THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GOETHE.
TRUTH AND POETRY: FROM MY OWN LIFE.
Translated from the German
JOHN OXENFORD.
_BOOKS I.-XX._
_REVISED EDITION._
LONDON
GEORGE BELL AND SONS
1897
ADVERTISEMENT.
Before the following translation was commenced, the first Ten Books
had already appeared in America. It was the intention of the Publisher
to reprint these without alteration, but on comparing them with
the original, it was perceived that the American version was not
sufficiently faithful, and therefore the present was undertaken. The
Translator, however, is bound to acknowledge, that he found many
successful renderings in the work of his predecessor, and these he has
engrafted without hesitation.
The title "Truth and Poetry" is adopted in common with the American
translation, as the nearest rendering of _Wahrheit und Dichtung._ The
"Prose and Poetry of my Life" would, perhaps, convey to the English
reader the exact meaning of the Author, although not literally his
words.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
As a preface to the present work, which, perhaps, more than another
requires one, I adduce the letter of a friend, by which so serious an
undertaking was occasioned.
"We have now, my dear friend, collected the twelve parts of your
poetical works, and on reading them through, find much that is known,
much that is unknown; while much that had been forgotten is revived by
this collection. These twelve volumes, standing before us, in uniform
appearance, we cannot refrain from regarding as a whole; and one would
like to sketch therefrom some image of the author and his talents. But
it cannot be denied, considering the vigour with which he began his
literary career, and the length of time which has since elapsed, that
a dozen small volumes must appear incommensurate. Nor can one forget
that, with respect to the detached pieces, they have mostly been called
forth by special occasions, and reflect particular external objects, as
well as distinct grades of inward culture; while it is equally clear,
that temporary moral and æsthetic maxims and convictions prevail in
them. As a whole, however, these productions remain without connexion;
nay, it is often difficult to believe that they emanate from one and
the same writer.
"Your friends, in the meantime, have not relinquished the inquiry,
and try, as they become more closely acquainted with your mode of
life and thought, to guess many a riddle, to solve many a problem;
indeed, with the assistance of an old liking, and a connexion of many
years? standing, they find a charm even in the difficulties which
present themselves. Yet a little assistance here and there would not
be unacceptable, and you cannot well refuse this to our friendly
entreaties.
"The first thing, then, we require, is that your poetical works,
arranged in the late edition according to some internal relations, may
be presented by you in chronological order, and that the states of
life and feeling which afforded the examples that influenced you, and
the theoretical principles by which you were governed, may be imparted
in some kind of connexion. Bestow this labour for the gratification of
a limited circle, and perhaps it may give rise to something that will
be entertaining and useful to an extensive one. The author, to the
most advanced period of his life, should not relinquish the advantage
of communicating, even at a distance, with those whom affection binds
to him; and if it is not granted to everyone to step forth anew, at a
certain age, with surprising and powerful productions, yet just at that
period of life when knowledge is most perfect, and consciousness most
distinct, it must be a very agreeable and re-animating task to treat
former creations as new matter, and work them up into a kind of Last
Part, which may serve once more for the edification of those who have
been previously edified with and by the artist."
This desire, so kindly expressed, immediately awakened within me an
inclination to comply with it; for, if in the early years of life our
passions lead us to follow our own course, and, in order not to swerve
from it, we impatiently repel the demands of others, so, in bur later
days, it becomes highly advantageous to us, should any sympathy excite
and determine us, cordially, to new activity. I therefore instantly
undertook the preparatory labour of separating the poems of my twelve
volumes, both great and small, and of arranging them according to
years. I strove to recall the times and circumstances under which each
had been produced. But the task soon grew more difficult, as full
explanatory notes and illustrations were necessary to fill up the
chasms between those which had already been given to the world. For, in
the first place, all on which I had originally exercised myself were
wanting, many that had been begun and not finished were also wanting,
and of many that were finished even the external form had completely
disappeared, haring since been entirely reworked and cast into a
different shape. Besides, I had also to call to mind how I had laboured
in the sciences and other arts, and what, in such apparently foreign
departments, both individually and in conjunction with friends, I had
practised in silence, or had laid before the public.
All this I wished to introduce by degrees for the satisfaction of my
well-wishers; but my efforts and reflections always led me further on;
since while I was anxious to comply with that very considerate request,
and laboured to set forth in succession my internal emotions, external
influences, and the steps which, theoretically and practically, I had
trod, I was carried out of my narrow private sphere into the wide
world. The images of a hundred important men, who either directly or
indirectly had influenced me, presented themselves to my view; and
even the prodigious movements of the great political world, which had
operated most extensively upon me, as well as upon the whole mass of
my contemporaries, had to be particularly considered. For this seems
to be the main object of Biography, to exhibit the man in relation to
the features of his time; and to show to what extent they have opposed
or favoured his progress; what view of mankind and the world he has
formed from them, and how far he himself, if an artist, poet, or
author, may externally reflect them. But for this is required what is
scarcely attainable, namely, that the individual should know himself
and his age: himself, so far as he has remained the same under all
circumstances; his age, as that which carries along with it, determines
and fashions, both the willing and the unwilling; so that one may
venture to pronounce, that any person born ten years earlier or later
would have been quite a different being, both as regards his own
culture and his influence on others.
