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solitude , but be content to render her the protection which a bro ~ tber gives tp a beloved sister , abstaining from all nearer inter *
course . That a play of which such is the catastrophe would have n $ effect on the stage is quite certain . That it could be thought ex * pedient to perform it on a public stage by such a man as Schiller shows that he had overrated the refinement of a public formed for the drama mainly by himself . Deeply do we lament that the solution of the problem set for himself by Goethe is now lost for ever . What we might have had in the two other tragedies we
have not divinatorial power sufficient to guess . We may be sure that it would have had no resemblance to the very clever and popular Avantf pendant , and apres of the French stage—in which the same parties appear in interesting situations arising out of the great national events of the Revolution . Goethe would have given us , in a poetical form , his subtle speculations on that great event , he would have embodied the spirits of the age which were
engaged in mortal conflict—not exhibited the historic character of the age . And yet he had some intention of letting his heroine act at different periods ; for he said to Falk , * What events of the day are there which would serve for a continuation ? ' In his diary he has betrayed only thus much of his design , that the second act would show Eugeuia in her retirement , and the third , at Paris * .
* We willingly avail ourselves of a communication from a friend . He is speaking of Weimar and the winter of 1804-5 . —' Madame de Stael was one of the etepreciators of the Nattiral Daughter . It was at the time whispered that she had ihe boldness to advise Goethe not to go on with the work ; and that the poet gave her no other reply than— " Madam , I am more than sixty years old . "—The answer is not in his style . Whether this be true or not , I cannot tell ; but I was present at a scene which bears on this subject . At one of her literary dinner parties , at which Wieland , Benjamin Constant , and Bottieher were present , she in very
uriqualified terms declared Eugenia to be a failure .- *—Aye ! &fai / urey which supposes that she knew what was intended and what was not performed . Now Goethe would , least of all , have made a confidant of Madame de Stael , he who affected , even towards his friendn , so much half-serious , half-jocular mystery about the drift of his writings , and the sense of particular passages . Faust , especially , is full of poetical and metaphysical riddles . Eugenia is an enigma throughout . One of the company , whose admiration for the poet overpowered both his respect for the lad y and his good manners at the same time , had the indiscretion to throw out a doubt whether she
was able to comprehend Goethe ;—her eyes flashed with offended pride , and , projecting before her , to its utmost length , her arm ( that arm on the beauty of which she was so fond of expatiating ) , she said , Monsieur ! Je comprends tout ce qui merite d ' etre comprit / ceque je ne oomprends n e $ t r « Vn .- —Her adversary had no other reply but a low bow and suppressed smile . Her good humour , however , soon returned ; for the kindness of her disposition was quite as remarkable as her conversational eloquence . Whoever wishes to read a model of acute candid discrimination of
character , together with a liberal allowance for all adverse qualities , should consult the correspondence between Goethe and Schiller , and refer to Goethe ' s remarks upon . her in his diary : he speaks of her presence as uncomfortable , —a sort of infliction , and f o far countenances the report of the day that both he and Schiller shammed Abraham in order to be excused Attending upon her ; and yet in his diary he -declares that the German literati are under obligations to her for preparing the way for a more favourable appreciation of their national literature in foreign countries . In what manner German ide&a Wftrft mptUAedjuA&bj hot pen jnay be illustrated by
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Goethe * $ Works . 603
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 603, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/27/
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