness of the endless field of botany, which had been
+lately opening itself, and the strange names humming about his ears made
+him cross and ill-tempered. The orders for flowers which had been made
+by his lord and lady in the course of the past year, he considered so
+much useless waste and extravagance--all the more, as he saw many
+valuable plants disappear, and as he had ceased to stand on the best
+possible terms with the nursery gardeners, who, he fancied, had not been
+serving him honestly.
+
+Consequently, after a number of attempts, he had formed a sort of a
+plan, in which Ottilie encouraged him the more readily because its first
+essential condition was the return of Edward, whose absence in this, as
+in many other matters, every day had to be felt more and more seriously.
+
+Now that the plants were ever striking new roots, and putting out their
+shoots, Ottilie felt herself even more fettered to this spot. It was
+just a year since she had come there as a stranger, as a mere
+insignificant creature. How much had she not gained for herself since
+that time! but, alas! how much had she not also since that time lost
+again! Never had she been so rich, and never so poor. The feelings of
+her loss and of her gain alternated momentarily one with another,
+chasing each other through her heart; and she could find no other means
+to help herself, except always to set to work again at what lay nearest
+to her, with such interest and eagerness as she could command.
+
+That everything which she knew to be dear to Edward received especial
+care from her may be supposed. And why should she not hope that he
+himself would now soon come back again; and that, when present, he would
+show himself grateful for all the care and pains which she had taken for
+him in his absence?
+
+But there was also a far different employment which she took upon
+herself in his service; she had undertaken the principal charge of the
+child, whose immediate attendant it was all the easier for her to be, as
+they had determined not to put it into the hands of a nurse, but to
+bring it up themselves by hand with milk and water. In the beautiful
+season it was much out of doors, enjoying the free air, and Ottilie
+liked best to take it out herself, to carry the unconscious sleeping
+infant among the flowers and blossoms which should one day smile so
+brightly on its childhood--among the young shrubs and plants, which, by
+their youth, seemed designed to grow up with the young lord to their
+after-stature. When she looked about her, she did not hide from herself
+to what a high position that child was born: far and wide, wherever the
+eye could see, all would one day belong to him. How desirable, how
+necessary it must therefore be, that it should grow up under the eyes of
+its father and its mother, and renew and strengthen the union between
+them!
+
+Ottilie saw all this so clearly that she represented it to herself as
+conclusively decided, and for herself, as concerned with it, she never
+felt at all. Under this fair heaven, by this bright sunshine, at once it
+became clear to her, that her love if it would perfect itself, must
+become altogether unselfish; and there were many moments in which she
+believed it was an elevation which she had already attained. She only
+desired the well-being of her friend. She fancied herself able to resign
+him, and never to see him any more, if she could only know that he was
+happy. The one only determination which she formed for herself was never
+to belong to another.
+
+They had taken care that the autumn should be no less brilliant than the
+spring. Sun-flowers were there, and all the other plants which are never
+tired of blossoming in autumn, and continue boldly on into the cold;
+asters especially were sown in the greatest abundance, and scattered
+about in all directions to form a starry heaven upon the earth.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"Any good thought which we have read, anything striking which we have
+heard, we commonly enter in our diary; but if we would take the trouble,
+at the same time, to copy out of our friends' letters the remarkable
+observations, the original ideas, the hasty words so pregnant in
+meaning, which we might find in them, we should then be rich indeed. We
+lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them
+out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most
+immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others. I
+intend to make amends in future for such neglect."
+
+"So, then, once more the old story of the year is being repeated over
+again. We are come now, thank God, again to its most charming chapter.
+The violets and the may-flowers are as its superscriptions and its
+vignettes. It always makes a pleasant impression on us when we open
+again at these pages in the book of life."
+
+"We find fault with the poor, particularly with the little ones among
+them, when they loiter about the streets and beg. Do we not observe that
+they begin to work again, as soon as ever there is anything for them to
+do? Hardly has nature unfolded her smiling treasures, than the children
+are at once upon her track to open out a calling for themselves. None of
+them begs any more; they have each a nosegay to offer you; they were out
+and gathering it before you had awakened out of your sleep, and the
+supplicating face looks as sweetly at you as the present which the hand
+is holding out. No person ever looks miserable who feels that he has a
+right to make a demand upon you."
+
+"How is it that the year sometimes seems so short, and sometimes is so
+long? How is it that it is so short when it is passing, and so long as
+we look back over it? When I think of the past (and it never comes so
+powerfully over me as in the garden), I feel how the perishing and the
+enduring work one upon the other, and there is nothing whose endurance
+is so brief as not to leave behind it some trace of itself, something in
+its own likeness."
+
+"We are able to tolerate the winter. We fancy that we can extend
+ourselves more freely when the trees are so spectral, so transparent.
+They are nothing, but they conceal nothing; but when once the germs and
+buds begin to show, then we become impatient for the full foliage to
+come out, for the landscape to put on its body, and the tree to stand
+before us as a form."
+
+"Everything which is perfect in its kind must pass out beyond and
+transcend its kind. It must be an inimitable something of another and a
+higher nature. In many of its tones the nightingale is only a bird; then
+it rises up above its class, and seems as if it would teach every
+feathered creature what singing really is."
+
+"A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is but poor
+_comédie à tiroir_. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of
+each, and pushing it back to make haste to the next. Even what we know
+to be good and important hangs but wearily together; every step is an
+end, and every step is a fresh beginning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Charlotte meanwhile was well and in good spirits. She was happy in her
+beautiful boy, whose fair promising little form every hour was a delight
+to both her eyes and heart. In him she found a new link to connect her
+with the world and with her property. Her old activity began anew to
+stir in her again.
+
+Look which way she would, she saw how much had been done in the year
+that was past, and it was a pleasure to her to contemplate it. Enlivened
+by the strength of these feelings, she climbed up to the summer-house
+with Ottilie and the child, and as she laid the latter down on the
+little table, as on the altar of her house, and saw the two seats still
+vacant, she thought of gone-by times, and fresh hopes rose out before
+her for herself and for Ottilie.
+
+Young ladies, perhaps, look timidly round them at this or that young
+man, carrying on a silent examination, whether they would like to have
+him for a husband; but whoever has a daughter or a female ward to care
+for, takes a wider circle in her survey. And so it fared at this moment
+with Charlotte, to whom, as she thought of how they had once sat side by
+side in that summer-house, a union did not seem impossible between the
+Captain and Ottilie. It had not remained unknown to her, that the plans
+for the advantageous marriage, which had been proposed to the Captain,
+had come to nothing.
+
+Charlotte went on up the cliff, and Ottilie carried the child. A number
+of reflections crowded upon the former. Even on the firm land there are
+frequent enough ship-wrecks, and the true, wise conduct is to recover
+ourselves, and refit our vessel at fast as possible. Is life to be
+calculated only by its gains and losses? Who has not made arrangement
+on arrangement, and has not seen them broken in pieces? How often does
+not a man strike into a road and lose it again! How often are we not
+turned aside from one point which we had sharply before our eye, but
+only to reach some higher stage. The traveler, to his greatest
+annoyance, breaks a wheel upon his journey, and through this unpleasant
+accident makes some charming acquaintance, and forms some new
+connection, which has an influence on all his life. Destiny grants us
+our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our
+wishes.
+
+Among these and similar reflections they reached the new building on the
+hill, where they intended to establish themselves for the summer. The
+view all round them was far more beautiful than could have been
+supposed; every little obstruction had been removed; all the loveliness
+of the landscape, whatever nature, whatever the season of the year had
+done for it, came out in its beauty before the eye; and already the
+young plantations, which had been made to fill up a few openings, were
+beginning to look green, and to form an agreeable connecting link
+between parts which before stood separate.
+
+The house itself was nearly habitable; the views, particularly from the
+upper rooms, were of the richest variety. The longer you looked round
+you, the more beauties you discovered. What magnificent effects would
+not be produced here at the different hours of day--by sunlight and by
+moonlight? Nothing could be more delightful than to come and live there,
+and now that she found all the rough work finished, Charlotte longed to
+be busy again. An upholsterer, a tapestry-hanger, a painter, who could
+lay on the colors with patterns, and a little gilding, were all which
+were required, and these were soon found, and in a short time the
+building was completed. Kitchen and cellar stores were quickly laid in;
+being so far from the castle, it was necessary to have all essentials
+provided; and the two ladies with the child went up and settled there.
+From this residence, as from a new centre point, unknown walks opened
+out to them, and in these high regions the free, fresh air and the
+beautiful weather were thoroughly delightful.
+
+Ottilie's favorite walk, sometimes alone, sometimes with the child, was
+down below, toward the plane-trees, along a pleasant footpath leading
+directly to the point where one of the boats was kept chained in which
+people used to go across the water. She often indulged herself in an
+expedition on the water, only without the child, as Charlotte was a
+little uneasy about it. She never missed, however, paying a daily visit
+to the castle garden and the gardener, and going to look with him at his
+show of greenhouse plants, which were all out now, enjoying the free
+air.
+
+At this beautiful season, Charlotte was much pleased to receive a visit
+from an English nobleman, who had made acquaintance with Edward abroad,
+having met him more than once, and who was now curious to see the laying
+out of his park, which he had heard so much admired. He brought with him
+a letter of introduction from the Count, and introduced at the same time
+a quiet but most agreeable man as his traveling companion. He went about
+seeing everything, sometimes with Charlotte and Ottilie, sometimes with
+the gardeners and the foresters, often with his friend, and now and then
+alone; and they could perceive clearly from his observations that he
+took an interest in such matters, and understood them well; indeed, that
+he had himself probably executed many such.
+
+Although he was now advanced in life, he entered warmly into everything
+which could serve for an ornament to life, or contribute anything to its
+importance.
+
+In his presence, the ladies came first properly to enjoy what was around
+them. His practised eye received every effect in its freshness, and he
+found all the more pleasure in what was before him, as he had not
+previously known the place, and was scarcely able to distinguish what
+man had done there from what nature had presented to him ready made.
+
+We may even say that through his remarks the park grew and enriched
+itself; he was able to anticipate in their fulfilment the promises of
+the growing plantations. There was not a spot where there was any effect
+which could be either heightened or produced, but what he observed it.
+
+In one place he pointed to a fountain which, if it was cleaned out,
+promised to be the most beautiful spot for a picnic party; in another,
+to a cave which had only to be enlarged and swept clear of rubbish to
+form a desirable seat. A few trees might be cut down, and a view would
+be opened from it of some grand masses of rock, towering magnificently
+against the sky. He wished the owners joy that so much was still
+remaining for them to do, and he besought them not to be in a hurry
+about it, but to keep for themselves for years to come the pleasures of
+shaping and improving.
+
+At the hours which the ladies usually spent alone he was never in the
+way, for he was occupied the greatest part of the day in catching such
+views in the park as would make good paintings, in a portable camera
+obscura, and drawing from them, in order to secure some desirable fruits
+from his travels for himself and others. For many years past he had been
+in the habit of doing this in all remarkable places which he visited,
+and had provided himself by it with a most charming and interesting
+collection. He showed the ladies a large portfolio which he had brought
+with him, and entertained them with the pictures and with descriptions.
+And it was a real delight to them, here in their solitude, to travel so
+pleasantly over the world, and see sweep past them, shores and havens,
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, cities, castles, and a hundred other
+localities which have a name in history.
+
+Each of the two ladies had an especial interest in it--Charlotte the
+more general interest in whatever was historically remarkable; Ottilie
+dwelling in preference on the scenes of which Edward used most to
+talk--where he liked best to stay, and which he would most often
+revisit. Every man has somewhere, far or near, his peculiar localities
+which attract him; scenes which, according to his character, either from
+first impressions, or from particular associations, or from habit, have
+a charm for him beyond all others.
+
+She, therefore, asked the Earl which, of all these places, pleased him
+best, where he would like to settle, and live for himself, if he might
+choose. There was more than one lovely spot which he pointed out, with
+what had happened to him there to make him love and value it; and the
+peculiar accentuated French in which he spoke made it most pleasant to
+listen to him.
+
+To the further question, which was his ordinary residence that he
+properly considered his home, he replied, without any hesitation, in a
+manner quite unexpected by the ladies:
+
+"I have accustomed myself by this time to be at home everywhere, and I
+find, after all, that it is much more agreeable to allow others to
+plant, and build, and keep house for me. I have no desire to return to
+my own possessions, partly on political grounds, but principally because
+my son, for whose sake alone it was any pleasure to me to remain and
+work there--who will, by-and-by, inherit it, and with whom I hoped to
+enjoy it--took no interest in the place at all, but has gone out to
+India, where, like many other foolish fellows, he fancies he can make a
+higher use of his life. He is more likely to squander it.
+
+"Assuredly we spend far too much labor and outlay in preparation for
+life. Instead of beginning at once to make ourselves happy in a moderate
+condition, we spread ourselves out wider and wider, only to make
+ourselves more and more uncomfortable. Who is there now to enjoy my
+mansion, my park, my gardens? Not I, nor any of mine--strangers,
+visitors, or curious, restless travelers.
+
+"Even with large means, we are ever but half and half at home,
+especially in the country, where we miss many things to which we have
+become accustomed in town. The book for which we are most anxious is
+not to be had, and just the thing which we most wanted is forgotten. We
+take to being domestic, only again to go out of ourselves; if we do not
+go astray of our own will and caprice, circumstances, passions,
+accidents, necessity, and one does not know what besides, manage it for
+us."
+
+Little did the Earl imagine how deeply his friend would be touched by
+these random observations. It is a danger to which we are all of us
+exposed when we venture on general remarks in a society the
+circumstances of which we might have supposed were well enough known to
+us. Such casual wounds, even from well-meaning, kindly-disposed people,
+were nothing new to Charlotte. She so clearly, so thoroughly knew and
+understood the world, that it gave her no particular pain if it did
+happen that through somebody's thoughtlessness or imprudence she had her
+attention forced into this or that unpleasant direction. But it was very
+different with Ottilie. At her half-conscious age, at which she rather
+felt than saw, and at which she was disposed, indeed was obliged, to
+turn her eyes away from what she should not or would not see, Ottilie
+was thrown by this melancholy conversation into the most pitiable state.
+It rudely tore away the pleasant veil from before her eyes, and it
+seemed to her as if everything which had been done all this time for
+house and court, for park and garden, for all their wide environs, were
+utterly in vain, because he to whom it all belonged could not enjoy it;
+because he, like their present visitor, had been driven out to wander up
+and down in the world--and, indeed, in the most perilous paths of it--by
+those who were nearest and dearest to him. She was accustomed to listen
+in silence, but on this occasion she sat on in the most painful
+condition; which, indeed, was made rather worse than better by what the
+stranger went on to say, as he continued with his peculiar, humorous
+gravity:
+
+"I think I am now on the right way. I look upon myself steadily as a
+traveler, who renounces many things in order to enjoy more. I am
+accustomed to change; it has become, indeed, a necessity to me; just as
+in the opera, people are always looking out for new and newer
+decorations, because there have already been so many. I know very well
+what I am to expect from the best hotels, and what from the worst. It
+may be as good or it may be as bad as it will, but I nowhere find
+anything to which I am accustomed, and in the end it comes to much the
+same thing whether we depend for our enjoyment entirely on the regular
+order of custom, or entirely on the caprices of accident. I have never
+had to vex myself now, because this thing is mislaid, or that thing is
+lost; because the room in which I live is uninhabitable, and I must have
+it repaired; because somebody has broken my favorite cup, and for a long
+time nothing tastes well out of any other. All this I am happily raised
+above. If the house catches fire about my ears, my people quietly pack
+my things up, and we pass away out of the town in search of other
+quarters. And considering all these advantages, when I reckon carefully,
+I calculate that, by the end of the year, I have not sacrificed more
+than it would have cost me to be at home."
+
+In this description Ottilie saw nothing but Edward before her; how he
+too was now amidst discomfort and hardship, marching along untrodden
+roads, lying out in the fields in danger and want, and in all this
+insecurity and hazard growing accustomed to be homeless and friendless,
+learning to fling away everything that he might have nothing to lose.
+Fortunately, the party separated for a short time. Ottilie escaped to
+her room, where she could give way to her tears. No weight of sorrow had
+ever pressed so heavily upon her as this clear perception (which she
+tried, as people usually do, to make still clearer to herself), that men
+love to dally with and exaggerate the evils which circumstances have
+once begun to inflict upon them.
+
+The state in which Edward was came before her in a light so piteous, so
+miserable, that she made up her mind, let it cost her what it would,
+that she would do everything in her power to unite him again with
+Charlotte, and she herself would go and hide her sorrow and her love in
+some silent scene, and beguile the time with such employment as she
+could find.
+
+Meanwhile the Earl's companion, a quiet, sensible man and a keen
+observer, had remarked the new trend in the conversation, and spoke to
+his friend about it. The latter knew nothing of the circumstances of the
+family; but the other being one of those persons whose principal
+interest in traveling lay in gathering up the strange occurrences which
+arose out of the natural or artificial relations of society, which were
+produced by the conflict of the restraint of law with the violence of
+the will, of the understanding with the reason, of passion with
+prejudice--had some time before made himself acquainted with the outline
+of the story, and since he had been in the family had learnt exactly all
+that had taken place, and the present position in which things were
+standing.
+
+The Earl, of course, was very sorry, but it was not a thing to make him
+uneasy. A man must hold his tongue altogether in society if he is never
+to find himself in such a position; for not only remarks with meaning in
+them, but the most trivial expressions, may happen to clash in an
+inharmonious key with the interest of somebody present.
+
+"We will set things right this evening," said he, "and escape from any
+general conversation; you shall let them hear one of the many charming
+anecdotes with which your portfolio and your memory have enriched
+themselves while we have been abroad."
+
+However, with the best intentions, the strangers did not, on this next
+occasion, succeed any better in gratifying their friends with unalloyed
+entertainment. The Earl's friend told a number of singular stories--some
+serious, some amusing, some touching, some terrible--with which he had
+roused their attention and strained their interest to the highest
+tension, and he thought to conclude with a strange but softer incident,
+little dreaming how nearly it would touch his listeners.
+
+THE TWO STRANGE CHILDREN
+
+"Two children of neighboring families, a boy and a girl, of an age which
+would suit well for them at some future time to marry, were brought up
+together with this agreeable prospect, and the parents on both sides,
+who were people of some position in the world, looked forward with
+pleasure to their future union.
+
+"It was too soon observed, however, that the purpose seemed likely to
+fail; the dispositions of both children promised everything which was
+good, but there was an unaccountable antipathy between them. Perhaps
+they were too much like each other. Both were thoughtful, clear in their
+wills, and firm in their purposes. Each separately was beloved and
+respected by his or her companions, but whenever they were together they
+were always antagonists. Forming separate plans for themselves, they
+only met mutually to cross and thwart each other; never emulating each
+other in pursuit of one aim, but always fighting for a single object.
+Good-natured and amiable everywhere else, they were spiteful and even
+malicious whenever they came in contact.
+
+"This singular relation first showed itself in their childish games, and
+it continued with their advancing years. The boys used to play at
+soldiers, divide into parties, and give each other battle, and the
+fierce haughty young lady set herself at once at the head of one of the
+armies, and fought against the other with such animosity and bitterness
+that the latter would have been put to a shameful flight, except for the
+desperate bravery of her own particular rival, who at last disarmed his
+antagonist and took her prisoner; and even then she defended herself
+with so much fury that to save his eyes from being torn out, and at the
+same time not to injure his enemy, he had been obliged to take off his
+silk handkerchief and tie her hands with it behind her back.
+
+"This she never forgave him: she made so many attempts, she laid so many
+plans to injure him, that the parents, who had been long watching these
+singular passions, came to a mutual understanding and resolved to
+separate these two hostile creatures, and sacrifice their favorite
+hopes.
+
+"The boy shot rapidly forward in the new situation in which he was
+placed. He mastered every subject which he was taught. His friends and
+his own inclination chose the army for his profession, and everywhere,
+let him be where he would, he was looked up to and beloved. His
+disposition seemed formed to labor for the well-being and the pleasure
+of others; and he himself, without being clearly conscious of it, was in
+himself happy at having got rid of the only antagonist which nature had
+assigned to him.
+
+"The girl, on the other hand, became at once an altered creature. Her
+growing age, the progress of her education, above all, her own inward
+feelings, drew her away from the boisterous games with boys in which she
+had hitherto delighted. Altogether she seemed to want something; there
+was nothing anywhere about her which could deserve to excite her hatred,
+and she had never found any one whom she could think worthy of her love.
+
+"A young man, somewhat older than her previous neighbor-antagonist, of
+rank, property, and consequence, beloved in society, and much sought
+after by women, bestowed his affections upon her. It was the first time
+that friend, lover, or servant had displayed any interest in her. The
+preference which he showed for her above others who were older, more
+cultivated, and of more brilliant pretensions than herself, was
+naturally gratifying; the constancy of his attention, which was never
+obtrusive, his standing by her faithfully through a number of unpleasant
+incidents, his quiet suit, which was declared indeed to her parents, but
+which, as she was still very young, he did not press, only asking to be
+allowed to hope--all this engaged him to her, and custom and the
+assumption in the world that the thing was already settled carried her
+along with it. She had so often been called his bride that at last she
+began to consider herself so, and neither she nor any one else ever
+thought any further trial could be necessary before she exchanged rings
+with the person who for so long a time had passed for her bridegroom.
+
+"The peaceful course which the affair had all along followed was not at
+all precipitated by the betrothal. Things were allowed to go on both
+sides just as they were; they were happy in being together, and they
+could enjoy to the end the fair season of the year as the spring of
+their future more serious life.
+
+"The absent youth had meanwhile grown up into everything which was most
+admirable. He had obtained a well-deserved rank in his profession, and
+came home on leave to visit his family. Toward his fair neighbor he
+found himself again in a natural but singular position. For some time
+past she had been nourishing in herself such affectionate family
+feelings as suited her position as a bride; she was in harmony with
+everything about her; she believed that she was happy, and in a certain
+sense she was so. Now first for a long time something again stood in her
+way. It was not to be hated--she had become incapable of hatred. Indeed
+the childish hatred, which had in fact been nothing more than an obscure
+recognition of inward worth, expressed itself now in a happy
+astonishment, in pleasure at meeting, in ready acknowledgments, in a
+half willing, half unwilling, and yet irresistible attraction; and all
+this was mutual. Their long separation gave occasion for longer
+conversations; even their old childish foolishness served, now that they
+had grown wiser, to amuse them as they looked back; and they felt as if
+at least they were bound to make good their petulant hatred by
+friendliness and attention to each other--as if their first violent
+injustice to each other ought not to be left without open
+acknowledgment.
+
+"On his side it all remained in a sensible, desirable moderation. His
+position, his circumstances, his efforts, his ambition, found him so
+abundant an occupation, that the friendliness of this pretty bride he
+received as a very thank-worthy present; but without, therefore, even so
+much as thinking of her in connection with himself, or entertaining the
+slightest jealousy of the bridegroom, with whom he stood on the best
+possible terms.
+
+"With her, however, it was altogether different. She seemed to herself
+as if she had awakened out of a dream. Her fightings with her young
+neighbor had been the beginnings of an affection; and this violent
+antagonism was no more than an equally violent innate passion for him,
+first showing under the form of opposition. She could remember nothing
+else than that she had always loved him. She laughed over her martial
+encounter with him with weapons in her hand; she dwelt upon the delight
+of her feelings when he disarmed her. She imagined that it had given her
+the greatest happiness when he bound her: and whatever she had done
+afterward to injure him, or to vex him, presented itself to her as only
+an innocent means of attracting his attention. She cursed their
+separation. She bewailed the sleepy state into which she had fallen. She
+execrated the insidious lazy routine which had betrayed her into
+accepting so insignificant a bridegroom. She was transformed--doubly
+transformed, forward or backward, whichever way we like to take it.
+
+"She kept her feelings entirely to herself; but if any one could have
+divined them and shared them with her, he could not have blamed her: for
+indeed the bridegroom could not sustain a comparison with the other as
+soon as they were seen together. If a sort of regard to the one could
+not be refused, the other excited the fullest trust and confidence. If
+one made an agreeable acquaintance, the other we should desire for a
+companion; and in extraordinary cases, where higher demands might have
+to be made on them, the bridegroom was a person to be utterly despaired
+of, while the other would give the feeling of perfect security.
+
+"There is a peculiar innate tact in women which discovers to them
+differences of this kind; and they have cause as well as occasion to
+cultivate it.
+
+"The more the fair bride was nourishing all these feelings in secret,
+the less opportunity there was for any one to speak a word which could
+tell in favor of her bridegroom, to remind her of what her duty and
+their relative position advised and commanded--indeed, what an
+unalterable necessity seemed now irrevocably to require; the poor heart
+gave itself up entirely to its passion.
+
+"On one side she was bound inextricably to the bridegroom by the world,
+by her family, and by her own promise; on the other, the ambitious young
+man made no secret of what he was thinking and planning for himself,
+conducting himself toward her no more than a kind but not at all a
+tender brother, and speaking of his departure as immediately impending;
+and now it seemed as if her early childish spirit woke up again in her
+with all its spleen and violence, and was preparing itself in its
+distemper, on this higher stage of life, to work more effectively and
+destructively. She determined that she would die to punish the once
+hated; and now so passionately loved, youth for his want of interest in
+her; and as she could not possess himself, at least she would wed
+herself for ever to his imagination and to his repentance. Her dead
+image should cling to him, and he should never be free from it. He
+should never cease to reproach himself for not having understood, not
+examined, not valued her feelings toward him.
+
+"This singular insanity accompanied her wherever she went. She kept it
+concealed under all sorts of forms; and although people thought her very
+odd, no one was observant enough or clever enough to discover the real
+inward reason.
+
+"In the meantime, friends, relations, acquaintances had exhausted
+themselves in contrivances for pleasure parties. Scarcely a day passed
+but something new and unexpected was set on foot. There was hardly a
+pretty spot in the country round which had not been decked out and
+prepared for the reception of some merry party. And now our young
+visitor, before departing, wished to do his part as well, and invited
+the young couple, with a small family circle, to an expedition on the
+water. They went on board a large beautiful vessel dressed out in all
+its colors--one of the yachts which had a small saloon and a cabin or
+two besides, and are intended to carry with them upon the water the
+comfort and conveniences of land.
+
+"They set out upon the broad river with music playing. The party had
+collected in the cabin, below deck, during the heat of the day, and were
+amusing themselves with games. Their young host, who could never remain
+without doing something, had taken charge of the helm to relieve the old
+master of the vessel, and the latter had lain down and was fast asleep.
+It was a moment when the steerer required all his circumspectness, as
+the vessel was nearing a spot where two islands narrowed the channel of
+the river, while shallow banks of shingle stretching off, first on one
+side and then on the other, made the navigation difficult and dangerous.
+Prudent and sharp-sighted as he was, he thought for a moment that it
+would be better to wake the master; but he felt confident in himself,
+and he thought he would venture and make straight for the narrows. At
+this moment his fair enemy appeared upon deck with a wreath of flowers
+in her hair. 'Take this to remember me by,' she cried out. She took it
+off and threw it at the steerer. 'Don't disturb me,' he answered
+quickly, as he caught the wreath; 'I require all my powers and all my
+attention now.' 'You will never be disturbed by me any more,' she cried;
+'you will never see me again.' As she spoke, she rushed to the forward
+part of the vessel, and from thence she sprang into the water. Voice
+upon voice called out, 'Save her, save her, she is sinking!' He was in
+the most terrible difficulty. In the confusion the old shipmaster woke,
+and tried to catch the rudder, which the young man bade him take. But
+there was no time to change hands. The vessel stranded; and at the same
+moment, flinging off the heaviest of his upper garments, he sprang into
+the water and swam toward his beautiful enemy. The water is a friendly
+element to a man who is at home in it, and who knows how to deal with
+it; it buoyed him up, and acknowledged the strong swimmer as its master.
+He soon overtook the beautiful girl, who had been swept away before him;
+he caught hold of her, raised her and supported her, and both of them
+were carried violently down by the current, till the shoals and islands
+were left far behind, and the river was again open and running smoothly.
+He now began to collect himself; they had passed the first immediate
+danger, in which he had been obliged to act mechanically without time to
+think; he raised his head as high as he could to look about him and then
+swam with all his might to a low bushy point which ran out conveniently
+into the stream. There he brought his fair burden to dry land, but he
+could find no signs of life in her; he was in despair, when he caught
+sight of a trodden path leading among the bushes. Again he caught her up
+in his arms, hurried forward, and presently reached a solitary cottage.
+There he found kind, good people--a young married couple; the
+misfortunes and the dangers explained themselves instantly; every remedy
+he could think of was instantly applied; a bright fire blazed up; woolen
+blankets were spread on a bed, counterpane, cloaks, skins, whatever
+there was at hand which would serve for warmth, were heaped over her as
+fast as possible. The desire to save life overpowered, for the present,
+every other consideration. Nothing was left undone to bring back to life
+the beautiful, half-torpid, naked body. It succeeded; she opened her
+eyes! her friend was before her; she threw her heavenly arms about his
+neck. In this position she remained for a time; and then a stream of
+tears burst out and completed her recovery. 'Will you forsake me,' she
+cried, 'now when I find you again thus?' 'Never,' he answered, 'never,'
+hardly knowing what he said or did. 'Only consider yourself,' she added;
+'take care of yourself, for your sake and for mine.'
+
+"She now began to collect herself, and for the first time recollected
+the state in which she was; she could not be ashamed before her darling,
+before her preserver; but she gladly allowed him to go, that he might
+take care of himself; for the clothes which he still wore were wet and
+dripping.
+
+"Their young hosts considered what could be done. The husband offered
+the young man, and the wife offered the fair lady, the dresses in which
+they had been married, which were hanging up in full perfection, and
+sufficient for a complete suit, inside and out, for two people. In a
+short time our pair of adventurers were not only equipped, but in full
+costume. They looked most charming, gazed at each other, when they met,
+with admiration, and then with infinite affection, half laughing at the
+same time at the quaintness of their appearance, they fell into each
+other's arms.
+
+"The power of youth and the quickening spirit of love in a few moments
+completely restored them; and there was nothing wanting but music to
+have set them both off dancing.
+
+"To have found themselves brought from the water on dry land, from death
+into life, from the circle of their families into a wilderness, from
+despair into rapture, from indifference to affection and to love, all in
+a moment: the head was not strong enough to bear it; it must either
+burst, or go distracted; or if so distressing an alternative were to be
+escaped, the heart must put out all its efforts.
+
+"Lost wholly in each other, it was long before they recollected the
+alarm and anxiety of those who had been left behind; and they
+themselves, indeed, could not well think, without alarm and anxiety, how
+they were again to encounter them. 'Shall we run away? shall we hide
+ourselves?' asked the young man. 'We will remain together,' she said,
+as she clung about his neck.
+
+"The peasant having heard them say that a party was aground on the
+shoal, had hurried down, without stopping to ask another question, to
+the shore. When he arrived there, he saw the vessel coming safely down
+the stream. After much labor it had been got off; and they were now
+going on in uncertainty, hoping to find their lost ones again somewhere.
+The peasant shouted and made signs to them, and at last caught the
+attention of those on board; then he ran to a spot where there was a
+convenient place for landing, and went on signalling and shouting till
+the vessel's head was turned toward the shore; and what a scene there
+was for them when they landed. The parents of the two betrothed first
+pressed on the banks; the poor loving bridegroom had almost lost his
+senses. They had scarcely learnt that their dear children had been
+saved, when in their strange disguise the latter came forward out of the
+bushes to meet them. No one recognized them till they were come quite
+close. 'Whom do I see?' cried the mothers. 'What do I see?' cried the
+fathers. The preserved ones flung themselves on the ground before them.
+'Your children,' they called out; 'a pair.' 'Forgive us!' cried the
+maiden. 'Give us your blessing!' cried the young man. 'Give us your
+blessing!' they cried both, as all the world stood still in wonder.
+'Your blessing!' was repeated the third time; and who would have been
+able to refuse it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+The narrator made a pause, or rather he had already finished his story,
+before he observed the emotion into which Charlotte had been thrown by
+it. She got up, uttered some sort of an apology, and left the room. To
+her it was a well-known history. The principal incident in it had really
+taken place with the Captain and a neighbor of her own; not exactly,
+indeed, as the Englishman had related it. But the main features of it
+were the same. It had only been more finished off and elaborated in its
+details, as stories of that kind always are when they have passed first
+through the lips of the multitude, and then through the fancy of a
+clever and imaginative narrator; the result of the process being usually
+to leave everything and nothing as it was.
+
+Ottilie followed Charlotte, as the two friends begged her to do; and
+then it was the Earl's turn to remark, that perhaps they had made a
+second mistake, and that the subject of the story had been well known
+to, or was in some way connected with, the family. "We must take care,"
+he added, "that we do no more mischief here; we seem to bring little
+good to our entertainers for all the kindness and hospitality which they
+have shown us; we will make some excuse for ourselves, and then take our
+leave."
+
+"I must confess," answered his companion, "that there is something else
+which still holds me here, which I should be very sorry to leave the
+house without seeing cleared up or in some way explained. You were too
+busy yourself yesterday when we were in the park with the camera, in
+looking for spots where you could make your sketches, to have observed
+anything else which was passing. You left the broad walk, you remember,
+and went to a sequestered place on the side of the lake. There was a
+fine view of the opposite shore which you wished to take. Well, Ottilie,
+who was with us, got up to follow; and then proposed that she and I
+should find our way to you in the boat. I got in with her, and was
+delighted with the skill of my fair conductress. I assured her that
+never since I had been in Switzerland, where the young ladies so often
+fill the place of the boatmen, had I been so pleasantly ferried over the
+water. At the same time I could not help asking her why she had shown
+such an objection to going the way which you had gone, along the little
+by-path. I had observed her shrink from it with a sort of painful
+uneasiness. She was not at all offended. 'If you will promise not to
+laugh at me,' she answered, 'I will tell you as much as I know about
+it; but to myself it is a mystery which I cannot explain. There is a
+particular spot in that path which I never pass without a strange shiver
+passing over me, which I do not remember ever feeling anywhere else, and
+which I cannot the least understand. But I shrink from exposing myself
+to the sensation, because it is followed immediately after by a pain on
+the left side of my head, from which at other times I suffer severely.'
+We landed. Ottilie was engaged with you, and I took the opportunity of
+examining the spot, which she pointed out to me as we went by on the
+water. I was not a little surprised to find there distinct traces of
+coal in sufficient quantities to convince me that at a short distance
+below the surface there must be a considerable bed of it.
+
+"Pardon me, my Lord; I see you smile; and I know very well that you have
+no faith in these things about which I am so eager, and that it is only
+your sense and your kindness which enable you to tolerate me. However,
+it is impossible for me to leave this place without trying on that
+beautiful creature an experiment with the pendulum."
+
+The Earl, whenever these matters came to be spoken of, never failed to
+repeat the same objections to them over and over again; and his friend
+endured them all quietly and patiently, remaining firm, nevertheless, to
+his own opinion, and holding to his own wishes. He, too, again repeated
+that there was no reason, because the experiment did not succeed with
+every one, that they should give them up, as if there was nothing in
+them but fancy. They should be examined into all the more earnestly and
+scrupulously; and there was no doubt that the result would be the
+discovery of a number of affinities of inorganic creatures for one
+another, and of organic creatures for them, and again for each other,
+which at present were unknown to us.
+
+He had already spread out his apparatus of gold rings, marcasites, and
+other metallic substances, a pretty little box of which he always
+carried about with himself; and he suspended a piece of metal by a
+string over another piece, which he placed upon the table. "Now, my
+Lord," he said, "you may take what pleasure you please (I can see in
+your face what you are feeling), at perceiving that nothing will set
+itself in motion with me, or for me. But my operation is no more than a
+pretense; when the ladies come back, they will be curious to know what
+strange work we are about."
+
+The ladies returned. Charlotte understood at once what was going on. "I
+have heard much of these things," she said; "but I never saw the effect
+myself. You have everything ready there. Let me try whether I can
+succeed in producing anything."
+
+She took the thread in her hand, and as she was perfectly serious, she
+held it steady, and without any agitation. Not the slightest motion,
+however, could be detected. Ottilie was then called upon to try. She
+held the pendulum still more quietly and unconsciously over the plate on
+the table. But in a moment the swinging piece of metal began to stir
+with a distinct rotary action, and turned as they moved the position of
+the plate, first to one side and then to the other; now in circles, now
+in ellipses; or else describing a series of straight lines; doing all
+the Earl's friend could expect, and far exceeding, indeed, all his
+expectations.
+
+The Earl himself was a little staggered; but the other could never be
+satisfied, from delight and curiosity, and begged for the experiment
+again and again with all sorts of variations. Ottilie was good-natured
+enough to gratify him; till at last she was obliged to desire to be
+allowed to go, as her headache had come on again. In further admiration
+and even rapture, he assured her with enthusiasm that he would cure her
+forever of her disorder, if she would only trust herself to his
+remedies. For a moment they did not know what he meant; but Charlotte,
+who comprehended immediately after, declined his well-meant offer, not
+liking to have introduced and practised about her a thing of which she
+had always had the strongest apprehensions.
+
+The strangers were gone, and notwithstanding their having been the
+inadvertent cause of strange and painful emotions, left the wish behind
+them, that this meeting might not be the last. Charlotte now made use of
+the beautiful weather to return visits in the neighborhood, which,
+indeed, gave her work enough to do, seeing that the whole country round,
+some from a real interest, some merely from custom, had been most
+attentive in calling to inquire after her. At home her delight was the
+sight of the child, and really it well deserved all love and interest.
+People, saw in it a wonderful, indeed a miraculous child; the brightest,
+sunniest little face; a fine, well-proportioned body, strong and
+healthy; and what surprised them more, the double resemblance, which
+became more and more conspicuous. In figure and in the features of the
+face, it was like the Captain; the eyes every day it was less easy to
+distinguish from the eyes of Ottilie.
+
+Ottilie herself, partly from this remarkable affinity, perhaps still
+more under the influence of that sweet woman's feeling which makes them
+regard with the most tender affection the offspring, even by another, of
+the man they love, was as good as a mother to the little creature as it
+grew, or rather, she was a second mother of another kind. If Charlotte
+was absent, Ottilie remained alone with the child and the nurse. Nanny
+had for some time past been jealous of the boy for monopolizing the
+entire affections of her mistress; she had left her in a fit of
+crossness, and gone back to her mother. Ottilie would carry the child
+about in the open air, and by degrees took longer and longer walks with
+it, carrying a bottle of milk to give the child its food when it wanted
+any. Generally, too, she took a book with her; and so with the child in
+her arms, reading and wandering, she made a very pretty Penserosa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The object of the campaign was attained, and Edward, with crosses and
+decorations, was honorably dismissed. He betook himself at once to the
+same little estate, where he found exact accounts of his family waiting
+for him, on whom all this time, without their having observed it or
+known of it, a sharp watch had been kept under his orders. His quiet
+residence looked most sweet and pleasant when he reached it. In
+accordance with his orders, various improvements had been made in his
+absence, and what was wanting to the establishment in extent, was
+compensated by its internal comforts and conveniences. Edward,
+accustomed by his more active habits of life to take decided steps,
+determined to execute a project which he had had sufficient time to
+think over. First of all, he invited the Major to come to him. This
+pleasure in meeting again was very great to both of them. The
+friendships of boyhood, like relationship of blood, possess this
+important advantage, that mistakes and misunderstandings never produce
+irreparable injury; and the old regard after a time will always
+reestablish itself.
+
+Edward began with inquiring about the situation of his friend, and
+learnt that fortune had favored him exactly as he most could have
+wished. He then half-seriously asked whether there was not something
+going forward about a marriage; to which he received a most decided and
+positive denial.
+
+"I cannot and will not have any reserve with you," he proceeded. "I will
+tell you at once what my own feelings are, and what I intend to do. You
+know my passion for Ottilie; you must long have comprehended that it was
+this which drove me into the campaign. I do not deny that I desire to be
+rid of a life which, without her, would be of no further value to me. At
+the same time, however, I acknowledge that I could never bring myself
+utterly to despair. The prospect of happiness with her was so beautiful,
+so infinitely charming, that it was not possible for me entirely to
+renounce it. Feelings, too, which I cannot explain, and a number of
+happy omens, have combined to strengthen me in the belief, in the
+assurance, that Ottilie will one day be mine. The glass with our
+initials cut upon it, which was thrown into the air when the
+foundation-stone was laid, did not go to pieces; it was caught, and I
+have it again in my possession. After many miserable hours of
+uncertainty, spent in this place, I said to myself, 'I will put myself
+in the place of this glass, and it shall be an omen whether our union be
+possible or not. I will go; I will seek for death; not like a madman,
+but like a man who still hopes that he may live. Ottilie shall be the
+prize for which I fight. Ottilie shall be behind the ranks of the enemy;
+in every intrenchment, in every beleaguered fortress, I shall hope to
+find her, and to win her. I will do wonders, with the wish to survive
+them; with the hope to gain Ottilie, not to lose her.' These feelings
+have led me on; they have stood by me through all dangers; and now I
+find myself like one who has arrived at his goal, who has overcome
+every difficulty and who has nothing more left in his way. Ottilie is
+mine, and whatever lies between the thought and the execution of it, I
+can only regard as unimportant."
+
+"With a few strokes you blot out," replied the Major, "all the
+objections that we can or ought to urge upon you, and yet they must be
+repeated. I must leave it to yourself to recall the full value of your
+relation with your wife; but you owe it to her, and you owe it to
+yourself, not to close your eyes to it. How can I so much as recollect
+that you have had a son given to you, without acknowledging at once that
+you two belong to each other forever; that you are bound, for this
+little creature's sake, to live united, that united you may educate it
+and provide for its future welfare?"
+
+"It is no more than the blindness of parents," answered Edward, "when
+they imagine their existence to be of so much importance to their
+children. Whatever lives, finds nourishment and finds assistance; and if
+the son who has early lost his father does not spend so easy, so favored
+a youth, he profits, perhaps, for that very reason, in being trained
+sooner for the world, and comes to a timely knowledge that he must
+accommodate himself to others, a thing sooner or later we are all forced
+to learn. Here, however even these considerations are irrelevant; we
+are sufficiently well off to be able to provide for more children than
+one, and it is neither right nor kind to accumulate so large a property
+on a single head."
+
+The Major attempted to say something of Charlotte's worth, and Edward's
+long-standing attachment to her; but the latter hastily interrupted him.
+"We committed ourselves to a foolish thing, that I see all too clearly.
+Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his
+early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life
+has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires. Woe to him who,
+either by circumstances or by his own infatuation, is induced to grasp
+at anything before him or behind him. We have done a foolish thing. Are
+we to abide by it all our lives? Are we, from some respect of prudence,
+to refuse to ourselves what the customs of the age do not forbid? In how
+many matters do men recall their intentions and their actions; and shall
+it not be allowed to them here, here, where the question is not of this
+thing or of that, but of everything; not of our single condition of
+life, but of the whole complex life itself?"
+
+Again the Major powerfully and impressively urged on Edward to consider
+what he owed to his wife, what was due to his family, to the world, and
+to his own position; but he could not succeed in producing the slightest
+impression.
+
+"All these questions, my friend," he returned, "I have considered
+already again and again. They have passed before me in the storm of
+battle, when the earth was shaking with the thunder of the cannon, with
+the balls singing and whistling around me, with my comrades falling
+right and left, my horse shot under me, my hat pierced with bullets.
+They have floated before me by the still watch-fire under the starry
+vault of the sky. I have thought them all through, felt them all
+through. I have weighed them, and I have satisfied myself about them
+again and again, and now forever. At such moments why should I not
+acknowledge it to you? You too were in my thoughts, you too belonged to
+my circle; as, indeed, you and I have long belonged to each other. If I
+have ever been in your debt I am now in a position to repay it with
+interest; if you have been in mine you have now the means to make it
+good to me. I know that you love Charlotte, and she deserves it. I know
+that you are not indifferent to her, and why should she not feel your
+worth? Take her at my hand and give Ottilie to me, and we shall be the
+happiest beings upon the earth."
+
+"If you choose to assign me so high a character," replied the Major, "it
+is the more reason for me to be firm and prudent. Whatever there may be
+in this proposal to make it attractive to me, instead of simplifying the
+problem, it only increases the difficulty of it. The question is now of
+me as well as of you. The fortunes, the good name, the honor of two men,
+hitherto unsullied with a breath, will be exposed to hazard by so
+strange a proceeding, to call it by no harsher name, and we shall appear
+before the world in a highly questionable light."
+
+"Our very characters being what they are," replied Edward, "give us a
+right to take this single liberty. A man who has borne himself honorably
+through a whole life, makes an action honorable which might appear
+ambiguous in others. As concerns myself, after these last trials which I
+have taken upon myself, after the difficult and dangerous actions which
+I have accomplished for others, I feel entitled now to do something for
+myself. For you and Charlotte, that part of the business may, if you
+like it, be given up; but neither you nor any one shall keep me from
+doing what I have determined. If I may look for help and furtherance, I
+shall be ready to do everything which can be wished; but if I am to be
+left to myself, or if obstacles are to be thrown in my way, some
+extremity or other is sure to follow."
+
+The Major thought it his duty to combat Edward's purposes as long as it
+was possible; and now he changed the mode of his attack and tried a
+diversion. He seemed to give way, and only spoke of the form of what
+they would have to do to bring about this separation, and these new
+unions; and so mentioned a number of ugly, undesirable matters, which
+threw Edward into the worst of tempers.
+
+"I see plainly," he cried at last, "that what we desire can only be
+carried by storm, whether it be from our enemies or from our friends. I
+keep clearly before my own eyes what I demand, what, one way or another,
+I must have; and I will seize it promptly and surely. Connections like
+ours, I know very well, cannot be broken up and reconstructed again
+without much being thrown down which is standing, and much having to
+give way which would be glad enough to continue. We shall come to no
+conclusion by thinking about it. All rights are alike to the
+understanding, and it is always easy to throw extra weight into the
+ascending scale. Do you makeup your mind, my friend, to act, and act
+promptly, for me and for yourself. Disentangle and untie the knots, and
+tie them up again. Do not be deterred from it by nice respects. We have
+already given the world something to say about us. It will talk about us
+once more; and when we have ceased to be a nine days' wonder, it will
+forget us as it forgets everything else, and allow us to follow our own
+way without further concern with us." The Major had nothing further to
+say, and was at last obliged to sit silent; while Edward treated the
+affair as now conclusively settled, talked through in detail all that
+had to be done, and pictured the future in every most cheerful color,
+and then he went on again seriously and thoughtfully: "If we think to
+leave ourselves to the hope, to the expectation, that all will go right
+again of itself, that accident will lead us straight, and take care of
+us, it will be a most culpable self-deception. In such a way it would be
+impossible for us to save ourselves, or reestablish our peace again. I
+who have been the innocent cause of it all, how am I ever to console
+myself? By my own importunity I prevailed on Charlotte to write to you
+to stay with us; and Ottilie followed in consequence. We have had no
+more control over what ensued out of this, but we have the power to
+make it innocuous; to guide the new circumstances to our own happiness.
+Can you turn away your eyes from the fair and beautiful prospects which
+I open to us? Can you insist to me, can you insist to us all, on a
+wretched renunciation of them? Do you think it possible? Is it possible?
+Will there be no vexations, no bitterness, no inconvenience to overcome,
+if we resolve to fall back into our old state? and will any good, any
+happiness whatever, arise out of it? Will your own rank, will the high
+position which you have earned, be any pleasure to you, if you are to be
+prevented from visiting me, or from living with me? And after what has
+passed, it would not be anything but painful. Charlotte and I, with all
+our property, would only find ourselves in a melancholy state. And if,
+like other men of the world, you can persuade yourself that years and
+separation will eradicate our feelings, will obliterate impressions so
+deeply engraved; why, then the question is of these very years, which it
+would be better to spend in happiness and comfort than in pain and
+misery. But the last and most important point of all which I have to
+urge is this: supposing that we, our outward and inward condition being
+what it is, could nevertheless make up our minds to wait at all hazards,
+and bear what is laid upon us, what is to become of Ottilie? She must
+leave our family; she must go into society where we shall not be to care
+for her, and she will be driven wretchedly to and fro in a hard, cold
+world. Describe to me any situation in which Ottilie, without me,
+without us, could be happy, and you will then have employed an argument
+which will be stronger than every other; and if I will not promise to
+yield to it, if I will not undertake at once to give up all my own
+hopes, I will at least reconsider the question, and see how what you
+have said will affect it."
+
+This problem was not so easy to solve; at least, no satisfactory answer
+to it suggested itself to his friend, and nothing was left to him except
+to insist again and again, how grave and serious, and in many senses how
+dangerous, the whole undertaking was; and at least that they ought
+maturely to consider how they had better enter upon it. Edward agreed to
+this, and consented to wait before he took any steps; but only under the
+condition that his friend should not leave him until they had come to a
+perfect understanding about it, and until the first measures had been
+taken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Men who are complete strangers, and wholly indifferent to one another,
+if they live a long time together, are sure both of them to expose
+something of their inner nature, and thus a kind of intimacy will arise
+between them. All the more was it to be expected that there would soon
+be no secrets between our two friends, now that they were again under
+the same roof together, and in daily and hourly intercourse. They went
+over again the earlier stages of their history, and the Major confessed
+to Edward that Charlotte had intended Ottilie for him at the time at
+which he returned from abroad, and hoped that some time or other he
+might marry her. Edward was in ecstasies at this discovery; he spoke
+without reserve of the mutual affection of Charlotte and the Major,
+which, because it happened to fall in so conveniently with his own
+wishes, he painted in very lively colors.
+
+Deny it altogether, the Major could not; at the same time, he could not
+altogether acknowledge it. But Edward only insisted on it the more. He
+had pictured the whole thing to himself not as possible, but as already
+concluded; all parties had only to resolve on what they all wished;
+there would be no difficulty in obtaining a separation; the marriages
+should follow as soon after as possible, and Edward could travel with
+Ottilie.
+
+Of all the pleasant things which imagination pictures to us, perhaps
+there is none more charming than when lovers and young married people
+look forward to enjoying their new relation to each other in a fresh,
+new world, and test the endurance of the bond between them in so many
+changing circumstances. The Major and Charlotte were in the meantime to
+have unrestricted powers to settle all questions of money, property, and
+other such important worldly matters; and to do whatever was right and
+proper for the satisfaction of all parties. What Edward dwelt the most
+upon, however, what he seemed to promise himself the most advantage from
+was this:--as the child would have to remain with the mother, the Major
+would charge himself with the education of it; he would train the boy
+according to his own views, and develop what capacities there might be
+in him. It was not for nothing that he had received in his baptism the
+name of Otto, which belonged to them both.
+
+Edward had so completely arranged everything for himself, that he could
+not wait another day to carry it into execution. On their way to the
+castle, they arrived at a small town, where Edward had a house, and
+where he was to stay to await the return of the Major. He could not,
+however, prevail upon himself to alight there at once, and accompanied
+his friend through the place. They were both on horseback, and falling
+into some interesting conversation, rode on further together.
+
+On a sudden they saw, in the distance, the new house on the height, with
+its red tiles shining in the sun. An irresistible longing came over
+Edward; he would have it all settled that very evening; he would remain
+concealed in a village close by. The Major was to urge the business on
+Charlotte with all his power; he would take her prudence by surprise;
+and oblige her by the unexpectedness of his proposal to make a free
+acknowledgment of her feelings. Edward had transferred his own wishes to
+her; he felt certain that he was only meeting her half-way, and that her
+inclinations were as decided as his own; and he looked for an immediate
+consent from her, because he himself could think of nothing else.
+
+Joyfully he saw the prosperous issue before his eyes; and that it might
+be communicated to him as swiftly as possible, a few cannon shots were
+to be fired off, and if it was dark, a rocket or two sent up.
+
+The Major rode to the castle. He did not find Charlotte there; he learnt
+that for the present she was staying at the new house; at that
+particular time, however, she was paying a visit in the neighborhood,
+and she probably would not have returned till late that evening. He
+walked back to the hotel, to which he had previously sent his horse.
+
+Edward, in the meantime, unable to sit still from restlessness and
+impatience, stole away out of his concealment along solitary paths known
+only to foresters and fishermen, into his park; and he found himself
+toward evening in the copse close to the lake, the broad mirror of which
+he now for the first time saw spread out in its perfectness before him.
+
+Ottilie had gone out that afternoon for a walk along the shore. She had
+the child with her, and read as she usually did while she went along.
+She had gone as far as the oak-tree by the ferry. The boy had fallen
+asleep; she sat down; laid it on the ground at her side, and continued
+reading. The book was one of those which attract persons of delicate
+feeling, and afterward will not let them go again. She forgot the time
+and the hours; she never thought what a long way round it was by land to
+the new house; but she sat lost in her book and in herself, so beautiful
+to look at, that the trees and the bushes round her ought to have been
+alive, and to have had eyes given them to gaze upon her and admire her.
+The sun was sinking; a ruddy streak of light fell upon her from behind,
+tinging with gold her cheek and shoulder. Edward, who had made his way
+to the lake without being seen, finding his park desolate, and no trace
+of human creature to be seen anywhere, went on and on. At last he broke
+through the copse behind the oak-tree, and saw her. At the same moment
+she saw him. He flew to her, and threw himself at her feet. After a
+long, silent pause, in which they both endeavored to collect themselves,
+he explained in a few words why and how he had come there. He had sent
+the Major to Charlotte; and perhaps at that moment their common destiny
+was being decided. Never had he doubted her affection, and she assuredly
+had never doubted his. He begged for her consent; she hesitated; he
+implored her. He offered to resume his old privilege, and throw his arms
+around her, and embrace her; she pointed down to the child.
+
+Edward looked at it, and was amazed. "Great God!" he cried; "if I had
+cause to doubt my wife and my friend, this face would witness fearfully
+against them. Is not this the very image of the Major? I never saw such
+a likeness."
+
+"Indeed!" replied Ottilie; "all the world say it is like me."
+
+"Is it possible?" Edward answered; and at the moment the child opened
+its eyes--two large, black, piercing eyes, deep and full of love;
+already the little face was full of intelligence. He seemed as if he
+knew both the figures which he saw standing before him. Edward threw
+himself down beside the child, and then knelt a second time before
+Ottilie. "It is you," he cried; "the eyes are yours! ah, but let me look
+into yours; let me throw a veil over that ill-starred hour which gave
+its being to this little creature. Shall I shock your pure spirit with
+the fearful thought, that man and wife who are estranged from each
+other, can yet press each other to their heart, and profane the bonds by
+which the law unites them by other eager wishes? Oh yes! As I have said
+so much; as my connection with Charlotte must now be severed; as you
+will be mine, why should I not speak out the words to you? This child is
+the offspring of a double adultery. It should have been a tie between my
+wife and myself; but it severs her from me, and me from her. Let it
+witness, then, against me. Let these fair eyes say to yours, that in the
+arms of another I belonged to you. You must feel, Ottilie, oh! you must
+feel, that my fault, my crime, I can only expiate in your arms."
+
+"Hark!" he called out, as he sprang up and listened. He thought that he
+had heard a shot, and that it was the sign which the Major was to give.
+It was the gun of a forester on the adjoining hill. Nothing followed.
+Edward grew impatient.
+
+Ottilie now first observed that the sun was down behind the mountains;
+its last rays were shining on the windows of the house above. "Leave me,
+Edward," she cried; "go. Long as we have been parted, much as we have
+borne, yet remember what we both owe to Charlotte. She must decide our
+fate; do not let us anticipate her judgment. I am yours if she will
+permit it to be so. If she will not, I must renounce you. As you think
+it is now so near an issue, let us wait. Go back to the village, where
+the Major supposes you to be. Is it likely that a rude cannon-shot will
+inform you of the results of such an interview? Perhaps at this moment
+he is seeking for you. He will not have found Charlotte at home; of that
+I am certain. He may have gone to meet her; for they knew at the castle
+where she was. How many things may have happened! Leave me! she must be
+at home by this time; she is expecting me there with the baby."
+
+Ottilie spoke hurriedly; she called together all the possibilities. It
+was too delightful to be with Edward; but she felt that he must now
+leave her. "I beseech, I implore you, my beloved," she cried out; "go
+back and wait for the Major."
+
+"I obey your commands," cried Edward. He gazed at her for a moment with
+rapturous love, and then caught her close in his arms. She wound her own
+about him, and pressed him tenderly to her breast. Hope streamed away,
+like a star shooting in the sky, above their heads. They thought then,
+they believed, that they did indeed belong to each other. For the first
+time they exchanged free, genuine kisses, and separated with pain and
+effort.
+
+The sun had gone down. It was twilight, and a damp mist was rising about
+the lake. Ottilie stood confused and agitated. She looked across to the
+house on the hill, and she thought she saw Charlotte's white dress on
+the balcony.
+
+It was a long way round by the end of the lake; and she knew how
+impatiently Charlotte would be waiting for the child. She saw the
+plane-trees just opposite her, and only a narrow interval of water
+divided her from the path which led straight up to the house. Her
+nervousness about venturing on the water with the child vanished in her
+present embarrassment. She hastened to the boat; she did not feel that
+her heart was beating; that her feet were tottering; that her senses
+were threatening to fail her.
+
+She sprang in, seized the oar, and pushed off. She had to use force; she
+pushed again. The boat shot off, and glided, swaying and rocking into
+the open water. With the child in her left arm, the book in her left
+hand, and the oar in her right, she lost her footing, and fell over the
+seat; the oar slipped from her on one side, and as she tried to recover
+herself, the child and the book slipped on the other, all into the
+water. She caught the floating dress, but lying entangled as she was
+herself, she was unable to rise. Her right hand was free, but she could
+not reach round to help herself up with it; at last she succeeded. She
+drew the child out of the water; but its eyes were closed, and it had
+ceased to breathe.
+
+In a moment, she recovered all her self-possession; but so much the
+greater was her agony; the boat was drifting fast into the middle of the
+lake; the oar was swimming far away from her. She saw no one on the
+shore; and, indeed, if she had, it would have been of no service to her.
+Cut off from all assistance, she was floating on the faithless, unstable
+element.
+
+She sought for help from herself; she had often heard of the recovery of
+the drowned; she had herself witnessed an instance of it on the evening
+of her birthday; she took off the child's clothes, and dried it with her
+muslin dress; she threw open her bosom, laying it bare for the first
+time to the free heaven. For the first time she pressed a living being
+to her pure, naked breast.
+
+[Illustration: OTTILIE. _From the Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach_]
+
+Alas! and it was not a living being. The cold limbs of the ill-starred
+little creature chilled her to the heart. Streams of tears gushed from
+her eyes, and lent a show of life and warmth to the outside of the
+torpid limbs. She persevered with her efforts; she wrapped it in her
+shawl, she drew it close to herself, stroked it, breathed upon it, and
+with tears and kisses labored to supply the help which, cut off as she
+was, she was unable to find.
+
+It was all in vain; the child lay motionless in her arms; motionless the
+boat floated on the glassy water. But even here her beautiful spirit did
+not leave her forsaken. She turned to the Power above. She sank down
+upon her knees in the boat, and with both arms raised the unmoving child
+above her innocent breast, like marble in its whiteness; alas, too, like
+marble, cold; with moist eyes she looked up and cried for help, where a
+tender heart hopes to find it in its fulness when all other help has
+failed.
+
+The stars were beginning one by one to glimmer down upon her; she turned
+to them and not in vain; a soft air stole over the surface, and wafted
+the boat under the plane-trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+She hurried to the new house, and called the surgeon and gave the child
+into his hands. It was carried at once to Charlotte's sleeping-room.
+Cool and collected from a wide experience, he submitted the tender body
+to the usual process. Ottilie stood by him through it all. She prepared
+everything, she fetched everything, but as if she were moving in another
+world; for the height of misfortune, like the height of happiness,
+alters the aspect of every object. And it was only when, after every
+resource had been exhausted, the good man shook his head, and to her
+questions, whether there was hope, first was silent, and then answered
+with a gentle No! that she left the apartment, and had scarcely entered
+the sitting-room, when she fell fainting, with her face upon the carpet,
+unable to reach the sofa.
+
+At that moment Charlotte was heard driving up. The surgeon implored the
+servants to keep back, and allow him to go to meet her and prepare her.
+But he was too late; while he was speaking she had entered the
+drawing-room. She found Ottilie on the ground, and one of the girls of
+the house came running and screaming to her open-mouthed. The surgeon
+entered at the same moment, and she was informed of everything. She
+could not at once, however, give up all hope. She was flying up stairs
+to the child, but the physician besought her to remain where she was. He
+went himself, to deceive her with a show of fresh exertions, and she sat
+down upon the sofa. Ottilie was still lying on the ground; Charlotte
+raised her, and supported her against herself, and her beautiful head
+sank down upon her knee. The kind medical man went backward and forward;
+he appeared to be busy about the child; his real care was for the
+ladies; and so came on midnight, and the stillness grew more and more
+deathly. Charlotte did not try to conceal from herself any longer that
+her child would never return to life again. She desired to see it now.
+It had been wrapped up in warm woolen coverings. And it was brought down
+as it was, lying in its cot, which was placed at her side on the sofa.
+The little face was uncovered; and there it lay in its calm sweet
+beauty.
+
+The report of the accident soon spread through the village; every one
+was aroused, and the story reached the hotel. The Major hurried up the
+well-known road; he went round and round the house; at last he met a
+servant who was going to one of the out-buildings to fetch something. He
+learnt from him in what state things were, and desired him to tell the
+surgeon that he was there. The latter came out, not a little surprised
+at the appearance of his old patron. He told him exactly what had
+happened, and undertook to prepare Charlotte to see him. He then went
+in, began some conversation to distract her attention, and led her
+imagination from one object to another, till at last he brought it to
+rest upon her friend, and the depth of feeling and of sympathy which
+would surely be called out in him. From the imaginative she was brought
+at once to the real. Enough! she was informed that he was at the door,
+that he knew everything and desired to be admitted.
+
+The Major entered. Charlotte received him with a miserable smile. He
+stood before her; she lifted off the green silk covering under which the
+body was lying; and by the dim light of a taper, he saw before him, not
+without a secret shudder, the stiffened image of himself. Charlotte
+pointed to a chair, and there they sat opposite each other, without
+speaking, through the night. Ottilie was still lying motionless on
+Charlotte's knee; she breathed softly, and slept or seemed to sleep.
+
+The morning dawned, the lights went out; the two friends appeared to
+awake out of a heavy dream. Charlotte looked toward the Major, and said
+quietly: "Tell me through what circumstances you have been brought
+hither, to take part in this mourning scene."
+
+"The present is not a time," the Major answered, in the same low tone as
+that in which Charlotte had spoken, for fear lest she might disturb
+Ottilie; "this is not a time, and this is not a place for reserve. The
+condition in which I find you is so fearful that even the earnest matter
+on which I am here loses its importance by the side of it." He then
+informed her, quite calmly and simply, of the object of his mission, in
+so far as he was the ambassador of Edward; of the object of his coming,
+in so far as his own free will and his own interests were concerned in
+it. He laid both before her, delicately but uprightly; Charlotte
+listened quietly, and showed neither surprise nor unwillingness.
+
+As soon as the Major had finished, she replied, in a voice so light that
+to catch her words he was obliged to draw his chair closer to her: "In
+such a case as this I have never before found myself; but in similar
+cases I have always said to myself, how will it be tomorrow? I feel very
+clearly that the fate of many persons is now in my hands, and what I
+have to do is soon said without scruple or hesitation. I consent to the
+separation; I ought to have made up my mind to it before; by my
+unwillingness and reluctance I have destroyed my child. There are
+certain things on which destiny obstinately insists. In vain may reason,
+may virtue, may duty, may all holy feelings place themselves in its way.
+Something shall be done which to it seems good, and which to us seems
+not good; and it forces its own way through at last, let us conduct
+ourselves as we will.
+
+"And, indeed, what am I saying? It is but my own desire, my own purpose,
+against which I acted so unthinkingly, which destiny is again bringing
+in my way? Did I not long ago, in my thoughts, design Edward and Ottilie
+for each other? Did I not myself labor to bring them together? And you,
+my friend, you yourself were an accomplice in my plot. Why, why, could I
+not distinguish mere man's obstinacy from real love? Why did I accept
+his hand, when I could have made him happy as a friend, and when another
+could have made him happy as a wife? And now, look here on this unhappy
+slumberer. I tremble for the moment when she will recover out of this
+half death-sleep into consciousness. How can she endure to live? How
+shall she ever console herself, if she may not hope to make good that to
+Edward, of which, as the instrument of the most wonderful destiny, she
+has deprived him? And she can make it all good again by the passion, by
+the devotion with which she loves him. If love be able to bear all
+things, it is able to do yet more; it can restore all things; of myself
+at such a moment I may not think.
+
+"Do you go quietly away, my dear Major; say to Edward that I consent to
+the separation; that I leave it to him, to you, and to Mittler, to
+settle whatever is to be done. I have no anxiety for my own future
+condition; it may be what it will; it is nothing to me. I will subscribe
+whatever paper is submitted to me, only he must not require me to join
+actively. I cannot have to think about it, or give advice."
+
+The Major rose to go. She stretched out her hand to him across Ottilie.
+He pressed it to his lips, and whispered gently: "And for myself, may I
+hope anything?"
+
+"Do not ask me now!" replied Charlotte. "I will tell you another time.
+We have not deserved to be miserable; but neither can we say that we
+have deserved to be happy together."
+
+The Major left her, and went, feeling for Charlotte to the bottom of his
+heart, but not being able to be sorry for the fate of the poor child.
+Such an offering seemed necessary to him for their general happiness. He
+pictured Ottilie to himself with a child of her own in her arms, as the
+most perfect compensation for the one of which she had deprived Edward.
+He pictured himself with his own son on his knee, who should have better
+right to resemble him than the one which was departed.
+
+With such flattering hopes and fancies passing through his mind, he
+returned to the hotel, and on his way back he met Edward, who had been
+waiting for him the whole night through in the open air, since neither
+rocket nor report of cannon would bring him news of the successful issue
+of his undertaking. He had already heard of the misfortune; and he too,
+instead of being sorry for the poor creature, regarded what had befallen
+it, without being exactly ready to confess it to himself, as a
+convenient accident, through which the only impediment in the way of his
+happiness was at once removed.
+
+The Major at once informed him of his wife's resolution, and he
+therefore easily allowed himself to be prevailed upon to return again
+with him to the village, and from thence to go for a while to the little
+town, where they would consider what was next to be done, and make their
+arrangements.
+
+After the Major had left her, Charlotte sat on, buried in her own
+reflections; but it was only for a few minutes. Ottilie suddenly raised
+herself from her lap, and looked full with her large eyes in her
+friend's face. Then she got up from off the ground, and stood upright
+before her.
+
+"This is the second time," began the noble girl, with an irresistible
+solemnity of manner, "this is the second time that the same thing has
+happened to me. You once said to me that similar things often befall
+people more than once in their lives in a similar way, and if they do,
+it is always at important moments. I now find that what you said is
+true, and I have to make a confession to you. Shortly after my mother's
+death, when I was a very little child, I was sitting one day on a
+footstool close to you. You were on a sofa, as you are at this moment,
+and my head rested on your knees. I was not asleep, I was not awake: I
+was in a trance. I knew everything which was passing about me. I heard
+every word which was said with the greatest distinctness, and yet I
+could not stir, I could not speak; and if I had wished it, I could not
+have given a hint that I was conscious. On that occasion you were
+speaking about me to one of your friends; you were commiserating my
+fate, left as I was a poor orphan in the world. You described my
+dependent position, and how unfortunate a future was before me, unless
+some very happy star watched over me. I understood well what you said. I
+saw, perhaps too clearly, what you appeared to hope of me, and what you
+thought I ought to do. I made rules to myself, according to such limited
+insight as I had, and by these I have long lived; by these, at the time
+when you so kindly took charge of me, and had me with you in your house,
+I regulated whatever I did and whatever I left undone.
+
+"But I have wandered out of my course; I have broken my rules; I have
+lost the very power of feeling them. And now, after a dreadful
+occurrence, you have again made clear to me my situation, which is more
+pitiable than the first. While lying in a half torpor on your lap, I
+have again, as if out of another world, heard every syllable which you
+uttered. I know from you how all is with me. I shudder at the thought of
+myself; but again, as I did then, in my half sleep of death, I have
+marked out my new path for myself.
+
+"I am determined, as I was before, and what I have determined I must
+tell you at once. I will never be Edward's wife. In a terrible manner
+God has opened my eyes to see the sin in which I was entangled. I will
+atone for it, and let no one think to move me from my purpose. It is by
+this, my dearest, kindest friend, that you must govern your own conduct.
+Send for the Major to come back to you. Write to him that no steps must
+be taken. It made me miserable that I could not stir or speak when he
+went. I tried to rise--I tried to cry out. Oh, why did you let him leave
+you with such unlawful hopes!"
+
+Charlotte saw Ottilie's condition, and she felt for it; but she hoped
+that by time and persuasion she might be able to prevail upon her. On
+her uttering a few words, however, which pointed to a future--to a time
+when her sufferings would be alleviated, and when there might be better
+room for hope, "No!" Ottilie cried, with vehemence, "do not endeavor to
+move me; do not seek to deceive me. At the moment at which I learn that
+you have consented to the separation, in that same lake I will expiate
+my errors and my crimes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+Friends and relatives, and all persons living in the same house
+together, are apt, when life is going smoothly and peacefully with them,
+to make what they are doing, or what they are going to do, even more
+than is right or necessary, a subject of constant conversation. They
+talk to each other of their plans and their occupations, and, without
+exactly taking one another's advice, consider and discuss together the
+entire progress of their lives. But this is far from being the case in
+serious moments; just when it would seem men most require the assistance
+and support of others, they all draw singly within themselves, every one
+to act for himself, every one to work in his own fashion; they conceal
+from one another the particular means which they employ, and only the
+result, the object, the thing which they realize, is again made common
+property.
+
+After so many strange and unfortunate incidents, a sort of silent
+seriousness had passed over the two ladies, which showed itself in a
+sweet mutual effort to spare each other's feelings. The child had been
+buried privately in the chapel. It rested there as the first offering to
+a destiny full of ominous foreshadowings.
+
+Charlotte, as soon as ever she could, turned back to life and
+occupation, and here she first found Ottilie standing in need of her
+assistance. She occupied herself almost entirely with her, without
+letting it be observed. She knew how deeply the noble girl loved Edward.
+She had discovered by degrees the scene which had preceded the accident,
+and had gathered every circumstance of it, partly from Ottilie herself,
+partly from the letters of the Major.
+
+Ottilie, on her side, made Charlotte's immediate life much more easy for
+her. She was open, and even talkative, but she never spoke of the
+present, or of what had lately passed. She had been a close and
+thoughtful observer. She knew much, and now it all came to the surface.
+She entertained, she amused Charlotte, and the latter still nourished a
+hope in secret to see her married to Edward after all.
+
+But something very different was passing in Ottilie. She had disclosed
+the secret of the course of her life to her friend, and she showed no
+more of her previous restraint and submissiveness. By her repentance and
+her resolution she felt herself freed from the burden of her fault and
+her misfortune. She had no more violence to do to herself. In the bottom
+of her heart she had forgiven herself solely under condition of the
+fullest renunciation, and it was a condition which would remain binding
+for all time to come.
+
+So passed away some time, and Charlotte now felt how deeply house and
+park, and lake and rocks and trees, served to keep alive in them all
+their most painful reminiscences. They wanted change of scene, both of
+them, it was plain enough; but how it was to be effected was not so
+easy to decide.
+
+Were the two ladies to remain together? Edward's previously expressed
+will appeared to enjoin it--his declarations and his threats appeared to
+make it necessary; only it could not be now mistaken that Charlotte and
+Ottilie, with all their good will, with all their sense, with all their
+efforts to conceal it, could not avoid finding themselves in a painful
+situation toward each other. In their conversation there was a constant
+endeavor to avoid doubtful subjects. They were often obliged only half
+to understand some allusion; more often, expressions were
+misinterpreted, if not by their understandings, at any rate by their
+feelings. They were afraid to give pain to each other, and this very
+fear itself produced the evil which they were seeking to avoid.
+
+If they were to try change of scene, and at the same time (at any rate
+for a while) to part, the old question came up again: Where was Ottilie
+to go? There was the grand, rich family, who still wanted a desirable
+companion for their daughter, their attempts to find a person whom they
+could trust having hitherto proved ineffectual. The last time the
+Baroness had been at the castle, she had urged Charlotte to send Ottilie
+there, and she had been lately pressing it again and again in her
+letters. Charlotte now a second time proposed it; but Ottilie expressly
+declined going anywhere, where she would be thrown into what is called
+the great world.
+
+"Do not think me foolish or self-willed, my dear aunt," she said; "I had
+better tell you what I feel, for fear you should judge hardly of me;
+although in any other case it would be my duty to be silent. A person
+who has fallen into uncommon misfortunes, however guiltless he may be,
+carries a frightful mark upon him. His presence, in every one who sees
+him and is aware of his history, excites a kind of horror. People see in
+him the terrible fate which has been laid upon him, and he is the object
+of a diseased and nervous curiosity. It is so with a house, it is so
+with a town, where any terrible action has been done; people enter them
+with awe; the light of day shines less brightly there, and the stars
+seem to lose their lustre.
+
+"Perhaps we ought to excuse it, but how extreme is the indiscretion with
+which people behave toward such unfortunates, with their foolish
+importunities and awkward kindness! You must forgive me for speaking in
+this way, but that poor girl whom Luciana tempted out of her retirement,
+and with such mistaken good nature tried to force into society and
+amusement, has haunted me and made me miserable. The poor creature, when
+she was so frightened and tried to escape, and then sank and swooned
+away, and I caught her in my arms, and the party came all crowding round
+in terror and curiosity!--little did I think, then, that the same fate
+was in store for me. But my feeling for her is as deep and warm and
+fresh as ever it was; and now I may direct my compassion upon myself,
+and secure myself from being the object of any similar exposure."
+
+"But, my dear child," answered Charlotte, "you will never be able to
+withdraw yourself where no one can see you; we have no cloisters now:
+otherwise, there, with your present feelings, would be your resource."
+
+"Solitude would not give me the resource for which I wish, my dear
+aunt," answered Ottilie. "The one true and valuable resource is to be
+looked for where we can be active and useful; all the self-denials and
+all the penances on earth will fail to deliver us from an evil-omened
+destiny, if it be determined to persecute us. Let me sit still in
+idleness and serve as a spectacle for the world, and it will overpower
+me and crush me. But find me some peaceful employment, where I can go
+steadily and unweariedly on doing my duty, and I shall be able to bear
+the eyes of men, when I need not shrink under the eyes of God."
+
+"Unless I am much mistaken," replied Charlotte, "your inclination is to
+return to the school."
+
+"Yes," Ottilie answered; "I do not deny it. I think it a happy
+destination to train up others in the beaten way, after having been
+trained in the strangest myself. And do we not see the same great fact
+in history? some moral calamity drives men out into the wilderness; but
+they are not allowed to remain as they had hoped in their concealment
+there. They are summoned back into the world, to lead the wanderers into
+the right way; and who are fitter for such a service, than those who
+have been initiated into the labyrinths of life? They are commanded to
+be the support of the unfortunate; and who can better fulfil that
+command than those who have no more misfortunes to fear upon earth?"
+
+"You are selecting an uncommon profession for yourself," replied
+Charlotte. "I shall not oppose you, how ever. Let it be as you wish;
+only I hope it will be but for a short time."
+
+"Most warmly I thank you," said Ottilie, "for giving me leave at least
+to try, to make the experiment. If I am not flattering myself too
+highly, I am sure I shall succeed: wherever I am, I shall remember the
+many trials which I went through myself, and how small, how infinitely
+small they were compared to those which I afterward had to undergo. It
+will be my happiness to watch the embarrassments of the little creatures
+as they grow; to cheer them in their childish sorrows, and guide them
+back with a light hand out of their little aberrations. The fortunate is
+not the person to be of help to the unfortunate; it is in the nature of
+man to require ever more and more of himself and others, the more he has
+received. The unfortunate who has himself recovered, knows best how to
+nourish, in himself and them, the feeling that every moderate good ought
+to be enjoyed with rapture."
+
+"I have but one objection to make to what you propose," said Charlotte,
+after some thought, "although that one seems to me of great importance.
+I am not thinking of you, but of another person: you are aware of the
+feelings toward you of that good, right-minded, excellent Assistant. In
+the way in which you desire to proceed, you will become every day more
+valuable and more indispensable to him. Already he himself believes that
+he can never live happily without you, and hereafter, when he has become
+accustomed to have you to work with him, he will be unable to carry on
+his business if he loses you; you will have assisted him at the
+beginning only to injure him in the end."
+
+"Destiny has not dealt with me with too gentle a hand," replied Ottilie;
+"and whoever loves me has perhaps not much better to expect. Our friend
+is so good and so sensible, that I hope he will be able to reconcile
+himself to remaining in a simple relation with me; he will learn to see
+in me a consecrated person, lying under the shadow of an awful calamity,
+and only able to support herself and bear up against it by devoting
+herself to that Holy Being who is invisibly around us, and alone is able
+to shield us from the dark powers which threaten to overwhelm us."
+
+All this, which the dear girl poured out so warmly, Charlotte privately
+reflected over; on many different occasions, although only in the
+gentlest manner, she had hinted at the possibility of Ottilie's being
+brought again in contact with Edward; but the slightest mention of it,
+the faintest hope, the least suspicion, seemed to wound Ottilie to the
+quick. One day when she could not evade it, she expressed herself to
+Charlotte clearly and peremptorily on the subject.
+
+"If your resolution to renounce Edward," returned Charlotte, "is so firm
+and unalterable, then you had better avoid the danger of seeing him
+again. At a distance from the object of our love, the warmer our
+affection, the stronger is the control which we fancy that we can
+exercise on ourselves; because the whole force of the passion, diverted
+from its outward objects, turns inward on ourselves. But how soon, how
+swiftly is our mistake made clear to us, when the thing which we thought
+that we could renounce, stands again before our eyes as indispensable to
+us! You must now do what you consider best suited to your
+circumstances. Look well into yourself; change, if you prefer it, the
+resolution which you have just expressed. But do it of yourself, with a
+free consenting heart. Do not allow yourself to be drawn in by an
+accident; do not let yourself be surprised into your former position. It
+will place you at issue with yourself and will be intolerable to you. As
+I said, before you take this step, before you remove from me, and enter
+upon a new life, which will lead you no one knows in what direction,
+consider once more whether really, indeed, you can renounce Edward for
+the whole time to come. If you have faithfully made up your mind that
+you will do this, then will you enter into an engagement with me, that
+you will never admit him into your presence; and if he seeks you out and
+forces himself upon you, that you will not exchange words with him?"
+
+Ottilie did not hesitate a moment; she gave Charlotte the promise, which
+she had already made to herself.
+
+Now, however, Charlotte began to be haunted with Edward's threat, that
+he would only consent to renounce Ottilie, as long as she was not parted
+from Charlotte. Since that time, indeed, circumstances were so altered,
+so many things had happened, that an engagement which was wrung from him
+in a moment of excitement might well be supposed to have been cancelled.
+She was unwilling, however, in the remotest sense to venture anything or
+to undertake anything which might displease him, and Mittler was
+therefore to find Edward, and inquire what, as things now were, he
+wished to be done.
+
+Since the death of the child, Mittler had often been at the castle to
+see Charlotte, although only for a few moments at a time. The unhappy
+accident which had made her reconciliation with her husband in the
+highest degree improbable, had produced a most painful effect upon him.
+But ever, as his nature was, hoping and striving, he rejoiced secretly
+at the resolution of Ottilie. He trusted to the softening influence of
+passing time; he hoped that it might still be possible to keep the
+husband and the wife from separating; and he tried to regard these
+convulsions of passion only as trials of wedded love and fidelity.
+
+Charlotte, at the very first, had informed the Major by letter of
+Ottilie's declaration. She had entreated him most earnestly to prevail
+on Edward to take no further steps for the present. They should keep
+quiet and wait, and see whether the poor girl's spirits would recover.
+She had let him know from time to time whatever was necessary of what
+had more lately fallen from her. And now Mittler had to undertake the
+really difficult commission of preparing Edward for an alteration in her
+situation. Mittler, however, well knowing that men can be brought more
+easily to submit to what is already done, than to give their consent to
+what is yet to be done, persuaded Charlotte that it would be better to
+send Ottilie off at once to the school.
+
+Consequently, as soon as Mittler was gone, preparations were at once
+made for the journey. Ottilie put her things together; and Charlotte
+observed that neither the beautiful box, nor anything out of it, was to
+go with her. Ottilie had said nothing to her on the subject; and she
+took no notice, but let her alone. The day of the departure came;
+Charlotte's carriage was to take Ottilie the first day as far as a place
+where they were well known, where she was to pass the night, and on the
+second she would go on in it to the school. It was settled that Nanny
+was to accompany her, and remain as her attendant.
+
+This capricious little creature had found her way back to her mistress
+after the death of the child, and now hung about her as warmly and
+passionately as ever; indeed she seemed, with her loquacity and
+attentiveness, as if she wished to make good her past neglect, and
+henceforth devote herself entirely to Ottilie's service. She was quite
+beside herself now for joy at the thought of traveling with her, and of
+seeing strange places, when she had hitherto never been away from the
+scene of her birth; and she ran from the castle to the village to carry
+the news of her good fortune to her parents and her relations, and to
+take leave.
+
+Unluckily for herself, she went, among other places, into a room where
+a person was who had the measles, and caught the infection, which came
+out upon her at once. The journey could not be postponed. Ottilie
+herself was urgent to go. She had traveled once already the same road.
+She knew the people of the hotel where she was to sleep. The coachman
+from the castle was going with her. There could be nothing to fear.
+
+Charlotte made no opposition. She, too, in thought, was making haste to
+be clear of present embarrassments. The rooms which Ottilie had occupied
+at the castle she would have prepared for Edward as soon as possible,
+and restored to the old state in which they had been before the arrival
+of the Captain. The hope of bringing back old happy days burns up again
+and again in us, as if it never could be extinguished. And Charlotte was
+quite right; there was nothing else for her except to hope as she did.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+When Mittler was come to talk the matter over with Edward, he found him
+sitting by himself, with his head supported on his right hand, and his
+arm resting on the table. He appeared in great suffering.
+
+"Is your headache troubling you again?" asked Mittler.
+
+"It is troubling me," answered he; "and yet I cannot wish it were not
+so, for it reminds me of Ottilie. She too, I say to myself, is also
+suffering in the same way at this same moment, and suffering more
+perhaps than I; and why cannot I bear it as well as she? These pains are
+good for me. I might almost say that they were welcome; for they serve
+to bring out before me with the greater vividness her patience and all
+her other graces. It is only when we suffer ourselves, that we feel
+really the true nature of all the high qualities which are required to
+bear suffering."
+
+Mittler, finding his friend so far resigned, did not hesitate to
+communicate the message with which he had been sent. He brought it out
+piecemeal, however; in order of time, as the idea had itself arisen
+between the ladies, and had gradually ripened into a purpose. Edward
+scarcely made an objection. From the little which he said, it appeared
+as if he was willing to leave everything to them; the pain which he was
+suffering at the moment making him indifferent to all besides.
+
+Scarcely, however, was he again alone, than he got up, and walked
+rapidly up and down the room; he forgot his pain, his attention now
+turning to what was external to himself. Mittler's story had stirred the
+embers of his love, and awakened his imagination in all its vividness.
+He saw Ottilie by herself, or as good as by herself, traveling on a road
+which was well known to him--in a hotel with every room of which he was
+familiar. He thought, he considered, or rather he neither thought nor
+considered; he only wished--he only desired. He would see her; he would
+speak to her. Why, or for what good end that was to come of it, he did
+not care to ask himself; but he made up his mind at once. He must do it.
+
+He summoned his valet into his council, and through him he made himself
+acquainted with the day and hour when Ottilie was to set out. The
+morning broke. Without taking any person with him, Edward mounted his
+horse, and rode off to the place where she was to pass the night. He was
+there too soon. The hostess was overjoyed at the sight of him; she was
+under heavy obligations to him for a service which he had been able to
+do for her. Her son had been in the army, where he had conducted himself
+with remarkable gallantry. He had performed one particular action of
+which no one had been a witness but Edward; and the latter had spoken of
+it to the commander-in-chief in terms of such high praise that,
+notwithstanding the opposition of various ill-wishers, he had obtained a
+decoration for him. The mother, therefore, could never do enough for
+Edward. She got ready her best room for him, which indeed was her own
+wardrobe and store-room, with all possible speed. He informed her,
+however, that a young lady was coming to pass the night there, and he
+ordered an apartment for her at the back, at the end of the gallery. It
+sounded a mysterious sort of affair; but the hostess was ready to do
+anything to please her patron, who appeared so interested and so busy
+about it. And he, what were his sensations as he watched through the
+long, weary hours till evening? He examined the room round and round in
+which he was to see her; with all its strangeness and homeliness it
+seemed to him to be an abode for angels. He thought over and over what
+he had better do; whether he should take her by surprise, or whether he
+should prepare her for meeting him. At last the second course seemed the
+preferable one. He sat down and wrote a letter, which she was to read:
+
+EDWARD TO OTTILIE
+
+"While you read this letter, my best beloved, I am close to you. Do not
+agitate yourself; do not be alarmed; you have nothing to fear from me. I
+will not force myself upon you. I will see you or not, as you yourself
+shall choose.
+
+"Consider, oh! consider your condition and mine. How must I not thank
+you, that you have taken no decisive step! But the step which you have
+taken is significant enough. Do not persist in it. Here, as it were, at
+a parting of the ways, reflect once again. Can you be mine:--will you be
+mine? Oh, you will be showing mercy on us all if you will; and on me,
+infinite mercy.
+
+"Let me see you again!--happily, joyfully see you once more! Let me make
+my request to you with my own lips; and do you give me your answer your
+own beautiful self, on my breast, Ottilie! where you have so often
+rested, and which belongs to you for ever!"
+
+As he was writing, the feeling rushed over him that what he was longing
+for was coming--was close--would be there almost immediately. By that
+door she would come in; she would read that letter; she in her own
+person would stand there before him as she used to stand; she for whose
+appearance he had thirsted so long. Would she be the same as she
+was?--was her form, were her feelings changed? He still held the pen in
+his hand; he was going to write as he thought, when the carriage rolled
+into the court. With a few hurried strokes he added: "I hear you coming.
+For a moment, farewell!"
+
+He folded the letter, and directed it. He had no time for sealing. He
+darted into the room through which there was a second outlet into the
+gallery, when the next moment he recollected that he had left his watch
+and seals lying on the table. She must not see these first. He ran back
+and brought them away with him. At the same instant he heard the hostess
+in the antechamber showing Ottilie the way to her apartments. He sprang
+to the bedroom door. It was shut. In his haste, as he had come back for
+his watch, he had forgotten to take out the key, which had fallen out,
+and lay the other side. The door had closed with a spring, and he could
+not open it. He pushed at it with all his might, but it would not yield.
+Oh, how gladly would he have been a spirit, to escape through its
+cracks! In vain. He hid his face against the panels. Ottilie entered,
+and the hostess, seeing him, retired. From Ottilie herself, too, he
+could not remain concealed for a moment. He turned toward her; and there
+stood the lovers once more, in such strange fashion, in each other's
+presence. She looked at him calmly and earnestly, without advancing or
+retiring. He made a movement to approach her, and she withdrew a few
+steps toward the table. He stepped back again. "Ottilie!" he cried
+aloud, "Ottilie! let me break this frightful silence! Are we shadows,
+that we stand thus gazing at each other? Only listen to me; listen to
+this at least. It is an accident that you find me here thus. There is a
+letter on the table, at your side there, which was to have prepared you.
+Read it, I implore you--read it--and then determine as you will!"
+
+She looked down at the letter; and after thinking a few seconds, she
+took it up, opened it, and read it: she finished it without a change of
+expression; and she laid it lightly down; then joining the palms of her
+hands together, turning them upward, and drawing them against her
+breast, she leant her body a little forward, and regarded Edward with
+such a look, that, eager as he was, he was compelled to renounce
+everything he wished or desired of her. Such an attitude cut him to the
+heart; he could not bear it. It seemed exactly as if she would fall upon
+her knees before him, if he persisted. He hurried in despair out of the
+room, and leaving her alone, sent the hostess in to her.
+
+He walked up and down the antechamber. Night had come on, and there was
+no sound in the room. At last the hostess came out and drew the key out
+of the lock. The good woman was embarrassed and agitated, not knowing
+what it would be proper for her to do. At last as she turned to go, she
+offered the key to Edward, who refused it; and putting down the candle,
+she went away.
+
+In misery and wretchedness, Edward flung himself down on the threshold
+of the door which divided him from Ottilie, moistening it with his tears
+as he lay. A more unhappy night had been seldom passed by two lovers in
+such close neighborhood!
+
+Day came at last. The coachman brought round the carriage, and the
+hostess unlocked the door and went in. Ottilie was asleep in her
+clothes; she went back and beckoned to Edward with a significant smile.
+They both entered and stood before her as she lay; but the sight was too
+much for Edward. He could not bear it. She was sleeping so quietly that
+the hostess did not like to disturb her, but sat down opposite her,
+waiting till she woke. At last Ottilie opened her beautiful eyes, and
+raised herself on her feet. She declined taking any breakfast, and then
+Edward went in again and stood before her. He entreated her to speak but
+one word to him; to tell him what she desired. He would do it, be it
+what it would, he swore to her; but she remained silent. He asked her
+once more, passionately and tenderly, whether she would be his. With
+downcast eyes, and with the deepest tenderness of manner she shook her
+head in a gentle _No_. He asked if she still desired to go to the
+school. Without any show of feeling she declined. Would she then go back
+to Charlotte? She inclined her head in token of assent, with a look of
+comfort and relief. He went to the window to give directions to the
+coachman, and when his back was turned she darted like lightning out of
+the room, and was down the stairs and in the carriage in an instant. The
+coachman drove back along the road which he had come the day before, and
+Edward followed at some distance on horseback.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+It was with the utmost surprise that Charlotte saw the carriage drive up
+with Ottilie, and Edward at the same moment ride into the court-yard of
+the castle. She ran down to the hall. Ottilie alighted, and approached
+her and Edward. Violently and eagerly she caught the hands of the wife
+and husband, pressed them together, and hurried off to her own room.
+Edward threw himself on Charlotte's neck and burst into tears. He could
+not give her any explanation; he besought her to have patience with him,
+and to go at once to see Ottilie. Charlotte followed her to her room,
+and she could not enter it without a shudder. It had been all cleared
+out. There was nothing to be seen but the empty walls, which stood there
+looking cheerless, vacant, and miserable. Everything had been carried
+away except the little box, which from an uncertainty what was to be
+done with it, had been left in the middle of the room. Ottilie was lying
+stretched upon the ground, her arm and head leaning across the cover.
+Charlotte bent anxiously over her, and asked what had happened; but she
+received no answer.
+
+Her maid had come with restoratives. Charlotte left her with Ottilie,
+and herself hastened back to Edward. She found him in the saloon, but he
+could tell her nothing.
+
+He threw himself down before her; he bathed her hands with tears; he
+flew to his own room, and she was going to follow him thither, when she
+met his valet. From this man she gathered as much as he was able to
+tell. The rest she put together in her own thoughts as well as she
+could, and then at once set herself resolutely to do what the exigencies
+of the moment required. Ottilie's room was put to rights again as
+quickly as possible; Edward found his, to the last paper, exactly as he
+had left it.
+
+The three appeared again to fall into some sort of relation with one
+another. But Ottilie persevered in her silence, and Edward could do
+nothing except entreat his wife to exert a patience which seemed wanting
+to himself. Charlotte sent messengers to Mittler and to the Major. The
+first was absent from home and could not be found. The latter came. To
+him Edward poured out all his heart, confessing every most trifling
+circumstance to him, and thus Charlotte learnt fully what had passed;
+what it had been which had produced such violent excitement, and how so
+strange an alteration of their mutual position had been brought about.
+
+She spoke with the utmost tenderness to her husband. She had nothing to
+ask of him, except that for the present he would leave the poor girl to
+herself. Edward was not insensible to the worth, the affection, the
+strong sense of his wife; but his passion absorbed him exclusively.
+Charlotte tried to cheer him with hopes. She promised that she herself
+would make no difficulties about the separation; but it had small effect
+with him. He was so much shaken that hope and faith alternately forsook
+him. A species of insanity appeared to have taken possession of him. He
+urged Charlotte to promise to give her hand to the Major. To satisfy him
+and to humor him, she did what he required. She engaged to become
+herself the wife of the Major, in the event of Ottilie consenting to the
+marriage with Edward; with this express condition, however, that for the
+present the two gentlemen should go abroad together. The Major had a
+foreign appointment from the Court, and it was settled that Edward
+should accompany him. They arranged it all together, and in doing so
+found a sort of comfort for themselves in the sense that at least
+something was being done.
+
+In the meantime they had to remark that Ottilie took scarcely anything
+to eat or drink. She still persisted in refusing to speak. They at first
+used to talk to her, but it appeared to distress her, and they left it
+off. We are not, universally at least, so weak as to persist in
+torturing people for their good. Charlotte thought over what could
+possibly be done. At last she fancied it might be well to ask the
+Assistant of the school to come to them. He had much influence with
+Ottilie, and had been writing with much anxiety to inquire the cause of
+her not having arrived at the time he had been expecting her; but as yet
+she had not sent him any answer.
+
+In order not to take Ottilie by surprise, they spoke of their intention
+of sending this invitation in her presence. It did not seem to please
+her; she thought for some little time; at last she appeared to have
+formed some resolution. She retired to her own room, and before the
+evening sent the following letter to the assembled party:
+
+OTTILIE TO HER FRIENDS
+
+"Why need I express in words, my dear friends, what is in itself so
+plain? I have stepped out of my course, and I cannot recover it again. A
+malignant spirit which has gained power over me seems to hinder me from
+without, even if within I could again become at peace with myself.
+
+"My purpose was entirely firm to renounce Edward, and to separate myself
+from him for ever. I had hoped that we might never meet again; it has
+turned out otherwise. Against his own will he stood before me. Too
+literally, perhaps, I have observed my promise never to admit him into
+conversation with me. My conscience and the feelings of the moment kept
+me silent toward him at the time, and now I have nothing more to say. I
+have taken upon myself, under the accidental impulse of the moment, a
+difficult vow, which if it had been formed deliberately, might perhaps
+be painful and distressing. Let me now persist in the observance of it
+so long as my heart shall enjoin it to me. Do not call in any one to
+mediate; do not insist upon my speaking; do not urge me to eat or to
+drink more than I absolutely must. Bear with me and let me alone, and so
+help me on through the time; I am young, and youth has many unexpected
+means of restoring itself. Endure my presence among you; cheer me with
+your love; make me wiser and better with what you say to one another:
+but leave me to my own inward self."
+
+The two friends had made all preparation for their journey, but their
+departure was still delayed by the formalities of the foreign
+appointment of the Major, a delay most welcome to Edward. Ottilie's
+letter had roused all his eagerness again; he had gathered hope and
+comfort from her words, and now felt himself encouraged and justified in
+remaining and waiting. He declared, therefore, that he would not go; it
+would be folly, indeed, he cried, of his own accord, to throw away, by
+over precipitateness, what was most valuable and most necessary to him,
+when although there was a danger of losing it, there was nevertheless a
+chance that it might be preserved. "What is the right name of conduct
+such as that?" he said. "It is only that we desire to show that we are
+able to will and to choose. I myself, under the influences of the same
+ridiculous folly, have torn myself away, days before there was any
+necessity for it, from my friends, merely that I might not be forced to
+go by the definite expiration of my term. This time I will stay: what
+reason is there for my going; is she not already removed far enough from
+me? I am not likely now to catch her hand or press her to my heart; I
+could not even think of it without a shudder. She has not separated
+herself from me; she has raised herself far above me."
+
+And so he remained as he desired, as he was obliged; but he was never
+easy except when he found himself with Ottilie. She, too, had the same
+feeling with him; she could not tear herself away from the same happy
+necessity. On all sides they exerted an indescribable, almost magical
+power of attraction over each other. Living, as they were, under one
+roof, without even so much as thinking of each other, although they
+might be occupied with other things, or diverted this way or that way by
+the other members of the party, they always drew together. If they were
+in the same room, in a short time they were sure to be either standing
+or sitting near each other; they were only easy when as close together
+as they could be, but they were then completely happy. To be near was
+enough; there was no need for them either to look or to speak: they did
+not seek to touch one another, or make sign or gesture, but merely to be
+together. Then there were not two persons, there was but one person in
+unconscious and perfect content, at peace with itself and with the
+world. So it was that, if either of them had been imprisoned at the
+further end of the house, the other would by degrees, without intending
+it, have moved forward like a bird toward its mate; life to them was a
+riddle, the solution of which they could find only in union.
+
+Ottilie was throughout so cheerful and quiet that they were able to feel
+perfectly easy about her; she was seldom absent from the society of her
+friends: all that she had desired was that she might be allowed to eat
+alone, with no one to attend upon her but Nanny.
+
+What habitually befalls any person repeats itself more often than one is
+apt to suppose, because his own nature gives the immediate occasion for
+it. Character, individuality, inclination, tendency, locality,
+circumstance, and habits, form together a whole, in which every man
+moves as in an atmosphere, and where only he feels himself at ease in
+his proper element.
+
+And so we find men, of whose changeableness so many complaints are
+made, after many years, to our surprise, unchanged, and in all their
+infinite tendencies, outward and inward, unchangeable.
+
+Thus in the daily life of our friends, almost everything glided on again
+in its old smooth track. Ottilie still displayed by many silent
+attentions her obliging nature, and the others, like her, continued each
+themselves; and then the domestic circle exhibited an image of their
+former life, so like it that they might be pardoned if at times they
+dreamt that it might all be again as it was.
+
+The autumn days, which were of the same length with those old spring
+days, brought the party back into the house out of the air about the
+same hour. The gay fruits and flowers which belonged to the season might
+have made them fancy it was now the autumn of that first spring, and the
+interval dropped out and forgotten; for the flowers which now were
+blooming were the same as those which then they had sown, and the fruits
+which were now ripening on the trees were those which at that time they
+had seen in blossom.
+
+The Major went backward and forward, and Mittler came frequently. The
+evenings were generally spent in exactly the same way. Edward usually
+read aloud, with more life and feeling than before; much better, and
+even, it may be said, with more cheerfulness. It appeared as if he was
+endeavoring, by light-heartedness as much as by devotion, to quicken
+Ottilie's torpor into life, and dissolve her silence. He seated himself
+in the same position as he used to do, that she might look over his
+book; he was uneasy and distracted unless she was doing so, unless he
+was sure that she was following his words with her eyes.
+
+Every trace had vanished of the unpleasant, ungracious feelings of the
+intervening time. No one had any secret complaint against another; there
+were no cross purposes, no bitterness. The Major accompanied Charlotte's
+playing with his violin, and Edward's flute sounded again, as formerly,
+in harmony with Ottilie's piano. Thus they were now approaching Edward's
+birthday, which the year before they had missed celebrating. This time
+they were to keep it without any outward festivities, in quiet enjoyment
+among themselves. They had so settled it together, half expressly, half
+from a tacit agreement. As they approached nearer to this epoch,
+however, an anxiety about it, which had hitherto been more felt than
+observed, became more noticeable in Ottilie's manner. She was to be seen
+often in the garden examining the flowers: she had signified to the
+gardener that he was to save as many as he could of every sort, and she
+had been especially occupied with the asters, which this year were
+blooming in beautiful profusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The most remarkable feature, however, which was observed about Ottilie
+was that, for the first time, she had now unpacked the box, and had
+selected a variety of things out of it, which she had cut up, and which
+were intended evidently to make one complete suit for her. The rest,
+with Nanny's assistance, she had endeavored to replace again, and she
+had been hardly able to get it done, the space being over full, although
+a portion had been taken out. The covetous little Nanny could never
+satisfy herself with looking at all the pretty things, especially as she
+found provision made there for every article of dress which could be
+wanted, even the smallest. Numbers of shoes and stockings, garters with
+devices on them, gloves, and various other things were left, and she
+begged Ottilie just to give her one or two of them. Ottilie refused to
+do that, but opened a drawer in her wardrobe, and told the girl to take
+what she liked. The latter hastily and awkwardly dashed in her hand and
+seized what she could, running off at once with her booty, to show it
+off and display her good fortune among the rest of the servants.
+
+At last Ottilie succeeded in packing everything carefully into its
+place. She then opened a secret compartment which was contrived in the
+lid, where she kept a number of notes and letters from Edward, many
+dried flowers, the mementos of their early walks together, a lock of his
+hair, and various other little matters. She now added one more to them,
+her father's portrait, and then locked it all up, and hung the delicate
+key by a gold chain about her neck, against her heart.
+
+In the meantime, her friends had now in their hearts begun to entertain
+the best hopes for her. Charlotte was convinced that she would one day
+begin to speak again. She had latterly seen signs about her which
+implied that she was engaged in secret about something; a look of
+cheerful self-satisfaction, a smile like that which hangs about the face
+of persons who have something pleasant and delightful which they are
+keeping concealed from those whom they love. No one knew that she spent
+many hours in extreme exhaustion, and that only at rare intervals, when
+she appeared in public through the power of her will, she was able to
+rouse herself.
+
+Mittler had latterly been a frequent visitor, and when he came he staid
+longer than he usually did at other times. This strong-willed, resolute
+person was only too well aware that there is a certain moment in which
+alone it will answer to smite the iron. Ottilie's silence and reserve he
+interpreted according to his own wishes; no steps had as yet been taken
+toward a separation of the husband and wife. He hoped to be able to
+determine the fortunes of the poor girl in some not undesirable way. He
+listened; he allowed himself to seem convinced; he was discreet and
+unobtrusive, and conducted himself in his own way with sufficient
+prudence. There was but one occasion on which he uniformly forgot
+himself--when he found an opportunity for giving his opinion upon
+subjects to which he attached a great importance. He lived much within
+himself, and when he was with others, his only relation to them
+generally was in active employment on their behalf; but if once, when
+among friends, his tongue broke fairly loose, as on more than one
+occasion we have already seen, he rolled out his words in utter
+recklessness, whether they wounded or whether they pleased, whether they
+did evil or whether they did good.
+
+The evening before the birthday, the Major and Charlotte were sitting
+together expecting Edward, who had gone out for a ride; Mittler was
+walking up and down the saloon; Ottilie was in her own room, laying out
+the dress which she was to wear on the morrow, and making signs to her
+maid about a number of things, which the girl, who perfectly understood
+her silent language, arranged as she was ordered.
+
+Mittler had fallen exactly on his favorite subject. One of the points on
+which he used most to insist was, that in the education of children, as
+well as in the conduct of nations, there was nothing more worthless and
+barbarous than laws and commandments forbidding this and that action.
+"Man is naturally active," he said, "wherever he is; and if you know how
+to tell him what to do, he will do it immediately, and keep straight in
+the direction in which you set him. I myself, in my own circle, am far
+better pleased to endure faults and mistakes, till I know what the
+opposite virtue is that I am to enjoin, than to be rid of the faults and
+to have nothing good to put in their place. A man is really glad to do
+what is right and sensible, if he only knows how to get at it. It is no
+such great matter with him; he does it because he must have something to
+do, and he thinks no more about it afterward than he does of the
+silliest freaks which he engaged in out of the purest idleness. I cannot
+tell you how it annoys me to hear people going over and over those Ten
+Commandments in teaching children. The fifth is a thoroughly beautiful,
+rational, preceptive precept. 'Thou shalt honor thy father and thy
+mother.' If the children will inscribe that well upon their hearts, they
+have the whole day before them to put it in practice. But the sixth now?
+What can we say to that? 'Thou shalt do no murder;' as if any man ever
+felt the slightest general inclination to strike another man dead. Men
+will hate sometimes; they will fly into passions and forget themselves;
+and as a consequence of this or other feelings, it may easily come now
+and then to a murder; but what a barbarous precaution it is to tell
+children that they are not to kill or murder! If the commandment ran,
+'Have a regard for the life of another--put away whatever can do him
+hurt--save him though with peril to yourself--if you injure him,
+consider that you are injuring yourself;'--that is the form which should
+be in use among educated, reasonable people. And in our Catechism
+teaching we have only an awkward clumsy way of sliding into it, through
+a 'what do you mean by that?'
+
+"And as for the seventh; that is utterly detestable. What! to stimulate
+the precocious curiosity of children to pry into dangerous mysteries; to
+obtrude violently upon their imaginations, ideas and notions which
+beyond all things you should wish to keep from them! It were far better
+if such actions as that commandment speaks of were dealt with
+arbitrarily by some secret tribunal, than prated openly of before church
+and congregation--"
+
+At this moment Ottilie entered the room.
+
+"'Thou shalt not commit adultery,'"--Mittler went on--"How coarse! how
+brutal! What a different sound it has, if you let it run, 'Thou shalt
+hold in reverence the bond of marriage. When thou seest a husband and a
+wife between whom there is true love, thou shalt rejoice in it, and
+their happiness shall gladden thee like the cheerful light of a
+beautiful day. If there arise anything to make division between them,
+thou shalt use thy best endeavor to clear it away. Thou shalt labor to
+pacify them, and to soothe them; to show each of them the excellencies
+of the other. Thou shalt not think of thyself, but purely and
+disinterestedly thou shalt seek to further the well-being of others, and
+make them feel what a happiness is that which arises out of all duty
+done; and especially out of that duty which holds man and wife
+indissolubly bound together.'"
+
+Charlotte felt as if she was sitting on hot coals. The situation was
+the more distressing, as she was convinced that Mittler was not thinking
+the least where he was or what he was saying; and before she was able to
+interrupt him, she saw Ottilie, after changing color painfully for a few
+seconds, rise and leave the room.
+
+Charlotte constrained herself to seem unembarrassed. "You will leave us
+the eighth commandment," she said, with a faint smile.
+
+"All the rest," replied Mittler, "if I may only insist first on the
+foundation of the whole of them."
+
+At this moment Nanny rushed in, screaming and crying: "She is dying; the
+young lady is dying; come to her, come."
+
+Ottilie had found her way back with extreme difficulty to her own room.
+The beautiful things which she was to wear the next day were laid out on
+a number of chairs; and the girl, who had been running from one to the
+other, staring at them and admiring them, called out in her ecstasy,
+"Look, dearest madam, only look! There is a bridal dress worthy of you."
+
+Ottilie heard the word, and sank upon the sofa. Nanny saw her mistress
+turn pale, fall back, and faint. She ran for Charlotte, who came. The
+medical friend was on the spot in a moment. He thought it was nothing
+but exhaustion. He ordered some strong soup to be brought. Ottilie
+refused it with an expression of loathing: it almost threw her into
+convulsions, when they put the cup to her lips. A light seemed to break
+on the physician: he asked hastily and anxiously what Ottilie had taken
+that day. The little girl hesitated. He repeated his question, and she
+then acknowledged that Ottilie had taken nothing.
+
+There was a nervousness of manner about Nanny which made him suspicious.
+He carried her with him into the adjoining room; Charlotte followed; and
+the girl threw herself on her knees, and confessed that for a long time
+past Ottilie had taken as good as nothing; at her mistress's urgent
+request, she had herself eaten the food which had been brought for her;
+she had said nothing about it, because Ottilie had by signs alternately
+begged her not to tell any one, and threatened her if she did; and, as
+she innocently added, "because it was so nice."
+
+The Major and Mittler now came up as well. They found Charlotte busy
+with the physician. The pale, beautiful girl was sitting, apparently
+conscious, in the corner of the sofa. They had begged her to lie down;
+she had declined to do this; but she made signs to have her box brought,
+and resting her feet upon it, placed herself in an easy, half recumbent
+position. She seemed to be wishing to take leave; and by her gestures,
+was expressing to all about her the tenderest affection, love,
+gratitude, entreaties for forgiveness, and the most heartfelt farewell.
+
+Edward, on alighting from his horse, was informed of what had happened;
+he rushed to the room; threw himself down at her side; and seizing her
+hand, deluged it with silent tears. In this position he remained a long
+time. At last he called out: "And am I never more to hear your voice?
+Will you not turn back toward life, to give me one single word? Well,
+then, very well. I will follow you yonder, and there we will speak in
+another language."
+
+She pressed his hand with all the strength she had; she gazed at him
+with a glance full of life and full of love; and drawing a long breath,
+and for a little while moving her lips inarticulately, with a tender
+effort of affection she called out, "Promise me to live;" and then fell
+back immediately.
+
+"I promise, I promise!" he cried to her; but he cried only after her;
+she was already gone.
+
+After a miserable night, the care of providing for the loved remains
+fell upon Charlotte. The Major and Mittler assisted her. Edward's
+condition was utterly pitiable. His first thought, when he was in any
+degree recovered from his despair, and able to collect himself, was,
+that Ottilie should not be carried out of the castle; she should be kept
+there, and attended upon as if she were alive: for she was not dead; it
+was impossible that she should be dead. They did what he desired; at
+least, so far as that they did not do what he had forbidden. He did not
+ask to see her.
+
+There was now a second alarm, and a further cause for anxiety. Nanny,
+who had been spoken to sharply by the physician, had been compelled by
+threats to confess, and after her confession had been overwhelmed with
+reproaches, had now disappeared. After a long search she was found; but
+she appeared to be out of her mind. Her parents took her home; but the
+gentlest treatment had no effect upon her, and she had to be locked up
+for fear she would run away again.
+
+They succeeded by degrees in recovering Edward from the extreme agony of
+despair; but only to make him more really wretched. He now saw clearly,
+he could not doubt how, that the happiness of his life was gone from him
+for ever. It was suggested to him that if Ottilie was placed in the
+chapel, she would still remain among the living, and it would be a calm,
+quiet, peaceful home for her. There was much difficulty in obtaining his
+consent; he would only give it under condition that she should be taken
+there in an open coffin; that the vault in which she was laid, if
+covered at all, should be only covered with glass, and a lamp should be
+kept always burning there. It was arranged that this should be done, and
+then he seemed resigned.
+
+They clothed the delicate body in the festal dress, which she had
+herself prepared. A garland of asters was wreathed about her head, which
+shone sadly there like melancholy stars. To decorate the bier and the
+church and chapel, the gardens were robbed of their beauty; they lay
+desolate, as if a premature winter had blighted all their loveliness. In
+the earliest morning she was borne in an open coffin out of the castle,
+and the heavenly features were once more reddened with the rising sun.
+The mourners crowded about her as she was being taken along. None would
+go before; none would follow; every one would be where she was, every
+one would enjoy her presence for the last time. Men and women and little
+boys--there was not one unmoved; least of all to be consoled were the
+girls, who felt most immediately what they had lost.
+
+Nanny was not present; it had been thought better not to allow it, and
+they had kept secret from her the day and the hour of the funeral. She
+was at her parents' house, closely watched, in a room looking toward the
+garden. But when she heard the bells tolling, she knew too well what
+they meant; and her attendant having left her out of curiosity to see
+the funeral, she escaped out of the window into a passage, and from
+thence, finding all the doors locked, into an upper open loft. At this
+moment the funeral was passing through the village, which had been all
+freshly strewed with leaves. Nanny saw her mistress plainly close below
+her, more plainly, more entirely, than any one in the procession
+underneath; she appeared to be lifted above the earth, borne as it were
+on clouds or waves, and the girl fancied she was making signs to her;
+her senses swam, she tottered, swayed herself for a moment on the edge,
+and fell to the ground. The crowd drew asunder on all sides with a cry
+of horror. In the tumult and confusion, the bearers were obliged to set
+down the coffin; the girl lay close by it; it seemed as if every limb
+was broken. They lifted her up, and by accident or providentially she
+was allowed to lean over the body; she appeared, indeed, to be
+endeavoring, with what remained to her of life, to reach her beloved
+mistress. Scarcely, however, had the loosely hanging limbs touched
+Ottilie's robe, and the powerless finger rested on the folded hands,
+than the girl started up, and first raising her arms and eyes toward
+heaven, flung herself down upon her knees before the coffin, and gazed
+with passionate devotion at her mistress.
+
+At last she sprang, as if inspired, from off the ground, and cried with
+a voice of ecstasy: "Yes, she has forgiven me; what no man, what I
+myself could never have forgiven. God forgives me through her look, her
+motion, her lips.
+
+"Now she is lying again so still and quiet, but you saw how she raised
+herself up, and unfolded her hands and blessed me, and how kindly she
+looked at me. You all heard, you can witness that she said to me: 'You
+are forgiven.' I am not a murderess any more. She has forgiven me. God
+has forgiven me, and no one may now say anything more against me."
+
+The people stood crowding around her. They were amazed; they listened
+and looked this way and that, and no one knew what should next be done.
+"Bear her on to her rest," said the girl. "She has done her part; she
+has suffered, and cannot now remain any more amongst us." The bier moved
+on, Nanny now following it; and thus they reached the church and the
+chapel.
+
+So now stood the coffin of Ottilie, with the child's coffin at her head,
+and her box at her feet, inclosed in a resting-place of massive oak. A
+woman had been provided to watch the body for the first part of the
+time, as it lay there so beautiful beneath its glass covering. But Nanny
+would not permit this duty to be taken from herself. She would remain
+alone without a companion, and attend to the lamp which was now kindled
+for the first time; and she begged to be allowed to do it with so much
+eagerness and perseverance, that they let her have her way, to prevent
+any greater evil that might ensue.
+
+But she did not long remain alone. As night was falling, and the hanging
+lamp began to exercise its full right and shed abroad a larger lustre,
+the door opened and the Architect entered the chapel. The chastely
+ornamented walls in the mild light looked more strange, more awful, more
+antique, than he was prepared to see them. Nanny was sitting on one side
+of the coffin. She recognized him immediately; but she pointed in
+silence to the pale form of her mistress. And there stood he on the
+other side, in the vigor of youth and of grace, with his arms drooping,
+and his hands clasped piteously together, motionless, with head and eye
+inclined over the inanimate body.
+
+Once already he had stood thus before in the Belisarius; he had now
+involuntarily fallen into the same attitude. And this time how
+naturally! Here, too, was something of inestimable worth thrown down
+from its high estate. _There_ were courage, prudence, power, rank, and
+wealth in one single man, lost irrevocably; there were qualities which,
+in decisive moments, had been of indispensable service to the nation and
+the prince; but which, when the moment was passed, were no more valued,
+but flung aside and neglected, and cared for no longer. And _here_ were
+many other silent virtues, which had been summoned but a little time
+before by nature out of the depths of her treasures, and now swept
+rapidly away again by her careless hand--rare, sweet, lovely virtues,
+whose peaceful workings the thirsty world had welcomed, while it had
+them, with gladness and joy; and now was sorrowing for them in
+unavailing desire.
+
+Both the youth and the girl were silent for a long time. But when she
+saw the tears streaming fast down his cheeks, and he appeared to be
+sinking under the burden of his sorrow, she spoke to him with so much
+truthfulness and power, with such kindness and such confidence, that,
+astonished at the flow of her words, he was able to recover himself, and
+he saw his beautiful friend floating before him in the new life of a
+higher world. His tears ceased flowing; his sorrow grew lighter: on his
+knees he took leave of Ottilie, and with a warm pressure of the hand of
+Nanny, he rode away from the spot into the night without having seen a
+single other person.
+
+The surgeon had, without the girl being aware of it, remained all night
+in the church; and when he went in the morning to see her, he found her
+cheerful and tranquil. He was prepared for wild aberrations. He thought
+that she would be sure to speak to him of conversations which she had
+held in the night with Ottilie, and of other such apparitions. But she
+was natural, quiet, and perfectly self-possessed. She remembered
+accurately what had happened in her previous life; she could describe
+the circumstances of it with the greatest exactness, and never in
+anything which she said stepped out of the course of what was real and
+natural, except in her account of what had passed with the body, which
+she delighted to repeat again and again, how, Ottilie had raised herself
+up, had blessed her, had forgiven her, and thereby set her at rest for
+ever.
+
+Ottilie remained so long in her beautiful state, which more resembled
+sleep than death, that a number of persons were attracted there to look
+at her. The neighbors and the villagers wished to see her again, and
+every one desired to hear Nanny's incredible story from her own mouth.
+Many laughed at it, most doubted, and some few were found who were able
+to believe.
+
+Difficulties, for which no real satisfaction is attainable, compel us to
+faith. Before the eyes of all the world, Nanny's limbs had been broken,
+and by touching the sacred body she had been restored to strength again.
+Why should not others find similar good fortune? Delicate mothers first
+privately brought their children who were suffering from obstinate
+disorders, and they believed that they could trace an immediate
+improvement. The confidence of the people increased, and at last there
+was no one so old or so weak as not to have come to seek fresh life and
+health and strength at this place. The concourse became so great, that
+they were obliged, except at the hours of divine service, to keep the
+church and chapel closed.
+
+Edward did not venture to look at her again; he lived on mechanically;
+he seemed to have no tears left, and to be incapable of any further
+suffering; his power of taking interest in what was going on diminished
+every day; his appetite gradually failed. The only refreshment which did
+him any good was what he drank out of the glass, which to him, indeed,
+had been but an untrue prophet. He continued to gaze at the intertwining
+initials, and the earnest cheerfulness of his expression seemed to
+signify that he still hoped to be united with her at last. And as every
+little circumstance combines to favor the fortunate, and every accident
+contributes to elate him; so do the most trifling occurrences love to
+unite to crush and overwhelm the unhappy. One day, as Edward raised the
+beloved glass to his lips, he put it down and thrust it from him with a
+shudder. It was the same and not the same. He missed a little private
+mark upon it. The valet was questioned, and had to confess that the real
+glass had not long since been broken, and that one like it belonging to
+the same set had been substituted in its place.
+
+Edward could not be angry. His destiny had spoken out with sufficient
+clearness in the fact, and how should he be affected by the shadow? and
+yet it touched him deeply. He seemed now to dislike drinking, and
+thenceforward purposely to abstain from food and from speaking.
+
+But from time to time a sort of restlessness came over him; he would
+desire to eat and drink something, and would begin again to speak. "Ah!"
+he said, one day to the Major, who now seldom left his side, "how
+unhappy I am that all my efforts are but imitations ever, and false and
+fruitless. What was blessedness to her, is pain to me; and yet for the
+sake of this blessedness I am forced to take this pain upon myself. I
+must go after her; follow her by the same road. But my nature and my
+promise hold me back. It is a terrible difficulty, indeed, to imitate
+the inimitable. I feel clearly, my dear friend, that genius is required
+for everything; for martyrdom as well as the rest."
+
+What shall we say of the endeavors which in this hopeless condition were
+made for him? His wife, his friends, his physician, incessantly labored
+to do something for him. But it was all in vain: at last they found him
+dead. Mittler was the first to make the melancholy discovery; he called
+the physician, and examined closely, with his usual presence of mind,
+the circumstances under which he had been found. Charlotte rushed in to
+them; she was afraid that he had committed suicide, and accused herself
+and accused others of unpardonable carelessness. But the physician on
+natural, and Mittler on moral grounds, were soon able to satisfy her of
+the contrary. It was quite clear that Edward's end had taken him by
+surprise. In a quiet moment he had taken out of his pocketbook and out
+of a casket everything which remained to him as memorials of Ottilie,
+and had spread them out before him--a lock of hair, flowers which had
+been gathered in some happy hour, and every letter which she had written
+to him from the first and which his wife had ominously happened to give
+him. It was impossible that he would intentionally have exposed these to
+the danger of being seen by the first person who might happen to
+discover him.
+
+But so lay the heart, which but a short time before had been so swift
+and eager, at rest now, where it could never be disturbed; and falling
+asleep, as he did, with his thoughts on one so saintly, he might well be
+called blessed. Charlotte gave him his place at Ottilie's side, and
+arranged that thenceforth no other person should be placed with them in
+the same vault. In order to secure this, she made it a condition under
+which she settled considerable sums of money on the church and the
+school.
+
+So lie the lovers, sleeping side by side. Peace hovers above their
+resting-place. Fair angel faces gaze down upon them from the vaulted
+ceiling, and what a happy moment that will be when one day they wake
+again together!
+
+
+
+
+SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE[1]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JULIA FRANKLIN
+
+So much has already been written of Shakespeare that it would seem as if
+nothing remained to be said; yet it is the peculiarity of a great mind
+ever to stimulate other minds. This time I propose to consider
+Shakespeare from more than one point of view--first as a poet in
+general, then as compared with poets ancient and modern, and finally, as
+a strictly dramatic poet. I shall endeavor to show what effect the
+imitation of his art has produced upon us and what effect it is capable
+of producing in general. I shall voice my agreement with what has
+already been said by repeating it upon occasion, but shall express my
+dissent positively and briefly, without involving myself in a conflict
+of opinions. Let us, then, take up the first point.
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A POET IN GENERAL
+
+The highest that man can attain is the consciousness of his own thoughts
+and feelings, and a knowledge of himself which prepares him to fathom
+alien natures as well. There are people who are by nature endowed with
+such a gift and by experience develop it to practical uses. Thence
+springs the ability to conquer something, in a higher sense, from the
+world and affairs. The poet, too, is born with such an endowment, only
+he does not develop it for immediate mundane ends, but for a more
+exalted, universal purpose. If we rate Shakespeare as one of the
+greatest poets, we acknowledge at the same time that it has been
+vouchsafed to few to discern the world as he did: to few, in expressing
+their inward feelings of the world, to give the reader a more realizing
+sense of it. It becomes thoroughly transparent to us; we find ourselves
+suddenly the confidants of virtue and vice, of greatness and
+insignificance, of nobility and depravity--all this, and more, through
+the simplest means. If we seek to discover what those means are, it
+appears as if he wrought for our eyes; but we are deceived.
+Shakespeare's creations are not for the eyes of the body. I shall
+endeavor to explain myself.
+
+Sight may well be termed the clearest of our senses, that through which
+transmissions are most readily made. But our inward sense is still
+clearer and its highest and quickest impressions are conveyed through
+the medium of the word; for that is indeed fructifying, while what we
+apprehend through our eyes may be alien to us and by no means as potent
+in its effects. Now, Shakespeare addresses our inward sense, absolutely;
+through it the realm of fancy created by the imagination is quickened
+into life and thus a world of impressions is produced for which we can
+not account, since the basis of the illusion consists in the fact that
+everything seems to take place before our eyes. But if we examine
+Shakespeare's dramas carefully, we find that they contain far less of
+sensuous acts than of spiritual expressions. He allows events to happen
+which may be readily imagined; nay, that it is better to imagine than to
+see. Hamlet's ghost, the witches in _Macbeth_, many deeds of horror,
+produce their effect through the imagination; and the abundant short
+interludes are addressed solely to that faculty. All such things pass
+before us fittingly and easily in reading, whereas they are a drag in
+representation and appear as disturbing, even as repellent elements.
+
+Shakespeare produces his effects by the living word, and that may be
+best transmitted by recitation; the listener is not distracted by either
+good or inadequate representation. There is no greater or purer delight
+than to listen with closed eyes to a Shakespearean play recited, not
+declaimed, in a natural, correct voice. One follows the simple thread
+which runs through events of the drama. We form a certain conception of
+the characters, it is true, from their designation; but actually we
+have to learn from the course of the words and speeches what goes on
+within, and here all the characters seem to have agreed not to leave us
+in the dark, in doubt, in any particular.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD THEATRE, WEIMAR _From a Water Color by Peter
+Woltze_]
+
+To this end all conspire--heroes and mercenaries, masters and slaves,
+kings and messengers; the subordinate figures, indeed, being often more
+effective in this respect than the superior ones. Everything
+mysteriously brewing in the air at the time of some great world-event,
+all that is hidden in the human soul in moments of supreme experience,
+is given expression; what the spirit anxiously locks up and screens is
+freely and unreservedly exposed; we learn the meaning of life and know
+not how.
+
+Shakespeare mates himself with the world-spirit; like it he pervades the
+world; to neither is anything concealed; but if it is the function of
+the world-spirit to maintain secrecy before, indeed often after, the
+event, it is the poet's aim to divulge the secret and make us confidants
+before the deed, or at least during its occurrence. The vicious man of
+power, well-meaning mediocrity, the passionate enthusiast, the calmly
+reflective character, all wear their hearts upon their sleeves, often
+contrary to all likelihood; every one is inclined to talk, to be
+loquacious. In short, the secret must out, should the stones have to
+proclaim it. Even inanimate objects contribute their share; all
+subordinate things chime in; the elements, the phenomena of the heavens,
+earth and sea, thunder and lightning, wild beasts, raise their voices,
+often apparently in parables, but always acting as accessories.
+
+But the civilized world, too, must render up its treasures; arts and
+sciences, trades and professions, all offer their gifts. Shakespeare's
+creations are a great, animated fair, and for this richness he is
+indebted to his native land.
+
+England, sea-girt, veiled in mist and clouds, turning its active
+interest toward every quarter of the globe, is everywhere. The poet
+lived at a notable and momentous time, and depicted its culture, its
+misculture even, in the merriest vein; indeed, he would not affect us
+so powerfully had he not identified himself with the age in which he
+lived. No one had a greater contempt for the mere material, outward garb
+of man than he; he understands full well that which is within, and here
+all are on the same footing. It is thought that he represented the
+Romans admirably; I do not find it so; they are all true-blue
+Englishmen, but, to be sure, they are men, men through and through, and
+the Roman toga, too, fits them. When we have seized this point of view,
+we find his anachronisms highly laudable, and it is this very disregard
+of the outer raiment that renders his creations so vivid.
+
+Let these few words, which do not by any means exhaust Shakespeare's
+merits, suffice. His friends and worshipers would find much that might
+be added. Yet one remark more It would be difficult to name another poet
+each of whose works has a different underlying conception exerting such
+a dominating influence as we find in Shakespeare's.
+
+Thus _Coriolanus_ is pervaded throughout by anger that the masses will
+not acknowledge the preeminence of their superiors. In _Julius Cæsar_
+everything turns upon the conception that the better people do not wish
+any one placed in supreme authority because they imagine, mistakenly,
+that they can work in unison. _Anthony and Cleopatra,_ calls out with a
+thousand tongues that self-indulgence and action are incompatible. And
+further investigation will rouse our admiration of this variety again
+and again.
+
+
+
+II
+
+SHAKESPEARE COMPARED WITH THE ANCIENT AND THE MOST MODERN POETS
+
+The interest that animates Shakespeare's great spirit lies within the
+limits of the world; for though prophecy and madness, dreams,
+presentiments, portents, fairies and goblins, ghosts, witches and
+sorcerers, form a magic element which color his creations at the fitting
+moment, yet those phantasms are by no means the chief components of his
+productions; it is the verities and experiences of his life that are the
+great basis upon which they rest, and that is why everything that
+proceeds from him appears so genuine and pithy. We perceive, therefore,
+that he belongs not so much to the modern world, which has been termed
+the romantic one, as to a naive world, since, though his significance
+really rests upon the present, he scarcely, even in his tenderest
+moments, touches the borders of longing, and then only at the outermost
+edge.
+
+Nevertheless, more intimately examined, he is a decidedly modern poet,
+divided from the ancients by a tremendous gulf, not as regards outward
+form, which is not to be considered here at all, but as regards the
+inmost, the profoundest significance of his work.
+
+I shall, in the first place, protect myself by saying that it is by no
+means my intention to adduce the following terminology as exhaustive or
+final; my attempt is, rather not so much to add a new contrast to those
+already familiar, as to point out that it is included in them. These
+contrasts are:
+
+    Antique      Modern
+
+    Naive        Sentimental
+
+    Pagan        Christian
+
+    Heroic       Romantic
+
+    Real         Idealistic
+
+    Necessity    Freedom
+
+_Sollen_ (Duty; shall; must; should). _Wollen_ (Desire; inclination;
+would).
+
+The greatest torments, as well as the most frequent, that beset man
+spring from the discordances in us all between duty and desire, between
+duty and performance (_Vollbringen_); and it is these discordances
+that so often embarrass man during his earthly course. The slightest
+confusion, arising from a trivial error which may be cleared up
+unexpectedly and without injury, gives rise to ridiculous situations.
+The greatest confusion, on the contrary, insoluble or unsolved, offers
+us the tragic elements.
+
+Predominant in the ancient dramas is the discordance between duty and
+desire; in the modern, that between desire and performance. Let us, for
+the present, consider this decisive difference among the other
+contrasts, and see what can be done with it in both cases. Now this, now
+that side predominates, as I have remarked; but since duty and desire
+cannot be radically separated in man, both motives must be found
+simultaneously, even though the one should be predominant and the other
+subordinate. Duty is imposed upon man; "must" is a hard taskmaster;
+desire (_das Wollen_) man imposes upon himself; man's own will is his
+heaven. A persistent "should" is irksome; inability to perform is
+terrible; a persistent "would" is gratifying; and the possession of a
+firm will may yield solace even in case of incapacity to perform.
+
+We may look at games of cards as a sort of poetic creation; they, too,
+consist of these two elements. The form of the game, combined with
+chance, takes the place of the "should" as the ancients recognized it
+under the name of fate; the "would," combined with the ability of the
+player, opposes it. Looked at in this way, I should call the game of
+whist ancient. The form of this game restricts chance, nay, the will
+itself; provided with partners and opponents, I must, with the cards
+dealt out to me, guide a long series of chances which there is no way of
+controlling. In the case of ombre and other like games, the contrary
+takes place. Here a great many doors are left open to will and daring; I
+can revoke the cards that fall to my share, can make them count in
+various ways, can discard half or all of them, can appeal from the
+decree of chance, nay, by an inverted course can reap the greatest
+advantage from the worst hand; and thus this class of games exactly
+resembles the modern method in thought and in poetic art.
+
+Ancient tragedy is based upon an unavoidable "should," which is
+intensified and accelerated only by a counteracting "would." This is the
+point of all that is terrible in the oracles, the region where _Oedipus_
+reigns supreme. _Sollen_ appears in a milder light as duty in
+_Antigone_. But all _Sollen_ is despotic, whether it belongs to the
+domain of reason, as ethical and municipal laws, or to that of Nature,
+as the laws of creation, growth, dissolution, of life and death. We
+shudder at all this, without reflecting that it is intended for the
+general good. _Wollen,_ on the contrary, is free, appears free, and
+favors the individual. _Wollen,_ therefore, is flattering, and perforce
+took possession of men as soon as they learned to know it. It is the god
+of the new time; devoted to it, we have a dread of its opposite, and
+that is why there is an impassable gulf between our art, as well as our
+mode of thought, and that of the ancients. Through _Sollen,_ tragedy
+becomes great and forceful; through _Wollen,_ weak and petty. Thus has
+arisen the so-called drama, in which the awful power of Fate was
+dissolved by the will; but precisely because this comes to the aid of
+our weakness do we find ourselves moved if, after painful expectation,
+we finally receive but scant comfort.
+
+If now, after these preliminary reflections, I turn to Shakespeare, I
+can not forbear wishing that my readers should themselves make the
+comparison and the application. Here Shakespeare stands out unique,
+combining the old and the new in incomparable fashion. _Wollen_ and
+_Sollen_ seek by every means, in his plays, to reach an equilibrium;
+they struggle violently with each other, but always in a way that leaves
+the _Wollen_ at a disadvantage.
+
+No one, perhaps, has represented more splendidly the great primal
+connection between _Wollen_ and _Sollen_ in the character of the
+individual. A person, from the point of view of his character, should:
+he is restricted, destined to some definite course; but as a man, he
+wills. He is unlimited and demands freedom of choice. At once there
+arises an inner conflict, and Shakespeare puts it in the forefront. But
+then an outer conflict supervenes, which often becomes acute through the
+pressure of circumstances, in the face of which a deficiency of will may
+rise to the rank of an inexorable fate. This idea I have pointed out
+before in the case of Hamlet; but it occurs repeatedly in Shakespeare;
+for as Hamlet is driven by the ghost into straits which he cannot pass
+through, so is Macbeth by witches, by Hecate, and by the arch-witch, his
+wife; Brutus by his friends; nay, even _in Coriolanus_, we find a
+similar thing--in short, the conception of a will transcending the
+capacity of the individual is modern. But as Shakespeare represents this
+trouble of the will as arising not from within but through outside
+circumstances, it becomes a sort of Fate and approaches the antique. For
+all the heroes of poetic antiquity strive only for what lies within
+man's power, and thence arises that fine balance between will, Fate, and
+performance; yet their Fate appears always as too forbidding, even where
+we admire it, to possess the power of attraction. A necessity which,
+more or less, or completely, precludes all freedom, does not comport
+with the ideas of our time; but Shakespeare approaches these in his own
+way; for, in making necessity ethical, he links, to our gratified
+astonishment, the ancient with the modern. If anything can be learned
+from him, it is this point that we should study in his school. Instead
+of exalting our romanticism--which may not deserve censure or
+contempt--unduly and exclusively, and clinging to it in a partisan
+spirit, whereby its strong, solid, efficient side is misjudged and
+impaired, we should strive to unite within ourselves those great and
+apparently irreconcilable opposites--all the more that this has already
+been achieved by the unique master whom we prize so highly, and, often
+without knowing why, extol above every one. He had, to be sure, the
+advantage of living at the proper harvest-time, of expending his
+activity in a Protestant country teeming with life, where the madness of
+bigotry was silent for a time, so that a man like Shakespeare, imbued
+with a natural piety, was left free to develop his real self religiously
+without regard to any definite creed.
+
+
+
+III
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST
+
+If lovers and friends of art wish fully to enjoy a creation of any kind,
+they delight in it as a whole, are permeated by the unity with which the
+artist has endowed it. To a person, on the other hand, who wishes to
+discuss such productions theoretically, to assert something about them,
+and therefore, to inform and instruct, discrimination becomes a duty. We
+believed we were fulfilling that duty in considering Shakespeare first
+as a poet in general, and then comparing him with the ancient and the
+most modern poets. And now we wish to complete our design by considering
+him as a dramatist.
+
+Shakespeare's name and worth belong to the history of poetry; but it is
+doing an injustice to all the dramatists of earlier and later ages to
+present his entire merit as belonging to the history of the theatre.
+
+A person of universally acknowledged talent may make a doubtful use of
+his endowments. Not everything produced by such a superior mind is done
+in the most perfect way. Thus Shakespeare belongs essentially to the
+history of poetry; in the history of the theatre he figures only
+accidentally. Because we can admire him unqualifiedly in the first, we
+must in the latter take into consideration the conditions to which he
+submitted and not extol those conditions as either virtues or models.
+
+We distinguish closely allied forms of poetic creation, which, however,
+in a vivid treatment often merge into each other: the epic, dialogue,
+drama, stage play, may be differentiated. An epic requires oral delivery
+to the many by a single individual; dialogue, speech in private company,
+where the multitude may, to be sure, be listeners; drama, conversation
+in actions, even though perhaps presented only to the imagination; stage
+play, all three together, inasmuch as it engages the sense of vision and
+may be grasped under certain conditions of local and personal presence.
+
+It is in this sense that Shakespeare's productions are most dramatic; he
+wins the reader by his mode of treatment, of disclosing man's innermost
+life; the demands of the stage appear unessential to him, and thus he
+takes an easy course, and, in an intellectual sense, we serenely follow
+him. We transport ourselves with him from one locality to another; our
+imagination supplies all the intermediate actions that he omits; nay, we
+are grateful to him for arousing our spiritual faculties in so worthy a
+fashion. By producing everything in theatrical form, he facilitates the
+activity of the imagination; for we are more familiar with the "boards
+that mean the world" than with the world itself, and we may read and
+hear the most singular things and yet feel that they might actually take
+place before our eyes on the stage; hence the frequent failure of
+dramatizations of popular novels.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, nothing is dramatic except that which
+strikes the eye as symbolic--an important action which betokens one
+still more important. That Shakespeare could attain this height too is
+evidenced in the scene where the son and heir takes the crown from the
+side of the father slumbering on his deathbed, places it on his own
+head, and struts off with it.[2] But these are only episodes, scattered
+jewels separated by much that is undramatic. Shakespeare's whole mode of
+procedure finds something unaccommodating in the actual stage; his great
+talent is that of an epitomist, and since poets are, on the whole,
+epitomists of Nature, we must here, too, acknowledge Shakespeare's great
+merit; only we deny, at the same time, and that to his credit, that the
+stage was a worthy sphere for his genius. It is precisely this
+limitation of the stage, however, which causes him to restrict himself.
+
+But he does not, like other poets, select particular materials for
+particular works; he makes an idea the central point and refers the
+earth and the universe to it. As he condenses ancient and modern
+history, he can utilize the material of every chronicle, and often
+adheres to it literally. Not so conscientiously does he proceed with the
+tales, as _Hamlet_ attests. _Romeo and Juliet_ is more faithful to
+tradition; yet he almost destroys its tragic content by the two comic
+figures, Mercutio and the nurse, probably presented by two popular
+actors--the nurse undoubtedly acted by a man. If we examine the
+structure of the play very closely, we notice that these two figures and
+the elements touching them, appear only as farcical interludes, which,
+with our love of the logical and harmonious, must strike us as
+intolerable.
+
+But Shakespeare is most marvelous when he adapts and recasts plays
+already in existence. We can institute a comparison in the case of _King
+John_ and _Lear_; for the older dramas are still extant. But in these
+instances, likewise, he is again rather a poet than a dramatist.
+
+But let us, in conclusion, proceed to the solution of the riddle. The
+imperfection of the English stage has been represented to us by
+well-informed men. There is not a trace of those requirements of realism
+to which we have gradually become used through improvements in
+machinery, the art of perspective, the wardrobe, and from which it would
+be difficult to lead us back into the infancy of those beginnings, to
+the days of a stage upon which little was seen, where everything was
+only _indicated_, where the public was satisfied to assume the chamber
+of the king lying behind a green curtain, the trumpeter who sounded the
+trumpet always at a certain spot, and many like things. Who at present
+would permit such assumptions? Under those conditions Shakespeare's
+plays were highly interesting tales, only they were recited by a number
+of persons, who, in order to make somewhat more of an impression, were
+characteristically masked as the occasion demanded, moved about, came
+and went, but left it to the spectator's imagination to fancy at will
+paradise and palaces on the empty stage.
+
+How, indeed, did Schröder achieve the great credit of putting
+Shakespeare's plays upon the German stage but by epitomizing the
+epitomizer? Schröder confined himself entirely to what was effective; he
+discarded everything else, indeed, even much that was essential, when it
+seemed to him that the effect upon his nation, upon his time, would be
+impaired. Thus it is true, for example, that by omitting the first scene
+of _King Lear_ he changed the character of the piece; but he was right,
+after all, for in that scene Lear appears so ridiculous that one can not
+wholly blame his daughters. The old man awakens our pity, but we have no
+sympathy for him, and it is sympathy that Schröder wished to arouse as
+well as abhorrence of the two daughters, who, though unnatural, are not
+absolutely reprehensible.
+
+In the old play which is Shakespeare's source, this scene is productive,
+in the course of the play, of the most pleasing effects. Lear flees to
+France; daughter and son-in-law, in some romantic caprice, make a
+pilgrimage, in disguise, to the seashore, and encounter the old man, who
+does not recognize them. Here all that Shakespeare's lofty, tragic
+spirit has embittered is made sweet. A comparison of these dramas
+affords ever renewed pleasure to the lover of art.
+
+In recent years, however, the notion has crept into Germany that
+Shakespeare must be presented on the German stage word for word, even if
+actors and audience should fairly choke in the process. The attempts,
+induced by an excellent, exact translation,[3] would not succeed
+anywhere--a fact to which the Weimar stage, after honest and repeated
+efforts, can give unexceptionable testimony. If we wish to see a
+Shakespearean play, we must return to Schröder's adaptation; but the
+dogma that, in representing Shakespeare, not a jot or tittle may be
+omitted, senseless as it is, is constantly being reechoed. If the
+advocates of this view should retain the upper hand, Shakespeare would
+in a few years be entirely driven from the German stage. This, indeed,
+would be no misfortune; for the solitary reader, or the reader in
+company with others, would experience so much the purer delight.
+
+The attempt, however, in the other direction, on which we have dilated
+above, was made in the arrangement of _Romeo and Juliet_ for the Weimar
+stage. The principles upon which this was based, we shall set forth at
+the first opportunity, and it will perhaps then be recognized why that
+arrangement--the representation of which is by no means difficult, but
+must be carried out artistically and with precision--had no success on
+the German stage. Similar efforts are now in progress, and perhaps some
+result is in store for the future, even though such undertakings
+frequently fail at the first trial.
+
+
+
+
+ORATION ON WIELAND (1813)[4]
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH. D.
+
+    [To the Memory of the noble Poet, Brother, and Friend, Wieland.]
+
+    Most serene protector!
+    Right worshipful master I
+    Very honorable assembly I
+
+Although under no circumstances does it become the individual to set
+himself in opposition to ancient, venerable customs, or of his own will
+to alter what our ancestors in their wisdom have deemed right and have
+ordained, nevertheless, had I really at my bidding the magician's wand
+which the muses in spirit intrusted to our departed friend, I should in
+an instant transform all these sad surroundings into those of joy. This
+darkness would straightway grow radiant before your eyes, and before you
+there would appear a hall decked for a feast, with varied tapestries and
+garlands of gaiety, joyous and serene as our friend's own life. Then
+your eyes, your spirit, would be attracted by the creations of his
+luxuriant imagination; Olympus with its gods, introduced by the Muses
+and adorned by the Graces, would be a living testimony that he who lived
+amid such glad surroundings, and who also departed from us in the spirit
+of that gladness, should be counted among the most fortunate of mankind,
+and should be interred, not with lamentation, but with expressions of
+joy and of exultation.
+
+And yet, what I cannot present to the outward senses, may be offered to
+the inward. Eighty years, how much in how few syllables! Who of us dares
+hastily to run through so many years and to picture to himself the
+significance of them when well employed? Who of us would dare assert
+that he could in an instant measure and appraise the value of a life
+that was complete from every point of view?
+
+[Illustration: MARTIN WIELAND]
+
+If we accompany our friend step by step through all his days, if we
+regard him as a boy and as a youth, in his prime and in his old age, we
+find that to his lot fell the unusual fortune of plucking the bloom of
+each of these seasons; for even old age has its bloom, and the happiest
+enjoyment of this, also, was vouchsafed him. Only a few months have
+passed since for him the brethren of our lodge crowned their mysterious
+sphinx with roses, to show that, if the aged Anacreon undertook to adorn
+his exalted sensuality with the rose's light twigs, the ethical
+sensuousness, the tempered joy of life and wit which animated our noble
+friend also merited a rich and abundant garland.
+
+Only a few weeks have elapsed since this excellent man was still with
+us, not merely present but active at our gatherings. It was through the
+midst of our intimate circle that he passed from things earthly; we were
+the nearest to him, even at the last; and if his fatherland as well as
+foreign nations celebrate his memory, where ought this to be done
+earlier and more emphatically than by us?
+
+I have not, therefore, dared to disobey the mandates of our masters, and
+before this honorable assembly I speak a few words in his memory, the
+more gladly since they may be fleeting precursors of what in the future
+the world and our brotherhood shall do for him. This is the sentiment,
+and this the purpose, for the sake of which I venture to entreat a
+gracious hearing; and if what I shall say from an affection tested for
+almost forty years rather than for mere rhetorical effect--by no means
+well composed, but rather in brief sentences, and even in desultory
+fashion--may seem worthy neither of him who is honored nor of them who
+honor, then I must remark that here you may expect only a preliminary
+outline, a sketch, yes, only the contents and, if you so will, the
+marginal notes of a future work. And thus, then, without more delay, to
+the theme so dear, so precious, and, indeed, so sacred to us!
+
+Wieland was born in 1733 near Biberach, a small imperial free-town in
+Swabia. His father, a Lutheran clergyman, gave him a careful training
+and imparted to him the first elements of education. He was then sent to
+the monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where the truly pious Abbot
+Steinmetz presided over an educational institution of good repute.
+Thence he went to the University of Tübingen, and then lived for some
+time as a private tutor in Bern, but he was soon attracted to Bodmer, at
+Zurich, who, like Gleim at a later date in North Germany, might be
+called the midwife of genius in South Germany. There he gave himself
+over entirely to the joy that arises from youth's self-creation, when
+talents develop under friendly guidance without being hampered by the
+higher requirements of criticism. Soon, however, he outgrew this stage,
+returned to his native town, and henceforth became his own teacher and
+trainer, while with ceaseless activity he pursued his inclination toward
+literature and poetry.
+
+His mechanical official duties as the chief of the chancery robbed him,
+it is true, of time, though they could not deprive him of joy and
+courage; and that his spirit might not be dwarfed amid such narrow
+surroundings, he fortunately became acquainted with Count Stadion, whose
+estates lay in the vicinity, and who was a minister of the Prince
+Elector of Mainz. In this illustrious and well-appointed house the
+atmosphere of the world and of the court was for the first time wafted
+to him; he became no stranger to domestic and foreign affairs of state;
+and in the count he gained a patron for all his life. In consequence, he
+did not remain unknown to the Prince Elector of Mainz, and since the
+University of Erfurt was to be revived under Emmerich Joseph, our friend
+was summoned thither, thus exemplifying the tolerant sentiments which,
+from the beginning of the century, have spread among men who are akin
+through the Christian faith, and have even permeated humanity as a
+whole.
+
+He could not labor long at Erfurt without becoming known to the Duchess
+Regent of Weimar, at whose court Count von Dalberg, so active in every
+form of good work, did not fail to introduce him. An adequate education
+of her princely sons was the chief object of a tender mother, herself
+highly cultured, and thus he was called thither to employ his literary
+talents and his moral endowments for the best interests of the princely
+house, for our weal, and for the weal of all.
+
+The retirement promised him after the completion of his educational
+duties was given him at once, and since he received a more than promised
+alleviation of his domestic circumstances, he led, for nearly forty
+years, a life of complete conformity to his disposition and to his
+wishes.
+
+The influence of Wieland on the public was uninterrupted and permanent.
+He educated his generation up to himself, giving to the taste and to the
+judgment of his contemporaries a decided trend, so that his merits have
+already been sufficiently recognized, appraised, and even portrayed. In
+many a work on German literature he is discussed as honorably as
+judiciously; I need only recall the laudations which Küttner,
+Eschenburg, Manso, and Eichhorn have bestowed upon him.
+
+And whence came the profound influence which he exercised on the
+Germans? It was a result of the excellence and of the openness of his
+nature. In him man and author had completely interpenetrated; he wrote
+poetry as a living soul, and lived the poet's life. In verse and prose
+he never hid what was at the instant in his mind and what each time he
+felt, so that judging he wrote and writing he judged. From the fertility
+of his mind sprang the fertility of his pen.
+
+I do not employ the term "pen" as a rhetorical phrase; here it is valid
+in the strictest sense, and if a pious reverence pays homage to many an
+author by seeking to gain possession of the quill with which he formed
+his works, the quill of which Wieland availed himself, would surely be
+worthy of this distinction above many another. For the fact that he
+wrote everything with his own hand and most beautifully, and, at the
+same time, with freedom and with thoughtfulness; that he ever had
+before him what he had written, carefully examining, changing,
+improving, indefatigably fashioning and refashioning, never weary even
+of repeatedly transcribing voluminous works--this gave to his
+productions the delicacy, the gracefulness, the clearness, the natural
+elegance which can be bestowed on a work already completed, not by
+effort, but by unruffled, inspired attention.
+
+This careful preparation of his writings had its origin in a happy
+conviction which apparently came to him toward the end of his residence
+in Switzerland, when impatience at production had in some measure
+subsided, and when the desire to present a perfected result to the
+public had become more decidedly and more obviously active.
+
+Since, then, in him the man and the poet were a single individuality, we
+shall also portray the latter when we speak of the former. Irritability
+and versatility, the accompaniments of poetical and of rhetorical
+talents, dominated him to a high degree, but an acquired rather than an
+innate moderation kept them in equilibrium. Our friend was capable of
+enthusiasm in highest measure, and in youth he surrendered himself
+wholly to it, the more actively and assiduously since, in his case, for
+several years that happy period was prolonged when within himself the
+youth feels the worth and the dignity of the most excellent, be it
+attainable or not.
+
+In that pure and happy field of the golden age, in that paradise of
+innocence, he dwelt longer than others. The house where he was born, in
+which a cultivated clergyman ruled as father; the ancient,
+linden-embowered monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where a pious
+teacher kept up his patriarchal activity; Tübingen, still monastic
+in its essential form; those simple Swiss dwellings about which
+the brooks murmured, which the lakes laved, and which the cliffs
+surrounded--everywhere he found another Delphi, everywhere the groves in
+which as a mature and cultivated youth he continued to revel even yet.
+There he was powerfully attracted by the monuments of the manly
+innocence of the Greeks which have been left us. Cyrus, Araspes,
+Panthea, and forms of equal loftiness revived in him; he felt the spirit
+of Plato weaving within him; he felt that he needed that spirit to
+reproduce those pictures for himself and for others--so much the more
+since he desired not so keenly to evoke poetic phantoms as, rather, to
+create a moral influence for actual beings.
+
+Yet the very fact that he had the good fortune to dwell so protractedly
+in these loftier realms, and that he could long regard as the most
+perfect verity all that he thought, felt, imagined, dreamed, and
+fancied--this very fact embittered for him the fruit which he was
+obliged at last to pluck from the tree of knowledge.
+
+Who can escape the conflict with the outer world? Even our friend is
+drawn into this strife; reluctantly he submits to contradiction by
+experience and by life; and since, after a long struggle, he succeeds
+not in uniting these august figures with those of the vulgar world, or
+that high desire with the demands of the day, he resolves to let the
+actual pass current as the necessary, and declares that what has thus
+far seemed real to him is phantasy.
+
+Yet even here the individuality and the energy of his spirit reveals
+itself to be worthy of admiration. Despite all the fulness of his life,
+despite so strong a joy of living, despite noble inward talents and
+honorable spiritual desires and purposes, he feels himself wounded by
+the world and defrauded of his greatest treasures. Henceforth he can in
+experience nowhere find what had constituted his joy for so many years,
+and what had even been the inmost content of his life; yet he does not
+consume himself in idle lamentations, of which we know so many in the
+prose and verse of others, but he resolves upon counter-action. He
+proclaims war on all that cannot be demonstrated in reality; first and
+foremost, therefore, on Platonic love, then on all dogmatizing
+philosophy, especially its two extremes of Stoicism and Pythagoreanism.
+Furthermore, he works implacably against religious fanaticism, and
+against all that to reason appears eccentric.
+
+But he is at once overwhelmed with anxiety lest he go too far, lest he
+himself act fantastically, and now he simultaneously begins battle
+against commonplace reality. He opposes everything which we are
+accustomed to understand under the name Philistinism--musty pedantry,
+provincialism, petty etiquette, narrow criticism, false prudery, smug
+complacency, arrogant dignity, and whatever names may be applied to all
+these unclean spirits, whose name is Legion.
+
+Herein he proceeds in an absolutely natural manner, without preconceived
+purpose or self-consciousness. He stands before the dilemma of the
+conceivable and the real, and, as he must advise moderation to control
+or to unite the two, he must hold himself in check, and must be
+many-sided, since he wishes to be just.
+
+He had long been attracted by the pure, rational uprightness of noble
+Englishmen, and by their influence in the moral sphere, by an Addison,
+by a Steele; but now in their society he finds a man whose type of
+thought is far more agreeable to him.
+
+Shaftesbury, whom I need only mention to recall a great thinker to the
+mind of every well-informed man,--Shaftesbury lived at a time when much
+disturbance reigned in the religion of his native land, when the
+dominant church sought by force to subdue men of other modes of thought.
+State and morals were also threatened by much that must arouse the
+anxiety of the intelligent and right-thinking. The best counter-action
+to all this, he believed, was cheerfulness; in his opinion, only what
+was regarded with serenity would be rightly seen. He who could look
+serenely into his own bosom must be a good man. This was the main thing,
+and from it sprang all other good. Spirit, wit, and humor were, he held,
+the real agencies by which such a disposition should come in contact
+with the world. All objects, even the most serious, must be capable of
+such clarity and freedom if they were not bedizened with a merely
+arrogant dignity, but contained within themselves a true value which did
+not fear the test. In this spirited endeavor to become master of things
+it was impossible to avoid casting about for deciding authorities, and
+thus human reason was set as judge over the content, and taste over the
+manner, of presentation.
+
+In such a man our Wieland now found, not a predecessor whom he was to
+follow, nor a colleague with whom he was to work, but a true elder twin
+brother in the spirit, whom he perfectly resembled, without being formed
+in his likeness; even as it could not be said of the Menæchmi which was
+the original, and which the copy.
+
+What Shaftesbury, born in a higher station, more favored with worldly
+advantages, and more experienced by travel, office, and cosmopolitan
+knowledge, did in a wider circle and at a more serious period in
+sea-girt England, precisely this our friend, proceeding from a point at
+first extremely limited, accomplished through persistent activity and
+through ceaseless toil, in his native land, surrounded on every side by
+hills and dales; and the result was--to employ, in our condensed
+address, a brief but generally intelligible term--that popular
+philosophy whereby a practically trained intelligence is set in decision
+over the moral worth of things, and is made the judge of their aesthetic
+value.
+
+This philosophy, prepared in England and fostered by conditions in
+Germany, was thus spread far and wide by our friend, in company with
+countless sympathizers, by poems and by scholarly works, even by life
+itself.
+
+And yet, if we have found Shaftesbury and Wieland perfectly alike so far
+as point of view, temperament, and insight are concerned, nevertheless,
+the latter was far superior to the former in talent; for what the
+Englishman rationally taught and desired, the German knew how to
+elaborate poetically and rhetorically in verse and prose.
+
+In this elaboration, however, the French mode of treatment was
+necessarily most suitable to him. Serenity, wit, spirit, and elegance
+are already at hand in France; his luxuriant imagination, which now
+desires to be occupied only with light and joyous themes, turns to tales
+of fairies and knights, which grant it the greatest freedom. Here,
+again, in the _Arabian Nights_ and in the _Bibliotheque universelle des
+romans_, France offered him materials half-prepared and adapted, while
+the ancient treasures of this sort, which Germany possesses, still
+remained crude and unavailable.
+
+It is precisely these poems which have most widely spread and most
+firmly established Wieland's fame. Their light-heartedness gained them
+access to everyone, and even the serious Germans deigned to be pleased
+with them; for all these works appeared indeed at a happy and favorable
+time. They were all written in the spirit which we have developed above.
+Frequently the fortunate poet undertook the artistic task of giving a
+high value to very mediocre materials by revising them; and though it
+cannot be denied that he sometimes permits reason to triumph over the
+higher powers, and at other times allows sensuality to prevail over the
+moral qualities, yet we must also grant that, in its proper place,
+everything which can possibly adorn noble souls gains supremacy.
+
+Earlier than most of these works, though not the earliest of all, was
+the translation of Shakespeare. Wieland did not fear impairment of his
+originality by study; on the contrary, he was convinced at an early date
+that a lively, fertile spirit found its best stimulus not only in the
+adaptation of material that was already well known, but also in the
+translation of extant works.
+
+In those days the translation of Shakespeare was a daring thought, for
+even trained _litterateurs_ denied the possibility of the success of
+such an undertaking. Wieland translated freely, grasped the sense of his
+author, and omitted what appeared to him untranslatable; and thus he
+gave to his nation a general idea of the most magnificent works of
+another people, and to his generation an insight into the lofty culture
+of by-gone centuries.
+
+Great as was the effect of this translation in Germany, it appears to
+have exercised little influence upon Wieland himself. He was too
+thoroughly antagonistic to his author, as is sufficiently obvious from
+the passages omitted and passed over, and still more from the appended
+notes, in which the French type of thought is evident.
+
+On the other hand, the Greeks, with their moderation and clarity, are to
+him most precious models. He feels himself allied with them in taste;
+religion, customs, and legislation all give him opportunity to exercise
+his versatility, and since neither the gods nor the philosophers, and
+neither the nation nor the nations are any more compatible than
+politicians and soldiers, he everywhere finds the desired opportunity,
+amid his apparent doubts and jests, of repeatedly inculcating his
+equitable, tolerant, human doctrines.
+
+At the same time, he takes delight in presenting problematical
+characters, and he finds pleasure, for example, in emphasizing the
+lovable qualities of a Musarion, a Lais, and a Phryne without regard to
+womanly chastity, and in exalting their practical wisdom above the
+scholastic wisdom of the philosophers.
+
+But among these he also finds a man whom he can develop and set forth as
+the representative of his own convictions--I mean Aristippus. Here
+philosophy and worldly pleasure are through wise moderation so united in
+serene and welcome fashion that the wish arises to be a contemporary in
+so fair a land, and in such goodly company. Union with these educated,
+right-thinking, cultivated, joyous men is so welcome, and it even seems
+that so long as one may walk with them in thought, one's mind will be as
+theirs, and one will think as they.
+
+In these circles our friend maintained himself by careful experiments,
+which are still more necessary to the translator than to the poet; and
+thus arose the German _Lucian_, which necessarily presented the Greek to
+us the more vividly since the author and the translator could be
+regarded as true kindred spirits.
+
+But however much a man of such talents preaches decency, he will,
+nevertheless, sometimes feel himself tempted to transgress the
+boundaries of propriety and decorum, since from time immemorial genius
+has reckoned such escapades among its prerogatives. Wieland indulged
+this impulse when he sought to assimilate himself to the daring,
+extraordinary Aristophanes, and when he was able to translate his jests,
+as audacious as they were witty, though he toned them down with his own
+innate grace.
+
+For all these presentations an insight into the higher plastic art was
+also obviously necessary, and since our friend was never vouchsafed the
+sight of those ancient masterpieces which still survive, he sought to
+rise to them in thought, to bring them before his eyes by the power of
+imagination; so that we cannot fail to be amazed to see how talent is
+able to form for itself a conception even of what is far away. Moreover,
+he would have been entirely successful if his laudable caution had not
+restrained him from taking decisive steps; for art in general, and
+especially the art of the ancients, can neither be grasped nor
+comprehended without enthusiasm. He who will not commence with amazement
+and with admiration finds no entrance into the holy of holies. Our
+friend, however, was far too cautious, and how could he have been
+expected to make in this single instance an exception from his general
+rule of life?
+
+If, however, he was near akin to the Greeks in taste, in sentiment he
+was still more closely allied to the Romans--not that he would have
+allowed himself to be carried away by republican or by patriotic zeal,
+but he really finds his peers among the Romans, whereas he has, in a
+sense, only fictitiously assimilated himself to the Greeks. Horace has
+much similarity to him; himself an artist, and himself a man of the
+court and of the world, he intelligently estimates life and art; Cicero,
+philosopher, orator, statesman, and active citizen, also closely
+resembles him--and both arose from inconsiderable beginnings to great
+dignities and honors.
+
+While our friend occupies himself with the works of both these men, how
+gladly would he transport himself back into their century and their
+surroundings, and transfer himself to their epoch, in order to transmit
+to us a clear picture of that past; and he succeeds amazingly. Perhaps,
+on the whole, more sympathy might be desired for the men with whom he is
+concerned, but such is his fear of partisanship that he prefers to take
+sides against them rather than on their behalf.
+
+There are two maxims of translation. The one demands that the author of
+an alien nation be brought over to us so that we may regard him as our
+own; the other, on the contrary, lays upon us the obligation that we
+should transfer ourselves to the stranger and accommodate ourselves to
+his conditions, to his diction, and to his peculiarities. The advantages
+of both are sufficiently well known to all cultured men by masterly
+examples. Our friend, who here also sought the middle way, endeavored to
+combine both; yet, as a man of taste and feeling, in doubtful cases he
+gave the preference to the first maxim.