In this manner, from such reflections and endeavours, from such
recollections and considerations,arose the present delineation; and
from this point of view, as to its origin, will it be the best enjoyed
and used, and most impartially estimated. For anything further it may
be needful to say, particularly with respect to the half-poetical,
half-historic mode of treatment, an opportunity will, no doubt,
frequently occur in the course of the narrative.
CONTENTS
PART THE FIRST.
FIRST BOOK.--Childhood--the City of Frankfort
SECOND BOOK.--The New Paris--Frankfort Citizen
THIRD BOOK.--Occupation of Frankfort by the French
FOURTH BOOK.--Studies--The Bible--Frankfort Characters
FIFTH BOOK.--Gretchen--Coronation Ceremonies
PART THE SECOND.
SIXTH BOOK.--Illness and Recovery--Leipzig
SEVENTH BOOK.--Leipzig _(continued)_--German Literature
EIGHTH BOOK.--Art--Dresden--Return from Leipzig
NINTH BOOK.--Strasbourg
TENTH BOOK.--Strasbourg _(continued)_--Herder--Tour in Alsace and
Lorraine--Frederika
PART THE THIRD.
ELEVENTH BOOK.--Frederica _(continued)_--Return from Strasbourg
TWELFTH BOOK.--Merck--Wetzlar; the Imperial Chamber--Charlotte
THIRTEENTH BOOK.--Goetz von Berlichingen and Werther
FOURTEENTH BOOK.--Lenz--Lavater and Basedow--Cologne
FIFTEENTH BOOK.--Moravians--"The Wandering Jew"--Zimmerman--"Clavigo"
PART THE FOURTH.
SIXTEENTH BOOK.--Spinoza--Jung(Stilling)
SEVENTEENTH BOOK.--Lili--Betrothal--Ulrich von Hutten
EIGHTEENTH BOOK.--Hans Sachs--The Stolbergs--Switzerland
NINETEENTH BOOK.--Switzerland--Lavater--"Egmont"
TWENTIETH BOOK.--Kraus--Daemonic Influence--Heidelberg--Departure for
Weimar
TRUTH AND POETRY;
FROM MY OWN LIFE.
PART THE FIRST.
Ὀ μὴ δαρεὶς ἄνθρωπος οὐ παιδεύεται.
FIRST BOOK.
On the 28th of August, 1749, at mid-day, as the clock struck twelve,
I came into the world, at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. My horoscope was
propitious: the sun stood in the sign of the Virgin, and had culminated
for the day; Jupiter and Venus looked on him with a friendly eye,
and Mercury not adversely; while Saturn and Mars kept themselves
indifferent; the Moon alone, just full, exerted the power of her
reflection all the more, as she had then reached her planetary hour.
She opposed herself, therefore, to my birth, which could not be
accomplished until this hour was passed.
These good aspects, which the astrologers managed subsequently
to reckon very auspicious for me, may have been the causes of my
preservation; for, through the unskilfulness of the midwife, I came
into the world as dead, and only alter various efforts was I enabled
to see the light. This event, which had put our household into sore
straits, turned to the advantage of my fellow-citizens, inasmuch as my
grandfather, the _Schultheiss_[1], John Wolfgang Textor, took occasion
from it to have an _accoucheur_ established, and to introduce or revive
the tuition of midwives, which may have done some good to those who
were born after me.
When we desire to recall what befel us in the earliest period of youth,
it often happens that we confound what we have heard from others with
that which we really possess from our own direct experience. Without,
therefore, instituting a very close investigation into the point,
which after all could lead to nothing, I am conscious that we lived
in an old house, which in fact consisted of two adjoining houses, that
had been opened into each other. A spiral stair-case led to rooms on
different levels, and the unevenness of the stories was remedied by
steps. For us children, a younger sister and myself, the favourite
resort was a spacious floor below, near the door of which was a large
wooden lattice that allowed us direct communication with the street
and open air. A bird-cage of this sort, with which many houses were
provided, was called a Frame (_Geräms_). The women sat in it to sew
and knit; the cook picked her salad there; female neighbours chatted
with each other, and the streets consequently in the fine season wore
a southern aspect. One felt at ease while in communication with the
public. We children, too, by means of these frames, were brought into
contact with our neighbours, of whom three brothers Von Ochsenstein,
the surviving sons of the deceased Schultheiss, living on the other
side of the way, won my love, and occupied and diverted themselves with
me in many ways.
