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

JUNE 11.

Say what you will, I can remain here no longer. Why should I remain? Time

hangs heavy upon my hands. The prince is as gracious to me as any one could

be, and yet I am not at my ease. There is, indeed, nothing in common between

us.  He  is  a  man  of  understanding,  but  quite  of  the  ordinary  kind.  His

conversation  affords  me  no  more  amusement  than  I  should  derive  from  the

perusal of a well-written book. I shall remain here a week longer, and then start

again on my travels. My drawings are the best things I have done since I came

here. The prince has a taste for the arts, and would improve if his mind were not

fettered by cold rules and mere technical ideas. I often lose patience, when, with

a  glowing  imagination,  I  am  giving  expression  to  art  and  nature,  he  interferes

with  learned  suggestions,  and  uses  at  random  the  technical  phraseology  of

artists.