IT

I.

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF

GOETHE

is told of the philosopher Hegel that he once complained because so few understood his writings. "Of all living men," he said, "there is but one who has understood me; and," he added, after a moment's reflection, "he misunderstood me." The common judgment of a man who spoke thus would be that he was himself at fault, that his utterance was needlessly obscure, since it failed to appeal to ordinary human intelligence. In Hegel's case such a judgment would not have been far wrong. German philosophers, as a rule, cultivate involved obscurity of diction, and perhaps even pride themselves on their unintelligibility.

But for all that it is not to be denied that there is a region of thought which lies beyond the range of the ordinary intellect, and which is none the less exalted and beautiful because of its inaccessibility to the multitude. The fact that you or I do not see anything in works of this or that poet, does not, of necessity, prove that there is nothing in them. That which you or I do not understand is not on that ac

count unintelligible. If the second part of "Faust" fails to convey any meaning to the ordinary omniscient critic of the daily papers, it is generally supposed that the second part of "Faust" stands thereby condemned. That Goethe has opened a new realm of thought to which even a college degree is not necessarily a passport, that he has in "Faust' expounded a deep philosophy of life, for the comprehension of which a more than ordinary largeness of vision and grasp of intellect are required, is scarcely dreamed of by the herd of shallow, nimblewitted critics who pat him kindly on the shoulder and compare him blandly with Byron, Coleridge, and Wordsworth.

Of English writers only Carlyle seems to have had an adequate conception of Goethe's greatness, although he, too, was certainly at variance with the fundamental principles which underlay his hero's life and poetic activity. That he unconsciously distorted the meaning of “ "Faust is very obvious to any student of Goethe who reads his essay on "Helena."

وو

It was the direct purpose of Goethe to be the intellectual deliverer of his age, as he distinctly avowed to Eckermann when he said that the name which he would prefer to all others was "Befreier." The tendency of his life and his writings, after his return from Italy, is all in the same direction. They all teach, even where no didactic purpose is apparent, that liberty is attainable, not by defiance of moral and physical law, but by obedience to it; that

happiness is to be found only in a cheerful acquiescence in the rationality of existence. In this lesson there is deliverance to him who properly estimates and apprehends it. Thus barrenly stated it sounds commonplace enough to us of the nineteenth century; but it is largely due to Goethe's influence that it has become so generally accepted. Before "Faust" was written there were few who would have been able to defend such a proposition, even though they might profess to accept it.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in Frankforton-the-Main, August 28, 1749. His family, a few generations back, had been plain artisans, and had by dint of talent and energy risen to prosperity and social importance. Goethe's father had inherited a respectable fortune, enjoyed a good education, and had travelled considerably in his own country and in Italy. He was a stern and methodical man, rigidly upright, impatient of all irregularities, and somewhat pedantic in his habits and opinions. His bearing was dignified, his disposition despotic. At the age of thirty-eight he married Katharine Elizabeth, daughter of the Magistrate Textor, and bought the title of Imperial Counsellor. There were no duties connected with this office, but it conferred a social rank which in those days was highly prized. The young wife whom the counsellor installed in his spacious house in the Hirschgraben was a contrast to him in almost everything. She was genial and full of wholesome mirth. Her culture was probably moderate enough, but she possessed a

nature which compensated for all deficiencies of education. An exuberant fancy, inexhaustible goodhumor, and an ever- ready mother-wit made her the most delightful of companions; and no one valued more highly her many charming gifts than her son Johann Wolfgang. As he grew out of infancy she became his playmate and friend, and the confidant of his boyish sorrows. She listened with delight to his improvisations, and secretly took his part in his occasional rebellion against the paternal authority.

In the invention of stories she was an expert; her serials ran from evening to evening, and were continued ad libitum. Goethe and his sister Cornelia would then tell them at second-hand to their Grandmother Textor, indulging in conjectures as to the future course of events, and expressing their hopes for a satisfactory ending. These speculations Grandmother Textor would again confide to her daughter, who would then take care to make Wolfgang's conjectures come true, meting out the most gratifying justice to the villain, and to suffering virtue an ample reward.

Frau Aja, as she was called, became in later years, as her son's fame grew, a character in German literature. His friends became her friends, and no one of any consequence passed through the city of Frankfort without stopping to pay his respects to her. Her cheerful view of life, her absolute refusal to entertain gloomy subjects, her easy-going desire to please and be pleased made her a universal favor

ite. Previous to her death (1808) she arranged the minutest details of her funeral, even warning her servants not to skimp the raisins in the cake, with which the guests were to be regaled. Receiving an invitation to a party, as she felt the approach of death, she returned the answer that "Madame Goethe could not come, because she was, just then, engaged in dying."

Goethe's father seems to have inspired most biographers with ill-will. And yet he was, though less lovable than his wife, a well-endowed, conscientious, and estimable man. That he was a sterner disciplinarian than his wife (who herself declared that she was unfit to educate anybody) was a fortunate circumstance for his children. For Frau Aja systematically spoiled them, indulging all their whims, and granting all their wishes, if they would only be pleasant and not cry. There is plenty of evidence that the counsellor had a great ambition for his son, and took a deep interest in his education. He corrected and criticised his drawings, directed his studies, watched his progress, and expressed his displeasure when the boy failed to come up to his expectation. Fortunate is the boy who has such a father, even though he may not have the sagacity to appreciate him. And doubly needed were the restraining force, the insistance upon duty, and the occasional severity of the Counsellor Goethe, as a counterpoise to the utter laxity of the pleasure-loving mother.

Goethe's well-known views concerning his ances