The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-29 00:00:00

GOETHE.

A few hours after our arrival at 'Weimar 7
had an interview with Goethe. Therehe stood,'
in his 83d year, as .I think, yet upright and
vigorous as a man of forty—his eye 'undim-
med by age, fiery and sparkling above all
the eyes I bad ever beheld, legless and pene-
trating ; while a quivering motion about the lips,
even when utterance had ceased, seemed to indi.,
cate that the spirit was still speaking within him.
His forehead is capacious, but not very remark-
able for height, his nose 'well formed. ' How-
ever, the innumerable and deep furrows of his
cheek and brow told many a ".Winter's Tale,"
and his " entire physiognomy *revealed the'-man
that had lived not fat removed from a Court at-
mosphire. I presented my 'Credentials, consist-
'l ing of an introd.uction'froni an 'old friend and
countryman of his own, now settled in
.Dublin,
accompanied by. a few specimens of the Irish
'beryl. While I gazed upon the extraordinary.
;being before me, as he was reading the letter,
I had some difficulty' .in admitting the;
:conviction that he was . indeed the .Author
of a Work, which, in my infancy, was
far from being a recent publication. L
mean the " Sorrows of Werter," (a copy or
:which, dated 1778, is now lying beside me)—
:the author of " Gortz of Berlingen," (that spirit-
stirring drama, a translation of which was pub-
lished many years since by.one " Walter Scott,
Advocate,") the author of the comparatively mu-
dern " Faustus." Wieland is gone--Herder. is
gone—Schiller is gone !—He—the admirer of
!Byron —seems as it were a link between the fitera-'
ture of the present and .of by=gone days,—a sun,
:deSerted by the system. it was created to illumine,
put suffered to shed its waning splendour upon
this. During my visit.l was introduced to the
;poet's family, our intercourse with whom render-,
ted our sojourn at Weimar, very agreeable. Of
!his eight children .but one son survives, who is al
,Court Chamberlain. There were several stran-
gers in town, whom it was interesting for birds
or passage to meet : among :theie- was a lady
between whom and .Goethe. a 'Platonic attach-
pent has long subsisted,icl na sister of Werteis
rharlotte, who still lives, and resides at 1-lanover.
University,Tlite a tepi i former,ysi use w
Physicians;
on as isg: at
lh present
met a
t the latter.
iR
Xichtenstein, the African traveller, and Von der
tHagen, the editor of . the Nibelzuhzgen-Lie4 we
a_____ecletmor of
et
at
n e j
ofiui Berlin.
the s
an evening party in the delightful garden of Dr.,
F ,o
lodged at our hotel. He appeared
to be a most
amiable man, of great simplicity of manners,
and was to be seen ca •
:Tying his children up and
Itown stairs, and even out into the.street,,:m de-
spite of all his learning; it.is hut justice- to lute'
i)sf the foreign professors 'in 'general, that they
distinguished for Utrienity of &polio:mut•
nenbach of Gottingen, 'a firer-.rate 'nian-;: Wyt-.
enbach of Berne, theipatriarchijrsii* science.;
Nasser of Kiel, and many others whom I could
mention, nre all delightful 'in- -their intercourse.
'The 'second tithe I sew 'Goethe was in his
warden. On-stated evenings his- Suite of apart-
Iments is thrown open for the reception of com-
[pally, after ;the manner of a French soir&.—
glowever, being invited for tea, which was at an
iearly hour, we had the advantage of enjoying
the Leviathan's society beforehand, within the
ifivacy of his own domestic circle. We found
thim in a blue frock, and black straw hat, saurt-
' ering about with-a friend:
,When all were seat-
dhe entered into familiar conversation, contri-
uting his quantum of - entertaining anecdote. It
as been said 'that Gbethe's colloquial style
•charm; f this,
pos.
'esses a peculiar o , is, none of course
ut a Ger Man can befa.cOmiSete t I .
. . n judge. t
:struck me as
.being exceedingli'illain and unam-
,..
llltious, il4§.t_ as mghthave.:-heen ex f 1 . -
, pec ec r - •ofn
tive of the country lany pa, grammatically 'ace .. --
tad !with *his own language • he
• spoke, boy; .r,.
vivacity, 1 • h reo
ivt„ g
~,,. aid seemed very impat.cut
, of anything like interruption.—Arn u/et.