emp
to-day, to-morrow, and the day after,--nay, for his whole life." Whether
he would have been as willing to break hemp with Lili we are not told;
but he wrote a great deal of poetry addressed to her,--more perhaps than
to any of his other loves,--much of which he reproduces in the
"Autobiography."

"Heart, my heart, oh, what hath changed thee?
What doth weigh on thee so sore?
What hath thus from me estranged thee,
That I know thee now no more?
Gone is all which once seemed dearest,
Gone the care which once was nearest,
Gone thy toils and tranquil bliss!
Ah! how could'st thou come to this?

"Does that bloom, so fresh and youthful,
That divine and lovely form,
That sweet look, so good and truthful,
Bind thee with unbounded charm?
If I swear no more to see her,
If I man myself to flee her,
Soon I find my efforts vain,
Back to her I'm led again."

But even this love affair, which went as far as a betrothal, came to
nothing,--Goethe drawing back at the last through a pretended or real
fear that he could not support the lady in the style she had been
accustomed to; though it is more reasonable to believe that his usual
repugnance to marriage overcame all the fervor of his love, and made him
feel a real relief when the whole affair was over. This was just
previous to his removal to Weimar at the invitation of Carl August, and
it was there that the remainder of his life-drama was enacted.

Soon after his arrival there he made the acquaintance of the Frau Von
Stein. She was the wife of the Master of Horse at Weimar, and Goethe,
who had now passed thirty years of age, for the first time loved a
mature woman. She was the mother of seven children and was thirty-three
years old. With moral deficiencies which were securely covered up, she
was a thoroughly charming woman, and retained her charm even to old age.
She was said to have remarked when asked if she would be presented to
Goethe, "With all my heart. I have heard as much about him as I ever did
about Heaven, and I feel a deal more curiosity about him." She
completely ensnared his heart, and held it in undisputed sway for more
than ten years; which, considering his proverbial inconstancy, speaks
very highly for her charms.

The connection was well known and perfectly understood at Weimar, and
appears to have caused no scandal. The love on Goethe's part seemed to
have begun even before seeing her; as it is recorded that at Pyr