New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-18
WAS GOETHE A THIEFi

We find in The Pail Mall Gasette a synOp-
OF curous recently published by the we'll
known htterateur, Hermann Grimm in the Preussisehe
Jdhrb6eher. 1t is entitled Goethe and suleiRa and
sharges that several Of the pieces which the great poet
published his own in his West6stlehen D'Uan, were
really the production of Marianne Wiemer, with
whose name the readers Of GOethes life are toleraoy
familiar. When Grimm made her acquaintance not many
years ago. she garruOus old lady, whose chef oe
supation was recalling the golden past when she had
been pretty and Goethe had been her friend and cor
respondent Herr Grimm writes:
remember distinctly evening when we had
been walking together In the flower garden talking
Of Goethe; the clouds gathering in the west fore
selling bad weather, and signing wind was passing over
the fields. know not how 1t was that GOehes WORDS
Seuchten schwngen, West vie sehr ich dich beneide
came into my mind, and as we walked along repeated
them half to Marianne stood still, looked
for while with her bright aud moving grey blue eyes,
cit is one OF GOethes most beautiful ones" Marianne
something. but could not make up her mind do
IL viii tell you something" l called out suddenly
vo,Ts-yoa made III This suppositOn after an
not so very much ont Of the way That part ei n ns
knew besides what large share Marianne nad naa'
Hc, Rs s ecca II aS as not tell
body she began again after time. holding Out net
IL a surprise to % she then ended the CONVEX
saOn and the next morning was the day OF heE depar
From that place had letter. in which Tor the prst
relations win Goethe Frau Won STEM" she wrote 81
never knew; was never Weimar and Gothic first
IN tbc eSumry from the 18th Of August til the 9th
October 1915 got know him. and to love him. and III
four weeks before death in constant corresponds
with him. But his letters were quite different 70
those he wrote to Fran Won stem ana ~ seems 10 h
printed About six eight weeks before Goethes death
Sc sent me neatly tedup packet and wrote to Inc at
the same most afectonately saying that he sent
herewith my letters, aud begged me TO Keep the
packet unopened until the uncertain hour which, alas
must but too strike In the very hour that was
told of his death broke the seal, and found at once
some lines in ms handwriting. They are IN the new
edition, and wish 70 impose npon you the task OF nma
ing them" There difficulty about this The
poem Is tobe found among the posthnm0ns ones WI, V'
"Vor die Augen meiner Leben &c, Welniar' Msrch D.
In another letter she returned again to the subject Of
our conversation In the garden "ln the Dfvan tshe
nothing on nv conscience but The ost nnd WestwInde
'Hochbegluckt in dener Iebe, and Sag du hast wohi
eested and cIpeyiceed think I promised you n! the
original of the Westwmd il differs very little from the
printed version but stil significantly. May tins leaf be
leaf Of spring TO you and greet you st1ry JOE such
ON Of January, 1851 she writes still more to the
point -,,,. ,,,. ,o.,or Tho limos tho, ro, os,oo
for after all there is only which g.. altered, and
really do not know Why for think my own are really
more beautiful; and so not TO disappont your expec
tations TOO greatly also send you afew small bits which
then formed the greatest charm Of our correspondence
IN which the secret could not but be an essential ngre
dent Those which nave married OUT are from me the
Dyan Of HANS NON when you Ieaa IN an t5e
Diplonaten, il will no longer be secret writing 70
you. aud again have tOdyOr something more aDOutthe
happest time Of my life But why should DO SO just
ths evening when have already been struggling for an
hour with q bad pen and worse ink, is just because
&c This has excited me much that resolved to
write yOu and send you this inelosure which
looked for few days am possessed with the fee
ing that shall he longer able TO write TO you, so
want to make up for lost time and begin by sending
You this sheet Keep true to me, and be discreet aud re-
ysnsn,ber the little grandmother IN. W.
Enclosed this letter small sheet, on one side OF
which was written Ostwnd WiederSehn d. c. October
lk" WAS bedeutet die Bcwegungr &c, the poem TO
be found in the original edition of the "WestOstichen
ID
Grimm that the process might have been reversed and
that Frau Willemer made IL into Goethe,and water
I'm her copy 81 and TO its advantage either, 10 my
On the other side Of the leaf stood the other poem
Aeh um define feuehten schwngen," &C.. but IN this
oethe has altered very little "Hochbegluckt in deiner
Irbe which Marianne further confessed 20, stands at
page los In the "Diyan under the title OF "Suelka;"
and Sag hast wOhl Viel gedichted at page 49, I'M
A she saws that she has inspired much besides (which
che may have forgotten) we may surrey dT6ae 20 her
some others tile poems bearing the title OF Sueika"
For instance Ais ch auf dem Euphrat schfte" where
the last stanza doubt originally something differ
- ent: - . -,
BHt1t n Auge durch den Baum
~ Sag Poee sage GO.the,
~ bedeuiet dieser Tram
SimrOek first drew attention TO the necessary altera
fion here Hatem into Goethe, which quite
natural al il the poem "Haten." page l49:
Du bescl5nst vie MOrgeHrOthe,
Jtner Gpfe ernste Wand,
und pOch eums Aihet Goethe
Frnhisgshsueh aBd SonmeTbrsnd
The poem "Geheimschrft" follows at page l73. And
Immediately afterward answer TO the Afghan"
page 49, the poem entitled "Suleika" page III, :" Vie
anti nngstem Behagen &c; AZ the same time, Mari.
certain prudence she wished not 10 betray the full
tent Of her share in the Dyan" In time however her
letters will bring this TO light 1t is also clear that her
memory occasionally failed her. We must not forget
that Nananne over 20 when she made these commu
BcatiOus 10 me-