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

when he was assured of this, he took to the task
of torneuting her. he was jealous, unreason.
able. and al that, till she rebelled- Then he
Was in despair, and took TO drink, Is other fools
have done before him ; and that was pretty
much ell that his love amounted to.
Up to this time, Goethe had done no more
perhaps, than most impressible boys do. There
seems to have been no guilt in the matter. The
Introduction Of Goethe to FredeFiks, his third
lose. is one of the most charming epieodes In
his whole life. He vas. living at Strasbnrg.
and fellow boarder, Of the name of wayland,
told him Of . e'ergymen, living fifteen miles off,
near Drusenhelm, With two very amisble
dsughsert. Waylabd proposes 10 70 and see
them, and to introduce Goethe in the character
Of shabby theological student The Disguise
was procured, and the pair set of in high spir'
It's. An are out but the poor pastor when they
srriys. Presently, wife and oldest daughter
appear. having been ia the fields. At length,
F.ederika comes in, dressed IN the rational
costume, With q tight bodice and skirt. Her
straw hst was hanging on her Arm, her blue
eyes laughed between the sweetest showers
Of curls, and Goethe, poor soul, snnitten at frst
sight, was crawling in that awful disguise He
was excluded from conversation, end Frederika
comes and talks with him. She tries to sing,
does not succeed, and proposes 70 go into the
epel air, where she can sing her lAlsatian and
Swiss songs. There she csptivstes him with
al come from a forest dark a the night,
And believe me, leave thee, my only delight
AT night, the two visitors talked it all over
Frederika is not engaged, and never has been
in love Quite providentisl! The next day,
the Disguise was cast aside, and, before night,
the young pair were both given up to the ten
der passion This seems to have been pure
end beautiful meeting of two sympathetic souls,
that might have been all the world to each 9th
er through life. We viii not follow the history
of the courtship. and the rupture that was
brought about BY Goethe's pride, and his NOR
LITIGATION with her rusticity. Il was q cruel
thing. he Acknowledged his guilt. He never
undertook to excuse it, and, 10 our mind, this
was the turning point of his life. In the pride
and egotism of genius, he had trampled upon
the honest love of his own heart, and the honest
love Of maiden, as beautiful as an angel and
as pure as snow. What could there be left for
him in the love of woman?
The man had become an author. He had
written Con pom Berlichioen, and, with it in his
portfolio, found himself in Wetzler. He was but
twenty three years old at that time, notwith-
standing he had had three loves, and abused
the only pure one be ever had. The image of
Frederiks haunted him, and he could only ban
ish il by entertaining another. He proceeded,
therefore, to fall in love with Charlotte Buff,
good girl, sixteen years old, and for two years
already bethrothed TO one Kestner, Secretary
to the Hanoverian legation. he was . sensible
fellow, and q gentleman, or he would have
broken Goethe's head hundred times 1t w.uld
be hard TO find, in the whole field of human ex-
perience, more graceful exhibitions of char
acter than in this Lotte and her lover Kest-
ner.
Goethe msde no secret of his love, with either
of them, and soon made no secret of its hope
fitness. The closest friendship existed between
the two levers. The girl loved Kestner, and
was true to him !; Kestner loved Goethe, and
never quarrelled with him; never interfered
with his visits to Lotte, and delicately pitied
him. Bot Goethe was obliged at last to tear
himself away from the place. After he left, a
melancholy young man, by name Jerusalem,
committed suicide. Out of this suicide, and his
own unhappy passion for Lotto, grew Wer-
Their" book translated into ell languages, and
producing 10 Germany an impression that the
work itself, as We find it in Eoglish, does not
explain Once away from Lotte, about the fret
thing Goethe did was to get up small Irritation
with girl who, in "Werther," figures as" Miss
b. - and who af erwards becomes the mother OF
Betiina, noticed further along in the history.
Two years after he kneeled half dying at the
feet of Lotte we find him at Frankfort, falling
in love with Anna Sybilla Munich. In their par
lor and picnic plays, the girl had strangely
enough fallen to him three successive times in
q mock lottery. She stimulated him to some
literary efforts, and really hoped TO marry him.
His parents desired the union, and there seems
to have been considerable work done TO for.
ward the match among outside parties. But he
was in fact only an sdmirer of Anna, and the
task Of bringing the marriage about was ahan-
doned as hopeless.
Goeihe's penchant for young girls is remsrks-
bic, and proves very thoroughly that he had
little sympathy which the characters of true,
mature woman. His next love was q girl whom
he has i'm mortslized as "Lih." Her real name
is Anna Elizabeth Schonemann. She was the
daughter of q wealthy Frankfort banker Lii
was the most charming and graceful OF CO.
quettes. She acknowledged to him that she was
a ccquette, but be bewitched her, as he had the
power 10 bewitch most of the girls who attract.
ed him. Both were sufficiently bewitched.
She led him a hard life among balls and parties.
and theatres and operas. She coquetted with,
and cooled him, much to her own distress.
But it was an unwelcomed match to both houses.
Nobody was pleased with it, though general
consent was at last obtained. As soon as
Goethe found he could marry, he became cool,
and grew uneasy with the idea. So he went
to Switzerland ito see if he could renounce
her." While he was absent, the girls friends
tried to shake her determination, but she was
firm, and declared herself ready TO emiprste
with Goethe to America Lewes says he was
not strong enough to give her up, nor sufi-
cienty in love with her to marry her. She toy.
ed with him-killed him and resuscitated him
daily. At last, the betrothal was cancelled
he was free, and ready to fall in love again at
the frat opportunity.
AT the age OF tventy-six, Goethe went to Wei.
mar, the principal scene of his subsequent life.
He was at this time in the rudest health. and
the rpdest mood, and, in company With Karl
August, the ruler of the little duchy, engaged
in the rudest sports. Fifty.four years makes a
long period for residence in q city like that tc
which Goethe thus early resorted. There were
women there, and in the absence of stronger
excitements, il was to be expected that Goeth,
would fall in love, without reserve, Oh ali sides
German morals at this time were not in tn,
purest condition. The author of WertAer ant
G0fz was an attractive man to attractive women
and he found no difficulty in obtaining subiect
for his experimental heart. Goethe said to Eek
erman, that his frst years at Weimar wer,
"perplexed with love affairs" The Frauleir
Won Kalb, Corona Schroeder, and others, came
in tor Q share of Goethe's attention. Corons
was singer, beautiful creature, an actress
1t is affirmed, and We presume with reason
that the poets connection with this woman wa,
not 2 fruitless one. If it was, to her be tn,
credit, not to him.
But ell this constellation Of early Vienna,
loves Crews pale by the side of the single star
the Fran Won Stein. This was long, drawn
passionate Irritation, or something worse. Tb,
Frau Won Stein was the mother of seven chill
drsD, and, when Goethe made her acquaintance
was thirty-three years old. She sang exquisite
~, sketched tastefully and accurately, talked
lAvo1 hal