CHAPTER V.

THE ACTIVITY OF AGE.

In the year 1816 he began to publish an Art Journal, Kunst und Alterthum, which continued till 1828, a curious monument of the old man's studies and activity. It is curious, moreover, as indicating a change in the direction of his ideas. We have seen what his relation was to the Romantic School, and how the tendencies of his nature and education led him to oppose the characteristics of that School by the characteristics of Greek Art. The Propyläen represents the Greek tendency; Kunst und Alterthum represents a certain leaning towards the Romantic. Gothic Art, the old German and Netherland painters, no longer seemed to him objectionable; but the discovery of the Elgin marbles once more awakened his enthusiasm for that perfection of form which was the ideal of Greek Art;* and I have heard Rauch, the sculptor, humorously narrate Goethe's whimsical outbreaks when the young sculptor Ritschel seemed in danger of perverting his talent by executing designs in the spirit of the Romantic School.

Strong, however, as the opposition was which he felt to the vagaries of the so-called Christian Art, he had too much of the Faust spirit to keep entirely aloof from the Romanticists. In his old age, the tendency to substitute Reflection for Inspiration naturally assumed greater force; and his old

* See his letter to Haydon in the Life of Haydon, vol. 11, p. 295.

love of mystification was now wearing a serious aspect, duping himself perhaps as much as it duped others. The German nation had persisted in discovering profound meanings in passages which he had written without any recondite meaning at all; finding himself a prophet when he meant only to be a poet, he gradually fell into the snare, and tried to be a prophet now he could no longer be so great a poet as before. Every incident was to be typical. Every phrase was of importance. Whether the lion should roar at a particular time (in the Novelle), or whether he should be silent, were subjects of long deliberation. The Wanderjahre was one great arsenal of symbols, the Second Part of Faust another. He delighted

in seeing the philosophic critics outdoing each other in farfetched ingenuity, "explaining" his Faust and Meister; and very astutely he refused to come to their aid. He saw libraries filled with discussions as to what he had intended; but no one ever seduced him into an explanation which would have siIenced these discussions. Instead of doing so, he seemed disposed to furnish the world with more riddles. In a word, he mystified the public; but he did so in a grave, unconscious way, with a certain belief in his own mystification.

In the year 1816, Saxe Weimar was made a Grand Duchy; and he received the Falcon Order, together with an increase of salary, which now became three thousand thalers, with extra allowance for his equipage. Two other events made this year memorable. Lotte-Werther's Lotte- now a widow in her sixtieth year, and mother of twelve children, pays him a visit at Weimar. They had not met since her marriage, and what a meeting this must have been for both! how strange a mingling of feelings recurrent to a pleasantly-agitated past, and of feelings perplexed by the surprise of finding each other so much changed! I am told that Lotte, in spite of her grey hairs, arrayed herself in white, and tried to be coquettish and sentimental; but the old Jupiter was in no mood for such reminiscences, and would not recur to the blue coat and topboots of Werther.

The second and far more serious event of the year, is the death of his wife. Many affected to consider this a "happy

release"; people are fond of arranging the lives of others according to their own conceptions, and of interpreting afflictions like these without regard to the feelings of the afflicted. The blow was heavy to bear. She who for eight-and-twenty years had loved and aided him, who-whatever her faultshad been to him what no other woman was, could not be taken from him without making him deeply feel the loss. He has expressed those feelings in two passages only; in the exquisite lines he wrote on the day of her death, and in a letter to Zelter. These are the lines:

"Du versuchst, o Sonne, vergebens

Durch die düstern Wolken zu scheinen!

Der ganze Gewinn meines Lebens

Ist, ihren Verlust zu beweinen."*

And to Zelter the words were these: "When I tell thee, thou rough and sorely-tried son of earth, that my dear little wife has left me, thou wilt know what that means."

In Science he strove to find forgetfulness; and the loneliness of his house was next year changed into an unaccustomed liveliness by the marriage of his son with Ottilie von Pogwisch, one of the gayest and most brilliant of the Weimar circle. She was always a great favourite with her father-in-law, and during the remainder of his life not only kept his house for him, and received his numerous guests, but became a privileged favourite, to whom everything was permitted. In the year following he sang a cradle song over his first grandchild.