Our family liked to tell of all sorts of waggeries to which I was
enticed by these otherwise grave and solitary men. Let one of these
pranks suffice for all. A crockery fair had just been held, from which
not only our kitchen had been supplied for a while with articles for a
long time to come, but a great deal of small gear of the same ware had
been purchased as playthings for us children. One fine afternoon, when
every thing was quiet in the house, I whiled away the time with my pots
and dishes in the Frame, and finding that nothing more was to be got
out of them, hurled one of them into the street. The Von Ochsensteins,
who saw me so delighted at the fine smash it made, that I clapped my
hands for joy, cried out, "Another." I was not long in flinging out a
pot, and as they made no end to their calls for more, by degrees the
whole collection, platters, pipkins, mugs and all, were dashed upon the
pavement. My neighbours continued to express their approbation, and I
was highly delighted to give them pleasure. But my stock was exhausted,
and still they shouted, "More." I ran, therefore, straight to the
kitchen, and brought the earthenware, which produced a still livelier
spectacle in breaking, and thus I kept running backwards and forwards,
fetching one plate after another as I could reach it from where they
stood in rows on the shelf. But as that did not satisfy my audience, I
devoted all the ware that I could drag out to similar destruction. It
was not till afterwards that any one appeared to hinder and save. The
mischief was done, and in place of so much broken crockery, there was
at least a ludicrous story, in which the roguish authors took special
delight to the end of their days.
My father's mother, in whose house we properly dwelt, lived in a large
back-room directly on the ground floor, and we were accustomed to carry
on our sports even up to her chair, and when she was ill, up to her
bedside. I remember her, as it were, a spirit,--a handsome, thin woman,
always neatly dressed in white. Mild, gentle, and kind, she has ever
remained in my memory.
[Side-note: The Stag-Ditch.]
The street in which our house was situated passed by the name of the
Stag-Ditch; but as neither stags nor ditches were to be seen, we wished
to have the expression explained. They told us that our house stood on
a spot that was once outside the city, and that where the street now
ran had formerly been a ditch, in which a number of stags were kept.
These stags were preserved and fed here because the senate every year,
according to an ancient custom, feasted publicly on a stag, which was
therefore always at hand in the ditch for such a festival, in case
princes or knights interfered with the city's right of chase outside,
or the walls were encompassed or besieged by an enemy. This pleased us
much, and we wished that such a lair for tame animals could have been
seen in our times.
The back of the house, from the second story particularly, commanded
a very pleasant prospect over an almost immeasurable extent of
neighbouring gardens, stretching to the very walls of the city. But,
alas! in transforming what were once public grounds into private
gardens, our house and some others lying towards the corner of the
street had been much stinted, since the houses towards the horse-market
had appropriated spacious out-houses and large gardens to themselves,
while a tolerably high wall shut us out from these adjacent paradises.
On the second floor was a room which was called the garden-room,
because they had there endeavoured to supply the want of a garden by
means of a few plants placed before the window. As I grew older,
it was there that I made my favourite, not melancholy but somewhat
sentimental, retreat. Over these gardens, beyond the city's walls and
ramparts, might be seen a beautiful and fertile plain; the same which
stretches towards Höchst. In the summer season I commonly earned my
lessons there, and watched the thunder-storms, but could never look
my fill at the setting sun, which went down directly opposite my
windows. And when, at the same time, I saw the neighbours wandering
through their gardens taking care of their flowers, the children
playing, parties of friends enjoying themselves, and could hear the
bowls rolling and the nine pins dropping, it early excited within me
a feeling of solitude, and a sense of vague longing resulting from
it, which, conspiring with the seriousness and awe implanted in me by
Nature, exerted its influence at an early age, and showed itself more
distinctly in after years.
The old, many cornered, and gloomy arrangement of the house was
moreover adapted to awaken dread and terror in childish minds.
Unfortunately, too, the principle of discipline that young persons
should be early deprived of all fear for the awful and invisible, and
accustomed to the terrible, still prevailed. We children, therefore,
were compelled to sleep alone, and when we found this impossible, and
softly slipped from our beds to seek the society of the servants and
maids, our father, with his dressing-gown turned inside out, which
disguised him sufficiently for the purpose, placed himself in the way,
and frightened us back to our resting-places. The evil effect of this
any one may imagine. How is he who is encompassed with a double terror
to be emancipated from fear? My mother, always cheerful and gay, and
willing to render others so, discovered a much better pedagogical
expedient. She managed to gain her end by rewards. It was the season
for peaches, the plentiful enjoyment of which she promised us every
morning if we overcame our fears during the night. In this way she
succeeded, and both parties were satisfied.
In the interior of the house my eyes were chiefly attracted by a series
of Roman Views, with which my father had ornamented an ante-room.
They were engravings by some of the accomplished predecessors of
Piranesi, who well understood perspective and architecture, and whose
touches were clear and excellent. There I saw every day, the _Piazza
del Popolo_, the _Colosseum_, the Piazza of _St. Peter's_ and St.
