-for what we were pleased to call the Philistinism of the
worthy citizens. That I, as an artist, was permitted all sorts of
liberties that were denied to officials, scholars, and tradespeople,
pleased me greatly; and I abused my freedom without stint. But as I
moved in a very narrow circle, and seldom came in contact with any high
type of humanity, I had no great field in which to display the
profligacy of my thoughts and habits. A few wretched _liaisons_, and a
number of silly and by no means edifying scrapes, were all that came of
it.

"Then I moved to Hamburg. There the same wild life was continued on a
somewhat larger scale. You will readily spare me the details. Now, when
I think back on that time, I have to stop and reflect whether it really
could have been _I_ who wasted his days and nights in such shameful
dissipation with such worthless companions. They were my Prince Hal
days. 'The wild oats had to be sown.' But now I thank my good star for
having led me safely, though by dubious ways, past all that kind of
crime and wrong-doing which could not have been covered by this trite
saying."

"Well, one evening, when my aching head and my gnawing rage at my own
idiocy unfitted me for anything else, I went to the theatre, and saw
for the first time an actress who was just entering on an engagement
there. The piece was a flat, sensational, social drama, in which she
took the part of the noble, generous, young wife, who plays the saving
angel to the dissipated husband. It was a moral lecture that appealed
directly to my own case; and as the sinner, even in his deepest
degradation, seemed an enviable creature as compared with me--for he
invariably fell into the arms of his guardian angel--I could not help
wishing myself in his place; and so was led to examine that angel very
carefully.

"She was certainly well worth looking at. A most charming young person,
with a figure, a bearing, and a certain indolent grace in all her
movements, such as I had never seen before. In addition to all this a
childlike face, with dove-like eyes, and such an innocent, plaintive
mouth, that you would have been willing to storm the very heavens just
to bring a smile to those pretty lips. When this really appeared at the
close of the play (for the young husband reformed), it was all over
with me. As I noticed that half the audience--indeed, the entire male
part--had gone mad over her, I considered my sudden infatuation not
extraordinary; e