,google ,books3 http3_/_/books4google4com_/books8id#cmu, loy,v,e#b;ec,csourcegbsnavlinkss ,,richter',s ,,writings4 ,,titan4 ,a ,romance4 #b vols4 #afmo4 #c4jj4 ,,flower1 ,,fruit1 ,,and ,,thorn ,,pieces4 #b vols4 #afmo4 #b4ge4 ,,levana2 ,or1 ,the ,doctrine of ,education4 #a vol4 #afmo4 #a4ej4 ,,the ,,campaner ,,thal1 and ,other ,writings4 #a vol4 #afmo4 #a4ej4 ,,hesperus4 #b vols4 #afmo4 ,preparing4 ,the above volumes are printed in uniform size and style4 ,,in ,,press4 ,,life ,,of ,,jean ,,paul4 ,by ,eliza ,buckminster ,lee4 ,new ,edition1 ,revised4 #a volume4 ,,ticknor ,,and ,,fields1 ,publishers4 ,,the ,,campaner ,,thal1 ,,and ,,other ,,writings4 ,from the ,german of ,,jean ,,paul ,,friedrich ,,richter4 ,,boston3 ,,ticknor ,,and ,,fields4 #ahfd4 ,university ,press3 ,welch1 ,bigelow1 and ,company1 ,cambridge4 ,,contents4 ,,the ,,campaner ,,thal4 ,introduction4 #ejast ,,station4 ,the ,diversities of ,life4--,the ,dirge as ,billet-,doux4--,the ,cavern4--,the ,surprise4 #ejb;d ,,station4 ,the ,thundering ,morning4--,the ,short ,trip after the ,long ,one4--,the ,sofa-,cushions4 #ejc;d ,,station4 ,lampoon on the ,chaplain4--,praise of ,him4--,the ,diamond4--,opinions against ,immortality4--,eden ,jokes4 #ejdth ,,station4 ,flower ,toying4 #ejeth ,,station4 ,the ,ephemera4--,relative ,conclusions4--,doubts of the ,length of the ,chain of ,living ,beings4--,the ,wart-,eaters4--,the ,cure4 #ejfth ,,station4 ,objections to ,immortality4--,the ,second ,childhood of the ,outer and ,inner ,man4 #ejgth ,,station4 ,the ,theft of the ,souvenir4--,answers to previous ,stations4--,on the ,emigration of the ,dead to the ,planets4--,the ,threefold ,world in ,man4--,grief without ,hope4--,the ,seal of ,immortality4--,the ,country-,seat4--,the ,balloons4--,ecstasy4 ,,life ,,of ,,quintus ,,fixlein4 ,letter to my ,friends1 instead of ,preface4 ,,first ,,letter-,,box4 ,dog-,day's' ,vacation4--,visits4--,an ,indigent of ,quality4 ,,second ,,letter-,,box4 ,frau von ,aufhammer4--,childhood-,resonance4--,au thorcraft4 ,,third ,,letter-,,box4 ,christmas ,recollections4--,new ,occurrence4 ,,fourth ,,letter ,,box4 ,office-,brokage4--,discovery of the promised ,secret4--,hans von ,fuechslein4 ,,fifth ,,letter-,,box4 ,cantata-,sunday4--,two ,testaments4--,pontac2 ,blood2 ,love4 ,,sixth ,,letter-,,box4 ,office-,impost4--,one of the most important of ,petitions4 ,,seventh ,,letter-,,box4 ,sermon4--,school ,exhibition4--,splendid ,mistake4 ,,eighth ,,letter-,,box4 ,instalment in the ,parsonage4 ,,ninth ,,letter-,,box4 ,or to the ,marriage4 ,,tenth ,,letter ,,box4 ,st4 ,thomas's-,day and ,birthday4 ,,eleventh ,,letter ,,box4 ,spring2 ,investiture2 and ,childbirth4 ,,twelfth ,,letter-,,box4 ,steeple-,ball ,ascension4--,the ,toy-,press4 ,,thirteenth ,,letter ,,box4 ,christening4 ,,fourteenth ,,letter-,,box4 ,,chapter ,,last4 ,,schmelzle',s ,,journey ,,to ,f,l,ae,t,z4 ,preface4 ,circular ,letter of the proposed ,catechetical ,professor ,attila ,schmelzel to his ,friends2 containing some ,account of a ,holidays' ,journey to ,flaetz1 with an ,introduction1 touching his ,flight1 and his ,courage as former ,army-,chaplain4 ,journey to ,flaetz4 ,first ,stage2 from ,neusattel to ,vierstaedten4 ,second ,stage2 from ,vierstaedten to ,niederschoena4 ,third ,stage2 from ,niederschoena to ,flaetz4 ,first ,day in ,flaetz4 ,first ,night in ,flaetz4 ,second ,day in ,flaetz4 ,,analects ,,from ,,richter4 ,the ,happy ,life of a ,parish ,priest in ,sweden4 ,dream upon the ,universe4 ,complaint of the ,bird in a darkened ,cage4 ,on the ,death of ,young ,children4 ,the prophetic ,dew-,drops4 ,on ,death4 ,imagination untamed by the coarser ,realities of ,life4 ,satirical ,notice of ,reviewers4 ,female ,tongues4 ,forgiveness4 ,the ,grandeur of ,man in his ,littleness4 ,night4 ,the ,stars4 ,martyrdom4 ,the ,quarrels of ,friends4 ,dreaming4 ,two ,divisions of ,philosophic ,minds4 ,dignity of ,man in ,self-,sacrifice4 ,fancy4 ,,miscellaneous ,,pieces4 ,reminiscences of the best ,hours of ,life for the ,hour of ,death4 ,the ,new-,year's ,night of an ,unhappy ,man4 ,the ,death of an ,angel4 ,a ,dream and the ,truth4 ,the ,beauty of ,death in the ,bloom of ,youth4 ,,the ,,campaner ,,thal2 ,,or1 ,,discourses ,,on ,,the ,,immortality ,,of ,,the ,,soul4 ,,translated ,,by ,,juliette ,,bauer4 ,report also1 we regret to say1 is all that we know of the ,campaner ,thal1 one of ,richter's beloved topics1 or rather the life of his whole philosophy1 glimpses of which look forth on us from almost every one of his writings4 ,he died while engaged1 under recent and almost total blindness1 in enlarging and remodelling this ,campaner ,thal4 ,the unfinished manuscript was borne upon his coffin to the burial vault2 and ,klopstock's hymn1 ,auferstehen wirst du6 ',thou shalt arise1 my soul6' can seldom have been sung with more appropriate application than over the grave of ,jean ,paul4--,from ,carlyle's ,miscellanies4 ,,introduction4 ,in my distilling processes1 ,i frequently precipitated the phlegma of our earthball--its polar deserts1 its ,russian forests1 its icebergs--and from the sediments extracted a beautiful by-earth1 a small satellite4 ,if we extract and regulate the charms of this old world1 we can form a delightful though minutely condensed world4 ,for the caves of this miniature or ditto-earth1 we will take the caves of ,antiparos and of ,baumann1 for its plains1 the ,rhine provinces--,hybla1 ,thabor1 and ,mont ,blanc shall be its mountains--its islands1 the ,friendly1 the ,holy1 and the ,palm isles4 ,wentworth's park and ,daphne's grotto1 and some corner-pieces from the ,paphian1 we have for its forests--for a charming valley1 the ,seifer's-dorfer and that of ,campan4 ,thus we possess1 besides this dirty1 weary world1 the most beautiful by or after-world--an important dessert service--an ,ante-,heaven between ,ante-,hells4 ,i have purposely included this valley of ,campan in my extract and decoction1 as ,i know none other in which ,i would rather awake1 or die1 or love than in this one2 if ,i had to command1 ,i would not permit my valley to be mixed up or placed beside the vale of ,tempe or the ,rose ,valley1 perhaps with ,utopia4 ,the reader must have known this valley in his geographical lessons1 or in the works of ,arthur ,young1 who praises it even more than ,i do4#a ,i must take for granted1 that in ,july1 #agif1 the ,goddess of ,fortune descended from her throne to our earth1 and placed in my hand--not mammon1 nor garters1 nor golden sheep--nothing but her own1 and led me--by this ,i recognized the goddess--to the ,campan vale4 ,truly1 man needs but look into it1 and he will have--as ,i had--more than the ,devil offered to ,christ and ,louis ,,xiv41 and gave to the popes4 ,the test of enjoyment is memory4 ,only the paradises of the imagination willingly remain1 and are never lost1 but always conquered4 ,poetry alone reconciles the past to the future1 and is the ,orpheus's lyre which commands these two destroying rocks to rest4#b ,as stated1 in the year #agif1 ,i made a trip through ,france1 with my friend ,h4 ,karlson4 ,he is honorary master of horse in the 99 99 99 service4 ,the wise public cares little for true names1 it always treats them as fictitious ones1 by way of literary taxation2 and the existing characters1 at least those of any importance1 may prefer not to be torn over the wheel of criticism1 and dragged piecemeal through libraries and reading-clubs4 ,at almost every milestone1 ,i despatched the best hourly bulletin to my friend ,victor3 when ,i had sent him the following valley-piece1 he persecuted me until ,i promised to grant this illuminated portrait of nature1 not alone to the letter1 but also to the printing-press4 ,therefore ,i do it4 ,i know already1 my poor ,victor sees1 that in our days no green branch is left as a spinning-hut for the man-caterpillar1 and that inimical divers try to cut our anchor-rope1 sunk in the sea of death4 ,therefore he thinks more of the conversations on immortality1 than of the valley in which they took place4 ,i know this1 because he calls me the counterpart of ,claude ,lorraine1 who only drew the landscape1 while another drew the human beings in it4 ,truly such a valley deserves that the mining and sabbath-lamp of truth should be lowered into the suffocating air of the grave1 in place of our self1 merely to see if that self can breathe at such a depth4 ,i have jokingly divided my letters into stations4 ,i of course omit #ejj1 and commence at the #ejast1 wherein ,i appear in the valley4 ,,campaner ,,thal4 #ejast ,,station4 ,the ,diversities of ,life4--,the ,dirge as ,billet-,doux4--,the ,cavern4--,the ,surprise4 ,campan1 #bc;d ,july4 ,here have ,i been since the day before yesterday4 ,after descent into hell and purgatory1 and passage through limbos infantum et patrum1 man must at last reach heaven4 ,but ,i owe you yet our exit from our inn on the #bjth4 ,never can the head have a harder couch than when we hold it in our hands4 ,the reason that this happened to ,karlson and myself was1 that in the rooms adjoining ours a wedding-dance was taking place1 and that below1 the youngest daughter of our maitre d'hotel1 who had not only the name1 but also the charms of ,corday1 with two white roses on her cheeks1 and two red ones in her hair1 was being interred1 and that human beings with pale faces and heavy hearts waited on happy and blooming ones4 ,when fate harnesses to ,psyche's car1 the merry and the mourning steed together1 the mourning one ever takes the lead2 i4 e4 if the muses of ,mirth and ,sorrow play on the same stage in the same hour1 man does not1 like ,garrick1#c follow the former2 he does not even remain neuter1 but takes the side of the mourning one4 ,thus we always paint1 like ,milton1 our lost ,paradise more glowing than the regained one1--like ,dante1 hell better than purgatory4 ,in short1 the silent corpse made us cold to the warm1 joyful influence of the dancers4 ,but is it not absurd1 my dear ,victor1 that a man who1 like myself1 knows nothing better than that every hour unfolds at once morning bloom and evening clouds2 that here an ,ash ,wednesday and there a black ,monday commence2 that such a man1 who grieves little that dancing music and funeral marches should sound at the same time on the broad national theatre of humanity1 should yet hang his head and grow pale1 when1 in a side scene1 this double music sounds in his ears8 ,is not this as absurd as all his other doings8 ,into ,karlson's eyes something of this cloud had fallen4 ,it was to him the restirred ashes of a funeral urn4 ,he can withstand all sorrows1 but not their recollection4 ,he has replaced his years by lands1 and the space he has travelled over must be called his time4 ,but the firm youth changed color when he came to tell that the lover of the pale ,corday had torn her folded taper hands asunder1 and1 on his knees1 had dragged them to his burning lips4 ,he perceived his paleness in the glass2 and to explain it1 he imparted the last and most secret leaf of his life's ,robinsonade to me4 ,you see what an opaque gem this youth is1 who follows his friends through all ,france1 without opening to his communicative friend and travelling companion1 even a fold or a loophole in his relation to them4 ,now only from emotion on entering the ,campan ,vale1 he draws the key from the keyhole1 which shall become a prompter's hole for you4 ,that he had accompanied the ,baron ,wilhelmi and his betrothed ,gione1 with her sister ,nadine1 to ,lausanne1 in order to celebrate their ,arcadian marriage in the ,campan ,vale1 you know already2 that he had left them suddenly at ,lausanne1 and returned to the ,rhine fall at ,shaffhausen1 you know also1 but not the reason1 which will now be related to you by me and by him4 ,by daily contact ,karlson had at last penetrated the thickly-woven veil1 magically colored by betrothed love1 thrown over the strong1 firm1 and kindred mind of ,gione4 ,probably others discovered him ere he had discovered himself4 ,his heart became like the so-called world's eye#d in water1 first bright1 then varying its colors1 then dull and misty1 and at last transparent4 ,not to cloud their beautiful intimacy1 he addressed the suspicious part of his attentions to ,nadine4 ,he did not explain to me clearly whether he had led her into a beautiful error1 without taking a beautiful truth from ,gione4 ,the sword of death seemed likely to separate all these stage knots4 ,gione1 the healthy and calm ,gione1 was suddenly attacked by a nervous disorder4 ,one evening1 ,wilhelmi1 with his usual poetic ardor1 entered ,karlson's chamber weeping1 and1 embracing him1 could only sob forth the words1 ,she is no more4 ,karlson said not a word1 but in the tumult of his own and others' griefs1 departed that night for ,shaffhausen1 and probably fled at the same time from a beloved and a loving one1--from ,gione and from ,nadine4 ,by this eternal waterspout of the ,rhine1 this onward pressing1 molten avalanche1 this gleaming perpendicular milky-way1 his soul was slowly healed2 but he was long imprisoned in the dark1 cold1 serpent's-nest of envenomed pains2 they entwined and crawled over him1 even to his heart4 ,for he believed1 as most world-men among whom he had grown up do1--perhaps1 also1 too much accustomed to analyzed ideas and opinions by his favorite study1 chemistry1--that our last sleep is annihilation1 as in the epopee the first man imagined the first sleep to be the first death4 ,to ,wilhelmi he only sent the name of his retreat and a poem1 entitled1 ,grief-without ,hope1 which declared his disbelief1 for he had never broken the ,ambrosia1 whose delights a trust in immortality affords4 ,but just that strengthened his enfeebled heart1 that the muses led him to ,hippocrene's spring of health4 ,wilhelmi answered1 that he had read his beautiful requiem to the deceased1 or the immortal one4 ,a long swoon had occasioned the painful mistake4 ,gione and he entreated him to follow speedily4 ,karlson replied3 ,fate had separated him from their beautiful feast by the ,alpine ,wall1 but as it would1 like the ,campan ,vale1 ever renew its springs1 he hoped to lose nothing but time by his delay4 ,now that the next world had cast its supernatural light on ,gione's countenance1 ,karlson loved her too much to be capable of assisting at the ceremony of losing her forever4 ,i will give you the opinion ,i formed of her by listening to his description4 ,even by a love and a praise in a person's absence we may be won2 how much more1 then1 if both are thrown to us as farewell kisses after the ascent to ,heaven6 ,therefore the idea of the future funeral procession behind my gay1 richly decorated dust1 onion and relic box is only another incentive1 not only to drug1 but also to absolve myself1 for when older we are less missed4 ,and even you1 who so seldom hang us1 or drive us all to the ,devil1 ,i mean1 how seldom soever the tempest of anger sours the beer-barrel of your breast6 ,even you have no more efficacious morsel of white chalk1 no better oleum tartari per deliquium1#e with which you can sweeten your internal fluids1 than the thought how we shall all turn pale round your death-bed1 and be dumb at your grave-mound1 and how none will forget you6 ,i cannot possibly believe that there exists one being who1 when death draws him into the diving-bell of the grave1 will not leave one weeping eye1 one bending head behind1 and therefore each one can love the soul which will some time weep for him4 ,when ,i think now of the convalescent ,gione1 with her wounded heart1 which had received a new sensitiveness in the hot electric atmosphere of the sinking thunderbolt of ,death1 ,i need not measure her emotion at ,karlson's poem1 by the dew and hygrometer1 nor with the loadstone of her love4 ,but not ,wilhelmi's brilliant riches1 nor his still more brilliant conduct1 her first choice1 her first promise1 forbade her even to touch the diamond scales4 ,when ,karlson told me all this1 he turned ,gione's ring-portrait upwards on his finger1 and pressed the hard edge of the ring-finger with his tearful eyes1 till the adorned hand was unconsciously touched by the lip's kiss4 ,the bashfulness of his grief moved me so much1 that ,i offered to take another route into the ,vale1 under the pretence that the dreams of it had lessened the desire for the reality1 and that we should disturb the newly-affianced in their first rose-honey days1 as they had probably waited for the mild late spring4 ,he divined my intention2 but his promise to come to-morrow dragged him by chains4 ,right gladly would ,i have missed the new spring-filled ,eden1 and drawn from my friend's feet the ,jacob's ladder from which he might gaze on his former glad heaven1 but could not ascend to it4 ,on the other hand1 ,i rejoiced at his firm1 promise-keeping character1 which opposed its strong nature to the thorns and boring-worms of sorrow2 as with the increase of moonlight1 tempests decrease4 ,unperceived1 ,i now added ,gione1 not only ,karlson1 to the list of rare beings1 who1 like ,raphael's and ,plato's works1 uncloud themselves only on earnest contemplation1 and who1 as both1 resemble the ,pleiades1 which to the naked eye seems only to have seven suns1 but with a telescope discloses more than forty4 ,on the #bjth1 we started towards the ,vale4 ,on the way1 ,i looked too often into ,karlson's faithful1 heavenly1 deep-blue eyes4 ,i descended into his heart1 and sought the scene of the day on which the holy church tie would tear the noble ,gione forever from out his pure muse and goddess-warmed heart4 ,i confess ,i can imagine no day on which ,i regard my friend with deeper emotion that on that never-to-be-forgotten one1 on which ,fate gives him the brother kiss1 the hand-pressure1 the land of love and ,philadelphia and ,vaucluse's spring1 united in one female heart4 ,the day before yesterday1 at ten in the evening1 we arrived at ,wilhelmi's ,arcadian dwelling1 which pressed its straw roof against a green marble wall4 ,karlson found it easily from its proximity to the famed ,campan ,cave1 from which he had often broken stalactites4 ,the sky was clouded with colored shadows1 and on the green cradle of slumbering children night threw her star-embroidered cradle-cover1 fastened to the summits of the ,pyrenees4 ,from out ,wilhelmi's hermitage advanced some men in black attire1 with torches in their hands1 who seemed to be waiting for us1 and told us the baron was in the ,cave4 ,by heaven1 under such circumstances1 it is easier to imagine the most circumscribed1 than the largest and most beautiful ,cave6 ,the sable attendants carried the flame before them1 and drew the flying smoke-picture from oak-top to oak-top1 and led us1 stooping1 through the catacomb entrance4 ,but how splendidly was arched the high and wide grotto1#f with its crystal sides1 shining like an illumined ice ,louvre1 a gleaming sub-terrestrial heaven vault4 ,wilhelmi threw away a handful of gathered spars1 and joyfully hastened into his friend's arms4 ,gione1 with her sister1 advanced from behind a connected stalactite and stalagmite4 ,the gleaming of the torches gave her an undecided outline1 but at length ,wilhelmi advanced to her1 and said1 ,here is our friend4 ,bending low1 ,karlson kissed the warm living hand1 and was dumb with emotion4 ,but the firm features of ,gione's earnest face1 which wanted but ,nadine's juvenile bloom1 changed into a shining joy1 greater than he dared to return or reward4 ,we have long expected and missed you in this paradise1 she said1 with unshaken voice2 and her clear1 calm eye opened a view into a richly-gifted1 steadfast soul4 ,welcome to the infernal regions1 said ,nadine2 you believe in reunion and ,elysium now8 ,though she received him with an assemblage or ,flora of wit1 or was it grace8 for they were difficult to distinguish1 this cheerfulness of character and acquirement seemed not to be the cheerfulness of a contented or reposeful mind4 ,my friend introduced me properly1 that no supermember or hors d'oeuvre should remain in this corporation of friendship4 ,to all of us--even to me--for around me never before seen beings floated in silver reflections--it seemed as if the world had ceased1 ,elysium had opened1 and the separated1 covered1 sub-terrestrial regions cradled only tranquil1 but happy souls4 ,there was a certain heartfulness in the joyous interest which this affectionate trinity took in ,karlson's appearance1 which generally accompanies the last step before the disclosure of some hidden plan1 but this plan was concealed4 ,to speak something also to me1 ,nadine said1 that there was a critical philosopher and arguer with them1 who would rejoice to hear any one for or against his opinions1--namely1 the house-chaplain4 ,when we stepped from the illumined diamond and magic cave into the dark night1 we saw the cloak of ,erebus hang in thick cloudy folds over the earth1 and pale lightning shot from the nightly mist1 the flowers breathed from covered calysses1 and under the fast approaching storm the nightingales raised their melodious voices behind their blooming hedges4 ,suddenly ,gione walked more slowly by ,karlson's side1 and said1 with much warmth1 but without hesitation3 ,i heartily love truth1 even at the expense of stage-like effect3 ,i must1 in the name of the ,baron1 discover to you that he and ,i will to-morrow be forever united4 ,you must forgive your friend that he would not celebrate this ceremony without his4 ,i think that now1 in ,karlson's heart1 the cooled lava immediately became fluid and glowing4 ,suddenly lightning flashed from a cloud around the rising moon1 and illumined the rain-drops1 intended for darkness1 in ,gione's and in ,karlson's eyes4 ,wilhelmi asked1 ,can you not forgive me8 ,karlson pressed him warmly and lovingly to his grateful heart3 this lofty confidence of friendship1 and this affectionate proof of it1 raised his strengthened soul above all desires1 and another's virtue spread in his breast the calm tranquillity of his own4 ,we took shelter for the night in three ,thabor huts1--the ladies in the first1 ,wilhelmi with the critical philosopher in the second1 ,karlson and myself in the third1--which the ,baron had hired for us4 ,the fatigue of the journey1 and even of our feelings1 deferred our joys and confidences for another night4 ,but ,i cannot tell you how nobly sorrow changed into exaltation in my friend's countenance1 how grief fell like a cloud from his heaven1 and discovered the serene blue beneath4 ,the sacrifices and virtues of our beloved ones belong to the inexpressible joys which the soul at least can count and appreciate2 which it can imitate4 ,his and my eyes overflowed with holy gladness from a singularly elysian mood of harmony in anticipation of the coming day4 ,ah1 my ,victor6 nations and men are only the best when they are the gladdest1 and deserve ,heaven when they enjoy it4 ,the tear of grief is but a diamond of the second water1 but the tear of joy of the first4 ,and therefore fatherly fate1 thou spreadest the flowers of joy1 as nurses do lilies in the nursery of life1 that the awakening children may sleep the sounder6 ,o1 let philosophy1 which grudges our pleasures1 and blots them out from the plans of ,providence1 say by what right did torturing pain enter into our frail life8 ,have we not already an eternal right to a warm down bed8 ,i think not now of the deepest mattress in the earth1 because we are so pierced with stigmas of the past1 so covered with its wounds4 ,you once said to me3 ,in your early years1 you have been drawn and driven from the stoic philosophy by ,sorites2 for if the sensation of pleasure be as little as the stoics pretend1 it were wiser to convert than to benefit your neighbor1--wiser to preach morality from pulpit and desk than to practise it in the work-rooms1--wiser to turn towards your neighbor the dirt-balls and soap-pills of moral philosophy1 than the enlarged marble soap-bubbles of joy4 ,further1 that it is a mistake to assert that virtue makes more worthy of happiness1 if happiness possessed not an eternal1 independent value in itself2 for else it might be maintained that virtue would make the possessor of a straw1 c4 worthy-- ,you said this once4 ,do you believe it yet8--,i do4 #ejb;d ,,station4 ,the ,thundering ,morning4--,the ,short ,trip after the ,long ,one4--,the ,sofa-cushions4 ,through the whole night1 a half-lost thundering was heard1 as though it murmured in its sleep4 ,in the morning1 before sunrise1 ,karlson and myself stepped out into the wide cloud-tapestried bridal-chamber of nature4 ,the moon approached the double moment of its waning and its fulness4 ,the sun1 standing on ,america as on a burning altar1 drove the cloudy incense of its feu de joie high and red into the air2 but a morning tempest boiled angrily above it1 and darted its fierce lightnings to meet his ascending rays4 ,the oppressive heat of nature drew longer and louder plaints from the nightingales1 and evanescent aroma from the long flower-meads4 ,heavy warm drops were pressed from the clouds1 and beat loudly on the stream and on the foliage4 ,only the ,mittagshorn1 the pinnacle of the ,pyrenees1 stood brightly and clearly in the heavenly blue4 ,now a gust of wind from the waning moon dispersed the raging storm1 and the sun stood victoriously under a triumphal arch of lightnings4 ,the wind restored the heaven's blue1 and dashed the rain behind the earth1 and around the dazzling sun-diamond there lay only the silvered fringes of the once threatening clouds4 ,o my ,victor1 what a new-born day was now on earth1 encamped in the glorious valley4 ,the nightingales and the larks loudly sung its welcome1 the rosechafers rustled round its lily garlands1 and the eagle1 riding on the highest cloud1 surveyed it from mountain to mountain4 ,how rurally all things surrounded the serpentine field-embracing ,adour4 ,the marble walls1 not raised by human skill1 surround its flower-beds like large vases1 and the ,pyrenees1 with their high tops1 watch over and protect the lowly scattered shepherd huts4 ,tranquil ,tempe6 ,may a storm never disturb thy gardens and thy murmuring ,adour4 ,may a stronger one never visit thee1 than would gently rock the cradle of nature1 or dash a bee from the honey-dew of the wheat-sheaf1 or force but a single drop from the waterfall upon the flowers of thy shores4 ,you must not think that ,i am placing my paintbrushes at my side to copy the heavenly rounded valley by the measure of art for you2 ,i will let you peep into this picture-book of nature as chance shall turn each succeeding page4 ,my stations will lead you through its different chambers1 in which the rich dowry of ,spring1 like that of a king's daughter1 is placed for show4 ,but truly it is a more glorious thing to see the whole dowry disposed over the person of the royal bride herself4 ,a servant seeking the chaplain1 roused us both from our reverie4 ,we saw him advance towards a gentleman standing on the banks of the ,adour1 who slowly turned down his rolled-up shirt-sleeves4 ,it was the chaplain1 who had been catching crabs during the storm1 and had subsequently fished4 ,as ,i knew that his hairy hand had worked for the food of the critical1 as well as his own philosophy1 with trowel and mortar1 with pen and ink1 ,i boldly advanced towards him1 and told him what ,i was writing4 ,but the coarse1 obstinate1 yet timid free-mason1 coldly welcomed me in a language as broad as his own frosty visage4 ,he despises biographers2 for the windows of a philosophical audience are too high1--perhaps1 as in ancient temples1 in the roof1--so that they cannot see into the streets of real life1 as1 according to ,winkelmann1 the ,roman windows were architecturally as high4 ,lord ,rochester is said to have been continually drunk during a whole quintennium2 but such a chaplain is capable of being sober for an entire decennium4 ,a man like this bites the buds of all powerful truths1 experiences1 and fictions1 as ants bite the buds from corn-seeds1 that they may not fructify1 but wither and die and form building materials4 ,when the ,chaplain left me to join the ,baron1 as consecrator of the marriage sacrament1 ,i found ,karlson in the dustrain of a near cascade4 ,round him1 almost close to our windows1 the hermitages of the farmers waded in green foliage1 with the fresh harvest wreath roofed by faded ones2 and inside1 there bloomed families1 outside1 elms4 ,he showed me ,gione's card1 which1 he said1 she had given him before her marriage4 ,but it was not so2 he had found it on the moss near the cascade4 ,it represented a ,roman landscape1 and beside the living fountain was the pictured one of ,tivoli1 and on a stone in the foreground ,gione's name was written4 ,such a printed trifle1 a beloved name shortly before its sublunar annihilation1 moves the whole heart with a succession of pleasing reflections4 ,karlson went to the ceremony4 ,i remained alone under the splendid blue heaven1 and rejoiced that all the inhabitants of ,campan wore its livery1 the blue1 which we had yesterday mistaken for black4 ,i will not hide from you that during the coupling1 softened by the many beauties of spring1 ,i lost myself in ,nadine's equally charming ones1 which were an undiscovered ,central ,africa for me1 while ,i wished she were as warm4 ,after eight or ten dreams1 ,i saw the beautiful couples cross my path4 ,how earnestly glad and serene we all stood under the spring music of flutes and pipes1 and harps and warbling1 which were living around us1 with and without wings4 ,gione and ,karlson concealed an equal emotion1 as at an almost equal fate4 ,wilhelmi1 who is1 as a comet1 sometimes in the burning1 sometimes in the freezing point of a sun1 requires no joys than those of others to make him happy4 ,but a tear stood in ,nadine's bright eye1 which could not be smiled or looked away4 ,her heart seemed to me to resemble the earth1 whose exterior is cold1 but which carries in its centre a latent heat4 ,and yesterday her whole being seemed so mirthful and so gay6 ,we never make more erroneous conclusions in our opinions on any subject than on woman's cheerfulness4 ,oh6 how many of these charming beings there are1 who decay unvalued1 who1 while jesting1 despair1 and while joking1 bleed to death2 who hide their merry laughing eyes behind a wall1 as behind a fan1 to give glad vent to their long-restrained tears2 who pay for a merry day by a tearful night1 just as an unusually clear1 transparent1 and fogless air betokens rain4 ,remember the beautiful ,n4 ,n41 and also her youngest sister4 ,in the mean time1 the charming1 sun-variegated dew-drop under ,nadine's eye was balanced by a wart of half the size1 the solitaire among her personal charms4 ,wilhelmi's lyric and dithyrambic head was filled with projects for pleasure1 and with the eagerness of delight1 he demanded a hasty determination concerning the proper use and enjoyment of the day4 ,o yes1 said ,i1 quickly and impertinently1 life flies to-day on a minute-hand1 like an alarum it winds off2 but how shall we form a plan1 a good plan8 ,nadine1 who had arranged everything beforehand with the bridegroom1 replied3 ,i think we need none for such a delightful day1 and such a charming valley4 ,we will pilgrimize carelessly along the banks of the ,adour1 the length of the ,vale1 and rest at every new flower1 and at every bud1 and in the evening we will sail back by moonlight6 ,that would be quite ,arcadian and shepherd-like in this ,arcadia4 ,will you all8 ,you certainly will1 dearest sister8 ,o yes1 said ,gione1 for ,i think we are as yet all strangers to the charms of this paradise4 ,the ,baron seemed to hesitate before giving his consent1 and said3 ,it depends whether the ladies can walk two and a quarter miles in one day4#g ,i was mad with joy1 and cried1 ,charming6 ,such a long horizontal heaven-journey1 such a melodious ,arpeggio through the chords of delight was an old innate wish of my youth4 ,i imparted my delight to the ,chaplain1 to whose feelings this voyage pitturesque was as repugnant as a ,good ,friday procession1 and to whom1 instead of this heaven-way1 that of ,hoefer#h would have been more acceptable1 because he would rather have remained at home to read1 and because he did not enjoy the ,epopee of nature as a man1 nor scan it as a naturalist1 but like an usher1 separated and divided it1 for practice in building up again4 ,i said to him3 ,if we two will be shepherds1 representing the old ,myrtil and ,phylax1 it would be interesting4 ,you know best that whims should be ten times less bold before ladies and refined ears than on print1 and that for such people it has to be filtered through so many filtering-papers and strainers1 that ,i would not give a proof-sheet for it after the process4 ,a hired country-house1 at the end of the valley1 was the architectural ,eden with which ,wilhelmi intended to surprise and delight his bride in this botanic one4 ,but ,nadine alone knew it4 ,in as many moments as a swan would take to spread his wings and rise1 we were all ready4 ,i do not blame man for making preparations for the examination for death1 but for no 7shorter7 journey4 ,the long hunt destroys the game of enjoyment4 ,i1 for my part1 never think of starting until ,i am on the road4 ,wilhelmi loaded himself with his bride's guitar2 ,karlson carried a portable ice-cellar4 ,the ladies had their parasols2 the ,chaplain and ,i had nothing4 ,i whispered to the shallow ,phylax1--so ,i can now call him1 and myself the old ,myrtil1--,sir ,chaplain1 we rebel against all good manners if we follow empty-handed4 ,he immediately offered himself to ,gione1 as pack-horse1 wagon1 and carrier for her--parasol4 ,but clever genius prompted me to return to ,karlson's chamber1 and bring two cushions from the sofa1 and ,i returned with these twins in my arms2 nothing could have been more appropriate1 as the ladies sat down a thousand times on the way1 and could not have dipped their silken elbows in the juicy paint of the flowers4 ,to his vexation1 ,phylax was obliged to carry the soft block in his arms2 ,i hung the other one1 like a stick1 to my thumb4 ,at last we started4 ,we advanced towards the ,pyrenees4 ,corn-fields1 waterfalls1 shepherd huts1 marble blocks1 woods and grottoes1 animated by the vascular system of the many-branched ,adour1 passed beautifully before our eyes1 and we were forced to leave them behind1 like the bright years of youth changed into dreams by the stern hand of ,time4 ,ah1 ,victor1 travelling alone is life1 as life1 on the contrary1 is only a journey4 ,and if1 like certain shell-fish1 ,i could only push myself on with one foot1 or1 like sea-nettles and women1 ,i could only progress six lines in a quarter of an hour1 or if ,i lived under ,fritz ,,ii4 or ,fritz ,i4 7,lycurgus71 who both forbade a long journey1 ,i would make a short one1 that ,i might not perish like the loach1 which languishes in every vessel1 if not shaken4 ,how spirited1 how poetical1 how inventive can we not be while we run onwards4 ,as ,montaigne1 ,rousseau1 and the sea-nettle only shine when they move on4 ,by ,heaven6 it is no wonder that man rises and will go on2 for does not the sun follow the pedestrian from tree to tree8 does not its reflected likeness swim after him in the water8 do not landscapes1 mountains1 hills1 men1 rapidly changing1 come and go8 and does not ,freedom's breath blow on the ever-varying ,eden1 when1 released from the neck and heart-breaking chains of narrow circumstances1 we fly freely and gladly1 as in dreams1 over ever-new scenes4 ,for unfortunately the bell-glass over men and melons1 which at first is covered by a broken bottle1 must always be raised higher and higher1 and at last removed entirely4 ,at first1 a man will go into the next town1 then to the university1 then to an important residency1 then--if he has only written twenty lines--to ,weimar1 and finally1 to ,italy or to heaven4 ,and if the planets were stringed together on a cord1 and near each other1 or if the rays of light were roads1 and the atoms of light bridges1 then surely would post-houses be erected in ,uranus1 and the insatiable inner man--for the outer one is so very satiable--would go longing and roaming from planet to planet4---- ,therefore1 my ,victor1 nothing is confined in so many prison-walls as is this our human self4 ,and our cages are enclosed1 onion-like1 one in the other4 ,tour and my self are imprisoned not only on this earth1 but in this ,king's ,bench are the town walls2 in these our four walls surround us2 in the four walls1 the arm-chair or the bed2 in this again1 the shirt or the coat1 or both2 and lastly1 the body4 ,and1 to be minute 7according to ,soemmering71 in the brain crevices1 the duck's pond4---- ,start at the fatal many-sided suite of houses of correction which surround thyself8---- #ejc;d ,,station4 ,lampoon on the ,chaplain4--,praise of ,him4--,the ,diamond4--,opinions against ,immortality4--,eden ,jokes4 ,we two fellow-carriers formed the rear-guard4 ,i wished to enter into discourse1 but ,phylax had a very poor opinion of me2 at most he thought me a fickle sentimentalist who only portrays feelings4 ,yet feelings are the sponge of atmospheric air1 which the poet1 on his high ,parnassus1 as well as the philosophical diver in his depths1 must hold in his mouth1 and yet poetry has cast an earlier light on many obscure works of nature than philosophy1 as the dark new moon borrows light from ,venus4 ,but the philosopher sins against poets more than you sin against the followers of ,kant1 from whom you seem to expect that they shall write pleasingly4 ,your arguments are ideas1 not reasonings1 when you say that philosophy's attendants are like those of ,turkish ladies1 mute1 black1 and deformed2 that the philosophical market-place is a forium morionum1#i and that beauty is forbidden to philosophers1 as it was to the ,helots1 who were killed for possessing it4 ,is it not evident that a certain barbarous1 un-,german1 far-fetched language is more an ornament than a detriment to it4 ,oracles despise grace1 vox dei soloecismus1 i4 e4 a ,kantist cannot be read1--he must be studied4 ,further1 it is not beneath a philosopher to enrich the language instead of the science4 ,for some other may seek the ideas for the terms1 and find them1 as animals were found for the ,ammonites4 ,therefore the ,greeks have the same term for word and knowledge1 which combination was at last deified4 ,the philosopher should always write over his door pour l'oudalgie1#aj instead of here lives a dentist4 ,this is the best reason1 except a second one1 why the philosopher1 especially the ,kantist1 as ,i saw in ,phylax1 needs not books1 nor men1 nor experience1 nor chemistry1 botany1 the fine arts1 nor natural history4 ,he can and must decipher the positive1 the material1 the given number1 the unknown ,x4 ,he creates the term1 and sucks1 as children often do1--it may suffocate them1--his own blistered tongue4 ,i must return to the company6 ,as the ,chaplain carried his walking-stick1 or rather walking-tree of a cushion1 with the greatest indifference towards me1 ,i wished to prejudice him for me by a panegyric at the expense of ,kant4 ,i said to him3 ,it surprised me that the philosophers should have suffered ,kant to have made so great a distinction between them and artists1 and only allowed the merit of genius to the latter4 ,he says1 in ,sec4 #dg of his ',kritik der ,urtheilkraft1' ',in sciences1 the greatest inventor is only distinguished from the most labored imitator and apprentice by gradation2 but from1 those whom nature has gifted for beautiful nature1 he is specifically distinguished4' ,this is derogatory1 ,sir ,chaplain1 and besides1 not true4 ,why can ,kant1 then1 only make ,kantists1 but no ,kants8#aa ,are new systems discovered by syllogisms1 yet they are proved and tried by them8 ,can1 then1 the connection of a new philosophical idea with the old one better explain or facilitate its comprehension than the same connection which each new poetic one must have with old ones1 which are the means of its creation4 ,sir ,chaplain1 ,i know not whom ,kant has most sinned against1 ,truth1 himself1 or his school4 ,leibnitz's ',monadology1' harmonia praestabilita1 c41 are as much pure1 brilliant emanations of genius1 as any beaming form in ,shakespeare or ,homer4 ,besides1 ,leibnitz is a genial almighty ,demiurg in the philosophical world1 its greatest and first circumnavigator1 and who1 happier than ,archimedes1 found in his genius the standing-point from which he might move the philosophical universa1 and play with worlds4 ,he was an extraordinary spirit1 he threw new chains on the earth1 but he himself bore none3 ,i think you agree with me1 ,sir ,chaplain6 ,he replied1 ,he did not1 that the critical philosophy knew what to make of ,leibnitz's experiments1 his immaterial world1 the asserted approximation of the definite to the indefinite line1 and how to honor genius4 ,in short1 ,i had rather angered than conquered him4 ,karlson1 whom even ,amor's torch could not blind to the philosophical one1 took as much interest in our war as could be taken with the ears4 ,fortunately we all stood still4 ,a small diamond had fallen from ,nadine's necklace1 and she sought for the silver petrified spark in the grass4 ,strange that a man always hopes to find a thing on the spot where he perceives his loss4 ,nadine looked for her hardened dew-drop on the sparkling1 spangled mead4 ,as a bright diamond of the first water1 it was so easily mistaken for a dew-drop1 that ,i remarked1 seeing one in ,nadine's breast-rose1 ,everything is covered with soft diamonds1 and who will find the hard one8 ,the dew in your rose sparkles as brightly as the lost stone4 ,she looked down1 and in the rose-cup lay the sought-for gem6 ,it was thought ,i had been clever1 and ,i was angry with myself for having been so stupid4 ,but ,nadine liked me no less for it1 and that was reward enough4 ,as the ,adour bent1 not an arm1 but a finger1 around this gay moss-bank and bees' sugar-field1 the whole company sat among the bees and the flowers1 and the cushion-bearers laid down their burdens4 ,nadine said1 playfully1 ,if flowers have souls1 the bees1 whose nurses they are1 must seem to them like dear sucking children4 ,they have1 said ,karlson1 souls like frozen window flowers1 or like the tree of ,petit1#ab which ,i once showed to you1 or like pyramids of alum4 ,o1 you always destroy1 sir1 said ,gione4 ,nadine and ,i once painted to ourselves an elysium for the souls of faded flowers4 ,i believe in a middle path for flowers after their death1 said ,wilhelmi1 seriously2 the souls of lilies probably go