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

CHAPTER XI.

After a short consideration, he called the landlord, and bade him mark to his

account  both  the  damage  and  the  regular  charge.  At  the  same  time  he  learned,

not  without  vexation,  that  his  horse  had  been  so  hard  ridden  by  Laertes  last

night, that, in all probability, it was foundered, as they term it; the farrier having

little hope of its recovering.

A salute from Philina, which she threw him from her window, restored him in

some degree to a more cheerful humor: he went forthwith into the nearest shop

to  buy  her  a  little  present,  which,  in  return  for  the  powder-knife,  he  still  owed

her;  and  it  must  be  owned,  that,  in  selecting  his  gift,  he  did  not  keep  himself

within  the  limits  of  proportional  value.  He  not  only  purchased  her  a  pair  of

earrings, but added likewise a hat and neckerchief, and some other little articles,

which  he  had  seen  her  lavishly  throw  from  her  on  the  first  day  of  their

acquaintance.

Madam Melina, happening to observe him as he was delivering his presents,

took  an  opportunity  before  breakfast  to  rate  him  very  earnestly  about  his

inclination for this girl; at which he felt the more astonished, the less he thought

it  merited.  He  swore  solemnly,  that  he  had  never  once  entertained  the  slightest

notion of attaching himself to such a person, whose whole manner of proceeding

was well known to him. He excused himself as well as possible for his friendly

and  polite  conduct  towards  her,  yet  did  not  by  any  means  content  Madam

Melina,  whose  spite  grew  ever  more  determined,  as  she  could  not  but  observe

that the flatteries, by which she had acquired for herself a sort of partial regard

from our friend, were not sufficient to defend this conquest from the attacks of a

livery, younger, and more gifted rival.

As they sat down to table, her husband joined them, likewise in a very fretful

humor;  which  he  was  beginning  to  display  on  many  little  things,  when  the

landlord entered to announce a player on the harp. “You will certainly,” he said,

“find pleasure in the music and the songs of this man: no one who hears him can

forbear to admire him, and bestow something on him.”

“Let him go about his business,” said Melina: “I am any thing but in a trim for

hearing  fiddlers,  and  we  have  singers  constantly  among  ourselves  disposed  to

gain a little by their talent.” He accompanied these words with a sarcastic side-

look at Philina: she understood his meaning, and immediately prepared to punish

him, by taking up the cause of the harper. Turning towards Wilhelm, “Shall we

not  hear  the  man?”  said  she:  “shall  we  do  nothing  to  save  ourselves  from  this

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miserable ennui?”

Melina  was  going  to  reply,  and  the  strife  would  have  grown  keener,  had  not

the  person  it  related  to  at  that  moment  entered.  Wilhelm  saluted  him,  and

beckoned him to come near.

The figure of this singular guest set the whole party in astonishment: he had

found  a  chair  before  any  one  took  heart  to  ask  him  a  question,  or  make  any

observation.  His  bald  crown  was  encircled  by  a  few  gray  hairs,  and  a  pair  of

large  blue  eyes  looked  out  softly  from  beneath  his  long  white  eyebrows.  To  a

nose  of  beautiful  proportions  was  subjoined  a  flowing,  hoary  beard,  which  did

not hide the fine shape and position of his lips; and a long dark-brown garment

wrapped  his  thin  body  from  the  neck  to  the  feet.  He  began  to  prelude  on  the

harp, which he had placed before him.

The  sweet  tones  which  he  drew  from  his  instrument  very  soon  inspirited  the

company.

“You can sing, too, my good old man,” said Philina.

“Give us something that shall entertain the spirit and the heart as well as the

senses,”  said  Wilhelm.  “The  instrument  should  but  accompany  the  voice;  for

tunes  and  melodies  without  words  and  meaning  seem  to  me  like  butterflies  or

finely variegated birds, which hover round us in the air, which we could wish to

catch  and  make  our  own:  whereas  song  is  like  a  blessed  genius  that  exalts  us

towards heaven, and allures the better self in us to attend him.”