+
+Perhaps no one has so keenly felt as he how complicated a task
+translation is. How deeply was he convinced that not the letter but the
+spirit giveth life! Consider how, in his introductions, he first
+endeavors to shift us to the period and to make us acquainted with the
+personages; how he then makes his author speak in a way which we already
+know, akin to our own thought and familiar to our ear; and how, finally,
+in his annotations, he seeks to explain and to obviate many a detail
+which might remain obscure, rouse doubt, and be offensive. Through this
+triple endeavor one can see clearly that he first has mastered his
+subject, and then he also takes the most praiseworthy pains to put us in
+a position in which his insight can be communicated to us, that we also
+may share the enjoyment with him.
+
+Although he was equally master of many tongues, yet he clung to the two
+in which the value and the dignity of the ancient world have most purely
+been transmitted to us. For little as we would deny that many a treasure
+has been drawn and is still to be drawn from the mines of other ancient
+literatures, so little shall we be contradicted when we assert that the
+language of the Greeks and of the Romans has transmitted to us, down to
+this very day, priceless gifts which in content are equal to the best,
+and in form are superior to every other.
+
+The organization of the German Empire, which includes so many small
+states within itself, herein resembled the Greek. Since the tiniest,
+most unimportant, and even invisible city had its special interests it
+was constrained to cherish and to maintain them, and to defend them
+against its neighbors. Accordingly, its youth were early roused and
+summoned to reflect upon affairs of state. And thus Wieland, too, as the
+chief of the chancery of one of the smallest imperial free-towns, was in
+a position calculated to make of him a patriot and, in the best sense of
+the term, a demagogue; as when later, in one such instance, he resolved
+to bring down upon himself the temporary disfavor of his patron, the
+neighboring Count Stadion, rather than to make an unpatriotic
+submission.
+
+His _Agathon_ itself teaches us that within this sphere as well he gave
+preference to sound principles; nevertheless, he took such interest in
+the realities of life that all his occupations and all his predilections
+ultimately failed to prevent him from thinking about the same. He
+particularly felt himself summoned anew to this when he dared promise
+himself a weighty influence on the training of princes from whom much
+might be expected.
+
+In all the works of this type which he wrote a cosmopolitan spirit is
+manifest, and since they were composed at a time when the power of
+absolute monarchy was not yet shaken, it became his main purpose
+insistently to set their obligations before the rulers and to point them
+to the happiness which they should find in the happiness of their
+subjects.
+
+Now, however, the epoch came when an aroused nation tore down all that
+had thus far stood, and seemed to summon the spirits of all the dwellers
+upon earth to a universal legislation. On this matter, likewise, he
+declared himself with cautious modesty; and by rational presentations,
+which he clothed under a variety of forms, he sought to produce some
+measure of equilibrium in the excited masses. Since, however, the tumult
+of anarchy became more and more furious, and since a voluntary union of
+the masses appeared inconceivable, he was the first once more to counsel
+absolutism and to designate the man to work the miracle of
+reëstablishment.
+
+If, now, it be remembered in this connection that our friend wrote
+concerning these matters not, as it were, after, but during, events, and
+that, as the editor of a widely-read periodical he had occasion--and was
+even compelled--on the spur of the moment to express his views each
+month, then he who is called to trace chronologically the course of his
+life will perceive, not without amazement, how attentively he followed
+the swift events of the day, and how shrewdly he conducted himself
+throughout as a German and as a thinking, sympathetic man. And here is
+the place to recall the periodical which was so important for Germany,
+the _Deutscher Merkur_. This undertaking was not the first of its kind,
+yet at that time it was new and significant. The name of its editor
+immediately created great confidence in it; for the fact that a man who
+was himself a poet also promised to introduce the poems of others into
+the world, and that an author to whom such magnificent works were due
+would himself pass judgment and publicly express his opinion--this
+aroused the greatest hopes. Moreover, men of worth quickly gathered
+about him, and this alliance of preëminent _litterateurs_ was so active
+that the _Merkur_ during a period of several years may be employed as a
+textbook of our literary history. On the public generally its influence
+was profound and significant, for if, on the one hand, reading and
+criticism became the possession of a greater multitude, the desire to
+give instant expression to his thoughts became active in everyone who
+had anything to give. More was sent to the editor than he expected and
+desired; his success awakened imitators; similar periodicals arose which
+crowded upon the public, first monthly, then weekly and daily, and which
+finally produced that confusion of Babel of which we were and are
+witnesses, and which, strictly speaking, springs from the fact that
+everyone wishes to talk, but no one is willing to listen..
+
+The quality which maintained the value and the dignity of the _Deutscher
+Merkur_ for many years was its editor's innate liberality. Wieland was
+not created to be a party leader; he who recognizes moderation as the
+chief maxim cannot make himself guilty of one-sidedness. Whatever
+excited his active spirit he sought to equalize within himself through
+taste and common sense, and thus he also treated his collaborators, for
+none of whom he felt very much enthusiasm; and as, while translating the
+ancient authors whom he so highly esteemed, he was accustomed frequently
+to attack them in his notes, so, by his disapproving annotations, he
+often vexed, and actually estranged, valued and even favorite
+contributors.
+
+Even before this, our friend had been forced to endure full many an
+attack on account of major or minor writings; so much the less as the
+editor of a periodical could he escape literary controversies. Yet here,
+too, he shows himself ever the same. Such a paper war can never last
+long for him, and if it threatens to be in any degree protracted, he
+gives his opponent the last word and goes his wonted path.
+
+Foreigners have sagaciously observed that German authors regard the
+public less than the writers of other nations, and that, therefore, one
+can tell from his writings the man who is developing himself, and the
+man who seeks to create something to his own satisfaction,--and,
+consequently, the character of these two types soon becomes obvious.
+This quality we have already ascribed to Wieland in particular; and it
+will be so much the more interesting to arrange and to follow his
+writings and his life in this sense, since, formerly and latterly, the
+attempt has been made to cast suspicion on our friend's character from
+these very writings. A large number of men are even yet in error
+regarding him, since they fancy that the man of many sides must be
+indifferent, and the versatile man must be wavering; it is forgotten
+that character is concerned simply and solely with the practical. Only
+in that which a man does and continues to do, and in that to which he is
+constant, does he reveal his character, and in this sense there has been
+no more steadfast man, no man constantly more true to himself, than
+Wieland. If he surrendered himself to the multiplicity of his emotions,
+and to the versatility of his thoughts, and if he permitted no single
+impression to gain dominion over him, in this very way he proved the
+firmness and the sureness of his mind. This witty man played gladly with
+his opinions, but--I can summon all contemporaries as witnesses--never
+with his convictions. And thus he won for himself many friends, and kept
+them. That he had any decided enemy is not known to me. In the enjoyment
+of his poetic works he lived for many years in municipal, civic,
+friendly, and social surroundings, and gained the distinction of a
+complete edition of his carefully revised works, and even of an _édition
+de luxe_ of them.
+
+But even in the autumn of his years he was destined to feel the
+influence of the spirit of the age, and in an unforeseen manner to begin
+a new life, a new youth. The blessings of sweet peace had long ruled
+over Germany; general outward safety and repose coincided most happily
+with the inward, human, cosmopolitan views of existence. The peaceful
+townsman seemed no longer to require his walls; they were dispensed
+with; and there was a yearning after rustic life. The security of landed
+property gave confidence to everyone; the untrammelled life of nature
+attracted everyone; and as man, born a social being, can often fancy to
+himself the sweet deceit that he lives better, easier, happier in
+isolation, so Wieland also, who had already been vouchsafed the highest
+literary leisure, seemed to look about him for an abode more quiet in
+which to cultivate the Muses; and when he found opportunity and strength
+to obtain an estate in the very vicinity of Weimar, he formed the
+resolution there to pass the remainder of his life. And here they who
+have often visited him, and who have lived with him, may tell in detail
+how it was precisely here that he appeared in all his charm as head of
+the house and of the family, as friend, and as husband, and especially
+how, since he could indeed withdraw from men but men could not dispense
+with him, he most delightfully developed his social virtues as a
+hospitable host.
+
+While inviting younger friends to elaborate this idyllic portrayal, I
+may merely note, briefly and sympathetically, how this rural joy was
+troubled by the passing away of a dear woman friend who resided with
+them, and then by the death of his esteemed and careful consort. He laid
+these dear remains in his own property, and although he resolved to give
+up agricultural cares, which had become too intricate for him, and to
+dispense with the estate which for some years he had enjoyed, he
+retained for himself the place and the space between his two dear ones
+that there he, too, might find his resting place. And there, then, the
+honorable brethren have accompanied him, yea, brought him, and thus have
+they fulfilled his lovely and pleasant wish that posterity might visit
+and reverence his tomb within a living grove.
+
+Yet not without a higher reason did our friend return to the city, for
+his devotion to his great patroness, the Duchess Dowager, had more than
+once given him sad hours in his rural retirement. He felt only too
+keenly how much it cost him to be far from her. He could not forego
+association with her, and yet he could enjoy it only with inconvenience
+and with discomfort. And thus, after he had seen his household now
+expanded and now contracted, now augmented and now diminished, now
+gathered together and now scattered, the exalted princess draws him into
+her own immediate circle. He returns, occupies a house very close to the
+princely residence, shares in the summer sojourn in Tiefurt, and now
+regards himself as a member of the household and of the court.
+
+In very peculiar measure Wieland was born for the higher circles of
+society, and even the highest would have been his proper element; for
+since he nowhere wished to stand supreme, but gladly sought to take part
+in everything, and was inclined to express himself with moderation
+regarding everything, he must inevitably appear an agreeable companion,
+and in still higher degree he would have been such in a more
+light-hearted nation which did not take too seriously every form of
+recreation.
+
+For his poetic and his literary aspirations were alike addressed
+immediately to life, and though he did not seek a practical end with
+absolute invariability, yet he ever had a practical aim before his eyes,
+whether it was near or far. Therefore his thought was always clear, his
+phraseology was lucid and readily intelligible, and since, with his
+extensive knowledge, he continually held to the interest of the day,
+followed it, and intelligently occupied himself with it, his
+conversation also was diversified and stimulating throughout; so that I
+have not readily become acquainted with anyone who more gladly received
+and more spiritedly responded to whatever happy idea others might bring
+forward.
+
+Bearing in mind his type of thought, his mode of entertaining himself
+and others, and his honorable purpose of influencing his generation, he
+can scarcely be reproached for feeling an antagonism toward the more
+modern philosophical schools. When, at an earlier period, Kant gave
+merely the preludes of his greater theories in his minor writings, and
+in a lighter style seemed to express himself problematically upon
+the most weighty themes, then he still stood close enough to our friend;
+but when the huge system was erected, all those who had thus far gone
+their way poetizing and philosophizing in full freedom, were forced to
+see in Kant's monumental work a menacing citadel which would limit their
+serene excursions over the field of experience.
+
+Yet not merely the philosophers, but also the poets, had much, and,
+indeed, everything, to fear from the new intellectual tendency, so soon
+as large numbers should allow themselves to be attracted by it. It would
+at first appear as though its purpose was mainly directed toward
+knowledge, and then toward the theory of morals and its immediately
+subsidiary subjects. It was readily obvious, however, that, if it was
+intended to establish, more firmly than had hitherto been the case,
+those weighty affairs of higher knowledge and of moral conduct, and if
+there the demand was made for a sterner, more coherent judgment,
+developed from the depths of humanity--it was readily obvious, I repeat,
+that taste also would soon be referred to such principles, and,
+therefore, the attempt would be made absolutely to set aside individual
+fancies, chance culture, and popular peculiarities, and to evoke a more
+general law as a deciding factor.
+
+This was, moreover, actually realized, and in poetry a new epoch emerged
+which was necessarily as antagonistic to our friend as he was to it.
+From this time on he experienced many unfavorable judgments, yet without
+being very deeply influenced by them; and I here expressly mention this
+circumstance, since the consequent struggle in German literature is as
+yet by no means allayed and adjusted, and since a friend who desires to
+value Wieland's merits and sturdily to uphold his memory must be
+perfectly conversant with the situation of affairs, with the rise and
+with the sequence of opinions, and with the character and with the
+talents of the cooperators; he must know well the powers and the
+services of both sides; and, to work impartially, he must, in a sense,
+belong to both factions. Yet from those minor or major controversies
+which arose from his intellectual attitude I am drawn by a serious
+consideration, to which we must now turn.
+
+The peace which for many years had blissfully dwelt amid our mountains
+and hills, and in our delightfully watered valleys, had long been, if
+not disturbed, at least threatened, by military expeditions. When the
+eventful day dawned which filled us with amazement and alarm, since the
+fate of the world was decided in our walks, even in those terrible hours
+toward which our friend's carefree life flowed on, fortune did not
+desert him, for he was saved first through the precaution of a young and
+resolute friend, and then through the attention of the French
+conquerors, who honored in him both the meritorious author, famed
+throughout the world, and a member of their own great literary
+institute.
+
+Soon afterward he had to bear the loss of Amelia, so bitter to us all.
+Court and city endeavored to extend him every compensation, and soon
+afterward he was favored by two emperors with insignia of honor, the
+like of which he had not sought, and had not even expected, throughout
+his long life.
+
+Yet in the day of joy as in the day of sorrow he remained constant to
+himself, and thus he exemplified the superiority of delicate natures,
+whose equanimity knows how to meet with moderation good and evil fortune
+alike.
+
+But he appeared most remarkable of all, considered in body and in
+spirit, after the bitter calamity which befell him in such advanced
+years when, together with a beloved daughter, he was very severely
+injured by the overturning of his carriage. The painful results of the
+accident and the tedium of convalescence he bore with the utmost
+equanimity, and he comforted his friends rather than himself by the
+declaration that he had never met with a like misfortune, and it might
+well have seemed pleasing to the gods that in this way he discharge the
+debt of humanity. Now, moreover, he speedily recovered, since his
+constitution, like that of a youth, was quickly restored, and thus he
+became a proof for us of the way in which great physical strength may be
+combined with delicacy and clean living.
+
+As, then, his philosophy of life remained firm even under this test;
+such an accident produced no change in his convictions or in his mode of
+life. Companionable after his recovery as before, he took part in the
+customary recreations of the social life of the court and of the city,
+and with true affection and with constant endeavor shared in the
+activities of the brethren of our lodge. But however much his eye seemed
+always fixed on things earthly, and on the understanding and utilization
+of them--yet, as a man of exceptional gifts, he could in no wise
+dispense with the extramundane and the supersensual. Here also that
+conflict, which we have deemed it our duty to portray in detail above,
+became evident in a remarkable degree; for though he appeared to reject
+everything which lay outside the bounds of general knowledge, and beyond
+the sphere of what may be exemplified from experience, none the less,
+while he did not transgress the lines so sharply drawn, he could never
+refrain, in tentative fashion, as it were, from peeping over them, and
+from constructing and representing, in his own way, an extramundane
+world, a state concerning which all the innate powers of our soul can
+give us no information.
+
+Single traits of his writings afford manifold examples of this; but I
+may especially recall his _Agathodämon_ and his _Euthanasie_, and also
+those beautiful declarations, as rational as they were sincere, which he
+was permitted, only a short while since, to express openly and frankly
+before this assembly. For a confiding love toward our lodge of brethren
+had developed within him. Acquainted even as a youth with the historical
+traditions regarding the mysteries of the ancients, he indeed shunned,
+in conformity with his serene, lucid mode of thought, those dark
+secrets; yet he did not deny that precisely under these, perhaps
+uncouth, veils, higher conceptions had first been brought to barbarous
+and sensual men, that, through awe-inspiring symbols, powerful,
+illuminating ideas had been awakened, the belief in one God, ruling over
+all, had been introduced, virtue had been represented more desirably,
+and hope for the continuance of our existence had been purified both
+from the false terrors of a dark superstition and from the equally false
+demands of an Epicurean sensuality.
+
+Then, as an aged man left behind on earth by so many valued friends and
+contemporaries, and feeling himself in many respects alone, he drew near
+to our dear lodge. How gladly he entered it, how constantly he attended
+our gatherings, vouchsafed his attention to our affairs, rejoiced in the
+reception of excellent young men, was present at our honorable banquets,
+and did not refrain from expressing his thoughts upon many a weighty
+matter--of this we are all witnesses; we have recognized it with
+friendly gratitude. Indeed, if this ancient lodge, often reëstablished
+after many a change of time, required any testimony here, the most
+perfect would be ready at hand, since a talented man, intelligent,
+cautious, circumspect, experienced, benevolent, and moderate, felt that
+with us he found kindred spirits, and that with us he was in a company
+which he, accustomed to the best, so gladly recognized to be the
+realization of his wishes as a man and as a social being.
+
+Although summoned by our masters to speak a few words concerning the
+departed, before this so distinguished and highly esteemed assembly, I
+might surely have ventured to decline to do so, in the conviction that
+not a fleeting hour, not loose notes superficially jotted down, but
+whole years, and even several well weighed and well ordered volumes are
+requisite worthily to celebrate his memory in consideration of the
+monument which he has worthily erected for himself in his works and in
+his influence. This delightful duty I undertook only in the conviction
+that what I have here said may serve as an introduction to what should
+in future be better done by others at the repeated celebration of his
+memory. If it shall please our honored masters to deposit in their ark,
+together with this essay, all that shall publicly appear concerning our
+friend, and, still more, what our brethren, whom he most greatly and
+most peculiarly influenced and who enjoyed an uninterrupted and a closer
+association with him, may confidentially express and communicate, then
+through this would be collected a treasure of facts, of information, and
+of valuations which might well be unique of its kind, and from which our
+posterity might draw, in after times, in order to protect, to maintain,
+and to hallow for evermore so worthy a memory with love unwavering.
+
+
+
+
+THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (1827)
+
+TRANSLATED BY EDWARD BELL From WILHELM MEISTER'S TRAVELS
+
+Our pilgrims had performed the journey according to program, and
+prosperously reached the frontier of the province in which they were to
+learn so many wonderful things. On their first entry they beheld a most
+fertile region, the gentle slopes of which were favorable to
+agriculture, its higher mountains to sheep-feeding, and its broad
+valleys to the rearing of cattle. It was shortly before the harvest, and
+everything was in the greatest abundance; still, what surprised them
+from the outset, was that they saw neither women nor men, but only boys
+and youths busy getting ready for a prosperous harvest, and even making
+friendly preparations for a joyous harvest-home. They greeted now one,
+and now another, and inquired about the master, of whose whereabouts no
+one could give an account. The address of their letter was: _To the
+Master or to the Three_, and this too the boys could not explain;
+however, they referred the inquirers to an overseer, who was just
+preparing to mount his horse. They explained their object; Felix's frank
+bearing seemed to please him; and so they rode together along the road.
+
+Wilhelm had soon observed that a great diversity prevailed in the cut
+and color of the clothing, which gave a peculiar aspect to the whole of
+the little community. He was just on the point of asking his companion
+about this, when another strange sight was displayed to him; all the
+children, howsoever they might be occupied, stopped their work, and
+turned, with peculiar yet various gestures, toward the party riding
+past; and it was easy to infer that their object was the overseer. The
+youngest folded their arms crosswise on the breast, and looked
+cheerfully toward the sky; the intermediate ones held their arms behind
+them, and looked smiling upon the ground; the third sort stood erect
+and boldly; with arms at the side, they turned the head to the right,
+and placed themselves in a row, instead of remaining alone, like the
+others, where they were first seen.
+
+Accordingly, when they halted and dismounted, just where several
+children had ranged themselves in various attitudes and were being
+inspected by the overseer, Wilhelm asked the meaning of these gestures.
+
+Felix interposed, and said cheerfully: "What position have I to take,
+then?"
+
+"In any case," answered the intendant, "at first the arms across the
+breast, and looking seriously and gladly upward, without turning your
+glance." He obeyed; how ever he soon exclaimed: "This does not please me
+particularly; I see nothing overhead; does it last long? But yes,
+indeed," he exclaimed joyfully, "I see two hawks flying from west to
+east; that must be a good omen!"
+
+"It depends on how you take to it, how you behave yourself," rejoined
+the former; "now go and mingle with them, just as they mingle with each
+other."
+
+He made a sign, the children forsook their attitudes, resumed their
+occupations or went on playing as before. "Will you, and can you,"
+Wilhelm now asked, "explain to me that which causes my wonder? I suppose
+that these gestures, these positions, are greetings, with which they
+welcome you."
+
+"Just so," answered the other; "greetings, that tell me at once at what
+stage of cultivation each of these boys stands."
+
+"But could you," Wilhelm added, "explain to me the meaning of the
+graduation? For that it is such, is easy to see."
+
+"That is the part of better people than me," answered the other; "but I
+can assure you of this much, that they are no empty grimaces, and that,
+on the contrary, we impart to the children, not indeed the highest, but
+still a guiding and intelligible explanation; but at the same time we
+command each to keep and cherish for himself what we may have chosen to
+impart for the information of each: they may not chat about it with
+strangers, nor amongst themselves, and thus the teaching is modified in
+a hundred ways. Besides this the secrecy has very great advantages; for
+if we tell people immediately and perpetually the reason of everything,
+they think that there is nothing behind. To certain secrets, even if
+they may be known, we have to show deference by concealment and silence,
+for this tends to modesty and good morals."
+
+"I understand you," said Wilhelm. "Why should we not also apply
+spiritually, what is so necessary in bodily matters? But perhaps in
+another respect you can satisfy my curiosity. I am surprised at the
+great variety in the cut and color of their clothes, and yet I do not
+see all kinds of color, but a few only, and these in all their shades,
+from the brightest to the darkest. Still I observe, that in this there
+cannot be meant any indication of degrees of either age or merit; since
+the smallest and biggest boys mingled together, may be alike in cut and
+color, whilst those who are alike in gestures do not agree with one
+another in dress."
+
+"As concerns this, too," their companion replied, "I cannot explain any
+further; yet I shall be much mistaken it you depart hence without being
+enlightened about all that you may wish to know."
+
+They were now going in search of the master, whom they thought that they
+had found; but now a stranger could not but be struck by the fact that
+the deeper they got into the country, the more they were met by a
+harmonious sound of singing. Whatsoever the boys set about, in whatever
+work they were found engaged, they were for ever singing, and in fact it
+seemed that the songs were specially adapted to each particular
+occupation, and in similar cases always the same. If several children
+were in any place, they would accompany each other in turns.
+
+Toward evening they came upon some dancing, their steps being animated
+and guided by choruses. Felix from his horse chimed in with his voice,
+and, in truth, not badly; Wilhelm was delighted with this entertainment,
+which made the neighborhood so lively. "I suppose," he observed to his
+companion, "you devote a great deal of care to this kind of instruction,
+for otherwise this ability would not be so widely diffused, or so
+perfectly developed."
+
+"Just so," replied the other; "with us the art of singing forms the
+first step in education; everything else is subservient to it, and
+attained by means of it. With us the simplest enjoyment, as well as the
+simplest instruction, is enlivened and impressed by singing; and even
+what we teach in matters of religion and morals is communicated by the
+method of song. Other advantages for independent ends are directly
+allied; for, whilst we practise the children in writing down by symbols
+on the slate the notes which they produce, and then, according to the
+indication of these signs, in reproducing them in their throats, and
+moreover in adding the text, they exercise at the same time the hand,
+ear, and eye, and attain orthography and calligraphy quicker than you
+would believe; and, finally, since all this must be practised and copied
+according to pure metre and accurately fixed time, they learn to
+understand much sooner than in other ways the high value of measure and
+computation. On this account, of all imaginable means, we have chosen
+music as the first element of our education, for from this equally easy
+roads radiate in every direction."
+
+Wilhelm sought to inform himself further, and did not hide his
+astonishment at hearing no instrumental music.
+
+"We do not neglect it," replied the other, "but we practise it in a
+special place, inclosed in the most charming mountain-valley; and then
+again we take care that the different instruments are taught in places
+lying far apart. Especially are the discordant notes of beginners
+banished to certain solitary spots, where they can drive no one crazy;
+for you will yourself confess, that in well-regulated civil society
+scarcely any more miserable nuisance is to be endured than when the
+neighborhood inflicts upon us a beginner on the flute or on the violin.
+Our beginners, from their own laudable notion of wishing to be an
+annoyance to none, go voluntarily for a longer or shorter period into
+the wilds, and, isolated there, vie with one another in attaining the
+merit of being allowed to draw nearer to the inhabited world; on which
+account they are, from time to time, allowed to make an attempt at
+drawing nearer, which seldom fails, because in these, as in our other
+modes of education, we venture actually to develop and encourage a sense
+of shame and diffidence. I am sincerely glad that your son has got a
+good voice; the rest will be effected all the more easily."
+
+They had now reached a place where Felix was to remain, and make trial
+of his surroundings, until they were disposed to grant a formal
+admission. They already heard from afar a cheerful singing; it was a
+game, which the boys were now enjoying in their play-hour. A general
+chorus resounded, in which each member of a large circle joined
+heartily, clearly, and vigorously in his part, obeying the directions of
+the superintendent. The latter, however, often took the singers by
+surprise, by suspending with a signal the chorus-singing, and bidding
+some one or other single performer, by a touch of his bâton, to adapt
+alone some suitable song to the expiring tune and the passing idea. Most
+of them already showed considerable ability, a few who failed in the
+performance willingly paid their forfeit, without exactly being made a
+laughing-stock. Felix was still child enough to mix at once among them,
+and came tolerably well out of the trial. Thereupon the first style of
+greeting was conceded to him; he forthwith folded his arms on his
+breast, looked upward, and with such a droll expression withal, that it
+was quite plain that no hidden meaning in it had as yet occurred to him.
+
+The pleasant spot, the kind reception, the merry games, all pleased the
+boy so well, that he did not feel particularly sad when he saw his
+father depart; he looked almost more wistfully at the horse as it was
+led away; yet he had no difficulty in understanding, when he was
+informed that he could not keep it in the present locality. On the other
+hand, they promised him that he should find, if not the same, at all
+events an equally lively and well-trained one when he did not expect it.
+
+As the superior could not be found, the overseer said: "I must now leave
+you, to pursue my own avocations; but still I will take you to the
+Three, who preside over holy things: your letter is also addressed to
+them, and together they stand in place of the Superior."
+
+Wilhelm would have liked to learn beforehand about the holy things, but
+the other replied. "The Three in return for the confidence with which
+you have left your son with us, will certainly, in accordance with
+wisdom and justice, reveal to you all that is most necessary. The
+visible objects of veneration, which I have called holy things, are
+included within a particular boundary, are not mingled with anything, or
+disturbed by anything; only at certain times of the year, the pupils,
+according to the stages of their education, are admitted to them, in
+order that they may be instructed historically and through their senses;
+for in this way they carry off with them an impression, enough for them
+to feed upon for a long time in the exercise of their duty."
+
+Wilhelm now stood at the entrance of a forest-valley, inclosed by lofty
+walls; on a given signal a small door was opened, and a serious,
+respectable-looking man received our friend. He found himself within a
+large and beautifully verdant inclosure, shaded with trees and bushes of
+every kind, so that he could scarcely see some stately walls and fine
+buildings through the dense and lofty natural growth; his friendly
+reception by the Three, who came up by-and-by, ultimately concluded in a
+conversation, to which each contributed something of his own, but the
+substance of which we shall put together in brief.
+
+"Since you have intrusted your son to us," they said, "it is our duty
+to let you see more deeply into our methods of proceeding. You have seen
+many external things, that do not carry their significance with them all
+at once; which of these do you most wish to have explained?"
+
+"I have remarked certain seemly yet strange gestures and obeisances, the
+significance of which I should like to learn; with you no doubt what is
+external has reference to what is within, and vice versa; let me
+understand this relation."
+
+"Well-bred and healthy children possess a great deal; Nature has given
+to each everything that he needs for time and continuance: our duty is
+to develop this; often it is better developed by itself. But one thing
+no one brings into the world, and yet it is that upon which depends
+everything through which a man becomes a man on every side. If you can
+find it out yourself, speak out."
+
+Wilhelm bethought himself for a short time, and then shook his head.
+After a suitable pause, they exclaimed "Veneration!"
+
+Wilhelm was startled.
+
+"Veneration," they repeated. "It is wanting in all, and perhaps in
+yourself. You have seen three kinds of gestures, and we teach a
+threefold veneration, which when combined to form a whole, only then
+attains to its highest power and effect. The first is veneration for
+that which is above us. That gesture, the arms folded on the breast, a
+cheerful glance toward the sky, that is precisely what we prescribe to
+our untutored children, at the same time requiring witness of them that
+there is a God up above who reflects and reveals Himself in our parents,
+tutors and superiors. The second, veneration for that which is below us.
+The hands folded on the back as if tied together, the lowered, smiling
+glance, bespeak that we have to regard the earth well and cheerfully; it
+gives us an opportunity to maintain ourselves; it affords unspeakable
+joys; but it brings disproportionate sufferings. If one hurts oneself
+bodily, whether faultily or innocently; if others hurt one,
+intentionally or accidentally; if earthly chance does one any harm--let
+these be well thought of, for such danger accompanies us all our life
+long. But from this condition we deliver our pupil as soon as possible,
+directly we are convinced that the teachings of this stage have made a
+sufficient impression upon him; but then we bid him be a man, look to
+his companions, and guide himself with reference to them. Now he stands
+erect and bold, yet not selfishly isolated; only in a union with his
+equals does he present a front toward the world. We are unable to add
+anything further."
+
+"I see it all," replied Wilhelm; "it is probably on this account that
+the multitude is so inured to vice, because it takes pleasure only in
+the element of ill-will and evil speech; he who indulges in this, soon
+becomes indifferent to God, contemptuous toward the world, and a hater
+of his fellows; but the true, genuine, indispensable feeling of
+self-respect is ruined in conceit and presumption."
+
+"Allow me, nevertheless," Wilhelm went on, "to make one objection: Has
+it not ever been held that the fear evinced by savage nations in the
+presence of mighty natural phenomena, and other inexplicable foreboding
+events, is the germ from which a higher feeling, a purer disposition,
+should gradually be developed?"
+
+To this the other replied: "Fear, no doubt, is consonant with nature,
+but not reverence; people fear a known or unknown powerful being; the
+strong one tries to grapple with it, the weak to avoid it; both wish to
+get rid of it, and feel happy when in a short space they have conquered
+it, when their nature in some measure has regained its freedom and
+independence. The natural man repeats this operation a million times
+during his life; from fear he strives after liberty, from liberty he is
+driven back into fear, and does not advance one step further. To fear is
+easy, but unpleasant; to entertain reverence is difficult but pleasing.
+Man determines himself unwillingly to reverence, or rather never
+determines himself to it; it is a loftier sense which must be imparted
+to his nature, and which is self-developed only in the most
+exceptionally gifted ones, whom therefore from all time we have regarded
+as saints, as gods. In this consists the dignity, in this the function
+of all genuine religions, of which also there exist only three,
+according to the objects toward which they direct their worship."
+
+The men paused. Wilhelm remained silent for awhile in thought; as he did
+not feel himself equal to pointing these strange words, he begged the
+worthy men to continue their remarks, which too they at once consented
+to do.
+
+"No religion," they said, "which is based on fear, is esteemed among us.
+With the reverence which a man allows himself to entertain, whilst he
+accords honor, he may preserve his own honor; he is not at discord with
+himself, as in the other case. The religion which rests on reverence for
+that which is above us, we call the ethnical one; it is the religion of
+nations, and the first happy redemption from a base fear; all so-called
+heathen religions are of this kind, let them have what names they will.
+The second religion, which is founded on that reverence which we have
+for what is like ourselves, we call the Philosophic; for the
+philosopher, who places himself in the middle, must draw downward to
+himself all that is higher, and upward to himself all that is lower, and
+only in this central position does he deserve the name of the sage. Now,
+whilst he penetrates his relations to his fellows, and therefore to the
+whole of humanity, and his relations to all other earthly surroundings,
+necessary or accidental, in the cosmical sense he lives only in the
+truth. But we must now speak of the third religion, based on reverence
+for that which is below us; we call it the Christian one, because this
+disposition of mind is chiefly revealed in it; it is the last one which
+humanity could and was bound to attain. Yet what was not demanded for
+it? not merely to leave earth below, and claim a higher origin, but to
+recognize as divine even humility and poverty, scorn and contempt,
+shame and misery, suffering and death; nay, to revere and make lovable
+even sin and crime, not as hindrances but as furtherances of holiness!
+Of this there are indeed found traces throughout all time; but a track
+is not a goal, and this having once been reached, humanity cannot turn
+backward; and it may be maintained, that the Christian religion having
+once appeared, can never disappear again; having once been divinely
+embodied, cannot again be dissolved."
+
+"Which of these religions do you then profess more particularly?" said
+Wilhelm.
+
+"All three," answered the others, "for, in point of fact, they together
+present the true religion; from these three reverences outsprings the
+highest reverence, reverence for oneself, and the former again develop
+themselves from the latter, so that man attains to the highest he is
+capable of reaching, in order that he may consider himself the best that
+God and nature have produced; nay, that he may be able to remain on this
+height without being drawn through conceit or egoism into what is base."
+
+"Such a profession of faith, developed in such a manner, does not
+estrange me," replied Wilhelm; "it agrees with all that one learns here
+and there in life, only that the very thing unites you, that severs the
+others."
+
+To this the others replied: "This confession is already adhered to by a
+large part of the world, though unconsciously."
+
+"How so, and where?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"In the Creed!" exclaimed the others, loudly; "for the first article is
+ethnical, and belongs to all nations: the second is Christian, for those
+struggling against sufferings and glorified in sufferings; the third
+finally teaches a spiritual communion of saints, to wit, of those in the
+highest degree good and wise: ought not therefore in fairness the three
+divine Persons, under whose likeness and name such convictions and
+promises are uttered, to pass also for the highest Unity?"
+
+"I thank you," replied the other, "for having so clearly and coherently
+explained this to me--to whom, as a full-grown man, the three
+dispositions of mind are not new; and when I recall, that you teach the
+children these high truths, first through material symbols, then through
+a certain symbolic analogy, and finally develop in them the highest
+interpretation, I must needs highly approve of it."
+
+"Exactly so," replied the former; "but now you must still learn
+something more, in order that you may be convinced that your son is in
+the best hands. However, let this matter rest for the morning hours;
+rest and refresh yourself, so that, contented and humanly complete, you
+may accompany us farther into the interior tomorrow."
+
+
+
+
+WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE (1804)
+
+TRANSLATED BY GEORGE KRIEHN, PH. D.
+
+TO HER MOST SERENE HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS ANNA AMALIA OF SAXE-WEIMAR AND
+EISENACH
+
+_Most Serene Princess,_
+
+_Most Gracious Lady,_
+
+Another benefaction has been added to the many which art and science owe
+to Your Highness by the most gracious permission to publish the
+following letters of Winckelmann. They are addressed to a man who had
+the happiness of counting himself among your servants, and soon
+afterward of living in close relation with Your Highness, at the time
+when Winckelmann found himself in the most embarrassing circumstances,
+the straightforward and touching narration of which one cannot read
+without sympathy.
+
+Had these pages come to the attention of Your Highness in those days,
+the dictates of your noble and charitable heart would have immediately
+put an end to such distress, changed the fate of a most excellent man,
+and directed it more happily for the future.
+
+But who indeed ought to think of what might have happened, when so many
+gratifying things that actually took place lie before us?
+
+Your Highness has, since that time, established and supported much that
+is useful and promotive of happiness, while our gracious and sympathetic
+Prince adds constantly to the great number of his benefactions.
+
+One may without vainglory recall the good that for us and for others has
+been accomplished in our limited circle, the least significant aspects
+of which cannot but excite the observer's admiration, which would be
+greatly increased if a well informed writer should take the trouble to
+describe its origin and growth.
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS AMALIA]
+
+The intention of the benefactors was never selfish but was always
+directed toward the good to be accomplished. The higher culture of this
+land all the more deserves an annalist, since much formerly existed and
+flourished of which all visible traces have now disappeared. May Your
+Highness, in the consciousness of having been the prime mover and
+constant participant in these enterprizes, attain that peculiar domestic
+happiness, a hale and hearty old age, and long continue to enjoy the
+brilliant period now opening for our circle, in which we hope that all
+that has been accomplished will be further increased, unified and
+strengthened, and thus handed down to posterity.
+
+Cherishing the flattering hope that I shall continue to rejoice in that
+inestimable favor with which Your Highnesses have deigned to adorn my
+life, I am, with respectful devotion,
+
+Your Most Serene Highness' obedient servant,
+
+J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+PREFACE
+
+The friends of art who have for several years been associated at Weimar
+are surely privileged to speak of their relation to the general public,
+because (and this is the final test) they have always expressed similar
+convictions and have been guided by well tried principles. Not that,
+limited to certain modes of apprehending matters, they have obstinately
+maintained a single point of view. On the contrary, they willingly
+confess that they have learned much from diverse expression of opinion,
+all the more so as they now learn with pleasure that their efforts in
+behalf of culture are constantly becoming more closely allied to the
+general progress of higher education in Germany.
+
+With much gratification they call attention to the _Propyloea_, to the
+critical and descriptive programs of no less than six exhibitions of
+painting and statuary, to the many expressions of opinion in the
+_Jenaisische Litteraturzeitung, and to the published translation of the
+Life of Benvenuto Cellini.
+
+Although these writings have not been printed and bound in the same
+volumes and do not form parts of a single work, they have, nevertheless,
+all been written in the same spirit. They have proved a leaven to the
+whole, as we are learning slowly, but not without gratification; so that
+there is no longer occasion to remember ingratitude often experienced,
+and open or secret opposition.
+
+The present publication is an immediate sequel to the foregoing works,
+and of its contents we mention here only the most important.
+
+PLAN FOR A HISTORY OF ART DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
+
+The historical conception of related conditions promotes the more rapid
+development of the artist as well as of the man. Every individual,
+especially if he be a man of capacity, at first seems far too important
+to himself. Trusting in his independent power, he is inclined to
+champion far too quickly this or that maxim; he strives and labors with
+energy along the path he has himself chosen; and when at length he
+becomes conscious of his one-sidedness and his error, he changes just as
+violently, enters upon another perhaps equally erroneous course, and
+clings to principles equally faulty. Not until late in life does he
+become aware of his own history and realize how much further a constant
+development in accordance with well tested principles might have led
+him.
+
+If the connoisseur owes his insight to history alone, which embodies the
+ideas which give rise to art, for the young artist the history of art is
+of the greatest importance.
+
+ [Illustration: WINCKELMANN]
+
+He should not, however, search in it for indistinct models, to be
+pursued passionately, but for the means of realizing himself and his
+point of view, with its limitations. But unfortunately, even the
+immediate past is seldom instructive to man, through no fault of his
+own. For while we are learning to understand the mistakes of our
+predecessors, time is itself producing new errors which, unobserved,
+ensnare us, and the account of which is left to the future historian
+with just as little advantage to his own generation.
+
+But who would indulge in such mournful observations, and not rather
+endeavor to promote the greatest possible clearness of view in his own
+branch of study? This is the duty assumed by the writer of the present
+sketch, the difficulty of which will be seen by connoisseurs, who, it is
+hoped, will point out its deficiencies and correct its imperfections,
+thereby making a satisfactory future work possible.
+
+WINCKELMANN'S LETTERS To BERENDIS
+
+Letters are among the most important monuments which the individual
+leaves behind him. Imaginative persons often picture to themselves, even
+in solitary musings, the presence of a distant friend, to whom they
+impart their most private opinions; and in the same manner a letter is a
+kind of soliloquy. For often the friend to whom, we write is rather the
+occasion than the subject of the letter. Whatever rejoices or pains,
+oppresses or occupies us, is poured forth from the heart. As lasting
+evidences of an existence or a condition, such papers are the more
+important for posterity, the more the writer lives in the moment and the
+less he is concerned with the future. Winckelmann's letters sometimes
+have this desirable character.
+
+Although this excellent man, who educated himself in solitude, was
+reticent in society, serious and discreet in his personal life and
+conduct toward others, he was free and unconstrained in his letters, in
+which he often reveals himself, without hesitation, just as he felt. We
+see him worried, troubled, confused, doubting and dilatory, but also
+cheerful, alert, bold, daring, and unrestrained to the degree of
+cynicism; altogether, however, as a man of tempered character and
+confident in himself; who, although the outer conditions offered to his
+imagination so much to choose from, usually chose the best way, except
+when he took the last impatient step which cost him his life.
+
+His letters, having the general characteristics of rectitude and
+directness, differ according to the persons to whom they are addressed,
+which is always the case when a clever correspondent imagines those
+present with whom he is speaking at a distance, and therefore no more
+neglects what is proper and suitable than he would in their presence.
+
+Thus the letters addressed to Stosch (to mention only a few of the
+larger groups of Winckelmann's letters) seem to us fine testimonials of
+honest cooperation with a friend for a definite purpose; a proof of his
+great endurance in a difficult task, thoughtlessly undertaken without
+proper preparation, but courageously and happily concluded; they sparkle
+with the liveliest literary, political, and society news, and form a
+charming picture of life, which would have been more interesting if they
+could have been printed entire and unmutilated. Charming also is his
+frankness, even in passionate disapproval of a friend for whom the
+writer was never tired of testifying as much respect as love, as much
+gratitude as attachment.
+
+The consciousness of his own superiority and dignity, combined with a
+genuine appreciation of others, the expression of friendship,
+cordiality, playfulness and pleasantry, which characterize the letters
+to his Swiss friends, make this collection extremely interesting and
+lovable as well as exceedingly instructive, although Winckelmann's
+letters cannot on the whole be termed instructive.
+
+The first letters to Count Bünau, in the valuable Dassdorf collection,
+reveal an oppressed, self-absorbed spirit, which hardly ventures to
+look up to such an exalted patron. That remarkable letter in which
+Winckelmann announces his change of religion is a real galimatias, an
+unfortunate and confused document.
+
+The first half of our own collection serves to make this period
+comprehensible, yea, immediately intelligible. They were written partly
+at Nöthenitz, partly at Dresden, and are directed to an intimate and
+trusted friend and comrade. The writer stands revealed in all his
+distress, with his pressing, irresistible desires, but on the road to a
+new and distant happiness, earnestly sought.
+
+The other half of our letters are written from Italy. They preserve
+their direct, unrestrained character; but above them hovers the
+joyfulness of the southern sky, and they are inspired with an exuberant
+delight in the goal which he has attained. Besides this, they give,
+compared with other contemporary letters that are already known, a more
+complete view of his position.
+
+The pleasure of appreciating and passing judgment upon the importance of
+this collection, which is perhaps greater from the psychological than
+from the literary point of view, we leave to receptive hearts and
+judicious minds. We shall add only a few words about the man to whom
+they were written, in accordance with our available information.
+
+Hieronymus Dieterich Berendis was born at Seehausen in the Altmark in
+the year 1720, studied law in the University of Halle, and was for some
+years after his student days auditor of the Royal Prussian Regiment of
+Hussars, usually called the Black Hussars from their uniform, but at the
+time named after their Commander von Ruesch. After leaving that rude
+life, he continued his studies in Berlin. During a sojourn at Seehausen
+he made the acquaintance of Winckelmann, whose intimate friend he
+became, and through whose recommendation he was afterward engaged as
+tutor of the youngest Count Bünau. He conducted his pupil to Brunswick
+where the latter studied at the Karolinum. When the Count afterward
+entered the French service, his father, who was at that time minister
+of state at Weimar, conducted Berendis into the service of the Duke, in
+which he first became military counsellor, entering afterward the
+service of the Dowager Duchess as Financial Councillor and Keeper of the
+Privy Purse. He died on the 26th of October, 1783, at Weimar.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF WINCKELMANN
+
+The most deserving citizen, no matter how great his service may have
+been to his country and his city in a wider or narrower field, receives
+but one funeral. Others, however, have so distinguished themselves by
+worthy benefactions that they are honored by a public celebration of the
+anniversary of their death, on which occasion the lasting influence of
+their beneficence is praised. In the same sense we have every cause to
+offer from time to time a well meaning tribute to the memory of the men
+who have bestowed inexhaustible mental benefactions upon us.
+
+From this point of view the slight tribute which friends of similar
+opinions now offer should be regarded as a testimonial of their
+appreciation, not as an account of his services. The feast at which it
+is offered will be participated in by all appreciative minds on the
+occasion of the recently discovered letters of Winckelmann, now for the
+first time published.
+
+SKETCHES FOR AN ESSAY ON WINCKELMANN
+
+PREFACE
+
+The following essays, written by three friends, whose opinions on art in
+general, as well as on the services of Winckelmann, coincide, were
+intended as a basis for a more extended essay on this remarkable man,
+and to furnish the materials for a work which should have at once the
+merit of diversity and of unity.
+
+ [Illustration: WEIMAR SEEN FROM THE NORTH]
+
+But as in life many an undertaking encounters all kinds of obstacles,
+which hardly allow the requisite material to be collected, to say
+nothing of giving it the desired form, so here only half of the whole as
+planned appears.
+
+In the present instance, however, the half may be prized more than the
+whole, since, by the study of three individual opinions on the same
+subject, the reader may to a greater extent be stimulated and incited to
+form an individual conception of the significant life and character of
+Winckelmann, which can now be easily accomplished by the aid of the
+earlier and more recently published materials. We therefore hope to
+merit gratitude if, instead of waiting for a later opportunity and
+promising a future achievement, we freely offer, in Winckelmann's own
+refreshing manner, only that which is already prepared, even though it
+be not complete, in order that it may after its own fashion exert a
+timely influence in the great world of life and culture.
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The memory of noteworthy men and the presence of important works of art,
+awaken from time to time a spirit of contemplation. Both stand before us
+as legacies of each succeeding generation, the former by reason of their
+deeds and fame, the latter actually preserved as indefinable realities.
+Every judicious observer knows full well that only the contemplation of
+these men and monuments in their entirety would be of real value, and
+yet we are always attempting to make them more comprehensible by our
+reflection and our words.
+
+One is especially impelled to this when something new relating to such
+subjects is discovered and made known. We trust therefore that the
+public will find our renewed observations on Winckelmann, his character
+and his achievements a timely contribution, since the letters which are
+now published throw a more vivid light upon his mode of thought and the
+conditions under which he labored.
+
+ENTER WINCKELMANN
+
+Even to ordinary mortals Nature has not denied a very precious
+endowment--I refer to that lively impulse felt from earliest childhood,
+to take hold of the external world, to learn to know it, to enter into
+relation with it, and to form with it a complete whole. Certain chosen
+spirits, on the other hand, often have the peculiarity of feeling a kind
+of aversion to actual life, withdraw into themselves, and create in
+themselves a world of their own, in this wise achieving the highest
+inner development.
+
+But when, in especially gifted men, appears the need common to all of us
+of seeking in the external world a corresponding realization for all the
+gifts with which Nature has endowed them, thereby raising their inner
+being to a self-relying whole, we may be assured of the development of a
+character in which both the present and the future world will rejoice.
+
+Winckelmann was a man of this kind. Nature had placed in him whatever
+makes and adorns the true man. Furthermore, he devoted his entire life
+to the search for that which is harmonious and worthy in man and in art,
+which is primarily concerned with man.
+
+An obscure childhood, insufficient instruction in his youth, disjointed
+and scattered studies in early manhood, the pressure of a school
+position, and all the worry and annoyance that are experienced in such a
+career--all these he had suffered as many others have. He had reached
+the age of thirty without having enjoyed a single favor at the hands of
+fate; yet in him were planted the germs of an enviable happiness, very
+possible to realize.
+
+Even in these unhappy days we find the trace of that impulse to know for
+himself with his own eyes the conditions of the world, gloomy and
+disjointed traces it is true, but expressed with sufficient decision. A
+few attempts to see strange lands, undertaken without sufficient
+reflection, were unsuccessful. He dreamed of a journey to Egypt; he set
+out by way of France, but unforeseen obstacles turned him back. More
+wisely guided by his genius, he at last seized upon the idea of forcing
+his way to Rome. He felt how very profitable a sojourn in the Eternal
+City would be for him. This was no whim, no mere thought; it was a
+decided plan, which he undertook to realize with cleverness and
+decision.
+
+THE ANTIQUE
+
+Man can accomplish much by the opportune use of individual powers, he
+can even accomplish extraordinary things by the combination of several
+powers; but the unique, the startling, he can only achieve when all
+capabilities are evenly united in him. This last was the happy lot of
+the ancients, especially of the Greeks in their best period; to the
+other two alternatives we moderns are unfortunately limited by fate.
+
+When the healthy nature of man acts as a unit, when he realizes his
+place in the world as part of a great and worthy whole, when a
+harmonious well-being accords him a pure and free happiness--then the
+universe, if it had the power of self-realization, its end attained,
+would rejoice and admire this culmination of its own genesis and
+existence. For to what purpose is the array of suns, planets and moons,
+of stars and milky ways, of comets and nebulae, of worlds existing and
+arising, if it be not that a happy man may unconsciously rejoice in his
+own existence?
+
+While, in almost every act of contemplation, the modern thinker, as we
+have just done, projects himself into the infinite, to return only in
+the end--if he is happy enough in succeeding therein--to a limited
+proposition, the ancients, without following a long, round-about path,
+found their exclusive happiness within the lovely confines of this
+world. Here they were placed, to this end they had been called, here
+their activity found its field, their passion its object and
+nourishment.
+
+Why are their poets and historians the wonder of the judicious, the
+despair of rivals, unless it be because the actors introduced by them
+were so deeply concerned in their own selves, in the narrow circle of
+the fatherland, within the circumscribed path of their own life as well
+as that of their fellow citizens, and because with all their mind,
+inclination, and power, they worked in and for the present? Under such
+conditions it could not be difficult for a writer of their opinion to
+immortalize such a present. What was actually occurring was for them the
+only thing of value, just as for us only what is thought or felt seems
+of greatest worth.
+
+In a certain sense the poet lived in his imagination, just as the
+historian lived in the political, and the investigator in the natural
+world. All held fast to the nearest, the true, the actual, and even the
+pictures of their fantasy have bone and marrow. Man, and whatever was
+human, was considered of the highest value, and all his inner and
+external relations to the world were represented with the same great
+intelligence with which they were observed. Feeling and observation had
+not been separated; that almost incurable breach in the healthy power of
+man had not yet occurred.
+
+Not only in enjoying happiness, but in enduring unhappiness also, these
+natures were remarkably gifted. For as a healthy tissue resists illness
+and is speedily restored after every attack, so the wholesome mind of
+such natures quickly and easily recovers from internal and external
+misfortune. Such an antique nature, in so far as one can make this
+statement of any of our contemporaries, was reincarnated in Winckelmann.
+At the very beginning it endured its mighty probation, and was not tamed
+by thirty years of humility, discomfort, and sorrow; it could neither be
+diverted from its path, nor blunted by adversity. As soon as he attained
+a worthy freedom, he appears well rounded and complete, quite in the
+antique sense. He was to live a life of action, enjoyment and self
+denial, joy and suffering, possession and loss, exaltation and
+debasement--yet in such a strange medley he was always satisfied with
+the beautiful world in which such a variable fate befalls us.
+
+Just as in life he possessed a really antique spirit, so in his studies
+he was faithful to the same ideal. In the treatment of science in
+general the ancients were in a rather unfortunate position, since for
+the comprehension of the varied objects of nature a division of powers
+and capabilities, a disintegration of unity (so to speak) is almost
+unavoidable. In a like case the modern scholar encounters an even
+greater danger, because in the detailed investigation of manifold
+subjects, he runs the risk of scattering his energies and of losing
+himself in disconnected knowledge, without supplementing the incomplete,
+as the ancients succeeded in doing, by the completeness of his own
+personality.
+
+However much Winckelmann wandered about in the fields of possible and
+profitable knowledge, guided partly by pleasure and inclination, partly
+by necessity, he always came back sooner or later to antiquity,
+especially to Greek antiquity, with which he felt himself most closely
+related, and with which he was destined so happily to be united in his
+best days.
+
+PAGANISM
+
+The description of the ancient point of view, concerned only with this
+world and its assets, leads us directly to the observation that such
+advantages are conceivable only in a pagan mind. That confidence in
+oneself, that activity in the present, the pure worship of the gods as
+ancestors and the admiration of them _quasi_ as artistic creations only,
+resignation to an all-powerful fate, the yearning for future fame,
+itself dependent upon activities in this world--all these belonging
+necessarily together, constitute such an inseparable whole that they
+form a condition of human existence planned by Nature herself. In the
+highest moment of happiness, as well as in the deepest of sacrifice,
+even of destruction, we are always conscious of an indestructible
+well-being.
+
+This pagan point of view pervades Winckelmann's deeds and writings, and
+is expressed especially in his early letters, where he is still wearing
+himself out in the conflict with more modern religious opinions. This
+mode of thought, this remoteness from the Christian point of view,
+indeed his repugnance of it, must be remembered in judging his so-called
+change of religion. The churches into which the Christian religion is
+divided were a matter of complete indifference to him, because in his
+inmost nature he never belonged to any of them.
+
+FRIENDSHIP
+
+Since the ancients, as we boast, were really entire men, they must, as
+they found all happiness in themselves and the world, have learned to
+know the relations of human beings in the widest sense; they could not
+therefore be lacking in that delight which arises from the attachment of
+similar natures.
+
+Here also a remarkable difference between ancient and modern times is
+revealed. The relation to woman, which with us has become so tender and
+spiritual, hardly rose above the limits of the lowest satisfaction. The
+relation of parents to children seems to have been of a somewhat more
+tender character. The friendship of persons of the male sex for one
+another, with them took the place of all other sentiments; although they
+pictured the maidens Chloris and Thyia as inseparable friends, even in
+Hades.
+
+The passionate fulfilment of loving duties, the joy of inseparability,
+the devotion of one for the other, their avowed allegiance during life,
+and the duty of sharing death itself, if necessary, fill us with
+astonishment. One even feels ashamed of one's own generation when poets,
+historians, philosophers and orators overwhelm one with amazing stories,
+events, sentiments and opinions, all of the same tenor and purport.
+
+For a friendship of this character, Winckelmann felt himself born--not
+only capable of it, but requiring it to the highest degree. He realized
+himself only in the relation of friendship; he recognized himself only
+in that image of the whole which requires a third for its completion.
+
+Even at an early period he applied this ideal to a probably unworthy
+object; to whom he consecrated himself, for whom he vowed himself to
+live and to suffer; for whom he found even in his poverty the means of
+being rich, of giving and of sacrificing; indeed he would not have
+hesitated to surrender his existence, his very life. It is in this
+relation that Winckelmann, even in the midst of poverty and need, feels
+rich, generous and happy, because he is able to do something for him
+whom he loves above everything else, and in whom he has, as the highest
+sacrifice, to excuse even ingratitude.
+
+However the times and circumstances might alter, Winckelmann reshaped
+every object of worth with which he came in contact, to fit this ideal
+of friendship. Although many of these attachments easily and quickly
+vanish, the fine sentiment underlying them won for him the heart of many
+an excellent man, and brought him the happiness of living in the most
+beautiful relation with the best men of his age and environment.
+
+BEAUTY
+
+Although such a deep need of friendship really creates and idealizes the
+object of its affection, the lover of antiquity would, through it alone,
+achieve only a one-sided moral excellence. The external world would
+offer him little, if along with it a related, similar need and a
+satisfying object of this need did not fortunately appear--we refer to
+the demand for the sensuously beautiful, as revealed in a tangible
+object. For the supreme product of an ever evolving nature is the
+beautiful man. It is true that Nature can but seldom produce him,
+because the ideal is opposed by many existing conditions, and even her
+almighty power cannot tarry long with the perfect, and perpetuate the
+beauty it has produced; for, to be exact, we may say it is only for a
+moment that the beautiful man remains beautiful.
+
+Against this mutability art now enters the lists. For, by being placed
+at the summit of nature, man views himself as a complete nature, which
+must now produce another consummation. He attains this end by striving
+for virtue and perfection, by appealing to selection, arrangement,
+harmony and significance, through which he at length rises to the
+production of a work of art, which achieves a brilliant place among his
+other works and actions. Once achieved and standing in its ideal reality
+before the world, it produces a lasting and supreme effect. For in its
+spiritual development from all of man's powers, it adopts all that is
+noble and lovable; and by spiritualizing the human form and raising man
+above himself, it closes the circle of his life and activity, and
+deifies him in the present, in which both past and future are included.
+By such emotions were those overwhelmed who saw the Olympian Jupiter, as
+we gather from the descriptions and testimony of the ancients. God had
+become man in order to raise man to God. One beheld supreme dignity and
+was inspired by supreme beauty. In this sense we can only acknowledge
+that the ancients were right when they said, with profoundest
+conviction, that it was a misfortune to die without having seen this
+great work.
+
+For the appreciation of this beauty Winckelmann was by nature fitted. He
+first learned of it in the writings of the ancients, but encountered it
+personified in the works of art, in which we all first learn to know it,
+that we may recognize and treasure it in nature's living creations.
+
+When, however, the requirements of friendship and of beauty both find
+inspiration in the same object, the happiness and gratitude of man seem
+to pass all bounds. All that he possesses he would gladly give as a
+feeble testimony of his attachment and his devotion.
+
+So we often find Winckelmann in friendship with beautiful youths, and
+never does he appear more animated and lovable than in such, though
+often only flitting, moments.
+
+CATHOLICISM
+
+With such opinions, with such needs and longings, Winckelmann for a long
+time served objects alien to his own desires. Nowhere about him did he
+see the least hope of help and assistance.
+
+Count Bünau, in his capacity of a private gentleman, needed only to buy
+one valuable book less in order to open for Winckelmann the road to
+Rome; as a minister of state he had influence enough to have helped this
+excellent man out of every difficulty; but he was probably unwilling to
+lose so capable a servant, or else he had no appreciation of the great
+service he would have rendered the world by encouraging a gifted man.
+The Court at Dresden, from which Winckelmann might eventually hope for
+adequate support, professed the Roman faith, and there was scarcely any
+other way to attain favor and consideration than through confessors and
+other members of the clergy.
+
+The example of a Prince is a mighty influence in his country, and
+incites with secret power every citizen to like actions in private life,
+especially to moral actions. The religion of a Prince always remains in
+a certain sense the ruling religion, and the Roman faith, like a
+whirlpool, draws the quietly passing waves to itself and into its
+vortex.
+
+In addition to this Winckelmann must have felt that a man, in order to
+be a Roman in Rome, in order to identify himself with the life there,
+and to enjoy confidential association, must necessarily profess the
+religion of his associates, must yield to their faith, and accommodate
+himself to their usages. The final result actually shows that he could
+not have attained his end without this early decision, which was made
+much easier for him by the fact that, as a thorough heathen by nature,
+he had never become Christianized by his Protestant baptism.
+
+Yet this change in his condition was not achieved without a bitter
+struggle. We may, in accordance with our convictions, and for reasons
+sufficiently weighty, make a final decision which is in perfect harmony
+with our volition, desires and needs, which indeed seems unavoidable for
+the maintenance and continuance of our very existence, so that we are in
+perfect accord with ourselves. But such a decision may contradict the
+prevailing opinion and the convictions of many people. Then a new
+struggle begins, which, while it may cause no uncertainty, yet may
+occasion discomfort, impatience and annoyance, because we discover
+occasional inconsistencies in our actions while we suspect the existence
+of many more in ourselves.
+
+And so Winckelmann, before his intended step, seemed anxious, fearful,
+sorrowful and swayed by deep emotion when he thought of its probable
+effect, especially upon his first patron, Count Bünau. How beautiful,
+sincere and upright are his confidential expressions upon this point!
+
+For every man who changes his religion is marked by a certain stigma
+from which it seems impossible to free him. From this it is evident that
+men cherish a steadfast purpose above all else, all the more so because
+they, divided into factions, constantly have their own safety and
+stability in mind. This is not a matter of feeling or conviction. We
+should be steadfast precisely there where fate rather than choice places
+us. To remain faithful to one people, one city, one Prince, one friend,
+one woman; to trace back everything to them; to labor, want and suffer
+everything for their sake--this is estimable. To desert them is hateful;
+inconstancy is contemptible.
+
+Thus is indeed the harsh, the very serious side of the question, but it
+may also be viewed from another point of view from which it has a more
+pleasing and less serious aspect. Certain conditions of society, which
+we in no sense approve of, certain moral blemishes in others, have an
+especial charm for the imagination. If the comparison be permitted, we
+might say that it is in this matter as it is with game which, to the
+cultivated palate, tastes far better slightly tainted than when fresh. A
+divorced woman or a renegade make an especially interesting impression.
+Persons who would otherwise appear to be merely interesting and
+agreeable, now appear admirable. It cannot be denied that Winckelmann's
+change of religion considerably heightens in our imagination the
+romantic side of his life and being.
+
+But to Winckelmann himself the Catholic religion presented nothing
+attractive. He saw in it only the masquerade dress which he threw around
+him, and expressed himself bitterly enough about it. Even at a later
+period he does not seem to have sufficiently observed its usages, and by
+loose speech he perhaps made himself suspicious to devout
+believers--here and there at least a slight fear of the Inquisition is
+perceptible.
+
+REALIZATION OF GREEK ART
+
+The transition from literature, even from the highest things that have
+been expressed in word and language, from poetry and rhetoric, to the
+plastic and graphic arts is difficult, indeed almost impossible. For
+there lies between the two a tremendous chasm, over which only a
+specially adapted nature can help us. We have now a sufficiently large
+number of documents lying before us to enable us to judge how far
+Winckelmann succeeded in doing this.
+
+Through the joy of appreciation he was first attracted to the treasures
+of art; but in order to use and judge them, he required artists as
+intermediaries, whose more or less authoritative opinions he was able to
+comprehend, revise, and express. In this manner originated his treatise
+_Concerning the Imitation of Greek Masterpieces in Painting and
+Sculpture_, with two appendices, published while he was still in
+Dresden.
+
+However much Winckelmann appears, even here, to be upon the right path;
+however many delightful, fundamental passages these writings contain,
+however correctly the final aim of art is already defined in them, they
+are nevertheless, both as regards form and subject, so baroque and
+curious, that one would in vain seek their meaning, unless he had
+definite information concerning the personality of the connoisseurs and
+judges of art at that time assembled in Saxony, and concerning their
+abilities, opinions, inclinations and whims. These writings will
+therefore remain a sealed book to posterity, unless well informed
+connoisseurs of art, who lived nearer those times, should soon decide
+either to write or cause to be written a description of the then
+existing conditions, in so far as this is still possible. Lippert,
+Hagedorn, Oeser, Dietrich, Heinecken and Oesterreich loved, practised
+and promoted art, each in his own way. Their purposes were restricted,
+their maxims were one-sided, yea, very often, freakish. They circulated
+stories and anecdotes, the varied application of which was intended not
+only to entertain but also to instruct society. From such elements arose
+the earliest treatises of Winckelmann, which he himself very soon found
+unsatisfactory, as indeed he did not conceal from his friends.
+
+Although not sufficiently prepared, yet with some practical experience,
+he at length began his journey, and reached that country where for the
+receptive mind the time of real culture begins--that culture which
+permeates the entire being, and finds expression in creations which must
+be as real as they are harmonious, because they have, as a matter of
+fact, proved powerful as a firm bond of union between most different
+natures.
+
+ROME
+
+Winckelmann was at last in Rome, and who could be worthier to feel the
+influence which that great privilege is able to produce upon a truly
+perceptive nature! He sees his wish fulfilled, his happiness
+established, his hopes more than satisfied. His ideals stand embodied
+about him. He wanders astonished through the ruins of a gigantic age,
+the greatest that art has produced, under the open sky; freely he lifts
+his eyes to these wonderful works as to the stars of the firmament, and
+every locked treasure is opened for a small gift. Like a pilgrim, the
+newcomer creeps about unobserved; he approaches the most sublime and
+holy treasures in an unseemly garment. As yet he permits no detail to
+distract him, the whole affects him with endless variety, and he already
+feels the harmony which finally must arise for him out of these
+infinitely diversified elements. He gazes upon, he examines everything,
+and to make his happiness complete, he is taken for an artist, as every
+one in his heart would gladly be.
+
+In lieu of further observations, we submit to our readers the
+overpowering influence of the situation, as a friend has clearly and
+sympathetically described it.
+
+"Rome is a place where all antiquity is concentrated into a unity for
+our inspection. What we have felt with the ancient poets, concerning
+ancient forms of government, we believe more than ever to feel, even to
+see, in Rome. As Homer cannot be compared with other poets, so Rome can
+be compared with no other city, the Roman country with no other
+landscape. Most of this impression is no doubt due, it is true, to
+ourselves, and not to the subject; but it is not only the sentimental
+thought of standing where this or that great man has stood, it is an
+irresistible attraction toward what we regard as--although it may be
+through a necessary deception--a noble and sublime past; a power which
+even he who wished to cannot resist, because the desolation in which the
+present inhabitants leave the land and the incredible masses of ruins
+themselves attract and convince the eye. And as this past appears to the
+mind in a grandeur which excludes all envy, in which one is more than
+happy to take part, if only with the imagination (indeed, no other
+participation is conceivable); and as the senses too are charmed by the
+beauty of form, the grandeur and simplicity of the figures, the richness
+of the vegetation (though not luxuriant like that of a more southern
+region), the precision of the outlines in the clear air and the beauty
+of the colors in their transparency--so the enjoyment of nature is here
+a purely artistic one, free from everything distracting. Everywhere else
+the ideas of contrast appear and the enjoyment of nature is elegiac or
+satiric. It is true that these sentiments exist only for us. To Horace,
+Tibur seemed more modern than does Tivoli to us, as is proved by his
+'Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,' but it is only an illusion to imagine
+that we ourselves would like to be inhabitants of Athens or Rome. Only
+in the distance, separated from everything common, only as a thing of
+the past, must antiquity appear to us. This is the sentiment of a friend
+and myself, at least, in regard to the ruins; we are always incensed
+when a half sunken ruin is excavated; for this can only be a gain for
+scholarship at the expense of the imagination. There are only two things
+which inspire me with an equal horror: that the Campagna di Roma should
+be built up, and that Rome should become a well policed city, in which
+no man any longer carried a knife. Should such an order-loving Pope
+appear--which may the seventy-two cardinals prevent--shall move
+away. Only if such divine anarchy and such a heavenly wilderness remain
+in Rome, is there place for the shadows, one of which is worth more than
+the whole present race."
+
+RAFAEL MENGS
+
+But Winckelmann might have groped a long time among the multitudes of
+antique survivals in search of the most valuable objects and those most
+worthy of his observation, if good fortune had not immediately brought
+him into contact with Mengs. The latter, whose own great talent was
+enthralled by the ancient works of art and especially by such as were
+beautiful, immediately introduced his friend to the most excellent--a
+fact worthy of our attention. Here Winckelmann learned to recognize
+beauty of form and its treatment, and was immediately inspired to
+undertake a treatise, _Concerning the Taste of the Greek Artists_. But
+one cannot go about studying works of art for any length of time
+without discovering that they are the productions not only of different
+artists but of different epochs, and that all investigations concerning
+the place of their origin, their age, their individual merit must be
+undertaken together. Winckelmann, with his unerring perception, soon
+found that this was the axis on which the entire knowledge of art
+revolves. He confined himself at first to the most sublime works, which
+he intended to present in a treatise, _Concerning the Style of Sculpture
+in the Age of Phidias_, but he soon rose above these details to the idea
+of a history of art, and discovered a new Columbus, a land long
+surmised, hinted at and discussed--yea, a land, we might say, that had
+formerly been known and forgotten.
+
+It is sad to observe how at first through the Romans, afterward through
+the invasion of northern peoples, and the confusion arising in
+consequence, mankind came into such a state that all true and pure
+culture was for a long time retarded in its development, indeed was
+almost made impossible for the entire future. In any field of art and
+science that we may contemplate, a direct and unerring perception had
+already revealed much to the ancient investigator which, during the
+barbarism which followed, and through the barbaric manner of escaping
+from barbarism, became and remained a secret; which it will long
+continue to be for the masses, because the general progress of higher
+culture in modern times is but slow. This remark does not apply to
+technical progress, of which mankind happily makes use without asking
+questions as to whence it comes and whither it leads.
+
+We are impelled to this observation by certain passages of ancient
+authors, in which anticipations, even indications, of a possible and
+necessary history of art appear. Velleius Paterculus observes with great
+interest, the coincidence in the rise and fall of all the arts. As a man
+of the world, he was especially concerned with the observation that they
+could be maintained only for a short time at the highest point which it
+was possible for them to reach.
+
+From his standpoint he could not regard all arts as a living entity
+[Greek: (psoon)], which must necessarily reveal an imperceptible
+beginning, a slow growth, a short and brilliant period of perfection,
+and a gradual decline--like every other organic being, except that it is
+manifested in a number of individuals. He therefore assigns only moral
+causes, which certainly must be included as contributory, but hardly
+satisfy his own great sagacity, because he probably feels that a
+necessity here exists which cannot be compounded out of detached
+elements.
+
+"That the grammarians, painters and sculptors fared as did also the
+orators, every one will find who examines the testimony of the ages; the
+highest development of every art is invariably circumscribed by a very
+short space of time. Just why a number of similarly endowed, capable men
+make their appearance within a certain cycle of years and devote
+themselves to the same art and its advancement, is a matter upon which I
+have often reflected, without discovering any cause that I might present
+as true. Among the most probable causes the following seem to me the
+most important: Rivalry nourishes the talents; here envy, and there
+admiration, incite to imitation, and the art promoted with so much
+diligence quickly reaches its culmination. It is difficult to remain in
+a state of perfection, and what does not advance retrogrades. And so in
+the beginning we endeavor to attain our models, but when we despair of
+surpassing or even approaching them, diligence and hope grow old, and
+what we fail to attain, is no longer pursued. We cease to strive after
+the possession already obtained by another, and search for something
+new. Relinquishing that in which we cannot shine, we seek another goal
+for our efforts. From this inconstancy, it seems to me, arises the
+greatest obstacle to the production of perfect works of art."
+
+A passage of Quintilian, containing a concise outline of the history of
+ancient art, also deserves to be pointed out as an important document in
+this domain. In his conversations with Roman art lovers, Quintilian
+must also have noticed a striking resemblance between the character of
+Greek artists and Roman orators, and then have sought to gain more exact
+information from connoisseurs and art-lovers. In his comparative
+presentation, in which the character of the art is each time associated
+with that of the age, he is compelled, without knowing or wishing it, to
+present a history of art.
+
+They say that the first celebrated painters whose works are visited not
+by reason of their antiquity alone, were Polygnotus and Aglaophon. Their
+simple color still finds eager admirers, who prefer such crude
+productions and the beginnings of an art just evolving, to the greatest
+masters of the following epoch--as it seems to me in accordance with a
+point of view peculiar to themselves. Afterward Zeuxis and Parrhasius,
+who lived at about the same period--at the time of the Peloponnesian
+war--greatly promoted art. The former is said to have discovered the
+laws of light and shadow, the latter to have devoted himself to a
+careful investigation of lines. Furthermore, Zeuxis gave more content to
+the limbs and painted them fuller and more portly. In this regard, as is
+believed, he followed Homer, who delights in the most powerful forms,
+even in women. Parrhasius, however, has such a determinative influence
+that he is called the law-giver of painting, because the types of gods
+and heroes which he created were followed and adopted by others as
+norms.
+
+Thus painting flourished from about the time of Philip to that of the
+successors of Alexander, but with great diversity of talent. Protogenes
+surpassed all inexactitude, Pamphilius and Melanthius in thoughtfulness,
+Antiphilus in facility, Theon the Samian in invention of strange
+apparitions called fantasies, Apelles in spirit and charm. Euphranor is
+admired because he must be counted among the best in all the
+requirements of art, and excelled at the same time in painting and
+sculpture.
+
+"The same difference is also found in sculpture. Kalon and Hegesias
+worked in a severe style, like that of the Etruscans; Kalamis was less
+austere; Myron more delicate still.
+
+"Polyclitus possessed diligence and elegance above all others. By many
+the palm is assigned to him; but that some fault might be ascribed to
+him, it was said that he lacked dignity. For while he has made the human
+form more graceful than nature reveals it, he does not seem to have been
+able to present the dignity of the gods. Indeed, he is said in his art
+to have avoided representing mature age, and never to have ventured
+beyond unfurrowed cheeks.
+
+"But what Polyclitus lacked is ascribed to Phidias and Alcamenes.
+Phidias is said to have formed the images of gods and men most
+perfectly, and to have far surpassed his rivals, especially in ivory.
+One would form this judgment even if he had designed nothing else than
+the Minerva of Athens or the Olympian Jupiter at Elis, the beauty of
+which was of great advantage, as has been said, to the established
+religion; so closely does the work approach the majesty of the god
+himself.
+
+"Lysippus and Praxiteles have, according to the universal opinion, most
+nearly approached truth; Demetrius, on the other hand, is blamed because
+he went too far in this direction, in that he preferred mere resemblance
+to beauty."
+
+LITERARY PROFESSION
+
+Man is rarely fortunate enough to secure the aids for his higher
+education from quite unselfish patrons. Even those who believe that they
+have the best intentions only promote that which they love and know, or,
+more readily still, what is of advantage to them. Thus it was literary
+and bibliographical accomplishments which recommended Winckelmann
+formerly to Count Bünau and later to Cardinal Passione.
+
+The connoisseur of books is everywhere welcome, and he was even more so
+at a time when the pleasure of collecting notable and rare books was
+livelier than it now is, and the profession of librarian was more
+restricted. A great German library resembled a great Roman library; they
+could vie with each other in the possession of books. The librarian of a
+German count was a desirable member of a cardinal's household, and
+immediately found himself at home there. Libraries were real
+treasure-houses, instead of being, as now, with the rapid progress of
+the sciences and the useful and useless accumulation of printed
+matter--nothing more than useful store-rooms and useless lumber-rooms.
+So that a librarian has cause, now far more than before, to be informed
+of the progress of science and of the value and worthlessness of
+writings, and a German librarian has to possess attainments which would
+be lost in other countries.
+
+But only for a short time, and only as long as it was necessary to
+secure a moderate means of support, did Winckelmann remain true to his
+original literary occupation. He soon lost interest also in everything
+that related to critical investigation, and was willing neither to
+compare manuscripts nor to give information to German scholars who
+wished to question him upon many subjects.
+
+But even before this his attainments had served him as an advantageous
+introduction. The private life of the Italians, especially of the
+Romans, has, for many reasons, something of a secret character. This
+secrecy, this isolation, if you will, extended also to literature. Many
+a scholar devoted his life in secret to an important work, without
+either desiring or being able to have it published. Here also, more than
+in any other land, were to be found men who, with diverse attainments
+and great insight, could not be moved to make them known, either in
+written or printed form. The way to the society of such men Winckelmann
+soon found opened. He mentions particularly among them Giacomelli and
+Baldani, and speaks with pleasure of his increasing acquaintances and
+his growing influence.
+
+CARDINAL ALBANI
+
+But his greatest good fortune was to become a member of the household of
+Cardinal Albani. This prelate, possessed of a large fortune and wielding
+a powerful influence, showed from his very youth a great love of art; he
+had also the best opportunity of satisfying it and a luck in collecting
+which verged upon the miraculous. In later years he found his greatest
+pleasure in the task of placing this collection in worthy surroundings,
+in this wise rivaling those Roman families who had at an earlier period
+been cognizant of the value of such treasures. It was, in fact, his
+chief pleasure to overload the assigned spaces, in accordance with the
+manner of the ancients. Building crowded upon building, hall upon hall,
+corridor upon corridor; fountains and obelisks, caryatides and
+bas-reliefs, statues and vases were lacking neither in court-yard nor in
+garden, while the greater or smaller rooms, galleries and cabinets
+contained the choicest art specimens of all times.
+
+We observed in passing that the ancients had in a similar manner filled
+their palaces and gardens. The Romans so overloaded their capital that
+it seems impossible that everything recorded could have found place
+there. The Via Sacra, the Forum, the Palatine were so overloaded with
+buildings and monuments that the imagination can hardly conceive of a
+crowd of people finding room in any of them. Fortunately the actual
+results of excavated cities come to our assistance, and we can see with
+our own eyes how narrow, how small, how, so to speak, like architectural
+models rather than real buildings these structures are. This remark is
+true even of the Villa of Hadrian, in the construction of which there
+were space and wealth enough for something extensive.
+
+In such an overloaded condition was the villa of his lord and friend
+when Winckelmann departed this scene of his highest and most gratifying
+education. So also it remained after the death of the cardinal, to the
+joy and wonder of the world, until in the course of all-changing,
+all-dispersing time, it was robbed of its entire adornment. The statues
+were removed from their niches and pedestals, the bas-reliefs were torn
+from the walls, and the whole enormous collection was packed for
+transportation. Through an extraordinary change of affairs these
+treasures were conducted only as far as the Tiber. In a short time they
+were returned to the possessor, and the greatest part of them, except a
+few jewels, still remain in the old location. Winckelmann might have
+witnessed the first sad fate of this Elysium of art and its
+extraordinary return; but happily for him, death spared him this earthly
+suffering for which the joy of the restoration would hardly have made
+sufficient amends.
+
+GOOD FORTUNE
+
+But he also encountered many a good fortune upon life's journey. Not
+only did the excavations of antiquities proceed energetically and
+fortunately at Rome, but the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii were
+at that time partly new, or had remained partly unknown through envy,
+secrecy and delay. He thus reaped a harvest which furnished work enough
+for his mind and his activities.
+
+It is a sad thing when one is compelled to consider the existing as
+accomplished and completed. Armories, galleries and museums to which
+nothing is added have something funereal and ghostly about them; the
+mind is restricted in such a limited field of art. One becomes
+accustomed to regard such collections as completed, instead of being
+reminded of the necessity of constant acquisition and of the fact that,
+in art as in life, nothing is completed but is constantly changing.
+
+Winckelmann found himself in a fortunate position. The earth gave up her
+treasures, and through a constant, active commerce in art many ancient
+possessions came to light, passed before his eyes, aroused his
+enthusiasm, challenged his judgment, and increased his knowledge.
+
+No small advantage accrued to him through his relations with the heir
+of the large Stosch collection. Not until after the death of the
+collector did he become acquainted with this little world of art, over
+which he presided in accordance with his best judgment and convictions.
+It is true that all parts of this exceedingly valuable collection were
+not treated with equal care; the whole of it deserved a catalogue for
+the delectation and the use of later amateurs and collectors. Much was
+squandered; but in order to make the excellent gems which it contained
+better known and more marketable, Winckelmann undertook in conjunction
+with the heir of Stosch to write a catalogue, concerning which
+undertaking, its hasty but always able treatment, the surviving
+correspondence furnishes remarkable testimony.
+
+Our friend was thus intently occupied with the Stosch possessions before
+their dispersal and with the ever increasing Albani collection; and
+everything which passed through his hands, either for collection or
+dispersal, increased the treasure with which he was storing his mind.
+
+Even when Winckelmann first approached the study of art and learned to
+know the artists in Dresden, appearing in this branch as a beginner, he
+was fully developed as a writer. He had a comprehensive view of ancient
+history and, in many ways, of the development of the various sciences.
+Even in his previous humble condition he felt and knew antiquity, as
+well as what was worthy in the life and in the character of the present.
+He had already formed a style. In the new school which he entered, he
+listened to his masters, not only as a docile pupil but as a learned
+disciple. He easily acquired their special attainments, and began
+immediately to use and to adapt to his purposes everything that he
+learned.
+
+In a higher sphere of action than was his at Dresden, in the nobler
+world revealed to him at Rome, he remained the same. What he learned
+from Mengs, what he was taught by his surroundings, he did not keep long
+to himself; he did not let the new wine ferment and clarify; but rather
+as we say that one learns from teaching, so he learned while planning
+and writing. How many a title has he left us, how many subjects has he
+not mentioned upon which a work was to follow! Like this beginning was
+his entire antiquarian career. We find him always active--occupied with
+the moment, which he seizes and holds fast as if it only could be
+complete and satisfactory, and even so he let himself be instructed by
+the following moment. This attitude of mind should be remembered in
+forming an estimate of his works.
+
+That they ultimately received their present form, printed directly from
+Winckelmann's manuscript notes, is due to many often unimportant
+circumstances. A single month later and we should have had works, more
+correct in content, more precise in form, perhaps something quite
+different. Just for this reason we so deeply regret his premature death,
+because he would have constantly rewritten his works and enriched them
+with the attainments of the (ever) later phases of his life.
+
+Everything that he has left us, therefore, was written as something
+living for the living, not for those who are dead in the letter. His
+works, combined with his correspondence, are the story of a life; they
+are a life itself. Like the life of most people, they resemble rather a
+preparation for a work than the latter in its accomplishment. They give
+cause for hopes, for wishes, for premonitions. If one tries to correct
+them he sees that he must first correct himself; if he wishes to
+criticize them, he sees that he might himself, upon a higher plane of
+knowledge, be subjected to the same criticism; for limitation is
+everywhere our lot.
+
+PHILOSOPHY
+
+With the progress of civilization, not all parts of human labor and
+activity in which culture is revealed, flourish equally; rather in
+accordance with the favorable character of persons and conditions, one
+necessarily surpasses the other, and thus arouses a more general
+interest. A certain jealous displeasure often arises in consequence,
+among members of a family so varied in its branches, who often are the
+less able to endure one another, the more closely they are related.
+
+It is for the most part a baseless complaint, when this or that adept in
+science and art complains that just his branch is being neglected by
+contemporaries; for an able master has only to appear in order to
+concentrate attention upon himself. If Raphael should reappear today, we
+should bestow upon him a superabundance of honor and riches. An able
+master arouses excellent pupils and their activities extend their
+ramifications into the infinite.
+
+From the earliest times philosophers especially have incurred the
+hatred, not only of their fellow scientists, but of men of the world and
+_bons vivants_, perhaps more by the position they assume than by their
+own fault. For as philosophy in accordance with her nature must make
+demands upon the universal and the highest, she must regard worldly
+objects as included in and subordinated to herself.
+
+Nor are these pretentious demands specifically denied; every man rather
+believes that he has a right to take part in her discoveries, to make
+use of her maxims, and to appropriate whatever else she may have to
+offer. But as philosophy, in order to become universal, must make use of
+her own vocabulary of unfamiliar combinations and difficult
+explanations, which are in harmony neither with the life nor with the
+momentary needs of men of the world, she is despised by those who cannot
+find the handle by which she might easily be grasped.
+
+Yet, if, on the other hand, one wished to accuse the philosophers
+because they do not know how to translate doctrine into life, and
+because they make the most mistakes exactly where all their convictions
+should be converted into action, thereby diminishing their own credit in
+the eyes of the world--no lack of examples might be found to verify such
+accusations.
+
+Winckelmann often complains bitterly of the philosophers of his day and
+their widespread influence; but I think one can escape from every
+influence by limiting oneself to his own line of work. It is strange
+that Winckelmann did not attend the University at Leipsic, where, under
+the direction of Johann Friedrich Christ, he might, without troubling
+himself about a single philosopher in existence, have made much more
+comfortable progress in his favorite study.
+
+This is perhaps the proper place for an observation which we should like
+to make, in view of recent events--that no scholar can afford to reject,
+oppose, or scorn the great philosophical movement begun by Kant, except
+the true investigators of antiquity, who by the peculiarity of their
+study seem to be especially favored above all other men. For since they
+are occupied with the best that the world has produced and only examine
+the trivial and the inferior in their relation to the most excellent,
+their attainments reach such fullness, their judgment such certainty,
+their taste such consistency, that they appear within their own circle
+most wonderfully, even astonishingly, cultured. Winckelmann also
+attained this good fortune, in which indeed he was greatly assisted by
+the influence of the fine arts and of life itself.
+
+POETRY
+
+Although Winckelmann in reading the ancient authors paid great attention
+to the poets, an exact examination of his studies and of the course of
+his life reveals no particular inclination to poetry; on the contrary,
+an aversion occasionally appears. His preference for the old and
+accustomed Lutheran church hymns and his desire to possess an uncensored
+song book of this kind in Rome reveals the typical and sturdy German,
+but not the friend of poetry.
+
+The works of the poets of past ages appear to have interested him at
+first as documents of ancient languages and literature, later as
+witnesses for the fine arts. It is all the more wonderful and gratifying
+when he himself appears as a poet, as an able, unmistakable one, in his
+description of statues and in almost all of his later writings. He sees
+with his eyes, he grasps with his mind, works indescribable, and yet he
+feels an irresistible impulse to master them by the spoken and the
+written word. The perfect master-work, the idea in which it had its
+origin, the emotion that was awakened in him in beholding it, he wishes
+to impart to the hearer or the reader. Reviewing the array of his
+aptitudes, he finds himself compelled to seize upon the most powerful
+and dignified expression at his command. He is compelled to be a poet,
+whatever he may think, whether he wishes or not.
+
+ATTAINED INSIGHT
+
+As much value as Winckelmann placed upon the world's esteem, as much as
+he desired a literary reputation, as much as he endeavored to present
+his work in the best form and to elevate it by a certain dignified
+style, he was nevertheless in no wise blind to its faults, but rather
+was the first to observe them, as one would expect from a man of his
+progressive nature, always seizing upon and working over new materials.
+The more he had labored upon a subject, dogmatically and didactically,
+had maintained and established this or that interpretation of a
+monument, this or that explanation or application of a passage, the more
+conspicuous did his own mistakes seem to him. As soon as he had
+convinced himself of them by new data, the more quickly was he inclined
+to correct them in any way possible.
+
+If the manuscript was at hand, it was rewritten; if it had been sent to
+the printer, corrections and additions were appended. Of all this
+penance he made no secret to his friends, for his character was based
+upon truth, straight-forwardness, frankness, and honesty.
+
+LATER WORKS
+
+A happy thought became clear to him, not suddenly but as the work
+progressed--we mean his _Monumenti Inediti_. It is quite evident that he
+was at first tempted by his desire to make new subjects known, to
+explain them in a happy manner and to enlarge the study of antiquity to
+the greatest possible extent; added to this was the interest of testing
+the method once set forth in his history of art, by means of objects
+which he laid before the eyes of the reader. For he had finally
+developed the felicitous resolve, in this preliminary treatise, quietly
+to correct, purify, compress, and perhaps even partly supplant, his
+already completed work on the history of art.
+
+Conscious of former mistakes which people who were not inhabitants of
+Rome could scarcely have reproached him with, he wrote a work in the
+Italian language, which he intended should be appreciated in Rome
+itself. Not only did he devote to it the greatest attention, but he also
+selected friendly connoisseurs with whom he carefully went over the
+work, most cleverly using their insight and judgment, and thus created a
+work which will go down as a heritage for all ages. Not only did he
+write it, but he undertook its publication, achieving, as a poor layman,
+that which would do honor to a well established publisher, or to
+academies of large means.
+
+THE POPE
+
+Should so much be said of Rome without remembering the Pope, who had, at
+least indirectly, conferred many, many benefits upon Winckelmann?
+Winckelmann's sojourn in Rome fell for the most part under the
+government of Benedict XIV. Lambertini, a gay and easy-going man, who
+preferred letting others rule to ruling, himself; and so the different
+positions which Winckelmann filled may have come to him rather through
+the favor of his exalted friends than through the appreciation of his
+services by the Pope.
+
+Nevertheless, we find him on one important occasion in the presence of
+the Head of the Church; he was honored by being allowed to read several
+passages of the _Monumenti Inediti_ to the Pope, thus achieving also,
+along this line, the highest honor which an author could receive.
+
+CHARACTER
+
+In the case of very many men, especially in the case of scholars, their
+achievements seem the important thing, and in these their character
+finds little expression. With Winckelmann the reverse was the case. All
+that he produced is principally important and valuable because his
+character is always revealed in it. As we have already expressed certain
+generalities concerning his character under the headings, The Antique,
+Paganism, Friendship, and Beauty, the more detailed account deserves a
+place here, near the end of our essay.
+
+Winckelmann was in all respects a character who was honest with himself
+and with others. His native love of truth constantly developed, the more
+independent and unhampered he felt, until he finally considered the
+polite indulgence of errors traditional in life and in literature to be
+a crime.
+
+Such a nature could comfortably withdraw into itself; vet even here we
+discover in him the ancient characteristic of always being occupied with
+himself, but without really observing himself. He thinks only of
+himself, not about himself; his mind is occupied with what he has before
+him; he is interested in his whole being, in its entire compass, and he
+cherishes the belief that his friends are likewise interested therein.
+We, therefore, find everything mentioned in his letters, from the
+highest moral to the most common physical need; indeed he directly
+states that he preferred to be entertained with personal trifles rather
+than with important affairs. At the same time he remains a complete
+riddle to himself, and even expresses astonishment over his own being,
+especially in consideration of what he was and what he had become. But
+every man may thus be regarded as a charade of many syllables, of which
+he himself can spell only a few, while others easily decipher the whole
+word.
+
+Nor do we find in him any pronounced principles. His unerring feeling
+and cultured mind served him as a guide in morals as well as in
+aesthetics. His ideal was a kind of natural religion, in which God
+appears as the ultimate source of the beautiful and hardly as a being
+having any other relation to man. His conduct was most beautiful in all
+cases involving duty and gratitude.
+
+His provision for himself was moderate, and not the same at all times.
+He always labored most diligently to secure a competence for his old
+age. His means are noble; in his efforts to attain every end he shows
+himself honest, straightforward, even defiant, and at the same time
+clever and persevering. He never works after a fixed plan, but always
+instinctively and passionately. His pleasure in every discovery is
+intense, for which reason errors are unavoidable, which, however, in his
+rapid progress are corrected as quickly as he sees them. Here also he
+always maintains an antique principle; the certainty of the point of
+departure, the uncertainty of the aim to be reached, as well as the
+incomplete and imperfect character of the treatment as soon as it
+becomes extensive.
+
+SOCIETY
+
+Little prepared by his early mode of life, Winckelmann did not at first
+feel at ease in company, but a feeling of dignity soon took the place of
+education and custom, and he learned very rapidly to conduct himself in
+accordance with his surroundings. The gratification felt in association
+with distinguished, wealthy and celebrated people and the pleasure of
+being esteemed by them everywhere appears. As regards facility of
+intercourse, he could not have found himself in a better place than
+Rome.
+
+He himself observes, that however ceremonious the Roman grandees,
+especially the clerical, appeared in public, at home they were pleasant
+and intimate with the members of their household; but he did not observe
+that this intimacy concealed the oriental relation of lord and servant.
+All southern nations would find it intolerably tiresome to have to
+maintain the constant mutual tension in association with their
+dependents which the northerners are accustomed to.
+
+Travelers have observed that the slaves in Turkey behave toward their
+masters with more ease than northern courtiers toward their princes, or
+dependents with us toward their superiors. Yet, examined closely, these
+marks of consideration have been really introduced for the benefit of
+the dependents, who by these means always remind their superior what is
+due them.
+
+The southerner, however, craves for hours in which to take his ease, and
+this accrues to the advantage of his household. Such scenes are
+described by Winckelmann with great relish; they lighten whatever
+dependence he may feel, and nourish his sense of freedom which was
+averse to every fetter that might restrain him.
+
+STRANGERS
+
+Although Winckelmann was very happy in his association with the natives,
+he suffered all the more annoyance and tribulation from strangers. It is
+true that nothing can be more exasperating than the usual stranger in
+Rome. In every other place the traveler can better look out for himself
+and find something suitable to his needs; but whoever does not
+accommodate himself to Rome is an abomination to the man of real Roman
+sentiment.
+
+The English are reproached because they take their tea-kettles
+everywhere along with them, even dragging them to the summit of Mt.
+Ætna. But has not every nation its own tea-kettle, in which its citizens
+on their travels brew a bundle of dried herbs brought along from home?
+
+Such hurrying and arrogant strangers, never looking about them, and
+judging everything in accordance with their own narrow limitations, were
+denounced by Winckelmann more than once; he vows never to show them
+about, and yet finally allows himself to be persuaded to do it. He jests
+over his inclination to play the schoolmaster, to teach and to convince,
+and indeed many advantages accrued to him through the association with
+persons important by reason of their rank and services. We mention only
+the Prince of Dessan, the Crown Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and
+Brunswick, and Baron von Riedesel, a man who showed himself quite worthy
+of our friend in his attitude toward art and antiquity.
+
+THE WORLD
+
+Winckelmann constantly sought after esteem and consideration; but he
+wished to achieve them through real merit. He always insists upon
+thoroughness of subject, of means, and of treatment, and is therefore
+very hostile toward French superficiality.
+
+He found in Rome opportunities to associate with strangers of all
+nations, and maintained such connections in a clever, effective manner.
+He was pleased with, indeed he sought after, honorary degrees of
+academies and learned societies.
+
+But he achieved greatest prominence by that great document of his
+merits, over which he silently labored with great diligence--I refer to
+his _History of Ancient Art_. It was immediately translated into the
+French language, and made him known far and wide.
+
+The real value of such a work is perhaps best appreciated immediately
+after its publication: its efficiency is recognized, the new matter is
+quickly adopted. The contemporaries are astonished at the sudden
+assistance they obtained, while a colder posterity nibbles disgustedly
+at the works of its masters and teachers, and makes demands which would
+never have occurred to it, if the very men criticised had not
+accomplished so much.
+
+And so Winckelmann was recognized by the cultured nations of Europe at a
+time when he was sufficiently established at Rome to be honored with the
+important position of Director of Antiquities.
+
+RESTLESSNESS
+
+Notwithstanding his recognized and often vaunted happiness, Winckelmann
+was always tortured by a restlessness which, as its foundations lay deep
+in his nature, assumed various forms.
+
+During the times of his early poverty and his later dependence upon the
+bounty of a court and the favor of many a wellwisher, he always limited
+himself to the smallest needs, that he might not become dependent or at
+least not more dependent than absolutely necessary. In the meantime he
+was always strenuously occupied in gaining by his own exertions a
+livelihood for the present and for the future, for which at length the
+successful illustrated edition of his Monumenti Inediti offered the
+fairest hope.
+
+But these uncertain conditions accustomed him to look for his
+subsistence now here, then there; now to accept a position with small
+advantage to himself--in the house of a cardinal, in the Vatican or
+elsewhere; then, when he saw some other prospect, magnanimously to give
+up his place, while looking about for something else and lending an ear
+to many a proposition.
+
+Further, one who lives in Rome is constantly exposed to the passion for
+traveling to all parts of the world. He finds himself in the centre of
+the ancient world, and the lands most interesting to the investigator of
+antiquity lie close about him. Magna Græcia, Sicily, Dalmatia, the
+Peloponnesus, Ionia, and Egypt--all of them are, so to say, offered to
+the inhabitants of Rome, and awaken an inexpressible longing in one who,
+like Winckelmann, was born with the desire to see. This is increased by
+the great number of strangers on their passage through Rome making
+sensible or useless preparations to travel in these lands, and who on
+their return never tire of describing distant wonders and exhibiting
+specimens of them.
+
+And so Winckelmann planned to travel everywhere, partly on his own
+responsibility, partly in company with such wealthy travelers as would
+recognize the value of a scholarly and talented comrade.
+
+Another cause of this inner restlessness and discomfort does honor to
+his heart--the irresistible longing for absent friends. Upon this the
+ardent desire of a man that otherwise lived so much in the present seems
+to have been peculiarly concentrated; he sees his friends before him, he
+converses with them through letters, he longs for their embraces, and
+wishes to repeat the days formerly lived together.
+
+These wishes, especially directed toward his friends in the North, were
+awakened anew by the Peace of Hubertusbury (Feb., 1763). It would have
+been his pride to present himself before the great king who had already
+honored him with an offer to enter his service; to see again the Prince
+of Dessau, whose exalted, reposeful nature he regarded as a gift of God
+to the earth; to pay his respects to the Duke of Brunswick, whose great
+capacities he well knew how to prize; to praise in person Minister of
+State von Münchausen, who had done so much for science, and to admire
+his immortal foundation at Göttingen; to rejoice again in the lively and
+intimate intercourse with his Swiss friends--such allurements filled his
+heart and his imagination; with such images was his mind so long
+occupied that he unfortunately followed this impulse and so went to his
+death.
+
+He was devoted body and soul to his Italian lot to such an extent that
+every other one seemed insufferable to him. On his former journey, the
+cliffs and mountains of Tyrol had interested, yea, delighted him, and
+now, on his return to the fatherland, he felt terrified, as if he were
+being dragged through the Cimmerian portal and convinced of the
+impossibility of continuing his journey.
+
+DEPARTURE
+
+And thus upon the highest pinnacle of happiness that he could himself
+have wished for, he departed this earth. His fatherland awaited him, his
+friends stretched their arms toward him; all the expressions of love
+which he so deeply needed, all testimonials of public honor, which he
+valued so highly, awaited his appearance, to be heaped upon him. And in
+this sense we may count him happy, that from the summit of human
+existence he ascended to the blessed, that a momentary shock, a sudden,
+quick pain removed him from the living. The infirmities of old age, the
+diminution of mental power, he did not experience; the dispersal of the
+treasures of art, which he had foretold, although in another sense, did
+not occur before his eyes. He lived as a man and departed hence as a
+complete man. Now he enjoys in the memory of posterity the advantage of
+appearing only as one eternally vigorous and powerful; for in the image
+in which a man leaves the earth he wanders among the shadows, and so
+Achilles remains for us an ever-striving youth. That Winckelmann
+departed so early, works also to our advantage. From his grave the
+breath of his power strengthens us, and awakens in us the intense desire
+always to continue with zeal and love the work that he has begun.
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE AND HIS SECRETARY J. J. Schmeller ]
+
+
+
+
+MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS OF GOETHE[5]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY BAILEY SAUNDERS
+
+There is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must
+only try to think it again.
+
+How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try
+to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth. But what
+is your duty? The claims of the day.
+
+The longer I live, the more it grieves me to see man, who occupies his
+supreme place for the very purpose of imposing his will upon nature, and
+freeing himself and his from an outrageous necessity--to see him taken
+up with some false notion, and doing just the opposite of what he wants
+to do; and then, because the whole bent of his mind is spoilt, bungling
+miserably over everything.
+
+In the works of mankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive
+which is chiefly worth attention.
+
+In Botany there is a species of plants called Incompletæ; and just in
+the same way it can be said there are men who are incomplete and
+imperfect. They are those whose desires and struggles are out of
+proportion to their actions and achievements.
+
+It is a great error to take oneself for more than one is, or for less
+than one is worth.
+
+From time to time I meet with a youth in whom I can wish for no
+alteration or improvement, only I am sorry to see how often his nature
+makes him quite ready to swim with the stream of the time; and it is on
+this that I would always insist, that man in his fragile boat has the
+rudder placed in his hand, just that he may not be at the mercy of the
+waves, but follow the direction of his own insight.
+
+If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed
+positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.
+
+Piety is not an end, but a means: a means of attaining the highest
+culture by the purest tranquility of soul. Hence it may be observed that
+those who set up piety as an end and object are mostly hypocrites.
+
+Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing
+something; believing ought to mean comprehending; when you desire a
+thing, you will have to take it; when you demand it, you will not get
+it; and when you are experienced, you ought to be useful to others.
+
+The stream is friendly to the miller whom it serves; it likes to pour
+over the mill wheels; what is the good of it stealing through the valley
+in apathy?
+
+Theory is in itself of no use, except in so far as it makes us believe
+in the connection of phenomena.
+
+"_Le sens common est le génie de l'humanité_." Common-sense, which is
+here put forward as the genius of humanity, must be examined first of
+all in the way it shows itself. If we inquire the purpose to which
+humanity puts it, we find as follows: Humanity is conditioned by needs.
+If they are not satisfied, men become impatient; and if they are, it
+seems not to affect them. The normal man moves between these two states,
+and he applies his understanding--his so-called common sense--to the
+satisfaction of his needs. When his needs are satisfied, his task is to
+fill up the waste spaces of indifference. Here, too, he is successful,
+if his needs are confined to what is nearest and most necessary. But if
+they rise and pass beyond the sphere of ordinary wants, common-sense is
+no longer sufficient; it is a genius no more, and humanity enters on the
+region of error.
+
+There is no piece of foolishness but it can be corrected by intelligence
+or accident; no piece of wisdom but it can miscarry by lack of
+intelligence or by accident.
+
+Justice insists on obligation, law on decorum. Justice weighs and
+decides, law superintends and orders. Justice refers to the individual,
+law to society.
+
+The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the
+nations one after the other emerge.
+
+If a man is to achieve all that is asked of him, he must take himself
+for more than he is, and as long as he does not carry it to an absurd
+length, we willingly put up with it.
+
+People whip curds to see if they cannot make cream of them.
+
+Wisdom lies only in truth.
+
+When I err, every one can see it; but not when I lie.
+
+Before the storm breaks, the dust rises violently for the last time--the
+dust that is soon to be laid for ever.
+
+Men do not come to know one another easily, even with the best will and
+the best purpose. And then ill-will comes in and distorts everything.
+
+In the world the point is, not to know men, but at any given moment to
+be cleverer than the man who stands before you. You can prove this at
+every fair and from every charlatan.
+
+Not everywhere where there is water, are there frogs; but where you have
+frogs, there you will find water.
+
+In the formation of species Nature gets, as it were, into a cul-de-sac;
+she cannot make her way through, and is disinclined to turn back. Hence
+the stubbornness of national character.
+
+Many a man knocks about on the wall with his hammer, and believes that
+he hits the right nail on the head every time.
+
+Those who oppose intellectual truths do but stir up the fire, and the
+cinders fly about and burn what they had else not touched.
+
+Those from whom we are always learning are rightly called our masters;
+but not every one who teaches us deserves this title.
+
+It is with you as with the sea: the most varied names are given to what
+is in the end only salt water.
+
+It is said that vain self-praise stinks in the nostrils. That may be so;
+but for the kind of smell which comes from unjust blame by others the
+public has no nose at all.
+
+There are problematical natures which are equal to no position in which
+they find themselves, and which no position satisfies. This it is that
+causes that hideous conflict which wastes life and deprives it of all
+pleasure.
+
+Dirt glitters as long as the sun shines.
+
+He is the happiest man who can set the end of his life in connection
+with the beginning.
+
+A state of things in which every day brings some new trouble is not the
+right one.
+
+The Hindoos of the Desert make a solemn vow to eat no fish.
+
+To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess it may be taken,
+but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.
+
+Truth belongs to the man, error to his age. This is why it has been said
+that, while the misfortune of the age caused his error, the force of his
+soul made him emerge from the error with glory.
+
+I pity those who make much ado about the transitory nature of all things
+and are lost in the contemplation of earthly vanity: are we not here to
+make the transitory permanent? This we can do only if we know how to
+value both.
+
+A rainbow which lasts a quarter of an hour is looked at no more.
+
+Faith is private capital, kept in one's own house. There are public
+savings-banks and loan-offices, which supply individuals in their day of
+need; but here the creditor quietly takes his interest for himself.
+
+During a prolonged study of the lives of various men both great and
+small, I came upon this thought: In the web of the world the one may
+well be regarded as the warp, the other as the woof. It is the little
+men, after all, who give breadth to the web, and the great men firmness
+and solidity; perhaps, also, the addition of some sort of pattern. But
+the scissors of the Fates determine its length, and to that all the rest
+must join in submitting itself.
+
+Truth is a torch, but a huge one, and so it is only with blinking eyes
+that we all of us try to get past it, in actual terror of being burnt.
+
+The really foolish thing in men who are otherwise intelligent is that
+they fail to understand what another person says, when he does not
+exactly hit upon the right way of saying it.
+
+One need only grow old to become gentler in one's judgments. I see no
+fault committed which I could not have committed myself.
+
+Why should those who are happy expect one who is miserable to die before
+them in a graceful attitude, like the gladiator before the Roman mob?
+
+By force of habit we look at a clock that has run down as if it were
+still going, and we gaze at the face of a beauty as though she still
+loved.
+
+Dilettantism treated seriously, and knowledge pursued mechanically, end
+by becoming pedantry.
+
+No one but the master can promote the cause of Art. Patrons help the
+master--that is right and proper; but that does not always mean that Art
+is helped.
+
+The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that
+they forfeit their originality in recognizing a truth which has already
+been recognized by others.
+
+It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; for error lies
+on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to
+search for it is not given to every one.
+
+No one should desire to live in irregular circumstances; but if by
+chance a man falls into them, they test his character and show of how
+much determination he is capable.
+
+An honorable man with limited ideas often sees through the rascality of
+the most cunning jobber.
+
+Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must
+act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him.
+
+The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always
+a burden to them.
+
+If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them
+well.
+
+I can promise to be sincere, but not to be impartial.
+
+Word and picture are correlatives which are continually in quest of each
+other, as is sufficiently evident in the case of metaphors and similes.
+So from all time what was said or sung inwardly to the ear had to be
+presented equally to the eye. And so in childish days we see word and
+picture in continual balance; in the book of the law and in the way of
+salvation, in the Bible and in the spelling-book. When something was
+spoken which could not be pictured, and something pictured which could
+not be spoken, all went well; but mistakes were often made, and a word
+was used instead of a picture; and thence arose those monsters of
+symbolical mysticism, which are doubly an evil.
+
+The importunity of young dilettanti must be borne with good-will; for as
+they grow old they become the truest worshippers of Art and the Master.
+
+People have to become really bad before they care for nothing but
+mischief, and delight in it.
+
+Clever people are the best encyclopædia.
+
+There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do
+anything worth doing.
+
+A man cannot live for every one; least of all for those with whom he
+would not care to live.
+
+I should like to be honest with you, without our falling out; but it
+will not do. You act wrongly, and fall between two stools; you win no
+adherents and lose your friends. What is to be the end of it?
+
+If a clever man commits a folly, it is not a small one.
+
+I went on troubling myself about general ideas until I learnt to
+understand the particular achievements of the best men.
+
+The errors of a man are what make him really lovable.
+
+As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so
+apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more
+potent, in which most men live.
+
+Mankind is like the Red Sea; the staff has scarcely parted the waves
+asunder before they flow together again. Thoughts come back; beliefs
+persist; facts pass by never to return.
+
+Of all peoples, the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life the best.
+
+We readily bow to antiquity, but not to posterity. It is only a father
+that does not grudge talent to his son. The whole art of living consists
+in giving up existence in order to exist.
+
+All our pursuits and actions are a wearying process. Well is it for him
+who wearies not.
+
+Hope is the second soul of the unhappy.
+
+At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have
+worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by
+poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike.
+
+If a man knows where to get good advice, it is as though he could supply
+it himself.
+
+A man must pay dear for his errors if he wishes to get rid of them, and
+even then he is lucky.
+
+Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away
+by it.
+
+Error is related to truth as sleep to waking. I have observed that on
+awakening from error a man turns again to truth as with new vigor.
+
+Every one suffers who does not work for himself. A man works for others
+to have them share in his joy.
+
+Common-sense is born pure in the healthy man, is self-developed, and is
+revealed by a resolute perception and recognition of what is necessary
+and useful. Practical men and women avail themselves of it with
+confidence. Where it is absent, both sexes find anything necessary when
+they desire it, and useful when it gives them pleasure.
+
+All men, as they attain freedom, give play to their errors. The strong
+do too much, and the weak too little.
+
+The conflict of the old, the existing, the continuing, with development,
+improvement and reform, is always the same. Order of every kind turns at
+last to pedantry, and to get rid of the one, people destroy the other;
+and so it goes on for a while, until people perceive that order must be
+established anew. Classicism and Romanticism; close corporations and
+freedom of trade; the maintenance of large estates and the division of
+the land--it is always the same conflict which ends by producing a new
+one. The best policy of those in power would be so to moderate this
+conflict as to let it right itself without the destruction of either
+element. But this has not been granted to men, and it seems not to be
+the will of God.
+
+A great work limits us for the moment, because we feel it above our
+powers; and only in so far as we afterward incorporate it with our
+culture, and make it part of our mind and heart, does it become a dear
+and worthy object.
+
+There are many things in the world that are at once good and excellent,
+but they do not come into contact.
+
+When men have to do with women, they get spun off like a distaff.
+
+It may well be that a man is at times horribly threshed by misfortunes,
+public and private: but the reckless flail of Fate, when it beats the
+rich sheaves, crushes only the straw; and the corn feels nothing of it
+and dances merrily on the floor, careless whether its way is to the mill
+or the furrow.
+
+In the matter of knowledge, it has happened to me as to one who rises
+early and in the dark impatiently awaits the dawn and then the sun, but
+is blinded when it appears.
+
+People often say to themselves in life that they should avoid a variety
+of occupation, and, more particularly, be the less willing to enter upon
+new work the older they grow. But it is easy to talk, easy to give
+advice to oneself and others. To grow old is itself to enter upon a new
+business; all the circumstances change, and a man must either cease
+acting altogether, or willingly and consciously take over the new rôle.
+
+To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were
+possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea
+and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for
+thousands of years.
+
+Napoleon lived wholly in a great idea, but he was unable to take
+conscious hold of it. After utterly disavowing all ideals and denying
+them any reality, he zealously strove to realize them. His clear,
+incorruptible intellect could not, however, tolerate such a perpetual
+conflict within; and there is much value in the thoughts which he was
+compelled, as it were, to utter, and which are expressed very peculiarly
+and with much charm.
+
+Man is placed as a real being in the midst of a real world, and endowed
+with such organs that he can perceive and produce the real and also the
+possible.
+
+All healthy men have the conviction of their own existence and of an
+existence around them. However, even the brain contains a hollow spot,
+that is to say, a place in which no object is mirrored; just as in the
+eye itself there is a little spot that does not see. If a man pays
+particular attention to this spot and is absorbed in it, he falls into a
+state of mental sickness, has presentiments of 'things of another
+world,' which are, in reality, no things at all, possessing neither form
+nor limit, but alarming him like dark, empty tracts of night, and
+pursuing him as something more than phantoms, if he does not tear
+himself free from them.
+
+To the several perversities of the day a man should always oppose only
+the great masses of universal history. That we have many criticisms to
+make on those who visit us, and that, as soon as they depart, we pass no
+very amiable judgment upon them, seems to me almost natural; for we
+have, so to speak, a right to measure them by our own standard. Even
+intelligent and fair-minded men hardly refrain from sharp censure on
+such occasions.
+
+But if, on the contrary, we have been in their homes, and have seen them
+in their surroundings and habits and the circumstances which are
+necessary and inevitable for them; if we have seen the kind of influence
+they exert on those around them, or how they behave, it is only
+ignorance and ill-will that can find food for ridicule in what must
+appear to us in more than one sense worthy of respect.
+
+Women's society is the element of good manners.
+
+The most privileged position, in life as in society, is that of an
+educated soldier. Rough warriors, at any rate, remain true to their
+character, and as great strength is usually the cover for good nature,
+we get on with them at need.
+
+No one would come into a room with spectacles on his nose, if he knew
+that women at once lose any inclination to look at or talk to him.
+
+There is no outward sign of politeness that will be found to lack some
+deep moral foundation. The right kind of education would be that which
+conveyed the sign and the foundation at the same time.
+
+A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait.
+
+Against the great superiority of another there is no remedy but love.
+
+It is a terrible thing for an eminent man to be gloried in by fools.
+
+It is said that no man is a hero to his valet. That is only because a
+hero can be recognized only by a hero. The valet will probably know how
+to appreciate his like--his fellow-valet.
+
+Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the
+half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
+
+To see a difficult thing lightly handled gives us the impression of the
+impossible.
+
+Difficulties increase the nearer we come to our aim.
+
+Sowing is not so painful as reaping.
+
+If any one meets us who owes us a debt of gratitude, it immediately
+crosses our mind. How often can we meet some one to whom we owe
+gratitude, without thinking of it!
+
+To communicate oneself is Nature; to receive a communication as it is
+given is Culture.
+
+Contradiction and flattery make, both of them, bad conversation.
+
+By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they
+laugh at.
+
+An intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, a wise man hardly
+anything.
+
+A man well on in years was reproved for still troubling himself about
+young women. "It is the only means," he replied, "of regaining one's
+youth; and that is something every one wishes to do."
+
+A man does not mind being blamed for his faults, and being punished for
+them, and he patiently suffers much for the sake of them; but he becomes
+impatient if he is required to give them up.
+
+Passion is enhanced and tempered by avowal. In nothing, perhaps, is the
+middle course more desirable than in confidence and reticence toward
+those we love.
+
+To sit in judgment on the departed is never likely to be equitable. We
+all suffer from life; who, except God, can call us to account? Let not
+their faults and sufferings, but what they have accomplished and done,
+occupy the survivors.
+
+It is failings that show human nature, and merits that distinguish the
+individual; faults and misfortunes we all have in common; virtues belong
+to each one separately.
+
+It would not be worth while to see seventy years if all the wisdom of
+this world were foolishness with God. The true is Godlike; we do not see
+it itself; we must guess at it through its manifestations.
+
+The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and
+draws near the master.
+
+In the smithy the iron is softened by blowing up the fire, and taking
+the dross from the bar. As soon as it is purified, it is beaten and
+pressed, and becomes firm again by the addition of fresh water. The same
+thing happens to a man at the hands of his teacher.
+
+What belongs to a man he cannot get rid of, even though he throws it
+away.
+
+Of true religions there are only two: one of them recognizes and
+worships the Holy that, without form or shape, dwells in and around us;
+and the other recognizes and worships it in its fairest form. Everything
+that lies between these two is idolatry.
+
+The Saints were all at once driven from heaven; and senses, thought and
+heart were turned from a divine mother with a tender child, to the grown
+man doing good and suffering evil, who was later transfigured into a
+being half-divine in its nature, and then recognized and honored as God
+himself. He stood against a background where the Creator had opened out
+the universe; a spiritual influence went out from him; his sufferings
+were adopted as an example, and his transfiguration was the pledge of
+ever-lastingness.
+
+As a coal is revived by incense, so prayer revives the hopes of the
+heart.
+
+From a strict point of view we must have a reformation of ourselves
+every day, and protest against others, even though it be in no religious
+sense.
+
+It should be our earnest endeavor to use words coinciding as closely as
+possible with what we feel, see, think, experience, imagine and reason.
+It is an endeavor which we cannot evade, and which is daily to be
+renewed.
+
+Let every man examine himself, and he will find this a much harder task
+than he might suppose; for, unhappily, a man usually takes words as mere
+make-shifts; his knowledge and his thought are in most cases better than
+his method of expression.
+
+False, irrelevant, and futile ideas may arise in ourselves and others,
+or find their way into us from without. Let us persist in the effort to
+remove them as far as we can, by plain and honest purpose.
+
+Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.
+
+A man is not deceived by others; he deceives himself.
+
+Laws are all made by old people and by men. Youths and women want the
+exceptions, old people the rules.
+
+Chinese, Indian and Egyptian antiquities are never more than
+curiosities; it is well to make acquaintance with them; but in point of
+moral and æsthetic culture they can help us little.
+
+The German runs no greater danger than to advance with and by the
+example of his neighbors. There is perhaps no nation that is fitter for
+the process of self-development; so that it has proved of the greatest
+advantage to Germany to have obtained the notice of the world so late.
+
+The greatest difficulties lie where we do not look for them.
+
+The mind endowed with active powers and keeping with a practical object
+to the task that lies nearest, is the worthiest there is on earth.
+
+Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the
+measure of man.
+
+When a great idea enters the world as a Gospel, it becomes an offense to
+the multitude, which stagnates in pedantry; and to those who have much
+learning, but little depth, it is folly.
+
+You may recognize the utility of an idea, and yet not quite understand
+how to make a perfect use of it.
+
+_Credo Deum_! That is a fine, a worthy thing to say; but to recognize
+God where and as he reveals himself, is the only true bliss on earth.
+
+Kepler said: 'My wish is that I may perceive the God whom I find
+everywhere in the external world, in like manner also within and inside
+me.' The good man was not aware that, in that very moment, the divine in
+him stood in the closest connection with the divine in the Universe.
+
+What is predestination? It is this: God is mightier and wiser than we
+are, and so he does with us as he pleases.
+
+Toleration should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought
+to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to
+affront him.
+
+Faith, Love and Hope once felt, in a quiet sociable hour, a plastic
+impulse in their nature; they worked together and created a lovely
+image, a Pandora in the higher sense, Patience.
+
+'I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted.' It must have
+been an old forester who said that.
+
+Does the sparrow know how the stork feels?
+
+Lamps make oil spots, and candles want snuffing; it is only the light of
+heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.
+
+If you miss the first button-hole, you will not succeed in buttoning up
+your coat.
+
+A burnt child dreads the fire; an old man who has often been singed is
+afraid of warming himself.
+
+It is not worth while to do anything for the world that we have with us,
+as the existing order may in a moment pass away. It is for the past and
+the future that we must work: for the past, to acknowledge its merits;
+for the future, to try to increase its value.
+
+Let no one think that people have waited for him as for the Savior.
+
+Character in matters great and small consists in a man steadily pursuing
+the things of which he feels himself capable.
+
+Can a nation become ripe? That is a strange question. I would answer,
+Yes! if all the men could be born thirty years of age. But as youth will
+always be too forward and old age too backward, the really mature man is
+always hemmed in between them, and has to resort to strange devices to
+make his way through.
+
+The most important matters of feeling as of reason, of experience as of
+reflection, should be treated of only by word of mouth. The spoken word
+at once dies if it is not kept alive by some other word following on it
+and suited to the hearer. Observe what happens in social converse. If
+the word is not dead when it reaches the hearer, he murders it at once
+by a contradiction, a stipulation, a condition, a digression, an
+interruption, and all the thousand tricks of conversation. With the
+written word the case is still worse. No one cares to read anything to
+which he is not already to some extent accustomed; he demands the known
+and the familiar under an altered form. Still, the written word has this
+advantage, that it lasts and can await the time when it is allowed to
+take effect.
+
+Opponents fancy they refute us when they repeat their own opinion and
+pay no attention to ours.
+
+It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it
+may be past, present or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the
+more difficult are the problems that appear.
+
+Every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined
+plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be
+steep and inaccessible.
+
+If a man would enter upon some course of knowledge, he must either be
+deceived or deceive himself, unless external necessity irresistibly
+determines him. Who would become a physician if, at one and the same
+time, he saw before him all the horrible sights that await him?
+
+Literature is a fragment of fragments: the least of what happened and
+was spoken, has been written; and of the things that have been written,
+very few have been preserved.
+
+And yet, with all the fragmentary nature of literature, we find
+thousandfold repetition; which shows how limited is man's mind and
+destiny.
+
+We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive,
+are anxious to say something important, and the results are most
+curious.
+
+Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to
+let us know that the author has known something.
+
+An author can show no greater respect for his public than by never
+bringing it what it expects, but what he himself thinks right and proper
+in that stage of his own and others' culture in which for the time he
+finds himself.
+
+That glorious hymn, _Veni Creator Spiritus_, is really an appeal to
+genius. That is why it speaks so powerfully to men of intellect and
+power.
+
+Translators are like busy match-makers; they sing the praises of some
+half-veiled beauty, and extol her charms, and arouse an irresistible
+longing for the original.
+
+My relations with Schiller rested on the decided tendency of both of us
+toward a single aim, and our common activity rested on the diversity of
+the means by which we endeavored to attain that aim.
+
+The best that history gives us is the enthusiasm it arouses.
+
+We really learn only from those books which we cannot criticise. The
+author of a book which we could criticise would have to learn from us.
+
+That is the reason why the Bible will never lose its power; because, as
+long as the world lasts, no one can stand up and say: I grasp it as a
+whole and understand all the parts of it. But we say humbly: as a whole
+it is worthy of respect, and in all its parts it is applicable.
+
+There is and will be much discussions as to the use and harm of
+circulating the Bible. One thing is clear to me mischief will result, as
+heretofore, by using it fantastically as a system of dogma; benefit, as
+heretofore, by a loving acceptance of its teachings.
+
+I am convinced that the Bible will always be more beautiful the more it
+is understood; the more, that is, we see and observe that every word
+which we take in a general sense and apply specially to ourselves, had,
+under certain circumstances of time and place, a peculiar, special and
+directly individual reference.
+
+If one has not read the newspapers for some months and then reads them
+altogether, one sees, as one never saw before, how much time is wasted
+with this kind of literature.
+
+Shakespeare's Henry IV. If everything were lost that has ever been
+preserved to us of this kind of writing, the arts of poetry and rhetoric
+could be completely restored out of this one play.
+
+Shakespeare's finest dramas are wanting here and there in facility: they
+are something more than they should be, and for that very reason
+indicate the great poet.
+
+The dignity of Art appears perhaps most conspicuously in Music; for in
+Music there is no material to be deducted. It is wholly form and
+intrinsic value, and it raises and ennobles all that it expresses.
+
+It is only by Art, and especially by Poetry, that the imagination is
+regulated. Nothing is more frightful than imagination without taste.
+
+Art rests upon a kind of religious sense; it is deeply and ineradicably
+in earnest. Thus it is that Art so willingly goes hand in hand with
+Religion.
+
+A noble philosopher spoke of architecture as frozen music; and it was
+inevitable that many people should shake their heads over his remark. We
+believe that no better repetition of this fine thought can be given than
+by calling architecture a speechless music.
+
+In every artist there is a germ of daring, without which no talent is
+conceivable.
+
+Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than
+lower ones quite attained.
+
+In every Italian school the butterfly breaks loose from the chrysalis.
+
+Let us be many-sided! Turnips are good, but they are best mixed with
+chestnuts. And these two noble products of the earth grow far apart.
+
+In the presence of Nature even moderate talent is always possessed of
+insight; hence drawings from Nature that are at all carefully done
+always give pleasure.
+
+A man cannot well stand by himself, and so he is glad to join a party;
+because if he does not find rest there, he at any rate finds quiet and
+safety.
+
+It is difficult to know how to treat the errors of the age. If a man
+oppose them, he stands alone; if he surrender to them, they bring him
+neither joy nor credit.
+
+There are some hundred Christian sects, every one of them acknowledging
+God and the Lord in its own way, without troubling themselves further
+about one another. In the study of nature, nay, in every study, things
+must of necessity come to the same pass. For what is the meaning of
+every one speaking of toleration, and trying to prevent others from
+thinking and expressing themselves after their own fashion?
+
+We more readily confess to errors, mistakes and short-comings in our
+conduct than in our thought. And the reason of it is that the
+conscience is humble and even takes a pleasure in being ashamed. But the
+intellect is proud, and if forced to recant is driven to despair. * * *
+
+This also explains how it is that truths which have been recognized are
+at first tacitly admitted, and then gradually spread, so that the very
+thing which was obstinately denied appears at last as something quite
+natural.
+
+Ignorant people raise questions which were answered by the wise
+thousands of years ago.
+
+Our advice is that every man should remain in the path he has struck out
+for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by
+prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion.
+
+Every investigator must, before all things, look upon himself as one who
+is summoned to serve on a jury. He has only to consider how far the
+statement of the case is complete and clearly set forth by the evidence.
+Then he draws his conclusion and gives his vote, whether it be that his
+opinion coincides with that of the foreman or not.
+
+The history of philosophy, of science, of religion, all shows that
+opinions spread in masses, but that that always comes to the front
+which is more easily grasped, that is to say, is most suited and
+agreeable to the human mind in its ordinary condition. Nay, he who has
+practised self-culture in the higher sense may always reckon upon
+meeting an adverse majority.
+
+What is a musical string, and all its mechanical division, in comparison
+with the musician's ear? May we not also say, what are the elementary
+phenomena of nature itself compared with man, who must control and
+modify them all before he can in any way assimilate them to himself?
+
+Everything that we call Invention or Discovery in the higher sense of
+the word is the serious exercise and activity of an original feeling for
+truth, which, after a long course of silent cultivation, suddenly
+flashes out into fruitful knowledge. It is a revelation working from
+within on the outer world, and lets a man feel that he is made in the
+image of God. It is a synthesis of World and Mind, giving the most
+blessed assurance of the eternal harmony of things.
+
+A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is
+comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it. A man does not
+need to have seen or experienced everything himself. But if he is to
+commit himself to another's experiences and his way of putting them, let
+him consider that he has to do with three things--the object in question
+and two subjects.
+
+If we look at the problems raised by Aristotle, we are astonished at his
+gift of observation. What wonderful eyes the Greeks had for many things!
+Only they committed the mistake of being overhasty, of passing
+straightway from the phenomenon to the explanation of it, and thereby
+produced certain theories that are quite inadequate. But this is the
+mistake of all times, and still made in our own day.
+
+Hypotheses are cradle-songs by which the teacher lulls his scholars to
+sleep. The thoughtful and honest observer is always learning more and
+more of his limitations; he sees that the further knowledge spreads,
+the more numerous are the problems that make their appearance.
+
+If many a man did not feel obliged to repeat what is untrue, because he
+has said it once, the world would have been quite different.
+
+There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few
+powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive
+weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the
+least knowing their own mind.
+
+When I observe the luminous progress and expansion of natural science in
+modern times, I seem to myself like a traveler going eastward at dawn,
+and gazing at the growing light with joy, but also with impatience;
+looking forward with longing to the advent of the full and final light,
+but, nevertheless, having to turn away his eyes when the sun appeared,
+unable to bear the splendor he had awaited with so much desire.
+
+We praise the eighteenth century for concerning itself chiefly with
+analysis. The task remaining to the nineteenth is to discover the false
+syntheses which prevail, and to analyze their contents anew.
+
+A school may be regarded as a single individual who talks to himself for
+a hundred years, and takes an extraordinary pleasure in his own being,
+however foolish and silly it may be.
+
+In science it is a service of the highest merit to seek out those
+fragmentary truths attained by the ancients, and to develop them
+further.
+
+Nature fills all space with her limitless productivity. If we observe
+merely our own earth, everything that we call evil and unfortunate is so
+because Nature cannot provide room for everything that comes into
+existence, and still less endow it with permanence.
+
+The finest achievement for a man of thought is to have fathomed what may
+be fathomed, and quietly to revere the unfathomable.
+
+There are two things of which a man cannot be careful enough: of
+obstinacy, if he confines himself to his own line of thought; of
+incompetency, if he goes beyond it.
+
+The century advances; but every individual begins anew.
+
+What friends do with us and for us is a real part of our life; for it
+strengthens and advances our personality. The assault of our enemies is
+not part of our life; it is only part of our experience; we throw it off
+and guard ourselves against it as against frost, storm, rain, hail or
+any other of the external evils which may be expected to happen.
+
+A man cannot live with every one, and therefore he cannot live for every
+one. To see this truth aright is to place a high value upon one's
+friends, and not to hate or persecute one's enemies. Nay, there is
+hardly any greater advantage for a man to gain than to find out, if he
+can, the merits of his opponents: it gives him a decided ascendency over
+them.
+
+Every one knows how to value what he has attained in life; most of all
+the man who thinks and reflects in his old age. He has a comfortable
+feeling that it is something of which no one can rob him.
+
+The best metempsychosis is for us to appear again in others.
+
+It is very seldom that we satisfy ourselves; all the more consoling is
+it to have satisfied others.
+
+We look back upon our life only as on a thing of broken pieces, because
+our misses and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh
+in our imagination what we have done and attained.
+
+Nature! We are surrounded by her and locked in her clasp--powerless to
+leave her, and powerless to come closer to her. Unasked and unwarned she
+takes us up into the whirl of her dance, and hurries on with us till we
+are weary and fall from her arms.
+
+We live in the midst of her and are strangers. She speaks to us
+unceasingly and betrays not her secret.
+
+We are always influencing her and yet can do her no violence.
+
+Individuality seems to be all her aim, and she cares naught for
+individuals. She is always building and always destroying, and her
+work-shop is not to be approached.
+
+Nature lives in her children only, and the mother, where is she? She is
+the sole artist--out of the simplest materials the greatest diversity;
+attaining, with no trace of effort, the finest perfection, the closest
+precision, always softly veiled. Each of her works has an essence of its
+own; every shape that she takes is in idea utterly isolated; and yet all
+forms one.
+
+She plays a drama; whether she sees it herself, we know not; and yet she
+plays it for us who stand but a little way off.
+
+She has thought, and she ponders unceasingly; not as a man, but as
+Nature. The meaning of the whole she keeps to herself, and no one can
+learn it of her.
+
+She rejoices in illusion. If a man destroys this in himself and others,
+she punishes him like the hardest tyrant. If he follows her in
+confidence, she presses him to her heart as if it were her child.
+
+Her children are numberless. To no one of them is she altogether
+niggardly; but she has her favorites, on whom she lavishes much, and for
+whom she makes many a sacrifice. Over the great she has spread the
+shield of her protection.
+
+She spurts forth her creatures out of nothing, and tells them not whence
+they come and whither they go. They have only to go their way; she knows
+the path.
+
+The drama she plays is always new, because she is always bringing new
+spectators. Life is her fairest invention, and Death is her device for
+having life in abundance.
+
+She envelops man in darkness, and urges him constantly to the light. She
+makes him dependent on the earth, heavy and sluggish, and always rouses
+him up afresh.
+
+She creates wants, because she loves movement. How marvelous that she
+gains it all so easily! Every want is a benefit, soon satisfied, soon
+growing again. If she gives more, it is a new source of desire; but the
+balance quickly rights itself.
+
+She lets every child work at her, every fool judge of her, and thousands
+pass her by and see nothing; and she has her joy in them all, and in
+them all finds her account.
+
+Man obeys her laws even in opposing them; he works with her even when he
+wants to work against her.
+
+Speech or language she has none; but she creates tongues and hearts
+through which she feels and speaks.
+
+Her crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts
+gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She
+isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few
+draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.
+
+She is all things. She rewards herself and punishes herself; and in
+herself rejoices and is distressed. She is rough and gentle, loving and
+terrible, powerless and almighty. In her everything is always present.
+Past or Future she knows not. The present is her Eternity. She is kind.
+I praise her with all her works. She is wise and still. No one can force
+her to explain herself, or frighten her into a gift that she does not
+give willingly. She is crafty, but for a good end; and it is best not to
+notice her cunning.
+
+She is whole, and yet never finished. As she works now, so can she work
+forever.
+
+She has placed me in this world; she will also lead me out of it. I
+trust myself to her. She may do with me as she pleases. She will not
+hate her work. I did not speak of her. No! what is true and what is
+false, she has spoken it all. Everything is her fault, everything is her
+merit.
+
+
+
+ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH GOETHE[6]
+
+(Extracts from the Author's Preface.) TRANSLATED BY JOHN OXENFORD
+
+This collection of Conversations with Goethe took its rise chiefly from
+an impulse, natural to my mind, to appropriate to myself by writing any
+part of my experience which strikes me as valuable or remarkable.
+
+Moreover, I felt constantly the need of instruction, not only when I
+first met with that extraordinary man, but also after I had lived with
+him for years; and I loved to seize on the import of his words, and to
+note it down, that I might possess them for the rest of my life.
+
+When I think how rich and full were the communications by which he made
+me so happy for a period of nine years, and now observe how small a part
+I have retained in writing, I seem to myself like a child who,
+endeavoring to catch the refreshing spring shower with open hands, finds
+that the greater part of it runs through his fingers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I think that these conversations not only contain many valuable
+explanations and instructions on science, art, and practical life, but
+that these sketches of Goethe, taken directly from life, will be
+especially serviceable in completing the portrait which each reader may
+have formed of Goethe from his manifold works.
+
+Still, I am far from imagining that the whole internal Goethe is here
+adequately portrayed. We may, with propriety, compare this extraordinary
+mind and man to a many-sided diamond, which in each direction shines
+with a different hue. And as, under different circumstances and with
+different persons, he became another being, so I, too, can only say, in
+a very modest sense, this is _my_ Goethe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE'S STUDY]
+
+My relation to him was peculiar, and of a very intimate kind: it was
+that of the scholar to the master; of the son to the father; of the poor
+in culture to the rich in culture. He drew me into his own circle, and
+let me participate in the mental and bodily enjoyments of a higher state
+of existence. Sometimes I saw him but once a week, when I visited him in
+the evening; sometimes every day, when I had the happiness to dine with
+him either alone or in company. His conversation was as varied as his
+works. He was always the same, and always different. Now he was occupied
+by some great idea, and his words flowed forth rich and inexhaustible;
+they were often like a garden in spring where all is in blossom, and
+where one is so dazzled by the general brilliancy that one does not
+think of gathering a nosegay. At other times, on the contrary, he was
+taciturn and laconic, as if a cloud pressed upon his soul; nay, there
+were days when it seemed as if he were filled with icy coldness, and a
+keen wind was sweeping over plains of frost and snow. When one saw him
+again he was again like a smiling summer's day, when all the warblers of
+the wood joyously greet us from hedges and bushes, when the cuckoo's
+voice resounds through the blue sky, and the brook ripples through
+flowery meadows. Then it was a pleasure to hear him; his presence then
+had a beneficial influence, and the heart expanded at his words.
+
+Winter and summer, age and youth, seemed with him to be engaged in a
+perpetual strife and change; nevertheless, it was admirable in him, when
+from seventy to eighty years old, that youth always recovered the
+ascendancy; those autumnal and wintry days I have indicated were only
+rare exceptions.
+
+His self-control was great--nay, it formed a prominent peculiarity in
+his character. It was akin to that lofty deliberation (_Besonnenheit_)
+through which he always succeeded in mastering his material, and giving
+his single works that artistical finish which we admire in them. Through
+the same quality he was often concise and circumspect, not only in many
+of his writings, but also in his oral expressions. When, however, in
+happy moments, a more powerful demon[7] was active within him, and that
+self-control abandoned him, his discourse rolled forth with youthful
+impetuosity, like a mountain cataract. In such moments he expressed what
+was best and greatest in his abundant nature, and such moments are to be
+understood when his earlier friends say of him, that his spoken words
+were better than those which he wrote and printed. Thus Marmontel said
+of Diderot, that whoever knew him from his writings only knew him but
+half; but that as soon as he became animated in actual conversation he
+was incomparable, and irresistibly carried his hearers along.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1823
+
+_Weimar, June 10.[8]--I arrived here a few days ago, but did not see
+Goethe till today. He received me with great cordiality; and the
+impression he made on me was such, that I consider this day as one of
+the happiest in my life.
+
+Yesterday, when I called to inquire, he fixed today at twelve o'clock as
+the time when he would be glad to see me. I went at the appointed time,
+and found a servant waiting for me, preparing to conduct me to him.
+
+The interior of the house made a very pleasant impression upon me;
+without being showy, everything was extremely simple and noble; even the
+casts from antique statues, placed upon the stairs, indicated Goethe's
+especial partiality for plastic art, and for Grecian antiquity. I saw
+several ladies moving busily about in the lower part of the house, and
+one of Ottilie's beautiful boys, who came familiarly up to me, and
+looked fixedly in my face.
+
+After I had cast a glance around, I ascended the stairs, with the very
+talkative servant, to the first floor.
+
+He opened a room, on the threshold of which the motto _Salve_ was
+stepped over as a good omen of a friendly welcome. He led me through
+this apartment and opened another, somewhat more spacious, where he
+requested me to wait, while he went to announce me to his master. The
+air here was most cool and refreshing; on the floor was spread a carpet;
+the room was furnished with a crimson sofa and chairs, which gave a
+cheerful aspect; on one side stood a piano; and the walls were adorned
+with many pictures and drawings, of various sorts and sizes.
+
+Through an open door opposite, one looked into a farther room, also hung
+with pictures, through which the servant had gone to announce me.
+
+It was not long before Goethe came in, dressed in a blue frock-coat, and
+with shoes. What a sublime form! The impression upon me was surprising.
+But he soon dispelled all uneasiness by the kindest words. We sat down
+on the sofa. I felt in a happy perplexity, through his look and his
+presence, and could say little or nothing.
+
+He began by speaking of my manuscript. "I have just come from _you_,"
+said he; "I have been reading your writing all the morning; it needs no
+recommendation--it recommends itself." He praised the clearness of the
+style, the flow of the thought, and the peculiarity that all rested on a
+solid basis and had been thoroughly considered. "I will soon forward
+it," said he; "today I shall write to Cotta by post, and send him the
+parcel tomorrow." I thanked him with words and looks.
+
+We then talked of my proposed excursion. I told him that my design was
+to go into the Rhineland, where I intended to stay at a suitable place,
+and write something new. First, however, I would go to Jena, and there
+await Herr von Cotta's answer.
+
+Goethe asked whether I had acquaintance in Jena. I replied that I hoped
+to come in contact with Herr von Knebel; on which he promised me a
+letter which would insure me a more favorable reception. "And, indeed,"
+said he, "while you are in Jena, we shall be near neighbors, and can see
+or write to one another as often as we please." We sat a long while
+together, in a tranquil, affectionate mood. I was close to him; I forgot
+to speak for looking at him--I could not look enough. His face is so
+powerful and brown! full of wrinkles, and each wrinkle full of
+expression! And everywhere there is such nobleness and firmness, such
+repose and greatness! He spoke in a slow, composed manner, such as you
+would expect from an aged monarch. You perceive by his air that he
+reposes upon himself, and is elevated far above both praise and blame. I
+was extremely happy near him; I felt becalmed like one who, after many
+toils and tedious expectations, finally sees his dearest wishes
+gratified.
+
+_Thursday, September_ 18.--"The world is so great and rich, and life so
+full of variety, that you can never want occasions for poems. But they
+must all be occasional[9] poems; that is to say, reality must give both
+impulse and material for their production. A particular case becomes
+universal and poetic by the very circumstance that it is treated by a
+poet. All my poems are occasional poems, suggested by real life, and
+having therein a firm foundation. I attach no value to poems snatched
+out of the air.
+
+"Let no one say that reality wants poetical interest; for in this the
+poet proves his vocation, that he has the art to win from a common
+subject an interesting side. Reality must give the motive, the points to
+be expressed, the kernel, as I may say; but to work out of it a
+beautiful, animated whole, belongs to the poet. You know Fürnstein,
+called the Poet of Nature; he has written the prettiest poem possible,
+on the cultivation of hops.
+
+"I have now proposed to him to make songs for the different crafts of
+working-men, particularly a weaver's song, and I am sure he will do it
+well, for he has lived among such people from his youth; he understands
+the subject thoroughly, and is therefore master of his material. That is
+exactly the advantage of small works; you need only choose those
+subjects of which you are master. With a great poem, this cannot be: no
+part can be evaded; all which belongs to the animation of the whole, and
+is interwoven into the plan, must be represented with precision. In
+youth, however, the knowledge of things is only one-sided. A great work
+requires many-sidedness, and on that rock the young author splits."
+
+[Illustration: THE GARDEN AT GOETHE'S CITY HOUSE WEIMAR After a Water
+Color by PETER WOLTZE]
+
+I told Goethe that I had contemplated writing a great poem upon the
+seasons, in which I might interweave the employments and amusements of
+all classes. "Here is the very case in point," replied Goethe; "you may
+succeed in many parts, but fail in others which refer to what you have
+not duly investigated. Perhaps you would do the fisherman well, and the
+huntsman ill; and if you fail anywhere, the whole is a failure, however
+good single parts may be, and you have not produced a perfect work. Give
+separately the single parts to which you are equal, and you make sure of
+something good.
+
+"I especially warn you against great inventions of your own; for then
+you would try to give a view of things, and for that purpose youth is
+seldom ripe. Further, character and views detach themselves as sides
+from the poet's mind, and deprive him of the fulness requisite for
+future productions. And, finally, how much time is lost in invention,
+internal arrangement, and combination, for which nobody thanks us, even
+supposing our work is happily accomplished.
+
+"With a _given_ material, on the other hand, all goes easier and better.
+Facts and characters being provided, the poet has only the task of
+animating the whole. He preserves his own fulness, for he needs to part
+with but little of himself, and there is much less loss of time and
+power, since he has only the trouble of execution. Indeed, I would
+advise the choice of subjects which have been worked before. How many
+Iphigenias have been written! yet they are all different, for each
+writer considers and arranges the subject differently; namely, after his
+own fashion.
+
+"But, for the present, you had better lay aside all great undertakings.
+You have striven long enough; it is time that you should enter into the
+cheerful period of life, and for the attainment of this, the working out
+of small subjects is the best expedient."
+
+_Sunday, October_ 19.--Today, I dined for the first time with Goethe. No
+one was present except Frau von Goethe, Fräulein Ulrica, and little
+Walter, and thus we were all very comfortable. Goethe appeared now
+solely as father of a family, helping to all the dishes, carving the
+roast fowls with great dexterity, and not forgetting between whiles to
+fill the glasses. We had much lively chat about the theatre, young
+English people, and other topics of the day; Fräulein Ulrica was
+especially lively and entertaining. Goethe was generally silent, coming
+out only now and then with some pertinent remark. From time to time he
+glanced at the newspaper, now and then reading us some passages,
+especially about the progress of the Greeks.
+
+They then talked about the necessity of my learning English, and Goethe
+earnestly advised me to do so, particularly on account of Lord Byron;
+saying, that a character of such eminence had never existed before, and
+probably would never come again. They discussed the merits of the
+different teachers here, but found none with a thoroughly good
+pronunciation; on which account they deemed it better to go to some
+young Englishman.
+
+After dinner, Goethe showed me some experiments relating to his theory
+of colors. The subject was, however, new to me; I neither understood
+the phenomena, nor what he said about them. Nevertheless, I hoped that
+the future would afford me leisure and opportunity to initiate myself a
+little into this science.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, November_ 13.--Some days ago, as I was walking one fine
+afternoon towards Erfurt, I was joined by an elderly man, whom I
+supposed, from his appearance, to be an opulent citizen. We had not
+talked together long, before the conversation turned upon Goethe. I
+asked him whether he knew Goethe. "Know him?" said he, with some
+delight; "I was his valet almost twenty years!" He then launched into
+the praises of his former master. I begged to hear something of Goethe's
+youth, and he gladly consented to gratify me.
+
+"When I first lived with him," said he, "he might have been about
+twenty-seven years old; he was thin, nimble, and elegant in his person.
+I could easily have carried him in my arms."
+
+I asked whether Goethe, in that early part of his life here, had not
+been very gay. "Certainly," replied he; "he was always gay with the gay,
+but never when they passed a certain limit; in that case he usually
+became grave. Always working and seeking; his mind always bent on art
+and science; that was generally the way with my master. The duke often
+visited him in the evening, and then they often talked on learned topics
+till late at night, so that I got extremely tired, and wondered when the
+duke would go. Even then he was interested in natural science.
+
+"One time he rang in the middle of the night, and when I entered his
+room I found he had rolled his iron bed to the window, and was lying
+there, looking out upon the heavens. 'Have you seen nothing in the sky?'
+asked he; and when I answered in the negative, he bade me run to the
+guard-house, and ask the man on duty if he had seen nothing. I went
+there; the guard said he had seen nothing, and I returned with this
+answer to my master, who was still in the same position, lying in his
+bed, and gazing upon the sky. 'Listen,' said he to me; 'this is an
+important moment; there is now an earthquake, or one is just going to
+take place;' then he made me sit down on the bed, and showed me by what
+signs he knew this."
+
+I asked the good old man "what sort of weather it was." "It was very
+cloudy," he replied; "no air stirring; very still and sultry."
+
+I asked if he at once believed there was an earthquake on Goethe's word.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I believed it, for things always happened as he said
+they would. Next day he related his observations at court, when a lady
+whispered to her neighbor, 'Only listen, Goethe is dreaming.' But the
+duke, and all the men present, believed Goethe, and the correctness of
+his observations was soon confirmed; for, in a few weeks, the news came
+that a part of Messina, on that night, had been destroyed by an
+earthquake."
+
+_Friday, November_ 14.--Towards evening Goethe sent me an invitation to
+call upon him. Humboldt, he said, was at court, and therefore I should
+be all the more welcome. I found him, as I did some days ago, sitting in
+his armchair; he gave me a friendly shake of the hand, and spoke to me
+with heavenly mildness. The chancellor soon joined us. We sat near
+Goethe, and carried on a light conversation, that he might only have to
+listen. The physician, Counsellor Rehbein, soon came also. To use his
+own expression, he found Goethe's pulse quite lively and easy. At this
+we were highly pleased, and joked with Goethe on the subject. "If I
+could only get rid of the pain in my left side!" he said. Rehbein
+prescribed a plaster there; we talked on the good effect of such a
+remedy, and Goethe consented to it. Rehbein turned the conversation to
+Marienbad, and this appeared to awaken pleasant reminiscences in Goethe.
+Arrangements were made to go there again, it was said that the great
+duke would join the party, and these prospects put Goethe in the most
+cheerful mood. They also talked about Madame Szymanowska, and mentioned
+the time when she was here, and all the men were solicitous for her
+favor.
+
+When Rehbein was gone, the chancellor read the Indian poems, and Goethe,
+in the meanwhile, talked to me about the Marienbad Elegy.
+
+At eight o'clock, the chancellor went, and I was going, too, but Goethe
+bade me stop a little, and I sat down. The conversation turned on the
+stage, and the fact that _Wallenstein_ was to be done tomorrow. This
+gave occasion to talk about Schiller.
+
+"I have," said I, "a peculiar feeling towards Schiller. Some scenes of
+his great dramas I read with genuine love and admiration; but presently
+I meet with something which violates the truth of nature, and I can go
+no further. I feel this even in reading _Wallenstein_. I cannot but
+think that Schiller's turn for philosophy injured his poetry, because
+this led him to consider the idea far higher than all nature; indeed,
+thus to annihilate nature. What he could conceive must happen, whether
+it were in conformity with nature or not."
+
+"It was sad," said Goethe, "to see how so highly gifted a man tormented
+himself with philosophical disquisitions which could in no way profit
+him. Humboldt has shown me letters which Schiller wrote to him in those
+unblest days of speculation. There we see how he plagued himself with
+the design of perfectly separating sentimental from _naive_ poetry. For
+the former he could find no proper soil, and this brought him into
+unspeakable perplexity."
+
+"As if," continued he, smiling, "sentimental poetry could exist at all
+without the _naive_ ground in which, as it were, it has its root."
+
+"It was not Schiller's plan," continued Goethe, "to go to work with a
+certain unconsciousness, and as it were instinctively; he was forced, on
+the contrary, to reflect on all he did. Hence it was that he never could
+leave off talking about his poetical projects, and thus he discussed
+with me all his late pieces, scene after scene.
+
+"On the other hand, it was contrary to my nature to talk over my poetic
+plans with anybody--even with Schiller. I carried everything about with
+me in silence, and usually nothing was known to any one till the whole
+was completed. When I showed Schiller my _Hermann and Dorothea_
+finished, he was astonished, for I had said not a syllable to him of any
+such plan.
+
+"But I am curious to hear what you will say of _Wallenstein_ tomorrow.
+You will see noble forms, and the piece will make an impression on you
+such as you probably do not dream of."
+
+_Saturday, November_ 15.--In the evening I was in the theatre, where I
+for the first time saw _Wallenstein_. Goethe had not said too much; the
+impression was great, and stirred my inmost soul. The actors, who had
+almost all belonged to the time when they were under the personal
+influence of Schiller and Goethe, gave an ensemble of significant
+personages, such as on a mere reading were not presented to my
+imagination with all their individuality. On this account the piece had
+an extraordinary effect upon me, and I could not get it out of my head
+the whole night.
+
+_Sunday, November 16_.--In the evening at Goethe's; he was still sitting
+in his elbow-chair, and seemed rather weak. His first question was about
+_Wallenstein_. I gave him an account of the impression the piece had
+made upon me as represented on the stage, and he heard me with visible
+satisfaction.
+
+M. Soret came in, led in by Frau von Goethe, and remained about an hour.
+He brought from the duke some gold medals, and by showing and talking
+about these seemed to entertain Goethe very pleasantly.
+
+Frau von Goethe and M. Soret went to court, and I was left alone with
+Goethe.
+
+Remembering his promise to show me again his Marienbad Elegy at a
+fitting opportunity, Goethe arose, put a light on the table, and gave
+me the poem. I was delighted to have it once more before me. He quietly
+seated himself again, and left me to an undisturbed perusal of the
+piece.
+
+After I had been reading a while, I turned to say something to him, but
+he seemed to be asleep. I therefore used the favorable moment, and read
+the poem again and again with a rare delight. The most youthful glow of
+love, tempered by the moral elevation of the mind, seemed to me its
+pervading characteristic. Then I thought that the feelings were more
+strongly expressed than we are accustomed to find in Goethe's other
+poems, and imputed this to the influence of Byron--which Goethe did not
+deny.
+
+"You see the product of a highly impassioned mood," said he. "While I
+was in it I would not for the world have been without it, and now I
+would not for any consideration fall into it again.
+
+"I wrote that poem immediately after leaving Marienbad, while the
+feeling of all I had experienced there was fresh. At eight in the
+morning, when we stopped at the first stage, I wrote down the first
+strophe; and thus I went on composing in the carriage, and writing down
+at every stage what I had just composed in my head, so that by the
+evening the whole was on paper. Thence it has a certain directness, and
+is, as I may say, poured out at once, which may be an advantage to it as
+a whole."
+
+"It is," said I, "quite peculiar in its kind, and recalls no other poem
+of yours."
+
+"That," said he, I "may be, because I staked upon the present moment as
+a man stakes a considerable sum upon a card, and sought to enhance its
+value as much as I could without exaggeration."
+
+These words struck me as very important, inasmuch as they threw a light
+on Goethe's method so as to explain that many-sidedness which has
+excited so much admiration.
+
+1824
+
+_Friday, January 2._--Dined at Goethe's, and enjoyed some cheerful
+conversation. Mention was made of a young beauty belonging to the Weimar
+society, when one of the guests remarked that he was on the point of
+falling in love with her, although her understanding could not exactly
+be called brilliant.
+
+"Pshaw," said Goethe, laughing, "as if love had anything to do with the
+understanding. The things that we love in a young lady are something
+very different from the understanding. We love in her beauty,
+youthfulness, playfulness, trustingness, her character, her faults, her
+caprices, and God knows what _'je ne sais quoi'_ besides; but we do not
+_love_ her understanding. We respect her understanding when it is
+brilliant, and by it the worth of a girl can be infinitely enhanced in
+our eyes. Understanding may also serve to fix our affections when we
+already love; but the understanding is not that which is capable of
+firing our hearts, and awakening a passion."
+
+We found much that was true and convincing in Goethe's words, and were
+very willing to consider the subject in that light. After dinner, and
+when the rest of the party had departed, I remained sitting with Goethe,
+and conversed with him on various interesting topics.
+
+We discoursed upon English literature, on the greatness of Shakespeare,
+and on the unfavorable position held by all English dramatic authors who
+had appeared after that poetical giant.
+
+"A dramatic talent of any importance," said Goethe, "could not forbear
+to notice Shakespeare's works, nay, could not forbear to study them.
+Having studied them, he must be aware that Shakespeare has already
+exhausted the whole of human nature in all its tendencies, in all its
+heights and depths, and that, in fact, there remains for him, the
+aftercomer, nothing more to do. And how could one get courage only to
+put pen to paper, if one were conscious in an earnest, appreciating
+spirit, that such unfathomable and unattainable excellences were
+already in existence!
+
+"It fared better with me fifty years ago in my own dear Germany. I could
+soon come to an end with all that then existed; it could not long awe
+me, or occupy my attention. I soon left behind me German literature, and
+the study of it, and turned my thoughts to life and to production. So on
+and on I went in my own natural development, and on and on I fashioned
+the productions of epoch after epoch. And at every step of life and
+development, my standard of excellence was not much higher than what at
+such step I was able to attain. But had I been born an Englishman, and
+had all those numerous masterpieces been brought before me in all their
+power, at my first dawn of youthful consciousness, they would have
+overpowered me, and I should not have known what to do. I could not have
+gone on with such fresh light-heartedness, but should have had to
+bethink myself, and look about for a long time, to find some new
+outlet."
+
+I turned the conversation back to Shakespeare. "When one, to some
+degree, disengages him from English literature," said I, "and considers
+him transformed into a German, one cannot fail to look upon his gigantic
+greatness as a miracle. But if one seeks him in his home, transplants
+oneself to the soil of his country, and to the atmosphere of the century
+in which he lived; further, if one studies his contemporaries, and his
+immediate successors, and inhales the force wafted to us from Ben
+Jonson, Massinger, Marlowe, and Beaumont and Fletcher, Shakespeare
+still, indeed, appears a being of the most exalted magnitude; but still,
+one arrives at the conviction that many of the wonders of his genius
+are, in some measure, accessible, and that much is due to the powerfully
+productive atmosphere of his age and time."
+
+"You are perfectly right," returned Goethe. "It is with Shakespeare as
+with the mountains of Switzerland. Transplant Mont Blanc at once into
+the large plain of Lüneburg Heath, and we should find no words to
+express our wonder at its magnitude. Seek it, however, in its gigantic
+home, go to it over its immense neighbors, the Jungfrau, the
+Finsteraarhorn, the Eiger, the Wetterhorn, St. Gotthard, and Monte Rosa;
+Mont Blanc will, indeed, still remain a giant, but it will no longer
+produce in us such amazement."
+
+"Besides, let him who will not believe," continued Goethe, "that much of
+Shakespeare's greatness appertains to his great vigorous time, only ask
+himself the question, whether a phenomenon so astounding would be
+possible in the present England of 1824, in these evil days of
+criticising and hair-splitting journals?"
+
+"That undisturbed, innocent, somnambulatory production, by which alone
+anything great can thrive, is no longer possible. Our talents at present
+lie before the public. The daily criticisms which appear in fifty
+different places, and the gossip that is caused by them amongst the
+public, prevent the appearance of any sound production. In the present
+day, he who does not keep aloof from all this, and isolate himself by
+main force, is lost. Through the bad, chiefly negative, æsthetical and
+critical tone of the journals, a sort of half culture finds its way into
+the masses; but to productive talent it is a noxious mist, a dropping
+poison, which destroys the tree of creative power, from the ornamental
+green leaves, to the deepest pith and the most hidden fibres.
+
+"And then how tame and weak has life itself become during the last two
+shabby centuries. Where do we now meet an original nature? and where is
+the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
+This, however, affects the poet, who must find all within himself, while
+he is left in the lurch by all without."
+
+The conversation now turned on _Werthe_. "That," said Goethe, "is a
+creation which I, like the pelican, fed with the blood of my own heart.
+It contains so much from the innermost recesses of my breast--so much
+feeling and thought, that it might easily be spread into a novel of ten
+such volumes. Besides, as I have often said, I have only read the book
+once since its appearance, and have taken good care not to read it
+again. It is a mass of congreve-rockets. I am uncomfortable when I look
+at it; and I dread lest I should once more experience the peculiar
+mental state from which it was produced."
+
+I reminded him of his conversation with Napoleon, of which I knew by the
+sketch amongst his unpublished papers, which I had repeatedly urged him
+to give more in detail. "Napoleon," said I, "pointed out to you a
+passage in _Werther_, which, it appeared to him, would not stand a
+strict examination; and this you allowed. I should much like to know
+what passage he meant."
+
+"Guess!" said Goethe, with a mysterious smile.
+
+"Now," said I, "I almost think it is where Charlotte sends the pistols
+to Werther, without saying a word to Albert, and without imparting to
+him her misgivings and apprehensions. You have given yourself great
+trouble to find a motive for this silence, but it does not appear to
+hold good against the urgent necessity where the life of the friend was
+at stake."
+
+"Your remark," returned Goethe, "is really not bad; but I do not think
+it right to reveal whether Napoleon meant this passage or another.
+However, be that as it may, your observation is quite as correct as
+his."
+
+I asked the question, whether the great effect produced by the
+appearance of _Werther_ was really to be attributed to the period. "I
+cannot," said I, "reconcile to myself this view, though it is so
+extensively spread. _Werther_ made an epoch because it appeared--not
+because it appeared at a certain time. There is in every period so much
+unexpressed sorrow--so much secret discontent and disgust for life, and,
+in single individuals, there are so many disagreements with the
+world--so many conflicts between their natures and civil regulations,
+that _Werther_ would make an epoch even if it appeared today for the
+first time."
+
+"You are quite right," said Goethe; "it is on that account that the book
+to this day influences youth of a certain age, as it did formerly. It
+was scarcely necessary for me to deduce my own youthful dejection from
+the general influence of my time, and from the reading of a few English
+authors. Rather was it owing to individual and immediate circumstances
+which touched me to the quick, and gave me a great deal of trouble, and
+indeed brought me into that frame of mind which produced _Werther_. I
+had lived, loved, and suffered much--that was it."
+
+"On considering more closely the much-talked-of _Werther_ period, we
+discover that it does not belong to the course of universal culture, but
+to the career of life in every individual, who, with an innate free
+natural instinct, must accommodate himself to the narrow limits of an
+antiquated world. Obstructed fortune, restrained activity, unfulfilled
+wishes, are not the calamities of any particular time, but those of
+every individual man; and it would be bad, indeed, if every one had not,
+once in his life, known a time when Werther seemed as if it had been
+written for him alone."
+
+_Sunday, January_ 4.--Today, after dinner, Goethe went through a
+portfolio, containing some works of Raphael, with me. He often busies
+himself with Raphael, in order to keep up a constant intercourse with
+that which is best, and to accustom himself to muse upon the thoughts of
+a great man. At the same time, it gives him pleasure to introduce me to
+such things.
+
+We afterwards spoke about the _Divan_[10]--especially about the "book of
+ill-humor," in which much is poured forth that he carried in his heart
+against his enemies.
+
+"If I have, however," continued he, "been very moderate: if I had
+uttered all that vexed me or gave me trouble, the few pages would soon
+have swelled to a volume.
+
+"People were never thoroughly contented with me, but always wished me
+otherwise than it has pleased God to make me. They were also seldom
+contented with my productions. When I had long exerted my whole soul to
+favor the world with a new work, it still desired that I should thank it
+into the bargain for considering the work endurable. If any one praised
+me, I was not allowed, in self-congratulation, to receive it as a
+well-merited tribute; but people expected from me some modest
+expression, humbly setting forth the total unworthiness of my person and
+my work. However, my nature opposed this; and I should have been a
+miserable hypocrite, if I had so tried to lie and dissemble. Since I was
+strong enough to show myself in my whole truth, just as I felt, I was
+deemed proud, and am considered so to the present day.
+
+"In religious, scientific, and political matters, I generally brought
+trouble upon myself, because I was no hypocrite, and had the courage to
+express what I felt.
+
+"I believed in God and in Nature, and in the triumphs of good over evil;
+but this was not enough for pious souls; I was also required to believe
+other points, which were opposed to the feeling of my soul for truth;
+besides, I did not see that these would be of the slightest service to
+me.
+
+"It was also prejudicial to me that I discovered Newton's theory of
+light and color to be an error, and that I had the courage to contradict
+the universal creed. I discovered light in its purity and truth, and I
+considered it my duty to fight for it. The opposite party, however, did
+their utmost to darken the light; for they maintained that _shade is a
+part of light_. It sounds absurd when I express it; but so it is: for
+they said that _colors_, which are shadow and the result of shade, _are
+light itself_, or, which amounts to the same thing, _are the beams of
+light, broken now in one way, now in another_."
+
+Goethe was silent, whilst an ironical smile spread over his expressive
+countenance. He continued--
+
+"And now for political matters. What trouble I have taken, and what I
+have suffered, on that account, I cannot tell you. Do you know my
+'Aufgeregten?'"[11]
+
+"Yesterday, for the first time," returned I, "I read the piece, in
+consequence of the new edition of your works; and I regret from my heart
+that it remains unfinished. But, even as it is, every right-thinking
+person must coincide with your sentiments."