into woman's forehead2 hyacinth and forget-me-not souls into woman's eyes1 and rose souls into lips and cheeks4 ,i added1 ,it is a fortunate coincidence for this hypothesis1 that a girl has perceptibly more color from the departing soul at the moment when she breaks or kills a rose4 ,joyfully and affectionately we continued our journey4 ,only into my carrier-companion the souls of thistles and sloes seemed to have entered4 ,this play of ideas and this politeness in argument provoked him4 ,only ,karlson pleased him4 ,at last the ,chaplain said to me3 ,no immortality but that of moral beings can be discussed1 and with them it is a postulate or apprenticeship of practical sense4 ,for as a full conformity of the human will to the moral law1 with which the just ,creator never can dispense1 is quite unattainable by a finite being1 an eternally continuing progress1 i4 e4 an unceasing duration1 must contain and prove this conformity in ,god's eyes1 who overlooks the everlasting course4 ,therefore our immortality is necessary4 ,karlson stood still at ,gione's side1 that we might approach1 and said3 ,dear philosopher1 pray take from this proof the boldness or the indistinctness which it has for laymen4 ,how can we imagine the supervision1 i4 e4 the termination1 of an infinite1 a never-ending course8 or how will you make the eternity of time harmonize with the eternity of the moral requirements4 ,how can a righteousness1 scattered and dispersed over an interminable period of time1 satisfy ,divine ,justice1 which must require this righteousness in each portion of the period4 ,and has the constant approximation of man towards this state of purity been proved8 ,and will not the number1 if not the grossness of faults1 in this infinite space1 increase with the number of virtues8 ,and what comparison will the list of faults bear to that of the virtues at the examination8 ,but let us leave that also4 ,will1 in the sight of the ,divine eye1 the moral purity of two different beings--for instance1 a seraph and a man1 or of two different men1 as ,robespierre and ,socrates--be equally contained in two equally long1 i4 e4 eternal1 courses of time8 ,if on comparing the two1 a difference appear1 then one of them cannot have attained the so-called perfection1 and must still be mortal4 ,the ,chaplain answered3 ,but ,kant does not intend to demonstrate immortality by this argument4 ,he says even1 that it has been left so uncertain in order that free1 pure will1 and no selfish views1 shall prompt our aspirations to immortality4 ,strange1 said ,karlson4 ,but as we have now discovered this intention1 its object would be defeated4 ,philosophers ought then to imitate me1 and attack immortality to the advantage of virtue4 ,it is a strange axiom to presuppose the truth of an opinion from its indemonstrability4 ,either immortality can be proved1 then one half of your argument is right1 or it cannot1 then the whole of it is wrong4 ,besides1 if the belief in immortality makes virtue selfish1 the experience of it in the next world would make it more so4 ,does the belief in it deter the common man from doing what his confessor forbids1 and forgives him8 ,as little as the first stroke of apoplexy deters the drunkard from rushing to the second4 #ejdth ,,station4 ,flower ,toying4 ,karlson joined the others in conversation1 and ,phylax was enraged that he could not triumph1--not even dispute4 ,i said to him1 that my opinions agreed with his1 though not on the same grounds1 and that1 uniting1 we would subsequently together issue forth and attack ,karlson4 ,i then went with my silken club to ,nadine1 and on a rose-bush showed her the flying light-magnets1 the shining will-o'-the-wisps of night1 the brown glowworms which she had never seen by day4 ,i colonized a box with them for a living firework in the evening4 ,chance had romantically bent a bright rose-bush between graceful bluebells1 on a green marble boundary stone2 its foliage had the appearance of being seamed with black glowworms2#ac the lily-chafer hung like gold embroidery on the pale1 ripe roses2 long-legged1 shining gnats ran glittering over the thorns2 the flower-divers and nectary treasure-diggers1 the bees1 covered the rose-cups with new thorns2 the butterflies1 like moving tints1 like ,epicurean colors1 gently floated round the branch's gay world4 ,i cannot tell you how this glance1 turned from the vast whole on to a beautiful small portion1 gave a warmer glow to our hearts and to nature4 ,instead of the hand1 we could only hold1 like children1 the fingers of the great mother of life1 and reverently kiss them4 ,by the creation1 ,god became human for men1 as therefore for angels an angel1--like the sun whose bright immensity the painter gently divides into the beauties of a human face4 ,wilhelmi said1 that1 to rise into ,eden or ,arcadia1 he would need no larger wings than the four of a butterfly4 ,what a poetical1 paradisaical existence1 like the papilio1 to roam without stomach or hunger1 among buds and flowers1 to suffer no long night1 no winter1 and no storm1 to toy away one's life in a delightful chase for another papilio1 or to nestle1 like the flower-colored bird of paradise1 among lemon-blossoms1 to float round blooming honey-cups1 and to be rocked in silken cradles6 ,blissfully we proceeded on our way1 and each new step drove an exciting blood-drop to our warmed hearts4 ,i said to the ,chaplain1 that the temple of nature had been changed into a concert-hall for me1 and every vocal into instrumental music4 ,victor6 should not philosophy and the philosophers imitate electric bodies1 which not only enlighten1 but also attract8 ,the soul's wine will indeed ever taste of the bodily barrel-hoops1 but the soul is scarcely spirit-like enough only to serve as a body to another soul4 #ejeth ,,station4 ,the ,ephemera4--,relative ,conclusions4--,doubts of the ,length of the ,chain of ,living ,beings4--,the ,wart-,eaters4--,the ,cure4 ,the sun and the valley surrounded us with their burning-glasses1 and it was pleasant to sit down in a shady spot1 and eat2 and as just opposite to us was a marble-quarry1 and close to the iron rock-wall a sap-green meadow1 and beside us a group of elms and a little shining solitary white house1 we asked at it for as much food as a roaming1 contented quintet requires4 ,the mistress of the house was alone1 the husband was at work 7as most ,campanians are1 in ,spain71 four children waited on us2 our ice-cellar was opened1 and with its contents the soul was warmed and the body cooled4 ,the white glowing keystone of the heaven arch awoke with its flames the noonday wind1 which slept on the cold summit of the ,pyrenees4 ,little or nothing would taste well to poor ,phylax1 to whom it was more important to prove that he would be eternal4 ,fortunately1 the ,french wine armed him more with ,french customs1 and he asked the ,baron politely3 ,i believe ,i owe ,m4 ,karlson some proofs of our immortality4 ,might ,i be allowed to give them8 ,wilhelmi sent him to ,gione1 saying1 ,ask there4 ,gione willingly granted his request1 and said1 ,why should not recollections of immortality ornament our joys as much as monuments do ,english gardens8 ,nadine threw in the question1 ,but if men quarrel about the hopes of humanity1 what remains for women8 ,her heart and its hopes1 ,nadine1 said ,gione4 ,wilhelmi said1 smiling3 ,the owl of ,minerva1 as all other owls1 is said to forebode destruction to a household1 by settling on its roof4 ,but ,i hope it is not so4 ,i added1 ,the lives of all our beloved ones are tied to the obelisk of immortality1 as to that of ,rameses1#ad that the danger may double our strength2 for they will be destroyed if it rebound4 ,in the mean time1 ,karlson had taken an ephemeral fly from a neighboring elm1 to which it had clung1 in order to cast off its super body before death4 ,the ephemera should not be an embodiment of our immortality1#ae but of our unfolding2 for1 unlike other insects1 after all its transformations1 and when already furnished with wings1 it changes its shape once more before death4 ,he held it before us1 and said3 ,in my opinion1 a philosophical ephemera would argue thus4 ,what6 ,i should have uselessly accomplished all my various changes1 and the ,creator had no other intention in calling me from the egg to the grub1 then to a chrysalis1 and at last to a flying being1 whose wings must burst another covering before death1 with this long range of spiritual and corporeal developments1 he should have had no other aim than a six hours' existence1 and the grave must be the only goal of so long a long a course8 ,the ,chaplain opportunely answered1 ,your argument proves against yourself1 for it is petitio principii to presuppose mortality amongst ephemera4 ,i confess ,i am an enemy to these relative conclusions1 because they take as much from truth as they give to eloquence1 for contrary opinions can be proved by them4 ,to one whose eyes are hurt by a grain of sand1 ,i can prove that he is comparatively happy1 as there are many in the world who suffer from sand-blisters and gravel2 and also that he is unfortunate1 as ,sultanic eyes are never pressed by anything harder than ,circassian eyelids--or two rosy lips4 ,thus ,i can make the world immense in comparison to bullets1 grains of poison1 or round puddings1 or minute1 if placed beside ,jupiter1 the sun1 or the milky-way4 ,if the ephemera on the ladder of existence would turn its back on the brilliant development of the beings above it1 and only count the important ones on the steps beneath it1 it would increase in its own importance4 ,in short1 our oratorical fantasy continually mistakes the distinction between more and less for that of something or nothing2 but every relative conclusion must be based on something positive1 which only eternal eyes1 which can measure the whole range of innumerable degrees1 can truly weigh4 ,indeed1 there must be some bodily substance1 and were it even the earth2 for every comparison1 every measurement1 presupposes a fixed1 unchanging standard4 ,therefore1 the ephemeral development is a true one1 and the conclusions on it are the same as on a seraphic one4 ,the difference in the degrees can only bring forth relative1 not opposite conclusions4 ,and here1 in this letter--for in print ,i would not dare to do it--,i will acknowledge a doubt4 ,no one has ever seen the steps of the ladder of beings above us1--no one has counted those beneath us4 ,what if the former were less1 the latter greater1 than we have hitherto imagined4 ,the eternal promotion of souls from angels to archangels1 in short1 the nine philosophical hierarchies have only been asserted1 but not proved4 ,the common opinion1 that the immense difference between man and the ,eternal must be filled up by a chain of spiritual giants1 is false2 as no chain can shorten the distance1 much less fill it1 for it will ever retain the same width2 and the seraph1 i4 e4 the highest finite being according to human thoughts1 must imagine just as many1 if not more1 beings above him1 as ,i do beneath me4 ,astronomy1 this sawing machine of suns1 this ship's wharf and laboratory of earths1 would persuade us that the enlargement of worlds and beings is a sign of their improvement4 ,but over the whole sky there hang only earth and fire-balls1 and all things on them1 from milk-way to milk-way1 are less than the wishes and longings of our hearts4 ,then why should our earth alone1 why not every other also1 be progressing8 why should they1 rather than we1 have the start in this inaugural eternity8 ,in short1 it may be disputed if in the whole universe there are other angels and archangels than ,victor and ,jean ,paul4 ,it seems scarcely credible to me4 ,but truly the melodious progression to sublime beings has hitherto been merely taken for granted4 ,i believe in a harmonious one1 in an eternal ascension1 but in no created culmination4 ,i presume ,karlson intended to answer my argument1 not on the seraphs1 but on ephemera1 when ,nadine1 who had borrowed the fly in order to examine it1 held it too near her eyes1 and thereby disturbed and extinguished our ,mendelssohn-,platonic conversation4 ,for ,madame ,berlier 7such was the noble name of our temporary hostess7 stepped up to ,nadine1 and said3 ,it is a pity for the pain4 ,you must take the wart-locust1 ,i have proofs1 do you understand8 ,it is this4 ,the so-called wart-eater1 a locust with light brown spots1 takes away a wart in a very short time by a single bite4 ,dame ,berlier1 over whom1 as over most ,southrons1 beauty had greater power than self-love and sex1 had falsely imagined that ,nadine wished to annihilate the only fault in her charming form with the fly4 ,the ,chaplain had scarcely heard the wart-eater mentioned1 when he vanished among the green1 and commenced a hunt for wart-locusts4 ,i was vexed that ,i had known the remedy as well as ,dame ,berlier1 and never thought of it4 ,for a shabby simile ,i should have easily recollected it1 but not for a useful cure4 ,fortune permitted him soon to return with the winged wart-operator2 this excited my envy4 ,when he gave it to ,nadine1 the officious ,phylax had squeezed1 with the letter and paper press of his hands1 like in a good calendar-press1 the brown spotted vegetable-eater to--death4 ,the animal could bite no more2 ,i immediately darted off in search of another1 and soon returned1 holding one by the tips of its wings1 and said1 ,i would myself hold it over the wart until he would operate on it4 ,while performing the action ,i praised it4 ,every great deed1 ,i said1 is only accomplished in the soul1 at the moment of determination2 when it comes outward and is repeated by the body1--which holds the locust1--it disperses into insignificant movements and thirds2 but when it is done1 as now the operation1 it becomes great again1 and1 ever increasing1 flows onward through all time4 ,thus the ,rhine rushes like a giant from its summit1 disperses in the fog1 falls as rain upon the plain1 then it forms itself into clouds1 and roams over the sands1 and carries suns instead of rainbows4 ,it need not be concealed from you that it affected me to look into the retina of two such bright and warm1 upturned eyes1 without mentioning the whole warlike array of curls and lips1 and forehead1 and the ,waterloo landscapes of the cheeks4 ,nadine's terror at the teeth of the brown little doctor made her more charming1 and the danger of my situation greater4 ,after holding it for some time1 when ,i thought the operation was finished1 she told me the locust had not yet touched her1 as ,i held it two or three ,parisian feet too far from the wart4 ,it is true1 ,i had lost myself in her net skin2 but ,i remarked that the cure could not be accomplished1 if ,i did not rest the ball of my right hand slightly on her cheek1 in order to hold the wart-eater more firmly over the wart4 ,now he bit the required wound1 and propelled into it as much of his corrosive fluid as he carried with him4 ,i artfully diverted ,nadine's pain1 which resembled that of a pin pricking1 by philosophizing4 ,man1 ,i said1 finds the stoic theory true and forcible for all pain1 only not for the present4 ,and when he bleeds from cut wounds1 he imagines bruises heal more easily4 ,he therefore defers his practice of the stoic-school until his own schooling is over4 ,o1 but then he stands by a running stream1 waiting until the waters shall have passed4 ,true firmness bears the bite of a locust1 and rejoices at the trial6 ,now the operation was happily accomplished1 which could easily excite an illness in me4 ,it is true that her countenance had inflicted a deeper wound on me than the wart-eater upon it1--,i should fear and examine whether mine1 which was just as near to hers1 had done as much damage2 but ,nadine is exceedingly--young4 ,the hearts of young girls1 like new waterbutts1 at first let everything drop through1 until in time1 the vessels swell and thus retain their contents4 #ejfth ,,station4 ,objections ,to ,immortality4--,the ,second ,childhood of the ,outer and ,inner ,man4 ,we broke up and proceeded4 ,on high1 light feathers floated through the sky1 like the loose-flowing hair of the sun1 which could not veil it4 ,the day became hotter and stiller4 ,but our path lay beneath a green roof1 and each branch spread over us a parasol of broad fresh leaves4 ,gione asked1 ,can we not continue our conversation in walking8 ,o1 your ,clotilde should know her2 she has1 excepting her charms1 half her soul4 ,no discord exists between her outer and inner harmony2 her earnest1 generous soul resembles the palm-tree1 which has neither bark nor branches1 but which bears broad foliage and buds on its summit4 ,gione1 said ,nadine1 these arguments unsettle our minds1 instead of removing our doubts4 ,no one1 she replied1 has yet given his opinion2 if we even have the firmest convictions1 still by their beautiful conformity with another's convictions our own become more beautiful and firm4 ,just as water-plants1 surrounded by their water1 are yet as much refreshed by rain as land plants are1 said ,myrtil 7,i am ,myrtil74 ,wilhelmi said1 just as we were passing through the ,midsummer's-day night of a grotto cooled by oakshade and cascades3 ,our conversation would better suit a total eclipse of the sun4 ,i would that ,i could see one1 when the moon hangs beauteously before the midday sun1 when the noisy day is suddenly hushed1 when the nightingales sing1 the flowers fade1 and when nightly mists and shuddering cold and dew fall4 ,phylax had now let slip his sofa-cushion into a murmuring spring2 ,nadine saw it1 and1 not to confuse him in the act of drawing it out1 she1 with charming zeal1 drove us back to our conversation4 ,her intercourse with the world had given her a playful1 light1 ever-joyous exterior4 ,but ,gione's style1 like the highest ,grecian1 is1 artistically speaking1 somewhat meagre and spare1--and the ball-rooms had made her1 as mahogany presses make dresses1 more agreeable4 ,but her exterior charms did not contradict or injure her interior beauty4 ,i said to ,karlson1 ,pray1 prove to us the spiritual mortality1 this soul's death4 ,m4 ,karlson needs not do that1 answered the stupid ,phylax1 vexed at the wet cushion1 only the assertor must prove4 ,very well1 ,i said1 ,i call proofs objections1 but ,i shall certainly give you only two2--firstly1 the proof or objection3 the simultaneous decay and destruction of the body and of the soul2 secondly1 the absolute impossibility of ascertaining the mode of life of a future existence1 or as the ,chaplain would say1 to see into the spiritual world from the sensuous one4 ,now1 ,m4 ,karlson1 throw your two bombs into the greatest possible angles1 which1 according to ,hennert1 is #dj degrees1 but according to ,bezout1 #dc degrees4 ,he aimed well4 ,he showed how the spiritual ,dryad flowered1 burst and dispersed with the corporeal bark1 how the noblest impulses are chained to the lead--earth1 revolving wheel of the body2 how memory1 imagination1 and madness only feed on the egg-yolk of the brain1--how bravery and mildness stand in as opposite degree to blood as leeches and ,jews2#af how1 in age1 the inner and outer man together bend towards the grave1 together petrify1 together1 like metal compositions1 slowly cool1 and at last together die6 ,he then asked why1 with the continual experience that every bodily down-bending digs a spiritual wound1 and with this unceasing parallel of body and soul1 we give to the latter1 after death1 everything which we have seen annihilated in the former4 ,he said1 and ,i believe it1 that neither ,bonnet's underbody1 nor the incorporated soul corsets of ,plattner 7the second soul organ7 can diminish the difficulty of the question1 for as both soul's under-garments or night-gowns and pinafores1 always share1 in life1 the good and bad fate of the coarse1 corporeal coat and martyr-cloak1 and as in us double-cased ,english watches1 the works1 and the first and second cases 7,bonnet's and ,plattner's7 always suffered and gained together1 it would be absurd to seek the ,iliad of the future world in the narrow hazel-nut shell of the revived little body which has first stood and fallen with the coarse outward one4 ,i then asked him to aim his second ball in the angle of forty degrees also4 ,i added1 that ,i would have begged leave to give a long parliamentary speech on it1 but that long speeches have a life and reproducing power1 as1 according to ,reaumuer1 long animals more easily re-form themselves1 when cut1 than short ones4 ,though certainly it occurs to me1 that ,unzer says1 tall persons do not live as long as short ones4 ,but ,karlson needed little time or power to prove the uncertainty of the next world4 ,the ,sun-land behind the hillocks of the ,god's acre1 behind the pest-cloud of ,death1 is covered by a complete1 an impenetrable darkness of twelve inches1 or of as many holy nights4 ,he showed1 and not badly1 what an immense leap beyond all terrestrial analogies and experiences it is1 to hope for1 i4 e4 to create1 a world1 a transcendent ,arcadia1 a world of which we know neither copy nor original1 which wants no less than a form and a name1 map and globe1 another ,vespucius ,americus1 of which neither chemistry nor astronomy can give us the compounds or the quarters2 a universe of air1 on which1 