g girl. Goethe constantly compares the family to
that of the Vicar of Wakefield, and the daughters to Olivia and Sophia.
The affection which Goethe conceived for this beautiful and innocent
maiden was one of the strongest and most enduring of his life, and even
on into old age he was fond of talking of her and their youthful
romance. Why he ever left Frederika at all has never been made clear,
for it is plain that at last he truly loved,--the other passions being
mere boyish episodes, soon forgotten, while this one exerted a lasting
influence upon his life. He writes:--

"Frederika's answer to my farewell letter rent my heart. It was the
same hand, the same tone of thought, the same feeling, which had
formed itself for me and by me. I now for the first time felt the
loss which she suffered, and saw no means to supply it, or even to
alleviate it. She was completely present to me; I always felt that
she was wanting to me; and what was worst of all, I could not
forgive myself for my own misfortune. Gretchen had been taken away
from me, Annette had left me; now for the first time I was guilty.
I had wounded the most lovely heart to its very depths; and the
period of a gloomy repentance, with the absence of a refreshing
love to which I had grown accustomed, was most agonizing, nay,
insupportable."

Even after eight years he revisits Frederika, with much of the old
feeling still alive, although he had in the mean time had at least two
new loves. One of these was the Charlotte immortalized in "Werther." She
was already engaged when he made her acquaintance, but this did not
preclude the possibility of his devoting himself assiduously to her, and
her betrothed seems to have laid no obstacles in the way. She was
married in due time, and read "Werther" after its publication, not
seeming to object to the part she is there made to play. She retained
her friendship for Goethe throughout life; and to her husband the poet
wrote many, many years after: "God bless you, dear Kustner, and tell
Lottie that I often believe I can forget her, but then I have a relapse,
and it is worse with me than ever."

Immediately following his infatuation with Lottie came the connection
with Lili, which reconciled him to Lottie's marriage. It was of Lottie
that he said, in the language of "The New Heloise," "And sitting at the
feet of his beloved, he will break hemp; and he will wish to break h