Peter's Church, within and without, the castle of _St. Angelo_, and
many other places. These images impressed themselves deeply upon me,
and my otherwise very laconic father was often so kind as to furnish
descriptions of the objects. His partiality for the Italian language,
and for every thing pertaining to Italy, was very decided. A small
collection of marbles and natural curiosities, which he had brought
with him thence, he often showed to us; and he devoted a great part
of his time to a description of his travels, written in Italian, the
copying and correction of which he slowly and accurately completed, in
several parcels, with his own hand. A lively old teacher of Italian,
called Giovinazzi, was of service to him in this work. The old man
moreover did not sing badly, and my mother every day must needs
accompany him and herself upon the clavichord, and thus I speedily
learned the _Solitario bosco ombroso_ so as to know it by heart before
I understood it.
My father was altogether of a didactic turn, and in his retirement
from business liked to communicate to others what he knew or was able
to do. Thus, dining the first years of their marriage, he had kept my
mother busily engaged in writing, playing the clavichord, and singing,
by which means she had been laid under the necessity of acquiring some
knowledge and a slight readiness in the Italian tongue.
[Side-note: The Puppet-Show.]
Generally we passed all our leisure hours with my grandmother, in
whose spacious apartment we found plenty of room for our sports. She
contrived to engage us with various trifles, and to regale us with
all sorts of nice morsels. But one Christmas evening, she crowned all
her kind deeds, by having a puppet-show exhibited before us, and thus
unfolding a new world in the old house. This unexpected drama attracted
our young minds with great force; upon the Boy particularly it made a
very strong impression, which continued to vibrate with a great and
lasting effect.
The little stage with its speechless personages, which at the outset
had only been exhibited to us, but was afterwards given over for
our own use and dramatic vivification, was prized more highly by us
children, as it was the last bequest of our good grandmother, whom
encroaching disease first withdrew from our sight, and death next
tore away from our hearts for ever. Her departure was of still more
importance to our family, as it drew after it a complete change in our
condition.
As long as my grandmother lived, my father had refrained from any
attempt to change or renovate the house, even in the slightest
particular, though it was known that he had pretty large plans of
building, which were now immediately begun. In Frankfort, as in many
other old towns, when anybody put up a wooden structure, he ventured,
for the sake of space, to make not only the first, but each successive
story project over the lower one, by which means narrow streets
especially were rendered somewhat dark and confined. At last a law was
passed, that every one putting up a new house from the ground, should
confine his projections to the first upper story, and carry the others
up perpendicularly. My father, that he might not lose the projecting
space in the second story, caring little for outward architectural
appearance, and anxious only for the good and convenient arrangement
of the interior, resorted to the expedient which others had employed
before him, of propping the upper part of the house, until one part
after another had been removed from the bottom upwards and a new house,
as it were, inserted in its place. Thus, while comparatively none of
the old structure remained, the new one merely passed for a repair.
Now as the tearing down and building up was done gradually, my father
determined hot to quit the house, that he might better direct and give
his orders--as he possessed a good knowledge of the technicalities of
building. At the same time he would not suffer his family to leave
him. This new epoch was very surprising and strange for the children.
To see the rooms in which they had so often been confined and pestered
with wearisome tasks and studies, the passages they had played in, the
walls which had always been kept so carefully clean, all falling before
the mason's hatchet and the carpenter's axe--and that from the bottom
upwards; to float as it were in the air, propped up by beams, being,
at the same time, constantly confined to a certain lesson, or definite
task--all this produced a commotion in our young heads that was not
easily settled. But the young people felt the inconvenience less,
because they had somewhat more space for play than before, and had many
opportunities of swinging on beams, and playing at see-saw with the
boards.
At first my father obstinately persisted in carrying out his plan; but
when at last even the roof was partly removed, and the rain reached
our beds, in spite of the carpets that had been taken up, converted
into tarpaulin, and stretched over as a defence, he determined, though
reluctantly, that the children should be entrusted for a time to some
kind friends, who had already offered their services, and sent to a
public school.
This transition was rather unpleasant; for when the children who had
all along been kept at home in a secluded, pure, refined, yet strict
manner, were thrown among a rude mass of young creatures, they were
compelled unexpectedly to suffer everything from the vulgar, bad,
and even base, since they lacked both weapons and skill to protect
themselves.
[Side-note: The Walk Round Frankfort.]
It was properly about this period that I first became acquainted with
my native city, which I strolled over with more and more freedom, in
every direction, sometimes alone, and sometimes in the company of
lively companions. To convey to others in any degree the impression
made upon me by these grave and revered spots, I must here introduce
a description of my birth-place, as in its different parts it was
gradually unfolded to me. I loved more than anything else to promenade
on the great bridge over the Maine. Its length, its firmness, and its
fine appearance, rendered it a notable structure, and it was, besides,
almost the only memorial left from ancient times of the precautions due
from the civil government to its citizens. The beautiful stream above
and below bridge, attracted my eye, and when the gilt weathercock on
the bridge-cross glittered in the sunshine, I always had a pleasant
feeling. Generally I extended my walk through Sachsenhausen, and for
a _Kreutzer_ was ferried comfortably across the river. I was now
again on this side of the stream, stole along to the wine market,
and admired the mechanism of the cranes when goods were unloaded.
