EAELY HOME. 37 



tone of good society is attuned to dull witticisms, insipid com- 

 pliments, and the unceasing fabrication of so-called "jolis riens? 

 where there is no thought, and, except in the greatest volup- 

 tuousness, no feeling. This is the state of society from court 

 circles down to the level of common life.' .... 



There is no doubt, however, that during this visit to Berlin, 

 the private relationships of Forster had placed him in a most 

 uncomfortable and painful position. The applications he 

 had to make on his father's behalf compelled him, as he says 

 himself in the same letter, to mix in too many different circles, 

 and since ' the Berlinese exact from a stranger in everything 

 a pliability of character whereby he is rendered either a fool or 

 a knave,' he was frequently compelled to exercise a severe con- 

 straint upon himself, in order that no hindrance should arise 

 to the accomplishment of his father's plans. 



Goethe also, who about the same time, in May 1778, was a 

 guest in the suite of his prince at the court of Berlin, complains 

 bitterly of the ' corrupt brood,' and of being forced ' to hear 

 the great king abused by his own miserable curs.' 



Scarcely had King Frederick passed away (August 17, 1786), 

 when the fabric of the new enlightenment was completely broken 

 down, and all elements of corruption, all outgrowths of con- 

 tracted official politics, of the overbearing patriotism of the bar- 

 rack-room, of political and ecclesiastical surveillance, of pietistic 

 hypocrisy and the deceptive mysticisms of illuminati, alche- 

 mists, and women of no reputation, of the censorship of the 

 press and restriction of speech, burst forth with audacious 

 effrontery, blunting and extinguishing every nobler aspira- 

 tion. 



King Frederick William II. was ambitious of being a Ger- 

 man prince ; he loved his native language, and was anxious that 

 it should be restored to universal use. Public buildings were 

 henceforth inscribed with German instead of Latin inscrip- 

 tions, and the lords and ladies of the court greeted one another 

 again with the simple ' (rood morning ' ( c Guten Morgen '). In 

 striking contrast with the previous customs of the court, the 

 king and his suite attended divine service regularly ; sometimes 

 at the Cathedral, to hear Sack, the preacher of the Eeformed 

 Church ; sometimes at the Marienkirche, to listen to Zollner, a 



