The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-15
GOETHE AND THE GIRLS.

1t may well be doubted whether any man
ever lived who loved more women, aud, as a
general thing, loved them more unworthily,
than Johann Wolfgang Goethe. he lived the
we'll rounded measure of four score-years, most
of them passed in direct association with q
German court and from the age of fifteen
until the return of second childhood, if that
peri ever came to him, it may be questioned
whether be was ever wi hout q Airta ion, q a.
aison, or something which he actually supposed
WAS love passage. His biogrsphers are very
tender of all this, ard reiterate the phrsfe
the great and good Goethe" az if its repeti-
ton a certain number Of times ct respectable
disa nces, in their volumes, would really have
come influence upon the facts Of the matter
Goethe Was an intense realist, and sought ss a
man every kind Of connection With women, for
the sake Of material which it furnished to him
as an artist. This view of him makes him de-
tesiable, but himself and history are responsible
for it. Az We look over the extended Lat of his
loves, and see how he abused the earliest and
best, We bow 70 the justice that marries him at
last to his peasant mistress, with her dumby
corpulence and her drunken habits.
In Levers Life of Gosshe, we find letter
from Mr.. Thacksrsy, who, when young man,
resided at Weimsr a. . student, and knew
Goethe. Thackeray speaks of Weimsr as the
dear little Saxon city, where the good Schiller
and the great Goethe lived and lie buried"
The choice of sdjectives in the characterization
Of these two men 10 very suggestive, and it is
very jest. A man Who could maintain, through
a long life, such relations to women 6 Goethe
did, could not be good; and his loves, though
giving life to his immortal productions, must
forever blacken his character a. q man. We
do not allude, of course, to his boy loves, but
m thaao of h;a vna pho<,d And pinaf vaara
When Goethe was young, he was rovdy-
fierce, wilful. handsome, Ia1less, noisy, and, in
every sense, |" one of the boys" His compan-
ions were often of the worst, and his first love
was the sister of one of those Her name was
Gretchen. He was not fifteen she was several
years his senior. Il would seem that abe pet
ted him without thought Of anything further
BE was forward boy, and Q smart one, and
doubtless was allowed to kiss her hand, and
perhaps her lips. But when the boy heard her
declare, a. she was made TO do, al will not
DENY that have often seen him, and seen him
with pleasure, but treated him O. q child"
the cup of his woe vas full. In fact, life be.
came, for short time, without any object to
him. he would neither eat nor sleep. But he
got brsvely ovee that.
in Leipsic, the student became q member of
the Schonkopf family, and the charming daueh.
ter of the house,. Ann Catherine, brought him
the wine. She vas nineteen, and beautiful.
Htr portrait still exists, and Sufficiently ex.
plains her attractiveness 70 the impesuous
young man.. They saw one another every day.
They pursued music and private theatricals to-
gether, in the latter Of which, of course, they
always played lovers. His friend Horn writes
of him, at this time, that all his effort is Ito
please his lady-love." She loved him and