The New York herald., 1921-06-19

consequence was his passion for
of a pastor at Sessenheim. Goethe was
then living in Strassburg, some
twenty miles distant. Goethe may
have loved Friederike. She inspired
many of his perfect lyrics, he suffered
great pangs of self-reproach at leav-
ing her, and his autobiography pays
great tribute to her memory. There
can be no doubt that Friederike loved
him. Their parting almost cost her
her life" And when, some eight years
later during a trip abroad, Goethe was
moved to visit Friederike he was cor
daily received by the entire Brion
household. He writes to Frau Won
Stein: II stayed the night and len
next morning at daybreak, parting
from friendly faces, so that can once
again think of that corner Of the
world with a contented mind, and be
no longer haunted by the memory of
those souls unreconciled." One of the
most notable facts about this mans
career is the amazing rarity Of re-
sentiment reused in others by his be-
havior.
Goethe first went to Weimar osten-
sibly to visit the merry Duke of that
joyful court for an Indefinite period.
But he was not there long before he
was appointed Councillor of Legation
at Weimar, and it is this Weimar
period of Goethe's life that is so
closely linked with the name Of Char
lotte Won Stein. From the beginning
to the end Of their relation there was
to be a conflict of wills, and, as neither
would wholly surrender to the other,
the breach was sooner or later bound
to come" 1t came ten years later,
when Goethe went to Italy after he
had finished his duties at Weimar.
1t was two years before Goethe re-
turned to Weimar and then we hear
of Christiane Vulpius, 23 and singu-
larly beautiful who maintained her
self by working in a flower factory.
Christiane had a brother who was
something of a writer, and she first
sought Goethes aid in his behalf.
Soon she came to live with Goethe
in his Weimar house. and though they
were legally married eventually, it was
not until eighteen years afterward
In the twenty-seven years of their
union Goethe spoke often of his love
for Christiane, and of his pleasant
household relations" He wrote and
read verses to her, tried to enlist her
interest in his work and would seem
not to have neglected her, even when
absent. And, If we are to accept
Goethe's own words, Christiane's death
was an exceedingly great loss to him.
Since Goethe has been subjected to
severe criticism and censure because
of his relations with women, Prof.
Hume Brown has given due consider
alton to that phase of his life But
larger part OF these volumes is de-
voted to Goethe's many friends, his
creed, the influences of his day and
the strength and weakness Of his per-
sonality. Due weight is given Goethe's
achievements In science and the biog-
rapher presents comprehensive analy-
ses Of the intent, scope and philosophy
of Goethe's writings. Prof Hume
Brown finds distinct relationship be-
tween Goethe's personal life and that
depicted in his various heroes, and re-
minds us that Goethe himself asserts
that throughout his life he was unable
to break himself of "the tendency to
transmute into a picture or a poem
whatever gave me either pleasure or
pain or otherwise preoccuped me,
thus to arrive at judgment regard
ing 1t, with the object at once of recti-
flying my ideas of things external to
me and of calming my own feelings"
And this accounts in a measure for
the fact that in Goethe's writings rea-
son invariably dominates art.
In wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre.'
according to Prof. Hume Brown,
Goethe made "a deliberate attempt to