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

Translation.

I watch’d it when in hands well skill’d —

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(How I recall that season sweet!) —

It grew and grew, until fulfill’d

In splendor never so complete;

And, true enough, ‘t is now my own,

Yet, to myself alone I tell,

I wish it still were not quite done —

I loved its making all too well!

With  this  transposition  our  friend  did  not  long  remain  satisfied;  he  regretted

the  conversion  of  the  beautifully  inflected  verb  fierent  into  a  sorry  abstract

substantive,  and  he  was  vexed  that,  in  spite  of  all  reflection,  he  was  unable  to

mend the passage. Now all at once his partiality for the ancient languages awoke

again, and the splendor of the German Parnassus, the heights of which, however,

he was privately striving to ascend, seemed to grow dim before him.

But at last, finding that this pleasant compliment, apart from the original text,

was good enough, and venturing to believe that a lady would accept it quite in

good part, there arose a second source of misgiving, namely, that if one cannot

be  galant  in  verse  without  seeming  to  be  in  love,  he  would  in  that  case,  as  a

father-in-law  about  to  be,  be  playing  a  strange  part.  The  worst,  however,

occurred to him last. The Ovidian verses were uttered by Arachne, a lady spinner

no  less  clever  than  beautiful  and  attractive.  Now,  if  she  through  the  envy  of

Minerva was turned into a spider, then it would be dangerous to compare even

remotely a beautiful woman with a spider, and see her hovering at the centre of

an  outspread  net.  Among  all  the  witty  company  which  surrounded  our  lady,

could one imagine any scholar who would have blundered into a comparison of

this kind? How our friend extricated himself from such a dilemma has remained

unknown  to  us,  and  we  must  number  this  case  among  those  over  which  the

muses  slyly  make  bold  to  throw  a  veil.  Enough,  the  hunting-poem  itself  was

despatched; but about this we have to add a few words.

The  reader  of  it  is  supposed  to  revel  in  a  determined  love  of  sport,  and  of

everything  that  contributes  to  it;  delightful  is  the  succession  of  the  seasons,

which  in  different  ways  occasion  and  promote  it.  The  peculiarities  of  all  the

creatures  that  are  pursued  and  that  one  seeks  to  kill,  the  different  characters  of

the sportsmen who devote themselves to this pleasure, to this toil, the accidents

that favor or hinder it — all, especially whatever related to the winged tribe, was

set  forth  in  the  best  of  moods,  and  treated  with  great  originality.  From  the

breeding of the grouse to the second flight of the woodcock, and from that to the

building  of  the  crow,  nothing  was  neglected;  all  was  well  observed,  clearly

conceived, passionately pursued, and was lightly, playfully, and often ironically

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set forth.

The  elegiac  strain,  however,  sounded  throughout  the  whole;  it  was  treated

rather as a farewell to these pleasures of life, whereby it indeed gained a pathetic

touch as of a merry life spent, and had a very beneficial effect, but yet in the end,

as  in  the  case  of  those  mottoes  above  cited,  allowed  a  certain  emptiness  after

enjoyment  to  be  felt.  Whether  it  was  due  to  turning  over  these  papers,  or  to  a

momentary  indisposition,  the  major  did  not  feel  in  a  happy  mood.  At  the

diverging point at which he found himself, he seemed all at once to feel keenly

that  the  years  at  first  bring  us  one  pleasant  gift  after  the  other,  and  then  by

degrees  withdraw  them  again.  A  holiday  put  off,  a  summer  gone  without

enjoyment, want of continual, habitual exercise — all caused him to feel certain

bodily  ailments,  which  he  took  for  real  evils,  and  showed  more  impatience

thereat than there might seem occasion for.

The various members of the family had now been for several months without

any  special  news  of  one  another;  the  major  was  busy  in  the  capital  finally

negotiating  certain  grants  and  confirmations  appertaining  to  his  affairs;  the

baroness  and  Hilaria  bestowed  their  energies  upon  securing  the  gayest  and

richest  outfit;  the  son,  passionately  devoting  himself  to  his  fair  one,  seemed  to

forget  everything  in  that.  The  winter  had  set  in,  and  enveloped  all  rural

habitations in dismal rain-storms and premature gloom.

Anyone who at this time might have lost his way on a dark November night in

the  neighborhood  of  the  noble  castle,  and  seen  by  the  feeble  light  of  the  half-

veiled  moon  cornfields,  meadows,  clumps  of  trees,  hills  and  underwood  lying

gloomily before him, and then all at once at a sharp turning round a corner have

beheld in front of him the whole range of windows of an extensive edifice lit up,

might  well  have  thought  that  he  had  there  fallen  in  with  a  company  in  festive

array. Yet how would he have been astonished, when ushered up the illuminated

staircase  by  a  few  servants,  to  see  only  three  women  —  the  baroness,  Hilaria,

and the ladies’-maid, in the lighted apartments within those bright walls, among

hospitable domestic surroundings, thoroughly warm and comfortable.

