1801.] Account of Gothe, Author of the Sorrows of Werter. 
rays of glory reflected upon him from his 
‘© Werther” and his ‘*Goétz von Berli- 
chingen.”? He had about that time writ- 
ten againft Wieland’s review of the Al. 
celte of Euripides a fatyrical farce, en- 
titled, ‘* Gods, Heroes, and Wieland.” 
Wrieland anfwered the Frankfort fatyrift in 
the fame ftyle. The duke, who was no 
{ftranger to the warfare carried on by the 
two poets againft one another, atked Gothe 
if he had no commiffion to his good friend 
in Weimar, or whether he would not ra- 
’ ther go thither himfelf, to finifh the con- 
teft in a perfonal interview ?- Gothe an- 
fwered: ‘ If you will make fomething of 
me in Weimar, I fhall molt willingly go 
thither.”—* It fall be done.’—* But 
you muft make me fomething worth the 
while.”’——*¢ That too fhall be done.”— 
The young poet accordingly accepted the 
duke’s offer. The tumultuous genial 
epoch, which, on his arrival, commenced 
"at Weimar with walking on ftilts, horfe- 
racing, ikating, banquets where the guefts 
drank out of fkulls, cudgelling, boxing, 
and other wild pranks and overflowings of 
a genial humour, and thence fpread, to- 
gether with the fafhion to drefs a-la-Wer- 
ther, like a whirlwind over all Germany, 
is fufficiently known and decried. Lef- 
fing immortalized this ftormy period by 
the following energetic and charaéteriftic 
faying, “ If any one,” exclaimed he, 
*< call me a genius, I fhall give him fo fe- 
vere abox in the ear, that he will believe 
there were two of them.”? The madnefs 
had at laft rifen to fuch a height, that poor 
Lenz, who afterwards died infanein Ruffia, 
when his unlucky ftars led him to/Weimar, 
into. the midft of the whirlpool, broke out 
into thefe difgufting words, on feeing fome 
cow-dung lying in the fun: ‘* What blifs 
to be a cow-t—d bafking in the fun!” 
There was fuch noife, buftle, and ftamp- 
ing after the new-genial fafhion, that the 
then yet fober profaic ground of Weimar 
- quaked and {moked, and the timid nymphs 
of the Ilm took refuge in their grottos. 
The rage for theatrical exhibitions, in par- 
ticular, was indulged to a great excefs, 
The duke and his courtiers a¢ted on a pri- 
vate ftage the fatyrical farces of Gothe, 
before the chief inhabitants of Weimar. 
The age of Ariftophanes and of the old 
comedy in Athens feemed to have fre- 
turned. Every one laughed at the follies 
and failings of his neighbours, which 
were here held forth to public view; and 
runexpestedly found his own exhibited in 
"> 
* 
his turn. Many allufions in Géthe’s ear- 
Jier plays, which were afterwards pub- 
hfhed with many omiffions, but Rill fo 
Mowtury Mac, No. 69, 
¢ 
4t 
that many paflages ftand in need of a fe. 
cret key to difclofe their meaning, cannot 
be explained except by referring to the 
hiftory of that period of geniality. Thus, 
for inftance, he then wrote an imitation of 
the Birds of Ariftophanes, which was acted 
ona fimall ftage at one of the duke’s hunt- 
ing-feats. At that time too he produced ~ 
his Fauf?, or the Adventures gf a Necro» | 
mancer, whois at laft carried off by the 
devil. The greater and malt interefting 
part of thefe high entertaining and feftive 
productions is not yet printed. Many of 
the plays were exhibited in the woods and 
valleys; every place near and around 
Weimar was confecrated:to thefervice of the 
Comic Mule; and the furrounding country. 
every whereexhibits the ruins of that golden 
age of mirth and genius. They endea- 
voured todraw Wieland into the vortex 
of wild tumultuous diverfion; but the 
mild Wieland fhuddered at their break- 
neck f€tes and pranks: and, in confe- 
quence, he had the mortification to fee 
him(elf, a few days after, exhibited on the 
{tage in the moft ridiculous coftume. 
But foon thefe wild ebullitions of youth- 
ful {pirit fubfided ; anda dignity and man- 
linefs fucceeded, which rendered Gothe 
the more worthy of efteem. It is faid that 
then, and even at a later period, he pof- 
feffed an almoft magic power over the af- 
fections of the fair fex; and that, how- 
ever, no woman could boaft to have held 
him, either as a youth ora man, enflayed 
in the fetters of her charms. * He ftill con- 
verfes with the ladies in that eafy and dand- 
ling playful manner with which we are wont 
to treat children ; and even now, the ladies 
emuloufly either hate or lovehim. Géthe 
is of opinion, that the wings of genius 
would be hindered from expanding by the 
too ftrict -domeftic bonds. His ideas of 
women are mott ftrongly expreffed in his 
Jatt novel, entitled, Wilhelw Maifler, in 
which the pretty Philinna is his heroine, 
and in his Love Elegies, which: are writ- 
ten with all the voluptuous fire of a Pro- 
pertius, and have been again reprinted, 
laft year, in the feventh volume of his 
works. Gothe has aéted perfeétly confift- 
ent with thefe notions, in never marrying. 
He cannot, however, be accufed of licen- 
tioufnefs in his amours ; and gives a very 
proper education to his only fon, whom he 
had by his houlekeeper, a Demoitelle Val- 
plus, ms 
In the mean time, our poet, equally 
the favourite of Fortyne and of he 
Mufes, rapidly rofe from dignity to dig- 
nity; he maw appeared like a benefigent 
Genius at the ide of the duke, over 
whom 
