42, 
whom he poffeffed the moft unbounded 
gnfluence 3 and few things of importance 
were done, which were not either planned 
or executed by the new minifler. When 
he went to Italy, herefigned the manage- 
ment of part of the numerous affairs con- 
neSted with his high office, that he might 
havethemoreleifure to dedicate to theMutes. 
Even at prefent, however, his fovereign 
does nothing without previoufly confult- 
ing him; and in the campaign againft the 
French, in 1792, Gothe was obliged to 
‘accompany him to the army. 
The external appearance of this great 
man forms a ftriking contraft with Wie- 
Jand’s; that of the latter full of mildnefs, 
modefty, and friendlinefs; fand that the 
former indicating pride, arrogance and de- 
fiance. But through this forbidding out- 
fide there fhines forth a firmnefs and ele- 
vation of character, to which no one, on 
a nearer acquaintance, can refufe his 
efteem. Gothe, like Wieland, entertains 
mo very high opinion of mankind in gene- 
ral: only it would feem, that what is 
merely difguft in the latter, is become in 
the former a fettled habit of contempt. ‘T’o 
him mankind appear interefting, but only 
in one point of view, namely, as furnifh- 
ing a fubjeét for the exertion of his poeti- 
eal talents. ; 
Jena is the favourite abode of Gothe’s 
mufe. In the caftle of that place, our 
poet often refides, and purfues his ftudies 
for wecks together; probably becaule he 
can there enjoy undifturbed peace and 
tranquillity, whichis denied him at Wei- 
mat. His Iphigenia was compofed in a 
wood near Weimar, which particularly 
recommended itfelf to him, when in the 
moments of infpiration he fought for foli- 
tude. On the wall of tne hermitage, 
whence came forth the Iphigenia, the fol- 
lowing verfes were infcribed by Gothe, 
gnd may ftill be read there : 
“* Ueber allen Wipfeln ift Ruh! 
In allen Zweigen horft du 
Keinen Hauch! 
Die Vogel fchlafen im Walde, 
Warte nur, balde 
Schlaffft du auch!” * 
In his perfon, Gothe exhibits the full- 
nefs and rotundity of health and good 
living: he is a true epicurean god, up to 
the neck, which fupports a Platonic head | 
LOO LE 
* Calmnefs reigns o’er the tops of the 
trees! not’ a breath is heard among the 
branches '—The birds are afleep in the grove 
-—wait but a little while, and thou teo 
HecPeft.” ; 
_ © Hermann and Dorothy,” 
Account of Gothe, Author of the Sorrows of Werter. [Feb. 1, 
Wicked wits have faid of him, that he 
poetifes beft in the banqueting-room: but, 
according to his own confeffion, it is in 
the lap of beauty. Gothe interefts him- 
felf with enthufiafm for the impravement 
of the fine arts, efpecially painting; to 
which the Propylaen, publithed by him 
bear honourable tettimony. Many of the 
beft artifts now living at Weimar (as, 
for inftance, Kraufe, who is prefident of 
the academy of painting, Horny, and 
others) owe their firft eftablifhment there 
and after fuccefs chiefly to his foftering 
patronage. The Italian Mufes, whom 
he has feveral times vifited in their own 
charming country, have decorated hig 
houfe with their choiceft gifts. Gaothe 
poffefles a mind extremely eager after 
knowledge: he loves, and as faras he can, 
purfues the ftudy of all the fciences. He 
has formed himfelf by the contemplation 
and enjoyment of the beautiful, and by the 
conftant endeavour to fee and inveftigate 
every thing himfelf—the character of great 
and original writers in every branch of 
literature. : 
To enable us to pronounce a proper, 
judgment on the merits of Gothe, we mutt 
diftinguifh three periods of his life, and of 
the therewith intimately connected emana~ 
tions of his genius. The firft is the 
boifterous ftormy period. This period. 
clofes with his ‘* Clavigo.”” Many pai- 
fages of <* Wilhelm Meifter,”’ however, 
which were then already written, are 
ftamped with the fame charatter—as like- 
wife the noted Xezien, or biting epigrams 
on meft of the German authors and learned 
focieties, which appeared in Schiller’s 
Poetical Almanach for 1797. The fecond 
period comprehends his Iphigenia, his 
Taffo, his Egmont, and other mature 
works of his genius, which then received 
the higheft claffical polifh in Rome, Na- 
ples, Sicily, where he lived four years. It 
clofes with his idyllic poem, entitled, 
The third 
period, in which he at prefent is, is that _ 
of the arts. ‘The mighty creative Genius 
now feldom {wings his flaming tor¢h on 
high: in his ftead has fucceeded the imi- 
tative and reafoning Mufe. During this 
Jatter period Gothe has given a modern 
metrical drefs to the old fatyrical poem en- 
titled, «* Reynard the Fox;”" and lately 
he has fitted for the German ftage feveral 
of Voltaire’s tragedies. He now inftruéts 
us in the laws of the fine arts, in his Pre- 
pylaen, a periodical publication, whofe ex- 
cellence Will not be wholly comprehended 
till fome later period. Moft praife-wor. 
thy is the prizg-exhibjtign for the works of 
German 
