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till the honr tvas passfed * . * He was bom to appearance dead > and with difficulty brought tp life . The city in which it was bis good fortune to be born—an ancient town in the midst of a fertile and beautiful country—presented every variety of civil life to the
contemplation of the young observer . Its inhabitants , republicans ^ Surrounded by the subjects of petty but absolute princes , were proud of their privileges as members of a free state . Jts famous annual fair made it the resort of foreigners of every nation ; and there was just enough of religious toleration to allow the members of all churches to reside within the walls . It is true the Jews were
imprisoned within their single street during the night ; and th $ established church , being Lutheran 5 was so little tolerant , that even the Calvinists were excluded from all public offices . The Catholics were under greater restraints , notwithstanding the glo * rious prerogative which the city enjoyedj , and which brought it into connexion with the imperial house . Every emperor was crowned within their walls . Goethe ' s maternal grandfather oo cupied one of the chief municipal offices . His father had studied
law and qualified himself for public life , but had refused to accept of any place . He had travelled in Italy , and had a small col * lection of engravings , which seem to have excited a love of art in his only son even during his earliest childhood . He is represented to have been by nature tender and affectionate , but to have conducted himself systematically , and with c incredible consistency / severely towards his wife , and children , with the intention of giving those children the best possible education . The mother was almost a child , whose character was in fact formed with that
of the children ; and in consequence there arose between the father and the mother , his son , and also a sister , an opposition which increased with every year . No wonder , therefore , that we find in Goethe ' s self-biography no expression of love towards
his father , though he seems to have respected his character . The mother of Goethe appears to have had much of the character and tenqperament of her son , A friend of ours recollects her at Frankfort , when the poet was in the zenith of his fame . [ 1800-3 . 1 She spoke with evident pleasure of him , but not in terms of excessive admiration , and allowed herself to criticise what others
were content to admire . She even then had a vigorous bodily frame ., great vivacity , strong spcial feelings , and a high relish for life . In a word , a form such as we may imagine in the mother of the Gracchi . The onl y sister , with whom Goethe spent hia early years , died young . Her person and character made an indelible impression upon him . He writes of her with more than hi * usual sensibility . For many years he was haunted by her image ;
* We could not resist the temptation to insert the characteristic introduction to hia autobiography * It lies in the nature of Goethe to overlook no opinion or feeling that has had a decided influence on man in any age , though » o ^ pas * ed &W&y f 4 tW astrology was one of his early studies .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1832, page 291, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1812/page/3/
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