from the leaf-stripped1 faded soul1 a new body will bud forth1 i4 e4 a nothing on which nothing is to embody itself4 ,o1 my good ,karlson6 how could your noble soul omit a second world which is already contained in this physical first one1 like bright crystals in dark earth1 namely1 the sun-world of ,virtue1 ,truth1 and ,beauty1#ag glowing in our souls1 whose golden vein inexplicably extends its ramification through the dark1 dirty clump of the sensuous world4 ,it was now my turn to answer3 ,i will lessen your two difficulties1 and then ,i will give my innumerable proofs4 ,you are no materialist1#ah you therefore take for granted that bodily and mental activity only accompany and mutually excite each other4 ,yes1 the body represents the keys of the inner ,harmonica through all its scales4 ,hitherto only the corporeal outward signs have been called feelings1 as the swelling heart and the slowly-beating pulse--longing2 the outpouring of gall1 anger1 and so on4 ,but the net-like texture1 the anastomy between the inner and outer man1 is so life-full1 so warm1 that to every picture1 every thought1--a nerve1 a fibre must move4 ,we should also observe1 and put into the notes of speech all the bodily after sounds of poetic1 algebraic1 artistic1 numismatic1 and anatomic ideas4 ,but the sounding-board of the body is neither the soul's scale nor its harmony4 ,grief has no resemblance to a tear1--shame1 none to the cheek-imprisoned blood1--wit1 none to champagne1--the idea of this valley1 none to its portrait on the retina4 ,the inner man1 this ,god1 hidden in the statue1 is not of marble as it is1 but in the stony limbs1 the living ones grow and ripen in an unknown life4 ,we do not sufficiently mark how the inner man even tames and forms the outer one2 how1 for example1 the passionate body which1 according to physiology1 should ever increase in heat1 is gradually cooled and extinguished by principles1--how terror1 anger1 holds the dividing texture of the body in a spiritual grasp4 ,when the whole brain is paralyzed1 every nerve rusty and exhausted1 and the soul carrying leaden weights1 man needs but to will 7which he can do every moment71 he needs only a letter1 a striking idea1 and the fibre-work of the soul's mechanism proceeds again without help from the body4 ,wilhelmi said1 ,then the soul is but a watch which winds itself4 ,there must always be some perpetuum mobile1 ,i said1 for all things have moved for an eternity already4 ,the question is1 either the soul never winds off1 or it is its own watchmaker4 ,i return to the subject4 ,if a ruptured life-vein in the fourth brain-chamber of a ,socrates place the whole land of his ideas and moral tendencies in a blood-bath1 these ideas and moral tendencies will surely be covered with blood-water1 but not spoilt by it2 because not the drowned brains were virtuous and wise1 but his self was1 and because the dependence of a watch on its case for protection from dust1 c4 does not prove the identity of the two1 or that the watch consists only of cases4 ,as spiritual exertions are not bodily ones1 but only precede or follow them2 and as every spiritual activity leaves traces1 not only in the soul1 but also in the body2 must1 then1 if apoplexy or age destroy corporeal activity1--must the soul's fire be therefore quenched8 ,is there no difference between the soul of a childish old man1 and that of a child8 ,must the soul of ,socrates1 imprisoned in ,borgia's body as in a mud-bath1 lose its moral powers1 and does it suddenly change its virtuous qualities for vicious ones8 ,or shall in left-handed wedlock 7which has no common property of body and soul7 the one conjugal half only share the gains1 not also the losses of the other8 ,shall the ablactated soul feel only the blooming1 not also the faded body8 ,and if it does1 the earth surrounding it must1 as our earth does to the superior planets1 give it the reflection of our advancing and retrograding4 ,if we shall ever be disembodied1 the slow hand of time1 that is1 ever encroaching age1 must do it4 ,if our course is not to be concluded in one world1 the gulf between it and the second must always appear to us a grave4 ,the short interruption to our progress by age1 and the longer one by death1 destroy this progress as little as the shortest interruption by sleep4 ,we anxiously suppose--as the first man did--the total sun-eclipse of sleep to be the night of death1 and this again the doomsday of the world4 ,that must yet be proved1 although ,i believe it1 replied ,phylax4 ,new beauties prevented my answering1 and closed the #ejfth ,station4 7,p4 ,s4--,i have been told the ,chaplain has declared that he had purposely not replied to several of my arguments1 but he hoped he could see them in print1 and then he would publish his opinions4 ,but he will scarcely live until this letter is printed1 and he will answer it47 #ejgth ,,station4 ,the ,theft of the ,souvenir4--,answers to ,previous ,stations4--,on the ,emigration of the ,dead to the ,planets4--,the ,threefold ,world in ,man4--,grief without ,hope4--,the ,seal of ,immortality4--,the ,country-seat4--,the ,balloons4--,ecstasy4 ,when it is three o'clock1 and a wandering ,arcadian council is very well but somewhat warm1 when the narrowing ,adour1 which has its source at the end of the ,valley1 flows round a projecting tongue of land1 and draws its silver gauze cover over the pale moon reposing on its breast1#ai when round this slip of earth1 this flowery anchoring place1 half water scene1 half bowling green1 a broadleaved oak arcade grows1 beneath which trembles a sun-gilt shadow1 gliding from between the branches of the trees1 on to the grass1 embroidered by the restless1 roving1 gay-colored sand1 on the book of nature--its insects1 when the hammering in the shining marble blocks1 the living ,alp-horns1 the bleating pasture-sheep1 and the murmuring of waves fill the heart to its topmost branches and up to the brim with life-balsam1 and the head with life-spirit2 and when so many beauties are heard and seen1--living beauties who walk are inclined to sit down on the slip of earth1 after the cushion-carriers have placed their burdens as resting-places for their arms4 ,my dear ,victor6 all this came to pass4 ,while sitting1 long speeches were not as practicable as while walking4 ,even before1 when we1 from some distance1 were choosing this spot for a resting-place1 they had suffered considerably4 ,i remained on the shore near ,nadine1 whose cheeks1 reflected in the shadow-painted waves1 appeared a charming pale red1 as though a cochineal had bled to death on them4 ,the walk and her red parasol had been too great colorists4 ,my dear brother1 ,i am preparing to fall in love4 ,the operation on the wart was unimportant as a corner-piece of vexation1 as negative electricity2 but warts have their good points4 ,nadine plucked roses and other flowers4 ,i drew an empty jewel-box from my pocket1--it was empty1 like the #ith ,kurstuhl1 the ,elias chair1#bj or the limbus patrum1--and held it under them1 begging her to shake the flowers1 that ,i might catch the millipeds1#ba which1 like tallow candles1 are more suitable for the eye than the nose4 ,i caught a whole germanic diet of these creatures from the fragrant flower-cups1 and imprisoned them in the box4 ,during the flower-toying1 which brought us nearer to each other1 a small cockchafer fell on my skin4 ,i looked round for the flowers and could find nothing till ,i saw1 protruding from ,nadine's left pocket1 a souvenir1 filled with sweet-smelling herbs4 ,to steal from a beautiful woman is often nothing else than to give to her4 ,i thought it fit1 secretly to take the scented pocket-book in order to make a scent-bottle1 and a joke of it in future4 ,i so arranged the theft1 that the ,baron perceived my hand1 holding the book1 retreating from the pocket4 ,the souvenir1 thought ,i1 may occasion some scene2 meanwhile ,i can smell at it4 ,i indemnified her for the loss of the scent-bag by the millipeds1 whose prison ,i immediately insinuated into her pocket4 ,the ,baron was witness4 ,wilhelmi said1 when we rose3 ,in the evening we shall be separated and deafened by the carriages4 ,if something has yet to be decided-- ,something8 replied ,phylax1--everything has to be decided4 ,m4 ,jean ,paul1 you have yet to raise ,m4 ,karlson's second difficulty4 ,raise8 ,i asked1 ,i am to raise the cover of the whole future world8 ,i am but going towards it1 not coming from it4 ,but this dissimilarity between the present and the future world1 its inconceivable magnitude1 has made many apostates4 ,not the bursting of our bodily doll-skin in death1 but the wide disparity between the present autumn and the future spring1 raises such overwhelming doubts in our poor1 timid breasts4 ,this is shown by the savages1 who consider the future life merely as the second volume1 the new testament of the first1 and make no greater distinction between the first and second life than between youth and age3 they easily believe in all their hopes2 your first difficulty1 the bursting and fading of the bodily polish1 does not deprive the savage of the hope to bud anew in another flower-vase4 ,but your second difficulty daily increases itself1 and its advocates1 for by the increasing proofs and apparatus of chemistry and physiology1 the future world is daily more effectually annihilated and dispersed1 as it cannot be brought within play of a sun-microscope or of a chemical furnace4 ,in fact1 not only the reality1 but also the theory of the body1 not only the practised measurement of its longings1 but also the pure moral philosophy of its spirit-world1 must darken and make difficult the prospect on the inner world from the outer one4 ,only the moralist1 the physiologist1 the poet1 and the artist more readily comprehend our inner world2 but the chemist1 the physician1 and the mathematician want both seeing and hearing faculties for it1 and in time1 even eyes and ears4 ,on the whole1 ,i find fewer men than one would imagine who decidedly believe in1 or deny1 the existence of a future world4 ,few dare to deny it1 as for them this life would then lose all unity1 form1 peace1 and hope2--few dare to believe it1 for they are startled at their own purification and at the destruction of the lessened earth4 ,the majority1 according to the promptness of alternating feelings1 waver poetically between both beliefs4 ,as we paint ,devils more easily than ,gods1 ,furies than ,venus ,urania1 ,hell than ,heaven1 we can more easily believe in the former than in the latter1--in the greatest misfortune than in the greatest happiness4 ,must not our spirit1 used to misgivings and earth chains1 be startled at a ,utopia against which earth will be shipwrecked1 that the lilies of it1 like the ,guernsey lilies1#bb may find the shore to bloom on1 which saves and satisfies1 elevates and makes blessed1 our much tormented humanity4 ,i now come to your difficulty4 ,i imagine1 if even we were to take the grave to be merely the moat of communication between allied globes1 our ignorance concerning the second world should not terrify us1 and we need not take for granted that the mountain ridge of humanity does not continue under the ,dead ,sea1 merely because we cannot see through its waters1 for do not all mountain ridges continue on the bottom of the ocean8 ,what6 man will guess at worlds1 when he cannot even guess world-quarters6 ,would the ,greenlander paint a ,negro1 a ,dane1 a ,greek1 in his mind's eye1 without ever having seen one8 ,can the political genius divine the inner versifications of the poetic one1 without experience8 ,can the ,abderite imagine the architecture of the sage8 ,would we have guessed the existence of but one of the animal creations of ,anthropomorphism which copy the human figure in all animals1 and yet change it8 ,or could a bodiless self1 placed in a vacuum1 with all existing logic and metaphysic1 ever have conceived but a single vein of its present embodification and humanification8 ,but what are you asserting or denying8 asked ,wilhelmi4 ,i only assert that a second life on another planet cannot be denied1 merely because we are unable to map out the planet1 and portray its inhabitants4 ,but we need no other planet4 ,the ,baron said3 ,o1 ,i have often dreamed delicious dreams of this 'grande tour' through the stars6 ,it seemed the progression of a student from one class to another1--the classes being worlds4 ,but1 replied ,karlson1 to all these worlds1 as upon our own1 you will be refused admittance if you arrive without a body4 ,by what miracle will you obtain one8 ,by a repeated one1 ,i answered4 ,for by a miracle we have our present body4 ,but we can say in favor of this planet wandering1 that our eyes too widely separate the worlds of which each one is but an element of the infinite integral whole4 ,the different worlds and their satellites above and around us1 are only far removed world-quarters4 ,the moon is but a smaller1 more distant ,america1 and space is the ocean4 ,nadine said3 ,one day ,i so pictured the inhabitants of a lemon-tree to myself4 ,the worm on the leaf may think it is on the green earth1 the second worm on the white bud is on the moon1 and the one on the lemon believes itself to be upon the sun4 ,and yet this1 said ,i1 is but a tree of immeasurable life4 ,as around the earth-kernel cling wider and finer covers1--the earth1 the seas1 the air and space1--so the giant of one world is surrounded by increasingly large ones1 with ever larger arms4 ,the longest shell is the finest one1 as light and the attractive power4 ,the beauteous covering elongates and rarefies itself from iron bands to pearl ties1 from flower-chains to rainbows and milky-ways4 ,will we not now descend from the milky-way1 said ,karlson1 for we cannot ascend it4 ,it is precisely this uniformity of the universe which forbids the rambling of emigrants from the earth4 ,every planet already has its own crew2 more dense ones1 as for instance ,mercury1 may be peopled with real sailors4 ,precisely as ,kant supposes6 said ,phylax4 ,finer1 less solid ones1 as e4 g4 ,uranus1 only with the most tender beings1 perhaps only with women and nuns who love not the sun4 ,he who intends to rectify the so-called soul or spirit by distilling it from one planet to the other1 may with as much justice assert1 that the spirits of the slacked ,mercury receive their dephlegmation in a distilling process through our earth1--in short1 that the earth is the second world for ,mercury and ,venus4 ,the dead of the arctic zones could even pass into the temperate ones 7it would be distillatio per latus71 for on all planets there can be no other than coarser or finer human beings#bc like ourselves4 ,karlson waited for an answer and a contradiction1 but ,i said his opinion was also mine4 ,i have still a stronger reason1 ,i continued1 against emigration to1 and voyage picturesque through1 the planets1 because we carry and lock up a heaven of starry light in our own breasts1 for which no dirty earth-ball is clean or large enough4 ,but on this subject ,i must have permission to speak uninterruptedly1 at least until we have passed all these cornfields4 ,our pleasure-trip now was an alley of magic gardens1 our passage through a golden sea of corn-blades1 was accompanied and surrounded on all sides by a promised land1 in which solitary houses reposed beneath picturesquely grouped leaf groves1 as in ,italy sleepers take their siestas on shaded meads4 ,i was permitted to speak4 ,there is an inner1 heart-contained spirit-world1 which breaks through the dark clouds of the body-world as a warm sun4 ,i mean the inner universe of virtue1 beauty1 and truth2 three soul-worlds and heavens1 which are neither parts1 nor shoots1 nor cuttings1 nor copies of the outer one4 ,we are less astonished at the inexplicable existence of these three transcendent heavens1 because they are ever floating before us1 and because we foolishly imagine we create them1 while we merely recognize them4 ,after which copy1 with what plastic material1 and of what1 could we create and insert in ourselves#bd this same spirit-world8 ,let the atheist ask himself how he conceived the giant ideal of a ,god1 which he either denies or embodies8 ,an idea which has not been built upon comparative greatness and degrees1 for it is the contrary of every measure and of every created greatness4 ,in short1 the atheist denies the great original of the copy4#be ,as there are idealists of the outer world who believe that perception makes objects1 instead of that objects cause perception1 so there are idealists of the inner world1 who deduct the being from the seeming1 the sound from the echo1 the fact from its appearance2 instead of1 on the contrary1 the seeming from the being1 our consciousness from the objects of it4 ,we mistake our power of analyzing our inner world1 for its preformation1 i4 e4 the genealogist thinks himself both originator and founder4 ,this inner universe1 which is still more glorious and admirable than the outer one1 needs another heaven than the one above us1 and a higher world than one a sun now shines upon4 ,therefore we rightly say1 not a second earth or globe1 but a second world1--another beyond the universe4 ,gione already interrupted me3 ,and every virtuous and wise being is in himself a proof of immortality4 ,and every one1 added ,nadine1 quickly1 who suffers innocently4 ,yes1 it is that1 said ,i1 with emotion1 which extends our line of life through countless ages4 ,the chord of ,virtue1 ,truth1 and ,beauty1 taken from the music of the spheres1 calls us from this dark oppressive earth1 and announces to us the nearness of a more melodious existence4 ,why1 and from whence were these super-earthly wants and longings created in us1 if only1 like swallowed diamonds1 slowly to cut through our earthy shell4 ,why was a being endowed with wings of light chained to this dirty clump of earth1 if it were to rot in its birth-clod1 without ever being freed from it by means of its ethereal wings8 ,wilhelmi said1 ,i also like to dream the dream of a second life in the sleep of this first one4 ,but may not our beautiful spiritual powers have been given to us for the enjoyment and preservation of the present life8 ,for its preservation8 ,i said4 ,then an angel has been locked in the body to be the mute servant and fire-lighter1 butler1 cook1 and porter of the stomach8 ,would not brutish souls have sufficed to drive man-bodies to the fruit-tree and the spring8 ,shall the pure ethereal flame only dry and bake the bodily patent stove with life-warmth1 while it now slakes and dissolves it8 ,for every tree of knowledge is the poison-tree of the body1 and every mental refinement a slow-poison chalice4 ,but1 on the contrary1 want is the iron key of freedom1 the stomach is the manure-filled hot-house or manufactory of human blood1 and the various animal instincts are but the earthy1 soiled steps to the ,grecian temple of our spiritual elevation4 ,for enjoyment you said also4 ,that means1 we received the palate and appetite of a god1 with the food for an animal4 ,that portion of us which is of earth1 and creeps on worm-folds1 may and can1 like the earthworm1 be fed and fattened on earth4 ,exertion1 bodily pain1 the burning hunger of necessity1 and the tumult of our senses exclude and choke the spiritual autumn bloom of humanity in nations and classes4 ,all these conditions of terrestrial existence must be fulfilled ere the soul may claim its due4 ,to the unhappy1 therefore1 who must be the business men and carriers of their bodily wants1 the whole inner world seems but as an imaginary gilt cobweb1 like the man who1 breathing only the electrical atmosphere1 instead of feeling the spark1 thinks to grasp an invisible web4 ,but when our necessary animal servitude is over1 when the barking inner dog-kennel is fed1 and the dog-fight finished1 then the inner man demands his nectar and ambrosia1 and if he is turned off with earth-food only1 he changes to an angel of ,death1 and a ,hellfiend1 driving himself to suicide1 or makes of him a poison-mixer who destroys all joy4#bf ,the eternal hunger in man1 the insatiability of his heart1 wants not a richer1 but a different food1 fruit1 not grass4 ,if our wants referred but to the degree1 not to the quality1 then the imagination1 at least1 might paint a degree of satiety4 ,but imagination cannot make us happy1 by showing us innumerable heaps of treasures1 if they be other than ,virtue1 ,truth1 and ,beauty4 ,but the more beautiful soul8 asked ,nadine4 ,i answered1 ,this discrepancy between our wishes and our circumstances1 the heart and the earth1 will remain1 an enigma1 if we are immortal1 and would be a blasphemy if we decay4 ,ah6 how could the beautiful soul be happy8 ,strangers1 born on mountains and living in lowland places1 pine in an incurable homesickness4 ,we belong to a higher place1 and therefore an eternal longing consumes us1 and every music is our soul's ,swiss ranz des vaches4 ,in the morning of life1 the joys which hearken to the anxious wishes of our hearts are seen blooming for us in later years4 ,when we have attained these years1 we turn on the deceitful spot1 and see behind us1 pleasure blooming in the strong hopeful youth1 and we enjoy instead of our hopes1 the recollections of our hopes4 ,joy in this also resembles