THE CROWNING YEARS 315 



Arnold Lang delivered speeches which have since 

 been published. Jena sent a deputation consisting 

 of a number of its professors to visit the hero in 

 person at Rapallo. Reflecting on these remarkable 

 demonstrations and the extraordinary correspon- 

 dence that continually reaches Haeckel, one 

 is disposed to repeat of him the phrase applied to a 

 great heretical teacher of the Middle Ages, Peter 

 Abelard : ** Never was man so loved — and so 

 hated." 



A feature of the commemoration that peculiarly 

 gratified him was the special festive number of the 

 German students' lively periodical, Jugencl^ pub- 

 lished at Munich. On February 16th it appeared 

 as a ''Haeckel number," full of sprightly anecdote 

 and generous appreciation, and bearing on its 

 cover a striking reproduction in colour of the 

 Lenbach portrait. His letter of thanks to the 

 journal shows that the repose and the beauty of 

 Italy, and the outburst of affection his birthday 

 has provoked, have set him perfectly atune to life 

 once more. "Ah ! Prithee stay, thou art so fair," 

 he almost says in the Goethe phrase, as he ''hails 

 the moment fleeing." He goes on to deprecate the 

 effort to make " a learned man " of him. " That, 

 alas, I am not. We have in Germany many 

 professors and teachers who are more learned, and 

 have read far more books than your poor Jena 

 schoolmaster. But from my earliest youth, since 

 I tore up flowers and admired butterflies in my 

 fourth year, I have yielded to the inclination of my 

 heart and studied incessantly one great book — 



