the hero and the heroine is associated with the prospect of national unity.

III.-Goethe's Prose.

Goethe's prose covers a wide field, the chief being fiction. His greatest novel, "Sorrows of Werther," was also his first novel and founded the art of novel writing and the sentimental school in Germany.

"Sorrows of Werther."-A book giving a double history, the history of its author's experience, and the history of one of his friends. Werther, a man, who, not having learned self-mastery, imagines that his strong desires are proofs of great superiority, and laughs at all rules, whether they be rules of art, or rules which convention builds like walls around our daily life. He hates order in speech, in writing, in costume, in office-he hates all control. He is a weakly, passionate, vacillating and doubtful man, and finally commits suicide on account of disappointment in love of a married woman. Although Goethe is not Werther, there is one part of Goethe living in Werther. This is visible in the incidents and language as well as in the character. It is the part reappearing under the various masks of Weislingen, Clavigo, Faust, Fernando, Edward, Meister, and Tasso. It pictures the same man of strong desire and weak volition. Goethe was one of those who waver, but return into the direct path which their wills have prescribed. Goethe, the strongest of men, makes heroes the footballs of circumstances. But he also draws from his other half the calm, selfsustaining characters. Thus we have the antithesis of Götz and Weislingen, Albert and Werther, Carlos and Clavigo, Jarno and Meister, the Captain and Edward, and, deepening in coloring, Mephistopheles and Faust. Filled with the spirit of "storm and stress," and permeated with Rousseauism, it is a melancholy book, written in spite of its gloom in a style unsurpassed in German literature, through which we may look in vain for such clear, sunny pictures, fulness of life, and delicate simplicity. Its style is one continued strain of music, which, restrained within the limits of prose, fulfils all the conditions of poetry; dulcet as the sound of falling waters; as full of sweet melancholy as an autumnal eve. It stirred the whole literary mind of Europe like a breeze sweeping over a forest, and its influence has not yet died out of the world.

The importance, not of itself, but of the stimulus it gave to the imagination, can hardly be overestimated.

"Wilhelm Meister."-Goethe's next great novel-in two parts-"Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," and "Wilhelm Meister's Travels." The novel teaches that happiness is a will-o'-the-wisp, not caught by him who starts in conscious pursuit of it. The nearest approach is found in self-forgetfulness, in earnest labor for the common good. The central idea of "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" is development of the individual by means of most varied experiences. There is no plot proper, but the different stages of the hero's spiritual growth are depicted in a series of brilliant episodes. Wilhelm has many excellent qualities, but is passionate, emotional, and unstable, deficient in worldly knowledge. Disgusted with business, and eager for new experiences, he joins a troupe of strolling players. His apprenticeship in life falls into two periods. The first comprises the lessons he learns while actor. He enjoys at first the free and easy life; falls in love with Marianne, an actress, but leaves her through jealousy. At first he thinks he has found his true vocation, but ill-success and close acquaintance with the life disillusion him, and he leaves the troupe. Meeting people of culture and society, he comes into closer touch with real life, and his second period of apprenticeship begins. His development is hastened by finding his unacknowledged son. The awakening sense of parental responsibilities develops his manhood. He marries a lady of rank, and turns landed proprietor. In this part of the novel Goethe discusses different esthetic principles, especially the laws of dramatic art as exemplified in "Hamlet." He also touches on questions of education, and religious controversy, and satirizes the secret societies just then beginning to spring up in Germany. "Wilhelm Meister's Travels" continues and concludes the career of Wilhelm Meister. It is full of education. Very wise and profound thoughts are expressed, and these thoughts redeem the triviality of the machinery. Its aim is to represent men as they are, without passing judgment upon them. The purpose of the whole work is, first, to rehabilitate dramatic art; and, secondly, to present a theory of education.

