tility in the use of the German. It was in Frankfurt also, the free imperial city, the theatre of the emperor's coronation, that the imagination of Goethe learned to employ itself on images of ancient times. The progress of the culture of his mind may be traced in his works, where the results of studies, which had an influence on his character, and the lively feelings of youth, are exhibited in their most glowing colors. At the university of Leipzig he found little that was in harmony with his poetic inclinations; he was therefore obliged to look into his own heart and entrust its experiences to verse. The productions of his early life partake of the character of his mind. They contain the expressions of feelings, vehement and uncontrolled, the clear indications of great powers, not yet directed by reflection nor restrained by taste. Both Goetz and Werther bear the impress of genius, and are strictly national works. They are also both the results of Goethe's early predilections and passions. In the drama he concentrated all that had passed through his mind, while studying the antiquities of Germany, and the monuments of knighthood; and in Werther he introduced all that observation and the experience of his own heart had taught him of the wasting vehemence of love. This is not the highest kind of fine writing. Goethe himself was soon to be governed by other views. A poet must be able to do more than feel deeply, and breathe what he has felt into words. Preserving his own mind serene, he must observe and express whatever is pure, and delicate, and noble in human nature and the universe. Two years after the appearance of Werther, Goethe is found at Weimar, in the full enjoyment of popular applause, possessed of the affectionate regard of the prince, who had just inherited the ducal purple, surrounded in the city by the best artists and scholars of Germany, and admired at court by a circle celebrated for its refinement, elegance, and taste for intellectual enjoyments. Here, then, the youthful poet was in a situation to finish the discipline and education of his mind. The inspiration of the feelings was succeeded by that of taste; the vehemence of the passions became moderated and chastened into elegance. In due time Goethe was honored with the various civil titles, which are most coveted by his countrymen. It is known that the pencil of Raphael almost made him a cardinal; Goethe, in honor of his skill in poetry, was actually introduced into the council of his sovereign, and the cabinet of his ministers. But he never was withdrawn from literature by political ambition. Devoted to the pursuit of letters, he found his happiness and his sphere of usefulness in following the impulse of his feelings. In this he forms an honorable exception to the many European scholars, who, moved by the desire of temporary distinction, have passed from literary occupations, which promised universal and lasting reputation, to the intrigues of courts, or the petty warfare of local politics. In seasons of difficulty it becomes a good citizen to sacrifice private duties to the public welfare and security; but in ordinary times the government will easily continue in successful operation, men of integrity and patriotism will be promoted to places of honor and responsibility, and a sufficient number be induced by common ambition to present themselves as candidates for public employment. It becomes then the duty of those, whose education has fitted them for the career of letters, to pursue that course, and not to abandon the sacred places of truth and knowledge, which need protection, to stand before the temple of liberty and social order, which is already secure. To Goethe no praise belongs for having led a literary life; he has but lived for immortality, instead of living for the moment. And besides, in this he exercised no selfdenial; the strong passion of ambition was stifled in him by the still stronger passion for letters and the arts. He loved the Muse sincerely, and when he heard the distinct, melodious voice of the Goddess, he felt her superiority to her earthly rivals. But let the poet declare his own preference. In a production of a later period he expresses the feelings, which he has cherished through life.. MEINE GUTTIN. Welcher Unsterblichen MY GODDESS. Who of Heaven's immortal train Denn ihr hat er Alle Launen, Die er sonst nur allein Und hat seine Freude Sie mag rosenbekränzt Oder sie mag, Den Sterblichen scheinen. Lasst uns alle Denn uns allein Alle die andern Uns aber hat er For to her, and her alone, All his secret whims are known; And in all her faults' despite Is the maid her sire's delight. Oft with aspect mild she goes, Decked with lilies and the rose, Walks among the flowery lands, Summer's insect swarm commands, And for food with honied lips Dew drops from the blossom sips. Or with darker mien and hair Streaming loose in murky air, With the storm she rushes by, Whistling, where the crags are high, And with hues of thousand dyes Like the late and early skies, Changes and is changed again, Fast as