The  old  man  looked  at  Wilhelm,  then  aloft,  then  gave  some  trills  upon  his

harp, and began his song. It contained a eulogy on minstrelsy, — described the

happiness of minstrels, and reminded men to honor them. He produced his song

with  so  much  life  and  truth,  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  composed  it  at  the

moment, for this special occasion. Wilhelm could scarcely refrain from clasping

him in his arms: but the fear of awakening a peal of laughter detained him in his

chair;  for  the  rest  were  already  in  half-whispers  making  sundry  very  shallow

observations, and debating if the harper was a Papist or a Jew.

When  asked  about  the  author  of  the  song,  the  man  gave  no  distinct  reply;

declaring  only  that  he  was  rich  in  songs,  and  anxious  that  they  should  please.

Most of the party were now merry and joyful; even Melina was grown frank in

his  way;  and,  whilst  they  talked  and  joked  together,  the  old  man  began  to  sing

the praise of social life in the most sprightly style. He described the loveliness of

unity  and  courtesy,  in  soft,  soothing  tones.  Suddenly  his  music  became  cold,

harsh,  and  jarring,  as  he  turned  to  deplore  repulsive  selfishness,  short-sighted

enmity,  and  baleful  division;  and  every  heart  willingly  threw  off  those  galling

fetters,  while,  borne  on  the  wings  of  a  piercing  melody,  he  launched  forth  in

praise of peacemakers, and sang the happiness of souls, that, having parted, meet

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again in love.

Scarcely had he ended, when Wilhelm cried to him, “Whoever thou art, that as

a helping spirit comest to us with a voice which blesses and revives, accept my

reverence and my thanks! Feel that we all admire thee, and confide in us if thou

wantest any thing.”

The  old  man  spoke  not:  he  threw  his  fingers  softly  across  the  strings,  then

struck more sharply, and sang, —

“‘What  notes  are  those  without  the  wall,  Across  the  portal  sounding?  Let’s

have the music in our hall, Back from its roof rebounding.’ So spoke the king,

the henchman flies: His answer heard, the monarch cries, ‘Bring in that ancient

minstrel.’

‘Hail, gracious king! each noble knight, Each lovely dame, I greet you! What

glittering stars salute my sight! What heart unmoved may meet you! Such lordly

pomp  is  not  for  me,  Far  other  scenes  my  eyes  must  see:  Yet  deign  to  list  my

harping.’

The singer turns him to his art, A thrilling strain he raises: Each warrior hears

with glowing heart, And on his loved one gazes. The king, who liked his playing

well, Commands, for such a kindly spell, A golden chain be given him.

‘The  golden  chain  give  not  to  me;  Thy  boldest  knight  may  wear  it,  Who,

‘cross  the  battle’s  purple  sea,  On  lion  breast  may  bear  it:  Or  let  it  be  thy

chancellor’s prize, Amid his heaps to feast his eyes; Its yellow glance will please

him.’

“I  sing  but  as  the  linnet  sings,  That  on  the  green  bough  dwelleth;  A  rich

reward his music brings, As from his throat it swelleth: Yet might I ask, I’d ask

of thine One sparkling draught of purest wine, To drink it here before you.’

He viewed the wine: he quaffed it up. ‘O draught of sweetest savor! O happy

house, where such a cup Is thought a little favor! If well you fare, remember me,

And thank kind Heaven, from envy free, As now for this I thank you.’“

When  the  harper,  on  finishing  his  song,  took  up  a  glass  of  wine  that  stood

poured out for him, and, turning with a friendly mien to his entertainers, drank it

off,  a  buzz  of  joyful  approbation  rose  from  all  the  party.  They  clapped  hands,

and wished him health from that glass, and strength to his aged limbs. He sang a

few other ballads, exciting more and more hilarity among the company.

“Old man,” said Philina, “dost thou know the tune, ‘The shepherd decked him

for  the  dance’?”http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36483/36483-h/36483-h.htm  -

Footnote_2_2

“Oh, yes!” said he: “if you will sing the words, I shall not fail for my part of

it.”