"Elective Affinities."-Goethe's first important production and novel after Schil

ler's death. Its theme is cross attraction. The tragedy of the book seems designed to show that "elective affinities" may be fraught with danger and sorrow; that duty may have a claim higher than even the claim of the soul. Man appears but as the helpless result of a complication of causes utterly beyond his control. His will is

never free, being but the joint product of his inherited temperament and certain physical conditions under which he lives. The novel is, throughout, of the highest interest in the delineation of character and of the effects of passion. It sets forth many of Goethe's ideas on the marriage question.

General Survey of Goethe's Writings. "The works of Goethe are not without practical morality. He acknowledges religion to be essentially the best foundation of a good character, and considers co-operation with others in works of practical utility, and in the execution of just and righteous designs, the safest and happiest course.. He has also drawn many exquisite and elevating pictures of female excellence, has illustrated the superiority of domestic life, and has given the noblest encomiums to that sex which knows how to establish order and economy, and to feel and to endure."North American Review.

"Through his genius he became cosmopolite. The universe recognized the universal mind. He never lost sight of his one supreme ambition, but faithfully carried out his inward impulsion toward a complete and perfect culture. From his myriad heart-experiences and mind-experiences we all profit. Great scholars from all countries, with kings and princes, came to do him homage; and at the passing of Goethe 'No man stood with covered head.'"-E. H. Nason, in the Cosmopolitan.

"Goethe always delighted in persons, and put his whole poetry and ideal experience into such personal forms as Werther, Faust, Wilhelm Meister. 'Faust,' Goethe's master-piece, and the greatest poem of modern times since 'Hamlet,' is not only Goethe himself, but the modern man as well."-Dr. Samuel Osgood.

"Matthew Arnold is never tired of calling Goethe the greatest of critics, of praising his thoroughness, his impartiality, his calm, naturalistic view of things, and as late as 1878 he speaks of him as the greatest poet of modern times, not because he is one of the half-dozen human beings who in the history of our race have shown the most signal gift for poetry, but because, having this gift, he was at the same time in the width, depth and richness of his criticism

of life by far our greatest modern man."The Academy, Jan. 2, 1892.

"A man who, in early life, rising almost at a single bound into the highest reputation over all Europe; by gradual advances, fixing himself more and more firmly in the reverence of his countrymen, ascends silently through many vicissitudes to the supreme intellectual place among them; and now, after half a century, distinguished by convulsions, political, moral, and poetical, still reigns, full of years and honors, with a soft, undisputed sway; still laboring in his vocation, still forwarding, as with kingly benignity, whatever can profit the culture of his nation."-Thomas Carlyle.

"As a rule, men succeed best when they concentrate their energies in some one direction; but Goethe was just the opposite of this the more he extended the field of his activities, the more splendid was his achievement. In literary history Shakespeare stands pre-eminent as a dramatist, and Homer as an epic writer; but Goethe towers above all others in the universality of his genius, in the highest equal development of all the powers of the human mind."Fraser.

Goethe as a Man.

"Goethe had some portion of every human characteristic, and was on that account 'the most human of all human beings.' Alice Zimmerman, in Bookman, 1896.

"Goethe's life, like his chief writings, lacks unity and organization. It is rather a series of different lives, each incomplete, placed one upon top of another, than a single life embodying one great idea and accomplishing one supreme work."-Review of Reviews.

"The small group of distinguished contemporaries of Goethe who are rightly the pride of Germany were greater men than they were authors; and this is above all true of Goethe. It is as true as it has become commonplace to say that his was one of the

finest intellects that have appeared in the world. From his beautiful youth to his magnificent old age he took captive the imagination of Europe."-Saturday Review. 1899.

"Homer is especially epic, Shakespeare especially dramatic, and in Goethe we find the highest equal development of all the powers of the human mind. Shakespeare is universal in his apprehension of human nature; Goethe is universal in his range of intellectual capacity and in his culture. One is greater, the other is riper."-Bayard Tay

lor.

