Delphi Collected Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe \(Illustrated\) pdfdrive com

Europœum,  an  Acerra  Philologica,  Gryphius’  Writings,  and  some  other  less

important works. As we now and then, when tired of romping, felt the time hang

heavy  on  our  hands,  we  proposed  to  read  some  books;  and  before  we  were

aware, the time hung heavier than ever. At last, Philina hit upon the royal plan of

laying all the tomes, opened at once, upon a large table: we sat down opposite to

one another: we read to one another; always in detached passages, first from this

book, then from that. Here was a proper pleasure! We felt now as if we were in

good  society,  where  it  is  reckoned  unbecoming  to  dwell  on  any  subject,  or

search  it  to  the  bottom;  we  thought  ourselves  in  witty  gay  society,  where  none

will  let  his  neighbour  speak.  We  regularly  treat  ourselves  with  this  diversion

every day; and the erudition we obtain from it is quite surprising. Already there

is nothing new for us under the sun; on everything we see or hear, our learning

offers  us  a  hint.  This  method  of  instruction  we  diversify  in  many  ways.

Frequently we read by an old spoiled sandglass, which runs in a minute or two.

The  moment  it  is  down,  the  silent  party  turns  it  round  like  lightning,  and

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commences  reading  from  his  book;  and  no  sooner  is  it  down  again,  than  the

other  cuts  him  short,  and  starts  the  former  topic.  Thus  we  study  in  a  truly

academic  manner:  only  our  hours  are  shorter,  and  our  studies  are  extremely

varied.”

“This rioting is quite conceivable,” said Wilhelm, “when a pair like you two

are  together:  but  how  a  pair  so  full  of  frolic  stay  together,  does  not  seem  so

easily conceivable.”

“It is our good fortune,” answered Friedrich, “and our bad. Philina dare not let

herself be seen, she cannot bear to see herself, she is in the family way. Nothing

ever  was  so  ludicrous  and  shapeless  in  the  world.  A  little  while  before  I  came

away,  she  chanced  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  lookingglass  in  passing.  ‘Faugh!’

cried  she,  and  turned  away  her  face:  ‘the  living  picture  of  the  Frau  Melina!

Shocking figure! One looks entirely deplorable!”‘

“I  confess,”  said  Wilhelm  with  a  smile,  “it  must  be  rather  farcical  to  see  a

father and a mother such as you and she together.”

“’Tis a foolish business,” answered Friedrich, “that I must, at last, be raised to

the paternal dignity. But she asserts, and the time agrees. At first that cursed visit

which she paid you after Hamlet gave me qualms.”

“What visit?”

“I suppose you have not quite slept off the memory of it yet? The pretty, flesh-

and-blood spirit of that night, if you do not know it, was Philina. The story was

in truth a hard dower for me; but if we cannot be content with such things, we

should not be in love. Fatherhood at any rate depends entirely upon conviction: I

am convinced, and so I am a father. There, you see, I can employ my logic in the

proper  season  too.  And  if  the  brat  do  not  laugh  itself  to  death  so  soon  as  it  is

born, it may prove, if not a useful, at least a pleasant citizen of this world.”

Whilst our friends were talking thus of mirthful subjects, the rest of the party

had  begun  a  serious  conversation.  Scarcely  were  Friedrich  and  Wilhelm  gone,

when the Abbéled his friends, as if by chance, into a garden-house; and having

got them seated, thus addressed them:

“We have in general terms asserted that Fräulein Theresa was not the daughter

of  her  reputed  mother:  it  is  fit  that  we  should  now  explain  ourselves  on  this

matter, in detail. I shall relate the story to you, which I undertake to prove and to

elucidate in every point.

“Frau  von  —    —  spent  the  first  years  of  her  wedlock  in  the  utmost  concord

with  her  husband;  only  they  had  this  misfortune,  that  the  children  she  brought

him  came  into  the  world  dead;  and  on  occasion  of  the  third,  the  mother  was

declared by the Physicians to be on the verge of death, and to be sure of death if

she should ever have another. The parties were obliged to take their resolution:

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they would not break the marriage; it was too suitable to both, in a civil point of

view.  Frau  von  —    —  sought  in  the  culture  of  her  mind,  in  a  certain  habit  of

display,  in  the  joys  of  vanity,  a  compensation  for  the  happiness  of  motherhood

which was refused her.

She cheerfully indulged her husband, when she noticed in him an attachment

to  a  young  lady,  who  had  sole  charge  of  their  domestic  economy;  a  person  of

beautiful  exterior,  and  very  solid  character.  Frau  von  —    —  herself,  ere  long,

assisted in procuring an arrangement; by which the lady yielded to the wishes of

Theresa’s father; continuing to discharge her household duties, and testifying to

the mistress of the family, if possible, a more submissive zeal to serve her than

before.

