o made use of a similar expression, may probably be
said with greater truth of Goethe, "Il ment a ses propres souvenirs et
a son coeur." In a letter to Frau von Stein (May 24th, 1776) Goethe
describes his relation to Friederike Brion as "das reinste, schoenste,
wahrste, das ich ausser meiner Schwester je zu einem Weibe gehabt."]

In Lili Schoenemann Goethe had a different object from any of his
previous loves. Kaethchen Schoenkopf, Friederike, Lotte Buff had all
been socially his inferiors, and he could play "the conquering lord"
with them. Lili, on the other hand, was his superior socially--a fact
of which her relatives and friends seem to have made him fully
conscious. Moreover, though he was in his twenty-sixth year, and she
only in her sixteenth, her personal character and her upbringing had
given her a maturity beyond that of any of his previous loves. She was
clever and accomplished, and already, as a desirable _partie_, she had
a considerable experience of masculine arts. As she is represented in
her portraits, the firm poise of her head and her clear-cut features
suggest the dignity, decision, and self-control of which her
subsequent life was to give proof.[199]

[Footnote 199: She is described as a pretty blonde, with blue eyes and
fair hair. In a letter (March 30th, 1801) addressed to Lili, then a
widow, Goethe writes: "Sie haben in den vergangenen Jahren viel
ausgestanden und dabei, wie ich weiss, einen entschlossenen Mut
bewiesen, der Ihnen Ehre macht."]

The first two lyrics he addressed to Lili reveal all the difference
between his relations to her and to Friederike. Those addressed to
Friederike breathe the confidence of returned affection unalloyed by
any disturbing reserves; in the case of his effusions to Lili there is
always a cloud in his heaven which seems to menace a possible storm.
In the first of these two lyrics, _Neue Liebe, neues Leben_ ("New
Love, New Life"), there is even a suggestion of regret to find that he
is entangled in a new passion. What is noteworthy in connection with
all his poems inspired by Lili, however, is that they are completely
free from the sentimentality of those he had written under the
influence of the ladies of Darmstadt. Though differing in tone from
the lyrics addressed to Friederike, they have all their directness,
simplicity, and economy of expression. In his Autobiography he tells
us that there could be no doubt that Lili ruled him, and in _Neue
Liebe, neues Le