"Goethe was an almost perfect instance of a just balance between physical and mental qualities, of a healthy mind in a healthy body. His attribute of physical health and beauty rendered him an Apollo in his splendid youth, a Jupiter in his stately age; and mentally he is perhaps the greatest man who, since Shakespeare, has left a record of himself. With a splendid physique, in itself a fascination; with fire, force, gentleness, dignity, noble manners, personal witchery, fervor of eloquence, dark, brilliant, piercing eyes of passion and of light, versatility, veracity, glory, genius-he was born to exercise over all lofty and charming women an influence little short of magical. Sometimes, in summer, Goethe slept, wrapped in a cloak, in the balcony of his garden house. He was, until the later years of his long life, always hardy, fond of exercise-dancing, swimming, fencing, riding, skating. The fire and fervor of his temperament were impelled by a glowing imagination, and he was a born poet lover. He was the idol of women whose characters and emotions contained a strain of idealism."-H. H. Boyesen.

"Goethe rose at seven, sometimes earlier, after a prolonged sleep, and until eleven worked without interruption. A cup of chocolate was brought, and he resumed work till one. At two he dined. He sat a long time over his wine, chatting gaily to some friend (for he never dined alone) or with an actor, one or more of whom he often had with him after dinner to read over their parts, and to receive instructions. No dessert was seen on his table. His mode of living was extremely simple. In the evening he often went to the theatre, and there his customary glass of punch was brought at six o'clock. If not at the theatre he received friends at home. Between

eight and nine o'clock a frugal supper was laid. By ten o'clock he was usually in bed. Many visitors came to see him. To those he liked, he was inexpressibly charming; to the others he was stately, even to stiffness." -G. H. Lewes.

"Whoever comes near him must confess that his genius has partly passed into goodness; the fiery sun of his spirit is transformed at its setting into a soft purple light."-Elizabeth Brentano.

Goethe as Scientist.

A more illustrative contrast can scarcely be found than is afforded by Goethe's efforts in anatomy, botany and optics. They throw light upon his scientific method and on his scientific qualities and defects. He was not an inductive experimentalist, but rather a scientific philosopher, a discoverer of great laws and relations, which he proved by particular phenomena. His anatomical studies led to his discovering the intermaxillary bone. His work in botany resulted in the important treatise, "Metamorphoses of Plants," and made him the founder of the science of morphology. The work is very simple and beautiful, and may be read without any previous scientific training. He had to wait many years before he saw his theory accepted. It is now made a part of every work which pretends to a high scientific character. In optics, his "Science of Colors" was accepted as authoritative for a while, though it has long since been refuted. Helmholtz says: "To Goethe belongs the great fame of having first conceived the leading ideas to which science in those days was tending, and through which its present form is determined."

Goethe's Religion.

In 1774 Goethe was attracted by the teachings of Spinoza, yet this philosopher did not exercise great influence upon him. Spinoza was a cool, strictly scientific observer; an inductive investigator, calm, composed, and seclusive. Goethe was warmblooded, his spirit expansive, his aspirations manifold. His poetic life could not develop in seclusion. The moment never arrived when he was able to frame his faith in works, nor could language express his thoughts of divine things. Never could he tell any one how he felt within himself the presence of God; never was he able to ex

plain in full the unity of his own existence and that of nature. He did not attempt to understand things incomprehensible, or to say what is unutterable, but confessed that faith was feeling all in all-meaning, of course, not a feeling akin to that of passing human love, or desire, or hope, but a tentative appreciation of what shall be part of our nature when our faith is as firm as a rock. In 1821 he wrote:

"God gave to mortals birth
In His own image, too;
Then came Himself to earth,

A mortal kind and true."

Again he declared:

"When we comprehend and assimilate the pure teachings and love of Christ, we shall realize our own greatness and freedom. From Christianity in work and faith we must reach Christianity in thoughts and deeds."