+
+"I wrote it at the time of the French Revolution," continued Goethe,
+"and it may be regarded, in some measure, as my political confession of
+faith at that time. I have taken the countess as a type of the nobility;
+and, with the words which I put into her mouth, I have expressed how the
+nobility really ought to think. The countess has just returned from
+Paris; she has there been an eye-witness of the revolutionary events,
+and has drawn, therefore, for herself, no bad doctrine. She has
+convinced herself that the people may be ruled, but not oppressed, and
+that the revolutionary outbreaks of the lower classes are the
+consequence of the injustice of the higher classes. 'I will for the
+future,' says she, 'strenuously avoid every action that appears to me
+unjust, and will, both in society and at court, loudly express my
+opinion concerning such actions in others. In no case of injustice will
+I be silent, even though I should be cried down as a democrat.'
+
+"I should have thought this sentiment perfectly respectable," continued
+Goethe; "it was mine at that time, and it is so still; but as a reward
+for it, I was endowed with all sorts of titles, which I do not care to
+repeat."
+
+"One need only read _Egmont_," answered I, "to discover what you think.
+I know no German piece in which the freedom of the people is more
+advocated than in this."
+
+"Sometimes," said Goethe, "people do not like to look on me as I am,
+but turn their glances from everything which could show me in my true
+light. Schiller, on the contrary--who, between ourselves, was much more
+of an aristocrat than I am, but who considered what he said more than
+I--had the wonderful fortune to be looked upon as a particular friend of
+the people. I give it up to him with all my heart, and console myself
+with the thought that others before me had fared no better.
+
+"It is true that I could be no friend to the French Revolution; for its
+horrors were too near me, and shocked me daily and hourly, whilst its
+beneficial results were not then to be discovered. Neither could I be
+indifferent to the fact that the Germans were endeavoring, artificially,
+to bring about such scenes here, as were, in France, the consequence of
+a great necessity.
+
+"But I was as little a friend to arbitrary rule. Indeed, I was perfectly
+convinced that a great revolution is never a fault of the people, but of
+the government. Revolutions are utterly impossible as long as
+governments are constantly just and constantly vigilant, so that they
+may anticipate them by improvements at the right time, and not hold out
+until they are forced to yield by the pressure from beneath.
+
+"Because I hated the Revolution, the name of the '_Friend of the powers
+that be_' was bestowed upon me. That is, however, a very ambiguous
+title, which I would beg to decline. If the 'powers that be' were all
+that is excellent, good, and just, I should have no objection to the
+title; but, since with much that is good there is also much that is bad,
+unjust, and imperfect, a friend of the 'powers that be' means often
+little less than the friend of the obsolete and bad.[12]
+
+"But time is constantly progressing, and human affairs wear every fifty
+years a different aspect; so that an arrangement which, in the year
+1800, was perfection, may, perhaps, in the year 1850, be a defect.
+
+"And, furthermore, nothing is good for a nation but that which arises
+from its own core and its own general wants, without apish imitation of
+another; since what to one race of people, of a certain age, is a
+wholesome nutriment, may perhaps prove a poison for another. All
+endeavors to introduce any foreign innovation, the necessity for which
+is not rooted in the core of the nation itself, are therefore foolish;
+and all premeditated revolutions of the kind are I unsuccessful, _for
+they are without God, who keeps aloof from such bungling_. If, however,
+there exists an actual necessity for a great reform amongst a people,
+God is with it, and it prospers. He was visibly with Christ and his
+first adherents; for the appearance of the new doctrine of love was a
+necessity to the people. He was also visibly with Luther; for the
+purification of the doctrine corrupted by the priests was no less a
+necessity. Neither of the great powers whom I have named was, however, a
+friend of the permanent; much more were both of them convinced that the
+old leaven must be got rid of, and that it would be impossible to go on
+and remain in the untrue, unjust, and defective way."
+
+_Tuesday, January 27._--Goethe talked with me about the continuation of
+his memoirs, with which he is now busy. He observed that this later
+period of his life would not be narrated with such minuteness as the
+youthful epoch of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_.[13] "I must," said he, "treat
+this later period more in the fashion of annals: my outward actions must
+appear rather than my inward life. Altogether, the most important part
+of an individual's life is that of development, and mine is concluded in
+the detailed volumes of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_. Afterwards begins the
+conflict with the world, and that is interesting only in its results.
+
+"And then the life of a learned German--what is it? What may have been
+really good in my case cannot be communicated, and what can be
+communicated is not worth the trouble. Besides, where are the hearers
+whom one could entertain with any satisfaction?
+
+"When I look back to the earlier and middle periods of my life, and now
+in my old age think how few are left of those who were young with me, I
+always think of a summer residence at a bathing-place. When you arrive,
+you make acquaintance and friends of those who have already been there
+some time, and who leave in a few weeks. The loss is painful. Then you
+turn to the second generation, with which you live a good while, and
+become most intimate. But this goes also, and leaves us alone with the
+third, which comes just as we are going away, and with which we have,
+properly, nothing to do.
+
+"I have ever been esteemed one of Fortune's chiefest favorites; nor will
+I complain or find fault with the course my life has taken. Yet, truly,
+there has been nothing but toil and care; and I may say that, in all my
+seventy-five years, I have never had a month of genuine comfort. It has
+been the perpetual rolling of a stone, which I have always had to raise
+anew. My annals will render clear what I now say. The claims upon my
+activity, both from within and without, were too numerous.
+
+"My real happiness was my poetic meditation and production. But how was
+this disturbed, limited, and hindered by my external position! Had I
+been able to abstain more from public business, and to live more in
+solitude, I should have been happier, and should have accomplished much
+more as a poet. But, soon after my _Goetz and Werther_, that saying of a
+sage was verified for me--'If you do anything for the sake of the world,
+it will take good care that you shall not do it a second time.'
+
+"A wide-spread celebrity, an elevated position in life, are good
+things. But, for all my rank and celebrity, I am still obliged to be
+silent as to the opinion of others, that I may not give offense. This
+would be but poor sport, if by this means I had not the advantage of
+learning the thoughts of others without their being able to learn mine."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wednesday, February 25.--Today, Goethe showed me two very remarkable
+poems, both highly moral in their tendency, but in their several motives
+so unreservedly natural and true, that they are of the kind which the
+world styles immoral. On this account he keeps them to himself, and does
+not intend to publish them.
+
+"Could intellect and high cultivation," said he, "become the property of
+all, the poet would have fair play; he could be always thoroughly true,
+and would not be compelled to fear uttering his best thoughts. But, as
+it is, he must always keep on a certain level; must remember that his
+works will fall into the hands of a mixed society; and must, therefore,
+take care lest by over-great openness he may give offense to the
+majority of good men. Then Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical
+tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one
+says and does. We cannot, with propriety, say things which were
+permitted to the ancient Greeks; and the Englishmen of 1820 cannot
+endure what suited the vigorous contemporaries of Shakespeare; so that,
+at the present day, it is found necessary to have a Family Shakespeare."
+
+"Then," said I, "there is much in the form also. The one of these two
+poems, which is composed in the style and metre of the ancients, would
+be far less offensive than the other. Isolated parts would displease,
+but the treatment throws so much grandeur and dignity over the whole,
+that we seem to hear a strong ancient, and to be carried back to the age
+of the Greek heroes. But the other, being in the style and metre of
+Messer Ariosto, is far more hazardous. It relates an event of our day,
+in the language of our day, and as it thus comes quite unveiled into
+our presence, the particular features of boldness seem far more
+audacious."
+
+"You are right," said he; "mysterious and great effects are produced by
+different poetical forms. If the import of my Romish elegies were put
+into the measure and style of Byron's _Don Juan_, the whole would be
+found infamous."
+
+The French newspapers were brought. The campaign of the French in Spain
+under the Duke d'Angoulême, which was just ended, had great interest for
+Goethe. "I must praise the Bourbons for this measure," said he; "they
+had not really gained the throne till they had gained the army, and that
+is now accomplished. The soldier returns with loyalty, to his king; for
+he has, from his own victories, and the discomfitures of the many-headed
+Spanish host, learned the difference between obeying one and many. The
+army has sustained its ancient fame, and shown that it is brave in
+itself, and can conquer without Napoleon."
+
+Goethe then turned his thoughts backward into history, and talked much
+of the Prussian army in the Seven Years' War, which, accustomed by
+Frederic the Great to constant victory, grew careless, so that, in after
+days, it lost many battles from over-confidence. All the minutest
+details were present to his mind, and I had reason to admire his
+excellent memory.
+
+"I had the great advantage," said he, "of being born at a time when the
+greatest events which agitated the world occurred, and such have
+continued to occur during my long life; so that I am a living witness of
+the Seven Years' War, of the separation of America from England, of the
+French Revolution, and of the whole Napoleon era, with the downfall of
+that hero, and the events which followed. Thus I have attained results
+and insight impossible to those who are born now and must learn all
+these things from books which they will not understand.
+
+"What the next years will bring I cannot predict; but I fear we shall
+not soon have repose. It is not given to the world to be contented; the
+great are not such that there will be no abuse of power; the masses not
+such that, in hope of gradual improvement, they will be contented with a
+moderate condition. Could we perfect human nature, we might also expect
+a perfect state of things; but, as it is, there will always be a
+wavering hither and thither; one part must suffer while the other is at
+ease, envy and egotism will be always at work like bad demons, and party
+strife will be without end.
+
+"The most reasonable way is for every one to follow his own vocation to
+which he has been born, and which he has learned, and to avoid hindering
+others from following theirs. Let the shoemaker abide by his last, the
+peasant by his plough, and let the king know how to govern; for, this is
+also a business which must be learned, and with which no one should
+meddle who does not understand it."
+
+Returning to the French papers, Goethe said: "The liberals may speak,
+for when they are reasonable we like to hear them; but with the
+royalists, who have the executive power in their hands, talking comes
+amiss--they should act. They may march troops, and behead and hang--that
+is all right; but attacking opinions, and justifying their measures in
+public prints, does not become them. If there were a public of kings,
+they might talk.
+
+"For myself," he continued, "I have always been a royalist. I have let
+others babble, and have done as I saw fit. I understood my course, and
+knew my own object. If I committed a fault as a single individual, I
+could make it good again; but if I committed it jointly with three or
+four others, it would be impossible to make it good, for among many
+there are many opinions."
+
+Goethe was in excellent spirits today. He showed me Frau von Spiegel's
+album, in which he had written some very beautiful verses. A place had
+been left open for him for two years, and he rejoiced at having been
+able to perform at last an old promise. After I had read the "Poem to
+Frau von Spiegel," I turned over the leaves of the book, in which I
+found many distinguished names. On the very next page was a poem by
+Tiedge, written in the very spirit and style of his _Urania_. "In a
+saucy mood," said Goethe, "I was on the point of writing some verses
+beneath those; but I am glad I did not. It would not have been the first
+time that, by rash expressions, I had repelled good people, and spoiled
+the effect of my best works.
+
+"However," continued Goethe, "I have had to endure not a little from
+Tiedge's _Urania_; for, at one time, nothing was sung and nothing was
+declaimed but this same Urania. Wherever you went, you found _Urania_ on
+the table. _Urania_ and immortality were the topics of every
+conversation. I would by no means dispense with the happiness of
+believing in a future existence, and, indeed, would say, with Lorenzo
+de' Medici, that those are dead even for this life who hope for no
+other. But such incomprehensible matters lie too far off to be a theme
+of daily meditation and thought-distracting speculation. Let him who
+believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence, he has no reason
+to give himself airs about it. The occasion of Tiedge's _Urania_ led me
+to observe that piety, like nobility, has its aristocracy. I met stupid
+women, who plumed themselves on believing, with Tiedge, in immortality,
+and I was forced to bear much dark examination on this point. They were
+vexed by my saying I should be well pleased if, after the close of this
+life, we were blessed with another, only I hoped I should hereafter meet
+none of those who had believed in it here. For how should I be
+tormented! The pious would throng around me, and say, 'Were we not
+right? Did we not predict it? Has not it happened just as we said?' And
+so there would be ennui without end, even in the other world.
+
+"This occupation with the ideas of immortality," he continued, "is for
+people of rank, and especially ladies, who have nothing to do. But an
+able man, who has some thing regular to do here, and must toil and
+struggle and produce day by day, leaves the future world to itself, and
+is active and useful in this. Thoughts about immortality are also good
+for those who have not been very successful here; and I would wager
+that, if the good Tiedge had enjoyed a better lot, he would also have
+had better thoughts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Tuesday, November 9_.--I passed this evening with Goethe. We talked of
+Klopstock and Herder; and I liked to listen to him, as he explained to
+me the merits of those men.
+
+"Without those powerful precursors," said Goethe, "our literature could
+not have become what it now is. When they appeared, they were before
+their age, and were obliged, as it were, to drag it after them; but now
+the age has far outrun them, and they who were once so necessary and
+important have now ceased to be _means to an end_. A young man who would
+take Klopstock and Herder for his teachers nowadays would be far
+behindhand."
+
+We talked over Klopstock's _Messiah_ and his Odes, touching on their
+merits and their defects. We agreed that he had no faculty for observing
+and apprehending the visible world, or for drawing characters; and that
+he therefore wanted the qualities most essential to the epic and
+dramatic poet, or, perhaps it might be said, to the poet generally.
+
+"An ode occurs to me," said Goethe, "where he makes the German Muse run
+a race with the British; and, indeed, when one thinks what a picture it
+is, where the two girls run one against the other, throwing about their
+legs and kicking up the dust, one must assume that the good Klopstock
+did not really have before his eyes such pictures as he wrote, else he
+could not possibly have made such mistakes."
+
+I asked how he had felt towards Klopstock in his youth. "I venerated
+him," said Goethe, "with the devotion which was peculiar to me; I looked
+upon him as my uncle. I revered whatever he had done, and never thought
+of reflecting upon it, or finding fault with it. I let his fine
+qualities work upon me; for the rest, I went my own way."
+
+We came back to Herder, and I asked Goethe which of his works he
+thought the best. "_His Idea for the History of Mankind" (Ideen zur
+Geschichte der Menschheit)_, replied Goethe, "are undoubtedly the best.
+In after days, he took the negative side, and was not so agreeable."
+
+"Considering the great weight of Herder," said I, "I cannot understand
+how he had so little judgment on some subjects. For instance, I cannot
+forgive him, especially at that period of German literature, for sending
+back the manuscript of _Goetz von Berlichingen_ without any praise of
+its merits, and with taunting remarks. He must have utterly wanted
+organs to perceive some objects."
+
+"Yes, Herder was unfortunate in this respect," replied Goethe; "nay,"
+added he, with vivacity, "if his spirit were present at this
+conversation, it would not understand us."
+
+"On the other hand," said I, "I must praise Merck, who urged you to
+print _Goetz_."
+
+"He was indeed an odd but important man," said Goethe. "'Print the
+thing,' quoth he, 'it is worth nothing, but print it.' He did not wish
+me to make any alteration in it, and he was right; for it would have
+been different, but not better."
+
+_Wednesday, November 24_.--I went to see Goethe this evening, before
+going to the theatre, and found him very well and cheerful. He inquired
+about the young Englishmen who are here. I told him that I proposed
+reading with Mr. Doolan a German translation of Plutarch. This led the
+conversation to Roman and Grecian history; and Goethe expressed himself
+as follows:
+
+"The Roman history," said he, "is no longer suited to us. We have become
+too humane for the triumphs of Cæsar not to be repugnant to our
+feelings. Neither are we much charmed by the history of Greece. When
+this people turns against a foreign foe, it is, indeed, great and
+glorious; but the division of the states, and their eternal wars with
+one another, where Greek fights against Greek, are insufferable.
+Besides, the history of our own time is thoroughly great and important;
+the battles of Leipsic and Waterloo stand out with such prominence that
+that of Marathon and others like it are gradually eclipsed. Neither are
+our individual heroes inferior to theirs; the French Marshals, Blücher,
+and Wellington, vie with any of the heroes of antiquity."
+
+We then talked of the late French literature, and the daily increasing
+interest in German works manifested by the French.
+
+"The French," said Goethe, "do well to study and translate our writers;
+for, limited as they are both in form and motives, they can only look
+without for means. We Germans may be reproached for a certain
+formlessness; but in matter we are their superiors. The theatrical
+productions of Kotzebue and Iffland are so rich in motives that they may
+pluck them a long time before all is used up. But, especially, our
+philosophical Ideality is welcome to them; for every Ideal is
+serviceable to revolutionary aims.
+
+"The French have understanding and _esprit_, but neither a solid basis
+nor piety. What serves the moment, what helps his party, seems right to
+the Frenchman. Hence they praise us, never from an acknowledgment of our
+merits, but only when they can strengthen their party by our views."
+
+We then talked about our own literature, and of the obstacles in the way
+of some of our latest young poets.
+
+"The majority of our young poets," said Goethe, "have no fault but this,
+that their subjectivity is not important, and that they cannot find
+matter in the objective. At best, they only find a material, which is
+similar to themselves, which corresponds to their own subjectivity; but
+as for taking the material on its own account, when it is repugnant to
+the subjectivity, merely because it is poetical, such a thing is never
+thought of.
+
+"Still, as I have said, if we only had important personages, formed by
+great studies and situations in life, it might still go well with us,
+at least as far as our young lyric poets are concerned."
+
+1825
+
+_Monday, January 10._--Goethe, consistently with his great interest for
+the English, has desired me to introduce to him the young Englishmen who
+are here at present.
+
+After we had waited a few minutes, Goethe came in, and greeted us
+cordially. He said to Mr. H., "I presume I may address you in German, as
+I hear you are already well versed in our language." Mr. H. answered
+with a few polite words, and Goethe requested us to be seated.
+
+Mr. H.'s manners and appearance must have made a good impression on
+Goethe; for his sweetness and mild serenity were manifested towards the
+stranger in their real beauty. "You did well," said he "to come hither
+to learn German; for here you will quickly and easily acquire, not only
+a knowledge of the language, but also of the elements on which it rests,
+our soil, climate, mode of life, manners, social habits, and
+constitution, and carry it away with you to England."
+
+Mr. H. replied, "The interest taken in the German language is now great,
+so that there is now scarcely a young Englishman of good family who does
+not learn German."
+
+"We Germans," said Goethe, good-humoredly, "have, however, been half a
+century before your nation in this respect. For fifty years I have been
+busy with the English language and literature; so that I am well
+acquainted with your writers, your ways of living, and the
+administration of your country. If I went over to England, I should be
+no stranger there.
+
+"But, as I said before, your young men do well to come to us and learn
+our language; for, not only does our literature merit attention on its
+own account, but no one can deny that he who now knows German well can
+dispense with many other languages. Of the French, I do not speak; it is
+the language of conversation, and is indispensable in traveling,
+because everybody understands it, and in all countries we can get on
+with it instead of a good interpreter. But as for Greek, Latin, Italian,
+and Spanish, we can read the best works of those nations in such
+excellent German translations, that, unless we have some particular
+object in view, we need not spend much time upon the toilsome study of
+those languages. It is in the German nature duly to honor, after its
+kind, everything produced by other nations, and to accommodate itself to
+foreign peculiarities. This, with the great flexibility of our language,
+makes German translations thoroughly faithful and complete. And it is
+not to be denied that, in general, you get on very far with a good
+translation. Frederick the Great did not know Latin, but he read Cicero
+in the French translation with as much profit as we who read him in the
+original."
+
+Then, turning the conversation on the theatre, he asked Mr. H. whether
+he went frequently thither. "Every evening," he replied, "and find that
+I thus gain much towards the understanding of the language."
+
+"It is remarkable," said Goethe, "that the ear, and generally the
+understanding, gets the start of speaking; so that a man may very soon
+comprehend all he hears, but by no means express it all."
+
+"I experience daily," said Mr. H., "the truth of that remark. I
+understand very well whatever I hear or read; I even feel when an
+incorrect expression is made use of in German. But when I speak, nothing
+will flow, and I cannot express myself as I wish. In light conversation
+at court, jests with the ladies, a chat at balls, and the like, I
+succeed pretty well. But, if I try to express an opinion on any
+important topic, to say anything peculiar or luminous, I cannot get on."
+
+"Be not discouraged by that," said Goethe, "since it is hard enough to
+express such uncommon matters in one's own mother tongue."
+
+He then asked what Mr. H. read in German literature. "I have read
+_Egmont_," he replied, "and found so much pleasure in the perusal that
+I returned to it three times. _Torquato Tasso_, too, has afforded me
+much enjoyment. Now I am reading _Faust_, but find that it is somewhat
+difficult."
+
+Goethe laughed at these last words. "Really," said he, "I would
+not have advised you to undertake _Faust_. It is mad stuff, and
+goes quite beyond all ordinary feeling. But since you have done it of
+your own accord, without asking my advice, you will see how you will get
+through. Faust is so strange an individual that only few can sympathize
+with his internal condition. Then the character of Mephistopheles is, on
+account of his irony, and also because he is a living result of an
+extensive acquaintance with the world, also very difficult. But you will
+see what lights open upon you. _Tasso_, on the other hand, lies far
+nearer the common feelings of mankind, and the elaboration of its form
+is favorable to an easy comprehension of it."
+
+"Yet," said Mr. H., "_Tasso_ is thought difficult in Germany, and people
+have wondered to hear me say that I was reading it."
+
+"What is chiefly needed for _Tasso_," replied Goethe, "is that one
+should be no longer a child, and should have been in good society. A
+young man of good family, with sufficient mind and delicacy, and also
+with enough outward culture, such as will be produced by intercourse
+with accomplished men of the higher class, will not find' Tasso
+difficult."
+
+The conversation turning upon _Egmont_, he said, "I wrote _Egmont_ in
+1775--fifty years ago. I adhered closely to history, and strove to be as
+accurate as possible. Ten years afterwards, when I was in Rome, I read
+in the newspapers that the revolutionary scenes in the Nether lands
+there described were exactly repeated. I saw from this that the world
+remains ever the same, and that my picture must have some life in it."
+
+Amid this and similar conversation, the hour for the theatre had come.
+We arose, and Goethe dismissed us in a friendly manner.
+
+As we went homeward, I asked Mr. H. how he was pleased with Goethe. "I
+have never," said he, "seen a man who, with all his attractive
+gentleness, had so much native dignity. However he may condescend, he is
+always the great man."
+
+Professor Riemer was announced, Rehbein took leave, and Riemer sat down
+with us. The conversation still turned on the _motives_ of the Servian
+love-poems. Riemer was acquainted with the topic, and made the remark
+that, according to the table of contents given above, not only could
+poems be made, but that the same motives had been already used by the
+Germans, without any knowledge that they had been treated in Servia. He
+mentioned some poems of his own, and I mentioned some poems by Goethe,
+which had occurred to me during the reading.
+
+"The world," said Goethe, "remains always the same; situations are
+repeated; one people lives, loves, and feels like another; why should
+not one poet write like another? The situations of life are alike; why,
+then, should those of poems be unlike?"
+
+"This very similarity in life and sensation," said Riemer, "makes us all
+able to appreciate the poetry of other nations. If this were not the
+case, we should never know what foreign poems were about."
+
+"I am, therefore," said I, "always surprised at the learned, who seem to
+suppose that poetizing proceeds not from life to the poem, but from the
+book to the poem. They are always saying, 'He got this here; he got that
+there.' If, for instance, they find passages in Shakespeare which are
+also to be found in the ancients, they say he must have taken them from
+the ancients. Thus there is a situation in Shakespeare, where, on the
+sight of a beautiful girl, the parents are congratulated who call her
+daughter, and the youth who will lead her home as his bride. And
+because the same thing occurs in Homer, Shakespeare, forsooth, has
+taken it from Homer. How odd! As if one had to go so far for such
+things, and did not have them before one's eyes, feel them and utter
+them every day." "Ah, yes," said Goethe, "it is very ridiculous."
+
+"Lord Byron, too," said I, "is no wiser, when he takes _Faust_ to
+pieces, and thinks you found one thing here, the other there."
+
+"The greater part of those fine things cited by Lord Byron," said
+Goethe, "I have never even read, much less did I think of them, when
+I was writing _Faust_. But Lord Byron is great only as a poet; as
+soon as he reflects, he is a child. He knows not how to help himself
+against the stupid attacks of the same kind made upon him by his own
+countrymen. He ought to have expressed himself more strongly against
+them. 'What is there is mine,' he should have said, 'and whether I got
+it from a book or from life, is of no consequence; the only point is,
+whether I have made a right use of it.' Walter Scott used a scene from
+my _Egmont_, and he had a right to do so; and because he did it
+well, he deserves praise. He has also copied the character of my Mignon
+in one of his romances; but whether with equal judgment, is another
+question. Lord Byron's transformed Devil[14] is a continuation of
+Mephistopheles, and quite right too. If, from the whim of originality,
+he had departed from the model, he would certainly have fared worse.
+Thus, my Mephistopheles sings a song from Shakespeare, and why should
+he not? Why should I give myself the trouble of inventing one of my
+own, when this said just what was wanted. If, too, the prologue to my
+_Faust_ is something like the beginning of Job, that is again
+quite right, and I am rather to be praised than censured."
+
+Goethe was in the best humor. He sent for a bottle of wine, and filled
+for Riemer and me; he himself drank Marienbad water. He seemed to have
+appointed this evening for looking over, with Riemer, the manuscript of
+the continuation of his autobiography, perhaps in order to improve it
+here and there, in point of expression. "Let Eckermann stay and hear it
+too," said Goethe; which words I was very glad to hear, and he then laid
+the manuscript before Riemer, who began to read, commencing with the
+year 1795.
+
+I had already, in the course of the summer, had the pleasure of
+repeatedly reading and reflecting on the still unpublished record of
+those years, down to the latest time. But now to hear them read aloud in
+Goethe's presence, afforded quite a new enjoyment. Riemer paid especial
+attention to the mode of expression; and I had occasion to admire his
+great dexterity, and his affluence of words and phrases. But in Goethe's
+mind the epoch of life described was revived; he revelled in
+recollections, and on the mention of single persons and events, filled
+out the written narrative by the details he orally gave us. That was a
+precious evening! The most distinguished of his contemporaries were
+talked over; but the conversation always came back to Schiller, who was
+so interwoven with this period, from 1795 to 1800. The theatre had been
+the object of their united efforts, and Goethe's best works belong to
+this time. _Wilhelm Meister_ was completed; _Hermann and Dorothea_
+planned and written; _Cellini_ translated for the "Horen;" the "Xenien"
+written by both for Schiller's _Musenalmanach_; every day brought with
+it points of contact. Of all this we talked this evening, and Goethe had
+full opportunity for the most interesting communications.
+
+"_Hermann and Dorothea_," said he, "is almost the only one of my larger
+poems which still satisfies me; I can never read it without strong
+interest. I love it best in the Latin translation; there it seems to me
+nobler, and as if it had returned to its original form."
+
+_Wilhelm Meister_ was often a subject of discourse. "Schiller blamed me
+for interweaving tragic elements which do not belong to the novel. Yet
+he was wrong, as we all know. In his letters to me, there are most
+important views and opinions with respect to _Wilhelm Meister_. But this
+work is one of the most incalculable productions; I myself can scarcely
+be said to have the key to it. People seek a central point, and that is
+hard, and not even right. I should think a rich, manifold life, brought
+close to our eyes, would be enough in itself, without any express
+tendency, which, after all, is only for the intellect. But if anything
+of the sort is insisted upon, it will perhaps be found in the words
+which Frederic, at the end, addresses to the hero, when he says--'Thou
+seem'st to me like Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his
+father's asses, and found a kingdom.' Keep only to this; for, in fact,
+the whole work seems to say nothing more than that man, despite all his
+follies and errors, being led by a higher hand, reaches some happy goal
+at last."
+
+We then talked of the high degree of culture which, during the last
+fifty years, had become general among the middle classes of Germany, and
+Goethe ascribed the merit of this not so much to Lessing as to Herder
+and Wieland. "Lessing," said he, "was of the very highest understanding,
+and only one equally great could truly learn of him. To a half faculty
+he was dangerous." He mentioned a journalist who had formed himself on
+Lessing, and at the end of the last century had played a part indeed,
+but far from a noble one, because he was so inferior to his great
+predecessor.
+
+"All Upper Germany," said he, "is indebted to Wieland for its style. It
+has learned much from him; and the capability of expressing itself
+correctly is not the least."
+
+On mentioning the _Xenien_,[15] he especially praised those of
+Schiller, which he called sharp and biting, while he called his own
+innocent and trivial.
+
+"The _Thierkreis_ (Zodiac), which is by Schiller," said he, "I always
+read with admiration. The good effects which the _Xenien_ had upon the
+German literature of their time are beyond calculation." Many persons
+against whom the _Xenien_ were directed, were mentioned on this
+occasion, but their names have escaped my memory.
+
+After we had read and talked over the manuscript to the end of the year
+1800, interrupted by these and innumerable other observations from
+Goethe, he put aside the papers, and had a little supper placed at one
+end of the table at which we were sitting. We partook of it, but Goethe
+did not touch a morsel; indeed, I have never seen him eat in the
+evening. He sat down with us, filled our glasses, snuffed the candles,
+and intellectually regaled us with the most agreeable conversation. His
+remembrance of Schiller was so lively, that the conversation during the
+latter part of the evening was devoted to him alone.
+
+Riemer spoke of Schiller's personal appearance. "The build of his limbs,
+his gait in the street, all his motions," said he, "were proud; his eyes
+only were soft."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "everything else about him was proud and majestic,
+only the eyes were soft. And his talent was like his outward form. He
+seized boldly on a great subject, and turned it this way and that, and
+handled it this way and that. But he saw his object, as it were, only in
+the outside; a quiet development from its interior was not within his
+province. His talent was desultory. Thus he was never decided--could
+never have done. He often changed a part just before a rehearsal.
+
+"And, as he went so boldly to work, he did not take sufficient pains
+about _motives_. I recollect what trouble I had with him, when he wanted
+to make Gessler, in Tell, abruptly break an apple from the tree, and
+have it shot from the boy's head. This was quite against my nature, and
+I urged him to give at least some motive to this barbarity, by making
+the boy boast to Gessler of his father's dexterity, and say that he
+could shoot an apple from a tree at a hundred paces. Schiller, at first,
+would have nothing of the sort: but at last he yielded to my arguments
+and intentions, and did as I advised him. I, on the other hand, by too
+great attention to _motives_, kept my pieces from the theatre. My
+_Eugenie_[16] is nothing but a chain of _motives_, and this cannot
+succeed on the stage.
+
+"Schiller's genius was really made for the theatre. With every piece he
+progressed, and became more finished; but, strange to say, a certain
+love for the horrible adhered to him from the time of _The Robbers_,
+which never quite left him even in his prime. I still recollect
+perfectly well, that in the prison scene in my 'Egmont,' where the
+sentence is read to him, Schiller would have made Alva appear in the
+background, masked and muffled in a cloak, enjoying the effect which the
+sentence would produce on Egmont. Thus Alva was to show himself
+insatiable in revenge and malice. I, however, protested, and prevented
+the apparition. He was a great, odd man.
+
+"Every week he became different and more finished; each time that I saw
+him, he seemed to me to have advanced in learning and judgment. His
+letters are the fairest memorials of him which I possess, and they are
+also among the most excellent of his writings. His last letter I
+preserve as a sacred relic, among my treasures." He rose and fetched it.
+"See and read it," said he; giving it to me.
+
+It was a very fine letter, written in a bold hand. It contained an
+opinion of Goethe's notes to "Rameau's Nephew," which exhibit French
+literature at that time, and which he had given Schiller to look over. I
+read the letter aloud to Riemer.
+
+"You see," said Goethe, "how apt and consistent is his judgment, and
+that the handwriting nowhere betrays any trace of weakness. He was a
+splendid man, and went from us in all the fulness of his strength. This
+letter is dated the 24th of April, 1805. Schiller died on the 9th of
+May."
+
+We looked at the letter by turns, and were pleased both with the clear
+style and the fine handwriting. Goethe bestowed several other words of
+affectionate reminiscence upon his friend, until it was nearly eleven
+o'clock, and we departed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, October_ 15.--I found Goethe in a very elevated mood this
+evening, and had the pleasure of hearing from him many significant
+remarks. We talked about the state of the newest literature, when Goethe
+expressed himself as follows:
+
+"Deficiency of character in individual investigators and writers is," he
+said, "the source of all the evils of our newest literature.
+
+"In criticism, especially, this defect produces mischief to the world,
+for it either diffuses the false instead of the true, or by a pitiful
+truth deprives us of something great, that would be better.
+
+"Till lately, the world believed in the heroism of a Lucretia--of a
+Mucius Scævola--and suffered itself, by this belief, to be warmed and
+inspired. But now comes your historical criticism, and says that those
+persons never lived, but are to be regarded as fables and fictions,
+divined by the great mind of the Romans. What are we to do with so
+pitiful a truth? If the Romans were great enough to invent such stories,
+we should at least be great enough to believe them.
+
+"Till lately, I was always pleased with a great fact in the thirteenth
+century, when the Emperor Frederic the Second was at variance with the
+Pope, and the north of Germany was open to all sorts of hostile attacks.
+Asiatic hordes had actually penetrated as far as Silesia, when the Duke
+of Liegnitz terrified them by one great defeat. They then turned to
+Moravia, but were here defeated by Count Sternberg. These valiant men
+had on this account been living in my heart as the great saviors of the
+German nation. But now comes historical criticism, and says that these
+heroes sacrificed themselves quite uselessly, as the Asiatic army was
+already recalled, and would have returned of its own accord. Thus is a
+great national fact crippled and destroyed, which seems to me most
+abominable."
+
+After these remarks on historical critics, Goethe spoke of another class
+of seekers and literary men.
+
+"I could never," said he, "have known so well how paltry men are, and
+how little they care for really high aims, if I had not tested them by
+my scientific researches. Thus I saw that most men care for science only
+so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when
+it affords them a subsistence.
+
+"In _belles lettres_ it is no better. There, too, high aims and genuine
+love for the true and sound, and for their diffusion, are very rare
+phenomena. One man cherishes and tolerates another, because he is by him
+cherished and tolerated in return. True greatness is hateful to them;
+they would fain drive it from the world, so that only such as they might
+be of importance in it. Such are the masses; and the prominent
+individuals are not better.
+
+"---- 's great talents and world-embracing learning might have done much
+for his country. But his want of character has deprived the world of
+such great results, and himself of the esteem of the country.
+
+"We want a man like Lessing. For how was he great, except in
+character--in firmness? There are many men as clever and as cultivated,
+but where is such character?
+
+"Many are full of _esprit_ and knowledge, but they are also full of
+vanity; and that they may shine as wits before the short-sighted
+multitude, they have no shame or delicacy--nothing is sacred to them.
+
+"Madame de Genlis was therefore perfectly right when she declaimed
+against the freedoms and profanities of Voltaire. Clever as they all may
+be, the world has derived no profit from them; they afford a foundation
+for nothing. Nay, they have been of the greatest injury, since they have
+confused men and robbed them of their needful support.
+
+"After all, what do we know, and how far can we go with all our wit?
+
+"Man is born not to solve the problems of the universe, but to find out
+where the problem begins, and then to restrain himself within the limits
+of the comprehensible.
+
+"His faculties are not sufficient to measure the actions of the
+universe; and an attempt to explain the outer world by reason is, with
+his narrow point of view, but a vain endeavor. The reason of man and the
+reason of the Deity are two very different things.
+
+"If we grant freedom to man, there is an end to the omniscience of God;
+for if the Divinity knows how I shall act, I must act so perforce. I
+give this merely as a sign how little we know, and to show that it is
+not good to meddle with divine mysteries.
+
+"Moreover, we should only utter higher maxims so far as they can benefit
+the world. The rest we should keep within ourselves, and they will
+diffuse over our actions a lustre like the mild radiance of a hidden
+sun."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 25.--"I have of late made an observation, which I
+will impart to you.
+
+"Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does
+not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad; frequently the
+reverse takes place. Some time since, I made a mistake in one of these
+transactions with booksellers, and was sorry that I had done so. But now
+circumstances have so altered, that, if I had not made that very
+mistake, I should have made a greater one. Such instances occur
+frequently in life, and hence we see men of the world, who know this,
+going to work with great freedom and boldness."
+
+I was struck by this remark, which was new to me.
+
+I then turned the conversation to some of his works, and we came to the
+elegy _Alexis and Dora_.
+
+"In this poem," said Goethe, "people have blamed the strong, passionate
+conclusion, and would have liked the elegy to end gently and peacefully,
+without that outbreak of jealousy; but I could not see that they were
+right. Jealousy is so manifestly an ingredient of the affair, that the
+poem would be incomplete if it were not introduced at all. I myself knew
+a young man who, in the midst of his impassioned love for an easily-won
+maiden, cried out, 'But would she not act to another as she has acted to
+me?'"
+
+I agreed entirely with Goethe, and then mentioned the peculiar
+situations in this elegy, where, with so few strokes and in so narrow a
+space, all is so well delineated that we think we see the whole life and
+domestic environment of the persons engaged in the action. "What you
+have described," said I, "appears as true as if you had worked from
+actual experience."
+
+"I am glad it seems so to you," said Goethe. "There are, however, few
+men who have imagination for the truth of reality; most prefer strange
+countries and circumstances, of which they know nothing, and by which
+their imagination may be cultivated, oddly enough.
+
+"Then there are others who cling altogether to reality, and, as they
+wholly want the poetic spirit, are too severe in their requisitions. For
+instance, in this elegy, some would have had me give Alexis a servant to
+carry his bundle, never thinking that all that was poetic and idyllic in
+the situation would thus have been destroyed."
+
+From _Alexis and Dora_, the conversation then turned to _Wilhelm
+Meister_. "There are odd critics in this world," said Goethe; "they
+blamed me for letting the hero of this novel live so much in bad
+company; but by this very circumstance that I considered this so-called
+bad company as a vase into which I could put everything I had to say
+about good society, I gained a poetical body, and a varied one into the
+bargain. Had I, on the contrary, delineated good society by the
+so-called good society, nobody would have read the book.
+
+"In the seeming trivialities of _Wilhelm Meister_, there is always
+something higher at bottom, and nothing is required but eyes, knowledge
+of the world, and power of comprehension to perceive the great in the
+small. For those who are without such qualities, let it suffice to
+receive the picture of life as real life."
+
+Goethe then showed me a very interesting English work, which illustrated
+all Shakespeare in copper plates. Each page embraced, in six small
+designs, one piece with some verses written beneath, so that the leading
+idea and the most important situations of each work were brought before
+the eyes. All these immortal tragedies and comedies thus passed before
+the mind like processions of masks.
+
+"It is even terrifying," said Goethe, "to look through these little
+pictures. Thus are we first made to feel the infinite wealth and
+grandeur of Shakespeare. There is no motive in human life which he has
+not exhibited and expressed! And all with what ease and freedom!
+
+"But we cannot talk about Shakespeare; everything is inadequate. I have
+touched upon the subject in my _Wilhelm Meister_ but that is not saying
+much. He is not a theatrical poet; he never thought of the stage; it was
+far too narrow for his great mind: nay, the whole visible world was too
+narrow.
+
+"He is even too rich and too powerful. A productive _nature_[17] ought
+not to read more than one of his dramas in a year if it would not be
+wrecked entirely. I did well to get rid of him by writing _Goetz_, and
+_Egmont_,[18] and Byron did well by not having too much respect and
+admiration for him, but going his own way. How many excellent Germans
+have been ruined by him and Calderon!
+
+"Shakespeare gives us golden apples in silver dishes. We get, indeed,
+the silver dishes by studying his works; but, unfortunately, we have
+only potatoes to put into them."
+
+I laughed, and was delighted with this admirable simile.
+
+Goethe then read me a letter from Zelter, describing a representation of
+Macbeth at Berlin, where the music could not keep pace with the grand
+spirit and character of the piece, as Zelter set forth by various
+intimations. By Goethe's reading, the letter gained its full effect, and
+he often paused to admire with me the point of some single passage.
+
+"_Macbeth_," said Goethe, "is Shakespeare's best acting play, the one in
+which he shows most understanding with respect to the stage. But would
+you see his mind unfettered, read _Troilus and Cressida_, where he
+treats the materials of the _Iliad_ in his own fashion."
+
+The conversation turned upon Byron--the disadvantage in which he appears
+when placed beside the innocent cheerfulness of Shakespeare, and the
+frequent and generally not unjust blame which he drew upon himself by
+his manifold works of negation.
+
+"If Lord Byron," said Goethe, "had had an opportunity of working off all
+the opposition in his character, by a number of strong parliamentary
+speeches, he would have been much more pure as a poet. But, as he
+scarcely ever spoke in parliament, he kept within himself all his
+feelings against his nation, and to free himself from them, he had no
+other means than to express them in poetical form. I could, therefore,
+call a great part of Byron's works of negation 'suppressed parliamentary
+speeches,' and think this would be no bad name for them."
+
+We then mentioned one of our most modern German poets, Platen, who had
+lately gained a great name, and whose negative tendency was likewise
+disapproved. "We cannot deny," said Goethe, "that he has many brilliant
+qualities, but he is wanting in--love. He loves his readers and his
+fellow-poets as little as he loves himself, and thus we may apply to him
+the maxim of the apostle--'Though I speak with the tongues of men and
+angels, and have not love (charity), I am become as sounding brass and a
+tinkling cymbal.' I have lately read the poems of Platen, and cannot
+deny his great talent. But, as I said, he is deficient in _love_, and
+thus he will never produce the effect which he ought. He will be feared,
+and will be the idol of those who would like to be as negative as
+himself, but have not his talent."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1827
+
+_Thursday evening, January_ 18.--The conversation now turned wholly on
+Schiller, and Goethe proceeded thus: "Schiller's proper productive
+talent lay in the ideal; and it may be said he has not his equal in
+German or any other literature. He has almost everything that Lord Byron
+has; but Lord Byron is his superior in knowledge of the world. I wish
+Schiller had lived to know Lord Byron's works, and wonder what he would
+have said to so congenial a mind. Did Byron publish anything during
+Schiller's life?"
+
+I could not say with certainty. Goethe took down the Conversations
+Lexicon, and read the article on Byron, making many hasty remarks as he
+proceeded. It appeared that Byron had published nothing before 1807, and
+that therefore Schiller could have seen nothing of his.
+
+"Through all Schiller's works," continued Goethe, "goes the idea of
+freedom; though this idea assumed a new shape as Schiller advanced in
+his culture and became another man. In his youth it was physical freedom
+which occupied him, and influenced his poems; in his later life it was
+ideal freedom.
+
+"Freedom is an odd thing, and every man has enough of it, if he can
+only satisfy himself. What avails a superfluity of freedom which we
+cannot use? Look at this chamber and the next, in which, through the
+open door, you see my bed. Neither of them is large; and they are
+rendered still narrower by necessary furniture, books, manuscripts, and
+works of art; but they are enough for me. I have lived in them all the
+winter, scarcely entering my front rooms. What have I done with my
+spacious house, and the liberty of going from one room to another, when
+I have not found it requisite to make use of them?
+
+"If a man has freedom enough to live healthy, and work at his craft, he
+has enough; and so much all can easily obtain. Then all of us are only
+free under certain conditions, which we must fulfil. The citizen is as
+free as the nobleman, when he restrains himself within the limits which
+God appointed by placing him in that rank. The nobleman is as free as
+the prince; for, if he will but observe a few ceremonies at court, he
+may feel himself his equal. Freedom consists not in refusing to
+recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above
+us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and by our very
+acknowledgment make manifest that we bear within ourselves what is
+higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.
+
+"I have, on my journeys, often met merchants from the north of Germany,
+who fancied they were my equals, if they rudely seated themselves next
+me at table. They were, by this method, nothing of the kind; but they
+would have been so if they had known how to value and treat me.
+
+"That this physical freedom gave Schiller so much trouble in his
+youthful years, was caused partly by the nature of his mind, but still
+more by the restraint which he endured at the military school. In later
+days, when he had enough physical freedom, he passed over to the ideal;
+and I would almost say that this idea killed him, since it led him to
+make demands on his physical nature which were too much for his
+strength.
+
+"The Grand Duke fixed on Schiller, when he was established here, an
+income of one thousand dollars yearly, and offered to give him twice as
+much in case he should be hindered by sickness from working. Schiller
+declined this last offer, and never availed himself of it. 'I have
+talent,' said he, 'and must help myself.' But as his family enlarged of
+late years, he was obliged, for a livelihood, to write two dramas
+annually; and to accomplish this, he forced himself to write days and
+weeks when he was not well. He would have his talent obey him at any
+hour. He never drank much; he was very temperate; but, in such hours of
+bodily weakness, he was obliged to stimulate his powers by the use of
+spirituous liquors. This habit impaired his health, and was likewise
+injurious to his productions. The faults which some wiseacres find in
+his works I deduce from this source. All the passages which they say are
+not what they ought to be, I would call pathological passages; for he
+wrote them on those days when he had not strength to find the right and
+true motives. I have every respect for the categorical imperative. I
+know how much good may proceed from it; but one must not carry it too
+far, for then this idea of ideal freedom certainly leads to no good."
+
+Amid these interesting remarks, and similar discourse on Lord Byron and
+the celebrated German authors, of whom Schiller had said that he liked
+Kotzebue best, for he, at any rate, produced something, the hours of
+evening passed swiftly along, and Goethe gave me the novel, that I might
+study it quietly at home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, February 21_.--Dined with Goethe. He spoke much, and with
+admiration, of Alexander von Humboldt, whose work on Cuba and Colombia
+he had begun to read and whose views as to the project for making a
+passage through the Isthmus of Panama appeared to have a particular
+interest for him. "Humboldt," said Goethe, "has, with a great knowledge
+of his subject, given other points where, by making use of some streams
+which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, the end may be perhaps better
+attained than at Panama. All this is reserved for the future, and for an
+enterprising spirit. So much, however, is certain, that, if they succeed
+in cutting such a canal that ships of any burden and size can be
+navigated through it from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean,
+innumerable benefits would result to the whole human race, civilized and
+uncivilized. But I should wonder if the United States were to let an
+opportunity escape of getting such work into their own hands. It may be
+foreseen that this young state, with its decided predilection to the
+West, will, in thirty or forty years, have occupied and peopled the
+large tract of land beyond the Rocky Mountains. It may, furthermore, be
+foreseen that along the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean, where nature
+has already formed the most capacious and secure harbors, important
+commercial towns will gradually arise, for the furtherance of a great
+intercourse between China and the East Indies and the United States. In
+such a case, it would not only be desirable, but almost necessary, that
+a more rapid communication should be maintained between the eastern and
+western shores of North America, both by merchant-ships and men-of-war,
+than has hitherto been possible with the tedious, disagreeable, and
+expensive voyage round Cape Horn. I therefore repeat, that it is
+absolutely indispensable for the United States to effect a passage from
+the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean; and I am certain that they will
+do it.
+
+"Would that I might live to see it!--but I shall not. I should like to
+see another thing--a junction of the Danube and the Rhine. But this
+undertaking is so gigantic that I have doubts of its completion,
+particularly when I consider our German resources. And thirdly, and
+lastly, I should wish to see England in possession of a canal through
+the Isthmus of Suez. Would I could live to see these three great works!
+it would be well worth the trouble to last some fifty years more for the
+very purpose."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, May 3_.--The highly successful translation of Goethe's
+dramatic works, by Stapfer, was noticed by Monsieur J. J. Ampere in the
+_Parisian Globe_ of last year, in a manner no less excellent, and this
+affected Goethe so agreeably that he very often recurred to it, and
+expressed his great obligations to it.
+
+"Ampere's point of view is a very high one," said he.
+
+"When German critics on similar occasions start from philosophy, and in
+the consideration and discussion of a poetical production proceed in a
+manner that what they intend as an elucidation is only intelligible to
+philosophers of their own school, while for other people it is far more
+obscure than the work upon which they intended to throw a light, M.
+Ampere, on the contrary, shows himself quite practical and popular. Like
+one who knows his profession thoroughly, he shows the relation between
+the production and the producer, and judges the different poetical
+productions as different fruits of different epochs of the poet's life.
+
+"He has studied most profoundly the changing course of my earthly
+career, and of the condition of my mind, and has had the faculty of
+seeing what I have not expressed, and what, so to speak, could only be
+read between the lines. How truly has he remarked that, during the first
+ten years of my official and court life at Weimar, I scarcely did
+anything; that despair drove me to Italy; and that I there, with new
+delight in producing, seized upon the history of Tasso, in order to free
+myself, by the treatment of this agreeable subject, from the painful and
+troublesome impressions and recollections of my life at Weimar. He
+therefore very happily calls Tasso an elevated Werther.
+
+"Then, concerning Faust, his remarks are no less clever, since he not
+only notes, as part of myself, the gloomy, discontented striving of the
+principal character, but also the scorn and the bitter irony of
+Mephistopheles."
+
+In this, and a similar spirit of acknowledgment, Goethe often spoke of
+M. Ampere. We took a decided interest in him; we endeavored to picture
+to ourselves his personal appearance, and, if we could not succeed in
+this, we at least agreed that he must be a man of middle age to
+understand the reciprocal action of life and poetry on each other. We
+were, therefore, extremely surprised when M. Ampere arrived in Weimar a
+few days ago, and proved to be a lively youth, some twenty years old;
+and we were no less surprised when, in the course of further
+intercourse, he told us that the whole of the contributors of the.
+_Globe_, whose wisdom, moderation, and high degree of cultivation we had
+often admired, were only young people like himself.
+
+"I can well comprehend," said I, "that a person may be young and may
+still produce something of importance--like Mérimée, for instance, who
+wrote excellent pieces in his twentieth year; but that any one at so
+early an age should have at his command such a comprehensive view, and
+such deep insight, as to attain such mature judgment as the gentlemen of
+the _Globe_, is to me something entirely new."
+
+"To you, in your Heath,"[19] returned Goethe, "it has not been so easy;
+and we others also, in Central Germany, have been forced to buy our
+little wisdom dearly enough. Then we all lead a very isolated miserable
+sort of life! From the people, properly so called, we derive very little
+culture. Our talents and men of brains are scattered over the whole of
+Germany. One is in Vienna, another in Berlin, another in Königsberg,
+another in Bonn or Düseldorf--all about a hundred miles apart from one
+another, so that personal contact and personal exchange of thought may
+be considered as rarities. I feel what this must be, when such men as
+Alexander von Humboldt come here, and in one single day lead me nearer
+to what I am seeking and what I require to know than I should have done
+for years in my own solitary way."
+
+"But now conceive a city like Paris, where the highest talents of a
+great kingdom are all assembled in a single spot, and by daily
+intercourse, strife, and emulation, mutually instruct and advance each
+other; where the best works, both of nature and art, from all the
+kingdoms of the earth, are open to daily inspection; conceive this
+metropolis of the world, I say, where every walk over a bridge or
+across a square recalls some mighty past, and where some historical
+event is connected with every corner of a street. In addition to all
+this, conceive not the Paris of a dull, spiritless time, but the
+Paris of the nineteenth century, in which, during three generations,
+such men as Molière, Voltaire, Diderot, and the like, have kept up
+such a current of intellect as cannot be found twice in a single spot
+in the whole world, and you will comprehend that a man of talent like
+Ampere, who has grown up amid such abundance, can easily be something
+in his four-and-twentieth year.
+
+"You said just now," said Goethe, "that you could well understand how
+any one in his twentieth year could write pieces as good as those of
+Mérimée. I have nothing to oppose to this; and I am, on the whole, quite
+of your opinion that good productiveness is easier than good judgment in
+a youthful man. But, in Germany, one had better not, when so young as
+Mérimée, attempt to produce anything so mature as he has done in his
+pieces of _Clara Gazul_. It is true, Schiller was very young when he
+wrote his _Robbers_, his _Love and Intrigue_, his _Fiesco_; but, to
+speak the truth, all three pieces are rather the utterances of an
+extraordinary talent than signs of mature cultivation in the author.
+This, however, is not Schiller's fault, but rather the result of the
+state of culture of his nation, and the great difficulty which we all
+experience in assisting ourselves on our solitary way.
+
+"On the other hand, take up Béranger. He is the son of poor parents, the
+descendant of a poor tailor; at one time a poor printer's apprentice,
+then placed in some office with a small salary; he has never been to a
+classical school or university; and yet his songs are so full of mature
+cultivation, so full of wit and the most refined irony, and there is
+such artistic perfection and masterly handling of the language that he
+is the admiration, not only of France, but of all civilized Europe.
+
+"But imagine this same Béranger--instead of being born in Paris, and
+brought up in this metropolis of the world--the son of a poor tailor in
+Jena or Weimar, and let him commence his career, in an equally miserable
+manner, in such small places--then ask yourself what fruit would have
+been produced by this same tree grown in such a soil and in such an
+atmosphere.
+
+"Therefore, my good friend, I repeat that, if a talent is to be speedily
+and happily developed, the great point is that a great deal of intellect
+and sound culture should be current in a nation.
+
+"We admire the tragedies of the ancient Greeks; but, to take a correct
+view of the case, we ought rather to admire the period and the nation in
+which their production was possible than the individual authors; for
+though each of these pieces differs a little from every other, and
+though one of these poets appears somewhat greater and more finished
+than the other, still, taking all things together, only one decided
+character runs through the whole.
+
+"This is the character of grandeur, fitness, soundness, human
+perfection, elevated wisdom, sublime thought, pure, strong intuition,
+and whatever other qualities one might enumerate. But when we find all
+these qualities, not only in the dramatic works that have come down to
+us but also in lyrical and epic works, in the philosophers, the orators,
+and the historians, and in an equally high degree in the works of
+plastic art that have come down to us, we must feel convinced that such
+qualities did not merely belong to individuals, but were the current
+property of the nation and the whole period.
+
+"Now, take up Burns. How is he great, except through the circumstance
+that the whole songs of his predecessors lived in the mouth of the
+people--that they were, so to speak, sung at his cradle; that, as a boy,
+he grew up amongst them, and the high excellence of these models so
+pervaded him that he had therein a living basis on which he could
+proceed further? Again, why is he great, but from this, that his own
+songs at once found susceptible ears amongst his compatriots; that, sung
+by reapers and sheaf-binders, they at once greeted him in the field; and
+that his boon-companions sang them to welcome him at the ale-house?
+Something was certainly to be done in this way.
+
+"On the other hand, what a pitiful figure is made by us Germans! Of our
+old songs--no less important than those of Scotland--how many lived
+among the people in the days of my youth? Herder and his successors
+first began to collect them and rescue them from oblivion; then they
+were at least printed in the libraries. Then, more lately, what songs
+have not Bürger and Voss composed! Who can say that they are more
+insignificant or less popular than those of the excellent Burns? but
+which of them so lives among us that it greets us from the mouth of the
+people? They are written and printed, and they remain in the libraries,
+quite in accordance with the general fate of German poets. Of my own
+songs, how many live? Perhaps one or another of them may be sung by a
+pretty girl to the piano; but among the people, properly so called, they
+have no sound. With what sensations must I remember the time when
+passages from Tasso were sung to me by Italian fishermen!
+
+"We Germans are of yesterday. We have indeed been properly cultivated
+for a century; but a few centuries more must still elapse before so much
+mind and elevated culture will become universal amongst our people that
+they will appreciate beauty like the Greeks, that they will be inspired
+by a beautiful song, and that it will be said of them 'it is long since
+they were barbarians.'"
+
+_Tuesday, December 16_.--I dined today with Goethe alone, in his
+work-room. We talked on various literary topics.
+
+"The Germans," said he, "cannot cease to be Philistines. They are now
+squabbling about some verses, which are printed both in Schiller's works
+and mine, and fancy it is important to ascertain which really belong to
+Schiller and which to me; as if anything could be gained by such
+investigation--as if the existence of such things were not enough.
+Friends, such as Schiller and I, intimate for years, with the same
+interests, in habits of daily intercourse, and under reciprocal
+obligations, live so completely in each other that it is hardly possible
+to decide to which of the two the particular thoughts belong.
+
+"We have made many distiches together; sometimes I gave the thought, and
+Schiller made the verse; sometimes the contrary was the case; sometimes
+he made one line, and I the other. What matters the mine and thine? One
+must be a thorough Philistine, indeed, to attach the slightest
+importance to the solution of such questions."
+
+"Something similar," said I, "often happens in the literary world, when
+people, for instance, doubt the originality of this or that celebrated
+man, and seek to trace out the sources from whence he obtained his
+cultivation."
+
+"That is very ridiculous," said Goethe; "we might as well question a
+strong man about the oxen, sheep, and swine, which he has eaten, and
+which have given him strength.
+
+"We are indeed born with faculties; but we owe our development to a
+thousand influences of the great world, from which we appropriate to
+ourselves what we can, and what is suitable to us. I owe much to the
+Greeks and French; I am infinitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne, and
+Goldsmith; but in saying this I do not show the sources of my culture;
+that would be an endless as well as an unnecessary task. What is
+important is to have a soul which loves truth, and receives it wherever
+it finds it.
+
+"Besides, the world is now so old, so many eminent men have lived and
+thought for thousands of years, that there is little new to be
+discovered or expressed. Even my theory of colors is not entirely new.
+Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, any many other excellent men, have before me
+found and expressed the same thing in a detached form: my merit is, that
+I have found it also, that I have said it again, and that I have striven
+to bring the truth once more into a confused world.
+
+"The truth must be repeated over and over again, because error is
+repeatedly preached among us, not only by individuals, but by the
+masses. In periodicals and cyclopædias, in schools and universities;
+everywhere, in fact, error prevails, and is quite easy in the feeling
+that it has a decided majority on its side.
+
+"Often, too, people teach truth and error together, and stick to the
+latter. Thus, a short time ago, I read in an English cyclopædia the
+doctrine of the origin of Blue. First came the correct view of Leonardo
+da Vinci, but then followed, as quietly as possible, the error of
+Newton, coupled with remarks that this was to be adhered to because it
+was the view generally adopted."
+
+I could not help laughing with surprise when I heard this. "Every
+wax-taper," I said, "every illuminated cloud of smoke from the kitchen,
+that has anything dark behind it, every morning mist, when it lies
+before a steady spot, daily convinces me of the origin of blue color,
+and makes me comprehend the blueness of the sky. What the Newtonians
+mean when they say that the air has the property of absorbing other
+colors, and of repelling blue alone, I cannot at all understand, nor do
+I see what use or pleasure is to be derived from a doctrine in which all
+thought stands still, and all sound observation completely vanishes."
+
+"My good innocent friend," said Goethe, "these people do not care a jot
+about thoughts and observations. They are satisfied if they have only
+words which they can pass as current, as was well shown and not
+ill-expressed by my own Mephistopheles:
+
+  "Mind, above all, you stick to words,
+  Thus through the safe gate you will go
+  Into the fane of certainty;
+  For when ideas begin to fail
+  A word will aptly serve your turn," etc.
+
+Goethe recited this passage laughing, and seemed altogether in the best
+humor. "It is a good thing," said he, "that all is already in print, and
+I shall go on printing as long as I have anything to say against false
+doctrine, and those who disseminate it.
+
+"We have now excellent men rising up in natural science," he continued,
+after a pause, "and I am glad to see them. Others begin well, but
+afterwards fall off; their predominating subjectivity leads them astray.
+Others, again, set too much value on facts, and collect an infinite
+number, by which nothing is proved. On the whole, there is a want of
+originating mind to penetrate back to the original phenomena, and master
+the particulars that make their appearance."
+
+A short visit interrupted our discourse, but when we were again alone
+the conversation returned to poetry, and I told Goethe that I had of
+late been once more studying his little poems, and had dwelt especially
+upon two of them, viz., the ballad[20] about the children and the old
+man, and the "Happy Couple" (_die glücklichen Gatten_).
+
+"I myself set some value on these two poems," said Goethe, "although the
+German public have hitherto not been able to make much out of them."
+
+"In the ballad," I said, "a very copious subject is brought into a very
+limited compass, by means of all sorts of poetical forms and artifices,
+among which I especially praise the expedient of making the old man tell
+the children's past history down to the point where the present moment
+comes in, and the rest is developed before our eyes."
+
+"I carried the ballad a long time about in my head," said Goethe,
+"before I wrote it down. Whole years of reflection are comprised in it,
+and I made three or four trials before I could reduce it to its present
+shape."
+
+"The poem of the 'Happy Couple,'" continued Goethe, "is likewise rich in
+_motives_; whole landscapes and passages of human life appear in it,
+warmed by the sunlight of a charming spring sky, which is diffused over
+the whole."
+
+"I have always liked that poem," said Goethe, "and I am glad that you
+have regarded it with particular interest. The ending of the whole
+pleasantry with a double christening is, I think, pretty enough."
+
+We then came to the _Bürgergeneral_ (Citizengeneral); with respect to
+which I said that I had been lately reading this piece with an
+Englishman, and that we had both felt the strongest desire to see it
+represented on the stage. "As far as the spirit of the work is
+concerned," said I, "there is nothing antiquated about it; and with
+respect to the details of dramatic development, there is not a touch
+that does not seem designed for the stage."
+
+"It was a very good piece in its time," said Goethe, "and caused us many
+a pleasant evening. It was, indeed, excellently cast, and had been so
+admirably studied that the dialogue moved along as glibly as possible.
+Malcolmi played Märten, and nothing could be more perfect.
+
+"The part of Schnaps," said I, "seems to me no less felicitous. Indeed,
+I should not think there were many better or more thankful parts in the
+repertoire. There is in this personage, as in the whole piece, a
+clearness, an actual presence, to the utmost extent that can be desired
+for a theatre. The scene where he comes in with the knapsack, and
+produces the things one after another, where he puts the _moustache_ on
+Märten, and decks himself with the cap of liberty, uniform, and sword,
+is among the best." "This scene," said Goethe, "used always to be very
+successful on our stage. Then the knapsack, with the articles in it, had
+really an historical existence. I found it in the time of the
+Revolution, on my travels along the French border, when the emigrants,
+on their flight, had passed through, and one of them might have lost it
+or thrown it away. The articles it contained were just the same as in
+the piece. I wrote the scene upon it, and the knapsack, with all its
+appurtenances, was always introduced, to the no small delight of our
+actors."
+
+The question whether the _Bürgergeneral_ could still be played with any
+interest or profit, was for a while the subject of our conversation.
+
+Goethe then asked about my progress in French literature, and I told him
+that I still took up Voltaire from time to time, and that the great
+talent of this man gave me the purest delight.
+
+"I still know but little of him," said I; "I keep to his short poems
+addressed to persons, which I read over and over again, and which I
+cannot lay aside."
+
+"Indeed," said Goethe, "all is good which is written by so great a
+genius as Voltaire, though I cannot excuse all his profanity. But you
+are right to give so much time to those little poems addressed to
+persons; they are unquestionably among the most charming of his works.
+There is not a line which is not full of thought, clear, bright, and
+graceful."
+
+"And we see," said I, "his relations to all the great and mighty of the
+world, and remark with pleasure the distinguished position taken by
+himself, inasmuch as he seems to feel himself equal to the highest, and
+we never find that any majesty can embarrass his free mind even for a
+moment."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "he bore himself like a man of rank. And with all
+his freedom and audacity, he ever kept within the limits of strict
+propriety, which is, perhaps, saying still more. I may cite the Empress
+of Austria as an authority in such matters; she has repeatedly assured
+me, that in those poems of Voltaire's, there is no trace of crossing the
+line of _convenance_."
+
+"Does your excellency," said I, "remember the short poem in which he
+makes to the Princess of Prussia, afterwards Queen of Sweden, a pretty
+declaration of love, by saying that he dreamed of being elevated to the
+royal dignity?"
+
+"It is one of his best," said Goethe, and he recited the lines--
+
+    "Je vous aimais, princesse, et j'osais vous le dire;
+  Les Dieux et mon reveil ne m'ont pas tout ôté,
+    Je n'ai perdu que mon empire."
+
+"How pretty that is! And never did poet have his talent so completely at
+command every moment as Voltaire. I remember an anecdote, when he had
+been for some time on a visit to Madame du Chatelet. Just as he was
+going away, and the carriage was standing at the door, he received a
+letter from a great number of young girls in a neighboring convent, who
+wished to play the 'Death of Julius Cæsar' on the birthday of their
+abbess, and begged him to write them a prologue. The case was too
+delicate for a refusal; so Voltaire at once called for pen and paper,
+and wrote the desired prologue, standing, upon the mantlepiece. It is a
+poem of perhaps twenty lines, thoroughly digested, finished, perfectly
+suited to the occasion, and, in short, of the very best class."
+
+"I am very desirous to read it," said I.
+
+"I doubt," said Goethe, "whether you will find it in your collection. It
+has only lately come to light, and, indeed, he wrote hundreds of such
+poems, of which many may still be scattered about among private
+persons."
+
+"I found of late a passage in Lord Byron," said I, "from which I
+perceived with delight that even Byron had an extraordinary esteem for
+Voltaire. We may see in his works how much he liked to read, study, and
+make use of Voltaire.
+
+"Byron," said Goethe, "knew too well where anything was to be got, and
+was too clever not to draw from this universal source of light."
+
+The conversation then turned entirely upon Byron and several of his
+works, and Goethe found occasion to repeat many of his former
+expressions of admiration for that great genius.
+
+"To all that your excellency says of Byron," said I, "I agree from the
+bottom of my heart; but, however great and remarkable that poet may be
+as a genius, I very much doubt whether a decided gain for pure human
+culture is to be derived from his writings."
+
+"There I must contradict you," said Goethe; "the audacity and grandeur
+of Byron must certainly tend towards culture. We should take care not to
+be always looking for it in the decidedly pure and moral. Everything
+that is great promotes cultivation as soon as we are aware of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, February 12_.--Goethe read me the thoroughly noble poem,
+"Kein Wesen kann zu nichts zerfallen" (No being can dissolve to
+nothing), which he had lately written.
+
+"I wrote this poem," said he, "in contradiction to my lines--
+
+    'Denn alles muss zu nichts zerfallen
+    Wenn es im Seyn beharren will,' etc.
+
+   ('For all must melt away to nothing
+    Would it continue still to be')--
+
+which are stupid, and which my Berlin friends, on the occasion of the
+late assembly of natural philosophers, set up in golden letters, to my
+annoyance."
+
+The conversation turned on the great mathematician, Lagrange, whose
+excellent character Goethe highly extolled.
+
+"He was a good man," said he, "and on that very account, a great man.
+For when a good man is gifted with talent, he always works morally for
+the salvation of the world, as poet, philosopher, artist, or in whatever
+way it may be.
+
+"I am glad," continued Goethe, "that you had an opportunity yesterday of
+knowing Coudray better. He says little in general society, but, here
+among ourselves, you have seen what an excellent mind and character
+reside in the man. He had, at first, much opposition to encounter, but
+he has now fought through it all and enjoys the entire confidence and
+favor of the court. Coudray is one of the most skilful architects of our
+time. He has adhered to me and I to him, and this has been of service to
+us both. If I had but known him fifty years ago!"
+
+We then talked about Goethe's own architectural knowledge. I remarked
+that he must have acquired much in Italy.
+
+"Italy gave me an idea of earnestness and greatness," said he, "but no
+practical skill. The building of the castle here in Weimar advanced me
+more than anything. I was obliged to assist, and even to make drawings
+of entablatures. I had a certain advantage over the professional people,
+because I was superior to them in intention."
+
+We talked of Zelter.
+
+"I have a letter from him," said Goethe, "in which he complains that the
+performance of the oratorio of the Messiah was spoiled for him by one of
+his female scholars, who sang an aria too weakly and sentimentally.
+Weakness is a characteristic of our age. My hypothesis is, that it is a
+consequence of the efforts made in Germany to get rid of the French.
+Painters, natural philosophers, sculptors, musicians, poets, with but
+few exceptions, all are weak, and the general mass is no better."
+
+"Yet I do not give up the hope," said I, "of seeing suitable music
+composed for _Faust_."
+
+"Quite impossible!" said Goethe. "The awful and repulsive passages
+which must occasionally occur, are not in the style of the time. The
+music should be like that of Don Juan. Mozart should have composed for
+_Faust_. Meyerbeer would, perhaps, be capable; but he would not touch
+anything of the kind;[21] he is too much engaged with the Italian
+theatres."
+
+Afterwards--I do not recollect in connection to what--Goethe made the
+following important remark:
+
+"All that is great and skilful exists with the minority. There have been
+ministers who have had both king and people against them, and have
+carried out their great plans alone. It is not to be imagined that
+reason can ever be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular;
+but reason always remains the sole property of a few eminent
+individuals."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 6.--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the first
+scene of the second act of _Faust_.[22] The effect was great, and gave
+me a high satisfaction. We are once more transported into Faust's study,
+where Mephistopheles finds all just as he had left it. He takes from the
+hook Faust's old study-gown, and a thousand moths and insects flutter
+out from it. By the directions of Mephistopheles as to where these are
+to settle down, the locality is brought very clearly before our eyes. He
+puts on the gown, while Faust lies behind a curtain in a state of
+paralysis, intending to play the doctor's part once more. He pulls the
+bell, which gives such an awful tone among the old solitary convent
+halls, that the doors spring open and the walls tremble. The servant
+rushes in, and finds in Faust's seat Mephistopheles, whom he does not
+recognize, but for whom he has respect. In answer to inquiries he gives
+news of Wagner, who has now become a celebrated man, and is hoping for
+the return of his master. He is, we hear, at this moment deeply occupied
+in his laboratory, seeking to produce a Homunculus. The servant retires,
+and the bachelor enters--the same whom we knew some years before as a
+shy young student, when Mephistopheles (in Faust's gown) made game of
+him. He is now become a man, and is so full of conceit that even
+Mephistopheles can do nothing with him, but moves his chair further and
+further, and at last addresses the pit.
+
+Goethe read the scene quite to the end. I was pleased with his youthful
+productive strength, and with the closeness of the whole. "As the
+conception," said Goethe, "is so old--for I have had it in my mind for
+fifty years--the materials have accumulated to such a degree, that the
+difficult operation is to separate and reject. The invention of the
+whole second part is really as old as I say; but it may be an advantage
+that I have not written it down till now, when my knowledge of the world
+is so much clearer. I am like one who in his youth has a great deal of
+small silver and copper money, which in the course of his life he
+constantly changes for the better, so that at last the property of his
+youth stands before him in pieces of pure gold."
+
+We spoke about the character of the Bachelor. "Is he not meant," said I,
+"to represent a certain class of ideal philosophers?"
+
+"No," said Goethe, "the arrogance which is peculiar to youth, and of
+which we had such striking examples after our war for freedom, is
+personified in him. Indeed, every one believes in his youth that the
+world really began with him, and that all merely exists for his sake.
+
+"Thus, in the East, there was actually a man who every morning collected
+his people about him, and would not go to work till he had commanded the
+sun to rise. But he was wise enough not to speak his command till the
+sun of its own accord was really on the point of appearing."
+
+Goethe remained a while absorbed in silent thought; then he began as
+follows: "When one is old one thinks of worldly matters otherwise than
+when one is young. Thus I cannot but think that the demons, to teaze and
+make sport with men, have placed among them single figures, which are so
+alluring that every one strives after them, and so great that nobody
+reaches them. Thus they set up Raffael, with whom thought and act were
+equally perfect; some distinguished followers have approached him, but
+none have equalled him. Thus, too, they set up Mozart as something
+unattainable in music; and thus Shakespeare in poetry. I know what you
+can say against this thought; but I only mean natural character, the
+great innate qualities. Thus, too, Napoleon is unattainable. That the
+Russians were so moderate as not to go to Constantinople is indeed very
+great; but we find a similar trait in Napoleon, for he had the
+moderation not to go to Rome."
+
+Much was associated with this copious theme; I thought to myself in
+silence that the demons had intended something of the kind with Goethe,
+inasmuch as he is a form too alluring not to be striven after, and too
+great to be reached.
+
+_Wednesday, December 16._--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the
+second scene of the second act of "Faust," where Mephistopheles visits
+Wagner, who is on the point of making a human being by chemical means.
+The work succeeds; the Homunculus appears in the phial, as a shining
+being, and is at once active. He repels Wagner's questions upon
+incomprehensible subjects; reasoning is not his business; he wishes to
+act, and begins with our hero, Faust, who, in his paralyzed condition,
+needs a higher aid. As a being to whom the present is perfectly clear
+and transparent, the Homunculus sees into the soul of the sleeping
+Faust, who, enraptured by a lovely dream, beholds Leda visited by swans,
+while she is bathing in a pleasant spot. The Homunculus, by describing
+this dream, brings a most charming picture before our eyes.
+Mephistopheles sees nothing of it, and the Homunculus taunts him with
+his northern nature.
+
+"Generally," said Goethe, "you will perceive that Mephistopheles
+appears to disadvantage beside the Homunculus, who is like him in
+clearness of intellect, and so much superior to him in his tendency to
+the beautiful and to a useful activity. He styles him cousin; for such
+spiritual beings as this Homunculus, not yet saddened and limited by a
+thorough assumption of humanity, were classed with the demons, and thus
+there is a sort of relationship between the two."
+
+"Certainly," said I, "Mephistopheles appears here in a subordinate
+situation; yet I cannot help thinking that he has had a secret influence
+on the production of the Homunculus. We have known him in this way
+before; and, indeed, in the 'Helena' he always appears as a being
+secretly working. Thus he again elevates himself with regard to the
+whole, and in his lofty repose he can well afford to put up with a
+little in particulars."
+
+"Your feeling of the position is very correct," said Goethe; "indeed, I
+have doubted whether I ought not to put some verses into the mouth of
+Mephistopheles as he goes to Wagner, and the Homunculus is still in a
+state of formation, so that his cooperation may be expressed and
+rendered plain to the reader.
+
+"It would do no harm," said I. "Yet this is intimated by the words with
+which Mephistopheles closes the scene--
+
+  Am Ende hangen wir doch ab
+  Von Creaturen die wir machten.
+
+  We are dependent after all,
+  On creatures that we make."
+
+"True," said Goethe, "that would be almost enough for the attentive; but
+I will think about some additional verses."
+
+"But," said I, "those concluding words are very great, and will not
+easily be penetrated to their full extent."
+
+"I think," said Goethe, "I have given them a bone to pick. A father who
+has six sons is a lost man, let him do what he may. Kings and
+ministers, too, who have raised many persons to high places, may have
+something to think about from their own experience."
+
+Faust's dream about Leda again came into my head, and I regarded this as
+a most important feature in the composition.
+
+"It is wonderful to me," said I, "how the several parts of such a work
+bear upon, perfect, and sustain one another! By this dream of Leda,
+_Helena_ gains its proper foundation. There we have a constant allusion
+to swans and the child of a swan; but here we have the act itself, and
+when we come afterwards to Helena, with the sensible impression of such
+a situation, how much more clear and perfect does all appear!"
+
+Goethe said I was right, and was pleased that I remarked this.
+
+"Thus you will see," said he, "that in these earlier acts the chords of
+the classic and romantic are constantly struck, so that, as on a rising
+ground, where both forms of poetry are brought out, and in some sort
+balance each other, we may ascend to 'Helena.'
+
+"The French," continued Goethe, "now begin to think justly of these
+matters. Both classic and romantic, say they, are equally good. The only
+point is to use these forms with judgment, and to be capable of
+excellence. You can be absurd in both, and then one is as worthless as
+the other. This, I think, is rational enough, and may content us for a
+while."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1830.
+
+_Sunday, March 14._--This evening at Goethe's. He showed me all the
+treasures, now put in order, from the chest which he had received from
+David, and with the unpacking of which I had found him occupied some
+days ago. The plaster medallions, with the profiles of the principal
+young poets of France, he had laid in order side by side upon tables.
+On this occasion, he spoke once more of the extraordinary talent of
+David, which was as great in conception as in execution. He also showed
+me a number of the newest works, which had been presented to him,
+through the medium of David, as gifts from the most distinguished men of
+the romantic school. I saw works by St. Veuve, Ballanche, Victor Hugo,
+Balzac, Alfred de Vigny, Jules Janin, and others.
+
+"David," said he, "has prepared happy days for me by this present. The
+young poets have already occupied me the whole week, and afford me new
+life by the fresh impressions which I receive from them. I shall make a
+separate catalogue of these much esteemed portraits and books, and shall
+give them both a special place in my collection of works of art and my
+library."
+
+One could see from Goethe's manner that this homage from the young poets
+of France afforded him the heartiest delight.
+
+He then read something from the _Studies_, by Emile Deschamps. He
+praised the translation of the _Bride of Corinth_, as faithful, and very
+successful.
+
+"I possess," said he, "the manuscript of an Italian translation of this
+poem, which gives the original, even to the rhymes."
+
+_The Bride of Corinth_ induced Goethe to speak of the rest of his
+ballads. "I owe them, in a great measure, to Schiller," said he, "who
+impelled me to them, because he always wanted something new for his
+_Horen_. I had already carried them in my head for many years; they
+occupied my mind as pleasant images, as beautiful dreams, which came and
+went, and by playing with which my fancy made me happy. I unwillingly
+resolved to bid farewell to these brilliant visions, which had so long
+been my solace, by embodying them in poor, inadequate words. When I saw
+them on paper, I regarded them with a mixture of sadness. I felt as if I
+were about to be separated for ever from a beloved friend."
+
+"At other times," continued Goethe, "it has been totally different with
+my poems. They have been preceded by no impressions or forebodings, but
+have come suddenly upon me, and have insisted on being composed
+immediately, so that I have felt an instinctive and dreamy impulse to
+write them down on the spot. In such a somnambulistic condition, it has
+often happened that I have had a sheet of paper lying before me all on
+one side, and I have not discovered it till all has been written, or I
+have found no room to write any more. I have possessed many such sheets
+written crossways, but they have been lost one after another, and I
+regret that I can no longer show any proofs of such poetic abstraction."
+
+The conversation then returned to the French literature, and the modern
+ultra-romantic tendency of some not unimportant men of genius. Goethe
+was of opinion that this poetic revolution, which was still in its
+infancy, would be very favorable to literature, but very prejudicial to
+the individual authors who effect it.
+
+"Extremes are never to be avoided in any revolution," said he. "In a
+political one, nothing is generally desired in the beginning but the
+abolition of abuses; but before people are aware, they are deep in
+bloodshed and horror. Thus the French, in their present literary
+revolution, desired nothing at first but a freer form; however, they
+will not stop there, but will reject the traditional contents together
+with the form. They begin to declare the representation of noble
+sentiments and deeds as tedious, and attempt to treat of all sorts of
+abominations. Instead of the beautiful subjects from Grecian mythology,
+there are devils, witches, and vampires, and the lofty heroes of
+antiquity must give place to jugglers and galley slaves. This is
+piquant! This is effective! But after the public has once tasted this
+highly seasoned food, and has become accustomed to it, it will always
+long for more, and that stronger. A young man of talent, who would
+produce an effect and be acknowledged, and who is great enough to go his
+own way, must accommodate himself to the taste of the day--nay, must
+seek to outdo his predecessors in the horrible and frightful. But in
+this chase after outward means of effect, all profound study, and all
+gradual and thorough development of the talent and the man from within,
+is entirely neglected. And this is the greatest injury which can befall
+a talent, although literature in general will gain by this tendency of
+the moment."
+
+"But," added I, "how can an attempt which destroys individual talents be
+favorable to literature in general?"
+
+"The extremes and excrescences which I have described," returned Goethe,
+"will gradually disappear; but at last this great advantage will
+remain--besides a freer form, richer and more diversified subjects will
+have been attained, and no object of the broadest world and the most
+manifold life will be any longer excluded as unpoetical. I compare the
+present literary epoch to a state of violent fever, which is not in
+itself good and desirable, but of which improved health is the happy
+consequence. That abomination which now often constitutes the whole
+subject of a poetical work, will in future only appear as an useful
+expedient; aye, the pure and the noble, which is now abandoned for the
+moment, will soon be resought with additional ardor."
+
+"It is surprising to me," remarked I, "that even Mérimée, who is one of
+your favorites, has entered upon this ultra-romantic path, through the
+horrible subjects of his _Guzla_."
+
+"Mérimée," returned Goethe, "has treated these things very differently
+from his fellow-authors. These poems certainly are not deficient in
+various horrible _motives_, such as churchyards, nightly crossways,
+ghosts and vampires; but the repulsive themes do not touch the intrinsic
+merit of the poet. On the contrary, he treats them from a certain
+objective distance, and, as it were, with irony. He goes to work with
+them like an artist, to whom it is an amusement to try anything of the
+sort. He has, as I have said before, quite renounced himself, nay, he
+has ever renounced the Frenchman, and that to such a degree that at
+first these poems of Guzla were deemed real Illyrian popular poems, and
+thus little was wanting for the success of the imposition he had
+intended."
+
+"Mérimée," continued Goethe, "is indeed a thorough fellow! Indeed,
+generally, more power and genius are required for the objective
+treatment of a subject than is supposed. Thus, too, Lord Byron,
+notwithstanding his predominant personality, has sometimes had the power
+of renouncing himself altogether, as may be seen in some of his dramatic
+pieces, particularly in his _Marino Faliero_. In this piece one quite
+forgets that Lord Byron, or even an Englishman, wrote it. We live
+entirely in Venice, and entirely in the time in which the action takes
+place. The personages speak quite from themselves and from their own
+condition, without having any of the subjective feelings, thoughts, and
+opinions of the poet. That is as it should be. Of our young French
+romantic writers of the exaggerating sort, one cannot say as much. What
+I have read of them--poems, novels, dramatic works--have all borne the
+personal coloring of the author, and none of them ever makes me forget
+that a Parisian--that a Frenchman--wrote them. Even in the treatment of
+foreign subjects one still remains in France and Paris, quite absorbed
+in all the wishes, necessities, conflicts, and fermentations of the
+present day."
+
+"Béranger also," I threw in experimentally, "has only expressed the
+situation of the great metropolis, and his own interior."
+
+"That is a man," said Goethe, "whose power of representation and whose
+interior are worth something. In him is all the substance of an
+important personality. Béranger is a nature most happily endowed, firmly
+grounded in himself, purely developed from himself, and quite in harmony
+with himself. He has never asked--what would suit the times? what
+produces an effect? what pleases? what are others doing?--in order that
+he might do the like. He has always worked only from the core of his own
+nature, without troubling himself as to what the public, or what this or
+that party, expects. He has certainly, at different critical epochs,
+been influenced by the mood, wishes, and necessities of the people; but
+that has only confirmed him in himself, by proving to him that his own
+nature is in harmony with that of the people; and has never seduced him
+into expressing anything but what already lay in his heart.
+
+"You know that I am, upon the whole, no friend to what is called
+political poems, but such as Béranger has composed I can tolerate. With
+him there is nothing snatched out of the air, nothing of merely imagined
+or imaginary interest; he never shoots at random; but, on the contrary,
+has always the most decided, the most important subjects. His
+affectionate admiration of Napoleon, and his reminiscences of the great
+warlike deeds which were performed under him, and that at a time when
+these recollections were a consolation to the somewhat oppressed French;
+then his hatred of the domination of priests, and of the darkness which
+threatened to return with the Jesuits--these are things to which one
+cannot refuse hearty sympathy. And how masterly is his treatment on all
+occasions! How he turns about and rounds off every subject in his own
+mind before he expresses it! And then, when all is matured, what wit,
+spirit, irony, and persiflage, and what heartiness, naivete, and grace,
+are unfolded at every step! His songs have every year made millions of
+joyous men; they always flow glibly from the tongue, even with the
+working-classes, whilst they are so far elevated above the level of the
+commonplace, that the populace, in converse with these pleasant spirits,
+becomes accustomed and compelled to think itself better and nobler. What
+more would you have? and, altogether, what higher praise could be given
+to a poet?"
+
+"He is excellent, unquestionably!" returned I. "You know how I loved him
+for years, and can imagine how it gratifies me to hear you speak of him
+thus. But if I must say which of his songs I prefer, his amatory poems
+please me more than his political, in which the particular references
+and allusions are not always clear to me."
+
+"That happens to be your case," returned Goethe; "the political poems
+were not written for you; but ask the French, and they will tell you
+what is good in them. Besides, a political poem, under the most
+fortunate circumstances, is to be looked upon only as the organ of a
+single nation, and, in most cases, only as the organ of a single party;
+but it is seized with enthusiasm by this nation and this party when it
+is good. Again, a political poem should always be looked upon as the
+mere result of a certain state of the times; which passes by, and with
+respect to succeeding times takes from the poem the value which it
+derived from the subject. As for Béranger, his was no hard task. Paris
+is France. All the important interests of his great country are
+concentrated in the capital, and there have their proper life and their
+proper echo. Besides, in most of his political songs he is by no means
+to be regarded as the mere organ of a single party; on the contrary, the
+things against which he writes are for the most part of so universal and
+national an interest, that the poet is almost always heard as a great
+_voice_ of the people. With us, in Germany, such a thing is not
+possible. We have no city, nay, we have no country, of which we could
+decidedly say--_Here is Germany_! If we inquire in Vienna, the answer
+is--this is Austria! and if in Berlin, the answer is--this is Prussia!
+Only sixteen years ago, when we tried to get rid of the French, was
+Germany everywhere. Then a political poet could have had an universal
+effect; but there was no need of one! The universal necessity, and the
+universal feeling of disgrace, had seized upon the nation like something
+dæmonic; the inspiring fire which the poet might have kindled was
+already burning everywhere of its own accord. Still, I will not deny
+that Arndt, Körner, and Rückert, have had some effect."
+
+"You have been reproached," remarked I, rather inconsiderately, "for not
+taking up arms at that great period, or at least cooperating as a poet."
+
+"Let us leave that point alone, my good friend," returned Goethe. "It is
+an absurd world, which does not know what it wants, and which one must
+allow to have its own way. How could I take up arms without hatred, and
+how could I hate without youth? If such an emergency had befallen me
+when twenty years old, I should certainly not have been the last; but it
+found me as one who had already passed the first sixties.
+
+"Besides, we cannot all serve our country in the same way, but each does
+his best, according as God has endowed him. I have toiled hard enough
+during half a century. I can say, that in those things which nature has
+appointed for my daily work, I have permitted myself no repose or
+relaxation night or day, but have always striven, investigated, and done
+as much, and that as well, as I could. If every one can say the same of
+himself, it will prove well with all."
+
+"The fact is," said I, by way of conciliation, "that you should not be
+vexed at that reproach, but should rather feel flattered at it. For what
+does it show but that the opinion of the world concerning you is so
+great that it desires that he who has done more for the culture of his
+nation than any other should at last do everything!"
+
+"I will not say what I think," returned Goethe. "There is more ill-will
+towards me hidden beneath that remark than you are aware of. I feel
+therein a new form of the old hatred with which people have persecuted
+me, and endeavored quietly to wound me for years. I know very well that
+I am an eyesore to many; that they would all willingly get rid of me;
+and that, since they cannot touch my talent, they aim at my character.
+Now, it is said, I am proud; now, egotistical; now, full of envy towards
+young men of genius; now, immersed in sensuality; now, without
+Christianity; and now, without love for my native country, and my own
+dear Germans. You have now known me sufficiently for years, and you feel
+what all that talk is worth. But if you would learn what I have
+suffered, read my '_Xenien_', and it will be clear to you, from my
+retorts, how people have from time to time sought to embitter my life.
+
+"A German author is a German martyr! Yes, my friend, you will not find
+it otherwise! And I myself can scarcely complain; none of the others has
+fared better--most have fared worse; and in England and France it is
+quite the same as with us. What did not Molière suffer? What Rousseau
+and Voltaire? Byron was driven from England by evil tongues, and would
+have fled to the end of the world, if an early death had not delivered
+him from the Philistines and their hatred.
+
+"And if it were only the narrow-minded masses that persecuted noble men!
+But no! one gifted man and one genius persecutes another; Platen
+scandalizes Heine, and Heine Platen, and each seeks to make the other
+hateful; while the world is wide enough for all to live and to let live;
+and every one has an enemy in his own talent, who gives him quite enough
+to do.
+
+"To write military songs, and sit in a room! That forsooth was my duty!
+To have written them in the bivouac, when the horses at the enemy's
+outposts are heard neighing at night, would have been well enough;
+however, that was not my life and not my business, but that of Theodore
+Körner. His war-songs suit him perfectly. But to me, who am not of a
+warlike nature, and who have no warlike sense, war-songs would have been
+a mask which would have fitted my face very badly.
+
+"I have never affected anything in my poetry. I have never uttered
+anything which I have not experienced, and which has not urged me to
+production. I have composed love-songs only when I have loved. How could
+I write songs of hatred without hating! And, between ourselves, I did
+not hate the French, although I thanked God that we were free from them.
+How could I, to whom culture and barbarism are alone of importance, hate
+a nation which is among the most cultivated of the earth, and to which I
+owe so great a part of my own cultivation?
+
+"Altogether," continued Goethe, "national hatred is something peculiar.
+You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the
+lowest degree of culture. But there is a degree where it vanishes
+altogether, and where one stands to a certain extent above nations, and
+feels the weal or woe of a neighboring people, as if it had happened to
+one's own. This degree of culture was conformable to my nature, and I
+had become strengthened in it long before I had reached my sixtieth
+year."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1832.
+
+_Sunday_, March 11.--The conversation turned upon the great men who had
+lived before Christ, among the Chinese, the Indians, the Persians, and
+the Greeks; and it was remarked, that the divine power had been as
+operative in them as in some of the great Jews of the Old Testament. We
+then came to the question how far God influenced the great natures of
+the present world in which we live?
+
+"To hear people speak," said Goethe, "one would almost believe that they
+were of opinion that God had withdrawn into silence since those old
+times, and that man was now placed quite upon his own feet, and had to
+see how he could get on without God, and his daily invisible breath. In
+religious and moral matters a divine influence is indeed still allowed,
+but in matters of science and art it is believed that they are merely
+earthly and nothing but the product of human powers.
+
+[Illustration: SCHILLER'S GARDEN HOUSE AT JENA Drawing by Goethe]
+
+"Let any one only try, with human will and human power, to produce
+something which may be compared with the creations that bear the names
+of Mozart, Raphael, or Shakespeare. I know very well that these three
+noble beings are not the only ones, and that in every province of art
+innumerable excellent geniuses have operated, who have produced things
+as perfectly good as those just mentioned. But if they were as great as
+those, they rose above ordinary human nature, and in the same proportion
+were as divinely endowed as they.
+
+"And, after all, what does it all come to? God did not retire to rest
+after the well-known six days of creation, but, on the contrary, is
+constantly active as on the first. It would have been for Him a poor
+occupation to compose this heavy world out of simple elements, and to
+keep it rolling in the sunbeams from year to year, if He had not had the
+plan of founding a nursery for a world of spirits upon this material
+basis. So He is now constantly active in higher natures to attract the
+lower ones."
+
+Goethe was silent. But I cherished his great and good words in my heart.
+
+_Early in March_.[23]--Goethe mentioned at table that he had received a
+visit from Baron Carl Von Spiegel, and that he had been pleased with him
+beyond measure.
+
+"He is a very fine young man," said Goethe; "in his mien and manners he
+has something by which the nobleman is seen at once. He could as little
+dissemble his descent as any one could deny a higher intellect; for
+birth and intellect both give him who once possesses them a stamp which
+no incognito can conceal. Like beauty, these are powers which one cannot
+approach without feeling that they are of a higher nature."
+
+_Some days later_.--We talked of the tragic idea of Destiny among the
+Greeks.
+
+"It no longer suits our way of thinking," said Goethe; "it is obsolete,
+and is also in contradiction with our religious views. If a modern poet
+introduces such antique ideas into a drama, it always has an air of
+affectation. It is a costume which is long since out of fashion, and
+which, like the Roman toga, no longer suits us.
+
+"It is better for us moderns to say with Napoleon, 'Politics are
+Destiny.' But let us beware of saying, with our latest literati, that
+politics are poetry, or a suitable subject for the poet. The English
+poet Thomson wrote a very good poem on the Seasons, but a very bad one
+on Liberty, and that not from want of poetry in the poet, but from want
+of poetry in the subject."
+
+"If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party;
+and so soon as he does that, he is lost as a poet; he must bid farewell
+to his free spirit, his unbiased view, and draw over his ears the cap of
+bigotry and blind hatred.
+
+"The poet, as a man and citizen, will love his native land; but the
+native land of his poetic powers and poetic action is the good, noble,
+and beautiful, which is confined to no particular province or country,
+and which he seizes upon and forms wherever he finds it. Therein is he
+like the eagle, who hovers with free gaze over whole countries, and to
+whom it is of no consequence whether the hare on which he pounces is
+running in Prussia or in Saxony.
+
+"And, then, what is meant by love of one's country? What is meant by
+patriotic deeds? If the poet has employed a life in battling with
+pernicious prejudices, in setting aside narrow views, in enlightening
+the minds, purifying the tastes, ennobling the feelings and thoughts of
+his countrymen, what better could he have done? How could he have acted
+more patriotically?
+
+"To make such ungrateful and unsuitable demands upon a poet is just as
+if one required the captain of a regiment to show himself a patriot, by
+taking part in political innovations and thus neglecting his proper
+calling. The captain's country is his regiment, and he will show himself
+an excellent patriot by troubling himself about political matters only
+so far as they concern him, and bestowing all his mind and all his
+care on the battalions under him, trying so to train and discipline them
+that they may do their duty if ever their native land should be in
+peril.
+
+[Illustration: THE MOAT AT JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+"I hate all bungling like sin, but most of all bungling in
+state-affairs, which produces nothing but mischief to thousands and
+millions.
+
+"You know that, on the whole, I care little what is written about me;
+but yet it comes to my ears, and I know well enough that, hard as I have
+toiled all my life, all my labors are as nothing in the eyes of certain
+people, just because I have disdained to mingle in political parties. To
+please such people I must have become a member of a Jacobin club, and
+preached bloodshed and murder. However, not a word more upon this
+wretched subject, lest I become unwise in railing against folly."
+
+In the same manner he blamed the political course, so much praised by
+others, of Uhland.
+
+"Mind," said he, "the politician will devour the poet. To be a member of
+the States, and to live amid daily jostlings and excitements, is not for
+the delicate nature of a poet. His song will cease, and that is in some
+sort to be lamented. Swabia has plenty of men, sufficiently well
+educated, well meaning, able, and eloquent, to be members of the States,
+but only one poet of Uhland's class."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last stranger whom Goethe entertained as his guest was the eldest
+son of Frau von Arnim; the last words he wrote were some verses in the
+album of this young friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once
+again upon his earthly garment. His faithful servant, Frederic, opened
+for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he
+reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the
+features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet
+to harbor thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence
+prevented me from cutting it off. The body lay naked, wrapped only in a
+white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it
+fresh as long as possible. Frederic drew aside the sheet, and I was
+astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. The breast was
+powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were full, and softly
+muscular; the feet were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere,
+on the whole body, was there a trace either of fat or of leanness and
+decay. A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture
+which the sight caused made me forget for a moment that the immortal
+spirit had left such an abode. I laid my hand on his heart--there was a
+deep silence--and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed
+tears.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW INTO THE SAALE VALLEY NEAR JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+
+
+LETTERS TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH.D. GOETHE TO KAROLINE VON HUMBOLDT
+
+January 25, 1804.
+
+How many an hour have I thought of you with genuine and lively interest;
+and nearly every time I have marveled at the outrageous intention which
+correspondents can express, that, when far apart, they will write to
+each other once a month. Distance absolutely precludes interest in
+trifles that are close to us; how can we tell each other our daily joys
+and sorrows, when the voice which speaks must wait so long for the sound
+of the answering voice; and then those unexpected chances happen which
+in an instant destroy our careful plans so that, when we would continue,
+we know not where we should begin.
+
+This time, in remembrance of so much that has passed, and in
+anticipation of so much that is to be, I intend to write you a long
+letter that the stream may run once more.
+
+Meanwhile you have suffered a bitter loss, of which I shall not speak. I
+trust that all the agencies which nature has contrived for man to
+alleviate such woes may have been and may in the future be at your
+behest; for they alone can repair the evil they have wrought.
+
+Fernow has come to us; he bears himself gallantly and well, though an
+unfortunate fever has given him a deal of trouble. Since he is in
+earnest about what he does, and is essentially of an honest disposition,
+we are having a good, profitable, and pleasant time together.
+
+Riemer is staying with my August, and I hope they will get along right
+well together.
+
+Schiller is continually advancing with great strides, as usual; his
+_Tell_ is magnificently planned and, so far as I have seen it, executed
+in masterly fashion.
+
+I myself have been placed, by the swindling spirit which has come over
+the gentlemen of Jena, and especially over the proprietors of the
+_Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung_, under the lamentable necessity of again
+laboring in person on behalf of this antiquated body of municipal
+teachers, wherein I have lost nearly four months of my own time--not
+precisely because I did much, but because, notwithstanding, everything
+had to be done, and everything that must be done takes time; and thus
+for the last three months I have been unable to present you with even a
+single little poem.
+
+Meanwhile life has brought us much of interest. Professor Wolf of Halle
+spent two weeks with us; Johannes von Müller is here now; and for four
+weeks Madame de Staël has also honored us with her presence.
+
+The drawings of the late Herr Carstens, which Fernow brought with him,
+have given me much pleasure, since through them I have first learned to
+know this rare talent, which, alas, was held back by circumstances in
+earlier days, and which at last was mown down even yet unripe.
+
+A couple of large pictures by Hackert have arrived, and anything more
+perfect, as faithful copies of reality, could scarcely be imagined.
+
+As to my studies and hobbies, I do not know whether I have ever said
+anything to you about my collection of modern medals in bronze and
+copper, beginning with the second half of the fifteenth century, and
+coming down to the most recent times.
+
+I chanced upon this in connection with my revision of Cellini; for,
+since in the north we must be content with crumbs, it seemed possible
+for me to gain even an approximately clear survey of plastic art only
+through the aid of original medals from the various centuries, which, as
+is generally known, invariably kept close to the sculpture of their
+time. Through exertion, favor, and good fortune I have already
+succeeded extremely well in making a rather important collection. Permit
+me to include a couple of commissions and desiderata.
+
+1. For a couple of old medals said to be in the possession of
+Mercandetti.[24]
+
+2. For papal medals from Innocent XIII inclusive; I have very fine
+specimens of Hamerani's[25] medals of Clement XI.
+
+3. For a medal to be ordered from Mercandetti, a commission which I
+especially urge both on you and on Humboldt; for the enterprise is, I
+must admit, a serious one; in the long run, some satisfaction may
+probably be gained; but should it fail, money will be lost and vexation
+will be the result.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+July 30, 1804.
+
+Months ago I wrote the inclosed sheet to your dear wife. She has
+recently been here, and I have had the pleasure of conversing with her;
+she has, so I hear, safely reached Paris and been delivered. I trust
+that, ere long, she may there embrace your dear brother, who has, in a
+sense, risen for us from the dead. Your precious letter of February 25
+reached me safely in good time, and as I reflect on the long interval
+during which I have left you without news from me, I now note through
+what singular emotions I have passed during this time.
+
+Schiller's _Tell_ has been completed for some time and is now on the
+stage. It is an extraordinary production wherein his dramatic skill puts
+forth new branches, and it justly creates a profound sensation. You will
+surely receive it before long, for it is already in press.
+
+I have permitted myself to be persuaded to try to make my _Götz von
+Berlichingen_ suitable for the stage.
+
+This was an undertaking well-nigh impossible, for its very trend is
+untheatrical; like Penelope, I, too, have ceaselessly woven and unwoven
+it for a year; and in the process I have learned much, though, I fear, I
+have not perfectly attained the end which I had in view. In about six
+weeks I hope to present it, and Schiller will, no doubt, speak to you
+about it.
+
+Have you chanced to see our Jena _Literatur-Zeitung_ for this year, and
+has anything which it contained aroused your interest?
+
+I am extremely grateful to you for the very welcome information which
+you give me regarding an improvisatrice. Could I possibly dare to make
+use of it in the advertising columns of the _Literatur-Zeitung_? What
+you have said I would modify in every way consonant with its relation to
+the public, which needs not know everything. If you could occasionally
+communicate to me some information of this type from the wealth of your
+observations, you would confer a great pleasure upon us.
+
+Since Jagemann's death, Fernow has received an appointment at the
+library of the Duchess Dowager, and his connection with it is of great
+value for her house and for the society which assembles there; he makes
+love for Italian literature a living force and gives occasion for witty
+readings and conversations.
+
+Generally speaking, Weimar is like heaven since the Bottiger goblin [26]
+has been banished; and our school is also going very well indeed. A
+professorship has been given to Voss's eldest son, who inherits from his
+father that fundamental love for antiquity, especially from the
+linguistic side, which, after all, is the principal thing in a teacher
+of the classics.
+
+Riemer also conducts himself very well in my house, and I am fairly
+satisfied with the progress of my boy, who, I must admit, has a greater
+interest in subject-matter than in diction.
+
+Madame de Staël's intention of spending a portion of the summer here has
+been frustrated by her father's death. She has taken Schlegel with her
+from Berlin; they are together in Coppet; and will probably go to Italy
+toward winter. Such a visit would doubtless be more delightful to you,
+dear friend, than many another.
+
+My warmest thanks are due you for sending me the _Odes of Pindar_ in
+translation; they have given a very pleasant hour of recreation to
+Riemer and myself.
+
+I trust to your goodness to see that the inclosed memorandum is
+delivered to Mercandetti, and perhaps to confer with him in person about
+the matter. Then among your ministering spirits you perhaps have some
+one who would keep an eye on the affair in future. I should be glad if
+our old patron[27] were given such a public token of gratitude, which
+should also be noteworthy from the artistic side, but it must be
+acknowledged that it is always a daring venture to place any order at
+such a distance, and, therefore, I entreat your friendly participation.
+
+Above all things it is important that Mercandetti should make a moderate
+charge. He demands three piasters for his Alfieri, which he offers for
+sale and which is said to be as large as his Galvani. If, now, he asks
+somewhat more for the archchancellor's medal, which is ordered and which
+is not supposed to be any larger, surely the extra expense should not be
+much, and if it is relatively cheap, I am confident of securing him two
+hundred subscribers. As has already been noted in the memorandum, he
+will render himself better known in Germany through this medal than
+through any other work, a fact which cannot fail to be of great moment
+to him in the series of distinguished men of the previous century, which
+he intends to issue. Forgive me for adding this new burden to your many
+duties, and yet endeavor to conduct the affair so that it will not
+require much writing to and fro, and so that, in his reply to the
+memorandum, Mercandetti will accept our offer. Letters are now delayed
+intolerably; one from Florence here takes twenty days, and more.
+
+It comforts me greatly that you have been pleased with my _Natural
+Daughter_, for though at times I long remain silent toward my absent
+friends, my desire is, nevertheless, suddenly to resume relations with
+them through that which I have toiled over in silence. Unfortunately, I
+have given up this play, and do not know when I shall be able to resume
+work on it.
+
+Have you seen the twenty lyric poems which have been published by me in
+my _Annual_ of this year? Among them are some that ought not to
+displease you. Do not render like for like, but write me soon.
+Communicate to me many observations on lands, nations, men, and
+languages, which are so instructive and so stimulating. Do not delay,
+moreover, to give me some information regarding your own health and that
+of your dear wife.
+
+Weimar, July 30, 1804.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+August 31, 1812.
+
+Faithful to its nature, Teplitz continues to be, esteemed friend,
+unfavorable to our coming together. This inconvenience is doubly
+vexatious to me now that, after your departure from Karlsbad, I
+deliberately thought over the value of your presence, and wished to
+continue our interviews. I was especially grieved that your beautiful
+presentation of the manner in which languages received their expansion
+over the world was not completely drawn up, although the most of it
+remained with me. If you wish to give me a real proof of friendship,
+have the kindness to write out for me such an abstract, and I shall
+have a hemispherical map colored for myself accordingly and add it to
+Lesage's _Atlas_, since, in view of my residence abroad for so much of
+the year, I am compelled to think more and more of my general need of a
+compendious and tabulated traveling library. Thus, with the assistance
+of Aulic Councillor Meyer, the history of the plastic arts and of
+painting is now being written on the margin of Bredow's _Tabellen_, and
+thus in a very large number of cases your linguistic map will help to
+refresh my memory and serve as a guide in much of my reading.
+
+I would gladly have spoken with you in detail regarding Berlin and all
+that which, according to your previous preparations and suggestions, is
+going on there. Great cities always contain within themselves the image
+of whole empires, and even though distorted by exaggerations which
+degenerate into caricature, they nevertheless present the nation in
+concentrated form to the eye.
+
+State Councillor Langermann, whose good will and energy are so
+beautifully balanced, has now delighted me for two weeks with his
+instructive conversation, and both by word and by example revived my
+courage for many things which I had been on the point of abandoning. It
+is very enlivening indeed to re-behold the world in its entirety through
+the medium of a truly energetic man; for the Germans seldom know how to
+inspire in details, and never as a whole.
+
+I here find an entirely natural transition to the information which you
+give me--that our friend Wolf is not satisfied with Niebuhr's work,
+although he preëminently should have had reason to be. I feel, however,
+very calm about it, for I value Wolf infinitely when he works and acts,
+but I have never known him to be sympathetic, especially as regards the
+affairs of the present, and herein he is a true German. Moreover, he
+knows entirely too much to permit himself to be instructed further and
+not to discover the gaps in the knowledge of others. He has his own
+mode of thought; how should he recognize the merits of the views of
+others? And the great endowments which he possesses are the very ones
+which are adapted to rouse and to maintain the spirit of contradiction
+and of rejection.
+
+As to myself, a layman, I have been very greatly indebted to Niebuhr's
+first volume, and I hope that the second will increase my gratitude
+toward him. I am very curious about his development of the _lex
+agraria_. We have heard of it from the time of our youth without gaining
+any clear conception of it. How pleasant it is to listen to a learned
+and original man on such a theme, especially in these days, when the
+summons comes for a more free and unprejudiced consideration of the law
+of states and nations, as well as of all the relations of civil law. It
+becomes obvious what an advantage it is to know little, and to have
+forgotten very much of that little. I never love to mingle in the
+wrangles of the day, but I cannot forego the delight of quietly snapping
+my fingers at them. I trust that the small leaf inclosed may win a smile
+from you.
+
+I beg you to give my best regards to your wife, and convey my kindest
+greetings to the Körners. When the young man [28] again has anything
+ready, I beg that it may be sent me at once. This time I should be most
+happy to receive a rather large article for January 30, the birthday of
+the duchess. A thousand fare-you-wells!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, February 8, 1813.
+
+With sincere thanks I recognize the fact that you have been able so
+quickly and so perfectly to fulfil your friendly promise. Your
+beautiful sketch has given me an entirely new impulse to studies of all
+sorts. It is no longer possible for me to collect materials; but when
+they are brought to me in so concentrated a form, it becomes a source of
+very real pleasure for me speedily to fill the gaps in my knowledge and
+to discover a thousand relations to what information I already possess.
+
+As soon as I can spend a few quiet weeks at Jena in March, I shall get
+about my task, which, after your preliminary work, is in reality only a
+pastime. Bertuch has had some maps of Europe printed for me in a
+brownish tint. One of these is to be laid on a large drawing-board, and
+the boundaries are to be colored. I shall then indicate the main
+languages and, so far as possible, the dialects as well, by attaching
+little slips; and Bertuch is not unwilling then to have such a map
+engraved, an easy task in his great establishment which is provided with
+artists of every kind. Please have the kindness, therefore, to proceed
+and to send me the continuation at the earliest possible moment. A map
+of the two hemispheres is now ready and is to have the languages
+indicated in like fashion. From my inmost heart I wish success to your
+translation of Æschylus, which continually becomes more and more
+elaborate, and I rejoice that you have not let yourself be frightened
+away from this good work by the threats of the Heidelberg Cyclops[29]
+and his crew. At the present moment they menace our friend Wolf, who
+certainly is no kitten, with ignominious execution, because he also
+dared to land on the translation island which they have received from
+Father Neptune in private fief, and to bring with him a readable
+Aristophanes. It is written, "Blessed are the dead which die in the
+Lord," but still more blessed are they who go mad over some
+conceitedness.
+
+Our friend Wieland is blessed in the first sense; he has died in his
+Lord, and without particular suffering has passed over to his gods and
+heroes. What talent and spirit, learning, common sense, receptivity,
+and versatility, conjoined with industry and endurance, can accomplish,
+_utile nobis proposuit exemplar_. If every man would so employ his gifts
+and his time, what marvels would then take place!
+
+I have passed my winter as usual, much distracted with my work, yet with
+tolerable health, so that it has gone quickly and not without profit. In
+November and December my plans were disarranged by theatrical
+preparations for the long-expected Iffland, who did not come till toward
+the close of the year, and also by preparations for his performances,
+which gave me great pleasure. In January and February there were four
+birthdays, when either our inventive genius or our collaboration was
+demanded; and thus much has been frittered away, willingly, to be sure,
+but fruitlessly.
+
+What I have done meanwhile with pleasure and real interest has been to
+make a renewed effort to find among extant monuments a trace of those of
+which descriptions have come down to us. Philostrati were again the
+order of the day, and as to the statues, I believe that I have got on
+the track of the Olympian Zeus, on which so many preliminary studies
+have already been made, and also on that of the Hera of Samos, the
+Doryphorus of Polycletes, and especially on that of the Cow of Myron and
+of the bull that carried Europa. Meyer, whose history of ancient art,
+now written in a fair copy, furnished the chief inspiration, takes a
+lively interest, since both his doubt and his agreement are invariably
+well-founded.
+
+And thus I shall now close for this time, in the hope of soon seeing
+something from your dear hand once more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Tennstädt, September 1, 1816. The great work to which you, dearest
+friend, have devoted a large portion of your life, could not have
+reached me at a better time; it finds me here in Tennstädt, a little
+provincial Thuringian bathing town which is probably not entirely
+unknown to you. Here I have now been for five weeks, and alone, since my
+friend Meyer left me.
+
+Here, at first, I indulged in a cursory reading both of the introduction
+and of the drama[30] itself, to my no small edification; and inasmuch as
+I am now, for the second time, enjoying the details together with the
+whole, I will no longer withhold my thanks for this gift.
+
+For even though one sympathetically concerns one's self with all the
+praiseworthy and with all the good that the most ancient and the most
+modern times afford, nevertheless, such a pre-ancient giant figure,
+formed like a prodigy, appears amazing to us, and we must collect all
+our senses to stand over against it in an attitude even approximately
+worthy of it. At such a moment there is no doubt that here the work of
+all works of art is seen, or, in more moderate language, a model of the
+highest type. That we now can control this easily is our indebtedness to
+you; and continuous thanks must fervently reward your efforts, though in
+themselves they bring their own reward.
+
+This drama has always been to me one of those most worthy of
+consideration, and through your interest it has been made accessible
+earlier than the rest. But, more than ever, the texture of this primeval
+tapestry now seems most marvelous to me; past, present, and future are
+so happily interwoven that the reader himself becomes the seer, that is,
+he becomes like unto God, and yet, in the last resort, that is the
+triumph of all poetry in the greatest and in the least.
+
+But if we here perceive how the poet had at his service each and every
+means by which so tremendous an effort may be produced, we cannot
+refrain from the highest admiration. How happily the epic, lyric, and
+dramatic diction is interwoven, not compelling, but enticing us to
+sympathize with such cruel fates! And how well the scanty didactic
+reflection becomes the chorus as it speaks! All this cannot receive too
+high a mead of praise.
+
+Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering. I
+could truly continue thus forever, and tell you what you yourself have
+long since better known. Thus I have once more been astonished to see
+that each character, except Clytemnestra, the linker of evil unto evil,
+has her exclusive Aristeia, so that each one acts an entire poem, and
+does not return later for the possible purpose of again burdening us
+with her affairs. In every good poem poetry in its entirety must be
+contained; but this is a flugleman.
+
+The ideas in your introduction regarding synonymy are precious; would
+that our linguistic purists were imbued with them! We will not, however,
+contaminate such lofty affairs with the lamentable blunders whereby the
+German nation is corrupting its language from the very foundation, an
+evil which will not be perceived for thirty years.
+
+You, however, my dearest friend, be and remain blessed for the
+benefaction which you have done us. This your _Agamemnon_ shall never
+again leave my side.
+
+I cannot judge the rhythmic merit, but I believe I feel it. Our
+admirable, talented, and original friend Wolf--although he becomes
+intractable in case of contradiction--who spent a number of days with
+me, speaks very highly of your careful work. It will be instructive to
+see how the Heidelberg gentlemen[31] conduct themselves.
+
+Let me have a word from you before you go to Paris, and give my
+greetings to your dear wife. How much I had wished to see you this
+summer, for so many things are in progress on every side that only days
+suffice to consider what is to be furthered and how. Fortunately for me,
+nothing is approaching that I must absolutely refuse, even though
+everything is not undertaken and conducted according to my convictions.
+And it is precisely this bitter-sweet which can be treated only orally
+and in person.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, June 22, 1823.
+
+Your letter, dear and honored friend, came at a remarkable juncture
+which made it doubly interesting; Schiller's letters had just been
+collected, and I was looking them through from the very first, finding
+there the most charming traces of the happy and fruitful hours which we
+passed together. The invitation to the _Horen_ is contained in the first
+letter of June 13, 1794; then the correspondence continues, and with
+every letter admiration for Schiller's extraordinary spirit and joy over
+his influence on our entire development increases in intensity and
+elevation. His letters are an infinite treasure, of which you also
+possess rich store; and as, through them, we have made noteworthy
+progress, so we must read them again to be protected against backward
+steps to which the precious world about us is inclined to tempt us day
+by day and hour by hour.
+
+Just imagine to yourself now, my dearest friend, how highly welcome your
+announcement seemed to me at this moment when, after ripe reflection, I
+desired to give you very friendly counsel to visit us toward the end of
+October. Should the gods not dispose otherwise concerning us, you will
+surely find me, and whatever else is near and dear to you, assembled
+here; quiet, personal communication may very happily alternate with
+social recreations, and, above all things, we can take delight in
+Schiller's correspondence, since then you will also bring with you the
+letters of several years, and in the fruitful present we may edify and
+refresh ourselves with the fair bloom of by-gone days. Riemer sends his
+very best greetings; he is well; our relation is permanent, mutually
+beneficial, and profitable. Aulic Councillor Meyer has left for
+Wiesbaden; unfortunately, his health is not of the best.
+
+Two new numbers of _Ueber Kunst und Alterthum_ and _Zur
+Naturwissenschaft_ are about to appear--the fruits of my winter's
+labors. Fortunately, they have been so carefully prepared that no
+noteworthy hindrance was presented by my troubles and by the subsequent
+illness of our Grand Duchess, which filled us all, especially my
+convalescent self, with fear and anxiety.
+
+Please give my kindest regards to your wife, and, by the way, I need not
+assure you that you will certainly be most highly welcome to our most
+gracious court. In my household children and grandchildren will meet you
+with joyous faces; our nearest friends we shall assemble as we wish. If
+in the interval you should have some message for me, I beg you to send
+it to my address here, for then it will reach me most quickly.
+
+And now I again send the very best of all kind greetings to your dear
+wife; may good fortune bring me once more to her side. Pardon a somewhat
+distracted way of writing, indicative of packing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 22, 1826.
+
+Your letter and package, most honored friend, gave me a very welcome
+token of your continuous remembrance and friendly sympathy. I wish,
+however, that I might have received an equal assurance of your good
+health. For my own part, I cannot complain; a ship that is no longer a
+deep-sea sailer may perhaps still be useful as a coaster.
+
+I have passed the entire summer at home, laboring undisturbed at editing
+my works. Possibly you still remember, my dearest friend, a dramatic
+_Helena_, which was to appear in the second part of _Faust_. From
+Schiller's letters at the beginning of the century I see that I showed
+him the commencement of it, and also that he, with true friendship,
+counseled me to continue it. It is one of my oldest conceptions, resting
+on the marionette tradition that Faust compelled Mephistopheles to
+produce Helen of Troy for his nuptials. From time to time I have
+continued to work on it, but the piece could not be completed except in
+the fulness of time, for its action has now covered three thousand
+years, from the fall of Troy to the capture of Missolonghi. This can,
+therefore, also be regarded as a unity of time in the higher sense of
+the term; the unities of place and action are, however, likewise most
+carefully regarded in the usual acceptation of the word. It appears
+under the title:
+
+      Helena
+
+    Classico-Romantic Phantasmagoria.
+
+      Interlude to Faust.
+
+This says little indeed, and yet enough, I hope, to direct your
+attention more vividly to the first instalment of my works which I hope
+to present at Easter.
+
+I next ask, with more confidence, whether perchance you still remember
+an epic poem which I had in mind immediately after the completion of
+_Hermann and Dorothea_--in a modern hunt a tiger and a lion were
+concerned. At the time you dissuaded me from elaborating the idea, and I
+abandoned it; now, in searching through old papers, I find the plot
+again, and cannot refrain from executing it in prose; for it may then
+pass as a tale, a rubric under which an extremely large amount of
+remarkable stuff circulates.
+
+Very recently there has reached my hermitage the portrayal of the very
+active life of a man of the world, which highly entertains me--the
+journal of Duke Bernhard of Weimar, who left Ghent in April, 1825, and
+who returned to us only a short time past. It is written
+uninterruptedly, and since his station, his mode of thought, and his
+demeanor introduced him to the highest circles of society, and since he
+was at ease among the middle classes and did not disdain the most
+humble, his reader is very agreeably conducted through most diverse
+situations, which, for me at least, it was highly important to survey
+directly.
+
+Now, however, I must assure you that the outline which you have sent is
+extremely profitable to Riemer and myself, and has given a most
+admirable opportunity for discussions on linguistics and philosophy. I
+am by no means averse to the literature of India, but I am afraid of it;
+for it draws my imaginative power towards the formless and the deformed,
+against which I am forced to guard myself more than ever; but if it
+comes over the signature of a valued friend, it will always be welcome,
+for it gives me the desired opportunity to converse with him on what
+interests him, and what must certainly be of importance.
+
+Now, as I prepare to close, I simply say that I am engaged in combining
+and uniting the scattered _Wanderings of Wilhelm Meister_, in its old
+and new portions, as two volumes. While engaged in which task nothing
+could give me greater delight than to welcome the chief of wanderers,
+your highly esteemed brother, to our house, and to learn directly of his
+ceaseless activity; nor do I fail to express my hearty wishes to your
+dear wife for the best results from the cure which she is seeking in
+such lofty regions.
+
+And so, for ever and ever, in truest sympathy, GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 19, 1830.
+
+How often during these weeks, my dear and honored friend, have I sought
+refuge at your side, again taken out your magnificent letters, and found
+refreshment in them!
+
+As almost in an instant the earthquake of Lisbon caused its influences
+to be felt in the remotest lakes and springs, so we also have been
+shaken directly by that western explosion, as was the case forty years
+ago.
+
+How comforting it must have been for me in such moments to take up your
+priceless letters, you yourself will feel and graciously express.
+Through a decided antithesis I was carried back to those times when we
+felt mutually pledged to procure a preliminary culture, when, united
+with our great and noble friend, we strove after concrete truths, and
+most faithfully and diligently sought to attain all that was most
+beautiful and sublime in the world about us, for the edification of our
+willing, yearning spirits, and to fill to its full an atmosphere which
+required substance and contents.
+
+How beautiful and splendid is it now that you should lay the foundations
+for your latest composition (_Review of Goethe's Italian Travels_) in
+that happy soil, that you should seek to explain me and my endeavors at
+that laborious time, and that attentively and lovingly you should have
+traced back that which in my efforts might seem incidental or lacking in
+coherence, in sequence, to a spiritual necessity and to individual
+characteristic combinations.
+
+Here, now, there would be a most beautiful theme for discussion by word
+of mouth. It is impossible to commit to writing how I was mirrored in
+your words; how I received elucidation on many things; how, at the same
+time, I was again challenged to reflect on the many enigmas that ever
+remain unsolved in man, even as regards himself; and seriously to
+reflect on the inner nexus of many qualities which cross in the
+individual and which, despite a certain degree of contradiction, are
+intertwined and united.
+
+Here belongs preëminently my relation to plastic art, to which you have
+devoted an attention so deserving of thanks. It is marvelous enough that
+man feels an irresistible impulse to prosecute what he cannot achieve,
+and yet that by this very process he is most essentially furthered in
+his actual achievements.
+
+That, however, this long-delayed letter may no further lag behind, I
+shall close, but shall, nevertheless, at the same time inform you that,
+while I uttered the sentiments written above, I once more returned to
+your letters, and by seeing myself mirrored in them afresh was
+challenged to new considerations, and was powerfully reminded of those
+times when, united in spirit though not in body, we, already advanced in
+years, enjoyed with the strength of youth and with delight those idyllic
+days.
+
+For six months [32] now my son has shared in the exuberance with which,
+on the priceless peninsula, nature and centuries have, with most
+marvelous intricacy, amassed and destroyed in life, created and
+demolished in the arts, and played with the fates of men and nations.
+
+He went by steamer from Leghorn to Naples, where he may be even yet, a
+decision which, once carried out, has brought very special advantages.
+He found Professor Zahn there, and himself, under this scholar's
+guidance, completely at home both above and below the ground.
+
+Since now you, too, my dearest friend, are accustoming yourself to
+dictating, send me in a happy hour of leisure often a tiny friendly
+word, so that, from time to time, I may more frequently and concretely
+be aware of the coexistence which has already so long been vouched us on
+this terrestrial ball. I tear myself unwillingly from this
+communication; how much I have to say floats before me, but at this time
+I shall delay only to bless the fortunate star which at this moment
+rises over you and your estimable brother. May what has so charmingly
+been inaugurated endure for the enjoyment of rich results to you and to
+us all!
+
+And so ever!
+
+Weimar, October 19, 1830. J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, December 1, 1831.
+
+Already informed by the public press, honored friend, that the beating
+waves of that wild Baltic have exercised so happy an influence on the
+constitution of my dearest friend, I have rejoiced in a high degree,
+and have done all honor and reverence to the waters which so often wreak
+destruction. Your welcome note gave the fairest and the best of all
+substantiation to these good tidings, so that with comfort I could look
+forth from my hermitage over the monastery gardens veiled in snow, since
+I could fancy to myself my dearest friend in his four-towered castle,
+amid roomy surroundings, surveying a landscape over which winter had
+spread far and wide, and at the same time with good courage pursuing to
+the minutest detail his deep-founded tasks.
+
+Generally speaking, I can perhaps say that the apperception of great
+productive maxims of nature absolutely compels us to continue our
+investigations to the minutest possible details, just as the final
+ramifications of the arteries meet, at the extreme finger-tips, the
+nerves to which they are linked. In particular I might perhaps say that
+I have often been brought more closely to you than you probably know;
+for conversations with Riemer very often turn on a word, its
+etymological signification, formation and mutation, relationship, and
+strangeness.
+
+I have been highly grateful to your brother, for whom I find no epithet,
+for several hours of frank, friendly conversation; for although
+assimilation of his theory of geology, and practical work in accordance
+with it, are impossible for my mental process, yet I have seen with true
+sympathy and admiration how that of which I cannot convince myself in
+him obtains a logical coherence and is amalgamated with the tremendous
+mass of his knowledge, where it is then held together by his priceless
+character.
+
+If I may express myself with my old frankness, my most honored friend, I
+gladly admit that in my advanced years everything becomes more and more
+historical to me. Whether a thing has happened in days gone by, in
+distant realms, or very close to myself, is quite immaterial; I even
+seem to become more and more historical to myself; and when, in the
+evening, Plutarch is read to me, I often appear ridiculous to myself,
+should I narrate my biography in this way.
+
+Forgive me expressions of this character! In old age men become
+garrulous, and since I dictate, it is very easy for this natural
+tendency to get the better of me.
+
+Of my _Faust_ there is much and little to say; at a peculiarly happy
+time the apothegm occurred to me:
+
+  "If bards ye are, as ye maintain;
+  Now let your inspiration show it."
+
+And through a mysterious psychological turn, which probably deserves
+investigation, I believe that I have risen to a type of production which
+with entire consciousness has brought forth that which I myself still
+approve of--though perhaps without being able ever again to swim in this
+current--but which Aristotle and other prose-writers would even ascribe
+to a sort of madness. The difficulty of succeeding consisted in the fact
+that the second part of _Faust_--to whose printed portions you have
+possibly devoted some attention--has been pondered for fifty years in
+its ends and aims, and has been elaborated in fragmentary fashion, as
+one or the other situation occurred to me; but the whole has remained
+incomplete.
+
+Now, the second part of _Faust_ demands more of the understanding than
+the first does, and therefore it was necessary to prepare the reader,
+even though he must still supply bridges. The filling of certain gaps
+was obligatory both for historical and for æsthetic unity, and this I
+continued until at last I deemed it advisable to cry:
+
+"Close ye the wat'ring canal; to their fill have the meadows now drunken."
+
+And now I had to take heart to seal the stitched copy in which printed
+and unprinted are thrust side by side, lest I might possibly be led into
+temptation to elaborate it here and there; at the same time I regret
+that I cannot communicate it to, my most valued friends, as the poet so
+gladly does.
+
+I will not send my _Metamorphosis of Plants_, translated, with an
+appendix, by M. Soret, unless certain confessions of life would satisfy
+your friendship. Recently I have become more and more entangled in these
+phenomena of nature; they have enticed me to continue my labors in my
+original field, and have finally compelled me to remain in it. We shall
+see what is to be done there likewise, and shall trust the rest to the
+future, which, between ourselves, we burden with a heavier task than
+would be supposed.
+
+From time to time let us not miss on either side an echo of continued
+existence.
+
+G.
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, March 17, 1832.
+
+After a long, involuntary pause I begin as follows, and yet simply on
+the spur of the moment. Animals, the ancients said, were taught by their
+organs. I add to this, men also, although they have the advantage of
+teaching their organs in return.
+
+For every act, and, consequently, for every talent, an innate tendency
+is requisite, working automatically, and unconsciously carrying with
+itself the necessary predisposition; yet, for this very reason, it works
+on and on inconsequently, so that, although it contains its laws within
+itself, it may, nevertheless, ultimately run out, devoid of end or aim.
+The earlier a man perceives that there is a handicraft or an art which
+will aid him to attain a normal increase of his natural talents, the
+more fortunate is he. Moreover, what he receives from without does not
+impair his innate individuality. The best genius is that which absorbs
+everything within itself, which knows how to adapt everything, without
+prejudicing in the least the real fundamental essence--the quality which
+is called character--so that it becomes the element which truly elevates
+that quality and endows it throughout so far as may be possible.
+
+Here, now, appear the manifold relations between the conscious and the
+unconscious. Imagine a musical talent that is to compose an important
+score; consciousness and unconsciousness will be related like the warp
+and the woof, a simile that I am so fond of using. Through practice,
+teaching, reflection, failure, furtherance, opposition, and renewed
+reflection the organs of man unconsciously unite, in a free activity,
+the acquired and the innate, so that this process creates a unity which
+sets the world in amaze. This generalization may serve as a speedy reply
+to your query and as an explanation of the note that is herewith
+returned.
+
+Over sixty years have passed since, in my youth, the conception of Faust
+lay before me clear from the first, although the entire sequence was
+present in less detailed form. Now, I have always kept my purpose in the
+back of my mind and I have elaborated only the passages that were of
+special interest to me, so that gaps remain in the second part which are
+to be connected with the remainder through the agency of a uniform
+interest. Here, I must admit, appeared the great difficulty of attaining
+through resolution and character what should properly belong only to a
+nature voluntarily active. It would, however, not have been well had
+this not been feasible after so long a life of active reflection, and I
+let no fear assail me that it may be possible to distinguish the older
+from the newer, and the later from the earlier; which point, then, we
+shall intrust to future readers for their friendly examination.
+
+Beyond all question it will give me infinite pleasure to dedicate and
+communicate these very serious jests to my valued, ever thankfully
+recognized, and widely scattered friends while still living, and to
+receive their reply. But, as a matter of fact, the age is so absurd and
+so insane that I am convinced that the candid efforts which I have long
+expended upon this unusual structure would be ill rewarded, and that,
+driven ashore, they will lie like a wreck in ruins and speedily be
+covered over by the sand-dunes of time. In theory and practice,
+confusion rules the world, and I have no more urgent task than to
+augment, wherever possible, what is and has remained within me, and to
+redistill my peculiarities, as you also, worthy friend, surely also do
+in your castle.
+
+But do you likewise tell me something about your work. Riemer is, as you
+doubtless know, absorbed in the same and similar studies, and our
+evening conversations often lead to the confines of this specialty.
+Forgive this delayed letter! Despite my retirement, there is seldom an
+hour when these mysteries of life may be realized.
+
+
+
+
+GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH ZELTER
+
+TRANSLATED BY FRANCES H. KING
+
+LETTER 512
+
+Weimar, July 28, 1803.
+
+I have followed you so often in my thoughts that unfortunately I have
+neglected to do so in writing. Just a few lines today, to accompany the
+inclosed page. Of Mozart's Biography I have heard nothing further, but I
+will inquire about it and also about the author. Your beautiful Queen
+made many happy while on her journey, and no one happier than my mother;
+nothing could have caused her greater joy in her declining years.
+
+Do write me something about the performance of The _Natural Daughter_,
+frankly and without consideration for my feelings. I have a mind anyhow
+to shorten some of the scenes, which must seem long, even if they are
+excellently acted. Will you outline for me sometime the duties of a
+concert conductor, so much, at all events, as one of our kind needs to
+know in order to form a judgment of such a man, and in case of need, to
+be able to direct him? Madame Mara sang on Tuesday in Lauchstaedt; how
+it went off I do not yet know. For the songs which I received through
+Herr von Wolzogen I thank you mostly heartily in my own name and in the
+name of our friends. It was no time to think of producing them. I hope
+soon to send you the proof-sheets of my songs, and I beg you to keep
+them secret at first, until they have appeared in print.
+
+_Inclosure_
+
+You now have the _Bride of Messina_ before you in print and as you learn
+the poet's intentions from his introductory essay, you will know better
+how to appreciate what he has done, and how far you can agree with
+him. I will, regarding your letter, jot down my thoughts on the subject;
+we can come to an understanding in a few words.
+
+[Illustration: K. F. ZELTER, E. A. Seemann]
+
+In Greek tragedy four forms of the chorus are found, representing four
+epochs. In the first, between the songs in which gods and heroes are
+extolled and genealogies, great deeds, and monstrous destinies are
+brought before the imagination, a few persons appear and carry the
+spectator back into the past. Of this we find an approximate example in
+the _Seven before Thebes_ of, _Eschylus_. Here, therefore, are the
+beginnings of dramatic art, the old style. The second epoch shows us the
+chorus in the mass as the mystical, principal personage of the piece, as
+in the _Eumenides_ and _Supplicants_. Here I am inclined to find the
+grand style. The chorus is independent, the interest centres in it; one
+might call this the Republican period of dramatic art; the rulers and
+the gods are only attendant personages. In the third epoch it is the
+chorus which plays the secondary part; the interest is transferred to
+the families, and the members and heads who represent them in the play,
+with whose fate that of the surrounding people is only loosely
+connected. Then, the chorus is subordinate, and the figures of the
+princes and heroes stand preëminent in all their exclusive magnificence.
+This I consider the beautiful style. The pieces of Sophocles stand on
+this plane. Since the crowd is forced merely to look on at the heroes
+and at fate, and can have no effect on either their special or general
+nature, it takes refuge in reflection and assumes the office of an able
+and welcome spectator. In the fourth epoch the action withdraws more and
+more into the sphere of private interests, and the chorus often appears
+as a burdensome custom, as an inherited fixture. It becomes unnecessary,
+and therefore, as a part of a living poetic composition, it is useless,
+wearisome, and disturbing; as, for example, when it is called upon to
+guard secrets in which it has no interest, and things of that sort.
+Several examples are to be found in the pieces of Euripides, of which I
+will mention _Helen_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_.
+
+From all this you will see that, for a musical reconstruction of the
+chorus, it would be necessary to make experiments in the style of the
+first two epochs; and this might be accomplished by means of quite short
+oratorios.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 553
+
+Weimar, June 1, 1805.
+
+Since writing to you last, I have had few happy days. I thought I should
+die myself, and instead I lose a friend,[33] and with him the half of my
+being. I would really begin a different mode of life, but for one of my
+years there is no way of doing that. I only look straight ahead of me
+each day, and do the thing nearest to me without thinking of the
+consequences.
+
+But as people in every loss and misfortune try to find a pretext for
+amusement, I have been urgently solicited in behalf of our theatre, and
+on many other sides, to celebrate on the stage the memory of the
+departed one. I wish to say nothing further on the subject, except that
+I am not disinclined to it, and all I would ask of you now is whether
+you are willing to assist me in the matter; and, first, whether you
+would furnish me with your motet--"Man lives," etc., about which I have
+read in the _Musical Review_, No. 27; also whether you would either
+compose some other pieces of a solemn character, or else select and make
+over to me some musical pieces already composed--the style of which I
+will indicate later--as a foundation for appropriate compositions. As
+soon as I know your real opinion on the subject, you shall receive
+further details.
+
+Your beautiful series of little essays on orchestra organization I have
+left lying around till now, and the reason is that they contained a sort
+of satire on our own conditions.
+
+Now Reichard wishes them for the _Musical Review_. I hunt them up
+again, look them over, and I feel that I really could not deprive the
+Intelligence Page of our _Literatur-Zeitung_ of them. Some of our
+conditions here have changed, and, after all, a man may surely be
+allowed to censure those things which he did not try to hinder.
+
+Privy Councillor Wolf of Halle is here at present. If only I could hope
+to see you also here this year! Would it not be possible for you to come
+to Lauchstaedt the end of July, so as to help, there on the spot, in the
+preparation and performance of the above-mentioned work?
+
+Think it over and only tell me there is a possibility of it; we shall
+then be able to devise the means of bringing it to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 606
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1808.
+
+The world of art is just now too much run down for a young man to be
+able to realize exactly where he stands. People always search for
+inspiration everywhere but in the place where it originates, and if they
+do once catch sight of the source, then they cannot find the path
+leading to it. Therefore I am reduced to despair by half a dozen of the
+younger poetic spirits, who, though endowed with extraordinary natural
+talent, will scarcely accomplish much that I can ever take pleasure in.
+Werner, Ochlenschlaeger, Arnim, Brentano and others are still working
+and practising at their art, but everything they do is absolutely
+lacking in form and character. Not one of them can understand that the
+highest and only operation of nature and art is the creation of form,
+and in the form, detail, so that each single thing shall become, be, and
+remain something separate and important. There is no art in letting your
+talent go to suit your humor and convenience.
+
+The sad part of it is that the humorous, because it has no support and
+no law within itself, sooner or later degenerates into melancholy and
+bad temper. We have been forced to experience the most horrible examples
+of this in Jean Paul (see his last production in the _Ladies' Calendar_)
+and in Görres (see his _Specimens of Writing_). Moreover, there are
+always people enough to admire and esteem that sort of thing, because
+the public is always grateful to every one who tries to turn its head.
+
+Will you be obliging enough, when you have a quarter of an hour's spare
+time, to sketch for me, in a few rough lines, the aberrations of our
+youthful musicians? I should like to compare them with the errors of the
+painters; for a man must once for all set his heart at rest about these
+things, execrate the whole business, stop thinking about the culture of
+others, and employ the short time that remains to him on his own works.
+But even while I express myself thus disagreeably, I must, as always
+happens to good-natured blusterers, contradict myself immediately, and
+beg you to continue your interest in Eberwein at least until Easter; for
+then I will send him to you again. He has acquired great confidence in
+you, and great respect for your institution, but unhappily even that
+does not mean much with young people. They still secretly think it would
+also be possible to produce something extraordinary by their own foolish
+methods. Many people gain some comprehension that there is a goal, but
+they would like very much to reach it by loitering along mazy paths.
+
+You have been sufficiently reminded of us throughout this month by the
+newspapers. It was worth much to be present in person at these events. I
+also came in for a share of the favorable influence of such an unusual
+constellation. The Emperor of France was very gracious to me. Both
+Emperors decorated me with stars and ribbons, which we desire in all
+modesty thankfully to acknowledge. Forgive me for not writing you more
+about the latest events. You must have already wondered when you read
+the papers that this stream of the great and mighty ones of earth
+should have rolled on as far as Weimar, and even over the battlefield of
+Jena. I cannot refrain from inclosing to you a remarkable engraving. The
+point where the temple is placed, is the farthest point toward the
+north-east reached by Napoleon on this tour. When you visit us, I will
+place you on the spot where the little man with the cane is shown
+parceling off the world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 640
+
+Weimar, February 28, 1811.
+
+I have read somewhere that the celebrated first secretary of the London
+Society, Oldenburg, never opened a letter until he had placed pen, ink,
+and paper before him, and that he then and there, immediately after the
+first reading, wrote down his answer. Thus he was able to meet
+comfortably the demands of an immense correspondence. If I could have
+imitated this virtue, so many people would not now be complaining of my
+silence. But this time your dear letter just received has roused in me
+such a desire to answer, by recalling to my mind all the fullness of our
+life during the summer, that I am writing these lines, if not
+immediately after the first reading, at least on awaking the next
+morning.
+
+I think I anticipated that the good _Pandora_ would slow down somewhat
+when she reached home again. Life in Töplitz was really too favorable to
+this sort of work, and your meditations and efforts were so steadily and
+undividedly centred upon it, that an interruption could not help calling
+forth a pause. But leave it alone; there is so much done on it already
+that, at the right moment, the remainder will, in all likelihood, come
+of its own accord.
+
+I cannot blame you for declining to compose the music to _Faust_. My
+proposition was somewhat ill-considered, like the undertaking itself.
+It can very well rest in peace for another year; for the trouble which I
+had in working over the _Resolute Prince_[34] has about exhausted the
+inclination which we must feel when we set about things of that sort.
+This piece has indeed turned out beyond all expectation, and it has
+given much pleasure to me and to others. It is no small undertaking to
+conjure up a work written almost two hundred years ago, for an entirely
+different clime, for a people of entirely different customs, religion,
+and culture, and to make it appear fresh and new to the eyes of a
+spectator. For nowhere is anything antiquated and without direct appeal
+more out of place than on the stage.
+
+Touching my works you shall, before everything else, receive the
+thirteenth volume. It is very kind of you not to neglect the _Theory of
+Color_; and the fact that you absorb it in small doses will have its
+good effect too. I know very well that my way of handling the matter,
+natural as it is, differs very widely from the usual way, and I cannot
+demand that every one should immediately perceive and appropriate its
+advantages. The mathematicians are foolish people, and are so far from
+having the least idea what my work means that one really must overlook
+their presumption. I am very curious about the first one who gets an
+insight into the matter and behaves honestly about it; for not all of
+them are blindfolded or malicious. But, at any rate, I now see more
+clearly than ever what I have long held in secret, that the training
+which mathematics give to the mind is extremely one-sided and narrow.
+Yes, Voltaire is bold enough to say somewhere: "I have always remarked
+that geometry leaves the mind just where it found it." Franklin also has
+clearly and plainly expressed a special aversion to mathematicians, in
+respect to their social qualities, and finds their petty contradictory
+spirit unbearable.
+
+As concerns the real Newtonians, they are in the same case as the old
+Prussians in October, 1806. The latter believed that they were winning
+tactically, when they had long since been conquered strategically. When
+once their eyes are opened they will be startled to find me already in
+Naumburg and Leipzig, while they are still creeping along near Weimar
+and Blankenheim. That battle was lost in advance; and so is this. The
+Newtonian Theory is already annihilated, while the gentlemen still think
+their adversary despicable. Forgive my boasting; I am just as little
+ashamed of it as those gentlemen are of their pettiness. I am going
+through a strange experience with Kugelchen, as I have done with many
+others. I thought I was making him the nicest compliment possible; for
+really the picture and the frame had turned out most acceptably, and now
+the good man takes offence at a superficial act of politeness, which one
+really ought not to neglect, since many persons' feelings are hurt if we
+omit it. A certain lack of etiquette on my part in such matters has
+often been taken amiss, and now here I am troubling some excellent
+people with my formality. Never get rid of an old fault, my dear friend;
+you will either fall into a new one, or else people will look upon your
+newly acquired virtue as a fault; and no matter how you behave, you will
+never satisfy either yourself or others. In the meantime I am glad that
+I know what the matter is; for I wish to be on good terms with this
+excellent man.
+
+Regarding the antique bull, I should propose to have him carefully
+packed in a strong case, and sent to me for inspection. In ancient times
+these things were often made in replica, and the specimens differ
+greatly in value. To give any good bronze in exchange for another would
+be a bad bargain, as there are scarcely ever duplicates of them, and
+those that we do find are doubly interesting on account of their
+resemblances and dissimilarities. The offer I could make at present is
+as follows: I have a very fine collection of medals, mostly in bronze,
+from the middle of the fifteenth century up to our day. It was collected
+principally in order to illustrate to amateurs and experts the progress
+of plastic art, which is always reflected in the medals. Among these
+medals I have some very beautiful and valuable duplicates, so that I
+could probably get together a most instructive series of them to give
+away. An art lover, who as yet possessed nothing of this description,
+would in them get a good foundation for a collection, and a sufficient
+inducement to continue. Further, such a collection, like a set of Greek
+and Roman coins, affords opportunity for very interesting observations;
+indeed it completes the conception furnished us by the coins, and brings
+it up to present times. I may also say that the bull would have to be
+very perfect, if I am not to have a balance to my credit in the bargain
+above indicated.
+
+Something very pleasing has occurred to me in the last few days; it was
+the presentation to me, from the Empress of Austria, of a beautiful gold
+snuff-box with a diamond wreath, and the name Louisa engraved in full.
+I know you too will take an interest in this event, as it is not often
+that we meet with such unexpected and refreshing good fortune.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 665
+
+Weimar, December 3, 1812.
+
+Your letter telling me of the great misfortune which has befallen your
+house,[35] depressed me very much, indeed quite bowed me down; for it
+reached me in the midst of very serious reflections on life, and it is
+owing to you alone that I have been able to pluck up courage. You have
+proved yourself to be pure refined gold when tried by the black
+touchstone of death. How beautiful is a character when it is so compact
+of mind and soul, and how beautiful must be a talent that rests on such
+a foundation.
+
+Of the deed or the misdeed itself, I know of nothing to say. When the
+_toedium vitoe_ lays hold on a man, he is to be pitied, not to be
+blamed. That all the symptoms of this strange, natural, as well as
+unnatural, disease have raged within me--of that _Werther_ leaves no one
+in doubt. I know right well what amount of resolution and effort it cost
+me then to escape from the waves of death, with what difficulty I saved
+myself from many a later shipwreck, and how hard it was for me to
+recover. And all the stories of mariners and fishermen are the same.
+After the night of storm the shore is reached again; he who was wet
+through dries himself, and the next morning when the beautiful sun
+shines once more on the sparkling waves "the sea has regained its
+appetite for new victims."
+
+When we see not only that the world in general, and especially the
+younger generation, are given over to their lusts and passions, but also
+that what is best and highest in them is misplaced and distorted through
+the serious follies of the age; when we see that what should lead them
+to salvation really contributes to their damnation--to say nothing of
+the unspeakable stress brought to bear upon them from without--then we
+cease to wonder at the misdeeds which a man performs in rage against
+himself and others. I believe I am capable of writing another _Werther_,
+which would make people's hair stand on end, even more than the first
+did. Let me add one remark. Most young people, who feel themselves
+possessed of merit, demand of themselves more than is right. They are,
+however, pressed and forced into it by their gigantic surroundings. I
+know half a dozen of that kind who will certainly perish, and whom it
+would be impossible to help, even if one could make clear to them where
+their real advantage lies. Nobody realizes that reason, courage, and
+will-power are given to us so that we shall refrain, not only from evil,
+but from excess of goodness.
+
+I thank you for your comments on the pages of my autobiography. I had
+already heard much that was good and kind about them in a general way.
+You are the first and only one who has gone into the heart of the
+matter.
+
+I am glad that the description of my father impressed you favorably. I
+will not deny that I am heartily tired of the German bourgeois, these
+_Lorenz Starks_, or whatever they may be called, who, in humorous gloom,
+give free play to their pedantic temperament, and by standing dubiously
+in the way of their good-natured desires, destroy them, as well as the
+happiness of other people. In the two following volumes the figure of my
+father is completely developed, and if on his side as well as on the
+side of his son, a grain of mutual understanding had entered into this
+precious family relationship, both would have been spared much. But it
+was not to be; and indeed such is life. The best laid plan for a journey
+is upset by the stupidest kind of accident, and a man goes farthest when
+he does not know where he is going.
+
+Do have the goodness to continue your comments; for I go slowly, as the
+subject demands, and keep much _in petto_ (on which account many readers
+grow impatient who would be quite satisfied to have the whole meal from
+beginning to end, well braised and roasted, served up at one sitting, so
+that they could the sooner swallow it, and on the morrow seek better or
+worse cheer at random, in a different eating-house or cook's-shop). But
+I, as I have already said, remain in ambush, in order to let my lancers
+and troopers rush forward at the right moment. It is, therefore, very
+interesting for me to learn what you, as an experienced Field-Marshal,
+have already noticed about the vanguard. I have as yet read no
+criticisms of this little work; I will read them all at once after the
+next two volumes are printed. For many years I have observed that those
+who should and would speak of me in public, be their intentions good or
+bad, seem to find themselves in a painful position, and I have hardly
+ever come face to face with a critic who did not sooner or later show
+the famous countenance of Vespasian, and a _faciem duram_.
+
+If you could sometime give me a pleasant surprise by sending the
+_Rinaldo_, I should consider it a great favor.
+
+It is only through you that I can keep in touch with music. We are
+really living here absolutely songless and soundless. The opera, with
+its old standbys, and its novelties dressed up to suit a little theatre,
+and produced at pretty long intervals, is no consolation. At the same
+time I am glad that the court and the city can delude themselves into
+thinking that they have a species of enjoyment handy. The inhabitant of
+a large city is to be accounted happy in this respect, because so much
+that is of importance in other lands is attracted thither.
+
+You have made a point-blank shot at Alfieri. He is more remarkable than
+enjoyable. His works are explained by his life. He torments his readers
+and listeners, just as he torments himself as an author. He had the true
+nature of a count and was therefore blindly aristocratic. He hated
+tyranny, because he was aware of a tyrannical vein in himself, and fate
+had meted out to him a fitting tribulation, when it punished him,
+moderately enough, at the hands of the Sansculottes. The essential
+patrician and courtly nature of the man comes at last very laughably
+into evidence, when he can think of no better way to reward himself for
+his services than by having an order of knighthood manufactured for
+himself. Could he have showed more plainly how ingrained these
+formalities were in his nature? In the same way I must agree to what you
+say of Rousseau's _Pygmalion_. This production certainly belongs among
+the monstrosities, and is most remarkable as a symptom of the chief
+malady of that period, when State and custom, art and talent were
+destined to be stirred into a porridge with a nameless substance--which
+was, however, called nature--yes, when they were indeed thus stirred and
+beaten up together. I hope that my next volume will bring this operation
+to light; for was not I, too, attacked by this epidemic, and was it not
+beneficently responsible for the development of my being, which I cannot
+now picture to myself as growing in any other fashion?
+
+Now I must answer your question about the first Walpurgis-night. The
+state of the case is as follows: Among historians there are some, and
+they are men to whom one cannot refuse one's esteem, who try to find a
+foundation in reality for every fable, every tradition, let it be as
+fantastic and absurd as it will, and, inside the envelope of the
+fairy-tale, believe they can always find a kernel of fact.
+
+We owe much that is good to this method of treatment. For in order to go
+into the matter great knowledge is required; yes, intelligence, wit, and
+imagination are necessary to turn poetry into prose in this way. So now,
+in this case, one of our German antiquarians has tried to vindicate the
+ride of the witches and devils in the Hartz mountains, which has been
+well known to us in Germany for untold ages, and to place it upon a firm
+foundation, by the discovery of an historical origin. Which is, namely,
+that the German heathen priests and forefathers, after they had been
+driven from their sacred groves, and Christianity had been forced upon
+the people, betook themselves with their faithful followers, at the
+beginning of Spring, to the wild inaccessible mountains of the Hartz;
+and there, according to their old custom, they offered prayers and fire
+to the incorporeal God of Heaven and earth. In order to secure
+themselves against the spying, armed converters, they hit upon the idea
+of masking a number of their party, so as to keep their superstitious
+opponents at a distance, and thus, protected by caricatures of devils,
+to finish in peace the pure worship of God.
+
+I found this explanation somewhere, but cannot put my finger on the
+author; the idea pleased me and I have turned this fabulous history into
+a poetical fable again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 433
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1824.
+
+It had long been my wish that you might be invited to take a trip,
+because I was certain that I should then hear something from you; for,
+of course, I am convinced that in over-lively Berlin no one is likely to
+remember to write letters to those who are far away. Now a perilous and
+hazardous journey gives my worthy friend an opportunity for a very
+characteristic and pleasing description; a crowded family party
+furnishes material for a sketch that would certainly find a place in any
+English novel. For my part, I will reply with a couple of matters from
+my quiet sphere.
+
+In the first place, then, my sojourn at home has this time been quite
+successful; yet we must not boast of it, only quietly and modestly
+continue our activities.
+
+Langermann has probably communicated to you what I sent him. The
+introductory poem to _Werther_ I lately resurrected and read to myself,
+quietly and thoughtfully, and immediately afterward the _Elegie_ which
+harmonizes with it very well; only I missed in them the direct effect of
+your pleasing melody, although it gradually revived and rose out of my
+inner consciousness.
+
+I am now also concluding the instalment on natural science, which was
+inconveniently delayed this year, and am editing my _Correspondence with
+Schiller from 1794_ to 1805. A great boon will be offered to the
+Germans, yes, I might even say to humanity in general, revealing the
+intimacy between two friends, of the kind who keep contributing to each
+other's development in the very act of pouring out their hearts to each
+other. I have a strange feeling at my task, for I am learning what I
+once was. However, it is most instructive of all to see how two people
+who mutually further their purposes _par force_, fritter away their time
+through inner over-activity and outer excitement and disturbance; so
+that there is, after all, no result fully worthy of their capacities,
+tendencies, aims. The effect will be extremely edifying; for every
+thoughtful man will be able to find in it consolation for himself.
+
+Moreover, it contributes to various other things which are revived by
+the excited life of that period. If what you recognized a year ago as
+the cause of my illness now proves itself the apparent element of my
+good health, everything will be running smoothly and you will hear
+pleasant news from time to time.
+
+In order that I may, however, hear from you soon, I wish to inform you
+that it would give me especial pleasure to receive a concise, forceful
+description of the Konigstadter theatricals. From what they are playing
+and rehearsing and from the notices and criticisms that reach me in the
+newspapers, I can form some notion for myself, to be sure; but, in any
+case, you will correct and strengthen my ideas. At your suggestion the
+architect sent me a plan which I found very acceptable, because, from it
+I can see for myself that the theatre is situated in a large residential
+section. This probably makes it very nice and cheerful, just as setting
+back the various rows of boxes is a very convenient arrangement for the
+audience who wish to be seen while they themselves see. This much I
+already know, and you, with a few strokes, will assist me to picture the
+most vivid actuality.
+
+J. A. Stumpff, of London, Harp Maker to his Majesty, is just leaving me.
+A native of Ruhl, he was sent at an early age to England, where he is
+now working as an able mechanic, a sturdy man of good stature in which
+you would take delight; at the same time he manifests the most patriotic
+sentiments for our language and literature. Through Schiller and myself
+he has been awakened to all that is good, and he is highly pleased to
+see our literary products become gradually known and appreciated. He
+revealed a remarkable personality.
+
+Our sonorous bells are just announcing the celebration of the
+anniversary of the Reformation. It resounds with a ring that must not
+leave us indifferent. Keep us, Lord, in Thy word, and guide.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: _Morgenblatt_ 1815. Nr. 113 12. Mai.]
+
+[Footnote 2: (King Henry IV, Part II, Act 4, Scene 4.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: The works referred to are the nine volumes of A. W.
+Schlegel's translation, which appeared 1797-1810, and were subsequently
+(since 1826) supplemented by the missing dramas, translated under
+Tieck's direction.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Delivered before the Amalia Lodge of Freemasons in Weimar,
+February 1813.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell & Sons,
+London.]
+
+[Footnote 7: It is almost needless to observe that the word "demon" is
+her reference to its Greek origin, and implies nothing evil.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 8: This is the first day in Eckermann's first book, and the
+first time in which he speaks in this book, as distinguished from
+Soret.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 9: The word "Gelegenheitsgedicht" (occasional poem) properly
+applies to poems written for special occasions, such as birthdays,
+weddings, etc., but Goethe here extends the meaning, as he himself
+explains. As the English word "occasional" often implies no more than
+"occurrence now and then," the phrase "occasional poem" is not very
+happy, and is only used for want of a better. The reader must conceive
+the word in the limited sense, produced on some special
+event.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 10: Goethe's "West-östliche (west-eastern) Divan," one of the
+twelve divisions of which is entitled "Das Buch des Unmuths" (The Book
+of Ill-Humor).--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Die Aufgeregten_ (the Agitated, in a political sense) is
+an unfinished drama by Goethe.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The German phrase "Freund des Bestehenden," which, for
+want of a better expression, has been rendered above "friend of the
+powers that be," literally means "friend of the permanent," and was used
+by the detractors of Goethe to denote the "enemy of the
+progressive."--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 13: Poetry and Truth, the title of Goethe's
+autobiography.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 14: This, doubtless, means the "Deformed Transformed," and the
+fact that this poem was not published till January, 1824, rendering it
+probable that Goethe had not actually seen it, accounts for the
+inaccuracy of the expression.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 15: It need scarcely be mentioned that this is the name given
+to a collection of sarcastic epigrams by Goethe and Schiller.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Die Natürliche Tochter" (the Natural
+Daughter).--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 17: Vide p. 185, where a remark is made on the word _nature_,
+as applied to a person.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 18: These plays were intended to be in the Shakesperian style,
+and Goethe means that by writing them he freed himself from Shakespeare,
+just as by writing _Werther_ he freed himself from thoughts of
+suicide.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 19: This doubtless refers to the Heath country in which
+Eckermann was born.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This poem is simply entitled "Ballade," and begins
+"Herein, O du Guter! du Alter herein!"--_Trans_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: A It must be borne in mind that this was said before the
+appearance of "Robert le Diable," which was first produced in Paris, in
+November, 1831.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 22: B That is, the second act of the second part of "Faust,"
+which was not published entire till after Goethe's death.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 23: In the original book this conversation follows immediately
+the one of December 21, 1831, and with the remainder of the book is
+prefaced thus:--"The following I noted down shortly afterwards (that is,
+after they took place) from memory."--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 24: A distinguished die-cutter in Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Giovanni Hamerani was papal die-cutter from 1675 to 1705.]
+
+[Footnote 26: A C. A. Bottiger had surrendered his position as director
+of the Gymnasium of Weimar and had gone to Dresden, while Heinrich Voss
+(1779-1822), an enthusiastic young admirer of Goethe, had come to the
+gymnasium.]
+
+[Footnote 27: An association of civil officials of Mannheim had
+intrusted to Goethe a sum of money to erect a memorial to Count von
+Dalberg, but the plan was never carried out.]
+
+[Footnote 28: a Theodor Körner (1791-1813), at that time a dramatist in
+Vienna, and closely connected with the Humboldt family through Wilhelm's
+friendship for Christian G. Körner.]
+
+[Footnote 29: J. H. Voss, although his translation of Æschylus was not
+printed until 1826.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Humboldt's translation of the _Agamemnon of Æschylus_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Voss and his son.]
+
+[Footnote 32: August, who went to Italy, in March, 1830, and died there
+eight days after this letter was written.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Schiller died May 9, 1805]
+
+[Footnote 34: By Calderon]
+
+[Footnote 35: Zelter's eldest son had shot himself.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth
+and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
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diff --git a/old/11366-8.zip b/old/11366-8.zip
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@@ -0,0 +1,18185 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth and
+Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II
+       Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. In Twenty Volumes
+
+Author: Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
+
+Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11366]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN CLASSICS, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
+
+
+
+THE GERMAN CLASSICS
+
+
+MASTERPIECES OF GERMAN LITERATURE
+
+TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
+
+
+
+IN TWENTY VOLUMES
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+
+1914
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
+
+
+      INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         By Calvin Thomas
+
+      THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES.
+         Translated by James Anthony Froude and R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE.
+         Translated by Julia Franklin
+
+      ORATION ON WIELAND.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (from "Wilhelm Meister's Travels").
+         Translated by R. Dillon Boylan
+
+      WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE.
+         Translated by George Krielin
+
+      MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS.
+         Translated by Bailey Saunders
+
+      ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOETHE.
+         Translated by John Oxenford
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE.
+         Translated by Louis H. Gray
+
+      GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH K. F. ZELTER.
+         Translated by Frances H. King
+
+
+
+
+    ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME II
+
+    Capri
+
+    Edward reading aloud to Charlotte and the Captain
+
+    Charlotte receives Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward and Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Edward, Charlotte, Ottilie and the Captain discuss
+      the new plan of the house. By Franz Simm
+
+    Ottilie examines Edward's Presents. By P Grotjohann
+
+    Luciana posing as Queen Artemisia. By P. Grotjohann
+
+    Ottilie. By Wilhelm von Kaulbach
+
+    The Old Theatre, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Martin Wieland. By E. Hader
+
+    Princess Amalia
+
+    Winckelmann
+
+    Weimar seen from the North
+
+    Goethe and his Secretary. By Johann Josef Schmeller
+
+    Goethe's Study
+
+    The Garden at Goethe's City House, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
+
+    Schiller's Garden House at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    The float at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    View into the Saale Valley near Jena. Drawing by Goethe
+
+    K.F. Zelter
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+In the spring of the year 1807 Goethe began work on the second part of
+_Wilhelm Meister_. He had no very definite plot in view, but proposed to
+make room for a number of short stories, all relating to the subject of
+renunciation, which was to be the central theme of the _Wanderjahre_. In
+the course of the summer, while he was taking the waters at Karlsbad,
+two or three of the stories were written. The following spring he set
+about elaborating another tale of renunciation, the idea of which had
+occurred to him some time before. But somehow it refused to be confined
+within the limits of a novelette. As he proceeded the matter grew apace,
+until it finally developed into the novel which was given to the world
+in 1809 under the title of _The Elective Affinities_.
+
+When that which should be a short story is expanded into a novel one can
+usually detect the padding and the embroidery. So it is certainly in
+this case. Those long descriptions of landscape-gardening; the copious
+extracts from Ottilie's diary, containing many thoughts which would
+hardly have entered the head of such a girl; the pages given to
+subordinate characters, whose comings and goings have no very obvious
+connection with the story,--all these retard the narrative and tend to
+hide the essential idea. The strange title, too, has served to divert
+attention from the real centre of gravity. Had the tale been called,
+say, "Ottilie's Expiation," there would have been less room for
+misunderstanding and irrelevant criticism; there would have been less
+concern over the moral, and more over the artistic, aspect of the story.
+
+What then was the essential idea? Simply to describe a peculiar tragedy
+resulting from the invasion of the marriage relation by lawless passion.
+As for the title, it should be remembered that there was just then a
+tendency to look for curious analogies between physical law and the
+operations of the human mind. Great interest was felt in suggestion,
+occult influence, and all that sort of thing. Goethe himself had lately
+been lecturing on magnetism. He had also observed, as no one can fail to
+observe, that the sexual attraction sometimes seems to act like chemical
+affinity: it breaks up old unions, forms new combinations, destroys
+pre-existing bodies, as if it were a law that _must_ work itself out,
+whatever the consequences. Such a process will now and then defy
+prudence, self-respect, duty, even religion,--going its way like a blind
+and ruthless law of physics. But if this is to happen the recombining
+elements must, of course, have each its specific character; else there
+is no affinity and no tragedy.
