New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-30

feeling that this pretty Gretchen was something of
| q coquette and amused herself with the eager and
sensitive boy She gave her hand. he says, " TO
no one. not even to me she allowed no touch; yet
she many times seated herself near me- particularly
| when l wrote or read aloud and then laying her
arm Familiarity upon my shoulder she looked over
| the book or paper. If, however, ventured on
similar freedom toward her, she withdrew and
would not soon return. This position she often re-
peated. and indeed all her attitudes and motions
were very uniform, but always equally fitting,
| beautiful and charming But such familiarity /
never saw her practise toward anybody else"
| Nothing came of this boyish passion. My affection
for him was merely that of sister" she said after
ward when her family were in scrape about GER
tain forgeries; " treated him as a child" Goethe
was in despair. He gave himself up to grief. He
could not sleep; his inights were spent III weeping
| lie could not leave off the bad habit of thinking
| about Gretchen. Finally he resolved to put on the
man, and stopped raving and weeping. He thought
| it frightful that be should sacrifice sleep. repose
and health, for the sake of girl who pleased
| to consider him babe and to imagine herself with
respect to me- something very much like nurse"
lie had recourse in this trouble, to activity of body
and of mind He read he studied he went oil
| upon long walking excursions; and at last, and
best of ALL he sought the University of Lelpslc we
read this pretty romance of Gretchen with de
| lightful sense of its natural honesty. What clever
| and precocious boy has not been in the same
troubled Who is there who has not had his
| Gretchen. and who, when the pulses have grown
slower, and the head wiser for we will say nothing
| of the heart has not looked back upon just such
| sweet delusOn, and wondered at folly winch per-
| haps was not so foolish after all
| il must be confessed that the chapters which
record the life of Goethe at Lepsic are not very
| Rut ha no
an indifference as if he wished to set foot
in it again." There is great wisdom in his subse
quent reflection: Thus at certain epochs children
Iart from paTents. servants from masters, pr0GgG
from their patrons: and whether it succeed or not
such an attempt TO stand upon ones feet to make
ones self independent to live for ones SELF is al
ways in accordance with the will of nature" At
the university he thought he knew as much OF the
thing ITSELF of the world, of God" as the professors
themselves. "Yet" he says, all went in tOlerable
order till toward ShrOvetide when, in the neighbour
hood of Professor Winklers house on tho Thomas
place. the most delicious frtters hot out of the
pan just at the hour of lecture; and these de-
layed us so long that our notebooks became dis
ordered and the conclusion Of them. toward spring,
melted away, together with the snow, and was lost
But do not know anything more like Goethe than
the space which he dcvOtes TO an account OF his
wardrobe upon going to the university. /" One
must always pay the entrance fee" he observes
"when one changes ones place and comes into
new position" The first thing that the ladies'
blamed him for related to his dress for he had
come to college rather oddly equipped, as so
many students do now and here. His father had
way of employing tailors for his dOmestics, and
Obliged them 70 make not only their own lveries
bat the clothes for himself and his children.
store of stufls kept in the house for this pur
pose. Goethe went to Leipsic, as he thought
sufficiently well dressed. but his female friends
soon convinced him, first by gentle raillery, then
by gentle remonstTance that he looked as II he had
dropped down out of another world" When he saw
his own costume the comic actors at the theatre,
he exchanged his whole wardrobe for new-fash-
ioned one suited TO the place. Then, too, came that
other time which comes to most precocious poets,
when he conceived absolute contempt for his
poems and burned them all. He made the sacrifice
cheerfully and ends his account of it with Joke.
The manuscripts were burned upon the kitchen
hearth: the smoke filed the whole house and his
good old landlady was thrown into terrible fright
Here too we have another of Goethe's many love
episodes. The affection for Gretchen was trans
ferred to Anette who was "yOung, handsome,
sprightly, loving, and so agreeable that she well
deserved to be set up for time as a little saint
He began by fooling He was i'll at ease respecting
his poems and the failure of his poetica attempts.
loved him. and did whatever she could to please
him. His conduct alienated her heart, and then he
first felt that he really loved her and could not
bear to lose her. He seems 10 have gone on tor
mentng himself in this way not seldom during his
whole life. But distrcsses more substantial over
took Goethe after his return from Lepsc to Frank
fort It is all in the autobiography. and anybody
can read there how he was much troubled with
tumor IN his neck, and how it was eradIcatcd by
continual touching with lunar caustic and other
corrosive substances Worse than all, his digestion
was disturbed fact more important to hin than
perhaps It IS to us. HIS doctor had discovered a
mysterious medicine the composition of which he
would confde 10 nobody. More than this he would
give it to nobody until Goethes mother persuaded
him to administer il to her son. 1t proved TO be
crystalized dry salt and had n decidedly alkaline
taste. Goethe thinks that ii did him a great deal Of
good and he himself tried many chemical expert
ments. and attempted to produce neutral salts in
an unheard of way 1t always took very little pro-
vocation TO sead him TO experiments, and We are
not surprised to learn tnat his tedtu illness in
clined him to medical studies lie is always ready
to talk of his diseases; and little further along
there is the history Of throat distempcr, to cure
which he was .crmcnted with Gargcs and hair
pencils He defends his taste for medicinal re-
searches which he continued to indulge when he
went to Strasburg, by saying: Medicine employs
the whole man for it occupies itself with the whole
man." SO he took a course in chemistry, ana an
other in anatomy But just then another event di-
verted his thoughts. Poor Marie Antoinette passed
through Strasburg on her way to Paris. Z" yet re-
member WE'LL he says. the beautcous and lofty
men as cheerful as was inspiring, OF this youthful
lady. Perfectly visible to all, in her glass car
rage. she seemed to he testing with her female at
PENDANTS, in familiar conversation about the throng
which poured forth TO meet her train" He men
tons the singular circumstance that, "before the
Queens arrival the very rational regulation had
been made that no deformed persons, no crpplcs,
nor disgusting individuals should show themselves
on her routan And this for the sake of one at whom