of the humorous /jet d'eau/ were opened: the "thumblings" and
"pointerlings," the "pickers" and "stealers," as he used to call the
fingers; the "falings" and "galings," meaning "f" and "g;" the
"fielings" and "gielings," meaning "f" and "g" sharp, [Footnote: The
names of the sharp notes in German terminate in "is," and hence "f" and
"g" sharp are called "fis" and "gis."]--became once more extant, and
made the most wonderful manikins. My young friend could not leave off
laughing, and was rejoiced that one could learn in such a merry manner.
He vowed that he would give his parents no peace until they had given
him such an excellent man for a teacher.
And thus the way to two arts was early enough opened to me, according to
the principles of a modern theory of education, merely by good luck, and
without any conviction that I should be furthered therein by a native
talent. My father maintained that everybody ought to learn drawing; for
which reason he especially venerated the Emperor Maximilian, by whom
this had been expressly commanded. He therefore held me to it more
steadily than to music; which, on the other hand, he especially
recommended to my sister, and even out of the hours for lessons kept her
fast, during a good part of the day, at her harpsichord.
But the more I was in this way made to press on, the more I wished to
press forward of myself; and my hours of leisure were employed in all
sorts of curious occupations. From my earliest years I felt a love for
the investigation of natural things. It is often regarded as an instinct
of cruelty that children like at last to break, tear, and devour objects
with which for a long time they have played, and which they have handled
in various manners. Yet even in this way is manifested the curiosity,
the desire of learning how such things hang together, how they look
within. I remember, that, when a child, I pulled flowers to pieces to
see how the leaves were inserted into the calyx, or even plucked birds
to observe how the feathers were inserted into the wings. Children are
not to be blamed for this, when even our naturalists believe they get
their knowledge oftener by separation and division than by union and
combination,--more by killing than by making alive.
An armed loadstone, very neatly sewed up in scarlet cloth, was one day
destined to experience the effects of this spirit of inquiry. For the
secret force of attraction which it exercised, not only on the little
iron bar attached to it, but which was of such a kind that it could gain
strength and could daily bear a heavier weight,--this mysterious virtue
had so excited my admiration, that for a long time I was pleased with
merely staring at its operation. But at last I thought I might arrive at
some nearer revelation by tearing away the external covering. This was
done; but I became no wiser in consequence, as the naked iron taught me
nothing further. This also I took off; and I held in my hand the mere
stone, with which I never grew weary of making experiments of various
kinds on filings and needles,--experiments from which my youthful mind
drew no further advantage beyond that of a varied experience. I could
not manage to reconstruct the whole arrangement: the parts were
scattered, and I lost the wondrous phenomenon at the same time with the
apparatus.
Nor was I more fortunate in putting together an electrical machine. A
friend of the family, whose youth had fallen in the time when
electricity occupied all minds, often told us how, when a child, he had
desired to possess such a machine: he got together the principal
requisites, and, by the aid of an old spinning-wheel and some medicine
bottles, had produced tolerable results. As he readily and frequently
repeated the story, and imparted to us some general information on
electricity, we children found the thing very plausible, and long
tormented ourselves with an old spinning-wheel and some medicine
bottles, without producing even the smallest result. We nevertheless
adhered to our belief, and were much delighted, when at the time of the
fair, among other rarities, magical and legerdemain tricks, an
electrical machine performed its marvels, which, like those of
magnetism, were at that time already very numerous.
The want of confidence in the public method of instruction was daily
increasing. People looked about for private tutors; and, because single
families could not afford the expense, several of them united to attain
their object. Yet the children seldom agreed; the young man had not
sufficient authority; and, after frequently repeated vexations, there
were only angry partings. It is not surprising, therefore, that other
arrangements were thought of which should be more permanent as well as
more advantageous.