"Taken all in all, Goethe's thoughts of divine things cannot be encompassed in any religious or philosophical system not his own. They are not pantheistic; but closely allied to Christianity; and he who strove for every inch of them, was a mighty man. His spirit and soul were gigantic. His views covered a vaster scope than those of ordinary men. He saw more and craved more, and more was obscured to his view than we can imagine. His 'feeling' was immensely greater than ours, and, in erring, no doubt his faults were far more grave. Hence, Goethe cannot be judged by the ordinary moral standard. We are apt to forget that his head was, like that of Shakespeare, far above the ground. We are apt to notice only that his feet rested upon the earth. In his sublimity, in his greatness, in his faults, and in his weakness, Goethe was a giant."-J. Christian Bay, Arena, Sept., 1899.

Goethe's religion is expressed in the following epigram from the "Four Seasons":

"What is holy? That which unites many souls as one, though it binds them as lightly as a rush binds a garland. What is holiest? That which, to-day and forever, more and more deeply felt, more and more closely unites the souls of men."

Goethe's Women.

"Goethe did much for women and he received much from them. The warm yet delicate color of sentiment that pervades his works, thought born of woman, was his

by inheritance. Through all his writings is easily perceived the influence of those women who, he tells us, made an impress on his character-the pure, placid nature of Gretchen; the thoughtful vivacity and touching naivete of Fredericka; the deep spirituality of Fräulein von Klettenberg, are there; and the reproachful criticism caused by the doubtful moral tone that sometimes tinges pages fades out in a wider and truer estimate before the splendid inspiration of the leading female characters of his works. The grief that he caused another, and which he himself deeply felt, Goethe could depict with a touch so firm and unerring, and with a style so vivid, that his most rapt admirers must feel a regretful pleasure that he could select for analysis the flowers which he had caused to bloom and fade in a human heart, and could expose to the world's gaze their delicate, quivering filaments."—Contemporary Magazine.

Goethe's Love of Music.

"Goethe's love of music is well known. Musicians as well as poets and artists looked to him for inspiration, approval and encouragement. His house was the centre to which were attracted creative spirits in all branches of art, and none was more welcome than the genius which expressed itself in music. In music Goethe found the highest element of art manifested in its highest degree, the demonic. The demonic, in his parlance, is that elusive quality in a work of art which produces a profound emotion, but which is not susceptible of analysis by the reason or understanding. 'Music,' he once said, 'occupies a place so high that the understanding cannot get at it, and it exerts a moving power that dominates all else; for this power the reason cannot account.' Goethe could not comprehend the attitude of mind that could praise the music and condemn the text-how sweet tones could please the ear while the absurdest actions offended the eye. In our own day Goethe would have been the chief admirer of Wagner, whose demonic control of our emotions is rendered the more absolute by his constant and subtle appeal to the intellectual qualities. But Goethe lived only to see the beginning of the great age of dramatic song composers."-The Nation, Oct. 14, 1897.

"With all his manysidedness of character, Goethe's power of musical comprehension was imperfect, or rather, we might say,

one-sided. His ear was exquisitely attuned to the sounds of nature. In the low rippling of the brooklet, the loud roar of the cataract, the faint sighing of the breeze, the mad fury of a tempest, he found a melody and harmony which so touched his senses that they became, we might almost say, glorified. He could sing with taste and feeling-his voice was music itself; but a musical composition unaccompanied with words was to him almost without meaning; a symphony, with its varying tone and movement, told him nothing of nature and human feeling. He could find music in nature, but not nature in music. He held communion with music, but did not possess its revelation. It was not until his powers were at their zenith, and his genius was brought face to face with that of Beethoven, that he felt most keenly this deficiency of faculty. Bettina Brentano, the young, gifted friend of Beethoven, interpreted the great master to him, and is known as the 'child' of the celebrated 'correspondence.'"-Bayard Taylor.

