me more cordial. Not only were they divided by difference of
social standing; a deeper ground of mutual antagonism lay in their
religion. The Schoenemanns belonged to the Reformed persuasion, the
Protestantism of the higher classes, while the Goethes were Lutheran,
as were the majority of the class to which they belonged; and
between the two denominations there was bitter and permanent
estrangement.[216] And there was still another stumbling-block in the
way of a probable happy union. Goethe was not earning an independent
income, and, in the event of his marriage, he and his bride would have
to take up their quarters under his parental roof. But, accustomed to
the gay pleasures of a fashionable circle, how would Lili accommodate
herself to the homely ways and surroundings of the Goethe household?
Moreover, we have it from Goethe himself that Lili was distasteful
equally to his father and mother--the former sarcastically speaking of
her as "Die Stadtdame." Such, he realised, was the future before him
as the husband of Lili; and he had no sooner bound himself to her than
he was reduced to distraction by conflicting desires. In some words
he wrote to Herder within a fortnight after his betrothal we have a
glimpse of his state of mind. "A short time ago," he wrote, "I was
under the delusion that I was approaching the haven of domestic bliss
and a sure footing in the realities of earthly joy and sorrow, but I
am again in unhappy wise cast forth on the wide sea."[217] He was
already, in fact, contemplating the desirability of bursting his bond;
and an opportunity came to assist him in his resolve.

[Footnote 216: Frau Schoenemann is recorded to have said that the
different religion of the two families was the cause of the match
being broken off.]

[Footnote 217: _Werke, Briefe_, ii. 261-2.]

In the second week of May there came to Frankfort three youths whose
rank and personal character created a flutter in the Goethe household.
Two of them were the brothers of the Countess Stolberg,[218] with whom
Goethe had been carrying on his platonic correspondence during the
previous months, and were on their way to a tour in Switzerland. All
were enthusiastic adherents of the _Sturm und Drang_ movement, and
Goethe had long been the object of their distant adoration. They were
not disappointed in their idol, and the first meeting, according to
both Stolbergs, sufficed to establish a general union of hearts.
"Goethe," wrote the elder,