n
_The Rovers; or, The Double Arrangement_.]

[Footnote 208: Goethe gives Fernando his own brown eyes and black
hair.]

Nauseous as _Stella_ must appear to the modern reader, it found wide
acceptance at the period it was written, though its moral was
generally condemned. Herder was enthusiastic in its praise, and on its
publication at the end of January, 1776, it passed through four
editions in a single week. In 1805, with its altered _denouement_, in
which the hero shoots himself, it was performed with applause in
Berlin, and was afterwards frequently produced. Goethe himself
continued to retain a singular affection for the most sickly
sentimental of all his literary offspring, and he subsequently sent a
copy of his work to Lili, accompanied by some lines which were worthy
of a better gift.[209]

[Footnote 209: After he had broken with her, and was settled in
Weimar.]

Im holden Thal, auf schneebedeckten Hoehen
War stets dein Bild mir nah!
Ich sah's um mich in lichten Wolken wehen;
Im Herzen war mir's da.
Empfinde hier, wie mit allmaecht'gem Triebe
Ein Herz das andre zieht,
Und dass vergebens Liebe
Vor Liebe flieht.

In the dear vale, on heights the snow had covered,
Still was thine image near;
I saw it round me in the bright clouds hover;
My heart beheld it there.
Here learn to feel with what resistless power
One heart the other ties;
That vain it is when lover
From lover flies.

Still another piece belongs to the first months of Goethe's relations
to Lili--_Claudine von Villa Bella_, which appears to have been
written intermittently in April and May. Like _Erwin und Elmire_ it is
in operatic form--the prose dialogue being diversified with outbursts
of song. Entirely trivial as a work of art, it calls for passing
notice only on account of certain characteristics which distinguish
it as a product of the period when it was written. The intention of
the play, Goethe wrote at a later time, was to exhibit "noble
sentiments in association with adventurous actions," and the conduct
of his hero and heroine is certainly unconventional, if their feelings
are exalted. Claudine is the only daughter of a fond and widowed
father, and her dreamy emotionalism would have made her a welcome
member of the Darmstadt circle of ladies. She is in love with Pedro,
but Pedro is not the hero of the piece. That place is assigned to his
eldest brother