+
+It is no part of the analogy that the pressure of sex is always and by
+its very nature like the attraction of atoms. Aside from the fact that
+character consists largely in the steady inhibition of instinct and
+passion by the will, there is this momentous difference between atoms or
+molecules, on the one hand, and souls on the other: the character of the
+atom or molecule is constant, that of the soul is highly variable. There
+is no room here for remarks on free will and determinism; suffice it to
+say that Goethe does not preach any doctrine of mechanical determinism
+in human relations. The scientific analogy must not be pressed too hard.
+It is really not important, since after all nothing turns on it.
+Whatever interest the novel has it would have if all reference to
+chemistry had been omitted. Goethe's thesis, if he can be said to have
+one, is simply that character is fate.
+
+He imagines a middle-aged man and woman, Edward and Charlotte, who are,
+to all seeming, happily united in marriage. Each has been married before
+to an unloved mate who has conveniently died, leaving them both free to
+yield to the gentle pull of long-past youthful attachment. Their feeling
+for each other is only a mild friendship, but that does not appear to
+augur ill, since they are well-to-do, and their fine estate offers them
+both a plenty of interesting work. Edward has a highly esteemed friend
+called the Captain, who is for the moment without suitable employment
+for his ability and energy. Edward can give him just the needed work,
+with great advantage to the property, and would like to do so. Charlotte
+fears that the presence of the Captain may disturb their pleasant idyl,
+but finally yields. She herself has a niece, Ottilie, a beautiful girl
+whom no one understands and who is not doing well at her
+boarding-school. Charlotte would like to have the girl under her own
+care. After much debate the pair take both the Captain and Ottilie into
+their spacious castle.
+
+And now the elective affinity begins to do its disastrous work. Edward,
+who has always indulged himself in every whim and has no other standard
+of conduct, falls madly in love with the charming Ottilie, who has a
+passion for making herself useful and serving everybody. She adapts
+herself to Edward, fails to see what a shabby specimen of a man he
+really is, humors his whims, and worships him--at first in an innocent
+girlish way. Charlotte is not long in discovering that the Captain is a
+much better man than her husband; she loves him, but within the limits
+of wifely duty. In the vulgar world of prose such a tangle could be most
+easily straightened out by divorce and remarriage. This is what Edward
+proposes and tries to bring about. The others are almost won over to
+this solution when the event happens that precipitates the tragedy: the
+child of Edward and Charlotte is accidentally drowned by Ottilie's
+carelessness.
+
+It is a very dubious link in Goethe's fiction that this child, while the
+genuine offspring of Edward and Charlotte, has the features of Ottilie
+and the Captain. From the moment of the drowning Ottilie is a changed
+being. Her character quickly matures; like a wakened sleep-walker she
+sees what a dangerous path she has been treading. She feels that
+marriage with Edward would be a crime. She resists his passionate
+appeals, and her remorse takes on a morbid tinge. It becomes a fixed
+idea. Happiness is not for her. She must renounce it all. She must
+atone--atone--for her awful sin. For a moment they plan to send her back
+to school, but she cannot tear herself away from Edward's sinister
+presence. At last she refuses food and gradually starves herself to
+death. The wretched Edward does likewise.
+
+Any just appreciation of Goethe's art in _The Elective Affinities_ must
+begin by recognizing that it is about Ottilie. For her sake the book was
+written. It is a study of a delicately organized virgin soul caught in
+the meshes of an ignoble fate and beating its wings in hopeless misery
+until death ends the struggle. The other characters are ordinary people:
+Charlotte and the Captain ordinary in their good sense and self-control,
+Edward ordinary in his moral flabbiness and his foolish infatuation. His
+death, to be sure, is unthinkable for such a man and does but testify to
+the unearthly attraction with which the girl is invested by Goethe's
+art. The figure of Ottilie, like that of her spiritual sister Mignon, is
+irradiated by a light that never was on sea or land. She is a creature
+of romance, and we learn without much surprise that her dead body
+performs miracles. One is reminded of that medieval lady who is doomed
+to eat the heart of her crusading lover and then refuses all other food
+and dies. That Edward is quite unworthy of the girl's love, that the
+death of the child is no sufficient reason for her morbid remorse, is
+quite immaterial, since at the end of the tale we are no longer in the
+realm of normal psychology. A season of dreamy happiness, as she moves
+about in a world unrealized; then a terrible shock, and after that,
+remorse, renunciation, hopelessness, the will to die. Such is the logic
+of the tale.
+
+
+
+
+THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE AND R. DILLON BOYLAN
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Edward--so we shall call a wealthy nobleman in the prime of life--had
+been spending several hours of a fine April morning in his
+nursery-garden, budding the stems of some young trees with cuttings
+which had been recently sent to him.
+
+He had finished what he was about, and having laid his tools together in
+their box, was complacently surveying his work, when the gardener came
+up and complimented his master on his industry.
+
+"Have you seen my wife anywhere?" inquired Edward, as he moved to go
+away.
+
+"My lady is alone yonder in the new grounds," said the man; "the
+summer-house which she has been making on the rock over against the
+castle is finished today, and really it is beautiful. It cannot fail to
+please your grace. The view from it is perfect:--the village at your
+feet; a little to your right the church, with its tower, which you can
+just see over; and directly opposite you, the castle and the garden."
+
+"Quite true," replied Edward; "I can see the people at work a few steps
+from where I am standing."
+
+"And then, to the right of the church again," continued the gardener,
+"is the opening of the valley; and you look along over a range of wood
+and meadow far into the distance. The steps up the rock, too, are
+excellently arranged. My gracious lady understands these things; it is a
+pleasure to work under her."
+
+"Go to her," said Edward, "and desire her to be so good as to wait for
+me there. Tell her I wish to see this new creation of hers, and enjoy it
+with her."
+
+The gardener went rapidly off, and Edward soon followed. Descending the
+terrace, and stopping as he passed to look into the hot-houses and the
+forcing-pits, he came presently to the stream, and thence, over a narrow
+bridge, to a place where the walk leading to the summer-house branched
+off in two directions. One path led across the churchyard, immediately
+up the face of the rock. The other, into which he struck, wound away to
+the left, with a more gradual ascent, through a pretty shrubbery. Where
+the two paths joined again, a seat had been made, where he stopped a few
+moments to rest; and then, following the now single road, he found
+himself, after scrambling along among steps and slopes of all sorts and
+kinds, conducted at last through a narrow more or less steep outlet to
+the summer-house.
+
+Charlotte was standing at the door to receive her husband. She made him
+sit down where, without moving, he could command a view of the different
+landscapes through the door and window--these serving as frames, in
+which they were set like pictures. Spring was coming on; a rich,
+beautiful life would soon everywhere be bursting; and Edward spoke of it
+with delight.
+
+"There is only one thing which I should observe," he added, "the
+summer-house itself is rather small."
+
+"It is large enough for you and me, at any rate," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Certainly," said Edward; "there is room for a third, too, easily."
+
+"Of course; and for a fourth also," replied Charlotte. "For larger
+parties we can contrive other places."
+
+"Now that we are here by ourselves, with no one to disturb us, and in
+such a pleasant mood," said Edward, "it is a good opportunity for me to
+tell you that I have for some time had something on my mind, about which
+I have wished to speak to you, but have never been able to muster up my
+courage."
+
+"I have observed that there has been something of the sort," said
+Charlotte.
+
+"And even now," Edward went on, "if it were not for a letter which the
+post brought me this morning, and which obliges me to come to some
+resolution today, I should very likely have still kept it to myself."
+
+"What is it, then" asked Charlotte, turning affectionately toward him.
+
+"It concerns our friend the Captain," answered Edward; "you know the
+unfortunate position in which he, like many others, is placed. It is
+through no fault of his own; but you may imagine how painful it must be
+for a person with his knowledge and talents and accomplishments, to find
+himself without employment. I--I will not hesitate any longer with what
+I am wishing for him. I should like to have him here with us for a
+time."
+
+"We must think about that," replied Charlotte; "it should be considered
+on more sides than one."
+
+"I am quite ready to tell you what I have in view," returned Edward.
+"Through his last letters there is a prevailing tone of despondency; not
+that he is really in any want. He knows thoroughly well how to limit his
+expenses; and I have taken care for everything absolutely necessary. It
+is no distress to him to accept obligations from me; all our lives we
+have been in the habit of borrowing from and lending to each other; and
+we could not tell, if we would, how our debtor and creditor account
+stands. It is being without occupation which is really fretting him. The
+many accomplishments which he has cultivated in himself, it is his only
+pleasure--indeed, it is his passion--to be daily and hourly exercising
+for the benefit of others. And now, to sit still, with his arms folded;
+or to go on studying, acquiring, and acquiring, when he can make no use
+of what he already possesses;--my dear creature, it is a painful
+situation; and alone as he is, he feels it doubly and trebly."
+
+"But I thought," said Charlotte, "that he had had offers from many
+different quarters. I myself wrote to numbers of my own friends, male
+and female, for him; and, as I have reason to believe, not without
+effect."
+
+"It is true," replied Edward; "but these very offers--these various
+proposals--have only caused him fresh embarrassment. Not one of them is
+at all suitable to such a person as he is. He would have nothing to do;
+he would have to sacrifice himself, his time, his purposes, his whole
+method of life; and to that he cannot bring himself. The more I think of
+it all, the more I feel about it, and the more anxious I am to see him
+here with us."
+
+"It is very beautiful and amiable in you," answered Charlotte, "to enter
+with so much sympathy into your friend's position; only you must allow
+me to ask you to think of yourself and of me, as well."
+
+"I have done that," replied Edward. "For ourselves, we can have nothing
+to expect from his presence with us, except pleasure and advantage. I
+will say nothing of the expense. In any case, if he came to us, it would
+be but small; and you know he will be of no inconvenience to us at all.
+He can have his own rooms in the right wing of the castle, and
+everything else can be arranged as simply as possible. What shall we not
+be thus doing for him! and how agreeable and how profitable may not his
+society prove to us! I have long been wishing for a plan of the property
+and the grounds. He will see to it, and get it made. You intend yourself
+to take the management of the estate, as soon as our present steward's
+term is expired; and that, you know, is a serious thing. His various
+information will be of immense benefit to us; I feel only too acutely
+how much I require a person of this kind. The country people have
+knowledge enough, but their way of imparting it is confused, and not
+always honest. The students from the towns and universities are
+sufficiently clever and orderly, but they are deficient in personal
+experience. From my friend, I can promise myself both knowledge and
+method, and hundreds of other circumstances I can easily conceive
+arising, affecting you as well as me, and from which I can foresee
+innumerable advantages. Thank you for so patiently listening to me. Now,
+do you say what you think, and say it out freely and fully; I will not
+interrupt you."
+
+"Very well," replied Charlotte; "I will begin at once with a general
+observation. Men think most of the immediate--the present; and rightly,
+their calling being to do and to work; women, on the other hand, more of
+how things hang together in life; and that rightly too, because their
+destiny--the destiny of their families--is bound up in this
+interdependence, and it is exactly this which it is their mission to
+promote. So now let us cast a glance at our present and our past life;
+and you will acknowledge that the invitation of the Captain does not
+fall in so entirely with our purposes, our plans, and our arrangements.
+I will go back to those happy days of our earliest intercourse. We loved
+each other, young as we then were, with all our hearts. We were parted:
+you from me--your father, from an insatiable desire of wealth, choosing
+to marry you to an elderly and rich lady; I from you, having to give my
+hand, without any especial motive, to an excellent man, whom I
+respected, if I did not love. We became again free--you first, your poor
+mother at the same time leaving you in possession of your large fortune;
+I later, just at the time when you returned from abroad. So we met once
+more. We spoke of the past; we could enjoy and love the recollection of
+it; we might have been contented, in each other's society, to leave
+things as they were. You were urgent for our marriage. I at first
+hesitated. We were about the same age; but I as a woman had grown older
+than you as a man. At last I could not refuse you what you seemed to
+think the one thing you cared for. All the discomfort which you had ever
+experienced, at court, in the army, or in traveling, you were to recover
+from at my side; you would settle down and enjoy life; but only with me
+for your companion. I settled my daughter at a school, where she could
+be more completely educated than would be possible in the retirement of
+the country; and I placed my niece Ottilie there with her as well, who,
+perhaps, would have grown up better at home with me, under my own care.
+This was done with your consent, merely that we might have our own
+lives to ourselves--merely that we might enjoy undisturbed our
+so-long-wished-for, so-long-delayed happiness. We came here and settled
+ourselves. I undertook the domestic part of the menage, you the
+out-of-doors and the general control. My own principle has been to meet
+your wishes in everything, to live only for you. At least, let us give
+ourselves a fair trial how far in this way we can be enough for each
+other."
+
+"Since the interdependence of things, as you call it, is your especial
+element," replied Edward, "one should either never listen to any of your
+trains of reasoning, or make up one's mind to allow you to be in the
+right; and, indeed, you have been in the right up to the present day.
+The foundation which we have hitherto been laying for ourselves, is of
+the true, sound sort; only, are we to build nothing upon it? is nothing
+to be developed out of it? All the work we have done--I in the garden,
+you in the park--is it all only for a pair of hermits?"
+
+"Well, well," replied Charlotte, "very well. What we have to look to is,
+that we introduce no alien element, nothing which shall cross or
+obstruct us. Remember, our plans, even those which only concern our
+amusements, depend mainly on our being together. You were to read to me,
+in consecutive order, the journal which you made when you were abroad.
+You were to take the opportunity of arranging it, putting all the loose
+matter connected with it in its place; and with me to work with you and
+help you, out of these invaluable but chaotic leaves and sheets to put
+together a complete thing, which should give pleasure to ourselves and
+to others. I promised to assist you in transcribing; and we thought it
+would be so pleasant, so delightful, so charming, to travel over in
+recollection the world which we were unable to see together. The
+beginning is already made. Then, in the evenings, you have taken up your
+flute again, accompanying me on the piano, while of visits backwards and
+forwards among the neighborhood, there is abundance. For my part, I
+have been promising myself out of all this the first really happy summer
+I have ever thought to spend in my life."
+
+"Only I cannot see," replied Edward, rubbing his forehead, "how, through
+every bit of this which you have been so sweetly and so sensibly laying
+before me, the Captain's presence can be any interruption; I should
+rather have thought it would give it all fresh zest and life. He was my
+companion during a part of my travels. He made many observations from a
+different point of view from mine. We can put it all together, and so
+make a charmingly complete work of it."
+
+"Well, then, I will acknowledge openly," answered Charlotte, with some
+impatience, "my feeling is against this plan. I have an instinct which
+tells me no good will come of it."
+
+"You women are invincible in this way," replied Edward. "You are so
+sensible, that there is no answering you, then so affectionate, that one
+is glad to give way to you; full of feelings, which one cannot wound,
+and full of forebodings, which terrify one."
+
+"I am not superstitious," said Charlotte; "and I care nothing for these
+dim sensations, merely as such; but in general they are the result of
+unconscious recollections of happy or unhappy consequences, which we
+have experienced as following on our own or others' actions. Nothing is
+of greater moment, in any state of things, than the intervention of a
+third person. I have seen friends, brothers and sisters, lovers,
+husbands and wives, whose relation to each other, through the accidental
+or intentional introduction of a third person, has been altogether
+changed--whose whole moral condition has been inverted by it."
+
+"That may very well be," replied Edward, "with people who live on
+without looking where they are going; but not, surely, with persons whom
+experience has taught to understand themselves."
+
+"That understanding ourselves, my dearest husband," insisted Charlotte,
+"is no such certain weapon. It is very often a most dangerous one for
+the person who bears it. And out of all this, at least so much seems to
+arise, that we should not be in too great a hurry. Let me have a few
+days to think; don't decide."
+
+"As the matter stands," returned Edward, "wait as many days as we will,
+we shall still be in too great a hurry. The arguments for and against
+are all before us; all we want is the conclusion, and as things are, I
+think the best thing we can do is to draw lots."
+
+"I know," said Charlotte, "that in doubtful cases it is your way to
+leave them to chance. To me, in such a serious matter, this seems almost
+a crime."
+
+"Then what am I to write to the Captain?" cried Edward; "for write I
+must at once."
+
+"Write him a kind, sensible, sympathizing letter," answered Charlotte.
+
+"That is as good as none at all," replied Edward.
+
+"And there are many cases," answered she, "in which we are obliged, and
+in which it is the real kindness, rather to write nothing than not to
+write."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Edward was alone in his room. The repetition of the incidents of his
+life from Charlotte's lips; the representation of their mutual
+situation, their mutual purposes, had worked him, sensitive as he was,
+into a very pleasant state of mind. While close to her--while in her
+presence--he had felt so happy, that he had thought out a warm, kind,
+but quiet and indefinite epistle which he would send to the Captain.
+When, however, he had settled himself at his writing-table, and taken up
+his friend's letter to read it over once more, the sad condition of this
+excellent man rose again vividly before him. The feelings which had been
+all day distressing him again awoke, and it appeared impossible to him
+to leave one whom he called his friend in such painful embarrassment.
+
+Edward was unaccustomed to deny himself anything. The only child, and
+consequently the spoilt child, of wealthy parents, who had persuaded him
+into a singular, but highly advantageous marriage with a lady far older
+than himself; and again by her petted and indulged in every possible
+way, she seeking to reward his kindness to her by the utmost liberality;
+after her early death his own master, traveling independently of every
+one, equal to all contingencies and all changes, with desires never
+excessive, but multiple and various--free-hearted, generous, brave, at
+times even noble--what was there in the world to cross or thwart him?
+
+Hitherto, everything had gone as he desired! Charlotte had become his;
+he had won her at last, with an obstinate, a romantic fidelity; and now
+he felt himself, for the first time, contradicted, crossed in his
+wishes, when those wishes were to invite to his home the friend of his
+youth--just as he was longing, as it were, to throw open his whole heart
+to him. He felt annoyed, impatient; he took up his pen again and again,
+and as often threw it down again, because he could not make up his mind
+what to write. Against his wife's wishes he would not go; against her
+expressed desire he could not. Ill at ease as he was, it would have been
+impossible for him, even if he had wished, to write a quiet, easy
+letter. The most natural thing to do, was to put it off. In a few words,
+he begged his friend to forgive him for having left his letter
+unanswered; that day he was unable to write circumstantially; but
+shortly, he hoped to be able to tell him what he felt at greater length.
+
+The next day, as they were walking to the same spot, Charlotte took the
+opportunity of bringing back the conversation to the subject, perhaps
+because she knew that there is no surer way of rooting out any plan or
+purpose than by often talking it over.
+
+It was what Edward was wishing. He expressed him self in his own way,
+kindly and sweetly. For although, sensitive as, he was, he flamed up
+readily--although the vehemence with which he desired anything made him
+pressing, and his obstinacy made him impatient--his words were so
+softened by his wish to spare the feelings of those to whom he was
+speaking, that it was impossible not to be charmed, even when one most
+disagreed, with him.
+
+This morning, he first contrived to bring Charlotte into the happiest
+humor, and then so disarmed her with the graceful turn which he gave to
+the conversation, that she cried out at last:
+
+"You are determined that what I refused to the husband you will make me
+grant to the lover. At least, my dearest," she continued, "I will
+acknowledge that your wishes,--and the warmth and sweetness with which
+you express them, have not left me untouched, have not left me unmoved.
+You drive me to make a confession;--till now, I too have had a
+concealment from you; I am in exactly the same position with you, and I
+have hitherto been putting the same restraint on my inclination which I
+have been exhorting you to put on yours."
+
+"Glad am I to hear that," said Edward. "In the married state, a
+difference of opinion now and then, I see, is no bad thing; we learn
+something of each other by it."
+
+"You are to learn at present, then," said Charlotte, "that it is with me
+about Ottilie as it is with you about the Captain. The dear child is
+most uncomfortable at the school, and I am thoroughly uneasy about her.
+Luciana, my daughter, born as she is for the world, is there training
+hourly for the world; languages, history, everything that is taught
+there, she acquires with so much ease that, as it were, she learns them
+off at sight. She has quick natural gifts, and an excellent memory; one
+may almost say she forgets everything, and in a moment calls it all back
+again. She distinguishes herself above every one at the school with the
+freedom of her carriage, the grace of her movement, and the elegance of
+her address, and with the inborn royalty of nature makes herself the
+queen of the little circle there. The superior of the establishment
+regards her as a little divinity, who, under her hands, is shaping into
+excellence, and who will do her honor, gain her reputation, and bring
+her a large increase of pupils; the first pages of this good lady's
+letters, and her monthly notices of progress, are forever hymns about
+the excellence of such a child, which I have to translate into my own
+prose; while her concluding sentences about Ottilie are nothing but
+excuse after excuse--attempts at explaining how it can be that a girl in
+other respects growing up so lovely seems coming to nothing, and shows
+neither capacity nor accomplishment. This, and the little she has to say
+besides, is no riddle to me, because I can see in this dear child the
+same character as that of her mother, who was my own dearest friend; who
+grew up with myself, and whose daughter, I am certain, if I had the care
+of her education, would form into an exquisite creature.
+
+"This, however, has not fallen in with our plan, and as one ought not to
+be picking and pulling, or for ever introducing new elements among the
+conditions of our lives, I think it better to bear, and to conquer as I
+can, even the unpleasant impression that my daughter, who knows very
+well that poor Ottilie is entirely dependent upon us, does not refrain
+from flourishing her own successes in her face, and so, to a certain
+extent, destroys the little good which we have done for her. Who are
+well trained enough never to wound others by a parade of their own
+advantages? and who stands so high as not at times to suffer under such
+a slight? In trials like these, Ottilie's character is growing in
+strength, but since I have clearly known the painfulness of her
+situation, I have been thinking over all possible ways to make some
+other arrangement. Every hour I am expecting an answer to my own last
+letter, and then I do not mean to hesitate any more. So, my dear Edward,
+it is with me. We have both, you see, the same sorrows to bear, touching
+both our hearts in the same point. Let us bear them together, since we
+neither of us can press our own against the other."
+
+"We are strange creatures," said Edward, smiling. "If we can only put
+out of sight anything which troubles us, we fancy at once we have got
+rid of it. We can give up much in the large and general; but to make
+sacrifices in little things is a demand to which we are rarely equal. So
+it was with my mother,--as long as I lived with her, while a boy and a
+young man, she could not bear to let me be a moment out of her sight. If
+I was out later than usual in my ride, some misfortune must have
+happened to me. If I got wet through in a shower, a fever was
+inevitable. I traveled; I was absent from her altogether; and, at once,
+I scarcely seemed to belong to her. If we look at it closer," he
+continued, "we are both acting very foolishly, very culpably. Two very
+noble natures, both of which have the closest claims on our affection,
+we are leaving exposed to pain and distress, merely to avoid exposing
+ourselves to a chance of danger. If this is not to be called selfish,
+what is? You take Ottilie. Let me have the Captain; and, for a short
+period, at least, let the trial be made."
+
+"We might venture it," said Charlotte, thoughtfully, "if the danger were
+only to ourselves. But do you think it prudent to bring Ottilie and the
+Captain into a situation where they must necessarily be so closely
+intimate; the Captain, a man no older than yourself, of an age (I am not
+saying this to flatter you) when a man becomes first capable of love and
+first deserving of it, and a girl of Ottilie's attractiveness?"
+
+"I cannot conceive how you can rate Ottilie so high," replied Edward. "I
+can only explain it to myself by supposing her to have inherited your
+affection for her mother. Pretty she is, no doubt. I remember the
+Captain observing it to me, when we came back last year, and met her at
+your aunt's. Attractive she is,--she has particularly pretty eyes; but I
+do not know that she made the slightest impression upon me."
+
+"That was quite proper in you," said Charlotte, "seeing that I was
+there; and, although she is much younger than I, the presence of your
+old friend had so many charms for you, that you overlooked the promise
+of the opening beauty. It is one of your ways; and that is one reason
+why it is so pleasant to live with you."
+
+Charlotte, openly as she appeared to be speaking, was keeping back
+something, nevertheless; which was that at the time when Edward came
+first back from abroad, she had purposely thrown Ottilie in his way, to
+secure, if possible, so desirable a match for her protegee. For of
+herself, at that time, in connection with Edward, she never thought at
+all. The Captain, also, had a hint given to him to draw Edward's
+attention to her; but the latter, who was clinging determinately to his
+early affection for Charlotte, looked neither right nor left, and was
+only happy in the feeling that it was at last within his power to obtain
+for himself the one happiness which he so earnestly desired; and which a
+series of incidents had appeared to have placed forever beyond his
+reach.
+
+They were on the point of descending the new grounds, in order to return
+to the castle, when a servant came hastily to meet them, and, with a
+laugh on his face, called up from below, "Will your grace be pleased to
+come quickly to the castle? The Herr Mittler has just galloped into the
+court. He shouted to us, to go all of us in search of you, and we were
+to ask whether there was need; 'whether there is need,' he cried after
+us, 'do you hear? But be quick, be quick.'"
+
+"The odd fellow," exclaimed Edward. "But has he not come at the right
+time, Charlotte? Tell him, there is need,--grievous need. He must
+alight. See his horse taken care of. Take him into the saloon, and let
+him have some luncheon. We shall be with him immediately."
+
+"Let us take the nearest way," he said to his wife, and struck into the
+path across the churchyard, which he usually avoided. He was not a
+little surprised to find here, too, traces of Charlotte's delicate hand.
+Sparing, as far as possible, the old monuments, she had contrived to
+level it, and lay it carefully out, so as to make it appear a pleasant
+spot on which the eye and the imagination could equally repose with
+pleasure. The oldest stones had each their special honor assigned them.
+They were ranged according to their dates along the wall, either leaning
+against it, or let into it, or however it could be contrived; and the
+string-course of the church was thus variously ornamented.
+
+Edward was singularly affected as he came in upon it through the little
+wicket; he pressed Charlotte's hand, and tears started into his eyes.
+But these were very soon put to flight, by the appearance of their
+singular visitor. This gentleman had declined sitting down in the
+castle; he had ridden straight through the village to the churchyard
+gate; and then, halting, he called out to his friends, "Are you not
+making a fool of me? Is there need, really? If there is, I can stay till
+mid-day. But don't keep me. I have a great deal to do before night."
+
+"Since you have taken the trouble to come so far," cried Edward to him,
+in answer, "you had better come through the gate. We meet at a solemn
+spot. Come and see the variety which Charlotte has thrown over its
+sadness."
+
+"Inside there," called out the rider, "come I neither on horseback, nor
+in carriage, nor on foot. These here rest in peace: with them I have
+nothing to do. One day I shall be carried in feet foremost. I must bear
+that as I can. Is it serious, I want to know?"
+
+"Indeed it is," cried Charlotte, "right serious. For the first time in
+our married lives, we are in a strait and difficulty, from which we do
+not know how to extricate ourselves."
+
+"You do not look as if it were so," answered he. "But I will believe
+you. If you are deceiving me, for the future you shall help yourselves.
+Follow me quickly, my horse will be none the worse for a rest."
+
+The three speedily found themselves in the saloon together. Luncheon was
+brought in, and Mittler told them what that day he had done, and was
+going to do. This eccentric person had in early life been a clergyman,
+and had distinguished himself in his office by the never-resting
+activity with which he contrived to make up and put an end to quarrels:
+quarrels in families, and quarrels between neighbors; first among the
+individuals immediately about him, and afterward among whole
+congregations, and among the country gentlemen round. While he was in
+the ministry, no married couple was allowed to separate; and the
+district courts were untroubled with either cause or process. A
+knowledge of the law, he was well aware, was necessary to him. He gave
+himself with all his might to the study of it, and very soon felt
+himself a match for the best trained advocate. His circle of activity
+extended wonderfully, and people were on the point of inducing him to
+move to the Residence, where he would find opportunities of exercising
+in the higher circles what he had begun in the lowest, when he won a
+considerable sum of money in a lottery. With this, he bought himself a
+small property. He let the ground to a tenant, and made it the centre of
+his operations, with the fixed determination, or rather in accordance
+with his old customs and inclinations, never to enter a house when there
+was no dispute to make up, and no help to be given. People who were
+superstitious about names, and about what they imported, maintained that
+it was his being called Mittler which drove him to take upon himself
+this strange employment.
+
+Luncheon was laid on the table, and the stranger then solemnly pressed
+his host not to wait any longer with the disclosure which he had to
+make. Immediately after refreshing himself he would be obliged to leave
+them.
+
+Husband and wife made a circumstantial confession; but scarcely had he
+caught the substance of the matter, when he started angrily up from the
+table, rushed out of the saloon, and ordered his horse to be saddled
+instantly.
+
+"Either you do not know me, you do not understand me," he cried, "or you
+are sorely mischievous. Do you call this a quarrel? Is there any want
+of help here? Do you suppose that I am in the world to give _advice_? Of
+all occupations which man can pursue, that is the most foolish. Every
+man must be his own counsellor, and do what he cannot let alone. If all
+go well, let him be happy, let him enjoy his wisdom and his fortune; if
+it go ill, I am at hand to do what I can for him. The man who desires to
+be rid of an evil knows what he wants; but the man who desires something
+better than he has got is stone blind. Yes, yes, laugh as you will, he
+is playing blindman's-buff; perhaps he gets hold of something, but the
+question is what he has got hold of. Do as you will, it is all one.
+Invite your friends to you, or let them be, it is all the same. The most
+prudent plans I have seen miscarry, and the most foolish succeed. Don't
+split your brains about it; and if, one way or the other, evil comes of
+what you settle, don't fret; send for me, and you shall be helped. Till
+which time, I am your humble servant."
+
+So saying, he sprang on his horse, without waiting the arrival of the
+coffee.
+
+"Here you see," said Charlotte, "the small service a third person can
+be, when things are off their balance between two persons closely
+connected; we are left, if possible, more confused and more uncertain
+than we were."
+
+They would both, probably, have continued hesitating some time longer,
+had not a letter arrived from the Captain, in reply to Edward's last. He
+had made up his mind to accept one of the situations which had been
+offered him, although it was not in the least up to his mark. He was to
+share the ennui of certain wealthy persons of rank, who depended on his
+ability to dissipate it.
+
+Edward's keen glance saw into the whole thing, and he pictured it out in
+just, sharp lines.
+
+"Can we endure to think of our friend in such a position?" he cried;
+"you cannot be so cruel, Charlotte."
+
+"That strange Mittler is right after all," replied Charlotte; "all such
+undertakings are ventures; what will come of them it is impossible to
+foresee. New elements introduced among us may be fruitful in fortune or
+in misfortune, without our having to take credit to ourselves for one or
+the other. I do not feel myself firm enough to oppose you further. Let
+us make the experiment; only one thing I will entreat of you--that it be
+only for a short time. You must allow me to exert myself more than ever,
+to use all my influence among all my connections, to find him some
+position which will satisfy him in his own way."
+
+Edward poured out the warmest expressions of gratitude. He hastened,
+with a light, happy heart, to write off his proposals to his friend.
+Charlotte, in a postscript, was to signify her approbation with her own
+hand, and unite her own kind entreaties with his. She wrote, with a
+rapid pen, pleasantly and affectionately, but yet with a sort of haste
+which was not usual with her; and, most unlike herself, she disfigured
+the paper at last with a blot of ink, which put her out of temper, and
+which she only made worse with her attempts to wipe it away.
+
+Edward laughed at her about it, and, as there was still room, added a
+second postscript, that his friend was to see from this symptom the
+impatience with which he was expected, and measure the speed at which he
+came to them by the haste in which the letter was written.
+
+The messenger was gone; and Edward thought he could not give a more
+convincing evidence of his gratitude, than in insisting again and again
+that Charlotte should at once send for Ottilie from the school. She said
+she would think about it; and, for that evening, induced Edward to join
+with her in the enjoyment of a little music. Charlotte played
+exceedingly well on the piano, Edward not quite so well on the flute. He
+had taken a great deal of pains with it at times; but he was without the
+patience, without the perseverance, which are requisite for the
+completely successful cultivation of such a talent; consequently, his
+part was done unequally, some pieces well, only perhaps too
+quickly--while with others he hesitated, not being quite familiar with
+them; so that, for any one else, it would have been difficult to have
+gone through a duet with him. But Charlotte knew how to manage it. She
+held in, or let herself be run away with, and fulfilled in this way the
+double part of a skilful conductor and a prudent housewife, who are able
+always to keep right on the whole, although particular passages will now
+and then fall out of order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+The Captain came, having previously written a most sensible letter,
+which had entirely quieted Charlotte's apprehensions. So much clearness
+about himself, so just an understanding of his own position and the
+position of his friends, promised everything which was best and
+happiest.
+
+The conversation of the first few hours, as is generally the case with
+friends who have not met for a long time, was eager, lively, almost
+exhausting. Toward evening, Charlotte proposed a walk to the new
+grounds. The Captain was delighted with the spot, and observed every
+beauty which had been first brought into sight and made enjoyable by the
+new walks. He had a practised eye, and at the same time one easily
+satisfied; and although he knew very well what was really valuable, he
+never, as so many persons do, made people who were showing him things of
+their own uncomfortable, by requiring more than the circumstances
+admitted of, or by mentioning anything more perfect, which he remembered
+having seen elsewhere.
+
+When they arrived at the summer-house, they found it dressed out for a
+holiday, only, indeed, with artificial flowers and evergreens, but with
+some pretty bunches of natural corn-ears among them, and other field and
+garden fruit, so as to do credit to the taste which had arranged them.
+
+"Although my husband does not like in general to have his birthday or
+christening-day kept," Charlotte said, "he will not object today to
+these few ornaments being expended on a treble festival."
+
+"Treble?" cried Edward.
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "Our friend's arrival here we are bound to
+keep as a festival; and have you never thought, either of you, that this
+is the day on which you were both christened? Are you not both named
+Otto?"
+
+The two friends shook hands across the little table.
+
+"You bring back to my mind," Edward said, "this little link of our
+boyish affection. As children, we were both called so; but when we came
+to be at school together, it was the cause of much confusion, and I
+readily made over to him all my right to the pretty laconic name."
+
+"Wherein you were not altogether so very high-minded," said the Captain;
+"for I well remember that the name of Edward had then begun to please
+you better, from its attractive sound when spoken by certain pretty
+lips."
+
+They were now sitting all three round the same table where Charlotte had
+spoken so vehemently against their guest's coming to them. Edward, happy
+as he was, did not wish to remind his wife of that time; but he could
+not help saying, "There is good room here for one more person."
+
+At this moment the notes of a bugle were heard across from the castle.
+Full of happy thoughts and feelings as the friends all were together,
+the sound fell in among them with a strong force of answering harmony.
+They listened silently, each for the moment withdrawing into himself,
+and feeling doubly happy in the fair circle of which he formed a part.
+The pause was first broken by Edward, who started up and walked out in
+front of the summer-house.
+
+"Our friend must not think," he said to Charlotte, "that this narrow
+little valley forms the whole of our domain and possessions. Let us take
+him up to the top of the hill, where he can see farther and breathe more
+freely."
+
+"For this once, then," answered Charlotte, "we must climb up the old
+footpath, which is not too easy. By the next time, I hope my walks and
+steps will have been carried right up."
+
+And so, among rocks, and shrubs, and bushes, they made their way to the
+summit, where they found themselves, not on a level flat, but on a
+sloping grassy terrace, running along the ridge of the hill. The
+village, with the castle behind it, was out of sight. At the bottom of
+the valley, sheets of water were seen spreading out right and left, with
+wooded hills rising immediately from their opposite margin, and, at the
+end of the upper water, a wall of sharp, precipitous rocks directly
+overhanging it, their huge forms reflected in its level surface. In the
+hollow of the ravine, where a considerable brook ran into the lake, lay
+a mill, half hidden among the trees, a sweetly retired spot, most
+beautifully surrounded; and through the entire semicircle, over which
+the view extended, ran an endless variety of hills and valleys, copse
+and forest, the early green of which promised the near approach of a
+luxuriant clothing of foliage. In many places particular groups of trees
+caught the eye; and especially a cluster of planes and poplars directly
+at the spectator's feet, close to the edge of the centre lake. They were
+at their full growth, and they stood there, spreading out their boughs
+all around them, in fresh and luxuriant strength.
+
+To these Edward called his friend's attention.
+
+"I myself planted them," he cried, "when I was a boy. They were small
+trees which I rescued when my father was laying out the new part of the
+great castle garden, and in the middle of one summer had rooted them
+out. This year you will no doubt see them show their gratitude in a
+fresh set of shoots."
+
+They returned to the castle in high spirits, and mutually pleased with
+each other. To the guest was allotted an agreeable and roomy set of
+apartments in the right wing of the castle; and here he rapidly got his
+books and papers and instruments in order, to go on with his usual
+occupation. But Edward, for the first few days, gave him no rest. He
+took him about everywhere, now on foot, now on horseback, making him
+acquainted with the country and with the estate; and he embraced the
+opportunity of imparting to him the wishes which he had been long
+entertaining, of getting at some better acquaintance with it, and
+learning to manage it more profitably.
+
+"The first thing we have to do," said the Captain, "is to make a
+magnetic survey of the property. That is a pleasant and easy matter; and
+if it does not admit of entire exactness, it will be always useful, and
+will do, at any rate, for an agreeable beginning. It can be made, too,
+without any great staff of assistants, and one can be sure of getting it
+completed. If by-and-by you come to require anything more exact, it will
+be easy then to find some plan to have it made."
+
+The Captain was exceedingly skilful at work of thus kind. He had brought
+with him whatever instruments he required, and commenced immediately.
+Edward provided him with a number of foresters and peasants, who, with
+his instruction, were able to render him all necessary assistance. The
+weather was favorable. The evenings and the early mornings were devoted
+to the designing and drawing, and in a short time it was all filled in
+and colored. Edward saw his possessions grow out like a new creation
+upon the paper; and it seemed as if now for the first time he knew what
+they were, as if they now first were properly his own.
+
+Thus there came occasion to speak of the park, and of the ways of laying
+it out; a far better disposition of things being made possible after a
+survey of this kind, than could be arrived at by experimenting on
+nature, on partial and accidental impressions.
+
+"We must make my wife understand this," said Edward.
+
+"We must do nothing of the kind," replied the Captain, who did not like
+bringing his own notions in collision with those of others. He had
+learnt by experience that the motives and purposes by which men are
+influenced are far too various to be made to coalesce upon a single
+point, even on the most solid representations. "We must not do it," he
+cried; "she will be only confused. With her, as with all people who
+employ themselves on such matters merely as amateurs, the important
+thing is, rather that she shall do something, than that something shall
+be done. Such persons feel their way with nature. They have fancies for
+this plan or that; they do not venture on removing obstacles. They are
+not bold enough to make a sacrifice. They do not know beforehand in what
+their work is to result. They try an experiment--it succeeds--it fails;
+they alter it; they alter, perhaps, what they ought to leave alone, and
+leave what they ought to alter; and so, at last, there always remains
+but a patchwork, which pleases and amuses, but never satisfies."
+
+"Acknowledge candidly," said Edward, "that you do not like this new work
+of hers."
+
+"The idea is excellent," he replied; "if the execution were equal to it,
+there would be no fault to find. But she has tormented herself to find
+her way up that rock; and she now torments every one, if you must have
+it, that she takes up after her. You cannot walk together, you cannot
+walk behind one another, with any freedom. Every moment your step is
+interrupted one way or another. There is no end to the mistakes which
+she has made."
+
+"Would it have been easy to have done it otherwise?" asked Edward.
+
+"Perfectly," replied the Captain. "She had only to break away a corner
+of the rock, which is now but an unsightly object, made up as it is of
+little pieces, and she would at once have a sweep for her walk and stone
+in abundance for the rough masonry work, to widen it in the bad places,
+and make it smooth. But this I tell you in strictest confidence. Her it
+would only confuse and annoy. What is done must remain as it is. If any
+more money and labor is to be spent there, there is abundance to do
+above the summer-house on the hill, which we can settle our own way."
+
+If the two friends found in their occupation abundance of present
+employment, there was no lack either of entertaining reminiscences of
+early times, in which Charlotte took her part as well. They determined,
+moreover, that as soon as their immediate labors were finished, they
+would go to work upon the journal, and in this way, too, reproduce the
+past.
+
+For the rest, when Edward and Charlotte were alone, there were fewer
+matters of private interest between them than formerly. This was
+especially the case since the fault-finding about the grounds, which
+Edward thought so just, and which he felt to the quick. He held his
+tongue about what the Captain had said for a long time; but at last,
+when he saw his wife again preparing to go to work above the
+summer-house, with her paths and steps, he could not contain himself any
+longer, but, after a few circumlocutions, came out with his new views.
+
+Charlotte was thoroughly disturbed. She was sensible enough to perceive
+at once that they were right, but there was the difficulty with what was
+already done--and what was made was made. She had liked it; even what
+was wrong had become dear to her in its details. She fought against her
+convictions; she defended her little creations; she railed at men who
+were forever going to the broad and the great. They could not let a
+pastime, they could not let an amusement alone, she said, but they must
+go and make a work out of it, never thinking of the expense which their
+larger plans involved. She was provoked, annoyed, and angry. Her old
+plans she could not give up, the new she would not quite throw from her;
+but, divided as she was, for the present she put a stop to the work, and
+gave herself time to think the thing over, and let it ripen by itself.
+
+At the same time that she lost this source of active amusement, the
+others were more and more together over their own business. They took
+to occupying themselves, moreover, with the flower-garden and the
+hot-houses; and as they filled up the intervals with the ordinary
+gentlemen's amusements, hunting, riding, buying, selling, breaking
+horses, and such matters, she was every day left more and more to
+herself. She devoted herself more assiduously than ever to her
+correspondence on account of the Captain; and yet she had many lonely
+hours; so that the information which she now received from the school
+became of more agreeable interest.
+
+To a long-drawn letter of the superior of the establishment, filled with
+the usual expressions of delight at her daughter's progress, a brief
+postscript was attached, with a second from the hand of a gentleman in
+employment there as an Assistant, both of which we here communicate.
+
+POSTSCRIPT OF THE SUPERIOR
+
+"Of Ottilie, I can only repeat to your ladyship what I have already
+stated in my former letters. I do not know how to find fault with her,
+yet I cannot say that I am satisfied. She is always unassuming, always
+ready to oblige others; but it is not pleasing to see her so timid, so
+almost servile.
+
+"Your ladyship lately sent her some money, with several little matters
+for her wardrobe. The money she has never touched, the dresses lie
+unworn in their place. She keeps her things very nice and very clean;
+but this is all she seems to care about. Again, I cannot praise her
+excessive abstemiousness in eating and drinking. There is no
+extravagance at our table, but there is nothing that I like better than
+to see the children eat enough of good, wholesome food. What is
+carefully provided and set before them ought to be taken; and to this I
+never can succeed in bringing Ottilie. She is always making herself some
+occupation or other, always finding something which she must do,
+something which the servants have neglected, to escape the second course
+or the dessert; and now it has to be considered (which I cannot help
+connecting with all this) that she frequently suffers, I have lately
+learnt, from pain in the left side of her head. It is only at times, but
+it is distressing, and may be of importance. So much upon this otherwise
+sweet and lovely girl."
+
+SECOND POSTSCRIPT, BY THE ASSISTANT
+
+"Our excellent superior commonly permits me to read the letters in which
+she communicates her observations upon her pupils to their parents and
+friends. Such of them as are addressed to your ladyship I ever read with
+twofold attention and pleasure. We have to congratulate you upon a
+daughter who unites in herself every brilliant quality with which people
+distinguish themselves in the world; and I at least think you no less
+fortunate in having had bestowed upon you, in your step-daughter, a
+child who has been born for the good and happiness of others, and
+assuredly also for her own. Ottilie is almost our only pupil about whom
+there is a difference of opinion between myself and our reverend
+superior. I do not complain of the very natural desire in that good lady
+to see outward and definite fruits arising from her labors. But there
+are also fruits which are not outward, which are of the true germinal
+sort, and which develop themselves sooner or later in a beautiful life.
+And this I am certain is the case with your protegee. So long as she has
+been under my care, I have watched her moving with an even step, slowly,
+steadily forward--never back. As with a child it is necessary to begin
+everything at the beginning, so it is with her. She can comprehend
+nothing which does not follow from what precedes it; let a thing be as
+simple and easy as possible, she can make nothing of it if it is not in
+a recognizable connection; but find the intermediate links, and make
+them clear to her, and then nothing is too difficult for her.
+
+"Progressing with such slow steps, she remains behind her companions,
+who, with capacities of quite a different kind, hurry on and on, learn
+everything readily, connected or unconnected, recollect it with ease,
+and apply it with correctness. And again, some of the lessons here are
+given by excellent, but somewhat hasty and impatient teachers, who pass
+from result to result, cutting short the process by which they are
+arrived at; and these are not of the slightest service to her; she
+learns nothing from them. There is a complaint of her handwriting. They
+say she will not, or cannot, understand how to form her letters. I have
+examined closely into this. It is true she writes slowly, stiffly, if
+you like; but the hand is neither timid nor without character. The
+French language is not my department, but I have taught her something of
+it, in the step-by-step fashion; and this she understands easily.
+Indeed, it is singular that she knows a great deal, and knows it well,
+too; and yet when she is asked a question, it seems as if she knew
+nothing.
+
+"To conclude generally, I should say she learns nothing like a person
+who is being educated, but she learns like one who is to educate--not
+like a pupil, but like a future teacher. Your ladyship may think it
+strange that I, as an educator and a teacher, can find no higher praise
+to give to any one than by a comparison with myself. I may leave it to
+your own good sense, to your deep knowledge of the world and of mankind,
+to make the best of my most inadequate, but well-intended expressions.
+You may satisfy yourself that you have much happiness to promise
+yourself from this child. I commend myself to your ladyship, and I
+beseech you to permit me to write to you again as soon as I see reason
+to believe that I have anything important or agreeable to communicate."
+
+This letter gave Charlotte great pleasure. The contents of it coincided
+very closely with the notions which she had herself conceived of
+Ottilie. At the same time, she could not help smiling at the excessive
+interest of the Assistant, which seemed greater than the insight into a
+pupil's excellence usually calls forth. In her quiet, unprejudiced way
+of looking at things, this relation, among others, she was contented to
+permit to lie before her as a possibility; she could value the interest
+of so sensible a man in Ottilie, having learnt, among the lessons of her
+life, to see how highly true regard is to be prized in a world where
+indifference or dislike are the common natural residents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+The topographical chart of the property and its environs was completed.
+It was executed on a considerable scale; the character of the particular
+localities was made intelligible by various colors; and by means of a
+trigonometrical survey the Captain had been able to arrive at a very
+fair exactness of measurement. He had been rapid in his work. There was
+scarcely ever any one who could do with less sleep than this most
+laborious man; and, as his day was always devoted to an immediate
+purpose, every evening something had been done.
+
+"Let us now," he said to his friend, "go on to what remains for us, to
+the statistics of the estate. We shall have a good deal of work to get
+through at the beginning, and afterward we shall come to the farm
+estimates, and much else which will naturally arise out of them. Only we
+must have one thing distinctly settled and adhered to. Everything which
+is properly _business_ we must keep carefully separate from life.
+Business requires earnestness and method; _life_ must have a freer
+handling. Business demands the utmost stringency and sequence; in life,
+inconsecutiveness is frequently necessary, indeed, is charming and
+graceful. If you are firm in the first, you can afford yourself more
+liberty in the second; while if you mix them, you will find the free
+interfering with and breaking in upon the fixed."
+
+In these sentiments Edward felt a slight reflection upon himself. Though
+not naturally disorderly, he could never bring himself to arrange his
+papers in their proper places. What he had to do in connection with
+others, was not kept separate from what depended only on himself.
+Business got mixed up with amusement, and serious work with recreation.
+Now, however, it was easy for him, with the help of a friend who would
+take the trouble upon himself; and a second "I" worked out the
+separation, to which the single "I" was always unequal.
+
+In the Captain's wing, they contrived a depository for what concerned
+the present, and an archive for the past. Here they brought all the
+documents, papers, and notes from their various hiding-places, rooms,
+drawers, and boxes, with the utmost speed. Harmony and order were
+introduced into the wilderness, and the different packets were marked
+and registered in their several pigeon-holes. They found all they wanted
+in greater completeness even than they had expected; and here an old
+clerk was found of no slight service, who for the whole day and part of
+the night never left his desk, and with whom, till then, Edward had been
+always dissatisfied.
+
+"I should not know him again," he said to his friend, "the man is so
+handy and useful."
+
+"That," replied the Captain, "is because we give him nothing fresh to do
+till he has finished, at his convenience, what he has already; and so,
+as you perceive, he gets through a great deal. If you disturb him, he
+becomes useless at once."
+
+Spending their days together in this way, in the evenings they never
+neglected their regular visits to Charlotte. If there was no party from
+the neighborhood, as was often the case, they read and talked,
+principally on subjects connected with the improvement of the condition
+and comfort of social life.
+
+Charlotte, always accustomed to make the most of opportunities, not only
+saw her husband pleased, but found personal advantages for herself.
+Various domestic arrangements, which she had long wished to make, but
+which she did not know exactly how to set about, were managed for her
+through the contrivance of the Captain. Her domestic medicine-chest,
+hitherto but poorly furnished, was enlarged and enriched, and Charlotte
+herself, with the help of good books and personal instruction, was put
+in the way of being able to exercise her disposition to be of practical
+assistance more frequently and more efficiently than before.
+
+In providing against accidents, which, though common, yet only too often
+find us unprepared, they thought it especially necessary to have at hand
+whatever is required for the recovery of drowning men--accidents of this
+kind, from the number of canals, reservoirs, and waterworks in the
+neighborhood, being of frequent occurrence. This department the Captain
+took expressly into his own hands; and the observation escaped Edward,
+that a case of this kind had made a very singular epoch in the life of
+his friend. The latter made no reply, but seemed to be trying to escape
+from a painful recollection. Edward immediately stopped; and Charlotte,
+who, as well as he, had a general knowledge of the story, took no notice
+of the expression.
+
+"These preparations are all exceedingly valuable," said the Captain, one
+evening. "Now, however, we have not got the one thing which is most
+essential--a sensible man who understands how to manage it all. I know
+an army surgeon, whom I could exactly recommend for the place. You might
+get him at this moment, on easy terms. He is highly distinguished in his
+profession, and has frequently done more for me, in the treatment even
+of violent inward disorders, than celebrated physicians. Help upon the
+spot, is the thing you often most want in the country."
+
+He was written for at once; and Edward and Charlotte were rejoiced to
+have found so good and necessary an object on which to expend so much of
+the money which they set apart for such accidental demands upon them.
+
+Thus Charlotte, too, found means of making use, for her purposes, of the
+Captain's knowledge and practical skill; and she began to be quite
+reconciled to his presence, and to feel easy about any consequences
+which might ensue. She commonly prepared questions to ask him; among
+other things, it was one of her anxieties to provide against whatever
+was prejudicial to health and comfort, against poisons and such like.
+The lead-glazing on the china, the verdigris which formed about her
+copper and bronze vessels, etc., had long been a trouble to her. She got
+him to tell her about these, and, naturally, they often had to fall back
+on the first elements of medicine and chemistry.
+
+An accidental, but welcome occasion for entertainment of this kind, was
+given by an inclination of Edward to read aloud. He had a particularly
+clear, deep voice, and earlier in life had earned himself a pleasant
+reputation for his feeling and lively recitations of works of poetry and
+oratory. At this time he was occupied with other subjects, and the books
+which, for some time past, he had been reading, were either chemical or
+on some other branch of natural or technical science.
+
+One of his especial peculiarities--which, by-the-by, he very likely
+shares with a number of his fellow-creatures--was, that he could not
+bear to have any one looking over him when he was reading. In early
+life, when he used to read poems, plays, or stories, this had been the
+natural consequence of the desire which the reader feels, like the poet,
+or the actor, or the story-teller, to make surprises, to pause, to
+excite expectation; and this sort of effect was naturally defeated when
+a third person's eyes could run on before him, and see what was coming.
+On such occasions, therefore, he was accustomed to place himself in such
+a position that no one could get behind him. With a party of only three,
+this was unnecessary; and as with the present subject there was no
+opportunity for exciting feelings or giving the imagination a surprise,
+he did not take any particular pains to protect himself.
+
+One evening he had placed himself carelessly, and Charlotte happened by
+accident to cast her eyes upon the page. His old impatience was aroused;
+he turned to her, and said, almost unkindly:
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD READING ALOUD TO CHARLOTTE AND THE CAPTAIN]
+
+"I do wish, once for all, you would leave off doing a thing so out of
+taste and so disagreeable. When I read aloud to a person, is it not
+the same as if I was telling him something by word of mouth? The
+written, the printed word, is in the place of my own thoughts, of my own
+heart. If a window were broken into my brain or into my heart, and if
+the man to whom I am counting out my thoughts, or delivering my
+sentiments, one by one, knew beforehand exactly what was to come out of
+me, should I take the trouble to put them into words? When anybody looks
+over my book, I always feel as if I were being torn in two."
+
+Charlotte's tact, in whatever circle she might be, large or small, was
+remarkable, and she was able to set aside disagreeable or excited
+expressions without appearing to notice them. When a conversation grew
+tedious, she knew how to interrupt it; when it halted, she could set it
+going. And this time her good gift did not forsake her.
+
+"I am sure you will forgive me my fault," she said, when I tell you what
+it was this moment which came over me. I heard you reading something
+about Affinities, and I thought directly of some relations of mine, two
+of whom are just now occupying me a great deal. Then my attention went
+back to the book. I found it was not about living things at all, and I
+looked over to get the thread of it right again."
+
+"It was the comparison which led you wrong and confused you," said
+Edward. "The subject is nothing but earths and minerals. But man is a
+true Narcissus; he delights to see his own image everywhere; and he
+spreads himself underneath the universe, like the amalgam behind the
+glass."
+
+"Quite true," continued the Captain. "That is the way in which he treats
+everything external to himself. His wisdom and his folly, his will and
+his caprice, he attributes alike to the animal, the plant, the elements,
+and the gods."
+
+"Would you," said Charlotte, "if it is not taking you away too much from
+the immediate subject, tell me briefly what is meant here by
+Affinities?"
+
+"I shall be very glad indeed," replied the Captain, to whom Charlotte
+had addressed herself. "That is, I will tell you as well as I can. My
+ideas on the subject date ten years back; whether the scientific world
+continues to think the same about it, I cannot tell."
+
+"It is most disagreeable," cried Edward, "that one cannot now-a-days
+learn a thing once for all, and have done with it. Our forefathers could
+keep to what they were taught when they were young; but we have, every
+five years, to make revolutions with them, if we do not wish to drop
+altogether out of fashion."
+
+"We women need not be so particular," said Charlotte; "and, to speak the
+truth, I only want to know the meaning of the word. There is nothing
+more ridiculous in society than to misuse a strange technical word; and
+I only wish you to tell me in what sense the expression is made use of
+in connection with these things. What its scientific application is I am
+quite contented to leave to the learned; who, by-the-by, as far as I
+have been able to observe, do not find it easy to agree among
+themselves."
+
+"Whereabouts shall we begin," said Edward, after a pause, to the
+Captain, "to come most quickly to the point?"
+
+The latter, after thinking as little while, replied shortly:
+
+"You must let me make what will seem a wide sweep; we shall be on our
+subject almost immediately."
+
+Charlotte settled her work at her side, promising the fullest attention.
+
+The Captain began:
+
+"In all natural objects with which we are acquainted, we observe
+immediately that they have a certain relation to themselves. It may
+sound ridiculous to be asserting what is obvious to every one; but it is
+only by coming to a clear understanding together about what we know,
+that we can advance to what we do not know."
+
+"I think," interrupted Edward, "we can make the thing more clear to her,
+and to ourselves, with examples; conceive water, or oil, or quicksilver;
+among these you will see a certain oneness, a certain connection of
+their parts; and this oneness is never lost, except through force or
+some other determining cause. Let the cause cease to operate, and at
+once the parts unite again."
+
+"Unquestionably," said Charlotte, "that is plain; rain-drops readily
+unite and form streams; and when we were children, it was our delight to
+play with quicksilver, and wonder at the little globules splitting and
+parting and running into one another."
+
+"And here," said the Captain, "let me just cursorily mention one
+remarkable thing--I mean, that the full, complete correlation of parts
+which the fluid state makes possible, shows itself distinctly and
+universally in the globular form. The falling water-drop is round; you
+yourself spoke of the globules of quicksilver; and a drop of melted lead
+let fall, if it has time to harden before it reaches the ground, is
+found at the bottom in the shape of a ball."
+
+"Let me try and see," said Charlotte, "whether I can understand where
+you are bringing me. As everything has a reference to itself, so it must
+have some relation to others."
+
+"And that," interrupted Edward, "will be different according to the
+natural differences of the things themselves. Sometimes they will meet
+like friends and old acquaintances; they will come rapidly together, and
+unite without either having to alter itself at all--as wine mixes with
+water. Others, again, will remain as strangers side by side, and no
+amount of mechanical mixing or forcing will succeed in combining them.
+Oil and water may be shaken up together, and the next moment they are
+separate again, each by itself."
+
+"One can almost fancy," said Charlotte, "that in these simple forms one
+sees people that one is acquainted with; one has met with just such
+things in the societies amongst which one has lived; and the strangest
+likenesses of all with these soulless creatures are in the masses in
+which men stand divided one against the other, in their classes and
+professions; the nobility and the third estate, for instance, or
+soldiers and civilians."
+
+"Then again," replied Edward, "as these are united under common laws and
+customs, so there are intermediate members in our chemical world which
+will combine elements that are mutually repulsive."
+
+"Oil, for instance," said the Captain, "we make combine with water with
+the help of alkalis----"
+
+"Do not go on too fast with your lesson," said Charlotte. "Let me see
+that I keep step with you. Are we not here arrived among the
+affinities?"
+
+"Exactly," replied the Captain; "we are on the point of apprehending
+them in all their power and distinctness; such natures as, when they
+come in contact, at once lay hold of each other, each mutually affecting
+the other, we speak of as having an affinity one for the other. With the
+alkalis and acids, for instance, the affinities are strikingly marked.
+They are of opposite natures; very likely their being of opposite
+natures is the secret of their inter-relational effect--each reaches out
+eagerly for its companion, they lay hold of each other, modify each
+other's character, and form in connection an entirely new substance.
+There is lime, you remember, which shows the strongest inclination for
+all sorts of acids--a distinct desire of combining with them. As soon as
+our chemical chest arrives, we can show you a number of entertaining
+experiments which will give you a clearer idea than words, and names,
+and technical expressions."
+
+"It appears to me," said Charlotte, "that, if you choose to call these
+strange creatures of yours related, the relationship is not so much a
+relationship of blood as of soul or of spirit. It is the way in which we
+see all really deep friendship arise among men, opposite peculiarities
+of disposition being what best makes internal union possible. But I will
+wait to see what you can really show me of these mysterious proceedings;
+and for the present," she added, turning to Edward, "I will promise not
+to disturb you any more in your reading. You have taught me enough of
+what it is about to enable me to attend to it."
+
+"No, no," replied Edward, "now that you have once stirred the thing, you
+shall not get off so easily. It is just the most complicated cases which
+are the most interesting. In these you come first to see the degrees of
+the affinities, to watch them as their power of attraction is weaker or
+stronger, nearer or more remote. Affinities begin really to interest
+only when they bring about separations."
+
+"What!" cried Charlotte, "is that miserable word, which unhappily we
+hear so often now-a-days in the world; is that to be found in nature's
+lessons too?"
+
+"Most certainly," answered Edward; "the title with which chemists were
+supposed to be most honorably distinguished was, artists of separation."
+
+"It is not so any more," replied Charlotte; "and it is well that it is
+not. It is a higher art, and it is a higher merit, to unite. An artist
+of union is what we should welcome in every province of the universe.
+However, as we are on the subject again, give me an instance or two of
+what you mean."
+
+"We had better keep," said the Captain, "to the same instances of which
+we have already been speaking. Thus, what we call limestone is a more or
+less pure calcareous earth in combination with a delicate acid, which is
+familiar to us in the form of a gas. Now, if we place a piece of this
+stone in diluted sulphuric acid, this will take possession of the lime,
+and appear with it in the form of gypsum, the gaseous acid at the same
+time going off in vapor. Here is a case of separation; a combination
+arises, and we believe ourselves now justified in applying to it the
+words 'Elective Affinity;' it really looks as if one relation had been
+deliberately chosen in preference to another.
+
+"Forgive me," said Charlotte, "as I forgive the natural philosopher. I
+cannot see any choice in this; I see a natural necessity rather, and
+scarcely that. After all, it is perhaps merely a case of opportunity.
+Opportunity makes relations as it makes thieves; and as long as the
+talk is only of natural substances, the choice to me appears to be
+altogether in the hands of the chemist who brings the creatures
+together. Once, however, let them be brought together, and then God have
+mercy on them. In the present case, I cannot help being sorry for the
+poor acid gas, which is driven out up and down infinity again."
+
+"The acid's business," answered the Captain, "is now to get connected
+with water, and so serve as a mineral fountain for the refreshing of
+sound or disordered mankind."
+
+"That is very well for the gypsum to say," said Charlotte. "The gypsum
+is all right, is a body, is provided for. The other poor, desolate
+creature may have trouble enough to go through before it can find a
+second home for itself."
+
+"I am much mistaken," said Edward, smiling, "if there be not some little
+_arriere pensee_ behind this. Confess your wickedness! You mean me by
+your lime; the lime is laid hold of by the Captain, in the form of
+sulphuric acid, torn away from your agreeable society, and metamorphosed
+into a refractory gypsum."
+
+"If your conscience prompts you to make such a reflection," replied
+Charlotte, "I certainly need not distress myself. These comparisons are
+pleasant and entertaining; and who is there that does not like playing
+with analogies? But man is raised very many steps above these elements;
+and if he has been somewhat liberal with such fine words as Election and
+Elective Affinities, he will do well to turn back again into himself,
+and take the opportunity of considering carefully the value and meaning
+of such expressions. Unhappily, we know cases enough where a connection
+apparently indissoluble between two persons, has, by the accidental
+introduction of a third, been utterly destroyed, and one or the other of
+the once happily united pair been driven out into the wilderness."
+
+"Then you see how much more gallant the chemists are," said Edward.
+"They at once add a fourth, that neither may go away empty."
+
+"Quite so," replied the Captain. "And those are the cases which are
+really most important and remarkable--cases where this attraction, this
+affinity, this separating and combining, can be exhibited, the two pairs
+severally crossing each other; where four creatures, connected
+previously, as two and two, are brought into contact, and at once
+forsake their first combination to form into a second. In this forsaking
+and embracing, this seeking and flying, we believe that we are indeed
+observing the effects of some higher determination; we attribute a sort
+of will and choice to such creatures, and feel really justified in using
+technical words, and speaking of 'Elective Affinities.'"
+
+"Give me an instance of this," said Charlotte.
+
+"One should not spoil such things with words," replied the Captain. "As
+I said before, as soon as I can show you the experiment, I can make it
+all intelligible and pleasant for you. For the present, I can give you
+nothing but horrible scientific expressions, which at the same time will
+give you no idea about the matter. You ought yourself to see these
+creatures, which seem so dead, and which are yet so full of inward
+energy and force, at work before your eyes. You should observe them with
+a real personal interest. Now they seek each other out, attract each
+other, seize, crush, devour, destroy each other, and then suddenly
+reappear again out of their combinations, and come forward in fresh,
+renovated, unexpected form; thus you will comprehend how we attribute to
+them a sort of immortality--how we speak of them as having sense and
+understanding; because we feel our own senses to be insufficient to
+observe them adequately, and our reason too weak to follow them."
+
+"I quite agree," said Edward, "that the strange scientific nomenclature,
+to persons who have not been reconciled to it by a direct acquaintance
+with or understanding of its object, must seem unpleasant, even
+ridiculous; but we can easily, just for once, contrive with symbols to
+illustrate what we are speaking of."
+
+"If you do not think it looks pedantic," answered the Captain, "I can
+put my meaning together with letters. Suppose an A connected so closely
+with a B, that all sorts of means, even violence, have been made use of
+to separate them, without effect. Then suppose a C in exactly the same
+position with respect to D. Bring the two pairs into contact; A will
+fling himself on D, C on B, without its being possible to say which had
+first left its first connection, or made the first move toward the
+second."
+
+"Now then," interposed Edward, "till we see all this with our eyes, we
+will look upon the formula as an analogy, out of which we can devise a
+lesson for immediate use. You stand for A, Charlotte, and I am your B;
+really and truly I cling to you, I depend on you, and follow you, just
+as B does with A. C is obviously the Captain, who at present is in some
+degree withdrawing me from you. So now it is only just that if you are
+not to be left to solitude a D should be found for you, and that is
+unquestionably the amiable little lady, Ottilie. You will not hesitate
+any longer to send and fetch her."
+
+"Good," replied Charlotte; "although the example does not, in my
+opinion, exactly fit our case. However, we have been fortunate, at any
+rate, in today for once having met all together; and these natural or
+elective affinities have served to unite us more intimately. I will tell
+you, that since this afternoon I have made up my mind to send for
+Ottilie. My faithful housekeeper, on whom I have hitherto depended for
+everything, is going to leave me shortly, to be married. (It was done at
+my own suggestion, I believe, to please me.) What it is which has
+decided me about Ottilie, you shall read to me. I will not look over the
+pages again. Indeed, the contents of them are already known to me. Only
+read, read!"
+
+With these words, she produced a letter, and handed it to Edward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+LETTER OF THE LADY SUPERIOR
+
+"Your ladyship will forgive the brevity of my present letter. The public
+examinations are but just concluded, and I have to communicate to all
+the parents and guardians the progress which our pupils have made during
+the past year. To you I may well be brief, having to say much in few
+words. Your ladyship's daughter has proved herself first in every sense
+of the word. The testimonials which I inclose, and her own letter, in
+which she will detail to you the prizes which she has won, and the
+happiness which she feels in her success, will surely please, and I hope
+delight you. For myself, it is the less necessary that I should say
+much, because I see that there will soon be no more occasion to keep
+with us a young lady so far advanced. I send my respects to your
+ladyship, and in a short time I shall take the liberty of offering you
+my opinion as to what in future may be of most advantage to her.
+
+"My good assistant will tell you about Ottilie."
+
+LETTER OF THE ASSISTANT.
+
+"Our reverend superior leaves it to me to write to you of Ottilie,
+partly because, with her ways of thinking about it, it would be painful
+to her to say what has to be said; partly, because she herself requires
+some excusing, which she would rather have done for her by me.
+
+"Knowing, as I did too well, how little able the good Ottilie was to
+show out what lies in her, and what she is capable of, I was all along
+afraid of this public examination. I was the more uneasy, as it was to
+be of a kind which does not admit of any especial preparation; and even
+if it had been conducted as usual, Ottilie never can be prepared to make
+a display. The result has only too entirely justified my anxiety. She
+has gained no prize; she is not even amongst those whose names have been
+mentioned with approbation. I need not go into details. In writing, the
+letters of the other girls were not so well formed, but their strokes
+were far more free. In arithmetic, they were all quicker than she; and
+in the more difficult problems, which she does the best, there was no
+examination. In French, she was outshone and out-talked by many; and in
+history she was not ready with her names and dates. In geography, there
+was a want of attention to the political divisions; and for what she
+could do in music there was neither time nor quiet enough for her few
+modest melodies to gain attention. In drawing she certainly would have
+gained the prize; her outlines were clear, and the execution most
+careful and full of spirit; unhappily, she had chosen too large a
+subject, and it was incomplete.
+
+"After the pupils were dismissed, the examiners consulted together, and
+we teachers were partially admitted into the council. I very soon
+observed that of Ottilie either nothing would be said at all, or if her
+name was mentioned, it would be with indifference, if not absolute
+disapproval. I hoped to obtain some favor for her by a candid
+description of what she was, and I ventured it with the greater
+earnestness, partly because I was only speaking my real convictions, and
+partly because I remembered in my own younger years finding myself in
+the same unfortunate case. I was listened to with attention, but as soon
+as I had ended, the presiding examiner said to me very kindly but
+laconically, 'We presume capabilities: they are to be converted into
+accomplishments. This is the aim of all education. It is what is
+distinctly intended by all who have the care of children, and silently
+and indistinctly by the children themselves. This also is the object of
+examinations, where teachers and pupils are alike standing their trial.
+From what we learn of you, we may entertain good hopes of the young
+lady, and it is to your own credit also that you have paid so much
+attention to your pupil's capabilities. If in the coming year you can
+develop these into accomplishments, neither yourself nor your pupil
+shall fail to receive your due praise.'
+
+"I had made up my mind to what must follow upon all this; but there was
+something worse that I had not anticipated, which had soon to be added
+to it. Our good Superior, who like a trusty shepherdess could not bear
+to have one of her flock lost, or, as was the case here, to see it
+undistinguished, after the examiners were gone could not contain her
+displeasure, and said to Ottilie, who was standing quite quietly by the
+window, while the others were exulting over their prizes: 'Tell me, for
+heaven's sake, how can a person look so stupid if she is not so?'
+Ottilie replied, quite calmly, 'Forgive me, my dear mother, I have my
+headache again today, and it is very painful.' Kind and sympathizing as
+she generally is, the Superior this time answered, 'No one can believe
+that,' and turned angrily away.
+
+"Now it is true--no one can believe it--for Ottilie never alters the
+expression of her countenance. I have never even seen her move her hand
+to her head when she has been asleep.
+
+"Nor was this all. Your ladyship's daughter, who is at all times
+sufficiently lively and impetuous, after her triumph today was
+overflowing with the violence of her spirits. She ran from room to room
+with her prizes and testimonials, and shook them in Ottilie's face. 'You
+have come badly off this morning,' she cried. Ottilie replied in her
+calm, quiet way, 'This is not the last day of trial.' 'But you will
+always remain the last,' cried the other, and ran away.
+
+"No one except myself saw that Ottilie was disturbed. She has a way when
+she experiences any sharp unpleasant emotion which she wishes to resist,
+of showing it in the unequal color of her face; the left cheek becomes
+for a moment flushed, while the right turns pale. I perceived this
+symptom, and I could not prevent myself from saying something. I took
+our Superior aside, and spoke seriously to her about it. The excellent
+lady acknowledged that she had been wrong. We considered the whole
+affair; we talked it over at great length together, and not to weary
+your ladyship, I will tell you at once the desire with which we
+concluded, namely, that you will for a while have Ottilie with yourself.
+Our reasons you will yourself readily perceive. If you consent, I will
+say more to you on the manner in which I think she should be treated.
+The young lady your daughter we may expect will soon leave us, and we
+shall then with pleasure welcome Ottilie back to us.
+
+"One thing more, which another time I might forget to mention: I have
+never seen Ottilie eager for anything, or at least ask pressingly for
+anything. But there have been occasions, however rare, when on the other
+hand she has wished to decline things which have been pressed upon her,
+and she does it with a gesture which to those who have caught its
+meaning is irresistible. She raises her hands, presses the palms
+together, and draws them against her breast, leaning her body a little
+forward at the same time, and turns such a look upon the person who is
+urging her that he will be glad enough to cease to ask or wish for
+anything of her. If your ladyship ever sees this attitude, as with your
+treatment of her it is not likely that you will, think of me, and spare
+Ottilie."
+
+Edward read these letters aloud, not without smiles and shakes of the
+head. Naturally, too, there were observations made on the persons and on
+the position of the affair.
+
+"Enough!" Edward cried at last, "it is decided. She comes. You, my love,
+are provided for, and now we can get forward with our work. It is
+becoming highly necessary for me to move over to the right wing to the
+Captain; evenings and mornings are the time for us best to work
+together, and then you, on your side, will have admirable room for
+yourself and Ottilie."
+
+Charlotte made no objection, and Edward sketched out the method in which
+they should live. Among other things, he cried, "It is really very
+polite in this niece to be subject to a slight pain on the left side of
+her head. I have it frequently an the right. If we happen to be
+afflicted together, and sit opposite one another--I leaning on my right
+elbow, and she on her left, and our heads on the opposite sides, resting
+on our hands--what a pretty pair of pictures we shall make."
+
+The Captain thought that might be dangerous. "No, no!" cried out Edward.
+"Only do you, my dear friend, take care of the D, for what will become
+of B, if poor C is taken away from it?"
+
+"That, I should have thought, would have been evident enough," replied
+Charlotte.
+
+"And it is, indeed," cried Edward; "he would turn back to his A, to his
+Alpha and Omega;" and he sprung up and taking Charlotte in his arms,
+pressed her to his breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The carriage which brought Ottilie drove up to the door. Charlotte went
+out to receive her. The dear girl ran to meet her, threw herself at her
+feet, and embraced her knees.
+
+"Why such humility?" said Charlotte, a little embarrassed, and
+endeavoring to raise her from the ground.
+
+"It is not meant for humility," Ottilie answered, without moving from
+the position in which she had placed herself; "I am only thinking of the
+time when I could not reach higher than to your knees, and when I had
+just learnt to know how you loved me."
+
+She stood up, and Charlotte embraced her warmly. She was introduced to
+the gentlemen, and was at once treated with especial courtesy as a
+visitor. Beauty is a welcome guest everywhere. She appeared attentive to
+the conversation, without taking a part in it.
+
+The next morning Edward said to Charlotte, "What an agreeable,
+entertaining girl she is!"
+
+"Entertaining!" answered Charlotte, with a smile; "why, she has not
+opened her lips yet!"
+
+"Indeed!" said Edward, as he seemed to bethink himself; "that is very
+strange."
+
+Charlotte had to give the new-comer but a very few hints on the
+management of the household. Ottilie saw rapidly all the arrangements,
+and what was more, she felt them. She comprehended easily what was to be
+provided for the whole party, and what for each particular member of it.
+Everything was done with the utmost punctuality; she knew how to direct,
+without appearing to be giving orders, and when any one had left
+anything undone, she at once set it right herself.
+
+As soon as she had found how much time she would have to spare, she
+begged Charlotte to divide her hours for her, and to these she adhered
+exactly. She worked at what was set before her in the way which the
+Assistant had described to Charlotte. They let her alone. It was but
+seldom that Charlotte interfered. Sometimes she changed her pens for
+others which had been written with, to teach her to make bolder strokes
+in her handwriting, but these, she found, would be soon cut sharp and
+fine again.
+
+The ladies had agreed with one another when they were alone to speak
+nothing but French, and Charlotte persisted in it the more, as she found
+Ottilie more ready to talk in a foreign language, when she was told it
+was her duty to exercise herself in it. In this way she often said more
+than she seemed to intend. Charlotte was particularly pleased with a
+description, most complete, but at the same time most charming and
+amiable, which she gave her one day, by accident, of the school. She
+soon felt her to be a delightful companion, and before long she hoped to
+find in her an attached friend.
+
+At the same time she looked over again the more early accounts which had
+been sent her of Ottilie, to refresh her recollection with the opinion
+which the Superior and the Assistant had formed about her, and compare
+them with her in her own person. For Charlotte was of opinion that we
+cannot too quickly become acquainted with the character of those with
+whom we have to live, that we may know what to expect of them; where we
+may hope to do anything in the way of improvement with them, and what
+we must make up our minds, once for all, to tolerate and let alone.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE RECEIVES OTTILIE]
+
+This examination led her to nothing new, indeed; but much which she
+already knew became of greater meaning and importance. Ottilie's
+moderation in eating and drinking, for instance, became a real distress
+to her.
+
+The next thing on which the ladies were employed was Ottilie's toilet.
+Charlotte wished her to appear in clothes of a richer and more
+_recherche_ sort, and at once the clever active girl herself cut out the
+stuff which had been previously sent to her, and with a very little
+assistance from others was able, in a short time, to dress herself out
+most tastefully. The new fashionable dresses set off her figure. An
+agreeable person, it is true, will show through all disguises; but we
+always fancy it looks fresher and more graceful when its peculiarities
+appear under some new drapery. And thus, from the moment of her first
+appearance, she became more and more a delight to the eyes of all who
+beheld her. As the emerald refreshes the sight with its beautiful hues,
+and exerts, it is said, a beneficent influence on that noble sense, so
+does human beauty work with far larger potency on the outward and on the
+inward sense; whoever looks upon it is charmed against the breath of
+evil, and feels in harmony with himself and with the world.
+
+In many ways, therefore, the party had gained by Ottilie's arrival. The
+Captain and Edward kept regularly to the hours, even to the minutes, for
+their general meeting together. They never kept the others waiting for
+them either for dinner or tea, or for their walks; and they were in less
+haste, especially in the evenings, to leave the table. This did not
+escape Charlotte's observation; she watched them both, to see whether
+one more than the other was the occasion of it. But she could not
+perceive any difference. They had both become more companionable. In
+their conversation they seemed to consider what was best adapted to
+interest Ottilie; what was most on a level with her capacities and her
+general knowledge. If she left the room when they were reading or
+telling stories, they would wait till she returned. They had grown
+softer and altogether more united.
+
+In return for this, Ottilie's anxiety to be of use increased every day;
+the more she came to understand the house, its inmates, and their
+circumstances, the more eagerly she entered into everything, caught
+every look and every motion; half a word, a sound, was enough for her.
+With her calm attentiveness, and her easy, unexcited activity, she was
+always the same. Sitting, rising up, going, coming, fetching, carrying,
+returning to her place again, it was all in the most perfect repose; a
+constant change, a constant agreeable movement; while, at the same time,
+she went about so lightly that her step was almost inaudible.
+
+This cheerful obligingness in Ottilie gave Charlotte the greatest
+pleasure. There was one thing, however, which she did not exactly like,
+of which she had to speak to her. "It is very polite in you," she said
+one day to her, "when people let anything fall from their hand, to be so
+quick in stooping and picking it up for them; at the same time, it is a
+sort of confession that they have a right to require such attention, and
+in the world we are expected to be careful to whom we pay it. Toward
+women, I will not prescribe any rule as to how you should conduct
+yourself. You are young. To those above you, and older than you,
+services of this sort are a duty; toward your equals they are polite; to
+those younger than yourself and your inferiors you may show yourself
+kind and good-natured by such things--only it is not becoming in a young
+lady to do them for men."
+
+"I will try to forget the habit," replied Ottilie; "I think, however,
+you will in the meantime forgive me for my want of manners, when I tell
+you how I came by it. We were taught history at school; I have not
+gained as much out of it as I ought, for I never knew what use I was to
+make of it; a few little things, however, made a deep impression upon
+me, among which was the following: When Charles the First of England
+was standing before his so-called judges, the gold top came off the
+stick which he had in his hand, and fell down. Accustomed as he had been
+on such occasions to have everything done for him, he seemed to look
+around and expect that this time too some one would do him this little
+service. No one stirred, and he stooped down for it himself. It struck
+me as so piteous, that from that moment I have never been able to see
+any one let a thing fall, without myself picking it up. But, of course,
+as it is not always proper, and as I cannot," she continued, smiling,
+"tell my story every time I do it, in future I will try to contain
+myself."
+
+In the meantime the fine arrangements which the two friends had been led
+to make for themselves, went uninterruptedly forward. Every day they
+found something new to think about and undertake.
+
+One day as they were walking together through the village, they had to
+remark with dissatisfaction how far behind-hand it was in order and
+cleanliness, compared to villages where the inhabitants were compelled
+by the expense of building-ground to be careful about such things.
+
+"You remember a wish we once expressed when we were traveling in
+Switzerland together," said the Captain, "that we might have the laying
+out of some country park, and how beautiful we would make it by
+introducing into some village situated like this, not the Swiss style of
+building, but the Swiss order and neatness which so much improve it."
+
+"And how well it would answer here! The hill on which the castle stands,
+slopes down to that projecting angle. The village, you see, is built in
+a semicircle, regularly enough, just opposite to it. The brook runs
+between. It is liable to floods; and do observe the way the people set
+about protecting themselves from them; one with stones, another with
+stakes; the next puts up a boarding, and a fourth tries beams and
+planks; no one, of course, doing any good to another with his
+arrangement, but only hurting himself and the rest too. And then there
+is the road going along just in the clumsiest way possible,--up hill and
+down, through the water, and over the stones. If the people would only
+lay their hands to the business together, it would cost them nothing but
+a little labor to run a semi-circular wall along here, take the road in
+behind it, raising it to the level of the houses, and so give themselves
+a fair open space in front, making the whole place clean, and getting
+rid, once for all, in one good general work, of all their little
+trifling ineffectual makeshifts."
+
+"Let us try it," said the Captain, as he ran his eyes over the lay of
+the ground, and saw quickly what was to be done.
+
+"I can undertake nothing in company with peasants and shopkeepers,"
+replied Edward, "unless I may have unrestricted authority over them."
+
+"You are not so wrong in that," returned the Captain; "I have
+experienced too much trouble myself in life in matters of that kind. How
+difficult it is to prevail on a man to venture boldly on making a
+sacrifice for an after-advantage! How hard to get him to desire an end,
+and not hesitate at the means! So many people confuse means with ends;
+they keep hanging over the first, without having the other before their
+eyes. Every evil is to be cured at the place where it comes to the
+surface, and they will not trouble themselves to look for the cause
+which produces it, or the remote effect which results from it. This is
+why it is so difficult to get advice listened to, especially among the
+many: they can see clearly enough from day to day, but their scope
+seldom reaches beyond the morrow; and if it comes to a point where with
+some general arrangement one person will gain while another will lose,
+there is no prevailing on them to strike a balance. Works of public
+advantage can be carried through only by an uncontrolled absolute
+authority."
+
+While they were standing and talking, a man came up and begged of them.
+He looked more impudent than really in want, and Edward, who was
+annoyed at being interrupted, after two or three fruitless attempts to
+get rid of him by a gentler refusal, spoke sharply to him. The fellow
+began to grumble and mutter abusively; he went off with short steps,
+talking about the right of beggars. It was all very well to refuse them
+an alms, but that was no reason why they should be insulted. A beggar,
+and everybody else too, was as much under God's protection as a lord. It
+put Edward out of all patience.
+
+The Captain, to pacify him, said, "Let us make use of this as an
+occasion for extending our rural police arrangements to such cases. We
+are bound to give away money, but we do better in not giving it in
+person, especially at home. We should be moderate and uniform in
+everything, in our charities as in all else; too great liberality
+attracts beggars instead of helping them on their way. At the same time
+there is no harm when one is on a journey, or passing through a strange
+place, in appearing to a poor man in the street in the form of a chance
+deity of fortune and making him some present which shall surprise him.
+The position of the village and of the castle makes it easy for us to
+put our charities here on a proper footing. I have thought about it
+before. The public-house is at one end of the village, a respectable old
+couple live at the other. At each of these places deposit a small sum of
+money, and let every beggar, not as he comes in, but as he goes out,
+receive something. Both houses lie on the roads which lead to the
+castle, so that any one who goes there can be referred to one or the
+other."
+
+"Come," said Edward, "we will settle that on the spot. The exact sum can
+be made up another time."
+
+They went to the innkeeper, and to the old couple and the thing was
+done.
+
+"I know very well," Edward said, as they were walking up the hill to the
+castle together, "that everything in this world depends on distinctness
+of idea and firmness of purpose. Your judgment of what my wife has been
+doing in the park was entirely right; and you have already given me a
+hint how it might be improved. I will not deny that I told her of it."
+
+"So I have been led to suspect," replied the Captain; "and I could not
+approve of your having done so. You have perplexed her. She has left off
+doing anything; and on this one subject she is vexed with us. She avoids
+speaking of it. She has never since invited us to go with her to the
+summer-house, although at odd hours she goes up there with Ottilie."
+
+"We must not allow ourselves to be deterred by that," answered Edward.
+"If I am once convinced about anything good, which could and should be
+done, I can never rest till I see it done. We are clever enough at other
+times in introducing what we want, into the general conversation;
+suppose we have out some descriptions of English parks, with
+copper-plates, for our evening's amusement. Then we can follow with your
+plan. We will treat it first problematically, and as if we were only in
+jest. There will be no difficulty in passing into earnest."
+
+The scheme was concerted, and the books were opened. In each group of
+designs they first saw a ground-plan of the spot, with the general
+character of the landscape, drawn in its rude, natural state. Then
+followed others, showing the changes which had been produced by art, to
+employ and set off the natural advantages of the locality. From these to
+their own property and their own grounds, the transition was easy.
+
+Everybody was pleased. The chart which the Captain had sketched was
+brought and spread out. The only difficulty was, that they could not
+entirely free themselves of the plan in which Charlotte had begun.
+However, an easier way up the hill was found; a lodge was suggested to
+be built on the height at the edge of the cliff, which was to have an
+especial reference to the castle. It was to form a conspicuous object
+from the castle windows, and from it the spectator was to be able to
+overlook both the castle and the garden.
+
+The Captain had thought it all carefully over, and taken his
+measurements; and now he brought up again the village road and the wall
+by the brook, and the ground which was to be raised behind it.
+
+"Here you see," said he, "while I make this charming walk up the height,
+I gain exactly the quantity of stone which I require for that wall. Let
+one piece of work help the other, and both will be carried out most
+satisfactorily and most rapidly."
+
+"But now," said Charlotte, "comes my side of the business. A certain
+definite outlay of money will have to be made. We ought to know how much
+will be wanted for such a purpose, and then we can apportion it out--so
+much work, and so much money, if not by weeks, at least by months. The
+cash-box is under my charge. I pay the bills, and I keep the accounts."
+
+"You do not appear to have overmuch confidence in us," said Edward.
+
+"I have not much in arbitrary matters," Charlotte answered. "Where it is
+a case of inclination, we women know better how to control ourselves
+than you."
+
+It was settled; the dispositions were made, and the work was begun at
+once.
+
+The Captain being always on the spot, Charlotte was almost daily a
+witness to the strength and clearness of his understanding. He, too,
+learnt to know her better; and it became easy for them both to work
+together, and thus bring something to completeness. It is with work as
+with dancing; persons who keep the same step must grow indispensable to
+one another. Out of this a mutual kindly feeling will necessarily arise;
+and that Charlotte had a real kind feeling toward the Captain, after she
+came to know him better, was sufficiently proved by her allowing him to
+destroy her pretty seat, which in her first plans she had taken such
+pains in ornamenting, because it was in the lay of his own, without
+experiencing the slightest feeling about the matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Now that Charlotte was occupied with the Captain, it was a natural
+consequence that Edward should attach himself more to Ottilie.
+Independently of this, indeed, for some time past he had begun to feel a
+silent kind of attraction toward her. Obliging and attentive she was to
+every one, but his self-love whispered that toward him she was
+particularly so. She had observed his little fancies about his food. She
+knew exactly what things he liked, and the way in which he liked them to
+be prepared; the quantity of sugar which he liked in his tea; and so on.
+Moreover, she was particularly careful to prevent draughts, about which
+he was excessively sensitive, and, indeed, about which, with his wife,
+who could never have air enough, he was often at variance. So, too, she
+had come to know about fruit-gardens and flower-gardens; whatever he
+liked, it was her constant effort to procure for him, and to keep away
+whatever annoyed him; so that very soon she grew indispensable to
+him--she became like his guardian angel, and he felt it keenly whenever
+she was absent. Besides all this, too, she appeared to grow more open
+and conversible as soon as they were alone together.
+
+Edward, as he advanced in life, had retained something childish about
+himself, which corresponded singularly well with the youthfulness of
+Ottilie. They liked talking of early times, when they had first seen
+each other; and these reminiscences led them up to the first epoch of
+Edward's affection for Charlotte. Ottilie declared that she remembered
+them both as the handsomest pair about the court; and when Edward would
+question the possibility of this, when she must have been so exceedingly
+young, she insisted that she recollected one particular incident as
+clearly as possible. He had come into the room where her aunt was, and
+she had hid her face in Charlotte's lap--not from fear, but from a
+childish surprise. She might have added, because he had made so strong
+an impression upon her--because she had liked him so much.
+
+While they were occupied in this way, much of the business which the
+two friends had undertaken together had come to a standstill; so that
+they found it necessary to inspect how things were going on--to work up
+a few designs and get letters written. For this purpose, they betook
+themselves to their office, where they found their old copyist at his
+desk. They set themselves to their work, and soon gave the old man
+enough to do, without observing that they were laying many things on his
+shoulders which at other times they had always done for themselves. At
+the same time, the first design the Captain tried would not answer, and
+Edward was as unsuccessful with his first letter. They fretted for a
+while, planning and erasing, till at last Edward, who was getting on the
+worst, asked what o'clock it was. And then it appeared that the Captain
+had forgotten, for the first time for many years, to wind up his
+chronometer; and they seemed, if not to feel, at least to have a dim
+perception, that time was beginning to be indifferent to them.
+
+In the meanwhile, as the gentlemen were thus rather slackening in their
+energy, the activity of the ladies increased all the more. The every-day
+life of a family, which is composed of given persons, and is shaped out
+of necessary circumstances, may easily receive into itself an
+extraordinary affection, an incipient passion--may receive it into
+itself as into a vessel; and a long time may elapse before the new
+ingredient produces a visible effervescence, and runs foaming over the
+edge.
+
+With our friends, the feelings which were mutually arising had the most
+agreeable effects. Their dispositions opened out, and a general goodwill
+arose out of the several individual affections. Every member of the
+party was happy; and they each shared their happiness with the rest.
+
+Such a temper elevates the spirit, while it enlarges the heart, and
+everything which, under the influence of it, people do and undertake,
+has a tendency toward the illimitable. The friends could not remain any
+more shut up at home; their walks extended themselves further and
+further. Edward would hurry on before with Ottilie, to choose the path
+or pioneer the way; and the Captain and Charlotte would follow quietly
+on the track of their more hasty precursors, talking on some grave
+subject, or delighting themselves with some spot they had newly
+discovered, or some unexpected natural beauty.
+
+One day their walk led them down from the gate at the right wing of the
+castle, in the direction of the hotel, and thence over the bridge toward
+the ponds, along the sides of which they proceeded as far as it was
+generally thought possible to follow the water; thickly wooded hills
+sloped directly up from the edge, and beyond these a wall of steep
+rocks, making further progress difficult, if not impossible. But Edward,
+whose hunting experience had made him thoroughly familiar with the spot,
+pushed forward along an overgrown path with Ottilie, knowing well that
+the old mill could not be far off, which was somewhere in the middle of
+the rocks there. The path was so little frequented, that they soon lost
+it; and for a short time they were wandering among mossy stones and
+thickets; it was not for long, however, the noise of the water-wheel
+speedily telling them that the place which they were looking for was
+close at hand. Stepping forward on a point of rock, they saw the strange
+old, dark, wooden building in the hollow before them, quite shadowed
+over with precipitous crags and huge trees. They determined directly to
+climb down amidst the moss and the blocks of stone. Edward led the way;
+and when he looked back and saw Ottilie following, stepping lightly,
+without fear or nervousness, from stone to stone, so beautifully
+balancing herself, he fancied he was looking at some celestial creature
+floating above him; while if, as she often did, she caught the hand
+which in some difficult spot he would offer her, or if she supported
+herself on his shoulder, then he was left in no doubt that it was a very
+exquisite human creature who touched him. He almost wished that she
+might slip or stumble, that he might catch her in his arms and press
+her to his heart. This, however, he would under no circumstances have
+done, for more than one reason. He was afraid to wound her, and he was
+afraid to do her some bodily injury.
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD AND OTTILIE]
+
+What the meaning of this could be, we shall immediately learn. When they
+had got down, and were seated opposite each other at a table under the
+trees, and when the miller's wife had gone for milk, and the miller, who
+had come out to them, was sent to meet Charlotte and the Captain,
+Edward, with a little embarrassment, began to speak:
+
+"I have a request to make, dear Ottilie; you will forgive me for asking
+it, if you will not grant it. You make no secret (I am sure you need not
+make any), that you wear a miniature under your dress against your
+breast. It is the picture of your noble father. You could hardly have
+known him; but in every sense he deserves a place by your heart. Only,
+forgive me, the picture is exceedingly large, and the metal frame and
+the glass, if you take up a child in your arms, if you are carrying
+anything, if the carriage swings violently, if we are pushing through
+bushes, or just now, as we were coming down these rocks--cause me a
+thousand anxieties for you. Any unforeseen blow, a fall, a touch, may be
+fatally injurious to you; and I am terrified at the possibility of it.
+For my sake do this: put away the picture, not out of your affections,
+not out of your room; let it have the brightest, the holiest place which
+you can give it; only do not wear upon your breast a thing, the presence
+of which seems to me, perhaps from an extravagant anxiety, so
+dangerous."
+
+Ottilie said nothing, and while he was speaking she kept her eyes fixed
+straight before her; then, without hesitation and without haste, with a
+look turned more toward heaven than on Edward, she unclasped the chain,
+drew out the picture, and pressed it against her forehead, and then
+reached it over to her friend, with the words:
+
+"Do you keep it for me till we come home; I cannot give you a better
+proof how deeply I thank you for your affectionate care."
+
+He did not venture to press the picture to his lips; but he caught her
+hand and raised it to his eyes. They were, perhaps, two of the most
+beautiful hands which had ever been clasped together. He felt as if a
+stone had fallen from his heart, as if a partition-wall had been thrown
+down between him and Ottilie.
+
+Under the miller's guidance, Charlotte and the Captain came down by an
+easier path, and now joined them. There was the meeting, and a happy
+talk, and then they took some refreshments. They would not return by the
+same way as they came; and Edward struck into a rocky path on the other
+side of the stream, from which the ponds were again to be seen. They
+made their way along it, with some effort, and then had to cross a
+variety of wood and copse--getting glimpses, on the land side, of a
+number of villages and manor-houses, with their green lawns and
+fruit-gardens; while very near them, and sweetly situated on a rising
+ground, a farm lay in the middle of the wood. From a gentle ascent, they
+had a view, before and behind, which showed them the richness of the
+country to the greatest advantage; and then, entering a grove of trees,
+they found themselves, on again emerging from it, on the rock opposite
+the castle.
+
+They came upon it rather unexpectedly, and were of course delighted.
+They had made the circuit of a little world; they were standing on the
+spot where the new building was to be erected, and were looking again at
+the windows of their home.
+
+They went down to the summer-house, and sat all four in it for the first
+time together; nothing was more natural than that with one voice it
+should be proposed to have the way they had been that day, and which, as
+it was, had taken them much time and trouble, properly laid out and
+gravelled, so that people might loiter along it at their leisure. They
+each said what they thought; and they reckoned up that the circuit, over
+which they had taken many hours, might be traveled easily with a good
+road all the way round to the castle, in a single one.
+
+Already a plan was being suggested for making the distance shorter, and
+adding a fresh beauty to the landscape, by throwing a bridge across the
+stream, below the mill, where it ran into the lake; when Charlotte
+brought their inventive imagination somewhat to a standstill, by putting
+them in mind of the expense which such an undertaking would involve.
+
+"There are ways of meeting that too," replied Edward; "we have only to
+dispose of that farm in the forest which is so pleasantly situated, and
+which brings in so little in the way of rent: the sum which will be set
+free will more than cover what we shall require, and thus, having gained
+an invaluable walk, we shall receive the interest of well-expended
+capital in substantial enjoyment--instead of, as now, in the summing up
+at the end of the year, vexing and fretting ourselves over the pitiful
+little income which is returned for it."
+
+Even Charlotte, with all her prudence, had little to urge against this.
+There had been, indeed, a previous intention of selling the farm. The
+Captain was ready immediately with a plan for breaking up the ground
+into small portions among the peasantry of the forest. Edward, however,
+had a simpler and shorter way of managing it. His present steward had
+already proposed to take it off his hands--he was to pay for it by
+instalments--and so, gradually, as the money came in, they would get
+their work forward from point to point.
+
+So reasonable and prudent a scheme was sure of universal approbation,
+and already, in prospect, they began to see their new walk winding along
+its way, and to imagine the many beautiful views and charming spots
+which they hoped to discover in its neighborhood.
+
+To bring it all before themselves with greater fulness of detail, in the
+evening they produced the new chart. With the help of this they went
+over again the way that they had come, and found various places where
+the walk might take a rather different direction with advantage. Their
+other scheme was now once more talked through, and connected with the
+fresh design. The site for the new house in the park, opposite the
+castle, was a second time examined into and approved, and fixed upon for
+the termination of the intended circuit.
+
+Ottilie had said nothing all this time. At length Edward pushed the
+chart, which had hitherto been lying before Charlotte, across to her,
+begging her to give her opinion; she still hesitated for a moment.
+Edward in his gentlest way again pressed her to let them know what she
+thought--nothing had as yet been settled--it was all as yet in embryo.
+
+"I would have the house built here," she said, as she pointed with her
+finger to the highest point of the slope on the hill. "It is true you
+cannot see the castle from thence, for it is hidden by the wood; but for
+that very reason you find yourself in another quite new world; you lose
+village and houses and all at the same time. The view of the ponds with
+the mill, and the hills and mountains in the distance, is singularly
+beautiful--I have often observed it when I have been there."
+
+"She is right," Edward cried; "how could we have overlooked it. This is
+what you mean, Ottilie, is it not?" He took a lead pencil, and drew a
+great black rectangular figure on the summit of the hill.
+
+It went through the Captain's soul to see his carefully and
+clearly-drawn chart disfigured in such a way. He collected himself,
+however, after a slight expression of his disapproval and went into the
+idea. "Ottilie is right," he said; "we are ready enough to walk any
+distance to drink tea or eat fish, because they would not have tasted as
+well at home--we require change of scene and change of objects. Your
+ancestors showed their judgment in the spot which they chose for the
+castle; for it is sheltered from the wind, with the conveniences of life
+close at hand. A place, on the contrary, which is more for pleasure
+parties than for a regular residence, may be very well yonder
+there, and in the fair time of year the most agreeable hours may be
+spent there."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLOTTE, OTTILIE, EDWARD AND THE CAPTAIN DISCUSS THE
+NEW PLAN OF THE HOUSE _From the Painting by Franz Simm_]
+
+The more they talked it over, the more conclusive was their judgment in
+favor of Ottilie; and Edward could not conceal his triumph that the
+thought had been hers. He was as proud as if he had hit upon it himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Early the following morning the Captain examined the spot: he first
+threw off a sketch of what should be done, and afterward, when the thing
+had been more completely decided on, he made a complete design, with
+accurate calculations and measurements. It cost him a good deal of
+labor, and the business connected with the sale of the farm had to be
+gone into, so that both the gentlemen now found a fresh impulse to
+activity.
+
+The Captain made Edward observe that it would be proper, indeed that it
+would be a kind of duty, to celebrate Charlotte's birthday with laying
+the foundation-stone. Not much was wanted to overcome Edward's
+disinclination for such festivities--for he quickly recollected that a
+little later Ottilie's birthday would follow, and that he could have a
+magnificent celebration for that.
+
+Charlotte, to whom all this work and what it would involve was a subject
+for much serious and almost anxious thought, busied herself in carefully
+going through the time and outlay which it was calculated would be
+expended on it. During the day they rarely saw each other, so that the
+evening meeting was looked forward to with all the more anxiety.
+
+Ottilie meantime was complete mistress of the household--and how could
+it be otherwise, with her quick methodical rays of working? Indeed, her
+whole mode of thought was suited better to home life than to the world,
+and to a more free existence. Edward soon observed that she only walked
+about with them out of a desire to please; that when she stayed out late
+with them in the evening it was because she thought it a sort of social
+duty, and that she would often find a pretext in some household matter
+for going in again--consequently he soon managed so to arrange the walks
+which they took together, that they should be at home before sunset; and
+he began again, what he had long left off, to read aloud
+poetry--particularly such as had for its subject the expression of a
+pure but passionate love.
+
+They ordinarily sat in the evening in the same places round a small
+table--Charlotte on the sofa, Ottilie on a chair opposite to her, and
+the gentlemen on each side. Ottilie's place was on Edward's right, the
+side where he put the candle when he was reading--at such times she
+would draw her chair a little nearer to look over him, for Ottilie also
+trusted her own eyes better than another person's lips, and Edward would
+then always make a move toward her, that it might be as easy as possible
+for her--indeed he would frequently make longer stops than necessary,
+that he might not turn over before she had got to the bottom of the
+page.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain observed this, and exchanged many a quiet
+smile at it; but they were both taken by surprise at another symptom, in
+which Ottilie's latent feeling accidentally displayed itself.
+
+One evening, which had been partly spoilt for them by a tedious visit,
+Edward proposed that they should not separate so early--he felt inclined
+for music--he would take his flute, which he had not done for many days
+past. Charlotte looked for the sonatas which they generally played
+together, and they were not to be found. Ottilie, with some hesitation,
+said that they were in her room--she had taken them there to copy them.
+
+"And you can, you will, accompany me on the piano?" cried Edward, his
+eyes sparkling with pleasure. "I think perhaps I can," Ottilie answered.
+She brought the music and sat down to the instrument. The others
+listened, and were sufficiently surprised to hear how perfectly Ottilie
+had taught herself the piece--but far more surprised were they at the
+way in which she contrived to adapt herself to Edward's style of
+playing. Adapt herself, is not the right expression--Charlotte's skill
+and power enabled her, in order to please her husband, to keep up with
+him when he went too fast, and hold in for him if he hesitated; but
+Ottilie, who had several times heard them play the sonata together,
+seemed to have learnt it according to the idea in which they accompanied
+each other--she had so completely made his defects her own, that a kind
+of living whole resulted from it, which did not move indeed according to
+exact rule, but the effect of which was in the highest degree pleasant
+and delightful. The composer himself would have been pleased to hear his
+work disfigured in a manner so charming.
+
+Charlotte and the Captain watched this strange unexpected occurrence in
+silence, with the kind of feeling with which we often observe the
+actions of children--unable exactly to approve of them, from the serious
+consequences which may follow, and yet without being able to find fault,
+perhaps with a kind of envy. For, indeed, the regard of these two for
+one another was growing also, as well as that of the others--and it was
+perhaps only the more perilous because they were both stronger, more
+certain of themselves, and better able to restrain themselves.
+
+The Captain had already begun to feel that a habit which he could not
+resist was threatening to bind him to Charlotte. He forced himself to
+stay away at the hour when she commonly used to be at the works; by
+getting up very early in the morning he contrived to finish there
+whatever he had to do, and went back to the castle to his work in his
+own room. The first day or two Charlotte thought it was an accident--she
+looked for him in every place where she thought he could possibly be.
+Then she thought she understood him--and admired him all the more.
+
+Avoiding, as the Captain now did, being alone with Charlotte, the more
+industriously did he labor to hurry forward the preparations for keeping
+her rapidly-approaching birthday with all splendor. While he was
+bringing up the new road from below behind the village, he made the men,
+under pretence that he wanted stones, begin working at the top as well,
+and work down, to meet the others; and he had calculated his
+arrangements so that the two should exactly meet on the eve of the day.
+The excavations for the new house were already done; the rock was blown
+away with gunpowder; and a fair foundation-stone had been hewn, with a
+hollow chamber, and a flat slab adjusted to cover it.
+
+This outward activity, these little mysterious purposes of friendship,
+prompted by feelings which more or less they were obliged to repress,
+rather prevented the little party when together from being as lively as
+usual. Edward, who felt that there was a sort of void, one evening
+called upon the Captain to fetch his violin--Charlotte should play the
+piano, and he should accompany her. The Captain was unable to refuse the
+general request, and they executed together one of the most difficult
+pieces of music with an ease, and freedom, and feeling, which could not
+but afford themselves, and the two who were listening to them, the
+greatest delight. They promised themselves a frequent repetition of it,
+as well as further practice together. "They do it better than we,
+Ottilie," said Edward; "we will admire them--but we can enjoy ourselves
+together too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The birthday was come, and everything was ready. The wall was all
+complete which protected the raised village road against the water, and
+so was the walk; passing the church, for a short time it followed the
+path which had been laid out by Charlotte, and then winding upward among
+the rocks, inclined first under the summer-house to the right, and then,
+after a wide sweep, passed back above it to the right again, and so by
+degrees out on to the summit. A large party had assembled for the
+occasion. They went first to church, where they found the whole
+congregation assembled in their holiday dresses. After service, they
+filed out in order; first the boys, then the young men, then the old;
+after them came the party from the castle, with their visitors and
+retinue; and the village maidens, young girls, and women, brought up the
+rear.
+
+At the turn of the walk, a raised stone seat had been contrived, where
+the Captain made Charlotte and the visitors stop and rest. From here
+they could see over the whole distance from the beginning to the
+end--the troops of men who had gone up before them, the file of women
+following, and now drawing up to where they were. It was lovely weather,
+and the whole effect was singularly beautiful. Charlotte was taken by
+surprise, she was touched, and she pressed the Captain's hand warmly.
+
+They followed the crowd who had slowly ascended, and were now forming a
+circle round the spot where the future house was to stand. The lord of
+the castle, his family, and the principal strangers were now invited to
+descend into the vault, where the foundation-stone, supported on one
+side, lay ready to be let down. A well-dressed mason, a trowel in one
+hand and a hammer in the other, came forward, and with much grace spoke
+an address in verse, of which in prose we can give but an imperfect
+rendering.
+
+"Three things," he began, "are to be looked to in a building--that it
+stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be
+successfully executed. The first is the business of the master of the
+house--his and his only. As in the city the prince and the council alone
+determine where a building shall be, so in the country it is the right
+of the lord of the soil that he shall say, 'Here my dwelling shall
+stand; here, and nowhere else.'"
+
+Edward and Ottilie were standing opposite one another, as these words
+were spoken; but they did not venture to look up and exchange glances.
+
+"To the third, the execution, there is neither art nor handicraft which
+must not in some way contribute. But the second, the founding, is the
+province of the mason; and, boldly to speak it out, it is the head and
+front of all the undertaking--a solemn thing it is--and our bidding you
+descend hither is full of meaning. You are celebrating your Festival in
+the deep of the earth. Here within this small hollow spot, you show us
+the honor of appearing as witnesses of our mysterious craft. Presently
+we shall lower down this carefully-hewn stone into its place; and soon
+these earth-walls, now ornamented with fair and worthy persons, will be
+no more accessible--but will be closed in forever!
+
+"This foundation-stone, which with its angles typifies the just angles
+of the building, with the sharpness of its molding, the regularity of
+it, and with the truth of its lines to the horizontal and perpendicular,
+the uprightness and equal height of all the walls, we might now without
+more ado let down--it would rest in its place with its own weight. But
+even here there shall not fail of lime and means to bind it. For as
+human beings who may be well inclined to each other by nature, yet hold
+more firmly together when the law cements them, so are stones also,
+whose forms may already fit together, united far better by these binding
+forces. It is not seemly to be idle among the working, and here you will
+not refuse to be our fellow-laborer;" with these words he reached the
+trowel to Charlotte, who threw mortar with it under the stone--several
+of the others were then desired to do the same, and then it was at once
+let fall. Upon which the hammer was placed next in Charlotte's, and then
+in the others' hands, to strike three times with it, and conclude, in
+this expression, the wedlock of the stone with the earth.
+
+"The work of the mason," went on the speaker, "now under the free sky as
+we are, if it be not done in concealment, yet must pass into
+concealment--the soil will be laid smoothly in, and thrown over this
+stone, and with the walls which we rear into the daylight we in the end
+are seldom remembered. The works of the stone-cutter and the carver
+remain under the eyes; but for us it is not to complain when the
+plasterer blots out the last trace of our hands, and appropriates our
+work to himself; when he overlays it, and smooths it, and colors it.
+
+"Not from regard for the opinion of others, but from respect for
+himself, the mason will be faithful in his calling. There is none who
+has more need to feel in himself the consciousness of what he is. When
+the house is finished, when the soil is smoothed, the surface plastered
+over, and the outside all overwrought with ornament, he can even
+penetrate through all disguises and still recognize those exact and
+careful adjustments to which the whole is indebted for its being and for
+its persistence.
+
+"But as the man who commits some evil deed has to fear, that,
+notwithstanding all precautions, it will one day come to light--so too
+must he expect who has done some good thing in secret, that it also, in
+spite of himself, will appear in the day; and therefore we make this
+foundation-stone at the same time a stone of memorial. Here, in these
+various hollows which have been hewn into it, many things are now to be
+buried, as a witness to some far-off world--these metal cases
+hermetically sealed contain documents in writing; matters of various
+note are engraved on these plates; in these fair glass bottles we bury
+the best old wine, with a note of the year of its vintage. We have coins
+too of many kinds, from the mint of the current year. All this we have
+received through the liberality of him for whom we build. There is space
+yet remaining, if guest or spectator desires to offer anything to the
+after-world!"
+
+After a slight pause the speaker looked round; but, as is commonly the
+case on such occasions, no one was prepared; they were all taken by
+surprise. At last, a merry-looking young officer set the example, and
+said, "If I am to contribute anything which as yet is not to be found in
+this treasure-chamber, it shall be a pair of buttons from my uniform--I
+don't see why they do not deserve to go down to posterity!" No sooner
+said than done, and then a number of persons found something of the
+same sort which they could do; the young ladies did not hesitate to
+throw in some of their side hair combs--smelling bottles and other
+trinkets were not spared. Only Ottilie hung back; till a kind word from
+Edward roused her from the abstraction in which she was watching the
+various things being heaped in. Then she unclasped from her neck the
+gold chain on which her father's picture had hung, and with a light
+gentle hand laid it down on the other jewels. Edward rather disarranged
+the proceedings, by at once, in some haste, having the cover let fall,
+and fastened down.
+
+The young mason who had been most active through all this, again took
+his place as orator, and went on: "We lay down this stone for ever, for
+the establishing the present and the future possessors of this house.
+But in that we bury this treasure together with it, we do it in the
+remembrance--in this most enduring of works--of the perishableness of
+all human things. We remember that a time may come when this cover so
+fast sealed shall again be lifted; and that can only be when all shall
+again be destroyed which as yet we have not brought into being.
+
+"But now--now that at once it may begin to be, back with our thoughts
+out of the future--back into the present. At once, after the feast,
+which we have this day kept together, let us on with our labor; let no
+one of all those trades which are to work on our foundation, through us
+keep unwilling holiday. Let the building rise swiftly to its height, and
+out of the windows, which as yet have no existence, may the master of
+the house, with his family and with his guests, look forth with a glad
+heart over his broad lands. To him and to all here present herewith be
+health and happiness."
+
+With these words he drained a richly cut tumbler at a draught, and flung
+it into the air, thereby to signify the excess of pleasure by destroying
+the vessel which had served for such a solemn occasion. This time,
+however, it fell out otherwise. The glass did not fall back to the
+earth, and indeed without a miracle.
+
+In order to get forward with the buildings, they had already thrown out
+the whole of the soil at the opposite corner; indeed, they had begun to
+raise the wall, and for this purpose had reared a scaffold as high as
+was absolutely necessary. On the occasion of the festival, boards had
+been laid along the top of this, and a number of spectators were allowed
+to stand there. It had been meant principally for the advantage of the
+workmen themselves. The glass had flown up there, and had been caught by
+one of them, who took it as a sign of good luck for himself. He waved it
+round without letting it out of his hand, and the letters E and O were
+to be seen very richly cut upon it, running one into the other. It was
+one of the glasses which had been executed for Edward when he was a boy.
+
+The scaffoldings were again deserted, and the most active among the
+party climbed up to look round them, and could not speak enough in
+praise of the beauty of the prospect on all sides. How many new
+discoveries does not a person make when on some high point he ascends
+but a single story higher. Inland many fresh villages came in sight. The
+line of the river could be traced like a thread of silver; indeed, one
+of the party thought that he distinguished the spires of the capital. On
+the other side, behind the wooded hill, the blue peaks of the far-off
+mountains were seen rising, and the country immediately about them was
+spread out like a map.
+
+"If the three ponds," cried some one, "were but thrown together to make
+a single sheet of water, there would be everything here which is noblest
+and most excellent."
+
+"That might easily be effected," the Captain said. "In early times they
+must have formed all one lake among the hills here."
+
+"Only I must beseech you to spare my clump of planes and poplars that
+stand so prettily by the centre pond," said Edward. "See!" He turned to
+Ottilie, bringing her a few steps forward, and pointing down--"those
+trees I planted myself."
+
+"How long have they been standing there?" asked Ottilie.
+
+"Just about as long as you have been in the world," replied Edward.
+"Yes, my dear child, I planted them when you were still lying in your
+cradle."
+
+The party now betook themselves back to the castle. After dinner was
+over they were invited to walk through the village to take a glance at
+what had been done there as well. At a hint from the Captain, the
+inhabitants had collected in front of the houses. They were not standing
+in rows, but formed in natural family groups; part were occupied at
+their evening work, part out enjoying themselves on the new benches.
+They had determined, as an agreeable duty which they imposed upon
+themselves, to have everything in its present order and cleanliness, at
+least every Sunday and holiday.
+
+A little party, held together by such feelings as had grown up among our
+friends, is always unpleasantly interrupted by a large concourse of
+people. All four were delighted to find themselves again alone in the
+large drawing-room, but this sense of home was a little disturbed by a
+letter which was brought to Edward, giving notice of fresh guests who
+were to arrive the following day.
+
+"It is as we supposed," Edward cried to Charlotte. "The Count will not
+stay away; he is coming tomorrow."
+
+"Then the Baroness, too, is not far off," answered Charlotte.
+
+"Doubtless not," said Edward. "She is coming, too, tomorrow, from
+another place. They only beg to be allowed to stay for a night; the next
+day they will go on together."
+
+"We must prepare for them in time, Ottilie," said Charlotte.
+
+"What arrangement shall I desire to be made?" Ottilie asked.
+
+Charlotte gave a general direction, and Ottilie left the room.
+
+The Captain inquired into the relation in which these two persons stood
+toward each other, and with which he was only very generally acquainted.
+They had some time before, both being already married, fallen violently
+in love with each other; a double marriage was not to be interfered with
+without attracting attention. A divorce was proposed. On the Baroness's
+side it could be effected, on that of the Count it could not. They were
+obliged seemingly to separate, but their position toward each other
+remained unchanged, and though in the winter at the Residence they were
+unable to be together, they indemnified themselves in the summer, while
+making tours and staying at watering-places.
+
+They were both slightly older than Edward and Charlotte, and had been
+intimate with them from early times at court. The connection had never
+been absolutely broken off, although it was impossible to approve of
+their proceedings. On the present occasion their coming was most
+unwelcome to Charlotte; and if she had looked closely into her reasons
+for feeling it so, she would have found it was on account of Ottilie.
+The poor innocent girl should not have been brought so early in contact
+with such an example.
+
+"It would have been more convenient if they had not come till a couple
+of days later," Edward was saying; as Ottilie re-entered, "till we had
+finished with this business of the farm. The deed of sale is complete.
+One copy of it I have here, but we want a second, and our old clerk has
+fallen ill." The Captain offered his services, and so did Charlotte, but
+there was something or other to object to in both of them.
+
+"Give it to me," cried Ottilie, a little hastily.
+
+"You will never be able to finish it," said Charlotte.
+
+"And really I must have it early the day after tomorrow, and it is
+long," Edward added.
+
+"It shall be ready," Ottilie cried; and the paper was already in her
+hands.
+
+The next morning, as they were looking out from their highest windows
+for their visitors, whom they intended to go some way and meet, Edward
+said, "Who is that yonder, riding slowly along the road?"
+
+The Captain described accurately the figure of the horse-man.
+
+"Then it is he," said Edward; "the particulars, which you can see better
+than I, agree very well with the general figure, which I can see too. It
+is Mittler; but what is he doing, coming riding at such a pace as that?"
+
+The figure came nearer, and Mittler it veritably was. They received him
+with warm greetings as he came slowly up the steps.
+
+"Why did you not come yesterday?" Edward cried, as he approached.
+
+"I do not like your grand festivities," answered he; "but I am come
+today to keep my friend's birthday with you quietly."
+
+"How are you able to find time enough?" asked Edward, with a laugh.
+
+"My visit, if you can value it, you owe to an observation which I made
+yesterday. I was spending a right happy afternoon in a house where I had
+established peace, and then I heard that a birthday was being kept here.
+Now this is what I call selfish, after all, said I to myself: you will
+only enjoy yourself with those whose broken peace you have mended. Why
+cannot you for once go and be happy with friends who keep the peace for
+themselves? No sooner said than done. Here I am, as I determined with
+myself that I would be."
+
+"Yesterday you would have met a large party here; today you will find
+but a small one," said Charlotte; "you will meet the Count and the
+Baroness, with whom you have had enough to do already, I believe."
+
+Out of the middle of the party, who had all four come down to welcome
+him, the strange man dashed in the keenest disgust, seizing at the same
+time his hat and whip. "Some unlucky star is always over me," he cried,
+"directly I try to rest and enjoy myself. What business have I going out
+of my proper character? I ought never to have come, and now I am
+persecuted away. Under one roof with those two I will not remain, and
+you take care of yourselves. They bring nothing but mischief; their
+nature is like leaven, and propagates its own contagion."
+
+They tried to pacify him, but it was in vain. "Whoever strikes at
+marriage," he cried;--"whoever, either by word or act, undermines this,
+the foundation of all moral society, that man has to settle with me, and
+if I cannot become his master, I take care to settle myself out of his
+way. Marriage is the beginning and the end of all culture. It makes the
+savage mild; and the most cultivated has no better opportunity for
+displaying his gentleness. Indissoluble it must be, because it brings so
+much happiness that what small exceptional unhappiness it may bring
+counts for nothing in the balance. And what do men mean by talking of
+unhappiness? Impatience it is which from time to time comes over them,
+and then they fancy themselves unhappy. Let them wait till the moment is
+gone by, and then they will bless their good fortune that what has stood
+so long continues standing. There never can be any adequate ground for
+separation. The condition of man is pitched so high, in its joys and in
+its sorrows, that the sum which two married people owe to each other
+defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged
+through all eternity.
+
+"Its annoyances marriage may often have; I can well believe that, and it
+is as it should be. We are all married to our consciences, and there are
+times when we should be glad to be divorced from them; mine gives me
+more annoyance than ever a man or a woman can give."
+
+All this he poured out with the greatest vehemence: he would very likely
+have gone on speaking longer, had not the sound of the postilions'
+horns given notice of the arrival of the visitors, who, as if on a
+concerted arrangement, drove into the castle-court from opposite sides
+at the same moment. Mittler slipped away as their host hastened to
+receive them, and desiring that his horse might be brought out
+immediately, rode angrily off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+The visitors were welcomed and brought in. They were delighted to find
+themselves again in the same house and in the same rooms where in early
+times they had passed many happy days, but which they had not seen for a
+long time. Their friends too were very glad to see them. The Count and
+the Baroness had both those tall fine figures which please in middle
+life almost better than in youth. If something of the first bloom had
+faded off them, yet there was an air in their appearance which was
+always irresistibly attractive. Their manners too were thoroughly
+charming. Their free way of taking hold of life and dealing with it,
+their happy humor, and apparent easy unembarrassment, communicated
+itself at once to the rest; and a lighter atmosphere hung about the
+whole party, without their having observed it stealing on them.
+
+The effect made itself felt immediately on the entrance of the
+new-comers. They were fresh from the fashionable world, as was to be
+seen at once, in their dress, in their equipment, and in everything
+about them; and they formed a contrast not a little striking with our
+friends, their country style, and the vehement feelings which were at
+work underneath among them. This, however, very soon disappeared in the
+stream of past recollection and present interests, and a rapid, lively
+conversation soon united them all. After a short time they again
+separated. The ladies withdrew to their own apartments, and there found
+amusement enough in the many things which they had to tell one another,
+and in setting to work at the same time to examine the new fashions, the
+spring dresses, bonnets, and such like; while the gentlemen were
+employing themselves looking at the new traveling chariots, trotting out
+the horses, and beginning at once to bargain and exchange.
+
+They did not meet again till dinner; in the meantime they had changed
+their dress. And here, too, the newly arrived pair showed to all
+advantage. Everything they wore was new, and in a style which their
+friends at the castle had never seen, and yet, being accustomed to it
+themselves, it appeared perfectly natural and graceful.
+
+The conversation was brilliant and well sustained, as, indeed, in the
+company of such persons everything and nothing appears to interest. They
+spoke in French that the attendants might not understand what they said,
+and swept in happiest humor over all that was passing in the great or
+the middle world. On one particular subject they remained, however,
+longer than was desirable. It was occasioned by Charlotte asking after
+one of her early friends, of whom she had to learn, with some distress,
+that she was on the point of being separated from her husband.
+
+"It is a melancholy thing," Charlotte said, "when we fancy our absent
+friends are finally settled, when we believe persons very dear to us to
+be provided for for life, suddenly to hear that their fortunes are cast
+loose once more; that they have to strike into a fresh path of life, and
+very likely a most insecure one."
+
+"Indeed, my dear friend," the Count answered, "it is our own fault if we
+allow ourselves to be surprised at such things. We please ourselves with
+imagining matters of this earth, and particularly matrimonial
+connections, as very enduring; and as concerns this last point, the
+plays which we see over and over again help to mislead us; being, as
+they are, so untrue to the course of the world. In a comedy we see a
+marriage as the last aim of a desire which is hindered and crossed
+through a number of acts, and at the instant when it is reached the
+curtain falls, and the momentary satisfaction continues to ring on in
+our ears. But in the world it is very different. The play goes on still
+behind the scenes, and when the curtain rises again we may see and hear,
+perhaps, little enough of the marriage."
+
+"It cannot be so very bad, however," said Charlotte, smiling. "We see
+people who have gone off the boards of the theatre, ready enough to
+undertake a part upon them again."
+
+"There is nothing to say against that," said the Count. "In a new
+character a man may readily venture on a second trial; and when we know
+the world we see clearly that it is only this positive, eternal duration
+of marriage in a world where everything is in motion, which has anything
+unbecoming about it. A certain friend of mine, whose humor displays
+itself principally in suggestions for new laws, maintained that every
+marriage should be concluded only for five years. Five, he said, was a
+sacred number--pretty and uneven. Such a period would be long enough for
+people to learn each other's character, bring a child or two into the
+world, quarrel, separate, and what is best, get reconciled again. He
+would often exclaim, 'How happily the first part of the time would pass
+away!' Two or three years, at least, would be perfect bliss. On one side
+or the other there would not fail to be a wish to have the relation
+continue longer, and the amiability would increase the nearer they got
+to the parting time. The indifferent, even the dissatisfied party, would
+be softened and gained over by such behavior; they would forget, as in
+pleasant company the hours pass always unobserved, how the time went by,
+and they would be delightfully surprised when, after the term had run
+out, they first observed that they had unknowingly prolonged it."
+
+Charming and pleasant as all this sounded, and deep (Charlotte felt it
+to her soul) as was the moral significance which lay below it,
+expressions of this kind, on Ottilie's account, were most distasteful to
+her. She knew very well that nothing was more dangerous than the
+licentious conversation which treats culpable or semi-culpable actions
+as if they were common, ordinary, and even laudable, and of such
+undesirable kind assuredly were all which touched on the sacredness of
+marriage. She endeavored, therefore, in her skilful way, to give the
+conversation another turn, and, when she found that she could not, it
+vexed her that Ottilie had managed everything so well that there was no
+occasion for her to leave the table. In her quiet observant way a nod or
+a look was enough for her to signify to the head servant whatever was to
+be done, and everything went off perfectly, although there were a couple
+of strange men in livery in the way who were rather a trouble than a
+convenience. And so the Count, without feeling Charlotte's hints, went
+on giving his opinions on the same subject. Generally, he was little
+enough apt to be tedious in conversation; but this was a thing which
+weighed so heavily on his heart, and the difficulties which he found in
+getting separated from his wife were so great that it had made him
+bitter against everything which concerned the marriage bond--that very
+bond which, notwithstanding, he was so anxiously desiring between
+himself and the Baroness.
+
+"The same friend," he went on, "has another law which he proposes. A
+marriage shall be held indissoluble only when either both parties, or at
+least one or the other, enter into it for the third time. Such persons
+must be supposed to acknowledge beyond a doubt that they find marriage
+indispensable for themselves; they have had opportunities of thoroughly
+knowing themselves; of knowing how they conducted themselves in their
+earlier unions; whether they have any peculiarities of temper, which are
+a more frequent cause of separation than bad dispositions. People would
+then observe each other more closely; they would pay as much attention
+to the married as to the unmarried, no one being able to tell how things
+may turn out."
+
+"That would add no little to the interest of society," said Edward. "As
+things are now, when a man is married nobody cares any more either for
+his virtues or for his vices."
+
+"Under this arrangement," the Baroness struck in, laughing, "our good
+hosts have passed successfully over their two steps, and may make
+themselves ready for their third."
+
+"Things have gone happily with them," said the Count. "In their case
+death has done with a good will what in others the consistorial courts
+do with a very bad one.
+
+"Let the dead rest," said Charlotte, with a half serious look.
+
+"Why so," persevered the Count, "when we can remember them with honor?
+They were generous enough to content themselves with less than their
+number of years for the sake of the larger good which they could leave
+behind them."
+
+"Alas! that in such cases," said the Baroness, with a suppressed sigh,
+"happiness is bought only with the sacrifice of our fairest years."
+
+"Indeed, yes," answered the Count; "and it might drive us to despair, if
+it were not the same with everything in this world. Nothing goes as we
+hope. Children do not fulfil what they promise; young people very
+seldom; and if they keep their word, the world does not keep its word
+with them."
+
+Charlotte, who was delighted that the conversation had taken a turn at
+last, replied cheerfully:
+
+"Well, then, we must content ourselves with enjoying what good we are to
+have in fragments and pieces, as we can get it; and the sooner we can
+accustom ourselves to this the better."
+
+"Certainly," the Count answered, "you two have had the enjoyment of very
+happy times. When I look back upon the years when you and Edward were
+the loveliest couple at the court, I see nothing now to be compared with
+those brilliant times, and such magnificent figures. When you two used
+to dance together, all eyes were turned upon you, fastened upon you,
+while you saw nothing but each other."
+
+"So much has changed since those days," said Charlotte, "that we can
+listen to such pretty things about ourselves without our modesty being
+shocked at them."
+
+"I often privately found fault with Edward," said the Count, "for not
+being more firm. Those singular parents of his would certainly have
+given way at last; and ten fair years is no trifle to gain."
+
+"I must take Edward's part," struck in the Baroness. "Charlotte was not
+altogether without fault--not altogether free from what we must call
+prudential considerations; and although she had a real, hearty love for
+Edward, and did in her secret soul intend to marry him, I can bear
+witness how sorely she often tried him; and it was through this that he
+was at last unluckily prevailed upon to leave her and go abroad, and try
+to forget her."
+
+Edward bowed to the Baroness, and seemed grateful for her advocacy.
+
+"And then I must add this," she continued, "in excuse for Charlotte. The
+man who was at that time suing for her, had for a long time given proofs
+of his constant attachment to her; and, when one came to know him well,
+was a far more lovable person than the rest of you may like to
+acknowledge."
+
+"My dear friend," the Count replied, a little pointedly, "confess, now,
+that he was not altogether indifferent to yourself, and that Charlotte
+had more to fear from you than from any other rival. I find it one of
+the highest traits in women, that they continue so long in their regard
+for a man, and that absence of no duration will serve to disturb or
+remove it."
+
+"This fine feature, men possess, perhaps, even more," answered the
+Baroness. "At any rate, I have observed with you, my dear Count, that no
+one has more influence over you than a lady to whom you were once
+attached. I have seen you take more trouble to do things when a certain
+person has asked you, than the friend of this moment would have obtained
+of you, if she had tried."
+
+"Such a charge as that one must bear the best way one can," replied the
+Count. "But as to what concerns Charlotte's first husband, I could not
+endure him, because he parted so sweet a pair from each other--a really
+predestined pair, who, once brought together, have no reason to fear the
+five years, or be thinking of a second or third marriage."
+
+"We must try," Charlotte said, "to make up for what we then allowed to
+slip from us."
+
+"Aye, and you must keep to that," said the Count; "your first
+marriages," he continued, with some vehemence, "were exactly marriages
+of the true detestable sort. And, unhappily, marriages generally, even
+the best, have (forgive me for using a strong expression) something
+awkward about them. They destroy the delicacy of the relation;
+everything is made to rest on the broad certainty out of which one side
+or other, at least, is too apt to make their own advantage. It is all a
+matter of course; and they seem only to have got themselves tied
+together, that one or the other, or both, may go their own way the more
+easily."
+
+At this moment, Charlotte, who was determined once for all that she
+would put an end to the conversation, made a bold effort at turning it,
+and succeeded. It then became more general. She and her husband and the
+Captain were able to take a part in it. Even Ottilie had to give her
+opinion; and the dessert was enjoyed in the happiest humor. It was
+particularly beautiful, being composed almost entirely of the rich
+summer fruits in elegant baskets, with epergnes of lovely flowers
+arranged in exquisite taste.
+
+The new laying-out of the park came to be spoken of; and immediately
+after dinner they went to look at what was going on. Ottilie withdrew,
+under pretence of having household matters to look to; in reality, it
+was to set to work again at the transcribing. The Count fell into
+conversation with the Captain, and Charlotte afterward joined them. When
+they were at the summit of the height, the Captain good-naturedly ran
+back to fetch the plan, and in his absence the Count said to Charlotte:
+
+"He is an exceedingly pleasing person. He is very well informed, and his
+knowledge is always ready. His practical power, too, seems methodical
+and vigorous. What he is doing here would be of great importance in some
+higher sphere."
+
+Charlotte listened to the Captain's praises with an inward delight. She
+collected herself, however, and composedly and clearly confirmed what
+the Count had said. But she was not a little startled when he continued:
+
+"This acquaintance falls most opportunely for me. I know of a situation
+for which he is perfectly suited, and I shall be doing the greatest
+favor to a friend of mine, a man of high rank, by recommending to him a
+person who is so exactly everything which he desires."
+
+Charlotte felt as if a thunder-stroke had fallen on her. The Count did
+not observe it: women, being accustomed at all times to hold themselves
+in restraint, are always able, even in the most extraordinary cases, to
+maintain an apparent composure; but she heard not a word more of what
+the Count said, though he went on speaking.
+
+"When I have made up my mind upon a thing," he added, "I am quick about
+it. I have put my letter together already in my head, and I shall write
+it immediately. You can find me some messenger who can ride off with it
+this evening."
+
+Charlotte was suffering agonies. Startled with the proposal, and shocked
+at herself, she was unable to utter a word. Happily, the Count continued
+talking of his plans for the Captain, the desirableness of which was
+only too apparent to Charlotte.
+
+It was time that the Captain returned. He came up and unrolled his
+design before the Count. But with what changed eyes Charlotte now looked
+at the friend whom she was to lose. In her necessity, she bowed and
+turned away, and hurried down to the summer-house. Before she was half
+way there, the tears were streaming from her eyes, and she flung herself
+into the narrow room in the little hermitage, and gave herself up to an
+agony, a passion, a despair, of the possibility of which, but a few
+moments before, she had not had the slightest conception.
+
+Edward had gone with the Baroness in the other direction toward the
+ponds. This ready-witted lady, who liked to be in the secret about
+everything, soon observed, in a few conversational feelers which she
+threw out, that Edward was very fluent and free-spoken in praise of
+Ottilie. She contrived in the most natural way to lead him out by
+degrees so completely that at last she had not a doubt remaining that
+here was not merely an incipient fancy, but a veritable, full-grown
+passion.
+
+Married women, if they have no particular love for one another, yet are
+silently in league together, especially against young girls. The
+consequences of such an inclination presented themselves only too
+quickly to her world-experienced spirit. Added to this, she had been
+already, in the course of the day, talking to Charlotte about Ottilie;
+she had disapproved of her remaining in the country, particularly being
+a girl of so retiring a character; and she had proposed to take Ottilie
+with her to the residence of a friend who was just then bestowing great
+expense on the education of an only daughter, and who was only looking
+about to find some well-disposed companion for her--to put her in the
+place of a second child, and let her share in every advantage. Charlotte
+had taken time to consider. But now this glimpse of the Baroness into
+Edward's heart changed what had been but a suggestion at once into a
+settled determination; and the more rapidly she made up her mind about
+it, the more she outwardly seemed to flatter Edward's wishes. Never was
+there any one more self-possessed than this lady; and to have mastered
+ourselves in extraordinary cases, disposes us to treat even a common
+case with dissimulation--it makes us inclined, as we have had to do so
+much violence to ourselves, to extend our control over others, and
+hold ourselves in a degree compensated in what we outwardly gain for
+what we inwardly have been obliged to sacrifice. To this feeling there
+is often joined a kind of secret, spiteful pleasure in the blind,
+unconscious ignorance with which the victim walks on into the snare. It
+is not the immediately doing as we please which we enjoy, but the
+thought of the surprise and exposure which is to follow. And thus was
+the Baroness malicious enough to invite Edward to come with Charlotte
+and pay her a visit at the grape-gathering; and, to his question whether
+they might bring Ottilie with them, to frame an answer which, if he
+pleased, he might interpret to his wishes.
+
+Edward had already begun to pour out his delight at the beautiful
+scenery, the broad river, the hills, the rocks, the vineyard, the old
+castles, the water-parties, and the jubilee at the grape-gathering, the
+wine-pressing, etc., in all of which, in the innocence of his heart, he
+was only exuberating in the anticipation of the impression which these
+scenes were to make on the fresh spirit of Ottilie. At this moment they
+saw her approaching, and the Baroness said quickly to Edward that he had
+better say nothing to her of this intended autumn expedition--things
+which we set our hearts upon so long before so often failing to come to
+pass. Edward gave his promise; but he obliged his companion to move more
+quickly to meet her; and at last, when they came very close, he ran on
+several steps in advance. A heartfelt happiness expressed itself in his
+whole being. He kissed her hand as he pressed into it a nosegay of wild
+flowers which he had gathered on his way.
+
+The Baroness felt bitter in her heart at the sight of it. Even whilst
+she was able to disapprove of what was really objectionable in this
+affection, she could not bear to see what was sweet and beautiful in it
+thrown away on such a poor paltry girl.
+
+When they had collected again at the supper-table, an entirely different
+temper was spread over the party. The Count, who had in the meantime
+written his letter and dispatched a messenger with it, occupied himself
+with the Captain, whom he had been drawing out more and more--spending
+the whole evening at his side, talking of serious matters. The Baroness,
+who sat on the Count's right, found but small amusement in this; nor did
+Edward find any more. The latter, first because he was thirsty, and then
+because he was excited, did not spare the wine, and attached himself
+entirely to Ottilie, whom he had made sit by him. On the other side,
+next to the Captain, sat Charlotte; for her it was hard, it was almost
+impossible, to conceal the emotion under which she was suffering.
+
+The Baroness had sufficient time to make her observations at leisure.
+She perceived Charlotte's uneasiness, and occupied as she was with
+Edward's passion for Ottilie, she easily satisfied herself that her
+abstraction and distress were owing to her husband's behavior; and she
+set herself to consider in what way she could best compass her ends.
+
+Supper was over, and the party remained divided. The Count, whose object
+was to probe the Captain to the bottom, had to try many turns before he
+could arrive at what he wished with so quiet, so little vain, but so
+exceedingly laconic a person. They walked up and down together on one
+side of the saloon, while Edward, excited with wine and hope, was
+laughing with Ottilie at a window, and Charlotte and the Baroness were
+walking backward and forward, without speaking, on the other side. Their
+being so silent, and their standing about in this uneasy, listless way,
+had its effect at last in breaking up the rest of the party. The ladies
+withdrew to their rooms, the gentlemen to the other wing of the castle;
+and so this day appeared to be concluded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Edward went with the Count to his room. They continued talking, and he
+was easily prevailed upon to stay a little time longer there. The Count
+lost himself in old times, spoke eagerly of Charlotte's beauty, which,
+as a critic, he dwelt upon with much warmth.
+
+"A pretty foot is a great gift of nature," he said. "It is a grace which
+never perishes. I observed it today, as she was walking. I should almost
+have liked even to kiss her shoe, and repeat that somewhat barbarous but
+significant practice of the Sarmatians, who know no better way of
+showing reverence for any one they love or respect, than by using his
+shoe to drink his health out of."
+
+The point of the foot did not remain the only subject of praise between
+two old acquaintances; they went from the person back upon old stories
+and adventures, and came on the hindrances which at that time people had
+thrown in the way of the lovers' meetings--what trouble they had taken,
+what arts they had been obliged to devise, only to be able to tell each
+other that they loved.
+
+"Do you remember," continued the Count, "an adventure in which I most
+unselfishly stood your friend when their High Mightinesses were on a
+visit to your uncle, and were all together in that great, straggling
+castle? The day went in festivities and glitter of all sorts; and a part
+of the night at least in pleasant conversation."
+
+"And you, in the meantime, had observed the back-way which led to the
+court ladies' quarter," said Edward, "and so managed to effect an
+interview for me with my beloved."
+
+"And she," replied the Count, "thinking more of propriety than of my
+enjoyment, had kept a frightful old duenna with her. So that, while you
+two, between looks and words, got on extremely well together, my lot, in
+the meanwhile, was far from pleasant."
+
+"It was only yesterday," answered Edward, "when we heard that you were
+coming, that I was talking over the story with my wife and describing
+our adventure on returning. We missed the road, and got into the
+entrance-hall from the garden. Knowing our way from thence as well as we
+did, we supposed we could get along easily enough.
+
+"But you remember our surprise on opening the door. The floor was
+covered over with mattresses on which the giants lay in rows stretched
+out and sleeping. The single sentinel at his post looked wonderingly at
+us; but we, in the cool way young men do things, strode quietly on over
+the outstretched boots, without disturbing a single one of the snoring
+children of Anak."
+
+"I had the strongest inclination to stumble," the Count said, "that
+there might be an alarm given. What a resurrection we should have
+witnessed."
+
+At this moment the castle clock struck twelve.
+
+"It is deep midnight," the Count added, laughing, "and just the proper
+time; I must ask you, my dear Edward, to show me a kindness. Do you
+guide me tonight, as I guided you then. I promised the Baroness that I
+would see her before going to bed. We have had no opportunity of any
+private talk together the whole day. We have not seen each other for a
+long time, and it is only natural that we should wish for a confidential
+hour. If you will show me the way there, I will manage to get back
+again; and in any case, there will be no boots for me to stumble over."
+
+"I shall be very glad to show you such a piece of hospitality," answered
+Edward; "only the three ladies are together in the same wing. Who knows
+whether we shall not find them still with one another, or make some
+other mistake, which may have a strange appearance?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," said the Count; "the Baroness expects me. She is
+sure by this time to be in her own room, and alone."
+
+"Well, then, the thing is easy enough," Edward answered.
+
+He took a candle, and lighted the Count down a private staircase leading
+into a long gallery. At the end of this, he opened a small door. They
+mounted a winding flight of stairs, which brought them out upon a narrow
+landing-place; and then, putting the candle in the Count's hand, he
+pointed to a tapestried door on the right, which opened readily at the
+first trial, and admitted the Count, leaving Edward outside in the dark.
+
+Another door on the left led into Charlotte's sleeping-room. He heard
+her voice, and listened. She was speaking to her maid. "Is Ottilie in
+bed?" she asked. "No," was the answer; "she is sitting writing in the
+room below." "You may light the night-lamp," said Charlotte; "I shall
+not want you any more. It is late. I can put out the candle, and do
+whatever I may want else myself."
+
+It was a delight to Edward to hear that Ottilie was writing still. She
+is working for me, he thought triumphantly. Through the darkness, he
+fancied he could see her sitting all alone at her desk. He thought he
+would go to her, and see her; and how she would turn to receive him. He
+felt a longing, which he could not resist, to be near her once more.
+But, from where he was, there was no way to the apartments which she
+occupied. He now found himself immediately at his wife's door. A
+singular change of feeling came over him. He tried the handle, but the
+bolts were shot. He knocked gently. Charlotte did not hear him. She was
+walking rapidly up and down in the large dressing-room adjoining. She
+was repeating over and over what, since the Count's unexpected proposal,
+she had often enough had to say to herself. The Captain seemed to stand
+before her. At home, and everywhere, he had become her all in all. And
+now he was to go; and it was all to be desolate again. She repeated
+whatever wise things one can say to oneself; she even anticipated, as
+people so often do, the wretched comfort that time would come at last to
+her relief; and then she cursed the time which would have to pass before
+it could lighten her sufferings--she cursed the dead, cold time when
+they would be lightened. At last she burst into tears; they were the
+more welcome, since tears with her were rare. She flung herself on the
+sofa, and gave herself up unreservedly to her sufferings. Edward,
+meanwhile, could not take himself from the door. He knocked again; and a
+third time rather louder; so that Charlotte, in the stillness of the
+night, distinctly heard it, and started up in fright. Her first thought
+was--it can only be, it must be, the Captain; her second, that it was
+impossible. She thought she must have been deceived. But surely she had
+heard it; and she wished, and she feared to have heard it. She went into
+her sleeping-room, and walked lightly up to the bolted tapestry-door.
+She blamed herself for her fears. "Possibly it may be the Baroness
+wanting something," she said to herself; and she called out quietly and
+calmly, "Is anybody there?" A light voice answered, "It is I." "Who?"
+returned Charlotte, not being able to make out the voice. She thought
+she saw the Captain's figure standing at the door. In a rather louder
+tone, she heard the word "Edward!" She drew back the bolt, and her
+husband stood before her. He greeted her with some light jest. She was
+unable to reply in the same tone. He complicated the mysterious visit by
+his mysterious explanation of it.
+
+"Well, then," he said at last, "I will confess, the real reason why I am
+come is, that I have made a vow to kiss your shoe this evening."
+
+"It is long since you thought of such a thing as that," said Charlotte.
+
+"So much the worse," he answered; "and so much the better."
+
+She had thrown herself back in an armchair, to prevent him from seeing
+the slightness of her dress. He flung himself down before her, and she
+could not prevent him from giving her shoe a kiss. And when the shoe
+came off in his hand, he caught her foot and pressed it tenderly against
+his breast.
+
+Charlotte was one of those women who, being of naturally calm
+temperaments, continue in marriage, without any purpose or any effort,
+the air and character of lovers. She was never expressive toward her
+husband; generally, indeed, she rather shrank from any warm
+demonstration on his part. It was not that she was cold, or at all hard
+and repulsive, but she remained always like a loving bride, who draws
+back with a kind of shyness even from what is permitted. And so Edward
+found her this evening, in a double sense. How sorely did she not long
+that her husband would go; the figure of his friend seemed to hover in
+the air and reproach her. But what should have had the effect of driving
+Edward away only attracted him the more. There were visible traces of
+emotion about her. She had been crying; and tears, which with weak
+persons detract from their graces, add immeasurably to the
+attractiveness of those whom we know commonly as strong and
+self-possessed.
+
+Edward was so agreeable, so gentle, so pressing; he begged to be allowed
+to stay with her. He did not demand it, but half in fun, half in
+earnest, he tried to persuade her; he never thought of his rights. At
+last, as if in mischief, he blew out the candle.
+
+In the dim lamplight, the inward affection, the imagination, maintained
+their rights over the real; it was Ottilie that was resting in Edward's
+arms; and the Captain, now faintly, now clearly, hovered before
+Charlotte's soul. And so, strangely intermingled, the absent and the
+present flowed in a sweet enchantment one into the other.
+
+And yet the present would not let itself be robbed of its own unlovely
+right. They spent a part of the night talking and laughing at all sorts
+of things, the more freely as the heart had no part in it. But when
+Edward awoke in the morning, on his wife's breast, the day seemed to
+stare in with a sad, awful look, and the sun to be shining in upon a
+crime. He stole lightly from her side; and she found herself, with
+strange enough feelings, when she awoke, alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+When the party assembled again at breakfast, an attentive observer might
+have read in the behavior of its various members the different things
+which were passing in their inner thoughts and feelings. The Count and
+the Baroness met with the air of happiness which a pair of lovers feel,
+who, after having been forced to endure a long separation, have mutually
+assured each other of their unaltered affection. On the other hand,
+Charlotte and Edward equally came into the presence of the Captain and
+Ottilie with a sense of shame and remorse. For such is the nature of
+love that it believes in no rights except its own, and all other rights
+vanish away before it. Ottilie was in child-like spirits. For her--she
+was almost what might be called open. The Captain appeared serious. His
+conversation with the Count, which had roused in him feelings that for
+some time past had been at rest and dormant, had made him only too
+keenly conscious that here he was not fulfilling his work, and at bottom
+was but squandering himself in a half-activity of idleness.
+
+Hardly had their guests departed, when fresh visitors were announced--to
+Charlotte most welcomely, all she wished for being to be taken out of
+herself, and to have her attention dissipated. They annoyed Edward, who
+was longing to devote himself to Ottilie; and Ottilie did not like them
+either; the copy which had to be finished the next morning early being
+still incomplete. They staid a long time, and immediately that they were
+gone she hurried off to her room.
+
+It was now evening. Edward, Charlotte, and the Captain had accompanied
+the strangers some little way on foot, before the latter got into their
+carriage, and previous to returning home they agreed to take a walk
+along the water-side.
+
+A boat had come, which Edward had had fetched from a distance, at no
+little expense; and they decided that they would try whether it was easy
+to manage. It was made fast on the bank of the middle pond, not far from
+some old ash trees on which they calculated to make an effect in their
+future improvements. There was to be a landing-place made there, and
+under the trees a seat was to be raised, with some wonderful
+architecture about it: it was to be the point for which people were to
+make when they went across the water.
+
+"And where had we better have the landing-place on the other side?" said
+Edward. "I should think under my plane trees."
+
+"They stand a little too far to the right," said the Captain. "You are
+nearer the castle if you land further down. However, we must think about
+it."
+
+The Captain was already standing in the stern of the boat, and had taken
+up an oar. Charlotte got in, and Edward with her--he took the other oar;
+but as he was on the point of pushing off, he thought of Ottilie--he
+recollected that this water-party would keep him out late; who could
+tell when he would get back? He made up his mind shortly and promptly;
+sprang back to the bank, and reaching the other oar to the Captain,
+hurried home--making excuses to himself as he ran.
+
+Arriving there he learnt that Ottilie had shut herself up--she was
+writing. In spite of the agreeable feeling that she was doing something
+for him, it was the keenest mortification to him not to be able to see
+her. His impatience increased every moment. He walked up and down the
+large drawing-room; he tried a thousand things, and could not fix his
+attention upon any. He was longing to see her alone, before Charlotte
+came back with the Captain. It was dark by this time, and the candles
+were lighted.
+
+At last she came in beaming with loveliness: the sense that she had done
+something for her friend had lifted all her being above itself. She put
+down the original and her transcript on the table before Edward.
+
+"Shall we collate them?" she said, with a smile.
+
+Edward did not know what to answer. He looked at her--he looked at the
+transcript. The first few sheets were written with the greatest
+carefulness in a delicate woman's hand--then the strokes appeared to
+alter, to become more light and free--but who can describe his surprise
+as he ran his eyes over the concluding page? "For heaven's sake," he
+cried, "what is this? this is my hand!" He looked at Ottilie, and again
+at the paper; the conclusion, especially, was exactly as if he had
+written it himself. Ottilie said nothing, but she looked at him with her
+eyes full of the warmest delight. Edward stretched out his arms. "You
+love me!" he cried: "Ottilie, you love me!" They fell on each other's
+breast--which had been the first to catch the other it would have been
+impossible to distinguish.
+
+From that moment the world was all changed for Edward. He was no longer
+what he had been, and the world was no longer what it had been. They
+parted--he held her hands; they gazed in each other's eyes. They were on
+the point of embracing each other again.
+
+Charlotte entered with the Captain. Edward inwardly smiled at their
+excuses for having stayed out so long. Oh! how far too soon you have
+returned, he said to himself.
+
+They sat down to supper. They talked about the people who had been there
+that day. Edward, full of love and ecstasy, spoke well of every
+one--always sparing, often approving. Charlotte, who was not altogether
+of his opinion, remarked this temper in him, and jested with him about
+it--he who had always the sharpest thing to say on departed visitors,
+was this evening so gentle and tolerant.
+
+With fervor and heartfelt conviction, Edward cried, "One has only to
+love a single creature with all one's heart, and the whole world at once
+looks lovely!"
+
+Ottilie dropped her eyes on the ground, and Charlotte looked straight
+before her.
+
+The Captain took up the word, and said, "It is the same with deep
+feelings of respect and reverence: we first learn to recognize what
+there is that is to be valued in the world, when we find occasion to
+entertain such sentiments toward a particular object."
+
+Charlotte made an excuse to retire early to her room where she could
+give herself up to thinking over what had passed in the course of the
+evening between herself and the Captain.
+
+When Edward sprang on shore, and, pushing off the boat, had himself
+committed his wife and his friend to the uncertain element, Charlotte
+found herself face to face with the man on whose account she had been
+already secretly suffering so bitterly, sitting in the twilight before
+her, and sweeping along the boat with the sculls in easy motion. She
+felt a depth of sadness, very rare with her, weighing on her spirits.
+The undulating movement of the boat, the splash of the oars, the faint
+breeze playing over the watery mirror, the sighing of the reeds, the
+long flight of the birds, the fitful twinkling of the first stars--there
+was something spectral about it all in the universal stillness. She
+fancied her friend was bearing her away to set her on some far-off
+shore, and leave her there alone; strange emotions were passing through
+her, and she could not give way to them and weep.
+
+The Captain was describing to her the manner in which, in his opinion,
+the improvements should be continued. He praised the construction of the
+boat; it was so convenient, he said, because one person could so easily
+manage it with a pair of oars. She should herself learn how to do this;
+there was often a delicious feeling in floating along alone upon the
+water, one's own ferryman and steersman.
+
+The parting which was impending sank on Charlotte's heart as he was
+speaking. Is he saying this on purpose? she thought to herself. Does he
+know it yet? Does he suspect it or is it only accident? And is he
+unconsciously foretelling me my fate?
+
+A weary, impatient heaviness took hold of her; she begged him to make
+for land as soon as possible and return with her to the castle.
+
+It was the first time that the Captain had been upon the water, and,
+though generally he had acquainted himself with its depth, he did not
+know accurately the particular spots. Dusk was coming on; he directed
+his course to a place where he thought it would be easy to get on shore,
+and from which he knew the footpath which led to the castle was not far
+distant. Charlotte, however, repeated her wish to get to land quickly,
+and the place which he thought of being at a short distance, he gave it
+up, and exerting himself as much as he possibly could, made straight for
+the bank. Unhappily the water was shallow, and he ran aground some way
+off from it. From the rate at which he was going the boat was fixed
+fast, and all his efforts to move it were in vain. What was to be done?
+There was no alternative but to get into the water and carry his
+companion ashore.
+
+It was done without difficulty or danger. He was strong enough not to
+totter with her, or give her any cause for anxiety; but in her agitation
+she had thrown her arms about his neck. He held her fast, and pressed
+her to himself--and at last laid her down upon a grassy bank, not
+without emotion and confusion * * * she still lay upon his neck * * * he
+caught her up once more in his arms, and pressed a warm kiss upon her
+lips. The next moment he was at her feet: he took her hand, and held it
+to his mouth, and cried:
+
+"Charlotte, will you forgive me?"
+
+The kiss which he had ventured to give, and which she had all but
+returned to him, brought Charlotte to herself again--she pressed his
+hand--but she did not attempt to raise him up. She bent down over him,
+and laid her hand upon his shoulder and said:
+
+"We cannot now prevent this moment from forming an epoch in our lives;
+but it depends on us to bear ourselves in a manner which shall be worthy
+of us. You must go away, my dear friend; and you are going. The Count
+has plans for you, to give you better prospects--I am glad, and I am
+sorry. I did not mean to speak of it till it was certain but this moment
+obliges me to tell you my secret * * * Since it does not depend on
+ourselves to alter our feelings, I can only forgive you, I can only
+forgive myself, if we have the courage to alter our situation." She
+raised him up, took his arm to support herself, and they walked back to
+the castle without speaking.
+
+But now she was standing in her own room, where she had to feel and to
+know that she was Edward's wife. Her strength and the various discipline
+in which through life she had trained herself, came to her assistance in
+the conflict. Accustomed as she had always been to look steadily into
+herself and to control herself, she did not now find it difficult, with
+an earnest effort, to come to the resolution which she desired. She
+could almost smile when she remembered the strange visit of the night
+before. Suddenly she was seized with a wonderful instinctive feeling, a
+thrill of fearful delight which changed into holy hope and longing. She
+knelt earnestly down, and repeated the oath which she had taken to
+Edward before the altar.
+
+Friendship, affection, renunciation, floated in glad, happy images
+before her. She felt restored to health and to herself. A sweet
+weariness came over her. She lay down, and sank into a calm, quiet
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Edward, on his part, was in a very different temper. So little he
+thought of sleeping that it did not once occur to him even to undress
+himself. A thousand times he kissed the transcript of the document, but
+it was the beginning of it, in Ottilie's childish, timid hand; the end
+he scarcely dared to kiss, for he thought it was his own hand which he
+saw. Oh, that it were another document! he whispered to himself; and, as
+it was, he felt it was the sweetest assurance that his highest wish
+would be fulfilled. Thus it remained in his hands, thus he continued to
+press it to his heart, although disfigured by a third name subscribed to
+it. The waning moon rose up over the wood. The warmth of the night drew
+Edward out into the free air. He wandered this way and that way; he was
+at once the most restless and the happiest of mortals. He strayed
+through the gardens--they seemed too narrow for him; he hurried out
+into the park, and it was too wide. He was drawn back toward the castle;
+he stood under Ottilie's window. He threw himself down on the steps of
+the terrace below. "Walls and bolts," he said to himself, "may still
+divide us, but our hearts are not divided. If she were here before me,
+into my arms she would fall, and I into hers; and what can one desire
+but that sweet certainty!" All was stillness round him; not a breath was
+moving;--so still it was, that he could hear the unresting creatures
+underground at their work, to whom day or night are alike. He abandoned
+himself to his delicious dreams; at last he fell asleep, and did not
+wake till the sun with his royal beams was mounting up in the sky and
+scattering the early mists.
+
+He found himself the first person awake on his domain. The laborers
+seemed to be staying away too long: they came; he thought they were too
+few, and the work set out for the day too slight for his desires. He
+inquired for more workmen; they were promised, and in the course of the
+day they came. But these, too, were not enough for him to carry his
+plans out as rapidly as he wished. To do the work gave him no pleasure
+any longer; it should all be done. And for whom? The paths should be
+gravelled that Ottilie might walk presently upon them; seats should be
+made at every spot and corner that Ottilie might rest on them. The new
+park house was hurried forward. It should be finished for Ottilie's
+birthday. In all he thought and all he did, there was no more
+moderation. The sense of loving and of being loved, urged him out into
+the unlimited. How changed was now to him the look of all the rooms,
+their furniture, and their decorations! He did not feel as if he was in
+his own house any more. Ottilie's presence absorbed everything. He was
+utterly lost in her; no other thought ever rose before him; no
+conscience disturbed him; every restraint which had been laid upon his
+nature burst loose. His whole being centered upon Ottilie. This
+impetuosity of passion did not escape the Captain, who longed, if he
+could, to prevent its evil consequences. All those plans which were now
+being hurried on with this immoderate speed, had been drawn out and
+calculated for a long, quiet, easy execution. The sale of the farm had
+been completed; the first instalment had been paid. Charlotte, according
+to the arrangement, had taken possession of it. But the very first week
+after, she found it more than usually necessary to exercise patience and
+resolution, and to keep her eye on what was being done. In the present
+hasty style of proceeding, the money which had been set apart for the
+purpose would not go far.
+
+Much had been begun, and much yet remained to be done. How could the
+Captain leave Charlotte in such a situation? They consulted together,
+and agreed that it would be better that they themselves should hurry on
+the works, and for this purpose employ money which could be made good
+again at the period fixed for the discharge of the second instalment of
+what was to be paid for the farm. It could be done almost without loss.
+They would have a freer hand. Everything would progress simultaneously.
+There were laborers enough at hand, and they could get more accomplished
+at once, and arrive swiftly and surely at their aim. Edward gladly gave
+his consent to a plan which so entirely coincided with his own views.
+
+During this time Charlotte persisted with all her heart in what she had
+determined for herself, and her friend stood by her with a like purpose,
+manfully. This very circumstance, however, produced a greater intimacy
+between them. They spoke openly to each other of Edward's passion, and
+consulted what had better be done. Charlotte kept Ottilie more about
+herself, watching her narrowly; and the more she understood her own
+heart, the deeper she was able to penetrate into the heart of the poor
+girl. She saw no help for it, except in sending her away.
+
+It now appeared a happy thing to her that Luciana had gained such high
+honors at the school; for her great aunt, as soon as she heard of it,
+desired to take her entirely to herself, to keep her with her, and
+bring her out into the world. Ottilie could, therefore, return thither.
+The Captain would leave them well provided for, and everything would be
+as it had been a few months before; indeed, in many respects better. Her
+own position in Edward's affection, Charlotte thought, she could soon
+recover; and she settled it all, and laid it all out before herself so
+sensibly that she only strengthened herself more completely in her
+delusion, as if it were possible for them to return within their old
+limits--as if a bond which had been violently broken could again be
+joined together as before.
+
+In the meantime Edward felt very deeply the hindrances which were thrown
+in his way. He soon observed that they were keeping him and Ottilie
+separate; that they made it difficult for him to speak with her alone,
+or even to approach her, except in the presence of others. And while he
+was angry about this, he was angry at many things besides. If he caught
+an opportunity for a few hasty words with Ottilie, it was not only to
+assure her of his love, but to complain of his wife and of the Captain.
+He never felt that with his own irrational haste he was on the way to
+exhaust the cash-box. He found bitter fault with them, because in the
+execution of the work they were not keeping to the first agreement, and
+yet he had been himself a consenting party to the second; indeed, it was
+he who had occasioned it and made it necessary.
+
+Hatred is a partisan, but love is even more so. Ottilie also estranged
+herself from Charlotte and the Captain. As Edward was complaining one
+day to Ottilie of the latter, saying that he was not treating him like a
+friend, or, under the circumstances, acting quite uprightly, she
+answered unthinkingly, "I have once or twice had a painful feeling that
+he was not quite honest with you. I heard him say once to Charlotte: 'If
+Edward would but spare us that eternal flute of his! He can make nothing
+of it, and it is too disagreeable to listen to him.' You may imagine how
+it hurt me, when I like accompanying you so much."
+
+She had scarcely uttered the words when her conscience whispered to her
+that she had much better have been silent. However, the thing was said.
+Edward's features worked violently. Never had anything stung him more.
+He was touched on his tenderest point. It was his amusement; he followed
+it like a child. He never made the slightest pretensions; what gave him
+pleasure should be treated with forbearance by his friends. He never
+thought how intolerable it is for a third person to have his ears
+lacerated by an unsuccessful talent. He was indignant; he was hurt in a
+way which he could not forgive. He felt himself discharged from all
+obligations.
+
+The necessity of being with Ottilie, of seeing her, whispering to her,
+exchanging his confidence with her, increased with every day. He
+determined to write to her, and ask her to carry on a secret
+correspondence with him. The strip of paper on which he had, laconically
+enough, made his request, lay on his writing-table, and was swept off by
+a draught of wind as his valet entered to dress his hair. The latter was
+in the habit of trying the heat of the iron by picking up any scraps of
+paper which might be lying about. This time his hand fell on the billet;
+he twisted it up hastily, and it was burnt. Edward observing the
+mistake, snatched it out of his hand. After the man was gone, he sat
+himself down to write it over again. The second time it would not run so
+readily off his pen. It gave him a little uneasiness; he hesitated, but
+he got over it. He squeezed the paper into Ottilie's hand the first
+moment he was able to approach her. Ottilie answered him immediately. He
+put the note unread in his waistcoat pocket, which, being made short in
+the fashion of the time, was shallow, and did not hold it as it ought.
+It worked out, and fell without his observing it on the ground.
