possessed in common with those children who thus acquire an early
reputation. For that reason, my father could scarcely wait for me to go
to college. He very soon declared that I must study jurisprudence in
Leipzig, for which he retained a strong predilection; and I was
afterwards to visit some other university and take my degree. As for
this second one he was indifferent as to which I might choose, except
that he had for some reason or other a disinclination to Göttingen, to
my disappointment, since it was precisely there that I had placed such
confidence and high hopes.
He told me further, that I was to go to Wetzlar and Ratisbon, as well as
to Vienna, and thence towards Italy; although he repeatedly mentioned
that Paris should first be seen, because after coming out of Italy
nothing else could be pleasing.
These tales of my future youthful travels, often as they were repeated,
I listened to eagerly, the more so as they always led to accounts of
Italy, and at last to a description of Naples. His otherwise serious and
dry manner seemed on these occasions to relax and quicken, and thus a
passionate wish awoke in us children to participate in the paradise he
described.
Private lessons, which now gradually multiplied, were shared with the
children of the neighbors. This learning in common did not advance me:
the teachers followed their routine; and the rudeness, sometimes the ill
nature, of my companions, interrupted the brief hours of study with
tumult, vexation, and disturbance. Chrestomathies, by which learning is
made pleasant and varied, had not yet reached us. Cornelius Nepos, so
dry to young people; the New Testament, which was much too easy, and
which by preaching and religious instructions had been rendered even
common-place; Cellarius and Pasor,--could impart no kind of interest: on
the other hand, a certain rage for rhyme and versification, a
consequence of reading the prevalent German poets, took complete
possession of us. Me it had seized much earlier, as I had found it
agreeable to pass from the rhetorical to the poetical treatment of
subjects.
We boys held a Sunday assembly where each of us was to produce original
verses. And here I was struck by something strange, which long caused me
uneasiness. My poems, whatever they might be, always seemed to me the
best. But I soon remarked that my competitors, who brought forth very
lame affairs, were in the same condition, and thought no less of
themselves. Nay, what appeared yet more suspicious, a good lad (though
in such matters altogether unskilful), whom I liked in other respects,
but who had his rhymes made by his tutor, not only regarded these as the
best, but was thoroughly persuaded they were his own, as he always
maintained in our confidential intercourse. Now, as this illusion and
error was obvious to me, the question one day forced itself upon me,
whether I myself might not be in the same state, whether those poems
were not really better than mine, and whether I might not justly appear
to those boys as mad as they to me? This disturbed me much and long, for
it was altogether impossible for me to find any external criterion of
the truth: I even ceased from producing, until at length I was quieted
by my own light temperament, and the feeling of my own powers, and
lastly by a trial of skill,--started on the spur of the moment by our
teachers and parents, who had noted our sport,--in which I came off
well, and won general praise.
No libraries for children had at that time been established. The old had
themselves still childish notions, and found it convenient to impart
their own education to their successors. Except the "Orbis Pictus" of
Amos Comenius, no book of the sort fell into our hands; but the large
folio Bible, with copperplates by Merian, was diligently gone over leaf
by leaf; Gottfried's "Chronicles," with plates by the same master,
taught us the most notable events of universal history; the "Acerra
Philologica" added thereto all sorts of fables, mythologies, and
wonders; and, as I soon became familiar with Ovid's "Metamorphoses," the
first books of which in particular I studied carefully, my young brain
was rapidly furnished with a mass of images and events, of significant
and wonderful shapes and occurrences; and I never felt time hang upon my
hands, as I always occupied myself in working over, repeating, and
reproducing these acquisitions.
A more salutary moral effect than that of these rude and hazardous
antiquities was produced by Fenelon's "Telemachus," with which I first
became acquainted in Neukirch's translation, and which, imperfectly as
it was executed, had a sweet and beneficent influence on my mind. That
"Robinson Crusoe" was added in due time, follows in the nature of
things; and it may be imagined that the "Island of Falsenberg" was not
wanting. Lord Anson's "Voyage round the Globe" combined the dignity of
truth with the rich fancies of fable; and, while our thoughts
accompanied this excellent seaman, we were conducted over all the world,
and endeavored to follow him with our fingers on the globe. But a still
richer harvest was to spring up before me, when I lighted on a mass of
writings, which, in their present state, it is true, cannot be called
excellent, but the contents of which, in a harmless way, bring near to
us many a meritorious action of former times.
