New-York tribune., 1912-08-16

Importance OF Caroline Schlegers col
laboration with her husband on his
/ TRANSACTIONS Of Shakespeare there can
be no doubt, and she certainly inspired
his brother, as later on she greatly
forwarded the career OF SchellinP.
These four women gathered around
them and corresponded with the great
est men Of their time-Goethe. Schiller.
the Humboldts, Borne, Fichte, Cent?,
Tieck. Jean Paul Richter. Schleier-
macher, and. later. Hegel, De la Motto
Fouque, Chamisso. Heine, Princes
of the blood, ambassadors, foreign
| celebrities fiocked 10 them. IF l
stayed here" said Nine. de Stael 20
| Rahel Varnhagen, Il should envy yopr
superiority" Instead, she carried VIII
helm Schlegel away with her 10 Cop
pet. after the temperamental Caroline
| had divorced him and married Schel-
ling, the suitor of her dead daughter.
whose birth had been the cause Of her
ostracism I'm earlier years.
Henriette Herr, like Nine Recamier,
| lived TO an extreme old age. The poet
! Borne, who. as O youth, had wor-
shipped her Junoesque beauty. lament
| ed the disillusion of his last visit to
her, after a long absence, when she
was siXtyfour. To the very last she
continued her charitable educational
work among the children Of families
/ impoverished by the Napoleonic wars,
! In which, moreover, she had dstin
/ guished herself with Rahel Varnhagen
/ by her courage In nursing the wounded
| IN the plague-infested hospitals. Be-
fore her death she destroyed the letters
| she had received from her many ia
nous admirers, the first and foremost
, Of them all having been the great theo-
logian Schleiermacher. Rahel retained
! her intellectual charm to the last. She
had never been beautiful. Grillparzer
reports that, when he called on her in
her flfty-sixth year. he felt dead
| tired. but my fatigue vanished, or,
rather, ii gave way TO ecstasy. She
talked until nearly midnight, and
never heard any one talk so well, or In
such an interesting manner" The re-
aNstic Young Germany movement
found her responsive. She spent her
last days with the writings of the
| mystics Saint Martin and Angelus
! Sileslus.
The opinion may be hazarded here,
without fear of overwhelming contra
| dlction, that TO the non-German world
at least, Goethe Is becoming somewhat
OF bore Not the poet. Of course but
the man, and especially the lifelong
seeker after amatory experiences
Rahel Varnhagen could sympathize
with the infatuation of the aged
Cent? for the youthful Fannie Ellsler,
and congratulate him upon being still
capable OF a real and lasting affection,
| but her attitude toward the mans senile
passion was the exception that proved
the rule OF the worlds opinion in such
cases, even In their romantic day. AS
matter of fact, the more deeply enthu-
siasts delve into Goethe's private life,
+ the less attractive does he appear TO
those able to distinguish between man
and his work, however subjective It's
content. The Goethe who, on the brink
of the grave, desired to marry child
In her teens is not pleasant object
10 contemplate. The biographer may
learn much from the study of his
works; the lover OF his works will find
but little prohtable--or sesthetic-nour-
rshment in the study OF his life. not
even when he is reading Faust the
most subjective Of the worlds great
epics. Its wider meanings suffice. 1t