is "intellectual universality,"
the elements which compose it cannot be reduced to unity and harmony.
It would be difficult to co-ordinate them into a higher synthesis, for
that _uni_versality is at the same time _di_versity and mutability.
Goethe is essentially changeable and elusive. In his works we find
combined the antipodes of human thought. There is little in common
between the poet of Goetz von Berlichingen and Werther on the one hand
and the poet of Tasso and Iphigenia on the other hand. The intellect
of Goethe is like a crystal with a thousand facets reflecting all the
colours of the rainbow.

And it may well be asked, therefore, whether this encyclopaedic
diversity can aptly be called universality. Universality must
ultimately result in unity and harmony, and it is impossible to assert
that Goethe's mind ever achieved unity and harmony, that it was ever
controlled by one dominant thought.

At any rate, whether a defect or a quality, there can be no doubt that
this encyclopaedic diversity has turned to the great advantage of his
glory. It is precisely because Goethe is an elusive Proteus that all
doctrines may equally claim him. Romanticists turn with predilection
to the creator of Werther or the first "Faust." Classicists admire the
plastic beauty of Tasso and Iphigenia. The cosmopolitan sees in Goethe
the _Weltbuerger_, the citizen of the world, the incarnation of _die
Weltweisheit_. The patriot acclaims in him the poet who has sung the
myths and legends dear to the German race. The sensuous and voluptuous
libertine is enchanted by the eroticism of the "Roman Elegies." The
domesticated reader is drawn by that chaste idyll, Herman and
Dorothea. The Spinozist and Pantheist are attracted by the general
tendencies of his philosophy. The Christian is at liberty to interpret
"Faust" in a sense which is favourable to his religion. The Liberal
politician can point to the author of Goetz and Egmont. The
Conservative and Reactionary can claim all the works of Goethe's
maturity, when the poet had become the perfect courtier.

II.

There is a second quality which Goethe possesses in a supreme degree,
and by which he is distinguished from his contemporaries--namely,
mental sanity and serenity. Most of his fellow-poets reveal some
morbid characteristics, are afflicted with some _Weltschmerz_, with
some internal spiritual malady. They live in an atmosphere of strife
and discord. The marvellous vitality of Goethe has