The publication, or rather the manufacture, of those books, which have
at a later day become so well known and celebrated under the name
Volkschriften, Volksbucher (popular works or books), was carried on in
Frankfort. The enormous sales they met with led to their being almost
illegibly printed from stereotypes on horrible blotting-paper. We
children were so fortunate as to find these precious remains of the
Middle Ages every day on a little table at the door of a dealer in cheap
books, and to obtain them at the cost of a couple of Kreutzer. "The
Eulenspiegel," "The Four Sons of Haimon," "The Emperor Octavian," "The
Fair Melusina," "The Beautiful Magelone," "Fortunatus," with the whole
race down to "The Wandering Jew," were all at our service, as often as
we preferred the relish of these works to the taste of sweet things. The
greatest benefit of this was, that, when we had read through or damaged
such a sheet, it could soon be reprocured, and swallowed a second time.
As a family picnic in summer is vexatiously disturbed by a sudden storm,
which transforms a pleasant state of things into the very reverse: so
the diseases of childhood fall unexpectedly on the most beautiful season
of early life. And thus it happened with me. I had just purchased
"Fortunatus with his Purse and Wishing-hat," when I was attacked by a
restlessness and fever which announced the small-pox. Inoculation was
still with us considered very problematical; and, although it had
already been intelligibly and urgently recommended by popular writers,
the German physicians hesitated to perform an operation that seemed to
forestall Nature. Speculative Englishmen, therefore, had come to the
Continent, and inoculated, for a considerable fee, the children of such
persons as were opulent, and free from prejudices. Still, the majority
were exposed to the old disease: the infection raged through families,
killed and disfigured many children; and few parents dared to avail
themselves of a method, the probable efficacy of which had been
abundantly confirmed by the result. The evil now invaded our house, and
attacked me with unusual severity. My whole body was sown over with
spots, and my face covered; and for several days I lay blind and in
great pain. They tried the only possible alleviation, and promised me
heaps of gold if I would keep quiet, and not increase the mischief by
rubbing and scratching. I controlled myself, while, according to the
prevailing prejudice, they kept me as warm as possible, and thus only
rendered my suffering more acute. At last, after a woeful time, there
fell, as it were, a mask from my face. The blotches had left no visible
mark upon the skin, but the features were plainly altered. I myself was
satisfied merely with seeing the light of day again, and gradually
putting off my spotted skin; but others were pitiless enough to remind
me often of my previous condition, especially a very lively aunt, who
had formerly regarded me with idolatry, but in after-years could seldom
look at me without exclaiming "The deuce, cousin, what a fright he's
grown!" Then she would tell me circumstantially how I had once been her
delight, and what attention she had excited when she carried me about;
and thus I early learned that people very often subject us to a severe
atonement for the pleasure which we have afforded them.
I escaped neither measles nor chicken-pox, nor any other of the
tormenting demons of childhood; and I was assured each time that it was
a great piece of good luck that this malady was now past forever. But
alas! another again threatened in the background, and advanced. All
these things increased my propensity to reflection; and as I had already
practised myself in fortitude, in order to remove the torture of
impatience, the virtues which I had heard praised in the stoics appeared
to me highly worthy of imitation, and the more so, as something similar
was commended by the Christian doctrine of patience.
While on the subject of these family diseases, I will mention a brother
about three years younger than myself, who was likewise attacked by that
infection, and suffered not a little from it. He was of a tender nature,
quiet and capricious; and we were never on the most friendly terms.
Besides, he scarcely survived the years of childhood. Among several
other children born afterwards, who, like him, did not live long, I only
remember a very pretty and agreeable girl, who also soon passed away; so
that, after the lapse of some years, my sister and I remained alone, and
were therefore the more deeply and affectionately attached to each
other.
These maladies, and other unpleasant interruptions, were in their
consequences doubly grievous; for my father, who seemed to have laid
down for himself a certain calendar of education and instruction, was
resolved immediately to repair every delay, and imposed double lessons
upon the young convalescent. These were not hard for me to accomplish,
but were so far troublesome, that they hindered, and, to a certain
extent, repressed, my inward development, which had taken a decided
direction.