the rainbow1 which in the morning shines over evening1 and in the evening arches over the east4 ,the eye may reach the light1 but the arm is short1 and holds but the fruit of the soil4 ,and this proves8 asked the ,chaplain4 ,not that we are unhappy1 but that we are immortal1 and that the second world in us demands1 and proves a second world beyond us4 ,o1 how much might not be said of this second life whose commencement is so clearly shown in the first one1 and which so strangely doubles us6 ,why is ,virtue too exalted to make us1 and1 what is more1 others 7sensually7 happy8 ,why does the incapability of being useful on earth 7as the expression is7 increase with a certain higher purity of character1 as1 according to ,herschel1 there are suns which have no earth8 ,why is our heart tortured1 dried1 consumed1 and at last broken by a slow burning fever of ceaseless love for an unattainable object1 only alleviated by the hope that this consumption1 like a physical one1 must one day be sheltered and raised by the ice cover of death8 ,no1 said ,gione1 with more emotion in her eye than in her voice1 it is not ice1 but lightning4 ,when our heart lies a sacrifice on the altar1 fire from heaven consumes it as a proof that the offering is accepted4 ,i know not why her calm voice so painfully disturbed my whole soul 7not only my argument74 ,even ,nadine's eyes1 which triumphed over her own sorrows1 were suffused with tears by her sister's1 and1 although she is generally more timid and fastidious than ,gione1 in passing a little garden1 she raised from a projecting hairy potato-stalk1 a large moth1 and showed it to us with a firm mouth1 which should have been softened by a smile4 ,it was the so-called ,death's-head4 ,i stroked the flat1 drooping wings1 and said1 ,it come8 from ,egypt1 the land of mummies and graves2 it bears a memento mori on its back1 and a miserere in its plaintive voice4 ,in the mean time it is a butterfly1 and visits the nectaries1 which we day-birds will do also1 appropriately observed ,wilhelmi2 but he took the words out of my mouth4 ,gione's countenance again expressed thoughtful calmness1 and to me she became immeasurably beautiful and grand by the stillness of her grief4 ,you once said that the female soul1 though it be pierced with burning shafts1 must never beat its wings convulsively together1 else1 like other butterflies1 it would destroy their beauty4 ,how true is this6 ,nadine's eyes seldom shone without at last overflowing1 and every sorrowful emotion remained long in her heart1 because she tried to guard against it4 ,she resembled those springs which take a temperature opposed to the time of day1 and which are warmest in the cool evening4 ,she turned to me and said1 putting her hand in her left pocket1 ,i will show you some poetry which will prove your prose4 ,while she was seeking it1 she stood still with her companion ,wilhelmi4 ,he guessed before ,i did1 that she intended to give me something from the ,souvenir1 and when1 in its stead1 she took the milliped's prison from her pocket1 he obligingly said1 ,if not with my hands yet with my eyes ,i assisted at the theft1 and as accomplice ,i beg for mercy4 ,the serious apology for this foolishness scarcely suited our earnest tone of mind4 ,i said1 ,i wished to cause a more useless1 than pardonable joke1 but ,i-- ,she did not allow me to conclude1 but mildly and unchanged 7except by a reproving and a forgiving smile7 she showed me in the aromatic book the noble ,karlson's requiem on the death of the exalted ,gione4 ,i willingly give you the prosaic echo of it1 from my prosaic memory4 ,,grief ,,without ,,hope4 ,what cloud is that1 which like the clouds of the tropics1 passes from morn to eve1 and then sets8 ,it is humanity4 ,is that the magnet-mountain covered with the nails of wrecked ships8 ,no1 it is the great ,earth1 strewed with the bones of fallen men4 ,ah6 why did ,i love8 ,i had not then lost so much6 ,nadine1 give me thy grief1 for it contains hope4 ,thou standest by thy crushed sister1 who dissolves even beneath the winding-sheet1 and lookest upwards to the trembling stars1 and thinkest3 ,above1 ,o dearest one1 thou dost reside1 and on the suns we find again our hearts1 and the small tears of life will be over4 ,but mine remain1 and burn in the dim eye4 ,my cypress alley is not open1 and discloses no heaven4 ,human blood paints the fluid figure called man on the monument1 as oil on marble forms forests2 ,death wipes away the man1 and leaves the stone4 ,o ,gione6 ,i would have some consolation1 if thou wert but far away from us all1 on a clouded forest1 in a cave of the ,earth1 or on the most distant world in space4 ,but thou art gone1 thy soul is dead1 not only thy life and thy body4 ,see1 ,nadine1 on the judgment-seat of ,time lies the crushed angel1 with the death color of the spirit-world4 ,gione has lost all her virtues1 her love1 her patience1 her strength1 her all-embracing heart1 and her rich mind3 the thunderbolt of ,death has destroyed the diamond1 and now the wax statue of the body slowly melts beneath the soil4 ,serpent of ,eternity1 quickly take away the beautiful form1 as the larger serpent first poisons and then devours man4 ,but ,i1 ,gione1 stand beside your ruins with unalleviated pain1 with undestroyed soul2 and grieving1 think of you until ,i also dissolve4 ,and my grief is noble and deep1 for ,i have no hope6 ,may thy invisible shadow-picture1 like the new moon with the sun1#bg arise to heaven in my soul6 ,and may the creative wheel of ,time1 which raises innumerable hearts1 and fills them with blood1 only to pour them again into the grave1 and let them die1 pour out my life slowly1 for long time would ,i mourn for thee1 thou lost one6 ,i cannot tell you1 dearest ,victor1 how horrible and fearful the eternal snow of annihilating death seemed to me1 placed beside the noble form it should have covered2 how frightful the thought3 if ,karlson is right1 the last day has torn this never happy1 innocent soul from the prisons upon the earth to the closer ones beneath it3 man too often carries his errors as his truths only as word arguments1 not as feelings4 ,but let the disbeliever of immortality imagine a life of sixty minutes instead of sixty years1 and let him try if he can bear to see loved1 noble1 or wise men only aimless1 hour-long air-phantoms1 hollow thin shadows which fly towards the light and are consumed by it1 and who1 without path1 trace1 or aim1 after a short flight1 dissolve into their former night4 ,no2 even over him steals a supposition of immortality4 ,else a black cloud would forever hang over his soul1 and the earth would quake beneath him when he trod on it1 as if he were a ,cain4 ,i continued1 but all arguments were poetized into feelings4 ,yes1 if all forests of this earth were pleasure grottoes1 all valleys ,campan1 all islands holy1 all fields ,elysian1 and all eyes sparkling1 yes1 then--no1 even then the ,eternal ,one would have given to our souls the promise of a future life1 even in the blessedness of the present one4 ,but now1 ,o ,god6 when so many houses are mourning ones1 so many fields battle-fields1 so many cheeks pale1 and when we pass so many sunken1 red1 torn1 closed eyes1--,o1 can death be but the last destroying whirlwind8 ,and when at last1 after thousand1 thousand years1 our earth is dried up by the sun's heat1 and every living sound on its surface silenced1 will an immortal spirit look down on the silent globe1 and1 gazing on the empty hearse moving slowly on1 say3 ',there the churchyard of humanity flies into the crater of the sun2 on that burning heap many shadows1 and dreamers1 and wax-figures1 have wept and bled1 but now they are all melted and consumed3 ,fly into the sun1 which will also dissolve thee1 thou silent desert with thy swallowed tears1 with thy dried-up blood6' ,no1 the crushed worm dares raise himself to his ,creator1 and say3 ',thou canst not have made me only to suffer4' ,and who gives the worm the right to this demand8 asked ,karlson4 ,gione answered1 gently1 ,the ,eternal ,one himself1 who gives us charity and who speaks in all our souls to calm us1 and who alone has created in us our demands to ,him and our hope in ,him4 ,this good sweet word could still not calm all the waves of my excited soul4 ,from a distant house1 turtle-doves sent after us trembling1 soul-felt plaints4 ,about my tear-filled inward eye assembled all those forms whose hearts were without guilt and without joy1#bh who attained no single wish here below1 and who1 sinking under the frost and snow-storm of fate1 only longed1 like persons freezing to death1 to sleep2 and all those forms who have loved too deeply1 and lost too much1 and whose wounds were never cured until death had widened them1 like a cracked bell which retains its hollow sound until the crevice is made larger1 and the beings nearest me1 and many other female ones1 whose exquisitely tender souls fate most consecrates to torture1 as ,narcissus is consecrated to the ,god of ,hell4 ,i also remembered your true remark1 that you had never pronounced the words pain and the past before a woman1 without hearing an almost inaudible sigh at the union of the two words1 from the suffering heart2 for woman on the narrower stage of her plans1 with idealized wishes and desires built on others' worth1 rather than on her own1 has a thousand times more disappointments to suffer than we men4 ,the sun sank deeper behind the mountains1 and giant shadows1 like mighty birds of prey1 came coldly down upon us from the eternal snow4 ,i took ,karlson's hand in mine1 and looked with tearful eyes into his manly1 beautiful countenance1 and said1 ,o ,karlson6 on what a blooming1 grand world you throw an immeasurable gravestone1 which no time can lift6 ,are two difficulties1#bi based too on the necessary ignorance of man1 sufficient to overthrow a belief1 which explains thousand greater difficulties1 without which our existence is without aim1 our sufferings without explanation1 and the holy ,trinity in our breast three furies1 and three terrible contradictions8 ,a tending ,god's hand1 leading and feeding the inner man 7the child of the outer one71 teaching him to go and to speak1 educating1 refining him1 is shown in all things1 from the shapeless earthworm to the brilliant human face1 from the chaotic nations of the primitive ages to the present century1 from the first faint pulsation of the invisible heart to its full1 bold1 throbbing pulse in manhood1--and why8 ,that when man stands upright and exalted1 a beautiful demi-god1 even amid the ruins of his old body temple1 the club of ,death may annihilate the demi-god forever8 ,and on the eternal sea1 on which the least drop throws immeasurable rings1 on this sea a life-long rising and a life-long falling of the soul should have the same termination1 namely1 the end of all things1--annihilation8#cj ,and as1 from the same cause1 the souls of all other worlds must fall and die with ours1 and of this shroud and crape-veiled immeasurability nothing remain but the ever-sowing and never-reaping solitary world-spirit1 who sees one eternity mourn for another1 there can be no aim and no object in the whole spiritual universum1 for the purpose of the development of succeeding or successive ephemera is no progress for the vanished ephemera1 scarcely even for the last one which can never exist4#ca ,and you take for granted all these enigmas and contradictions by which all the strings of creation1 not only its harmony1 are torn1 because two difficulties present themselves to you1 which cannot any better explain mortality 444 ,dearest ,karlson1 you would bring your eternally jarring discord into this harmony of the spheres6 ,see how calmly the day goes1 how grandly the night sets in2 did you not think that our spirit will rise one day from its grave of ashes1 when you saw the mild pale moon rise grandly from the crater of ,vesuvius8 444 ,the sun stood on the mountains1 about to plunge into the sea and swim to the new world4 ,nadine embraced her sister with emotion1 and said1 ,o1 we love each other forever and immortally1 dearest sister4 ,karlson accidentally touched the chords of the lyre which he carried3 ,gione took it from him with one hand1 gave him the other1 and said1 ,you are the only one among us who is tormented by this melancholy belief1--and you deserve to have one so beautiful6 ,this word of concealed love overpowered his long-filled heart1 and two burning drops fell from the blinded eyes1 and the sun gilded the holy tears1 and he said1 looking towards the mountains3 ,i can bear no annihilation but my own1--my whole heart is of your opinion1 and my head must slowly follow4 ,i will not again mention a man whom ,i have blamed so often4 ,we now stood before a mansion1 the windows of which were silvered1 and1 when it was darker1 gilt by girandoles4 ,aloft over its ,italian balcony hung two balloons1 one at its eastern1 the other at its western extremity4 ,without those beautiful globes1 the counterpart1 as it were1 of the two glorious ones in heaven1 the sun and the moon1 ,i should have scarcely paid heed to the scene on earth1 in the splendor of the one on high4 ,dearest friend1 how beautiful was the place and the time4 ,around us1 in their majesty1 reposed the ,pyrenees1 half robed in night and half in day1 not stooping1 like man1 beneath the load of years1 but erect--forever2 and ,i felt why the great ancients had thought the mountains were a breed of giants4 ,on the mountain heads hung wreaths of roses cloud-woven2 but each time that a star appeared upon the clear1 deep sea of ether and sparkled on its azure waves1 a rose from the mountain's chaplet faded and dropped away4 ,the ,mittaghorn1 alone1 like a higher spirit1 gazed long after the sinking lonely sun1 and glowed with ecstasy4 ,down beneath us an amphitheatre of lemon-trees1 by its perfumes1 brought us back to the veiled earth1 and made a dusky paradise of it4 ,and ,gione1 in calm rapture1 struck the chords of her guitar1 and softly did ,nadine's voice accompany the gliding tones4 ,the nightingale in the rose-hedges by the lake awoke1 and the plaintive tones from its tiny heart pierced deep into the great heart of man2 and shining glowworms flew from rose-bush to rose-bush1 but in the mirror of the lake they were but as golden sparks1 floating over pale yellow flowers4 ,but when we looked again towards the heavens1 lo6 all its stars were gleaming1 and in place of rose-woven wreaths1 the mountains were clad in extinguished rainbows1 and the giant of the ,pyrenees was crowned with stars instead of roses4 ,o my beloved ,victor6 in this moment it was with each of our enraptured souls as if from its oppressed heart earth's load had dropped away2 as if from her mother's arms1 the earth were giving us1 matured in the ,father arms of the infinite ,creator2 as if our little life were over6 ,to ourselves1 we seemed the immortal1 the exalted4 ,we fancied that our speech of man's immortality had been the prophecy of our own1 as with two great and noble men4#cb ,but though we entered the brilliant rooms1 the storm of new joys could not destroy the old ones4 ,we were not yet able to be without the great night around us1 and we ascended the platform1 that from this little throne we might better contemplate the higher throne of creation beneath the eternal canopy2 although kneeling would have been a higher ascension for the moved soul4 ,there were night-violets in a glass box1 which traced ,gione's name in blooming colors4 ,i remembered the glowworms and millipeds4 ,i let the former fly down upon the rose-bushes in confused star-pictures2 with the latter ,i fired ,gione's beautiful flower namesake4 ,gione looked longingly towards the eastern ,mongolfiere4 ,wilhelmi understood her4 ,her soul was as bold as it was calm1 she had already visited many of the magic caves of earth1 and had ascended to the summits of the highest ,alps2 she wished now to rise in the air1 and to float in the heavens above this beautiful country1 and on this beauteous night2 but the enjoyment of the prospect was not her only motive4 ,wilhelmi asked who should be her companion4 ,solitude was her chief desire4 ,the breadth and depth of the boat under the globe1 a chair in it1 and the cords by which she would be raised and lowered1 secured the trip from all danger4 ,like a celestial being she rose beneath the stars1--the night and the height threw a mist over her rising form4 ,a slight zephyr rocked the blooming ,aurora1 and crowned the moving goddess with alternate constellations4 ,now her countenance appeared surrounded by pale supernatural rays4 ,it seemed bright as an angel rising towards its kindred stars through the rich dark blue space4 ,an unusual tremor seized on ,wilhelmi and ,karlson2 it was as if they saw their beloved one again carried from them on the wings of the angel of ,death4 ,when she returned to us her eyes were red with weeping2 she had ascended1 that she might in an unseen moment1 shed her old heavy tears near the stars4 ,o the ,celestial one6 ,she smiled strangely in the slumber of this life at higher joys than earthly ones1 as sleeping children smile when they see ,angels4 ,it was now impossible to repress my longing for the stars1 and my petition to be allowed to ascend4 ,permission to use the western ,mongolfiere was willingly bestowed4 ,nadine1 emboldened by the safe return of her sister1 and by the companion in the danger1 skipped into the boat1 with her usual impulsive warmth1 to refresh her thirsting soul with the majestic immeasurability of night4 ,and now the suns raised us4 ,the heavy earth sank down as the past2 wings such as man has in happy dreams bore us upwards4 ,the mighty vacancy and silence of space lay stretched before us even up into the stars2--as we rose higher1 the dark forests seemed but clouds1 and snow-girt mountaintops like snow-flakes4 ,the ascending globe bore us nearer to the harmless1 silent lightning of the moon1 in whose bright satellite we seemed cradled1 and which stood as a calm ,elysium beneath the heavens1 and high above the thick fog air1 the light heart beating more quickly1 seemed to pant with ethereal gladness to have left the earth with out discarding its shell covering4 ,our ascent was suddenly arrested--we looked down into the valley1 half concealed by distance and the darkness of the night4 ,only the lights from the mansion were visible to us1--a western cloud hung like a white fog before us1 and a black eagle flew like an angel of death from the east through the cloud pillar1 seeking its summit1 and a cool breeze playfully drew us towards the mist-island4 ,the evening red had already passed the earth at midnight1 and wandered over charming ,france as its future ,aurora4 ,o1 how the soul was raised towards the stars1 and how lightly did our hearts beat above the earth6 ,but now from the bright mansion arose sweet harmony1 and the subdued echo of the voices of our beloved ones calling upon us4 ,and when ,nadine looked down1 her lonely heart broke with longing after those dear ones2 and when she glanced into the silvered valley1 over which the moon had risen1 and where the trembling waterfalls danced beside the flowing archings of the stream and the green marble caves1 and the white paths between poplars and wheat-ears1 and the whole enchanting path of our day's journey lay silvered beneath her inconstant rays1--bright1 shining tears flowed unrestrained from her mild eyes1 and she looked imploringly to me1 as if begging for consideration and secrecy1 and said expressively1 ,we are yet so far from the cruel earth4 ,when our little globe was drawn back to the shining meadows and the merry music1 she looked inquiringly at me1 to ask if the traces of tears yet remained in her eyes4 ,she dried them more quickly1 but in vain4 ,silently we descended2 ,i took her burning hand in mine1 and looked into her weeping eyes1 but could not speak4444 --,and how could ,i speak better now1 dearest friend6 ,,life ,,of ,,quintus ,,fixlein4 ,,extracted ,,from ,,fifteen ,,letter-,,boxes4 ,,translated ,,by ,,thomas ,,carlyle4 ,,letter ,,to ,,my ,,friends1 ,,instead ,,of ,,preface4 ,merchants1 ,authors1 young ,ladies1 and ,quakers1 call all persons1 with whom they have any business1 ,friends2 and my readers accordingly are my table and college ,friends4 ,now1 at this time1 ,i am about presenting so many hundred ,friends with just as many hundred gratis copies2 and my ,bookseller has orders to supply each on request1 after the ,fair1 with his copy--in return for a trifling consideration and don gratuit to printers1 pressmen1 and other such persons4 ,but as ,i could not1 like the ,french authors1 send the whole ,edition to the binder1 the blank leaf in front was necessarily wanting2 and thus to write a complimentary word or two upon it was out of my power4 ,i have therefore caused a few white leaves to be inserted directly after the title-page2 on these we are now printing4 ,my ,book contains the ,life of a ,schoolmaster1 extracted and compiled from various public and private documents4 ,with this ,biography1 dear ,friends1 it is the purpose of the ,author not so much to procure you a pleasure as to teach you how to enjoy one4 ,in truth1 ,king ,xerxes should have offered his prize-medals1 not for the invention of new pleasures1 but for