Goethe read with enthusiasm, and at once espoused its principles.* The train of thought thus excited, led him from the origin of epic songs to the origin of the Hebrew songs, and Eichhorn's Introduction to the Old Testament led him to attempt a new explanation of the wanderings of the people of Israel, which he subsequently inserted in the notes to the Westöstliche Divan.

Nor was he only busy with epical theories; he also gave himself to the production of epics. Hermann und Dorothea, the most perfect of his poems, was written at this time. Achilleis was planned, and partly executed; Die Jagd was also planned, but left unwritten, and subsequently became the prose tale known as die Novelle. This year of 1797 is moreover memorable as the "year of ballads", in which he and Schiller, in friendly rivalry, gave Germany lyrical masterpieces. His share may be estimated, when we learn that in this year were written the Bride of Corinth, the Zauberlehrling, der Gott und die Bajadere, and the Schatzgräber.

In the same year Faust was once more taken up, lying as it did so thoroughly in the track of thought of the ballads. The Dedication was written; the Prologue in Heaven; and the Intermezzo of Oberon and Titania's Marriage. But while he was in this mood, Hirt came to Weimar, and in the lively reminiscences of Italy, and the eager discussions of Art which his arrival awakened, all the northern phantoms were exorcised by southern magic. He gave up Faust, and wrote an essay on the Laokoon. He began once more to pine for Italy. This is characteristic of his insatiable hunger for knowledge; he never

* Later on in life he returned to the old conviction of the unity of Homer. It is much to be regretted that in England Wolf's masterly work is seldom read, the critics contenting themselves with second-hand statements of his views, which do them great injustice.

seemed to have mastered material enough. Whereas Schiller, so much poorer in material, and so much more inclined to production, thought this Italian journey would only embarrass him with fresh objects; and urged Meyer to dissuade him from it. He did not go; and I think Schiller's opinion was correct: at the point now reached he had nothing to do but to give a Form to the materials he had accumulated.

It

In the July of this year he, for the third time, made a journey into Switzerland. In Frankfurt he introduced Christiane and her boy to his Mother, who received them very heartily, and made the few days' stay there very agreeable. is unnecessary for us to follow him on this journey, which is biographically interesting only in respect to the plan of an epic on William Tell which he conceived, and for which he studied the localities. The plan was never executed. He handed it over to Schiller for his drama on that subject, giving him at the same time the idea of the character of Tell, and the studies of localities, which Schiller managed to employ with a mastery quite astonishing to his friend. The same brotherly co-operation is seen in the composition of Wallenstein. It is not true, as was currently supposed in Germany, that Goethe wrote any portions of that work. He has told us himself he only wrote two unimportant lines. But his counsel aided Schiller through every scene; and the bringing it on the stage was to him like a triumph of his own.

In the spring of 1798 Schelling's Philosophy of Nature, and his own plans for a History of the Theory of Colours, lured him from poetry; but Schiller again brought him back to it. Faust was resumed, and the last tragic scenes of the First Part were written. In the summer he was much at Jena with Schiller, consequently with poetry. Achilles and Tell, the ancient and the modern world, as Schäfer remarks, struggled for priority,

but neither obtained it, because he was still perplexed in his epic theories. The studies of the Iliad had "hunted him through the circle of enthusiasm, hope, insight, and despair." No sooner did he leave Jena than, as he confessed, he was drawn by another polarity. Accordingly, we see him busy with an art-journal, the Propyläen. He was also busy with the alteration of the Theatre, the boards of which, on the 12th of October 1798, were made for ever memorable by the production of Wallenstein's Camp and Prologue. On the 30th of January 1799, the birthday of the Duchess Luise, the Piccolomini was produced; and, on the 20th of April, Wallenstein's Tod.

It was in this year that a young Writer to the Signet, in Edinburgh, put forth a translation of Götz von Berlichingen, and preluded to a fame as great as Goethe's own; and it was in the December of this year that Karl August's generosity enabled Schiller to quit Jena, and come to Weimar for the rest of his life, there in uninterrupted intercourse with Goethe to pursue the plans so dear to both, especially in the formation of a national stage. I will take advantage of this change to insert a chapter on Hermann und Dorothea, which was published in 1796-7; and I will afterwards group together the scattered details of the theatrical management, so as to place them before the reader in a continuous narrative.

CHAPTER IV.

HERMANN UND DOROTHEA.

THE pleasure every one finds in making acquaintance with the original stories from which Shakspeare created his marvellous plays, is the pleasure of detecting how genius can improve upon the merest hint, and how with its own vital forces it converts lifeless material into immortal life. This pleasure also carries the conviction that there is no lack of subjects for an artist, if he have but the eye to see them. It shows us that great poets are not accustomed to cast about for subjects worthy of treatment; on the contrary, the merest hint is enough to form the nucleus of a splendid work: a random phrase will kindle a magnificent conception.

Very like the material offered by Bandello to Shakspeare is the material offered to Goethe by the old narrative* from which he created one of the most faultless of modern poems. Herein we learn how a rich and important citizen of Altmühl has in vain tried to persuade his son to marry. The Saltzburg

* Das Liebthätige Gera gegen die Salzburgischen Emigranten. Das ist : kurze und wahrhaftige Erzählung wie dieselben in der Gräflich Reuss Plauischen Residenz Stadt angekommen, aufgenommen, und versorget, auch was an und von vielen derselben Gutes gesehen und gehöret worden. Leipzig:

1732.

emigrants pass through the town, and among them the son finds "a maiden who pleases him right well;" he inquires after her family and bringing up, and as all he hears is satisfactory, away he hies to his father, declaring that unless this Saltzburg maiden be given him, he will remain unmarried all his life. The father, aided by the pastor, tries to persuade him from such a resolution. But their efforts being vain, the pastor advises the father to give his consent, which is done. Away goes the son to the maiden, and asks her if she is willing to enter his father's domestic service. She accepts, and is presented to the father. But he, ignorant of his son's ruse, and believing he sees before him the betrothed, asks her whether she is fond of his son. The maiden thinks they are laughing at her, but on learning they are serious in wishing her to belong to the family, declares herself quite ready, and draws from her bosom a purse containing 200 ducats, which she hands to her bridegroom as her dowry.

This is the story out of which grew Hermann und Dorothea. An ordinary story, in which the poet alone could see a poem ; what he has seen every reader of German literature well knows ; and those to whom the poem is unknown must be content with the following analysis.

The epoch is changed to that of the French Revolution. The emigrants are driven from home by political events. The scene is on the right side of the Rhine. The streets of a quiet little village are noisy with unaccustomed movement, every one is crowding to see the sad procession of Emigrants passing through, in the heat and dust of a summer afternoon. Mine Host of the Golden Lion, sitting at his doorway, marvels at such curiosity, but applauds the active benevolence of his wife, who has sent their son with linen, food and drink, to bestow upon the sufferers, "for to give is the duty of those who have."

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