1880. 

 GOETHE'S " FARBENLEHRE." * 



IN the days of my youth, when life was strong and 

 aspiration high, I found myself standing one fine 

 summer evening beside a statue of Goethe in a German 

 city. Following the current of thought and feeling 

 started by the associations of the place, I eventually 

 came to the conclusion that, judging even from a purely 

 utilitarian point of view, a truly noble work of art 

 was the most suitable memorial for a great man. Such 

 a work appeared to me capable of exciting a motive 

 force within the mind which no purely material in- 

 fluence could generate. There was then labour before 

 me of the most arduous kind. There were formidable 

 practical difficulties to be overcome, and very small 

 means wherewith to overcome them, and yet I felt that 

 no material means could, as regards the task I had 

 undertaken, plant within me a resolve comparable with 

 that which the contemplation of this statue of Goethe 

 was able to arouse. 



My reverence for the poet had been awakened by 

 the writings of Mr. Carlyle, and it was afterwards con- 

 firmed and consolidated by the writings of Goethe him- 

 self. There was, however, one of the poet's works which, 

 though it lay directly in the line of my own studies, re- 

 mained for a long time only imperfectly known to me. 

 My opinion of that work was not formed on hearsay. I 



* A Friday evening discourse in the Royal Institution. 



47 