a good methodology and directory to use the old ones4 ,of ways for becoming happier 7not happy7 ,i could never inquire out more than three4 ,the first1 rather an elevated road1 is this3 to soar away so far above the clouds of life1 that you see the whole external world1 with its wolf-dens1 charnel-houses1 and thunder-rods1 lying far down beneath you1 shrunk into a little child's garden4 ,the second is3 simply to sink down into this little garden2 and there to nestle yourself so snugly1 so homewise1 in some furrow1 that1 in looking out from your warm lark-nest1 you likewise can discern no wolf-dens1 charnel-houses1 or thunder-rods1 but only blades and ears1 every one of which1 for the nest-bird1 is a tree1 and a sun-screen1 and a rain-screen4 ,the third1 finally1 which ,i look upon as the hardest and cunningest1 is that of alternating between the other two4 ,this ,i shall now satisfactorily expound to men at large4 ,the ,hero1 the ,reformer1 your ,brutus1 your ,howard1 your ,republican1 he whom civic storm1 or genius poetic storm1 impels2 in short1 every mortal with a great ,purpose1 or even a perennial ,passion 7were it but that of writing the largest folios72 all these men fence themselves in by their internal world against the frosts and heats of the external1 as the madman in a worse sense does2 every fixed idea1 such as rules every genius1 every enthusiast1 at least periodically1 separates and elevates a man above the bed and board of this ,earth1 above its ,dog's-grottoes1 buckthorns1 and ,devil's-walls2 like the ,bird of ,paradise1 he slumbers flying2 and1 on his outspread pinions1 oversleeps unconsciously the earthquakes and conflagrations of ,life1 in his long1 fair dream of his ideal ,mother-land4--,alas6 ,to few is this dream granted2 and these few are so often awakened by ,flying ,dogs6#cc ,this skyward track1 however1 is fit only for the winged portion of the human species1 for the smallest4 ,what can it profit poor quill-driving brethren1 whose souls have not even wing-shells1 to say nothing of wings8 ,or these tethered persons with the best back1 breast1 and neck-fins1 who float motionless in the wicker ,fish-box of the ,state1 and are not allowed to swim1 because the ,box or ,state1 long ago tied to the shore1 itself swims in the name of the ,fishes8 ,to the whole standing and writing host of heavy-laden ,state-domestics1 ,purveyors1 ,clerks of all departments1 and all the lobsters packed together heels over head into the ,lobster-basket of the ,government office-rooms1 and for refreshments1 sprinkled over with a few nettles2 to these persons1 what way of becoming happy here can ,i possibly point out8 ,my second merely2 and that is as follows3 to take a compound microscope1 and with it to discover1 and convince themselves1 that their drop of ,burgundy is properly a ,red ,sea1 that butterfly-dust is peacock-feathers1 mouldiness a flowery-field1 and sand a heap of jewels4 ,these microscopic recreations are more lasting than all costly watering-place recreations4--,but ,i must explain these metaphors by new ones4 ,the purpose for which ,i have sent ,fixlein's ,life into the ,messrs4 ,luebeks' ,warehouse1 is simply that in this same ,life--therefore in this ,preface it is less needful--,i may show to the whole ,earth that we ought to value little joys more than great ones1 the night-gown more than the dress-coat2 that ,plutus's heaps are worth less than his handfuls1 the plum than the penny for a rainy day2 and that not great1 but little good-haps can make us happy4--,can ,i accomplish this1 ,i shall1 through means of my ,book1 bring up for ,posterity a race of men finding refreshment in all things2 in the warmth of their rooms and of their night-caps2 in their pillows2 in the three ,high ,festivals2 in mere ,apostles' days2 in the ,evening ,moral ,tales of their wives1 when these gentle persons have been forth as ambassadresses visiting some ,dowager ,residence1 whither the husband could not be persuaded2 in the bloodletting-day of these their newsbringers2 in the day of slaughtering1 salting1 potting against the rigor of grim winter2 and in all such days4 ,you perceive1 my drift is1 that man must become a little ,tailor-bird1 which1 not amid the crashing boughs of the storm-tost1 roaring1 immeasurable tree of ,life1 but on one of its leaves1 sews itself a nest together1 and there lies snug4 ,the most essential sermon one could preach to our century were a sermon on the duty of staying at home4 ,the third skyward road is the alternation between the other two4 ,the foregoing second way is not good enough for man1 who here on ,earth should take into his hand not the ,sickle only1 but also the ,plough4 ,the first is too good for him4 ,he has not always the force1 like ,rugendas1 in the midst of the ,battle to compose ,battle-pieces2 and1 like ,backhuisen in the ,shipwreck1 to clutch at no board but the drawing-board to paint it on4 ,and then his pains are not less lasting than his fatigues4 ,still oftener is ,strength denied its ,arena2 it is but the smallest portion of life that1 to a working soul1 offers ,alps1 ,revolutions1 ,rhine-falls1 ,worms ,diets1 and ,wars with ,xerxes2 and for the whole it is better so2 the longer portion of life is a field beaten flat as a threshing-floor1 without lofty ,gothard ,mountains2 often it is a tedious ice-field1 without a single glacier tinged with dawn4 ,but even by walking1 a man rests and recovers himself for climbing2 by little joys and duties1 for great4 ,the victorious ,dictator must contrive to plough down his battle ,mars-field into a flax and carrot field2 to transform his theatre of war into a parlor theatre1 on which his children may enact some good pieces from the ,children's ,friend4 ,can he accomplish this1 can he turn so softly from the path of poetical happiness into that of household happiness1--then is he little different from myself1 who even now1 though modesty might forbid me to disclose it--who even now1 ,i say1 amid the creation of this ,letter1 have been enabled to reflect1 that1 when it is done1 so also will the ,roses and ,elder-berries of pastry be done1 which a sure hand is seething in butter for the ,author of this ,work4 ,as ,i purpose appending to this ,letter a ,postscript 7at the end of the ,book71 ,i reserve somewhat which ,i had to say about the ,third#cd half-satirical1 half-philosophical part of the ,work till that opportunity4 ,here1 out of respect for the rights of a ,letter1 the ,author drops his half anonymity1#ce and for the first time subscribes himself with his whole true name1 ,jean ,paul ,friedrich ,richter4 ,hof in ,voigtland1 #bith ,june1 #agie4 ,,life ,,of ,,quintus ,,fixlein1 ,,down ,,to ,,our ,,own ,,times4 ,,in ,,fifteen ,,letter-,,boxes4 ,,first ,,letter-,,box4 ,dog-days' ,vacation4--,visits4--,an ,indigent of ,quality4 ,egidius ,zebedaeus ,fixlein had just for eight days been ,quintus1#cf and fairly commenced teaching duties1 when ,fortune tabled out for him four refreshing courses and collations1 besprinkled with flowers and sugar4 ,these were the four canicular weeks4 ,i could find in my heart1 at this hour1 to pat the cranium of that good man who invented the ,dog-days' ,vacation4 ,i never go to walk in that season1 without thinking how a thousand down-pressed pedagogic persons are now erecting themselves in the open air2 and the stiff knapsack is lying unbuckled at their feet1 and they can seek whatsoever their soul desires2 butterflies1--or roots of numbers1--or roots of words1--or herbs1--or their native villages4 ,the last did our ,fixlein4 ,he moved not1 however1 till ,sunday1--for you like to know how holidays taste in the city2 and then1 in company with his ,shock and a ,quintaner1 or ,fifth-,form boy1 who carried his ,green nightgown1 he issued through the gate in the morning4 ,the dew was still lying2 and as he reached the back of the gardens1 the children of the ,orphan ,hospital were uplifting with clear voices their morning hymn4 ,the city was ,flachsenfingen1 the village ,hukelum1 the dog ,schil1 and the year of ,grace #agia4 ,manikin1 said he1 to the ,quintaner1 for he liked to speak1 as ,love1 children1 and the people of ,vienna do1 in diminutives1 ,manikin1 give me the bundle to the village2 run about1 and seek thee a little bird1 as thou art thyself1 and so have something to pet too in vacation-time4 ,for the manikin was at once his page1 lackey1 room-comrade1 train-bearer1 and gentleman in waiting2 and the ,shock also was his manikin4 ,he stept slowly along1 through the crisped cole-beds1 overlaid with colored beads of dew2 and looked at the bushes1 out of which1 when the morning wind bent them asunder1 there seemed to start a flight of jewel-colibri1 so brightly did they glitter4 ,from time to time he drew the bell-rope of his--whistle1 that the manikin might1 not skip away too far2 and he shortened his league and half of road1 by measuring it not in leagues1 but in villages4 ,it is more pleasant for pedestrians--for geographers it is not--to count by wersts than by miles4 ,in walking1 our ,quintus furthermore got by heart the few fields on which the grain was already reaped4 ,but now roam slower1 ,fixlein1 through ,his ,lordship's garden of ,hukelum2 not1 indeed1 lest thy coat sweep away any tulip-stamina1 but that thy good mother may have time to lay her ,cupid's-band of black taffeta about her smooth brow4 ,i am grieved to think my fair readers take it ill of her1 that she means first to iron this same band2 they cannot know that she has no maid2 and that to-day the whole ,preceptorial dinner--the money purveyances the guest has made over to her three days before--is to be arranged and prepared by herself1 without the aid of any ,mistress of the ,household whatever2 for indeed she belongs to the ,tiers ,etat1 being neither more nor less than a gardener's widow4 ,you can figure how this true1 warm-hearted mother may have lain in wait all morning for her ,schoolman1 whom she loved as the apple of her eye2 since1 on the whole populous ,earth1 she had not 7her first son1 as well as her husband1 was dead7 any other for her soul1 which indeed overflowed with love2 not any other but her ,zebedaeus4 ,could she ever tell you aught about him1 ,i mean aught joyful1 without ten times wiping her eyes8 ,nay1 did she not once divide her solitary ,kirmes 7or ,churchale7 cake between two mendicant students1 because she thought ,heaven would punish her for so feasting1 while her boy in ,leipzig had nothing to feast on1 and must pass the cake-garden like other gardens1 merely smelling at it8 ,dickens6 ,thou already1 ,zebedaeus6 said the mother1 giving an embarrassed smile1 to keep from weeping1 as the son1 who had ducked past the window1 and crossed the grassy threshold without knocking1 suddenly entered4 ,for joy she forgot to put the heater into the smoothing-iron1 as her illustrious scholar1 amid the loud boiling of the soup1 tenderly kissed her brow1 and even said ,mamma2 a name which lighted on her breast like downy silk4 ,all the windows were open2 and the garden1 with its flower-essences1 and bird-music1 and butterfly-collections1 was almost half within the room4 ,but ,i suppose ,i have not yet mentioned that the little garden-house1 rather a chamber than a house1 was situated on the western cape of the ,castle garden4 ,the owner had graciously allowed the widow to retain this dowager-mansion2 as indeed the mansion would otherwise have stood empty1 for he now kept no gardener4 ,but ,fixlein1 in spite of his joy1 could not stay long with her2 being bound for the ,church1 which1 to his spiritual appetite1 was at all times a king's kitchen2 a mother's4 ,a sermon pleased him simply because it was a sermon1 and because he himself had once preached one4 ,the mother was contented he should go2 these good women think they enjoy their guests1 if they can only give them aught to enjoy4 ,in the choir1 this ,free-haven and ,ethnic ,forecourt of stranger church-goers1 he smiled on all parishioners2 and1 as in his childhood1 standing under the wooden wing of an archangel1 he looked down on the coifed parterre4 ,his young years now enclosed him like children in their smiling circle2 and a long garland wound itself in rings among them1 and by fits they plucked flowers from it1 and threw them in his face4 ,was it not old ,senior ,astman that stood there on the pulpit ,parnassus1 the man by whom he had been so often flogged1 while acquiring ,greek with him from a grammar written in ,latin1 which he could not explain1 yet was forced to walk by the light of8 ,stood there not behind the pulpit-stairs the sacristy-cabin1 and in this was there not a church-library of consequence--no school-boy could have buckled it wholly in his book-strap--lying under the minever cover of pastil dust8 ,and did it not consist of the ,polyglot in folio1 which he1 spurred on by ,pfeiffer's ,critica ,sacra1 had turned up leaf by leaf1 in his early years1 excerpting therefrom the literae inversae majusculae minusculae1 and so forth1 with an immensity of toil8 ,and could he not at present1 the sooner the more readily1 have wished to cast this alphabetic soft-fodder into the ,hebrew letter-trough1 whereto your ,oriental ,rhizophagi 7,rooteaters7 are tied1 especially as here they get so little vowel hard-fodder to keep them in heart8--,stood there not close by him the organ-stool1 the throne to which1 every ,apostle-day1 the ,schoolmaster had by three nods elevated him1 thence to fetch down the sacred hyssop1 the sprinkler of the ,church8 ,my readers themselves will gather spirits when they now hear that our ,quintus1 during the outshaking of the poor-bag1 was invited by the ,senior to come over in the afternoon2 and to them it will be little less gratifying than if he had invited themselves4 ,but what will they say1 when they get home with him to mother and dinner-table1 both already clad in their white ,sunday dress2 and behold the large cake which ,fraeulein ,thiennette 7,stephanie7 has rolled from her peel8 ,in the first place1 however1 they will wish to know who she is4 ,she is1--for if 7according to ,lessing71 in the very excellence of the ,iliad1 we neglect the personalities of its author2 the same thing will apply to the fate of several authors1 for instance1 to my own2 but an authoress of cakes must not be forgotten in the excellence of her baking1--,thiennette is a poor1 indigent1 insolvent young lady2 has not much1 except years1 of which she counts five-and-twenty2 no near relations living now2 no acquirements 7for in literature she does not even know ,werter7 except economical2 reads no books1 not even mine2 inhabits1 that is1 watches like a wardeness1 quite alone1 the thirteen void1 disfurnished chambers of the ,castle of ,hukelum1 which belongs to the ,dragoon ,rittmeister ,aufhammer1 at present resident in his other mansion of ,schadeck2 on occasion1 she commands and feeds his soccagers and handmaids2 and can write herself ,by the grace of ,god--which1 in the thirteenth century1 the country nobles did as well as princes1--for she lives by the grace of man1 at least of woman1 the ,lady ,rittmeisterinn ,aufhammer's grace1 who1 at all times1 blesses those vassals whom her husband curses4 ,but1 in the breast of the orphaned ,thiennette1 lay a sugared marchpane heart1 which1 for very love1 you could have devoured2 her fate was hard1 but her soul was soft2 she was modest1 courteous1 and timid1 but too much so2--cheerfully and coldly she received the most cutting humiliations in ,schadeck1 and felt no pain1 and not till some days after did she see it all clearly1 and then these cuts began sharply to bleed1 and she wept in her loneliness over her lot4 ,it is hard for me to give a light tone1 after this deep one1 and to add1 that ,fixlein had been almost brought up beside her1 and that she1 his school-moiety over with the ,senior1 while the latter was training him for the dignities of the ,third ,form1 had learned the ,verba ,anomala along with him4 ,the ,achilles'-shield of the cake1 jagged and embossed with carved work of brown scales1 was whirling round in the ,quintus like a swing-wheel of hungry and thankful ideas4 ,of that philosophy which despises eating1 and of that high breeding which wastes it1 he had not so much about him as belongs to the ungratefulness of such cultivated persons2 but for his platter of meat1 for his dinner of herbs1 he could never give thanks enough4 ,innocent and contented1 the quadruple dinner-party--for the ,shock with his cover under the stove cannot be omitted--now began their ,feast of ,sweet ,bread1 their ,feast of ,honor for ,thiennette1 their ,grove-feast in the garden4 ,it may truly be a subject of wonder how a man who has not1 like the ,king of ,france1 four hundred and forty-eight persons 7the hundred and sixty-one ,garcons de la ,maisonbouche ,i do not reckon7 in his kitchen1 nor a ,fruiterie of thirty-one human bipeds1 nor a ,pastry-cookery of three-and-twenty1 nor a daily expenditure of #chg ,livres #ba ,sous1--how such a man1 ,i say1 can eat with any satisfaction4 ,nevertheless1 to me1 a cooking mother is as dear as a whole royal cooking household1 given rather to feed upon me than to feed me4--,the most precious fragments which the ,biographer and the ,world can gather from this meal consist of here and there an edifying piece of table-talk4 ,the mother had much to tell4 ,thiennette is this night1 she mentions1 for the first time1 to put on her morning promenade-dress of white muslin1 as also a satin girdle and steel buckle2 but1 adds she1 it will not sit her2 as the ,rittmeisterinn 7for this lady used to hang her cast clothes on ,thiennette1 as ,catholics do their cast crutches and sores on their patron ,saints7 was much thicker4 ,good women grudge each other nothing save only clothes1 husbands1 and flax4 ,in the fancy of the ,quintus1 by virtue of this apparel1 a pair of angel pinions were sprouting forth from the shoulder-blades of ,thiennette2 for him a garment was a sort of hollow half-man1 to whom only the nobler parts and the first principles were wanting2 he honored these wrappages and hulls of our interior1 not as an ,elegant1 or a ,critic of ,beauty1 but because it was not possible for him to despise aught which he saw others honoring4 ,further1 the good mother read to him1 as it were1 the monumental inscription of his father1 who had sunk into the arms of ,death in the thirty-second year of his age1 from a cause which ,i explain not here1 but in a future ,letter-box1 having too much affection for the reader4 ,our ,quintus could not sate himself with hearing of his father4 ,the fairest piece of news was1 that ,fraeulein ,thiennette had sent word to-day1 he might visit ,her ,ladyship to-morrow1 as ,my ,lord1 his godfather1 was to be absent in town4 ,this1 however1 ,i must explain4 ,old ,aufhammer was called ,egidius1 and was ,fixlein's godfather2 but he--though the ,rittmeisterinn duly covered the cradle of the child with nightly offerings1 with flesh-tithes and grain-tithes--had frugally made him no christening present1 except that of his name1 which proved to be the very balefullest4 ,for1 our ,egidius ,fixlein1 with his ,shock1 which1 by reason of the ,french convulsions1 had1 in company with other emigrants1 run off from ,nantes1 was but lately returned from college--when he and his dog1 as ill-luck would have it1 went to walk in the ,hukelum wood4 ,now1 as the ,quintus was ever and anon crying out to his attendant3 ,coosh1 ,schil 7,couche ,gilles71 it must apparently have been the ,devil that had just then planted the ,lord of ,aufhammer among the trees and bushes in such a way1 that this whole travestying and docking of his name--for ,gilles means ,egidius--must fall directly into his ear4 ,fixlein could neither speak ,french1 nor any offence to mortal2 he knew not head or tail of what couche signified2 a word1 which1 in ,paris1 even the plebeian dogs are now in the habit of saying to their valets de chiens4 ,but there were three things which ,von ,aufhammer never recalled1--his error1 his anger1 and his word4 ,the provokee1 therefore1 determined that the plebeian provoker and honor-stealer should never more speak to him1 or--get a doit from him4 ,i return4 ,after dinner he gazed out of the little window into the garden1 and saw his path of life dividing into four branches1 leading towards just as many skyward ,ascensions2 towards the ,ascension into the ,parsonage1 and that into the ,castle to ,thiennette1 for this day2 and towards the third into ,schadeck for the morrow2 and lastly1 into every house in ,hukelum as the fourth4 ,and now1 when the mother had long enough kept cheerfully gliding about on tiptoe1 not to disturb him in studying his ,latin ,bible 7the ,vulgata71 that is1 in reading the ,litteraturzeitung1 he at last rose to his own feet2 and the humble joy of the mother ran long after the courageous son1 who dared to go forth and speak to a ,senior1 quite unappalled4 ,yet it was not without reverence that he entered the dwelling of his old1 rather gray than bald-headed1 teacher1 who was not only ,virtue itself1 but also ,hunger1 eating frequently1 and with the appetite of ,pharaoh's lean kine4 ,a schoolman that expects to become a professor will scarcely deign to cast an eye on a pastor2 but one who is himself looking up to a parsonage