The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-27

Schwab, Kernor. &C., but, although no was Z
great admirer Of Goethe. hc seems to have In
CURED his displeasuro and to have been brought
into personal collision with tho elder and
greater poet. As It happened. Goethe had trans
lated some modern Crock songs. after which
William Muller published a German version Of
the whole Of Faurier's collection of Greek popu.
lar poetry. Goethe did not like comparisons be-
tween his work and that of anybody else, least
Of all that of a young man. Our author suggests
that die sch5ne M1llerin may also have
seemed to Goethe an encroachment on a domain
peculiarly his own. At all events, when William
Muller. with his wife, went to weimnr to
pay their respects to Goethe, his Excel.
lcncy was somewhat stiff and cold. Per-
haps the lady was not sufficiently deferential.
She was, as We have said. the granddaughter Of
the famous pedagogue Basedow. the reformer
OF national education in Germany, who had been
a friend OF Goethe in his youth. but of whom the
latter subsequently complained bitterly In his
"DichturR und Wahrheit," as being never with.
out a pipe in his mouth, and as lighting his
pipe with most malodorous finder. Now, the
author shall tell us what occurre at Weimar:
MY mother. when asked by Goethe what had
been her maiden name WAS fur elmo geborene],
could not resist the temptation of replying, with
a laugh. Your Excellency ought to scent it; 1
am the granddaughter of Basedow.'" Luckily.
the lady was very beautiful. and 80 the liberty
she had taken was forgiven as far as she was
concerned. but the relations between her hus-
band and Goethe remained rather strained.
or Heine, our author is constrained to say
ridf tantum-"I have seen him. That is all I
can say. as Saul saw Samuel and wished he had
not seen him." AS a matter OF fact, Heine was
younger than our authors father. and evidently
looked up to him as his master. II love no
lyric poet" he wrote. excepting Goethe, so
much as Wilhelm Muller" Max Muller never
saw Heine but once, and 1t was under the fol-
lowing circumstances: II knew he was in Paris
when 1 was there in 1916, but he was already
In such q state of physical collapse that a
friend of mine who knew him we'll and
saw him from time to time advised me not to 90
and see hin. However, one afternoon, as I and
my friend were sitting on the Boulevard near
the Rue Richelieu, slipping a cup of coffee.
Look there he said; there comes Helmet I
jumped up to see. My friend stopped him and
told him who I was. 1t was a sad sight. He
was bent down and dragged himself slowly
along his spare. grayish hair was hanging
round his emaciatod face. there was no light in
his eyes. He lifted one Of his paralyzed eyelids
with his hands and looked at me. For a time.
like the blue sky breaking from behind gray
October clouds. there passed a friendly expires.
sion across his face, as II he thought of days long
gone by. Then he moved on. mumbling a line
y" "ocIno II ooep' broken. ana yet clear
ueo' q "ppeaiihs ior sympathy: Das Maui.
'n'i ~ III Dusterh semen veg. Thus
' author B Ken the most spark
,ink poeto / germany and, though he regretted
having seen him thus. he could not but re.
mem Der that men travel far to see the ruins of
Ponipeii, and surely the ruins of a mind such as
Heine's are as sad and grand a spectacle as are
the pillars and temples shrouded under the lava
VI ,eou'ius, Fine schone wet ist da YER
suhken' SAID our author to himself. and went
"a we'll tno,yn ~, Ill -
-. 80 lH"'' ~ o " "erman poets
few. on the otber hand hoYo 49, as" Ivy
assaulted ms Heine Mar NJr1Ior doo, ~. 80"
society's right Tn frowp q bin ~ h.su-Io..
that against ~certa,n caIum,isa H. wo,o Ls..Hs
on him It ia we'll to recall some NJ Tho ,oet H..
he wrote. in which he nrots.ts that 49,.
maiden was tho wors. ,,r 49, -. -
no. nor anv married woman nrovid.d y. n.I'
her to be married.
u.,,
Mir r,.h.szos, nj, So.s-nN
lob boh, arch NJ. It, w. n.-n""
WHIST, ich das, ale v.rms,Is,s -,
with these words In mind. that were evidently
meant oy Helne as an answer to his enemies. our
author asks why people will always be spying
INTO the most undressing part of a poets life.
why are they bent on knowing precisely on
what terms Dante stood to Beatrice, Petrarch to
Laura. Goethe to Frau Won Stein. Heine to
George Sand. Volumes have been written on
their intimate relations, and yet whom does 1t
concern and what can 1t teach usi Let the dead
bury their dead
Among the German political poets OF the Sec
ona quarter OF this century our author thinks
that Herwegh was one of tho best. and recalls
especially the poem in which every verse ended
with tho words:
VIII haben lang genuR Reliebt.
wir wolIen endlich hassen.
and he ouotes M ,sno,b somo ,.ouu,u, u.
ginning "Icb mncbto binaohon IT, a." 80
drotb." Another and moro ,or.o,s Soi.,oA,
poet. whose ecouaintance No MAIL 800
when he was an old man WA. >Tan,,. 80
"His poetry was mt verv oro., b., ~
which he nroduced nv bts W. a. 80 !.
yaterland T. has beon and 10 Iii DouSH"
marvelIous II R,smoro a,,os poIieo',
Germany Arndt loid The torndot.a
l. VI '"hus