Biographical Sketch of Goethe.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 28, 1749, the eldest of six children, all of whom died young except Goethe and his sister Cornelia. His father, Johann Caspar Goethe, son of a tailor, later a landlord, of Frankfort, had raised himself to the dignity of imperial councilor, and in 1748 married Katharina Elisabeth, daughter of Johann Wolfgang Textor, chief magistrate of the city and imperial councilor. Goethe inherited the From his best qualities of both parents.

father he inherited the well-built frame, the erect carriage, and the measured movement which in old age became stiffness; from him also came orderliness and stoicism; also his thirst for knowledge, the delight in communicating it, and the almost pedantic attention to details. From his mother, one of the pleasantest figures in German literature, and one standing out with greater vividness than almost any other, Goethe inherited his love of story-telling, animal spirits, love of everything bearing the stamp of distinctive individuality, and love of seeing happy faces around him. Also inherited from her his dislike of unnecessary agitation and emotion, and that deliberate avoidance of all things capable of disturbing his peace of mind. Was a precocious child, handsome, lively, and sensitive. At three

years old he could seldom be brought to play with little children, and only on condition of their being pretty. Was educated at home in the company of his sister Cornelia, to whom he was passionately attached. Before he was ten years old he wrote in several languages and composed meditative poems, invented stories, and didactic dialogues, and was familiar with works of art. In this time he had read "Orbis Pictus," Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Homer's "Illiad" in prose, "Virgil" in the original, "Telemachus," "Robinson Crusoe," "Anson's Voyages," "Fortunatus," "The Wandering Jew," "The Four Sons of Aymon;" also learned by heart most of the poets of the day.

1759 (10 years old). By French occupation of Frankfort gained conversational familiarity with French, and acquaintance with the theatre. Permitted to go "behind the scenes." Found a copy of Racine and declaimed the speeches with much fecling.

earnest.

1761 (12 years old). Fought a duel with a companion. Wrote his first play. French army quitted Frankfort and his education proceeded in Mathematics, music and drawing were begun. Added English to his polyglot store. Invented a romance to keep up his knowledge of languages.

1762 (13 years old). Studied Hebrew and the Bible. The latter made a profound impression upon him. Wrote poem "Joseph and His Breth

ren.

1763 (14 years old). Was confirmed. Became acquainted with Fräulein von Klettenberg, whose influence moved him to write a series of "Religious Odes." Fell in love with Gretchen, sister of one of his companions, but she treated him like a child. He cried bitterly, but pride came to his rescue. Threw himself into study, especially of philosophy, and took to walking. Began study of jurisprudence and was diligent in study of literature.

1765 (16 years old). Matriculated at University of Leipsic. Attended lectures on philosophy, history of law, jurisprudence, medicine, logic, rhetoric, morals, drawing. Hungered for realities and was not satisfied with definitions. Lived freely and buoyantly, preferring jovial companions, "freethinkers," and actors, to more acceptable respectabilities of a staid literary metropolis. Met Schlosser (later his brother-in-law), who led him back and awakened in him a desire to progress. Fell in love with Kätchen Schönkopf (19 years old), and for some time his thought was only to please her. Soon became jealous and they quarreled. Wrote "The Lovers' Quarrel," describing his experience, also "The Accomplices." both dramas. Studied Moliere and Corneille and began to translate "Le Menteur." Was instructed in theory of art by Oeser, Winckelmann and from Lessing's "Laocoon." Went to Dresden to study

art.

1768 (19 years old). Returned to Frankfort after a severe hemorrhage. Recovery was slow, but with it came lightness and joyousness to which he had long been a stranger. Was a boy in years but a man in experience, broken in health, unhappy in mind, uncertain of himself and his aims. While ill he read, drew and etched. Recovered by end of year.

1770-1771. Most important period in his whole life. Came into active contact with impulses that dominated his life. April, 1770, entered Univer sity of Strasburg to complete study of jurispru dence. He now resembled a Greek god. Study of jurisprudence did not interest him long. Took up anatomy, chemistry, electricity, alchemy. Lively Strasburg had amusements, and he joined in them. Wrote "The Blind Cow" and "Stirbt der Fuchs so gilt der Balg." Took lessons in dancing and fell in love with Emilia, the dancing-master's