From these didactic and pedagogic oppressions, we commonly fled to my
grandfather and grandmother. Their house stood in the Friedberg Street,
and appeared to have been formerly a fortress; for, on approaching it,
nothing was seen but a large gate with battlements, which were joined on
either side to the two neighboring houses. On entering through a narrow
passage, we reached at last a tolerably wide court, surrounded by
irregular buildings, which were now all united into one dwelling. We
usually hastened at once into the garden, which extended to a
considerable length and breadth behind the buildings, and was very well
kept. The walks were mostly skirted by vine-trellises: one part of the
space was used for vegetables, and another devoted to flowers, which
from spring till autumn adorned in rich succession the borders as well
as the beds. The long wall, erected towards the south, was used for some
well-trained espalier peach-trees, the forbidden fruit of which ripened
temptingly before us through the summer. Yet we rather avoided this
side, because we here could not satisfy our dainty appetites; and we
turned to the side opposite, where an interminable row of currant and
gooseberry bushes furnished our voracity with a succession of harvests
till autumn. Not less important to us was an old, high, wide-spreading
mulberry-tree, both on account of its fruits, and because we were told
that the silk-worms fed upon its leaves. In this peaceful region my
grandfather was found every evening, tending with genial care, and with
his own hand, the finer growths of fruits and flowers; while a gardener
managed the drudgery. He was never vexed by the various toils which were
necessary to preserve and increase a fine show of pinks. The branches of
the peach-trees were carefully tied to the espaliers with his own hands,
in a fan-shape, in order to bring about a full and easy growth of the
fruit. The sorting of the bulbs of tulips, hyacinths, and plants of a
similar nature, as well as the care of their preservation, he intrusted
to none; and I still with pleasure recall to my mind how diligently he
occupied himself in inoculating the different varieties of roses. That
he might protect himself from the thorns, he put on a pair of those
ancient leather gloves, of which three pair were given him annually at
the Piper's Court; so that there was no dearth of the article. He wore
also a loose dressing-gown, and a folded black velvet cap upon his head;
so that he might have passed for an intermediate person between Alcinous
and Laertes.
All this work in the garden he pursued as regularly and with as much
precision as his official business; for, before he came down, he always
arranged the list of cases for the next day, and read the legal papers.
In the morning he proceeded to the city-hall, dined after his return,
then took a nap in his easy-chair, and so went through the same routine
every day. He conversed little, never exhibited any vehemence; and I do
not remember ever to have seen him angry. All that surrounded him was in
the fashion of the olden time. I never perceived any alteration in his
wainscoted room. His library contained, besides law-works, only the
earliest books of travels, sea-voyages, and discoveries of countries.
Altogether I can call to mind no situation more adapted than his to
awaken the feeling of uninterrupted peace and eternal duration.
But the reverence we entertained for this venerable old man was raised
to the highest degree by a conviction that he possessed the gift of
prophecy, especially in matters that pertained to himself and his
destiny. It is true he revealed himself to no one distinctly and
minutely, except to my grandmother; yet we were all aware that he was
informed of what was going to happen by significant dreams. He assured
his wife, for instance, at a time when he was still a junior councillor,
that, on the first vacancy, he would obtain the place left open on the
bench of the /Schöffen/; and soon afterwards, when one of those
officers actually died of apoplexy, my grandfather gave orders that his
house should be quietly got ready prepared on the day of electing and
balloting, to receive his guests and congratulators. Sure enough, the
decisive gold ball was drawn in his favor. The simple dream by which he
had learned this, he confided to his wife as follows: He had seen
himself in the ordinary full assembly of councilmen, where all went on
just as usual. Suddenly the late /Schöff/ rose from his seat,
descended the steps, pressed him in the most complimentary manner to
take the vacant place, and then departed by the door.
Something similar occurred on the death of the /Schultheiss/. They
make no delay in supplying this place; as they always have to fear that
the emperor will, at some time, resume his ancient right of nominating
the officer. On this occasion, the messenger of the court came at
midnight to summon an extraordinary session for the next morning; and,
as the light in his lantern was about to expire, he asked for a candle's
end to help him on his way. "Give him a whole one," said my grandfather
to the ladies: "he takes the trouble all on my account." This expression
anticipated the result,--he was made /Schultheiss/. And what
rendered the circumstance particularly remarkable was, that, although
his representative was the third and last to draw at the ballot, the two
silver balls first came out, leaving the golden ball at the bottom of
the bag for him.
Perfectly prosaic, simple, and without a trace of the fantastic or
miraculous, were the other dreams, of which we were informed. Moreover,
I remember that once, as a boy, I was turning over his books and
memoranda, and found, among some other remarks which related to
gardening, such sentences as these: "To-night N. N. came to me, and
said,"--the name and revelation being written in cipher; or, "This night
I saw,"--all the rest being again in cipher, except the conjunctions and
similar words, from which nothing could be learned.
