in which Homer and Ossian were pointed out as holding the highest place. Through Herder he also learned to appreciate Goldsmith's idyllic story of the Vicar of Wakefield, and the plain and truthful picture there presented to him he afterwards looked upon with his own eyes in actual life in the person of Frederika, of Sesenheim, whose presence gives charm to the narrative in the Dichtung und Wahrheit. Goethe was now twenty-one years of age.

His mind was

He could not

in a state of ferment; he needed a teacher. help seeing that Herder knew more than he did, that he was in the possession of secrets which could help him. At last he had found some one whose first words were decisive, and to whom he could cheerfully submit himself. But Herder was accustomed to submission from those with whom he came in contact, and received Goethe's homage without special interest in his eager disciple. Yet it seemed sometimes as if Herder was aware of Goethe's real power, and, consciously or unconsciously, endeavored to prevent him from rising too high and surpassing his master. But all this only increased Goethe's devotion, and added to Herder's mastery over him.

From this acquaintanceship may be dated the beginning of the period of Goethe's real productiveness. Such attempts as he had made up to this time had been almost aimless. The theatre, introduced into Frankfort by the French garrisons which occupied that city, had given him an early training in the most polished literature of the time. By this training, if not by intuition, he had followed the right direction; now Herder appeared to show him the right way, which the young scholar forthwith enters with that glad, youthful enthusiasm, so attractive and so well maintained in after years.

Goethe had been sent to Strasburg to gain a doctor's degree. For the study of jurisprudence, he had submitted himself to Saltzman, and studied with such ardor as to enable him to graduate with honors. A "Dissertation" was required to put the coping-stone on the completed fabric of his studies. The dissertation was begun in good time; but its progress was much delayed by attention to other studies, among which medicine especially attracted him. Shakespeare, too, Ossian

and Homer, but most of all Frederika, of Sesenheim, made large demands on his time. At last the composition was finished, written in good Latin, which he could both speak and write with ease; but unfortunately, it was not sufficient to meet his father's full approval, who demanded a literary work, and wished his son to enter the ranks with a respectable volume. The Dean of the Faculty, however, did not wish to have the treatise published under the auspices of the University, on the plea that it contained expressions considered contrary to Christianity.

The Dissertation was therefore rejected, and certain theses were submitted from which he was allowed to choose a subject for disputation. In August, 1771, the disputation was held. Franz Lerse was Goethe's opponent and pressed him hard. This is the Lerse, the tall, blue-eyed theologian whom, along with Maria, Goethe immortalizes in Goetz von Berlichingen. In due course the ceremonies of graduation were gone through, and henceforth Goethe bore the title of Doctor, though he had only received that of Licentiate.

Goethe bade farewell to Strasburg, and on returning home he was enrolled a member of the bar and a citizen of Frankfort. The energy and even passion with which he worked as an advocate and exercised his juridical knowledge justly excited his father's admiration. The whole family was benefited by the opportunity of intercourse with distinguished men, who visited the house as his literary associates. Seldom has a young jurist begun life with such golden prospects. The father studied the briefs as private referee, and prepared them for the son, who analyzed them with astonishing rapidity. In his first law-suit, so excited did the opposing counsel become at Goethe's rejoinders, that the legal contention degenerated into a personal quarrel, which was ended only when both advocates had been rebuked by the Court. But Goethe was at this time practicing law simply to gratify his father, until he could find a better field for the application of his talents.

In the meantime he had been led to Darmstadt by Herder, and now became acquainted with Johann Heinrich Merck, a Kriegsrath (war-counsellor) and leader in Darmstadt society,

which he dominated by unsparing criticism. From the humble position of an apothecary's son, this gifted man, by his brilliant wit, bright intellect and sound judgment, had become the welcome guest and companion of princes. Having an extensive knowledge of men and things of all countries and times, and a special knowledge of the new literature now piercing the dark inertness of the old obscurities, through the writings of Hagedorn, Klopstock, Lessing and others, Merck succeeded in critically influencing not only Goethe, but many others admittedly superior to himself in productive

powers.

