and character. What they found unique
in him was inspiration, passion, a zest of life, at a pressure that
foreshadowed either a remarkable career or (at times his own dread)
disaster.

It was said of Goethe in his latest years that the world would come to
believe that there had been, not one, but many Goethes; and, as we
follow him through the various stages of his youth, we receive the
same impression. It results from this manifoldness of his nature that
he defies every attempt to formulate his characteristics at any period
of his life. In the present study of him the object has been to let
his own words and actions speak for themselves; any conclusions that
may be suggested, the reader will thus have it in his own power to
check.

After Goethe's own writings, the works to which I have been chiefly
indebted are _Goethes Gespraeche, Gesamtausgabe von Freiherrn v.
Biedermann_, Leipzig, 1909-11 (5 vols.), in which are collected
references to Goethe by his contemporaries; and _Der junge Goethe:
Neue Ausgabe in sechs Baenden, besorgt von Max Morris_, Leipzig,
1910-12, containing the literary and artistic productions of Goethe
previous to his settlement in Weimar. The references throughout are to
the Weimar edition of Goethe's works. Except where otherwise
indicated, the author is responsible for the translations, both in
prose and verse.

I have cordially to express my gratitude to Dr. G. Schaaffs, Lecturer
in German in the University of St. Andrews, and to Mr. Frank C.
Nicholson, Librarian in the University of Edinburgh, for the trouble
they took in revising my proofs.

P.H.B.

Edinburgh.

THE YOUTH OF GOETHE

CHAPTER I

EARLY YEARS IN FRANKFORT

1749--1765

In his seventy-fifth year Goethe remarked to his secretary, Eckermann,
that he had always been regarded as one of fortune's chiefest
favourites, and he admitted the general truth of the impression,
though with significant reserves. "In truth," he added, "there has
been nothing but toil and trouble, and I can affirm that throughout my
seventy-five years I have not had a month's real freedom from
care."[1] Goethe's biographers are generally agreed that his good
fortune began with his birth, and that the circumstances of his
childhood and boyhood were eminently favourable for his future
development. Yet Goethe himself apparently did not, in his reserves,
make an exception even in favour of these early years; and, as we
shall see, we have ot