as to his working-house and breeding-house1 knows how to value such a character4 ,the new parsonage--as if it had1 like a ,casa ,santa1 come flying out of ,erlang1 or the ,berlin ,friedrichs-strasse1 and alighted in ,hukelum--was for the ,quintus a ,temple of the ,sun1 and the ,senior a ,priest of the ,sun4 ,to be ,parson there himself was a thought overlaid with virgin honey2 such a thought as occurs but one other time in ,history1 namely1 in the head of ,hannibal1 when he projected stepping over the ,alps1 that is to say1 over the threshold of ,rome4 ,the landlord and his guest formed an excellent bureau d'esprit2 people of office1 especially of the same office1 have more to tell each other1 namely1 their own history1 than your idle ,may-chafers and ,court-celestials1 who must speak only of other people's4--,the ,senior made a soft transition from his iron-ware 7in the stable furniture71 to the golden age of his ,academic life1 of which such people like as much to think1 as poets do of their childhood4 ,so good as he was1 he still half joyfully recollected that he had once been less so2 but joyful remembrances of wrong actions are their half repetition1 as repentant remembrances of good ones are their half abolishment4 ,courteously and kindly did ,zebedaeus 7who could not even enter in his ,notebook the name of a person of quality without writing an ,h4 for ,herr before it7 listen to the ,academic ,saturnalia of the old gentleman1 who in ,wittenberg had toped as well as written1 and thirsted not more for the ,hippocrene than for ,gukguk4#cg ,herr ,jerusalem has observed that the barbarism1 which often springs up close on the brightest efflorescence of the sciences1 is a sort of strengthening mud-bath1 good for averting the over-refinement wherewith such efflorescence always threatens us4 ,i believe that a man who considers how high the sciences have mounted with our upper classes1--for instance with every ,patrician's son in ,nuernberg1 to whom the public must present #ajjj florins for studying with1--,i believe that such a man will not grudge the ,son of the ,muses a certain barbarous ,middle-age 7the ,burschen or ,student ,life1 as it is called71 which may again so case-harden him that his refinement shall not go beyond the limits4 ,the ,senior1 while in ,wittenberg1 had protected the one hundred and eighty ,academic ,freedoms--so many of them has ,petrus ,rebuffus summed up#ch--;against prescription1 and lost none except his moral one1 of which truly a man1 even in a convent1 can seldom make much4 ,this gave our ,quintus courage to relate certain pleasant somersets of his own1 which at ,leipzig1 under the ,incubus-pressure of poverty1 he had contrived to execute4 ,let us hear him4 ,his landlord1 who was at the same time ,professor and ,miser1 maintained in his enclosed court a whole community of hens4 ,fixlein1 in company with three room-mates1 without difficulty mastered the rent of a chamber1 or closet4 ,in general their main equipments1 like ,phoenixes1 existed but in the singular number3 one bed1 in which always the one pair slept before midnight1 the other after midnight1 like nocturnal watchmen2 one coat1 in which one after the other they appeared in public1 and which1 like a watch-coat1 was the national uniform of the company2 and several other ones1 ,unities both of ,interest and ,place4 ,nowhere can you collect the stress-memorials and siege-medals of ,poverty more pleasantly and philosophically than at ,college2 the ,academic burgher exhibits to us how many humorists and ,diogeneses ,germany has in it4 ,our ,unitarians had just one thing four times1 and that was hunger4 ,the ,quintus related1 perhaps with a too pleasurable enjoyment of the recollection1 how one of this famishing coro invented means of appropriating the ,professor's hens as just tribute1 or subsidies4 ,he said 7he was a ,jurist71 they must once for all borrow a legal fiction from the ,feudal code1 and look on the ,professor as the soccage tenant1 to whom the usufruct of the hen-yard and hen-house belonged2 but on themselves as the feudal superiors of the same1 to whom accordingly the vassal was bound to pay his feudal dues4 ,and now1 that the ,fiction might follow ,nature1 continued he--fictio sequitur naturam1--it behooved them to lay hold of said ,yule-hens1 by direct personal distraint4 ,but into the court-yard there was no getting4 ,the feudalist1 therefore1 prepared a fishing-line2 stuck a bread-pill on the hook1 and lowered his fishing-tackle1 anglewise1 down into the court4 ,in a few seconds the barb stuck in a hen's throat1 and the hen1 now communicating with its feudal superior1 could silently1 like ships by ,archimedes1 be heaved aloft to the hungry air-fishing society1 where1 according to circumstances1 the proper feudal name and title of possession failed not to be awaiting her2 for the updrawn fowls were now denominated ,christmas-fowls1 now ,forest-hens1 ,bailiff-hens1 ,pentecost and ,summer-hens4 ,i begin1 said the angling lord of the manor1 with taking ,rutcher-dues1 for so we call the triple and quintuple of the original quitrent1 when the vassal1 as is the case here1 has long neglected payment4 ,the ,professor1 like any other prince1 observed with sorrow the decreasing population of his hen-yard1 for his subjects1 like the ,hebrews1 were dying by enumeration4 ,at last he had the happiness1 while reading his lecture--he was just come to the subject of ,forest ,salt and ,coin ,regalities--to descry through the window of his auditorium a quitrent hen suspended1 like ,ignatius ,loyola in prayer1 or ,juno in her punishment1 in middle-air4 ,he followed the incomprehensible direct ascension of the aeronautic animal1 and at last descried at the upper window the attracting artist1 and animal-magnetizer1 who had drawn his lot for dinner from the hen-yard below4 ,contrary to all expectation1 he terminated this fowling sport sooner than his ,lecture on ,regalities4 ,fixlein walked home1 amid the vesperal melodies of the steeple sounding-holes2 and by the road courteously took off his hat before the empty windows of the ,castle4 ,houses of quality were to him like persons of quality1 as in ,india the ,pagoda at once represents the temple and the god4 ,to the mother he brought feigned compliments1 which she repaid with authentic ones2 for this afternoon she had been over1 with her historical tongue and nature-interrogating eye1 visiting the white-muslin ,thiennette4 ,the mother was wont to show her every spare-penny which he dropped into her large empty purse1 and so raise him in the good graces of the ,fraeulein2 for women feel their hearts much more attracted towards a son1 who tenderly reserves for a mother some of their benefits1 than we do to a daughter anxiously caring for her father2 perhaps from a hundred causes1 and this among the rest1 that in their experience of sons and husbands they are more used to find these persons mere six-feet thunder-clouds1 forked waterspouts1 or even reposing tornadoes4 ,blessed ,quintus6 on whose ,life this other distinction1 like an order of nobility1 does also shine1 that thou canst tell it over to thy mother2 as1 for example1 this past afternoon in the parsonage4 ,thy joy flows into another heart1 and streams back from it1 redoubled1 into thy own4 ,there is a closer approximating of hearts1 and also of sounds1 than that of the ,echo2 the highest approximation melts ,tone and ,echo into ,resonance together4 ,it is historically certain that both of them supped this evening2 and that instead of the whole dinner fragments which to-morrow might themselves represent a dinner1 nothing but the cake-offering or pudding was laid upon the altar of the table4 ,the mother1 who for her own child would willingly have neglected not herself only1 but all other people1 now made a motion that to the ,quintaner1 who was sporting out of doors and baiting a bird instead of himself1 there should no crumb of the precious pastry be given1 but only table-bread without the crust4 ,but the ,schoolman had a ,christian disposition1 and said that it was ,sunday1 and the young man liked something delicate to eat as well as he4 ,fixlein--the counterpart of great men and geniuses--was inclined to treat1 to gift1 to gratify a serving housemate1 rather than a man who is for the first time passing through the gate1 and at the next post-stage will forget both his hospitable landlord and the last postmaster4 ,on the whole1 our ,quintus had a touch of honor in him1 and notwithstanding his thrift and sacred regard for money1 he willingly gave it away in cases of honor1 and unwillingly in cases of overpowering sympathy1 which too painfully filled the cavities of his heart1 and emptied those of his purse4 ,whilst the ,quintaner was exercising the jus compascui on the cake1 and six arms were peacefully resting on ,thiennette's free-table1 ,fixlein read to himself and the company the ,flachsenfingen ,address-calendar2 any higher thing1 except ,meusel's ,gelehrtes ,deutschland1#ci he could not figure2 the ,kammerherrs and ,raths of the ,calendar went tickling over his tongue like the raisins of the cake2 and of the more rich church-livings he1 by reading1 as it were levied a tithe4 ,he purposely remained his own ,edition in ,sunday ,wove-paper2 ,i mean1 he did not lay away his ,sunday coat1 even when the ,prayer-bell tolled2 for he had still much to do4 ,after supper he was just about visiting the ,fraeulein1 when he descried her in person1 like a lily dipped in the red twilight1 in the ,castle garden1 whose western limit his house constituted1 the southern one being the ,chinese wall of the ,castle4444 ,by the way1 how ,i got to the knowledge of all this1 what ,letter-boxes are1 whether ,i myself was ever there1 c41 c4--the whole of this shall1 upon my life1 be soon and faithfully communicated to the reader1 and that too in the present ,book4 ,fixlein hopped forth like a ,will-o'-wisp into the garden1 whose flower-perfume was mingling with his supper-perfume4 ,no one bowed lower to a nobleman than he1 not out of plebeian servility1 nor of self-interested cringing1 but because he thought a nobleman was a nobleman4 ,but in this case his bow1 instead of falling forwards1 fell obliquely to the right1 as it were after his hat2 for he had not risked taking a stick with him2 and hat and stick were his proppage and balance-wheel1 in short1 his bowing-gear1 without which it was out of his power to produce any courtly bow1 had you offered him the ,high ,church of ,hamburg for so doing4 ,thiennette's mirthfulness soon unfolded his crumpled soul into straight form1 and into the proper tone4 ,he delivered her a long1 neat ,thanksgiving and ,harvest sermon for the scaly cake2 which appeared to her at once kind and tedious4 ,young women without the polish of high life reckon tedious pedantry1 merely like snuffing1 one of the necessary ingredients of a man2 they reverence us infinitely2 and as ,lambert could never speak to the ,king of ,prussia1 by reason of his sun-eyes1 except in the dark1 so they1 ,i believe1 often like better--also by reason of our sublime air--if they can catch us in the dark too4 ,him ,thiennette edified by the ,imperial ,history of ,herr von ,aufhammer and ,her ,ladyship his spouse1 who meant to put him1 the ,quintus1 in her will2 her he edified by his ,literary ,history1 as relating to himself and the ,subrector2 how1 for instance1 he was at present vicariating in the ,second ,form1 and ruling over scholars as long in stature as himself4 ,and thus did the two in happiness1 among red bean-blossoms1 red ,may-chafers1 before the red of the twilight burning lower and lower on the horizon1 walk to and fro in the garden2 and turn always with a smile as they approached the head of the ancient gardeneress1 standing like a window-bust through the little lattice1 which opened in the bottom of a larger one4 ,to me it is incomprehensible he did not fall in love4 ,i know his reasons1 indeed4 ,in the first place1 she had nothing2 secondly1 he had nothing1 and school-debts to boot2 thirdly1 her genealogical tree was a boundary tree and warning-post2 fourthly1 his hands were tied up by another nobler thought1 which1 for good cause1 is yet reserved from the reader4 ,nevertheless--,fixlein6 ,i durst not have been in thy place6 ,i should have looked at her1 and remembered her virtues and our school-years1 and then have drawn forth my too fusible heart1 and presented it to her as a bill of exchange1 or insinuated it as a summons4 ,for ,i should have considered that she resembled a nun in two senses1 in her good heart and in her good pastry2 that1 in spite of her intercourse with male vassals1 she was no ,charles ,genevieve ,louise ,auguste ,timothe ,eon de ,beaumont1#dj but a smooth1 fair-haired1 white-capped dove2 that she sought more to please her own sex than ours2 that she showed a melting heart1 not previously borrowed from the ,circulating ,library1 in tears1 for which in her innocence she rather took shame than credit4--,at the very first cheapening1 ,i should1 on these grounds1 have been out with my heart4--,had ,i fully reflected1 ,quintus6 that ,i knew her as myself2 that her hands and mine 7to wit1 had ,i been thou7 had both been guided by the same ,senior to ,latin penmanship2 that we two1 when little children1 had kissed each other before the glass1 to see whether the two image-children would do it likewise in the mirror2 that often we had put hands of both sexes into the same muff1 and there played with them in secret2 had ,i1 lastly1 considered that we were here standing before the glass-house1 now splendent in the enamel of twilight1 and that on the cold panes of this glass-house we two 7she within1 ,i without7 had often pressed our warm cheeks together1 parted only by the thickness of the glass1--then had ,i taken this poor gentle soul1 pressed asunder by ,fate1 and seeing1 amid her thunder-clouds1 no higher elevation to part them and protect her than the grave1 and had drawn her to my own soul1 and warmed her on my heart1 and encompassed her about with my eyes4 ,in truth1 the ,quintus would have done so too1 had not the above-mentioned nobler thought1 which ,i yet disclose not1 kept him back4 ,softened1 without knowing the cause1--7accordingly he gave his mother a kiss17--and blessed without having had a literary conversation2 and dismissed with a freight of humble compliments1 which he was to disload on the morrow before the ,dragoon ,rittmeisterinn1 he returned to his little cottage1 and looked yet a long while out of its dark windows1 at the light ones of the ,castle4 ,and then1 when the first quarter of the moon was setting1 that is1 about midnight1 he again1 in the cool sigh of a mild1 fanning1 moist1 and directly heart-addressing night-breeze1 opened the eyelids of a sight already sunk in dreaming4444 ,sleep1 for to-day thou hast done naught ill6 ,i1 whilst the drooping1 shut flower-bell of thy spirit sinks on thy pillow1 will look into the breezy night over thy morning footpath1 which1 through the translucent little wood1 is to lead thee to ,schadeck1 to thy patroness4 ,all prosperity attend thee1 thou foolish ,quintus6-- ,,second ,,letter-,,box4 ,frau von ,aufhammer4--,childhood-resonance4--,aut horcraft4 ,the early piping which the little thrush1 last night adopted by the ,quintaner from its nest1 started for victual about two o'clock1 soon drove our ,quintus into his clothes2 whose calender-press and parallel-ruler the hands of his careful mother had been1 for she would not send him to the ,rittmeisterinn like a runagate dog4 ,the ,shock was incarcerated1 the ,quintaner taken with him1 as likewise many wholesome rules from ,mother ,fixlein1 how to conduct himself towards the ,rittmeisterinn4 ,but the son answered3 ,mamma1 when a man has been in company1 like me1 with high people1 with a ,fraeulein ,thiennette1 he soon knows whom he is speaking to1 and what polished manners and ,saver di veaver 7,savoir vivre7 require4 ,he arrived with the ,quintaner1 and green fingers 7dyed with the leaves he had plucked on the path71 and with a half-nibbled rose between his teeth1 in presence of the sleek lackeys of ,schadeck4 ,if women are flowers--though as often silk and ,italian and gum-flowers as botanical ones--then was ,frau von ,aufhammer a ripe flower1 with 7adipose7 neck-bulb1 and tuberosity 7of lard74 ,already1 in the half of her body1 cut away from life by the apoplexy1 she lay upon her lard-pillow but as on a softer grave2 nevertheless1 the portion of her that remained was at once lively1 pious1 and proud4 ,her heart was a flowing cornucopia to all men1 yet this not from philanthropy1 but from rigid devotion2 the lower classes she assisted1 cherished1 and despised1 regarding nothing in them1 except it were their piety4 ,she received the bowing ,quintus with the back-bowing air of a patroness2 yet she brightened into a look of kindliness at his disloading of the compliments from ,thiennette4 ,she began the conversation1 and long continued it alone1 and said1--yet without losing the inflation of pride from her countenance1--,she should soon die2 but the godchildren of her husband she would remember in her will4 ,further1 she told him directly in the face1 which stood there all over-written with the ,fourth ,commandment before her1 that he must not build upon a settlement in ,hukelum2 but to the ,flachsenfingen ,conrectorate 7to which the ,burgermeister and ,council had the right of nomination7 she hoped to promote him1 as it was from the then ,burgermeister that she bought her coffee1 and from the ,town-,syndic 7he drove a considerable wholesale and retail trade in ,hamburg candles7 that she bought both her wax and tallow lights4 ,and now by degrees he arrived at his humble petition1 when she asked him sick-news of ,senior ,astmann1 who guided himself more by ,luther's ,catechism than by the ,catechism of ,health4 ,she was ,astmann's patroness in a stricter than ecclesiastical sense2 and she even confessed that she would soon follow this true shepherd of souls1 when she heard1 here at ,schadeck1 the sound of his funeral-bell4 ,such strange chemical affinities exist between our dross and our silver veins2 as1 for example1 here between ,pride and ,love2 and ,i could wish that we would pardon this hypostatic union in all persons1 as we do it in the fair1 who1 with all their faults1 are nevertheless by us--as1 according to ,du ,fay1 iron1 though mixed with any other metal1 is by the magnet--attracted and held fast4 ,supposing even that the ,devil had1 in some idle minute1 sown a handful or two of the seeds of ,envy in our ,quintus's soul1 yet they had not sprouted2 and to-day especially they did not1 when he heard the praises of a man who had been his teacher1 and who--what he reckoned a ,titulado of the ,earth1 not from vanity1 but from piety--was a clergyman4 ,so much1 however1 is1 according to ,history1 not to be denied2 that he now straightway came forth with his petition to the noble lady1 signifying that indeed he would cheerfully content himself for a few years in the school2 but yet in the end he longed to be in some small quiet priestly office4 ,to her question1 ,but was he orthodox8 he answered1 that he hoped so2 he had1 in ,leipzig1 not only attended all the public lectures of ,dr4 ,burscher1 but also had taken private instructions from several sound teachers of the faith1 well knowing that the ,consistorium1 in its examinations as to purity of doctrine1 was now more strict than formerly4 ,the sick lady required him to make a proof-shot1 namely1 to administer to her a sick-bed exhortation4 ,by ,heaven6 he administered to her one of the best4 ,her pride of birth now crouched before his pride of office and priesthood2 for though he could not1 with the ,dominican monk1 ,alanus de ,rupe1 believe that a priest was greater than ,god1 inasmuch as the latter could only make a ,world1 but the former a ,god 7in the mass72 yet he could not but fall in with ,hostiensis1 who shows that the priestly dignity is seven thousand six hundred and forty-four times greater than the kingly1 the ,sun being just so many times greater than the ,moon4 ,but a ,rittmeisterinn--she shrinks into absolute nothing before a parson4 ,in the servants' hall he applied to the lackeys for the last annual series of the ,hamburg ,political ,journal2 perceiving that with these historical documents of the time they were scandalously papering the buttons of travelling raiment4 ,in gloomy harvest evenings1 he could now sit down and read for himself what good news were transpiring in the political world--twelve months ago4 ,on a ,triumphal ,car1 full-laden with laurel1 and to which ,hopes alone were yoked1 he drove home at night1 and by the road advised the ,quintaner not to be puffed up with any earthly honor1 but silently to thank ,god1 as himself was now doing4 ,the thickset blooming grove of his four canicular weeks1 and the flying tumult of blossoms therein1 are already painted on three of the sides4 ,i will now clutch blindfold into his days1 and bring out one of them2 one smiles and sends forth its perfumes like another4 ,let us take1 for instance1 the ,saint's day of his mother1 ,clara1 the twelfth of ,august4 ,in the morning1 he had perennial1 fire-proof joys1 that is to say1 ,employments4 ,for he was writing1 as ,i am