The thought of establishing boarding-schools (/Pensionen/) had
arisen from the necessity, which every one felt, of having the French
language taught and communicated orally. My father had brought up a
young person, who had been his footman, valet, secretary, and in short
successively all in all. This man, whose name was Pfeil, spoke French
well. After he had married, and his patrons had to think of a situation
for him, they hit upon the plan of making him establish a boarding-
school, which extended gradually into a small academy, in which every
thing necessary, and at last even Greek and Latin, were taught. The
extensive connections of Frankfort caused young French and English men
to be brought to this establishment, that they might learn German and
acquire other accomplishments. Pfeil, who was a man in the prime of
life, and of the most wonderful energy and activity, superintended the
whole very laudably; and as he could never be employed enough, and was
obliged to keep music-teachers for his scholars, he set about music on
the occasion, and practised the harpsichord with such zeal, that,
without having previously touched a note, he very soon played with
perfect readiness and spirit. He seemed to have adopted my father's
maxim, that nothing can more cheer and excite young people, than when at
mature years one declares one's self again a learner; and at an age when
new accomplishments are acquired with difficulty, one endeavors,
nevertheless, by zeal and perseverance, to excel the younger, who are
more favored by nature.
By this love of playing the harpsichord, Pfeil was led to the
instruments themselves, and, while he hoped to obtain the best, came
into connection with Frederici of Gera, whose instruments were
celebrated far and wide. He took a number of them on sale, and had now
the joy of seeing, not only one piano, but many, set up in his
residence, and of practising and being heard upon them.
The vivacity of this man brought a great rage for music into our house.
My father remained on lasting good terms with him up to certain points
of dispute. A large piano of Frederici was purchased also for us, which
I, adhering to my harpsichord, hardly touched; but which so much
increased my sister's troubles, as, to duly honor the new instrument,
she had to spend some time longer every day in practice; while my
father, as overseer, and Pfeil, as a model and encouraging friend,
alternately took their positions at her side.
A singular taste of my father's caused much inconvenience to us
children. This was the cultivation of silk, of the advantages of which,
if it were more widely extended, he had a high opinion. Some
acquaintances at Hanau, where the breeding of the worms was carried on
with great care, gave him the immediate impulse. At the proper season,
the eggs were sent to him from that place: and, as soon as the mulberry-
trees showed sufficient leaves, they had to be stripped; and the
scarcely visible creatures were most diligently tended. Tables and
stands with boards were set up in a garret-chamber, to afford them more
room and sustenance; for they grew rapidly, and, after their last change
of skin, were so voracious that it was scarcely possible to get leaves
enough to feed them,--nay, they had to be fed day and night, as every
thing depends upon there being no deficiency of nourishment when the
great and wondrous change is about to take place in them. When the
weather was favorable, this business could indeed be regarded as a
pleasant amusement; but, if the cold set in so that the mulberry-trees
suffered, it was exceedingly troublesome. Still more unpleasant was it
when rain fell during the last epoch; for these creatures cannot at all
endure moisture, and the wet leaves had to be carefully wiped and dried,
which could not always be done quite perfectly: and for this, or perhaps
some other reason also, various diseases came among the flock, by which
the poor things were swept off in thousands. The state of corruption
which ensued produced a smell really pestilential; and, because the dead
and diseased had to be taken away and separated from the healthy, the
business was indeed extremely wearisome and repulsive, and caused many
an unhappy hour to us children.
After we had one year passed the finest weeks of the spring and summer
in tending the silk-worms, we were obliged to assist our father in
another business, which, though simpler, was no less troublesome. The
Roman views, which, bound by black rods at the top and bottom, had hung
for many years on the walls of the old house, had become very yellow
through the light, dust, and smoke, and not a little unsightly through
the flies. If such uncleanliness was not to be tolerated in the new
house, yet, on the other hand, these pictures had gained in value to my
father, in consequence of his longer absence from the places
represented. For at the outset such copies serve only to renew and
revive the impressions received shortly before. They seem trifling in
comparison, and at the best only a melancholy substitute. But, as the
remembrance of the original forms fades more and more, the copies
imperceptibly assume their place: they become as dear to us as those
once were, and what we at first contemned now gains esteem and
affection. Thus it is with all copies, and particularly with portraits.