Goethe's restless spirit did not permit him to continue long in the fetters of jurisprudence and law-lore. His pent-up soul was already longing for freer air and a higher flight. At Frankfort he had received certain theatrical impressions from the French actors; at Leipsic he had found Gottsched representing the French stage; at Strasburg, too, the French theatre was almost more attractive to him than anything else. This accounts for his early theatrical leanings, and the great pains he took in adapting the “Mitschuldigen" to the stage at Leipsic. By 1773 a change has come over him; he writes: "We allow ourselves to be led by the common stage routine and are guided by the wishes of actors, who desire only grand climaxes, opportunities for change of costume and the like." This accounts for his having written Goetz von Berlichingen without any plan or regard for the stage whatsoever. It is like a romance in dialogue; a dramatized chronicle, not an acting-play, but a drama for the closet. Goethe could no longer abide the idea of submitting an inspired work to the frivolous demands of the stage of his time; he could write only for the stage that exists in each man's imagination, and to this stage Goetz von Berlichingen was submitted.

By this, his first great poem, Goethe was at once raised to the highest intellectual rank in Germany. He had hit the mark; homage was paid to him even before his name was known, for the work was first published anonymously. Goetz, or Gottfried von Berlichingen, is a historical character whose representatives may still be traced. There is nothing tragic in his career. There are recorded only the adventures

of a turbulent knight, who, after a rough-and-tumble life in the world, dies a peaceful death. Goethe's poem, however, gives a tragical ending to the story, and yet he is not accused of falsifying history. The historical inaccuracy passes clean out of sight in presence of the powerful and truthful portrayals of German life, character and manhood in the age of the Reformation, the consecration and sacrifice of individual greatness.

Here was presented a man, great, not by privilege, but by nature, aided by no tradition, by no court influence, but solely by his own strong arm and invincible soul. The life of such a man is a symbol of the struggle of the whole eighteenth century; a struggle of right against might; of freedom against the trammels of tradition, a fight for the recognition of individual worth. Such, too, was the struggle of the sixteenth century. The Reformation was in religion what the Revolution was in politics, a battle for liberty of thought and action.

The young doctor who had only just entered upon his professional career was now induced to become for a time a law practitioner in the imperial chamber at Wetzlar, which was only a day's journey from Frankfort. Accordingly, in the spring of 1772, he goes to Wetzlar with Goetz in his portfolio and many wild thoughts in his head. Here, too, as elsewhere, and everywhere, he fell in love; this time with the beautiful daughter of the steward of the Teutsche Haus. The lady, however, was already engaged, and his passion was unrequited. A young student acquaintance of his, having entertained a similar unreciprocated passion for the wife of one of his friends, in his despair, committed suicide. This melancholy incident, coupled with Goethe's own experiences in Wetzlar, furnished the materials for his next great production, The Sorrows of Young Werther. This fiction created even a greater sensation than the drama of Goetz. People of all kinds and classes were carried away by it, and read it through their tears. It became the people's book, and, printed on wretched paper, was hawked in the streets. Distinguished men of letters pronounced it a philosophic romance; Napoleon made it his companion in Egypt; it penetrated even to

the Celestial Empire, where Charlotte and Werther were modeled in Chinese porcelain.

Goethe's name was now on every one's lips. Men of letters, from far and near, came to court his acquaintance. Klopstock and Wieland, Lessing and Herder, had performed their mission to the world; they had passed under review, and their general' aims were understood. But here was an entirely fresh power, an intellectual giant in the literary world; no one could fathom the depth of his mind, or set limits to his imagination. Among others who visited Goethe at Frankfort was the heir-apparent of Weimar. The result of this interview was, that the poet was invited to the Weimar court, ostensibly to aid with his counsel and services in the management of certain literary institutions then under contemplation. Very soon the young author entered upon his official duties with the title of Legationsrath, which was soon superseded by that of Privy-Councillor.

The connection thus begun was fraught with consequences most important, not only to Weimar, but to the whole of Europe. Round this little court were gathered the brightest intellects of Germany. Goethe and Schiller had, under their superintendence, a classical theatre; Wieland, the founder of psychological romance in his own country, was tutor to the sons of the Duchess Amalia, while Herder, poet, theologian and historian, was a member of the consistory and court preacher. With such a quartette as this, the inconsiderable town of Weimar, with its seven thousand inhabitants, could rival or equal, in its intellectual wealth and literary renown, the proudest capital of the world.

Goethe's next great completed work, after Werther, is Clavigo, which has an origin of a somewhat romantic nature. The young people of Goethe's society, in Frankfort, had agreed among themselves to form couples by casting lots, and, thus mated, to represent married people. It so happened that the same young lady had twice fallen to Goethe's lot. She proved herself an agreeable companion; mutual confidence arose, and the thought occurred to both that their acting might become reality. The parents on both sides were consulted, no objections were raised, and the engagement was ratified, but for some unexplained cause was soon after broken off.