But it was particularly entertaining to watch the arrival of the
market-boats, from which so many and such extraordinary figures were
seen to disembark. On entering the city, the Saalhof, which at least
stood on the spot where the Castle of Emperor Charlemagne and his
successors was reported to have been, was greeted every time with
profound reverence. One liked to lose oneself in the old trading town,
particularly on market-days, among the crowd collected about the
church of St. Bartholomew. From the earliest times, throngs of buyers
and sellers had gathered there, and the place being thus occupied, it
was not easy in later days to bring about a more roomy and cheerful
arrangement. The booths of the so-called _Pfarreisen_ were very
important places for us children, and we carried many a _Batzen_ to
them in order to purchase sheets of coloured paper stamped with gold
animals. But seldom, however, could one make one's way through the
narrow, crowded, and dirty market-place. I call to mind, also, that
I always flew past the adjoining meat-stalls, narrow and disgusting
as they were, in perfect horror. On the other hand, the Roman Hill
_(Römerberg)_ was a most delightful place for walking. The way to the
New-Town, along by the new shops, was always cheering and pleasant; yet
we regretted that a street did not lead into the Zeil by the Church
of Our Lady, and that we always had to go a round-about way by the
_Hasengasse_, or the Catherine Gate. But what chiefly attracted the
child's attention, were the many little towns within the town, the
fortresses within the fortress; viz., the walled monastic enclosures,
and several other precincts, remaining from earlier times, and more
or less like castles--as the Nuremberg Court, the Compostella, the
Braunfels, the ancestral house of the family of Stallburg, and several
strongholds, in later days transformed into dwellings and warehouses.
No architecture of an elevating kind was then to be seen in Frankfort,
and every thing pointed to a period long past and unquiet, both for
town and district. Gates and towers, which defined the bounds of the
old city,--then further on again, gates, towers, walls, bridges,
ramparts, moats, with which the new city was encompassed,--all showed,
but too plainly, that a necessity for guarding the common weal in
disastrous times had induced these arrangements, that all the squares
and streets, even the newest, broadest, and best laid out, owed
their origin to chance and caprice and not to any regulating mind. A
certain liking for the antique was thus implanted in the Boy, and was
specially nourished and promoted by old chronicles and wood-cuts, as
for instance, those of Grave relating to the siege of Frankfort. At
the same time a different taste was developed in him for observing
the conditions of mankind, in their manifold variety and naturalness,
without regard to their importance or beauty. It was, therefore, one
of our favourite walks, which we endeavoured to take now and then in
the course of a year, to follow the circuit of the path inside the city
walls. Gardens, courts, and back buildings extend to the _Zwinger_; and
we saw many thousand people amid their little domestic and secluded
circumstances. From the ornamental and show gardens of the rich, to the
orchards of the citizen, anxious about his necessities--from thence
to the factories, bleaching-grounds, and similar establishments, even
to the burying-grounds--for a little world lay within the limits of
the city--we passed a varied, strange, spectacle, which changed at
every step, and with the enjoyment of which our childish curiosity
was never satisfied. In fact, the celebrated Devil-upon-two-sticks,
when he lifted the roofs of Madrid at night, scarcely did more for
his friend, than was here done for us in the bright sunshine and open
air. The keys that were to be made use of in this journey, to gain us
a passage through many a tower, stair and postern, were in the hands
of the authorities, whose subordinates we never failed to coax into
good-humour.
[Side-note: The Council-House.]
But a more important, and in one sense more fruitful place for us,
was the Council-House, named from the Romans. In its lower vault-like
halls we liked but too well to lose ourselves. We obtained an entrance,
too, into the large and very simple session-room of the Council. The
walls as well as the arched ceiling were white, though wainscotted to a
certain height, and the whole was without a trace of painting, or any
kind of carved work; only, high up on the middle wall, might be read
this brief inscription:
"One man's word is no man's word,
Justice needs that both be heard."
After the most ancient fashion, benches were ranged around the
wainscotting, and raised one step above the floor for the accommodation
of the members of the assembly. This readily suggested to us why the
order of rank in our senate was distributed by benches. To the left of
the door, on the opposite corner, sat the _Schöffen_; in the corner
itself the _Schultheiss_, who alone had a small table before him; those
of the second bench sat in the space to his left as far as the wall to
where the windows were; while along the windows ran the third bench,
occupied by the craftsmen. In the midst of the hall stood a table for
the registrar (_Protocolführer_).