No one is easily satisfied with the counterfeit of an object still
present, but how we value every /silhouette/ of one who is absent
or departed.
In short, with this feeling of his former extravagance, my father wished
that these engravings might be restored as much as possible. It was well
known that this could be done by bleaching: and the operation, always
critical with large plates, was undertaken under rather unfavorable
circumstances; for the large boards, on which the smoked engravings were
moistened and exposed to the sun, stood in the gutters before the garret
windows, leaning against the roof, and were therefore liable to many
accidents. The chief point was, that the paper should never thoroughly
dry, but must be kept constantly moist. This was the duty of my sister
and myself; and the idleness, which would have been otherwise so
desirable, was excessively annoying on account of the tedium and
impatience, and the watchfulness which allowed of no distraction. The
end, however, was attained; and the bookbinder, who fixed each sheet
upon thick paper, did his best to match and repair the margins, which
had been here and there torn by our inadvertence. All the sheets
together were bound in a volume, and for this time preserved.
That we children might not be wanting in every variety of life and
learning, a teacher of the English language had to announce himself just
at this time, who pledged himself to teach anybody not entirely raw in
languages, English in four weeks, and to advance him to such a degree,
that, with some diligence, he could help himself farther. His price was
moderate, and he was indifferent as to the number of scholars at one
lesson. My father instantly determined to make the attempt, and took
lessons, together with my sister and myself, of this expeditious master.
The hours were faithfully kept; there was no want of repeating our
lessons; other exercises were neglected rather than this during the four
weeks; and the teacher parted from us, and we from him, with
satisfaction. As he remained longer in the town, and found many
employers, he came from time to time to look after us and to help us,
grateful that we had been among the first who placed confidence in him,
and proud to be able to cite us as examples to the others.
My father, in consequence of this, entertained a new anxiety, that
English might neatly stand in the series of my other studies in
languages. Now, I will confess that it became more and more burdensome
for me to take my occasions for study now from this grammar or
collection of examples, now from that; now from one author, now from
another,--and thus to divert my interest in a subject every hour. It
occurred to me, therefore, that I might despatch all at the same time;
and I invented a romance of six or seven brothers and sisters, who,
separated from each other and scattered over the world, should
communicate with each other alternately as to their conditions and
feelings. The eldest brother gives an account, in good German, of all
the manifold objects and incidents of his journey. The sister, in a
ladylike style, with short sentences and nothing but stops, much as
"Siegwart" was afterwards written, answers now him, now the other
brothers, partly about domestic matters, and partly about affairs of the
heart. One brother studies theology, and writes a very formal Latin, to
which he often adds a Greek postscript. To another brother, holding the
place of mercantile clerk at Hamburg, the English correspondence
naturally falls; while a still younger one at Marseilles has the French.
For the Italian was found a musician, on his first trip into the world;
while the youngest of all, a sort of pert nestling, had applied himself
to Jew-German,--the other languages having been cut off from him,--and,
by means of his frightful ciphers, brought the rest of them into
despair, and my parents into a hearty laugh at the good notion.
To obtain matter for filling up this singular form, I studied the
geography of the countries in which my creations resided, and by
inventing for those dry localities all sorts of human incidents which
had some affinity with the characters and employments of my heroes. Thus
my exercise-books became much more voluminous, my father was better
satisfied, and I was much sooner made aware of my deficiency in both
what I had acquired and possessed of my own.
Now, as such things, once begun, have no end nor limits, so it happened
in the present case; for while I strove to attain the odd Jew-German,
and to write it as well as I could read it, I soon discovered that I
ought to know Hebrew, from which alone the modern corrupted dialect
could be derived, and handled with any certainty. I consequently
explained the necessity of my learning Hebrew to my father, and
earnestly besought his consent; for I had a still higher object.
