The sun., 1890-01-26

other passages In these same newly published
letters contain instructions to Frau Won Stein
respecting tho letters which he Intended to
wrto to her from Italy. and the diary OF his
travels which he promised to sond to her from
time to time Tho whole spirit Of tho letters
Is one OF love and confidence, and the same
spirt marks his first letter from Italy dated at
Verona, Sept. 1s, and which also appeared In
1880 for the first timo:
On little ealct give my beloved n sign OF life, with
out yet telling hor where am am wolL and wish
every good that enjoy to share with thee wish which
often me with longing
Tell nobody anything OF what you receive Itis for
the present for thee alone
Greet mo Fritz 1t troubles inc often that he IL noe
with mo. Had known what now know had brought
him with mo.
From Venice. In October he writes in sim-
liar strain, and them in the old collection, We
find the following. dated at Terni, Oct. 81:
Again sitting in cavern which n year ago suffered
an earthquake, direct my prayer to thee my dear
guardian angel. feel for the nrst time how
spoiled have been living ten with thee loved By
thee, and now In strange world. foresaw it ana
only the highest necessity couid compel me to make
the decision.
Let us have other thought than to end our lives
together
This last sentence indicates that he had not
yet given up hone of persuadlng his beloved to
link herself to him permanently, and In all the
letters which he wrote to her from Italy. simis
lar expressions OF devotion abound.
vi.
But, Goethe, as Frau Won Steln seems to
have foreboded, had unconsciously to himself,
entered upon an experience which was des-
tined 10 produce fundamental revolution
In his character, and TO break up forever
his tender rotations with his beloved. His
stay In Italy, which was originally in.
tended to last only six months. was
prolonged to year and finally to nearly
two years. He visited picture galleries, palaces,
and cities he studied art music, and science,
he became acquainted with hosts OF distin.
Ruished men, and, what was more destructive
than anything elso to Frau STEMS domin.
ion over him. he fell desperately in love with a
pretty girl from Milan. When, therefore. in
Junes17 he returned to Weimar, he was no
longer the same Goethe that he was when he
went away His twenty-five months OF absence
had dono the work OF az many years. His friends
noticed the change and. as was natural he
thought it had taken place in them. Frau Won
Stein especially, who during his absence had
been saddened by the death Of her son Ernest,
he reproached with receiving him coldly. and
he WIS particularly offended because she res
fused to listen to the revelations which. with q
singular want Of delcacy, he offered to make
her concerning his Italian love affair." He
could not comprehend how repulsive to
woman OF refinement such stories are, and she.
on her part. was properly disgusted with his
coarseness He proceeded to justify her
opinion OF his deterioration by taking. In prac-
tical though not formal marriage. ChEistiana
Vulpius curly-haired, red-cheeked. plump
young woman. whose only merits were her
health. physical beauty. and skill In house,
Eoeping Within less than a month he had In.
stalled this woman in his house, and was living
with her as his wife. Frau Won Stein did not
learn of the relation between the pair until
some months after it had begun. and then. ais
though Goethe blunderngly tried to convince
her that it would not conflict with his devotion
to her, she insisted that he must give up either
Christiane or herself. He naturally, stood By
his new love, and. thereafter. for years. his in-
tercourse with Frau Won Stein was purely
formal. He met her at court ana at friends
houses. but she treated him as q stranger.
How keeny Frau Won Stein felt Goethes un4
faithfulness may readily be imagined. 1t was
to her a calamity worse than his death. The
dead are buried out OF sight, and their mem.
ory is refined and glorihed by the very affec-
tion which they inspired. But the living,
changed for the worse. and, as 1t were. carica-
turing the ideal We once had Of them, are a
constant thorn in the flesh. What they are re-
minds us only too painfully of what they once
were. and does not allow the wounded heart to
heal. This the effect produced upon
Frau Won Stein by the presence OF Goethe
after his return from Italy. Caroline Won
Beulwitz writes OF her TO Schiller in 1889: "She
is sunk in deep grief over her relations with
Goethe, and. so. appeared to me truer and more
harmonious than in unnatural indifference or
contempt" In 1891 Frau Won Stein herself
writes TO her son Fritz: Write to Goethe:
there are already letters from the living to the
dead" In 1895 she says to Schillers wife:
1T seems to me as If l had for some
years been shut up in South Sea
island. and had only just begun TO
think OF tho way home" In another letter
to Schiers wife in 1896 she says. referring
to Ilerder's cynicism: Nothing cures one Of
such condition like having a really painful
experience. Thus was l. by Goethe's de-
parture, cured OF all my previous sorrows.
can boar everything and forgive everything"
But with all this she showed u certain degree
OF feminine piQue. Even the Grand Duchess
Louise had to chide her for the bitterness
with which she spoke OF her old lover, and her
resentment against the woman who had taken
him from her knew no bounds. She called her
- that creature. Goethe's demoisee," and as
late as 1901 she wrote to her son Iritz that
Goethe had passed her in the park with his
" "chanbermail" at his side. and that she put
up her parasol to avoid saluting him. She
even ridicued Goethe's own personal ap-
pearance, saying in n letter to Fritz.
IN 1i9U, that he seemed 10 her TO nave
grown horribly fat" and. as If referring
10 his own phrase in his letter from Carlsbad
ot Aug. 2l. 1776, before quoted she remarks:
He has indeel gone back to the earth from
whence We were taken" Elsewhere she calls
him poor Goethe" and the fat prvy couna
,illor, and says that she pities him. His lit
,rary productions she deprecated In the
same way. She finds them inferior In reiIe-
nent and elevation to his eaflier works, and
says OF Hermann and DorotAea." which
appeared in l797 :" 1t is a pity that the illu-
sion OF the wife who cooks al the cleanly
Iearth should be DESTROYED by Miss Vulpius."
speaking OF the second part OF " Wilhelm Meis.
er" published in 1896. she also characterized
he lamnle personages in 1t as women OF inde.