Once within the _Römer_, we even mingled with the crowd at the
audiences of the burgomasters. But whatever related to the election
and coronation of the Emperors possessed a greater charm. We managed
to gain the favour of the keepers, so as to be allowed to mount the
new gay imperial staircase, which was painted in fresco, and on other
occasions closed with a grating. The election-chamber, with its purple
hangings and admirably-fringed gold borders, filled us with awe. The
representations of animals on which little children or genii, clothed
in the imperial ornaments and laden with the insignia of the Empire,
made a curious figure, were observed by us with great attention; and we
even hoped that we might live to see, some time or other, a coronation
with our own eyes. They had great difficulty to get us out of the
great imperial hall, when we had been once fortunate enough to steal
in; and we reckoned him our truest friend who, while we looked at the
half-lengths of all the emperors painted around at a certain height,
would tell us something of their deeds.
We listened to many a legend of Charlemagne. But that which was
historically interesting for us began with Rudolph of Hapsburg, who by
his courage put an end to such violent commotions. Charles the Fourth
also attracted our notice We had already heard of the Golden Bull, and
of the statutes for the administration of criminal justice. We knew,
too, that he had not made the Frankforters suffer for their adhesion to
his noble rival, Emperor Günther of Schwarzburg. We heard Maximilian
praised both as a friend to mankind, and to the townsmen, his subjects,
and were also told that it had been prophesied of him he would be
the last Emperor of a German house; which unhappily came to pass, as
after his death the choice wavered only between the King of Spain,
(_afterwards_) Charles V., and the King of France, Francis I. With some
anxiety it was added, that a similar prophecy, or rather intimation,
was once more in circulation; for it was obvious that there was room
left for the portrait of only one more emperor--a circumstance which,
though seemingly accidental; filled the patriotic with concern.
Having once entered upon this circuit, we did not fail to repair to
the cathedral, and there visit the grave of that brave Günther, so
much prized both by friend and foe. The famous stone which formerly
covered it is set up in the choir. The door close by, leading into
the conclave, remained long shut against us, until we at last managed
through the higher authorities, to gain access to this celebrated
place. But we should have done better had we continued as before to
picture it merely in our imagination; for we found this room, which
is so remarkable in German history, where the most powerful princes
were accustomed to meet for an act so momentous, in no respect
worthily adorned, and even disfigured with beams, poles, scaffolding,
and similar lumber, which people had wanted to put out of the way.
The imagination, for that very reason, was the more excited and the
heart elevated, when we soon after received permission to be present
in the Council-House, at the exhibition of the Golden Bull to some
distinguished strangers.
[Side-note: Imperial Coronations.]
The Boy then heard, with much curiosity, what his own family, as well
as other older relations and acquaintances, liked to tell and repeat,
viz., the histories of the two last coronations, which had followed
close upon each other; for there was no Frankforter of a certain age
who would not have regarded these two events, and their attendant
circumstances, as the crowning glory of his whole life. Splendid as
had been the coronation of Charles Seventh, during which particularly
the French Ambassador had given magnificent feasts at great cost and
with distinguished taste, the results were all the more afflicting to
the good Emperor, who could not preserve his capital Munich, and was
compelled in some degree to implore the hospitality of his imperial
towns.
If the coronation of Francis First was not so strikingly splendid as
the former one, it was dignified by the presence of the Empress Maria
Theresa, whose beauty appears to have created as much impression on the
men, as the earnest and noble form and the blue eyes of Charles Seventh
on the women. At any rate, the sexes rivalled each other in giving to
the attentive Boy a highly favourable opinion of both these personages.
All these descriptions and narratives were given in a serene and quiet
state of mind; for the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had, for the moment,
put an end to all feuds; and they spoke at their ease of past contests,
as well as of their former festivities--the battle of Dettingen, for
instance, and other remarkable events of by-gone years; and all that
was important or dangerous seemed, as generally happens when a peace
has been concluded, to have occurred only to afford entertainment to
prosperous and unconcerned people.
Half a year had scarcely passed away in this narrow patriotism before
the fairs began, which always produced an incredible ferment in the
heads of all children. The erection, in so short a time, of so many
booths, creating a new town within the old one, the roll and crush, the
unloading and unpacking of wares, excited from the very first dawn of
consciousness an insatiable active curiosity and a boundless desire for
childish property, which the Boy with increasing years endeavoured to
gratify, in one way or another, as far as his little purse permitted.
At the same time he obtained a notion of what the world produces, what
it wants, and what the inhabitants of its different parts exchange with
each other.
These great epochs, which came round regularly in spring and autumn,
were announced by curious solemnities, which seemed the more dignified
because they vividly brought before us the old time, and what had
come down from it to ourselves. On Escort-day, the whole population
were on their legs, thronging to the _Fahrgasse_, to the bridge, and
beyond _Sachsenhausen_; all the windows were occupied, though nothing
unusual took place on that day; the crowd seeming to be there only for
the sake of jostling each other, and the spectators merely to look at
one another; for the real occasion of their coming did not begin till
nightfall, and was then rather taken upon trust than seen with the eyes.