Everywhere I heard it said, that, to understand the Old as well as the
New Testament, the original languages were requisite. The latter I could
read quite easily; because, that there might be no want of exercise,
even on Sundays, the so-called Epistles and Gospels had, after church,
to be recited, translated, and in some measure explained. I now purposed
doing the same thing with the Old Testament, the peculiarities of which
had always especially interested me.
My father, who did not like to do any thing by halves, determined to
request the rector of our gymnasium, one Dr. Albrecht, to give me
private lessons weekly, until I should have acquired what was most
essential in so simple a language; for he hoped, that, if it would not
be despatched as soon as English was learned, it could at least be
managed in double the time.
Rector Albrecht was one of the most original figures in the world,--
short, broad, but not fat, ill-shaped without being deformed; in short,
an Aesop in gown and wig. His more than seventy-years-old face was
completely twisted into a sarcastic smile; while his eyes always
remained large, and, though red, were always brilliant and intelligent.
He lived in the old cloister of the barefoot friars, the seat of the
gymnasium. Even as a child, I had often visited him in company with my
parents, and had, with a kind of trembling delight, glided through the
long, dark passages, the chapels transformed into reception-rooms, the
place broken up and full of stairs and corners. Without making me
uncomfortable, he questioned me familiarly whenever we met, and praised
and encouraged me. One day, on the changing of the pupils' places after
a public examination, he saw me standing, as a mere spectator, not far
from his chair, while he distributed the silver /proemia virtulis et
diligentioe/. I was probably gazing very eagerly upon the little bag
out of which he drew the medals: he nodded to me, descended a step, and
handed me one of the silver pieces. My joy was great; although others
thought that this gift, bestowed upon a boy not belonging to the school,
was out of all order. But for this the good old man cared but little,
having always played the eccentric, and that in a striking manner. He
had a very good reputation as a schoolmaster, and understood his
business; although age no more allowed him to practise it thoroughly.
But almost more than by his own infirmities was he hindered by greater
circumstances; and, as I already knew, he was satisfied neither with the
consistory, the inspectors, the clergy, nor the teachers. To his natural
temperament, which inclined to satire, and the watching for faults and
defects, he allowed free play, both in his programmes and his public
speeches; and, as Lucian was almost the only writer whom he read and
esteemed, he spiced all that he said and wrote with biting ingredients.
Fortunately for those with whom he was dissatisfied, he never went
directly to work, but only jeered at the defects which he wanted to
reprove, with hints, allusions, classic passages, and scripture-texts.
His delivery, moreover,--he always read his discourses,--was unpleasant,
unintelligible, and, above all, was often interrupted by a cough, but
more frequently by a hollow, paunch-convulsing laugh, with which he was
wont to announce and accompany the biting passages. This singular man I
found to be mild and obliging when I began to take lessons of him. I now
went to his house daily at six o'clock in the evening, and always
experienced a secret pleasure when the outer door closed behind me, and
I had to thread the long, dark cloister-passage. We sat in his library,
at a table covered with oil-cloth, a much-read Lucian never quitting his
side.
