eeling; and they give little promise of the work that was to
come from the same hand a few years later. As the expression of one of
his lover's moods, one of them, reckoned the best in the collection,
may here be given. It is entitled _Die schoene Nacht_.

[Footnote 41: Nine of these _Lieder_ Goethe thought worthy of a
permanent place in his collected works.]

DIE SCHOeNE NACHT.

Nun verlass' ich diese Huette,
Meiner Liebsten Aufenthalt;
Wandle mit verhuelltem Schritte
Durch den oeden, finstern Wald.
Luna bricht durch Busch und Eichen,
Zephyr meldet ihren Lauf;
Und die Birken streun mit Neigen
Ihr den suessten Weihrauch auf.

Wie ergoetz' ich mich im Kuehlen
Dieser schoenen Sommernacht!
O wie still ist hier zu fuehlen
Was die Seele gluecklich macht!
Laesst sich kaum die Wonne fassen,
Und doch wollt' ich, Himmel! dir
Tausend solcher Naechte lassen,
Gaeb' mein Maedchen Eine mir.

THE BEAUTIFUL NIGHT.

Now I leave the cot behind me
Where my love hath her abode;
And I wander with veiled footsteps
Through the drear and darksome wood.
Luna's rays pierce oak and thicket
Zephyr heraldeth her way;
And for her its sweetest incense
Sheddeth every birchen spray.

How I revel in the coolness
Of this beauteous summer night!
Ah! how peaceful here the feeling
Of what makes the soul's delight,
Bliss wellnigh past comprehending!
Yet, O Heaven, I would to thee
Thousand nights like this surrender,
Gave my maiden one to me.

But it is in the two plays produced during this period that Goethe
most fully reveals both his literary ideals and the essential traits
of his own character. The first of the two, _Die Laune des Verliebten_
("The Lover's Caprices"), is based on his own relations to Kaethchen
Schoenkopf, and is cast in the form of a pastoral drama, written in
Alexandrines after the fashion of the time.[42] The theme is a satire
on his own wayward conduct towards Kaethchen, as he has depicted it in
his Autobiography. The plot is of the simplest kind. Two pairs of
lovers, Egle and Lamon, and Amine and Eridon, the first pair happy in
their loves, the second unhappy, make up the characters of the piece.
The leading part is taken by Egle, who is distressed at the misery of
her friend Amine, occasioned by the jealous humours of her lover