WEIMAR AND JENA. 163 



influence at Jena, the spirit found full freedom at Weimar 

 under the genial auspices of poetry and the arts. 



It was during the winter of 1789 that William von Hum- 

 boldt made the acquaintance of Schiller at Weimar, where the 

 two sisters Charlotte and Caroline von Lengefeld then re- 

 sided, and where the poet was almost a weekly visitor. This 

 acquaintance soon ripened into friendship, which was further 

 cemented by Schiller's marriage with Charlotte von Lengefeld, 

 on February 20, 1790, and the union of William von Humboldt 

 with Caroline von Dacheroden, the intimate friend of the two 

 sisters, in July of the following year, upon which commenced, 

 to use the words of Frau von Wolzogen, those happy days of 

 close intimacy that existed between the two newly-married 

 couples at Jena.' 



Those bright days were succeeded by years of equal hap- 

 piness, when William von Humboldt, in the spring of 1794, 

 took up his residence at Jena, having resigned his position in the 

 service of the State, on which he had but recently entered, in 

 order that he might devote himself to scientific pursuits. With 

 his aesthetic criticism, he occupied a middle place between 

 Schiller and Groethe. Mind stimulates mind, 'the souls of 

 poets enkindle one the other.' Speculations of the deepest 

 nature were clothed in language of the most elevated and grace- 

 ful character, and daily some fresh flight was reached in the 

 highest problems of life and art. 



In consequence of the position held by his brother at Jena, 

 Alexander von Humboldt, already Superintendent of Mines, 

 was at once admitted into the intimate circle of his brother's 

 friends. As Schiller had been attracted to William, so Goethe 

 felt drawn to Alexander von Humboldt. 



We shall doubtless be excused if we here revert to certain 

 well-known phases in the development of Groethe's genius, 

 which must have operated largely in the creation of this bond 

 of union. 



In Groethe there had been early developed an intense love of 

 Nature, accompanied by a strong bent towards the investigation 

 of her phenomena and the study of her laws. This character- 

 istic had manifested itself in early youth, and often found 

 expression in his poems in such lines as the following : 



M 2 