The affair was thus: in those old, unquiet times, when every one did
wrong according to his pleasure, or helped the right as his liking
led him, traders on their way to the fairs were so wilfully beset and
harassed by waylayers, both of noble and ignoble birth, that princes
and other persons of power caused their people to be accompanied to
Frankfort by an armed escort. Now the burghers of the imperial city
would yield no rights pertaining to themselves or their district; they
went out to meet the advancing party; and thus contests often arose
as to how far the escort should advance, or whether it had a right to
enter the city at all. But, as this took place, not only in regard
to matters of trade and fairs, but also when high personages came, in
times of peace or war, and especially on the days of election; and
as the affair often came to blows when a train which was not to be
endured in the city strove to make its way in along with its lord, many
negotiations had from time to time been resorted to, and many temporary
arrangements concluded, though always with reservations of rights on
both sides. The hope had not been relinquished of composing once for
all a quarrel that had already lasted for centuries, inasmuch as the
whole institution, on account of which it had been so long and often so
hotly contested, might be looked upon as nearly useless, or at least as
superfluous.
Meanwhile, on those days, the city cavalry in several divisions, each
having a commander in front, rode forth from different gates and found
on a certain spot some troopers or hussars of the persons entitled to
an escort, who with their leaders were well received and entertained.
They stayed till towards evening, and then rode back to the city,
scarcely visible to the expectant crowd, many a city knight not being
in a condition to manage his horse, or keep himself in the saddle.
The most important bands returned by the bridge-gate, where the
pressure was consequently the strongest. Last of all, just as night
fell, the Nuremberg post-coach arrived, escorted in the same way, and
always containing, as the people fancied, in pursuance of custom, an
old woman. Its arrival, therefore, was a signal for all the urchins to
break out into an ear-splitting shout, though it was utterly impossible
to distinguish any one of the passengers within. The throng that
pressed after the coach through the bridge-gate was quite incredible,
and perfectly bewildering to the senses. The houses nearest the bridge
were those, therefore, most in demand among spectators.
[Side-note: The Piper's Court.]
Another more singular ceremony, by which the people were excited
in broad daylight, was the Piper's-court (_Pfeifer-gericht_). It
commemorated those early times when important larger trading-towns
endeavoured, if not to abolish tolls altogether, at least to bring
about a reduction of them, as they increased in proportion with trade
and industry. They were allowed this privilege by the Emperor who
needed their aid, when it was in his power to grant it, but commonly
only for one year; so that it had to be annually renewed. This was
effected by means of symbolical gifts, which were presented before
the opening of St. Bartholomew's Fair to the imperial magistrate
(_Schultheiss_), who might have sometimes been the chief toll-gatherer;
and, for the sake of a more imposing show, the gifts were offered
when he was sitting in full court with the _Schöffen._ But when the
chief magistrate afterwards came to be no longer appointed by the
Emperor, and was elected by the city itself, he still retained these
privileges; and thus both the immunities of the cities from toll, and
the ceremonies by which the representatives from Worms, Nuremberg,
and Old Bamberg once acknowledged the ancient favour, had come down
to our times. The day before Lady-day, an open court was proclaimed.
In an enclosed space in the great Imperial Hail, the Schöffen took
their elevated seats; a step higher, sat the _Schultheiss_ in the
midst of them; while below on the right hand, were the procurators of
both parties invested with plenipotentiary powers. The _Actuarius_
begins to read aloud the weighty judgments reserved for this day; the
lawyers demand copies, appeal, or do whatever else seems necessary.
All at once a singular sort of music announces, if we may so speak,
the advent of former centuries. It proceeds from three pipers, one
of whom plays an old _shawm_, another a _sack-but_, and the third a
_pommer_, or oboe. They wear blue mantles trimmed with gold, having
the notes made fast to their sleeves, and their heads covered. Having
thus left their inn at ten o'clock, followed by the deputies and their
attendants, and stared at by all, natives and strangers, they enter the
hall. The law proceedings are stayed--the pipers and their train halt
before the railing--the deputy steps in and stations himself in front
of the _Schultheiss._ The emblematic presents, which were required to
be precisely the same as in the old precedents consisted commonly of
the staple wares of the city offering them. Pepper passed, as it were,
for everything else; and, even on this occasion, the deputy brought a
handsomely turned wooden goblet filled with pepper. Upon it lay a pair
of gloves, curiously slashed, stitched, and tasseled with silk--a token
of a favour granted and received--such as the Emperor himself made use
of in certain cases. Along with this was a white staff, which in former
times was not easily dispensable in judicial proceedings. Some small
pieces of silver money were added; and the city of Worms brought an
old felt hat, which was always redeemed again, so that the same one had
been a witness of these ceremonies for many years.
