Morals in obeying the law of its own movement. Hence Genius and Morality are not always synonymous; neither are they antagonistic. Genius is good and great, and, in its greatness and its goodness, seeks the eternal principles of order, seeks to make life harmonious; but the slenderest acquaintance with Biography tells us that genius is not always found respecting minor morals, and that the Biographies of men of genius are very unlike moral tales.' Nor to bring this reflection to bear upon the question from which we started are the conjugal chapters in such Biographies by any means the pleasantest to read: Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Byron, are not easily to be surpassed as poets, but as husbands it would require a race of Griseldas to accept them with any favor.

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I believe, then, that the Egoism of Genius, which dreaded marriage as the frustration of a career, had much to do with Goethe's renunciation of Frederika; not consciously, perhaps, but powerfully. Whether the alarm was justifiable is another question, and is not to be disposed of with an easy phrase. It is mere assumption to say marriage would have crippled his genius.' Had he loved her enough to share a life with her, his experience of woman might have been less extensive, but it would assuredly have gained an element it wanted. It would have been deepened. He had experienced, and he could paint, (no one better) the exquisite devotion of woman to man; but he had scarcely ever felt the peculiar tenderness of man for woman, when that tenderness takes the form of vigilant protecting fondness. He knew little, and that not until late in life, of the subtle interweaving of habit with affection, which makes life saturated with love, and love itself become dignified through the serious aims of life. He knew little of the exquisite companionship of two souls striving in emulous spirit of loving rivalry to

become better, to become wiser, teaching each other to soar. He knew little of this; and the kiss, Frederika ! he feared to press upon thy loving lips - the life of sympathy he refused to share with thee are wanting to the greatness of his works.

In such a mood as that which followed the rupture with Frederika, it is not wonderful if Frankfurt and the practice of law were odious to him. Nothing but hard work could do him good and he worked hard. We find him working at Götz von Berlichingen, which has become a passion. Gothic Art, a kindred subject, occupies him, and from thence, by an easy transition, he passes to the Bible, to study it anew. The results of this study are seen in two little tractates published in 1773, one called Brief des Pastor's zu *** an den neuen Pastor zu ***; the other, Zwo wichtige bisher unerörtete biblische Fragen, zum erstenmal gründlich beantwortet von einem Landgeistlichen in Schwaben. The influence of Fräulein von Klettenberg is here traceable in the religious sentiment and reverence for the Bible; while his own affectionate nature speaks in the tolerance preached. In the two biblical questions, one goes to prove that it was not the ten commandments which stood on the tables of Moses, but ten laws of the Israelitish-Jehovah covenant. The second is an answer, by no means clear, to the question: 'What is it to speak with tongues?' which he explains as а 'speech of the Spirit, more than pantomime, and yet inarticulate.'

Among the friends to whom he communicated his plans and ideas, two must be named: Schlosser, whom we have seen at Leipsic, and Merck, whose influence was very beneficial. The portrait sketched of this remarkable man in the Autobiography gives a very incorrect idea to those who cannot control what is there said by other direct evi

dence; especially calculated to mislead is the nickname 'Mephistopheles Merck,' for whatever tendency to sarcasm Merck may have indulged in, it is quite clear that his admiration was generous and warm, his influence over Goethe being uniformly one of friendly incitement, or of friendly warning.

Johann Heinrich Merck was born in Darmstadt, 1741. The son of an apothecary, he raised himself to the companionship of princes. He was at this time Kriegsrath in Darmstadt, and in correspondence with most of the notabilities of the day; among them Herder, who had the highest opinion of his abilities, and the most jealous anxiety to retain his friendship, fearing lest the new friendship with Goethe should step between them; as, indeed, eventually it did. Merck, whose significance in the history of German literature is considerable, and whose correspondence shows him to have critically influenced men greatly his superiors in production, was one of the most zealous propagators of English literature. He began by translating Hutcheson On Beauty, Addison's Cato, and Shaw's Travels in the Levant. The Shakespeare neophytes found him prepared to share their enthusiasm ; and when, in 1772, he persuaded Schlosser to undertake the editing of the Frankfurter Gelehrten Anzeigen, and to 157 make it the Moniteur of the Sturm und Drang party, his own contributions were numerous and valuable.* His official duties do not seem to have pressed very heavily upon him, for he makes frequent excursions, and seems to have stayed some time at Frankfurt. The friendship between him and Goethe was warm. He saw more deeply than Herder into this singular genius, and on many critical

*See for further information the excellent work of Adolf Stahr: Johann Heinrich Merck. Ein Denkmal.

occasions we find him always manifesting a clear insight, and a real regard.

The Frankfurter Gelehrten Anzeigen was a point of reunion, bringing Goethe into relation with many persons of ability. It also afforded him an opportunity of exercising himself in criticism. Thirty-five of the articles he wrote for this journal have been collected into his works, where the curious student will seek them. Thus engaged, the time flew swiftly. He had recommenced horse and sword exercise, and Klopstock having made skating illustrious, it soon became the amusement of our friends. Goethe was

never tired; all day long and deep into the night he was to be seen wheeling along; and as the full moon rose above the clouds over the wide nocturnal fields of ice, and the night wind rushed at his face, and the echo of his movements came with ghostly sound upon his ear, he seemed to be in Ossian's world.

It has before been hinted that Sturm und Drang, as it manifested itself in the mind and bearing of the young doctor, was but very moderately agreeable to the old Rath Goethe; and whatever sympathy we may feel with the poet, yet, as we are all parents, or hope to be, let us not permit our sympathy to become injustice; let us admit that the old Rath had considerable cause for parental uneasiness, and let us follow the son to Wetzlar without flinging any hard words at his father.

/

Valler bombing "Que as hell "Soundon 1883, a 10. mance of the ongs of queting.

ALTHOUGH Götz was not published until the spring of 1773, it was written in the winter of 1771, or, to speak more accurately, the first of the three versions into which the work was shaped, was written at this time. We must bear in mind that there are three versions: the first is entitled the Geschichte Gottfriedens von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, dramatisirt,* which was not published until very many years afterwards. The second is entitled Götz von Berlichingen, Schauspiel,† and is the form in which the work was originally published. The third is an adaptation of this second piece, with a view to stage representation, which adaptation was made with Schiller during the efforts to create a national stage at Weimar.‡

The first form is the one I most admire, and the one which, biographically, has most interest. While he is on his way to Wetzlar we will open his portfolio, and take out this manuscript for closer scrutiny, instead of waiting till he publishes the second version. From a letter to Salzmann we learn that it was written in November, 1771. 'My whole genius is given to an undertaking which

* Werke, vol. xxxiv, of the edition of 1840. † Werke, vol. ix.

Werke, vol. xxxv.