sufficient to have betrayed his incognito to more sagacious

eyes.

Plessing then with great agitation informed him that Goethe had not answered a most pressing and passionate letter in which he, Plessing, had described the state of his mind, and had implored direction and assistance. Goethe excused himself as he best could; but Plessing insisted on reading him the letters, that he might judge whether they deserved such treatment.

6

'Meanwhile,' says Goethe, the deplorable condition of this young man had become always clearer to me; he had never taken cognizance of the outward world; but had, on the contrary, cultivated his mind by multifarious reading, and directed inwards all his powers and affections; and in this way, as in the depths of his being he found no productive talent, he had gone far to ruin himself altogether; even the occupation and consolation which stand so gloriously open to us by employing ourselves with the ancient languages, seemed to be completely wanting to him.

As I had already proved, both in myself and others, that the best remedy in such cases is to throw ourselves with energy and faith upon Nature and her infinite variety, I immediately made the attempt to apply it in this case also; and after a little reflection answered him in the following way: "I think I understand why the young man, in whom you have placed so much confidence, has remained silent to you; for his present way of thinking is too different from yours to allow him to hope that you could come to any agreement with each other. I have myself been present during some conversations in the circle I spoke of, and have heard it maintained that a person can escape and save himself from a painful, selftorturing, gloomy state of mind, only by the contemplation

-

of Nature, and hearty sympathy with the outward world. Even the most general acquaintance with Nature, it does not signify in what way,- any active communication with it, either in gardening or farming, hunting or mining, draws us out of ourselves; the employment of mental energies upon real, actual appearances, gives us, by degrees, the greatest satisfaction, clearness and instruction; just as the artist who keeps true to Nature, and at the same time goes on cultivating his mind, is certain to succeed the best."

'My young friend appeared to get very restless and impatient at this, just as we do when we begin to be irritated at some foreign or entangled language, the meaning of which we cannot understand; on which I, without much hope of a successful result, but rather for the purpose of not remaining silent, went on speaking. To me especially, as a landscape painter, I said, did this appear evident, as my particular department of Art was in direct communication with Nature: however, since that time, I had observed with more assiduity and eagerness than previously, not only noted any remarkable natural landscapes and appearances, but felt myself more full of love for all things and all men. But in order that I might not lose myself in the abstract, I related how even this compulsory winter excursion, instead of being painful to me, had furnished me with lasting enjoyment. I described to him picturesquely and poetically, and still as truly and naturally as I was able, the course of my journey; I pictured the snow clouds which I saw that morning rolling above the mountains, with the most diversified appearances during the day-time; and then I presented to his imagination the curious turreted and walled fortifications of Nordhausen, as seen in the twilight; and further, in the nighttime, the torrents rushing down the mountain ravines,

their waters illuminated transiently, and glistening in the flickering light of the guide's lantern; and, last of all, the miners' cavern. But here he interrupted me with warmth, and assured me that he heartily regretted the trouble he had taken in going to see it, short as the distance was; it had not at all come up to the picture he had painted in his imagination. After what had passed, such morbid symptoms did not annoy me; for how often had I been obliged to learn that mortals throw away the valuable possession of a clear reality for a dismal phantom of their gloomy imaginations! Just as little did it astonish me, when he, in answer to my demand, "How he had pictured the cavern to himself?" gave a description of it, such as the boldest scene painter would scarcely have dared to represent as the forecourt of Pluto's empire.

'On this I tried some more propedeutic suggestions as expedients for effecting a cure; but these were rejected so emphatically, with the assurance that nothing in this world ever could or should content him, that my heart closed itself against him, and I felt my conscience, by the fatiguing journey I had undertaken on his account, and with the consciousness of the best intentions towards him, completely freed from the necessity of taking any further trouble about him. It was already late, when he wanted to read me the second still more passionate letter, which also was not unknown to me; but he accepted my apology for not wishing to listen to it then, from being too tired ; giving me at the same time an invitation to dinner the day afterwards, in the name of his family; an answer to which I told him I would give him early the next morning. And thus we parted in peace and quietness; his person leaving quite a peculiar impression behind. He was of middle size, his features had nothing attractive, but neither had they anything repulsive in them; his gloomy air had

nothing uncourteous about it; and he might, in fact, have passed for a well-educated young man, who had been preparing himself in retirement, in schools and academies, for the pulpit and professor's chair.

'On going out, I found the sky quite cleared up, and twinkling with stars, the streets and squares covered with snow; and I stopped upon a narrow bridge, and stood quietly surveying the surrounding objects in the wintry night. At the same time I revolved the adventure in my mind, and felt myself quite resolved not to see the young man again; in pursuance of which I ordered my horse at daybreak, delivered an anonymous and apologetic slip of paper to the waiter, to whom I was able, at the same time to say many things in praise of the young person to whom he had introduced me, and which were quite true besides, and of which, no doubt, the dexterous fellow made good use, for his own purposes. I now rode along the northeast slopes of the Harz, in wild, stormy weather, with the snow-flakes drifting around me, after having first seen the Rammelsberg, the brass-foundry, and other establishments of that kind.'*

He was subsequently able to assist Plessing, who, on visiting him at Weimar, discovered his old acquaintance, the landscape painter. † But the characteristic part of this

* Campaign in France; translated by Robert Farie. With reference to the above narrative, some slight inaccuracy in the details (at which no one will be surprised on hearing that it was written fifteen years subsequent to the occurrence) is indicated by the Diary, fragments of which are published in the Stein correspondence: one entry is, 'With Plessing rambled among the mountains.'

† In 1788, Plessing was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the University of Duisburg, where Goethe visited him on his return home from the campaign in France, 1792. The reader may be interested to know, that Plessing entirely outlived his morbid melancholy, and

is,

anecdote and that which makes me cite it here the practical illustration it gives of his fundamental realism, which looked to nature and earnest activity as the sole cure for megrims sentimentalisms and self-torturings. Turn your mind to realities, and the self-made phantoms which darken your soul will disappear like night at the approach of dawn.

In the January of the following year (1778) Goethe was twice brought face to face with Death. The first was during a boar-hunt; his spear snapped in the onslaught, and he was in imminent peril, but fortunately escaped. On the following day, while he and the Duke were skating (perhaps talking over that very escape), there came a crowd over the ice, bearing the corpse of the unhappy Fräulein von Lassberg, who, in the despair of unrequited love, had drowned herself in the Ilm, close by the very spot where Goethe was wont to take his evening walk. At all times this would have been a shock to him, but the shock was greatly intensified by the fact that in the pocket of the unfortunate girl was found a copy of Werther ! * It is true we absolve an author in such cases. No reflecting man ever reproached Plato with the suicide of Cleombrotus, or Schiller with the brigandage of highwaymen. Yet when fatal coincidences occur, the author, whom we absolve, cannot so lightly absolve himself. It is in vain to argue that the work does not, rightly con

became a respectable name in German letters. His principal works are, Osiris und Socrates, 1783; Historische und Philosophische Untersuchungen über die Denkart Thelogie und Philosophie der ältesten Völker, 1785; and Memnonium, oder Versuche zur Enthüllung der Geheimnisse des Alterthums, 1787. He died 1806.

* Riemer, who will never admit anything that may seem to tell against his idol, endeavors to throw a doubt on this fact, saying it was reported only out of malice. But he gives no reasons.