+Charlotte saw it, picked it up, and after giving a hasty glance at it,
+reached it to him.
+
+"Here is something in your handwriting," she said, "which you may be
+sorry to lose."
+
+He was confounded. Is she dissembling? he thought to himself. Does she
+know what is in the note, or is she deceived by the resemblance of the
+hand? He hoped, he believed the latter. He was warned--doubly warned;
+but those strange accidents, through which a higher intelligence seems
+to be speaking to us, his passion was not able to interpret. Rather, as
+he went further and further on, he felt the restraint under which his
+friend and his wife seemed to be holding him the more intolerable. His
+pleasure in their society was gone. His heart was closed against them,
+and though he was obliged to endure their society, he could not succeed
+in re-discovering or in re-animating within his heart anything of his
+old affection for them. The silent reproaches which he was forced to
+make to himself about it were disagreeable to him. He tried to help
+himself with a kind of humor which, however, being without love, was
+also without its usual grace.
+
+Over all such trials Charlotte found assistance to rise in her own
+inward feelings. She knew her own determination. Her own affection, fair
+and noble as it was, she would utterly renounce.
+
+And sorely she longed to go to the assistance of the other two.
+Separation, she knew well, would not alone suffice to heal so deep a
+wound. She resolved that she would speak openly about it to Ottilie
+herself. But she could not do it. The recollection of her own weakness
+stood in her way. She thought she could talk generally to her about the
+sort of thing. But general expressions about "the sort of thing," fitted
+her own case equally well, and she could not bear to touch it. Every
+hint which she would give Ottilie recoiled on her own heart. She would
+warn, and she was obliged to feel that she might herself still be in
+need of warning.
+
+She contented herself, therefore, with silently keeping the lovers more
+apart, and by this gained nothing. The slight hints which frequently
+escaped her had no effect upon Ottilie; for Ottilie had been assured by
+Edward that Charlotte was devoted to the Captain, that Charlotte
+herself wished for a separation, and that he was at this moment
+considering the readiest means by which it could be brought about.
+
+Ottilie, led by the sense of her own innocence along the road to the
+happiness for which she longed, lived only for Edward. Strengthened by
+her love for him in all good, more light and happy in her work for his
+sake, and more frank and open toward others, she found herself in a
+heaven upon earth.
+
+So all together, each in his or her own fashion, reflecting or
+unreflecting, they continued on the routine of their lives. All seemed
+to go its ordinary way, as, in monstrous cases, when everything is at
+stake, men will still live on, as if it were all nothing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+In the meantime a letter came from the Count to the Captain--two,
+indeed--one which he might produce, holding out fair, excellent
+prospects in the distance; the other containing a distinct offer of an
+immediate situation, a place of high importance and responsibility at
+the Court, his rank as Major, a very considerable salary, and other
+advantages. A number of circumstances, however, made it desirable that
+for the moment he should not speak of it, and consequently he only
+informed his friends of his distant expectations, and concealed what was
+so nearly impending.
+
+He went warmly on, at the same time, with his present occupation, and
+quietly made arrangements to insure the continuance of the works without
+interruption after his departure. He was now himself desirous that as
+much as possible should be finished off at once, and was ready to hasten
+things forward to prepare for Ottilie's birthday. And so, though without
+having come to any express understanding, the two friends worked side by
+side together. Edward was now well pleased that the cash-box was filled
+by their having taken up money. The whole affair went forward at
+fullest speed.
+
+The Captain had done his best to oppose the plan of throwing the three
+ponds together into a single sheet of water. The lower embankment would
+have to be made much stronger, the two intermediate embankments to be
+taken away, and altogether, in more than one sense, it seemed a very
+questionable proceeding. However, both these schemes had been already
+undertaken; the soil which was removed above being carried at once down
+to where it was wanted. And here there came opportunely on the scene a
+young architect, an old pupil of the Captain, who partly by introducing
+workmen who understood work of this nature, and partly by himself,
+whenever it was possible, contracting for the work itself, advanced
+things not a little, while at the same time they could feel more
+confidence in their being securely and lastingly executed. In secret
+this was a great pleasure to the Captain. He could now be confident that
+his absence would not be so severely felt. It was one of the points on
+which he was most resolute with himself, never to leave anything which
+he had taken in hand uncompleted, unless he could see his place
+satisfactorily supplied. And he could not but hold in small respect,
+persons who introduce confusion around themselves only to make their
+absence felt and are ready to disturb in wanton selfishness what they
+will not be at hand to restore.
+
+So they labored on, straining every nerve to make Ottilie's birthday
+splendid, without any open acknowledgment that this was what they were
+aiming at, or, indeed, without their directly acknowledging it to
+themselves. Charlotte, wholly free from jealousy as she was, could not
+think it right to keep it as a real festival. Ottilie's youth, the
+circumstances of her fortune, and her relationship to their family, were
+not at all such as made it fit that she should appear as the queen of
+the day; and Edward would not have it talked about, because everything
+was to spring out, as it were, of itself, with a natural and delightful
+surprise.
+
+They, therefore, came all of them to a sort of tacit understanding that
+on this day, without further circumstance, the new house in the park was
+to be opened, and they might take the occasion to invite the
+neighborhood and give a holiday to their own people. Edward's passion,
+however, knew no bounds. Longing as he did to give himself to Ottilie,
+his presents and his promises must be infinite. The birthday gifts which
+on the great occasion he was to offer to her seemed, as Charlotte had
+arranged them, far too insignificant. He spoke to his valet, who had the
+care of his wardrobe, and who consequently had extensive acquaintance
+among the tailors and mercers and fashionable milliners; and he, who not
+only understood himself what valuable presents were, but also the most
+graceful way in which they should be offered, immediately ordered an
+elegant box, covered with red morocco and studded with steel nails, to
+be filled with presents worthy of such a shell. Another thing, too, he
+suggested to Edward. Among the stores at the castle was a small show of
+fireworks which had never been let off. It would be easy to get some
+more, and have something really fine. Edward caught the idea, and his
+servant promised to see to its being executed. This matter was to remain
+a secret.
+
+While this was going on, the Captain, as the day drew nearer, had been
+making arrangements for a body of police to be present--a precaution
+which he always thought desirable when large numbers of men are to be
+brought together. And, indeed, against beggars, and against all other
+inconveniences by which the pleasure of a festival can be disturbed, he
+had made effectual provision.
+
+Edward and his confidante, on the contrary, were mainly occupied with
+their fireworks. They were to be let off on the side of the middle water
+in front of the great ash-tree. The party were to be collected on the
+opposite side, under the planes, that at a sufficient distance from the
+scene, in ease and safety, they might see them to the best effect, with
+the reflections on the water, the water-rockets, and floating-lights,
+and all the other designs.
+
+Under some other pretext, Edward had the ground underneath the
+plane-trees cleared of bushes and grass and moss. And now first could be
+seen the beauty of their forms, together with their full height and
+spread, right up from the earth. He was delighted with them. It was just
+this very time of the year that he had planted them. How long ago could
+it have been? he asked himself. As soon as he got home he turned over
+the old diary books, which his father, especially when in the country,
+was very careful in keeping. He might not find an entry of this
+particular planting, but another important domestic matter, which Edward
+well remembered, and which had occurred on the same day, would surely be
+mentioned. He turned over a few volumes. The circumstances he was
+looking for was there. How amazed, how overjoyed he was, when he
+discovered the strangest coincidence! The day and the year on which he
+had planted those trees, was the very day, the very year, when Ottilie
+was born.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE long-wished-for morning dawned at last on Edward; and very soon a
+number of guests arrived. They had sent out a large number of
+invitations, and many who had missed the laying of the foundation-stone,
+which was reported to have been so charming, were the more careful not
+to be absent on the second festivity.
+
+Before dinner the carpenter's people appeared, with music, in the court
+of the castle. They bore an immense garland of flowers, composed of a
+number of single wreaths, winding in and out, one above the other;
+saluting the company, they made request, according to custom, for silk
+handkerchiefs and ribands, at the hands of the fair sex, with which to
+dress themselves out. When the castle party went into the dining-hall,
+they marched off singing and shouting, and after amusing themselves a
+while in the village, and coaxing many a riband out of the women there,
+old and young, they came at last, with crowds behind them and crowds
+expecting them, out upon the height where the park-house was now
+standing. After dinner, Charlotte rather held back her guests. She did
+not wish that there should be any solemn or formal procession, and they
+found their way in little parties, broken up, as they pleased, without
+rule or order, to the scene of action. Charlotte staid behind with
+Ottilie, and did not improve matters by doing so. For Ottilie being
+really the last that appeared, it seemed as if the trumpets and the
+clarionets had only been waiting for her, and as if the gaieties had
+been ordered to commence directly on her arrival.
+
+To take off the rough appearance of the house, it had been hung with
+green boughs and flowers. They had dressed it out in an architectural
+fashion, according to a design of the Captain's; only that, without his
+knowledge, Edward had desired the Architect to work in the date upon the
+cornice in flowers, and this was necessarily permitted to remain. The
+Captain had arrived on the scene just in time to prevent Ottilie's name
+from figuring in splendor on the gable. The beginning, which had been
+made for this, he contrived to turn skilfully to some other use, and to
+get rid of such of the letters as had been already finished.
+
+The garland was set up, and was to be seen far and wide about the
+country. The flags and the ribands fluttered gaily in the air; and a
+short oration was, the greater part of it, dispersed by the wind. The
+solemnity was at an end. There was now to be a dance on the smooth lawn
+in front of the building, which had been inclosed with boughs and
+branches. A gaily-dressed working mason took Edward up to a
+smart-looking girl of the village, and called himself upon Ottilie, who
+stood out with him. These two couples speedily found others to follow
+them, and Edward contrived pretty soon to change partners, catching
+Ottilie, and making the round with her. The younger part of the company
+joined merrily in the dance with the people, while the elder among them
+stood and looked on.
+
+Then, before they broke up and walked about, an order was given that
+they should all collect again at sunset under the plane-trees. Edward
+was the first upon the spot, ordering everything, and making his
+arrangements with his valet, who was to be on the other side, in company
+with the firework-maker, managing his exhibition of the spectacle.
+
+The Captain was far from satisfied at some of the preparations which he
+saw made; and he endeavored to get a word with Edward about the crush of
+spectators which was to be expected. But the latter, somewhat hastily,
+begged that he might be allowed to manage this part of the day's
+amusements himself.
+
+The upper end of the embankment having been recently raised, was still
+far from compact. It had been staked, but there was no grass upon it,
+and the earth was uneven and insecure. The crowd pressed on, however, in
+great numbers. The sun went down, and the castle party was served with
+refreshments under the plane-trees, to pass the time till it should have
+become sufficiently dark. The place was approved of beyond measure, and
+they looked forward to a frequent enjoyment of the view over so lovely a
+sheet of water, on future occasions.
+
+A calm evening, a perfect absence of wind, promised everything in favor
+of the spectacle, when suddenly loud and violent shrieks were heard.
+Large masses of the earth had given way on the edge of the embankment,
+and a number of people were precipitated into the water. The pressure
+from the throng had gone on increasing till at last it had become more
+than the newly laid soil would bear, and the bank had fallen in.
+Everybody wanted to obtain the best place, and now there was no getting
+either backward or forward.
+
+People ran this and that way, more to see what was going on than to
+render assistance. What could be done when no one could reach the place?
+
+The Captain, with a few determined persons, hurried down and drove the
+crowd off the embankment back upon the shore, in order that those who
+were really of service might have free room to move. One way or another
+they contrived to seize hold of such as were sinking; and with or
+without assistance all who had been in the water were got out safe upon
+the bank, with the exception of one boy, whose struggles in his fright,
+instead of bringing him nearer to the embankment, had only carried him
+further from it. His strength seemed to be failing--now only a hand was
+seen above the surface, and now a foot. By an unlucky chance the boat
+was on the opposite shore filled with fireworks--it was a long business
+to unload it, and help was slow in coming. The Captain's resolution was
+taken; he flung off his coat; all eyes were directed toward him, and his
+sturdy vigorous figure gave every one hope and confidence: but a cry of
+surprise rose out of the crowd as they saw him fling himself into the
+water--every eye watched him as the strong swimmer swiftly reached the
+boy, and bore him, although to appearance dead, to the embankment.
+
+Now came up the boat. The Captain stepped in and examined whether there
+were any still missing, or whether they were all safe. The surgeon was
+speedily on the spot, and took charge of the inanimate boy. Charlotte
+joined them, and entreated the Captain to go now and take care of
+himself, to hurry back to the castle and change his clothes. He would
+not go, however, till persons on whose sense he could rely, who had been
+close to the spot at the time of the accident, and who had assisted in
+saving those who had fallen in, assured him that all were safe.
+
+Charlotte saw him on his way to the house, and then she remembered that
+the wine and the tea, and everything else which he could want, had been
+locked up, for fear any of the servants should take advantage of the
+disorder of the holiday, as on such occasions they are too apt to do.
+She hurried through the scattered groups of her company, which were
+loitering about the plane-trees. Edward was there, talking to every
+one--beseeching every one to stay. He would give the signal directly,
+and the fireworks should begin. Charlotte went up to him, and entreated
+him to put off an amusement which was no longer in place, and which at
+the present moment no one could enjoy. She reminded him of what ought to
+be done for the boy who had been saved, and for his preserver.
+
+"The surgeon will do whatever is right, no doubt," replied Edward. "He
+is provided with everything which he can want, and we should only be in
+the way if we crowded about him with our anxieties."
+
+Charlotte persisted in her opinion, and made a sign to Ottilie, who at
+once prepared to retire with her. Edward seized her hand, and cried, "We
+will not end this day in a lazaretto. She is too good for a sister of
+mercy. Without us, I should think, the half-dead may wake, and the
+living dry themselves."
+
+Charlotte did not answer, but went. Some followed her--others followed
+these: in the end, no one wished to be the last, and all followed.
+Edward and Ottilie found themselves alone under the plane-trees. He
+insisted that stay he would, earnestly, passionately, as she entreated
+him to go back with her to the castle. "No, Ottilie!" he cried; "the
+extraordinary is not brought to pass in the smooth common way--the
+wonderful accident of this evening brings us more speedily together. You
+are mine--I have often said it to you, and sworn it to you. We will not
+say it and swear it any more--we will make it BE."
+
+The boat came over from the other side. The valet was in it--he asked,
+with some embarrassment, what his master wished to have done with the
+fireworks?
+
+"Let them off!" Edward cried to him: "let them off! It was only for you
+that they were provided, Ottilie, and you shall be the only one to see
+them! Let me sit beside you, and enjoy them with you." Tenderly,
+timidly, he sat down at her side, without touching her.
+
+Rockets went hissing up--cannon thundered--Roman candles shot out their
+blazing balls--squibs flashed and darted--wheels spun round, first
+singly, then in pairs, then all at once, faster and faster, one after
+the other, and more and more together. Edward, whose bosom was on fire,
+watched the blazing spectacle with eyes gleaming with delight; but
+Ottilie, with her delicate and nervous feelings, in all this noise and
+fitful blazing and flashing, found more to distress her than to please.
+She leant shrinking against Edward, and he, as she drew to him and clung
+to him, felt the delightful sense that she belonged entirely to him.
+
+The night had scarcely reassumed its rights, when the moon rose and
+lighted their path as they walked back. A figure, with his hat in his
+hand, stepped across their way, and begged an alms of them--in the
+general holiday he said that he had been forgotten. The moon shone upon
+his face, and Edward recognized the features of the importunate beggar;
+but, happy as he then was, it was impossible for him to be angry with
+any one. He could not recollect that, especially for that particular
+day, begging had been forbidden under the heaviest penalties--he thrust
+his hand into his pocket, took the first coin which he found, and gave
+the fellow a piece of gold. His own happiness was so unbounded that he
+would have liked to share it with every one.
+
+In the meantime all had gone well at the castle. The skill of the
+surgeon, everything which was required being ready at hand, Charlotte's
+assistance--all had worked together, and the boy was brought to life
+again. The guests dispersed, wishing to catch a glimpse or two of what
+was to be seen of the fireworks from the distance; and, after a scene of
+such confusion, were glad to get back to their own quiet homes.
+
+The Captain also, after having rapidly changed his dress, had taken an
+active part in what required to be done. It was now all quiet again, and
+he found himself alone with Charlotte--gently and affectionately he now
+told her that his time for leaving them approached. She had gone
+through so much that evening, that this discovery made but a slight
+impression upon her--she had seen how her friend could sacrifice
+himself; how he had saved another, and had himself been saved. These
+strange incidents seemed to foretell an important future to her--but not
+an unhappy one.
+
+Edward, who now entered with Ottilie, was informed at once of the
+impending departure of the Captain. He suspected that Charlotte had
+known longer how near it was; but he was far too much occupied with
+himself, and with his own plans, to take it amiss, or care about it.
+
+On the contrary, he listened attentively, and with signs of pleasure, to
+the account of the excellent and honorable position in which the Captain
+was to be placed. The course of the future was hurried impetuously
+forward by his own secret wishes. Already he saw the Captain married to
+Charlotte, and himself married to Ottilie. It would have been the
+richest present which any one could have made him, on the occasion of
+the day's festival!
+
+But how surprised was Ottilie, when, on going to her room, she found
+upon her table the beautiful box! Instantly she opened it; inside, all
+the things were so nicely packed and arranged that she did not venture
+to take them out; she scarcely even ventured to lift them. There were
+muslin, cambric, silk, shawls and lace, all rivalling one another in
+delicacy, beauty, and costliness--nor were ornaments forgotten. The
+intention had been, as she saw well, to furnish her with more than one
+complete suit of clothes but it was all so costly, so little like what
+she had been accustomed to, that she scarcely dared, even in thought, to
+believe it could be really for her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+The next morning the Captain had disappeared, having left a grateful,
+feeling letter addressed to his friends upon his table.
+
+[Illustration: P. GROTJOHANN OTTILIE EXAMINES EDWARD'S PRESENTS]
+
+He and Charlotte had already taken a half leave of each other the
+evening before--she felt that the parting was for ever, and she resigned
+herself to it; for in the Count's second letter, which the Captain had
+at last shown to her, there was a hint of a prospect of an advantageous
+marriage, and, although he had paid no attention to it at all, she
+accepted it for as good as certain, and gave him up firmly and fully.
+
+Now, therefore, she thought that she had a right to require of others
+the same control over themselves which she had exercised herself: it had
+not been impossible to her, and it ought not to be impossible to them.
+With this feeling she began the conversation with her husband; and she
+entered upon it the more openly and easily, from a sense that the
+question must now, once for all, be decisively set at rest.
+
+"Our friend has left us," she said; "we are now once more together as we
+were--and it depends upon ourselves whether we choose to return
+altogether into our old position."
+
+Edward, who heard nothing except what flattered his own passion,
+believed that Charlotte, in these words, was alluding to her previous
+widowed state, and, in a roundabout way, was making a suggestion for a
+separation; so that he answered, with a laugh, "Why not? all we want is
+to come to an understanding." But he found himself sorely enough
+undeceived, as Charlotte continued, "And we have now a choice of
+opportunities for placing Ottilie in another situation. Two openings
+have offered themselves for her, either of which will do very well.
+Either she can return to the school, as my daughter has left it and is
+with her great-aunt; or she can be received into a desirable family,
+where, as the companion of an only child, she will enjoy all the
+advantages of a solid education."
+
+Edward, with a tolerably successful effort at commanding himself,
+replied, "Ottilie has been so much spoilt, by living so long with us
+here, that she will scarcely like to leave us now."
+
+"We have all of us been too much spoilt," said Charlotte; "and yourself
+not least. This is an epoch which requires us seriously to bethink
+ourselves. It is a solemn warning to us to consider what is really for
+the good of all the members of our little circle--and we ourselves must
+not be afraid of making sacrifices."
+
+"At any rate I cannot see that it is right that Ottilie should be made a
+sacrifice," replied Edward; "and that would be the case if we were now
+to allow her to be sent away among strangers. The Captain's good genius
+has sought him out here--we can feel easy, we can feel happy, at seeing
+him leave us; but who can tell what may be before Ottilie? There is no
+occasion for haste."
+
+"What is before us is sufficiently clear," Charlotte answered, with some
+emotion; and as she was determined to have it all out at once, she went
+on: "You love Ottilie; every day you are becoming more attached to her.
+A reciprocal feeling is rising on her side as well, and feeding itself
+in the same way. Why should we not acknowledge in words what every hour
+makes obvious? and are we not to have the common prudence to ask
+ourselves in what it is to end?"
+
+"We may not be able to find an answer on the moment," replied Edward,
+collecting himself; "but so much may be said, that if we cannot exactly
+tell what will come of it, we may resign ourselves to wait and see what
+the future may tell us about it."
+
+"No great wisdom is required to prophesy here," answered Charlotte;
+"and, at any rate, we ought to feel that you and I are past the age when
+people may walk blindly where they should not or ought not to go. There
+is no one else to take care of us--we must be our own friends, our own
+managers. No one expects us to commit ourselves in an outrage upon
+decency: no one expects that we are going to expose ourselves to censure
+or to ridicule."
+
+"How can you so mistake me?" said Edward, unable to reply to his wife's
+clear, open words. "Can you find it a fault in me, if I am anxious
+about Ottilie's happiness? I do not mean future happiness--no one can
+count on that--but what is present, palpable, and immediate. Consider,
+don't deceive yourself; consider frankly Ottilie's case, torn away from
+us, and sent to live among strangers. I, at least, am not cruel enough
+to propose such a change for her!"
+
+Charlotte saw too clearly into her husband's intentions, through this
+disguise. For the first time she felt how far he had estranged himself
+from her. Her voice shook a little. "Will Ottilie be happy if she
+divides us?" she asked. "If she deprives me of a husband, and his
+children of a father!"
+
+"Our children, I should have thought, were sufficiently provided for,"
+said Edward, with a cold smile; adding, rather more kindly, "but why at
+once expect the very worst?"
+
+"The very worst is too sure to follow this passion of yours," returned
+Charlotte; "do not refuse good advice while there is yet time; do not
+throw away the means which I propose to save us. In troubled cases those
+must work and help who see the clearest--this time it is I. Dear,
+dearest Edward! listen to me--can you propose to me that now at once I
+shall renounce my happiness! renounce my fairest rights! renounce you!"
+
+"Who says that?" replied Edward, with some embarrassment.
+
+"You, yourself," answered Charlotte; "in determining to keep Ottilie
+here, are you not acknowledging everything which must arise out of it? I
+will urge nothing on you--but if you cannot conquer yourself, at least
+you will not be able much longer to deceive yourself."
+
+Edward felt how right she was. It is fearful to hear spoken out, in
+words, what the heart has gone on long permitting to itself in secret.
+To escape only for a moment, Edward answered, "It is not yet clear to me
+what you want."
+
+"My intention," she replied, "was to talk over with you these two
+proposals--each of them has its advantages. The school would be best
+suited to her, as she now is; but the other situation is larger, and
+wider, and promises more, when I think what she may become." She then
+detailed to her husband circumstantially what would lie before Ottilie
+in each position, and concluded with the words, "For my own part I
+should prefer the lady's house to the school, for more reasons than one;
+but particularly because I should not like the affection, the love
+indeed, of the young man there, which Ottilie has gained, to increase."
+
+Edward appeared to approve; but it was only to find some means of delay.
+Charlotte, who desired to commit him to a definite step, seized the
+opportunity, as Edward made no immediate opposition, to settle Ottilie's
+departure, for which she had already privately made all preparations,
+for the next day.
+
+Edward shuddered--he thought he was betrayed. His wife's affectionate
+speech he fancied was an artfully contrived trick to separate him for
+ever from his happiness. He appeared to leave the thing entirely to her;
+but in his heart his resolution was already taken. To gain time to
+breathe, to put off the immediate intolerable misery of Ottilie's being
+sent away, he determined to leave his house. He told Charlotte he was
+going; but he had blinded her to his real reason, by telling her that he
+would not be present at Ottilie's departure; indeed, that, from that
+moment, he would see her no more. Charlotte, who believed that she had
+gained her point, approved most cordially. He ordered his horse, gave
+his valet the necessary directions what to pack up, and where he should
+follow him; and then, on the point of departure, he sat down and wrote:
+
+"EDWARD TO CHARLOTTE
+
+"The misfortune, my love, which has befallen us, may or may not admit of
+remedy; only this I feel, that if I am not at once to be driven to
+despair, I must find some means of delay for myself, and for all of us.
+In making myself the sacrifice, I have a right to make a request. I am
+leaving my home, and I return to it only under happier and more peaceful
+auspices. While I am away, you keep possession of it--_but with
+Ottilie_. I choose to know that she is with you, and not among
+strangers. Take care of her; treat her as you have treated her--only
+more lovingly, more kindly, more tenderly! I promise that I will not
+attempt any secret intercourse with her. Leave me, as long a time as you
+please, without knowing anything about you. I will not allow myself to
+be anxious--nor need you be uneasy about me: only, with all my heart and
+soul, I beseech you, make no attempt to send Ottilie away, or to
+introduce her into any other situation. Beyond the circle of the castle
+and the park, placed in the hands of strangers, she belongs to me, and I
+will take possession of her! If you have any regard for my affection,
+for my wishes, for my sufferings, you will leave me alone to my madness;
+and if any hope of recovery from it should ever hereafter offer itself
+to me, I will not resist."
+
+Thus last sentence ran off his pen--not out of his heart. Even when he
+saw it upon the paper, he began bitterly to weep. That he, under any
+circumstances, should renounce the happiness--even the wretchedness--of
+loving Ottilie! He only now began to feel what he was doing--he was
+going away without knowing what was to be the result. At any rate he was
+not to see her again _now_--with what certainty could he promise himself
+that he would ever see her again? But the letter was written--the horses
+were at the door; every moment he was afraid he might see Ottilie
+somewhere, and then his whole purpose would go to the winds. He
+collected himself--he remembered that, at any rate, he would be able to
+return at any moment he pleased; and that by his absence he would have
+advanced nearer to his wishes: on the other side, he pictured Ottilie to
+himself forced to leave the house if he stayed. He sealed the letter,
+ran down the steps, and sprang upon his horse.
+
+As he rode past the hotel, he saw the beggar to whom he had given so
+much money the night before, sitting under the trees; the man was busy
+enjoying his dinner, and, as Edward passed, stood up, and made him the
+humblest obeisance. That figure had appeared to him yesterday, when
+Ottilie was on his arm; now it only served as a bitter reminiscence of
+the happiest hour of his life. His grief redoubled. The feeling of what
+he was leaving behind was intolerable. He looked again at the beggar.
+"Happy wretch!" he cried, "you can still feed upon the alms of
+yesterday--and I cannot any more on the happiness of yesterday!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Ottilie heard some one ride away, and went to the window in time just to
+catch a sight of Edward's back. It was strange, she thought, that he
+should have left the house without seeing her, without having even
+wished her good morning. She grew uncomfortable, and her anxiety did not
+diminish when Charlotte took her out for a long walk, and talked of
+various other things; but not once, and apparently on purpose,
+mentioning her husband. When they returned she found the table laid with
+only two covers. It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing
+to which we have been accustomed. In serious things such a loss becomes
+miserably painful. Edward and the Captain were not there. The first
+time, for a long while, Charlotte sat at the head of the table
+herself--and it seemed to Ottilie as if she was deposed. The two ladies
+sat opposite each other; Charlotte talked, without the least
+embarrassment, of the Captain and his appointment, and of the little
+hope there was of seeing him again for a long time. The only comfort
+Ottilie could find for herself was in the idea that Edward had ridden
+after his friend, to accompany him a part of his journey.
+
+On rising from table, however, they saw Edward's traveling carriage
+under the window. Charlotte, a little as if she was put out, asked who
+had had it brought round there. She was told it was the valet, who had
+some things there to pack up. It required all Ottilie Is self-command to
+conceal her wonder and her distress.
+
+The valet came in, and asked if they would be so good as to let him have
+a drinking cup of his master's, a pair of silver spoons, and a number of
+other things, which seemed to Ottilie to imply that he was gone some
+distance, and would be away for a long time.
+
+Charlotte gave him a very cold, dry answer. She did not know what he
+meant--he had everything belonging to his master under his own care.
+What the man wanted was to speak a word to Ottilie, and on some pretence
+or other to get her out of the room; he made some clever excuse, and
+persisted in his request so far that Ottilie asked if she should go to
+look for the things for him? But Charlotte quietly said that she had
+better not. The valet had to depart, and the carriage rolled away.
+
+It was a dreadful moment for Ottilie. She understood
+nothing--comprehended nothing. She could only feel that Edward had been
+parted from her for a long time. Charlotte felt for her situation, and
+left her to herself.
+
+We will not attempt to describe what she went through, or how she wept.
+She suffered infinitely. She prayed that God would help her only over
+this one day. The day passed, and the night, and when she came to
+herself again she felt herself a changed being.
+
+She had not grown composed. She was not resigned, but after having lost
+what she had lost, she was still alive, and there was still something
+for her to fear. Her anxiety, after returning to consciousness, was at
+once lest, now that the gentlemen were gone, she might be sent away too.
+She never guessed at Edward's threats, which had secured her remaining
+with her aunt. Yet Charlotte's manner served partially to reassure her.
+The latter exerted herself to find employment for the poor girl, and
+hardly ever,--never, if she could help it,--left her out of her sight;
+and although she knew well how little words can do against the power of
+passion, yet she knew, too, the sure though slow influence of thought
+and reflection, and therefore missed no opportunity of inducing Ottilie
+to talk with her on every variety of subject.
+
+It was no little comfort to Ottilie when one day Charlotte took an
+opportunity of making (she did it on purpose) the wise observation, "How
+keenly grateful people were to us when we were able by stilling and
+calming them to help them out of the entanglements of passion! Let us
+set cheerfully to work," she said, "at what the men have left
+incomplete: we shall be preparing the most charming surprise for them
+when they return to us, and our temperate proceedings will have carried
+through and executed what their impatient natures would have spoilt."
+
+"Speaking of temperance, my dear aunt, I cannot help saying how I am
+struck with the intemperance of men, particularly in respect of wine. It
+has often pained and distressed me, when I have observed how, for hours
+together, clearness of understanding, judgment, considerateness, and
+whatever is most amiable about them, will be utterly gone, and instead
+of the good which they might have done if they had been themselves, most
+disagreeable things sometimes threaten. How often may not wrong, rash
+determinations have arisen entirely from that one cause!"
+
+Charlotte assented, but she did not go on with the subject. She saw only
+too clearly that it was Edward of whom Ottilie was thinking. It was not
+exactly habitual with him, but he allowed himself much more frequently
+than was at all desirable to stimulate his enjoyment and his power of
+talking and acting by such indulgence. If what Charlotte had just said
+had set Ottilie thinking again about men, and particularly about Edward,
+she was all the more struck and startled when her aunt began to speak of
+the impending marriage of the Captain as of a thing quite settled and
+acknowledged. This gave a totally different aspect to affairs from what
+Edward had previously led her to entertain. It made her watch every
+expression of Charlotte's, every hint, every action, every step. Ottilie
+had become jealous, sharp-eyed, and suspicious, without knowing it.
+
+Meanwhile, Charlotte with her clear glance looked through the whole
+circumstances of their situation, and made arrangements which would
+provide, among other advantages, full employment for Ottilie. She
+contracted her household, not parsimoniously, but into narrower
+dimensions; and, indeed, in one point of view, these moral aberrations
+might be taken for a not unfortunate accident. For in the style in which
+they had been going on, they had fallen imperceptibly into extravagance;
+and from a want of seasonable reflection, from the rate at which they
+had been living, and from the variety of schemes into which they had
+been launching out, their fine fortune, which had been in excellent
+condition, had been shaken, if not seriously injured.
+
+The improvements which were going on in the park she did not interfere
+with; she rather sought to advance whatever might form a basis for
+future operations. But here, too, she assigned herself a limit. Her
+husband on his return should still find abundance to amuse himself with.
+
+In all this work she could not sufficiently value the assistance of the
+young architect. In a short time the lake lay stretched out under her
+eyes, its new shores turfed and planted with the most discriminating and
+excellent judgment. The rough work at the new house was all finished.
+Everything which was necessary to protect it from the weather she took
+care to see provided, and there for the present she allowed it to rest
+in a condition in which what remained to be done could hereafter be
+readily commenced again. Thus hour by hour she recovered her spirits and
+her cheerfulness. Ottilie only seemed to have done so. She was only for
+ever watching, in all that was said and done, for symptoms which might
+show her whether Edward would be soon returning: and this one thought
+was the only one in which she felt any interest.
+
+It was, therefore, a very welcome proposal to her when it was suggested
+that they should get together the boys of the peasants, and employ them
+in keeping the park clean and neat. Edward had long entertained the
+idea. A pleasant--looking sort of uniform was made for them, which they
+were to put on in the evenings after they had been properly cleaned and
+washed. The wardrobe was kept in the castle; the more sensible and ready
+of the boys themselves were intrusted with the management of it--the
+Architect acting as chief director. In a very short time, the children
+acquired a kind of character. It was found easy to mold them into what
+was desired; and they went through their work not without a sort of
+manoeuvre. As they marched along, with their garden shears, their
+long-handled pruning-knives, their rakes, their little spades and hoes,
+and sweeping-brooms; others following after these with baskets to carry
+off the stones and rubbish; and others, last of all, trailing along the
+heavy iron roller--it was a thoroughly pretty, delightful procession.
+The Architect observed in it a beautiful series of situations and
+occupations to ornament the frieze of a garden-house. Ottilie, on the
+other hand, could see nothing in it but a kind of parade, to salute the
+master of the house on his near return.
+
+And this stimulated her and made her wish to begin something of the sort
+herself. They had before endeavored to encourage the girls of the
+village in knitting, and sewing, and spinning, and whatever else women
+could do; and since what had been done for the improvement of the
+village itself, there had been a perceptible advance in these
+descriptions of industry. Ottilie had given what assistance was in her
+power, but she had given it at random, as opportunity or inclination
+prompted her; now she thought she--would go to work more satisfactorily
+and methodically. But a company is not to be formed out of a number of
+girls, as easily as out of a number of boys. She followed her own good
+sense, and,--without being exactly conscious of it, her efforts were
+solely directed toward connecting every girl as closely as possible
+each with her own home, her own parents, brothers and sisters: and she
+succeeded with many of them. One lively little creature only was
+incessantly complained of as showing no capacity for work, and as never
+likely to do anything if she were left at home.
+
+Ottilie could not be angry with the girl, for to herself the little
+thing was especially attached--she clung to her, went after her, and ran
+about with her, whenever she was permitted--and then she would be active
+and cheerful and never tire. It appeared to be a necessity of the
+child's nature to hang about a beautiful mistress. At first, Ottilie
+allowed her to be her companion; then she herself began to feel a sort
+of affection for her; and, at last, they never parted at all, and Nanny
+attended her mistress wherever she went.
+
+The latter's footsteps were often bent toward the garden, where she
+liked to watch the beautiful show of fruit. It was just the end of the
+raspberry and cherry season, the few remains of which were no little
+delight to Nanny. On the other trees there was a promise of a
+magnificent bearing for the autumn, and the gardener talked of nothing
+but his master and how he wished that he might be at home to enjoy it.
+Ottilie could listen to the good old man forever! He thoroughly
+understood his business; and Edward--Edward--Edward--was for ever the
+theme of his praise!
+
+Ottilie observed how well all the grafts which had been budded in the
+spring had taken. "I only wish," the gardener answered, "my good master
+may come to enjoy them. If he were here this autumn, he would see what
+beautiful sorts there are in the old castle garden, which the late lord,
+his honored father, put there. I think the fruit-gardeners there are now
+don't succeed as well as the Carthusians used to do. We find many fine
+names in the catalogue, and then we bud from them, and bring up the
+shoots, and, at last, when they come to bear, it is not worth while to
+have such trees standing in our garden."
+
+Over and over again, whenever the faithful old servant saw Ottilie, he
+asked when his master might be expected home; and when Ottilie had
+nothing to tell him, he would look vexed, and let her see in his manner
+that he thought she did not care to tell him: the sense of uncertainty
+which was thus forced upon her became painful beyond measure, and yet
+she could never be absent from these beds and borders. What she and
+Edward had sown and planted together were now in full flower, requiring
+no further care from her, except that Nanny should be at hand with the
+watering-pot; and who shall say with what sensations she watched the
+later flowers, which were just beginning to show, and which were to be
+in the bloom of their beauty on Edward's birthday, the holiday to which
+she had looked forward with such eagerness, when these flowers were to
+have expressed her affection and her gratitude to him! But the hopes
+which she had formed of that festival were dead now, and doubt and
+anxiety never ceased to haunt the soul of the poor girl.
+
+Into real open, hearty understanding with Charlotte, there was no more a
+chance of her being able to return; for indeed, the position of these
+two ladies was very different. If things could remain in their old
+state--if it were possible that they could return again into the smooth,
+even way of calm, ordered life, Charlotte gained everything; she gained
+happiness for the present, and a happy future opened before her. On the
+other hand, for Ottilie all was lost--one may say, all; for she had
+first found in Edward what life and happiness meant; and, in her present
+position, she felt an infinite and dreary chasm of which before she
+could have formed no conception. A heart which seeks, feels well that it
+wants something; a heart which has lost, feels that something is
+gone--its yearning and its longing change into uneasy impatience--and a
+woman's spirit, which is accustomed to waiting and to enduring, must now
+pass out from its proper sphere, must become active and attempt and do
+something to make its own happiness. Ottilie had not given up Edward--how
+could she? Although Charlotte, wisely enough, in spite of her
+conviction to the contrary, assumed it as a thing of course, and
+resolutely took it as decided that a quiet rational regard was possible
+between her husband and Ottilie. How often, however, did not Ottilie
+remain at nights, after bolting herself into her room, on her knees
+before the open box, gazing at the birthday presents, of which as yet
+she had not touched a single thing--not cut out or made up a single
+dress! How often with the sunrise did the poor girl hurry out of the
+house, in which she once had found all her happiness, away into the free
+air, into the country which then had had no charms for her. Even on the
+solid earth she could not bear to stay; she would spring into the boat,
+row out into the middle of the lake, and there, drawing out some book of
+travels, lie rocked by the motion of the waves, reading and dreaming
+that she was far away, where she would never fail to find her
+friend--she remaining ever nearest to his heart, and he to hers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+It may easily be supposed that the strange, busy gentleman, whose
+acquaintance we have already made--Mittler--as soon as he received
+information of the disorder which had broken out among his friends, felt
+desirous, though neither side had as yet called on him for assistance,
+to fulfil a friend's part toward them, and do what he could to help them
+in their misfortune. He thought it advisable, however, to wait first a
+little while; knowing too well, as he did, that it was more difficult to
+come to the aid of cultivated persons in their moral perplexities, than
+of the uncultivated. He left them, therefore, for some time to
+themselves; but at last he could withhold no longer, and he hastened to
+seek out Edward, on whose traces he had already lighted. His road led
+him to a pleasant, pretty valley, with a range of green, sweetly-wooded
+meadows, down the centre of which ran a never-failing stream, sometimes
+winding slowly along, then tumbling and rushing among rocks and stones.
+The hills sloped gently up on either side, covered with rich corn-fields
+and well-kept orchards. The villages were at proper distances from one
+another. The whole had a peaceful character about it, and the detached
+scenes seemed designed expressly, if not for painting, at least for
+life.
+
+At last a neatly kept farm, with a clean, modest dwelling-house,
+situated in the middle of a garden, fell under his eye. He conjectured
+that this was Edward's present abode; and he was not mistaken.
+
+Of this our friend in his solitude we have only thus much to say--that
+in his seclusion he was resigning himself utterly to the feeling of his
+passion, thinking out plan after plan, and feeding himself with
+innumerable hopes. He could not deny that he longed to see Ottilie
+there; that he would like to carry her off there, to tempt her there;
+and whatever else (putting, as he now did, no check upon his thoughts)
+pleased to suggest itself, whether permitted or unpermitted. Then his
+imagination wandered up and down, picturing every sort of possibility.
+If he could not have her there, if he could not lawfully possess her, he
+would secure to her the possession of the property for her own. There
+she should live for herself, silently, independently; she should be
+happy in that spot--sometimes his self-torturing mood would lead him
+further--be happy in it, perhaps, with another.
+
+So days flowed away in increasing oscillation between hope and
+suffering, between tears and happiness--between purposes, preparations,
+and despair. The sight of Mittler did not surprise him; he had long
+expected that he would come; and now that he did, he was partly welcome
+to him. He believed that he had been sent by Charlotte. He had prepared
+himself with all manner of excuses and delays; and if these would not
+serve, with decided refusals; or else, perhaps, he might hope to learn
+something of Ottilie--and then he would be as dear to him as a
+messenger from heaven.
+
+Not a little vexed and annoyed was Edward, therefore, when he
+understood that Mittler had not come from the castle at all, but of his
+own free accord. His heart closed up, and at first the conversation
+would not open itself. Mittler, however, knew very well that a heart
+that is occupied with love has an urgent necessity to express itself--to
+pour out to a friend what is passing within it; and he allowed himself,
+therefore, after a few speeches backward and forward, for this once to
+go out of his character and play the confidant in place of the mediator.
+He had calculated justly. He had been finding fault in a good-natured
+way with Edward for burying himself in that lonely place, upon which
+Edward replied:
+
+"I do not know how I could spend my time more agreeably. I am always
+occupied with her; I am always close to her. I have the inestimable
+comfort of being able to think where Ottilie is at each moment--where
+she is going, where she is standing, where she is reposing. I see her
+moving and acting before me as usual; ever doing or designing something
+which is to give me pleasure. But this will not always answer; for how
+can I be happy away from her? And then my fancy begins to work; I think
+what Ottilie should do to come to me; I write sweet, loving letters in
+her name to myself, and then I answer them, and keep the sheets
+together. I have promised that I will take no steps to seek her; and
+that promise I will keep. But what binds her that she should make no
+advances to me I Has Charlotte had the barbarity to exact a promise, to
+exact an oath from her, not to write to me, not to send me a word, a
+hint, about herself? Very likely she has. It is only natural; and yet to
+me it is monstrous, it is horrible. If she loves me--as I think, as I
+know that she does--why does she not resolve, why does she not venture
+to fly to me, and throw herself into my arms? I often think she ought to
+do it; and she could do it. If I ever hear a noise in the hall, I look
+toward the door. It must be her--she is coming--I look up to see her.
+Alas! because the possible is impossible, I let myself imagine that the
+impossible must become possible. At night, when I lie awake, and the
+lamp flings an uncertain light about the room, her form, her spirit, a
+sense of her presence, sweeps over me, approaches me, seizes me. It is
+but for a moment; it is that I may have an assurance that she is
+thinking of me, that she is mine. Only one pleasure remains to me. When
+I was with her I never dreamt of her; now when I am far away, and, oddly
+enough, since I have made the acquaintance of other attractive persons
+in this neighborhood, for the first time her figure appears to me in my
+dreams, as if she would say to me, 'Look on them, and on me. You will
+find none more beautiful, more lovely than I.' And so she is present in
+every dream I have. In whatever happens to me with her, we are woven in
+and in together. Now we are subscribing a contract together. There is
+her hand, and there is mine; there is her name, and there is mine; and
+they move one into the other, and seem to devour each other. Sometimes
+she does something which injures the pure idea which I have of her; and
+then I feel how intensely I love her, by the indescribable anguish which
+it causes me. Again, unlike herself, she will rally and vex me; and then
+at once the figure changes--her sweet, round, heavenly face draws out;
+it is not she, it is another; but I lie vexed, dissatisfied and
+wretched. Laugh not, dear Mittler, or laugh on as you will. I am not
+ashamed of this attachment, of this--if you please to call it
+so--foolish, frantic passion. No, I never loved before. It is only now
+that I know what to love means. Till now, what I have called life was
+nothing but its prelude--amusement, sport to kill the time with. I never
+lived till I knew her, till I loved her--entirely and only loved her.
+People have often said of me, not to my face, but behind my back, that
+in most things I was but a botcher and a bungler. It may be so; for I
+had not then found in what I could show myself a master. I should like
+to see the man who outdoes me in the talent of love. A miserable life it
+is, full of anguish and tears; but it is so natural, so dear to me,
+that I could hardly change it for another."
+
+Edward had relieved himself slightly by this violent unloading of his
+heart. But in doing so every feature of his strange condition had been
+brought out so clearly before his eyes that, overpowered by the pain of
+the struggle, he burst into tears, which flowed all the more freely as
+his heart had been made weak by telling it all.
+
+Mittler, who was the less disposed to put a check on his inexorable good
+sense and strong, vigorous feeling, because by this violent outbreak of
+passion on Edward's part he saw himself driven far from the purpose of
+his coming, showed sufficiently decided marks of his disapprobation.
+Edward should act as a man, he said; he should remember what he owed to
+himself as a man. He should not forget that the highest honor was to
+command ourselves in misfortune; to bear pain, if it must be so, with
+equanimity and self-collectedness. That was what we should do, if we
+wished to be valued and looked up to as examples of what was right.
+
+Stirred and penetrated as Edward was with the bitterest feelings, words
+like these could but have a hollow, worthless sound.
+
+"It is well," he cried, "for the man who is happy, who has all that he
+desires, to talk; but he would be ashamed of it if he could see how
+intolerable it was to the sufferer. Nothing short of an infinite
+endurance would be enough, and easy and contented as he was, what could
+he know of an infinite agony? There are cases," he continued, "yes,
+there are, where comfort is a lie, and despair is a duty. Go, heap your
+scorn upon the noble Greek, who well knows how to delineate heroes, when
+in their anguish he lets those heroes weep. He has even a proverb, 'Men
+who can weep are good.' Leave me, all you with dry heart and dry eye.
+Curses on the happy, to whom the wretched serve but for a spectacle.
+When body and soul are torn in pieces with agony, they are to bear
+it--yes, to be noble and bear it, if they are to be allowed to go off
+the scene with applause. Like the gladiators, they must die gracefully
+before the eyes of the multitude. My dear Mittler, I thank you for your
+visit; but really you would oblige me much, if you would go out and look
+about you in the garden. We will meet again. I will try to compose
+myself, and become more like you."
+
+Mittler was unwilling to let a conversation drop which it might be
+difficult to begin again, and still persevered. Edward, too, was quite
+ready to go on with it; besides that of itself, it was tending toward
+the issue which he desired.
+
+"Indeed," said the latter, "This thinking and arguing backward and
+forward leads to nothing. In this very conversation I myself have first
+come to understand myself; I have first felt decided as to what I must
+make up my mind to do. My present and my future life I see before me; I
+have to choose only between misery and happiness. Do you, my best
+friend, bring about the separation which must take place, which, in
+fact, is already made; gain Charlotte's consent for me. I will not enter
+upon the reasons why I believe there will be the less difficulty in
+prevailing upon her. You, my dear friend, must go. Go, and give us all
+peace; make us all happy."
+
+Mittler hesitated. Edward continued:
+
+"My fate and Ottilie's cannot be divided, and shall not be shipwrecked.
+Look at this glass; our initials are engraved upon it. A gay reveller
+flung it into the air, that no one should drink of it more. It was to
+fall on the rock and be dashed to pieces; but it did not fall; it was
+caught. At a high price I bought it back, and now I drink out of it
+daily--to convince myself that the connection between us cannot be
+broken; that destiny has decided."
+
+"Alas! alas!" cried Mittler, "what must I not endure with my friends?
+Here comes superstition, which of all things I hate the worse--the most
+mischievous and accursed of all the plagues of mankind. We trifle with
+prophecies, with forebodings, and dreams, and give a seriousness to our
+every-day life with them; but when the seriousness of life itself begins
+to show, when everything around us is heaving and rolling, then come in
+these spectres to make the storm more terrible."
+
+"In this uncertainty of life," cried Edward, "poised as it is between
+hope and fear, leave the poor heart its guiding-star. It may gaze toward
+it, if it cannot steer toward it."
+
+"Yes, I might leave it; and it would be very well," replied Mittler, "if
+there were but one consequence to expect; but I have always found that
+nobody will attend to symptoms of warning. Man cares for nothing except
+what flatters him and promises him fair; and his faith is alive
+exclusively for the sunny side."
+
+Mittler, finding himself carried off into the shadowy regions, in which
+the longer he remained the more uncomfortable he always felt, was the
+more ready to assent to Edward's eager wish that he should go to
+Charlotte. Indeed, if he stayed, what was there further which at that
+moment he could urge on Edward? To gain time, to inquire in what state
+things were with the ladies, was the best thing which even he himself
+could suggest as at present possible.
+
+He hastened to Charlotte, whom he found as usual, calm and in good
+spirits. She told him readily of everything which had occurred; for from
+what Edward had said he had only been able to gather the effects. On his
+own side, he felt his way with the utmost caution. He could not prevail
+upon himself even cursorily to mention the word separation. It was a
+surprise, indeed, to him, but from his point of view an unspeakably
+delightful one, when Charlotte, at the end of a number of unpleasant
+things, finished with saying:
+
+"I must believe, I must hope, that things will all work round again, and
+that Edward will return to me. How can it be otherwise as soon as I
+become a mother?"
+
+"Do I understand you right?" returned Mittler.
+
+"Perfectly," Charlotte answered.
+
+"A thousand times blessed be this news!" he cried, clasping his hands
+together. "I know the strength of this argument on the mind of a man.
+Many a marriage have I seen first cemented by it, and restored again
+when broken. Such a good hope as this is worth more than a thousand
+words. Now indeed it is the best hope which we can have. For myself,
+though," he continued, "I have all reason to be vexed about it. In this
+case I can see clearly no self-love of mine will be flattered. I shall
+earn no thanks from you by my services; I am in the same case as a
+certain medical friend of mine, who succeeds in all cures which he
+undertakes with the poor for the love of God; but can seldom do anything
+for the rich who will pay him. Here, thank God, the thing cures itself,
+after all my talking and trying had proved fruitless."
+
+Charlotte now asked him if he would carry the news to Edward: if he
+would take a letter to him from her, and then see what should be done.
+But he declined undertaking this. "All is done," he cried; "do you write
+your letter--any messenger will do as well as I--I will come back to wish
+you joy. I will come to the christening!"
+
+For this refusal she was vexed with him--as she frequently was. His
+eager, impetuous character brought about much good; but his over-haste
+was the occasion of many a failure. No one was more dependent than he on
+the impressions which he formed on the moment. Charlotte's messenger
+came to Edward, who received him half in terror. The letter was to
+decide his fate, and it might as well contain No as Yes. He did not
+venture, for a long time, to open it. At last he tore off the cover, and
+stood petrified at the following passage, with which it concluded:
+
+"Remember the night-adventure when you visited your wife as a
+lover--how you drew her to you, and clasped her as a well-beloved bride
+in your arms. In this strange accident let us revere the providence of
+heaven, which has woven a new link to bind us, at the moment when the
+happiness of our lives was threatening to fall asunder and to vanish."
+
+What passed from that moment in Edward's soul it would be difficult to
+describe! Under the weight of such a stroke, old habits and fancies come
+out again to assist to kill the time and fill up the chasms of life.
+Hunting and fighting are an ever-ready resource of this kind for a
+nobleman; Edward longed for some outward peril, as a counterbalance to
+the storm within him. He craved for death, because the burden of life
+threatened to become too heavy for him to bear. It comforted him to
+think that he would soon cease to be, and so would make those whom he
+loved happy by his departure.
+
+No one made any difficulty in his doing what he purposed--because he
+kept his intention a secret. He made his will with all due formalities.
+It gave him a very sweet feeling to secure Ottilie's fortune--provision
+was made for Charlotte, for the unborn child, for the Captain, and for
+the servants. The war, which had again broken out, favored his wishes:
+he had disliked exceedingly the half-soldiering which had fallen to him
+in his youth, and that was the reason why he had left the service. Now
+it gave him a fine exhilarating feeling to be able to rejoin it under a
+commander of whom it could be said that, under his conduct, death was
+likely and victory was sure.
+
+Ottilie, when Charlotte's secret was made known to her, bewildered by
+it, like Edward, and more than he, retired into herself--she had nothing
+further to say: hope she could not, and wish she dared not. A glimpse
+into what was passing in her we can gather from her Diary, some passages
+of which we think to communicate.
+
+There often happens to us in common life what, in an epic poem, we are
+accustomed to praise as a stroke of art in the poet; namely, that when
+the chief figures go off the scene, conceal themselves or retire into
+inactivity, some other or others, whom hitherto we have scarcely
+observed, come forward and fill their places. And these putting out all
+their force, at once fix our attention and sympathy on themselves, and
+earn our praise and admiration.
+
+Thus, after the Captain and Edward were gone, the Architect, of whom we
+have spoken, appeared every day a more important person. The ordering
+and executing of a number of undertakings depended entirely upon him,
+and he proved himself thoroughly understanding and businesslike in the
+style in which he went to work; while in a number of other ways he was
+able also to make himself of assistance to the ladies, and find
+amusement for their weary hours. His outward air and appearance were of
+the kind which win confidence and awake affection. A youth in the full
+sense of the word, well-formed, tall, perhaps a little too stout; modest
+without being timid, and easy without being obtrusive, there was no work
+and no trouble which he was not delighted to take upon himself; and as
+he could keep accounts with great facility, the whole economy of the
+household soon was no secret to him, and everywhere his salutary
+influence made itself felt. Any stranger who came he was commonly set to
+entertain, and he was skilful either at declining unexpected visits, or
+at least so far preparing the ladies for them as to spare them any
+disagreeableness.
+
+Among others, he had one day no little trouble with a young lawyer, who
+had been sent by a neighboring nobleman to speak about a matter which,
+although of no particular moment, yet touched Charlotte to the quick. We
+have to mention this incident because it gave occasion for a number of
+things which otherwise might perhaps have remained long untouched.
+
+We remember certain alterations which Charlotte had made in the
+churchyard. The entire body of the monuments had been removed from their
+places, and had been ranged along the walls of the church, leaning
+against the string-course. The remaining space had been levelled, except
+a broad walk which led up to the church, and past it to the opposite
+gate; and it had been all sown with various kinds of trefoil, which had
+shot up and flowered most beautifully.
+
+The new graves were to follow one after another in a regular order from
+the end, but the spot on each occasion was to be carefully smoothed over
+and again sown. No one could deny that on Sundays and holidays when the
+people went to church the change had given it a most cheerful and
+pleasant appearance. At the same time the clergyman, an old man and
+clinging to old customs, who at first had not been especially pleased
+with the alteration, had become thoroughly delighted with it, all the
+more because when he sat out like Philemon with his Baucis under the old
+linden trees at his back door, instead of the humps and mounds he had a
+beautiful clean lawn to look out upon; and which, moreover, Charlotte
+having secured the use of the spot to the Parsonage, was no little
+convenience to his household.
+
+Notwithstanding this, however, many members of the congregation had been
+displeased that the means of marking the spots where their forefathers
+rested had been removed, and all memorials of them thereby obliterated.
+However well preserved the monuments might be, they could only show who
+had been buried, but not where he had been buried, and the _where_, as
+many maintained, was everything.
+
+Of this opinion was a family in the neighborhood, who for many years had
+been in possession of a considerable vault for a general resting-place
+of themselves and their relations, and in consequence had settled a
+small annual sum for the use of the church. And now this young lawyer
+had been sent to cancel this settlement, and to show that his client did
+not intend to pay it any more, because the conditions under which it had
+been hitherto made had not been observed by the other party, and no
+regard had been paid to objection and remonstrance. Charlotte, who was
+the originator of the alteration herself, chose to speak to the young
+man, who in a decided though not a violent manner, laid down the grounds
+on which his client proceeded, and gave occasion in what he said for
+much serious reflection.
+
+"You see," he said, after a slight introduction, in which he sought to
+justify his peremptoriness; "you see, it is right for the lowest as well
+as for the highest to mark the spot which holds those who are dearest to
+him. The poorest, peasant, who buries a child, finds it some consolation
+to plant a light wooden cross upon the grave, and hang a garland upon
+it, to keep alive the memorial, at least as long as the sorrow remains;
+although such a mark, like the mourning, will pass away with time. Those
+better off change the cross of wood into iron, and fix it down and guard
+it in various ways; and here we have endurance for many years. But
+because this too will sink at last, and become invisible, those who are
+able to bear the expense see nothing fitter than to raise a stone which
+shall promise to endure for generations, and which can be restored and
+made fresh again by posterity. Yet this stone it is not which attracts
+us; it is that which is contained beneath it, which is intrusted, where
+it stands, to the earth. It is not the memorial so much of which we
+speak, as of the person himself; not of what once was, but of what is.
+Far better, far more closely, can I embrace some dear departed one in
+the mound which rises over his bed, than in a monumental writing which
+only tells us that once he was. In itself, indeed, it is but little; but
+around it, as around a central mark, the wife, the husband, the kinsman,
+the friend, after their departure, shall gather in again; and the living
+shall have the right to keep far off all strangers and evil-wishers
+from the side of the dear one who is sleeping there. And, therefore, I
+hold it quite fair and fitting that my principal shall withdraw his
+grant to you. It is, indeed, but too reasonable that he should do it,
+for the members of his family are injured in a way for which no
+compensation could be even proposed. They are deprived of the sad sweet
+feelings of laying offerings on the remains of their dead, and of the
+one comfort in their sorrow of one day lying down at their side."
+
+"The matter is not of that importance," Charlotte answered, "that we
+should disquiet ourselves about it with the vexation of a lawsuit. I
+regret so little what I have done, that I will gladly myself indemnify
+the church for what it loses through you. Only I must confess candidly
+to you, your arguments have not convinced me; the pure feeling of an
+universal equality at last, after death, seems to me more composing than
+this hard determined persistence in our personalities and in the
+conditions and circumstances of our lives. What do you say to it?" she
+added, turning to the Architect.
+
+"It is not for me," replied he, "either to argue, or to attempt to judge
+in such a case. Let me venture, however, to say what my own art and my
+own habits of thinking suggest to me. Since we are no longer so happy as
+to be able to press to our breasts the in-urned remains of those we have
+loved; since we are neither wealthy enough nor of cheerful heart enough
+to preserve them undecayed in large elaborate sarcophagi; since, indeed,
+we cannot even find place any more for ourselves and ours in the
+churches, and are banished out into the open air, we all, I think, ought
+to approve the method which you, my gracious lady, have introduced. If
+the members of a common congregation are laid out side by side, they are
+resting by the side of, and among their kindred; and, if the earth be
+once to receive us all, I can find nothing more natural or more
+desirable than that the mounds, which, if they are thrown up, are sure
+to sink slowly in again together, should be smoothed off at once, and
+the covering, which all bear alike, will press lighter upon each."
+
+"And is it all, is it all to pass away," asked Ottilie, "without one
+token of remembrance, without anything to call back the past?"
+
+"By no means," continued the Architect; "it is not from remembrance, it
+is from place that men should be set free. The architect, the sculptor,
+are highly interested that men should look to their art--to their hand,
+for a continuance of their being; and, therefore, I should wish to see
+well-designed, well-executed monuments; not sown up and down by
+themselves at random, but erected all in a single spot, where they can
+promise themselves endurance. Inasmuch as even the good and the great
+are contented to surrender the privilege of resting in person in the
+churches, _we_ may, at least, erect there or in some fair hall near the
+burying place, either monuments or monumental writings. A thousand forms
+might be suggested for them, and a thousand ornaments with which they
+might be decorated."
+
+"If the artists are so rich," replied Charlotte, "then tell me how it is
+that they are never able to escape from little obelisks, dwarf pillars,
+and urns for ashes? Instead of your thousand forms of which you boast, I
+have never seen anything but a thousand repetitions."
+
+"It is very generally so with us," returned the Architect, "but it is
+not universal; and very likely the right taste and the proper
+application of it may be a peculiar art. In this case especially we have
+this great difficulty, that the monument must be something cheerful and
+yet commemorate a solemn subject; while its matter is melancholy, it
+must not itself be melancholy. As regards designs for monuments of all
+kinds, I have collected numbers of them, and I will take some
+opportunity of showing them to you; but at all times the fairest
+memorial of a man remains some likeness of himself. This better than
+anything else, will give a notion of what he was; it is the best text
+for many or for few notes, only it ought to be made when he is at his
+best age, and that is generally neglected; no one thinks of preserving
+forms while they are alive, and if it is done at all, it is done
+carelessly and incompletely; and then comes death; a cast is taken
+swiftly of the face; this mask is set upon a block of stone, and that is
+what is called a bust. How seldom is the artist in a position to put any
+real life into such things as these!"
+
+"You have contrived," said Charlotte, "without perhaps knowing it or
+wishing it, to lead the conversation altogether in my favor. The
+likeness of a man is quite independent; everywhere that it stands, it
+stands for itself, and we do not require it to mark the site of a
+particular grave. But I must acknowledge to you to having a strange
+feeling; even to likenesses I have a kind of disinclination. Whenever I
+see them they seem to be silently reproaching me. They point to
+something far away from us--gone from us; and they remind me how
+difficult it is to pay right honor to the present. If we think how many
+people we have seen and known, and consider how little we have been to
+them and how little they have been to us, it is no very pleasant
+reflection. We have met a man of genius without having enjoyed much with
+him--a learned man without having learnt from him--a traveler without
+having been instructed,--a man to love without having shown him any
+kindness.
+
+"And, unhappily, this is not the case only with accidental meetings.
+Societies and families behave in the same way toward their dearest
+members, towns toward their worthiest citizens, people toward their most
+admirable princes, nations toward their most distinguished men.
+
+"I have heard it asked why we heard nothing but good spoken of the dead,
+while of the living it is never without some exception. It should be
+answered, because from the former we have nothing any more to fear,
+while the latter may still, here or there, fall in our way. So unreal is
+our anxiety to preserve the memory of others--generally no more than a
+mere selfish amusement; and the real, holy, earnest feeling would be
+what should prompt us to be more diligent and assiduous in our
+attentions toward those who still are left to us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Under the stimulus of this accident, and of the conversations which
+arose out of it, they went the following day to look over the
+burying-place, for the ornamenting of which and relieving it in some
+degree of its sombre look, the Architect made many a happy proposal. His
+interest too had to extend itself to the church as well; a building
+which had caught his attention from the moment of his arrival.
+
+It had been standing for many centuries, built in old German style, the
+proportions good, the decorating elaborate and excellent; and one might
+easily gather that the architect of the neighboring monastery had left
+the stamp of his art and of his love on this smaller building also; it
+worked on the beholder with a solemnity and a sweetness, although the
+change in its internal arrangements for the Protestant service had taken
+from it something of its repose and majesty.
+
+The Architect found no great difficulty in prevailing on Charlotte to
+give him a considerable sum of money to restore it externally and
+internally, in the original spirit, and thus, as he thought, to bring it
+into harmony with the resurrection-field which lay in front of it. He
+had himself much practical skill, and a few laborers who were still busy
+at the lodge might easily be kept together, until this pious work too
+should be completed.
+
+The building itself, therefore, with all its environs, and whatever was
+attached to it, was now carefully and thoroughly examined; and then
+showed itself, to the greatest surprise and delight of the Architect, a
+little side chapel, which nobody had thought of, beautifully and
+delicately proportioned, and displaying still greater care and pains in
+its decoration. It contained at the same time many remnants, carved
+and painted, of the implements used in the old services, when the
+different festivals were distinguished by a variety of pictures and
+ceremonies, and each was celebrated in its own peculiar style.
+
+It was impossible for him not at once to take this chapel into his plan;
+and he determined to bestow especial pains on the restoring of this
+little spot, as a memorial of old times and of their taste. He saw
+exactly how he would like to have the vacant surfaces of the walls
+ornamented, and delighted himself with the prospect, of exercising his
+talent for painting upon them; but of this, at first, he made a secret
+to the rest of the party.
+
+Before doing anything else, he fulfilled his promise of showing the
+ladies the various imitations of, and designs from, old monuments,
+vases, and other such things which he had made, and when they came to
+speak of the simple barrow-sepulchres of the northern nations, he
+brought a collection of weapons and implements which had been found in
+them. He had got them exceedingly nicely and conveniently arranged in
+drawers and compartments, laid on boards cut to fit them, and covered
+over with cloth; so that these solemn old things, in the way he treated
+them, had a smart dressy appearance, and it was like looking into the
+box of a trinket merchant.
+
+Having once begun to show his curiosities, and finding them prove
+serviceable to entertain our friends in their loneliness, every evening
+he would produce one or other of his treasures. They were most of them
+of German origin--pieces of metal, old coins, seals, and such like. All
+these things directed the imagination back upon old times; and when at
+last they came to amuse themselves with the first specimens of printing,
+woodcuts, and the earliest copper-plate engraving, and when the church,
+in the same spirit, was growing out, every day, more and more in form
+and color like the past, they had almost to ask themselves whether they
+really were living in a modern time, whether it were not a dream, that
+manners, customs, modes of life, and convictions were all really so
+changed.
+
+After such preparation, a great portfolio, which at last he produced,
+had the best possible effect. It contained indeed principally only
+outlines and figures, but as these had been traced upon original
+pictures, they retained perfectly their ancient character, and most
+captivating indeed this character was to the spectators. All the figures
+breathed only the purest feeling; every one, if not noble, at any rate
+was good; cheerful composure, ready recognition of One above us, to whom
+all reverence is due; silent devotion, in love and tranquil expectation,
+was expressed on every face, on every gesture. The old bald-headed man,
+the curly-pated boy, the light-hearted youth, the earnest man, the
+glorified saint, the angel hovering in the air, all seemed happy in an
+innocent, satisfied, pious expectation. The commonest object had a trait
+of celestial life; and every nature seemed adapted to the service of
+God, and to be, in some way or other, employed upon it.
+
+Toward such a region most of them gazed as toward a vanished golden age,
+or on some lost paradise; only perhaps Ottilie had a chance of finding
+herself among beings of her own nature. Who could offer any proposition
+when the Architect asked to be allowed to paint the spaces between the
+arches and the walls of the chapel in the style of these old pictures
+and thereby leave his own distinct memorial at a place where life had
+gone so pleasantly with him?
+
+He spoke of it with some sadness, for he could see, in the state in
+which things were, that his sojourn in such delightful society could not
+last forever; indeed, that perhaps it would now soon be ended.
+
+For the rest, these days were not rich in incidents; yet full of
+occasion for serious entertainment. We therefore take the opportunity of
+communicating something of the remarks which Ottilie noted down among
+her manuscripts, to which we cannot find a fitter transition than
+through a simile which suggested itself to us on contemplating her
+exquisite pages.
+
+There is, we are told, a curious contrivance in the service of the
+English marine. The ropes in use in the royal navy, from the largest to
+the smallest, are so twisted that a red thread runs through them from
+end to end, which cannot be extracted without undoing the whole; and by
+which the smallest pieces may be recognized as belonging to the crown.
+
+Just so is there drawn through Ottilie Is diary, a thread of attachment
+and affection which connects it all together, and characterizes the
+whole. And thus these remarks, these observations, these extracted
+sentences, and whatever else it may contain, were, to the writer, of
+peculiar meaning. Even the few separate pieces which we select and
+transcribe will sufficiently explain our meaning.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"To rest hereafter at the side of those whom we love is the most
+delightful thought which man can have when once he looks out beyond the
+boundary of life. What a sweet expression is that--'He was gathered to
+his fathers!'"
+
+"Of the various memorials and tokens which bring nearer to us the
+distant and the separated--none is so satisfactory as a picture. To sit
+and talk to a beloved picture, even though it be unlike, has a charm in
+it, like the charm which there sometimes is in quarrelling with a
+friend. We feel, in a strange sweet way, that we are divided and yet
+cannot separate."
+
+"We entertain ourselves often with a present person as with a picture.
+He need not speak to us, he need not look at us, or take any notice of
+us; we look at him, we feel the relation in which we stand to him; such
+relation can even grow without his doing anything toward it, without his
+having any feeling of it: he is to us exactly as a picture."
+
+"One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows. I
+have always felt for the portrait-painter on this account. One so seldom
+requires of people what is impossible, and of them we do really require
+what is impossible; they must gather up into their picture the relation
+of every body to its subject, all their likings and all dislikings; they
+must not only paint a man as they see him, but as every one else sees
+him. It does not surprise me if such artists become by degrees stunted,
+indifferent, and of but one idea; and indeed it would not matter what
+came of it, if it were not that in consequence we have to go without the
+pictures of so many persons near and dear to us."
+
+"It is too true, the Architect's collection of weapons and old
+implements, which were found with the bodies of their owners, covered in
+with great hills of earth and rock, proves to us how useless is man's so
+great anxiety to preserve his personality after he is dead; and so
+inconsistent people are, the Architect confesses to have himself opened
+these barrows of his forefathers, and yet goes on occupying himself with
+memorials for posterity."
+
+"But after all why should we take it so much to heart? Is all that we
+do, done for eternity? Do we not put on our dress in the morning, to
+throw it off again at night? Do we not go abroad to return home again?
+And why should we not wish to rest by the side of our friends, though it
+were but for a century?"
+
+"When we see the many gravestones which have fallen in, which have been
+defaced by the footsteps of the congregation, which lie buried under the
+ruins of the churches, that have themselves crumbled together over them,
+we may fancy the life after death to be as a second life, into which a
+man enters in the figure, or the picture, or the inscription, and lives
+longer there than when he was really alive. But this figure also, this
+second existence, dies out too, sooner or later. Time will not allow
+himself to be cheated of his rights with the monuments of men or with
+themselves."
+
+It causes us so agreeable a sensation to occupy ourselves with what we
+can only half do, that no person ought to find fault with the
+dilettante, when he is spending his time over an art which he can never
+learn; nor blame the artist if he chooses to pass out over the border of
+his own art, and amuse himself in some neighboring field. With such
+complacency of feeling we regard the preparation of the Architect for
+painting the chapel. The colors were got ready, the measurements taken,
+the cartoons designed. He had made no attempt at originality, but kept
+close to his outlines; his only care was to make a proper distribution
+of the sitting and floating figures, so as tastefully to ornament his
+space with them.
+
+The scaffoldings were erected. The work went forward; and as soon as
+anything had been done on which the eye could rest, he could have no
+objection to Charlotte and Ottilie coming to see how he was getting on.
+
+The life-like faces of the angels, their robes waving against the blue
+sky-ground, delighted the eye, while their still and holy air calmed and
+composed the spirit, and produced the most delicate effect.
+
+The ladies ascended the scaffolding to him, and Ottilie had scarcely
+observed how easily and regularly the work was being done when the power
+which had been fostered in her by her early education at once appeared
+to develop. She took a brush, and with a few words of direction, painted
+a richly folding robe, with as much delicacy as skill.
+
+Charlotte, who was always glad when Ottilie would occupy or amuse
+herself with anything, left them both in the chapel, and went to follow
+the train of her own thoughts, and work her way for herself through her
+cares and anxieties which she was unable to communicate to a creature.
+
+When ordinary men allow themselves to be worked up by common every-day
+difficulties into fever-fits of passion, we can give them nothing but a
+compassionate smile. But we look with a kind of awe on a spirit in
+which the seed of a great destiny has been sown, which must abide the
+unfolding of the germ, and neither dare nor can do anything to
+precipitate either the good or the ill, either the happiness or the
+misery, which is to arise out of it.
+
+Edward had sent an answer by Charlotte's messenger, who had come to him
+in his solitude. It was written with kindness and interest, but it was
+rather composed and serious than warm and affectionate. He had vanished
+almost immediately after, and Charlotte could learn no news about him;
+till at last she accidentally found his name in the newspaper, where he
+was mentioned with honor among those who had most distinguished
+themselves in a late important engagement. She now understood the method
+which he had taken; she perceived that he had escaped from great danger;
+only she was convinced at the same time that he would seek out greater;
+and it was all too clear to her that in every sense he would hardly be
+withheld from any extremity.
+
+She had to bear about this perpetual anxiety in her thoughts, and turn
+which way she would, there was no light in which she could look at it
+that would give her comfort.
+
+Ottilie, never dreaming of anything of this, had taken to the work in
+the chapel with the greatest interest, and she had easily obtained
+Charlotte's permission to go on with it regularly. So now all went
+swiftly forward, and the azure heaven was soon peopled with worthy
+inhabitants. By continual practice both Ottilie and the Architect had
+gained more freedom with the last figures; they became perceptibly
+better. The faces, too, which had been all left to the Architect to
+paint, showed by degrees a very singular peculiarly. They began all of
+them to resemble Ottilie. The neighborhood of the beautiful girl had
+made so strong an impression on the soul of the young man, who had no
+variety of faces preconceived in his mind, that by degrees, on the way
+from the eye to the hand, nothing was lost, and both worked in exact
+harmony together. Enough; one of the last faces succeeded perfectly; so
+that it seemed as if Ottilie herself was looking down out of the spaces
+of the sky.
+
+They had finished with the arching of the ceiling. The walls they
+proposed to leave plain, and only to cover them over with a bright brown
+color. The delicate pillars and the quaintly molded ornaments were to be
+distinguished from them by a dark shade. But as in such things one thing
+ever leads on to another, they determined at least on having festoons of
+flowers and fruit, which should, as it were, unite heaven and earth.
+Here Ottilie was in her element. The gardens provided the most perfect
+patterns; and although the wreaths were as rich as they could make them,
+it was all finished sooner than they had supposed possible.
+
+It was still looking rough and disorderly. The scaffolding poles had
+been run together, the planks thrown one on the top of the other; the
+uneven pavement was yet more disfigured by the parti-colored stains of
+the paint which had been spilt over it.
+
+The Architect begged that the ladies would give him a week to himself,
+and during that time would not enter the chapel; at the end of it, one
+fine evening, he came to them, and begged them both to go and see it. He
+did not wish to accompany them, he said, and at once took his leave.
+
+"Whatever surprise he may have designed for us," said Charlotte, as soon
+as he was gone, "I cannot myself just now go down there. You can go by
+yourself, and tell me all about it. No doubt he has been doing something
+which we shall like. I will enjoy it first in your description, and
+afterwards it will be the more charming in the reality."
+
+Ottilie, who knew well that in many cases Charlotte took care to avoid
+everything which could produce emotion, and particularly disliked to be
+surprised, set off down the walk by herself and looked round
+involuntarily for the Architect, who, however, was nowhere to be seen
+and must have concealed himself somewhere. She walked into the church,
+which she found open. This had been finished before; it had been cleaned
+up, and service had been performed in it. She went on to the chapel
+door; its heavy mass, all overlaid with iron, yielded easily to her
+touch, and she found an unexpected sight in a familiar spot.
+
+A solemn, beautiful light streamed in through the one tall window. It
+was filled with stained glass, gracefully put together. The entire
+chapel had thus received a strange tone, and a peculiar genius was
+thrown over it. The beauty of the vaulted ceiling and the walls was set
+off by the elegance of the pavement, which was composed of peculiarly
+shaped tiles, fastened together with gypsum, and forming exquisite
+patterns as they lay. This and the colored glass for the windows the
+Architect had prepared without their knowledge, and a short time was
+sufficient to have it put in its place.
+
+Seats had been provided as well. Among the relics of the old church some
+finely carved chancel chairs had been discovered, which now were
+standing about at convenient places along the walls.
+
+The parts which she knew so well now meeting her as an unfamiliar whole,
+delighted Ottilie. She stood still, walked up and down, looked and
+looked again; at last she seated herself in one of the chairs, and it
+seemed, as she gazed up and down, as if she was, and yet was not--as if
+she felt and did not feel--as if all this would vanish from before her,
+and she would vanish from herself; and it was only when the sun left the
+window, on which before it had been shining full, that she awoke to
+possession of herself and hastened back to the castle.
+
+She did not hide from herself the strange epoch at which this surprise
+had occurred to her. It was the evening of Edward's birthday. Very
+differently she had hoped to keep it. How was not every thing to be
+dressed out for this festival and now all the splendor of the autumn
+flowers remained ungathered! Those sunflowers still turned their faces
+to the sky; those asters still looked out with quiet, modest eye; and
+whatever of them all had been wound into wreaths had served as patterns
+for the decorating a spot which, if it was not to remain a mere
+artist's fancy, was only adapted as a general mausoleum.
+
+And then she had to remember the impetuous eagerness with which Edward
+had kept her birthday-feast. She. thought of the newly erected lodge,
+under the roof of which they had promised themselves so much enjoyment.
+The fireworks flashed and hissed again before her eyes and ears; the
+more lonely she was, the more keenly her imagination brought it all
+before her. But she felt herself only the more alone. She no longer
+leant upon his arm, and she had no hope ever any more to rest herself
+upon it.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"I have been struck with an observation of the young architect.
+
+"In the case of the creative artist, as in that of the artisan, it is
+clear that man is least permitted to appropriate to himself what is most
+entirely his own. His works forsake him as the birds forsake the nest in
+which they were hatched.
+
+"The fate of the Architect is the strangest of all in this way. How
+often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce
+buildings into which he himself may never enter. The halls of kings owe
+their magnificence to him; but he has no enjoyment of them in their
+splendor. In the temple he draws a partition line between himself and
+the Holy of Holies; he may never more set his foot upon the steps which
+he has laid down for the heart-thrilling ceremonial, as the goldsmith
+may only adore from far off the _monstrance_ whose enamel and whose
+jewels he has himself set together. The builder surrenders to the rich
+man, with the key of his palace, all pleasure and all right there, and
+never shares with him in the enjoyment of it. And must not art in this
+way, step by step, draw off from the artist, when the work, like a child
+who is provided for, has no more to fall back upon its father? And what
+a power there must be in art itself for its own self-advancing, when it
+has been obliged to shape itself almost solely out of what was open to
+all, only out of what was the property of every one, and therefore also
+of the artist!"
+
+"There is a conception among old nations which is awful, and may almost
+seem terrible. They pictured their forefathers to themselves sitting
+round on thrones, in enormous caverns, in silent converse; when a new
+comer entered, if he were worthy enough, they rose up, and inclined
+their heads to welcome him. Yesterday, as I was sitting in the chapel,
+and other carved chairs stood round like that in which I was, the
+thought of this came over me with a soft, pleasant feeling. Why cannot
+you stay sitting here? I said to myself; stay here sitting meditating
+with yourself long, long, long, till at last your friends come, and you
+rise up to them, and with a gentle inclination direct them to their
+places. The colored window panes convert the day into a solemn twilight;
+and some one should set up for us an ever-burning lamp, that the night
+might not be utter darkness."
+
+"We may imagine ourselves in what situation we please, we always
+conceive ourselves as _seeing_. I believe men only dream that they may
+not cease to see. Some day, perhaps, the inner light will come out from
+within us, and we shall not any more require another.
+
+"The year dies away, the wind sweeps over the stubble, and there is
+nothing left to stir under its touch. But the red berries on yonder tall
+tree seem as if they would still remind us of brighter things; and the
+stroke of the thrasher's flail awakes the thought how much of
+nourishment and life lie buried in the sickled ear."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+How strangely, after all this, with the sense so vividly impressed on
+her of mutability and perishableness, must Ottilie have been affected by
+the news which could not any longer be kept concealed from her, that
+Edward had exposed himself to the uncertain chances of war! Unhappily,
+none of the observations which she had occasion to make upon it escaped
+her. But it is well for us that man can only endure a certain degree of
+unhappiness; what is beyond that either annihilates him, or passes by
+him, and leaves him apathetic. There are situations in which hope and
+fear run together, in which they mutually destroy one another, and lose
+themselves in a dull indifference. If it were not so, how could we bear
+to know of those who are most dear to us being in hourly peril, and yet
+go on as usual with our ordinary everyday life?
+
+It was therefore as if some good genius was caring for Ottilie, that,
+all at once, this stillness, in which she seemed to be sinking from
+loneliness and want of occupation, was suddenly invaded by a wild army,
+which, while it gave her externally abundance of employment, and so took
+her out of herself, at the same time awoke in her the consciousness of
+her own power.
+
+Charlotte's daughter, Luciana, had scarcely left the school and gone out
+into the great world; scarcely had she found herself at her aunt's house
+in the midst of a large society, than her anxiety to please produced its
+effect in really pleasing; and a young, very wealthy man, soon
+experienced a passionate desire to make her his own. His large property
+gave him a right to have the best of everything for his use, and nothing
+seemed to be wanting to him except a perfect wife, for whom, as for the
+rest of his good fortune, he should be the envy of the world.
+
+This incident in her family had been for some time occupying Charlotte.
+It had engaged all her attention, and taken up her whole correspondence,
+except so far as this was directed to the obtaining news of Edward; so
+that latterly Ottilie had been left more than was usual to herself. She
+knew, indeed, of an intended visit from Luciana. She had been making
+various changes and arrangements in the house in preparation for it; but
+she had no notion that it was so near. Letters, she supposed, would
+first have to pass, settling the time, and unsettling it; and at last a
+final fixing: when the storm broke suddenly over the castle and over
+herself.
+
+Up drove, first, lady's maids and men-servants, their carriage loaded
+with trunks and boxes. The household was already swelled to double or to
+treble its size, and then appeared the visitors themselves. There was
+the great aunt, with Luciana and some of her friends; and then the
+bridegroom with some of his friends. The entrance-hall was full of
+things--bags, portmanteaus, and leather articles of every sort. The
+boxes had to be got out of their covers, and that was infinite trouble;
+and of luggage and of rummage there was no end. At intervals, moreover,
+there were violent showers, giving rise to much inconvenience. Ottilie
+encountered all this confusion with the easiest equanimity, and her
+happy talent showed in its fairest light. In a very little time she had
+brought things to order, and disposed of them. Every one found his
+room--every one hand his things exactly as they wished, and all thought
+themselves well attended to, because they were not prevented from
+attending on themselves.
+
+The journey had been long and fatiguing, and they would all have been
+glad of a little rest after it. The bridegroom would have liked to pay
+his respects to his mother-in-law, express his pleasure, his gratitude,
+and so on. But Luciana could not rest. She had now arrived at the
+happiness of being able to mount a horse. The bridegroom had beautiful
+horses, and mount they must on the spot. Clouds and wind, rain and
+storm, they were nothing to Luciana, and now it was as if they only
+lived to get wet through, and to dry themselves again. If she took a
+fancy to go out walking, she never thought what sort of dress she had
+on, or what her shoes were like; she must go and see the grounds of
+which she had heard so much; what could not be done on horseback, she
+ran through on foot. In a little while she had seen everything, and
+given her opinion about everything; and with such rapidity of character
+it was not easy to contradict or oppose her. The whole household had
+much to suffer, but most particularly the lady's maids, who were at work
+from morning to night, washing, and ironing, and stitching.
+
+As soon as she had exhausted the house and the park, she thought it was
+her duty to pay visits all around the neighborhood. Although they rode
+and drove fast, "all around the neighborhood" was a goodly distance. The
+castle was flooded with return visits, and that they might not miss one
+another, it soon came to days being fixed for them.
+
+Charlotte, in the meantime, with her aunt, and the man of business of
+the bridegroom, were occupied in determining about the settlements, and
+it was left to Ottilie, with those under her, to take care that all this
+crowd of people were properly provided for. Gamekeepers and gardeners,
+fishermen and shopdealers, were set in motion, Luciana always showing
+herself like the blazing nucleus of a comet with its long tail trailing
+behind it. The ordinary amusements of the parties soon became too
+insipid for her taste. Hardly would she leave the old people in peace at
+the card-table. Whoever could by any means be set moving (and who could
+resist the charm of being pressed by her into service?) must up, if not
+to dance, then to play at forfeits, or some other game, where they were
+to be victimized and tormented. Notwithstanding all that, however, and
+although afterward the redemption of the forfeits had to be settled with
+herself, yet of those who played with her, never any one, especially
+never any man, let him be of what sort he would, went quite empty-handed
+away. Indeed, some old people of rank who were there she succeeded in
+completely winning over to herself, by having contrived to find out
+their birthdays or christening days, and marking them with some
+particular celebration. In all this she showed a skill not a little
+remarkable. Every one saw himself favored, and each considered himself
+to be the one most favored, a weakness of which the oldest person of the
+party was the most notably guilty.
+
+It seemed to be a sort of pride with her that men who had anything
+remarkable about them--rank, character, or fame--she must and would gain
+for herself. Gravity and seriousness she made give way to her, and,
+wild, strange creature as she was, she found favor even with discretion
+itself. Not that the young were at all cut short in consequence.
+Everybody had his share, his day, his hour, in which she contrived to
+charm and to enchain him. It was therefore natural enough that before
+long she should have had the Architect in her eye, looking out so
+unconsciously as he did from under his long black hair, and standing so
+calm and quiet in the background. To all her questions she received
+short, sensible answers; but he did not seem inclined to allow himself
+to be carried away further, and at last, half provoked, half in malice,
+she resolved that she would make him the hero of a day, and so gain him
+for her court.
+
+It was not for nothing that she had brought that quantity of luggage
+with her. Much, indeed, had followed her afterward. She had provided
+herself with an endless variety of dresses. When it took her fancy she
+would change her dress three or four times a day, usually wearing
+something of an ordinary kind, but making her appearance suddenly at
+intervals in a thorough masquerade dress, as a peasant girl or a
+fish-maiden, as a fairy or a flower-girl; and this would go on from
+morning till night. Sometimes she would even disguise herself as an old
+woman, that her young face might peep out the fresher from under the
+cap; and so utterly in this way did she confuse and mix together the
+actual and the fantastic, that people thought they were living with a
+sort of drawing-room witch.
+
+But the principal use which she had for these disguises were pantomimic
+tableaux and dances, in which she was skilful in expressing a variety of
+character. A cavalier in her suite had taught himself to accompany her
+action on the piano with the little music which was required; they
+needed only to exchange a few words and they at once understood each
+other.
+
+One day, in a pause of a brilliant ball, they were called upon suddenly
+to extemporize (it was on a private hint from themselves) one of these
+exhibitions. Luciana seemed embarrassed, taken by surprise, and contrary
+to her custom let herself be asked more than once. She could not decide
+upon her character, desired the party to choose, and asked, like an
+improvisatore, for a subject. At last her piano-playing companion, with
+whom it had been all previously arranged, sat down at the instrument,
+and began to play a mourning march, calling on her to give them the
+Artemisia which she had been studying so admirably. She consented; and
+after a short absence reappeared, to the sad tender music of the dead
+march, in the form of the royal widow, with measured step, carrying an
+urn of ashes before her. A large black tablet was borne in after her,
+and a carefully cut piece of chalk in a gold pencil case.
+
+One of her adorers and adjutants, into whose ear she whispered
+something, went directly to call the Architect, to desire him, and, if
+he would not come, to drag him up, as master-builder, to draw the grave
+for the mausoleum, and to tell him at the same time that he was not to
+play the statist, but enter earnestly into his part as one of the
+performers.
+
+Embarrassed as the Architect outwardly appeared (for in his black,
+close-fitting, modern civilian's dress, he formed a wonderful contrast
+with the gauze crape fringes, tinsel tassels, and crown), he very soon
+composed himself internally, and the scene became all the more strange.
+With the greatest gravity he placed himself in front of the tablet,
+which was supported by a couple of pages, and drew carefully an
+elaborate tomb, which indeed would have suited better a Lombard than a
+Carian prince; but it was in such beautiful proportions, so solemn in
+its parts, so full of genius in its decoration, that the spectators
+watched it growing with delight, and wondered at it when it was
+finished.
+
+All this time he had not once turned toward the queen, but had given his
+whole attention to what he was doing. At last he inclined his head
+before her, and signified that he believed he had now fulfilled her
+commands. She held the urn out to him, expressing her desire to see it
+represented on the top of the monument. He complied, although
+unwillingly, as it would not suit the character of the rest of his
+design. Luciana was now at last released from her impatience. Her
+intention had been by no means to get a scientific drawing out of him.
+If he had only made a few strokes, sketched out something which should
+have looked like a monument, and devoted the rest of his time to her, it
+would have been far more what she had wished, and would have pleased her
+a great deal better. His manner of proceeding had thrown her into the
+greatest embarrassment. For although in her sorrow, in her directions,
+in her gestures, in her approbation of the work as it slowly rose before
+her, she had tried to manage some sort of change of expression, and
+although she had hung about close to him, only to place herself into
+some sort of relation to him, yet he had kept himself throughout too
+stiff, so that too often she had been driven to take refuge with her
+urn; she had to press it to her heart and look up to heaven, and at
+last, a situation of that kind having a necessary tendency to intensify,
+she made herself more like a widow of Ephesus than a Queen of Caria. The
+representation had to lengthen itself out and became tedious. The
+pianoforte player, who had usually patience enough, did not know into
+what tune he could escape. He thanked God when he saw the urn standing
+on the pyramid, and fell involuntarily as the queen was going to express
+her gratitude, into a merry air; by which the whole thing lost its
+character, the company, however, being thoroughly cheered up by it, who
+forthwith divided, some going up to express their delight and admiration
+of the lady for her excellent performance, and some praising the
+Architect for his most artistlike and beautiful drawing.
+
+[Illustration: LUCIANA POSING AS QUEEN ARTEMISIA P. Grotjohann]
+
+The bridegroom especially paid marked attention to the Architect. "I am
+vexed," he said, "that the drawing should be so perishable; you will
+permit me, however, to have it taken to my room, where I should much
+like to talk to you about it."
+
+"If it would give you any pleasure," said the Architect, "I can lay
+before you a number of highly finished designs for buildings and
+monuments of this kind, of which this is but a mere hasty sketch."
+
+Ottilie was standing at no great distance, and went up to them. "Do not
+forget," she said to the Architect, "to take an opportunity of letting
+the Baron see your collection. He is a friend of art and of antiquity. I
+should like you to become better acquainted."
+
+Luciana was passing at the moment. "What are they speaking of?" she
+asked.
+
+"Of a collection of works of art," replied the Baron, "which this
+gentleman possesses, and which he is good enough to say that he will
+show us."
+
+"Oh, let him bring them immediately," cried Luciana. "You will bring
+them, will you not?" she added, in a soft and sweet tone, taking both
+his hands in hers.
+
+"The present is scarcely a fitting time," the Architect answered.
+
+"What!" Luciana cried, in a tone of authority; "you will not obey the
+command of your queen!" and then she begged him again with some piece of
+absurdity.
+
+"Do not be obstinate," said Ottilie, in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+The Architect left them with a bow, which said neither yes nor no.
+
+He was hardly gone, when Luciana was flying up and down the saloon with
+a greyhound. "Alas!" she exclaimed, as she ran accidentally against her
+mother, "am I not an unfortunate creature? I have not brought my monkey
+with me. They told me I had better not; but I am sure it was nothing
+but the laziness of my people, and it is such a delight to me. But I
+will have it brought after me; somebody shall go and fetch it. If I
+could only see a picture of the dear creature, it would be a comfort to
+me; I certainly will have his picture taken, and it shall never be out
+of my sight."
+
+"Perhaps I can comfort you," replied Charlotte. "There is a whole volume
+full of the most wonderful ape faces in the library, which you can have
+fetched if you like."
+
+Luciana shrieked for joy. The great folio was produced instantly. The
+sight of these hideous creatures, so like to men, and with the
+resemblance even more caricatured by the artist, gave Luciana the
+greatest delight. Her amusement with each of the animals, was to find
+some one of her acquaintance whom it resembled. "Is that not like my
+uncle?" she remorselessly exclaimed; "and here, look, here is my
+milliner M., and here is Parson S., and here the image of that
+creature--bodily! After all, these monkeys are the real _incroyables_,
+and it is inconceivable why they are not admitted into the best
+society."
+
+It was in the best society that she said this, and yet no one took it
+ill of her. People had become accustomed to allow her so many liberties
+in her prettinesses, that at last they came to allow them in what was
+unpretty.
+
+During this time, Ottilie was talking to the bridegroom; she was looking
+anxiously for the return of the Architect, whose serious and tasteful
+collection was to deliver the party from the apes; and in the
+expectation of it, she had made it the subject of her conversation with
+the Baron, and directed his attention on various things which he was to
+see. But the Architect stayed away, and when at last he made his
+appearance, he lost himself in the crowd, without having brought
+anything with him, and without seeming as if he had been asked for
+anything.
+
+For a moment Ottilie became--what shall we call it?--annoyed, put out,
+perplexed. She had been saying so much about him--she had promised the
+bridegroom an hour of enjoyment after his own heart; and with all the
+depth of his love for Luciana, he was evidently suffering from her
+present behavior.
+
+The monkeys had to give place to a collation. Round games followed, and
+then more dancing; at last, a general uneasy vacancy, with fruitless
+attempts at resuscitating exhausted amusements, which lasted this time,
+as indeed they usually did, far beyond midnight. It had already become a
+habit with Luciana to be never able to get out of bed in the morning or
+into it at night.
+
+About this time, the incidents noticed in Ottilie's diary become more
+rare, while we find a larger number of maxims and sentences drawn from
+life and relating to life. It is not conceivable that the larger
+proportion of these could have arisen from her own reflection, and most
+likely some one had shown her varieties of them, and she had written out
+what took her fancy. Many, however, with an internal bearing, can be
+easily recognized by the red thread.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We like to look into the future, because the undetermined in it, which
+may be affected this or that way, we feel as if we could guide by our
+silent wishes in our own favor."
+
+"We seldom find ourselves in a large party without thinking; the
+accident which brings so many here together, should bring our friends to
+us as well."
+
+"Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or
+creditors before we have had time to look round."
+
+"If we meet a person who is under an obligation to us, we remember it
+immediately. But how often may we meet people to whom we are, ourselves,
+under obligation, without its even occurring to us!"
+
+"It is nature to communicate one's-self; it is culture to receive what
+is communicated as it is given."
+
+"No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he
+misunderstands others."
+
+"One alters so much what one has heard from others in repeating it, only
+because one has not understood it."
+
+"Whoever indulges long in monologue in the presence of others, without
+flattering his listeners, provokes ill-will."
+
+"Every word a man utters provokes the opposite opinion."
+
+"Argument and flattery are but poor elements out of which to form a
+conversation."
+
+"The pleasantest society is when the members of it have an easy and
+natural respect for one another."
+
+"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in
+what they find to laugh at."
+
+"The ridiculous arises out of a moral contrast, in which two things are
+brought together before the mind in an innocent way."
+
+"The foolish man often laughs where there is nothing to laugh at.
+Whatever touches him, his inner nature comes to the surface."
+
+"The man of understanding finds almost everything ridiculous; the man of
+thought scarcely anything."
+
+"Some one found fault with an elderly man for continuing to pay
+attention to young ladies. 'It is the only means,' he replied, 'of
+keeping one's-self young, and everybody likes to do that.'"
+
+"People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let
+themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things
+because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them
+aside."
+
+"Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality. We
+should not be pleased, if old friends were to lay aside certain
+peculiarities."
+
+"There is a saying, 'He will die soon,' when a man acts unlike
+himself."
+
+"What kind of defects may we bear with and even cultivate in ourselves?
+Such as rather give pleasure to others than injure them."
+
+"The passions are defects or excellencies only in excess."
+
+"Our passions are true phoenixes: as the old burn out, the new straight
+rise up out of the ashes."
+
+"Violent passions are incurable diseases; the means which will cure them
+are what first make them thoroughly dangerous."
+
+"Passion is both raised and softened by confession. In nothing, perhaps,
+were the middle way more desirable than in knowing what to say and what
+not to say to those we love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+So swept on Luciana in the social whirlpool, driving the rush of life
+along before her. Her court multiplied daily, partly because her
+impetuosity roused and attracted so many, partly because she knew how to
+attach the rest to her by kindness and attention. Generous she was in
+the highest degree; her aunt's affection for her, and her bridegroom's
+love, had heaped her with beautiful and costly presents, but she seemed
+as if nothing which she had was her own, and as if she did not know the
+value of the things which had streamed in upon her. One day she saw a
+young lady looking rather poorly dressed by the side of the rest of the
+party, and she did not hesitate a moment to take off a rich shawl which
+she was wearing and hang it over her--doing it, at the same time, in
+such a humorous, graceful way that no one could refuse such a present so
+given. One of her courtiers always carried about a purse, with orders,
+whatever place they passed through, to inquire there for the most aged
+and most helpless persons, and give them relief, at least for the
+moment. In this way she gained for herself all round the country a
+reputation for charitableness which caused her not a little
+inconvenience, attracting about her far too many troublesome sufferers.
+
+Nothing, however, so much added to her popularity as her steady and
+consistent kindness toward an unhappy young man, who shrank from society
+because, while otherwise handsome and well-formed, he had lost his right
+hand, although with high honor, in action. This mutilation weighed so
+heavily upon his spirits, it was so annoying to him, that every new
+acquaintance he made had to be told the story of his misfortune, that he
+chose rather to shut himself up altogether, devoting himself to reading
+and other studious pursuits, and once for all would have nothing more to
+do with society.
+
+She heard of the state of this young man. At once she contrived to
+prevail upon him to come to her, first to small parties, then to
+greater, and then out into the world with her. She showed more attention
+to him than to any other person; particularly she endeavored, by the
+services which she pressed upon him, to make him sensible of what he had
+lost in laboring herself to supply it. At dinner, she would make him sit
+next to her; she cut up his food for him, that he might have to use only
+his fork. If people older or of higher rank prevented her from being
+close to him, she would stretch her attention across the entire table,
+and the servants were hurried off to make up to him what distance
+threatened to deprive him of. At last she encouraged him to write with
+his left hand. All his attempts he was to address to her and thus,
+whether far or near, she always kept herself in correspondence with him.
+The young man did not know what had happened to him, and from that
+moment a new life opened out before him.
+
+One may perhaps suppose that such behavior must have caused some
+uneasiness to her bridegroom. But, in fact, it was quite the reverse. He
+admired her exceedingly for her exertions, and he had the more reason
+for feeling entirely satisfied about her, as she had certain features in
+her character almost in excess, which kept anything in the slightest
+degree dangerous utterly at a distance. She would run about with
+anybody, just as she fancied; no one was free from danger of a push or a
+pull, or of being made the object of some sort of freak. But no person
+ever ventured to do the same to her; no person dared to touch her, or
+return, in the remotest degree, any liberty which she had taken herself.
+She kept every one within the strictest barriers of propriety in their
+behavior to herself, while she, in her own behavior, was every moment
+overleaping them.
+
+On the whole, one might have supposed it had been a maxim with her to
+expose herself indifferently to praise or blame, to regard or to
+dislike. If in many ways she took pains to gain people, she commonly
+herself spoiled all the good she had done, by an ill tongue, which
+spared no one. Not a visit was ever paid in the neighborhood, not a
+single piece of hospitality was ever shown to herself and her party
+among the surrounding castles or mansions, but what, on her return, her
+excessive recklessness let it appear that all men and all human things
+she was only inclined to see on the ridiculous side.
+
+There were three brothers who, purely out of compliment to one another,
+kept up a good-natured and urbane controversy as to which should marry
+first, had been overtaken by old age before they had got the question
+settled; here was a little young wife with a great old husband; there,
+on the other hand, was a dapper little man and an unwieldy giantess. In
+one house, every step one took one stumbled over a child; another,
+however many people were crammed into it, never would seem full, because
+there were no children there at all. Old husbands (supposing the estate
+was not entailed) should get themselves buried as quickly as possible,
+that such a thing as a laugh might be heard again in the house. Young
+married people should travel: housekeeping did not sit well upon them.
+And as she treated the persons, so she treated what belonged to them;
+their houses, their furniture, their dinner-services--everything. The
+ornaments of the walls of the rooms most particularly provoked her saucy
+remarks. From the oldest tapestry to the most modern printed paper; from
+the noblest family pictures to the most frivolous new copper-plate: one
+as well as the other had to suffer--one as well as the other had to be
+pulled in pieces by her satirical tongue, so that, indeed, one had to
+wonder how, for twenty miles round, anything continued to exist.
+
+It was not, perhaps, exactly malice which produced all this
+destructiveness; wilfulness and selfishness were what ordinarily set her
+off upon it: but a genuine bitterness grew up in her feelings toward
+Ottilie.
+
+She looked down with disdain on the calm, uninterrupted activity of the
+sweet girl, which every one had observed and admired; and when something
+was said of the care which Ottilie took of the garden and of the
+hot-houses, she not only spoke scornfully of it, in affecting to be
+surprised, if it were so, at there being neither flowers nor fruit to be
+seen, not caring to consider that they were living in the depth of
+winter, but every faintest scrap of green, every leaf, every bud which
+showed, she chose to have picked every day and squandered on ornamenting
+the rooms and tables, and Ottilie and the gardener were not a little
+distressed to see their hopes for the next year, and perhaps for a
+longer time, destroyed in this wanton recklessness.
+
+As little would she be content to leave Ottilie to her quiet work at
+home, in which she could live with so much comfort. Ottilie must go with
+them on their pleasure-parties and sledging-parties; she must be at the
+balls which were being got up all about the neighborhood. She was not to
+mind the snow, or the cold, or the night-air, or the storm; other people
+did not die of such things, and why should she? The delicate girl
+suffered not a little from it all, but Luciana gained nothing. For
+although Ottilie went about very simply dressed, she was always, at
+least so the men thought, the most beautiful person present. A soft
+attractiveness gathered them all about her; no matter whereabouts in
+the great rooms she was, first or last, it was always the same. Even
+Luciana's bridegroom was constantly occupied with her; the more so,
+indeed, because he desired her advice and assistance in a matter with
+which he was just then engaged.
+
+He had cultivated the acquaintance of the Architect. On seeing his
+collection of works of art, he had taken occasion to talk much with him
+on history and on other matters, and especially from seeing the chapel
+had learnt to appreciate his talent. The Baron was young and wealthy. He
+was a collector; he wished to build. His love for the arts was keen, his
+knowledge small. In the Architect he thought that he had found the man
+he wanted; that with his assistance there was more than one aim at which
+he could arrive at once. He had spoken to his bride of what he wished.
+She praised him for it, and was infinitely delighted with the proposal.
+But it was more, perhaps, that she might carry off this young man from
+Ottilie (for whom she fancied she saw in him a kind of inclination),
+than because she thought of applying his talents to any purpose. He had
+shown himself, indeed, very ready to help at any of her extemporized
+festivities, and had suggested various resources for this thing and
+that. But she always thought she understood better than he what should
+be done, and as her inventive genius was usually somewhat common, her
+designs could be as well executed with the help of a tolerably handy
+domestic as with that of the most finished artist. Further than to an
+altar on which something was to be offered, or to a crowning, whether of
+a living head or of one of plaster of paris, the force of her
+imagination could not ascend, when a birthday, or other such occasion,
+made her wish to pay some one an especial compliment.
+
+Ottilie was able to give the Baron the most satisfactory answer to his
+inquiries as to the relation of the Architect with their family.
+Charlotte had already, as she was aware, been exerting herself to find
+some situation for him; had it not been indeed for the arrival of the
+party, the young man would have left them immediately on the completion
+of the chapel, the winter having brought all building operations to a
+standstill; and it was, therefore, most fortunate if a new patron could
+be found to assist him, and to make use of his talents.
+
+Ottilie's own personal position with the Architect was as pure and
+unconscious as possible. His agreeable presence, and his industrious
+nature, had charmed and entertained her, as the presence of an elder
+brother might. Her feelings for him remained at the calm unimpassioned
+level of blood relationship. For in her heart there was no room for
+more; it was filled to overflowing with love for Edward; only God, who
+interpenetrates all things, could share with him the possession of that
+heart.
+
+Meanwhile the winter sank deeper; the weather grew wilder, the roads
+more impracticable, and therefore it seemed all the pleasanter to spend
+the waning days in agreeable society. With short intervals of ebb, the
+crowd from time to time flooded up over the house. Officers found their
+way there from distant garrison towns; the cultivated among them being a
+most welcome addition, the ruder the inconvenience of every one. Of
+civilians too there was no lack; and one day the Count and the Baroness
+quite unexpectedly came driving up together.
+
+Their presence gave the castle the air of a thorough court. The men of
+rank and character formed a circle about the Baron, and the ladies
+yielded precedence to the Baroness. The surprise at seeing both
+together, and in such high spirits, was not allowed to be of long
+continuance. It came out that the Count's wife was dead, and the new
+marriage was to take place as soon as ever decency would allow it.
+
+Well did Ottilie remember their first visit, and every word which was
+then uttered about marriage and separation, binding and dividing, hope,
+expectation, disappointment, renunciation. Here were these two persons,
+at that time without prospect for the future, now standing before her,
+so near their wished-for happiness, and an involuntary sigh escaped out
+of her heart.
+
+No sooner did Luciana hear that the Count was an amateur of music, than
+at once she must get up something of a concert. She herself would sing
+and accompany herself on the guitar. It was done. The instrument she did
+not play without skill; her voice was agreeable: as for the words one
+understood about as little of them as one commonly does when a German
+beauty sings to the guitar. However, every one assured her that she had
+sung with exquisite expression, and she found quite enough approbation
+to satisfy her. A singular misfortune befell her, however, on this
+occasion. Among the party there happened to be a poet, whom she hoped
+particularly to attach to herself, wishing to induce him to write a song
+or two, and address them to her. This evening, therefore, she produced
+scarcely anything except songs of his composing. Like the rest of the
+party he was perfectly courteous to her, but she had looked for more.
+She spoke to him several times, going as near the subject as she dared,
+but nothing further could she get. At last, unable to bear it any
+longer, she sent one of her train to him, to sound him and find out
+whether he had not been delighted to hear his beautiful poems so
+beautifully executed.
+
+"My poems?" he replied, with amazement; "pray excuse me, my dear sir,"
+he added, "I heard nothing but the vowels, and not all of those;
+however, I am in duty bound to express all gratitude for so amiable an
+intention." The dandy said nothing and kept his secret; the other
+endeavored to get himself out of the scrape by a few well-timed
+compliments. She did not conceal her desire to have something of his
+which should be written for herself.
+
+If it would not have been too ill-natured, he might have handed her the
+alphabet, to imagine for herself, out of that, such laudatory poem as
+would please her, and set it to the first melody that came to hand; but
+she was not to escape out of this business without mortification. A
+short time after, she had to learn that the very same evening he had
+written, at the foot of one of Ottilie's favorite melodies, a most
+lovely poem, which was something more than complimentary.
+
+Luciana, like all persons of her sort, who never can distinguish between
+where they show to advantage and where to disadvantage, now determined
+to try her fortune in reciting. Her memory was good, but, if the truth
+must be told, her execution was spiritless, and she was vehement without
+being passionate. She recited ballad stories, and whatever else is
+usually delivered in declamation. At the same time she had contracted an
+unhappy habit of accompanying what she delivered with gestures, by
+which, in a disagreeable way, what is purely epic and lyric is more
+confused than connected with the dramatic.
+
+The Count, a keen-sighted man, soon saw through the party, their
+inclinations, dispositions, wishes, and capabilities, and by some means
+or other contrived to bring Luciana to a new kind of exhibition, which
+was perfectly suited to her.
+
+"I see here," he said, "a number of persons with fine figures, who would
+surely be able to imitate pictorial emotions and postures. Suppose they
+were to try, if the thing is new to them, to represent some real and
+well-known picture. An imitation of this kind, if it requires some labor
+in arrangement, has an inconceivably charming effect."
+
+Luciana was quick enough in perceiving that here she was on her own
+ground entirely. Her fine shape, her well-rounded form, the regularity
+and yet expressiveness of her features, her light-brown braided hair,
+her long neck--she ran them all over in her mind, and calculated on
+their pictorial effects, and if she had only known that her beauty
+showed to more advantage when she was still than when she was in motion,
+because in the last case certain ungracefulness continually escaped her,
+she would have entered even more eagerly than she did into this natural
+picture-making.
+
+They looked out the engravings of celebrated pictures, and the first
+which they chose was Van Dyk's Belisarius. A large well-proportioned
+man, somewhat advanced in years, was to represent the seated, blind
+general. The Architect was to be the affectionate soldier standing
+sorrowing before him, there really being some resemblance between them.
+Luciana, half from modesty, had chosen the part of the young woman in
+the background, counting out some large alms into the palm of his hand,
+while an old woman beside her is trying to prevent her, and representing
+that she is giving too much. Another woman who is in the act of giving
+him something, was not forgotten. Into this and other pictures they
+threw themselves with all earnestness. The Count gave the Architect a
+few hints as to the best style of arrangement, and he at once set up a
+kind of theatre, all necessary pains being taken for the proper lighting
+of it. They were already deep in the midst of their preparations, before
+they observed how large an outlay what they were undertaking would
+require, and that in the country, in the middle of winter, many things
+which they required it would be difficult to procure; consequently, to
+prevent a stoppage, Luciana had nearly her whole wardrobe cut in pieces,
+to supply the various costumes which the original artist had arbitrarily
+selected.
+
+The appointed evening came, and the exhibition was carried out in the
+presence of a large assemblage, and to the universal satisfaction. They
+had some good music to excite expectation, and the performance opened
+with the Belisarius. The figures were so successful, the colors were so
+happily distributed, and the lighting managed so skilfully, that they
+might really have fancied themselves in another world, only that the
+presence of the real instead of the apparent produced a kind of
+uncomfortable sensation.
+
+The curtain fell, and was more than once raised again by general desire.
+A musical interlude kept the assembly amused while preparation was
+going forward, to surprise them with a picture of a higher stamp; it was
+the well-known design of Poussin, Ahasuerus and Esther. This time
+Luciana had done better for herself. As the fainting, sinking queen she
+had put out all her charms, and for the attendant maidens who were
+supporting her, she had cunningly selected pretty, well-shaped figures,
+not one among whom, however, had the slightest pretension to be compared
+with herself. From this picture, as from all the rest, Ottilie remained
+excluded. To sit on the golden throne and represent the Zeus-like
+monarch, Luciana had picked out the finest and handsomest man of the
+party, so that this picture was really of inimitable perfection.
+
+For a third they had taken the so-called "Father's Admonition" of
+Terburg, and who does not know Wille's admirable engraving of this
+picture? One foot thrown over the other, sits a noble knightly-looking
+father; his daughter stands before him, to whose conscience he seems to
+be addressing himself. She, a fine striking figure, in a folding drapery
+of white satin, is only to be seen from behind, but her whole bearing
+appears to signify that she is collecting herself. That the admonition
+is not too severe, that she is not being utterly put to shame, is to be
+gathered from the air and attitude of the father, while the mother seems
+as if she were trying to conceal some slight embarrassment--she is
+looking into a glass of wine, which she is on the point of drinking.
+
+Here was an opportunity for Luciana to appear in her highest splendor.
+Her back hair, the form of her head, neck, and shoulders, were beyond
+all conception beautiful; and the waist, which in the modern antique of
+the ordinary dresses of young ladies is hardly visible, showed to the
+greatest advantage in all its graceful, slender elegance in the really
+old costume. The Architect had contrived to dispose the rich folds of
+the white satin with the most exquisite nature, and, without any
+question whatever, this living imitation far exceeded the original
+picture, and produced universal delight.
+
+The spectators could never be satisfied with demanding a repetition of
+the performance, and the very natural wish to see the face and front of
+so lovely a creature, when they had done looking at her from behind, at
+last became so decided that a merry impatient young wit cried out aloud
+the words one is accustomed to write at the bottom of a page, "Tournez,
+s'il vous plait," which was echoed all round the room.
+
+The performers, however, understood their advantage too well, and had
+mastered too completely the idea of these works of art to yield to the
+most general clamor. The daughter remained standing in her shame,
+without favoring the spectators with the expression of her face. The
+father continued to sit in his attitude of admonition, and the mother
+did not lift nose or eyes out of the transparent glass, in which,
+although she seemed to be drinking, the wine did not diminish.
+
+We need not describe the number of smaller after-pieces for which had
+been chosen Flemish public-house scenes and fair and market days.
+
+The Count and the Baroness departed, promising to return in the first
+happy weeks of their approaching union. And Charlotte now had hopes,
+after having endured two weary months of it, of ridding herself of the
+rest of the party at the same time. She was assured of her daughter's
+happiness, as soon as the first tumult of youth and betrothal should
+have subsided in her; for the bridegroom considered himself the most
+fortunate person in the world. His income was large, his disposition
+moderate and rational, and now he found himself further wonderfully
+favored in the happiness of becoming the possessor of a young lady with
+whom all the world must be charmed. He had so peculiar a way of
+referring everything to her, and only to himself through her, that it
+gave him an unpleasant feeling when any newly-arrived person did not
+devote himself heart and soul to her, and was far from flattered if, as
+occasionally happened, particularly with elderly men, he neglected her
+for a close intimacy with himself. Every thing was settled about the
+Architect. On New Year's day he was to follow him and spend the Carnival
+at his house in the city, where Luciana was promising herself infinite
+happiness from a repetition of her charmingly successful pictures, as
+well as from a hundred other things; all the more as her aunt and her
+bridegroom seemed to make so light of the expense which was required for
+her amusements.
+
+And now they were to break up. But this could not be managed in an
+ordinary way. They were one day making fun of Charlotte aloud, declaring
+that they would soon have eaten out her winter stores, when the nobleman
+who had represented Belisarius, being fortunately a man of some wealth,
+carried away by Luciana's charms to which he had been so long devoting
+himself, cried out unthinkingly, "Why not manage then in the Polish
+fashion? You come now and eat up me, and then we will go on round the
+circle." No sooner said than done. Luciana willed that it should be so.
+The next day they all packed up and the swarm alighted on a new
+property. There indeed they found room enough, but few conveniences and
+no preparations to receive them. Out of this arose many _contretemps_,
+which entirely enchanted Luciana; their life became ever wilder and
+wilder. Huge hunting-parties were set on foot in the deep snow, attended
+with every sort of disagreeableness; women were not allowed to excuse
+themselves any more than men, and so they trooped on, hunting and
+riding, sledging and shouting, from one place to another, till at last
+they approached the residence, and there the news of the day and the
+scandals and what else forms the amusement of people at courts and
+cities gave the imagination another direction, and Luciana with her
+train of attendants (her aunt had gone on some time before) swept at
+once into a new sphere of life.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"We accept every person in the world as that for which he gives himself
+out, only he must give himself out for something. We can put up with the
+unpleasant more easily than we can endure the insignificant.
+
+"We venture upon anything in society except only what involves a
+consequence.
+
+"We never learn to know people when they come to us: we must go to them
+to find out how things stand with them.
+
+"I find it almost natural that we should see many faults in visitors,
+and that directly they are gone we should judge them not in the most
+amiable manner. For we have, so to say, a right to measure them by our
+own standard. Even cautious, sensible men can scarcely keep themselves
+in such cases from being sharp censors.
+
+"When, on the contrary, we are staying at the houses of others, when we
+have seen them in the midst of all their habits and environments among
+those necessary conditions from which they cannot escape, when we have
+seen how they affect those about them, and how they adapt themselves to
+their circumstances, it is ignorance nay, worse, it is ill-will, to find
+ridiculous what in more than one sense has a claim on our respect.
+
+"That which we call politeness and good breeding effects what otherwise
+can only be obtained by violence, or not even by that.
+
+"Intercourse with women is the element of good manners.
+
+"How can the character, the individuality, of a man co-exist with polish
+of manner?
+
+"The individuality can only be properly made prominent through good
+manners. Every one likes what has something in it, only it not be a
+disagreeable something.
+
+"In life generally, and in society, no one has such high advantages as
+a well-cultivated soldier.
+
+"The rudest fighting people at least do not go out of their character,
+and generally behind the roughness there is a certain latent good humor,
+so that in difficulties it is possible to get on, even with them.
+
+"No one is more intolerable than an underbred civilian. From him one has
+a right to look for a delicacy, as he has no rough work to do.
+
+"When we are living with people who have a delicate sense of propriety,
+we are in misery on their account when anything unbecoming is committed.
+So I always feel for and with Charlotte, when a person is tipping his
+chair. She cannot endure it.
+
+"No one would ever come into a mixed party with spectacles on his nose,
+if he did but know that at once we women lose all pleasure in looking at
+him or listening to what he has to say.
+
+"Free-and-easiness, where there ought to be respect, is always
+ridiculous. No one would put his hat down when he had scarcely paid the
+ordinary compliments if he knew how comical it looks.
+
+"There is no outward sign of courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral
+foundation. The proper education would be that which communicated the
+sign and the foundation of it at the same time.
+
+"Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.
+
+"There is a courtesy of the heart. It is akin to love. Out of it arises
+the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
+
+"A freely offered homage is the most beautiful of all relations. And how
+were that possible without love?
+
+"We are never further from our wishes than when we imagine that we
+possess what we have desired.
+
+"No one is more a slave than the man who thinks himself free while he
+is not.
+
+"A man has only to declare that he is free, and the next moment he feels
+the conditions to which he is subject. Let him venture to declare that
+he is under conditions, and then he will feel that he is free.
+
+"Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending
+ourselves except love.
+
+"There is something terrible in the sight of a highly-gifted man lying
+under obligations to a fool.
+
+"'No man is a hero to his valet,' the proverb says. But that is only
+because it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The valet will probably
+know how to value the valet-hero.
+
+"Mediocrity has no greater consolation than in the thought that genius
+is not immortal.
+
+"The greatest men are connected with their own century always through
+some weakness.
+
+"One is apt to regard people as more dangerous than they are.
+
+"Fools and modest people are alike innocuous. It is only your half-fools
+and your half-wise who are really and truly dangerous.
+
+"There is no better deliverance from the world than through art; and a
+man can form no surer bond with it than through art.
+
+"Alike in the moment of our highest fortune and our deepest necessity,
+we require the artist.
+
+"The business of art is with the difficult and the good.
+
+"To see the difficult easily handled, gives us the feeling of the
+impossible.
+
+"Difficulties increase the nearer we are to our end.
+
+"Sowing is not so difficult as reaping."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The very serious discomfort which this visit had caused to Charlotte was
+in some way compensated to her through the fuller insight which it had
+enabled her to gain into her daughter's character. In this, her
+knowledge of the world was of no slight service to her. It was not the
+first time that so singular a character had come across her, although
+she had never seen any in which the unusual features were so largely
+developed; and she had had experience enough to show her that such
+persons, after having felt the discipline of life, after having gone
+through something of it, and been in intercourse with older people, may
+come out at last really charming and amiable; the selfishness may soften
+and eager restless activity find a definite direction for itself. And
+therefore, as a mother, Charlotte was able to endure the appearance of
+symptoms which for others might perhaps have been unpleasing, from a
+sense that where strangers only desire to enjoy, or at least not to have
+their taste offended, the business of parents is rather to hope.
+
+After her daughter's departure, however, she had to be pained in a
+singular and unlooked-for manner, in finding that, not so much through
+what there really was objectionable in her behavior, as through what was
+good and praiseworthy in it, she had left an ill report of herself
+behind her. Luciana seemed to have prescribed it as a rule to herself
+not only to be merry with the merry, but miserable with the miserable;
+and in order to give full swing to the spirit of contradiction in her,
+often to make the happy, uncomfortable, and the sad, cheerful. In every
+family among whom she came, she inquired after such members of it as
+were ill or infirm, and unable to appear in society. She would go to see
+them in their rooms, enact the physician, and insist on prescribing
+powerful doses for them out of her own traveling medicine-chest, which
+she constantly took with her in her carriage; her attempted cures, as
+may be supposed, either succeeding or failing as chance happened to
+direct.
+
+In this sort of benevolence she was thoroughly cruel, and would listen
+to nothing that was said to her, because she was convinced that she was
+managing admirably. One of these attempts of hers on the moral side
+failed very disastrously, and this it was which gave Charlotte so much
+trouble, inasmuch as it involved consequences and every one was talking
+about it. She never had heard of the story till Luciana was gone;
+Ottilie, who had made one of the party present at the time, had to give
+her a circumstantial account of it.
+
+One of several daughters of a family of rank had the misfortune to have
+caused the death of one of her younger sisters; it had destroyed her
+peace of mind, and she had never been properly herself since. She lived
+in her own room, occupying herself and keeping quiet; and she could only
+bear to see the members of her own family when they came one by one. If
+there were several together, she suspected at once that they were making
+reflections upon her, and upon her condition. To each of them singly she
+would speak rationally enough, and talk freely for an hour at a time.
+
+Luciana had heard of this, and had secretly determined with herself, as
+soon as she got into the house, that she would forthwith work a miracle,
+and restore the young lady to society. She conducted herself in the
+matter more prudently than usual, managed to introduce herself alone to
+the poor sick-souled girl, and, as far as people could understand, had
+wound her way into her confidence through music. At last came her fatal
+mistake; wishing to make a scene, and fancying that she had sufficiently
+prepared her for it, one evening she suddenly introduced the beautiful
+pale creature into the midst of the brilliant, glittering assembly; and
+perhaps, even then, the attempt might not have so utterly failed, had
+not the crowd themselves, between curiosity and apprehension, conducted
+themselves so unwisely, first gathering about the invalid, and then
+shrinking from her again; and with their whispers, and shaking their
+heads together, confusing and agitating her. Her delicate sensibility
+could not endure it. With a dreadful shriek, which expressed, as it
+seemed, a horror at some monster that was rushing upon her, she fainted.
+The crowd fell back in terror on every side, and Ottilie had been one of
+those who had carried back the sufferer utterly insensible to her room.
+
+Luciana meanwhile, just like herself, had been reading an angry lecture
+to the rest of the party, without reflecting for a moment that she
+herself was entirely to blame, and without letting herself be deterred
+by this and other failures, from going on with her experimentalizing.
+
+The state of the invalid herself had since that time become more and
+more serious; indeed, the disorder had increased to such a degree that
+the poor thing's parents were unable to keep her any longer at home, and
+had been forced to confide her to the care of a public institution.
+Nothing remained for Charlotte, except, by the delicacy of her own
+attention to the family, in some degree to alleviate the pain which had
+been occasioned by her daughter. On Ottilie, the thing made a deep
+impression. She felt the more for the unhappy girl, as she was
+convinced, she did not attempt to deny it to Charlotte, that by a
+careful treatment the disorder might have been unquestionably removed.
+
+So there came, too, as it often happens, that we dwell more on past
+disagreeables than on past agreeables, a slight misunderstanding to be
+spoken of, which had led Ottilie to a wrong judgment of the Architect,
+when he did not choose to produce his collection that evening, although
+she had so eagerly begged him to produce it. His practical refusal had
+remained, ever since, hanging about her heart, she herself could not
+tell why. Her feelings about the matter were undoubtedly just; what a
+young lady like Ottilie could desire, a young man like the Architect
+ought not to have refused. The latter, however, when she took occasion
+to give him a gentle reproof for it, had a very valid excuse to offer
+for himself.
+
+"If you knew," he said, "how roughly even cultivated people allow
+themselves to handle the most valuable works of art, you would forgive
+me for not producing mine among the crowd. No one will take the trouble
+to hold a medal by the rim. They will finger the most beautiful
+impressions, and the smoothest surfaces; they will take the rarest coins
+between the thumb and forefinger, and rub them up and down, as if they
+were testing the execution with the touch. Without remembering that a
+large sheet of paper ought to be held in two hands, they will lay hold,
+with one, of an invaluable proof-engraving of some drawing which cannot
+be replaced, like a conceited politician laying hold of a newspaper, and
+passing judgment by anticipation, as he is cutting the pages, on the
+occurrences of the world. Nobody cares to recollect that if twenty
+people, one after the other, treat a work of art in this way, the
+one-and-twentieth will not find much to see there."
+
+"Have not I often vexed you in this way?" asked Ottilie. "Have not I,
+through my carelessness, many times injured your treasures?"
+
+"Never once," answered the Architect, "never. For you it would be
+impossible. In you the right thing is innate."
+
+"In any case," replied Ottilie, "it would not be a bad plan, if in the
+next edition of the book of good manners, after the chapters which tell
+us how we ought to eat and drink in company, a good circumstantial
+chapter were inserted, telling how to behave among works of art and in
+museums."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said the Architect; "and then curiosity-collectors and
+amateurs would be better contented to show their valuable treasures to
+the world."
+
+Ottilie had long, long forgiven him; but as he seemed to have taken her
+reproof sorely to heart, and assured her again and again that he would
+gladly produce everything--that he was delighted to do anything for
+his friends--she felt that she had wounded his feelings, and that she
+owed him some compensation. It was not easy for her, therefore, to give
+an absolute refusal to a request which he made her in the conclusion of
+this conversation, although when she called her heart into counsel about
+it, she did not see how she could allow herself to do what he wished.
+
+The circumstances of the matter were these: Ottilie's exclusion from the
+picture-exhibition by Luciana's jealousy had irritated him in the
+highest degree; and at the same time he had observed with regret, that
+at this, the most brilliant part of all the amusements at the castle,
+ill health had prevented Charlotte from being more than rarely present;
+and now he did not wish to go away without some additional proof of his
+gratitude, which, for the honor of one and the entertainment of the
+other, should take the thoughtful and attractive form of preparing a far
+more beautiful exhibition than any of those which had preceded it.
+Perhaps, too, unknown to himself, another secret motive was working on
+him. It was so hard for him to leave the house, and to leave the family.
+It seemed impossible to him to go away from Ottilie's eyes, under the
+calm, sweet, gentle glance of which the latter part of the time he had
+been living almost entirely alone.
+
+The Christmas holidays were approaching; and it became at once clear to
+him that the very thing which he wanted was a representation with real
+figures of one of those pictures of the scene in the stable--a sacred
+exhibition such as at this holy season good Christians delight to offer
+to the divine Mother and her Child, of the manner in which she, in her
+seeming lowliness, was honored first by the shepherds and afterward by
+kings.
+
+He had thoroughly brought before himself how such a picture should be
+contrived. A fair, lovely child was found, and there would be no lack of
+shepherds and shepherdesses. But without Ottilie the thing could not be
+done. The young man had exalted her in his design to be the mother of
+God, and if she refused, there was no question but the undertaking must
+fall to the ground. Ottilie, half embarrassed at the proposal, referred
+him and his request to Charlotte. The latter gladly gave her permission,
+and lent her assistance in overcoming and overpersuading Ottilie's
+hesitation in assuming so sacred a personality. The Architect worked day
+and night, that by Christmas-eve everything might be ready.
+
+Day and night, indeed, in the literal sense. At all times he was a man
+who had but few necessities; and Ottilie's presence seemed to be to him
+in the place of all delicacies. When he was working for her, it was as
+if he required no sleep; when he was busy about her, as if he could do
+without food. Accordingly, by the hour of the evening solemnity, all was
+completed. He had found the means of collecting some well-toned wind
+instruments to form an introduction, and produce the desired temper of
+thought and feeling. But when the curtain rose, Charlotte was taken
+completely by surprise. The picture which presented itself to her had
+been repeated so often in the world, that one could scarcely have
+expected any new impression to be produced. But here, the reality as
+representing the picture had its especial advantages. The whole space
+was the color rather of night than of twilight, and there was nothing
+even of the details of the scene which was obscure. The inimitable idea
+that all the light should proceed from the child, the artist had
+contrived to carry out by an ingenious method of illumination which was
+concealed by the figures in the foreground, who were all in shadow.
+Bright looking boys and girls were standing around, their fresh faces
+sharply lighted from below; and there were angels too, whose own
+brilliancy grew pale before the divine, whose ethereal bodies showed dim
+and dense, and needing other light in the presence of the body of the
+divine humanity. By good fortune the infant had fallen asleep in the
+loveliest attitude, so that nothing disturbed the contemplation when
+the eye rested on the seeming mother, who with infinite grace had
+lifted off a veil to reveal her hidden treasure. At this moment the
+picture seemed to have been caught, and there to have remained fixed.
+Physically dazzled, mentally surprised, the people round appeared to
+have just moved to turn away their half-blinded eyes, to be glancing
+again toward the child with curious delight, and to be showing more
+wonder and pleasure than awe and reverence--although these emotions were
+not forgotten, and were to be traced upon the features of some of the
+older spectators.
+
+But Ottilie's figure, expression, attitude, glance, excelled all which
+any painter has ever represented. A man who had true knowledge of art,
+and had seen this spectacle, would have been in fear lest any portion of
+it should move; he would have doubted whether anything could ever so
+much please him again. Unluckily, there was no one present who could
+comprehend the whole of this effect. The Architect alone, who, as a
+tall, slender shepherd, was looking in from the side over those who were
+kneeling, enjoyed, although he was not in the best position for seeing,
+the fullest pleasure. And who can describe the mien of the new-made
+queen of heaven? The purest humility, the most exquisite feeling of
+modesty, at the great honor which had undeservedly been bestowed upon
+her, with indescribable and immeasurable happiness, was displayed upon
+her features, expressing as much her own personal emotion as that of the
+character which she was endeavoring to represent.
+
+Charlotte was delighted with the beautiful figures; but what had most
+effect on her was the child. Her eyes filled with tears, and her
+imagination presented to her in the liveliest colors the hope that she
+might soon have such another darling creature on her own lap.
+
+They had let down the curtain, partly to give the exhibitors some little
+rest, partly to make an alteration in the exhibition. The artist had
+proposed to himself to transmute the first scene of night and lowliness
+into a picture of splendor and glory; and for this purpose had prepared
+a blaze of light to fall in from every side, which this interval was
+required to kindle.
+
+Ottilie, in the semi-theatrical position in which she found herself, had
+hitherto felt perfectly at her ease, because, with the exception of
+Charlotte and a few members of the household, no one had witnessed this
+devout piece of artistic display. She was, therefore, in some degree
+annoyed when in the interval she learnt that a stranger had come into
+the saloon, and had been warmly received by Charlotte. Who it was no one
+was able to tell her. She therefore made up her mind not to produce a
+disturbance, and to go on with her character. Candles and lamps blazed
+out, and she was surrounded by splendor perfectly infinite. The curtain
+rose. It was a sight to startle the spectators. The whole picture was
+one blaze of light; and instead of the full depth of shadow, there now
+were only the colors left remaining, which, from the skill with which
+they had been selected, produced a gentle softening of tone. Looking out
+under her long eyelashes, Ottilie perceived the figure of a man sitting
+by Charlotte. She did not recognize him; but the voice she fancied was
+that of the Assistant at the school. A singular emotion came over her.
+How many things had happened since she last heard the voice of him, her
+kind instructor. Like a flash of forked lightning the stream of her joys
+and her sorrow rushed swiftly before her soul, and the question rose in
+her heart: Dare you confess, dare you acknowledge it all to him? If not,
+how little can you deserve to appear before him under this sainted form;
+and how strange must it not seem to him who has only known you as your
+natural self to see you now under this disguise? In an instant, swift as
+thought, feeling and reflection began to clash and gain within her. Her
+eyes filled with tears, while she forced herself to continue to appear
+as a motionless figure, and it was a relief, indeed, to her when the
+child began to stir--and the artist saw himself compelled to give the
+sign that the curtain should fall again.
+
+If the painful feeling of being unable to meet a valued friend had,
+during the last few moments, been distressing Ottilie in addition to her
+other emotions, she was now in still greater embarrassment. Was she to
+present herself to him in this strange disguise? or had she better
+change her dress? She did not hesitate--she did the last; and in the
+interval she endeavored to collect and to compose herself; nor did she
+properly recover her self-possession until at last, in her ordinary
+costume, she had welcomed the new visitor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+In so far as the Architect desired the happiness of his kind
+patronesses, it was a pleasure to him, now that at last he was obliged
+to go, to know that he was leaving them in good society with the
+estimable Assistant. At the same time, however, when he thought of their
+goodness in its relation to himself, he could not help feeling it a
+little painful to see his place so soon, and as it seemed to his
+modesty, so well, so completely supplied. He had lingered and lingered,
+but now he forced himself away; what, after he was gone, he must endure
+as he could, at least he could not stay to witness with his own eyes.
+
+To the great relief of this half-melancholy feeling, the ladies at his
+departure made him a present of a waistcoat, upon which he had watched
+them both for some time past at work, with a silent envy of the
+fortunate unknown, to whom it was by-and-by to belong. Such a present is
+the most agreeable which a true-hearted man can receive; for while he
+thinks of the unwearied play of the beautiful fingers at the making of
+it, he cannot help flattering himself that in so long-sustained a labor
+the feeling could not have remained utterly without an interest in its
+accomplishment.
+
+The ladies had now a new visitor to entertain, for whom they felt a real
+regard, and whose stay with them it would be their endeavor to make as
+agreeable as they could. There is in all women a peculiar circle of
+inward interests, which remain always the same, and from which nothing
+in the world can divorce them. In outward social intercourse, on the
+other hand, they will gladly and easily allow themselves to take their
+tone from the person with whom at the moment they are occupied; and thus
+by a mixture of impassiveness and susceptibility, by persisting and by
+yielding, they continue to keep the government to themselves, and no man
+in the cultivated world can ever take it from them.
+
+The Architect, following at the same time his own fancy and his own
+inclination, had been exerting himself and putting out his talents for
+their gratification and for the purposes of his friends; and business
+and amusement, while he was with them, had been conducted in this
+spirit, and directed to the ends which most suited his taste. But now in
+a short time, through the presence of the Assistant, quite another sort
+of life was commenced. His great gift was to talk well, and to treat in
+his conversation of men and human relations, particularly in reference
+to the cultivation of young people. Thus arose a very perceptible
+contrast to the life which had been going on hitherto, all the more as
+the Assistant could not entirely approve of their having interested
+themselves in such subjects so exclusively.
+
+Of the impersonated picture which received him on his arrival, he never
+said a single word. On the other hand, when they took him to see the
+church and the chapel with their new decorations, expecting to please
+him as much as they were pleased themselves, he did not hesitate to
+express a very contrary opinion about it.
+
+"This mixing up of the holy with the sensuous," he said, "is anything
+but pleasing to my taste; I cannot like men to set apart certain special
+places, consecrate them, and deck them out, that by so doing they may
+nourish in themselves a temper of piety. No ornaments, not even the very
+simplest, should disturb in us that sense of the Divine Being which
+accompanies us wherever we are, and can consecrate every spot into a
+temple. What pleases me is to see a home-service of God held in the
+saloon where people come together to eat, where they have their
+parties, and amuse themselves with games and dances. The highest, the
+most excellent in men, has no form; and one should be cautious how one
+gives it any form except noble action."
+
+Charlotte, who was already generally acquainted with his mode of
+thinking, and, in the short time he had been at the castle, had already
+probed it more deeply, found something also which he might do for her in
+his own department; and she had her garden-children, whom the Architect
+had reviewed shortly before his departure, marshalled up into the great
+saloon. In their bright, clean uniforms, with their regular orderly
+movement, and their own natural vivacity, they looked exceedingly well.
+The Assistant examined them in his own way, and by a variety of
+questions, and by the turns which he gave them, soon brought to light
+the capacities and dispositions of the children; and without its seeming
+so, in the space of less than one hour he had really given them
+important instruction and assistance.
+
+"How did you manage that?" asked Charlotte, as the children marched
+away. "I listened with all my attention. Nothing was brought forward
+except things which were quite familiar, and yet I cannot tell the least
+how I should begin to bring them to be discussed in so short a time so
+methodically, with all this questioning and answering."
+
+"Perhaps," replied the Assistant, "we ought to make a secret of the
+tricks of our own handicraft. However, I will not hide from you one very
+simple maxim, with the help of which you may do this, and a great deal
+more than this. Take any subject, a substance, an idea, whatever you
+like; keep fast hold of it; make yourself thoroughly acquainted with it
+in all its parts, and then it will be easy for you, in conversation, to
+find out, with a mass of children, how much about it has already
+developed itself in them; what requires to be stimulated, what to be
+directly communicated. The answers to your questions may be as
+unsatisfactory as they will, they may wander wide of the mark; if you
+only take care that your counter-question shall draw their thoughts and
+senses inwards again; if you do not allow yourself to be driven from
+your own position--the children will at last reflect, comprehend, learn
+only what the teacher desires them to learn, and the subject will be
+presented to them in the light in which he wishes them to see it. The
+greatest mistake which he can make is to allow himself to be run away
+with from the subject; not to know how to keep fast to the point with
+which he is engaged. Do you try this on your own account the next time
+the children come; you will find you will be greatly entertained by it
+yourself."
+
+"That is very good," said Charlotte. "The right method of teaching is
+the reverse, I see, of what we must do in life. In society we must keep
+the attention long upon nothing, and in instruction the first
+commandment is to permit no dissipation of it."
+
+"Variety, without dissipation, were the best motto for both teaching and
+life, if this desirable equipoise were easy to be preserved," said the
+Assistant; and he was going on further with the subject, when Charlotte
+called out to him to look again at the children, whose merry troop were
+at the moment moving across the court. He expressed his satisfaction at
+seeing them wearing a uniform. "Men," he said, "should wear a uniform
+from their childhood upwards. They have to accustom themselves to work
+together; to lose themselves among their equals; to obey in masses, and
+to work on a large scale. Every kind of uniform, moreover, generates a
+military habit of thought, and a smart, straight-forward carriage. All
+boys are born soldiers, whatever you do with them. You have only to
+watch them at their mock fights and games, their storming parties and
+scaling parties."
+
+"On the other hand, you will not blame me," replied Ottilie, "if I do
+not insist with my girls on such unity of costume. When I introduce them
+to you, I hope to gratify you by a parti-colored mixture."
+
+"I approve of that, entirely," replied the other. "Women should go about
+in every sort of variety of dress; each following her own style and her
+own likings, that each may learn to feel what sits well upon her and
+becomes her. And for a more weighty reason as well--because it is
+appointed for them to stand alone all their lives, and work alone."
+
+"That seems to me to be a paradox," answered Charlotte. "Are we then to
+be never anything for ourselves?"
+
+"O, yes!" replied the Assistant. "In respect of other women assuredly.
+But observe a young lady as a lover, as a bride, as a housewife, as a
+mother. She always stands isolated. She is always alone, and will be
+alone. Even the most empty-headed woman is in the same case. Each one of
+them excludes all others. It is her nature to do so; because of each one
+of them is required everything which the entire sex have to do. With a
+man it is altogether different. He would make a second man if there were
+none. But a woman might live to an eternity, without even so much as
+thinking of producing a duplicate of herself."
+
+"One has only to say the truth in a strange way," said Charlotte, "and
+at last the strangest thing will seem to be true. We will accept what is
+good for us out of your observations, and yet as women we will hold
+together with women, and do common work with them too; not to give the
+other sex too great an advantage over us. Indeed, you must not take it
+ill of us, if in future we come to feel a little malicious satisfaction
+when our lords and masters do not get on in the very best way together."
+
+With much care, this wise, sensible person went on to examine more
+closely how Ottilie proceeded with her little pupils, and expressed his
+marked approbation of it. "You are entirely right," he said, "in
+directing these children only to what they can immediately and usefully
+put in practice. Cleanliness, for instance, will accustom them to wear
+their clothes with pleasure to themselves; and everything is gained if
+they can be induced to enter into what they do with cheerfulness and
+self-reflection."
+
+In other ways he found, to his great satisfaction, that nothing had been
+done for outward display; but all was inward, and designed to supply
+what was indispensably necessary. "In how few words," he cried, "might
+the whole business of education be summed up, if people had but ears to
+hear!"
+
+"Will you try whether I have any ears?" said Ottilie, smiling.
+
+"Indeed I will," answered he, "only you must not betray me. Educate the
+boys to be servants, and the girls to be mothers, and everything is as
+it should be."
+
+"To be mothers?" replied Ottilie. "Women would scarcely think that
+sufficient. They have to look forward, without being mothers, to going
+out into service. And, indeed, our young men think themselves a great
+deal too good for servants. One can see easily, in every one of them,
+that he holds himself far fitter to be a master."
+
+"And for that reason we should say nothing about it to them," said the
+Assistant. "We flatter ourselves on into life; but life flatters not us.
+How many men would like to acknowledge at the outset, what at the end
+they must acknowledge whether they like it or not? But let us leave
+these considerations, which do not concern us here.
+
+"I consider you very fortunate in having been able to go so methodically
+to work with your pupils. If your very little ones run about with their
+dolls, and stitch together a few petticoats for them; if the elder
+sisters will then take care of the younger, and the whole household know
+how to supply its own wants, and one member of it help the others, the
+further step into life will not then be great, and such a girl will find
+in her husband what she has lost in her parents.
+
+"But among the higher ranks the problem is a sorely intricate one. We
+have to provide for higher, finer, more delicate relations; especially
+for such as arise out of society. We are, therefore, obliged to give our
+pupils an outward cultivation. It is indispensable, it is necessary, and
+it may be really valuable, if we do not overstep the proper measure in
+it. Only it is so easy, while one is proposing to cultivate the
+children for a wider circle, to drive them out into the indefinite,
+without keeping before our eyes the real requisites of the inner nature.
+Here lies the problem which more or less must be either solved or
+blundered over by all educators.
+
+"Many things, with which we furnish our scholars at the school, do not
+please me; because experience tells me of how little service they are
+likely to be in after-life. How much is in a little while stripped off;
+how much at once committed to oblivion, as soon as the young lady finds
+herself in the position of a housewife or a mother!
+
+"In the meantime, since I have devoted myself to this occupation, I
+cannot but entertain a devout hope that one day, with the companionship
+of some faithful helpmate, I may succeed in cultivating purely in my
+pupils that, and that only, which they will require when they pass out
+into the field of independent activity and self-reliance; that I may be
+able to say to myself, in this sense is their education completed.
+Another education there is indeed which will again speedily recommence,
+and work on well nigh through all the years of our life--the education
+which circumstances will give us, if we do not give it to ourselves."
+
+How true Ottilie felt were these words! What had not a passion, little
+dreamed of before, done to educate her in the past year! What trials did
+she not see hovering before her if she looked forward only to the
+next--to the very next, which was now so near!
+
+It was not without a purpose that the young man had spoken of a
+helpmate--of a wife; for with all his diffidence, he could not refrain
+from thus remotely hinting at his own wishes. A number of circumstances
+and accidents, indeed, combined to induce him on this visit to approach
+a few steps toward his aim.
+
+The Lady Superior of the school was advanced in years. She had been
+already for some time looking about among her fellow-laborers, male and
+female, for some person whom she could take into partnership with
+herself, and at last had made proposals to the Assistant, in whom she
+had the highest ground for feeling confidence. He was to conduct the
+business of the school with herself. He was to work with her in it, as
+if it was his own; and after her death, as her heir, to enter upon it as
+sole proprietor.
+
+The principal thing now seemed to be, that he should find a wife who
+would cooperate with him. Ottilie was secretly before his eyes and
+before his heart. A number of difficulties suggested themselves, and yet
+again there were favorable circumstances on the other side to
+counterbalance them. Luciana had left the school; Ottilie could
+therefore return with the less difficulty. Of the affair with Edward,
+some little had transpired. It passed, however, as many such things do,
+as a matter of indifference, and this very circumstance might make it
+desirable that she should leave the castle. And yet, perhaps, no
+decision would have been arrived at, no step would have been taken, had
+not an unexpected visit given a special impulse to his hesitation. The
+appearance of remarkable people, in any and every circle, can never be
+without its effects.
+
+The Count and the Baroness, who often found themselves asked for their
+opinion, almost every one being in difficulty about the education of
+their children, as to the value of the various schools, had found it
+desirable to make themselves particularly acquainted with this one,
+which was generally so well spoken of; and under their present
+circumstances, they were more easily able to carry on these inquiries in
+company.
+
+The Baroness, however, had something else in view as well. While she was
+last at the castle, she had talked over with Charlotte the whole affair
+of Edward and Ottilie. She had insisted again and again that Ottilie
+must be sent away. She tried every means to encourage Charlotte to do
+it, and to keep her from being frightened by Edward's threats. Several
+modes of escape from the difficulty were suggested. Accidentally the
+school was mentioned, and the Assistant and his incipient passion,
+which made the Baroness more resolved than ever to pay her intended
+visit there.
+
+She went; she made acquaintance with the Assistant; looked over the
+establishment, and spoke of Ottilie. The Count also spoke with much
+interest of her, having in his recent visit learnt to know her better.
+She had been drawn toward him; indeed, she had felt attracted by him;
+believing that she could see, that she could perceive in his solid,
+substantial conversation, something to which hitherto she had been an
+entire stranger. In her intercourse with Edward, the world had been
+utterly forgotten; in the presence of the Count, the world appeared
+first worth regarding. The attraction was mutual. The Count conceived a
+liking for Ottilie; he would have been glad to have had her for a
+daughter. Thus a second time, and worse than the first time, she was in
+the way of the Baroness. Who knows what, in times when passions ran
+hotter than they do now-a-days, this lady might not have devised against
+her? As things were, it was enough if she could get her married, and
+render her more innocuous for the future to the peace of mind of married
+women. She therefore artfully urged the Assistant, in a delicate, but
+effective manner, to set out on a little excursion to the castle; where
+his plans and his wishes, of which he made no secret to the lady, he
+might forthwith take steps to realize.
+
+With the fullest consent of the Superior he started off on his
+expedition, and in his heart he nourished good hopes of success. He knew
+that Ottilie was not ill-disposed toward him; and although it was true
+there was some disproportion of rank between them, yet distinctions of
+this kind were fast disappearing in the temper of the time. Moreover,
+the Baroness had made him perceive clearly that Ottilie must always
+remain a poor, portionless maiden. To be related to a wealthy family, it
+was said, could be of service to nobody. For even with the largest
+property, men have a feeling that it is not right to deprive of any
+considerable sum, those who, as standing in a nearer degree of
+relationship, appear to have a fuller right to possession; and really
+it is a strange thing, that the immense privilege which a man has of
+disposing of his property after his death, he so very seldom uses for
+the benefit of those whom he loves, only out of regard to established
+usage appearing to consider those who would inherit his estate from him,
+supposing he made no will at all.
+
+Thus, while on his journey, he grew to feel himself entirely on a level
+with Ottilie. A favorable reception raised his hopes. He found Ottilie
+indeed not altogether so open with him as usual, but she was
+considerably matured, more developed, and, if you please, generally more
+conversible than he had known her. She was ready to give him the fullest
+insight into many things which were in any way connected with his
+profession; but when he attempted to approach his proper object, a
+certain inward shyness always held him back.
+
+Once, however, Charlotte gave him an opportunity for saying something.
+In Ottilie's presence she said to him, "Well now, you have looked
+closely enough into everything which is going forward in my circle. How
+do you find Ottilie? You had better say while she is here."
+
+Hereupon the Assistant signified, with a clear perception and composed
+expression, how that, in respect of a freer carriage, of an easier
+manner in speaking, of a higher insight into the things of the world,
+which showed itself more in actions than in words, he found Ottilie
+altered much for the better; but that he still believed it might be of
+serious advantage to her if she would go back for some little time to
+the school, in order methodically and thoroughly to make her own forever
+what the world was only imparting to her in fragments and pieces, rather
+perplexing her than satisfying her, and often too late to be of service.
+He did not wish to be prolix about it. Ottilie herself knew best how
+much method and connection there was in the style of instruction out of
+which, in that case, she would be taken.
+
+Ottilie had nothing to say against this; she could not acknowledge what
+it was which these words made her feel, because she was hardly able to
+explain it to herself. It seemed to her as if nothing in the world was
+disconnected so long as she thought of the one person whom she loved;
+and she could not conceive how, without him, anything could be connected
+at all.
+
+Charlotte replied to the proposal with a wise kindness. She said that
+she herself, as well as Ottilie, had long desired her return to the
+school. At that time, however, the presence of so dear a companion and
+helper had become indispensable to herself; still she would offer no
+obstacle at some future period, if Ottilie continued to wish it, to her
+going back there for such a time as would enable her to complete what
+she had begun, and to make entirely her own what had been interrupted.
+
+The Assistant listened with delight to this qualified assent. Ottilie
+did not venture to say anything against it, although the very thought
+made her shudder. Charlotte, on her side, thought only how to gain time.
+She hoped that Edward would soon come back and find himself a happy
+father; then she was convinced all would go right; and one way or
+another they would be able to settle something for Ottilie.
+
+After an important conversation which has furnished matter for
+after-reflection to all who have taken part in it, there commonly
+follows a sort of pause, which in appearance is like a general
+embarrassment. They walked up and down the saloon. The Assistant turned
+over the leaves of various books, and came at last on the folio of
+engravings which had remained lying there since Luciana's time. As soon
+as he saw that it contained nothing but apes, he shut it up again.
+
+It may have been this, however, which gave occasion to a conversation of
+which we find traces in Ottilie's diary.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"It is strange how men can have the heart to take such pains with the
+pictures of those hideous monkeys. One lowers one's-self sufficiently
+when one looks at them merely as animals, but it is really wicked to
+give way to the inclination to look for people whom we know behind such
+masks."
+
+"It is a sure mark of a certain obliquity, to take pleasure in
+caricatures and monstrous faces, and pigmies. I have to thank our kind
+Assistant that I have never been vexed with natural history; I could
+never make myself at home with worms and beetles."
+
+"Just now he acknowledged to me, that it was the same with him. 'Of
+nature,' he said, 'we ought to know nothing except what is actually
+alive immediately around us. With the trees which blossom and put out
+leaves and bear fruit in our own neighborhood, with every shrub which we
+pass by, with every blade of grass on which we tread, we stand in a real
+relation. They are our genuine compatriots. The birds which hop up and
+down among our branches, which sing among our leaves, belong to us; they
+speak to us from our childhood upward, and we learn to understand their
+language. But let a man ask himself whether or not every strange
+creature, torn out of its natural environment, does not at first sight
+make a sort of painful impression upon him, which is only deadened by
+custom. It is a mark of a motley, dissipated sort of life, to be able to
+endure monkeys, and parrots, and black people, about one's self."
+
+"Many times when a certain longing curiosity about these strange objects
+has come over me, I have envied the traveler who sees such marvels in
+living, everyday connection with other marvels. But he, too, must have
+become another man. Palm-trees will not allow a man to wander among them
+with impunity; and doubtless his tone of thinking becomes very different
+in a land where elephants and tigers are at home."
+
+"The only inquirers into nature whom we care to respect, are such as
+know how to describe and to represent to us the strange wonderful things
+which they have seen in their proper locality, each in its own especial
+element. How I should enjoy once hearing Humboldt talk!"
+
+"A cabinet of natural curiosities we may regard like an Egyptian
+burying-place, where the various plant gods and animal gods stand about
+embalmed. It may be well enough for a priest-caste to busy itself with
+such things in a twilight of mystery. But in general instruction, they
+have no place or business; and we must beware of them all the more,
+because what is nearer to us, and more valuable, may be so easily thrust
+aside by them."
+
+"A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one
+single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with
+rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form. For what
+is the result of all these, except what we know as well without them,
+that the human figure preeminently and peculiarly is made in the image
+and likeness of God?"
+
+"Individuals may be left to occupy themselves with whatever amuses them,
+with whatever gives them pleasure, whatever they think useful; but 'the
+proper study of mankind is man.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+There are but few men who care to occupy themselves with the immediate
+past. Either we are forcibly bound up in the present, or we lose
+ourselves in the long gone-by, and seek back for what is utterly lost,
+as if it were possible to summon it up again, and rehabilitate it. Even
+in great and wealthy families who are under large obligations to their
+ancestors, we commonly find men thinking more of their grandfathers than
+their fathers.
+
+Such reflections as these suggested themselves to our Assistant, as, on
+one of those beautiful days in which the departing winter is accustomed
+to imitate the spring, he had been walking up and down the great old
+castle garden, and admiring the tall avenues of the lindens, and the
+formal walks and flower-beds which had been laid out by Edward's father.
+The trees had thriven admirably, according to the design of him who had
+planted them, and now when they ought to have begun to be valued and
+enjoyed, no one ever spoke of them. Hardly any one even went near them,
+and the interest and the outlay was now directed to the other side, out
+into the free and the open.
+
+He remarked upon it to Charlotte on his return; she did not take it
+unkindly. "While life is sweeping us forward," she replied, "we fancy
+that we are acting out our own impulses; we believe that we choose
+ourselves what we will do, and what we will enjoy. But in fact, if we
+look at it closely, our actions are no more than the plans and the
+desires of the time which we are compelled to carry out."
+
+"No doubt," said the Assistant. "And who is strong enough to withstand
+the stream of what is around him? Time passes on, and in it, opinions,
+thoughts, prejudices, and interests. If the youth of the son falls in
+the era of revolution, we may feel assured that he will have nothing in
+common with his father. If the father lived at a time when the desire
+was to accumulate property, to secure the possession of it, to narrow
+and to gather one's-self in, and to base one's enjoyment in separation
+from the world, the son will at once seek to extend himself, to
+communicate himself to others, to spread himself over a wide surface,
+and open out his closed stores."
+
+"Entire periods," replied Charlotte, "resemble this father and son whom
+you have been describing. Of the state of things when every little town
+was obliged to have its walls and moats, when the castle of the nobleman
+was built in a swamp, and the smallest manor-houses were only accessible
+by a draw-bridge, we are scarcely able to form a conception. In our
+days, the largest cities take down their walls, the moats of the
+princes' castles are filled in; cities are no more than great _places_,
+and when one travels and sees all this, one might fancy that universal
+peace was just established, and the golden age was before the door. No
+one feels himself easy in a garden which does not look like the open
+country. There must be nothing to remind him of form and constraint, we
+choose to be entirely free, and to draw our breath without sense of
+confinement. Do you conceive it possible, my friend, that we can ever
+return again out of this into another, into our former condition?"
+
+"Why should we not?" replied the Assistant. "Every condition has its own
+burden along with it, the most relaxed as well as the most constrained.
+The first presupposes abundance, and leads to extravagance. Let want
+reappear, and the spirit of moderation is at once with us again. Men who
+are obliged to make use of their space and their soil, will speedily
+enough raise walls up round their gardens to be sure of their crops and
+plants. Out of this will arise by degrees a new phase of things: the
+useful will again gain the upper hand; and even the man of large
+possessions will feel at last that he must make the most of all which
+belongs to him. Believe me, it is quite possible that your son may
+become indifferent to all which you have been doing in the park, and
+draw in again behind the solemn walls and the tall lindens of his
+grandfather."
+
+The secret pleasure which it gave Charlotte to have a son foretold to
+her, made her forgive the Assistant his somewhat unfriendly prophecy of
+how it might one day fare with her lovely, beautiful park. She therefore
+answered without any discomposure: "You and I are not old enough yet to
+have lived through very much of these contradictions; and yet when I
+look back into my own early youth, when I remember the style of
+complaints which I used then to hear from older people, and when I think
+at the same time of what the country and the town then were, I have
+nothing to advance against what you say. But is there nothing which one
+can do to remedy this natural course of things? Are father and son,
+parents and children, to be always thus unable to understand each
+other? You have been so kind as to prophesy a boy to me. Is it necessary
+that he must stand in contradiction to his father? Must he destroy what
+his parents have erected, instead of completing it, instead of following
+on upon the same idea, and elevating it?"
+
+"There is a rational remedy for it," replied the Assistant. "But it is
+one which will be but seldom put in practice by men. The father should
+raise his son to a joint ownership with himself. He should permit him to
+plant and to build; and allow him the same innocent liberty which he
+allows to himself. One form of activity may be woven into another, but
+it cannot be pieced on to it. A young shoot may be readily and easily
+grafted with an old stem, to which no grown branch admits of being
+fastened."
+
+The Assistant was glad to have had the opportunity, at the moment when
+he saw himself obliged to take his leave, of saying something agreeable
+to Charlotte, and thus making himself a new link to secure her favor. He
+had been already too long absent from home, and yet he could not make up
+his mind to return there until after a full conviction that he must
+allow the approaching epoch of Charlotte's confinement first to pass by
+before he could look for any decision from her in respect to Ottilie. He
+therefore accommodated himself to the circumstances, and returned with
+these prospects and hopes to the Superior.
+
+Charlotte's confinement was now approaching; she kept more in her own
+room. The ladies who had gathered about her were her closest companions.
+Ottilie managed all domestic matters, hardly able, however, the while,
+to think what she was doing. She had indeed utterly resigned herself;
+she desired to continue to exert herself to the extent of her power for
+Charlotte, for the child, for Edward. But she could not see how it would
+be possible for her. Nothing could save her from utter distraction,
+except patiently to do the duty which each day brought with it.
+
+A son was brought happily into the world, and the ladies declared, with
+one voice, it was the very image of its father. Only Ottilie, as she
+wished the new mother joy, and kissed the child with all her heart, was
+unable to see the likeness. Once already Charlotte had felt most
+painfully the absence of her husband, when she had to make preparations
+for her daughter's marriage. And now the father could not be present at
+the birth of his son. He could not have the choosing of the name by
+which the child was hereafter to be called.
+
+The first among all Charlotte's friends who came to wish her joy was
+Mittler. He had placed expresses ready to bring him news the instant the
+event took place. He was admitted to see her, and, scarcely able to
+conceal his triumph even before Ottilie, when alone with Charlotte he
+broke fairly out with it; and was at once ready with means to remove all
+anxieties, and set aside all immediate difficulties. The baptism should
+not be delayed a day longer than necessary. The old clergyman, who had
+one foot already in the grave, should leave his blessing, to bind
+together the past and the future. The child should be called Otto; what
+name would he bear so fitly as that of his father and of his father's
+friend?
+
+It required the peremptory resolution of this man to set aside the
+innumerable considerations, arguments, hesitations, difficulties; what
+this person knew, and that person knew better; the opinions, up and
+down, and backward and forward, which every friend volunteered. It
+always happens on such occasions that when one inconvenience is removed,
+a fresh inconvenience seems to arise; and in wishing to spare all sides,
+we inevitably go wrong on one side or the other.
+
+The letters to friends and relations were all undertaken by Mittler, and
+they were to be written and sent off at once. It was highly necessary,
+he thought, that the good fortune which he considered so important for
+the family, should be known as widely as possible through the
+ill-natured and misinterpreting world. For indeed these late
+entanglements and perplexities had got abroad among the public, which at
+all times has a conviction that, whatever happens, happens only in order
+that it may have something to talk about.
+
+The ceremony of the baptism was to be observed with all due honor, but
+it was to be as brief and as private as possible. The people came
+together; Ottilie and Mittler were to hold the child as sponsors. The
+old pastor, supported by the servants of the church, came in with slow
+steps; the prayers were offered. The child lay in Ottilie's arms, and as
+she was looking affectionately down at it, it opened its eyes and she
+was not a little startled when she seemed to see her own eyes looking at
+her. The likeness would have surprised any one. Mittler, who next had to
+receive the child, started as well; he fancying he saw in the little
+features a most striking likeness to the Captain. He had never seen a
+resemblance so marked.
+
+The infirmity of the good old clergyman had not permitted him to
+accompany the ceremony with more than the usual liturgy.
+
+Mittler, however, who was full of his subject, recollected his old
+performances when he had been in the ministry, and indeed it was one of
+his peculiarities that, on every sort of occasion, he always thought
+what he would like to say, and how he would express himself about it.
+
+At this time he was the less able to contain himself, as he was now in
+the midst of a circle consisting entirely of well-known friends. He
+began, therefore, toward the conclusion of the service, to put himself
+quietly into the place of the clergyman; to make cheerful speeches
+aloud, expressive of his duty and his hopes as godfather, and to dwell
+all the longer on the subject, as he thought he saw in Charlotte's
+gratified manner that she was pleased with his doing so.
+
+It altogether escaped the eagerness of the orator, that the good old man
+would gladly have sat down; still less did he think that he was on the
+way to occasion a more serious evil. After he had described with all his
+power of impressiveness the relation in which every person present stood
+toward the child, thereby putting Ottilie's composure sorely to the
+proof, he turned at last to the old man with the words, "And you, my
+worthy father, you may now well say with Simeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou
+thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the savior of this
+house.'"
+
+He was now in full swing toward a brilliant peroration, when he
+perceived the old man to whom he held out the child, first appear a
+little to incline toward it, and immediately after to totter and sink
+backward. Hardly prevented from falling, he was lifted to a seat; but,
+notwithstanding the instant assistance which was rendered, he was found
+to be dead.