“After  a  while,  she  declared  herself  with  child:  and  both  the  father  and  his

wife,  on  this  occasion,  though  from  very  different  causes,  fell  upon  the  same

idea. Herr von — — wished to have the offspring of his mistress educated in the

house as his lawful child; and Frau von — — , angry that the indiscretion of her

Doctor had allowed some whisper of her condition to go abroad, proposed by a

supposititious  child  to  counteract  this;  and  likewise  to  retain,  by  such

compliance,  the  superiority  in  her  household,  which  otherwise  she  was  like  to

lose.  However,  she  was  more  backward  than  her  husband:  she  observed  his

purpose;  and  contrived,  without  any  formal  question,  to  facilitate  his

explanation.  She  made  her  own  terms;  obtaining  almost  everything  that  she

required; and hence the will, in which so little care was taken of the child. The

old Doctor was dead: they applied to a young, active and discreet successor; he

was well rewarded; he looked forward to the credit of exposing and remedying

the  unskilfulness  and  premature  decision  of  his  deceased  colleague.  The  true

mother,  not  unwillingly,  consented;  they  managed  the  deception  very  well;

Theresa  came  into  the  world,  and  was  surrendered  to  a  stepmother,  while  her

mother fell a victim to the plot; having died by venturing out too early, and left

the father inconsolable.

“Frau von — — had thus attained her object; in the eyes of the world she had

a lovely child, which she paraded with excessive vanity; and she had also been

delivered from a rival, whose fortune she envied, and whose influence, at least in

prospect,  she  beheld  with  apprehension.  The  infant  she  loaded  with  her

tenderness; and by affecting, in trustful hours, a lively feeling for her husband’s

loss,  she  gained  mastery  of  his  heart;  so  that  in  a  manner  he  surrendered  all  to

her;  laid  his  own  happiness  and  that  of  his  child  in  her  hands;  nor  was  it  till  a

short while prior to his death, and in some degree by the exertions of his grown-

up daughter, that he again assumed the rule in his own house. This, fair Theresa,

was  in  all  probability  the  secret,  which  your  father,  in  his  last  sickness,  so

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struggled to communicate; this is what I wish to lay circumstantially before you,

at a moment when our young friend, who by a strange concurrence has become

your bridegroom, happens to be absent. Here are the papers, which will prove in

the most rigorous manner everything that I have stated. You will also see from

them how long I have been following the trace of this discovery, though till now

I could never attain certainty respecting it. I did not risk imparting to my friend

the possibility of such a happiness; it would have wounded him too deeply, had

this  hope  a  second  time  deceived  him.  You  will  understand  poor  Lydia’s

suspicions: I readily confess, I nowise favoured the attachment of our friend to

her, whenever I began to look for a connexion with Theresa.”

To this recital no one replied. The ladies, some days afterwards, returned the

papers, not making any farther mention of them.

There  were  other  matters  in  abundance  to  engage  the  party  when  they  were

together; and the scenery around was so delightful, that our friends, singly or in

company, on horseback, in carriages, or on foot, delighted to explore it. On one

of  these  of  excursions,  Jarno  took  an  opportunity  of  opening  the  affair  to

Wilhelm:  he  delivered  him  the  papers;  not,  however,  seeming  to  require  from

him any resolution in regard to them.

“In the singular position I am placed in,” said our friend, “I need only repeat

to you what I said at first, in presence of Natalia, and with the clear intention to

fulfil  it.  Lothario  and  his  friends  may  require  of  me  every  sort  of  self-denial:  I

here  abandon  in  their  favour  all  pretensions  to  Theresa;  do  you  procure  me,  in

return, a formal discharge. There requires no great reflection to decide. For some

days, I have noticed that Theresa has to make an effort in retaining any show of

the vivacity with which she welcomed me at first. Her affection is gone from me,

or rather I have never had it.”

“Such  affairs  are  more  conveniently  explained,”  said  Jarno,  “by  a  gradual

process, in silence and expectation, than by many words, which always cause a

sort of fermentation and embarrassment.”

“I  rather  think,”  said  Wilhelm,  “that  precisely  this  affair  admits  of  the  most

clear and calm decision on the spot. I have often been reproached with hesitation

and  uncertainty;  why  will  you  now,  when  I  do  not  hesitate,  commit  against

myself  the  fault  you  have  often  blamed  in  me?  Do  our  neighbours  take  such

trouble with our training, only to let us feel that they themselves are untrained?

Yes, grant me soon the cheerful thought that I am out of a mistaken project, into

which I entered with the purest feelings in the world.”

Notwithstanding this request, some days elapsed without his hearing any more

of the affair, or observing any farther alteration in his friends. The conversation,

on the contrary, was general and of indifferent matters.

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