ut of the common
beaten track of life, was probably engendered in the following way. Not
finding the sympathy he needed in his efforts after a better life, he
turned in upon himself and began to despise the petty details of
everyday existence; and several passages in his letters clearly go to
show that his unhappiness and discontent were largely due to the fact
of his overlooking the real enjoyment to be derived from the small
occurrences and events of every day, which rightly viewed are capable
of affording such a large fund of real contentment. In a letter to
Hippel early in 1815, he himself states, "For my shattered life I have
really only myself to blame; I ought to have shown more resolution and
less levity in my earlier years. When a youth, when a boy, I ought to
have devoted myself entirely to Art and never to have thought of anything
else. But of course something also was due to perverse education." It
must not be supposed, however, from the above that he was deficient in
firmness or strength of will. The perseverance with which he worked
through his early examinations, as well as the energy and zeal he brought
to bear upon his official duties, contradict such supposition. Specific
instances might also be quoted did space permit; it will be enough to
recall his resolve never to gamble. It is stated that he avowed his
intention to amend his ways if he recovered from his last fatal
illness. The real key to his wayward character lies in the fact just
alluded to, that he had no conception of the supreme importance of
moral worth. This was the backbone wanting in his character; and for
this reason we fail to detect any steady sterling course of action
through all the vicissitudes of his life. If he had a ruling motive it
was capricious humour; at any rate it swayed him more than anything
else. On one day he would laugh at what had annoyed him on the day
preceding, or be delighted to-day at what he had greeted yesterday with
irony. Nobody knew better than himself how he was tyrannised over by
his changeable moods. "My capricious humour (_Laune_) is the first
weather-prophet I know, and if I had the good-will and were bored I
could make an almanac," is one of his expressions; and another runs,
"You know that my capricious humour is often _Maitre de Flaisir_."
Besides being thus the creature of caprice, he was also impulsive,
impetuous, and wont to act with impassioned haste. These qualities were
revealed in his restless