+
+To see thus side by side birth and death, the coffin and the cradle, to
+see them and to realize them, to comprehend not with the eye of
+imagination, but with the bodily eye, at one moment these fearful
+opposites, was a hard trial to the spectators; the harder, the more
+utterly it had taken them by surprise. Ottilie alone stood contemplating
+the slumberer, whose features still retained their gentle sweet
+expression, with a kind of envy. The life of her soul was killed; why
+should the bodily life any longer drag on in weariness?
+
+But though Ottilie was frequently led by melancholy incidents which
+occurred in the day to thoughts of the past, of separation and of loss,
+at night she had strange visions given her to comfort her, which assured
+her of the existence of her beloved, and thus strengthened her, and gave
+her life for her own. When she laid herself down at night to rest, and
+was floating among sweet sensations between sleep and waking, she seemed
+to be looking into a clear but softly illuminated space. In this she
+would see Edward with the greatest distinctness, and not in the dress in
+which she had been accustomed to see him, but in military uniform;
+never in the same position, but always in a natural one, and not the
+least with anything fantastic about him, either standing or walking, or
+lying down or riding. The figure, which was painted with the utmost
+minuteness, moved readily before her without any effort of hers, without
+her willing it or exerting her imagination to produce it. Frequently she
+saw him surrounded with something in motion, which was darker than the
+bright ground; but the figures were shadowy, and she could scarcely
+distinguish them--sometimes they were like men, sometimes they were like
+horses, or like trees, or like mountains. She usually went to sleep in
+the midst of the apparition, and when, after a quiet night, she woke
+again in the morning, she felt refreshed and comforted; she could say to
+herself, Edward still lives, and she herself was still remaining in the
+closest relation toward him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The spring was come; it was late, but it therefore burst out more
+rapidly and more exhilaratingly than usual. Ottilie now found in the
+garden the fruits of her carefulness. Everything shot up and came out in
+leaf and flower at its proper time. A number of plants which she had
+been training up under glass frames and in hotbeds, now burst forward at
+once to meet, at last, the advances of nature; and whatever there was to
+do, and to take care of, it did not remain the mere labor of hope which
+it had been, but brought its reward in immediate and substantial
+enjoyment.
+
+There was many a chasm, however, among the finest shoots produced by
+Luciana's wild ways, for which she had to console the gardener, and the
+symmetry of many a leafy coronet was destroyed. She tried to encourage
+him to hope that it would all be soon restored again, but he had too
+deep a feeling, and too pure an idea of the nature of his business, for
+such grounds of comfort to be of much service to him. Little as the
+gardener allowed himself to have his attention dissipated by other
+tastes and inclinations, he could the less bear to have the peaceful
+course interrupted which the plant follows toward its enduring or its
+transient perfection. A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we
+can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way. A
+calm eye, a silent method, in all seasons of the year, and at every
+hour, to do exactly what has then to be done, is required of no one
+perhaps more than of a gardener. These qualities the good man possessed
+in an eminent degree, and it was on that account that Ottilie liked so
+well to work with him; but for some time past he had not found himself
+able to exercise his peculiar talent with any pleasure to himself.
+Whatever concerned the fruit-gardening or kitchen-gardening, as well as
+whatever had in time past been required in the ornamental gardens, he
+understood perfectly. One man succeeds in one thing, another in another;
+he succeeded in these. In his management of the orangery, of the bulbous
+flowers, in budding shoots and growing cuttings from the carnations and
+auriculas, he might challenge nature herself. But the new ornamental
+shrubs and fashionable flowers remained in a measure strange to him. He
+had a kind of shyness of the endless field of botany, which had been
+lately opening itself, and the strange names humming about his ears made
+him cross and ill-tempered. The orders for flowers which had been made
+by his lord and lady in the course of the past year, he considered so
+much useless waste and extravagance--all the more, as he saw many
+valuable plants disappear, and as he had ceased to stand on the best
+possible terms with the nursery gardeners, who, he fancied, had not been
+serving him honestly.
+
+Consequently, after a number of attempts, he had formed a sort of a
+plan, in which Ottilie encouraged him the more readily because its first
+essential condition was the return of Edward, whose absence in this, as
+in many other matters, every day had to be felt more and more seriously.
+
+Now that the plants were ever striking new roots, and putting out their
+shoots, Ottilie felt herself even more fettered to this spot. It was
+just a year since she had come there as a stranger, as a mere
+insignificant creature. How much had she not gained for herself since
+that time! but, alas! how much had she not also since that time lost
+again! Never had she been so rich, and never so poor. The feelings of
+her loss and of her gain alternated momentarily one with another,
+chasing each other through her heart; and she could find no other means
+to help herself, except always to set to work again at what lay nearest
+to her, with such interest and eagerness as she could command.
+
+That everything which she knew to be dear to Edward received especial
+care from her may be supposed. And why should she not hope that he
+himself would now soon come back again; and that, when present, he would
+show himself grateful for all the care and pains which she had taken for
+him in his absence?
+
+But there was also a far different employment which she took upon
+herself in his service; she had undertaken the principal charge of the
+child, whose immediate attendant it was all the easier for her to be, as
+they had determined not to put it into the hands of a nurse, but to
+bring it up themselves by hand with milk and water. In the beautiful
+season it was much out of doors, enjoying the free air, and Ottilie
+liked best to take it out herself, to carry the unconscious sleeping
+infant among the flowers and blossoms which should one day smile so
+brightly on its childhood--among the young shrubs and plants, which, by
+their youth, seemed designed to grow up with the young lord to their
+after-stature. When she looked about her, she did not hide from herself
+to what a high position that child was born: far and wide, wherever the
+eye could see, all would one day belong to him. How desirable, how
+necessary it must therefore be, that it should grow up under the eyes of
+its father and its mother, and renew and strengthen the union between
+them!
+
+Ottilie saw all this so clearly that she represented it to herself as
+conclusively decided, and for herself, as concerned with it, she never
+felt at all. Under this fair heaven, by this bright sunshine, at once it
+became clear to her, that her love if it would perfect itself, must
+become altogether unselfish; and there were many moments in which she
+believed it was an elevation which she had already attained. She only
+desired the well-being of her friend. She fancied herself able to resign
+him, and never to see him any more, if she could only know that he was
+happy. The one only determination which she formed for herself was never
+to belong to another.
+
+They had taken care that the autumn should be no less brilliant than the
+spring. Sun-flowers were there, and all the other plants which are never
+tired of blossoming in autumn, and continue boldly on into the cold;
+asters especially were sown in the greatest abundance, and scattered
+about in all directions to form a starry heaven upon the earth.
+
+FROM OTTILIE'S DIARY
+
+"Any good thought which we have read, anything striking which we have
+heard, we commonly enter in our diary; but if we would take the trouble,
+at the same time, to copy out of our friends' letters the remarkable
+observations, the original ideas, the hasty words so pregnant in
+meaning, which we might find in them, we should then be rich indeed. We
+lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them
+out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most
+immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others. I
+intend to make amends in future for such neglect."
+
+"So, then, once more the old story of the year is being repeated over
+again. We are come now, thank God, again to its most charming chapter.
+The violets and the may-flowers are as its superscriptions and its
+vignettes. It always makes a pleasant impression on us when we open
+again at these pages in the book of life."
+
+"We find fault with the poor, particularly with the little ones among
+them, when they loiter about the streets and beg. Do we not observe that
+they begin to work again, as soon as ever there is anything for them to
+do? Hardly has nature unfolded her smiling treasures, than the children
+are at once upon her track to open out a calling for themselves. None of
+them begs any more; they have each a nosegay to offer you; they were out
+and gathering it before you had awakened out of your sleep, and the
+supplicating face looks as sweetly at you as the present which the hand
+is holding out. No person ever looks miserable who feels that he has a
+right to make a demand upon you."
+
+"How is it that the year sometimes seems so short, and sometimes is so
+long? How is it that it is so short when it is passing, and so long as
+we look back over it? When I think of the past (and it never comes so
+powerfully over me as in the garden), I feel how the perishing and the
+enduring work one upon the other, and there is nothing whose endurance
+is so brief as not to leave behind it some trace of itself, something in
+its own likeness."
+
+"We are able to tolerate the winter. We fancy that we can extend
+ourselves more freely when the trees are so spectral, so transparent.
+They are nothing, but they conceal nothing; but when once the germs and
+buds begin to show, then we become impatient for the full foliage to
+come out, for the landscape to put on its body, and the tree to stand
+before us as a form."
+
+"Everything which is perfect in its kind must pass out beyond and
+transcend its kind. It must be an inimitable something of another and a
+higher nature. In many of its tones the nightingale is only a bird; then
+it rises up above its class, and seems as if it would teach every
+feathered creature what singing really is."
+
+"A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is but poor
+_comedie a tiroir_. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of
+each, and pushing it back to make haste to the next. Even what we know
+to be good and important hangs but wearily together; every step is an
+end, and every step is a fresh beginning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Charlotte meanwhile was well and in good spirits. She was happy in her
+beautiful boy, whose fair promising little form every hour was a delight
+to both her eyes and heart. In him she found a new link to connect her
+with the world and with her property. Her old activity began anew to
+stir in her again.
+
+Look which way she would, she saw how much had been done in the year
+that was past, and it was a pleasure to her to contemplate it. Enlivened
+by the strength of these feelings, she climbed up to the summer-house
+with Ottilie and the child, and as she laid the latter down on the
+little table, as on the altar of her house, and saw the two seats still
+vacant, she thought of gone-by times, and fresh hopes rose out before
+her for herself and for Ottilie.
+
+Young ladies, perhaps, look timidly round them at this or that young
+man, carrying on a silent examination, whether they would like to have
+him for a husband; but whoever has a daughter or a female ward to care
+for, takes a wider circle in her survey. And so it fared at this moment
+with Charlotte, to whom, as she thought of how they had once sat side by
+side in that summer-house, a union did not seem impossible between the
+Captain and Ottilie. It had not remained unknown to her, that the plans
+for the advantageous marriage, which had been proposed to the Captain,
+had come to nothing.
+
+Charlotte went on up the cliff, and Ottilie carried the child. A number
+of reflections crowded upon the former. Even on the firm land there are
+frequent enough ship-wrecks, and the true, wise conduct is to recover
+ourselves, and refit our vessel at fast as possible. Is life to be
+calculated only by its gains and losses? Who has not made arrangement
+on arrangement, and has not seen them broken in pieces? How often does
+not a man strike into a road and lose it again! How often are we not
+turned aside from one point which we had sharply before our eye, but
+only to reach some higher stage. The traveler, to his greatest
+annoyance, breaks a wheel upon his journey, and through this unpleasant
+accident makes some charming acquaintance, and forms some new
+connection, which has an influence on all his life. Destiny grants us
+our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our
+wishes.
+
+Among these and similar reflections they reached the new building on the
+hill, where they intended to establish themselves for the summer. The
+view all round them was far more beautiful than could have been
+supposed; every little obstruction had been removed; all the loveliness
+of the landscape, whatever nature, whatever the season of the year had
+done for it, came out in its beauty before the eye; and already the
+young plantations, which had been made to fill up a few openings, were
+beginning to look green, and to form an agreeable connecting link
+between parts which before stood separate.
+
+The house itself was nearly habitable; the views, particularly from the
+upper rooms, were of the richest variety. The longer you looked round
+you, the more beauties you discovered. What magnificent effects would
+not be produced here at the different hours of day--by sunlight and by
+moonlight? Nothing could be more delightful than to come and live there,
+and now that she found all the rough work finished, Charlotte longed to
+be busy again. An upholsterer, a tapestry-hanger, a painter, who could
+lay on the colors with patterns, and a little gilding, were all which
+were required, and these were soon found, and in a short time the
+building was completed. Kitchen and cellar stores were quickly laid in;
+being so far from the castle, it was necessary to have all essentials
+provided; and the two ladies with the child went up and settled there.
+From this residence, as from a new centre point, unknown walks opened
+out to them, and in these high regions the free, fresh air and the
+beautiful weather were thoroughly delightful.
+
+Ottilie's favorite walk, sometimes alone, sometimes with the child, was
+down below, toward the plane-trees, along a pleasant footpath leading
+directly to the point where one of the boats was kept chained in which
+people used to go across the water. She often indulged herself in an
+expedition on the water, only without the child, as Charlotte was a
+little uneasy about it. She never missed, however, paying a daily visit
+to the castle garden and the gardener, and going to look with him at his
+show of greenhouse plants, which were all out now, enjoying the free
+air.
+
+At this beautiful season, Charlotte was much pleased to receive a visit
+from an English nobleman, who had made acquaintance with Edward abroad,
+having met him more than once, and who was now curious to see the laying
+out of his park, which he had heard so much admired. He brought with him
+a letter of introduction from the Count, and introduced at the same time
+a quiet but most agreeable man as his traveling companion. He went about
+seeing everything, sometimes with Charlotte and Ottilie, sometimes with
+the gardeners and the foresters, often with his friend, and now and then
+alone; and they could perceive clearly from his observations that he
+took an interest in such matters, and understood them well; indeed, that
+he had himself probably executed many such.
+
+Although he was now advanced in life, he entered warmly into everything
+which could serve for an ornament to life, or contribute anything to its
+importance.
+
+In his presence, the ladies came first properly to enjoy what was around
+them. His practised eye received every effect in its freshness, and he
+found all the more pleasure in what was before him, as he had not
+previously known the place, and was scarcely able to distinguish what
+man had done there from what nature had presented to him ready made.
+
+We may even say that through his remarks the park grew and enriched
+itself; he was able to anticipate in their fulfilment the promises of
+the growing plantations. There was not a spot where there was any effect
+which could be either heightened or produced, but what he observed it.
+
+In one place he pointed to a fountain which, if it was cleaned out,
+promised to be the most beautiful spot for a picnic party; in another,
+to a cave which had only to be enlarged and swept clear of rubbish to
+form a desirable seat. A few trees might be cut down, and a view would
+be opened from it of some grand masses of rock, towering magnificently
+against the sky. He wished the owners joy that so much was still
+remaining for them to do, and he besought them not to be in a hurry
+about it, but to keep for themselves for years to come the pleasures of
+shaping and improving.
+
+At the hours which the ladies usually spent alone he was never in the
+way, for he was occupied the greatest part of the day in catching such
+views in the park as would make good paintings, in a portable camera
+obscura, and drawing from them, in order to secure some desirable fruits
+from his travels for himself and others. For many years past he had been
+in the habit of doing this in all remarkable places which he visited,
+and had provided himself by it with a most charming and interesting
+collection. He showed the ladies a large portfolio which he had brought
+with him, and entertained them with the pictures and with descriptions.
+And it was a real delight to them, here in their solitude, to travel so
+pleasantly over the world, and see sweep past them, shores and havens,
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, cities, castles, and a hundred other
+localities which have a name in history.
+
+Each of the two ladies had an especial interest in it--Charlotte the
+more general interest in whatever was historically remarkable; Ottilie
+dwelling in preference on the scenes of which Edward used most to
+talk--where he liked best to stay, and which he would most often
+revisit. Every man has somewhere, far or near, his peculiar localities
+which attract him; scenes which, according to his character, either from
+first impressions, or from particular associations, or from habit, have
+a charm for him beyond all others.
+
+She, therefore, asked the Earl which, of all these places, pleased him
+best, where he would like to settle, and live for himself, if he might
+choose. There was more than one lovely spot which he pointed out, with
+what had happened to him there to make him love and value it; and the
+peculiar accentuated French in which he spoke made it most pleasant to
+listen to him.
+
+To the further question, which was his ordinary residence that he
+properly considered his home, he replied, without any hesitation, in a
+manner quite unexpected by the ladies:
+
+"I have accustomed myself by this time to be at home everywhere, and I
+find, after all, that it is much more agreeable to allow others to
+plant, and build, and keep house for me. I have no desire to return to
+my own possessions, partly on political grounds, but principally because
+my son, for whose sake alone it was any pleasure to me to remain and
+work there--who will, by-and-by, inherit it, and with whom I hoped to
+enjoy it--took no interest in the place at all, but has gone out to
+India, where, like many other foolish fellows, he fancies he can make a
+higher use of his life. He is more likely to squander it.
+
+"Assuredly we spend far too much labor and outlay in preparation for
+life. Instead of beginning at once to make ourselves happy in a moderate
+condition, we spread ourselves out wider and wider, only to make
+ourselves more and more uncomfortable. Who is there now to enjoy my
+mansion, my park, my gardens? Not I, nor any of mine--strangers,
+visitors, or curious, restless travelers.
+
+"Even with large means, we are ever but half and half at home,
+especially in the country, where we miss many things to which we have
+become accustomed in town. The book for which we are most anxious is
+not to be had, and just the thing which we most wanted is forgotten. We
+take to being domestic, only again to go out of ourselves; if we do not
+go astray of our own will and caprice, circumstances, passions,
+accidents, necessity, and one does not know what besides, manage it for
+us."
+
+Little did the Earl imagine how deeply his friend would be touched by
+these random observations. It is a danger to which we are all of us
+exposed when we venture on general remarks in a society the
+circumstances of which we might have supposed were well enough known to
+us. Such casual wounds, even from well-meaning, kindly-disposed people,
+were nothing new to Charlotte. She so clearly, so thoroughly knew and
+understood the world, that it gave her no particular pain if it did
+happen that through somebody's thoughtlessness or imprudence she had her
+attention forced into this or that unpleasant direction. But it was very
+different with Ottilie. At her half-conscious age, at which she rather
+felt than saw, and at which she was disposed, indeed was obliged, to
+turn her eyes away from what she should not or would not see, Ottilie
+was thrown by this melancholy conversation into the most pitiable state.
+It rudely tore away the pleasant veil from before her eyes, and it
+seemed to her as if everything which had been done all this time for
+house and court, for park and garden, for all their wide environs, were
+utterly in vain, because he to whom it all belonged could not enjoy it;
+because he, like their present visitor, had been driven out to wander up
+and down in the world--and, indeed, in the most perilous paths of it--by
+those who were nearest and dearest to him. She was accustomed to listen
+in silence, but on this occasion she sat on in the most painful
+condition; which, indeed, was made rather worse than better by what the
+stranger went on to say, as he continued with his peculiar, humorous
+gravity:
+
+"I think I am now on the right way. I look upon myself steadily as a
+traveler, who renounces many things in order to enjoy more. I am
+accustomed to change; it has become, indeed, a necessity to me; just as
+in the opera, people are always looking out for new and newer
+decorations, because there have already been so many. I know very well
+what I am to expect from the best hotels, and what from the worst. It
+may be as good or it may be as bad as it will, but I nowhere find
+anything to which I am accustomed, and in the end it comes to much the
+same thing whether we depend for our enjoyment entirely on the regular
+order of custom, or entirely on the caprices of accident. I have never
+had to vex myself now, because this thing is mislaid, or that thing is
+lost; because the room in which I live is uninhabitable, and I must have
+it repaired; because somebody has broken my favorite cup, and for a long
+time nothing tastes well out of any other. All this I am happily raised
+above. If the house catches fire about my ears, my people quietly pack
+my things up, and we pass away out of the town in search of other
+quarters. And considering all these advantages, when I reckon carefully,
+I calculate that, by the end of the year, I have not sacrificed more
+than it would have cost me to be at home."
+
+In this description Ottilie saw nothing but Edward before her; how he
+too was now amidst discomfort and hardship, marching along untrodden
+roads, lying out in the fields in danger and want, and in all this
+insecurity and hazard growing accustomed to be homeless and friendless,
+learning to fling away everything that he might have nothing to lose.
+Fortunately, the party separated for a short time. Ottilie escaped to
+her room, where she could give way to her tears. No weight of sorrow had
+ever pressed so heavily upon her as this clear perception (which she
+tried, as people usually do, to make still clearer to herself), that men
+love to dally with and exaggerate the evils which circumstances have
+once begun to inflict upon them.
+
+The state in which Edward was came before her in a light so piteous, so
+miserable, that she made up her mind, let it cost her what it would,
+that she would do everything in her power to unite him again with
+Charlotte, and she herself would go and hide her sorrow and her love in
+some silent scene, and beguile the time with such employment as she
+could find.
+
+Meanwhile the Earl's companion, a quiet, sensible man and a keen
+observer, had remarked the new trend in the conversation, and spoke to
+his friend about it. The latter knew nothing of the circumstances of the
+family; but the other being one of those persons whose principal
+interest in traveling lay in gathering up the strange occurrences which
+arose out of the natural or artificial relations of society, which were
+produced by the conflict of the restraint of law with the violence of
+the will, of the understanding with the reason, of passion with
+prejudice--had some time before made himself acquainted with the outline
+of the story, and since he had been in the family had learnt exactly all
+that had taken place, and the present position in which things were
+standing.
+
+The Earl, of course, was very sorry, but it was not a thing to make him
+uneasy. A man must hold his tongue altogether in society if he is never
+to find himself in such a position; for not only remarks with meaning in
+them, but the most trivial expressions, may happen to clash in an
+inharmonious key with the interest of somebody present.
+
+"We will set things right this evening," said he, "and escape from any
+general conversation; you shall let them hear one of the many charming
+anecdotes with which your portfolio and your memory have enriched
+themselves while we have been abroad."
+
+However, with the best intentions, the strangers did not, on this next
+occasion, succeed any better in gratifying their friends with unalloyed
+entertainment. The Earl's friend told a number of singular stories--some
+serious, some amusing, some touching, some terrible--with which he had
+roused their attention and strained their interest to the highest
+tension, and he thought to conclude with a strange but softer incident,
+little dreaming how nearly it would touch his listeners.
+
+THE TWO STRANGE CHILDREN
+
+"Two children of neighboring families, a boy and a girl, of an age which
+would suit well for them at some future time to marry, were brought up
+together with this agreeable prospect, and the parents on both sides,
+who were people of some position in the world, looked forward with
+pleasure to their future union.
+
+"It was too soon observed, however, that the purpose seemed likely to
+fail; the dispositions of both children promised everything which was
+good, but there was an unaccountable antipathy between them. Perhaps
+they were too much like each other. Both were thoughtful, clear in their
+wills, and firm in their purposes. Each separately was beloved and
+respected by his or her companions, but whenever they were together they
+were always antagonists. Forming separate plans for themselves, they
+only met mutually to cross and thwart each other; never emulating each
+other in pursuit of one aim, but always fighting for a single object.
+Good-natured and amiable everywhere else, they were spiteful and even
+malicious whenever they came in contact.
+
+"This singular relation first showed itself in their childish games, and
+it continued with their advancing years. The boys used to play at
+soldiers, divide into parties, and give each other battle, and the
+fierce haughty young lady set herself at once at the head of one of the
+armies, and fought against the other with such animosity and bitterness
+that the latter would have been put to a shameful flight, except for the
+desperate bravery of her own particular rival, who at last disarmed his
+antagonist and took her prisoner; and even then she defended herself
+with so much fury that to save his eyes from being torn out, and at the
+same time not to injure his enemy, he had been obliged to take off his
+silk handkerchief and tie her hands with it behind her back.
+
+"This she never forgave him: she made so many attempts, she laid so many
+plans to injure him, that the parents, who had been long watching these
+singular passions, came to a mutual understanding and resolved to
+separate these two hostile creatures, and sacrifice their favorite
+hopes.
+
+"The boy shot rapidly forward in the new situation in which he was
+placed. He mastered every subject which he was taught. His friends and
+his own inclination chose the army for his profession, and everywhere,
+let him be where he would, he was looked up to and beloved. His
+disposition seemed formed to labor for the well-being and the pleasure
+of others; and he himself, without being clearly conscious of it, was in
+himself happy at having got rid of the only antagonist which nature had
+assigned to him.
+
+"The girl, on the other hand, became at once an altered creature. Her
+growing age, the progress of her education, above all, her own inward
+feelings, drew her away from the boisterous games with boys in which she
+had hitherto delighted. Altogether she seemed to want something; there
+was nothing anywhere about her which could deserve to excite her hatred,
+and she had never found any one whom she could think worthy of her love.
+
+"A young man, somewhat older than her previous neighbor-antagonist, of
+rank, property, and consequence, beloved in society, and much sought
+after by women, bestowed his affections upon her. It was the first time
+that friend, lover, or servant had displayed any interest in her. The
+preference which he showed for her above others who were older, more
+cultivated, and of more brilliant pretensions than herself, was
+naturally gratifying; the constancy of his attention, which was never
+obtrusive, his standing by her faithfully through a number of unpleasant
+incidents, his quiet suit, which was declared indeed to her parents, but
+which, as she was still very young, he did not press, only asking to be
+allowed to hope--all this engaged him to her, and custom and the
+assumption in the world that the thing was already settled carried her
+along with it. She had so often been called his bride that at last she
+began to consider herself so, and neither she nor any one else ever
+thought any further trial could be necessary before she exchanged rings
+with the person who for so long a time had passed for her bridegroom.
+
+"The peaceful course which the affair had all along followed was not at
+all precipitated by the betrothal. Things were allowed to go on both
+sides just as they were; they were happy in being together, and they
+could enjoy to the end the fair season of the year as the spring of
+their future more serious life.
+
+"The absent youth had meanwhile grown up into everything which was most
+admirable. He had obtained a well-deserved rank in his profession, and
+came home on leave to visit his family. Toward his fair neighbor he
+found himself again in a natural but singular position. For some time
+past she had been nourishing in herself such affectionate family
+feelings as suited her position as a bride; she was in harmony with
+everything about her; she believed that she was happy, and in a certain
+sense she was so. Now first for a long time something again stood in her
+way. It was not to be hated--she had become incapable of hatred. Indeed
+the childish hatred, which had in fact been nothing more than an obscure
+recognition of inward worth, expressed itself now in a happy
+astonishment, in pleasure at meeting, in ready acknowledgments, in a
+half willing, half unwilling, and yet irresistible attraction; and all
+this was mutual. Their long separation gave occasion for longer
+conversations; even their old childish foolishness served, now that they
+had grown wiser, to amuse them as they looked back; and they felt as if
+at least they were bound to make good their petulant hatred by
+friendliness and attention to each other--as if their first violent
+injustice to each other ought not to be left without open
+acknowledgment.
+
+"On his side it all remained in a sensible, desirable moderation. His
+position, his circumstances, his efforts, his ambition, found him so
+abundant an occupation, that the friendliness of this pretty bride he
+received as a very thank-worthy present; but without, therefore, even so
+much as thinking of her in connection with himself, or entertaining the
+slightest jealousy of the bridegroom, with whom he stood on the best
+possible terms.
+
+"With her, however, it was altogether different. She seemed to herself
+as if she had awakened out of a dream. Her fightings with her young
+neighbor had been the beginnings of an affection; and this violent
+antagonism was no more than an equally violent innate passion for him,
+first showing under the form of opposition. She could remember nothing
+else than that she had always loved him. She laughed over her martial
+encounter with him with weapons in her hand; she dwelt upon the delight
+of her feelings when he disarmed her. She imagined that it had given her
+the greatest happiness when he bound her: and whatever she had done
+afterward to injure him, or to vex him, presented itself to her as only
+an innocent means of attracting his attention. She cursed their
+separation. She bewailed the sleepy state into which she had fallen. She
+execrated the insidious lazy routine which had betrayed her into
+accepting so insignificant a bridegroom. She was transformed--doubly
+transformed, forward or backward, whichever way we like to take it.
+
+"She kept her feelings entirely to herself; but if any one could have
+divined them and shared them with her, he could not have blamed her: for
+indeed the bridegroom could not sustain a comparison with the other as
+soon as they were seen together. If a sort of regard to the one could
+not be refused, the other excited the fullest trust and confidence. If
+one made an agreeable acquaintance, the other we should desire for a
+companion; and in extraordinary cases, where higher demands might have
+to be made on them, the bridegroom was a person to be utterly despaired
+of, while the other would give the feeling of perfect security.
+
+"There is a peculiar innate tact in women which discovers to them
+differences of this kind; and they have cause as well as occasion to
+cultivate it.
+
+"The more the fair bride was nourishing all these feelings in secret,
+the less opportunity there was for any one to speak a word which could
+tell in favor of her bridegroom, to remind her of what her duty and
+their relative position advised and commanded--indeed, what an
+unalterable necessity seemed now irrevocably to require; the poor heart
+gave itself up entirely to its passion.
+
+"On one side she was bound inextricably to the bridegroom by the world,
+by her family, and by her own promise; on the other, the ambitious young
+man made no secret of what he was thinking and planning for himself,
+conducting himself toward her no more than a kind but not at all a
+tender brother, and speaking of his departure as immediately impending;
+and now it seemed as if her early childish spirit woke up again in her
+with all its spleen and violence, and was preparing itself in its
+distemper, on this higher stage of life, to work more effectively and
+destructively. She determined that she would die to punish the once
+hated; and now so passionately loved, youth for his want of interest in
+her; and as she could not possess himself, at least she would wed
+herself for ever to his imagination and to his repentance. Her dead
+image should cling to him, and he should never be free from it. He
+should never cease to reproach himself for not having understood, not
+examined, not valued her feelings toward him.
+
+"This singular insanity accompanied her wherever she went. She kept it
+concealed under all sorts of forms; and although people thought her very
+odd, no one was observant enough or clever enough to discover the real
+inward reason.
+
+"In the meantime, friends, relations, acquaintances had exhausted
+themselves in contrivances for pleasure parties. Scarcely a day passed
+but something new and unexpected was set on foot. There was hardly a
+pretty spot in the country round which had not been decked out and
+prepared for the reception of some merry party. And now our young
+visitor, before departing, wished to do his part as well, and invited
+the young couple, with a small family circle, to an expedition on the
+water. They went on board a large beautiful vessel dressed out in all
+its colors--one of the yachts which had a small saloon and a cabin or
+two besides, and are intended to carry with them upon the water the
+comfort and conveniences of land.
+
+"They set out upon the broad river with music playing. The party had
+collected in the cabin, below deck, during the heat of the day, and were
+amusing themselves with games. Their young host, who could never remain
+without doing something, had taken charge of the helm to relieve the old
+master of the vessel, and the latter had lain down and was fast asleep.
+It was a moment when the steerer required all his circumspectness, as
+the vessel was nearing a spot where two islands narrowed the channel of
+the river, while shallow banks of shingle stretching off, first on one
+side and then on the other, made the navigation difficult and dangerous.
+Prudent and sharp-sighted as he was, he thought for a moment that it
+would be better to wake the master; but he felt confident in himself,
+and he thought he would venture and make straight for the narrows. At
+this moment his fair enemy appeared upon deck with a wreath of flowers
+in her hair. 'Take this to remember me by,' she cried out. She took it
+off and threw it at the steerer. 'Don't disturb me,' he answered
+quickly, as he caught the wreath; 'I require all my powers and all my
+attention now.' 'You will never be disturbed by me any more,' she cried;
+'you will never see me again.' As she spoke, she rushed to the forward
+part of the vessel, and from thence she sprang into the water. Voice
+upon voice called out, 'Save her, save her, she is sinking!' He was in
+the most terrible difficulty. In the confusion the old shipmaster woke,
+and tried to catch the rudder, which the young man bade him take. But
+there was no time to change hands. The vessel stranded; and at the same
+moment, flinging off the heaviest of his upper garments, he sprang into
+the water and swam toward his beautiful enemy. The water is a friendly
+element to a man who is at home in it, and who knows how to deal with
+it; it buoyed him up, and acknowledged the strong swimmer as its master.
+He soon overtook the beautiful girl, who had been swept away before him;
+he caught hold of her, raised her and supported her, and both of them
+were carried violently down by the current, till the shoals and islands
+were left far behind, and the river was again open and running smoothly.
+He now began to collect himself; they had passed the first immediate
+danger, in which he had been obliged to act mechanically without time to
+think; he raised his head as high as he could to look about him and then
+swam with all his might to a low bushy point which ran out conveniently
+into the stream. There he brought his fair burden to dry land, but he
+could find no signs of life in her; he was in despair, when he caught
+sight of a trodden path leading among the bushes. Again he caught her up
+in his arms, hurried forward, and presently reached a solitary cottage.
+There he found kind, good people--a young married couple; the
+misfortunes and the dangers explained themselves instantly; every remedy
+he could think of was instantly applied; a bright fire blazed up; woolen
+blankets were spread on a bed, counterpane, cloaks, skins, whatever
+there was at hand which would serve for warmth, were heaped over her as
+fast as possible. The desire to save life overpowered, for the present,
+every other consideration. Nothing was left undone to bring back to life
+the beautiful, half-torpid, naked body. It succeeded; she opened her
+eyes! her friend was before her; she threw her heavenly arms about his
+neck. In this position she remained for a time; and then a stream of
+tears burst out and completed her recovery. 'Will you forsake me,' she
+cried, 'now when I find you again thus?' 'Never,' he answered, 'never,'
+hardly knowing what he said or did. 'Only consider yourself,' she added;
+'take care of yourself, for your sake and for mine.'
+
+"She now began to collect herself, and for the first time recollected
+the state in which she was; she could not be ashamed before her darling,
+before her preserver; but she gladly allowed him to go, that he might
+take care of himself; for the clothes which he still wore were wet and
+dripping.
+
+"Their young hosts considered what could be done. The husband offered
+the young man, and the wife offered the fair lady, the dresses in which
+they had been married, which were hanging up in full perfection, and
+sufficient for a complete suit, inside and out, for two people. In a
+short time our pair of adventurers were not only equipped, but in full
+costume. They looked most charming, gazed at each other, when they met,
+with admiration, and then with infinite affection, half laughing at the
+same time at the quaintness of their appearance, they fell into each
+other's arms.
+
+"The power of youth and the quickening spirit of love in a few moments
+completely restored them; and there was nothing wanting but music to
+have set them both off dancing.
+
+"To have found themselves brought from the water on dry land, from death
+into life, from the circle of their families into a wilderness, from
+despair into rapture, from indifference to affection and to love, all in
+a moment: the head was not strong enough to bear it; it must either
+burst, or go distracted; or if so distressing an alternative were to be
+escaped, the heart must put out all its efforts.
+
+"Lost wholly in each other, it was long before they recollected the
+alarm and anxiety of those who had been left behind; and they
+themselves, indeed, could not well think, without alarm and anxiety, how
+they were again to encounter them. 'Shall we run away? shall we hide
+ourselves?' asked the young man. 'We will remain together,' she said,
+as she clung about his neck.
+
+"The peasant having heard them say that a party was aground on the
+shoal, had hurried down, without stopping to ask another question, to
+the shore. When he arrived there, he saw the vessel coming safely down
+the stream. After much labor it had been got off; and they were now
+going on in uncertainty, hoping to find their lost ones again somewhere.
+The peasant shouted and made signs to them, and at last caught the
+attention of those on board; then he ran to a spot where there was a
+convenient place for landing, and went on signalling and shouting till
+the vessel's head was turned toward the shore; and what a scene there
+was for them when they landed. The parents of the two betrothed first
+pressed on the banks; the poor loving bridegroom had almost lost his
+senses. They had scarcely learnt that their dear children had been
+saved, when in their strange disguise the latter came forward out of the
+bushes to meet them. No one recognized them till they were come quite
+close. 'Whom do I see?' cried the mothers. 'What do I see?' cried the
+fathers. The preserved ones flung themselves on the ground before them.
+'Your children,' they called out; 'a pair.' 'Forgive us!' cried the
+maiden. 'Give us your blessing!' cried the young man. 'Give us your
+blessing!' they cried both, as all the world stood still in wonder.
+'Your blessing!' was repeated the third time; and who would have been
+able to refuse it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+The narrator made a pause, or rather he had already finished his story,
+before he observed the emotion into which Charlotte had been thrown by
+it. She got up, uttered some sort of an apology, and left the room. To
+her it was a well-known history. The principal incident in it had really
+taken place with the Captain and a neighbor of her own; not exactly,
+indeed, as the Englishman had related it. But the main features of it
+were the same. It had only been more finished off and elaborated in its
+details, as stories of that kind always are when they have passed first
+through the lips of the multitude, and then through the fancy of a
+clever and imaginative narrator; the result of the process being usually
+to leave everything and nothing as it was.
+
+Ottilie followed Charlotte, as the two friends begged her to do; and
+then it was the Earl's turn to remark, that perhaps they had made a
+second mistake, and that the subject of the story had been well known
+to, or was in some way connected with, the family. "We must take care,"
+he added, "that we do no more mischief here; we seem to bring little
+good to our entertainers for all the kindness and hospitality which they
+have shown us; we will make some excuse for ourselves, and then take our
+leave."
+
+"I must confess," answered his companion, "that there is something else
+which still holds me here, which I should be very sorry to leave the
+house without seeing cleared up or in some way explained. You were too
+busy yourself yesterday when we were in the park with the camera, in
+looking for spots where you could make your sketches, to have observed
+anything else which was passing. You left the broad walk, you remember,
+and went to a sequestered place on the side of the lake. There was a
+fine view of the opposite shore which you wished to take. Well, Ottilie,
+who was with us, got up to follow; and then proposed that she and I
+should find our way to you in the boat. I got in with her, and was
+delighted with the skill of my fair conductress. I assured her that
+never since I had been in Switzerland, where the young ladies so often
+fill the place of the boatmen, had I been so pleasantly ferried over the
+water. At the same time I could not help asking her why she had shown
+such an objection to going the way which you had gone, along the little
+by-path. I had observed her shrink from it with a sort of painful
+uneasiness. She was not at all offended. 'If you will promise not to
+laugh at me,' she answered, 'I will tell you as much as I know about
+it; but to myself it is a mystery which I cannot explain. There is a
+particular spot in that path which I never pass without a strange shiver
+passing over me, which I do not remember ever feeling anywhere else, and
+which I cannot the least understand. But I shrink from exposing myself
+to the sensation, because it is followed immediately after by a pain on
+the left side of my head, from which at other times I suffer severely.'
+We landed. Ottilie was engaged with you, and I took the opportunity of
+examining the spot, which she pointed out to me as we went by on the
+water. I was not a little surprised to find there distinct traces of
+coal in sufficient quantities to convince me that at a short distance
+below the surface there must be a considerable bed of it.
+
+"Pardon me, my Lord; I see you smile; and I know very well that you have
+no faith in these things about which I am so eager, and that it is only
+your sense and your kindness which enable you to tolerate me. However,
+it is impossible for me to leave this place without trying on that
+beautiful creature an experiment with the pendulum."
+
+The Earl, whenever these matters came to be spoken of, never failed to
+repeat the same objections to them over and over again; and his friend
+endured them all quietly and patiently, remaining firm, nevertheless, to
+his own opinion, and holding to his own wishes. He, too, again repeated
+that there was no reason, because the experiment did not succeed with
+every one, that they should give them up, as if there was nothing in
+them but fancy. They should be examined into all the more earnestly and
+scrupulously; and there was no doubt that the result would be the
+discovery of a number of affinities of inorganic creatures for one
+another, and of organic creatures for them, and again for each other,
+which at present were unknown to us.
+
+He had already spread out his apparatus of gold rings, marcasites, and
+other metallic substances, a pretty little box of which he always
+carried about with himself; and he suspended a piece of metal by a
+string over another piece, which he placed upon the table. "Now, my
+Lord," he said, "you may take what pleasure you please (I can see in
+your face what you are feeling), at perceiving that nothing will set
+itself in motion with me, or for me. But my operation is no more than a
+pretense; when the ladies come back, they will be curious to know what
+strange work we are about."
+
+The ladies returned. Charlotte understood at once what was going on. "I
+have heard much of these things," she said; "but I never saw the effect
+myself. You have everything ready there. Let me try whether I can
+succeed in producing anything."
+
+She took the thread in her hand, and as she was perfectly serious, she
+held it steady, and without any agitation. Not the slightest motion,
+however, could be detected. Ottilie was then called upon to try. She
+held the pendulum still more quietly and unconsciously over the plate on
+the table. But in a moment the swinging piece of metal began to stir
+with a distinct rotary action, and turned as they moved the position of
+the plate, first to one side and then to the other; now in circles, now
+in ellipses; or else describing a series of straight lines; doing all
+the Earl's friend could expect, and far exceeding, indeed, all his
+expectations.
+
+The Earl himself was a little staggered; but the other could never be
+satisfied, from delight and curiosity, and begged for the experiment
+again and again with all sorts of variations. Ottilie was good-natured
+enough to gratify him; till at last she was obliged to desire to be
+allowed to go, as her headache had come on again. In further admiration
+and even rapture, he assured her with enthusiasm that he would cure her
+forever of her disorder, if she would only trust herself to his
+remedies. For a moment they did not know what he meant; but Charlotte,
+who comprehended immediately after, declined his well-meant offer, not
+liking to have introduced and practised about her a thing of which she
+had always had the strongest apprehensions.
+
+The strangers were gone, and notwithstanding their having been the
+inadvertent cause of strange and painful emotions, left the wish behind
+them, that this meeting might not be the last. Charlotte now made use of
+the beautiful weather to return visits in the neighborhood, which,
+indeed, gave her work enough to do, seeing that the whole country round,
+some from a real interest, some merely from custom, had been most
+attentive in calling to inquire after her. At home her delight was the
+sight of the child, and really it well deserved all love and interest.
+People, saw in it a wonderful, indeed a miraculous child; the brightest,
+sunniest little face; a fine, well-proportioned body, strong and
+healthy; and what surprised them more, the double resemblance, which
+became more and more conspicuous. In figure and in the features of the
+face, it was like the Captain; the eyes every day it was less easy to
+distinguish from the eyes of Ottilie.
+
+Ottilie herself, partly from this remarkable affinity, perhaps still
+more under the influence of that sweet woman's feeling which makes them
+regard with the most tender affection the offspring, even by another, of
+the man they love, was as good as a mother to the little creature as it
+grew, or rather, she was a second mother of another kind. If Charlotte
+was absent, Ottilie remained alone with the child and the nurse. Nanny
+had for some time past been jealous of the boy for monopolizing the
+entire affections of her mistress; she had left her in a fit of
+crossness, and gone back to her mother. Ottilie would carry the child
+about in the open air, and by degrees took longer and longer walks with
+it, carrying a bottle of milk to give the child its food when it wanted
+any. Generally, too, she took a book with her; and so with the child in
+her arms, reading and wandering, she made a very pretty Penserosa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The object of the campaign was attained, and Edward, with crosses and
+decorations, was honorably dismissed. He betook himself at once to the
+same little estate, where he found exact accounts of his family waiting
+for him, on whom all this time, without their having observed it or
+known of it, a sharp watch had been kept under his orders. His quiet
+residence looked most sweet and pleasant when he reached it. In
+accordance with his orders, various improvements had been made in his
+absence, and what was wanting to the establishment in extent, was
+compensated by its internal comforts and conveniences. Edward,
+accustomed by his more active habits of life to take decided steps,
+determined to execute a project which he had had sufficient time to
+think over. First of all, he invited the Major to come to him. This
+pleasure in meeting again was very great to both of them. The
+friendships of boyhood, like relationship of blood, possess this
+important advantage, that mistakes and misunderstandings never produce
+irreparable injury; and the old regard after a time will always
+reestablish itself.
+
+Edward began with inquiring about the situation of his friend, and
+learnt that fortune had favored him exactly as he most could have
+wished. He then half-seriously asked whether there was not something
+going forward about a marriage; to which he received a most decided and
+positive denial.
+
+"I cannot and will not have any reserve with you," he proceeded. "I will
+tell you at once what my own feelings are, and what I intend to do. You
+know my passion for Ottilie; you must long have comprehended that it was
+this which drove me into the campaign. I do not deny that I desire to be
+rid of a life which, without her, would be of no further value to me. At
+the same time, however, I acknowledge that I could never bring myself
+utterly to despair. The prospect of happiness with her was so beautiful,
+so infinitely charming, that it was not possible for me entirely to
+renounce it. Feelings, too, which I cannot explain, and a number of
+happy omens, have combined to strengthen me in the belief, in the
+assurance, that Ottilie will one day be mine. The glass with our
+initials cut upon it, which was thrown into the air when the
+foundation-stone was laid, did not go to pieces; it was caught, and I
+have it again in my possession. After many miserable hours of
+uncertainty, spent in this place, I said to myself, 'I will put myself
+in the place of this glass, and it shall be an omen whether our union be
+possible or not. I will go; I will seek for death; not like a madman,
+but like a man who still hopes that he may live. Ottilie shall be the
+prize for which I fight. Ottilie shall be behind the ranks of the enemy;
+in every intrenchment, in every beleaguered fortress, I shall hope to
+find her, and to win her. I will do wonders, with the wish to survive
+them; with the hope to gain Ottilie, not to lose her.' These feelings
+have led me on; they have stood by me through all dangers; and now I
+find myself like one who has arrived at his goal, who has overcome
+every difficulty and who has nothing more left in his way. Ottilie is
+mine, and whatever lies between the thought and the execution of it, I
+can only regard as unimportant."
+
+"With a few strokes you blot out," replied the Major, "all the
+objections that we can or ought to urge upon you, and yet they must be
+repeated. I must leave it to yourself to recall the full value of your
+relation with your wife; but you owe it to her, and you owe it to
+yourself, not to close your eyes to it. How can I so much as recollect
+that you have had a son given to you, without acknowledging at once that
+you two belong to each other forever; that you are bound, for this
+little creature's sake, to live united, that united you may educate it
+and provide for its future welfare?"
+
+"It is no more than the blindness of parents," answered Edward, "when
+they imagine their existence to be of so much importance to their
+children. Whatever lives, finds nourishment and finds assistance; and if
+the son who has early lost his father does not spend so easy, so favored
+a youth, he profits, perhaps, for that very reason, in being trained
+sooner for the world, and comes to a timely knowledge that he must
+accommodate himself to others, a thing sooner or later we are all forced
+to learn. Here, however even these considerations are irrelevant; we
+are sufficiently well off to be able to provide for more children than
+one, and it is neither right nor kind to accumulate so large a property
+on a single head."
+
+The Major attempted to say something of Charlotte's worth, and Edward's
+long-standing attachment to her; but the latter hastily interrupted him.
+"We committed ourselves to a foolish thing, that I see all too clearly.
+Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his
+early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life
+has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires. Woe to him who,
+either by circumstances or by his own infatuation, is induced to grasp
+at anything before him or behind him. We have done a foolish thing. Are
+we to abide by it all our lives? Are we, from some respect of prudence,
+to refuse to ourselves what the customs of the age do not forbid? In how
+many matters do men recall their intentions and their actions; and shall
+it not be allowed to them here, here, where the question is not of this
+thing or of that, but of everything; not of our single condition of
+life, but of the whole complex life itself?"
+
+Again the Major powerfully and impressively urged on Edward to consider
+what he owed to his wife, what was due to his family, to the world, and
+to his own position; but he could not succeed in producing the slightest
+impression.
+
+"All these questions, my friend," he returned, "I have considered
+already again and again. They have passed before me in the storm of
+battle, when the earth was shaking with the thunder of the cannon, with
+the balls singing and whistling around me, with my comrades falling
+right and left, my horse shot under me, my hat pierced with bullets.
+They have floated before me by the still watch-fire under the starry
+vault of the sky. I have thought them all through, felt them all
+through. I have weighed them, and I have satisfied myself about them
+again and again, and now forever. At such moments why should I not
+acknowledge it to you? You too were in my thoughts, you too belonged to
+my circle; as, indeed, you and I have long belonged to each other. If I
+have ever been in your debt I am now in a position to repay it with
+interest; if you have been in mine you have now the means to make it
+good to me. I know that you love Charlotte, and she deserves it. I know
+that you are not indifferent to her, and why should she not feel your
+worth? Take her at my hand and give Ottilie to me, and we shall be the
+happiest beings upon the earth."
+
+"If you choose to assign me so high a character," replied the Major, "it
+is the more reason for me to be firm and prudent. Whatever there may be
+in this proposal to make it attractive to me, instead of simplifying the
+problem, it only increases the difficulty of it. The question is now of
+me as well as of you. The fortunes, the good name, the honor of two men,
+hitherto unsullied with a breath, will be exposed to hazard by so
+strange a proceeding, to call it by no harsher name, and we shall appear
+before the world in a highly questionable light."
+
+"Our very characters being what they are," replied Edward, "give us a
+right to take this single liberty. A man who has borne himself honorably
+through a whole life, makes an action honorable which might appear
+ambiguous in others. As concerns myself, after these last trials which I
+have taken upon myself, after the difficult and dangerous actions which
+I have accomplished for others, I feel entitled now to do something for
+myself. For you and Charlotte, that part of the business may, if you
+like it, be given up; but neither you nor any one shall keep me from
+doing what I have determined. If I may look for help and furtherance, I
+shall be ready to do everything which can be wished; but if I am to be
+left to myself, or if obstacles are to be thrown in my way, some
+extremity or other is sure to follow."
+
+The Major thought it his duty to combat Edward's purposes as long as it
+was possible; and now he changed the mode of his attack and tried a
+diversion. He seemed to give way, and only spoke of the form of what
+they would have to do to bring about this separation, and these new
+unions; and so mentioned a number of ugly, undesirable matters, which
+threw Edward into the worst of tempers.
+
+"I see plainly," he cried at last, "that what we desire can only be
+carried by storm, whether it be from our enemies or from our friends. I
+keep clearly before my own eyes what I demand, what, one way or another,
+I must have; and I will seize it promptly and surely. Connections like
+ours, I know very well, cannot be broken up and reconstructed again
+without much being thrown down which is standing, and much having to
+give way which would be glad enough to continue. We shall come to no
+conclusion by thinking about it. All rights are alike to the
+understanding, and it is always easy to throw extra weight into the
+ascending scale. Do you makeup your mind, my friend, to act, and act
+promptly, for me and for yourself. Disentangle and untie the knots, and
+tie them up again. Do not be deterred from it by nice respects. We have
+already given the world something to say about us. It will talk about us
+once more; and when we have ceased to be a nine days' wonder, it will
+forget us as it forgets everything else, and allow us to follow our own
+way without further concern with us." The Major had nothing further to
+say, and was at last obliged to sit silent; while Edward treated the
+affair as now conclusively settled, talked through in detail all that
+had to be done, and pictured the future in every most cheerful color,
+and then he went on again seriously and thoughtfully: "If we think to
+leave ourselves to the hope, to the expectation, that all will go right
+again of itself, that accident will lead us straight, and take care of
+us, it will be a most culpable self-deception. In such a way it would be
+impossible for us to save ourselves, or reestablish our peace again. I
+who have been the innocent cause of it all, how am I ever to console
+myself? By my own importunity I prevailed on Charlotte to write to you
+to stay with us; and Ottilie followed in consequence. We have had no
+more control over what ensued out of this, but we have the power to
+make it innocuous; to guide the new circumstances to our own happiness.
+Can you turn away your eyes from the fair and beautiful prospects which
+I open to us? Can you insist to me, can you insist to us all, on a
+wretched renunciation of them? Do you think it possible? Is it possible?
+Will there be no vexations, no bitterness, no inconvenience to overcome,
+if we resolve to fall back into our old state? and will any good, any
+happiness whatever, arise out of it? Will your own rank, will the high
+position which you have earned, be any pleasure to you, if you are to be
+prevented from visiting me, or from living with me? And after what has
+passed, it would not be anything but painful. Charlotte and I, with all
+our property, would only find ourselves in a melancholy state. And if,
+like other men of the world, you can persuade yourself that years and
+separation will eradicate our feelings, will obliterate impressions so
+deeply engraved; why, then the question is of these very years, which it
+would be better to spend in happiness and comfort than in pain and
+misery. But the last and most important point of all which I have to
+urge is this: supposing that we, our outward and inward condition being
+what it is, could nevertheless make up our minds to wait at all hazards,
+and bear what is laid upon us, what is to become of Ottilie? She must
+leave our family; she must go into society where we shall not be to care
+for her, and she will be driven wretchedly to and fro in a hard, cold
+world. Describe to me any situation in which Ottilie, without me,
+without us, could be happy, and you will then have employed an argument
+which will be stronger than every other; and if I will not promise to
+yield to it, if I will not undertake at once to give up all my own
+hopes, I will at least reconsider the question, and see how what you
+have said will affect it."
+
+This problem was not so easy to solve; at least, no satisfactory answer
+to it suggested itself to his friend, and nothing was left to him except
+to insist again and again, how grave and serious, and in many senses how
+dangerous, the whole undertaking was; and at least that they ought
+maturely to consider how they had better enter upon it. Edward agreed to
+this, and consented to wait before he took any steps; but only under the
+condition that his friend should not leave him until they had come to a
+perfect understanding about it, and until the first measures had been
+taken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Men who are complete strangers, and wholly indifferent to one another,
+if they live a long time together, are sure both of them to expose
+something of their inner nature, and thus a kind of intimacy will arise
+between them. All the more was it to be expected that there would soon
+be no secrets between our two friends, now that they were again under
+the same roof together, and in daily and hourly intercourse. They went
+over again the earlier stages of their history, and the Major confessed
+to Edward that Charlotte had intended Ottilie for him at the time at
+which he returned from abroad, and hoped that some time or other he
+might marry her. Edward was in ecstasies at this discovery; he spoke
+without reserve of the mutual affection of Charlotte and the Major,
+which, because it happened to fall in so conveniently with his own
+wishes, he painted in very lively colors.
+
+Deny it altogether, the Major could not; at the same time, he could not
+altogether acknowledge it. But Edward only insisted on it the more. He
+had pictured the whole thing to himself not as possible, but as already
+concluded; all parties had only to resolve on what they all wished;
+there would be no difficulty in obtaining a separation; the marriages
+should follow as soon after as possible, and Edward could travel with
+Ottilie.
+
+Of all the pleasant things which imagination pictures to us, perhaps
+there is none more charming than when lovers and young married people
+look forward to enjoying their new relation to each other in a fresh,
+new world, and test the endurance of the bond between them in so many
+changing circumstances. The Major and Charlotte were in the meantime to
+have unrestricted powers to settle all questions of money, property, and
+other such important worldly matters; and to do whatever was right and
+proper for the satisfaction of all parties. What Edward dwelt the most
+upon, however, what he seemed to promise himself the most advantage from
+was this:--as the child would have to remain with the mother, the Major
+would charge himself with the education of it; he would train the boy
+according to his own views, and develop what capacities there might be
+in him. It was not for nothing that he had received in his baptism the
+name of Otto, which belonged to them both.
+
+Edward had so completely arranged everything for himself, that he could
+not wait another day to carry it into execution. On their way to the
+castle, they arrived at a small town, where Edward had a house, and
+where he was to stay to await the return of the Major. He could not,
+however, prevail upon himself to alight there at once, and accompanied
+his friend through the place. They were both on horseback, and falling
+into some interesting conversation, rode on further together.
+
+On a sudden they saw, in the distance, the new house on the height, with
+its red tiles shining in the sun. An irresistible longing came over
+Edward; he would have it all settled that very evening; he would remain
+concealed in a village close by. The Major was to urge the business on
+Charlotte with all his power; he would take her prudence by surprise;
+and oblige her by the unexpectedness of his proposal to make a free
+acknowledgment of her feelings. Edward had transferred his own wishes to
+her; he felt certain that he was only meeting her half-way, and that her
+inclinations were as decided as his own; and he looked for an immediate
+consent from her, because he himself could think of nothing else.
+
+Joyfully he saw the prosperous issue before his eyes; and that it might
+be communicated to him as swiftly as possible, a few cannon shots were
+to be fired off, and if it was dark, a rocket or two sent up.
+
+The Major rode to the castle. He did not find Charlotte there; he learnt
+that for the present she was staying at the new house; at that
+particular time, however, she was paying a visit in the neighborhood,
+and she probably would not have returned till late that evening. He
+walked back to the hotel, to which he had previously sent his horse.
+
+Edward, in the meantime, unable to sit still from restlessness and
+impatience, stole away out of his concealment along solitary paths known
+only to foresters and fishermen, into his park; and he found himself
+toward evening in the copse close to the lake, the broad mirror of which
+he now for the first time saw spread out in its perfectness before him.
+
+Ottilie had gone out that afternoon for a walk along the shore. She had
+the child with her, and read as she usually did while she went along.
+She had gone as far as the oak-tree by the ferry. The boy had fallen
+asleep; she sat down; laid it on the ground at her side, and continued
+reading. The book was one of those which attract persons of delicate
+feeling, and afterward will not let them go again. She forgot the time
+and the hours; she never thought what a long way round it was by land to
+the new house; but she sat lost in her book and in herself, so beautiful
+to look at, that the trees and the bushes round her ought to have been
+alive, and to have had eyes given them to gaze upon her and admire her.
+The sun was sinking; a ruddy streak of light fell upon her from behind,
+tinging with gold her cheek and shoulder. Edward, who had made his way
+to the lake without being seen, finding his park desolate, and no trace
+of human creature to be seen anywhere, went on and on. At last he broke
+through the copse behind the oak-tree, and saw her. At the same moment
+she saw him. He flew to her, and threw himself at her feet. After a
+long, silent pause, in which they both endeavored to collect themselves,
+he explained in a few words why and how he had come there. He had sent
+the Major to Charlotte; and perhaps at that moment their common destiny
+was being decided. Never had he doubted her affection, and she assuredly
+had never doubted his. He begged for her consent; she hesitated; he
+implored her. He offered to resume his old privilege, and throw his arms
+around her, and embrace her; she pointed down to the child.
+
+Edward looked at it, and was amazed. "Great God!" he cried; "if I had
+cause to doubt my wife and my friend, this face would witness fearfully
+against them. Is not this the very image of the Major? I never saw such
+a likeness."
+
+"Indeed!" replied Ottilie; "all the world say it is like me."
+
+"Is it possible?" Edward answered; and at the moment the child opened
+its eyes--two large, black, piercing eyes, deep and full of love;
+already the little face was full of intelligence. He seemed as if he
+knew both the figures which he saw standing before him. Edward threw
+himself down beside the child, and then knelt a second time before
+Ottilie. "It is you," he cried; "the eyes are yours! ah, but let me look
+into yours; let me throw a veil over that ill-starred hour which gave
+its being to this little creature. Shall I shock your pure spirit with
+the fearful thought, that man and wife who are estranged from each
+other, can yet press each other to their heart, and profane the bonds by
+which the law unites them by other eager wishes? Oh yes! As I have said
+so much; as my connection with Charlotte must now be severed; as you
+will be mine, why should I not speak out the words to you? This child is
+the offspring of a double adultery. It should have been a tie between my
+wife and myself; but it severs her from me, and me from her. Let it
+witness, then, against me. Let these fair eyes say to yours, that in the
+arms of another I belonged to you. You must feel, Ottilie, oh! you must
+feel, that my fault, my crime, I can only expiate in your arms."
+
+"Hark!" he called out, as he sprang up and listened. He thought that he
+had heard a shot, and that it was the sign which the Major was to give.
+It was the gun of a forester on the adjoining hill. Nothing followed.
+Edward grew impatient.
+
+Ottilie now first observed that the sun was down behind the mountains;
+its last rays were shining on the windows of the house above. "Leave me,
+Edward," she cried; "go. Long as we have been parted, much as we have
+borne, yet remember what we both owe to Charlotte. She must decide our
+fate; do not let us anticipate her judgment. I am yours if she will
+permit it to be so. If she will not, I must renounce you. As you think
+it is now so near an issue, let us wait. Go back to the village, where
+the Major supposes you to be. Is it likely that a rude cannon-shot will
+inform you of the results of such an interview? Perhaps at this moment
+he is seeking for you. He will not have found Charlotte at home; of that
+I am certain. He may have gone to meet her; for they knew at the castle
+where she was. How many things may have happened! Leave me! she must be
+at home by this time; she is expecting me there with the baby."
+
+Ottilie spoke hurriedly; she called together all the possibilities. It
+was too delightful to be with Edward; but she felt that he must now
+leave her. "I beseech, I implore you, my beloved," she cried out; "go
+back and wait for the Major."
+
+"I obey your commands," cried Edward. He gazed at her for a moment with
+rapturous love, and then caught her close in his arms. She wound her own
+about him, and pressed him tenderly to her breast. Hope streamed away,
+like a star shooting in the sky, above their heads. They thought then,
+they believed, that they did indeed belong to each other. For the first
+time they exchanged free, genuine kisses, and separated with pain and
+effort.
+
+The sun had gone down. It was twilight, and a damp mist was rising about
+the lake. Ottilie stood confused and agitated. She looked across to the
+house on the hill, and she thought she saw Charlotte's white dress on
+the balcony.
+
+It was a long way round by the end of the lake; and she knew how
+impatiently Charlotte would be waiting for the child. She saw the
+plane-trees just opposite her, and only a narrow interval of water
+divided her from the path which led straight up to the house. Her
+nervousness about venturing on the water with the child vanished in her
+present embarrassment. She hastened to the boat; she did not feel that
+her heart was beating; that her feet were tottering; that her senses
+were threatening to fail her.
+
+She sprang in, seized the oar, and pushed off. She had to use force; she
+pushed again. The boat shot off, and glided, swaying and rocking into
+the open water. With the child in her left arm, the book in her left
+hand, and the oar in her right, she lost her footing, and fell over the
+seat; the oar slipped from her on one side, and as she tried to recover
+herself, the child and the book slipped on the other, all into the
+water. She caught the floating dress, but lying entangled as she was
+herself, she was unable to rise. Her right hand was free, but she could
+not reach round to help herself up with it; at last she succeeded. She
+drew the child out of the water; but its eyes were closed, and it had
+ceased to breathe.
+
+In a moment, she recovered all her self-possession; but so much the
+greater was her agony; the boat was drifting fast into the middle of the
+lake; the oar was swimming far away from her. She saw no one on the
+shore; and, indeed, if she had, it would have been of no service to her.
+Cut off from all assistance, she was floating on the faithless, unstable
+element.
+
+She sought for help from herself; she had often heard of the recovery of
+the drowned; she had herself witnessed an instance of it on the evening
+of her birthday; she took off the child's clothes, and dried it with her
+muslin dress; she threw open her bosom, laying it bare for the first
+time to the free heaven. For the first time she pressed a living being
+to her pure, naked breast.
+
+[Illustration: OTTILIE. _From the Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach_]
+
+Alas! and it was not a living being. The cold limbs of the ill-starred
+little creature chilled her to the heart. Streams of tears gushed from
+her eyes, and lent a show of life and warmth to the outside of the
+torpid limbs. She persevered with her efforts; she wrapped it in her
+shawl, she drew it close to herself, stroked it, breathed upon it, and
+with tears and kisses labored to supply the help which, cut off as she
+was, she was unable to find.
+
+It was all in vain; the child lay motionless in her arms; motionless the
+boat floated on the glassy water. But even here her beautiful spirit did
+not leave her forsaken. She turned to the Power above. She sank down
+upon her knees in the boat, and with both arms raised the unmoving child
+above her innocent breast, like marble in its whiteness; alas, too, like
+marble, cold; with moist eyes she looked up and cried for help, where a
+tender heart hopes to find it in its fulness when all other help has
+failed.
+
+The stars were beginning one by one to glimmer down upon her; she turned
+to them and not in vain; a soft air stole over the surface, and wafted
+the boat under the plane-trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+She hurried to the new house, and called the surgeon and gave the child
+into his hands. It was carried at once to Charlotte's sleeping-room.
+Cool and collected from a wide experience, he submitted the tender body
+to the usual process. Ottilie stood by him through it all. She prepared
+everything, she fetched everything, but as if she were moving in another
+world; for the height of misfortune, like the height of happiness,
+alters the aspect of every object. And it was only when, after every
+resource had been exhausted, the good man shook his head, and to her
+questions, whether there was hope, first was silent, and then answered
+with a gentle No! that she left the apartment, and had scarcely entered
+the sitting-room, when she fell fainting, with her face upon the carpet,
+unable to reach the sofa.
+
+At that moment Charlotte was heard driving up. The surgeon implored the
+servants to keep back, and allow him to go to meet her and prepare her.
+But he was too late; while he was speaking she had entered the
+drawing-room. She found Ottilie on the ground, and one of the girls of
+the house came running and screaming to her open-mouthed. The surgeon
+entered at the same moment, and she was informed of everything. She
+could not at once, however, give up all hope. She was flying up stairs
+to the child, but the physician besought her to remain where she was. He
+went himself, to deceive her with a show of fresh exertions, and she sat
+down upon the sofa. Ottilie was still lying on the ground; Charlotte
+raised her, and supported her against herself, and her beautiful head
+sank down upon her knee. The kind medical man went backward and forward;
+he appeared to be busy about the child; his real care was for the
+ladies; and so came on midnight, and the stillness grew more and more
+deathly. Charlotte did not try to conceal from herself any longer that
+her child would never return to life again. She desired to see it now.
+It had been wrapped up in warm woolen coverings. And it was brought down
+as it was, lying in its cot, which was placed at her side on the sofa.
+The little face was uncovered; and there it lay in its calm sweet
+beauty.
+
+The report of the accident soon spread through the village; every one
+was aroused, and the story reached the hotel. The Major hurried up the
+well-known road; he went round and round the house; at last he met a
+servant who was going to one of the out-buildings to fetch something. He
+learnt from him in what state things were, and desired him to tell the
+surgeon that he was there. The latter came out, not a little surprised
+at the appearance of his old patron. He told him exactly what had
+happened, and undertook to prepare Charlotte to see him. He then went
+in, began some conversation to distract her attention, and led her
+imagination from one object to another, till at last he brought it to
+rest upon her friend, and the depth of feeling and of sympathy which
+would surely be called out in him. From the imaginative she was brought
+at once to the real. Enough! she was informed that he was at the door,
+that he knew everything and desired to be admitted.
+
+The Major entered. Charlotte received him with a miserable smile. He
+stood before her; she lifted off the green silk covering under which the
+body was lying; and by the dim light of a taper, he saw before him, not
+without a secret shudder, the stiffened image of himself. Charlotte
+pointed to a chair, and there they sat opposite each other, without
+speaking, through the night. Ottilie was still lying motionless on
+Charlotte's knee; she breathed softly, and slept or seemed to sleep.
+
+The morning dawned, the lights went out; the two friends appeared to
+awake out of a heavy dream. Charlotte looked toward the Major, and said
+quietly: "Tell me through what circumstances you have been brought
+hither, to take part in this mourning scene."
+
+"The present is not a time," the Major answered, in the same low tone as
+that in which Charlotte had spoken, for fear lest she might disturb
+Ottilie; "this is not a time, and this is not a place for reserve. The
+condition in which I find you is so fearful that even the earnest matter
+on which I am here loses its importance by the side of it." He then
+informed her, quite calmly and simply, of the object of his mission, in
+so far as he was the ambassador of Edward; of the object of his coming,
+in so far as his own free will and his own interests were concerned in
+it. He laid both before her, delicately but uprightly; Charlotte
+listened quietly, and showed neither surprise nor unwillingness.
+
+As soon as the Major had finished, she replied, in a voice so light that
+to catch her words he was obliged to draw his chair closer to her: "In
+such a case as this I have never before found myself; but in similar
+cases I have always said to myself, how will it be tomorrow? I feel very
+clearly that the fate of many persons is now in my hands, and what I
+have to do is soon said without scruple or hesitation. I consent to the
+separation; I ought to have made up my mind to it before; by my
+unwillingness and reluctance I have destroyed my child. There are
+certain things on which destiny obstinately insists. In vain may reason,
+may virtue, may duty, may all holy feelings place themselves in its way.
+Something shall be done which to it seems good, and which to us seems
+not good; and it forces its own way through at last, let us conduct
+ourselves as we will.
+
+"And, indeed, what am I saying? It is but my own desire, my own purpose,
+against which I acted so unthinkingly, which destiny is again bringing
+in my way? Did I not long ago, in my thoughts, design Edward and Ottilie
+for each other? Did I not myself labor to bring them together? And you,
+my friend, you yourself were an accomplice in my plot. Why, why, could I
+not distinguish mere man's obstinacy from real love? Why did I accept
+his hand, when I could have made him happy as a friend, and when another
+could have made him happy as a wife? And now, look here on this unhappy
+slumberer. I tremble for the moment when she will recover out of this
+half death-sleep into consciousness. How can she endure to live? How
+shall she ever console herself, if she may not hope to make good that to
+Edward, of which, as the instrument of the most wonderful destiny, she
+has deprived him? And she can make it all good again by the passion, by
+the devotion with which she loves him. If love be able to bear all
+things, it is able to do yet more; it can restore all things; of myself
+at such a moment I may not think.
+
+"Do you go quietly away, my dear Major; say to Edward that I consent to
+the separation; that I leave it to him, to you, and to Mittler, to
+settle whatever is to be done. I have no anxiety for my own future
+condition; it may be what it will; it is nothing to me. I will subscribe
+whatever paper is submitted to me, only he must not require me to join
+actively. I cannot have to think about it, or give advice."
+
+The Major rose to go. She stretched out her hand to him across Ottilie.
+He pressed it to his lips, and whispered gently: "And for myself, may I
+hope anything?"
+
+"Do not ask me now!" replied Charlotte. "I will tell you another time.
+We have not deserved to be miserable; but neither can we say that we
+have deserved to be happy together."
+
+The Major left her, and went, feeling for Charlotte to the bottom of his
+heart, but not being able to be sorry for the fate of the poor child.
+Such an offering seemed necessary to him for their general happiness. He
+pictured Ottilie to himself with a child of her own in her arms, as the
+most perfect compensation for the one of which she had deprived Edward.
+He pictured himself with his own son on his knee, who should have better
+right to resemble him than the one which was departed.
+
+With such flattering hopes and fancies passing through his mind, he
+returned to the hotel, and on his way back he met Edward, who had been
+waiting for him the whole night through in the open air, since neither
+rocket nor report of cannon would bring him news of the successful issue
+of his undertaking. He had already heard of the misfortune; and he too,
+instead of being sorry for the poor creature, regarded what had befallen
+it, without being exactly ready to confess it to himself, as a
+convenient accident, through which the only impediment in the way of his
+happiness was at once removed.
+
+The Major at once informed him of his wife's resolution, and he
+therefore easily allowed himself to be prevailed upon to return again
+with him to the village, and from thence to go for a while to the little
+town, where they would consider what was next to be done, and make their
+arrangements.
+
+After the Major had left her, Charlotte sat on, buried in her own
+reflections; but it was only for a few minutes. Ottilie suddenly raised
+herself from her lap, and looked full with her large eyes in her
+friend's face. Then she got up from off the ground, and stood upright
+before her.
+
+"This is the second time," began the noble girl, with an irresistible
+solemnity of manner, "this is the second time that the same thing has
+happened to me. You once said to me that similar things often befall
+people more than once in their lives in a similar way, and if they do,
+it is always at important moments. I now find that what you said is
+true, and I have to make a confession to you. Shortly after my mother's
+death, when I was a very little child, I was sitting one day on a
+footstool close to you. You were on a sofa, as you are at this moment,
+and my head rested on your knees. I was not asleep, I was not awake: I
+was in a trance. I knew everything which was passing about me. I heard
+every word which was said with the greatest distinctness, and yet I
+could not stir, I could not speak; and if I had wished it, I could not
+have given a hint that I was conscious. On that occasion you were
+speaking about me to one of your friends; you were commiserating my
+fate, left as I was a poor orphan in the world. You described my
+dependent position, and how unfortunate a future was before me, unless
+some very happy star watched over me. I understood well what you said. I
+saw, perhaps too clearly, what you appeared to hope of me, and what you
+thought I ought to do. I made rules to myself, according to such limited
+insight as I had, and by these I have long lived; by these, at the time
+when you so kindly took charge of me, and had me with you in your house,
+I regulated whatever I did and whatever I left undone.
+
+"But I have wandered out of my course; I have broken my rules; I have
+lost the very power of feeling them. And now, after a dreadful
+occurrence, you have again made clear to me my situation, which is more
+pitiable than the first. While lying in a half torpor on your lap, I
+have again, as if out of another world, heard every syllable which you
+uttered. I know from you how all is with me. I shudder at the thought of
+myself; but again, as I did then, in my half sleep of death, I have
+marked out my new path for myself.
+
+"I am determined, as I was before, and what I have determined I must
+tell you at once. I will never be Edward's wife. In a terrible manner
+God has opened my eyes to see the sin in which I was entangled. I will
+atone for it, and let no one think to move me from my purpose. It is by
+this, my dearest, kindest friend, that you must govern your own conduct.
+Send for the Major to come back to you. Write to him that no steps must
+be taken. It made me miserable that I could not stir or speak when he
+went. I tried to rise--I tried to cry out. Oh, why did you let him leave
+you with such unlawful hopes!"
+
+Charlotte saw Ottilie's condition, and she felt for it; but she hoped
+that by time and persuasion she might be able to prevail upon her. On
+her uttering a few words, however, which pointed to a future--to a time
+when her sufferings would be alleviated, and when there might be better
+room for hope, "No!" Ottilie cried, with vehemence, "do not endeavor to
+move me; do not seek to deceive me. At the moment at which I learn that
+you have consented to the separation, in that same lake I will expiate
+my errors and my crimes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+Friends and relatives, and all persons living in the same house
+together, are apt, when life is going smoothly and peacefully with them,
+to make what they are doing, or what they are going to do, even more
+than is right or necessary, a subject of constant conversation. They
+talk to each other of their plans and their occupations, and, without
+exactly taking one another's advice, consider and discuss together the
+entire progress of their lives. But this is far from being the case in
+serious moments; just when it would seem men most require the assistance
+and support of others, they all draw singly within themselves, every one
+to act for himself, every one to work in his own fashion; they conceal
+from one another the particular means which they employ, and only the
+result, the object, the thing which they realize, is again made common
+property.
+
+After so many strange and unfortunate incidents, a sort of silent
+seriousness had passed over the two ladies, which showed itself in a
+sweet mutual effort to spare each other's feelings. The child had been
+buried privately in the chapel. It rested there as the first offering to
+a destiny full of ominous foreshadowings.
+
+Charlotte, as soon as ever she could, turned back to life and
+occupation, and here she first found Ottilie standing in need of her
+assistance. She occupied herself almost entirely with her, without
+letting it be observed. She knew how deeply the noble girl loved Edward.
+She had discovered by degrees the scene which had preceded the accident,
+and had gathered every circumstance of it, partly from Ottilie herself,
+partly from the letters of the Major.
+
+Ottilie, on her side, made Charlotte's immediate life much more easy for
+her. She was open, and even talkative, but she never spoke of the
+present, or of what had lately passed. She had been a close and
+thoughtful observer. She knew much, and now it all came to the surface.
+She entertained, she amused Charlotte, and the latter still nourished a
+hope in secret to see her married to Edward after all.
+
+But something very different was passing in Ottilie. She had disclosed
+the secret of the course of her life to her friend, and she showed no
+more of her previous restraint and submissiveness. By her repentance and
+her resolution she felt herself freed from the burden of her fault and
+her misfortune. She had no more violence to do to herself. In the bottom
+of her heart she had forgiven herself solely under condition of the
+fullest renunciation, and it was a condition which would remain binding
+for all time to come.
+
+So passed away some time, and Charlotte now felt how deeply house and
+park, and lake and rocks and trees, served to keep alive in them all
+their most painful reminiscences. They wanted change of scene, both of
+them, it was plain enough; but how it was to be effected was not so
+easy to decide.
+
+Were the two ladies to remain together? Edward's previously expressed
+will appeared to enjoin it--his declarations and his threats appeared to
+make it necessary; only it could not be now mistaken that Charlotte and
+Ottilie, with all their good will, with all their sense, with all their
+efforts to conceal it, could not avoid finding themselves in a painful
+situation toward each other. In their conversation there was a constant
+endeavor to avoid doubtful subjects. They were often obliged only half
+to understand some allusion; more often, expressions were
+misinterpreted, if not by their understandings, at any rate by their
+feelings. They were afraid to give pain to each other, and this very
+fear itself produced the evil which they were seeking to avoid.
+
+If they were to try change of scene, and at the same time (at any rate
+for a while) to part, the old question came up again: Where was Ottilie
+to go? There was the grand, rich family, who still wanted a desirable
+companion for their daughter, their attempts to find a person whom they
+could trust having hitherto proved ineffectual. The last time the
+Baroness had been at the castle, she had urged Charlotte to send Ottilie
+there, and she had been lately pressing it again and again in her
+letters. Charlotte now a second time proposed it; but Ottilie expressly
+declined going anywhere, where she would be thrown into what is called
+the great world.
+
+"Do not think me foolish or self-willed, my dear aunt," she said; "I had
+better tell you what I feel, for fear you should judge hardly of me;
+although in any other case it would be my duty to be silent. A person
+who has fallen into uncommon misfortunes, however guiltless he may be,
+carries a frightful mark upon him. His presence, in every one who sees
+him and is aware of his history, excites a kind of horror. People see in
+him the terrible fate which has been laid upon him, and he is the object
+of a diseased and nervous curiosity. It is so with a house, it is so
+with a town, where any terrible action has been done; people enter them
+with awe; the light of day shines less brightly there, and the stars
+seem to lose their lustre.
+
+"Perhaps we ought to excuse it, but how extreme is the indiscretion with
+which people behave toward such unfortunates, with their foolish
+importunities and awkward kindness! You must forgive me for speaking in
+this way, but that poor girl whom Luciana tempted out of her retirement,
+and with such mistaken good nature tried to force into society and
+amusement, has haunted me and made me miserable. The poor creature, when
+she was so frightened and tried to escape, and then sank and swooned
+away, and I caught her in my arms, and the party came all crowding round
+in terror and curiosity!--little did I think, then, that the same fate
+was in store for me. But my feeling for her is as deep and warm and
+fresh as ever it was; and now I may direct my compassion upon myself,
+and secure myself from being the object of any similar exposure."
+
+"But, my dear child," answered Charlotte, "you will never be able to
+withdraw yourself where no one can see you; we have no cloisters now:
+otherwise, there, with your present feelings, would be your resource."
+
+"Solitude would not give me the resource for which I wish, my dear
+aunt," answered Ottilie. "The one true and valuable resource is to be
+looked for where we can be active and useful; all the self-denials and
+all the penances on earth will fail to deliver us from an evil-omened
+destiny, if it be determined to persecute us. Let me sit still in
+idleness and serve as a spectacle for the world, and it will overpower
+me and crush me. But find me some peaceful employment, where I can go
+steadily and unweariedly on doing my duty, and I shall be able to bear
+the eyes of men, when I need not shrink under the eyes of God."
+
+"Unless I am much mistaken," replied Charlotte, "your inclination is to
+return to the school."
+
+"Yes," Ottilie answered; "I do not deny it. I think it a happy
+destination to train up others in the beaten way, after having been
+trained in the strangest myself. And do we not see the same great fact
+in history? some moral calamity drives men out into the wilderness; but
+they are not allowed to remain as they had hoped in their concealment
+there. They are summoned back into the world, to lead the wanderers into
+the right way; and who are fitter for such a service, than those who
+have been initiated into the labyrinths of life? They are commanded to
+be the support of the unfortunate; and who can better fulfil that
+command than those who have no more misfortunes to fear upon earth?"
+
+"You are selecting an uncommon profession for yourself," replied
+Charlotte. "I shall not oppose you, how ever. Let it be as you wish;
+only I hope it will be but for a short time."
+
+"Most warmly I thank you," said Ottilie, "for giving me leave at least
+to try, to make the experiment. If I am not flattering myself too
+highly, I am sure I shall succeed: wherever I am, I shall remember the
+many trials which I went through myself, and how small, how infinitely
+small they were compared to those which I afterward had to undergo. It
+will be my happiness to watch the embarrassments of the little creatures
+as they grow; to cheer them in their childish sorrows, and guide them
+back with a light hand out of their little aberrations. The fortunate is
+not the person to be of help to the unfortunate; it is in the nature of
+man to require ever more and more of himself and others, the more he has
+received. The unfortunate who has himself recovered, knows best how to
+nourish, in himself and them, the feeling that every moderate good ought
+to be enjoyed with rapture."
+
+"I have but one objection to make to what you propose," said Charlotte,
+after some thought, "although that one seems to me of great importance.
+I am not thinking of you, but of another person: you are aware of the
+feelings toward you of that good, right-minded, excellent Assistant. In
+the way in which you desire to proceed, you will become every day more
+valuable and more indispensable to him. Already he himself believes that
+he can never live happily without you, and hereafter, when he has become
+accustomed to have you to work with him, he will be unable to carry on
+his business if he loses you; you will have assisted him at the
+beginning only to injure him in the end."
+
+"Destiny has not dealt with me with too gentle a hand," replied Ottilie;
+"and whoever loves me has perhaps not much better to expect. Our friend
+is so good and so sensible, that I hope he will be able to reconcile
+himself to remaining in a simple relation with me; he will learn to see
+in me a consecrated person, lying under the shadow of an awful calamity,
+and only able to support herself and bear up against it by devoting
+herself to that Holy Being who is invisibly around us, and alone is able
+to shield us from the dark powers which threaten to overwhelm us."
+
+All this, which the dear girl poured out so warmly, Charlotte privately
+reflected over; on many different occasions, although only in the
+gentlest manner, she had hinted at the possibility of Ottilie's being
+brought again in contact with Edward; but the slightest mention of it,
+the faintest hope, the least suspicion, seemed to wound Ottilie to the
+quick. One day when she could not evade it, she expressed herself to
+Charlotte clearly and peremptorily on the subject.
+
+"If your resolution to renounce Edward," returned Charlotte, "is so firm
+and unalterable, then you had better avoid the danger of seeing him
+again. At a distance from the object of our love, the warmer our
+affection, the stronger is the control which we fancy that we can
+exercise on ourselves; because the whole force of the passion, diverted
+from its outward objects, turns inward on ourselves. But how soon, how
+swiftly is our mistake made clear to us, when the thing which we thought
+that we could renounce, stands again before our eyes as indispensable to
+us! You must now do what you consider best suited to your
+circumstances. Look well into yourself; change, if you prefer it, the
+resolution which you have just expressed. But do it of yourself, with a
+free consenting heart. Do not allow yourself to be drawn in by an
+accident; do not let yourself be surprised into your former position. It
+will place you at issue with yourself and will be intolerable to you. As
+I said, before you take this step, before you remove from me, and enter
+upon a new life, which will lead you no one knows in what direction,
+consider once more whether really, indeed, you can renounce Edward for
+the whole time to come. If you have faithfully made up your mind that
+you will do this, then will you enter into an engagement with me, that
+you will never admit him into your presence; and if he seeks you out and
+forces himself upon you, that you will not exchange words with him?"
+
+Ottilie did not hesitate a moment; she gave Charlotte the promise, which
+she had already made to herself.
+
+Now, however, Charlotte began to be haunted with Edward's threat, that
+he would only consent to renounce Ottilie, as long as she was not parted
+from Charlotte. Since that time, indeed, circumstances were so altered,
+so many things had happened, that an engagement which was wrung from him
+in a moment of excitement might well be supposed to have been cancelled.
+She was unwilling, however, in the remotest sense to venture anything or
+to undertake anything which might displease him, and Mittler was
+therefore to find Edward, and inquire what, as things now were, he
+wished to be done.
+
+Since the death of the child, Mittler had often been at the castle to
+see Charlotte, although only for a few moments at a time. The unhappy
+accident which had made her reconciliation with her husband in the
+highest degree improbable, had produced a most painful effect upon him.
+But ever, as his nature was, hoping and striving, he rejoiced secretly
+at the resolution of Ottilie. He trusted to the softening influence of
+passing time; he hoped that it might still be possible to keep the
+husband and the wife from separating; and he tried to regard these
+convulsions of passion only as trials of wedded love and fidelity.
+
+Charlotte, at the very first, had informed the Major by letter of
+Ottilie's declaration. She had entreated him most earnestly to prevail
+on Edward to take no further steps for the present. They should keep
+quiet and wait, and see whether the poor girl's spirits would recover.
+She had let him know from time to time whatever was necessary of what
+had more lately fallen from her. And now Mittler had to undertake the
+really difficult commission of preparing Edward for an alteration in her
+situation. Mittler, however, well knowing that men can be brought more
+easily to submit to what is already done, than to give their consent to
+what is yet to be done, persuaded Charlotte that it would be better to
+send Ottilie off at once to the school.
+
+Consequently, as soon as Mittler was gone, preparations were at once
+made for the journey. Ottilie put her things together; and Charlotte
+observed that neither the beautiful box, nor anything out of it, was to
+go with her. Ottilie had said nothing to her on the subject; and she
+took no notice, but let her alone. The day of the departure came;
+Charlotte's carriage was to take Ottilie the first day as far as a place
+where they were well known, where she was to pass the night, and on the
+second she would go on in it to the school. It was settled that Nanny
+was to accompany her, and remain as her attendant.
+
+This capricious little creature had found her way back to her mistress
+after the death of the child, and now hung about her as warmly and
+passionately as ever; indeed she seemed, with her loquacity and
+attentiveness, as if she wished to make good her past neglect, and
+henceforth devote herself entirely to Ottilie's service. She was quite
+beside herself now for joy at the thought of traveling with her, and of
+seeing strange places, when she had hitherto never been away from the
+scene of her birth; and she ran from the castle to the village to carry
+the news of her good fortune to her parents and her relations, and to
+take leave.
+
+Unluckily for herself, she went, among other places, into a room where
+a person was who had the measles, and caught the infection, which came
+out upon her at once. The journey could not be postponed. Ottilie
+herself was urgent to go. She had traveled once already the same road.
+She knew the people of the hotel where she was to sleep. The coachman
+from the castle was going with her. There could be nothing to fear.
+
+Charlotte made no opposition. She, too, in thought, was making haste to
+be clear of present embarrassments. The rooms which Ottilie had occupied
+at the castle she would have prepared for Edward as soon as possible,
+and restored to the old state in which they had been before the arrival
+of the Captain. The hope of bringing back old happy days burns up again
+and again in us, as if it never could be extinguished. And Charlotte was
+quite right; there was nothing else for her except to hope as she did.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+When Mittler was come to talk the matter over with Edward, he found him
+sitting by himself, with his head supported on his right hand, and his
+arm resting on the table. He appeared in great suffering.
+
+"Is your headache troubling you again?" asked Mittler.
+
+"It is troubling me," answered he; "and yet I cannot wish it were not
+so, for it reminds me of Ottilie. She too, I say to myself, is also
+suffering in the same way at this same moment, and suffering more
+perhaps than I; and why cannot I bear it as well as she? These pains are
+good for me. I might almost say that they were welcome; for they serve
+to bring out before me with the greater vividness her patience and all
+her other graces. It is only when we suffer ourselves, that we feel
+really the true nature of all the high qualities which are required to
+bear suffering."
+
+Mittler, finding his friend so far resigned, did not hesitate to
+communicate the message with which he had been sent. He brought it out
+piecemeal, however; in order of time, as the idea had itself arisen
+between the ladies, and had gradually ripened into a purpose. Edward
+scarcely made an objection. From the little which he said, it appeared
+as if he was willing to leave everything to them; the pain which he was
+suffering at the moment making him indifferent to all besides.
+
+Scarcely, however, was he again alone, than he got up, and walked
+rapidly up and down the room; he forgot his pain, his attention now
+turning to what was external to himself. Mittler's story had stirred the
+embers of his love, and awakened his imagination in all its vividness.
+He saw Ottilie by herself, or as good as by herself, traveling on a road
+which was well known to him--in a hotel with every room of which he was
+familiar. He thought, he considered, or rather he neither thought nor
+considered; he only wished--he only desired. He would see her; he would
+speak to her. Why, or for what good end that was to come of it, he did
+not care to ask himself; but he made up his mind at once. He must do it.
+
+He summoned his valet into his council, and through him he made himself
+acquainted with the day and hour when Ottilie was to set out. The
+morning broke. Without taking any person with him, Edward mounted his
+horse, and rode off to the place where she was to pass the night. He was
+there too soon. The hostess was overjoyed at the sight of him; she was
+under heavy obligations to him for a service which he had been able to
+do for her. Her son had been in the army, where he had conducted himself
+with remarkable gallantry. He had performed one particular action of
+which no one had been a witness but Edward; and the latter had spoken of
+it to the commander-in-chief in terms of such high praise that,
+notwithstanding the opposition of various ill-wishers, he had obtained a
+decoration for him. The mother, therefore, could never do enough for
+Edward. She got ready her best room for him, which indeed was her own
+wardrobe and store-room, with all possible speed. He informed her,
+however, that a young lady was coming to pass the night there, and he
+ordered an apartment for her at the back, at the end of the gallery. It
+sounded a mysterious sort of affair; but the hostess was ready to do
+anything to please her patron, who appeared so interested and so busy
+about it. And he, what were his sensations as he watched through the
+long, weary hours till evening? He examined the room round and round in
+which he was to see her; with all its strangeness and homeliness it
+seemed to him to be an abode for angels. He thought over and over what
+he had better do; whether he should take her by surprise, or whether he
+should prepare her for meeting him. At last the second course seemed the
+preferable one. He sat down and wrote a letter, which she was to read:
+
+EDWARD TO OTTILIE
+
+"While you read this letter, my best beloved, I am close to you. Do not
+agitate yourself; do not be alarmed; you have nothing to fear from me. I
+will not force myself upon you. I will see you or not, as you yourself
+shall choose.
+
+"Consider, oh! consider your condition and mine. How must I not thank
+you, that you have taken no decisive step! But the step which you have
+taken is significant enough. Do not persist in it. Here, as it were, at
+a parting of the ways, reflect once again. Can you be mine:--will you be
+mine? Oh, you will be showing mercy on us all if you will; and on me,
+infinite mercy.
+
+"Let me see you again!--happily, joyfully see you once more! Let me make
+my request to you with my own lips; and do you give me your answer your
+own beautiful self, on my breast, Ottilie! where you have so often
+rested, and which belongs to you for ever!"
+
+As he was writing, the feeling rushed over him that what he was longing
+for was coming--was close--would be there almost immediately. By that
+door she would come in; she would read that letter; she in her own
+person would stand there before him as she used to stand; she for whose
+appearance he had thirsted so long. Would she be the same as she
+was?--was her form, were her feelings changed? He still held the pen in
+his hand; he was going to write as he thought, when the carriage rolled
+into the court. With a few hurried strokes he added: "I hear you coming.
+For a moment, farewell!"
+
+He folded the letter, and directed it. He had no time for sealing. He
+darted into the room through which there was a second outlet into the
+gallery, when the next moment he recollected that he had left his watch
+and seals lying on the table. She must not see these first. He ran back
+and brought them away with him. At the same instant he heard the hostess
+in the antechamber showing Ottilie the way to her apartments. He sprang
+to the bedroom door. It was shut. In his haste, as he had come back for
+his watch, he had forgotten to take out the key, which had fallen out,
+and lay the other side. The door had closed with a spring, and he could
+not open it. He pushed at it with all his might, but it would not yield.
+Oh, how gladly would he have been a spirit, to escape through its
+cracks! In vain. He hid his face against the panels. Ottilie entered,
+and the hostess, seeing him, retired. From Ottilie herself, too, he
+could not remain concealed for a moment. He turned toward her; and there
+stood the lovers once more, in such strange fashion, in each other's
+presence. She looked at him calmly and earnestly, without advancing or
+retiring. He made a movement to approach her, and she withdrew a few
+steps toward the table. He stepped back again. "Ottilie!" he cried
+aloud, "Ottilie! let me break this frightful silence! Are we shadows,
+that we stand thus gazing at each other? Only listen to me; listen to
+this at least. It is an accident that you find me here thus. There is a
+letter on the table, at your side there, which was to have prepared you.
+Read it, I implore you--read it--and then determine as you will!"
+
+She looked down at the letter; and after thinking a few seconds, she
+took it up, opened it, and read it: she finished it without a change of
+expression; and she laid it lightly down; then joining the palms of her
+hands together, turning them upward, and drawing them against her
+breast, she leant her body a little forward, and regarded Edward with
+such a look, that, eager as he was, he was compelled to renounce
+everything he wished or desired of her. Such an attitude cut him to the
+heart; he could not bear it. It seemed exactly as if she would fall upon
+her knees before him, if he persisted. He hurried in despair out of the
+room, and leaving her alone, sent the hostess in to her.
+
+He walked up and down the antechamber. Night had come on, and there was
+no sound in the room. At last the hostess came out and drew the key out
+of the lock. The good woman was embarrassed and agitated, not knowing
+what it would be proper for her to do. At last as she turned to go, she
+offered the key to Edward, who refused it; and putting down the candle,
+she went away.
+
+In misery and wretchedness, Edward flung himself down on the threshold
+of the door which divided him from Ottilie, moistening it with his tears
+as he lay. A more unhappy night had been seldom passed by two lovers in
+such close neighborhood!
+
+Day came at last. The coachman brought round the carriage, and the
+hostess unlocked the door and went in. Ottilie was asleep in her
+clothes; she went back and beckoned to Edward with a significant smile.
+They both entered and stood before her as she lay; but the sight was too
+much for Edward. He could not bear it. She was sleeping so quietly that
+the hostess did not like to disturb her, but sat down opposite her,
+waiting till she woke. At last Ottilie opened her beautiful eyes, and
+raised herself on her feet. She declined taking any breakfast, and then
+Edward went in again and stood before her. He entreated her to speak but
+one word to him; to tell him what she desired. He would do it, be it
+what it would, he swore to her; but she remained silent. He asked her
+once more, passionately and tenderly, whether she would be his. With
+downcast eyes, and with the deepest tenderness of manner she shook her
+head in a gentle _No_. He asked if she still desired to go to the
+school. Without any show of feeling she declined. Would she then go back
+to Charlotte? She inclined her head in token of assent, with a look of
+comfort and relief. He went to the window to give directions to the
+coachman, and when his back was turned she darted like lightning out of
+the room, and was down the stairs and in the carriage in an instant. The
+coachman drove back along the road which he had come the day before, and
+Edward followed at some distance on horseback.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+It was with the utmost surprise that Charlotte saw the carriage drive up
+with Ottilie, and Edward at the same moment ride into the court-yard of
+the castle. She ran down to the hall. Ottilie alighted, and approached
+her and Edward. Violently and eagerly she caught the hands of the wife
+and husband, pressed them together, and hurried off to her own room.
+Edward threw himself on Charlotte's neck and burst into tears. He could
+not give her any explanation; he besought her to have patience with him,
+and to go at once to see Ottilie. Charlotte followed her to her room,
+and she could not enter it without a shudder. It had been all cleared
+out. There was nothing to be seen but the empty walls, which stood there
+looking cheerless, vacant, and miserable. Everything had been carried
+away except the little box, which from an uncertainty what was to be
+done with it, had been left in the middle of the room. Ottilie was lying
+stretched upon the ground, her arm and head leaning across the cover.
+Charlotte bent anxiously over her, and asked what had happened; but she
+received no answer.
+
+Her maid had come with restoratives. Charlotte left her with Ottilie,
+and herself hastened back to Edward. She found him in the saloon, but he
+could tell her nothing.
+
+He threw himself down before her; he bathed her hands with tears; he
+flew to his own room, and she was going to follow him thither, when she
+met his valet. From this man she gathered as much as he was able to
+tell. The rest she put together in her own thoughts as well as she
+could, and then at once set herself resolutely to do what the exigencies
+of the moment required. Ottilie's room was put to rights again as
+quickly as possible; Edward found his, to the last paper, exactly as he
+had left it.
+
+The three appeared again to fall into some sort of relation with one
+another. But Ottilie persevered in her silence, and Edward could do
+nothing except entreat his wife to exert a patience which seemed wanting
+to himself. Charlotte sent messengers to Mittler and to the Major. The
+first was absent from home and could not be found. The latter came. To
+him Edward poured out all his heart, confessing every most trifling
+circumstance to him, and thus Charlotte learnt fully what had passed;
+what it had been which had produced such violent excitement, and how so
+strange an alteration of their mutual position had been brought about.
+
+She spoke with the utmost tenderness to her husband. She had nothing to
+ask of him, except that for the present he would leave the poor girl to
+herself. Edward was not insensible to the worth, the affection, the
+strong sense of his wife; but his passion absorbed him exclusively.
+Charlotte tried to cheer him with hopes. She promised that she herself
+would make no difficulties about the separation; but it had small effect
+with him. He was so much shaken that hope and faith alternately forsook
+him. A species of insanity appeared to have taken possession of him. He
+urged Charlotte to promise to give her hand to the Major. To satisfy him
+and to humor him, she did what he required. She engaged to become
+herself the wife of the Major, in the event of Ottilie consenting to the
+marriage with Edward; with this express condition, however, that for the
+present the two gentlemen should go abroad together. The Major had a
+foreign appointment from the Court, and it was settled that Edward
+should accompany him. They arranged it all together, and in doing so
+found a sort of comfort for themselves in the sense that at least
+something was being done.
+
+In the meantime they had to remark that Ottilie took scarcely anything
+to eat or drink. She still persisted in refusing to speak. They at first
+used to talk to her, but it appeared to distress her, and they left it
+off. We are not, universally at least, so weak as to persist in
+torturing people for their good. Charlotte thought over what could
+possibly be done. At last she fancied it might be well to ask the
+Assistant of the school to come to them. He had much influence with
+Ottilie, and had been writing with much anxiety to inquire the cause of
+her not having arrived at the time he had been expecting her; but as yet
+she had not sent him any answer.
+
+In order not to take Ottilie by surprise, they spoke of their intention
+of sending this invitation in her presence. It did not seem to please
+her; she thought for some little time; at last she appeared to have
+formed some resolution. She retired to her own room, and before the
+evening sent the following letter to the assembled party:
+
+OTTILIE TO HER FRIENDS
+
+"Why need I express in words, my dear friends, what is in itself so
+plain? I have stepped out of my course, and I cannot recover it again. A
+malignant spirit which has gained power over me seems to hinder me from
+without, even if within I could again become at peace with myself.
+
+"My purpose was entirely firm to renounce Edward, and to separate myself
+from him for ever. I had hoped that we might never meet again; it has
+turned out otherwise. Against his own will he stood before me. Too
+literally, perhaps, I have observed my promise never to admit him into
+conversation with me. My conscience and the feelings of the moment kept
+me silent toward him at the time, and now I have nothing more to say. I
+have taken upon myself, under the accidental impulse of the moment, a
+difficult vow, which if it had been formed deliberately, might perhaps
+be painful and distressing. Let me now persist in the observance of it
+so long as my heart shall enjoin it to me. Do not call in any one to
+mediate; do not insist upon my speaking; do not urge me to eat or to
+drink more than I absolutely must. Bear with me and let me alone, and so
+help me on through the time; I am young, and youth has many unexpected
+means of restoring itself. Endure my presence among you; cheer me with
+your love; make me wiser and better with what you say to one another:
+but leave me to my own inward self."
+
+The two friends had made all preparation for their journey, but their
+departure was still delayed by the formalities of the foreign
+appointment of the Major, a delay most welcome to Edward. Ottilie's
+letter had roused all his eagerness again; he had gathered hope and
+comfort from her words, and now felt himself encouraged and justified in
+remaining and waiting. He declared, therefore, that he would not go; it
+would be folly, indeed, he cried, of his own accord, to throw away, by
+over precipitateness, what was most valuable and most necessary to him,
+when although there was a danger of losing it, there was nevertheless a
+chance that it might be preserved. "What is the right name of conduct
+such as that?" he said. "It is only that we desire to show that we are
+able to will and to choose. I myself, under the influences of the same
+ridiculous folly, have torn myself away, days before there was any
+necessity for it, from my friends, merely that I might not be forced to
+go by the definite expiration of my term. This time I will stay: what
+reason is there for my going; is she not already removed far enough from
+me? I am not likely now to catch her hand or press her to my heart; I
+could not even think of it without a shudder. She has not separated
+herself from me; she has raised herself far above me."
+
+And so he remained as he desired, as he was obliged; but he was never
+easy except when he found himself with Ottilie. She, too, had the same
+feeling with him; she could not tear herself away from the same happy
+necessity. On all sides they exerted an indescribable, almost magical
+power of attraction over each other. Living, as they were, under one
+roof, without even so much as thinking of each other, although they
+might be occupied with other things, or diverted this way or that way by
+the other members of the party, they always drew together. If they were
+in the same room, in a short time they were sure to be either standing
+or sitting near each other; they were only easy when as close together
+as they could be, but they were then completely happy. To be near was
+enough; there was no need for them either to look or to speak: they did
+not seek to touch one another, or make sign or gesture, but merely to be
+together. Then there were not two persons, there was but one person in
+unconscious and perfect content, at peace with itself and with the
+world. So it was that, if either of them had been imprisoned at the
+further end of the house, the other would by degrees, without intending
+it, have moved forward like a bird toward its mate; life to them was a
+riddle, the solution of which they could find only in union.
+
+Ottilie was throughout so cheerful and quiet that they were able to feel
+perfectly easy about her; she was seldom absent from the society of her
+friends: all that she had desired was that she might be allowed to eat
+alone, with no one to attend upon her but Nanny.
+
+What habitually befalls any person repeats itself more often than one is
+apt to suppose, because his own nature gives the immediate occasion for
+it. Character, individuality, inclination, tendency, locality,
+circumstance, and habits, form together a whole, in which every man
+moves as in an atmosphere, and where only he feels himself at ease in
+his proper element.
+
+And so we find men, of whose changeableness so many complaints are
+made, after many years, to our surprise, unchanged, and in all their
+infinite tendencies, outward and inward, unchangeable.
+
+Thus in the daily life of our friends, almost everything glided on again
+in its old smooth track. Ottilie still displayed by many silent
+attentions her obliging nature, and the others, like her, continued each
+themselves; and then the domestic circle exhibited an image of their
+former life, so like it that they might be pardoned if at times they
+dreamt that it might all be again as it was.
+
+The autumn days, which were of the same length with those old spring
+days, brought the party back into the house out of the air about the
+same hour. The gay fruits and flowers which belonged to the season might
+have made them fancy it was now the autumn of that first spring, and the
+interval dropped out and forgotten; for the flowers which now were
+blooming were the same as those which then they had sown, and the fruits
+which were now ripening on the trees were those which at that time they
+had seen in blossom.
+
+The Major went backward and forward, and Mittler came frequently. The
+evenings were generally spent in exactly the same way. Edward usually
+read aloud, with more life and feeling than before; much better, and
+even, it may be said, with more cheerfulness. It appeared as if he was
+endeavoring, by light-heartedness as much as by devotion, to quicken
+Ottilie's torpor into life, and dissolve her silence. He seated himself
+in the same position as he used to do, that she might look over his
+book; he was uneasy and distracted unless she was doing so, unless he
+was sure that she was following his words with her eyes.
+
+Every trace had vanished of the unpleasant, ungracious feelings of the
+intervening time. No one had any secret complaint against another; there
+were no cross purposes, no bitterness. The Major accompanied Charlotte's
+playing with his violin, and Edward's flute sounded again, as formerly,
+in harmony with Ottilie's piano. Thus they were now approaching Edward's
+birthday, which the year before they had missed celebrating. This time
+they were to keep it without any outward festivities, in quiet enjoyment
+among themselves. They had so settled it together, half expressly, half
+from a tacit agreement. As they approached nearer to this epoch,
+however, an anxiety about it, which had hitherto been more felt than
+observed, became more noticeable in Ottilie's manner. She was to be seen
+often in the garden examining the flowers: she had signified to the
+gardener that he was to save as many as he could of every sort, and she
+had been especially occupied with the asters, which this year were
+blooming in beautiful profusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The most remarkable feature, however, which was observed about Ottilie
+was that, for the first time, she had now unpacked the box, and had
+selected a variety of things out of it, which she had cut up, and which
+were intended evidently to make one complete suit for her. The rest,
+with Nanny's assistance, she had endeavored to replace again, and she
+had been hardly able to get it done, the space being over full, although
+a portion had been taken out. The covetous little Nanny could never
+satisfy herself with looking at all the pretty things, especially as she
+found provision made there for every article of dress which could be
+wanted, even the smallest. Numbers of shoes and stockings, garters with
+devices on them, gloves, and various other things were left, and she
+begged Ottilie just to give her one or two of them. Ottilie refused to
+do that, but opened a drawer in her wardrobe, and told the girl to take
+what she liked. The latter hastily and awkwardly dashed in her hand and
+seized what she could, running off at once with her booty, to show it
+off and display her good fortune among the rest of the servants.
+
+At last Ottilie succeeded in packing everything carefully into its
+place. She then opened a secret compartment which was contrived in the
+lid, where she kept a number of notes and letters from Edward, many
+dried flowers, the mementos of their early walks together, a lock of his
+hair, and various other little matters. She now added one more to them,
+her father's portrait, and then locked it all up, and hung the delicate
+key by a gold chain about her neck, against her heart.
+
+In the meantime, her friends had now in their hearts begun to entertain
+the best hopes for her. Charlotte was convinced that she would one day
+begin to speak again. She had latterly seen signs about her which
+implied that she was engaged in secret about something; a look of
+cheerful self-satisfaction, a smile like that which hangs about the face
+of persons who have something pleasant and delightful which they are
+keeping concealed from those whom they love. No one knew that she spent
+many hours in extreme exhaustion, and that only at rare intervals, when
+she appeared in public through the power of her will, she was able to
+rouse herself.
+
+Mittler had latterly been a frequent visitor, and when he came he staid
+longer than he usually did at other times. This strong-willed, resolute
+person was only too well aware that there is a certain moment in which
+alone it will answer to smite the iron. Ottilie's silence and reserve he
+interpreted according to his own wishes; no steps had as yet been taken
+toward a separation of the husband and wife. He hoped to be able to
+determine the fortunes of the poor girl in some not undesirable way. He
+listened; he allowed himself to seem convinced; he was discreet and
+unobtrusive, and conducted himself in his own way with sufficient
+prudence. There was but one occasion on which he uniformly forgot
+himself--when he found an opportunity for giving his opinion upon
+subjects to which he attached a great importance. He lived much within
+himself, and when he was with others, his only relation to them
+generally was in active employment on their behalf; but if once, when
+among friends, his tongue broke fairly loose, as on more than one
+occasion we have already seen, he rolled out his words in utter
+recklessness, whether they wounded or whether they pleased, whether they
+did evil or whether they did good.
+
+The evening before the birthday, the Major and Charlotte were sitting
+together expecting Edward, who had gone out for a ride; Mittler was
+walking up and down the saloon; Ottilie was in her own room, laying out
+the dress which she was to wear on the morrow, and making signs to her
+maid about a number of things, which the girl, who perfectly understood
+her silent language, arranged as she was ordered.
+
+Mittler had fallen exactly on his favorite subject. One of the points on
+which he used most to insist was, that in the education of children, as
+well as in the conduct of nations, there was nothing more worthless and
+barbarous than laws and commandments forbidding this and that action.
+"Man is naturally active," he said, "wherever he is; and if you know how
+to tell him what to do, he will do it immediately, and keep straight in
+the direction in which you set him. I myself, in my own circle, am far
+better pleased to endure faults and mistakes, till I know what the
+opposite virtue is that I am to enjoin, than to be rid of the faults and
+to have nothing good to put in their place. A man is really glad to do
+what is right and sensible, if he only knows how to get at it. It is no
+such great matter with him; he does it because he must have something to
+do, and he thinks no more about it afterward than he does of the
+silliest freaks which he engaged in out of the purest idleness. I cannot
+tell you how it annoys me to hear people going over and over those Ten
+Commandments in teaching children. The fifth is a thoroughly beautiful,
+rational, preceptive precept. 'Thou shalt honor thy father and thy
+mother.' If the children will inscribe that well upon their hearts, they
+have the whole day before them to put it in practice. But the sixth now?
+What can we say to that? 'Thou shalt do no murder;' as if any man ever
+felt the slightest general inclination to strike another man dead. Men
+will hate sometimes; they will fly into passions and forget themselves;
+and as a consequence of this or other feelings, it may easily come now
+and then to a murder; but what a barbarous precaution it is to tell
+children that they are not to kill or murder! If the commandment ran,
+'Have a regard for the life of another--put away whatever can do him
+hurt--save him though with peril to yourself--if you injure him,
+consider that you are injuring yourself;'--that is the form which should
+be in use among educated, reasonable people. And in our Catechism
+teaching we have only an awkward clumsy way of sliding into it, through
+a 'what do you mean by that?'
+
+"And as for the seventh; that is utterly detestable. What! to stimulate
+the precocious curiosity of children to pry into dangerous mysteries; to
+obtrude violently upon their imaginations, ideas and notions which
+beyond all things you should wish to keep from them! It were far better
+if such actions as that commandment speaks of were dealt with
+arbitrarily by some secret tribunal, than prated openly of before church
+and congregation--"
+
+At this moment Ottilie entered the room.
+
+"'Thou shalt not commit adultery,'"--Mittler went on--"How coarse! how
+brutal! What a different sound it has, if you let it run, 'Thou shalt
+hold in reverence the bond of marriage. When thou seest a husband and a
+wife between whom there is true love, thou shalt rejoice in it, and
+their happiness shall gladden thee like the cheerful light of a
+beautiful day. If there arise anything to make division between them,
+thou shalt use thy best endeavor to clear it away. Thou shalt labor to
+pacify them, and to soothe them; to show each of them the excellencies
+of the other. Thou shalt not think of thyself, but purely and
+disinterestedly thou shalt seek to further the well-being of others, and
+make them feel what a happiness is that which arises out of all duty
+done; and especially out of that duty which holds man and wife
+indissolubly bound together.'"
+
+Charlotte felt as if she was sitting on hot coals. The situation was
+the more distressing, as she was convinced that Mittler was not thinking
+the least where he was or what he was saying; and before she was able to
+interrupt him, she saw Ottilie, after changing color painfully for a few
+seconds, rise and leave the room.
+
+Charlotte constrained herself to seem unembarrassed. "You will leave us
+the eighth commandment," she said, with a faint smile.
+
+"All the rest," replied Mittler, "if I may only insist first on the
+foundation of the whole of them."
+
+At this moment Nanny rushed in, screaming and crying: "She is dying; the
+young lady is dying; come to her, come."
+
+Ottilie had found her way back with extreme difficulty to her own room.
+The beautiful things which she was to wear the next day were laid out on
+a number of chairs; and the girl, who had been running from one to the
+other, staring at them and admiring them, called out in her ecstasy,
+"Look, dearest madam, only look! There is a bridal dress worthy of you."
+
+Ottilie heard the word, and sank upon the sofa. Nanny saw her mistress
+turn pale, fall back, and faint. She ran for Charlotte, who came. The
+medical friend was on the spot in a moment. He thought it was nothing
+but exhaustion. He ordered some strong soup to be brought. Ottilie
+refused it with an expression of loathing: it almost threw her into
+convulsions, when they put the cup to her lips. A light seemed to break
+on the physician: he asked hastily and anxiously what Ottilie had taken
+that day. The little girl hesitated. He repeated his question, and she
+then acknowledged that Ottilie had taken nothing.
+
+There was a nervousness of manner about Nanny which made him suspicious.
+He carried her with him into the adjoining room; Charlotte followed; and
+the girl threw herself on her knees, and confessed that for a long time
+past Ottilie had taken as good as nothing; at her mistress's urgent
+request, she had herself eaten the food which had been brought for her;
+she had said nothing about it, because Ottilie had by signs alternately
+begged her not to tell any one, and threatened her if she did; and, as
+she innocently added, "because it was so nice."
+
+The Major and Mittler now came up as well. They found Charlotte busy
+with the physician. The pale, beautiful girl was sitting, apparently
+conscious, in the corner of the sofa. They had begged her to lie down;
+she had declined to do this; but she made signs to have her box brought,
+and resting her feet upon it, placed herself in an easy, half recumbent
+position. She seemed to be wishing to take leave; and by her gestures,
+was expressing to all about her the tenderest affection, love,
+gratitude, entreaties for forgiveness, and the most heartfelt farewell.
+
+Edward, on alighting from his horse, was informed of what had happened;
+he rushed to the room; threw himself down at her side; and seizing her
+hand, deluged it with silent tears. In this position he remained a long
+time. At last he called out: "And am I never more to hear your voice?
+Will you not turn back toward life, to give me one single word? Well,
+then, very well. I will follow you yonder, and there we will speak in
+another language."
+
+She pressed his hand with all the strength she had; she gazed at him
+with a glance full of life and full of love; and drawing a long breath,
+and for a little while moving her lips inarticulately, with a tender
+effort of affection she called out, "Promise me to live;" and then fell
+back immediately.
+
+"I promise, I promise!" he cried to her; but he cried only after her;
+she was already gone.
+
+After a miserable night, the care of providing for the loved remains
+fell upon Charlotte. The Major and Mittler assisted her. Edward's
+condition was utterly pitiable. His first thought, when he was in any
+degree recovered from his despair, and able to collect himself, was,
+that Ottilie should not be carried out of the castle; she should be kept
+there, and attended upon as if she were alive: for she was not dead; it
+was impossible that she should be dead. They did what he desired; at
+least, so far as that they did not do what he had forbidden. He did not
+ask to see her.
+
+There was now a second alarm, and a further cause for anxiety. Nanny,
+who had been spoken to sharply by the physician, had been compelled by
+threats to confess, and after her confession had been overwhelmed with
+reproaches, had now disappeared. After a long search she was found; but
+she appeared to be out of her mind. Her parents took her home; but the
+gentlest treatment had no effect upon her, and she had to be locked up
+for fear she would run away again.
+
+They succeeded by degrees in recovering Edward from the extreme agony of
+despair; but only to make him more really wretched. He now saw clearly,
+he could not doubt how, that the happiness of his life was gone from him
+for ever. It was suggested to him that if Ottilie was placed in the
+chapel, she would still remain among the living, and it would be a calm,
+quiet, peaceful home for her. There was much difficulty in obtaining his
+consent; he would only give it under condition that she should be taken
+there in an open coffin; that the vault in which she was laid, if
+covered at all, should be only covered with glass, and a lamp should be
+kept always burning there. It was arranged that this should be done, and
+then he seemed resigned.
+
+They clothed the delicate body in the festal dress, which she had
+herself prepared. A garland of asters was wreathed about her head, which
+shone sadly there like melancholy stars. To decorate the bier and the
+church and chapel, the gardens were robbed of their beauty; they lay
+desolate, as if a premature winter had blighted all their loveliness. In
+the earliest morning she was borne in an open coffin out of the castle,
+and the heavenly features were once more reddened with the rising sun.
+The mourners crowded about her as she was being taken along. None would
+go before; none would follow; every one would be where she was, every
+one would enjoy her presence for the last time. Men and women and little
+boys--there was not one unmoved; least of all to be consoled were the
+girls, who felt most immediately what they had lost.
+
+Nanny was not present; it had been thought better not to allow it, and
+they had kept secret from her the day and the hour of the funeral. She
+was at her parents' house, closely watched, in a room looking toward the
+garden. But when she heard the bells tolling, she knew too well what
+they meant; and her attendant having left her out of curiosity to see
+the funeral, she escaped out of the window into a passage, and from
+thence, finding all the doors locked, into an upper open loft. At this
+moment the funeral was passing through the village, which had been all
+freshly strewed with leaves. Nanny saw her mistress plainly close below
+her, more plainly, more entirely, than any one in the procession
+underneath; she appeared to be lifted above the earth, borne as it were
+on clouds or waves, and the girl fancied she was making signs to her;
+her senses swam, she tottered, swayed herself for a moment on the edge,
+and fell to the ground. The crowd drew asunder on all sides with a cry
+of horror. In the tumult and confusion, the bearers were obliged to set
+down the coffin; the girl lay close by it; it seemed as if every limb
+was broken. They lifted her up, and by accident or providentially she
+was allowed to lean over the body; she appeared, indeed, to be
+endeavoring, with what remained to her of life, to reach her beloved
+mistress. Scarcely, however, had the loosely hanging limbs touched
+Ottilie's robe, and the powerless finger rested on the folded hands,
+than the girl started up, and first raising her arms and eyes toward
+heaven, flung herself down upon her knees before the coffin, and gazed
+with passionate devotion at her mistress.
+
+At last she sprang, as if inspired, from off the ground, and cried with
+a voice of ecstasy: "Yes, she has forgiven me; what no man, what I
+myself could never have forgiven. God forgives me through her look, her
+motion, her lips.
+
+"Now she is lying again so still and quiet, but you saw how she raised
+herself up, and unfolded her hands and blessed me, and how kindly she
+looked at me. You all heard, you can witness that she said to me: 'You
+are forgiven.' I am not a murderess any more. She has forgiven me. God
+has forgiven me, and no one may now say anything more against me."
+
+The people stood crowding around her. They were amazed; they listened
+and looked this way and that, and no one knew what should next be done.
+"Bear her on to her rest," said the girl. "She has done her part; she
+has suffered, and cannot now remain any more amongst us." The bier moved
+on, Nanny now following it; and thus they reached the church and the
+chapel.
+
+So now stood the coffin of Ottilie, with the child's coffin at her head,
+and her box at her feet, inclosed in a resting-place of massive oak. A
+woman had been provided to watch the body for the first part of the
+time, as it lay there so beautiful beneath its glass covering. But Nanny
+would not permit this duty to be taken from herself. She would remain
+alone without a companion, and attend to the lamp which was now kindled
+for the first time; and she begged to be allowed to do it with so much
+eagerness and perseverance, that they let her have her way, to prevent
+any greater evil that might ensue.
+
+But she did not long remain alone. As night was falling, and the hanging
+lamp began to exercise its full right and shed abroad a larger lustre,
+the door opened and the Architect entered the chapel. The chastely
+ornamented walls in the mild light looked more strange, more awful, more
+antique, than he was prepared to see them. Nanny was sitting on one side
+of the coffin. She recognized him immediately; but she pointed in
+silence to the pale form of her mistress. And there stood he on the
+other side, in the vigor of youth and of grace, with his arms drooping,
+and his hands clasped piteously together, motionless, with head and eye
+inclined over the inanimate body.
+
+Once already he had stood thus before in the Belisarius; he had now
+involuntarily fallen into the same attitude. And this time how
+naturally! Here, too, was something of inestimable worth thrown down
+from its high estate. _There_ were courage, prudence, power, rank, and
+wealth in one single man, lost irrevocably; there were qualities which,
+in decisive moments, had been of indispensable service to the nation and
+the prince; but which, when the moment was passed, were no more valued,
+but flung aside and neglected, and cared for no longer. And _here_ were
+many other silent virtues, which had been summoned but a little time
+before by nature out of the depths of her treasures, and now swept
+rapidly away again by her careless hand--rare, sweet, lovely virtues,
+whose peaceful workings the thirsty world had welcomed, while it had
+them, with gladness and joy; and now was sorrowing for them in
+unavailing desire.
+
+Both the youth and the girl were silent for a long time. But when she
+saw the tears streaming fast down his cheeks, and he appeared to be
+sinking under the burden of his sorrow, she spoke to him with so much
+truthfulness and power, with such kindness and such confidence, that,
+astonished at the flow of her words, he was able to recover himself, and
+he saw his beautiful friend floating before him in the new life of a
+higher world. His tears ceased flowing; his sorrow grew lighter: on his
+knees he took leave of Ottilie, and with a warm pressure of the hand of
+Nanny, he rode away from the spot into the night without having seen a
+single other person.
+
+The surgeon had, without the girl being aware of it, remained all night
+in the church; and when he went in the morning to see her, he found her
+cheerful and tranquil. He was prepared for wild aberrations. He thought
+that she would be sure to speak to him of conversations which she had
+held in the night with Ottilie, and of other such apparitions. But she
+was natural, quiet, and perfectly self-possessed. She remembered
+accurately what had happened in her previous life; she could describe
+the circumstances of it with the greatest exactness, and never in
+anything which she said stepped out of the course of what was real and
+natural, except in her account of what had passed with the body, which
+she delighted to repeat again and again, how, Ottilie had raised herself
+up, had blessed her, had forgiven her, and thereby set her at rest for
+ever.
+
+Ottilie remained so long in her beautiful state, which more resembled
+sleep than death, that a number of persons were attracted there to look
+at her. The neighbors and the villagers wished to see her again, and
+every one desired to hear Nanny's incredible story from her own mouth.
+Many laughed at it, most doubted, and some few were found who were able
+to believe.
+
+Difficulties, for which no real satisfaction is attainable, compel us to
+faith. Before the eyes of all the world, Nanny's limbs had been broken,
+and by touching the sacred body she had been restored to strength again.
+Why should not others find similar good fortune? Delicate mothers first
+privately brought their children who were suffering from obstinate
+disorders, and they believed that they could trace an immediate
+improvement. The confidence of the people increased, and at last there
+was no one so old or so weak as not to have come to seek fresh life and
+health and strength at this place. The concourse became so great, that
+they were obliged, except at the hours of divine service, to keep the
+church and chapel closed.
+
+Edward did not venture to look at her again; he lived on mechanically;
+he seemed to have no tears left, and to be incapable of any further
+suffering; his power of taking interest in what was going on diminished
+every day; his appetite gradually failed. The only refreshment which did
+him any good was what he drank out of the glass, which to him, indeed,
+had been but an untrue prophet. He continued to gaze at the intertwining
+initials, and the earnest cheerfulness of his expression seemed to
+signify that he still hoped to be united with her at last. And as every
+little circumstance combines to favor the fortunate, and every accident
+contributes to elate him; so do the most trifling occurrences love to
+unite to crush and overwhelm the unhappy. One day, as Edward raised the
+beloved glass to his lips, he put it down and thrust it from him with a
+shudder. It was the same and not the same. He missed a little private
+mark upon it. The valet was questioned, and had to confess that the real
+glass had not long since been broken, and that one like it belonging to
+the same set had been substituted in its place.
+
+Edward could not be angry. His destiny had spoken out with sufficient
+clearness in the fact, and how should he be affected by the shadow? and
+yet it touched him deeply. He seemed now to dislike drinking, and
+thenceforward purposely to abstain from food and from speaking.
+
+But from time to time a sort of restlessness came over him; he would
+desire to eat and drink something, and would begin again to speak. "Ah!"
+he said, one day to the Major, who now seldom left his side, "how
+unhappy I am that all my efforts are but imitations ever, and false and
+fruitless. What was blessedness to her, is pain to me; and yet for the
+sake of this blessedness I am forced to take this pain upon myself. I
+must go after her; follow her by the same road. But my nature and my
+promise hold me back. It is a terrible difficulty, indeed, to imitate
+the inimitable. I feel clearly, my dear friend, that genius is required
+for everything; for martyrdom as well as the rest."
+
+What shall we say of the endeavors which in this hopeless condition were
+made for him? His wife, his friends, his physician, incessantly labored
+to do something for him. But it was all in vain: at last they found him
+dead. Mittler was the first to make the melancholy discovery; he called
+the physician, and examined closely, with his usual presence of mind,
+the circumstances under which he had been found. Charlotte rushed in to
+them; she was afraid that he had committed suicide, and accused herself
+and accused others of unpardonable carelessness. But the physician on
+natural, and Mittler on moral grounds, were soon able to satisfy her of
+the contrary. It was quite clear that Edward's end had taken him by
+surprise. In a quiet moment he had taken out of his pocketbook and out
+of a casket everything which remained to him as memorials of Ottilie,
+and had spread them out before him--a lock of hair, flowers which had
+been gathered in some happy hour, and every letter which she had written
+to him from the first and which his wife had ominously happened to give
+him. It was impossible that he would intentionally have exposed these to
+the danger of being seen by the first person who might happen to
+discover him.
+
+But so lay the heart, which but a short time before had been so swift
+and eager, at rest now, where it could never be disturbed; and falling
+asleep, as he did, with his thoughts on one so saintly, he might well be
+called blessed. Charlotte gave him his place at Ottilie's side, and
+arranged that thenceforth no other person should be placed with them in
+the same vault. In order to secure this, she made it a condition under
+which she settled considerable sums of money on the church and the
+school.
+
+So lie the lovers, sleeping side by side. Peace hovers above their
+resting-place. Fair angel faces gaze down upon them from the vaulted
+ceiling, and what a happy moment that will be when one day they wake
+again together!
+
+
+
+
+SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE[1]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY JULIA FRANKLIN
+
+So much has already been written of Shakespeare that it would seem as if
+nothing remained to be said; yet it is the peculiarity of a great mind
+ever to stimulate other minds. This time I propose to consider
+Shakespeare from more than one point of view--first as a poet in
+general, then as compared with poets ancient and modern, and finally, as
+a strictly dramatic poet. I shall endeavor to show what effect the
+imitation of his art has produced upon us and what effect it is capable
+of producing in general. I shall voice my agreement with what has
+already been said by repeating it upon occasion, but shall express my
+dissent positively and briefly, without involving myself in a conflict
+of opinions. Let us, then, take up the first point.
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A POET IN GENERAL
+
+The highest that man can attain is the consciousness of his own thoughts
+and feelings, and a knowledge of himself which prepares him to fathom
+alien natures as well. There are people who are by nature endowed with
+such a gift and by experience develop it to practical uses. Thence
+springs the ability to conquer something, in a higher sense, from the
+world and affairs. The poet, too, is born with such an endowment, only
+he does not develop it for immediate mundane ends, but for a more
+exalted, universal purpose. If we rate Shakespeare as one of the
+greatest poets, we acknowledge at the same time that it has been
+vouchsafed to few to discern the world as he did: to few, in expressing
+their inward feelings of the world, to give the reader a more realizing
+sense of it. It becomes thoroughly transparent to us; we find ourselves
+suddenly the confidants of virtue and vice, of greatness and
+insignificance, of nobility and depravity--all this, and more, through
+the simplest means. If we seek to discover what those means are, it
+appears as if he wrought for our eyes; but we are deceived.
+Shakespeare's creations are not for the eyes of the body. I shall
+endeavor to explain myself.
+
+Sight may well be termed the clearest of our senses, that through which
+transmissions are most readily made. But our inward sense is still
+clearer and its highest and quickest impressions are conveyed through
+the medium of the word; for that is indeed fructifying, while what we
+apprehend through our eyes may be alien to us and by no means as potent
+in its effects. Now, Shakespeare addresses our inward sense, absolutely;
+through it the realm of fancy created by the imagination is quickened
+into life and thus a world of impressions is produced for which we can
+not account, since the basis of the illusion consists in the fact that
+everything seems to take place before our eyes. But if we examine
+Shakespeare's dramas carefully, we find that they contain far less of
+sensuous acts than of spiritual expressions. He allows events to happen
+which may be readily imagined; nay, that it is better to imagine than to
+see. Hamlet's ghost, the witches in _Macbeth_, many deeds of horror,
+produce their effect through the imagination; and the abundant short
+interludes are addressed solely to that faculty. All such things pass
+before us fittingly and easily in reading, whereas they are a drag in
+representation and appear as disturbing, even as repellent elements.
+
+Shakespeare produces his effects by the living word, and that may be
+best transmitted by recitation; the listener is not distracted by either
+good or inadequate representation. There is no greater or purer delight
+than to listen with closed eyes to a Shakespearean play recited, not
+declaimed, in a natural, correct voice. One follows the simple thread
+which runs through events of the drama. We form a certain conception of
+the characters, it is true, from their designation; but actually we
+have to learn from the course of the words and speeches what goes on
+within, and here all the characters seem to have agreed not to leave us
+in the dark, in doubt, in any particular.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD THEATRE, WEIMAR _From a Water Color by Peter
+Woltze_]
+
+To this end all conspire--heroes and mercenaries, masters and slaves,
+kings and messengers; the subordinate figures, indeed, being often more
+effective in this respect than the superior ones. Everything
+mysteriously brewing in the air at the time of some great world-event,
+all that is hidden in the human soul in moments of supreme experience,
+is given expression; what the spirit anxiously locks up and screens is
+freely and unreservedly exposed; we learn the meaning of life and know
+not how.
+
+Shakespeare mates himself with the world-spirit; like it he pervades the
+world; to neither is anything concealed; but if it is the function of
+the world-spirit to maintain secrecy before, indeed often after, the
+event, it is the poet's aim to divulge the secret and make us confidants
+before the deed, or at least during its occurrence. The vicious man of
+power, well-meaning mediocrity, the passionate enthusiast, the calmly
+reflective character, all wear their hearts upon their sleeves, often
+contrary to all likelihood; every one is inclined to talk, to be
+loquacious. In short, the secret must out, should the stones have to
+proclaim it. Even inanimate objects contribute their share; all
+subordinate things chime in; the elements, the phenomena of the heavens,
+earth and sea, thunder and lightning, wild beasts, raise their voices,
+often apparently in parables, but always acting as accessories.
+
+But the civilized world, too, must render up its treasures; arts and
+sciences, trades and professions, all offer their gifts. Shakespeare's
+creations are a great, animated fair, and for this richness he is
+indebted to his native land.
+
+England, sea-girt, veiled in mist and clouds, turning its active
+interest toward every quarter of the globe, is everywhere. The poet
+lived at a notable and momentous time, and depicted its culture, its
+misculture even, in the merriest vein; indeed, he would not affect us
+so powerfully had he not identified himself with the age in which he
+lived. No one had a greater contempt for the mere material, outward garb
+of man than he; he understands full well that which is within, and here
+all are on the same footing. It is thought that he represented the
+Romans admirably; I do not find it so; they are all true-blue
+Englishmen, but, to be sure, they are men, men through and through, and
+the Roman toga, too, fits them. When we have seized this point of view,
+we find his anachronisms highly laudable, and it is this very disregard
+of the outer raiment that renders his creations so vivid.
+
+Let these few words, which do not by any means exhaust Shakespeare's
+merits, suffice. His friends and worshipers would find much that might
+be added. Yet one remark more It would be difficult to name another poet
+each of whose works has a different underlying conception exerting such
+a dominating influence as we find in Shakespeare's.
+
+Thus _Coriolanus_ is pervaded throughout by anger that the masses will
+not acknowledge the preeminence of their superiors. In _Julius Caesar_
+everything turns upon the conception that the better people do not wish
+any one placed in supreme authority because they imagine, mistakenly,
+that they can work in unison. _Anthony and Cleopatra,_ calls out with a
+thousand tongues that self-indulgence and action are incompatible. And
+further investigation will rouse our admiration of this variety again
+and again.
+
+
+
+II
+
+SHAKESPEARE COMPARED WITH THE ANCIENT AND THE MOST MODERN POETS
+
+The interest that animates Shakespeare's great spirit lies within the
+limits of the world; for though prophecy and madness, dreams,
+presentiments, portents, fairies and goblins, ghosts, witches and
+sorcerers, form a magic element which color his creations at the fitting
+moment, yet those phantasms are by no means the chief components of his
+productions; it is the verities and experiences of his life that are the
+great basis upon which they rest, and that is why everything that
+proceeds from him appears so genuine and pithy. We perceive, therefore,
+that he belongs not so much to the modern world, which has been termed
+the romantic one, as to a naive world, since, though his significance
+really rests upon the present, he scarcely, even in his tenderest
+moments, touches the borders of longing, and then only at the outermost
+edge.
+
+Nevertheless, more intimately examined, he is a decidedly modern poet,
+divided from the ancients by a tremendous gulf, not as regards outward
+form, which is not to be considered here at all, but as regards the
+inmost, the profoundest significance of his work.
+
+I shall, in the first place, protect myself by saying that it is by no
+means my intention to adduce the following terminology as exhaustive or
+final; my attempt is, rather not so much to add a new contrast to those
+already familiar, as to point out that it is included in them. These
+contrasts are:
+
+    Antique      Modern
+
+    Naive        Sentimental
+
+    Pagan        Christian
+
+    Heroic       Romantic
+
+    Real         Idealistic
+
+    Necessity    Freedom
+
+_Sollen_ (Duty; shall; must; should). _Wollen_ (Desire; inclination;
+would).
+
+The greatest torments, as well as the most frequent, that beset man
+spring from the discordances in us all between duty and desire, between
+duty and performance (_Vollbringen_); and it is these discordances
+that so often embarrass man during his earthly course. The slightest
+confusion, arising from a trivial error which may be cleared up
+unexpectedly and without injury, gives rise to ridiculous situations.
+The greatest confusion, on the contrary, insoluble or unsolved, offers
+us the tragic elements.
+
+Predominant in the ancient dramas is the discordance between duty and
+desire; in the modern, that between desire and performance. Let us, for
+the present, consider this decisive difference among the other
+contrasts, and see what can be done with it in both cases. Now this, now
+that side predominates, as I have remarked; but since duty and desire
+cannot be radically separated in man, both motives must be found
+simultaneously, even though the one should be predominant and the other
+subordinate. Duty is imposed upon man; "must" is a hard taskmaster;
+desire (_das Wollen_) man imposes upon himself; man's own will is his
+heaven. A persistent "should" is irksome; inability to perform is
+terrible; a persistent "would" is gratifying; and the possession of a
+firm will may yield solace even in case of incapacity to perform.
+
+We may look at games of cards as a sort of poetic creation; they, too,
+consist of these two elements. The form of the game, combined with
+chance, takes the place of the "should" as the ancients recognized it
+under the name of fate; the "would," combined with the ability of the
+player, opposes it. Looked at in this way, I should call the game of
+whist ancient. The form of this game restricts chance, nay, the will
+itself; provided with partners and opponents, I must, with the cards
+dealt out to me, guide a long series of chances which there is no way of
+controlling. In the case of ombre and other like games, the contrary
+takes place. Here a great many doors are left open to will and daring; I
+can revoke the cards that fall to my share, can make them count in
+various ways, can discard half or all of them, can appeal from the
+decree of chance, nay, by an inverted course can reap the greatest
+advantage from the worst hand; and thus this class of games exactly
+resembles the modern method in thought and in poetic art.
+
+Ancient tragedy is based upon an unavoidable "should," which is
+intensified and accelerated only by a counteracting "would." This is the
+point of all that is terrible in the oracles, the region where _Oedipus_
+reigns supreme. _Sollen_ appears in a milder light as duty in
+_Antigone_. But all _Sollen_ is despotic, whether it belongs to the
+domain of reason, as ethical and municipal laws, or to that of Nature,
+as the laws of creation, growth, dissolution, of life and death. We
+shudder at all this, without reflecting that it is intended for the
+general good. _Wollen,_ on the contrary, is free, appears free, and
+favors the individual. _Wollen,_ therefore, is flattering, and perforce
+took possession of men as soon as they learned to know it. It is the god
+of the new time; devoted to it, we have a dread of its opposite, and
+that is why there is an impassable gulf between our art, as well as our
+mode of thought, and that of the ancients. Through _Sollen,_ tragedy
+becomes great and forceful; through _Wollen,_ weak and petty. Thus has
+arisen the so-called drama, in which the awful power of Fate was
+dissolved by the will; but precisely because this comes to the aid of
+our weakness do we find ourselves moved if, after painful expectation,
+we finally receive but scant comfort.
+
+If now, after these preliminary reflections, I turn to Shakespeare, I
+can not forbear wishing that my readers should themselves make the
+comparison and the application. Here Shakespeare stands out unique,
+combining the old and the new in incomparable fashion. _Wollen_ and
+_Sollen_ seek by every means, in his plays, to reach an equilibrium;
+they struggle violently with each other, but always in a way that leaves
+the _Wollen_ at a disadvantage.
+
+No one, perhaps, has represented more splendidly the great primal
+connection between _Wollen_ and _Sollen_ in the character of the
+individual. A person, from the point of view of his character, should:
+he is restricted, destined to some definite course; but as a man, he
+wills. He is unlimited and demands freedom of choice. At once there
+arises an inner conflict, and Shakespeare puts it in the forefront. But
+then an outer conflict supervenes, which often becomes acute through the
+pressure of circumstances, in the face of which a deficiency of will may
+rise to the rank of an inexorable fate. This idea I have pointed out
+before in the case of Hamlet; but it occurs repeatedly in Shakespeare;
+for as Hamlet is driven by the ghost into straits which he cannot pass
+through, so is Macbeth by witches, by Hecate, and by the arch-witch, his
+wife; Brutus by his friends; nay, even _in Coriolanus_, we find a
+similar thing--in short, the conception of a will transcending the
+capacity of the individual is modern. But as Shakespeare represents this
+trouble of the will as arising not from within but through outside
+circumstances, it becomes a sort of Fate and approaches the antique. For
+all the heroes of poetic antiquity strive only for what lies within
+man's power, and thence arises that fine balance between will, Fate, and
+performance; yet their Fate appears always as too forbidding, even where
+we admire it, to possess the power of attraction. A necessity which,
+more or less, or completely, precludes all freedom, does not comport
+with the ideas of our time; but Shakespeare approaches these in his own
+way; for, in making necessity ethical, he links, to our gratified
+astonishment, the ancient with the modern. If anything can be learned
+from him, it is this point that we should study in his school. Instead
+of exalting our romanticism--which may not deserve censure or
+contempt--unduly and exclusively, and clinging to it in a partisan
+spirit, whereby its strong, solid, efficient side is misjudged and
+impaired, we should strive to unite within ourselves those great and
+apparently irreconcilable opposites--all the more that this has already
+been achieved by the unique master whom we prize so highly, and, often
+without knowing why, extol above every one. He had, to be sure, the
+advantage of living at the proper harvest-time, of expending his
+activity in a Protestant country teeming with life, where the madness of
+bigotry was silent for a time, so that a man like Shakespeare, imbued
+with a natural piety, was left free to develop his real self religiously
+without regard to any definite creed.
+
+
+
+III
+
+SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST
+
+If lovers and friends of art wish fully to enjoy a creation of any kind,
+they delight in it as a whole, are permeated by the unity with which the
+artist has endowed it. To a person, on the other hand, who wishes to
+discuss such productions theoretically, to assert something about them,
+and therefore, to inform and instruct, discrimination becomes a duty. We
+believed we were fulfilling that duty in considering Shakespeare first
+as a poet in general, and then comparing him with the ancient and the
+most modern poets. And now we wish to complete our design by considering
+him as a dramatist.
+
+Shakespeare's name and worth belong to the history of poetry; but it is
+doing an injustice to all the dramatists of earlier and later ages to
+present his entire merit as belonging to the history of the theatre.
+
+A person of universally acknowledged talent may make a doubtful use of
+his endowments. Not everything produced by such a superior mind is done
+in the most perfect way. Thus Shakespeare belongs essentially to the
+history of poetry; in the history of the theatre he figures only
+accidentally. Because we can admire him unqualifiedly in the first, we
+must in the latter take into consideration the conditions to which he
+submitted and not extol those conditions as either virtues or models.
+
+We distinguish closely allied forms of poetic creation, which, however,
+in a vivid treatment often merge into each other: the epic, dialogue,
+drama, stage play, may be differentiated. An epic requires oral delivery
+to the many by a single individual; dialogue, speech in private company,
+where the multitude may, to be sure, be listeners; drama, conversation
+in actions, even though perhaps presented only to the imagination; stage
+play, all three together, inasmuch as it engages the sense of vision and
+may be grasped under certain conditions of local and personal presence.
+
+It is in this sense that Shakespeare's productions are most dramatic; he
+wins the reader by his mode of treatment, of disclosing man's innermost
+life; the demands of the stage appear unessential to him, and thus he
+takes an easy course, and, in an intellectual sense, we serenely follow
+him. We transport ourselves with him from one locality to another; our
+imagination supplies all the intermediate actions that he omits; nay, we
+are grateful to him for arousing our spiritual faculties in so worthy a
+fashion. By producing everything in theatrical form, he facilitates the
+activity of the imagination; for we are more familiar with the "boards
+that mean the world" than with the world itself, and we may read and
+hear the most singular things and yet feel that they might actually take
+place before our eyes on the stage; hence the frequent failure of
+dramatizations of popular novels.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, nothing is dramatic except that which
+strikes the eye as symbolic--an important action which betokens one
+still more important. That Shakespeare could attain this height too is
+evidenced in the scene where the son and heir takes the crown from the
+side of the father slumbering on his deathbed, places it on his own
+head, and struts off with it.[2] But these are only episodes, scattered
+jewels separated by much that is undramatic. Shakespeare's whole mode of
+procedure finds something unaccommodating in the actual stage; his great
+talent is that of an epitomist, and since poets are, on the whole,
+epitomists of Nature, we must here, too, acknowledge Shakespeare's great
+merit; only we deny, at the same time, and that to his credit, that the
+stage was a worthy sphere for his genius. It is precisely this
+limitation of the stage, however, which causes him to restrict himself.
+
+But he does not, like other poets, select particular materials for
+particular works; he makes an idea the central point and refers the
+earth and the universe to it. As he condenses ancient and modern
+history, he can utilize the material of every chronicle, and often
+adheres to it literally. Not so conscientiously does he proceed with the
+tales, as _Hamlet_ attests. _Romeo and Juliet_ is more faithful to
+tradition; yet he almost destroys its tragic content by the two comic
+figures, Mercutio and the nurse, probably presented by two popular
+actors--the nurse undoubtedly acted by a man. If we examine the
+structure of the play very closely, we notice that these two figures and
+the elements touching them, appear only as farcical interludes, which,
+with our love of the logical and harmonious, must strike us as
+intolerable.
+
+But Shakespeare is most marvelous when he adapts and recasts plays
+already in existence. We can institute a comparison in the case of _King
+John_ and _Lear_; for the older dramas are still extant. But in these
+instances, likewise, he is again rather a poet than a dramatist.
+
+But let us, in conclusion, proceed to the solution of the riddle. The
+imperfection of the English stage has been represented to us by
+well-informed men. There is not a trace of those requirements of realism
+to which we have gradually become used through improvements in
+machinery, the art of perspective, the wardrobe, and from which it would
+be difficult to lead us back into the infancy of those beginnings, to
+the days of a stage upon which little was seen, where everything was
+only _indicated_, where the public was satisfied to assume the chamber
+of the king lying behind a green curtain, the trumpeter who sounded the
+trumpet always at a certain spot, and many like things. Who at present
+would permit such assumptions? Under those conditions Shakespeare's
+plays were highly interesting tales, only they were recited by a number
+of persons, who, in order to make somewhat more of an impression, were
+characteristically masked as the occasion demanded, moved about, came
+and went, but left it to the spectator's imagination to fancy at will
+paradise and palaces on the empty stage.
+
+How, indeed, did Schroeder achieve the great credit of putting
+Shakespeare's plays upon the German stage but by epitomizing the
+epitomizer? Schroeder confined himself entirely to what was effective; he
+discarded everything else, indeed, even much that was essential, when it
+seemed to him that the effect upon his nation, upon his time, would be
+impaired. Thus it is true, for example, that by omitting the first scene
+of _King Lear_ he changed the character of the piece; but he was right,
+after all, for in that scene Lear appears so ridiculous that one can not
+wholly blame his daughters. The old man awakens our pity, but we have no
+sympathy for him, and it is sympathy that Schroeder wished to arouse as
+well as abhorrence of the two daughters, who, though unnatural, are not
+absolutely reprehensible.
+
+In the old play which is Shakespeare's source, this scene is productive,
+in the course of the play, of the most pleasing effects. Lear flees to
+France; daughter and son-in-law, in some romantic caprice, make a
+pilgrimage, in disguise, to the seashore, and encounter the old man, who
+does not recognize them. Here all that Shakespeare's lofty, tragic
+spirit has embittered is made sweet. A comparison of these dramas
+affords ever renewed pleasure to the lover of art.
+
+In recent years, however, the notion has crept into Germany that
+Shakespeare must be presented on the German stage word for word, even if
+actors and audience should fairly choke in the process. The attempts,
+induced by an excellent, exact translation,[3] would not succeed
+anywhere--a fact to which the Weimar stage, after honest and repeated
+efforts, can give unexceptionable testimony. If we wish to see a
+Shakespearean play, we must return to Schroeder's adaptation; but the
+dogma that, in representing Shakespeare, not a jot or tittle may be
+omitted, senseless as it is, is constantly being reechoed. If the
+advocates of this view should retain the upper hand, Shakespeare would
+in a few years be entirely driven from the German stage. This, indeed,
+would be no misfortune; for the solitary reader, or the reader in
+company with others, would experience so much the purer delight.
+
+The attempt, however, in the other direction, on which we have dilated
+above, was made in the arrangement of _Romeo and Juliet_ for the Weimar
+stage. The principles upon which this was based, we shall set forth at
+the first opportunity, and it will perhaps then be recognized why that
+arrangement--the representation of which is by no means difficult, but
+must be carried out artistically and with precision--had no success on
+the German stage. Similar efforts are now in progress, and perhaps some
+result is in store for the future, even though such undertakings
+frequently fail at the first trial.
+
+
+
+
+ORATION ON WIELAND (1813)[4]
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH. D.
+
+    [To the Memory of the noble Poet, Brother, and Friend, Wieland.]
+
+    Most serene protector!
+    Right worshipful master I
+    Very honorable assembly I
+
+Although under no circumstances does it become the individual to set
+himself in opposition to ancient, venerable customs, or of his own will
+to alter what our ancestors in their wisdom have deemed right and have
+ordained, nevertheless, had I really at my bidding the magician's wand
+which the muses in spirit intrusted to our departed friend, I should in
+an instant transform all these sad surroundings into those of joy. This
+darkness would straightway grow radiant before your eyes, and before you
+there would appear a hall decked for a feast, with varied tapestries and
+garlands of gaiety, joyous and serene as our friend's own life. Then
+your eyes, your spirit, would be attracted by the creations of his
+luxuriant imagination; Olympus with its gods, introduced by the Muses
+and adorned by the Graces, would be a living testimony that he who lived
+amid such glad surroundings, and who also departed from us in the spirit
+of that gladness, should be counted among the most fortunate of mankind,
+and should be interred, not with lamentation, but with expressions of
+joy and of exultation.
+
+And yet, what I cannot present to the outward senses, may be offered to
+the inward. Eighty years, how much in how few syllables! Who of us dares
+hastily to run through so many years and to picture to himself the
+significance of them when well employed? Who of us would dare assert
+that he could in an instant measure and appraise the value of a life
+that was complete from every point of view?
+
+[Illustration: MARTIN WIELAND]
+
+If we accompany our friend step by step through all his days, if we
+regard him as a boy and as a youth, in his prime and in his old age, we
+find that to his lot fell the unusual fortune of plucking the bloom of
+each of these seasons; for even old age has its bloom, and the happiest
+enjoyment of this, also, was vouchsafed him. Only a few months have
+passed since for him the brethren of our lodge crowned their mysterious
+sphinx with roses, to show that, if the aged Anacreon undertook to adorn
+his exalted sensuality with the rose's light twigs, the ethical
+sensuousness, the tempered joy of life and wit which animated our noble
+friend also merited a rich and abundant garland.
+
+Only a few weeks have elapsed since this excellent man was still with
+us, not merely present but active at our gatherings. It was through the
+midst of our intimate circle that he passed from things earthly; we were
+the nearest to him, even at the last; and if his fatherland as well as
+foreign nations celebrate his memory, where ought this to be done
+earlier and more emphatically than by us?
+
+I have not, therefore, dared to disobey the mandates of our masters, and
+before this honorable assembly I speak a few words in his memory, the
+more gladly since they may be fleeting precursors of what in the future
+the world and our brotherhood shall do for him. This is the sentiment,
+and this the purpose, for the sake of which I venture to entreat a
+gracious hearing; and if what I shall say from an affection tested for
+almost forty years rather than for mere rhetorical effect--by no means
+well composed, but rather in brief sentences, and even in desultory
+fashion--may seem worthy neither of him who is honored nor of them who
+honor, then I must remark that here you may expect only a preliminary
+outline, a sketch, yes, only the contents and, if you so will, the
+marginal notes of a future work. And thus, then, without more delay, to
+the theme so dear, so precious, and, indeed, so sacred to us!
+
+Wieland was born in 1733 near Biberach, a small imperial free-town in
+Swabia. His father, a Lutheran clergyman, gave him a careful training
+and imparted to him the first elements of education. He was then sent to
+the monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where the truly pious Abbot
+Steinmetz presided over an educational institution of good repute.
+Thence he went to the University of Tuebingen, and then lived for some
+time as a private tutor in Bern, but he was soon attracted to Bodmer, at
+Zurich, who, like Gleim at a later date in North Germany, might be
+called the midwife of genius in South Germany. There he gave himself
+over entirely to the joy that arises from youth's self-creation, when
+talents develop under friendly guidance without being hampered by the
+higher requirements of criticism. Soon, however, he outgrew this stage,
+returned to his native town, and henceforth became his own teacher and
+trainer, while with ceaseless activity he pursued his inclination toward
+literature and poetry.
+
+His mechanical official duties as the chief of the chancery robbed him,
+it is true, of time, though they could not deprive him of joy and
+courage; and that his spirit might not be dwarfed amid such narrow
+surroundings, he fortunately became acquainted with Count Stadion, whose
+estates lay in the vicinity, and who was a minister of the Prince
+Elector of Mainz. In this illustrious and well-appointed house the
+atmosphere of the world and of the court was for the first time wafted
+to him; he became no stranger to domestic and foreign affairs of state;
+and in the count he gained a patron for all his life. In consequence, he
+did not remain unknown to the Prince Elector of Mainz, and since the
+University of Erfurt was to be revived under Emmerich Joseph, our friend
+was summoned thither, thus exemplifying the tolerant sentiments which,
+from the beginning of the century, have spread among men who are akin
+through the Christian faith, and have even permeated humanity as a
+whole.
+
+He could not labor long at Erfurt without becoming known to the Duchess
+Regent of Weimar, at whose court Count von Dalberg, so active in every
+form of good work, did not fail to introduce him. An adequate education
+of her princely sons was the chief object of a tender mother, herself
+highly cultured, and thus he was called thither to employ his literary
+talents and his moral endowments for the best interests of the princely
+house, for our weal, and for the weal of all.
+
+The retirement promised him after the completion of his educational
+duties was given him at once, and since he received a more than promised
+alleviation of his domestic circumstances, he led, for nearly forty
+years, a life of complete conformity to his disposition and to his
+wishes.
+
+The influence of Wieland on the public was uninterrupted and permanent.
+He educated his generation up to himself, giving to the taste and to the
+judgment of his contemporaries a decided trend, so that his merits have
+already been sufficiently recognized, appraised, and even portrayed. In
+many a work on German literature he is discussed as honorably as
+judiciously; I need only recall the laudations which Kuettner,
+Eschenburg, Manso, and Eichhorn have bestowed upon him.
+
+And whence came the profound influence which he exercised on the
+Germans? It was a result of the excellence and of the openness of his
+nature. In him man and author had completely interpenetrated; he wrote
+poetry as a living soul, and lived the poet's life. In verse and prose
+he never hid what was at the instant in his mind and what each time he
+felt, so that judging he wrote and writing he judged. From the fertility
+of his mind sprang the fertility of his pen.
+
+I do not employ the term "pen" as a rhetorical phrase; here it is valid
+in the strictest sense, and if a pious reverence pays homage to many an
+author by seeking to gain possession of the quill with which he formed
+his works, the quill of which Wieland availed himself, would surely be
+worthy of this distinction above many another. For the fact that he
+wrote everything with his own hand and most beautifully, and, at the
+same time, with freedom and with thoughtfulness; that he ever had
+before him what he had written, carefully examining, changing,
+improving, indefatigably fashioning and refashioning, never weary even
+of repeatedly transcribing voluminous works--this gave to his
+productions the delicacy, the gracefulness, the clearness, the natural
+elegance which can be bestowed on a work already completed, not by
+effort, but by unruffled, inspired attention.
+
+This careful preparation of his writings had its origin in a happy
+conviction which apparently came to him toward the end of his residence
+in Switzerland, when impatience at production had in some measure
+subsided, and when the desire to present a perfected result to the
+public had become more decidedly and more obviously active.
+
+Since, then, in him the man and the poet were a single individuality, we
+shall also portray the latter when we speak of the former. Irritability
+and versatility, the accompaniments of poetical and of rhetorical
+talents, dominated him to a high degree, but an acquired rather than an
+innate moderation kept them in equilibrium. Our friend was capable of
+enthusiasm in highest measure, and in youth he surrendered himself
+wholly to it, the more actively and assiduously since, in his case, for
+several years that happy period was prolonged when within himself the
+youth feels the worth and the dignity of the most excellent, be it
+attainable or not.
+
+In that pure and happy field of the golden age, in that paradise of
+innocence, he dwelt longer than others. The house where he was born, in
+which a cultivated clergyman ruled as father; the ancient,
+linden-embowered monastery of Bergen on the Elbe, where a pious
+teacher kept up his patriarchal activity; Tuebingen, still monastic
+in its essential form; those simple Swiss dwellings about which
+the brooks murmured, which the lakes laved, and which the cliffs
+surrounded--everywhere he found another Delphi, everywhere the groves in
+which as a mature and cultivated youth he continued to revel even yet.
+There he was powerfully attracted by the monuments of the manly
+innocence of the Greeks which have been left us. Cyrus, Araspes,
+Panthea, and forms of equal loftiness revived in him; he felt the spirit
+of Plato weaving within him; he felt that he needed that spirit to
+reproduce those pictures for himself and for others--so much the more
+since he desired not so keenly to evoke poetic phantoms as, rather, to
+create a moral influence for actual beings.
+
+Yet the very fact that he had the good fortune to dwell so protractedly
+in these loftier realms, and that he could long regard as the most
+perfect verity all that he thought, felt, imagined, dreamed, and
+fancied--this very fact embittered for him the fruit which he was
+obliged at last to pluck from the tree of knowledge.
+
+Who can escape the conflict with the outer world? Even our friend is
+drawn into this strife; reluctantly he submits to contradiction by
+experience and by life; and since, after a long struggle, he succeeds
+not in uniting these august figures with those of the vulgar world, or
+that high desire with the demands of the day, he resolves to let the
+actual pass current as the necessary, and declares that what has thus
+far seemed real to him is phantasy.
+
+Yet even here the individuality and the energy of his spirit reveals
+itself to be worthy of admiration. Despite all the fulness of his life,
+despite so strong a joy of living, despite noble inward talents and
+honorable spiritual desires and purposes, he feels himself wounded by
+the world and defrauded of his greatest treasures. Henceforth he can in
+experience nowhere find what had constituted his joy for so many years,
+and what had even been the inmost content of his life; yet he does not
+consume himself in idle lamentations, of which we know so many in the
+prose and verse of others, but he resolves upon counter-action. He
+proclaims war on all that cannot be demonstrated in reality; first and
+foremost, therefore, on Platonic love, then on all dogmatizing
+philosophy, especially its two extremes of Stoicism and Pythagoreanism.
+Furthermore, he works implacably against religious fanaticism, and
+against all that to reason appears eccentric.
+
+But he is at once overwhelmed with anxiety lest he go too far, lest he
+himself act fantastically, and now he simultaneously begins battle
+against commonplace reality. He opposes everything which we are
+accustomed to understand under the name Philistinism--musty pedantry,
+provincialism, petty etiquette, narrow criticism, false prudery, smug
+complacency, arrogant dignity, and whatever names may be applied to all
+these unclean spirits, whose name is Legion.
+
+Herein he proceeds in an absolutely natural manner, without preconceived
+purpose or self-consciousness. He stands before the dilemma of the
+conceivable and the real, and, as he must advise moderation to control
+or to unite the two, he must hold himself in check, and must be
+many-sided, since he wishes to be just.
+
+He had long been attracted by the pure, rational uprightness of noble
+Englishmen, and by their influence in the moral sphere, by an Addison,
+by a Steele; but now in their society he finds a man whose type of
+thought is far more agreeable to him.
+
+Shaftesbury, whom I need only mention to recall a great thinker to the
+mind of every well-informed man,--Shaftesbury lived at a time when much
+disturbance reigned in the religion of his native land, when the
+dominant church sought by force to subdue men of other modes of thought.
+State and morals were also threatened by much that must arouse the
+anxiety of the intelligent and right-thinking. The best counter-action
+to all this, he believed, was cheerfulness; in his opinion, only what
+was regarded with serenity would be rightly seen. He who could look
+serenely into his own bosom must be a good man. This was the main thing,
+and from it sprang all other good. Spirit, wit, and humor were, he held,
+the real agencies by which such a disposition should come in contact
+with the world. All objects, even the most serious, must be capable of
+such clarity and freedom if they were not bedizened with a merely
+arrogant dignity, but contained within themselves a true value which did
+not fear the test. In this spirited endeavor to become master of things
+it was impossible to avoid casting about for deciding authorities, and
+thus human reason was set as judge over the content, and taste over the
+manner, of presentation.
+
+In such a man our Wieland now found, not a predecessor whom he was to
+follow, nor a colleague with whom he was to work, but a true elder twin
+brother in the spirit, whom he perfectly resembled, without being formed
+in his likeness; even as it could not be said of the Menaechmi which was
+the original, and which the copy.
+
+What Shaftesbury, born in a higher station, more favored with worldly
+advantages, and more experienced by travel, office, and cosmopolitan
+knowledge, did in a wider circle and at a more serious period in
+sea-girt England, precisely this our friend, proceeding from a point at
+first extremely limited, accomplished through persistent activity and
+through ceaseless toil, in his native land, surrounded on every side by
+hills and dales; and the result was--to employ, in our condensed
+address, a brief but generally intelligible term--that popular
+philosophy whereby a practically trained intelligence is set in decision
+over the moral worth of things, and is made the judge of their aesthetic
+value.
+
+This philosophy, prepared in England and fostered by conditions in
+Germany, was thus spread far and wide by our friend, in company with
+countless sympathizers, by poems and by scholarly works, even by life
+itself.
+
+And yet, if we have found Shaftesbury and Wieland perfectly alike so far
+as point of view, temperament, and insight are concerned, nevertheless,
+the latter was far superior to the former in talent; for what the
+Englishman rationally taught and desired, the German knew how to
+elaborate poetically and rhetorically in verse and prose.
+
+In this elaboration, however, the French mode of treatment was
+necessarily most suitable to him. Serenity, wit, spirit, and elegance
+are already at hand in France; his luxuriant imagination, which now
+desires to be occupied only with light and joyous themes, turns to tales
+of fairies and knights, which grant it the greatest freedom. Here,
+again, in the _Arabian Nights_ and in the _Bibliotheque universelle des
+romans_, France offered him materials half-prepared and adapted, while
+the ancient treasures of this sort, which Germany possesses, still
+remained crude and unavailable.
+
+It is precisely these poems which have most widely spread and most
+firmly established Wieland's fame. Their light-heartedness gained them
+access to everyone, and even the serious Germans deigned to be pleased
+with them; for all these works appeared indeed at a happy and favorable
+time. They were all written in the spirit which we have developed above.
+Frequently the fortunate poet undertook the artistic task of giving a
+high value to very mediocre materials by revising them; and though it
+cannot be denied that he sometimes permits reason to triumph over the
+higher powers, and at other times allows sensuality to prevail over the
+moral qualities, yet we must also grant that, in its proper place,
+everything which can possibly adorn noble souls gains supremacy.
+
+Earlier than most of these works, though not the earliest of all, was
+the translation of Shakespeare. Wieland did not fear impairment of his
+originality by study; on the contrary, he was convinced at an early date
+that a lively, fertile spirit found its best stimulus not only in the
+adaptation of material that was already well known, but also in the
+translation of extant works.
+
+In those days the translation of Shakespeare was a daring thought, for
+even trained _litterateurs_ denied the possibility of the success of
+such an undertaking. Wieland translated freely, grasped the sense of his
+author, and omitted what appeared to him untranslatable; and thus he
+gave to his nation a general idea of the most magnificent works of
+another people, and to his generation an insight into the lofty culture
+of by-gone centuries.
+
+Great as was the effect of this translation in Germany, it appears to
+have exercised little influence upon Wieland himself. He was too
+thoroughly antagonistic to his author, as is sufficiently obvious from
+the passages omitted and passed over, and still more from the appended
+notes, in which the French type of thought is evident.
+
+On the other hand, the Greeks, with their moderation and clarity, are to
+him most precious models. He feels himself allied with them in taste;
+religion, customs, and legislation all give him opportunity to exercise
+his versatility, and since neither the gods nor the philosophers, and
+neither the nation nor the nations are any more compatible than
+politicians and soldiers, he everywhere finds the desired opportunity,
+amid his apparent doubts and jests, of repeatedly inculcating his
+equitable, tolerant, human doctrines.