After the deputy had made his address, handed over his present, and
received from the _Schultheiss_ assurance of continued favour, he
quitted the enclosed circle, the pipers blew, the train departed as it
had come, the court pursued its business, until the second and at last
the third deputy had been introduced. For each came some time after the
other; partly that the pleasure of the public might thus be prolonged,
and partly because they were always the same antiquated _virtuosi_ whom
Nuremberg, for itself and its co-cities, had undertaken to maintain and
produce annually at the appointed place.
[Side-note: Summer Amusements.]
We children were particularly interested in this festival, because we
were not a little flattered to see our grandfather in a place of so
much honour; and because commonly, on the self-same day, we used to
visit him, quite modestly, in order that we might, when my grandmother
had emptied the pepper into her spice box, lay hold of a cup or small
rod, a pair of gloves or an old _Räder Albus._[2] These symbolical
ceremonies, restoring antiquity as if by magic, could not be explained
to us without leading us back into past times and informing us of the
manners, customs, and feelings of those early ancestors who were so
strangely made present to us, by pipers and deputies seemingly risen
from the dead, and by tangible gifts, which might be possessed by
ourselves.
These venerable solemnities were followed, in the fine season, by many
festivals, delightful for us children, which took place in the open
air, outside of the city. On the right shore of the Maine going down,
about half an hour's walk from the gate, there rises a sulphur-spring,
neatly enclosed and surrounded by aged lindens. Not far from it
stands the _Good-People's-Court_, formerly a hospital erected for the
sake of the waters. On the commons around, the herds of cattle from
the neighbourhood were collected on a certain day of the year; and
the herdsmen, together with their sweethearts, celebrated a rural
festival, with dancing and singing, with all sorts of pleasure and
clownishness. On the other side of the city lay a similar but larger
common, likewise graced with a spring and still finer lindens. Thither,
at Whitsuntide, the flocks of sheep were driven; and, at the same
time, the poor, pale orphan children were allowed to come out of their
walls into the open air; for the thought had not yet occurred that
these destitute creatures, who must some time or other help themselves
through the world, ought soon to be brought in contact with it; that
instead of being kept in dreary confinement, they should rather be
accustomed to serve and to endure; and that there was every reason to
strengthen them physically and morally from their infancy. The nurses
and maids, always ready to hike a walk, never failed to carry or
conduct us to such places, even in our first years; so that these rural
festivals belong to the earliest impressions that I can recall.
Meanwhile, our house had been finished, and that too in tolerably short
time, because everything had been judiciously planned and prepared,
and the needful money provided. We now found ourselves all together
again, and felt comfortable: for, when a well-considered plan is once
carried out, we forget he various inconveniences of the means that were
necessary to its accomplishment. The building, for a private residence,
was roomy enough; light and cheerful throughout, with broad staircases,
agreeable parlours, and a prospect of the gardens that could be enjoyed
easily from several of the windows. The internal completion, and what
pertained to mere ornament and finish, was gradually accomplished, and
served at the same time for occupation and amusement.
The first thing brought into order was my father's collection of
books, the best of which, in calf and half-calf binding, were to
ornament the walls of his office and study. He possessed the beautiful
Dutch editions of the Latin classics, which for the sake of outward
uniformity he had endeavoured to procure all in quarto; and also
many other works relating to Roman antiquities, and the more elegant
jurisprudence. The most eminent Italian poets were not wanting, and for
Tasso he showed a great predilection. There were also the best and most
recent Travels; and he took great delight in correcting and completing
Keyssler and Nemeiz from them. Nor had he omitted to surround himself
with all needful assistants to learning, such as dictionaries of
various languages, and encyclopedias of science and art, which with
much else adapted to profit and amusement, might be consulted at will.
The other half of this collection, in neat parchment bindings, with
very beautifully written titles, was placed in a separate attic. The
acquisition of new books, as well as their binding and arrangement,
he pursued with great composure and love of order: and he was much
influenced in his opinion by the critical notices that ascribed
particular merit to any work. His collection of juridical treatises was
annually increased by some volumes.
Next, the pictures, which in the old house had hung about
promiscuously, were now collected and symmetrically hung on the walls
of a cheerful room near the study, all in black frames, set off with
gilt mouldings. My father had a principle, which he often and strongly
expressed, that one ought to employ the living Masters, and to spend
less upon the departed, in the estimation of whom prejudice greatly
concurred. He had the notion that it was precisely the same with
pictures as with Rhenish wines, which, though age may impart to them a
higher value, can be produced in any coming year of just as excellent
quality as in years past. After the lapse of some time, the new wine
also becomes old, quite as valuable and perhaps more delicious. This
opinion he chiefly confirmed by the observation that many old pictures
seemed to derive their chief value for lovers of art from the fact
that they had become darker and browner; and that the harmony of tone
in such pictures was often vaunted. My father, on the other hand,
protested that he had no fear that the new pictures would not also turn
black in time, though whether they were likely to gain anything by this
he was not so positive.
[Side-note: Frankfurt Artists.]