Goethe's Life at Weimar Author:George Henry Lewes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE FIRST WILD WEEKS AT WEIMAR This was the circle into which Goethe entered in all the splendour of youth, beauty, and fame: Youth, which, acc... more »ording to the fine conception of the Greeks, is "the herald of Venus;" Beauty, which those Greeks adored as the splendour of Truth; and Fame, which has at all times been a halo dazzling to mortal eyes. Thus equipped for conquest, how can we wonder that he conquered? Even Amalia, angry with him for having ridiculed her darling Wieland, could not withstand the magic of his presence. Her love of genius left her no choice. She was fascinated by his wild ways, and by his splendid talents. One moment he startled her with a paradox, the next moment he sprang from his seat, waltzing and whirling round the room with antics which made her scream with laughter. And Wieland?—he was conquered at once. He shall speak for himself, in a letter written after their first interview: " How perfectly I felt, at the first glance, he was a man after my own heart! How I loved the magnificent youth as I sat beside him at table! All that I can say (after more than one crisis which I have endured) is this: since that morning my soul is as full of Goethe as a dew- drop of the morning sun. ... I believe the Godlike creature will remain longer with us than he intended; and if Weimar can do anything, his presence will accomplish it." This is very honourable to Wieland: Nestor gazes with unenvious delight upon the young Achilles. Heroic eyes are always proud to recognise heroic proportions. After Wieland and the Duchess, the rest were easy to conquer. " He rose like a star in the heavens," says Knebel. " Everybody worshipped him, especially the women." In the costume of his own Werther, which was instantly adopted by the Duke, he seemed the ideal o...« less