He

His ministerial duties were not heavy, but were punctiliously performed. Here are two anecdotes which exhibit his imperious and determined character in a strong light. had long laboured for the improvement of Jena. The library, he told Eckermann, "was in very bad condition. The situation was damp and close, and by no means fit to contain its treasures in a proper manner; particularly as by purchase of the Büttner library on the part of the Grand Duke, an addition had been made of 13,000 volumes, which lay in heaps

* "In vain, O Sun, you struggle to shine through the dark clouds; the whole gain of my life is to bewail her loss."

upon the floor, because there was no room to place them properly. I was really in some distress on that account. An addition should have been made to the building, but for this the means were wanting; and moreover this addition could easily be avoided, since adjoining the library there was a large room standing empty, and quite calculated to supply our necessities. However, this room was not in possession of the library, but was used by the medical faculty, who sometimes employed it for their conferences. I therefore applied to these gentlemen with the very civil request that they would give up this room for the library. To this they would not agree. They were willing, they said, to give it up if I would have a new room built for their conferences, and that immediately. I replied that I should be very ready to have another place prepared for them, but that I could not promise them a new building immediately. This did not satisfy them, for when next morning I asked them for the key, I was told it could not be found! There now remained no other course but to

enter as conqueror. I therefore sent for a bricklayer, and took him into the library before the wall of the adjoining room. 'This wall, my friend,' said I, 'must be very thick, for it separates two different parts of the building : just try how strong it is.' The bricklayer went to work, and scarcely had he given five or six hearty blows when bricks and mortar fell in, and one could see through the opening some venerable perukes with which the room was decorated. 'Go on, my friend,' said I. 'I cannot yet see clearly enough. Do not restrain yourself, but act as if you were in your own house.' This friendly encouragement so animated the bricklayer, that the opening was soon large enough to serve perfectly for a door; when my library attendants rushed into the room each with an armful of books, which they threw upon the ground as a sign of possession. Benches, chairs, and desks vanished in a moment; and my assistants were so quick and active, that in few a days all the books were arranged along the walls. The doctors, who soon after entered the room through the usual door, were quite confounded at so unexpected a change. They did not know what to say, but retired in silence; but they all

harboured a secret grudge against me. When I related this to the Grand Duke, he laughed heartily and quite approved me. Afterwards, when on account of the great dampness of the library I wished to take down and remove the whole of the old city wall, which was quite useless, I found no better success. My entreaties, reasons, and representations found no hearing; and I was forced at last to go to work as a conqueror. When the city authorities saw my workmen destroying their old wall, they sent a deputation to the Grand Duke, with the humble request that his Highness would be pleased, by a word of command, to check my violent destruction of their venerable wall. But the Grand Duke, who had secretly authorized me, said: 'I do not intermeddle with Goethe's affairs. He knows what he has to do, and must act as he thinks right. Go to him and speak to him yourself, if you have the courage!""

The other anecdote is recorded by Luden. In 1823 the Landtag (or Parliament, to us the nearest English equivalent) assembled, and demanded the Finance accounts. Goethe, who was at the head of the Commission for Art and Science to which a sum of 11,787 thalers was allotted, at first took no notice of the demand make for his accounts; but was heard to express himself angrily at this Landtag with its pedantic fuss about a paltry sum. At length he was prevailed upon to send in his accounts. What was the surprise of the Landtag to read a few lines to this effect: "Received, so much; Expended, so much; Remains, so much. Signed Grossherzogl. Immediatcommission für Wissenschaft und Kunst. Goethe!"

At this cavalier procedure some of the members burst out laughing; others were indignant, and proposed to refuse the grant for the following year,—a proposition which was all the more acceptable because the Landtag had a great idea of economy, and but a small idea of the value of Science and Art. Luden strove to convince them this was an unwise procedure. He urged indeed the necessity of the Landtag being put in possession of all the details of expenditure, not that any doubt could arise respecting the judicious mode in which the expenditure had been made, but because in public affairs 23 LEWES, VOL. II.