In spite of all my willingness, I did not get at the matter without
difficulty; for my teacher could not suppress certain sarcastic remarks
as to the real truth about Hebrew. I concealed from him my designs upon
Jew-German, and spoke of a better understanding of the original text. He
smiled at this, and said I should be satisfied if I only learned to
read. This vexed me in secret, and I concentrated all my attention when
we came to the letters. I found an alphabet something like the Greek, of
which the forms were easy, and the names, for the most part, not strange
to me. All this I had soon comprehended and retained, and supposed we
should now take up reading. That this was done from right to left I was
well aware. But now all at once appeared a new army of little characters
and signs, of points and strokes of all sorts, which were in fact to
represent vowels. At this I wondered the more, as there were manifestly
vowels in the larger alphabet; and the others only appeared to be hidden
under strange appellations. I was also taught that the Jewish nation, as
long as it flourished, actually were satisfied with the former signs,
and knew no other way of writing and reading. Most willingly, then,
would I have gone on along this ancient and, as it seemed to me, easier
path; but my worthy declared rather sternly that we must go by the
grammar as it had been approved and composed. Reading without these
points and strokes, he said, was a very hard undertaking, and could be
accomplished only by the learned and those who were well practised. I
must, therefore, make up my mind to learn these little characters; but
the matter became to me more and more confused. Now, it seemed, some of
the first and larger primitive letters had no value in their places, in
order that their little after-born kindred might not stand there in
vain. Now they indicated a gentle breathing, now a guttural more or less
rough, and now served as mere equivalents. But finally, when one fancied
that he had well noted every thing, some of these personages, both great
and small, were rendered inoperative; so that the eyes always had very
much, and the lips very little, to do.
As that of which I already knew the contents had now to be stuttered in
a strange gibberish, in which a certain snuffle and gargle were not a
little commended as something unattainable, I in a certain degree
deviated from the matter, and diverted myself, in a childish way, with
the singular names of these accumulated signs. There were "emperors,"
"kings," and "dukes," [Footnote: These are the technical names for
classes of accents in the Hebrew grammar.--TRANS.] which, as accents
governing here and there, gave me not a little entertainment. But even
these shallow jests soon lost their charm. Nevertheless I was
indemnified, inasmuch as by reading, translating, repeating, and
committing to memory, the substance of the book came out more vividly;
and it was this, properly, about which I desired to be enlightened. Even
before this time, the contradiction between tradition, and the actual
and possible, had appeared to me very striking; and I had often put my
private tutors to a non-plus with the sun which stood still on Gibeon,
and the moon in the vale of Ajalon, to say nothing of other
improbabilities and incongruities. Every thing of this kind was now
awakened; while, in order to master the Hebrew, I occupied myself
exclusively with the Old Testament, and studied it, though no longer in
Luther's translation, but in the literal version of Sebastian Schmid,
printed under the text, which my father had procured for me. Here, I am
sorry to say, our lessons began to be defective in regard to practice in
the language. Reading, interpreting, grammar, transcribing, and the
repetition of words, seldom lasted a full half-hour; for I immediately
began to aim at the sense of the matter, and, though we were still
engaged in the first book of Moses, to utter several things suggested to
me by the later books. At first the good old man tried to restrain me
from such digressions, but at last they seemed to entertain him also. It
was impossible for him to suppress his characteristic cough and chuckle:
and, although he carefully avoided giving me any information that might
have compromised himself, my importunity was not relaxed; nay, as I
cared more to set forth my doubts than to learn their solution, I grew
constantly more vivacious and bold, seeming justified by his deportment.
Yet I could get nothing out of him, except that ever and anon he would
exclaim with his peculiar, shaking laugh, "Ah! mad fellow! ah! mad boy!"
Still, my childish vivacity, which scrutinized the Bible on all sides,
may have seemed to him tolerably serious and worthy of some assistance.
He therefore referred me, after a time, to the large English biblical
work which stood in his library, and in which the interpretation of
difficult and doubtful passages was attempted in an intelligent and
judicious manner. By the great labors of German divines the translation
had obtained advantages over the original. The different opinions were
cited; and at last a kind of reconciliation was attempted, so that the
dignity of the book, the ground of religion, and the human
understanding, might in some degree co-exist. Now, as often as towards
the end of the lesson I came out with my usual questions and doubts, so
often did he point to the repository. I took the volume, he let me read,
turned over his Lucian; and, when I made any remarks on the book, his
ordinary laugh was the only answer to my sagacity. In the long summer
days he let me sit as long as I could read, many times alone; after a
time he suffered me to take one volume after another home with me.