moons, that wax and wane. Him, the ancient sire we'll praise, Who, as partner of our days, Hath to mortal man allied Such a fair, unfading bride. For to us alone she's given, And is bound by bonds of heaven : Still to be our faithful bride, And though joy, or wo betide, Ne'er to wander from our side. Other tribes, that have their birth From the fruitful, teeming earth, All, through narrow life remain In dark pleasures, gloomy pain, Live their being's narrow round, To the passing moment bound, And unconscious roam and feed, Bent beneath the yoke of need. But to us with kind intent He his frolic daughter sent, Nursed with fondest tenderness ; Welcome her with love's caress, Wie einer Geliebten ! Und dass die alte Ja nicht beleid ge! Doch kenn' ich ihre Schwester, Mit dem Lichte des Lebens Die edle Treiberinn, And take heed, that none but she And of Wisdom's power beware, Yet I know Jove's elder child, In the mean time a change was going forward in the character of Goethe's mind. Though possessed of public favor, sure of admiration, and conscious of unexhausted resources, he for twelve years published nothing of importance. But all the while he was making advances; the fervor of youth was yielding to discretion; the elegant and intelligent circles at the court, the men of letters at Weimar, a tour in Switzerland, reflection and study, contributed each in its degree to finish his education as a poet. At last, in 1786, he was seized with an irresistible longing to go beyond the Alps, and he was enabled to gratify the passion for travelling, that passion, which is stronger than ambition, which has relieved dethroned monarchs of their weariness, and allured statesmen from the career of public life; which withdrew Cæsar from victory, and Cleopatra to gaze at the cataracts of the Nile, and gave to the most illustrious Swedish queen instead of a reign of glory a tomb in the Vatican. Had Italy nothing but its sky and its scenery, where nature has exhibited her loveliest forms and lavished her delicacies; or its poetry, which contains all that can delight and elevate the imagination; or its music, chaunted in the streets, given in full choirs in the churches, charming the senses by the artful combinations of harmony in the operas, and heard in all its tenderness and perfection at the vespers in St Peter's and the choruses of the Holy Week; or its buildings and statues; or its pictures, which exhibit not only all that is most beautiful in real life, but all that ideal loveliness, which the mind of man has been enabled to conceive; or its recollections, not of the ancient heroes of the commonwealth only, but of Petrarch, Raphael and Michael Angelo; or lastly, the race which now dwells there; it would be a country full of instruction for the poet, fit to enrich his mind with images, excite and diversify his inventive powers, and impart a poetic impulse to all his faculties. Goethe entered it in the best years of early manhood, possessing a mind already well disciplined, a cultivated taste, a lively perception of the beautiful, a judgment improved by study and fitted to observe and compare. What wonder, then, that a residence in Italy of two years should have had an important influence on his intellectual character. The generous fruit, which was a native of the northern soil, was ripened beneath an Italian sun. If in his works Goethe bestows on his princely patron higher eulogies, than republican pride can regard with complacency, who would measure the gratitude due for the advantage of a residence in Italy, a residence, which, besides the immediate gratification and enjoyment, necessarily forms an epoch in the private history of the mind? At the period of his return from Italy, the character and taste of Goethe were formed and established. Nothing remained for him but to delight the world with his ripened productions, and to continue to improve every talent and cherish every feeling, with which nature had blessed him. His Faust, the most wonderful and most original production of the German muse, had been an invention of his youth, but was now matured and finished with the strictest care. This work, though it exhibits vice in all its deformity, as essentially mean and hideous, is still not of a purely moral tendency; and though abounding in sallies of genius, accurate delineations of man, and exhibitions of the heart, with all the strength and weakness of the passions, it is still liable to censure for its occasional levity, and its too daring extravagance. His Iphigenia, and his Tasso, are monuments of industrious genius, which his countrymen admire with one voice, and which posterity will not willingly suffer to perish. His mind was all the while acquiring new stores of thought, and his feelings, his taste in poetry, his love of the arts were gratified by the most varied studies. And this shows perhaps the only point, in which the inventive writer has the advantage over the man of science. The latter is more sure that industry will ultimately be followed by success, reputation, and opportunities of use |