ested in literature, was a poet himself, and an ardent
admirer of Goethe. There followed congenial talk which was to be the
beginning of a friendship that, unlike most of Goethe's youthful
friendships, was to endure into the old age of both. But Knebel had
come on a special errand; the young princes had expressed the desire
to become acquainted with the man who had made merry with their
instructor Wieland, and whose name was in all men's mouths as the
author of the recently published _Werther_. Nothing loth, Goethe
accompanied Knebel to the princes, and in the interviews that followed
he displayed all the tact that characterised his subsequent
intercourse with the great. Studiously avoiding all reference to his
own productions, he turned the conversation on subjects of public
interest, on which he spoke with a fulness of knowledge that convinced
his hearers that the author of _Werther_ was not an effeminate
sentimentalist. So favourable was the impression he made on the
princes that they expressed a wish that he would follow them to Mainz
and spend a few days with them there. The proposal was highly
acceptable to Goethe, but there was a difficulty in the way. The Herr
Rath was a sturdy republican, and had an ingrained aversion to the
nobility as a class. In his opinion, for a commoner to seek
intercourse with that class was to compromise his self-respect and to
invite humiliation, and he roundly maintained that in seeking his
son's acquaintance the princes were only laying a train to pay him
back for his treatment of Wieland. When the Goethe household was
divided on important questions, it was their custom to refer to the
Fraeulein von Klettenberg as arbiter. That sainted lady was now on a
sick-bed, but through the Frau Rath she conveyed her opinion that the
invitation of the princes should be accepted. To Mainz, therefore,
Goethe went in company with Knebel, who had remained behind to see
more of him, and his second meeting with the two boys completed his
conquest of them. Any resentment they may have entertained for his
attack on Wieland was removed by his explanation of its origin, and it
was with mutual attraction that both parties separated after a few
days' cordial intercourse. Thus were established the relations which
within a year were to result in Goethe's departure from "accursed
Frankfort," and his permanent settlement at the Court of Weimar.

As it happens, we have a record of Knebel's impression of Goethe