CHAPTER VI.

HERDER AND FREDERIKA.

ONE thing very noticeable in this Strasburg period is the thoroughly German culture it gave him. In those days culture was mostly classical and French. Classical studies had never exercised much influence over him, and indeed throughout his career he approached antiquity more through Art than through the Greek and Roman writers. To the French, on the other hand, he owed a great deal, both of direction and material. A revival of the old German nationality was, however, actively agitated at this epoch. Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Shakespeare and Ossian were the rivals opposed to France. A feeling of national pride gave its momentum to this change in taste. Gothic art began to be considered the true art of modern times.

At the table d'hôte our friends, all German, not only banished the French language, but made a point of being in every way unlike the French. French literature was ridiculed, as affected, insincere, unnatural. The truth, homely strength, and simplicity of the German character were set against this literature of courtiers. Goethe had been dabbling in mediæval studies, had been awe-struck by the cathedral, had been inspired by Shakespeare, and had seen Lessing's iconoclastic wit scattering the pretensions of French poetry. Moreover he had read the

biography of Götz von Berlichingen, and the picture of that Titan in an age of anarchy had so impressed itself upon him, that the conception of a dramatic reproduction of it had grown up in his mind. Faust also lay there as a germ. The legend of that wonder-worker especially attracted him. Like him, too, I had swept the circle of science, and had early learned its vanity; like him I had trodden various paths, always returning unsatisfied.' The studies of alchemy, medicine, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology, which had so long engaged him, must have made him feel quite a personal interest in the old Faust legend; but to have carried this legend about with him implies also a strong mediæval tendency.

In such a mood the acquaintance with Herder was of great importance. Herder was five years his senior, and had already created a name for himself. He came to Strasburg with an eye-disease, which obliged him to remain there the whole winter, during the cure. Goethe, charmed with this new vigorous intellect, attended on him during the operation, and sat with him morning and evening during his convalescence, listening to the wisdom which fell from those lips, as a pupil listens to a muchloved master. Great was the contrast between the two men, yet the difference did not separate them. Herder was decided, clear, pedagogic; knowing his own aims, and fond of communicating his ideas. Goethe was sceptical and inquiring. Herder rude, sarcastic and bitter; Goethe amiable and infinitely tolerant. The bitterness which repelled so many friends from Herder, could not repel Goethe; it was a peculiarity of his to be at all times able to learn from antagonistic natures; meeting them on the common ground of sympathy, he avoided those subjects on which inevitably they must clash. It is somewhat curious, that although Herder took a great liking to his

young friend, and was grateful for his kind attentions, he seems to have had no suspicion of his genius. The only fragment we have of that period, which gives us a hint of his opinion, is in a letter to his bride, dated Feb. 1772: 'Goethe is really a good fellow, only somewhat light and sparrow-like,* for which I incessantly reproach him. He was almost the only one who visited me during my illness in Strasburg whom I saw with pleasure; and I believe I influenced him in more ways than one to his advantage.' His own colossal conceit may have stood between Goethe and himself; or he may have been too conscious of his young friend's defects to think much of his genius. Herder loved only the abstract and ideal in men and things, and was forever criticizing and complaining of the individual, because it did not realize his ideal standard. What Gervinus says of Herder's relation to Lessing, namely, that he loved him when he considered him as a whole, but could never cease plaguing him about details, holds good also of his relation to Goethe through life. Goethe had little of that love of mankind in the abstract, which to Herder, and so many others, seems the substitute for individual love, which animates philanthropists who are sincere in their philanthropy, even when they are bad husbands, bad fathers, bad brothers, and bad friends. He had instead of this the most overflowing love for individual men. His concrete and affectionate nature was more attracted to men than to abstractions. Those who do not

* Nur etwas leicht und Spatzenmässig: I translate the phrase, leaving the reader to interpret it, for twenty Germans have given twenty different meanings to the word 'sparrow-like,' some referring to the chattering of sparrows, others to the boldness of sparrows, others to the curiosity of sparrows, and others to the libertine character of sparrows. Whether Herder meant gay, volatile, forward, careless, or amorous, I cannot decide.

recognize this, may declaim against him for his 'indifference' to political matters, to history, to many of the great questions which affect Humanity; but those who do recognize it will pass another judgment.

Herder's influence was manifold, but mainly in the direction of poetry. He taught him to look at the Bible, as a magnificent illustration of the truth that Poetry is the product of a national spirit, not the privilege of a cultivated few. From the Poetry of the Hebrew people he led him to other illustrations of National Song; and here Homer and Ossian were placed highest. It was at this time that Ossian made the tour of Europe, and everywhere met believers. Goethe was so delighted with the wild northern singer, that he translated the song of Selma,' and afterwards incorporated it in Werther. Besides Shakespeare and Ossian, he also learned, through Herder, to appreciate the Vicar of Wakefield; and the exquisite picture there painted, he was now to see living before him in the parsonage of Frederika's father.

Upon the broad and lofty gallery of the Strasburg Cathedral, he and his companions often met to salute the setting sun with brimming goblets of Rhine wine. The calm wide landscape stretched itself for miles before them, and they pointed out the several spots which memory endeared to each. One spot, above all others, has interest for us: it is Sesenheim, the home of Frederika. Of all the women who enjoyed the distinction of Goethe's love, none seem to me so fascinating as Frederika. Her idyllic presence is familiar to every lover of German literature, through the charming episode of the Autobiography, over which the poet lingered with peculiar delight. The secretary is now living to whom this part of the Autobiography was dictated, and he remembers vividly how much affected Goethe seemed to be as these scenes revis

ited memory. He dictated walking up and down the room, with his hands behind him; but at this episode he often stopped in his walk, and paused in the dictation; then after a long silence, followed by a deep sigh, he continued the narrative in a lower tone.

Weyland, a fellow-boarder, had often spoken of a clergyman who, with his wife and two amiable daughters, lived near Drusenheim, a village about sixteen miles from Strasburg. Early in October, 1770, Weyland proposed to his friend to accompany him on a visit to the worthy pastor. It was agreed between them that Weyland should introduce him under the guise of a shabby theological student. His love of incognito often prompted him to such disguises. In the present instance he borrowed some old clothes, and combed his hair in such a way that when Weyland saw him he burst out into a fit of laughter. They set forth in high glee. At Drusenheim they stopped, Weyland to make himself spruce, Goethe to rehearse his part. Riding across the meadows to Sesenheim, they left their horses at the inn, and walked leisurely towards the parsonage, an old, and somewhat dilapidated farmhouse, but very picturesque, and very still. They found Herr Brion at home, and were welcomed by him in a friendly manner. The rest of the family were in the fields. Weyland went after them, leaving Goethe to discuss parish interests with the pastor, who soon grew confidential. Presently the wife appeared; and she was followed by the eldest daughter bouncing into the room, inquiring after Frederika, and hurrying away again to seek her.

Refreshments were brought, and old acquaintances were talked over with Weyland, Goethe listening. Then the daughter returned, uneasy at not having found Frederika, This little domestic fuss about Frederika prepared the