Yet, since we suppose that we are surprising the baroness in a festive array, it

is  necessary  to  observe,  that  this  splendid  illumination  is  in  this  case  not  to  be

regarded as anything extraordinary, but that it is one of the peculiarities that the

lady  had  brought  with  her  from  her  earlier  life.  As  the  daughter  of  a  lady-in-

waiting, educated at court, she was wont to prefer the winter to all other seasons,

and  to  make  the  display  of  a  grand  illumination  the  chief  element  of  all  her

enjoyments.  In  fact  there  was  no  stint  of  wax  candles,  but  one  of  her  oldest

servants had such a great delight in artificial illumination, that it was not easy for

a  new  kind  of  lamp  to  be  invented  without  his  taking  pains  to  introduce  it  into

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the  castle,  whereby  surely  enough  the  illumination  gained  considerably,  but  it

also occasionally happened that here and there partial darkness was the result.

By  her  marriage  with  a  distinguished  landowner  and  eminent  cultivator,  the

baroness, from affection and on due consideration, had changed her condition of

a  lady  at  court,  and  her  sensible  husband,  when  at  first  a  country  life  failed  to

suit her, had, with the consent of his neighbors, nay, even at the injunction of the

government,  so  much  improved  the  roads  for  many  miles  round,  that  the

intercommunication  of  the  neighborhood  had  never  been  found  anywhere  in

such a good condition; yet in this laudable improvement the principal object had

really been that the lady, especially in favorable weather, might be able to drive

everywhere;  but  in  winter,  on  the  other  hand,  she  might  remain  at  home  with

him,  whilst  he  managed,  by  means  of  artificial  light,  to  make  night  like  day.

After  her  husband’s  death,  her  passionate  solicitude  for  her  daughter  afforded

her sufficient occupation, her brother’s frequent visits gratified her affection, and

the habitual brightness of her surroundings gave a degree of comfort which had

all the appearance of real contentment.

To-day,  however,  this  illumination  was  altogether  in  place,  for  in  one  of  the

rooms we see displayed a kind of Christmas-show, attractive and resplendent to

the  sight.  The  cunning  ladies’-maid  had  prevailed  on  the  butler  to  increase  the

illumination, and at the same time had collected and spread out all that had been

prepared beforehand for Hilaria’s marriage outfit — in point of fact with the sly

purpose  rather  of  bringing  under  discussion  what  was  still  wanting,  than  of

showing off what had already been provided. All the needful things were there,

made,  moreover,  of  the  finest  material,  and  with  the  most  elegant  handiwork;

neither was there any lack of fancy articles; and yet Ananetta was clever enough

still to make a gap visible everywhere, where one could just as easily have found

the most beautiful continuity. Whilst all sorts of under-clothing, handsomely set

out, dazzled the eyes, linen, muslin, and all delicate fabrics of the kind, whatever

their names might be, casting light enough around, yet all the colored silk-stuffs

were  missing,  for  the  purchase  of  those  had  been  wisely  deferred,  because,

considering  the  very  changeable  fashions,  it  was  intended  to  add  whatever  was

most recent as a climax and conclusion.

After  this  most  merry  inspection,  they  betook  themselves  again  to  their

customary but varied evening entertainment. The baroness, who knew well what

makes  a  young  lady  endowed  with  a  pleasant  exterior  attractive  also  from

within,  and  her  presence  desirable  wheresoever  fate  might  lead  her,  had

managed  to  introduce  into  these  rural  surroundings  so  many  varied  and

instructive means of amusement, that Hilaria, young as she was, seemed at home

everywhere, was not at a loss in any conversation, and yet showed herself withal

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quite on a level with her years. To show step by step how this had been possible,

would be too long a task; enough to say, this evening also was a sample of the

kind  of  life  they  had  hitherto  led  Intellectual  reading,  a  graceful  piano  recital,

pretty songs, went on for some hours, pleasantly and in due order as heretofore,

and  yet  not  without  a  certain  significance;  they  had  in  mind  a  third  person,  a

beloved and honored man, to welcome whom in the heartiest manner they were

practising  this  and  much  besides.  It  was  a  bridal  feeling  that  animated  Hilaria,

and  not  her  alone,  with  the  sweetest  sensations;  the  mother,  with  delicate

sentiment,  felt  an  unalloyed  sympathy  therein,  and  even  Ananetta,  in  general

only  scheming  and  busy,  was  fain  to  abandon  herself  to  certain  distant  hopes,

which  pictured  to  her  fancy  an  absent  friend  as  returning  and  present.  In  this

manner the feelings of all three women, each of them amiable in her own way,

were in harmony with the surrounding brightness, with the cheering warmth, and

with the most comfortable circumstances.

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