Philina then stood up, and held herself in readiness. The old man commenced

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the tune; and she sang a song, which we cannot impart to our readers, lest they

might think it insipid, or perhaps undignified.

Meanwhile the company were growing merrier and merrier: they had already

emptied  several  flasks  of  wine,  and  were  now  beginning  to  get  very  loud.  But

our  friend,  having  fresh  in  his  remembrance  the  bad  consequences  of  their  late

exhilaration,  determined  to  break  up  the  sitting;  he  slipped  into  the  old  man’s

hand a liberal remuneration for his trouble, the rest did something likewise; they

gave  him  leave  to  go  and  take  repose,  promising  themselves  another

entertainment from his skill in the evening.

When he had retired, our friend said to Philina, “In this favorite song of yours

I  certainly  find  no  merit,  either  moral  or  poetical;  yet  if  you  were  to  bring

forward any proper composition on the stage, with the same arch simplicity, the

same  propriety  and  gracefulness,  I  should  engage  that  strong  and  universal

approbation would be the result.”

“Yes,” said Philina: “it would be a charming thing indeed to warm one’s self

at ice.”

“After all,” said Wilhelm, “this old man might put many a player to the blush.

Did you notice how correctly the dramatic part of his ballads was expressed? I

maintain there was more living true representation in his singing than in many of

our starched characters upon the stage. You would take the acting of many plays

for  a  narrative,  and  you  might  ascribe  to  these  musical  narratives  a  sensible

presence.”

“You are hardly just,” replied Laertes. “I pretend to no great skill, either as a

player  or  as  a  singer;  yet  I  know  well  enough,  that  when  music  guides  the

movements  of  the  body,  at  once  affording  to  them  animation  and  a  scale  to

measure  it;  when  declamation  and  expression  are  furnished  me  by  the

composer,    —    I  feel  quite  a  different  man  from  what  I  do  when,  in  prose

dramas,  I  have  all  this  to  create  for  myself,    —    have  both  gesture  and

declamation to invent, and am, perhaps, disturbed in it, too, by the awkwardness

of some partner in the dialogue.”

“Thus much I know,” said Melina: “the man certainly puts us to the blush in

one point, and that a main point. The strength of his talent is shown by the profit

he derives from it. Even us, who perhaps erelong shall be embarrassed where to

get a meal, he persuades to share our pittance with him. He has skill enough to

wile  the  money  from  our  pockets  with  an  old  song,    —    the  money  that  we

should  have  used  to  find  ourselves  employment.  So  pleasant  an  affair  is  it  to

squander the means which might procure subsistence to one’s self and others.”

This remark gave the conversation not the most delightful turn. Wilhelm, for

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whom the reproach was peculiarly intended, replied with some heat; and Melina,

at no time over studious of delicacy and politeness, explained his grievances at

last in words more plain than courteous. “It is now a fortnight,” said he, “since

we looked at the theatrical machinery and wardrobe which is lying pawned here:

the whole might be redeemed for a very tolerable sum. You then gave me hopes

that you would lend me so much; and hitherto I do not see that you have thought

more of the matter, or come any nearer a determination. Had you then consented,

we  should  ere  now  have  been  under  way.  Nor  has  your  intention  to  leave  the

place been executed, nor has your money in the mean time been spared: at least

there  are  people  who  have  always  skill  to  create  opportunities  for  scattering  it

faster and faster away.”

Such  upbraidings,  not  altogether  undeserved,  touched  Wilhelm  to  the  quick.

He replied with keenness, nay, with anger; and, as the company rose to part, he

took hold of the door, and gave them not obscurely to understand that he would

no  longer  continue  with  such  unfriendly  and  ungrateful  people.  He  hastened

down, in no kindly humor, and seated himself upon the stone bench without the

door of his inn; not observing, that, first out of mirth, then out of spleen, he had

drunk more wine than usual.

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