It is worthy of note also, that persons who showed no signs of prophetic
insight at other times, acquired, for the moment, while in his presence,
and that by means of some sensible evidence, presentiments of diseases
or deaths which were then occurring in distant places. But no such gift
has been transmitted to any of his children or grandchildren, who, for
the most part, have been hearty people, enjoying life, and never going
beyond the actual.
While on this subject, I remember with gratitude many kindnesses I
received from them in my youth. Thus, for example, we were employed and
entertained in many ways when we visited the second daughter, married to
the druggist Melber, whose house and shop stood near the market, in the
midst of the liveliest and most crowded part of the town. There we could
look down from the windows pleasantly enough upon the hurly-burly, in
which we feared to lose ourselves; and though at first, of all the goods
in the shop, nothing had much interest for us but the licorice, and the
little brown stamped cakes made from it, we became in time better
acquainted with the multitude of articles bought and sold in that
business. This aunt was the most vivacious of all the family. Whilst my
mother, in her early years, took pleasure in being neatly dressed,
working at some domestic occupation, or reading a book, the other, on
the contrary, ran about the neighborhood to pick up neglected children,
take care of them, comb them, and carry them about in the way she had
done with me for a good while. At a time of public festivities, such as
coronations, it was impossible to keep her at home. When a little child,
she had already scrambled for the money scattered on such occasions; and
it was related of her, that once when she had got a good many together,
and was looking at them with great delight in the palm of her hand, it
was struck by somebody, and all her well-earned booty vanished at a
blow. There was another incident of which she was very proud. Once,
while standing on a post as the Emperor Charles VII. was passing, at a
moment when all the people were silent, she shouted a vigorous "Vivat!"
into the coach, which made him take off his hat to her, and thank her
quite graciously for her bold salutation.
Every thing in her house was stirring, lively, and cheerful; and we
children owed her many a gay hour.
In a more quiet situation, which was, however, suited to her character,
was a second aunt, married to the Pastor Stark, incumbent of St.
Catharine's Church. He lived much alone, in accordance with his
temperament and vocation, and possessed a fine library. Here I first
became acquainted with Homer, in a prose translation, which may be found
in the seventh part of Herr Von Loen's new collection of the most
remarkable travels, under the title, "Homer's Description of the
Conquest of the Kingdom of Troy," ornamented with copperplates in the
theatrical French taste. These pictures perverted my imagination to such
a degree, that, for a long time, I could conceive the Homeric heroes
only under such forms. The incidents themselves gave me unspeakable
delight; though I found great fault with the work for affording us no
account of the capture of Troy, and breaking off so abruptly with the
death of Hector. My uncle, to whom I mentioned this defect, referred me
to Virgil, who perfectly satisfied my demands.
It will be taken for granted, that we children had among our other
lessons a continued and progressive instruction in religion. But the
Church-Protestantism imparted to us was, properly speaking, nothing but
a kind of dry morality: ingenious exposition was not thought of, and the
doctrine appealed neither to the understanding nor to the heart. For
that reason, there were various secessions from the Established Church.
Separatists, Pietists, Herrnhuter (Moravians), Quiet-in-the-Land, and
others differently named and characterized, sprang up, all of whom are
animated by the same purpose of approaching the Deity, especially
through Christ, more closely than seemed to them possible under the
forms of the established religion.
The boy heard these opinions and sentiments constantly spoken of, for
the clergy as well as the laity divided themselves into /pro/ and
/con/. The minority were composed of those who dissented more or
less broadly; but their modes of thinking attracted by originality,
heartiness, perseverance, and independence. All sorts of stories were
told of their virtues, and of the way in which they were manifested. The
reply of a pious master-tinman was especially noted, who, when one of
his craft attempted to shame him by asking, "Who is really your
confessor?" answered with great cheerfulness, and confidence in the
goodness of his cause, "I have a famous one,--no less than the confessor
of King David."
Things of this sort naturally made an impression on the boy, and led him
into similar states of mind. In fact, he came to the thought that he
might immediately approach the great God of nature, the Creator and
Preserver of heaven and earth, whose earlier manifestations of wrath had
been long forgotten in the beauty of the world, and the manifold
blessings in which we participate while upon it. The way he took to
accomplish this was very curious.