+
+At the same time, he takes delight in presenting problematical
+characters, and he finds pleasure, for example, in emphasizing the
+lovable qualities of a Musarion, a Lais, and a Phryne without regard to
+womanly chastity, and in exalting their practical wisdom above the
+scholastic wisdom of the philosophers.
+
+But among these he also finds a man whom he can develop and set forth as
+the representative of his own convictions--I mean Aristippus. Here
+philosophy and worldly pleasure are through wise moderation so united in
+serene and welcome fashion that the wish arises to be a contemporary in
+so fair a land, and in such goodly company. Union with these educated,
+right-thinking, cultivated, joyous men is so welcome, and it even seems
+that so long as one may walk with them in thought, one's mind will be as
+theirs, and one will think as they.
+
+In these circles our friend maintained himself by careful experiments,
+which are still more necessary to the translator than to the poet; and
+thus arose the German _Lucian_, which necessarily presented the Greek to
+us the more vividly since the author and the translator could be
+regarded as true kindred spirits.
+
+But however much a man of such talents preaches decency, he will,
+nevertheless, sometimes feel himself tempted to transgress the
+boundaries of propriety and decorum, since from time immemorial genius
+has reckoned such escapades among its prerogatives. Wieland indulged
+this impulse when he sought to assimilate himself to the daring,
+extraordinary Aristophanes, and when he was able to translate his jests,
+as audacious as they were witty, though he toned them down with his own
+innate grace.
+
+For all these presentations an insight into the higher plastic art was
+also obviously necessary, and since our friend was never vouchsafed the
+sight of those ancient masterpieces which still survive, he sought to
+rise to them in thought, to bring them before his eyes by the power of
+imagination; so that we cannot fail to be amazed to see how talent is
+able to form for itself a conception even of what is far away. Moreover,
+he would have been entirely successful if his laudable caution had not
+restrained him from taking decisive steps; for art in general, and
+especially the art of the ancients, can neither be grasped nor
+comprehended without enthusiasm. He who will not commence with amazement
+and with admiration finds no entrance into the holy of holies. Our
+friend, however, was far too cautious, and how could he have been
+expected to make in this single instance an exception from his general
+rule of life?
+
+If, however, he was near akin to the Greeks in taste, in sentiment he
+was still more closely allied to the Romans--not that he would have
+allowed himself to be carried away by republican or by patriotic zeal,
+but he really finds his peers among the Romans, whereas he has, in a
+sense, only fictitiously assimilated himself to the Greeks. Horace has
+much similarity to him; himself an artist, and himself a man of the
+court and of the world, he intelligently estimates life and art; Cicero,
+philosopher, orator, statesman, and active citizen, also closely
+resembles him--and both arose from inconsiderable beginnings to great
+dignities and honors.
+
+While our friend occupies himself with the works of both these men, how
+gladly would he transport himself back into their century and their
+surroundings, and transfer himself to their epoch, in order to transmit
+to us a clear picture of that past; and he succeeds amazingly. Perhaps,
+on the whole, more sympathy might be desired for the men with whom he is
+concerned, but such is his fear of partisanship that he prefers to take
+sides against them rather than on their behalf.
+
+There are two maxims of translation. The one demands that the author of
+an alien nation be brought over to us so that we may regard him as our
+own; the other, on the contrary, lays upon us the obligation that we
+should transfer ourselves to the stranger and accommodate ourselves to
+his conditions, to his diction, and to his peculiarities. The advantages
+of both are sufficiently well known to all cultured men by masterly
+examples. Our friend, who here also sought the middle way, endeavored to
+combine both; yet, as a man of taste and feeling, in doubtful cases he
+gave the preference to the first maxim.
+
+Perhaps no one has so keenly felt as he how complicated a task
+translation is. How deeply was he convinced that not the letter but the
+spirit giveth life! Consider how, in his introductions, he first
+endeavors to shift us to the period and to make us acquainted with the
+personages; how he then makes his author speak in a way which we already
+know, akin to our own thought and familiar to our ear; and how, finally,
+in his annotations, he seeks to explain and to obviate many a detail
+which might remain obscure, rouse doubt, and be offensive. Through this
+triple endeavor one can see clearly that he first has mastered his
+subject, and then he also takes the most praiseworthy pains to put us in
+a position in which his insight can be communicated to us, that we also
+may share the enjoyment with him.
+
+Although he was equally master of many tongues, yet he clung to the two
+in which the value and the dignity of the ancient world have most purely
+been transmitted to us. For little as we would deny that many a treasure
+has been drawn and is still to be drawn from the mines of other ancient
+literatures, so little shall we be contradicted when we assert that the
+language of the Greeks and of the Romans has transmitted to us, down to
+this very day, priceless gifts which in content are equal to the best,
+and in form are superior to every other.
+
+The organization of the German Empire, which includes so many small
+states within itself, herein resembled the Greek. Since the tiniest,
+most unimportant, and even invisible city had its special interests it
+was constrained to cherish and to maintain them, and to defend them
+against its neighbors. Accordingly, its youth were early roused and
+summoned to reflect upon affairs of state. And thus Wieland, too, as the
+chief of the chancery of one of the smallest imperial free-towns, was in
+a position calculated to make of him a patriot and, in the best sense of
+the term, a demagogue; as when later, in one such instance, he resolved
+to bring down upon himself the temporary disfavor of his patron, the
+neighboring Count Stadion, rather than to make an unpatriotic
+submission.
+
+His _Agathon_ itself teaches us that within this sphere as well he gave
+preference to sound principles; nevertheless, he took such interest in
+the realities of life that all his occupations and all his predilections
+ultimately failed to prevent him from thinking about the same. He
+particularly felt himself summoned anew to this when he dared promise
+himself a weighty influence on the training of princes from whom much
+might be expected.
+
+In all the works of this type which he wrote a cosmopolitan spirit is
+manifest, and since they were composed at a time when the power of
+absolute monarchy was not yet shaken, it became his main purpose
+insistently to set their obligations before the rulers and to point them
+to the happiness which they should find in the happiness of their
+subjects.
+
+Now, however, the epoch came when an aroused nation tore down all that
+had thus far stood, and seemed to summon the spirits of all the dwellers
+upon earth to a universal legislation. On this matter, likewise, he
+declared himself with cautious modesty; and by rational presentations,
+which he clothed under a variety of forms, he sought to produce some
+measure of equilibrium in the excited masses. Since, however, the tumult
+of anarchy became more and more furious, and since a voluntary union of
+the masses appeared inconceivable, he was the first once more to counsel
+absolutism and to designate the man to work the miracle of
+reestablishment.
+
+If, now, it be remembered in this connection that our friend wrote
+concerning these matters not, as it were, after, but during, events, and
+that, as the editor of a widely-read periodical he had occasion--and was
+even compelled--on the spur of the moment to express his views each
+month, then he who is called to trace chronologically the course of his
+life will perceive, not without amazement, how attentively he followed
+the swift events of the day, and how shrewdly he conducted himself
+throughout as a German and as a thinking, sympathetic man. And here is
+the place to recall the periodical which was so important for Germany,
+the _Deutscher Merkur_. This undertaking was not the first of its kind,
+yet at that time it was new and significant. The name of its editor
+immediately created great confidence in it; for the fact that a man who
+was himself a poet also promised to introduce the poems of others into
+the world, and that an author to whom such magnificent works were due
+would himself pass judgment and publicly express his opinion--this
+aroused the greatest hopes. Moreover, men of worth quickly gathered
+about him, and this alliance of preeminent _litterateurs_ was so active
+that the _Merkur_ during a period of several years may be employed as a
+textbook of our literary history. On the public generally its influence
+was profound and significant, for if, on the one hand, reading and
+criticism became the possession of a greater multitude, the desire to
+give instant expression to his thoughts became active in everyone who
+had anything to give. More was sent to the editor than he expected and
+desired; his success awakened imitators; similar periodicals arose which
+crowded upon the public, first monthly, then weekly and daily, and which
+finally produced that confusion of Babel of which we were and are
+witnesses, and which, strictly speaking, springs from the fact that
+everyone wishes to talk, but no one is willing to listen..
+
+The quality which maintained the value and the dignity of the _Deutscher
+Merkur_ for many years was its editor's innate liberality. Wieland was
+not created to be a party leader; he who recognizes moderation as the
+chief maxim cannot make himself guilty of one-sidedness. Whatever
+excited his active spirit he sought to equalize within himself through
+taste and common sense, and thus he also treated his collaborators, for
+none of whom he felt very much enthusiasm; and as, while translating the
+ancient authors whom he so highly esteemed, he was accustomed frequently
+to attack them in his notes, so, by his disapproving annotations, he
+often vexed, and actually estranged, valued and even favorite
+contributors.
+
+Even before this, our friend had been forced to endure full many an
+attack on account of major or minor writings; so much the less as the
+editor of a periodical could he escape literary controversies. Yet here,
+too, he shows himself ever the same. Such a paper war can never last
+long for him, and if it threatens to be in any degree protracted, he
+gives his opponent the last word and goes his wonted path.
+
+Foreigners have sagaciously observed that German authors regard the
+public less than the writers of other nations, and that, therefore, one
+can tell from his writings the man who is developing himself, and the
+man who seeks to create something to his own satisfaction,--and,
+consequently, the character of these two types soon becomes obvious.
+This quality we have already ascribed to Wieland in particular; and it
+will be so much the more interesting to arrange and to follow his
+writings and his life in this sense, since, formerly and latterly, the
+attempt has been made to cast suspicion on our friend's character from
+these very writings. A large number of men are even yet in error
+regarding him, since they fancy that the man of many sides must be
+indifferent, and the versatile man must be wavering; it is forgotten
+that character is concerned simply and solely with the practical. Only
+in that which a man does and continues to do, and in that to which he is
+constant, does he reveal his character, and in this sense there has been
+no more steadfast man, no man constantly more true to himself, than
+Wieland. If he surrendered himself to the multiplicity of his emotions,
+and to the versatility of his thoughts, and if he permitted no single
+impression to gain dominion over him, in this very way he proved the
+firmness and the sureness of his mind. This witty man played gladly with
+his opinions, but--I can summon all contemporaries as witnesses--never
+with his convictions. And thus he won for himself many friends, and kept
+them. That he had any decided enemy is not known to me. In the enjoyment
+of his poetic works he lived for many years in municipal, civic,
+friendly, and social surroundings, and gained the distinction of a
+complete edition of his carefully revised works, and even of an _edition
+de luxe_ of them.
+
+But even in the autumn of his years he was destined to feel the
+influence of the spirit of the age, and in an unforeseen manner to begin
+a new life, a new youth. The blessings of sweet peace had long ruled
+over Germany; general outward safety and repose coincided most happily
+with the inward, human, cosmopolitan views of existence. The peaceful
+townsman seemed no longer to require his walls; they were dispensed
+with; and there was a yearning after rustic life. The security of landed
+property gave confidence to everyone; the untrammelled life of nature
+attracted everyone; and as man, born a social being, can often fancy to
+himself the sweet deceit that he lives better, easier, happier in
+isolation, so Wieland also, who had already been vouchsafed the highest
+literary leisure, seemed to look about him for an abode more quiet in
+which to cultivate the Muses; and when he found opportunity and strength
+to obtain an estate in the very vicinity of Weimar, he formed the
+resolution there to pass the remainder of his life. And here they who
+have often visited him, and who have lived with him, may tell in detail
+how it was precisely here that he appeared in all his charm as head of
+the house and of the family, as friend, and as husband, and especially
+how, since he could indeed withdraw from men but men could not dispense
+with him, he most delightfully developed his social virtues as a
+hospitable host.
+
+While inviting younger friends to elaborate this idyllic portrayal, I
+may merely note, briefly and sympathetically, how this rural joy was
+troubled by the passing away of a dear woman friend who resided with
+them, and then by the death of his esteemed and careful consort. He laid
+these dear remains in his own property, and although he resolved to give
+up agricultural cares, which had become too intricate for him, and to
+dispense with the estate which for some years he had enjoyed, he
+retained for himself the place and the space between his two dear ones
+that there he, too, might find his resting place. And there, then, the
+honorable brethren have accompanied him, yea, brought him, and thus have
+they fulfilled his lovely and pleasant wish that posterity might visit
+and reverence his tomb within a living grove.
+
+Yet not without a higher reason did our friend return to the city, for
+his devotion to his great patroness, the Duchess Dowager, had more than
+once given him sad hours in his rural retirement. He felt only too
+keenly how much it cost him to be far from her. He could not forego
+association with her, and yet he could enjoy it only with inconvenience
+and with discomfort. And thus, after he had seen his household now
+expanded and now contracted, now augmented and now diminished, now
+gathered together and now scattered, the exalted princess draws him into
+her own immediate circle. He returns, occupies a house very close to the
+princely residence, shares in the summer sojourn in Tiefurt, and now
+regards himself as a member of the household and of the court.
+
+In very peculiar measure Wieland was born for the higher circles of
+society, and even the highest would have been his proper element; for
+since he nowhere wished to stand supreme, but gladly sought to take part
+in everything, and was inclined to express himself with moderation
+regarding everything, he must inevitably appear an agreeable companion,
+and in still higher degree he would have been such in a more
+light-hearted nation which did not take too seriously every form of
+recreation.
+
+For his poetic and his literary aspirations were alike addressed
+immediately to life, and though he did not seek a practical end with
+absolute invariability, yet he ever had a practical aim before his eyes,
+whether it was near or far. Therefore his thought was always clear, his
+phraseology was lucid and readily intelligible, and since, with his
+extensive knowledge, he continually held to the interest of the day,
+followed it, and intelligently occupied himself with it, his
+conversation also was diversified and stimulating throughout; so that I
+have not readily become acquainted with anyone who more gladly received
+and more spiritedly responded to whatever happy idea others might bring
+forward.
+
+Bearing in mind his type of thought, his mode of entertaining himself
+and others, and his honorable purpose of influencing his generation, he
+can scarcely be reproached for feeling an antagonism toward the more
+modern philosophical schools. When, at an earlier period, Kant gave
+merely the preludes of his greater theories in his minor writings, and
+in a lighter style seemed to express himself problematically upon
+the most weighty themes, then he still stood close enough to our friend;
+but when the huge system was erected, all those who had thus far gone
+their way poetizing and philosophizing in full freedom, were forced to
+see in Kant's monumental work a menacing citadel which would limit their
+serene excursions over the field of experience.
+
+Yet not merely the philosophers, but also the poets, had much, and,
+indeed, everything, to fear from the new intellectual tendency, so soon
+as large numbers should allow themselves to be attracted by it. It would
+at first appear as though its purpose was mainly directed toward
+knowledge, and then toward the theory of morals and its immediately
+subsidiary subjects. It was readily obvious, however, that, if it was
+intended to establish, more firmly than had hitherto been the case,
+those weighty affairs of higher knowledge and of moral conduct, and if
+there the demand was made for a sterner, more coherent judgment,
+developed from the depths of humanity--it was readily obvious, I repeat,
+that taste also would soon be referred to such principles, and,
+therefore, the attempt would be made absolutely to set aside individual
+fancies, chance culture, and popular peculiarities, and to evoke a more
+general law as a deciding factor.
+
+This was, moreover, actually realized, and in poetry a new epoch emerged
+which was necessarily as antagonistic to our friend as he was to it.
+From this time on he experienced many unfavorable judgments, yet without
+being very deeply influenced by them; and I here expressly mention this
+circumstance, since the consequent struggle in German literature is as
+yet by no means allayed and adjusted, and since a friend who desires to
+value Wieland's merits and sturdily to uphold his memory must be
+perfectly conversant with the situation of affairs, with the rise and
+with the sequence of opinions, and with the character and with the
+talents of the cooperators; he must know well the powers and the
+services of both sides; and, to work impartially, he must, in a sense,
+belong to both factions. Yet from those minor or major controversies
+which arose from his intellectual attitude I am drawn by a serious
+consideration, to which we must now turn.
+
+The peace which for many years had blissfully dwelt amid our mountains
+and hills, and in our delightfully watered valleys, had long been, if
+not disturbed, at least threatened, by military expeditions. When the
+eventful day dawned which filled us with amazement and alarm, since the
+fate of the world was decided in our walks, even in those terrible hours
+toward which our friend's carefree life flowed on, fortune did not
+desert him, for he was saved first through the precaution of a young and
+resolute friend, and then through the attention of the French
+conquerors, who honored in him both the meritorious author, famed
+throughout the world, and a member of their own great literary
+institute.
+
+Soon afterward he had to bear the loss of Amelia, so bitter to us all.
+Court and city endeavored to extend him every compensation, and soon
+afterward he was favored by two emperors with insignia of honor, the
+like of which he had not sought, and had not even expected, throughout
+his long life.
+
+Yet in the day of joy as in the day of sorrow he remained constant to
+himself, and thus he exemplified the superiority of delicate natures,
+whose equanimity knows how to meet with moderation good and evil fortune
+alike.
+
+But he appeared most remarkable of all, considered in body and in
+spirit, after the bitter calamity which befell him in such advanced
+years when, together with a beloved daughter, he was very severely
+injured by the overturning of his carriage. The painful results of the
+accident and the tedium of convalescence he bore with the utmost
+equanimity, and he comforted his friends rather than himself by the
+declaration that he had never met with a like misfortune, and it might
+well have seemed pleasing to the gods that in this way he discharge the
+debt of humanity. Now, moreover, he speedily recovered, since his
+constitution, like that of a youth, was quickly restored, and thus he
+became a proof for us of the way in which great physical strength may be
+combined with delicacy and clean living.
+
+As, then, his philosophy of life remained firm even under this test;
+such an accident produced no change in his convictions or in his mode of
+life. Companionable after his recovery as before, he took part in the
+customary recreations of the social life of the court and of the city,
+and with true affection and with constant endeavor shared in the
+activities of the brethren of our lodge. But however much his eye seemed
+always fixed on things earthly, and on the understanding and utilization
+of them--yet, as a man of exceptional gifts, he could in no wise
+dispense with the extramundane and the supersensual. Here also that
+conflict, which we have deemed it our duty to portray in detail above,
+became evident in a remarkable degree; for though he appeared to reject
+everything which lay outside the bounds of general knowledge, and beyond
+the sphere of what may be exemplified from experience, none the less,
+while he did not transgress the lines so sharply drawn, he could never
+refrain, in tentative fashion, as it were, from peeping over them, and
+from constructing and representing, in his own way, an extramundane
+world, a state concerning which all the innate powers of our soul can
+give us no information.
+
+Single traits of his writings afford manifold examples of this; but I
+may especially recall his _Agathodaemon_ and his _Euthanasie_, and also
+those beautiful declarations, as rational as they were sincere, which he
+was permitted, only a short while since, to express openly and frankly
+before this assembly. For a confiding love toward our lodge of brethren
+had developed within him. Acquainted even as a youth with the historical
+traditions regarding the mysteries of the ancients, he indeed shunned,
+in conformity with his serene, lucid mode of thought, those dark
+secrets; yet he did not deny that precisely under these, perhaps
+uncouth, veils, higher conceptions had first been brought to barbarous
+and sensual men, that, through awe-inspiring symbols, powerful,
+illuminating ideas had been awakened, the belief in one God, ruling over
+all, had been introduced, virtue had been represented more desirably,
+and hope for the continuance of our existence had been purified both
+from the false terrors of a dark superstition and from the equally false
+demands of an Epicurean sensuality.
+
+Then, as an aged man left behind on earth by so many valued friends and
+contemporaries, and feeling himself in many respects alone, he drew near
+to our dear lodge. How gladly he entered it, how constantly he attended
+our gatherings, vouchsafed his attention to our affairs, rejoiced in the
+reception of excellent young men, was present at our honorable banquets,
+and did not refrain from expressing his thoughts upon many a weighty
+matter--of this we are all witnesses; we have recognized it with
+friendly gratitude. Indeed, if this ancient lodge, often reestablished
+after many a change of time, required any testimony here, the most
+perfect would be ready at hand, since a talented man, intelligent,
+cautious, circumspect, experienced, benevolent, and moderate, felt that
+with us he found kindred spirits, and that with us he was in a company
+which he, accustomed to the best, so gladly recognized to be the
+realization of his wishes as a man and as a social being.
+
+Although summoned by our masters to speak a few words concerning the
+departed, before this so distinguished and highly esteemed assembly, I
+might surely have ventured to decline to do so, in the conviction that
+not a fleeting hour, not loose notes superficially jotted down, but
+whole years, and even several well weighed and well ordered volumes are
+requisite worthily to celebrate his memory in consideration of the
+monument which he has worthily erected for himself in his works and in
+his influence. This delightful duty I undertook only in the conviction
+that what I have here said may serve as an introduction to what should
+in future be better done by others at the repeated celebration of his
+memory. If it shall please our honored masters to deposit in their ark,
+together with this essay, all that shall publicly appear concerning our
+friend, and, still more, what our brethren, whom he most greatly and
+most peculiarly influenced and who enjoyed an uninterrupted and a closer
+association with him, may confidentially express and communicate, then
+through this would be collected a treasure of facts, of information, and
+of valuations which might well be unique of its kind, and from which our
+posterity might draw, in after times, in order to protect, to maintain,
+and to hallow for evermore so worthy a memory with love unwavering.
+
+
+
+
+THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (1827)
+
+TRANSLATED BY EDWARD BELL From WILHELM MEISTER'S TRAVELS
+
+Our pilgrims had performed the journey according to program, and
+prosperously reached the frontier of the province in which they were to
+learn so many wonderful things. On their first entry they beheld a most
+fertile region, the gentle slopes of which were favorable to
+agriculture, its higher mountains to sheep-feeding, and its broad
+valleys to the rearing of cattle. It was shortly before the harvest, and
+everything was in the greatest abundance; still, what surprised them
+from the outset, was that they saw neither women nor men, but only boys
+and youths busy getting ready for a prosperous harvest, and even making
+friendly preparations for a joyous harvest-home. They greeted now one,
+and now another, and inquired about the master, of whose whereabouts no
+one could give an account. The address of their letter was: _To the
+Master or to the Three_, and this too the boys could not explain;
+however, they referred the inquirers to an overseer, who was just
+preparing to mount his horse. They explained their object; Felix's frank
+bearing seemed to please him; and so they rode together along the road.
+
+Wilhelm had soon observed that a great diversity prevailed in the cut
+and color of the clothing, which gave a peculiar aspect to the whole of
+the little community. He was just on the point of asking his companion
+about this, when another strange sight was displayed to him; all the
+children, howsoever they might be occupied, stopped their work, and
+turned, with peculiar yet various gestures, toward the party riding
+past; and it was easy to infer that their object was the overseer. The
+youngest folded their arms crosswise on the breast, and looked
+cheerfully toward the sky; the intermediate ones held their arms behind
+them, and looked smiling upon the ground; the third sort stood erect
+and boldly; with arms at the side, they turned the head to the right,
+and placed themselves in a row, instead of remaining alone, like the
+others, where they were first seen.
+
+Accordingly, when they halted and dismounted, just where several
+children had ranged themselves in various attitudes and were being
+inspected by the overseer, Wilhelm asked the meaning of these gestures.
+
+Felix interposed, and said cheerfully: "What position have I to take,
+then?"
+
+"In any case," answered the intendant, "at first the arms across the
+breast, and looking seriously and gladly upward, without turning your
+glance." He obeyed; how ever he soon exclaimed: "This does not please me
+particularly; I see nothing overhead; does it last long? But yes,
+indeed," he exclaimed joyfully, "I see two hawks flying from west to
+east; that must be a good omen!"
+
+"It depends on how you take to it, how you behave yourself," rejoined
+the former; "now go and mingle with them, just as they mingle with each
+other."
+
+He made a sign, the children forsook their attitudes, resumed their
+occupations or went on playing as before. "Will you, and can you,"
+Wilhelm now asked, "explain to me that which causes my wonder? I suppose
+that these gestures, these positions, are greetings, with which they
+welcome you."
+
+"Just so," answered the other; "greetings, that tell me at once at what
+stage of cultivation each of these boys stands."
+
+"But could you," Wilhelm added, "explain to me the meaning of the
+graduation? For that it is such, is easy to see."
+
+"That is the part of better people than me," answered the other; "but I
+can assure you of this much, that they are no empty grimaces, and that,
+on the contrary, we impart to the children, not indeed the highest, but
+still a guiding and intelligible explanation; but at the same time we
+command each to keep and cherish for himself what we may have chosen to
+impart for the information of each: they may not chat about it with
+strangers, nor amongst themselves, and thus the teaching is modified in
+a hundred ways. Besides this the secrecy has very great advantages; for
+if we tell people immediately and perpetually the reason of everything,
+they think that there is nothing behind. To certain secrets, even if
+they may be known, we have to show deference by concealment and silence,
+for this tends to modesty and good morals."
+
+"I understand you," said Wilhelm. "Why should we not also apply
+spiritually, what is so necessary in bodily matters? But perhaps in
+another respect you can satisfy my curiosity. I am surprised at the
+great variety in the cut and color of their clothes, and yet I do not
+see all kinds of color, but a few only, and these in all their shades,
+from the brightest to the darkest. Still I observe, that in this there
+cannot be meant any indication of degrees of either age or merit; since
+the smallest and biggest boys mingled together, may be alike in cut and
+color, whilst those who are alike in gestures do not agree with one
+another in dress."
+
+"As concerns this, too," their companion replied, "I cannot explain any
+further; yet I shall be much mistaken it you depart hence without being
+enlightened about all that you may wish to know."
+
+They were now going in search of the master, whom they thought that they
+had found; but now a stranger could not but be struck by the fact that
+the deeper they got into the country, the more they were met by a
+harmonious sound of singing. Whatsoever the boys set about, in whatever
+work they were found engaged, they were for ever singing, and in fact it
+seemed that the songs were specially adapted to each particular
+occupation, and in similar cases always the same. If several children
+were in any place, they would accompany each other in turns.
+
+Toward evening they came upon some dancing, their steps being animated
+and guided by choruses. Felix from his horse chimed in with his voice,
+and, in truth, not badly; Wilhelm was delighted with this entertainment,
+which made the neighborhood so lively. "I suppose," he observed to his
+companion, "you devote a great deal of care to this kind of instruction,
+for otherwise this ability would not be so widely diffused, or so
+perfectly developed."
+
+"Just so," replied the other; "with us the art of singing forms the
+first step in education; everything else is subservient to it, and
+attained by means of it. With us the simplest enjoyment, as well as the
+simplest instruction, is enlivened and impressed by singing; and even
+what we teach in matters of religion and morals is communicated by the
+method of song. Other advantages for independent ends are directly
+allied; for, whilst we practise the children in writing down by symbols
+on the slate the notes which they produce, and then, according to the
+indication of these signs, in reproducing them in their throats, and
+moreover in adding the text, they exercise at the same time the hand,
+ear, and eye, and attain orthography and calligraphy quicker than you
+would believe; and, finally, since all this must be practised and copied
+according to pure metre and accurately fixed time, they learn to
+understand much sooner than in other ways the high value of measure and
+computation. On this account, of all imaginable means, we have chosen
+music as the first element of our education, for from this equally easy
+roads radiate in every direction."
+
+Wilhelm sought to inform himself further, and did not hide his
+astonishment at hearing no instrumental music.
+
+"We do not neglect it," replied the other, "but we practise it in a
+special place, inclosed in the most charming mountain-valley; and then
+again we take care that the different instruments are taught in places
+lying far apart. Especially are the discordant notes of beginners
+banished to certain solitary spots, where they can drive no one crazy;
+for you will yourself confess, that in well-regulated civil society
+scarcely any more miserable nuisance is to be endured than when the
+neighborhood inflicts upon us a beginner on the flute or on the violin.
+Our beginners, from their own laudable notion of wishing to be an
+annoyance to none, go voluntarily for a longer or shorter period into
+the wilds, and, isolated there, vie with one another in attaining the
+merit of being allowed to draw nearer to the inhabited world; on which
+account they are, from time to time, allowed to make an attempt at
+drawing nearer, which seldom fails, because in these, as in our other
+modes of education, we venture actually to develop and encourage a sense
+of shame and diffidence. I am sincerely glad that your son has got a
+good voice; the rest will be effected all the more easily."
+
+They had now reached a place where Felix was to remain, and make trial
+of his surroundings, until they were disposed to grant a formal
+admission. They already heard from afar a cheerful singing; it was a
+game, which the boys were now enjoying in their play-hour. A general
+chorus resounded, in which each member of a large circle joined
+heartily, clearly, and vigorously in his part, obeying the directions of
+the superintendent. The latter, however, often took the singers by
+surprise, by suspending with a signal the chorus-singing, and bidding
+some one or other single performer, by a touch of his baton, to adapt
+alone some suitable song to the expiring tune and the passing idea. Most
+of them already showed considerable ability, a few who failed in the
+performance willingly paid their forfeit, without exactly being made a
+laughing-stock. Felix was still child enough to mix at once among them,
+and came tolerably well out of the trial. Thereupon the first style of
+greeting was conceded to him; he forthwith folded his arms on his
+breast, looked upward, and with such a droll expression withal, that it
+was quite plain that no hidden meaning in it had as yet occurred to him.
+
+The pleasant spot, the kind reception, the merry games, all pleased the
+boy so well, that he did not feel particularly sad when he saw his
+father depart; he looked almost more wistfully at the horse as it was
+led away; yet he had no difficulty in understanding, when he was
+informed that he could not keep it in the present locality. On the other
+hand, they promised him that he should find, if not the same, at all
+events an equally lively and well-trained one when he did not expect it.
+
+As the superior could not be found, the overseer said: "I must now leave
+you, to pursue my own avocations; but still I will take you to the
+Three, who preside over holy things: your letter is also addressed to
+them, and together they stand in place of the Superior."
+
+Wilhelm would have liked to learn beforehand about the holy things, but
+the other replied. "The Three in return for the confidence with which
+you have left your son with us, will certainly, in accordance with
+wisdom and justice, reveal to you all that is most necessary. The
+visible objects of veneration, which I have called holy things, are
+included within a particular boundary, are not mingled with anything, or
+disturbed by anything; only at certain times of the year, the pupils,
+according to the stages of their education, are admitted to them, in
+order that they may be instructed historically and through their senses;
+for in this way they carry off with them an impression, enough for them
+to feed upon for a long time in the exercise of their duty."
+
+Wilhelm now stood at the entrance of a forest-valley, inclosed by lofty
+walls; on a given signal a small door was opened, and a serious,
+respectable-looking man received our friend. He found himself within a
+large and beautifully verdant inclosure, shaded with trees and bushes of
+every kind, so that he could scarcely see some stately walls and fine
+buildings through the dense and lofty natural growth; his friendly
+reception by the Three, who came up by-and-by, ultimately concluded in a
+conversation, to which each contributed something of his own, but the
+substance of which we shall put together in brief.
+
+"Since you have intrusted your son to us," they said, "it is our duty
+to let you see more deeply into our methods of proceeding. You have seen
+many external things, that do not carry their significance with them all
+at once; which of these do you most wish to have explained?"
+
+"I have remarked certain seemly yet strange gestures and obeisances, the
+significance of which I should like to learn; with you no doubt what is
+external has reference to what is within, and vice versa; let me
+understand this relation."
+
+"Well-bred and healthy children possess a great deal; Nature has given
+to each everything that he needs for time and continuance: our duty is
+to develop this; often it is better developed by itself. But one thing
+no one brings into the world, and yet it is that upon which depends
+everything through which a man becomes a man on every side. If you can
+find it out yourself, speak out."
+
+Wilhelm bethought himself for a short time, and then shook his head.
+After a suitable pause, they exclaimed "Veneration!"
+
+Wilhelm was startled.
+
+"Veneration," they repeated. "It is wanting in all, and perhaps in
+yourself. You have seen three kinds of gestures, and we teach a
+threefold veneration, which when combined to form a whole, only then
+attains to its highest power and effect. The first is veneration for
+that which is above us. That gesture, the arms folded on the breast, a
+cheerful glance toward the sky, that is precisely what we prescribe to
+our untutored children, at the same time requiring witness of them that
+there is a God up above who reflects and reveals Himself in our parents,
+tutors and superiors. The second, veneration for that which is below us.
+The hands folded on the back as if tied together, the lowered, smiling
+glance, bespeak that we have to regard the earth well and cheerfully; it
+gives us an opportunity to maintain ourselves; it affords unspeakable
+joys; but it brings disproportionate sufferings. If one hurts oneself
+bodily, whether faultily or innocently; if others hurt one,
+intentionally or accidentally; if earthly chance does one any harm--let
+these be well thought of, for such danger accompanies us all our life
+long. But from this condition we deliver our pupil as soon as possible,
+directly we are convinced that the teachings of this stage have made a
+sufficient impression upon him; but then we bid him be a man, look to
+his companions, and guide himself with reference to them. Now he stands
+erect and bold, yet not selfishly isolated; only in a union with his
+equals does he present a front toward the world. We are unable to add
+anything further."
+
+"I see it all," replied Wilhelm; "it is probably on this account that
+the multitude is so inured to vice, because it takes pleasure only in
+the element of ill-will and evil speech; he who indulges in this, soon
+becomes indifferent to God, contemptuous toward the world, and a hater
+of his fellows; but the true, genuine, indispensable feeling of
+self-respect is ruined in conceit and presumption."
+
+"Allow me, nevertheless," Wilhelm went on, "to make one objection: Has
+it not ever been held that the fear evinced by savage nations in the
+presence of mighty natural phenomena, and other inexplicable foreboding
+events, is the germ from which a higher feeling, a purer disposition,
+should gradually be developed?"
+
+To this the other replied: "Fear, no doubt, is consonant with nature,
+but not reverence; people fear a known or unknown powerful being; the
+strong one tries to grapple with it, the weak to avoid it; both wish to
+get rid of it, and feel happy when in a short space they have conquered
+it, when their nature in some measure has regained its freedom and
+independence. The natural man repeats this operation a million times
+during his life; from fear he strives after liberty, from liberty he is
+driven back into fear, and does not advance one step further. To fear is
+easy, but unpleasant; to entertain reverence is difficult but pleasing.
+Man determines himself unwillingly to reverence, or rather never
+determines himself to it; it is a loftier sense which must be imparted
+to his nature, and which is self-developed only in the most
+exceptionally gifted ones, whom therefore from all time we have regarded
+as saints, as gods. In this consists the dignity, in this the function
+of all genuine religions, of which also there exist only three,
+according to the objects toward which they direct their worship."
+
+The men paused. Wilhelm remained silent for awhile in thought; as he did
+not feel himself equal to pointing these strange words, he begged the
+worthy men to continue their remarks, which too they at once consented
+to do.
+
+"No religion," they said, "which is based on fear, is esteemed among us.
+With the reverence which a man allows himself to entertain, whilst he
+accords honor, he may preserve his own honor; he is not at discord with
+himself, as in the other case. The religion which rests on reverence for
+that which is above us, we call the ethnical one; it is the religion of
+nations, and the first happy redemption from a base fear; all so-called
+heathen religions are of this kind, let them have what names they will.
+The second religion, which is founded on that reverence which we have
+for what is like ourselves, we call the Philosophic; for the
+philosopher, who places himself in the middle, must draw downward to
+himself all that is higher, and upward to himself all that is lower, and
+only in this central position does he deserve the name of the sage. Now,
+whilst he penetrates his relations to his fellows, and therefore to the
+whole of humanity, and his relations to all other earthly surroundings,
+necessary or accidental, in the cosmical sense he lives only in the
+truth. But we must now speak of the third religion, based on reverence
+for that which is below us; we call it the Christian one, because this
+disposition of mind is chiefly revealed in it; it is the last one which
+humanity could and was bound to attain. Yet what was not demanded for
+it? not merely to leave earth below, and claim a higher origin, but to
+recognize as divine even humility and poverty, scorn and contempt,
+shame and misery, suffering and death; nay, to revere and make lovable
+even sin and crime, not as hindrances but as furtherances of holiness!
+Of this there are indeed found traces throughout all time; but a track
+is not a goal, and this having once been reached, humanity cannot turn
+backward; and it may be maintained, that the Christian religion having
+once appeared, can never disappear again; having once been divinely
+embodied, cannot again be dissolved."
+
+"Which of these religions do you then profess more particularly?" said
+Wilhelm.
+
+"All three," answered the others, "for, in point of fact, they together
+present the true religion; from these three reverences outsprings the
+highest reverence, reverence for oneself, and the former again develop
+themselves from the latter, so that man attains to the highest he is
+capable of reaching, in order that he may consider himself the best that
+God and nature have produced; nay, that he may be able to remain on this
+height without being drawn through conceit or egoism into what is base."
+
+"Such a profession of faith, developed in such a manner, does not
+estrange me," replied Wilhelm; "it agrees with all that one learns here
+and there in life, only that the very thing unites you, that severs the
+others."
+
+To this the others replied: "This confession is already adhered to by a
+large part of the world, though unconsciously."
+
+"How so, and where?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"In the Creed!" exclaimed the others, loudly; "for the first article is
+ethnical, and belongs to all nations: the second is Christian, for those
+struggling against sufferings and glorified in sufferings; the third
+finally teaches a spiritual communion of saints, to wit, of those in the
+highest degree good and wise: ought not therefore in fairness the three
+divine Persons, under whose likeness and name such convictions and
+promises are uttered, to pass also for the highest Unity?"
+
+"I thank you," replied the other, "for having so clearly and coherently
+explained this to me--to whom, as a full-grown man, the three
+dispositions of mind are not new; and when I recall, that you teach the
+children these high truths, first through material symbols, then through
+a certain symbolic analogy, and finally develop in them the highest
+interpretation, I must needs highly approve of it."
+
+"Exactly so," replied the former; "but now you must still learn
+something more, in order that you may be convinced that your son is in
+the best hands. However, let this matter rest for the morning hours;
+rest and refresh yourself, so that, contented and humanly complete, you
+may accompany us farther into the interior tomorrow."
+
+
+
+
+WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE (1804)
+
+TRANSLATED BY GEORGE KRIEHN, PH. D.
+
+TO HER MOST SERENE HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS ANNA AMALIA OF SAXE-WEIMAR AND
+EISENACH
+
+_Most Serene Princess,_
+
+_Most Gracious Lady,_
+
+Another benefaction has been added to the many which art and science owe
+to Your Highness by the most gracious permission to publish the
+following letters of Winckelmann. They are addressed to a man who had
+the happiness of counting himself among your servants, and soon
+afterward of living in close relation with Your Highness, at the time
+when Winckelmann found himself in the most embarrassing circumstances,
+the straightforward and touching narration of which one cannot read
+without sympathy.
+
+Had these pages come to the attention of Your Highness in those days,
+the dictates of your noble and charitable heart would have immediately
+put an end to such distress, changed the fate of a most excellent man,
+and directed it more happily for the future.
+
+But who indeed ought to think of what might have happened, when so many
+gratifying things that actually took place lie before us?
+
+Your Highness has, since that time, established and supported much that
+is useful and promotive of happiness, while our gracious and sympathetic
+Prince adds constantly to the great number of his benefactions.
+
+One may without vainglory recall the good that for us and for others has
+been accomplished in our limited circle, the least significant aspects
+of which cannot but excite the observer's admiration, which would be
+greatly increased if a well informed writer should take the trouble to
+describe its origin and growth.
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS AMALIA]
+
+The intention of the benefactors was never selfish but was always
+directed toward the good to be accomplished. The higher culture of this
+land all the more deserves an annalist, since much formerly existed and
+flourished of which all visible traces have now disappeared. May Your
+Highness, in the consciousness of having been the prime mover and
+constant participant in these enterprizes, attain that peculiar domestic
+happiness, a hale and hearty old age, and long continue to enjoy the
+brilliant period now opening for our circle, in which we hope that all
+that has been accomplished will be further increased, unified and
+strengthened, and thus handed down to posterity.
+
+Cherishing the flattering hope that I shall continue to rejoice in that
+inestimable favor with which Your Highnesses have deigned to adorn my
+life, I am, with respectful devotion,
+
+Your Most Serene Highness' obedient servant,
+
+J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+PREFACE
+
+The friends of art who have for several years been associated at Weimar
+are surely privileged to speak of their relation to the general public,
+because (and this is the final test) they have always expressed similar
+convictions and have been guided by well tried principles. Not that,
+limited to certain modes of apprehending matters, they have obstinately
+maintained a single point of view. On the contrary, they willingly
+confess that they have learned much from diverse expression of opinion,
+all the more so as they now learn with pleasure that their efforts in
+behalf of culture are constantly becoming more closely allied to the
+general progress of higher education in Germany.
+
+With much gratification they call attention to the _Propyloea_, to the
+critical and descriptive programs of no less than six exhibitions of
+painting and statuary, to the many expressions of opinion in the
+_Jenaisische Litteraturzeitung, and to the published translation of the
+Life of Benvenuto Cellini.
+
+Although these writings have not been printed and bound in the same
+volumes and do not form parts of a single work, they have, nevertheless,
+all been written in the same spirit. They have proved a leaven to the
+whole, as we are learning slowly, but not without gratification; so that
+there is no longer occasion to remember ingratitude often experienced,
+and open or secret opposition.
+
+The present publication is an immediate sequel to the foregoing works,
+and of its contents we mention here only the most important.
+
+PLAN FOR A HISTORY OF ART DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
+
+The historical conception of related conditions promotes the more rapid
+development of the artist as well as of the man. Every individual,
+especially if he be a man of capacity, at first seems far too important
+to himself. Trusting in his independent power, he is inclined to
+champion far too quickly this or that maxim; he strives and labors with
+energy along the path he has himself chosen; and when at length he
+becomes conscious of his one-sidedness and his error, he changes just as
+violently, enters upon another perhaps equally erroneous course, and
+clings to principles equally faulty. Not until late in life does he
+become aware of his own history and realize how much further a constant
+development in accordance with well tested principles might have led
+him.
+
+If the connoisseur owes his insight to history alone, which embodies the
+ideas which give rise to art, for the young artist the history of art is
+of the greatest importance.
+
+ [Illustration: WINCKELMANN]
+
+He should not, however, search in it for indistinct models, to be
+pursued passionately, but for the means of realizing himself and his
+point of view, with its limitations. But unfortunately, even the
+immediate past is seldom instructive to man, through no fault of his
+own. For while we are learning to understand the mistakes of our
+predecessors, time is itself producing new errors which, unobserved,
+ensnare us, and the account of which is left to the future historian
+with just as little advantage to his own generation.
+
+But who would indulge in such mournful observations, and not rather
+endeavor to promote the greatest possible clearness of view in his own
+branch of study? This is the duty assumed by the writer of the present
+sketch, the difficulty of which will be seen by connoisseurs, who, it is
+hoped, will point out its deficiencies and correct its imperfections,
+thereby making a satisfactory future work possible.
+
+WINCKELMANN'S LETTERS To BERENDIS
+
+Letters are among the most important monuments which the individual
+leaves behind him. Imaginative persons often picture to themselves, even
+in solitary musings, the presence of a distant friend, to whom they
+impart their most private opinions; and in the same manner a letter is a
+kind of soliloquy. For often the friend to whom, we write is rather the
+occasion than the subject of the letter. Whatever rejoices or pains,
+oppresses or occupies us, is poured forth from the heart. As lasting
+evidences of an existence or a condition, such papers are the more
+important for posterity, the more the writer lives in the moment and the
+less he is concerned with the future. Winckelmann's letters sometimes
+have this desirable character.
+
+Although this excellent man, who educated himself in solitude, was
+reticent in society, serious and discreet in his personal life and
+conduct toward others, he was free and unconstrained in his letters, in
+which he often reveals himself, without hesitation, just as he felt. We
+see him worried, troubled, confused, doubting and dilatory, but also
+cheerful, alert, bold, daring, and unrestrained to the degree of
+cynicism; altogether, however, as a man of tempered character and
+confident in himself; who, although the outer conditions offered to his
+imagination so much to choose from, usually chose the best way, except
+when he took the last impatient step which cost him his life.
+
+His letters, having the general characteristics of rectitude and
+directness, differ according to the persons to whom they are addressed,
+which is always the case when a clever correspondent imagines those
+present with whom he is speaking at a distance, and therefore no more
+neglects what is proper and suitable than he would in their presence.
+
+Thus the letters addressed to Stosch (to mention only a few of the
+larger groups of Winckelmann's letters) seem to us fine testimonials of
+honest cooperation with a friend for a definite purpose; a proof of his
+great endurance in a difficult task, thoughtlessly undertaken without
+proper preparation, but courageously and happily concluded; they sparkle
+with the liveliest literary, political, and society news, and form a
+charming picture of life, which would have been more interesting if they
+could have been printed entire and unmutilated. Charming also is his
+frankness, even in passionate disapproval of a friend for whom the
+writer was never tired of testifying as much respect as love, as much
+gratitude as attachment.
+
+The consciousness of his own superiority and dignity, combined with a
+genuine appreciation of others, the expression of friendship,
+cordiality, playfulness and pleasantry, which characterize the letters
+to his Swiss friends, make this collection extremely interesting and
+lovable as well as exceedingly instructive, although Winckelmann's
+letters cannot on the whole be termed instructive.
+
+The first letters to Count Buenau, in the valuable Dassdorf collection,
+reveal an oppressed, self-absorbed spirit, which hardly ventures to
+look up to such an exalted patron. That remarkable letter in which
+Winckelmann announces his change of religion is a real galimatias, an
+unfortunate and confused document.
+
+The first half of our own collection serves to make this period
+comprehensible, yea, immediately intelligible. They were written partly
+at Noethenitz, partly at Dresden, and are directed to an intimate and
+trusted friend and comrade. The writer stands revealed in all his
+distress, with his pressing, irresistible desires, but on the road to a
+new and distant happiness, earnestly sought.
+
+The other half of our letters are written from Italy. They preserve
+their direct, unrestrained character; but above them hovers the
+joyfulness of the southern sky, and they are inspired with an exuberant
+delight in the goal which he has attained. Besides this, they give,
+compared with other contemporary letters that are already known, a more
+complete view of his position.
+
+The pleasure of appreciating and passing judgment upon the importance of
+this collection, which is perhaps greater from the psychological than
+from the literary point of view, we leave to receptive hearts and
+judicious minds. We shall add only a few words about the man to whom
+they were written, in accordance with our available information.
+
+Hieronymus Dieterich Berendis was born at Seehausen in the Altmark in
+the year 1720, studied law in the University of Halle, and was for some
+years after his student days auditor of the Royal Prussian Regiment of
+Hussars, usually called the Black Hussars from their uniform, but at the
+time named after their Commander von Ruesch. After leaving that rude
+life, he continued his studies in Berlin. During a sojourn at Seehausen
+he made the acquaintance of Winckelmann, whose intimate friend he
+became, and through whose recommendation he was afterward engaged as
+tutor of the youngest Count Buenau. He conducted his pupil to Brunswick
+where the latter studied at the Karolinum. When the Count afterward
+entered the French service, his father, who was at that time minister
+of state at Weimar, conducted Berendis into the service of the Duke, in
+which he first became military counsellor, entering afterward the
+service of the Dowager Duchess as Financial Councillor and Keeper of the
+Privy Purse. He died on the 26th of October, 1783, at Weimar.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF WINCKELMANN
+
+The most deserving citizen, no matter how great his service may have
+been to his country and his city in a wider or narrower field, receives
+but one funeral. Others, however, have so distinguished themselves by
+worthy benefactions that they are honored by a public celebration of the
+anniversary of their death, on which occasion the lasting influence of
+their beneficence is praised. In the same sense we have every cause to
+offer from time to time a well meaning tribute to the memory of the men
+who have bestowed inexhaustible mental benefactions upon us.
+
+From this point of view the slight tribute which friends of similar
+opinions now offer should be regarded as a testimonial of their
+appreciation, not as an account of his services. The feast at which it
+is offered will be participated in by all appreciative minds on the
+occasion of the recently discovered letters of Winckelmann, now for the
+first time published.
+
+SKETCHES FOR AN ESSAY ON WINCKELMANN
+
+PREFACE
+
+The following essays, written by three friends, whose opinions on art in
+general, as well as on the services of Winckelmann, coincide, were
+intended as a basis for a more extended essay on this remarkable man,
+and to furnish the materials for a work which should have at once the
+merit of diversity and of unity.
+
+ [Illustration: WEIMAR SEEN FROM THE NORTH]
+
+But as in life many an undertaking encounters all kinds of obstacles,
+which hardly allow the requisite material to be collected, to say
+nothing of giving it the desired form, so here only half of the whole as
+planned appears.
+
+In the present instance, however, the half may be prized more than the
+whole, since, by the study of three individual opinions on the same
+subject, the reader may to a greater extent be stimulated and incited to
+form an individual conception of the significant life and character of
+Winckelmann, which can now be easily accomplished by the aid of the
+earlier and more recently published materials. We therefore hope to
+merit gratitude if, instead of waiting for a later opportunity and
+promising a future achievement, we freely offer, in Winckelmann's own
+refreshing manner, only that which is already prepared, even though it
+be not complete, in order that it may after its own fashion exert a
+timely influence in the great world of life and culture.
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The memory of noteworthy men and the presence of important works of art,
+awaken from time to time a spirit of contemplation. Both stand before us
+as legacies of each succeeding generation, the former by reason of their
+deeds and fame, the latter actually preserved as indefinable realities.
+Every judicious observer knows full well that only the contemplation of
+these men and monuments in their entirety would be of real value, and
+yet we are always attempting to make them more comprehensible by our
+reflection and our words.
+
+One is especially impelled to this when something new relating to such
+subjects is discovered and made known. We trust therefore that the
+public will find our renewed observations on Winckelmann, his character
+and his achievements a timely contribution, since the letters which are
+now published throw a more vivid light upon his mode of thought and the
+conditions under which he labored.
+
+ENTER WINCKELMANN
+
+Even to ordinary mortals Nature has not denied a very precious
+endowment--I refer to that lively impulse felt from earliest childhood,
+to take hold of the external world, to learn to know it, to enter into
+relation with it, and to form with it a complete whole. Certain chosen
+spirits, on the other hand, often have the peculiarity of feeling a kind
+of aversion to actual life, withdraw into themselves, and create in
+themselves a world of their own, in this wise achieving the highest
+inner development.
+
+But when, in especially gifted men, appears the need common to all of us
+of seeking in the external world a corresponding realization for all the
+gifts with which Nature has endowed them, thereby raising their inner
+being to a self-relying whole, we may be assured of the development of a
+character in which both the present and the future world will rejoice.
+
+Winckelmann was a man of this kind. Nature had placed in him whatever
+makes and adorns the true man. Furthermore, he devoted his entire life
+to the search for that which is harmonious and worthy in man and in art,
+which is primarily concerned with man.
+
+An obscure childhood, insufficient instruction in his youth, disjointed
+and scattered studies in early manhood, the pressure of a school
+position, and all the worry and annoyance that are experienced in such a
+career--all these he had suffered as many others have. He had reached
+the age of thirty without having enjoyed a single favor at the hands of
+fate; yet in him were planted the germs of an enviable happiness, very
+possible to realize.
+
+Even in these unhappy days we find the trace of that impulse to know for
+himself with his own eyes the conditions of the world, gloomy and
+disjointed traces it is true, but expressed with sufficient decision. A
+few attempts to see strange lands, undertaken without sufficient
+reflection, were unsuccessful. He dreamed of a journey to Egypt; he set
+out by way of France, but unforeseen obstacles turned him back. More
+wisely guided by his genius, he at last seized upon the idea of forcing
+his way to Rome. He felt how very profitable a sojourn in the Eternal
+City would be for him. This was no whim, no mere thought; it was a
+decided plan, which he undertook to realize with cleverness and
+decision.
+
+THE ANTIQUE
+
+Man can accomplish much by the opportune use of individual powers, he
+can even accomplish extraordinary things by the combination of several
+powers; but the unique, the startling, he can only achieve when all
+capabilities are evenly united in him. This last was the happy lot of
+the ancients, especially of the Greeks in their best period; to the
+other two alternatives we moderns are unfortunately limited by fate.
+
+When the healthy nature of man acts as a unit, when he realizes his
+place in the world as part of a great and worthy whole, when a
+harmonious well-being accords him a pure and free happiness--then the
+universe, if it had the power of self-realization, its end attained,
+would rejoice and admire this culmination of its own genesis and
+existence. For to what purpose is the array of suns, planets and moons,
+of stars and milky ways, of comets and nebulae, of worlds existing and
+arising, if it be not that a happy man may unconsciously rejoice in his
+own existence?
+
+While, in almost every act of contemplation, the modern thinker, as we
+have just done, projects himself into the infinite, to return only in
+the end--if he is happy enough in succeeding therein--to a limited
+proposition, the ancients, without following a long, round-about path,
+found their exclusive happiness within the lovely confines of this
+world. Here they were placed, to this end they had been called, here
+their activity found its field, their passion its object and
+nourishment.
+
+Why are their poets and historians the wonder of the judicious, the
+despair of rivals, unless it be because the actors introduced by them
+were so deeply concerned in their own selves, in the narrow circle of
+the fatherland, within the circumscribed path of their own life as well
+as that of their fellow citizens, and because with all their mind,
+inclination, and power, they worked in and for the present? Under such
+conditions it could not be difficult for a writer of their opinion to
+immortalize such a present. What was actually occurring was for them the
+only thing of value, just as for us only what is thought or felt seems
+of greatest worth.
+
+In a certain sense the poet lived in his imagination, just as the
+historian lived in the political, and the investigator in the natural
+world. All held fast to the nearest, the true, the actual, and even the
+pictures of their fantasy have bone and marrow. Man, and whatever was
+human, was considered of the highest value, and all his inner and
+external relations to the world were represented with the same great
+intelligence with which they were observed. Feeling and observation had
+not been separated; that almost incurable breach in the healthy power of
+man had not yet occurred.
+
+Not only in enjoying happiness, but in enduring unhappiness also, these
+natures were remarkably gifted. For as a healthy tissue resists illness
+and is speedily restored after every attack, so the wholesome mind of
+such natures quickly and easily recovers from internal and external
+misfortune. Such an antique nature, in so far as one can make this
+statement of any of our contemporaries, was reincarnated in Winckelmann.
+At the very beginning it endured its mighty probation, and was not tamed
+by thirty years of humility, discomfort, and sorrow; it could neither be
+diverted from its path, nor blunted by adversity. As soon as he attained
+a worthy freedom, he appears well rounded and complete, quite in the
+antique sense. He was to live a life of action, enjoyment and self
+denial, joy and suffering, possession and loss, exaltation and
+debasement--yet in such a strange medley he was always satisfied with
+the beautiful world in which such a variable fate befalls us.
+
+Just as in life he possessed a really antique spirit, so in his studies
+he was faithful to the same ideal. In the treatment of science in
+general the ancients were in a rather unfortunate position, since for
+the comprehension of the varied objects of nature a division of powers
+and capabilities, a disintegration of unity (so to speak) is almost
+unavoidable. In a like case the modern scholar encounters an even
+greater danger, because in the detailed investigation of manifold
+subjects, he runs the risk of scattering his energies and of losing
+himself in disconnected knowledge, without supplementing the incomplete,
+as the ancients succeeded in doing, by the completeness of his own
+personality.
+
+However much Winckelmann wandered about in the fields of possible and
+profitable knowledge, guided partly by pleasure and inclination, partly
+by necessity, he always came back sooner or later to antiquity,
+especially to Greek antiquity, with which he felt himself most closely
+related, and with which he was destined so happily to be united in his
+best days.
+
+PAGANISM
+
+The description of the ancient point of view, concerned only with this
+world and its assets, leads us directly to the observation that such
+advantages are conceivable only in a pagan mind. That confidence in
+oneself, that activity in the present, the pure worship of the gods as
+ancestors and the admiration of them _quasi_ as artistic creations only,
+resignation to an all-powerful fate, the yearning for future fame,
+itself dependent upon activities in this world--all these belonging
+necessarily together, constitute such an inseparable whole that they
+form a condition of human existence planned by Nature herself. In the
+highest moment of happiness, as well as in the deepest of sacrifice,
+even of destruction, we are always conscious of an indestructible
+well-being.
+
+This pagan point of view pervades Winckelmann's deeds and writings, and
+is expressed especially in his early letters, where he is still wearing
+himself out in the conflict with more modern religious opinions. This
+mode of thought, this remoteness from the Christian point of view,
+indeed his repugnance of it, must be remembered in judging his so-called
+change of religion. The churches into which the Christian religion is
+divided were a matter of complete indifference to him, because in his
+inmost nature he never belonged to any of them.
+
+FRIENDSHIP
+
+Since the ancients, as we boast, were really entire men, they must, as
+they found all happiness in themselves and the world, have learned to
+know the relations of human beings in the widest sense; they could not
+therefore be lacking in that delight which arises from the attachment of
+similar natures.
+
+Here also a remarkable difference between ancient and modern times is
+revealed. The relation to woman, which with us has become so tender and
+spiritual, hardly rose above the limits of the lowest satisfaction. The
+relation of parents to children seems to have been of a somewhat more
+tender character. The friendship of persons of the male sex for one
+another, with them took the place of all other sentiments; although they
+pictured the maidens Chloris and Thyia as inseparable friends, even in
+Hades.
+
+The passionate fulfilment of loving duties, the joy of inseparability,
+the devotion of one for the other, their avowed allegiance during life,
+and the duty of sharing death itself, if necessary, fill us with
+astonishment. One even feels ashamed of one's own generation when poets,
+historians, philosophers and orators overwhelm one with amazing stories,
+events, sentiments and opinions, all of the same tenor and purport.
+
+For a friendship of this character, Winckelmann felt himself born--not
+only capable of it, but requiring it to the highest degree. He realized
+himself only in the relation of friendship; he recognized himself only
+in that image of the whole which requires a third for its completion.
+
+Even at an early period he applied this ideal to a probably unworthy
+object; to whom he consecrated himself, for whom he vowed himself to
+live and to suffer; for whom he found even in his poverty the means of
+being rich, of giving and of sacrificing; indeed he would not have
+hesitated to surrender his existence, his very life. It is in this
+relation that Winckelmann, even in the midst of poverty and need, feels
+rich, generous and happy, because he is able to do something for him
+whom he loves above everything else, and in whom he has, as the highest
+sacrifice, to excuse even ingratitude.
+
+However the times and circumstances might alter, Winckelmann reshaped
+every object of worth with which he came in contact, to fit this ideal
+of friendship. Although many of these attachments easily and quickly
+vanish, the fine sentiment underlying them won for him the heart of many
+an excellent man, and brought him the happiness of living in the most
+beautiful relation with the best men of his age and environment.
+
+BEAUTY
+
+Although such a deep need of friendship really creates and idealizes the
+object of its affection, the lover of antiquity would, through it alone,
+achieve only a one-sided moral excellence. The external world would
+offer him little, if along with it a related, similar need and a
+satisfying object of this need did not fortunately appear--we refer to
+the demand for the sensuously beautiful, as revealed in a tangible
+object. For the supreme product of an ever evolving nature is the
+beautiful man. It is true that Nature can but seldom produce him,
+because the ideal is opposed by many existing conditions, and even her
+almighty power cannot tarry long with the perfect, and perpetuate the
+beauty it has produced; for, to be exact, we may say it is only for a
+moment that the beautiful man remains beautiful.
+
+Against this mutability art now enters the lists. For, by being placed
+at the summit of nature, man views himself as a complete nature, which
+must now produce another consummation. He attains this end by striving
+for virtue and perfection, by appealing to selection, arrangement,
+harmony and significance, through which he at length rises to the
+production of a work of art, which achieves a brilliant place among his
+other works and actions. Once achieved and standing in its ideal reality
+before the world, it produces a lasting and supreme effect. For in its
+spiritual development from all of man's powers, it adopts all that is
+noble and lovable; and by spiritualizing the human form and raising man
+above himself, it closes the circle of his life and activity, and
+deifies him in the present, in which both past and future are included.
+By such emotions were those overwhelmed who saw the Olympian Jupiter, as
+we gather from the descriptions and testimony of the ancients. God had
+become man in order to raise man to God. One beheld supreme dignity and
+was inspired by supreme beauty. In this sense we can only acknowledge
+that the ancients were right when they said, with profoundest
+conviction, that it was a misfortune to die without having seen this
+great work.
+
+For the appreciation of this beauty Winckelmann was by nature fitted. He
+first learned of it in the writings of the ancients, but encountered it
+personified in the works of art, in which we all first learn to know it,
+that we may recognize and treasure it in nature's living creations.
+
+When, however, the requirements of friendship and of beauty both find
+inspiration in the same object, the happiness and gratitude of man seem
+to pass all bounds. All that he possesses he would gladly give as a
+feeble testimony of his attachment and his devotion.
+
+So we often find Winckelmann in friendship with beautiful youths, and
+never does he appear more animated and lovable than in such, though
+often only flitting, moments.
+
+CATHOLICISM
+
+With such opinions, with such needs and longings, Winckelmann for a long
+time served objects alien to his own desires. Nowhere about him did he
+see the least hope of help and assistance.
+
+Count Buenau, in his capacity of a private gentleman, needed only to buy
+one valuable book less in order to open for Winckelmann the road to
+Rome; as a minister of state he had influence enough to have helped this
+excellent man out of every difficulty; but he was probably unwilling to
+lose so capable a servant, or else he had no appreciation of the great
+service he would have rendered the world by encouraging a gifted man.
+The Court at Dresden, from which Winckelmann might eventually hope for
+adequate support, professed the Roman faith, and there was scarcely any
+other way to attain favor and consideration than through confessors and
+other members of the clergy.
+
+The example of a Prince is a mighty influence in his country, and
+incites with secret power every citizen to like actions in private life,
+especially to moral actions. The religion of a Prince always remains in
+a certain sense the ruling religion, and the Roman faith, like a
+whirlpool, draws the quietly passing waves to itself and into its
+vortex.
+
+In addition to this Winckelmann must have felt that a man, in order to
+be a Roman in Rome, in order to identify himself with the life there,
+and to enjoy confidential association, must necessarily profess the
+religion of his associates, must yield to their faith, and accommodate
+himself to their usages. The final result actually shows that he could
+not have attained his end without this early decision, which was made
+much easier for him by the fact that, as a thorough heathen by nature,
+he had never become Christianized by his Protestant baptism.
+
+Yet this change in his condition was not achieved without a bitter
+struggle. We may, in accordance with our convictions, and for reasons
+sufficiently weighty, make a final decision which is in perfect harmony
+with our volition, desires and needs, which indeed seems unavoidable for
+the maintenance and continuance of our very existence, so that we are in
+perfect accord with ourselves. But such a decision may contradict the
+prevailing opinion and the convictions of many people. Then a new
+struggle begins, which, while it may cause no uncertainty, yet may
+occasion discomfort, impatience and annoyance, because we discover
+occasional inconsistencies in our actions while we suspect the existence
+of many more in ourselves.
+
+And so Winckelmann, before his intended step, seemed anxious, fearful,
+sorrowful and swayed by deep emotion when he thought of its probable
+effect, especially upon his first patron, Count Buenau. How beautiful,
+sincere and upright are his confidential expressions upon this point!
+
+For every man who changes his religion is marked by a certain stigma
+from which it seems impossible to free him. From this it is evident that
+men cherish a steadfast purpose above all else, all the more so because
+they, divided into factions, constantly have their own safety and
+stability in mind. This is not a matter of feeling or conviction. We
+should be steadfast precisely there where fate rather than choice places
+us. To remain faithful to one people, one city, one Prince, one friend,
+one woman; to trace back everything to them; to labor, want and suffer
+everything for their sake--this is estimable. To desert them is hateful;
+inconstancy is contemptible.
+
+Thus is indeed the harsh, the very serious side of the question, but it
+may also be viewed from another point of view from which it has a more
+pleasing and less serious aspect. Certain conditions of society, which
+we in no sense approve of, certain moral blemishes in others, have an
+especial charm for the imagination. If the comparison be permitted, we
+might say that it is in this matter as it is with game which, to the
+cultivated palate, tastes far better slightly tainted than when fresh. A
+divorced woman or a renegade make an especially interesting impression.
+Persons who would otherwise appear to be merely interesting and
+agreeable, now appear admirable. It cannot be denied that Winckelmann's
+change of religion considerably heightens in our imagination the
+romantic side of his life and being.
+
+But to Winckelmann himself the Catholic religion presented nothing
+attractive. He saw in it only the masquerade dress which he threw around
+him, and expressed himself bitterly enough about it. Even at a later
+period he does not seem to have sufficiently observed its usages, and by
+loose speech he perhaps made himself suspicious to devout
+believers--here and there at least a slight fear of the Inquisition is
+perceptible.
+
+REALIZATION OF GREEK ART
+
+The transition from literature, even from the highest things that have
+been expressed in word and language, from poetry and rhetoric, to the
+plastic and graphic arts is difficult, indeed almost impossible. For
+there lies between the two a tremendous chasm, over which only a
+specially adapted nature can help us. We have now a sufficiently large
+number of documents lying before us to enable us to judge how far
+Winckelmann succeeded in doing this.
+
+Through the joy of appreciation he was first attracted to the treasures
+of art; but in order to use and judge them, he required artists as
+intermediaries, whose more or less authoritative opinions he was able to
+comprehend, revise, and express. In this manner originated his treatise
+_Concerning the Imitation of Greek Masterpieces in Painting and
+Sculpture_, with two appendices, published while he was still in
+Dresden.
+
+However much Winckelmann appears, even here, to be upon the right path;
+however many delightful, fundamental passages these writings contain,
+however correctly the final aim of art is already defined in them, they
+are nevertheless, both as regards form and subject, so baroque and
+curious, that one would in vain seek their meaning, unless he had
+definite information concerning the personality of the connoisseurs and
+judges of art at that time assembled in Saxony, and concerning their
+abilities, opinions, inclinations and whims. These writings will
+therefore remain a sealed book to posterity, unless well informed
+connoisseurs of art, who lived nearer those times, should soon decide
+either to write or cause to be written a description of the then
+existing conditions, in so far as this is still possible. Lippert,
+Hagedorn, Oeser, Dietrich, Heinecken and Oesterreich loved, practised
+and promoted art, each in his own way. Their purposes were restricted,
+their maxims were one-sided, yea, very often, freakish. They circulated
+stories and anecdotes, the varied application of which was intended not
+only to entertain but also to instruct society. From such elements arose
+the earliest treatises of Winckelmann, which he himself very soon found
+unsatisfactory, as indeed he did not conceal from his friends.
+
+Although not sufficiently prepared, yet with some practical experience,
+he at length began his journey, and reached that country where for the
+receptive mind the time of real culture begins--that culture which
+permeates the entire being, and finds expression in creations which must
+be as real as they are harmonious, because they have, as a matter of
+fact, proved powerful as a firm bond of union between most different
+natures.
+
+ROME
+
+Winckelmann was at last in Rome, and who could be worthier to feel the
+influence which that great privilege is able to produce upon a truly
+perceptive nature! He sees his wish fulfilled, his happiness
+established, his hopes more than satisfied. His ideals stand embodied
+about him. He wanders astonished through the ruins of a gigantic age,
+the greatest that art has produced, under the open sky; freely he lifts
+his eyes to these wonderful works as to the stars of the firmament, and
+every locked treasure is opened for a small gift. Like a pilgrim, the
+newcomer creeps about unobserved; he approaches the most sublime and
+holy treasures in an unseemly garment. As yet he permits no detail to
+distract him, the whole affects him with endless variety, and he already
+feels the harmony which finally must arise for him out of these
+infinitely diversified elements. He gazes upon, he examines everything,
+and to make his happiness complete, he is taken for an artist, as every
+one in his heart would gladly be.
+
+In lieu of further observations, we submit to our readers the
+overpowering influence of the situation, as a friend has clearly and
+sympathetically described it.
+
+"Rome is a place where all antiquity is concentrated into a unity for
+our inspection. What we have felt with the ancient poets, concerning
+ancient forms of government, we believe more than ever to feel, even to
+see, in Rome. As Homer cannot be compared with other poets, so Rome can
+be compared with no other city, the Roman country with no other
+landscape. Most of this impression is no doubt due, it is true, to
+ourselves, and not to the subject; but it is not only the sentimental
+thought of standing where this or that great man has stood, it is an
+irresistible attraction toward what we regard as--although it may be
+through a necessary deception--a noble and sublime past; a power which
+even he who wished to cannot resist, because the desolation in which the
+present inhabitants leave the land and the incredible masses of ruins
+themselves attract and convince the eye. And as this past appears to the
+mind in a grandeur which excludes all envy, in which one is more than
+happy to take part, if only with the imagination (indeed, no other
+participation is conceivable); and as the senses too are charmed by the
+beauty of form, the grandeur and simplicity of the figures, the richness
+of the vegetation (though not luxuriant like that of a more southern
+region), the precision of the outlines in the clear air and the beauty
+of the colors in their transparency--so the enjoyment of nature is here
+a purely artistic one, free from everything distracting. Everywhere else
+the ideas of contrast appear and the enjoyment of nature is elegiac or
+satiric. It is true that these sentiments exist only for us. To Horace,
+Tibur seemed more modern than does Tivoli to us, as is proved by his
+'Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,' but it is only an illusion to imagine
+that we ourselves would like to be inhabitants of Athens or Rome. Only
+in the distance, separated from everything common, only as a thing of
+the past, must antiquity appear to us. This is the sentiment of a friend
+and myself, at least, in regard to the ruins; we are always incensed
+when a half sunken ruin is excavated; for this can only be a gain for
+scholarship at the expense of the imagination. There are only two things
+which inspire me with an equal horror: that the Campagna di Roma should
+be built up, and that Rome should become a well policed city, in which
+no man any longer carried a knife. Should such an order-loving Pope
+appear--which may the seventy-two cardinals prevent--shall move
+away. Only if such divine anarchy and such a heavenly wilderness remain
+in Rome, is there place for the shadows, one of which is worth more than
+the whole present race."
+
+RAFAEL MENGS
+
+But Winckelmann might have groped a long time among the multitudes of
+antique survivals in search of the most valuable objects and those most
+worthy of his observation, if good fortune had not immediately brought
+him into contact with Mengs. The latter, whose own great talent was
+enthralled by the ancient works of art and especially by such as were
+beautiful, immediately introduced his friend to the most excellent--a
+fact worthy of our attention. Here Winckelmann learned to recognize
+beauty of form and its treatment, and was immediately inspired to
+undertake a treatise, _Concerning the Taste of the Greek Artists_. But
+one cannot go about studying works of art for any length of time
+without discovering that they are the productions not only of different
+artists but of different epochs, and that all investigations concerning
+the place of their origin, their age, their individual merit must be
+undertaken together. Winckelmann, with his unerring perception, soon
+found that this was the axis on which the entire knowledge of art
+revolves. He confined himself at first to the most sublime works, which
+he intended to present in a treatise, _Concerning the Style of Sculpture
+in the Age of Phidias_, but he soon rose above these details to the idea
+of a history of art, and discovered a new Columbus, a land long
+surmised, hinted at and discussed--yea, a land, we might say, that had
+formerly been known and forgotten.
+
+It is sad to observe how at first through the Romans, afterward through
+the invasion of northern peoples, and the confusion arising in
+consequence, mankind came into such a state that all true and pure
+culture was for a long time retarded in its development, indeed was
+almost made impossible for the entire future. In any field of art and
+science that we may contemplate, a direct and unerring perception had
+already revealed much to the ancient investigator which, during the
+barbarism which followed, and through the barbaric manner of escaping
+from barbarism, became and remained a secret; which it will long
+continue to be for the masses, because the general progress of higher
+culture in modern times is but slow. This remark does not apply to
+technical progress, of which mankind happily makes use without asking
+questions as to whence it comes and whither it leads.
+
+We are impelled to this observation by certain passages of ancient
+authors, in which anticipations, even indications, of a possible and
+necessary history of art appear. Velleius Paterculus observes with great
+interest, the coincidence in the rise and fall of all the arts. As a man
+of the world, he was especially concerned with the observation that they
+could be maintained only for a short time at the highest point which it
+was possible for them to reach.
+
+From his standpoint he could not regard all arts as a living entity
+[Greek: (psoon)], which must necessarily reveal an imperceptible
+beginning, a slow growth, a short and brilliant period of perfection,
+and a gradual decline--like every other organic being, except that it is
+manifested in a number of individuals. He therefore assigns only moral
+causes, which certainly must be included as contributory, but hardly
+satisfy his own great sagacity, because he probably feels that a
+necessity here exists which cannot be compounded out of detached
+elements.
+
+"That the grammarians, painters and sculptors fared as did also the
+orators, every one will find who examines the testimony of the ages; the
+highest development of every art is invariably circumscribed by a very
+short space of time. Just why a number of similarly endowed, capable men
+make their appearance within a certain cycle of years and devote
+themselves to the same art and its advancement, is a matter upon which I
+have often reflected, without discovering any cause that I might present
+as true. Among the most probable causes the following seem to me the
+most important: Rivalry nourishes the talents; here envy, and there
+admiration, incite to imitation, and the art promoted with so much
+diligence quickly reaches its culmination. It is difficult to remain in
+a state of perfection, and what does not advance retrogrades. And so in
+the beginning we endeavor to attain our models, but when we despair of
+surpassing or even approaching them, diligence and hope grow old, and
+what we fail to attain, is no longer pursued. We cease to strive after
+the possession already obtained by another, and search for something
+new. Relinquishing that in which we cannot shine, we seek another goal
+for our efforts. From this inconstancy, it seems to me, arises the
+greatest obstacle to the production of perfect works of art."
+
+A passage of Quintilian, containing a concise outline of the history of
+ancient art, also deserves to be pointed out as an important document in
+this domain. In his conversations with Roman art lovers, Quintilian
+must also have noticed a striking resemblance between the character of
+Greek artists and Roman orators, and then have sought to gain more exact
+information from connoisseurs and art-lovers. In his comparative
+presentation, in which the character of the art is each time associated
+with that of the age, he is compelled, without knowing or wishing it, to
+present a history of art.
+
+They say that the first celebrated painters whose works are visited not
+by reason of their antiquity alone, were Polygnotus and Aglaophon. Their
+simple color still finds eager admirers, who prefer such crude
+productions and the beginnings of an art just evolving, to the greatest
+masters of the following epoch--as it seems to me in accordance with a
+point of view peculiar to themselves. Afterward Zeuxis and Parrhasius,
+who lived at about the same period--at the time of the Peloponnesian
+war--greatly promoted art. The former is said to have discovered the
+laws of light and shadow, the latter to have devoted himself to a
+careful investigation of lines. Furthermore, Zeuxis gave more content to
+the limbs and painted them fuller and more portly. In this regard, as is
+believed, he followed Homer, who delights in the most powerful forms,
+even in women. Parrhasius, however, has such a determinative influence
+that he is called the law-giver of painting, because the types of gods
+and heroes which he created were followed and adopted by others as
+norms.
+
+Thus painting flourished from about the time of Philip to that of the
+successors of Alexander, but with great diversity of talent. Protogenes
+surpassed all inexactitude, Pamphilius and Melanthius in thoughtfulness,
+Antiphilus in facility, Theon the Samian in invention of strange
+apparitions called fantasies, Apelles in spirit and charm. Euphranor is
+admired because he must be counted among the best in all the
+requirements of art, and excelled at the same time in painting and
+sculpture.
+
+"The same difference is also found in sculpture. Kalon and Hegesias
+worked in a severe style, like that of the Etruscans; Kalamis was less
+austere; Myron more delicate still.
+
+"Polyclitus possessed diligence and elegance above all others. By many
+the palm is assigned to him; but that some fault might be ascribed to
+him, it was said that he lacked dignity. For while he has made the human
+form more graceful than nature reveals it, he does not seem to have been
+able to present the dignity of the gods. Indeed, he is said in his art
+to have avoided representing mature age, and never to have ventured
+beyond unfurrowed cheeks.
+
+"But what Polyclitus lacked is ascribed to Phidias and Alcamenes.
+Phidias is said to have formed the images of gods and men most
+perfectly, and to have far surpassed his rivals, especially in ivory.
+One would form this judgment even if he had designed nothing else than
+the Minerva of Athens or the Olympian Jupiter at Elis, the beauty of
+which was of great advantage, as has been said, to the established
+religion; so closely does the work approach the majesty of the god
+himself.
+
+"Lysippus and Praxiteles have, according to the universal opinion, most
+nearly approached truth; Demetrius, on the other hand, is blamed because
+he went too far in this direction, in that he preferred mere resemblance
+to beauty."
+
+LITERARY PROFESSION
+
+Man is rarely fortunate enough to secure the aids for his higher
+education from quite unselfish patrons. Even those who believe that they
+have the best intentions only promote that which they love and know, or,
+more readily still, what is of advantage to them. Thus it was literary
+and bibliographical accomplishments which recommended Winckelmann
+formerly to Count Buenau and later to Cardinal Passione.
+
+The connoisseur of books is everywhere welcome, and he was even more so
+at a time when the pleasure of collecting notable and rare books was
+livelier than it now is, and the profession of librarian was more
+restricted. A great German library resembled a great Roman library; they
+could vie with each other in the possession of books. The librarian of a
+German count was a desirable member of a cardinal's household, and
+immediately found himself at home there. Libraries were real
+treasure-houses, instead of being, as now, with the rapid progress of
+the sciences and the useful and useless accumulation of printed
+matter--nothing more than useful store-rooms and useless lumber-rooms.
+So that a librarian has cause, now far more than before, to be informed
+of the progress of science and of the value and worthlessness of
+writings, and a German librarian has to possess attainments which would
+be lost in other countries.
+
+But only for a short time, and only as long as it was necessary to
+secure a moderate means of support, did Winckelmann remain true to his
+original literary occupation. He soon lost interest also in everything
+that related to critical investigation, and was willing neither to
+compare manuscripts nor to give information to German scholars who
+wished to question him upon many subjects.
+
+But even before this his attainments had served him as an advantageous
+introduction. The private life of the Italians, especially of the
+Romans, has, for many reasons, something of a secret character. This
+secrecy, this isolation, if you will, extended also to literature. Many
+a scholar devoted his life in secret to an important work, without
+either desiring or being able to have it published. Here also, more than
+in any other land, were to be found men who, with diverse attainments
+and great insight, could not be moved to make them known, either in
+written or printed form. The way to the society of such men Winckelmann
+soon found opened. He mentions particularly among them Giacomelli and
+Baldani, and speaks with pleasure of his increasing acquaintances and
+his growing influence.
+
+CARDINAL ALBANI
+
+But his greatest good fortune was to become a member of the household of
+Cardinal Albani. This prelate, possessed of a large fortune and wielding
+a powerful influence, showed from his very youth a great love of art; he
+had also the best opportunity of satisfying it and a luck in collecting
+which verged upon the miraculous. In later years he found his greatest
+pleasure in the task of placing this collection in worthy surroundings,
+in this wise rivaling those Roman families who had at an earlier period
+been cognizant of the value of such treasures. It was, in fact, his
+chief pleasure to overload the assigned spaces, in accordance with the
+manner of the ancients. Building crowded upon building, hall upon hall,
+corridor upon corridor; fountains and obelisks, caryatides and
+bas-reliefs, statues and vases were lacking neither in court-yard nor in
+garden, while the greater or smaller rooms, galleries and cabinets
+contained the choicest art specimens of all times.
+
+We observed in passing that the ancients had in a similar manner filled
+their palaces and gardens. The Romans so overloaded their capital that
+it seems impossible that everything recorded could have found place
+there. The Via Sacra, the Forum, the Palatine were so overloaded with
+buildings and monuments that the imagination can hardly conceive of a
+crowd of people finding room in any of them. Fortunately the actual
+results of excavated cities come to our assistance, and we can see with
+our own eyes how narrow, how small, how, so to speak, like architectural
+models rather than real buildings these structures are. This remark is
+true even of the Villa of Hadrian, in the construction of which there
+were space and wealth enough for something extensive.
+
+In such an overloaded condition was the villa of his lord and friend
+when Winckelmann departed this scene of his highest and most gratifying
+education. So also it remained after the death of the cardinal, to the
+joy and wonder of the world, until in the course of all-changing,
+all-dispersing time, it was robbed of its entire adornment. The statues
+were removed from their niches and pedestals, the bas-reliefs were torn
+from the walls, and the whole enormous collection was packed for
+transportation. Through an extraordinary change of affairs these
+treasures were conducted only as far as the Tiber. In a short time they
+were returned to the possessor, and the greatest part of them, except a
+few jewels, still remain in the old location. Winckelmann might have
+witnessed the first sad fate of this Elysium of art and its
+extraordinary return; but happily for him, death spared him this earthly
+suffering for which the joy of the restoration would hardly have made
+sufficient amends.
+
+GOOD FORTUNE
+
+But he also encountered many a good fortune upon life's journey. Not
+only did the excavations of antiquities proceed energetically and
+fortunately at Rome, but the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii were
+at that time partly new, or had remained partly unknown through envy,
+secrecy and delay. He thus reaped a harvest which furnished work enough
+for his mind and his activities.
+
+It is a sad thing when one is compelled to consider the existing as
+accomplished and completed. Armories, galleries and museums to which
+nothing is added have something funereal and ghostly about them; the
+mind is restricted in such a limited field of art. One becomes
+accustomed to regard such collections as completed, instead of being
+reminded of the necessity of constant acquisition and of the fact that,
+in art as in life, nothing is completed but is constantly changing.
+
+Winckelmann found himself in a fortunate position. The earth gave up her
+treasures, and through a constant, active commerce in art many ancient
+possessions came to light, passed before his eyes, aroused his
+enthusiasm, challenged his judgment, and increased his knowledge.
+
+No small advantage accrued to him through his relations with the heir
+of the large Stosch collection. Not until after the death of the
+collector did he become acquainted with this little world of art, over
+which he presided in accordance with his best judgment and convictions.
+It is true that all parts of this exceedingly valuable collection were
+not treated with equal care; the whole of it deserved a catalogue for
+the delectation and the use of later amateurs and collectors. Much was
+squandered; but in order to make the excellent gems which it contained
+better known and more marketable, Winckelmann undertook in conjunction
+with the heir of Stosch to write a catalogue, concerning which
+undertaking, its hasty but always able treatment, the surviving
+correspondence furnishes remarkable testimony.
+
+Our friend was thus intently occupied with the Stosch possessions before
+their dispersal and with the ever increasing Albani collection; and
+everything which passed through his hands, either for collection or
+dispersal, increased the treasure with which he was storing his mind.
+
+Even when Winckelmann first approached the study of art and learned to
+know the artists in Dresden, appearing in this branch as a beginner, he
+was fully developed as a writer. He had a comprehensive view of ancient
+history and, in many ways, of the development of the various sciences.
+Even in his previous humble condition he felt and knew antiquity, as
+well as what was worthy in the life and in the character of the present.
+He had already formed a style. In the new school which he entered, he
+listened to his masters, not only as a docile pupil but as a learned
+disciple. He easily acquired their special attainments, and began
+immediately to use and to adapt to his purposes everything that he
+learned.
+
+In a higher sphere of action than was his at Dresden, in the nobler
+world revealed to him at Rome, he remained the same. What he learned
+from Mengs, what he was taught by his surroundings, he did not keep long
+to himself; he did not let the new wine ferment and clarify; but rather
+as we say that one learns from teaching, so he learned while planning
+and writing. How many a title has he left us, how many subjects has he
+not mentioned upon which a work was to follow! Like this beginning was
+his entire antiquarian career. We find him always active--occupied with
+the moment, which he seizes and holds fast as if it only could be
+complete and satisfactory, and even so he let himself be instructed by
+the following moment. This attitude of mind should be remembered in
+forming an estimate of his works.
+
+That they ultimately received their present form, printed directly from
+Winckelmann's manuscript notes, is due to many often unimportant
+circumstances. A single month later and we should have had works, more
+correct in content, more precise in form, perhaps something quite
+different. Just for this reason we so deeply regret his premature death,
+because he would have constantly rewritten his works and enriched them
+with the attainments of the (ever) later phases of his life.
+
+Everything that he has left us, therefore, was written as something
+living for the living, not for those who are dead in the letter. His
+works, combined with his correspondence, are the story of a life; they
+are a life itself. Like the life of most people, they resemble rather a
+preparation for a work than the latter in its accomplishment. They give
+cause for hopes, for wishes, for premonitions. If one tries to correct
+them he sees that he must first correct himself; if he wishes to
+criticize them, he sees that he might himself, upon a higher plane of
+knowledge, be subjected to the same criticism; for limitation is
+everywhere our lot.
+
+PHILOSOPHY
+
+With the progress of civilization, not all parts of human labor and
+activity in which culture is revealed, flourish equally; rather in
+accordance with the favorable character of persons and conditions, one
+necessarily surpasses the other, and thus arouses a more general
+interest. A certain jealous displeasure often arises in consequence,
+among members of a family so varied in its branches, who often are the
+less able to endure one another, the more closely they are related.
+
+It is for the most part a baseless complaint, when this or that adept in
+science and art complains that just his branch is being neglected by
+contemporaries; for an able master has only to appear in order to
+concentrate attention upon himself. If Raphael should reappear today, we
+should bestow upon him a superabundance of honor and riches. An able
+master arouses excellent pupils and their activities extend their
+ramifications into the infinite.
+
+From the earliest times philosophers especially have incurred the
+hatred, not only of their fellow scientists, but of men of the world and
+_bons vivants_, perhaps more by the position they assume than by their
+own fault. For as philosophy in accordance with her nature must make
+demands upon the universal and the highest, she must regard worldly
+objects as included in and subordinated to herself.
+
+Nor are these pretentious demands specifically denied; every man rather
+believes that he has a right to take part in her discoveries, to make
+use of her maxims, and to appropriate whatever else she may have to
+offer. But as philosophy, in order to become universal, must make use of
+her own vocabulary of unfamiliar combinations and difficult
+explanations, which are in harmony neither with the life nor with the
+momentary needs of men of the world, she is despised by those who cannot
+find the handle by which she might easily be grasped.
+
+Yet, if, on the other hand, one wished to accuse the philosophers
+because they do not know how to translate doctrine into life, and
+because they make the most mistakes exactly where all their convictions
+should be converted into action, thereby diminishing their own credit in
+the eyes of the world--no lack of examples might be found to verify such
+accusations.
+
+Winckelmann often complains bitterly of the philosophers of his day and
+their widespread influence; but I think one can escape from every
+influence by limiting oneself to his own line of work. It is strange
+that Winckelmann did not attend the University at Leipsic, where, under
+the direction of Johann Friedrich Christ, he might, without troubling
+himself about a single philosopher in existence, have made much more
+comfortable progress in his favorite study.
+
+This is perhaps the proper place for an observation which we should like
+to make, in view of recent events--that no scholar can afford to reject,
+oppose, or scorn the great philosophical movement begun by Kant, except
+the true investigators of antiquity, who by the peculiarity of their
+study seem to be especially favored above all other men. For since they
+are occupied with the best that the world has produced and only examine
+the trivial and the inferior in their relation to the most excellent,
+their attainments reach such fullness, their judgment such certainty,
+their taste such consistency, that they appear within their own circle
+most wonderfully, even astonishingly, cultured. Winckelmann also
+attained this good fortune, in which indeed he was greatly assisted by
+the influence of the fine arts and of life itself.
+
+POETRY
+
+Although Winckelmann in reading the ancient authors paid great attention
+to the poets, an exact examination of his studies and of the course of
+his life reveals no particular inclination to poetry; on the contrary,
+an aversion occasionally appears. His preference for the old and
+accustomed Lutheran church hymns and his desire to possess an uncensored
+song book of this kind in Rome reveals the typical and sturdy German,
+but not the friend of poetry.
+
+The works of the poets of past ages appear to have interested him at
+first as documents of ancient languages and literature, later as
+witnesses for the fine arts. It is all the more wonderful and gratifying
+when he himself appears as a poet, as an able, unmistakable one, in his
+description of statues and in almost all of his later writings. He sees
+with his eyes, he grasps with his mind, works indescribable, and yet he
+feels an irresistible impulse to master them by the spoken and the
+written word. The perfect master-work, the idea in which it had its
+origin, the emotion that was awakened in him in beholding it, he wishes
+to impart to the hearer or the reader. Reviewing the array of his
+aptitudes, he finds himself compelled to seize upon the most powerful
+and dignified expression at his command. He is compelled to be a poet,
+whatever he may think, whether he wishes or not.
+
+ATTAINED INSIGHT
+
+As much value as Winckelmann placed upon the world's esteem, as much as
+he desired a literary reputation, as much as he endeavored to present
+his work in the best form and to elevate it by a certain dignified
+style, he was nevertheless in no wise blind to its faults, but rather
+was the first to observe them, as one would expect from a man of his
+progressive nature, always seizing upon and working over new materials.
+The more he had labored upon a subject, dogmatically and didactically,
+had maintained and established this or that interpretation of a
+monument, this or that explanation or application of a passage, the more
+conspicuous did his own mistakes seem to him. As soon as he had
+convinced himself of them by new data, the more quickly was he inclined
+to correct them in any way possible.
+
+If the manuscript was at hand, it was rewritten; if it had been sent to
+the printer, corrections and additions were appended. Of all this
+penance he made no secret to his friends, for his character was based
+upon truth, straight-forwardness, frankness, and honesty.
+
+LATER WORKS
+
+A happy thought became clear to him, not suddenly but as the work
+progressed--we mean his _Monumenti Inediti_. It is quite evident that he
+was at first tempted by his desire to make new subjects known, to
+explain them in a happy manner and to enlarge the study of antiquity to
+the greatest possible extent; added to this was the interest of testing
+the method once set forth in his history of art, by means of objects
+which he laid before the eyes of the reader. For he had finally
+developed the felicitous resolve, in this preliminary treatise, quietly
+to correct, purify, compress, and perhaps even partly supplant, his
+already completed work on the history of art.
+
+Conscious of former mistakes which people who were not inhabitants of
+Rome could scarcely have reproached him with, he wrote a work in the
+Italian language, which he intended should be appreciated in Rome
+itself. Not only did he devote to it the greatest attention, but he also
+selected friendly connoisseurs with whom he carefully went over the
+work, most cleverly using their insight and judgment, and thus created a
+work which will go down as a heritage for all ages. Not only did he
+write it, but he undertook its publication, achieving, as a poor layman,
+that which would do honor to a well established publisher, or to
+academies of large means.
+
+THE POPE
+
+Should so much be said of Rome without remembering the Pope, who had, at
+least indirectly, conferred many, many benefits upon Winckelmann?
+Winckelmann's sojourn in Rome fell for the most part under the
+government of Benedict XIV. Lambertini, a gay and easy-going man, who
+preferred letting others rule to ruling, himself; and so the different
+positions which Winckelmann filled may have come to him rather through
+the favor of his exalted friends than through the appreciation of his
+services by the Pope.
+
+Nevertheless, we find him on one important occasion in the presence of
+the Head of the Church; he was honored by being allowed to read several
+passages of the _Monumenti Inediti_ to the Pope, thus achieving also,
+along this line, the highest honor which an author could receive.
+
+CHARACTER
+
+In the case of very many men, especially in the case of scholars, their
+achievements seem the important thing, and in these their character
+finds little expression. With Winckelmann the reverse was the case. All
+that he produced is principally important and valuable because his
+character is always revealed in it. As we have already expressed certain
+generalities concerning his character under the headings, The Antique,
+Paganism, Friendship, and Beauty, the more detailed account deserves a
+place here, near the end of our essay.
+
+Winckelmann was in all respects a character who was honest with himself
+and with others. His native love of truth constantly developed, the more
+independent and unhampered he felt, until he finally considered the
+polite indulgence of errors traditional in life and in literature to be
+a crime.
+
+Such a nature could comfortably withdraw into itself; vet even here we
+discover in him the ancient characteristic of always being occupied with
+himself, but without really observing himself. He thinks only of
+himself, not about himself; his mind is occupied with what he has before
+him; he is interested in his whole being, in its entire compass, and he
+cherishes the belief that his friends are likewise interested therein.
+We, therefore, find everything mentioned in his letters, from the
+highest moral to the most common physical need; indeed he directly
+states that he preferred to be entertained with personal trifles rather
+than with important affairs. At the same time he remains a complete
+riddle to himself, and even expresses astonishment over his own being,
+especially in consideration of what he was and what he had become. But
+every man may thus be regarded as a charade of many syllables, of which
+he himself can spell only a few, while others easily decipher the whole
+word.
+
+Nor do we find in him any pronounced principles. His unerring feeling
+and cultured mind served him as a guide in morals as well as in
+aesthetics. His ideal was a kind of natural religion, in which God
+appears as the ultimate source of the beautiful and hardly as a being
+having any other relation to man. His conduct was most beautiful in all
+cases involving duty and gratitude.
+
+His provision for himself was moderate, and not the same at all times.
+He always labored most diligently to secure a competence for his old
+age. His means are noble; in his efforts to attain every end he shows
+himself honest, straightforward, even defiant, and at the same time
+clever and persevering. He never works after a fixed plan, but always
+instinctively and passionately. His pleasure in every discovery is
+intense, for which reason errors are unavoidable, which, however, in his
+rapid progress are corrected as quickly as he sees them. Here also he
+always maintains an antique principle; the certainty of the point of
+departure, the uncertainty of the aim to be reached, as well as the
+incomplete and imperfect character of the treatment as soon as it
+becomes extensive.
+
+SOCIETY
+
+Little prepared by his early mode of life, Winckelmann did not at first
+feel at ease in company, but a feeling of dignity soon took the place of
+education and custom, and he learned very rapidly to conduct himself in
+accordance with his surroundings. The gratification felt in association
+with distinguished, wealthy and celebrated people and the pleasure of
+being esteemed by them everywhere appears. As regards facility of
+intercourse, he could not have found himself in a better place than
+Rome.
+
+He himself observes, that however ceremonious the Roman grandees,
+especially the clerical, appeared in public, at home they were pleasant
+and intimate with the members of their household; but he did not observe
+that this intimacy concealed the oriental relation of lord and servant.
+All southern nations would find it intolerably tiresome to have to
+maintain the constant mutual tension in association with their
+dependents which the northerners are accustomed to.
+
+Travelers have observed that the slaves in Turkey behave toward their
+masters with more ease than northern courtiers toward their princes, or
+dependents with us toward their superiors. Yet, examined closely, these
+marks of consideration have been really introduced for the benefit of
+the dependents, who by these means always remind their superior what is
+due them.
+
+The southerner, however, craves for hours in which to take his ease, and
+this accrues to the advantage of his household. Such scenes are
+described by Winckelmann with great relish; they lighten whatever
+dependence he may feel, and nourish his sense of freedom which was
+averse to every fetter that might restrain him.
+
+STRANGERS
+
+Although Winckelmann was very happy in his association with the natives,
+he suffered all the more annoyance and tribulation from strangers. It is
+true that nothing can be more exasperating than the usual stranger in
+Rome. In every other place the traveler can better look out for himself
+and find something suitable to his needs; but whoever does not
+accommodate himself to Rome is an abomination to the man of real Roman
+sentiment.
+
+The English are reproached because they take their tea-kettles
+everywhere along with them, even dragging them to the summit of Mt.
+AEtna. But has not every nation its own tea-kettle, in which its citizens
+on their travels brew a bundle of dried herbs brought along from home?
+
+Such hurrying and arrogant strangers, never looking about them, and
+judging everything in accordance with their own narrow limitations, were
+denounced by Winckelmann more than once; he vows never to show them
+about, and yet finally allows himself to be persuaded to do it. He jests
+over his inclination to play the schoolmaster, to teach and to convince,
+and indeed many advantages accrued to him through the association with
+persons important by reason of their rank and services. We mention only
+the Prince of Dessan, the Crown Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and
+Brunswick, and Baron von Riedesel, a man who showed himself quite worthy
+of our friend in his attitude toward art and antiquity.
+
+THE WORLD
+
+Winckelmann constantly sought after esteem and consideration; but he
+wished to achieve them through real merit. He always insists upon
+thoroughness of subject, of means, and of treatment, and is therefore
+very hostile toward French superficiality.
+
+He found in Rome opportunities to associate with strangers of all
+nations, and maintained such connections in a clever, effective manner.
+He was pleased with, indeed he sought after, honorary degrees of
+academies and learned societies.
+
+But he achieved greatest prominence by that great document of his
+merits, over which he silently labored with great diligence--I refer to
+his _History of Ancient Art_. It was immediately translated into the
+French language, and made him known far and wide.
+
+The real value of such a work is perhaps best appreciated immediately
+after its publication: its efficiency is recognized, the new matter is
+quickly adopted. The contemporaries are astonished at the sudden
+assistance they obtained, while a colder posterity nibbles disgustedly
+at the works of its masters and teachers, and makes demands which would
+never have occurred to it, if the very men criticised had not
+accomplished so much.
+
+And so Winckelmann was recognized by the cultured nations of Europe at a
+time when he was sufficiently established at Rome to be honored with the
+important position of Director of Antiquities.
+
+RESTLESSNESS
+
+Notwithstanding his recognized and often vaunted happiness, Winckelmann
+was always tortured by a restlessness which, as its foundations lay deep
+in his nature, assumed various forms.
+
+During the times of his early poverty and his later dependence upon the
+bounty of a court and the favor of many a wellwisher, he always limited
+himself to the smallest needs, that he might not become dependent or at
+least not more dependent than absolutely necessary. In the meantime he
+was always strenuously occupied in gaining by his own exertions a
+livelihood for the present and for the future, for which at length the
+successful illustrated edition of his Monumenti Inediti offered the
+fairest hope.
+
+But these uncertain conditions accustomed him to look for his
+subsistence now here, then there; now to accept a position with small
+advantage to himself--in the house of a cardinal, in the Vatican or
+elsewhere; then, when he saw some other prospect, magnanimously to give
+up his place, while looking about for something else and lending an ear
+to many a proposition.
+
+Further, one who lives in Rome is constantly exposed to the passion for
+traveling to all parts of the world. He finds himself in the centre of
+the ancient world, and the lands most interesting to the investigator of
+antiquity lie close about him. Magna Graecia, Sicily, Dalmatia, the
+Peloponnesus, Ionia, and Egypt--all of them are, so to say, offered to
+the inhabitants of Rome, and awaken an inexpressible longing in one who,
+like Winckelmann, was born with the desire to see. This is increased by
+the great number of strangers on their passage through Rome making
+sensible or useless preparations to travel in these lands, and who on
+their return never tire of describing distant wonders and exhibiting
+specimens of them.
+
+And so Winckelmann planned to travel everywhere, partly on his own
+responsibility, partly in company with such wealthy travelers as would
+recognize the value of a scholarly and talented comrade.
+
+Another cause of this inner restlessness and discomfort does honor to
+his heart--the irresistible longing for absent friends. Upon this the
+ardent desire of a man that otherwise lived so much in the present seems
+to have been peculiarly concentrated; he sees his friends before him, he
+converses with them through letters, he longs for their embraces, and
+wishes to repeat the days formerly lived together.
+
+These wishes, especially directed toward his friends in the North, were
+awakened anew by the Peace of Hubertusbury (Feb., 1763). It would have
+been his pride to present himself before the great king who had already
+honored him with an offer to enter his service; to see again the Prince
+of Dessau, whose exalted, reposeful nature he regarded as a gift of God
+to the earth; to pay his respects to the Duke of Brunswick, whose great
+capacities he well knew how to prize; to praise in person Minister of
+State von Muenchausen, who had done so much for science, and to admire
+his immortal foundation at Goettingen; to rejoice again in the lively and
+intimate intercourse with his Swiss friends--such allurements filled his
+heart and his imagination; with such images was his mind so long
+occupied that he unfortunately followed this impulse and so went to his
+death.
+
+He was devoted body and soul to his Italian lot to such an extent that
+every other one seemed insufferable to him. On his former journey, the
+cliffs and mountains of Tyrol had interested, yea, delighted him, and
+now, on his return to the fatherland, he felt terrified, as if he were
+being dragged through the Cimmerian portal and convinced of the
+impossibility of continuing his journey.
+
+DEPARTURE
+
+And thus upon the highest pinnacle of happiness that he could himself
+have wished for, he departed this earth. His fatherland awaited him, his
+friends stretched their arms toward him; all the expressions of love
+which he so deeply needed, all testimonials of public honor, which he
+valued so highly, awaited his appearance, to be heaped upon him. And in
+this sense we may count him happy, that from the summit of human
+existence he ascended to the blessed, that a momentary shock, a sudden,
+quick pain removed him from the living. The infirmities of old age, the
+diminution of mental power, he did not experience; the dispersal of the
+treasures of art, which he had foretold, although in another sense, did
+not occur before his eyes. He lived as a man and departed hence as a
+complete man. Now he enjoys in the memory of posterity the advantage of
+appearing only as one eternally vigorous and powerful; for in the image
+in which a man leaves the earth he wanders among the shadows, and so
+Achilles remains for us an ever-striving youth. That Winckelmann
+departed so early, works also to our advantage. From his grave the
+breath of his power strengthens us, and awakens in us the intense desire
+always to continue with zeal and love the work that he has begun.
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE AND HIS SECRETARY J. J. Schmeller ]
+
+
+
+
+MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS OF GOETHE[5]
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY BAILEY SAUNDERS
+
+There is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must
+only try to think it again.
+
+How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try
+to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth. But what
+is your duty? The claims of the day.
+
+The longer I live, the more it grieves me to see man, who occupies his
+supreme place for the very purpose of imposing his will upon nature, and
+freeing himself and his from an outrageous necessity--to see him taken
+up with some false notion, and doing just the opposite of what he wants
+to do; and then, because the whole bent of his mind is spoilt, bungling
+miserably over everything.
+
+In the works of mankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive
+which is chiefly worth attention.
+
+In Botany there is a species of plants called Incompletae; and just in
+the same way it can be said there are men who are incomplete and
+imperfect. They are those whose desires and struggles are out of
+proportion to their actions and achievements.
+
+It is a great error to take oneself for more than one is, or for less
+than one is worth.
+
+From time to time I meet with a youth in whom I can wish for no
+alteration or improvement, only I am sorry to see how often his nature
+makes him quite ready to swim with the stream of the time; and it is on
+this that I would always insist, that man in his fragile boat has the
+rudder placed in his hand, just that he may not be at the mercy of the
+waves, but follow the direction of his own insight.
+
+If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed
+positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.
+
+Piety is not an end, but a means: a means of attaining the highest
+culture by the purest tranquility of soul. Hence it may be observed that
+those who set up piety as an end and object are mostly hypocrites.
+
+Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing
+something; believing ought to mean comprehending; when you desire a
+thing, you will have to take it; when you demand it, you will not get
+it; and when you are experienced, you ought to be useful to others.
+
+The stream is friendly to the miller whom it serves; it likes to pour
+over the mill wheels; what is the good of it stealing through the valley
+in apathy?
+
+Theory is in itself of no use, except in so far as it makes us believe
+in the connection of phenomena.
+
+"_Le sens common est le genie de l'humanite_." Common-sense, which is
+here put forward as the genius of humanity, must be examined first of
+all in the way it shows itself. If we inquire the purpose to which
+humanity puts it, we find as follows: Humanity is conditioned by needs.
+If they are not satisfied, men become impatient; and if they are, it
+seems not to affect them. The normal man moves between these two states,
+and he applies his understanding--his so-called common sense--to the
+satisfaction of his needs. When his needs are satisfied, his task is to
+fill up the waste spaces of indifference. Here, too, he is successful,
+if his needs are confined to what is nearest and most necessary. But if
+they rise and pass beyond the sphere of ordinary wants, common-sense is
+no longer sufficient; it is a genius no more, and humanity enters on the
+region of error.
+
+There is no piece of foolishness but it can be corrected by intelligence
+or accident; no piece of wisdom but it can miscarry by lack of
+intelligence or by accident.
+
+Justice insists on obligation, law on decorum. Justice weighs and
+decides, law superintends and orders. Justice refers to the individual,
+law to society.
+
+The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the
+nations one after the other emerge.
+
+If a man is to achieve all that is asked of him, he must take himself
+for more than he is, and as long as he does not carry it to an absurd
+length, we willingly put up with it.
+
+People whip curds to see if they cannot make cream of them.
+
+Wisdom lies only in truth.
+
+When I err, every one can see it; but not when I lie.
+
+Before the storm breaks, the dust rises violently for the last time--the
+dust that is soon to be laid for ever.
+
+Men do not come to know one another easily, even with the best will and
+the best purpose. And then ill-will comes in and distorts everything.
+
+In the world the point is, not to know men, but at any given moment to
+be cleverer than the man who stands before you. You can prove this at
+every fair and from every charlatan.
+
+Not everywhere where there is water, are there frogs; but where you have
+frogs, there you will find water.
+
+In the formation of species Nature gets, as it were, into a cul-de-sac;
+she cannot make her way through, and is disinclined to turn back. Hence
+the stubbornness of national character.
+
+Many a man knocks about on the wall with his hammer, and believes that
+he hits the right nail on the head every time.
+
+Those who oppose intellectual truths do but stir up the fire, and the
+cinders fly about and burn what they had else not touched.
+
+Those from whom we are always learning are rightly called our masters;
+but not every one who teaches us deserves this title.
+
+It is with you as with the sea: the most varied names are given to what
+is in the end only salt water.
+
+It is said that vain self-praise stinks in the nostrils. That may be so;
+but for the kind of smell which comes from unjust blame by others the
+public has no nose at all.
+
+There are problematical natures which are equal to no position in which
+they find themselves, and which no position satisfies. This it is that
+causes that hideous conflict which wastes life and deprives it of all
+pleasure.
+
+Dirt glitters as long as the sun shines.
+
+He is the happiest man who can set the end of his life in connection
+with the beginning.
+
+A state of things in which every day brings some new trouble is not the
+right one.
+
+The Hindoos of the Desert make a solemn vow to eat no fish.
+
+To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess it may be taken,
+but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.
+
+Truth belongs to the man, error to his age. This is why it has been said
+that, while the misfortune of the age caused his error, the force of his
+soul made him emerge from the error with glory.
+
+I pity those who make much ado about the transitory nature of all things
+and are lost in the contemplation of earthly vanity: are we not here to
+make the transitory permanent? This we can do only if we know how to
+value both.
+
+A rainbow which lasts a quarter of an hour is looked at no more.
+
+Faith is private capital, kept in one's own house. There are public
+savings-banks and loan-offices, which supply individuals in their day of
+need; but here the creditor quietly takes his interest for himself.
+
+During a prolonged study of the lives of various men both great and
+small, I came upon this thought: In the web of the world the one may
+well be regarded as the warp, the other as the woof. It is the little
+men, after all, who give breadth to the web, and the great men firmness
+and solidity; perhaps, also, the addition of some sort of pattern. But
+the scissors of the Fates determine its length, and to that all the rest
+must join in submitting itself.
+
+Truth is a torch, but a huge one, and so it is only with blinking eyes
+that we all of us try to get past it, in actual terror of being burnt.
+
+The really foolish thing in men who are otherwise intelligent is that
+they fail to understand what another person says, when he does not
+exactly hit upon the right way of saying it.
+
+One need only grow old to become gentler in one's judgments. I see no
+fault committed which I could not have committed myself.
+
+Why should those who are happy expect one who is miserable to die before
+them in a graceful attitude, like the gladiator before the Roman mob?
+
+By force of habit we look at a clock that has run down as if it were
+still going, and we gaze at the face of a beauty as though she still
+loved.
+
+Dilettantism treated seriously, and knowledge pursued mechanically, end
+by becoming pedantry.
+
+No one but the master can promote the cause of Art. Patrons help the
+master--that is right and proper; but that does not always mean that Art
+is helped.
+
+The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that
+they forfeit their originality in recognizing a truth which has already
+been recognized by others.
+
+It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; for error lies
+on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to
+search for it is not given to every one.
+
+No one should desire to live in irregular circumstances; but if by
+chance a man falls into them, they test his character and show of how
+much determination he is capable.
+
+An honorable man with limited ideas often sees through the rascality of
+the most cunning jobber.
+
+Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must
+act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him.
+
+The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always
+a burden to them.
+
+If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them
+well.
+
+I can promise to be sincere, but not to be impartial.
+
+Word and picture are correlatives which are continually in quest of each
+other, as is sufficiently evident in the case of metaphors and similes.
+So from all time what was said or sung inwardly to the ear had to be
+presented equally to the eye. And so in childish days we see word and
+picture in continual balance; in the book of the law and in the way of
+salvation, in the Bible and in the spelling-book. When something was
+spoken which could not be pictured, and something pictured which could
+not be spoken, all went well; but mistakes were often made, and a word
+was used instead of a picture; and thence arose those monsters of
+symbolical mysticism, which are doubly an evil.
+
+The importunity of young dilettanti must be borne with good-will; for as
+they grow old they become the truest worshippers of Art and the Master.
+
+People have to become really bad before they care for nothing but
+mischief, and delight in it.
+
+Clever people are the best encyclopaedia.
+
+There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do
+anything worth doing.
+
+A man cannot live for every one; least of all for those with whom he
+would not care to live.
+
+I should like to be honest with you, without our falling out; but it
+will not do. You act wrongly, and fall between two stools; you win no
+adherents and lose your friends. What is to be the end of it?
+
+If a clever man commits a folly, it is not a small one.
+
+I went on troubling myself about general ideas until I learnt to
+understand the particular achievements of the best men.
+
+The errors of a man are what make him really lovable.
+
+As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so
+apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more
+potent, in which most men live.
+
+Mankind is like the Red Sea; the staff has scarcely parted the waves
+asunder before they flow together again. Thoughts come back; beliefs
+persist; facts pass by never to return.
+
+Of all peoples, the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life the best.
+
+We readily bow to antiquity, but not to posterity. It is only a father
+that does not grudge talent to his son. The whole art of living consists
+in giving up existence in order to exist.
+
+All our pursuits and actions are a wearying process. Well is it for him
+who wearies not.
+
+Hope is the second soul of the unhappy.
+
+At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have
+worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by
+poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike.
+
+If a man knows where to get good advice, it is as though he could supply
+it himself.
+
+A man must pay dear for his errors if he wishes to get rid of them, and
+even then he is lucky.
+
+Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away
+by it.
+
+Error is related to truth as sleep to waking. I have observed that on
+awakening from error a man turns again to truth as with new vigor.
+
+Every one suffers who does not work for himself. A man works for others
+to have them share in his joy.
+
+Common-sense is born pure in the healthy man, is self-developed, and is
+revealed by a resolute perception and recognition of what is necessary
+and useful. Practical men and women avail themselves of it with
+confidence. Where it is absent, both sexes find anything necessary when
+they desire it, and useful when it gives them pleasure.
+
+All men, as they attain freedom, give play to their errors. The strong
+do too much, and the weak too little.
+
+The conflict of the old, the existing, the continuing, with development,
+improvement and reform, is always the same. Order of every kind turns at
+last to pedantry, and to get rid of the one, people destroy the other;
+and so it goes on for a while, until people perceive that order must be
+established anew. Classicism and Romanticism; close corporations and
+freedom of trade; the maintenance of large estates and the division of
+the land--it is always the same conflict which ends by producing a new
+one. The best policy of those in power would be so to moderate this
+conflict as to let it right itself without the destruction of either
+element. But this has not been granted to men, and it seems not to be
+the will of God.
+
+A great work limits us for the moment, because we feel it above our
+powers; and only in so far as we afterward incorporate it with our
+culture, and make it part of our mind and heart, does it become a dear
+and worthy object.
+
+There are many things in the world that are at once good and excellent,
+but they do not come into contact.
+
+When men have to do with women, they get spun off like a distaff.
+
+It may well be that a man is at times horribly threshed by misfortunes,
+public and private: but the reckless flail of Fate, when it beats the
+rich sheaves, crushes only the straw; and the corn feels nothing of it
+and dances merrily on the floor, careless whether its way is to the mill
+or the furrow.
+
+In the matter of knowledge, it has happened to me as to one who rises
+early and in the dark impatiently awaits the dawn and then the sun, but
+is blinded when it appears.
+
+People often say to themselves in life that they should avoid a variety
+of occupation, and, more particularly, be the less willing to enter upon
+new work the older they grow. But it is easy to talk, easy to give
+advice to oneself and others. To grow old is itself to enter upon a new
+business; all the circumstances change, and a man must either cease
+acting altogether, or willingly and consciously take over the new role.
+
+To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were
+possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea
+and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for
+thousands of years.
+
+Napoleon lived wholly in a great idea, but he was unable to take
+conscious hold of it. After utterly disavowing all ideals and denying
+them any reality, he zealously strove to realize them. His clear,
+incorruptible intellect could not, however, tolerate such a perpetual
+conflict within; and there is much value in the thoughts which he was
+compelled, as it were, to utter, and which are expressed very peculiarly
+and with much charm.
+
+Man is placed as a real being in the midst of a real world, and endowed
+with such organs that he can perceive and produce the real and also the
+possible.
+
+All healthy men have the conviction of their own existence and of an
+existence around them. However, even the brain contains a hollow spot,
+that is to say, a place in which no object is mirrored; just as in the
+eye itself there is a little spot that does not see. If a man pays
+particular attention to this spot and is absorbed in it, he falls into a
+state of mental sickness, has presentiments of 'things of another
+world,' which are, in reality, no things at all, possessing neither form
+nor limit, but alarming him like dark, empty tracts of night, and
+pursuing him as something more than phantoms, if he does not tear
+himself free from them.
+
+To the several perversities of the day a man should always oppose only
+the great masses of universal history. That we have many criticisms to
+make on those who visit us, and that, as soon as they depart, we pass no
+very amiable judgment upon them, seems to me almost natural; for we
+have, so to speak, a right to measure them by our own standard. Even
+intelligent and fair-minded men hardly refrain from sharp censure on
+such occasions.
+
+But if, on the contrary, we have been in their homes, and have seen them
+in their surroundings and habits and the circumstances which are
+necessary and inevitable for them; if we have seen the kind of influence
+they exert on those around them, or how they behave, it is only
+ignorance and ill-will that can find food for ridicule in what must
+appear to us in more than one sense worthy of respect.
+
+Women's society is the element of good manners.
+
+The most privileged position, in life as in society, is that of an
+educated soldier. Rough warriors, at any rate, remain true to their
+character, and as great strength is usually the cover for good nature,
+we get on with them at need.
+
+No one would come into a room with spectacles on his nose, if he knew
+that women at once lose any inclination to look at or talk to him.
+
+There is no outward sign of politeness that will be found to lack some
+deep moral foundation. The right kind of education would be that which
+conveyed the sign and the foundation at the same time.
+
+A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait.
+
+Against the great superiority of another there is no remedy but love.
+
+It is a terrible thing for an eminent man to be gloried in by fools.
+
+It is said that no man is a hero to his valet. That is only because a
+hero can be recognized only by a hero. The valet will probably know how
+to appreciate his like--his fellow-valet.
+
+Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the
+half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
+
+To see a difficult thing lightly handled gives us the impression of the
+impossible.
+
+Difficulties increase the nearer we come to our aim.
+
+Sowing is not so painful as reaping.
+
+If any one meets us who owes us a debt of gratitude, it immediately
+crosses our mind. How often can we meet some one to whom we owe
+gratitude, without thinking of it!
+
+To communicate oneself is Nature; to receive a communication as it is
+given is Culture.
+
+Contradiction and flattery make, both of them, bad conversation.
+
+By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they
+laugh at.
+
+An intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, a wise man hardly
+anything.
+
+A man well on in years was reproved for still troubling himself about
+young women. "It is the only means," he replied, "of regaining one's
+youth; and that is something every one wishes to do."
+
+A man does not mind being blamed for his faults, and being punished for
+them, and he patiently suffers much for the sake of them; but he becomes
+impatient if he is required to give them up.
+
+Passion is enhanced and tempered by avowal. In nothing, perhaps, is the
+middle course more desirable than in confidence and reticence toward
+those we love.
+
+To sit in judgment on the departed is never likely to be equitable. We
+all suffer from life; who, except God, can call us to account? Let not
+their faults and sufferings, but what they have accomplished and done,
+occupy the survivors.
+
+It is failings that show human nature, and merits that distinguish the
+individual; faults and misfortunes we all have in common; virtues belong
+to each one separately.
+
+It would not be worth while to see seventy years if all the wisdom of
+this world were foolishness with God. The true is Godlike; we do not see
+it itself; we must guess at it through its manifestations.
+
+The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and
+draws near the master.
+
+In the smithy the iron is softened by blowing up the fire, and taking
+the dross from the bar. As soon as it is purified, it is beaten and
+pressed, and becomes firm again by the addition of fresh water. The same
+thing happens to a man at the hands of his teacher.
+
+What belongs to a man he cannot get rid of, even though he throws it
+away.
+
+Of true religions there are only two: one of them recognizes and
+worships the Holy that, without form or shape, dwells in and around us;
+and the other recognizes and worships it in its fairest form. Everything
+that lies between these two is idolatry.
+
+The Saints were all at once driven from heaven; and senses, thought and
+heart were turned from a divine mother with a tender child, to the grown
+man doing good and suffering evil, who was later transfigured into a
+being half-divine in its nature, and then recognized and honored as God
+himself. He stood against a background where the Creator had opened out
+the universe; a spiritual influence went out from him; his sufferings
+were adopted as an example, and his transfiguration was the pledge of
+ever-lastingness.
+
+As a coal is revived by incense, so prayer revives the hopes of the
+heart.
+
+From a strict point of view we must have a reformation of ourselves
+every day, and protest against others, even though it be in no religious
+sense.
+
+It should be our earnest endeavor to use words coinciding as closely as
+possible with what we feel, see, think, experience, imagine and reason.
+It is an endeavor which we cannot evade, and which is daily to be
+renewed.
+
+Let every man examine himself, and he will find this a much harder task
+than he might suppose; for, unhappily, a man usually takes words as mere
+make-shifts; his knowledge and his thought are in most cases better than
+his method of expression.
+
+False, irrelevant, and futile ideas may arise in ourselves and others,
+or find their way into us from without. Let us persist in the effort to
+remove them as far as we can, by plain and honest purpose.
+
+Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.
+
+A man is not deceived by others; he deceives himself.
+
+Laws are all made by old people and by men. Youths and women want the
+exceptions, old people the rules.
+
+Chinese, Indian and Egyptian antiquities are never more than
+curiosities; it is well to make acquaintance with them; but in point of
+moral and aesthetic culture they can help us little.
+
+The German runs no greater danger than to advance with and by the
+example of his neighbors. There is perhaps no nation that is fitter for
+the process of self-development; so that it has proved of the greatest
+advantage to Germany to have obtained the notice of the world so late.
+
+The greatest difficulties lie where we do not look for them.
+
+The mind endowed with active powers and keeping with a practical object
+to the task that lies nearest, is the worthiest there is on earth.
+
+Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the
+measure of man.
+
+When a great idea enters the world as a Gospel, it becomes an offense to
+the multitude, which stagnates in pedantry; and to those who have much
+learning, but little depth, it is folly.
+
+You may recognize the utility of an idea, and yet not quite understand
+how to make a perfect use of it.
+
+_Credo Deum_! That is a fine, a worthy thing to say; but to recognize
+God where and as he reveals himself, is the only true bliss on earth.
+
+Kepler said: 'My wish is that I may perceive the God whom I find
+everywhere in the external world, in like manner also within and inside
+me.' The good man was not aware that, in that very moment, the divine in
+him stood in the closest connection with the divine in the Universe.
+
+What is predestination? It is this: God is mightier and wiser than we
+are, and so he does with us as he pleases.
+
+Toleration should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought
+to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to
+affront him.
+
+Faith, Love and Hope once felt, in a quiet sociable hour, a plastic
+impulse in their nature; they worked together and created a lovely
+image, a Pandora in the higher sense, Patience.
+
+'I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted.' It must have
+been an old forester who said that.
+
+Does the sparrow know how the stork feels?
+
+Lamps make oil spots, and candles want snuffing; it is only the light of
+heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.
+
+If you miss the first button-hole, you will not succeed in buttoning up
+your coat.
+
+A burnt child dreads the fire; an old man who has often been singed is
+afraid of warming himself.
+
+It is not worth while to do anything for the world that we have with us,
+as the existing order may in a moment pass away. It is for the past and
+the future that we must work: for the past, to acknowledge its merits;
+for the future, to try to increase its value.
+
+Let no one think that people have waited for him as for the Savior.
+
+Character in matters great and small consists in a man steadily pursuing
+the things of which he feels himself capable.
+
+Can a nation become ripe? That is a strange question. I would answer,
+Yes! if all the men could be born thirty years of age. But as youth will
+always be too forward and old age too backward, the really mature man is
+always hemmed in between them, and has to resort to strange devices to
+make his way through.
+
+The most important matters of feeling as of reason, of experience as of
+reflection, should be treated of only by word of mouth. The spoken word
+at once dies if it is not kept alive by some other word following on it
+and suited to the hearer. Observe what happens in social converse. If
+the word is not dead when it reaches the hearer, he murders it at once
+by a contradiction, a stipulation, a condition, a digression, an
+interruption, and all the thousand tricks of conversation. With the
+written word the case is still worse. No one cares to read anything to
+which he is not already to some extent accustomed; he demands the known
+and the familiar under an altered form. Still, the written word has this
+advantage, that it lasts and can await the time when it is allowed to
+take effect.
+
+Opponents fancy they refute us when they repeat their own opinion and
+pay no attention to ours.
+
+It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it
+may be past, present or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the
+more difficult are the problems that appear.
+
+Every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined
+plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be
+steep and inaccessible.
+
+If a man would enter upon some course of knowledge, he must either be
+deceived or deceive himself, unless external necessity irresistibly
+determines him. Who would become a physician if, at one and the same
+time, he saw before him all the horrible sights that await him?
+
+Literature is a fragment of fragments: the least of what happened and
+was spoken, has been written; and of the things that have been written,
+very few have been preserved.
+
+And yet, with all the fragmentary nature of literature, we find
+thousandfold repetition; which shows how limited is man's mind and
+destiny.
+
+We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive,
+are anxious to say something important, and the results are most
+curious.
+
+Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to
+let us know that the author has known something.
+
+An author can show no greater respect for his public than by never
+bringing it what it expects, but what he himself thinks right and proper
+in that stage of his own and others' culture in which for the time he
+finds himself.
+
+That glorious hymn, _Veni Creator Spiritus_, is really an appeal to
+genius. That is why it speaks so powerfully to men of intellect and
+power.
+
+Translators are like busy match-makers; they sing the praises of some
+half-veiled beauty, and extol her charms, and arouse an irresistible
+longing for the original.
+
+My relations with Schiller rested on the decided tendency of both of us
+toward a single aim, and our common activity rested on the diversity of
+the means by which we endeavored to attain that aim.
+
+The best that history gives us is the enthusiasm it arouses.
+
+We really learn only from those books which we cannot criticise. The
+author of a book which we could criticise would have to learn from us.
+
+That is the reason why the Bible will never lose its power; because, as
+long as the world lasts, no one can stand up and say: I grasp it as a
+whole and understand all the parts of it. But we say humbly: as a whole
+it is worthy of respect, and in all its parts it is applicable.
+
+There is and will be much discussions as to the use and harm of
+circulating the Bible. One thing is clear to me mischief will result, as
+heretofore, by using it fantastically as a system of dogma; benefit, as
+heretofore, by a loving acceptance of its teachings.
+
+I am convinced that the Bible will always be more beautiful the more it
+is understood; the more, that is, we see and observe that every word
+which we take in a general sense and apply specially to ourselves, had,
+under certain circumstances of time and place, a peculiar, special and
+directly individual reference.
+
+If one has not read the newspapers for some months and then reads them
+altogether, one sees, as one never saw before, how much time is wasted
+with this kind of literature.
+
+Shakespeare's Henry IV. If everything were lost that has ever been
+preserved to us of this kind of writing, the arts of poetry and rhetoric
+could be completely restored out of this one play.
+
+Shakespeare's finest dramas are wanting here and there in facility: they
+are something more than they should be, and for that very reason
+indicate the great poet.
+
+The dignity of Art appears perhaps most conspicuously in Music; for in
+Music there is no material to be deducted. It is wholly form and
+intrinsic value, and it raises and ennobles all that it expresses.
+
+It is only by Art, and especially by Poetry, that the imagination is
+regulated. Nothing is more frightful than imagination without taste.
+
+Art rests upon a kind of religious sense; it is deeply and ineradicably
+in earnest. Thus it is that Art so willingly goes hand in hand with
+Religion.
+
+A noble philosopher spoke of architecture as frozen music; and it was
+inevitable that many people should shake their heads over his remark. We
+believe that no better repetition of this fine thought can be given than
+by calling architecture a speechless music.
+
+In every artist there is a germ of daring, without which no talent is
+conceivable.
+
+Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than
+lower ones quite attained.
+
+In every Italian school the butterfly breaks loose from the chrysalis.
+
+Let us be many-sided! Turnips are good, but they are best mixed with
+chestnuts. And these two noble products of the earth grow far apart.
+
+In the presence of Nature even moderate talent is always possessed of
+insight; hence drawings from Nature that are at all carefully done
+always give pleasure.
+
+A man cannot well stand by himself, and so he is glad to join a party;
+because if he does not find rest there, he at any rate finds quiet and
+safety.
+
+It is difficult to know how to treat the errors of the age. If a man
+oppose them, he stands alone; if he surrender to them, they bring him
+neither joy nor credit.
+
+There are some hundred Christian sects, every one of them acknowledging
+God and the Lord in its own way, without troubling themselves further
+about one another. In the study of nature, nay, in every study, things
+must of necessity come to the same pass. For what is the meaning of
+every one speaking of toleration, and trying to prevent others from
+thinking and expressing themselves after their own fashion?
+
+We more readily confess to errors, mistakes and short-comings in our
+conduct than in our thought. And the reason of it is that the
+conscience is humble and even takes a pleasure in being ashamed. But the
+intellect is proud, and if forced to recant is driven to despair. * * *
+
+This also explains how it is that truths which have been recognized are
+at first tacitly admitted, and then gradually spread, so that the very
+thing which was obstinately denied appears at last as something quite
+natural.
+
+Ignorant people raise questions which were answered by the wise
+thousands of years ago.
+
+Our advice is that every man should remain in the path he has struck out
+for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by
+prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion.
+
+Every investigator must, before all things, look upon himself as one who
+is summoned to serve on a jury. He has only to consider how far the
+statement of the case is complete and clearly set forth by the evidence.
+Then he draws his conclusion and gives his vote, whether it be that his
+opinion coincides with that of the foreman or not.
+
+The history of philosophy, of science, of religion, all shows that
+opinions spread in masses, but that that always comes to the front
+which is more easily grasped, that is to say, is most suited and
+agreeable to the human mind in its ordinary condition. Nay, he who has
+practised self-culture in the higher sense may always reckon upon
+meeting an adverse majority.
+
+What is a musical string, and all its mechanical division, in comparison
+with the musician's ear? May we not also say, what are the elementary
+phenomena of nature itself compared with man, who must control and
+modify them all before he can in any way assimilate them to himself?
+
+Everything that we call Invention or Discovery in the higher sense of
+the word is the serious exercise and activity of an original feeling for
+truth, which, after a long course of silent cultivation, suddenly
+flashes out into fruitful knowledge. It is a revelation working from
+within on the outer world, and lets a man feel that he is made in the
+image of God. It is a synthesis of World and Mind, giving the most
+blessed assurance of the eternal harmony of things.
+
+A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is
+comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it. A man does not
+need to have seen or experienced everything himself. But if he is to
+commit himself to another's experiences and his way of putting them, let
+him consider that he has to do with three things--the object in question
+and two subjects.
+
+If we look at the problems raised by Aristotle, we are astonished at his
+gift of observation. What wonderful eyes the Greeks had for many things!
+Only they committed the mistake of being overhasty, of passing
+straightway from the phenomenon to the explanation of it, and thereby
+produced certain theories that are quite inadequate. But this is the
+mistake of all times, and still made in our own day.
+
+Hypotheses are cradle-songs by which the teacher lulls his scholars to
+sleep. The thoughtful and honest observer is always learning more and
+more of his limitations; he sees that the further knowledge spreads,
+the more numerous are the problems that make their appearance.
+
+If many a man did not feel obliged to repeat what is untrue, because he
+has said it once, the world would have been quite different.
+
+There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few
+powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive
+weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the
+least knowing their own mind.
+
+When I observe the luminous progress and expansion of natural science in
+modern times, I seem to myself like a traveler going eastward at dawn,
+and gazing at the growing light with joy, but also with impatience;
+looking forward with longing to the advent of the full and final light,
+but, nevertheless, having to turn away his eyes when the sun appeared,
+unable to bear the splendor he had awaited with so much desire.
+
+We praise the eighteenth century for concerning itself chiefly with
+analysis. The task remaining to the nineteenth is to discover the false
+syntheses which prevail, and to analyze their contents anew.
+
+A school may be regarded as a single individual who talks to himself for
+a hundred years, and takes an extraordinary pleasure in his own being,
+however foolish and silly it may be.
+
+In science it is a service of the highest merit to seek out those
+fragmentary truths attained by the ancients, and to develop them
+further.
+
+Nature fills all space with her limitless productivity. If we observe
+merely our own earth, everything that we call evil and unfortunate is so
+because Nature cannot provide room for everything that comes into
+existence, and still less endow it with permanence.
+
+The finest achievement for a man of thought is to have fathomed what may
+be fathomed, and quietly to revere the unfathomable.
+
+There are two things of which a man cannot be careful enough: of
+obstinacy, if he confines himself to his own line of thought; of
+incompetency, if he goes beyond it.
+
+The century advances; but every individual begins anew.
+
+What friends do with us and for us is a real part of our life; for it
+strengthens and advances our personality. The assault of our enemies is
+not part of our life; it is only part of our experience; we throw it off
+and guard ourselves against it as against frost, storm, rain, hail or
+any other of the external evils which may be expected to happen.
+
+A man cannot live with every one, and therefore he cannot live for every
+one. To see this truth aright is to place a high value upon one's
+friends, and not to hate or persecute one's enemies. Nay, there is
+hardly any greater advantage for a man to gain than to find out, if he
+can, the merits of his opponents: it gives him a decided ascendency over
+them.
+
+Every one knows how to value what he has attained in life; most of all
+the man who thinks and reflects in his old age. He has a comfortable
+feeling that it is something of which no one can rob him.
+
+The best metempsychosis is for us to appear again in others.
+
+It is very seldom that we satisfy ourselves; all the more consoling is
+it to have satisfied others.
+
+We look back upon our life only as on a thing of broken pieces, because
+our misses and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh
+in our imagination what we have done and attained.
+
+Nature! We are surrounded by her and locked in her clasp--powerless to
+leave her, and powerless to come closer to her. Unasked and unwarned she
+takes us up into the whirl of her dance, and hurries on with us till we
+are weary and fall from her arms.
+
+We live in the midst of her and are strangers. She speaks to us
+unceasingly and betrays not her secret.
+
+We are always influencing her and yet can do her no violence.
+
+Individuality seems to be all her aim, and she cares naught for
+individuals. She is always building and always destroying, and her
+work-shop is not to be approached.
+
+Nature lives in her children only, and the mother, where is she? She is
+the sole artist--out of the simplest materials the greatest diversity;
+attaining, with no trace of effort, the finest perfection, the closest
+precision, always softly veiled. Each of her works has an essence of its
+own; every shape that she takes is in idea utterly isolated; and yet all
+forms one.
+
+She plays a drama; whether she sees it herself, we know not; and yet she
+plays it for us who stand but a little way off.
+
+She has thought, and she ponders unceasingly; not as a man, but as
+Nature. The meaning of the whole she keeps to herself, and no one can
+learn it of her.
+
+She rejoices in illusion. If a man destroys this in himself and others,
+she punishes him like the hardest tyrant. If he follows her in
+confidence, she presses him to her heart as if it were her child.
+
+Her children are numberless. To no one of them is she altogether
+niggardly; but she has her favorites, on whom she lavishes much, and for
+whom she makes many a sacrifice. Over the great she has spread the
+shield of her protection.
+
+She spurts forth her creatures out of nothing, and tells them not whence
+they come and whither they go. They have only to go their way; she knows
+the path.
+
+The drama she plays is always new, because she is always bringing new
+spectators. Life is her fairest invention, and Death is her device for
+having life in abundance.
+
+She envelops man in darkness, and urges him constantly to the light. She
+makes him dependent on the earth, heavy and sluggish, and always rouses
+him up afresh.
+
+She creates wants, because she loves movement. How marvelous that she
+gains it all so easily! Every want is a benefit, soon satisfied, soon
+growing again. If she gives more, it is a new source of desire; but the
+balance quickly rights itself.
+
+She lets every child work at her, every fool judge of her, and thousands
+pass her by and see nothing; and she has her joy in them all, and in
+them all finds her account.
+
+Man obeys her laws even in opposing them; he works with her even when he
+wants to work against her.
+
+Speech or language she has none; but she creates tongues and hearts
+through which she feels and speaks.
+
+Her crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts
+gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She
+isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few
+draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.
+
+She is all things. She rewards herself and punishes herself; and in
+herself rejoices and is distressed. She is rough and gentle, loving and
+terrible, powerless and almighty. In her everything is always present.
+Past or Future she knows not. The present is her Eternity. She is kind.
+I praise her with all her works. She is wise and still. No one can force
+her to explain herself, or frighten her into a gift that she does not
+give willingly. She is crafty, but for a good end; and it is best not to
+notice her cunning.
+
+She is whole, and yet never finished. As she works now, so can she work
+forever.
+
+She has placed me in this world; she will also lead me out of it. I
+trust myself to her. She may do with me as she pleases. She will not
+hate her work. I did not speak of her. No! what is true and what is
+false, she has spoken it all. Everything is her fault, everything is her
+merit.
+
+
+
+ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH GOETHE[6]
+
+(Extracts from the Author's Preface.) TRANSLATED BY JOHN OXENFORD
+
+This collection of Conversations with Goethe took its rise chiefly from
+an impulse, natural to my mind, to appropriate to myself by writing any
+part of my experience which strikes me as valuable or remarkable.
+
+Moreover, I felt constantly the need of instruction, not only when I
+first met with that extraordinary man, but also after I had lived with
+him for years; and I loved to seize on the import of his words, and to
+note it down, that I might possess them for the rest of my life.
+
+When I think how rich and full were the communications by which he made
+me so happy for a period of nine years, and now observe how small a part
+I have retained in writing, I seem to myself like a child who,
+endeavoring to catch the refreshing spring shower with open hands, finds
+that the greater part of it runs through his fingers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I think that these conversations not only contain many valuable
+explanations and instructions on science, art, and practical life, but
+that these sketches of Goethe, taken directly from life, will be
+especially serviceable in completing the portrait which each reader may
+have formed of Goethe from his manifold works.
+
+Still, I am far from imagining that the whole internal Goethe is here
+adequately portrayed. We may, with propriety, compare this extraordinary
+mind and man to a many-sided diamond, which in each direction shines
+with a different hue. And as, under different circumstances and with
+different persons, he became another being, so I, too, can only say, in
+a very modest sense, this is _my_ Goethe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: GOETHE'S STUDY]
+
+My relation to him was peculiar, and of a very intimate kind: it was
+that of the scholar to the master; of the son to the father; of the poor
+in culture to the rich in culture. He drew me into his own circle, and
+let me participate in the mental and bodily enjoyments of a higher state
+of existence. Sometimes I saw him but once a week, when I visited him in
+the evening; sometimes every day, when I had the happiness to dine with
+him either alone or in company. His conversation was as varied as his
+works. He was always the same, and always different. Now he was occupied
+by some great idea, and his words flowed forth rich and inexhaustible;
+they were often like a garden in spring where all is in blossom, and
+where one is so dazzled by the general brilliancy that one does not
+think of gathering a nosegay. At other times, on the contrary, he was
+taciturn and laconic, as if a cloud pressed upon his soul; nay, there
+were days when it seemed as if he were filled with icy coldness, and a
+keen wind was sweeping over plains of frost and snow. When one saw him
+again he was again like a smiling summer's day, when all the warblers of
+the wood joyously greet us from hedges and bushes, when the cuckoo's
+voice resounds through the blue sky, and the brook ripples through
+flowery meadows. Then it was a pleasure to hear him; his presence then
+had a beneficial influence, and the heart expanded at his words.
+
+Winter and summer, age and youth, seemed with him to be engaged in a
+perpetual strife and change; nevertheless, it was admirable in him, when
+from seventy to eighty years old, that youth always recovered the
+ascendancy; those autumnal and wintry days I have indicated were only
+rare exceptions.
+
+His self-control was great--nay, it formed a prominent peculiarity in
+his character. It was akin to that lofty deliberation (_Besonnenheit_)
+through which he always succeeded in mastering his material, and giving
+his single works that artistical finish which we admire in them. Through
+the same quality he was often concise and circumspect, not only in many
+of his writings, but also in his oral expressions. When, however, in
+happy moments, a more powerful demon[7] was active within him, and that
+self-control abandoned him, his discourse rolled forth with youthful
+impetuosity, like a mountain cataract. In such moments he expressed what
+was best and greatest in his abundant nature, and such moments are to be
+understood when his earlier friends say of him, that his spoken words
+were better than those which he wrote and printed. Thus Marmontel said
+of Diderot, that whoever knew him from his writings only knew him but
+half; but that as soon as he became animated in actual conversation he
+was incomparable, and irresistibly carried his hearers along.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1823
+
+_Weimar, June 10.[8]--I arrived here a few days ago, but did not see
+Goethe till today. He received me with great cordiality; and the
+impression he made on me was such, that I consider this day as one of
+the happiest in my life.
+
+Yesterday, when I called to inquire, he fixed today at twelve o'clock as
+the time when he would be glad to see me. I went at the appointed time,
+and found a servant waiting for me, preparing to conduct me to him.
+
+The interior of the house made a very pleasant impression upon me;
+without being showy, everything was extremely simple and noble; even the
+casts from antique statues, placed upon the stairs, indicated Goethe's
+especial partiality for plastic art, and for Grecian antiquity. I saw
+several ladies moving busily about in the lower part of the house, and
+one of Ottilie's beautiful boys, who came familiarly up to me, and
+looked fixedly in my face.
+
+After I had cast a glance around, I ascended the stairs, with the very
+talkative servant, to the first floor.
+
+He opened a room, on the threshold of which the motto _Salve_ was
+stepped over as a good omen of a friendly welcome. He led me through
+this apartment and opened another, somewhat more spacious, where he
+requested me to wait, while he went to announce me to his master. The
+air here was most cool and refreshing; on the floor was spread a carpet;
+the room was furnished with a crimson sofa and chairs, which gave a
+cheerful aspect; on one side stood a piano; and the walls were adorned
+with many pictures and drawings, of various sorts and sizes.
+
+Through an open door opposite, one looked into a farther room, also hung
+with pictures, through which the servant had gone to announce me.
+
+It was not long before Goethe came in, dressed in a blue frock-coat, and
+with shoes. What a sublime form! The impression upon me was surprising.
+But he soon dispelled all uneasiness by the kindest words. We sat down
+on the sofa. I felt in a happy perplexity, through his look and his
+presence, and could say little or nothing.
+
+He began by speaking of my manuscript. "I have just come from _you_,"
+said he; "I have been reading your writing all the morning; it needs no
+recommendation--it recommends itself." He praised the clearness of the
+style, the flow of the thought, and the peculiarity that all rested on a
+solid basis and had been thoroughly considered. "I will soon forward
+it," said he; "today I shall write to Cotta by post, and send him the
+parcel tomorrow." I thanked him with words and looks.
+
+We then talked of my proposed excursion. I told him that my design was
+to go into the Rhineland, where I intended to stay at a suitable place,
+and write something new. First, however, I would go to Jena, and there
+await Herr von Cotta's answer.
+
+Goethe asked whether I had acquaintance in Jena. I replied that I hoped
+to come in contact with Herr von Knebel; on which he promised me a
+letter which would insure me a more favorable reception. "And, indeed,"
+said he, "while you are in Jena, we shall be near neighbors, and can see
+or write to one another as often as we please." We sat a long while
+together, in a tranquil, affectionate mood. I was close to him; I forgot
+to speak for looking at him--I could not look enough. His face is so
+powerful and brown! full of wrinkles, and each wrinkle full of
+expression! And everywhere there is such nobleness and firmness, such
+repose and greatness! He spoke in a slow, composed manner, such as you
+would expect from an aged monarch. You perceive by his air that he
+reposes upon himself, and is elevated far above both praise and blame. I
+was extremely happy near him; I felt becalmed like one who, after many
+toils and tedious expectations, finally sees his dearest wishes
+gratified.
+
+_Thursday, September_ 18.--"The world is so great and rich, and life so
+full of variety, that you can never want occasions for poems. But they
+must all be occasional[9] poems; that is to say, reality must give both
+impulse and material for their production. A particular case becomes
+universal and poetic by the very circumstance that it is treated by a
+poet. All my poems are occasional poems, suggested by real life, and
+having therein a firm foundation. I attach no value to poems snatched
+out of the air.
+
+"Let no one say that reality wants poetical interest; for in this the
+poet proves his vocation, that he has the art to win from a common
+subject an interesting side. Reality must give the motive, the points to
+be expressed, the kernel, as I may say; but to work out of it a
+beautiful, animated whole, belongs to the poet. You know Fuernstein,
+called the Poet of Nature; he has written the prettiest poem possible,
+on the cultivation of hops.
+
+"I have now proposed to him to make songs for the different crafts of
+working-men, particularly a weaver's song, and I am sure he will do it
+well, for he has lived among such people from his youth; he understands
+the subject thoroughly, and is therefore master of his material. That is
+exactly the advantage of small works; you need only choose those
+subjects of which you are master. With a great poem, this cannot be: no
+part can be evaded; all which belongs to the animation of the whole, and
+is interwoven into the plan, must be represented with precision. In
+youth, however, the knowledge of things is only one-sided. A great work
+requires many-sidedness, and on that rock the young author splits."
+
+[Illustration: THE GARDEN AT GOETHE'S CITY HOUSE WEIMAR After a Water
+Color by PETER WOLTZE]
+
+I told Goethe that I had contemplated writing a great poem upon the
+seasons, in which I might interweave the employments and amusements of
+all classes. "Here is the very case in point," replied Goethe; "you may
+succeed in many parts, but fail in others which refer to what you have
+not duly investigated. Perhaps you would do the fisherman well, and the
+huntsman ill; and if you fail anywhere, the whole is a failure, however
+good single parts may be, and you have not produced a perfect work. Give
+separately the single parts to which you are equal, and you make sure of
+something good.
+
+"I especially warn you against great inventions of your own; for then
+you would try to give a view of things, and for that purpose youth is
+seldom ripe. Further, character and views detach themselves as sides
+from the poet's mind, and deprive him of the fulness requisite for
+future productions. And, finally, how much time is lost in invention,
+internal arrangement, and combination, for which nobody thanks us, even
+supposing our work is happily accomplished.
+
+"With a _given_ material, on the other hand, all goes easier and better.
+Facts and characters being provided, the poet has only the task of
+animating the whole. He preserves his own fulness, for he needs to part
+with but little of himself, and there is much less loss of time and
+power, since he has only the trouble of execution. Indeed, I would
+advise the choice of subjects which have been worked before. How many
+Iphigenias have been written! yet they are all different, for each
+writer considers and arranges the subject differently; namely, after his
+own fashion.
+
+"But, for the present, you had better lay aside all great undertakings.
+You have striven long enough; it is time that you should enter into the
+cheerful period of life, and for the attainment of this, the working out
+of small subjects is the best expedient."
+
+_Sunday, October_ 19.--Today, I dined for the first time with Goethe. No
+one was present except Frau von Goethe, Fraeulein Ulrica, and little
+Walter, and thus we were all very comfortable. Goethe appeared now
+solely as father of a family, helping to all the dishes, carving the
+roast fowls with great dexterity, and not forgetting between whiles to
+fill the glasses. We had much lively chat about the theatre, young
+English people, and other topics of the day; Fraeulein Ulrica was
+especially lively and entertaining. Goethe was generally silent, coming
+out only now and then with some pertinent remark. From time to time he
+glanced at the newspaper, now and then reading us some passages,
+especially about the progress of the Greeks.
+
+They then talked about the necessity of my learning English, and Goethe
+earnestly advised me to do so, particularly on account of Lord Byron;
+saying, that a character of such eminence had never existed before, and
+probably would never come again. They discussed the merits of the
+different teachers here, but found none with a thoroughly good
+pronunciation; on which account they deemed it better to go to some
+young Englishman.
+
+After dinner, Goethe showed me some experiments relating to his theory
+of colors. The subject was, however, new to me; I neither understood
+the phenomena, nor what he said about them. Nevertheless, I hoped that
+the future would afford me leisure and opportunity to initiate myself a
+little into this science.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, November_ 13.--Some days ago, as I was walking one fine
+afternoon towards Erfurt, I was joined by an elderly man, whom I
+supposed, from his appearance, to be an opulent citizen. We had not
+talked together long, before the conversation turned upon Goethe. I
+asked him whether he knew Goethe. "Know him?" said he, with some
+delight; "I was his valet almost twenty years!" He then launched into
+the praises of his former master. I begged to hear something of Goethe's
+youth, and he gladly consented to gratify me.
+
+"When I first lived with him," said he, "he might have been about
+twenty-seven years old; he was thin, nimble, and elegant in his person.
+I could easily have carried him in my arms."
+
+I asked whether Goethe, in that early part of his life here, had not
+been very gay. "Certainly," replied he; "he was always gay with the gay,
+but never when they passed a certain limit; in that case he usually
+became grave. Always working and seeking; his mind always bent on art
+and science; that was generally the way with my master. The duke often
+visited him in the evening, and then they often talked on learned topics
+till late at night, so that I got extremely tired, and wondered when the
+duke would go. Even then he was interested in natural science.
+
+"One time he rang in the middle of the night, and when I entered his
+room I found he had rolled his iron bed to the window, and was lying
+there, looking out upon the heavens. 'Have you seen nothing in the sky?'
+asked he; and when I answered in the negative, he bade me run to the
+guard-house, and ask the man on duty if he had seen nothing. I went
+there; the guard said he had seen nothing, and I returned with this
+answer to my master, who was still in the same position, lying in his
+bed, and gazing upon the sky. 'Listen,' said he to me; 'this is an
+important moment; there is now an earthquake, or one is just going to
+take place;' then he made me sit down on the bed, and showed me by what
+signs he knew this."
+
+I asked the good old man "what sort of weather it was." "It was very
+cloudy," he replied; "no air stirring; very still and sultry."
+
+I asked if he at once believed there was an earthquake on Goethe's word.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I believed it, for things always happened as he said
+they would. Next day he related his observations at court, when a lady
+whispered to her neighbor, 'Only listen, Goethe is dreaming.' But the
+duke, and all the men present, believed Goethe, and the correctness of
+his observations was soon confirmed; for, in a few weeks, the news came
+that a part of Messina, on that night, had been destroyed by an
+earthquake."
+
+_Friday, November_ 14.--Towards evening Goethe sent me an invitation to
+call upon him. Humboldt, he said, was at court, and therefore I should
+be all the more welcome. I found him, as I did some days ago, sitting in
+his armchair; he gave me a friendly shake of the hand, and spoke to me
+with heavenly mildness. The chancellor soon joined us. We sat near
+Goethe, and carried on a light conversation, that he might only have to
+listen. The physician, Counsellor Rehbein, soon came also. To use his
+own expression, he found Goethe's pulse quite lively and easy. At this
+we were highly pleased, and joked with Goethe on the subject. "If I
+could only get rid of the pain in my left side!" he said. Rehbein
+prescribed a plaster there; we talked on the good effect of such a
+remedy, and Goethe consented to it. Rehbein turned the conversation to
+Marienbad, and this appeared to awaken pleasant reminiscences in Goethe.
+Arrangements were made to go there again, it was said that the great
+duke would join the party, and these prospects put Goethe in the most
+cheerful mood. They also talked about Madame Szymanowska, and mentioned
+the time when she was here, and all the men were solicitous for her
+favor.
+
+When Rehbein was gone, the chancellor read the Indian poems, and Goethe,
+in the meanwhile, talked to me about the Marienbad Elegy.
+
+At eight o'clock, the chancellor went, and I was going, too, but Goethe
+bade me stop a little, and I sat down. The conversation turned on the
+stage, and the fact that _Wallenstein_ was to be done tomorrow. This
+gave occasion to talk about Schiller.
+
+"I have," said I, "a peculiar feeling towards Schiller. Some scenes of
+his great dramas I read with genuine love and admiration; but presently
+I meet with something which violates the truth of nature, and I can go
+no further. I feel this even in reading _Wallenstein_. I cannot but
+think that Schiller's turn for philosophy injured his poetry, because
+this led him to consider the idea far higher than all nature; indeed,
+thus to annihilate nature. What he could conceive must happen, whether
+it were in conformity with nature or not."
+
+"It was sad," said Goethe, "to see how so highly gifted a man tormented
+himself with philosophical disquisitions which could in no way profit
+him. Humboldt has shown me letters which Schiller wrote to him in those
+unblest days of speculation. There we see how he plagued himself with
+the design of perfectly separating sentimental from _naive_ poetry. For
+the former he could find no proper soil, and this brought him into
+unspeakable perplexity."
+
+"As if," continued he, smiling, "sentimental poetry could exist at all
+without the _naive_ ground in which, as it were, it has its root."
+
+"It was not Schiller's plan," continued Goethe, "to go to work with a
+certain unconsciousness, and as it were instinctively; he was forced, on
+the contrary, to reflect on all he did. Hence it was that he never could
+leave off talking about his poetical projects, and thus he discussed
+with me all his late pieces, scene after scene.
+
+"On the other hand, it was contrary to my nature to talk over my poetic
+plans with anybody--even with Schiller. I carried everything about with
+me in silence, and usually nothing was known to any one till the whole
+was completed. When I showed Schiller my _Hermann and Dorothea_
+finished, he was astonished, for I had said not a syllable to him of any
+such plan.
+
+"But I am curious to hear what you will say of _Wallenstein_ tomorrow.
+You will see noble forms, and the piece will make an impression on you
+such as you probably do not dream of."
+
+_Saturday, November_ 15.--In the evening I was in the theatre, where I
+for the first time saw _Wallenstein_. Goethe had not said too much; the
+impression was great, and stirred my inmost soul. The actors, who had
+almost all belonged to the time when they were under the personal
+influence of Schiller and Goethe, gave an ensemble of significant
+personages, such as on a mere reading were not presented to my
+imagination with all their individuality. On this account the piece had
+an extraordinary effect upon me, and I could not get it out of my head
+the whole night.
+
+_Sunday, November 16_.--In the evening at Goethe's; he was still sitting
+in his elbow-chair, and seemed rather weak. His first question was about
+_Wallenstein_. I gave him an account of the impression the piece had
+made upon me as represented on the stage, and he heard me with visible
+satisfaction.
+
+M. Soret came in, led in by Frau von Goethe, and remained about an hour.
+He brought from the duke some gold medals, and by showing and talking
+about these seemed to entertain Goethe very pleasantly.
+
+Frau von Goethe and M. Soret went to court, and I was left alone with
+Goethe.
+
+Remembering his promise to show me again his Marienbad Elegy at a
+fitting opportunity, Goethe arose, put a light on the table, and gave
+me the poem. I was delighted to have it once more before me. He quietly
+seated himself again, and left me to an undisturbed perusal of the
+piece.
+
+After I had been reading a while, I turned to say something to him, but
+he seemed to be asleep. I therefore used the favorable moment, and read
+the poem again and again with a rare delight. The most youthful glow of
+love, tempered by the moral elevation of the mind, seemed to me its
+pervading characteristic. Then I thought that the feelings were more
+strongly expressed than we are accustomed to find in Goethe's other
+poems, and imputed this to the influence of Byron--which Goethe did not
+deny.
+
+"You see the product of a highly impassioned mood," said he. "While I
+was in it I would not for the world have been without it, and now I
+would not for any consideration fall into it again.
+
+"I wrote that poem immediately after leaving Marienbad, while the
+feeling of all I had experienced there was fresh. At eight in the
+morning, when we stopped at the first stage, I wrote down the first
+strophe; and thus I went on composing in the carriage, and writing down
+at every stage what I had just composed in my head, so that by the
+evening the whole was on paper. Thence it has a certain directness, and
+is, as I may say, poured out at once, which may be an advantage to it as
+a whole."
+
+"It is," said I, "quite peculiar in its kind, and recalls no other poem
+of yours."
+
+"That," said he, I "may be, because I staked upon the present moment as
+a man stakes a considerable sum upon a card, and sought to enhance its
+value as much as I could without exaggeration."
+
+These words struck me as very important, inasmuch as they threw a light
+on Goethe's method so as to explain that many-sidedness which has
+excited so much admiration.
+
+1824
+
+_Friday, January 2._--Dined at Goethe's, and enjoyed some cheerful
+conversation. Mention was made of a young beauty belonging to the Weimar
+society, when one of the guests remarked that he was on the point of
+falling in love with her, although her understanding could not exactly
+be called brilliant.
+
+"Pshaw," said Goethe, laughing, "as if love had anything to do with the
+understanding. The things that we love in a young lady are something
+very different from the understanding. We love in her beauty,
+youthfulness, playfulness, trustingness, her character, her faults, her
+caprices, and God knows what _'je ne sais quoi'_ besides; but we do not
+_love_ her understanding. We respect her understanding when it is
+brilliant, and by it the worth of a girl can be infinitely enhanced in
+our eyes. Understanding may also serve to fix our affections when we
+already love; but the understanding is not that which is capable of
+firing our hearts, and awakening a passion."
+
+We found much that was true and convincing in Goethe's words, and were
+very willing to consider the subject in that light. After dinner, and
+when the rest of the party had departed, I remained sitting with Goethe,
+and conversed with him on various interesting topics.
+
+We discoursed upon English literature, on the greatness of Shakespeare,
+and on the unfavorable position held by all English dramatic authors who
+had appeared after that poetical giant.
+
+"A dramatic talent of any importance," said Goethe, "could not forbear
+to notice Shakespeare's works, nay, could not forbear to study them.
+Having studied them, he must be aware that Shakespeare has already
+exhausted the whole of human nature in all its tendencies, in all its
+heights and depths, and that, in fact, there remains for him, the
+aftercomer, nothing more to do. And how could one get courage only to
+put pen to paper, if one were conscious in an earnest, appreciating
+spirit, that such unfathomable and unattainable excellences were
+already in existence!
+
+"It fared better with me fifty years ago in my own dear Germany. I could
+soon come to an end with all that then existed; it could not long awe
+me, or occupy my attention. I soon left behind me German literature, and
+the study of it, and turned my thoughts to life and to production. So on
+and on I went in my own natural development, and on and on I fashioned
+the productions of epoch after epoch. And at every step of life and
+development, my standard of excellence was not much higher than what at
+such step I was able to attain. But had I been born an Englishman, and
+had all those numerous masterpieces been brought before me in all their
+power, at my first dawn of youthful consciousness, they would have
+overpowered me, and I should not have known what to do. I could not have
+gone on with such fresh light-heartedness, but should have had to
+bethink myself, and look about for a long time, to find some new
+outlet."
+
+I turned the conversation back to Shakespeare. "When one, to some
+degree, disengages him from English literature," said I, "and considers
+him transformed into a German, one cannot fail to look upon his gigantic
+greatness as a miracle. But if one seeks him in his home, transplants
+oneself to the soil of his country, and to the atmosphere of the century
+in which he lived; further, if one studies his contemporaries, and his
+immediate successors, and inhales the force wafted to us from Ben
+Jonson, Massinger, Marlowe, and Beaumont and Fletcher, Shakespeare
+still, indeed, appears a being of the most exalted magnitude; but still,
+one arrives at the conviction that many of the wonders of his genius
+are, in some measure, accessible, and that much is due to the powerfully
+productive atmosphere of his age and time."
+
+"You are perfectly right," returned Goethe. "It is with Shakespeare as
+with the mountains of Switzerland. Transplant Mont Blanc at once into
+the large plain of Lueneburg Heath, and we should find no words to
+express our wonder at its magnitude. Seek it, however, in its gigantic
+home, go to it over its immense neighbors, the Jungfrau, the
+Finsteraarhorn, the Eiger, the Wetterhorn, St. Gotthard, and Monte Rosa;
+Mont Blanc will, indeed, still remain a giant, but it will no longer
+produce in us such amazement."
+
+"Besides, let him who will not believe," continued Goethe, "that much of
+Shakespeare's greatness appertains to his great vigorous time, only ask
+himself the question, whether a phenomenon so astounding would be
+possible in the present England of 1824, in these evil days of
+criticising and hair-splitting journals?"
+
+"That undisturbed, innocent, somnambulatory production, by which alone
+anything great can thrive, is no longer possible. Our talents at present
+lie before the public. The daily criticisms which appear in fifty
+different places, and the gossip that is caused by them amongst the
+public, prevent the appearance of any sound production. In the present
+day, he who does not keep aloof from all this, and isolate himself by
+main force, is lost. Through the bad, chiefly negative, aesthetical and
+critical tone of the journals, a sort of half culture finds its way into
+the masses; but to productive talent it is a noxious mist, a dropping
+poison, which destroys the tree of creative power, from the ornamental
+green leaves, to the deepest pith and the most hidden fibres.
+
+"And then how tame and weak has life itself become during the last two
+shabby centuries. Where do we now meet an original nature? and where is
+the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
+This, however, affects the poet, who must find all within himself, while
+he is left in the lurch by all without."
+
+The conversation now turned on _Werthe_. "That," said Goethe, "is a
+creation which I, like the pelican, fed with the blood of my own heart.
+It contains so much from the innermost recesses of my breast--so much
+feeling and thought, that it might easily be spread into a novel of ten
+such volumes. Besides, as I have often said, I have only read the book
+once since its appearance, and have taken good care not to read it
+again. It is a mass of congreve-rockets. I am uncomfortable when I look
+at it; and I dread lest I should once more experience the peculiar
+mental state from which it was produced."
+
+I reminded him of his conversation with Napoleon, of which I knew by the
+sketch amongst his unpublished papers, which I had repeatedly urged him
+to give more in detail. "Napoleon," said I, "pointed out to you a
+passage in _Werther_, which, it appeared to him, would not stand a
+strict examination; and this you allowed. I should much like to know
+what passage he meant."
+
+"Guess!" said Goethe, with a mysterious smile.
+
+"Now," said I, "I almost think it is where Charlotte sends the pistols
+to Werther, without saying a word to Albert, and without imparting to
+him her misgivings and apprehensions. You have given yourself great
+trouble to find a motive for this silence, but it does not appear to
+hold good against the urgent necessity where the life of the friend was
+at stake."
+
+"Your remark," returned Goethe, "is really not bad; but I do not think
+it right to reveal whether Napoleon meant this passage or another.
+However, be that as it may, your observation is quite as correct as
+his."
+
+I asked the question, whether the great effect produced by the
+appearance of _Werther_ was really to be attributed to the period. "I
+cannot," said I, "reconcile to myself this view, though it is so
+extensively spread. _Werther_ made an epoch because it appeared--not
+because it appeared at a certain time. There is in every period so much
+unexpressed sorrow--so much secret discontent and disgust for life, and,
+in single individuals, there are so many disagreements with the
+world--so many conflicts between their natures and civil regulations,
+that _Werther_ would make an epoch even if it appeared today for the
+first time."
+
+"You are quite right," said Goethe; "it is on that account that the book
+to this day influences youth of a certain age, as it did formerly. It
+was scarcely necessary for me to deduce my own youthful dejection from
+the general influence of my time, and from the reading of a few English
+authors. Rather was it owing to individual and immediate circumstances
+which touched me to the quick, and gave me a great deal of trouble, and
+indeed brought me into that frame of mind which produced _Werther_. I
+had lived, loved, and suffered much--that was it."
+
+"On considering more closely the much-talked-of _Werther_ period, we
+discover that it does not belong to the course of universal culture, but
+to the career of life in every individual, who, with an innate free
+natural instinct, must accommodate himself to the narrow limits of an
+antiquated world. Obstructed fortune, restrained activity, unfulfilled
+wishes, are not the calamities of any particular time, but those of
+every individual man; and it would be bad, indeed, if every one had not,
+once in his life, known a time when Werther seemed as if it had been
+written for him alone."
+
+_Sunday, January_ 4.--Today, after dinner, Goethe went through a
+portfolio, containing some works of Raphael, with me. He often busies
+himself with Raphael, in order to keep up a constant intercourse with
+that which is best, and to accustom himself to muse upon the thoughts of
+a great man. At the same time, it gives him pleasure to introduce me to
+such things.
+
+We afterwards spoke about the _Divan_[10]--especially about the "book of
+ill-humor," in which much is poured forth that he carried in his heart
+against his enemies.
+
+"If I have, however," continued he, "been very moderate: if I had
+uttered all that vexed me or gave me trouble, the few pages would soon
+have swelled to a volume.
+
+"People were never thoroughly contented with me, but always wished me
+otherwise than it has pleased God to make me. They were also seldom
+contented with my productions. When I had long exerted my whole soul to
+favor the world with a new work, it still desired that I should thank it
+into the bargain for considering the work endurable. If any one praised
+me, I was not allowed, in self-congratulation, to receive it as a
+well-merited tribute; but people expected from me some modest
+expression, humbly setting forth the total unworthiness of my person and
+my work. However, my nature opposed this; and I should have been a
+miserable hypocrite, if I had so tried to lie and dissemble. Since I was
+strong enough to show myself in my whole truth, just as I felt, I was
+deemed proud, and am considered so to the present day.
+
+"In religious, scientific, and political matters, I generally brought
+trouble upon myself, because I was no hypocrite, and had the courage to
+express what I felt.
+
+"I believed in God and in Nature, and in the triumphs of good over evil;
+but this was not enough for pious souls; I was also required to believe
+other points, which were opposed to the feeling of my soul for truth;
+besides, I did not see that these would be of the slightest service to
+me.
+
+"It was also prejudicial to me that I discovered Newton's theory of
+light and color to be an error, and that I had the courage to contradict
+the universal creed. I discovered light in its purity and truth, and I
+considered it my duty to fight for it. The opposite party, however, did
+their utmost to darken the light; for they maintained that _shade is a
+part of light_. It sounds absurd when I express it; but so it is: for
+they said that _colors_, which are shadow and the result of shade, _are
+light itself_, or, which amounts to the same thing, _are the beams of
+light, broken now in one way, now in another_."
+
+Goethe was silent, whilst an ironical smile spread over his expressive
+countenance. He continued--
+
+"And now for political matters. What trouble I have taken, and what I
+have suffered, on that account, I cannot tell you. Do you know my
+'Aufgeregten?'"[11]
+
+"Yesterday, for the first time," returned I, "I read the piece, in
+consequence of the new edition of your works; and I regret from my heart
+that it remains unfinished. But, even as it is, every right-thinking
+person must coincide with your sentiments."
+
+"I wrote it at the time of the French Revolution," continued Goethe,
+"and it may be regarded, in some measure, as my political confession of
+faith at that time. I have taken the countess as a type of the nobility;
+and, with the words which I put into her mouth, I have expressed how the
+nobility really ought to think. The countess has just returned from
+Paris; she has there been an eye-witness of the revolutionary events,
+and has drawn, therefore, for herself, no bad doctrine. She has
+convinced herself that the people may be ruled, but not oppressed, and
+that the revolutionary outbreaks of the lower classes are the
+consequence of the injustice of the higher classes. 'I will for the
+future,' says she, 'strenuously avoid every action that appears to me
+unjust, and will, both in society and at court, loudly express my
+opinion concerning such actions in others. In no case of injustice will
+I be silent, even though I should be cried down as a democrat.'
+
+"I should have thought this sentiment perfectly respectable," continued
+Goethe; "it was mine at that time, and it is so still; but as a reward
+for it, I was endowed with all sorts of titles, which I do not care to
+repeat."
+
+"One need only read _Egmont_," answered I, "to discover what you think.
+I know no German piece in which the freedom of the people is more
+advocated than in this."
+
+"Sometimes," said Goethe, "people do not like to look on me as I am,
+but turn their glances from everything which could show me in my true
+light. Schiller, on the contrary--who, between ourselves, was much more
+of an aristocrat than I am, but who considered what he said more than
+I--had the wonderful fortune to be looked upon as a particular friend of
+the people. I give it up to him with all my heart, and console myself
+with the thought that others before me had fared no better.
+
+"It is true that I could be no friend to the French Revolution; for its
+horrors were too near me, and shocked me daily and hourly, whilst its
+beneficial results were not then to be discovered. Neither could I be
+indifferent to the fact that the Germans were endeavoring, artificially,
+to bring about such scenes here, as were, in France, the consequence of
+a great necessity.
+
+"But I was as little a friend to arbitrary rule. Indeed, I was perfectly
+convinced that a great revolution is never a fault of the people, but of
+the government. Revolutions are utterly impossible as long as
+governments are constantly just and constantly vigilant, so that they
+may anticipate them by improvements at the right time, and not hold out
+until they are forced to yield by the pressure from beneath.
+
+"Because I hated the Revolution, the name of the '_Friend of the powers
+that be_' was bestowed upon me. That is, however, a very ambiguous
+title, which I would beg to decline. If the 'powers that be' were all
+that is excellent, good, and just, I should have no objection to the
+title; but, since with much that is good there is also much that is bad,
+unjust, and imperfect, a friend of the 'powers that be' means often
+little less than the friend of the obsolete and bad.[12]
+
+"But time is constantly progressing, and human affairs wear every fifty
+years a different aspect; so that an arrangement which, in the year
+1800, was perfection, may, perhaps, in the year 1850, be a defect.
+
+"And, furthermore, nothing is good for a nation but that which arises
+from its own core and its own general wants, without apish imitation of
+another; since what to one race of people, of a certain age, is a
+wholesome nutriment, may perhaps prove a poison for another. All
+endeavors to introduce any foreign innovation, the necessity for which
+is not rooted in the core of the nation itself, are therefore foolish;
+and all premeditated revolutions of the kind are I unsuccessful, _for
+they are without God, who keeps aloof from such bungling_. If, however,
+there exists an actual necessity for a great reform amongst a people,
+God is with it, and it prospers. He was visibly with Christ and his
+first adherents; for the appearance of the new doctrine of love was a
+necessity to the people. He was also visibly with Luther; for the
+purification of the doctrine corrupted by the priests was no less a
+necessity. Neither of the great powers whom I have named was, however, a
+friend of the permanent; much more were both of them convinced that the
+old leaven must be got rid of, and that it would be impossible to go on
+and remain in the untrue, unjust, and defective way."
+
+_Tuesday, January 27._--Goethe talked with me about the continuation of
+his memoirs, with which he is now busy. He observed that this later
+period of his life would not be narrated with such minuteness as the
+youthful epoch of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_.[13] "I must," said he, "treat
+this later period more in the fashion of annals: my outward actions must
+appear rather than my inward life. Altogether, the most important part
+of an individual's life is that of development, and mine is concluded in
+the detailed volumes of _Dichtung and Wahrheit_. Afterwards begins the
+conflict with the world, and that is interesting only in its results.
+
+"And then the life of a learned German--what is it? What may have been
+really good in my case cannot be communicated, and what can be
+communicated is not worth the trouble. Besides, where are the hearers
+whom one could entertain with any satisfaction?
+
+"When I look back to the earlier and middle periods of my life, and now
+in my old age think how few are left of those who were young with me, I
+always think of a summer residence at a bathing-place. When you arrive,
+you make acquaintance and friends of those who have already been there
+some time, and who leave in a few weeks. The loss is painful. Then you
+turn to the second generation, with which you live a good while, and
+become most intimate. But this goes also, and leaves us alone with the
+third, which comes just as we are going away, and with which we have,
+properly, nothing to do.
+
+"I have ever been esteemed one of Fortune's chiefest favorites; nor will
+I complain or find fault with the course my life has taken. Yet, truly,
+there has been nothing but toil and care; and I may say that, in all my
+seventy-five years, I have never had a month of genuine comfort. It has
+been the perpetual rolling of a stone, which I have always had to raise
+anew. My annals will render clear what I now say. The claims upon my
+activity, both from within and without, were too numerous.
+
+"My real happiness was my poetic meditation and production. But how was
+this disturbed, limited, and hindered by my external position! Had I
+been able to abstain more from public business, and to live more in
+solitude, I should have been happier, and should have accomplished much
+more as a poet. But, soon after my _Goetz and Werther_, that saying of a
+sage was verified for me--'If you do anything for the sake of the world,
+it will take good care that you shall not do it a second time.'
+
+"A wide-spread celebrity, an elevated position in life, are good
+things. But, for all my rank and celebrity, I am still obliged to be
+silent as to the opinion of others, that I may not give offense. This
+would be but poor sport, if by this means I had not the advantage of
+learning the thoughts of others without their being able to learn mine."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wednesday, February 25.--Today, Goethe showed me two very remarkable
+poems, both highly moral in their tendency, but in their several motives
+so unreservedly natural and true, that they are of the kind which the
+world styles immoral. On this account he keeps them to himself, and does
+not intend to publish them.
+
+"Could intellect and high cultivation," said he, "become the property of
+all, the poet would have fair play; he could be always thoroughly true,
+and would not be compelled to fear uttering his best thoughts. But, as
+it is, he must always keep on a certain level; must remember that his
+works will fall into the hands of a mixed society; and must, therefore,
+take care lest by over-great openness he may give offense to the
+majority of good men. Then Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical
+tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one
+says and does. We cannot, with propriety, say things which were
+permitted to the ancient Greeks; and the Englishmen of 1820 cannot
+endure what suited the vigorous contemporaries of Shakespeare; so that,
+at the present day, it is found necessary to have a Family Shakespeare."
+
+"Then," said I, "there is much in the form also. The one of these two
+poems, which is composed in the style and metre of the ancients, would
+be far less offensive than the other. Isolated parts would displease,
+but the treatment throws so much grandeur and dignity over the whole,
+that we seem to hear a strong ancient, and to be carried back to the age
+of the Greek heroes. But the other, being in the style and metre of
+Messer Ariosto, is far more hazardous. It relates an event of our day,
+in the language of our day, and as it thus comes quite unveiled into
+our presence, the particular features of boldness seem far more
+audacious."
+
+"You are right," said he; "mysterious and great effects are produced by
+different poetical forms. If the import of my Romish elegies were put
+into the measure and style of Byron's _Don Juan_, the whole would be
+found infamous."
+
+The French newspapers were brought. The campaign of the French in Spain
+under the Duke d'Angouleme, which was just ended, had great interest for
+Goethe. "I must praise the Bourbons for this measure," said he; "they
+had not really gained the throne till they had gained the army, and that
+is now accomplished. The soldier returns with loyalty, to his king; for
+he has, from his own victories, and the discomfitures of the many-headed
+Spanish host, learned the difference between obeying one and many. The
+army has sustained its ancient fame, and shown that it is brave in
+itself, and can conquer without Napoleon."
+
+Goethe then turned his thoughts backward into history, and talked much
+of the Prussian army in the Seven Years' War, which, accustomed by
+Frederic the Great to constant victory, grew careless, so that, in after
+days, it lost many battles from over-confidence. All the minutest
+details were present to his mind, and I had reason to admire his
+excellent memory.
+
+"I had the great advantage," said he, "of being born at a time when the
+greatest events which agitated the world occurred, and such have
+continued to occur during my long life; so that I am a living witness of
+the Seven Years' War, of the separation of America from England, of the
+French Revolution, and of the whole Napoleon era, with the downfall of
+that hero, and the events which followed. Thus I have attained results
+and insight impossible to those who are born now and must learn all
+these things from books which they will not understand.
+
+"What the next years will bring I cannot predict; but I fear we shall
+not soon have repose. It is not given to the world to be contented; the
+great are not such that there will be no abuse of power; the masses not
+such that, in hope of gradual improvement, they will be contented with a
+moderate condition. Could we perfect human nature, we might also expect
+a perfect state of things; but, as it is, there will always be a
+wavering hither and thither; one part must suffer while the other is at
+ease, envy and egotism will be always at work like bad demons, and party
+strife will be without end.
+
+"The most reasonable way is for every one to follow his own vocation to
+which he has been born, and which he has learned, and to avoid hindering
+others from following theirs. Let the shoemaker abide by his last, the
+peasant by his plough, and let the king know how to govern; for, this is
+also a business which must be learned, and with which no one should
+meddle who does not understand it."
+
+Returning to the French papers, Goethe said: "The liberals may speak,
+for when they are reasonable we like to hear them; but with the
+royalists, who have the executive power in their hands, talking comes
+amiss--they should act. They may march troops, and behead and hang--that
+is all right; but attacking opinions, and justifying their measures in
+public prints, does not become them. If there were a public of kings,
+they might talk.
+
+"For myself," he continued, "I have always been a royalist. I have let
+others babble, and have done as I saw fit. I understood my course, and
+knew my own object. If I committed a fault as a single individual, I
+could make it good again; but if I committed it jointly with three or
+four others, it would be impossible to make it good, for among many
+there are many opinions."
+
+Goethe was in excellent spirits today. He showed me Frau von Spiegel's
+album, in which he had written some very beautiful verses. A place had
+been left open for him for two years, and he rejoiced at having been
+able to perform at last an old promise. After I had read the "Poem to
+Frau von Spiegel," I turned over the leaves of the book, in which I
+found many distinguished names. On the very next page was a poem by
+Tiedge, written in the very spirit and style of his _Urania_. "In a
+saucy mood," said Goethe, "I was on the point of writing some verses
+beneath those; but I am glad I did not. It would not have been the first
+time that, by rash expressions, I had repelled good people, and spoiled
+the effect of my best works.
+
+"However," continued Goethe, "I have had to endure not a little from
+Tiedge's _Urania_; for, at one time, nothing was sung and nothing was
+declaimed but this same Urania. Wherever you went, you found _Urania_ on
+the table. _Urania_ and immortality were the topics of every
+conversation. I would by no means dispense with the happiness of
+believing in a future existence, and, indeed, would say, with Lorenzo
+de' Medici, that those are dead even for this life who hope for no
+other. But such incomprehensible matters lie too far off to be a theme
+of daily meditation and thought-distracting speculation. Let him who
+believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence, he has no reason
+to give himself airs about it. The occasion of Tiedge's _Urania_ led me
+to observe that piety, like nobility, has its aristocracy. I met stupid
+women, who plumed themselves on believing, with Tiedge, in immortality,
+and I was forced to bear much dark examination on this point. They were
+vexed by my saying I should be well pleased if, after the close of this
+life, we were blessed with another, only I hoped I should hereafter meet
+none of those who had believed in it here. For how should I be
+tormented! The pious would throng around me, and say, 'Were we not
+right? Did we not predict it? Has not it happened just as we said?' And
+so there would be ennui without end, even in the other world.
+
+"This occupation with the ideas of immortality," he continued, "is for
+people of rank, and especially ladies, who have nothing to do. But an
+able man, who has some thing regular to do here, and must toil and
+struggle and produce day by day, leaves the future world to itself, and
+is active and useful in this. Thoughts about immortality are also good
+for those who have not been very successful here; and I would wager
+that, if the good Tiedge had enjoyed a better lot, he would also have
+had better thoughts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Tuesday, November 9_.--I passed this evening with Goethe. We talked of
+Klopstock and Herder; and I liked to listen to him, as he explained to
+me the merits of those men.
+
+"Without those powerful precursors," said Goethe, "our literature could
+not have become what it now is. When they appeared, they were before
+their age, and were obliged, as it were, to drag it after them; but now
+the age has far outrun them, and they who were once so necessary and
+important have now ceased to be _means to an end_. A young man who would
+take Klopstock and Herder for his teachers nowadays would be far
+behindhand."
+
+We talked over Klopstock's _Messiah_ and his Odes, touching on their
+merits and their defects. We agreed that he had no faculty for observing
+and apprehending the visible world, or for drawing characters; and that
+he therefore wanted the qualities most essential to the epic and
+dramatic poet, or, perhaps it might be said, to the poet generally.
+
+"An ode occurs to me," said Goethe, "where he makes the German Muse run
+a race with the British; and, indeed, when one thinks what a picture it
+is, where the two girls run one against the other, throwing about their
+legs and kicking up the dust, one must assume that the good Klopstock
+did not really have before his eyes such pictures as he wrote, else he
+could not possibly have made such mistakes."
+
+I asked how he had felt towards Klopstock in his youth. "I venerated
+him," said Goethe, "with the devotion which was peculiar to me; I looked
+upon him as my uncle. I revered whatever he had done, and never thought
+of reflecting upon it, or finding fault with it. I let his fine
+qualities work upon me; for the rest, I went my own way."
+
+We came back to Herder, and I asked Goethe which of his works he
+thought the best. "_His Idea for the History of Mankind" (Ideen zur
+Geschichte der Menschheit)_, replied Goethe, "are undoubtedly the best.
+In after days, he took the negative side, and was not so agreeable."
+
+"Considering the great weight of Herder," said I, "I cannot understand
+how he had so little judgment on some subjects. For instance, I cannot
+forgive him, especially at that period of German literature, for sending
+back the manuscript of _Goetz von Berlichingen_ without any praise of
+its merits, and with taunting remarks. He must have utterly wanted
+organs to perceive some objects."
+
+"Yes, Herder was unfortunate in this respect," replied Goethe; "nay,"
+added he, with vivacity, "if his spirit were present at this
+conversation, it would not understand us."
+
+"On the other hand," said I, "I must praise Merck, who urged you to
+print _Goetz_."
+
+"He was indeed an odd but important man," said Goethe. "'Print the
+thing,' quoth he, 'it is worth nothing, but print it.' He did not wish
+me to make any alteration in it, and he was right; for it would have
+been different, but not better."
+
+_Wednesday, November 24_.--I went to see Goethe this evening, before
+going to the theatre, and found him very well and cheerful. He inquired
+about the young Englishmen who are here. I told him that I proposed
+reading with Mr. Doolan a German translation of Plutarch. This led the
+conversation to Roman and Grecian history; and Goethe expressed himself
+as follows:
+
+"The Roman history," said he, "is no longer suited to us. We have become
+too humane for the triumphs of Caesar not to be repugnant to our
+feelings. Neither are we much charmed by the history of Greece. When
+this people turns against a foreign foe, it is, indeed, great and
+glorious; but the division of the states, and their eternal wars with
+one another, where Greek fights against Greek, are insufferable.
+Besides, the history of our own time is thoroughly great and important;
+the battles of Leipsic and Waterloo stand out with such prominence that
+that of Marathon and others like it are gradually eclipsed. Neither are
+our individual heroes inferior to theirs; the French Marshals, Bluecher,
+and Wellington, vie with any of the heroes of antiquity."
+
+We then talked of the late French literature, and the daily increasing
+interest in German works manifested by the French.
+
+"The French," said Goethe, "do well to study and translate our writers;
+for, limited as they are both in form and motives, they can only look
+without for means. We Germans may be reproached for a certain
+formlessness; but in matter we are their superiors. The theatrical
+productions of Kotzebue and Iffland are so rich in motives that they may
+pluck them a long time before all is used up. But, especially, our
+philosophical Ideality is welcome to them; for every Ideal is
+serviceable to revolutionary aims.
+
+"The French have understanding and _esprit_, but neither a solid basis
+nor piety. What serves the moment, what helps his party, seems right to
+the Frenchman. Hence they praise us, never from an acknowledgment of our
+merits, but only when they can strengthen their party by our views."
+
+We then talked about our own literature, and of the obstacles in the way
+of some of our latest young poets.
+
+"The majority of our young poets," said Goethe, "have no fault but this,
+that their subjectivity is not important, and that they cannot find
+matter in the objective. At best, they only find a material, which is
+similar to themselves, which corresponds to their own subjectivity; but
+as for taking the material on its own account, when it is repugnant to
+the subjectivity, merely because it is poetical, such a thing is never
+thought of.
+
+"Still, as I have said, if we only had important personages, formed by
+great studies and situations in life, it might still go well with us,
+at least as far as our young lyric poets are concerned."
+
+1825
+
+_Monday, January 10._--Goethe, consistently with his great interest for
+the English, has desired me to introduce to him the young Englishmen who
+are here at present.
+
+After we had waited a few minutes, Goethe came in, and greeted us
+cordially. He said to Mr. H., "I presume I may address you in German, as
+I hear you are already well versed in our language." Mr. H. answered
+with a few polite words, and Goethe requested us to be seated.
+
+Mr. H.'s manners and appearance must have made a good impression on
+Goethe; for his sweetness and mild serenity were manifested towards the
+stranger in their real beauty. "You did well," said he "to come hither
+to learn German; for here you will quickly and easily acquire, not only
+a knowledge of the language, but also of the elements on which it rests,
+our soil, climate, mode of life, manners, social habits, and
+constitution, and carry it away with you to England."
+
+Mr. H. replied, "The interest taken in the German language is now great,
+so that there is now scarcely a young Englishman of good family who does
+not learn German."
+
+"We Germans," said Goethe, good-humoredly, "have, however, been half a
+century before your nation in this respect. For fifty years I have been
+busy with the English language and literature; so that I am well
+acquainted with your writers, your ways of living, and the
+administration of your country. If I went over to England, I should be
+no stranger there.
+
+"But, as I said before, your young men do well to come to us and learn
+our language; for, not only does our literature merit attention on its
+own account, but no one can deny that he who now knows German well can
+dispense with many other languages. Of the French, I do not speak; it is
+the language of conversation, and is indispensable in traveling,
+because everybody understands it, and in all countries we can get on
+with it instead of a good interpreter. But as for Greek, Latin, Italian,
+and Spanish, we can read the best works of those nations in such
+excellent German translations, that, unless we have some particular
+object in view, we need not spend much time upon the toilsome study of
+those languages. It is in the German nature duly to honor, after its
+kind, everything produced by other nations, and to accommodate itself to
+foreign peculiarities. This, with the great flexibility of our language,
+makes German translations thoroughly faithful and complete. And it is
+not to be denied that, in general, you get on very far with a good
+translation. Frederick the Great did not know Latin, but he read Cicero
+in the French translation with as much profit as we who read him in the
+original."
+
+Then, turning the conversation on the theatre, he asked Mr. H. whether
+he went frequently thither. "Every evening," he replied, "and find that
+I thus gain much towards the understanding of the language."
+
+"It is remarkable," said Goethe, "that the ear, and generally the
+understanding, gets the start of speaking; so that a man may very soon
+comprehend all he hears, but by no means express it all."
+
+"I experience daily," said Mr. H., "the truth of that remark. I
+understand very well whatever I hear or read; I even feel when an
+incorrect expression is made use of in German. But when I speak, nothing
+will flow, and I cannot express myself as I wish. In light conversation
+at court, jests with the ladies, a chat at balls, and the like, I
+succeed pretty well. But, if I try to express an opinion on any
+important topic, to say anything peculiar or luminous, I cannot get on."
+
+"Be not discouraged by that," said Goethe, "since it is hard enough to
+express such uncommon matters in one's own mother tongue."
+
+He then asked what Mr. H. read in German literature. "I have read
+_Egmont_," he replied, "and found so much pleasure in the perusal that
+I returned to it three times. _Torquato Tasso_, too, has afforded me
+much enjoyment. Now I am reading _Faust_, but find that it is somewhat
+difficult."
+
+Goethe laughed at these last words. "Really," said he, "I would
+not have advised you to undertake _Faust_. It is mad stuff, and
+goes quite beyond all ordinary feeling. But since you have done it of
+your own accord, without asking my advice, you will see how you will get
+through. Faust is so strange an individual that only few can sympathize
+with his internal condition. Then the character of Mephistopheles is, on
+account of his irony, and also because he is a living result of an
+extensive acquaintance with the world, also very difficult. But you will
+see what lights open upon you. _Tasso_, on the other hand, lies far
+nearer the common feelings of mankind, and the elaboration of its form
+is favorable to an easy comprehension of it."
+
+"Yet," said Mr. H., "_Tasso_ is thought difficult in Germany, and people
+have wondered to hear me say that I was reading it."
+
+"What is chiefly needed for _Tasso_," replied Goethe, "is that one
+should be no longer a child, and should have been in good society. A
+young man of good family, with sufficient mind and delicacy, and also
+with enough outward culture, such as will be produced by intercourse
+with accomplished men of the higher class, will not find' Tasso
+difficult."
+
+The conversation turning upon _Egmont_, he said, "I wrote _Egmont_ in
+1775--fifty years ago. I adhered closely to history, and strove to be as
+accurate as possible. Ten years afterwards, when I was in Rome, I read
+in the newspapers that the revolutionary scenes in the Nether lands
+there described were exactly repeated. I saw from this that the world
+remains ever the same, and that my picture must have some life in it."
+
+Amid this and similar conversation, the hour for the theatre had come.
+We arose, and Goethe dismissed us in a friendly manner.
+
+As we went homeward, I asked Mr. H. how he was pleased with Goethe. "I
+have never," said he, "seen a man who, with all his attractive
+gentleness, had so much native dignity. However he may condescend, he is
+always the great man."
+
+Professor Riemer was announced, Rehbein took leave, and Riemer sat down
+with us. The conversation still turned on the _motives_ of the Servian
+love-poems. Riemer was acquainted with the topic, and made the remark
+that, according to the table of contents given above, not only could
+poems be made, but that the same motives had been already used by the
+Germans, without any knowledge that they had been treated in Servia. He
+mentioned some poems of his own, and I mentioned some poems by Goethe,
+which had occurred to me during the reading.
+
+"The world," said Goethe, "remains always the same; situations are
+repeated; one people lives, loves, and feels like another; why should
+not one poet write like another? The situations of life are alike; why,
+then, should those of poems be unlike?"
+
+"This very similarity in life and sensation," said Riemer, "makes us all
+able to appreciate the poetry of other nations. If this were not the
+case, we should never know what foreign poems were about."
+
+"I am, therefore," said I, "always surprised at the learned, who seem to
+suppose that poetizing proceeds not from life to the poem, but from the
+book to the poem. They are always saying, 'He got this here; he got that
+there.' If, for instance, they find passages in Shakespeare which are
+also to be found in the ancients, they say he must have taken them from
+the ancients. Thus there is a situation in Shakespeare, where, on the
+sight of a beautiful girl, the parents are congratulated who call her
+daughter, and the youth who will lead her home as his bride. And
+because the same thing occurs in Homer, Shakespeare, forsooth, has
+taken it from Homer. How odd! As if one had to go so far for such
+things, and did not have them before one's eyes, feel them and utter
+them every day." "Ah, yes," said Goethe, "it is very ridiculous."
+
+"Lord Byron, too," said I, "is no wiser, when he takes _Faust_ to
+pieces, and thinks you found one thing here, the other there."
+
+"The greater part of those fine things cited by Lord Byron," said
+Goethe, "I have never even read, much less did I think of them, when
+I was writing _Faust_. But Lord Byron is great only as a poet; as
+soon as he reflects, he is a child. He knows not how to help himself
+against the stupid attacks of the same kind made upon him by his own
+countrymen. He ought to have expressed himself more strongly against
+them. 'What is there is mine,' he should have said, 'and whether I got
+it from a book or from life, is of no consequence; the only point is,
+whether I have made a right use of it.' Walter Scott used a scene from
+my _Egmont_, and he had a right to do so; and because he did it
+well, he deserves praise. He has also copied the character of my Mignon
+in one of his romances; but whether with equal judgment, is another
+question. Lord Byron's transformed Devil[14] is a continuation of
+Mephistopheles, and quite right too. If, from the whim of originality,
+he had departed from the model, he would certainly have fared worse.
+Thus, my Mephistopheles sings a song from Shakespeare, and why should
+he not? Why should I give myself the trouble of inventing one of my
+own, when this said just what was wanted. If, too, the prologue to my
+_Faust_ is something like the beginning of Job, that is again
+quite right, and I am rather to be praised than censured."
+
+Goethe was in the best humor. He sent for a bottle of wine, and filled
+for Riemer and me; he himself drank Marienbad water. He seemed to have
+appointed this evening for looking over, with Riemer, the manuscript of
+the continuation of his autobiography, perhaps in order to improve it
+here and there, in point of expression. "Let Eckermann stay and hear it
+too," said Goethe; which words I was very glad to hear, and he then laid
+the manuscript before Riemer, who began to read, commencing with the
+year 1795.
+
+I had already, in the course of the summer, had the pleasure of
+repeatedly reading and reflecting on the still unpublished record of
+those years, down to the latest time. But now to hear them read aloud in
+Goethe's presence, afforded quite a new enjoyment. Riemer paid especial
+attention to the mode of expression; and I had occasion to admire his
+great dexterity, and his affluence of words and phrases. But in Goethe's
+mind the epoch of life described was revived; he revelled in
+recollections, and on the mention of single persons and events, filled
+out the written narrative by the details he orally gave us. That was a
+precious evening! The most distinguished of his contemporaries were
+talked over; but the conversation always came back to Schiller, who was
+so interwoven with this period, from 1795 to 1800. The theatre had been
+the object of their united efforts, and Goethe's best works belong to
+this time. _Wilhelm Meister_ was completed; _Hermann and Dorothea_
+planned and written; _Cellini_ translated for the "Horen;" the "Xenien"
+written by both for Schiller's _Musenalmanach_; every day brought with
+it points of contact. Of all this we talked this evening, and Goethe had
+full opportunity for the most interesting communications.
+
+"_Hermann and Dorothea_," said he, "is almost the only one of my larger
+poems which still satisfies me; I can never read it without strong
+interest. I love it best in the Latin translation; there it seems to me
+nobler, and as if it had returned to its original form."
+
+_Wilhelm Meister_ was often a subject of discourse. "Schiller blamed me
+for interweaving tragic elements which do not belong to the novel. Yet
+he was wrong, as we all know. In his letters to me, there are most
+important views and opinions with respect to _Wilhelm Meister_. But this
+work is one of the most incalculable productions; I myself can scarcely
+be said to have the key to it. People seek a central point, and that is
+hard, and not even right. I should think a rich, manifold life, brought
+close to our eyes, would be enough in itself, without any express
+tendency, which, after all, is only for the intellect. But if anything
+of the sort is insisted upon, it will perhaps be found in the words
+which Frederic, at the end, addresses to the hero, when he says--'Thou
+seem'st to me like Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his
+father's asses, and found a kingdom.' Keep only to this; for, in fact,
+the whole work seems to say nothing more than that man, despite all his
+follies and errors, being led by a higher hand, reaches some happy goal
+at last."
+
+We then talked of the high degree of culture which, during the last
+fifty years, had become general among the middle classes of Germany, and
+Goethe ascribed the merit of this not so much to Lessing as to Herder
+and Wieland. "Lessing," said he, "was of the very highest understanding,
+and only one equally great could truly learn of him. To a half faculty
+he was dangerous." He mentioned a journalist who had formed himself on
+Lessing, and at the end of the last century had played a part indeed,
+but far from a noble one, because he was so inferior to his great
+predecessor.
+
+"All Upper Germany," said he, "is indebted to Wieland for its style. It
+has learned much from him; and the capability of expressing itself
+correctly is not the least."
+
+On mentioning the _Xenien_,[15] he especially praised those of
+Schiller, which he called sharp and biting, while he called his own
+innocent and trivial.
+
+"The _Thierkreis_ (Zodiac), which is by Schiller," said he, "I always
+read with admiration. The good effects which the _Xenien_ had upon the
+German literature of their time are beyond calculation." Many persons
+against whom the _Xenien_ were directed, were mentioned on this
+occasion, but their names have escaped my memory.
+
+After we had read and talked over the manuscript to the end of the year
+1800, interrupted by these and innumerable other observations from
+Goethe, he put aside the papers, and had a little supper placed at one
+end of the table at which we were sitting. We partook of it, but Goethe
+did not touch a morsel; indeed, I have never seen him eat in the
+evening. He sat down with us, filled our glasses, snuffed the candles,
+and intellectually regaled us with the most agreeable conversation. His
+remembrance of Schiller was so lively, that the conversation during the
+latter part of the evening was devoted to him alone.
+
+Riemer spoke of Schiller's personal appearance. "The build of his limbs,
+his gait in the street, all his motions," said he, "were proud; his eyes
+only were soft."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "everything else about him was proud and majestic,
+only the eyes were soft. And his talent was like his outward form. He
+seized boldly on a great subject, and turned it this way and that, and
+handled it this way and that. But he saw his object, as it were, only in
+the outside; a quiet development from its interior was not within his
+province. His talent was desultory. Thus he was never decided--could
+never have done. He often changed a part just before a rehearsal.
+
+"And, as he went so boldly to work, he did not take sufficient pains
+about _motives_. I recollect what trouble I had with him, when he wanted
+to make Gessler, in Tell, abruptly break an apple from the tree, and
+have it shot from the boy's head. This was quite against my nature, and
+I urged him to give at least some motive to this barbarity, by making
+the boy boast to Gessler of his father's dexterity, and say that he
+could shoot an apple from a tree at a hundred paces. Schiller, at first,
+would have nothing of the sort: but at last he yielded to my arguments
+and intentions, and did as I advised him. I, on the other hand, by too
+great attention to _motives_, kept my pieces from the theatre. My
+_Eugenie_[16] is nothing but a chain of _motives_, and this cannot
+succeed on the stage.
+
+"Schiller's genius was really made for the theatre. With every piece he
+progressed, and became more finished; but, strange to say, a certain
+love for the horrible adhered to him from the time of _The Robbers_,
+which never quite left him even in his prime. I still recollect
+perfectly well, that in the prison scene in my 'Egmont,' where the
+sentence is read to him, Schiller would have made Alva appear in the
+background, masked and muffled in a cloak, enjoying the effect which the
+sentence would produce on Egmont. Thus Alva was to show himself
+insatiable in revenge and malice. I, however, protested, and prevented
+the apparition. He was a great, odd man.
+
+"Every week he became different and more finished; each time that I saw
+him, he seemed to me to have advanced in learning and judgment. His
+letters are the fairest memorials of him which I possess, and they are
+also among the most excellent of his writings. His last letter I
+preserve as a sacred relic, among my treasures." He rose and fetched it.
+"See and read it," said he; giving it to me.
+
+It was a very fine letter, written in a bold hand. It contained an
+opinion of Goethe's notes to "Rameau's Nephew," which exhibit French
+literature at that time, and which he had given Schiller to look over. I
+read the letter aloud to Riemer.
+
+"You see," said Goethe, "how apt and consistent is his judgment, and
+that the handwriting nowhere betrays any trace of weakness. He was a
+splendid man, and went from us in all the fulness of his strength. This
+letter is dated the 24th of April, 1805. Schiller died on the 9th of
+May."
+
+We looked at the letter by turns, and were pleased both with the clear
+style and the fine handwriting. Goethe bestowed several other words of
+affectionate reminiscence upon his friend, until it was nearly eleven
+o'clock, and we departed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, October_ 15.--I found Goethe in a very elevated mood this
+evening, and had the pleasure of hearing from him many significant
+remarks. We talked about the state of the newest literature, when Goethe
+expressed himself as follows:
+
+"Deficiency of character in individual investigators and writers is," he
+said, "the source of all the evils of our newest literature.
+
+"In criticism, especially, this defect produces mischief to the world,
+for it either diffuses the false instead of the true, or by a pitiful
+truth deprives us of something great, that would be better.
+
+"Till lately, the world believed in the heroism of a Lucretia--of a
+Mucius Scaevola--and suffered itself, by this belief, to be warmed and
+inspired. But now comes your historical criticism, and says that those
+persons never lived, but are to be regarded as fables and fictions,
+divined by the great mind of the Romans. What are we to do with so
+pitiful a truth? If the Romans were great enough to invent such stories,
+we should at least be great enough to believe them.
+
+"Till lately, I was always pleased with a great fact in the thirteenth
+century, when the Emperor Frederic the Second was at variance with the
+Pope, and the north of Germany was open to all sorts of hostile attacks.
+Asiatic hordes had actually penetrated as far as Silesia, when the Duke
+of Liegnitz terrified them by one great defeat. They then turned to
+Moravia, but were here defeated by Count Sternberg. These valiant men
+had on this account been living in my heart as the great saviors of the
+German nation. But now comes historical criticism, and says that these
+heroes sacrificed themselves quite uselessly, as the Asiatic army was
+already recalled, and would have returned of its own accord. Thus is a
+great national fact crippled and destroyed, which seems to me most
+abominable."
+
+After these remarks on historical critics, Goethe spoke of another class
+of seekers and literary men.
+
+"I could never," said he, "have known so well how paltry men are, and
+how little they care for really high aims, if I had not tested them by
+my scientific researches. Thus I saw that most men care for science only
+so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when
+it affords them a subsistence.
+
+"In _belles lettres_ it is no better. There, too, high aims and genuine
+love for the true and sound, and for their diffusion, are very rare
+phenomena. One man cherishes and tolerates another, because he is by him
+cherished and tolerated in return. True greatness is hateful to them;
+they would fain drive it from the world, so that only such as they might
+be of importance in it. Such are the masses; and the prominent
+individuals are not better.
+
+"---- 's great talents and world-embracing learning might have done much
+for his country. But his want of character has deprived the world of
+such great results, and himself of the esteem of the country.
+
+"We want a man like Lessing. For how was he great, except in
+character--in firmness? There are many men as clever and as cultivated,
+but where is such character?
+
+"Many are full of _esprit_ and knowledge, but they are also full of
+vanity; and that they may shine as wits before the short-sighted
+multitude, they have no shame or delicacy--nothing is sacred to them.
+
+"Madame de Genlis was therefore perfectly right when she declaimed
+against the freedoms and profanities of Voltaire. Clever as they all may
+be, the world has derived no profit from them; they afford a foundation
+for nothing. Nay, they have been of the greatest injury, since they have
+confused men and robbed them of their needful support.
+
+"After all, what do we know, and how far can we go with all our wit?
+
+"Man is born not to solve the problems of the universe, but to find out
+where the problem begins, and then to restrain himself within the limits
+of the comprehensible.
+
+"His faculties are not sufficient to measure the actions of the
+universe; and an attempt to explain the outer world by reason is, with
+his narrow point of view, but a vain endeavor. The reason of man and the
+reason of the Deity are two very different things.
+
+"If we grant freedom to man, there is an end to the omniscience of God;
+for if the Divinity knows how I shall act, I must act so perforce. I
+give this merely as a sign how little we know, and to show that it is
+not good to meddle with divine mysteries.
+
+"Moreover, we should only utter higher maxims so far as they can benefit
+the world. The rest we should keep within ourselves, and they will
+diffuse over our actions a lustre like the mild radiance of a hidden
+sun."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 25.--"I have of late made an observation, which I
+will impart to you.
+
+"Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does
+not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad; frequently the
+reverse takes place. Some time since, I made a mistake in one of these
+transactions with booksellers, and was sorry that I had done so. But now
+circumstances have so altered, that, if I had not made that very
+mistake, I should have made a greater one. Such instances occur
+frequently in life, and hence we see men of the world, who know this,
+going to work with great freedom and boldness."
+
+I was struck by this remark, which was new to me.
+
+I then turned the conversation to some of his works, and we came to the
+elegy _Alexis and Dora_.
+
+"In this poem," said Goethe, "people have blamed the strong, passionate
+conclusion, and would have liked the elegy to end gently and peacefully,
+without that outbreak of jealousy; but I could not see that they were
+right. Jealousy is so manifestly an ingredient of the affair, that the
+poem would be incomplete if it were not introduced at all. I myself knew
+a young man who, in the midst of his impassioned love for an easily-won
+maiden, cried out, 'But would she not act to another as she has acted to
+me?'"
+
+I agreed entirely with Goethe, and then mentioned the peculiar
+situations in this elegy, where, with so few strokes and in so narrow a
+space, all is so well delineated that we think we see the whole life and
+domestic environment of the persons engaged in the action. "What you
+have described," said I, "appears as true as if you had worked from
+actual experience."
+
+"I am glad it seems so to you," said Goethe. "There are, however, few
+men who have imagination for the truth of reality; most prefer strange
+countries and circumstances, of which they know nothing, and by which
+their imagination may be cultivated, oddly enough.
+
+"Then there are others who cling altogether to reality, and, as they
+wholly want the poetic spirit, are too severe in their requisitions. For
+instance, in this elegy, some would have had me give Alexis a servant to
+carry his bundle, never thinking that all that was poetic and idyllic in
+the situation would thus have been destroyed."
+
+From _Alexis and Dora_, the conversation then turned to _Wilhelm
+Meister_. "There are odd critics in this world," said Goethe; "they
+blamed me for letting the hero of this novel live so much in bad
+company; but by this very circumstance that I considered this so-called
+bad company as a vase into which I could put everything I had to say
+about good society, I gained a poetical body, and a varied one into the
+bargain. Had I, on the contrary, delineated good society by the
+so-called good society, nobody would have read the book.
+
+"In the seeming trivialities of _Wilhelm Meister_, there is always
+something higher at bottom, and nothing is required but eyes, knowledge
+of the world, and power of comprehension to perceive the great in the
+small. For those who are without such qualities, let it suffice to
+receive the picture of life as real life."
+
+Goethe then showed me a very interesting English work, which illustrated
+all Shakespeare in copper plates. Each page embraced, in six small
+designs, one piece with some verses written beneath, so that the leading
+idea and the most important situations of each work were brought before
+the eyes. All these immortal tragedies and comedies thus passed before
+the mind like processions of masks.
+
+"It is even terrifying," said Goethe, "to look through these little
+pictures. Thus are we first made to feel the infinite wealth and
+grandeur of Shakespeare. There is no motive in human life which he has
+not exhibited and expressed! And all with what ease and freedom!
+
+"But we cannot talk about Shakespeare; everything is inadequate. I have
+touched upon the subject in my _Wilhelm Meister_ but that is not saying
+much. He is not a theatrical poet; he never thought of the stage; it was
+far too narrow for his great mind: nay, the whole visible world was too
+narrow.
+
+"He is even too rich and too powerful. A productive _nature_[17] ought
+not to read more than one of his dramas in a year if it would not be
+wrecked entirely. I did well to get rid of him by writing _Goetz_, and
+_Egmont_,[18] and Byron did well by not having too much respect and
+admiration for him, but going his own way. How many excellent Germans
+have been ruined by him and Calderon!
+
+"Shakespeare gives us golden apples in silver dishes. We get, indeed,
+the silver dishes by studying his works; but, unfortunately, we have
+only potatoes to put into them."
+
+I laughed, and was delighted with this admirable simile.
+
+Goethe then read me a letter from Zelter, describing a representation of
+Macbeth at Berlin, where the music could not keep pace with the grand
+spirit and character of the piece, as Zelter set forth by various
+intimations. By Goethe's reading, the letter gained its full effect, and
+he often paused to admire with me the point of some single passage.
+
+"_Macbeth_," said Goethe, "is Shakespeare's best acting play, the one in
+which he shows most understanding with respect to the stage. But would
+you see his mind unfettered, read _Troilus and Cressida_, where he
+treats the materials of the _Iliad_ in his own fashion."
+
+The conversation turned upon Byron--the disadvantage in which he appears
+when placed beside the innocent cheerfulness of Shakespeare, and the
+frequent and generally not unjust blame which he drew upon himself by
+his manifold works of negation.
+
+"If Lord Byron," said Goethe, "had had an opportunity of working off all
+the opposition in his character, by a number of strong parliamentary
+speeches, he would have been much more pure as a poet. But, as he
+scarcely ever spoke in parliament, he kept within himself all his
+feelings against his nation, and to free himself from them, he had no
+other means than to express them in poetical form. I could, therefore,
+call a great part of Byron's works of negation 'suppressed parliamentary
+speeches,' and think this would be no bad name for them."
+
+We then mentioned one of our most modern German poets, Platen, who had
+lately gained a great name, and whose negative tendency was likewise
+disapproved. "We cannot deny," said Goethe, "that he has many brilliant
+qualities, but he is wanting in--love. He loves his readers and his
+fellow-poets as little as he loves himself, and thus we may apply to him
+the maxim of the apostle--'Though I speak with the tongues of men and
+angels, and have not love (charity), I am become as sounding brass and a
+tinkling cymbal.' I have lately read the poems of Platen, and cannot
+deny his great talent. But, as I said, he is deficient in _love_, and
+thus he will never produce the effect which he ought. He will be feared,
+and will be the idol of those who would like to be as negative as
+himself, but have not his talent."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1827
+
+_Thursday evening, January_ 18.--The conversation now turned wholly on
+Schiller, and Goethe proceeded thus: "Schiller's proper productive
+talent lay in the ideal; and it may be said he has not his equal in
+German or any other literature. He has almost everything that Lord Byron
+has; but Lord Byron is his superior in knowledge of the world. I wish
+Schiller had lived to know Lord Byron's works, and wonder what he would
+have said to so congenial a mind. Did Byron publish anything during
+Schiller's life?"
+
+I could not say with certainty. Goethe took down the Conversations
+Lexicon, and read the article on Byron, making many hasty remarks as he
+proceeded. It appeared that Byron had published nothing before 1807, and
+that therefore Schiller could have seen nothing of his.
+
+"Through all Schiller's works," continued Goethe, "goes the idea of
+freedom; though this idea assumed a new shape as Schiller advanced in
+his culture and became another man. In his youth it was physical freedom
+which occupied him, and influenced his poems; in his later life it was
+ideal freedom.
+
+"Freedom is an odd thing, and every man has enough of it, if he can
+only satisfy himself. What avails a superfluity of freedom which we
+cannot use? Look at this chamber and the next, in which, through the
+open door, you see my bed. Neither of them is large; and they are
+rendered still narrower by necessary furniture, books, manuscripts, and
+works of art; but they are enough for me. I have lived in them all the
+winter, scarcely entering my front rooms. What have I done with my
+spacious house, and the liberty of going from one room to another, when
+I have not found it requisite to make use of them?
+
+"If a man has freedom enough to live healthy, and work at his craft, he
+has enough; and so much all can easily obtain. Then all of us are only
+free under certain conditions, which we must fulfil. The citizen is as
+free as the nobleman, when he restrains himself within the limits which
+God appointed by placing him in that rank. The nobleman is as free as
+the prince; for, if he will but observe a few ceremonies at court, he
+may feel himself his equal. Freedom consists not in refusing to
+recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above
+us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and by our very
+acknowledgment make manifest that we bear within ourselves what is
+higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.
+
+"I have, on my journeys, often met merchants from the north of Germany,
+who fancied they were my equals, if they rudely seated themselves next
+me at table. They were, by this method, nothing of the kind; but they
+would have been so if they had known how to value and treat me.
+
+"That this physical freedom gave Schiller so much trouble in his
+youthful years, was caused partly by the nature of his mind, but still
+more by the restraint which he endured at the military school. In later
+days, when he had enough physical freedom, he passed over to the ideal;
+and I would almost say that this idea killed him, since it led him to
+make demands on his physical nature which were too much for his
+strength.
+
+"The Grand Duke fixed on Schiller, when he was established here, an
+income of one thousand dollars yearly, and offered to give him twice as
+much in case he should be hindered by sickness from working. Schiller
+declined this last offer, and never availed himself of it. 'I have
+talent,' said he, 'and must help myself.' But as his family enlarged of
+late years, he was obliged, for a livelihood, to write two dramas
+annually; and to accomplish this, he forced himself to write days and
+weeks when he was not well. He would have his talent obey him at any
+hour. He never drank much; he was very temperate; but, in such hours of
+bodily weakness, he was obliged to stimulate his powers by the use of
+spirituous liquors. This habit impaired his health, and was likewise
+injurious to his productions. The faults which some wiseacres find in
+his works I deduce from this source. All the passages which they say are
+not what they ought to be, I would call pathological passages; for he
+wrote them on those days when he had not strength to find the right and
+true motives. I have every respect for the categorical imperative. I
+know how much good may proceed from it; but one must not carry it too
+far, for then this idea of ideal freedom certainly leads to no good."
+
+Amid these interesting remarks, and similar discourse on Lord Byron and
+the celebrated German authors, of whom Schiller had said that he liked
+Kotzebue best, for he, at any rate, produced something, the hours of
+evening passed swiftly along, and Goethe gave me the novel, that I might
+study it quietly at home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Wednesday, February 21_.--Dined with Goethe. He spoke much, and with
+admiration, of Alexander von Humboldt, whose work on Cuba and Colombia
+he had begun to read and whose views as to the project for making a
+passage through the Isthmus of Panama appeared to have a particular
+interest for him. "Humboldt," said Goethe, "has, with a great knowledge
+of his subject, given other points where, by making use of some streams
+which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, the end may be perhaps better
+attained than at Panama. All this is reserved for the future, and for an
+enterprising spirit. So much, however, is certain, that, if they succeed
+in cutting such a canal that ships of any burden and size can be
+navigated through it from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean,
+innumerable benefits would result to the whole human race, civilized and
+uncivilized. But I should wonder if the United States were to let an
+opportunity escape of getting such work into their own hands. It may be
+foreseen that this young state, with its decided predilection to the
+West, will, in thirty or forty years, have occupied and peopled the
+large tract of land beyond the Rocky Mountains. It may, furthermore, be
+foreseen that along the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean, where nature
+has already formed the most capacious and secure harbors, important
+commercial towns will gradually arise, for the furtherance of a great
+intercourse between China and the East Indies and the United States. In
+such a case, it would not only be desirable, but almost necessary, that
+a more rapid communication should be maintained between the eastern and
+western shores of North America, both by merchant-ships and men-of-war,
+than has hitherto been possible with the tedious, disagreeable, and
+expensive voyage round Cape Horn. I therefore repeat, that it is
+absolutely indispensable for the United States to effect a passage from
+the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean; and I am certain that they will
+do it.
+
+"Would that I might live to see it!--but I shall not. I should like to
+see another thing--a junction of the Danube and the Rhine. But this
+undertaking is so gigantic that I have doubts of its completion,
+particularly when I consider our German resources. And thirdly, and
+lastly, I should wish to see England in possession of a canal through
+the Isthmus of Suez. Would I could live to see these three great works!
+it would be well worth the trouble to last some fifty years more for the
+very purpose."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, May 3_.--The highly successful translation of Goethe's
+dramatic works, by Stapfer, was noticed by Monsieur J. J. Ampere in the
+_Parisian Globe_ of last year, in a manner no less excellent, and this
+affected Goethe so agreeably that he very often recurred to it, and
+expressed his great obligations to it.
+
+"Ampere's point of view is a very high one," said he.
+
+"When German critics on similar occasions start from philosophy, and in
+the consideration and discussion of a poetical production proceed in a
+manner that what they intend as an elucidation is only intelligible to
+philosophers of their own school, while for other people it is far more
+obscure than the work upon which they intended to throw a light, M.
+Ampere, on the contrary, shows himself quite practical and popular. Like
+one who knows his profession thoroughly, he shows the relation between
+the production and the producer, and judges the different poetical
+productions as different fruits of different epochs of the poet's life.
+
+"He has studied most profoundly the changing course of my earthly
+career, and of the condition of my mind, and has had the faculty of
+seeing what I have not expressed, and what, so to speak, could only be
+read between the lines. How truly has he remarked that, during the first
+ten years of my official and court life at Weimar, I scarcely did
+anything; that despair drove me to Italy; and that I there, with new
+delight in producing, seized upon the history of Tasso, in order to free
+myself, by the treatment of this agreeable subject, from the painful and
+troublesome impressions and recollections of my life at Weimar. He
+therefore very happily calls Tasso an elevated Werther.
+
+"Then, concerning Faust, his remarks are no less clever, since he not
+only notes, as part of myself, the gloomy, discontented striving of the
+principal character, but also the scorn and the bitter irony of
+Mephistopheles."
+
+In this, and a similar spirit of acknowledgment, Goethe often spoke of
+M. Ampere. We took a decided interest in him; we endeavored to picture
+to ourselves his personal appearance, and, if we could not succeed in
+this, we at least agreed that he must be a man of middle age to
+understand the reciprocal action of life and poetry on each other. We
+were, therefore, extremely surprised when M. Ampere arrived in Weimar a
+few days ago, and proved to be a lively youth, some twenty years old;
+and we were no less surprised when, in the course of further
+intercourse, he told us that the whole of the contributors of the.
+_Globe_, whose wisdom, moderation, and high degree of cultivation we had
+often admired, were only young people like himself.
+
+"I can well comprehend," said I, "that a person may be young and may
+still produce something of importance--like Merimee, for instance, who
+wrote excellent pieces in his twentieth year; but that any one at so
+early an age should have at his command such a comprehensive view, and
+such deep insight, as to attain such mature judgment as the gentlemen of
+the _Globe_, is to me something entirely new."
+
+"To you, in your Heath,"[19] returned Goethe, "it has not been so easy;
+and we others also, in Central Germany, have been forced to buy our
+little wisdom dearly enough. Then we all lead a very isolated miserable
+sort of life! From the people, properly so called, we derive very little
+culture. Our talents and men of brains are scattered over the whole of
+Germany. One is in Vienna, another in Berlin, another in Koenigsberg,
+another in Bonn or Dueseldorf--all about a hundred miles apart from one
+another, so that personal contact and personal exchange of thought may
+be considered as rarities. I feel what this must be, when such men as
+Alexander von Humboldt come here, and in one single day lead me nearer
+to what I am seeking and what I require to know than I should have done
+for years in my own solitary way."
+
+"But now conceive a city like Paris, where the highest talents of a
+great kingdom are all assembled in a single spot, and by daily
+intercourse, strife, and emulation, mutually instruct and advance each
+other; where the best works, both of nature and art, from all the
+kingdoms of the earth, are open to daily inspection; conceive this
+metropolis of the world, I say, where every walk over a bridge or
+across a square recalls some mighty past, and where some historical
+event is connected with every corner of a street. In addition to all
+this, conceive not the Paris of a dull, spiritless time, but the
+Paris of the nineteenth century, in which, during three generations,
+such men as Moliere, Voltaire, Diderot, and the like, have kept up
+such a current of intellect as cannot be found twice in a single spot
+in the whole world, and you will comprehend that a man of talent like
+Ampere, who has grown up amid such abundance, can easily be something
+in his four-and-twentieth year.
+
+"You said just now," said Goethe, "that you could well understand how
+any one in his twentieth year could write pieces as good as those of
+Merimee. I have nothing to oppose to this; and I am, on the whole, quite
+of your opinion that good productiveness is easier than good judgment in
+a youthful man. But, in Germany, one had better not, when so young as
+Merimee, attempt to produce anything so mature as he has done in his
+pieces of _Clara Gazul_. It is true, Schiller was very young when he
+wrote his _Robbers_, his _Love and Intrigue_, his _Fiesco_; but, to
+speak the truth, all three pieces are rather the utterances of an
+extraordinary talent than signs of mature cultivation in the author.
+This, however, is not Schiller's fault, but rather the result of the
+state of culture of his nation, and the great difficulty which we all
+experience in assisting ourselves on our solitary way.
+
+"On the other hand, take up Beranger. He is the son of poor parents, the
+descendant of a poor tailor; at one time a poor printer's apprentice,
+then placed in some office with a small salary; he has never been to a
+classical school or university; and yet his songs are so full of mature
+cultivation, so full of wit and the most refined irony, and there is
+such artistic perfection and masterly handling of the language that he
+is the admiration, not only of France, but of all civilized Europe.
+
+"But imagine this same Beranger--instead of being born in Paris, and
+brought up in this metropolis of the world--the son of a poor tailor in
+Jena or Weimar, and let him commence his career, in an equally miserable
+manner, in such small places--then ask yourself what fruit would have
+been produced by this same tree grown in such a soil and in such an
+atmosphere.
+
+"Therefore, my good friend, I repeat that, if a talent is to be speedily
+and happily developed, the great point is that a great deal of intellect
+and sound culture should be current in a nation.
+
+"We admire the tragedies of the ancient Greeks; but, to take a correct
+view of the case, we ought rather to admire the period and the nation in
+which their production was possible than the individual authors; for
+though each of these pieces differs a little from every other, and
+though one of these poets appears somewhat greater and more finished
+than the other, still, taking all things together, only one decided
+character runs through the whole.
+
+"This is the character of grandeur, fitness, soundness, human
+perfection, elevated wisdom, sublime thought, pure, strong intuition,
+and whatever other qualities one might enumerate. But when we find all
+these qualities, not only in the dramatic works that have come down to
+us but also in lyrical and epic works, in the philosophers, the orators,
+and the historians, and in an equally high degree in the works of
+plastic art that have come down to us, we must feel convinced that such
+qualities did not merely belong to individuals, but were the current
+property of the nation and the whole period.
+
+"Now, take up Burns. How is he great, except through the circumstance
+that the whole songs of his predecessors lived in the mouth of the
+people--that they were, so to speak, sung at his cradle; that, as a boy,
+he grew up amongst them, and the high excellence of these models so
+pervaded him that he had therein a living basis on which he could
+proceed further? Again, why is he great, but from this, that his own
+songs at once found susceptible ears amongst his compatriots; that, sung
+by reapers and sheaf-binders, they at once greeted him in the field; and
+that his boon-companions sang them to welcome him at the ale-house?
+Something was certainly to be done in this way.
+
+"On the other hand, what a pitiful figure is made by us Germans! Of our
+old songs--no less important than those of Scotland--how many lived
+among the people in the days of my youth? Herder and his successors
+first began to collect them and rescue them from oblivion; then they
+were at least printed in the libraries. Then, more lately, what songs
+have not Buerger and Voss composed! Who can say that they are more
+insignificant or less popular than those of the excellent Burns? but
+which of them so lives among us that it greets us from the mouth of the
+people? They are written and printed, and they remain in the libraries,
+quite in accordance with the general fate of German poets. Of my own
+songs, how many live? Perhaps one or another of them may be sung by a
+pretty girl to the piano; but among the people, properly so called, they
+have no sound. With what sensations must I remember the time when
+passages from Tasso were sung to me by Italian fishermen!
+
+"We Germans are of yesterday. We have indeed been properly cultivated
+for a century; but a few centuries more must still elapse before so much
+mind and elevated culture will become universal amongst our people that
+they will appreciate beauty like the Greeks, that they will be inspired
+by a beautiful song, and that it will be said of them 'it is long since
+they were barbarians.'"
+
+_Tuesday, December 16_.--I dined today with Goethe alone, in his
+work-room. We talked on various literary topics.
+
+"The Germans," said he, "cannot cease to be Philistines. They are now
+squabbling about some verses, which are printed both in Schiller's works
+and mine, and fancy it is important to ascertain which really belong to
+Schiller and which to me; as if anything could be gained by such
+investigation--as if the existence of such things were not enough.
+Friends, such as Schiller and I, intimate for years, with the same
+interests, in habits of daily intercourse, and under reciprocal
+obligations, live so completely in each other that it is hardly possible
+to decide to which of the two the particular thoughts belong.
+
+"We have made many distiches together; sometimes I gave the thought, and
+Schiller made the verse; sometimes the contrary was the case; sometimes
+he made one line, and I the other. What matters the mine and thine? One
+must be a thorough Philistine, indeed, to attach the slightest
+importance to the solution of such questions."
+
+"Something similar," said I, "often happens in the literary world, when
+people, for instance, doubt the originality of this or that celebrated
+man, and seek to trace out the sources from whence he obtained his
+cultivation."
+
+"That is very ridiculous," said Goethe; "we might as well question a
+strong man about the oxen, sheep, and swine, which he has eaten, and
+which have given him strength.
+
+"We are indeed born with faculties; but we owe our development to a
+thousand influences of the great world, from which we appropriate to
+ourselves what we can, and what is suitable to us. I owe much to the
+Greeks and French; I am infinitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne, and
+Goldsmith; but in saying this I do not show the sources of my culture;
+that would be an endless as well as an unnecessary task. What is
+important is to have a soul which loves truth, and receives it wherever
+it finds it.
+
+"Besides, the world is now so old, so many eminent men have lived and
+thought for thousands of years, that there is little new to be
+discovered or expressed. Even my theory of colors is not entirely new.
+Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, any many other excellent men, have before me
+found and expressed the same thing in a detached form: my merit is, that
+I have found it also, that I have said it again, and that I have striven
+to bring the truth once more into a confused world.
+
+"The truth must be repeated over and over again, because error is
+repeatedly preached among us, not only by individuals, but by the
+masses. In periodicals and cyclopaedias, in schools and universities;
+everywhere, in fact, error prevails, and is quite easy in the feeling
+that it has a decided majority on its side.
+
+"Often, too, people teach truth and error together, and stick to the
+latter. Thus, a short time ago, I read in an English cyclopaedia the
+doctrine of the origin of Blue. First came the correct view of Leonardo
+da Vinci, but then followed, as quietly as possible, the error of
+Newton, coupled with remarks that this was to be adhered to because it
+was the view generally adopted."
+
+I could not help laughing with surprise when I heard this. "Every
+wax-taper," I said, "every illuminated cloud of smoke from the kitchen,
+that has anything dark behind it, every morning mist, when it lies
+before a steady spot, daily convinces me of the origin of blue color,
+and makes me comprehend the blueness of the sky. What the Newtonians
+mean when they say that the air has the property of absorbing other
+colors, and of repelling blue alone, I cannot at all understand, nor do
+I see what use or pleasure is to be derived from a doctrine in which all
+thought stands still, and all sound observation completely vanishes."
+
+"My good innocent friend," said Goethe, "these people do not care a jot
+about thoughts and observations. They are satisfied if they have only
+words which they can pass as current, as was well shown and not
+ill-expressed by my own Mephistopheles:
+
+  "Mind, above all, you stick to words,
+  Thus through the safe gate you will go
+  Into the fane of certainty;
+  For when ideas begin to fail
+  A word will aptly serve your turn," etc.
+
+Goethe recited this passage laughing, and seemed altogether in the best
+humor. "It is a good thing," said he, "that all is already in print, and
+I shall go on printing as long as I have anything to say against false
+doctrine, and those who disseminate it.
+
+"We have now excellent men rising up in natural science," he continued,
+after a pause, "and I am glad to see them. Others begin well, but
+afterwards fall off; their predominating subjectivity leads them astray.
+Others, again, set too much value on facts, and collect an infinite
+number, by which nothing is proved. On the whole, there is a want of
+originating mind to penetrate back to the original phenomena, and master
+the particulars that make their appearance."
+
+A short visit interrupted our discourse, but when we were again alone
+the conversation returned to poetry, and I told Goethe that I had of
+late been once more studying his little poems, and had dwelt especially
+upon two of them, viz., the ballad[20] about the children and the old
+man, and the "Happy Couple" (_die gluecklichen Gatten_).
+
+"I myself set some value on these two poems," said Goethe, "although the
+German public have hitherto not been able to make much out of them."
+
+"In the ballad," I said, "a very copious subject is brought into a very
+limited compass, by means of all sorts of poetical forms and artifices,
+among which I especially praise the expedient of making the old man tell
+the children's past history down to the point where the present moment
+comes in, and the rest is developed before our eyes."
+
+"I carried the ballad a long time about in my head," said Goethe,
+"before I wrote it down. Whole years of reflection are comprised in it,
+and I made three or four trials before I could reduce it to its present
+shape."
+
+"The poem of the 'Happy Couple,'" continued Goethe, "is likewise rich in
+_motives_; whole landscapes and passages of human life appear in it,
+warmed by the sunlight of a charming spring sky, which is diffused over
+the whole."
+
+"I have always liked that poem," said Goethe, "and I am glad that you
+have regarded it with particular interest. The ending of the whole
+pleasantry with a double christening is, I think, pretty enough."
+
+We then came to the _Buergergeneral_ (Citizengeneral); with respect to
+which I said that I had been lately reading this piece with an
+Englishman, and that we had both felt the strongest desire to see it
+represented on the stage. "As far as the spirit of the work is
+concerned," said I, "there is nothing antiquated about it; and with
+respect to the details of dramatic development, there is not a touch
+that does not seem designed for the stage."
+
+"It was a very good piece in its time," said Goethe, "and caused us many
+a pleasant evening. It was, indeed, excellently cast, and had been so
+admirably studied that the dialogue moved along as glibly as possible.
+Malcolmi played Maerten, and nothing could be more perfect.
+
+"The part of Schnaps," said I, "seems to me no less felicitous. Indeed,
+I should not think there were many better or more thankful parts in the
+repertoire. There is in this personage, as in the whole piece, a
+clearness, an actual presence, to the utmost extent that can be desired
+for a theatre. The scene where he comes in with the knapsack, and
+produces the things one after another, where he puts the _moustache_ on
+Maerten, and decks himself with the cap of liberty, uniform, and sword,
+is among the best." "This scene," said Goethe, "used always to be very
+successful on our stage. Then the knapsack, with the articles in it, had
+really an historical existence. I found it in the time of the
+Revolution, on my travels along the French border, when the emigrants,
+on their flight, had passed through, and one of them might have lost it
+or thrown it away. The articles it contained were just the same as in
+the piece. I wrote the scene upon it, and the knapsack, with all its
+appurtenances, was always introduced, to the no small delight of our
+actors."
+
+The question whether the _Buergergeneral_ could still be played with any
+interest or profit, was for a while the subject of our conversation.
+
+Goethe then asked about my progress in French literature, and I told him
+that I still took up Voltaire from time to time, and that the great
+talent of this man gave me the purest delight.
+
+"I still know but little of him," said I; "I keep to his short poems
+addressed to persons, which I read over and over again, and which I
+cannot lay aside."
+
+"Indeed," said Goethe, "all is good which is written by so great a
+genius as Voltaire, though I cannot excuse all his profanity. But you
+are right to give so much time to those little poems addressed to
+persons; they are unquestionably among the most charming of his works.
+There is not a line which is not full of thought, clear, bright, and
+graceful."
+
+"And we see," said I, "his relations to all the great and mighty of the
+world, and remark with pleasure the distinguished position taken by
+himself, inasmuch as he seems to feel himself equal to the highest, and
+we never find that any majesty can embarrass his free mind even for a
+moment."
+
+"Yes," said Goethe, "he bore himself like a man of rank. And with all
+his freedom and audacity, he ever kept within the limits of strict
+propriety, which is, perhaps, saying still more. I may cite the Empress
+of Austria as an authority in such matters; she has repeatedly assured
+me, that in those poems of Voltaire's, there is no trace of crossing the
+line of _convenance_."
+
+"Does your excellency," said I, "remember the short poem in which he
+makes to the Princess of Prussia, afterwards Queen of Sweden, a pretty
+declaration of love, by saying that he dreamed of being elevated to the
+royal dignity?"
+
+"It is one of his best," said Goethe, and he recited the lines--
+
+    "Je vous aimais, princesse, et j'osais vous le dire;
+  Les Dieux et mon reveil ne m'ont pas tout ote,
+    Je n'ai perdu que mon empire."
+
+"How pretty that is! And never did poet have his talent so completely at
+command every moment as Voltaire. I remember an anecdote, when he had
+been for some time on a visit to Madame du Chatelet. Just as he was
+going away, and the carriage was standing at the door, he received a
+letter from a great number of young girls in a neighboring convent, who
+wished to play the 'Death of Julius Caesar' on the birthday of their
+abbess, and begged him to write them a prologue. The case was too
+delicate for a refusal; so Voltaire at once called for pen and paper,
+and wrote the desired prologue, standing, upon the mantlepiece. It is a
+poem of perhaps twenty lines, thoroughly digested, finished, perfectly
+suited to the occasion, and, in short, of the very best class."
+
+"I am very desirous to read it," said I.
+
+"I doubt," said Goethe, "whether you will find it in your collection. It
+has only lately come to light, and, indeed, he wrote hundreds of such
+poems, of which many may still be scattered about among private
+persons."
+
+"I found of late a passage in Lord Byron," said I, "from which I
+perceived with delight that even Byron had an extraordinary esteem for
+Voltaire. We may see in his works how much he liked to read, study, and
+make use of Voltaire.
+
+"Byron," said Goethe, "knew too well where anything was to be got, and
+was too clever not to draw from this universal source of light."
+
+The conversation then turned entirely upon Byron and several of his
+works, and Goethe found occasion to repeat many of his former
+expressions of admiration for that great genius.
+
+"To all that your excellency says of Byron," said I, "I agree from the
+bottom of my heart; but, however great and remarkable that poet may be
+as a genius, I very much doubt whether a decided gain for pure human
+culture is to be derived from his writings."
+
+"There I must contradict you," said Goethe; "the audacity and grandeur
+of Byron must certainly tend towards culture. We should take care not to
+be always looking for it in the decidedly pure and moral. Everything
+that is great promotes cultivation as soon as we are aware of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Thursday, February 12_.--Goethe read me the thoroughly noble poem,
+"Kein Wesen kann zu nichts zerfallen" (No being can dissolve to
+nothing), which he had lately written.
+
+"I wrote this poem," said he, "in contradiction to my lines--
+
+    'Denn alles muss zu nichts zerfallen
+    Wenn es im Seyn beharren will,' etc.
+
+   ('For all must melt away to nothing
+    Would it continue still to be')--
+
+which are stupid, and which my Berlin friends, on the occasion of the
+late assembly of natural philosophers, set up in golden letters, to my
+annoyance."
+
+The conversation turned on the great mathematician, Lagrange, whose
+excellent character Goethe highly extolled.
+
+"He was a good man," said he, "and on that very account, a great man.
+For when a good man is gifted with talent, he always works morally for
+the salvation of the world, as poet, philosopher, artist, or in whatever
+way it may be.
+
+"I am glad," continued Goethe, "that you had an opportunity yesterday of
+knowing Coudray better. He says little in general society, but, here
+among ourselves, you have seen what an excellent mind and character
+reside in the man. He had, at first, much opposition to encounter, but
+he has now fought through it all and enjoys the entire confidence and
+favor of the court. Coudray is one of the most skilful architects of our
+time. He has adhered to me and I to him, and this has been of service to
+us both. If I had but known him fifty years ago!"
+
+We then talked about Goethe's own architectural knowledge. I remarked
+that he must have acquired much in Italy.
+
+"Italy gave me an idea of earnestness and greatness," said he, "but no
+practical skill. The building of the castle here in Weimar advanced me
+more than anything. I was obliged to assist, and even to make drawings
+of entablatures. I had a certain advantage over the professional people,
+because I was superior to them in intention."
+
+We talked of Zelter.
+
+"I have a letter from him," said Goethe, "in which he complains that the
+performance of the oratorio of the Messiah was spoiled for him by one of
+his female scholars, who sang an aria too weakly and sentimentally.
+Weakness is a characteristic of our age. My hypothesis is, that it is a
+consequence of the efforts made in Germany to get rid of the French.
+Painters, natural philosophers, sculptors, musicians, poets, with but
+few exceptions, all are weak, and the general mass is no better."
+
+"Yet I do not give up the hope," said I, "of seeing suitable music
+composed for _Faust_."
+
+"Quite impossible!" said Goethe. "The awful and repulsive passages
+which must occasionally occur, are not in the style of the time. The
+music should be like that of Don Juan. Mozart should have composed for
+_Faust_. Meyerbeer would, perhaps, be capable; but he would not touch
+anything of the kind;[21] he is too much engaged with the Italian
+theatres."
+
+Afterwards--I do not recollect in connection to what--Goethe made the
+following important remark:
+
+"All that is great and skilful exists with the minority. There have been
+ministers who have had both king and people against them, and have
+carried out their great plans alone. It is not to be imagined that
+reason can ever be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular;
+but reason always remains the sole property of a few eminent
+individuals."
+
+_Sunday, December_ 6.--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the first
+scene of the second act of _Faust_.[22] The effect was great, and gave
+me a high satisfaction. We are once more transported into Faust's study,
+where Mephistopheles finds all just as he had left it. He takes from the
+hook Faust's old study-gown, and a thousand moths and insects flutter
+out from it. By the directions of Mephistopheles as to where these are
+to settle down, the locality is brought very clearly before our eyes. He
+puts on the gown, while Faust lies behind a curtain in a state of
+paralysis, intending to play the doctor's part once more. He pulls the
+bell, which gives such an awful tone among the old solitary convent
+halls, that the doors spring open and the walls tremble. The servant
+rushes in, and finds in Faust's seat Mephistopheles, whom he does not
+recognize, but for whom he has respect. In answer to inquiries he gives
+news of Wagner, who has now become a celebrated man, and is hoping for
+the return of his master. He is, we hear, at this moment deeply occupied
+in his laboratory, seeking to produce a Homunculus. The servant retires,
+and the bachelor enters--the same whom we knew some years before as a
+shy young student, when Mephistopheles (in Faust's gown) made game of
+him. He is now become a man, and is so full of conceit that even
+Mephistopheles can do nothing with him, but moves his chair further and
+further, and at last addresses the pit.
+
+Goethe read the scene quite to the end. I was pleased with his youthful
+productive strength, and with the closeness of the whole. "As the
+conception," said Goethe, "is so old--for I have had it in my mind for
+fifty years--the materials have accumulated to such a degree, that the
+difficult operation is to separate and reject. The invention of the
+whole second part is really as old as I say; but it may be an advantage
+that I have not written it down till now, when my knowledge of the world
+is so much clearer. I am like one who in his youth has a great deal of
+small silver and copper money, which in the course of his life he
+constantly changes for the better, so that at last the property of his
+youth stands before him in pieces of pure gold."
+
+We spoke about the character of the Bachelor. "Is he not meant," said I,
+"to represent a certain class of ideal philosophers?"
+
+"No," said Goethe, "the arrogance which is peculiar to youth, and of
+which we had such striking examples after our war for freedom, is
+personified in him. Indeed, every one believes in his youth that the
+world really began with him, and that all merely exists for his sake.
+
+"Thus, in the East, there was actually a man who every morning collected
+his people about him, and would not go to work till he had commanded the
+sun to rise. But he was wise enough not to speak his command till the
+sun of its own accord was really on the point of appearing."
+
+Goethe remained a while absorbed in silent thought; then he began as
+follows: "When one is old one thinks of worldly matters otherwise than
+when one is young. Thus I cannot but think that the demons, to teaze and
+make sport with men, have placed among them single figures, which are so
+alluring that every one strives after them, and so great that nobody
+reaches them. Thus they set up Raffael, with whom thought and act were
+equally perfect; some distinguished followers have approached him, but
+none have equalled him. Thus, too, they set up Mozart as something
+unattainable in music; and thus Shakespeare in poetry. I know what you
+can say against this thought; but I only mean natural character, the
+great innate qualities. Thus, too, Napoleon is unattainable. That the
+Russians were so moderate as not to go to Constantinople is indeed very
+great; but we find a similar trait in Napoleon, for he had the
+moderation not to go to Rome."
+
+Much was associated with this copious theme; I thought to myself in
+silence that the demons had intended something of the kind with Goethe,
+inasmuch as he is a form too alluring not to be striven after, and too
+great to be reached.
+
+_Wednesday, December 16._--Today, after dinner, Goethe read me the
+second scene of the second act of "Faust," where Mephistopheles visits
+Wagner, who is on the point of making a human being by chemical means.
+The work succeeds; the Homunculus appears in the phial, as a shining
+being, and is at once active. He repels Wagner's questions upon
+incomprehensible subjects; reasoning is not his business; he wishes to
+act, and begins with our hero, Faust, who, in his paralyzed condition,
+needs a higher aid. As a being to whom the present is perfectly clear
+and transparent, the Homunculus sees into the soul of the sleeping
+Faust, who, enraptured by a lovely dream, beholds Leda visited by swans,
+while she is bathing in a pleasant spot. The Homunculus, by describing
+this dream, brings a most charming picture before our eyes.
+Mephistopheles sees nothing of it, and the Homunculus taunts him with
+his northern nature.
+
+"Generally," said Goethe, "you will perceive that Mephistopheles
+appears to disadvantage beside the Homunculus, who is like him in
+clearness of intellect, and so much superior to him in his tendency to
+the beautiful and to a useful activity. He styles him cousin; for such
+spiritual beings as this Homunculus, not yet saddened and limited by a
+thorough assumption of humanity, were classed with the demons, and thus
+there is a sort of relationship between the two."
+
+"Certainly," said I, "Mephistopheles appears here in a subordinate
+situation; yet I cannot help thinking that he has had a secret influence
+on the production of the Homunculus. We have known him in this way
+before; and, indeed, in the 'Helena' he always appears as a being
+secretly working. Thus he again elevates himself with regard to the
+whole, and in his lofty repose he can well afford to put up with a
+little in particulars."
+
+"Your feeling of the position is very correct," said Goethe; "indeed, I
+have doubted whether I ought not to put some verses into the mouth of
+Mephistopheles as he goes to Wagner, and the Homunculus is still in a
+state of formation, so that his cooperation may be expressed and
+rendered plain to the reader.
+
+"It would do no harm," said I. "Yet this is intimated by the words with
+which Mephistopheles closes the scene--
+
+  Am Ende hangen wir doch ab
+  Von Creaturen die wir machten.
+
+  We are dependent after all,
+  On creatures that we make."
+
+"True," said Goethe, "that would be almost enough for the attentive; but
+I will think about some additional verses."
+
+"But," said I, "those concluding words are very great, and will not
+easily be penetrated to their full extent."
+
+"I think," said Goethe, "I have given them a bone to pick. A father who
+has six sons is a lost man, let him do what he may. Kings and
+ministers, too, who have raised many persons to high places, may have
+something to think about from their own experience."
+
+Faust's dream about Leda again came into my head, and I regarded this as
+a most important feature in the composition.
+
+"It is wonderful to me," said I, "how the several parts of such a work
+bear upon, perfect, and sustain one another! By this dream of Leda,
+_Helena_ gains its proper foundation. There we have a constant allusion
+to swans and the child of a swan; but here we have the act itself, and
+when we come afterwards to Helena, with the sensible impression of such
+a situation, how much more clear and perfect does all appear!"
+
+Goethe said I was right, and was pleased that I remarked this.
+
+"Thus you will see," said he, "that in these earlier acts the chords of
+the classic and romantic are constantly struck, so that, as on a rising
+ground, where both forms of poetry are brought out, and in some sort
+balance each other, we may ascend to 'Helena.'
+
+"The French," continued Goethe, "now begin to think justly of these
+matters. Both classic and romantic, say they, are equally good. The only
+point is to use these forms with judgment, and to be capable of
+excellence. You can be absurd in both, and then one is as worthless as
+the other. This, I think, is rational enough, and may content us for a
+while."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1830.
+
+_Sunday, March 14._--This evening at Goethe's. He showed me all the
+treasures, now put in order, from the chest which he had received from
+David, and with the unpacking of which I had found him occupied some
+days ago. The plaster medallions, with the profiles of the principal
+young poets of France, he had laid in order side by side upon tables.
+On this occasion, he spoke once more of the extraordinary talent of
+David, which was as great in conception as in execution. He also showed
+me a number of the newest works, which had been presented to him,
+through the medium of David, as gifts from the most distinguished men of
+the romantic school. I saw works by St. Veuve, Ballanche, Victor Hugo,
+Balzac, Alfred de Vigny, Jules Janin, and others.
+
+"David," said he, "has prepared happy days for me by this present. The
+young poets have already occupied me the whole week, and afford me new
+life by the fresh impressions which I receive from them. I shall make a
+separate catalogue of these much esteemed portraits and books, and shall
+give them both a special place in my collection of works of art and my
+library."
+
+One could see from Goethe's manner that this homage from the young poets
+of France afforded him the heartiest delight.
+
+He then read something from the _Studies_, by Emile Deschamps. He
+praised the translation of the _Bride of Corinth_, as faithful, and very
+successful.
+
+"I possess," said he, "the manuscript of an Italian translation of this
+poem, which gives the original, even to the rhymes."
+
+_The Bride of Corinth_ induced Goethe to speak of the rest of his
+ballads. "I owe them, in a great measure, to Schiller," said he, "who
+impelled me to them, because he always wanted something new for his
+_Horen_. I had already carried them in my head for many years; they
+occupied my mind as pleasant images, as beautiful dreams, which came and
+went, and by playing with which my fancy made me happy. I unwillingly
+resolved to bid farewell to these brilliant visions, which had so long
+been my solace, by embodying them in poor, inadequate words. When I saw
+them on paper, I regarded them with a mixture of sadness. I felt as if I
+were about to be separated for ever from a beloved friend."
+
+"At other times," continued Goethe, "it has been totally different with
+my poems. They have been preceded by no impressions or forebodings, but
+have come suddenly upon me, and have insisted on being composed
+immediately, so that I have felt an instinctive and dreamy impulse to
+write them down on the spot. In such a somnambulistic condition, it has
+often happened that I have had a sheet of paper lying before me all on
+one side, and I have not discovered it till all has been written, or I
+have found no room to write any more. I have possessed many such sheets
+written crossways, but they have been lost one after another, and I
+regret that I can no longer show any proofs of such poetic abstraction."
+
+The conversation then returned to the French literature, and the modern
+ultra-romantic tendency of some not unimportant men of genius. Goethe
+was of opinion that this poetic revolution, which was still in its
+infancy, would be very favorable to literature, but very prejudicial to
+the individual authors who effect it.
+
+"Extremes are never to be avoided in any revolution," said he. "In a
+political one, nothing is generally desired in the beginning but the
+abolition of abuses; but before people are aware, they are deep in
+bloodshed and horror. Thus the French, in their present literary
+revolution, desired nothing at first but a freer form; however, they
+will not stop there, but will reject the traditional contents together
+with the form. They begin to declare the representation of noble
+sentiments and deeds as tedious, and attempt to treat of all sorts of
+abominations. Instead of the beautiful subjects from Grecian mythology,
+there are devils, witches, and vampires, and the lofty heroes of
+antiquity must give place to jugglers and galley slaves. This is
+piquant! This is effective! But after the public has once tasted this
+highly seasoned food, and has become accustomed to it, it will always
+long for more, and that stronger. A young man of talent, who would
+produce an effect and be acknowledged, and who is great enough to go his
+own way, must accommodate himself to the taste of the day--nay, must
+seek to outdo his predecessors in the horrible and frightful. But in
+this chase after outward means of effect, all profound study, and all
+gradual and thorough development of the talent and the man from within,
+is entirely neglected. And this is the greatest injury which can befall
+a talent, although literature in general will gain by this tendency of
+the moment."
+
+"But," added I, "how can an attempt which destroys individual talents be
+favorable to literature in general?"
+
+"The extremes and excrescences which I have described," returned Goethe,
+"will gradually disappear; but at last this great advantage will
+remain--besides a freer form, richer and more diversified subjects will
+have been attained, and no object of the broadest world and the most
+manifold life will be any longer excluded as unpoetical. I compare the
+present literary epoch to a state of violent fever, which is not in
+itself good and desirable, but of which improved health is the happy
+consequence. That abomination which now often constitutes the whole
+subject of a poetical work, will in future only appear as an useful
+expedient; aye, the pure and the noble, which is now abandoned for the
+moment, will soon be resought with additional ardor."
+
+"It is surprising to me," remarked I, "that even Merimee, who is one of
+your favorites, has entered upon this ultra-romantic path, through the
+horrible subjects of his _Guzla_."
+
+"Merimee," returned Goethe, "has treated these things very differently
+from his fellow-authors. These poems certainly are not deficient in
+various horrible _motives_, such as churchyards, nightly crossways,
+ghosts and vampires; but the repulsive themes do not touch the intrinsic
+merit of the poet. On the contrary, he treats them from a certain
+objective distance, and, as it were, with irony. He goes to work with
+them like an artist, to whom it is an amusement to try anything of the
+sort. He has, as I have said before, quite renounced himself, nay, he
+has ever renounced the Frenchman, and that to such a degree that at
+first these poems of Guzla were deemed real Illyrian popular poems, and
+thus little was wanting for the success of the imposition he had
+intended."
+
+"Merimee," continued Goethe, "is indeed a thorough fellow! Indeed,
+generally, more power and genius are required for the objective
+treatment of a subject than is supposed. Thus, too, Lord Byron,
+notwithstanding his predominant personality, has sometimes had the power
+of renouncing himself altogether, as may be seen in some of his dramatic
+pieces, particularly in his _Marino Faliero_. In this piece one quite
+forgets that Lord Byron, or even an Englishman, wrote it. We live
+entirely in Venice, and entirely in the time in which the action takes
+place. The personages speak quite from themselves and from their own
+condition, without having any of the subjective feelings, thoughts, and
+opinions of the poet. That is as it should be. Of our young French
+romantic writers of the exaggerating sort, one cannot say as much. What
+I have read of them--poems, novels, dramatic works--have all borne the
+personal coloring of the author, and none of them ever makes me forget
+that a Parisian--that a Frenchman--wrote them. Even in the treatment of
+foreign subjects one still remains in France and Paris, quite absorbed
+in all the wishes, necessities, conflicts, and fermentations of the
+present day."
+
+"Beranger also," I threw in experimentally, "has only expressed the
+situation of the great metropolis, and his own interior."
+
+"That is a man," said Goethe, "whose power of representation and whose
+interior are worth something. In him is all the substance of an
+important personality. Beranger is a nature most happily endowed, firmly
+grounded in himself, purely developed from himself, and quite in harmony
+with himself. He has never asked--what would suit the times? what
+produces an effect? what pleases? what are others doing?--in order that
+he might do the like. He has always worked only from the core of his own
+nature, without troubling himself as to what the public, or what this or
+that party, expects. He has certainly, at different critical epochs,
+been influenced by the mood, wishes, and necessities of the people; but
+that has only confirmed him in himself, by proving to him that his own
+nature is in harmony with that of the people; and has never seduced him
+into expressing anything but what already lay in his heart.
+
+"You know that I am, upon the whole, no friend to what is called
+political poems, but such as Beranger has composed I can tolerate. With
+him there is nothing snatched out of the air, nothing of merely imagined
+or imaginary interest; he never shoots at random; but, on the contrary,
+has always the most decided, the most important subjects. His
+affectionate admiration of Napoleon, and his reminiscences of the great
+warlike deeds which were performed under him, and that at a time when
+these recollections were a consolation to the somewhat oppressed French;
+then his hatred of the domination of priests, and of the darkness which
+threatened to return with the Jesuits--these are things to which one
+cannot refuse hearty sympathy. And how masterly is his treatment on all
+occasions! How he turns about and rounds off every subject in his own
+mind before he expresses it! And then, when all is matured, what wit,
+spirit, irony, and persiflage, and what heartiness, naivete, and grace,
+are unfolded at every step! His songs have every year made millions of
+joyous men; they always flow glibly from the tongue, even with the
+working-classes, whilst they are so far elevated above the level of the
+commonplace, that the populace, in converse with these pleasant spirits,
+becomes accustomed and compelled to think itself better and nobler. What
+more would you have? and, altogether, what higher praise could be given
+to a poet?"
+
+"He is excellent, unquestionably!" returned I. "You know how I loved him
+for years, and can imagine how it gratifies me to hear you speak of him
+thus. But if I must say which of his songs I prefer, his amatory poems
+please me more than his political, in which the particular references
+and allusions are not always clear to me."
+
+"That happens to be your case," returned Goethe; "the political poems
+were not written for you; but ask the French, and they will tell you
+what is good in them. Besides, a political poem, under the most
+fortunate circumstances, is to be looked upon only as the organ of a
+single nation, and, in most cases, only as the organ of a single party;
+but it is seized with enthusiasm by this nation and this party when it
+is good. Again, a political poem should always be looked upon as the
+mere result of a certain state of the times; which passes by, and with
+respect to succeeding times takes from the poem the value which it
+derived from the subject. As for Beranger, his was no hard task. Paris
+is France. All the important interests of his great country are
+concentrated in the capital, and there have their proper life and their
+proper echo. Besides, in most of his political songs he is by no means
+to be regarded as the mere organ of a single party; on the contrary, the
+things against which he writes are for the most part of so universal and
+national an interest, that the poet is almost always heard as a great
+_voice_ of the people. With us, in Germany, such a thing is not
+possible. We have no city, nay, we have no country, of which we could
+decidedly say--_Here is Germany_! If we inquire in Vienna, the answer
+is--this is Austria! and if in Berlin, the answer is--this is Prussia!
+Only sixteen years ago, when we tried to get rid of the French, was
+Germany everywhere. Then a political poet could have had an universal
+effect; but there was no need of one! The universal necessity, and the
+universal feeling of disgrace, had seized upon the nation like something
+daemonic; the inspiring fire which the poet might have kindled was
+already burning everywhere of its own accord. Still, I will not deny
+that Arndt, Koerner, and Rueckert, have had some effect."
+
+"You have been reproached," remarked I, rather inconsiderately, "for not
+taking up arms at that great period, or at least cooperating as a poet."
+
+"Let us leave that point alone, my good friend," returned Goethe. "It is
+an absurd world, which does not know what it wants, and which one must
+allow to have its own way. How could I take up arms without hatred, and
+how could I hate without youth? If such an emergency had befallen me
+when twenty years old, I should certainly not have been the last; but it
+found me as one who had already passed the first sixties.
+
+"Besides, we cannot all serve our country in the same way, but each does
+his best, according as God has endowed him. I have toiled hard enough
+during half a century. I can say, that in those things which nature has
+appointed for my daily work, I have permitted myself no repose or
+relaxation night or day, but have always striven, investigated, and done
+as much, and that as well, as I could. If every one can say the same of
+himself, it will prove well with all."
+
+"The fact is," said I, by way of conciliation, "that you should not be
+vexed at that reproach, but should rather feel flattered at it. For what
+does it show but that the opinion of the world concerning you is so
+great that it desires that he who has done more for the culture of his
+nation than any other should at last do everything!"
+
+"I will not say what I think," returned Goethe. "There is more ill-will
+towards me hidden beneath that remark than you are aware of. I feel
+therein a new form of the old hatred with which people have persecuted
+me, and endeavored quietly to wound me for years. I know very well that
+I am an eyesore to many; that they would all willingly get rid of me;
+and that, since they cannot touch my talent, they aim at my character.
+Now, it is said, I am proud; now, egotistical; now, full of envy towards
+young men of genius; now, immersed in sensuality; now, without
+Christianity; and now, without love for my native country, and my own
+dear Germans. You have now known me sufficiently for years, and you feel
+what all that talk is worth. But if you would learn what I have
+suffered, read my '_Xenien_', and it will be clear to you, from my
+retorts, how people have from time to time sought to embitter my life.
+
+"A German author is a German martyr! Yes, my friend, you will not find
+it otherwise! And I myself can scarcely complain; none of the others has
+fared better--most have fared worse; and in England and France it is
+quite the same as with us. What did not Moliere suffer? What Rousseau
+and Voltaire? Byron was driven from England by evil tongues, and would
+have fled to the end of the world, if an early death had not delivered
+him from the Philistines and their hatred.
+
+"And if it were only the narrow-minded masses that persecuted noble men!
+But no! one gifted man and one genius persecutes another; Platen
+scandalizes Heine, and Heine Platen, and each seeks to make the other
+hateful; while the world is wide enough for all to live and to let live;
+and every one has an enemy in his own talent, who gives him quite enough
+to do.
+
+"To write military songs, and sit in a room! That forsooth was my duty!
+To have written them in the bivouac, when the horses at the enemy's
+outposts are heard neighing at night, would have been well enough;
+however, that was not my life and not my business, but that of Theodore
+Koerner. His war-songs suit him perfectly. But to me, who am not of a
+warlike nature, and who have no warlike sense, war-songs would have been
+a mask which would have fitted my face very badly.
+
+"I have never affected anything in my poetry. I have never uttered
+anything which I have not experienced, and which has not urged me to
+production. I have composed love-songs only when I have loved. How could
+I write songs of hatred without hating! And, between ourselves, I did
+not hate the French, although I thanked God that we were free from them.
+How could I, to whom culture and barbarism are alone of importance, hate
+a nation which is among the most cultivated of the earth, and to which I
+owe so great a part of my own cultivation?
+
+"Altogether," continued Goethe, "national hatred is something peculiar.
+You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the
+lowest degree of culture. But there is a degree where it vanishes
+altogether, and where one stands to a certain extent above nations, and
+feels the weal or woe of a neighboring people, as if it had happened to
+one's own. This degree of culture was conformable to my nature, and I
+had become strengthened in it long before I had reached my sixtieth
+year."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1832.
+
+_Sunday_, March 11.--The conversation turned upon the great men who had
+lived before Christ, among the Chinese, the Indians, the Persians, and
+the Greeks; and it was remarked, that the divine power had been as
+operative in them as in some of the great Jews of the Old Testament. We
+then came to the question how far God influenced the great natures of
+the present world in which we live?
+
+"To hear people speak," said Goethe, "one would almost believe that they
+were of opinion that God had withdrawn into silence since those old
+times, and that man was now placed quite upon his own feet, and had to
+see how he could get on without God, and his daily invisible breath. In
+religious and moral matters a divine influence is indeed still allowed,
+but in matters of science and art it is believed that they are merely
+earthly and nothing but the product of human powers.
+
+[Illustration: SCHILLER'S GARDEN HOUSE AT JENA Drawing by Goethe]
+
+"Let any one only try, with human will and human power, to produce
+something which may be compared with the creations that bear the names
+of Mozart, Raphael, or Shakespeare. I know very well that these three
+noble beings are not the only ones, and that in every province of art
+innumerable excellent geniuses have operated, who have produced things
+as perfectly good as those just mentioned. But if they were as great as
+those, they rose above ordinary human nature, and in the same proportion
+were as divinely endowed as they.
+
+"And, after all, what does it all come to? God did not retire to rest
+after the well-known six days of creation, but, on the contrary, is
+constantly active as on the first. It would have been for Him a poor
+occupation to compose this heavy world out of simple elements, and to
+keep it rolling in the sunbeams from year to year, if He had not had the
+plan of founding a nursery for a world of spirits upon this material
+basis. So He is now constantly active in higher natures to attract the
+lower ones."
+
+Goethe was silent. But I cherished his great and good words in my heart.
+
+_Early in March_.[23]--Goethe mentioned at table that he had received a
+visit from Baron Carl Von Spiegel, and that he had been pleased with him
+beyond measure.
+
+"He is a very fine young man," said Goethe; "in his mien and manners he
+has something by which the nobleman is seen at once. He could as little
+dissemble his descent as any one could deny a higher intellect; for
+birth and intellect both give him who once possesses them a stamp which
+no incognito can conceal. Like beauty, these are powers which one cannot
+approach without feeling that they are of a higher nature."
+
+_Some days later_.--We talked of the tragic idea of Destiny among the
+Greeks.
+
+"It no longer suits our way of thinking," said Goethe; "it is obsolete,
+and is also in contradiction with our religious views. If a modern poet
+introduces such antique ideas into a drama, it always has an air of
+affectation. It is a costume which is long since out of fashion, and
+which, like the Roman toga, no longer suits us.
+
+"It is better for us moderns to say with Napoleon, 'Politics are
+Destiny.' But let us beware of saying, with our latest literati, that
+politics are poetry, or a suitable subject for the poet. The English
+poet Thomson wrote a very good poem on the Seasons, but a very bad one
+on Liberty, and that not from want of poetry in the poet, but from want
+of poetry in the subject."
+
+"If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party;
+and so soon as he does that, he is lost as a poet; he must bid farewell
+to his free spirit, his unbiased view, and draw over his ears the cap of
+bigotry and blind hatred.
+
+"The poet, as a man and citizen, will love his native land; but the
+native land of his poetic powers and poetic action is the good, noble,
+and beautiful, which is confined to no particular province or country,
+and which he seizes upon and forms wherever he finds it. Therein is he
+like the eagle, who hovers with free gaze over whole countries, and to
+whom it is of no consequence whether the hare on which he pounces is
+running in Prussia or in Saxony.
+
+"And, then, what is meant by love of one's country? What is meant by
+patriotic deeds? If the poet has employed a life in battling with
+pernicious prejudices, in setting aside narrow views, in enlightening
+the minds, purifying the tastes, ennobling the feelings and thoughts of
+his countrymen, what better could he have done? How could he have acted
+more patriotically?
+
+"To make such ungrateful and unsuitable demands upon a poet is just as
+if one required the captain of a regiment to show himself a patriot, by
+taking part in political innovations and thus neglecting his proper
+calling. The captain's country is his regiment, and he will show himself
+an excellent patriot by troubling himself about political matters only
+so far as they concern him, and bestowing all his mind and all his
+care on the battalions under him, trying so to train and discipline them
+that they may do their duty if ever their native land should be in
+peril.
+
+[Illustration: THE MOAT AT JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+"I hate all bungling like sin, but most of all bungling in
+state-affairs, which produces nothing but mischief to thousands and
+millions.
+
+"You know that, on the whole, I care little what is written about me;
+but yet it comes to my ears, and I know well enough that, hard as I have
+toiled all my life, all my labors are as nothing in the eyes of certain
+people, just because I have disdained to mingle in political parties. To
+please such people I must have become a member of a Jacobin club, and
+preached bloodshed and murder. However, not a word more upon this
+wretched subject, lest I become unwise in railing against folly."
+
+In the same manner he blamed the political course, so much praised by
+others, of Uhland.
+
+"Mind," said he, "the politician will devour the poet. To be a member of
+the States, and to live amid daily jostlings and excitements, is not for
+the delicate nature of a poet. His song will cease, and that is in some
+sort to be lamented. Swabia has plenty of men, sufficiently well
+educated, well meaning, able, and eloquent, to be members of the States,
+but only one poet of Uhland's class."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last stranger whom Goethe entertained as his guest was the eldest
+son of Frau von Arnim; the last words he wrote were some verses in the
+album of this young friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once
+again upon his earthly garment. His faithful servant, Frederic, opened
+for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he
+reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the
+features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet
+to harbor thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence
+prevented me from cutting it off. The body lay naked, wrapped only in a
+white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it
+fresh as long as possible. Frederic drew aside the sheet, and I was
+astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. The breast was
+powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were full, and softly
+muscular; the feet were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere,
+on the whole body, was there a trace either of fat or of leanness and
+decay. A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture
+which the sight caused made me forget for a moment that the immortal
+spirit had left such an abode. I laid my hand on his heart--there was a
+deep silence--and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed
+tears.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW INTO THE SAALE VALLEY NEAR JENA Drawing by GOETHE]
+
+
+
+LETTERS TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE
+
+TRANSLATED BY LOUIS H. GRAY, PH.D. GOETHE TO KAROLINE VON HUMBOLDT
+
+January 25, 1804.
+
+How many an hour have I thought of you with genuine and lively interest;
+and nearly every time I have marveled at the outrageous intention which
+correspondents can express, that, when far apart, they will write to
+each other once a month. Distance absolutely precludes interest in
+trifles that are close to us; how can we tell each other our daily joys
+and sorrows, when the voice which speaks must wait so long for the sound
+of the answering voice; and then those unexpected chances happen which
+in an instant destroy our careful plans so that, when we would continue,
+we know not where we should begin.
+
+This time, in remembrance of so much that has passed, and in
+anticipation of so much that is to be, I intend to write you a long
+letter that the stream may run once more.
+
+Meanwhile you have suffered a bitter loss, of which I shall not speak. I
+trust that all the agencies which nature has contrived for man to
+alleviate such woes may have been and may in the future be at your
+behest; for they alone can repair the evil they have wrought.
+
+Fernow has come to us; he bears himself gallantly and well, though an
+unfortunate fever has given him a deal of trouble. Since he is in
+earnest about what he does, and is essentially of an honest disposition,
+we are having a good, profitable, and pleasant time together.
+
+Riemer is staying with my August, and I hope they will get along right
+well together.
+
+Schiller is continually advancing with great strides, as usual; his
+_Tell_ is magnificently planned and, so far as I have seen it, executed
+in masterly fashion.
+
+I myself have been placed, by the swindling spirit which has come over
+the gentlemen of Jena, and especially over the proprietors of the
+_Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung_, under the lamentable necessity of again
+laboring in person on behalf of this antiquated body of municipal
+teachers, wherein I have lost nearly four months of my own time--not
+precisely because I did much, but because, notwithstanding, everything
+had to be done, and everything that must be done takes time; and thus
+for the last three months I have been unable to present you with even a
+single little poem.
+
+Meanwhile life has brought us much of interest. Professor Wolf of Halle
+spent two weeks with us; Johannes von Mueller is here now; and for four
+weeks Madame de Stael has also honored us with her presence.
+
+The drawings of the late Herr Carstens, which Fernow brought with him,
+have given me much pleasure, since through them I have first learned to
+know this rare talent, which, alas, was held back by circumstances in
+earlier days, and which at last was mown down even yet unripe.
+
+A couple of large pictures by Hackert have arrived, and anything more
+perfect, as faithful copies of reality, could scarcely be imagined.
+
+As to my studies and hobbies, I do not know whether I have ever said
+anything to you about my collection of modern medals in bronze and
+copper, beginning with the second half of the fifteenth century, and
+coming down to the most recent times.
+
+I chanced upon this in connection with my revision of Cellini; for,
+since in the north we must be content with crumbs, it seemed possible
+for me to gain even an approximately clear survey of plastic art only
+through the aid of original medals from the various centuries, which, as
+is generally known, invariably kept close to the sculpture of their
+time. Through exertion, favor, and good fortune I have already
+succeeded extremely well in making a rather important collection. Permit
+me to include a couple of commissions and desiderata.
+
+1. For a couple of old medals said to be in the possession of
+Mercandetti.[24]
+
+2. For papal medals from Innocent XIII inclusive; I have very fine
+specimens of Hamerani's[25] medals of Clement XI.
+
+3. For a medal to be ordered from Mercandetti, a commission which I
+especially urge both on you and on Humboldt; for the enterprise is, I
+must admit, a serious one; in the long run, some satisfaction may
+probably be gained; but should it fail, money will be lost and vexation
+will be the result.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+July 30, 1804.
+
+Months ago I wrote the inclosed sheet to your dear wife. She has
+recently been here, and I have had the pleasure of conversing with her;
+she has, so I hear, safely reached Paris and been delivered. I trust
+that, ere long, she may there embrace your dear brother, who has, in a
+sense, risen for us from the dead. Your precious letter of February 25
+reached me safely in good time, and as I reflect on the long interval
+during which I have left you without news from me, I now note through
+what singular emotions I have passed during this time.
+
+Schiller's _Tell_ has been completed for some time and is now on the
+stage. It is an extraordinary production wherein his dramatic skill puts
+forth new branches, and it justly creates a profound sensation. You will
+surely receive it before long, for it is already in press.
+
+I have permitted myself to be persuaded to try to make my _Goetz von
+Berlichingen_ suitable for the stage.
+
+This was an undertaking well-nigh impossible, for its very trend is
+untheatrical; like Penelope, I, too, have ceaselessly woven and unwoven
+it for a year; and in the process I have learned much, though, I fear, I
+have not perfectly attained the end which I had in view. In about six
+weeks I hope to present it, and Schiller will, no doubt, speak to you
+about it.
+
+Have you chanced to see our Jena _Literatur-Zeitung_ for this year, and
+has anything which it contained aroused your interest?
+
+I am extremely grateful to you for the very welcome information which
+you give me regarding an improvisatrice. Could I possibly dare to make
+use of it in the advertising columns of the _Literatur-Zeitung_? What
+you have said I would modify in every way consonant with its relation to
+the public, which needs not know everything. If you could occasionally
+communicate to me some information of this type from the wealth of your
+observations, you would confer a great pleasure upon us.
+
+Since Jagemann's death, Fernow has received an appointment at the
+library of the Duchess Dowager, and his connection with it is of great
+value for her house and for the society which assembles there; he makes
+love for Italian literature a living force and gives occasion for witty
+readings and conversations.
+
+Generally speaking, Weimar is like heaven since the Bottiger goblin [26]
+has been banished; and our school is also going very well indeed. A
+professorship has been given to Voss's eldest son, who inherits from his
+father that fundamental love for antiquity, especially from the
+linguistic side, which, after all, is the principal thing in a teacher
+of the classics.
+
+Riemer also conducts himself very well in my house, and I am fairly
+satisfied with the progress of my boy, who, I must admit, has a greater
+interest in subject-matter than in diction.
+
+Madame de Stael's intention of spending a portion of the summer here has
+been frustrated by her father's death. She has taken Schlegel with her
+from Berlin; they are together in Coppet; and will probably go to Italy
+toward winter. Such a visit would doubtless be more delightful to you,
+dear friend, than many another.
+
+My warmest thanks are due you for sending me the _Odes of Pindar_ in
+translation; they have given a very pleasant hour of recreation to
+Riemer and myself.
+
+I trust to your goodness to see that the inclosed memorandum is
+delivered to Mercandetti, and perhaps to confer with him in person about
+the matter. Then among your ministering spirits you perhaps have some
+one who would keep an eye on the affair in future. I should be glad if
+our old patron[27] were given such a public token of gratitude, which
+should also be noteworthy from the artistic side, but it must be
+acknowledged that it is always a daring venture to place any order at
+such a distance, and, therefore, I entreat your friendly participation.
+
+Above all things it is important that Mercandetti should make a moderate
+charge. He demands three piasters for his Alfieri, which he offers for
+sale and which is said to be as large as his Galvani. If, now, he asks
+somewhat more for the archchancellor's medal, which is ordered and which
+is not supposed to be any larger, surely the extra expense should not be
+much, and if it is relatively cheap, I am confident of securing him two
+hundred subscribers. As has already been noted in the memorandum, he
+will render himself better known in Germany through this medal than
+through any other work, a fact which cannot fail to be of great moment
+to him in the series of distinguished men of the previous century, which
+he intends to issue. Forgive me for adding this new burden to your many
+duties, and yet endeavor to conduct the affair so that it will not
+require much writing to and fro, and so that, in his reply to the
+memorandum, Mercandetti will accept our offer. Letters are now delayed
+intolerably; one from Florence here takes twenty days, and more.
+
+It comforts me greatly that you have been pleased with my _Natural
+Daughter_, for though at times I long remain silent toward my absent
+friends, my desire is, nevertheless, suddenly to resume relations with
+them through that which I have toiled over in silence. Unfortunately, I
+have given up this play, and do not know when I shall be able to resume
+work on it.
+
+Have you seen the twenty lyric poems which have been published by me in
+my _Annual_ of this year? Among them are some that ought not to
+displease you. Do not render like for like, but write me soon.
+Communicate to me many observations on lands, nations, men, and
+languages, which are so instructive and so stimulating. Do not delay,
+moreover, to give me some information regarding your own health and that
+of your dear wife.
+
+Weimar, July 30, 1804.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+August 31, 1812.
+
+Faithful to its nature, Teplitz continues to be, esteemed friend,
+unfavorable to our coming together. This inconvenience is doubly
+vexatious to me now that, after your departure from Karlsbad, I
+deliberately thought over the value of your presence, and wished to
+continue our interviews. I was especially grieved that your beautiful
+presentation of the manner in which languages received their expansion
+over the world was not completely drawn up, although the most of it
+remained with me. If you wish to give me a real proof of friendship,
+have the kindness to write out for me such an abstract, and I shall
+have a hemispherical map colored for myself accordingly and add it to
+Lesage's _Atlas_, since, in view of my residence abroad for so much of
+the year, I am compelled to think more and more of my general need of a
+compendious and tabulated traveling library. Thus, with the assistance
+of Aulic Councillor Meyer, the history of the plastic arts and of
+painting is now being written on the margin of Bredow's _Tabellen_, and
+thus in a very large number of cases your linguistic map will help to
+refresh my memory and serve as a guide in much of my reading.
+
+I would gladly have spoken with you in detail regarding Berlin and all
+that which, according to your previous preparations and suggestions, is
+going on there. Great cities always contain within themselves the image
+of whole empires, and even though distorted by exaggerations which
+degenerate into caricature, they nevertheless present the nation in
+concentrated form to the eye.
+
+State Councillor Langermann, whose good will and energy are so
+beautifully balanced, has now delighted me for two weeks with his
+instructive conversation, and both by word and by example revived my
+courage for many things which I had been on the point of abandoning. It
+is very enlivening indeed to re-behold the world in its entirety through
+the medium of a truly energetic man; for the Germans seldom know how to
+inspire in details, and never as a whole.
+
+I here find an entirely natural transition to the information which you
+give me--that our friend Wolf is not satisfied with Niebuhr's work,
+although he preeminently should have had reason to be. I feel, however,
+very calm about it, for I value Wolf infinitely when he works and acts,
+but I have never known him to be sympathetic, especially as regards the
+affairs of the present, and herein he is a true German. Moreover, he
+knows entirely too much to permit himself to be instructed further and
+not to discover the gaps in the knowledge of others. He has his own
+mode of thought; how should he recognize the merits of the views of
+others? And the great endowments which he possesses are the very ones
+which are adapted to rouse and to maintain the spirit of contradiction
+and of rejection.
+
+As to myself, a layman, I have been very greatly indebted to Niebuhr's
+first volume, and I hope that the second will increase my gratitude
+toward him. I am very curious about his development of the _lex
+agraria_. We have heard of it from the time of our youth without gaining
+any clear conception of it. How pleasant it is to listen to a learned
+and original man on such a theme, especially in these days, when the
+summons comes for a more free and unprejudiced consideration of the law
+of states and nations, as well as of all the relations of civil law. It
+becomes obvious what an advantage it is to know little, and to have
+forgotten very much of that little. I never love to mingle in the
+wrangles of the day, but I cannot forego the delight of quietly snapping
+my fingers at them. I trust that the small leaf inclosed may win a smile
+from you.
+
+I beg you to give my best regards to your wife, and convey my kindest
+greetings to the Koerners. When the young man [28] again has anything
+ready, I beg that it may be sent me at once. This time I should be most
+happy to receive a rather large article for January 30, the birthday of
+the duchess. A thousand fare-you-wells!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, February 8, 1813.
+
+With sincere thanks I recognize the fact that you have been able so
+quickly and so perfectly to fulfil your friendly promise. Your
+beautiful sketch has given me an entirely new impulse to studies of all
+sorts. It is no longer possible for me to collect materials; but when
+they are brought to me in so concentrated a form, it becomes a source of
+very real pleasure for me speedily to fill the gaps in my knowledge and
+to discover a thousand relations to what information I already possess.
+
+As soon as I can spend a few quiet weeks at Jena in March, I shall get
+about my task, which, after your preliminary work, is in reality only a
+pastime. Bertuch has had some maps of Europe printed for me in a
+brownish tint. One of these is to be laid on a large drawing-board, and
+the boundaries are to be colored. I shall then indicate the main
+languages and, so far as possible, the dialects as well, by attaching
+little slips; and Bertuch is not unwilling then to have such a map
+engraved, an easy task in his great establishment which is provided with
+artists of every kind. Please have the kindness, therefore, to proceed
+and to send me the continuation at the earliest possible moment. A map
+of the two hemispheres is now ready and is to have the languages
+indicated in like fashion. From my inmost heart I wish success to your
+translation of AEschylus, which continually becomes more and more
+elaborate, and I rejoice that you have not let yourself be frightened
+away from this good work by the threats of the Heidelberg Cyclops[29]
+and his crew. At the present moment they menace our friend Wolf, who
+certainly is no kitten, with ignominious execution, because he also
+dared to land on the translation island which they have received from
+Father Neptune in private fief, and to bring with him a readable
+Aristophanes. It is written, "Blessed are the dead which die in the
+Lord," but still more blessed are they who go mad over some
+conceitedness.
+
+Our friend Wieland is blessed in the first sense; he has died in his
+Lord, and without particular suffering has passed over to his gods and
+heroes. What talent and spirit, learning, common sense, receptivity,
+and versatility, conjoined with industry and endurance, can accomplish,
+_utile nobis proposuit exemplar_. If every man would so employ his gifts
+and his time, what marvels would then take place!
+
+I have passed my winter as usual, much distracted with my work, yet with
+tolerable health, so that it has gone quickly and not without profit. In
+November and December my plans were disarranged by theatrical
+preparations for the long-expected Iffland, who did not come till toward
+the close of the year, and also by preparations for his performances,
+which gave me great pleasure. In January and February there were four
+birthdays, when either our inventive genius or our collaboration was
+demanded; and thus much has been frittered away, willingly, to be sure,
+but fruitlessly.
+
+What I have done meanwhile with pleasure and real interest has been to
+make a renewed effort to find among extant monuments a trace of those of
+which descriptions have come down to us. Philostrati were again the
+order of the day, and as to the statues, I believe that I have got on
+the track of the Olympian Zeus, on which so many preliminary studies
+have already been made, and also on that of the Hera of Samos, the
+Doryphorus of Polycletes, and especially on that of the Cow of Myron and
+of the bull that carried Europa. Meyer, whose history of ancient art,
+now written in a fair copy, furnished the chief inspiration, takes a
+lively interest, since both his doubt and his agreement are invariably
+well-founded.
+
+And thus I shall now close for this time, in the hope of soon seeing
+something from your dear hand once more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Tennstaedt, September 1, 1816. The great work to which you, dearest
+friend, have devoted a large portion of your life, could not have
+reached me at a better time; it finds me here in Tennstaedt, a little
+provincial Thuringian bathing town which is probably not entirely
+unknown to you. Here I have now been for five weeks, and alone, since my
+friend Meyer left me.
+
+Here, at first, I indulged in a cursory reading both of the introduction
+and of the drama[30] itself, to my no small edification; and inasmuch as
+I am now, for the second time, enjoying the details together with the
+whole, I will no longer withhold my thanks for this gift.
+
+For even though one sympathetically concerns one's self with all the
+praiseworthy and with all the good that the most ancient and the most
+modern times afford, nevertheless, such a pre-ancient giant figure,
+formed like a prodigy, appears amazing to us, and we must collect all
+our senses to stand over against it in an attitude even approximately
+worthy of it. At such a moment there is no doubt that here the work of
+all works of art is seen, or, in more moderate language, a model of the
+highest type. That we now can control this easily is our indebtedness to
+you; and continuous thanks must fervently reward your efforts, though in
+themselves they bring their own reward.
+
+This drama has always been to me one of those most worthy of
+consideration, and through your interest it has been made accessible
+earlier than the rest. But, more than ever, the texture of this primeval
+tapestry now seems most marvelous to me; past, present, and future are
+so happily interwoven that the reader himself becomes the seer, that is,
+he becomes like unto God, and yet, in the last resort, that is the
+triumph of all poetry in the greatest and in the least.
+
+But if we here perceive how the poet had at his service each and every
+means by which so tremendous an effort may be produced, we cannot
+refrain from the highest admiration. How happily the epic, lyric, and
+dramatic diction is interwoven, not compelling, but enticing us to
+sympathize with such cruel fates! And how well the scanty didactic
+reflection becomes the chorus as it speaks! All this cannot receive too
+high a mead of praise.
+
+Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering. I
+could truly continue thus forever, and tell you what you yourself have
+long since better known. Thus I have once more been astonished to see
+that each character, except Clytemnestra, the linker of evil unto evil,
+has her exclusive Aristeia, so that each one acts an entire poem, and
+does not return later for the possible purpose of again burdening us
+with her affairs. In every good poem poetry in its entirety must be
+contained; but this is a flugleman.
+
+The ideas in your introduction regarding synonymy are precious; would
+that our linguistic purists were imbued with them! We will not, however,
+contaminate such lofty affairs with the lamentable blunders whereby the
+German nation is corrupting its language from the very foundation, an
+evil which will not be perceived for thirty years.
+
+You, however, my dearest friend, be and remain blessed for the
+benefaction which you have done us. This your _Agamemnon_ shall never
+again leave my side.
+
+I cannot judge the rhythmic merit, but I believe I feel it. Our
+admirable, talented, and original friend Wolf--although he becomes
+intractable in case of contradiction--who spent a number of days with
+me, speaks very highly of your careful work. It will be instructive to
+see how the Heidelberg gentlemen[31] conduct themselves.
+
+Let me have a word from you before you go to Paris, and give my
+greetings to your dear wife. How much I had wished to see you this
+summer, for so many things are in progress on every side that only days
+suffice to consider what is to be furthered and how. Fortunately for me,
+nothing is approaching that I must absolutely refuse, even though
+everything is not undertaken and conducted according to my convictions.
+And it is precisely this bitter-sweet which can be treated only orally
+and in person.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, June 22, 1823.
+
+Your letter, dear and honored friend, came at a remarkable juncture
+which made it doubly interesting; Schiller's letters had just been
+collected, and I was looking them through from the very first, finding
+there the most charming traces of the happy and fruitful hours which we
+passed together. The invitation to the _Horen_ is contained in the first
+letter of June 13, 1794; then the correspondence continues, and with
+every letter admiration for Schiller's extraordinary spirit and joy over
+his influence on our entire development increases in intensity and
+elevation. His letters are an infinite treasure, of which you also
+possess rich store; and as, through them, we have made noteworthy
+progress, so we must read them again to be protected against backward
+steps to which the precious world about us is inclined to tempt us day
+by day and hour by hour.
+
+Just imagine to yourself now, my dearest friend, how highly welcome your
+announcement seemed to me at this moment when, after ripe reflection, I
+desired to give you very friendly counsel to visit us toward the end of
+October. Should the gods not dispose otherwise concerning us, you will
+surely find me, and whatever else is near and dear to you, assembled
+here; quiet, personal communication may very happily alternate with
+social recreations, and, above all things, we can take delight in
+Schiller's correspondence, since then you will also bring with you the
+letters of several years, and in the fruitful present we may edify and
+refresh ourselves with the fair bloom of by-gone days. Riemer sends his
+very best greetings; he is well; our relation is permanent, mutually
+beneficial, and profitable. Aulic Councillor Meyer has left for
+Wiesbaden; unfortunately, his health is not of the best.
+
+Two new numbers of _Ueber Kunst und Alterthum_ and _Zur
+Naturwissenschaft_ are about to appear--the fruits of my winter's
+labors. Fortunately, they have been so carefully prepared that no
+noteworthy hindrance was presented by my troubles and by the subsequent
+illness of our Grand Duchess, which filled us all, especially my
+convalescent self, with fear and anxiety.
+
+Please give my kindest regards to your wife, and, by the way, I need not
+assure you that you will certainly be most highly welcome to our most
+gracious court. In my household children and grandchildren will meet you
+with joyous faces; our nearest friends we shall assemble as we wish. If
+in the interval you should have some message for me, I beg you to send
+it to my address here, for then it will reach me most quickly.
+
+And now I again send the very best of all kind greetings to your dear
+wife; may good fortune bring me once more to her side. Pardon a somewhat
+distracted way of writing, indicative of packing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 22, 1826.
+
+Your letter and package, most honored friend, gave me a very welcome
+token of your continuous remembrance and friendly sympathy. I wish,
+however, that I might have received an equal assurance of your good
+health. For my own part, I cannot complain; a ship that is no longer a
+deep-sea sailer may perhaps still be useful as a coaster.
+
+I have passed the entire summer at home, laboring undisturbed at editing
+my works. Possibly you still remember, my dearest friend, a dramatic
+_Helena_, which was to appear in the second part of _Faust_. From
+Schiller's letters at the beginning of the century I see that I showed
+him the commencement of it, and also that he, with true friendship,
+counseled me to continue it. It is one of my oldest conceptions, resting
+on the marionette tradition that Faust compelled Mephistopheles to
+produce Helen of Troy for his nuptials. From time to time I have
+continued to work on it, but the piece could not be completed except in
+the fulness of time, for its action has now covered three thousand
+years, from the fall of Troy to the capture of Missolonghi. This can,
+therefore, also be regarded as a unity of time in the higher sense of
+the term; the unities of place and action are, however, likewise most
+carefully regarded in the usual acceptation of the word. It appears
+under the title:
+
+      Helena
+
+    Classico-Romantic Phantasmagoria.
+
+      Interlude to Faust.
+
+This says little indeed, and yet enough, I hope, to direct your
+attention more vividly to the first instalment of my works which I hope
+to present at Easter.
+
+I next ask, with more confidence, whether perchance you still remember
+an epic poem which I had in mind immediately after the completion of
+_Hermann and Dorothea_--in a modern hunt a tiger and a lion were
+concerned. At the time you dissuaded me from elaborating the idea, and I
+abandoned it; now, in searching through old papers, I find the plot
+again, and cannot refrain from executing it in prose; for it may then
+pass as a tale, a rubric under which an extremely large amount of
+remarkable stuff circulates.
+
+Very recently there has reached my hermitage the portrayal of the very
+active life of a man of the world, which highly entertains me--the
+journal of Duke Bernhard of Weimar, who left Ghent in April, 1825, and
+who returned to us only a short time past. It is written
+uninterruptedly, and since his station, his mode of thought, and his
+demeanor introduced him to the highest circles of society, and since he
+was at ease among the middle classes and did not disdain the most
+humble, his reader is very agreeably conducted through most diverse
+situations, which, for me at least, it was highly important to survey
+directly.
+
+Now, however, I must assure you that the outline which you have sent is
+extremely profitable to Riemer and myself, and has given a most
+admirable opportunity for discussions on linguistics and philosophy. I
+am by no means averse to the literature of India, but I am afraid of it;
+for it draws my imaginative power towards the formless and the deformed,
+against which I am forced to guard myself more than ever; but if it
+comes over the signature of a valued friend, it will always be welcome,
+for it gives me the desired opportunity to converse with him on what
+interests him, and what must certainly be of importance.
+
+Now, as I prepare to close, I simply say that I am engaged in combining
+and uniting the scattered _Wanderings of Wilhelm Meister_, in its old
+and new portions, as two volumes. While engaged in which task nothing
+could give me greater delight than to welcome the chief of wanderers,
+your highly esteemed brother, to our house, and to learn directly of his
+ceaseless activity; nor do I fail to express my hearty wishes to your
+dear wife for the best results from the cure which she is seeking in
+such lofty regions.
+
+And so, for ever and ever, in truest sympathy, GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+October 19, 1830.
+
+How often during these weeks, my dear and honored friend, have I sought
+refuge at your side, again taken out your magnificent letters, and found
+refreshment in them!
+
+As almost in an instant the earthquake of Lisbon caused its influences
+to be felt in the remotest lakes and springs, so we also have been
+shaken directly by that western explosion, as was the case forty years
+ago.
+
+How comforting it must have been for me in such moments to take up your
+priceless letters, you yourself will feel and graciously express.
+Through a decided antithesis I was carried back to those times when we
+felt mutually pledged to procure a preliminary culture, when, united
+with our great and noble friend, we strove after concrete truths, and
+most faithfully and diligently sought to attain all that was most
+beautiful and sublime in the world about us, for the edification of our
+willing, yearning spirits, and to fill to its full an atmosphere which
+required substance and contents.
+
+How beautiful and splendid is it now that you should lay the foundations
+for your latest composition (_Review of Goethe's Italian Travels_) in
+that happy soil, that you should seek to explain me and my endeavors at
+that laborious time, and that attentively and lovingly you should have
+traced back that which in my efforts might seem incidental or lacking in
+coherence, in sequence, to a spiritual necessity and to individual
+characteristic combinations.
+
+Here, now, there would be a most beautiful theme for discussion by word
+of mouth. It is impossible to commit to writing how I was mirrored in
+your words; how I received elucidation on many things; how, at the same
+time, I was again challenged to reflect on the many enigmas that ever
+remain unsolved in man, even as regards himself; and seriously to
+reflect on the inner nexus of many qualities which cross in the
+individual and which, despite a certain degree of contradiction, are
+intertwined and united.
+
+Here belongs preeminently my relation to plastic art, to which you have
+devoted an attention so deserving of thanks. It is marvelous enough that
+man feels an irresistible impulse to prosecute what he cannot achieve,
+and yet that by this very process he is most essentially furthered in
+his actual achievements.
+
+That, however, this long-delayed letter may no further lag behind, I
+shall close, but shall, nevertheless, at the same time inform you that,
+while I uttered the sentiments written above, I once more returned to
+your letters, and by seeing myself mirrored in them afresh was
+challenged to new considerations, and was powerfully reminded of those
+times when, united in spirit though not in body, we, already advanced in
+years, enjoyed with the strength of youth and with delight those idyllic
+days.
+
+For six months [32] now my son has shared in the exuberance with which,
+on the priceless peninsula, nature and centuries have, with most
+marvelous intricacy, amassed and destroyed in life, created and
+demolished in the arts, and played with the fates of men and nations.
+
+He went by steamer from Leghorn to Naples, where he may be even yet, a
+decision which, once carried out, has brought very special advantages.
+He found Professor Zahn there, and himself, under this scholar's
+guidance, completely at home both above and below the ground.
+
+Since now you, too, my dearest friend, are accustoming yourself to
+dictating, send me in a happy hour of leisure often a tiny friendly
+word, so that, from time to time, I may more frequently and concretely
+be aware of the coexistence which has already so long been vouched us on
+this terrestrial ball. I tear myself unwillingly from this
+communication; how much I have to say floats before me, but at this time
+I shall delay only to bless the fortunate star which at this moment
+rises over you and your estimable brother. May what has so charmingly
+been inaugurated endure for the enjoyment of rich results to you and to
+us all!
+
+And so ever!
+
+Weimar, October 19, 1830. J. W. VON GOETHE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, December 1, 1831.
+
+Already informed by the public press, honored friend, that the beating
+waves of that wild Baltic have exercised so happy an influence on the
+constitution of my dearest friend, I have rejoiced in a high degree,
+and have done all honor and reverence to the waters which so often wreak
+destruction. Your welcome note gave the fairest and the best of all
+substantiation to these good tidings, so that with comfort I could look
+forth from my hermitage over the monastery gardens veiled in snow, since
+I could fancy to myself my dearest friend in his four-towered castle,
+amid roomy surroundings, surveying a landscape over which winter had
+spread far and wide, and at the same time with good courage pursuing to
+the minutest detail his deep-founded tasks.
+
+Generally speaking, I can perhaps say that the apperception of great
+productive maxims of nature absolutely compels us to continue our
+investigations to the minutest possible details, just as the final
+ramifications of the arteries meet, at the extreme finger-tips, the
+nerves to which they are linked. In particular I might perhaps say that
+I have often been brought more closely to you than you probably know;
+for conversations with Riemer very often turn on a word, its
+etymological signification, formation and mutation, relationship, and
+strangeness.
+
+I have been highly grateful to your brother, for whom I find no epithet,
+for several hours of frank, friendly conversation; for although
+assimilation of his theory of geology, and practical work in accordance
+with it, are impossible for my mental process, yet I have seen with true
+sympathy and admiration how that of which I cannot convince myself in
+him obtains a logical coherence and is amalgamated with the tremendous
+mass of his knowledge, where it is then held together by his priceless
+character.
+
+If I may express myself with my old frankness, my most honored friend, I
+gladly admit that in my advanced years everything becomes more and more
+historical to me. Whether a thing has happened in days gone by, in
+distant realms, or very close to myself, is quite immaterial; I even
+seem to become more and more historical to myself; and when, in the
+evening, Plutarch is read to me, I often appear ridiculous to myself,
+should I narrate my biography in this way.
+
+Forgive me expressions of this character! In old age men become
+garrulous, and since I dictate, it is very easy for this natural
+tendency to get the better of me.
+
+Of my _Faust_ there is much and little to say; at a peculiarly happy
+time the apothegm occurred to me:
+
+  "If bards ye are, as ye maintain;
+  Now let your inspiration show it."
+
+And through a mysterious psychological turn, which probably deserves
+investigation, I believe that I have risen to a type of production which
+with entire consciousness has brought forth that which I myself still
+approve of--though perhaps without being able ever again to swim in this
+current--but which Aristotle and other prose-writers would even ascribe
+to a sort of madness. The difficulty of succeeding consisted in the fact
+that the second part of _Faust_--to whose printed portions you have
+possibly devoted some attention--has been pondered for fifty years in
+its ends and aims, and has been elaborated in fragmentary fashion, as
+one or the other situation occurred to me; but the whole has remained
+incomplete.
+
+Now, the second part of _Faust_ demands more of the understanding than
+the first does, and therefore it was necessary to prepare the reader,
+even though he must still supply bridges. The filling of certain gaps
+was obligatory both for historical and for aesthetic unity, and this I
+continued until at last I deemed it advisable to cry:
+
+"Close ye the wat'ring canal; to their fill have the meadows now drunken."
+
+And now I had to take heart to seal the stitched copy in which printed
+and unprinted are thrust side by side, lest I might possibly be led into
+temptation to elaborate it here and there; at the same time I regret
+that I cannot communicate it to, my most valued friends, as the poet so
+gladly does.
+
+I will not send my _Metamorphosis of Plants_, translated, with an
+appendix, by M. Soret, unless certain confessions of life would satisfy
+your friendship. Recently I have become more and more entangled in these
+phenomena of nature; they have enticed me to continue my labors in my
+original field, and have finally compelled me to remain in it. We shall
+see what is to be done there likewise, and shall trust the rest to the
+future, which, between ourselves, we burden with a heavier task than
+would be supposed.
+
+From time to time let us not miss on either side an echo of continued
+existence.
+
+G.
+
+GOETHE TO WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT
+
+Weimar, March 17, 1832.
+
+After a long, involuntary pause I begin as follows, and yet simply on
+the spur of the moment. Animals, the ancients said, were taught by their
+organs. I add to this, men also, although they have the advantage of
+teaching their organs in return.
+
+For every act, and, consequently, for every talent, an innate tendency
+is requisite, working automatically, and unconsciously carrying with
+itself the necessary predisposition; yet, for this very reason, it works
+on and on inconsequently, so that, although it contains its laws within
+itself, it may, nevertheless, ultimately run out, devoid of end or aim.
+The earlier a man perceives that there is a handicraft or an art which
+will aid him to attain a normal increase of his natural talents, the
+more fortunate is he. Moreover, what he receives from without does not
+impair his innate individuality. The best genius is that which absorbs
+everything within itself, which knows how to adapt everything, without
+prejudicing in the least the real fundamental essence--the quality which
+is called character--so that it becomes the element which truly elevates
+that quality and endows it throughout so far as may be possible.
+
+Here, now, appear the manifold relations between the conscious and the
+unconscious. Imagine a musical talent that is to compose an important
+score; consciousness and unconsciousness will be related like the warp
+and the woof, a simile that I am so fond of using. Through practice,
+teaching, reflection, failure, furtherance, opposition, and renewed
+reflection the organs of man unconsciously unite, in a free activity,
+the acquired and the innate, so that this process creates a unity which
+sets the world in amaze. This generalization may serve as a speedy reply
+to your query and as an explanation of the note that is herewith
+returned.
+
+Over sixty years have passed since, in my youth, the conception of Faust
+lay before me clear from the first, although the entire sequence was
+present in less detailed form. Now, I have always kept my purpose in the
+back of my mind and I have elaborated only the passages that were of
+special interest to me, so that gaps remain in the second part which are
+to be connected with the remainder through the agency of a uniform
+interest. Here, I must admit, appeared the great difficulty of attaining
+through resolution and character what should properly belong only to a
+nature voluntarily active. It would, however, not have been well had
+this not been feasible after so long a life of active reflection, and I
+let no fear assail me that it may be possible to distinguish the older
+from the newer, and the later from the earlier; which point, then, we
+shall intrust to future readers for their friendly examination.
+
+Beyond all question it will give me infinite pleasure to dedicate and
+communicate these very serious jests to my valued, ever thankfully
+recognized, and widely scattered friends while still living, and to
+receive their reply. But, as a matter of fact, the age is so absurd and
+so insane that I am convinced that the candid efforts which I have long
+expended upon this unusual structure would be ill rewarded, and that,
+driven ashore, they will lie like a wreck in ruins and speedily be
+covered over by the sand-dunes of time. In theory and practice,
+confusion rules the world, and I have no more urgent task than to
+augment, wherever possible, what is and has remained within me, and to
+redistill my peculiarities, as you also, worthy friend, surely also do
+in your castle.
+
+But do you likewise tell me something about your work. Riemer is, as you
+doubtless know, absorbed in the same and similar studies, and our
+evening conversations often lead to the confines of this specialty.
+Forgive this delayed letter! Despite my retirement, there is seldom an
+hour when these mysteries of life may be realized.
+
+
+
+
+GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH ZELTER
+
+TRANSLATED BY FRANCES H. KING
+
+LETTER 512
+
+Weimar, July 28, 1803.
+
+I have followed you so often in my thoughts that unfortunately I have
+neglected to do so in writing. Just a few lines today, to accompany the
+inclosed page. Of Mozart's Biography I have heard nothing further, but I
+will inquire about it and also about the author. Your beautiful Queen
+made many happy while on her journey, and no one happier than my mother;
+nothing could have caused her greater joy in her declining years.
+
+Do write me something about the performance of The _Natural Daughter_,
+frankly and without consideration for my feelings. I have a mind anyhow
+to shorten some of the scenes, which must seem long, even if they are
+excellently acted. Will you outline for me sometime the duties of a
+concert conductor, so much, at all events, as one of our kind needs to
+know in order to form a judgment of such a man, and in case of need, to
+be able to direct him? Madame Mara sang on Tuesday in Lauchstaedt; how
+it went off I do not yet know. For the songs which I received through
+Herr von Wolzogen I thank you mostly heartily in my own name and in the
+name of our friends. It was no time to think of producing them. I hope
+soon to send you the proof-sheets of my songs, and I beg you to keep
+them secret at first, until they have appeared in print.
+
+_Inclosure_
+
+You now have the _Bride of Messina_ before you in print and as you learn
+the poet's intentions from his introductory essay, you will know better
+how to appreciate what he has done, and how far you can agree with
+him. I will, regarding your letter, jot down my thoughts on the subject;
+we can come to an understanding in a few words.
+
+[Illustration: K. F. ZELTER, E. A. Seemann]
+
+In Greek tragedy four forms of the chorus are found, representing four
+epochs. In the first, between the songs in which gods and heroes are
+extolled and genealogies, great deeds, and monstrous destinies are
+brought before the imagination, a few persons appear and carry the
+spectator back into the past. Of this we find an approximate example in
+the _Seven before Thebes_ of, _Eschylus_. Here, therefore, are the
+beginnings of dramatic art, the old style. The second epoch shows us the
+chorus in the mass as the mystical, principal personage of the piece, as
+in the _Eumenides_ and _Supplicants_. Here I am inclined to find the
+grand style. The chorus is independent, the interest centres in it; one
+might call this the Republican period of dramatic art; the rulers and
+the gods are only attendant personages. In the third epoch it is the
+chorus which plays the secondary part; the interest is transferred to
+the families, and the members and heads who represent them in the play,
+with whose fate that of the surrounding people is only loosely
+connected. Then, the chorus is subordinate, and the figures of the
+princes and heroes stand preeminent in all their exclusive magnificence.
+This I consider the beautiful style. The pieces of Sophocles stand on
+this plane. Since the crowd is forced merely to look on at the heroes
+and at fate, and can have no effect on either their special or general
+nature, it takes refuge in reflection and assumes the office of an able
+and welcome spectator. In the fourth epoch the action withdraws more and
+more into the sphere of private interests, and the chorus often appears
+as a burdensome custom, as an inherited fixture. It becomes unnecessary,
+and therefore, as a part of a living poetic composition, it is useless,
+wearisome, and disturbing; as, for example, when it is called upon to
+guard secrets in which it has no interest, and things of that sort.
+Several examples are to be found in the pieces of Euripides, of which I
+will mention _Helen_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_.
+
+From all this you will see that, for a musical reconstruction of the
+chorus, it would be necessary to make experiments in the style of the
+first two epochs; and this might be accomplished by means of quite short
+oratorios.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 553
+
+Weimar, June 1, 1805.
+
+Since writing to you last, I have had few happy days. I thought I should
+die myself, and instead I lose a friend,[33] and with him the half of my
+being. I would really begin a different mode of life, but for one of my
+years there is no way of doing that. I only look straight ahead of me
+each day, and do the thing nearest to me without thinking of the
+consequences.
+
+But as people in every loss and misfortune try to find a pretext for
+amusement, I have been urgently solicited in behalf of our theatre, and
+on many other sides, to celebrate on the stage the memory of the
+departed one. I wish to say nothing further on the subject, except that
+I am not disinclined to it, and all I would ask of you now is whether
+you are willing to assist me in the matter; and, first, whether you
+would furnish me with your motet--"Man lives," etc., about which I have
+read in the _Musical Review_, No. 27; also whether you would either
+compose some other pieces of a solemn character, or else select and make
+over to me some musical pieces already composed--the style of which I
+will indicate later--as a foundation for appropriate compositions. As
+soon as I know your real opinion on the subject, you shall receive
+further details.
+
+Your beautiful series of little essays on orchestra organization I have
+left lying around till now, and the reason is that they contained a sort
+of satire on our own conditions.
+
+Now Reichard wishes them for the _Musical Review_. I hunt them up
+again, look them over, and I feel that I really could not deprive the
+Intelligence Page of our _Literatur-Zeitung_ of them. Some of our
+conditions here have changed, and, after all, a man may surely be
+allowed to censure those things which he did not try to hinder.
+
+Privy Councillor Wolf of Halle is here at present. If only I could hope
+to see you also here this year! Would it not be possible for you to come
+to Lauchstaedt the end of July, so as to help, there on the spot, in the
+preparation and performance of the above-mentioned work?
+
+Think it over and only tell me there is a possibility of it; we shall
+then be able to devise the means of bringing it to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 606
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1808.
+
+The world of art is just now too much run down for a young man to be
+able to realize exactly where he stands. People always search for
+inspiration everywhere but in the place where it originates, and if they
+do once catch sight of the source, then they cannot find the path
+leading to it. Therefore I am reduced to despair by half a dozen of the
+younger poetic spirits, who, though endowed with extraordinary natural
+talent, will scarcely accomplish much that I can ever take pleasure in.
+Werner, Ochlenschlaeger, Arnim, Brentano and others are still working
+and practising at their art, but everything they do is absolutely
+lacking in form and character. Not one of them can understand that the
+highest and only operation of nature and art is the creation of form,
+and in the form, detail, so that each single thing shall become, be, and
+remain something separate and important. There is no art in letting your
+talent go to suit your humor and convenience.
+
+The sad part of it is that the humorous, because it has no support and
+no law within itself, sooner or later degenerates into melancholy and
+bad temper. We have been forced to experience the most horrible examples
+of this in Jean Paul (see his last production in the _Ladies' Calendar_)
+and in Goerres (see his _Specimens of Writing_). Moreover, there are
+always people enough to admire and esteem that sort of thing, because
+the public is always grateful to every one who tries to turn its head.
+
+Will you be obliging enough, when you have a quarter of an hour's spare
+time, to sketch for me, in a few rough lines, the aberrations of our
+youthful musicians? I should like to compare them with the errors of the
+painters; for a man must once for all set his heart at rest about these
+things, execrate the whole business, stop thinking about the culture of
+others, and employ the short time that remains to him on his own works.
+But even while I express myself thus disagreeably, I must, as always
+happens to good-natured blusterers, contradict myself immediately, and
+beg you to continue your interest in Eberwein at least until Easter; for
+then I will send him to you again. He has acquired great confidence in
+you, and great respect for your institution, but unhappily even that
+does not mean much with young people. They still secretly think it would
+also be possible to produce something extraordinary by their own foolish
+methods. Many people gain some comprehension that there is a goal, but
+they would like very much to reach it by loitering along mazy paths.
+
+You have been sufficiently reminded of us throughout this month by the
+newspapers. It was worth much to be present in person at these events. I
+also came in for a share of the favorable influence of such an unusual
+constellation. The Emperor of France was very gracious to me. Both
+Emperors decorated me with stars and ribbons, which we desire in all
+modesty thankfully to acknowledge. Forgive me for not writing you more
+about the latest events. You must have already wondered when you read
+the papers that this stream of the great and mighty ones of earth
+should have rolled on as far as Weimar, and even over the battlefield of
+Jena. I cannot refrain from inclosing to you a remarkable engraving. The
+point where the temple is placed, is the farthest point toward the
+north-east reached by Napoleon on this tour. When you visit us, I will
+place you on the spot where the little man with the cane is shown
+parceling off the world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 640
+
+Weimar, February 28, 1811.
+
+I have read somewhere that the celebrated first secretary of the London
+Society, Oldenburg, never opened a letter until he had placed pen, ink,
+and paper before him, and that he then and there, immediately after the
+first reading, wrote down his answer. Thus he was able to meet
+comfortably the demands of an immense correspondence. If I could have
+imitated this virtue, so many people would not now be complaining of my
+silence. But this time your dear letter just received has roused in me
+such a desire to answer, by recalling to my mind all the fullness of our
+life during the summer, that I am writing these lines, if not
+immediately after the first reading, at least on awaking the next
+morning.
+
+I think I anticipated that the good _Pandora_ would slow down somewhat
+when she reached home again. Life in Toeplitz was really too favorable to
+this sort of work, and your meditations and efforts were so steadily and
+undividedly centred upon it, that an interruption could not help calling
+forth a pause. But leave it alone; there is so much done on it already
+that, at the right moment, the remainder will, in all likelihood, come
+of its own accord.
+
+I cannot blame you for declining to compose the music to _Faust_. My
+proposition was somewhat ill-considered, like the undertaking itself.
+It can very well rest in peace for another year; for the trouble which I
+had in working over the _Resolute Prince_[34] has about exhausted the
+inclination which we must feel when we set about things of that sort.
+This piece has indeed turned out beyond all expectation, and it has
+given much pleasure to me and to others. It is no small undertaking to
+conjure up a work written almost two hundred years ago, for an entirely
+different clime, for a people of entirely different customs, religion,
+and culture, and to make it appear fresh and new to the eyes of a
+spectator. For nowhere is anything antiquated and without direct appeal
+more out of place than on the stage.
+
+Touching my works you shall, before everything else, receive the
+thirteenth volume. It is very kind of you not to neglect the _Theory of
+Color_; and the fact that you absorb it in small doses will have its
+good effect too. I know very well that my way of handling the matter,
+natural as it is, differs very widely from the usual way, and I cannot
+demand that every one should immediately perceive and appropriate its
+advantages. The mathematicians are foolish people, and are so far from
+having the least idea what my work means that one really must overlook
+their presumption. I am very curious about the first one who gets an
+insight into the matter and behaves honestly about it; for not all of
+them are blindfolded or malicious. But, at any rate, I now see more
+clearly than ever what I have long held in secret, that the training
+which mathematics give to the mind is extremely one-sided and narrow.
+Yes, Voltaire is bold enough to say somewhere: "I have always remarked
+that geometry leaves the mind just where it found it." Franklin also has
+clearly and plainly expressed a special aversion to mathematicians, in
+respect to their social qualities, and finds their petty contradictory
+spirit unbearable.
+
+As concerns the real Newtonians, they are in the same case as the old
+Prussians in October, 1806. The latter believed that they were winning
+tactically, when they had long since been conquered strategically. When
+once their eyes are opened they will be startled to find me already in
+Naumburg and Leipzig, while they are still creeping along near Weimar
+and Blankenheim. That battle was lost in advance; and so is this. The
+Newtonian Theory is already annihilated, while the gentlemen still think
+their adversary despicable. Forgive my boasting; I am just as little
+ashamed of it as those gentlemen are of their pettiness. I am going
+through a strange experience with Kugelchen, as I have done with many
+others. I thought I was making him the nicest compliment possible; for
+really the picture and the frame had turned out most acceptably, and now
+the good man takes offence at a superficial act of politeness, which one
+really ought not to neglect, since many persons' feelings are hurt if we
+omit it. A certain lack of etiquette on my part in such matters has
+often been taken amiss, and now here I am troubling some excellent
+people with my formality. Never get rid of an old fault, my dear friend;
+you will either fall into a new one, or else people will look upon your
+newly acquired virtue as a fault; and no matter how you behave, you will
+never satisfy either yourself or others. In the meantime I am glad that
+I know what the matter is; for I wish to be on good terms with this
+excellent man.
+
+Regarding the antique bull, I should propose to have him carefully
+packed in a strong case, and sent to me for inspection. In ancient times
+these things were often made in replica, and the specimens differ
+greatly in value. To give any good bronze in exchange for another would
+be a bad bargain, as there are scarcely ever duplicates of them, and
+those that we do find are doubly interesting on account of their
+resemblances and dissimilarities. The offer I could make at present is
+as follows: I have a very fine collection of medals, mostly in bronze,
+from the middle of the fifteenth century up to our day. It was collected
+principally in order to illustrate to amateurs and experts the progress
+of plastic art, which is always reflected in the medals. Among these
+medals I have some very beautiful and valuable duplicates, so that I
+could probably get together a most instructive series of them to give
+away. An art lover, who as yet possessed nothing of this description,
+would in them get a good foundation for a collection, and a sufficient
+inducement to continue. Further, such a collection, like a set of Greek
+and Roman coins, affords opportunity for very interesting observations;
+indeed it completes the conception furnished us by the coins, and brings
+it up to present times. I may also say that the bull would have to be
+very perfect, if I am not to have a balance to my credit in the bargain
+above indicated.
+
+Something very pleasing has occurred to me in the last few days; it was
+the presentation to me, from the Empress of Austria, of a beautiful gold
+snuff-box with a diamond wreath, and the name Louisa engraved in full.
+I know you too will take an interest in this event, as it is not often
+that we meet with such unexpected and refreshing good fortune.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 665
+
+Weimar, December 3, 1812.
+
+Your letter telling me of the great misfortune which has befallen your
+house,[35] depressed me very much, indeed quite bowed me down; for it
+reached me in the midst of very serious reflections on life, and it is
+owing to you alone that I have been able to pluck up courage. You have
+proved yourself to be pure refined gold when tried by the black
+touchstone of death. How beautiful is a character when it is so compact
+of mind and soul, and how beautiful must be a talent that rests on such
+a foundation.
+
+Of the deed or the misdeed itself, I know of nothing to say. When the
+_toedium vitoe_ lays hold on a man, he is to be pitied, not to be
+blamed. That all the symptoms of this strange, natural, as well as
+unnatural, disease have raged within me--of that _Werther_ leaves no one
+in doubt. I know right well what amount of resolution and effort it cost
+me then to escape from the waves of death, with what difficulty I saved
+myself from many a later shipwreck, and how hard it was for me to
+recover. And all the stories of mariners and fishermen are the same.
+After the night of storm the shore is reached again; he who was wet
+through dries himself, and the next morning when the beautiful sun
+shines once more on the sparkling waves "the sea has regained its
+appetite for new victims."
+
+When we see not only that the world in general, and especially the
+younger generation, are given over to their lusts and passions, but also
+that what is best and highest in them is misplaced and distorted through
+the serious follies of the age; when we see that what should lead them
+to salvation really contributes to their damnation--to say nothing of
+the unspeakable stress brought to bear upon them from without--then we
+cease to wonder at the misdeeds which a man performs in rage against
+himself and others. I believe I am capable of writing another _Werther_,
+which would make people's hair stand on end, even more than the first
+did. Let me add one remark. Most young people, who feel themselves
+possessed of merit, demand of themselves more than is right. They are,
+however, pressed and forced into it by their gigantic surroundings. I
+know half a dozen of that kind who will certainly perish, and whom it
+would be impossible to help, even if one could make clear to them where
+their real advantage lies. Nobody realizes that reason, courage, and
+will-power are given to us so that we shall refrain, not only from evil,
+but from excess of goodness.
+
+I thank you for your comments on the pages of my autobiography. I had
+already heard much that was good and kind about them in a general way.
+You are the first and only one who has gone into the heart of the
+matter.
+
+I am glad that the description of my father impressed you favorably. I
+will not deny that I am heartily tired of the German bourgeois, these
+_Lorenz Starks_, or whatever they may be called, who, in humorous gloom,
+give free play to their pedantic temperament, and by standing dubiously
+in the way of their good-natured desires, destroy them, as well as the
+happiness of other people. In the two following volumes the figure of my
+father is completely developed, and if on his side as well as on the
+side of his son, a grain of mutual understanding had entered into this
+precious family relationship, both would have been spared much. But it
+was not to be; and indeed such is life. The best laid plan for a journey
+is upset by the stupidest kind of accident, and a man goes farthest when
+he does not know where he is going.
+
+Do have the goodness to continue your comments; for I go slowly, as the
+subject demands, and keep much _in petto_ (on which account many readers
+grow impatient who would be quite satisfied to have the whole meal from
+beginning to end, well braised and roasted, served up at one sitting, so
+that they could the sooner swallow it, and on the morrow seek better or
+worse cheer at random, in a different eating-house or cook's-shop). But
+I, as I have already said, remain in ambush, in order to let my lancers
+and troopers rush forward at the right moment. It is, therefore, very
+interesting for me to learn what you, as an experienced Field-Marshal,
+have already noticed about the vanguard. I have as yet read no
+criticisms of this little work; I will read them all at once after the
+next two volumes are printed. For many years I have observed that those
+who should and would speak of me in public, be their intentions good or
+bad, seem to find themselves in a painful position, and I have hardly
+ever come face to face with a critic who did not sooner or later show
+the famous countenance of Vespasian, and a _faciem duram_.
+
+If you could sometime give me a pleasant surprise by sending the
+_Rinaldo_, I should consider it a great favor.
+
+It is only through you that I can keep in touch with music. We are
+really living here absolutely songless and soundless. The opera, with
+its old standbys, and its novelties dressed up to suit a little theatre,
+and produced at pretty long intervals, is no consolation. At the same
+time I am glad that the court and the city can delude themselves into
+thinking that they have a species of enjoyment handy. The inhabitant of
+a large city is to be accounted happy in this respect, because so much
+that is of importance in other lands is attracted thither.
+
+You have made a point-blank shot at Alfieri. He is more remarkable than
+enjoyable. His works are explained by his life. He torments his readers
+and listeners, just as he torments himself as an author. He had the true
+nature of a count and was therefore blindly aristocratic. He hated
+tyranny, because he was aware of a tyrannical vein in himself, and fate
+had meted out to him a fitting tribulation, when it punished him,
+moderately enough, at the hands of the Sansculottes. The essential
+patrician and courtly nature of the man comes at last very laughably
+into evidence, when he can think of no better way to reward himself for
+his services than by having an order of knighthood manufactured for
+himself. Could he have showed more plainly how ingrained these
+formalities were in his nature? In the same way I must agree to what you
+say of Rousseau's _Pygmalion_. This production certainly belongs among
+the monstrosities, and is most remarkable as a symptom of the chief
+malady of that period, when State and custom, art and talent were
+destined to be stirred into a porridge with a nameless substance--which
+was, however, called nature--yes, when they were indeed thus stirred and
+beaten up together. I hope that my next volume will bring this operation
+to light; for was not I, too, attacked by this epidemic, and was it not
+beneficently responsible for the development of my being, which I cannot
+now picture to myself as growing in any other fashion?
+
+Now I must answer your question about the first Walpurgis-night. The
+state of the case is as follows: Among historians there are some, and
+they are men to whom one cannot refuse one's esteem, who try to find a
+foundation in reality for every fable, every tradition, let it be as
+fantastic and absurd as it will, and, inside the envelope of the
+fairy-tale, believe they can always find a kernel of fact.
+
+We owe much that is good to this method of treatment. For in order to go
+into the matter great knowledge is required; yes, intelligence, wit, and
+imagination are necessary to turn poetry into prose in this way. So now,
+in this case, one of our German antiquarians has tried to vindicate the
+ride of the witches and devils in the Hartz mountains, which has been
+well known to us in Germany for untold ages, and to place it upon a firm
+foundation, by the discovery of an historical origin. Which is, namely,
+that the German heathen priests and forefathers, after they had been
+driven from their sacred groves, and Christianity had been forced upon
+the people, betook themselves with their faithful followers, at the
+beginning of Spring, to the wild inaccessible mountains of the Hartz;
+and there, according to their old custom, they offered prayers and fire
+to the incorporeal God of Heaven and earth. In order to secure
+themselves against the spying, armed converters, they hit upon the idea
+of masking a number of their party, so as to keep their superstitious
+opponents at a distance, and thus, protected by caricatures of devils,
+to finish in peace the pure worship of God.
+
+I found this explanation somewhere, but cannot put my finger on the
+author; the idea pleased me and I have turned this fabulous history into
+a poetical fable again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER 433
+
+Weimar, October 30, 1824.
+
+It had long been my wish that you might be invited to take a trip,
+because I was certain that I should then hear something from you; for,
+of course, I am convinced that in over-lively Berlin no one is likely to
+remember to write letters to those who are far away. Now a perilous and
+hazardous journey gives my worthy friend an opportunity for a very
+characteristic and pleasing description; a crowded family party
+furnishes material for a sketch that would certainly find a place in any
+English novel. For my part, I will reply with a couple of matters from
+my quiet sphere.
+
+In the first place, then, my sojourn at home has this time been quite
+successful; yet we must not boast of it, only quietly and modestly
+continue our activities.
+
+Langermann has probably communicated to you what I sent him. The
+introductory poem to _Werther_ I lately resurrected and read to myself,
+quietly and thoughtfully, and immediately afterward the _Elegie_ which
+harmonizes with it very well; only I missed in them the direct effect of
+your pleasing melody, although it gradually revived and rose out of my
+inner consciousness.
+
+I am now also concluding the instalment on natural science, which was
+inconveniently delayed this year, and am editing my _Correspondence with
+Schiller from 1794_ to 1805. A great boon will be offered to the
+Germans, yes, I might even say to humanity in general, revealing the
+intimacy between two friends, of the kind who keep contributing to each
+other's development in the very act of pouring out their hearts to each
+other. I have a strange feeling at my task, for I am learning what I
+once was. However, it is most instructive of all to see how two people
+who mutually further their purposes _par force_, fritter away their time
+through inner over-activity and outer excitement and disturbance; so
+that there is, after all, no result fully worthy of their capacities,
+tendencies, aims. The effect will be extremely edifying; for every
+thoughtful man will be able to find in it consolation for himself.
+
+Moreover, it contributes to various other things which are revived by
+the excited life of that period. If what you recognized a year ago as
+the cause of my illness now proves itself the apparent element of my
+good health, everything will be running smoothly and you will hear
+pleasant news from time to time.
+
+In order that I may, however, hear from you soon, I wish to inform you
+that it would give me especial pleasure to receive a concise, forceful
+description of the Konigstadter theatricals. From what they are playing
+and rehearsing and from the notices and criticisms that reach me in the
+newspapers, I can form some notion for myself, to be sure; but, in any
+case, you will correct and strengthen my ideas. At your suggestion the
+architect sent me a plan which I found very acceptable, because, from it
+I can see for myself that the theatre is situated in a large residential
+section. This probably makes it very nice and cheerful, just as setting
+back the various rows of boxes is a very convenient arrangement for the
+audience who wish to be seen while they themselves see. This much I
+already know, and you, with a few strokes, will assist me to picture the
+most vivid actuality.
+
+J. A. Stumpff, of London, Harp Maker to his Majesty, is just leaving me.
+A native of Ruhl, he was sent at an early age to England, where he is
+now working as an able mechanic, a sturdy man of good stature in which
+you would take delight; at the same time he manifests the most patriotic
+sentiments for our language and literature. Through Schiller and myself
+he has been awakened to all that is good, and he is highly pleased to
+see our literary products become gradually known and appreciated. He
+revealed a remarkable personality.
+
+Our sonorous bells are just announcing the celebration of the
+anniversary of the Reformation. It resounds with a ring that must not
+leave us indifferent. Keep us, Lord, in Thy word, and guide.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: _Morgenblatt_ 1815. Nr. 113 12. Mai.]
+
+[Footnote 2: (King Henry IV, Part II, Act 4, Scene 4.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: The works referred to are the nine volumes of A. W.
+Schlegel's translation, which appeared 1797-1810, and were subsequently
+(since 1826) supplemented by the missing dramas, translated under
+Tieck's direction.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Delivered before the Amalia Lodge of Freemasons in Weimar,
+February 1813.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell & Sons,
+London.]
+
+[Footnote 7: It is almost needless to observe that the word "demon" is
+her reference to its Greek origin, and implies nothing evil.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 8: This is the first day in Eckermann's first book, and the
+first time in which he speaks in this book, as distinguished from
+Soret.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 9: The word "Gelegenheitsgedicht" (occasional poem) properly
+applies to poems written for special occasions, such as birthdays,
+weddings, etc., but Goethe here extends the meaning, as he himself
+explains. As the English word "occasional" often implies no more than
+"occurrence now and then," the phrase "occasional poem" is not very
+happy, and is only used for want of a better. The reader must conceive
+the word in the limited sense, produced on some special
+event.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 10: Goethe's "West-oestliche (west-eastern) Divan," one of the
+twelve divisions of which is entitled "Das Buch des Unmuths" (The Book
+of Ill-Humor).--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Die Aufgeregten_ (the Agitated, in a political sense) is
+an unfinished drama by Goethe.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The German phrase "Freund des Bestehenden," which, for
+want of a better expression, has been rendered above "friend of the
+powers that be," literally means "friend of the permanent," and was used
+by the detractors of Goethe to denote the "enemy of the
+progressive."--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 13: Poetry and Truth, the title of Goethe's
+autobiography.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 14: This, doubtless, means the "Deformed Transformed," and the
+fact that this poem was not published till January, 1824, rendering it
+probable that Goethe had not actually seen it, accounts for the
+inaccuracy of the expression.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 15: It need scarcely be mentioned that this is the name given
+to a collection of sarcastic epigrams by Goethe and Schiller.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Die Natuerliche Tochter" (the Natural
+Daughter).--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 17: Vide p. 185, where a remark is made on the word _nature_,
+as applied to a person.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 18: These plays were intended to be in the Shakesperian style,
+and Goethe means that by writing them he freed himself from Shakespeare,
+just as by writing _Werther_ he freed himself from thoughts of
+suicide.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 19: This doubtless refers to the Heath country in which
+Eckermann was born.--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This poem is simply entitled "Ballade," and begins
+"Herein, O du Guter! du Alter herein!"--_Trans_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: A It must be borne in mind that this was said before the
+appearance of "Robert le Diable," which was first produced in Paris, in
+November, 1831.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 22: B That is, the second act of the second part of "Faust,"
+which was not published entire till after Goethe's death.--_Trans._]
+
+[Footnote 23: In the original book this conversation follows immediately
+the one of December 21, 1831, and with the remainder of the book is
+prefaced thus:--"The following I noted down shortly afterwards (that is,
+after they took place) from memory."--Trans.]
+
+[Footnote 24: A distinguished die-cutter in Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Giovanni Hamerani was papal die-cutter from 1675 to 1705.]
+
+[Footnote 26: A C. A. Bottiger had surrendered his position as director
+of the Gymnasium of Weimar and had gone to Dresden, while Heinrich Voss
+(1779-1822), an enthusiastic young admirer of Goethe, had come to the
+gymnasium.]
+
+[Footnote 27: An association of civil officials of Mannheim had
+intrusted to Goethe a sum of money to erect a memorial to Count von
+Dalberg, but the plan was never carried out.]
+
+[Footnote 28: a Theodor Koerner (1791-1813), at that time a dramatist in
+Vienna, and closely connected with the Humboldt family through Wilhelm's
+friendship for Christian G. Koerner.]
+
+[Footnote 29: J. H. Voss, although his translation of AEschylus was not
+printed until 1826.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Humboldt's translation of the _Agamemnon of AEschylus_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Voss and his son.]
+
+[Footnote 32: August, who went to Italy, in March, 1830, and died there
+eight days after this letter was written.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Schiller died May 9, 1805]
+
+[Footnote 34: By Calderon]
+
+[Footnote 35: Zelter's eldest son had shot himself.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth
+and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
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