doing4 ,truly1 if ,xerxes proposed a prize for the invention of a new pleasure1 any man who had sat down to write his thoughts on the prize-question had the new pleasure already among his fingers4 ,i know only one thing sweeter than making a book1 and that is1 to project one4 ,fixlein used to write little works1 of the twelfth part of an alphabet in size1 which in their manuscript state he got bound by the bookbinder in gilt boards1 and betitled with printed letters1 and then inserted them among the literary ranks of his book-board4 ,every one thought they were novelties printed in writing types4 ,he had labored--,i shall omit his less interesting performances--at a ,collection of ,errors of the ,press1 in ,german writings2 he compared ,errata with each other2 showed which occurred most frequently2 observed that important results were to be drawn from this1 and advised the reader to draw them4 ,moreover1 he took his place among the ,german ,masorites4 ,he observes with great justice in his ,preface3 ,the ,jews had their ,masora to show1 which told them how often every letter was to be found in their ,bible2 for example1 the ,aleph 7the ,a7 #db1cgg times2 how many verses there are in which all the consonants appear 7there are #bf verses71 or only eighty 7there are #c72 how many verses we have into which #db words and #afj consonants enter 7there is just one1 ,jeremiah xxi4 #g72 which is the middle letter in certain books 7in the ,pentateuch1 it is in ,leviticus xi4 #db1 the noble ,v#da71 or in the whole ,bible itself4 ,but where have we ,christians any similar ,masora for ,luther's ,bible to show8 ,has it been accurately investigated which is the middle word1 or the middle letter here1 which vowel appears seldomest1 and how often each vowel8 ,thousands of ,bible-,christians go out of the world1 without ever knowing that the ,german ,a occurs #cbc1jae times 7therefore above #g times oftener than the ,hebrew one7 in their ,bible4 ,i could wish that inquirers into ,biblical ,literature among our ,reviewers would publicly let me know if1 on a more accurate summation1 they find this number incorrect4#db ,much also did the ,quintus collect2 he had a fine ,almanack ,collection1 a ,catechism and ,pamphlet ,collection2 also1 a ,collection of ,advertisements1 which he began1 is not so incomplete as you most frequently see such things4 ,he puts high value on his ,alphabetical ,lexicon of ,german ,subscribers for ,books1 where my name also occurs among the ,js4 ,but what he liked best to produce were ,schemes of ,books4 ,accordingly1 he sewed together a large work1 wherein he merely advised the ,learned of things they ought to introduce in ,literary ,history1 which ,history he rated some ells higher than ,universal or ,imperial ,history4 ,in his ,prolegomena to this performance1 he transiently submitted to the ,literary republic that ,hommel had given a register of ,jurists who were sons of wh--1 of others who had become ,saints2 that ,baillet enumerates the ,learned who meant to write something2 and ,ancillon those who wrote nothing at all2 and the ,luebeck ,superintendent ,goetze1 those who were shoemakers1 those who were drowned2 and ,bernhard those whose fortunes and history before birth were interesting4 ,this 7he could now continue7 should1 as it seems1 have excited us to similar muster-rolls and matriculations of other kinds of ,learned2 whereof he proposed a few2 for example1 of the ,learned who were unlearned2 of those who were entire rascals2 of such as wore their own hair1--of cue-preachers1 cue-psalmists1 cue-annalists1 and so forth2 of the ,learned who had worn black leather breeches1 of others who had worn rapiers2 of the ,learned who had died in their eleventh year1--in their twentieth1--twenty-first1 c41--in their hundred and fiftieth1 of which he knew no instance1 unless the ,beggar ,thomas ,parr might be adduced2 of the ,learned who wrote a more abominable hand than the other ,learned 7whereof we know only ,rolfinken and his letters1 which were as long as his hands#dc72 or of the ,learned who had clipt nothing from each other but the beard 7whereof no instance is known1 save that of ,philelphus and ,timotheus#dd74 ,such by-studies did he carry on along with his official labors2 but ,i think the ,state in viewing these matters is actually mad3 it compares the man who is great in ,philosophy and ,belles-,lettres at the expense of his jog-trot officialities1 to concert-clocks1 which1 though striking their hours in flute-melodies1 are worse time-keepers than your gross1 stupid steeple-clocks4 ,to return to ,st4 ,clara's day4 ,fixlein1 after such mental exertions1 bolted out under the music-bushes and rustling trees2 and returned not again out of warm ,nature1 till plate and chair were already placed at the table4 ,in the course of the repast1 something occurred which a ,biographer must not omit2 for his mother had1 by request1 been wont to map out for him1 during the process of mastication1 the chart of his child's-world1 relating all the traits which in any way prefigured what he had now grown to4 ,this perspective sketch of his early ,past he committed to certain little leaves which merit our undivided attention4 ,for such leaves exclusively1 containing scenes1 acts1 plays of his childhood1 he used chronologically to file and arrange in separate drawers in a little child's-desk of his2 and thus to divide his ,biography1 as ,moser did his ,publicistic ,materials1 into separate letter-boxes4 ,he had boxes or drawers for memorial-letters of his twelfth1 of his thirteenth1 fourteenth1 c41 of his twenty-first year1 and so on4 ,whenever he chose to conclude a day of pedagogic drudgery by an evening of peculiar rest1 he simply pulled out a letter-drawer1 a register-bar in his ,life-hand-organ1 and recollected the whole4 ,and here must ,i1 in reference to these reviewing ,mutes1 who may be for casting the noose of strangulation round my neck1 most particularly beg1 that1 before doing so on account of my ,chapters being called ,letter-boxes1 they would have the goodness to look whose blame it was1 and to think whether ,i could possibly help it1 seeing the ,quintus had divided his ,biography into such ,boxes himself3 they have ,christian bowels4 ,but about his elder brother he put no saddening question to his mother2 this poor boy a peculiar ,fate had laid hold of1 and with all his genial endowment dashed to pieces on the iceberg of ,death4 ,for he chanced to leap on an ice-board that had jammed itself among several others2 but these recoiled1 and his shot forth with him2 melted away as it floated under his feet1 and so sunk his heart of fire amid the ice and waves4 ,it grieved his mother that he was not found1 that her heart had not been harrowed by the look of the swoln corpse4--,o good mother1 rather thank ,god for it6-- ,after breakfast1 to fortify himself with new vigor for his desk1 he for some time strolled idly over the house1 and1 like a ,police ,fire-inspector1 visited all the nooks of his cottage1 to gather from them here and there a live ember from the ash-covered rejoicing-fire of his childhood4 ,he mounted to the garret1 to the empty bird-coops of his father1 who in winter had been a birder2 and he transiently reviewed the lumber of his old playthings1 which were lying in the netted enclosure of a large canary breeding-cage4 ,in the minds of children1 it is regular little forms1 such as those of balls and dies1 that impress and express themselves most forcibly4 ,from this may the reader explain to himself ,fixlein's delight in the red acorn-blockhouse1 in the sparwork glued together out of white chips and husks of potato-plums1 in the cheerful glasshouse of a cube-shaped lantern1 and other the like products of his early architecture4 ,the following1 however1 ,i explain quite differently2 he had ventured1 without leave given from any lord of the manor1 to build a clay house2 not for cottagers1 but for flies2 and which1 therefore1 you could readily enough have put in your pocket4 ,this fly-hospital had its glass windows1 and a red coat of coloring1 and very many alcoves1 and three balconies2 balconies1 as a sort of house within a house1 he had loved from of old so much1 that he could scarcely have liked ,jerusalem well1 where 7according to ,lightfoot7 no such thing is permitted to be built4 ,from the glistening eyes with which the architect had viewed his tenantry creeping about the windows1 or feeding out of the sugar-trough1--for1 like the ,count ,st4 ,germain1 they ate nothing but sugar1--from this joy an adept in the art of education might easily have prophesied his turn for household contraction2 to his fancy1 in those times1 even gardeners'-huts were like large waste ,arks and ,halls1 and nothing bigger than such a fly-,louvre seemed a true1 snug citizen's-house4 ,he now felt and handled his old high child's-stool1 which had in former days resembled the ,sedes ,exploratoria of the ,pope2 he gave his child's-coach a tug and made it run2 but he could not understand what balsam and holiness so much distinguished it from all other child's-coaches4 ,he wondered that the real sports of children should not so delight him as the emblems of these sports1 when the child that had carried them on was standing grown up to manhood in his presence4 ,before one article in the house he stood heart-melted and sad2 before a little angular clothes-press1 which was no higher than my table1 and which had belonged to his poor drowned brother4 ,when the boy with the key of it was swallowed by the waves1 the excruciated mother had made a vow that this toy-press of his should never be broken up by violence4 ,most probably there is nothing in it but the poor soul's playthings4 ,let us look away from this bloody urn4---- ,bacon reckons the remembrances of childhood among wholesome1 medicinal things2 naturally enough1 therefore1 they acted like a salutary digestive on the ,quintus4 ,he could now again betake him with new heart to his desk1 and produce something quite peculiar1--petitions for church livings4 ,he took the ,address-calendar1 and1 for every country parish that he found in it1 got a petition in readiness2 which he then laid aside1 till such time as the present incumbent should decease4 ,for ,hukelum alone he did not solicit4--,it is a pretty custom in ,flachsenfingen1 that1 for every office which is vacant1 you are required1 if you want it1 to sue4 ,as the higher use of ,prayer consists1 not in its fulfilment1 but in its accustoming you to pray2 so likewise petitionary papers ought to be given in1 not indeed that you may get the office1--this nothing but your money can do1--but that you may learn to write petitions4 ,in truth1 if1 among the ,calmucks1 the turning of a calabash#de stands in place of ,prayer1 a slight movement of the purse may be as much as if you supplicated in words4 ,towards evening--it was ,sunday--he went out roving over the village2 he pilgrimed to his old sporting-places1 and to the common where he had so often driven his snails to pasture2 visited the peasant who1 from school-times upwards1 had been wont1 to the amazement of the rest1 to thou#df him2 went1 an ,academic ,tutor1 to the ,schoolmaster2 then to the ,senior2 then to the ,episcopal-barn or church4 ,this last no mortal understands1 till ,i explain it4 ,the case was this4 ,some three-and-forty years ago a fire had destroyed the church 7not the steeple71 the parsonage1 and1 what was not to be replaced1 the church-records4 7,for this reason it was only the smallest portion of the ,hukelum people that knew exactly how old they were2 and the memory of our ,quintus himself vibrated between adopting the thirty-third year and the thirty-second47 ,in consequence1 the preaching had now to be carried on where formerly there had been threshing2 and the seed of the divine word to be turned over on the same threshing-floor with natural corn-seed4 ,the ,chanter and the ,school-boys took up the threshing-floor2 the female mother-church-people stood on the one sheaves-loft1 the ,schadeck womankind on the other2 and their husbands clustered pyramidically1 like groschen and farthing-gallery men2 about the barn-stairs2 and far up on the straw-loft1 mixed souls stood listening4 ,a little flute was their organ1 an upturned beer-cask their altar1 round which they had to walk4 ,i confess1 ,i myself could have preached in such a place1 not without humor4 ,the ,senior 7at that time still a ,junior71 while the parsonage was building1 dwelt and taught in the ,castle2 it was here1 accordingly1 that ,fixlein had learned the ,irregular ,verbs with ,thiennette4 ,these voyages of discovery completed1 our ,hukelum voyager could still1 after evening prayers1 pick leaf-insects1 with ,thiennette1 from the roses2 worms from the beds1 and a ,heaven of joy from every minute4 ,every dew-drop was colored as with oil of cloves and oil of gladness2 every star was a sparkle from the sun of happiness2 and in the closed heart of the maiden1 there lay near to him1 behind a little wall of separation1 7as near to the ,righteous man behind the thin wall of ,life17 an outstretched blooming ,paradise4444 ,i mean1 she loved him a little4 ,he might have known it1 perhaps4 ,but to his compressed delight he gave freer vent1 as he went to bed1 by early recollections on the stair4 ,for in his childhood he had been accustomed1 by way of evening-prayer1 to go over1 under his coverlet1 as it were1 a rosary1 including fourteen ,bible ,proverbs1 the first verse of the ,psalm1 ,all people that on ,earth1 the ,tenth ,commandment1 and1 lastly1 a long blessing4 ,to get the sooner done with it1 he had used to begin his devotion1 not only on the stair1 but before leaving that place where ,alexander studied men1 and ,semler stupid books4 ,moored in the haven of the down-waves1 he was already over with his evening supplication2 and could now1 without further exertion1 shut his eyes and plump into sleep4----,thus does there lurk1 in the smallest homunculus1 the model of--the ,catholic ,church4 ,so far the ,dog-days of ,quintus ,zebedaeus ,egidius ,fixlein4--,i1 for the second time1 close a ,chapter of this ,life1 as ,life itself is closed1 with a sleep4 ,,third ,,letter-,,box4 ,christmas ,recollections4--,new ,occurrence4 ,for all of us the passage to the grave is1 alas6 a string of empty1 insipid days1 as of glass pearls1 only here and there divided by an orient one of price4 ,but you die murmuring1 unless1 like the ,quintus1 you regard your existence as a drum2 this has only one single tone1 but variety of time gives the sound of it cheerfulness enough4 ,our ,quintus taught in the ,fourth ,class2 vicariated in the ,second2 wrote at his desk by night2 and so lived on the usual monotonous fashion--all the time from the ,holidays--till ,christmas eve1 #agia2 and nothing was remarkable in his history except this same eve1 which ,i am now about to paint4 ,but ,i shall still have time to paint it1 after1 in the first place1 explaining shortly how1 like birds of passage1 he had contrived to soar away over the dim1 cloudy ,harvest4 ,the secret was1 he set upon the ,hamburg ,political ,journal1 with which the lackeys of ,schadeck had been for papering their buttons4 ,he could now calmly1 with his back at the stove1 accompany the winter campaigns of the foregoing year2 and fly after every battle1 as the ravens did after that of ,pharsalia4 ,on the printed paper he could still1 with joy and admiration1 walk round our ,german triumphal arches and scaffoldings for fireworks2 while to the people in the town1 who got only the newest newspapers1 the very fragments of these our trophies1 maliciously torn down by the ,french1 were scarcely discernible2 nay1 with old plans he could drive back and discomfit the enemy1 while later readers in vain tried to resist them with new ones4 ,moreover1 not only did the facility of conquering the ,french prepossess him in favor of this journal2 but also the circumstance that it--cost him nothing4 ,his attachment to gratis reading was decided4 ,and does not this throw light on the fact that he1 as ,morhof advised1 was wont sedulously to collect the separate leaves of wastepaper books as they came from the grocer1 and to rake among the same1 as ,virgil did in ,ennius8 ,nay1 for him the grocer was a ,fortius 7the scholar71 or a ,frederick 7the king71 both which persons were in the habit of simply cutting from complete books such leaves as contained anything4 ,it was also this respect for all waste-paper that inspired him with such esteem for the aprons of ,french cooks1 which it is well known consist of printed paper2 and he often wished some ,german would translate these aprons2 indeed1 ,i am willing to believe that a good version of more than one of such paper aprons might contribute to elevate our ,literature 7this ,muse a belles fesses71 and serve her in place of drivel-bib4--,on many things a man puts a pretium affectionis1 simply because he hopes he may have half stolen them2 on this principle1 combined with the former1 our ,quintus adopted into his belief anything he could snap away from an open ,lecture1 or as a visitor in class-rooms2 opinions only for which the ,professor must be paid1 he rigorously examined4--,i return to the ,christmas eve4 ,at the very first1 ,egidius was glad1 because out of doors millers and bakers were at fisticuffs 7as we say of drifting snow in large flakes71 and the ice-flowers of the window were blossoming2 for external frost1 with a snug warm room1 was what he liked4 ,he could now put fir wood into his stove1 and ,mocha coffee into his stomach2 and shove his right foot 7not into the slipper1 but7 under the warm side of his ,shock1 and also on the left keep swinging his pet ,starling1 which was pecking at the snout of old ,schil2 and then with the right hand--with the left he was holding his pipe--proceed1 so undisturbed1 so intrenched1 so cloud-capt1 without the smallest breath of frost1 to the highest enterprise which a ,quintus can attempt1--to writing the ,class-prodromus of the ,flachsenfingen ,gymnasium1 namely1 the eighth part thereof4 ,i hold the first printing in the history of a literary man to be more important than the first printing in the history of ,letters4 ,fixlein could not sate himself with specifying what he purposed1 ,god willing1 in the following year1 to treat of2 and accordingly1 more for the sake of printing than of use1 he further inserted three or four pedagogic glances at the plan of operations to be followed by his schoolmaster colleagues as a body4 ,he lastly introduced a few dashes1 by way of hooking his thoughts together2 and then laid aside the ,opus1 and would no longer look at it1 that so1 when printed1 he might stand astonished at his own thoughts4 ,and now he could take the ,leipzig ,fair ,catalogue1 which he purchased yearly1 instead of the books therein1 and open it without a sigh2 he too was in print1 as well as ,i am4 ,the happy fool1 while writing1 had shaken his head1 rubbed his hands1 hitched about on his chair1 puckered his face1 and sucked the end of his cue4--,he could now spring up about five o'clock in the evening to recreate himself2 and across the magic vapor of his pipe1 like a new-caught bird1 move up and down in his cage4 ,on the warm smoke the long galaxy of street-lamps was gleaming2 and red on his bed-curtains lay the fitful reflection of the blazing windows and illuminated trees in the neighborhood4 ,and now he shook away the snow of ,time from the winter-green of ,memory2 and beheld the fair years of his childhood1 uncovered1 fresh1 green1 and balmy1 standing afar off before him4 ,from his distance of twenty years1 he looked into the quiet cottage of his parents1 where his father and his brother had not yet been reaped away by the sickle of ,death4 ,he said to himself3 ,i will go through the whole ,christmas eve1 from the very dawn1 as ,i had it of old4 ,at his very rising he finds spangles on the table2 sacred spangles from the gold-leaf and silver-leaf with which the ,christ-child#dg has been emblazoning and coating his apples and nuts1 the presents of the night4--,on the mint-balance of joy1 this metallic foam pulls heavier than the golden cars1 and golden ,pythagoras-legs1 and golden ,philistine-mice of wealthier capitalists4--,then came his mother1 bringing him both ,christianity and clothes2 for in drawing on his trousers1 she easily recapitulated the ,ten ,commandments1 and in tying his garters1 the ,apostles' ,creed4 ,so soon as candle-light was over1 and daylight come1 he clambers to the arm of the settle1 and then measures the nocturnal growth of the yellow wiry grove of ,christmas-,birch2 and devotes far less attention than usual to the little white winter-flowerage1 which the seeds shaken from the bird-cage are sending forth in the wet joints of the window-panes4--,i nowise grudge ,j4 ,j4 ,rousseau his ,flora ,petrinsularis2#dh but let him also allow our ,quintus his ,window-flora4--,there was no such thing as school all day2 so he had time enough to seek his ,flescher 7his brother71 and commence 7when could there be finer frost for it87 the slaughtering of their winter-meat4 ,some days before1 the brother1 at the peril of his life and of a cudgelling1 had caught their stalled-beast--so they called the sparrow--under a window-sill in the ,castle4 ,their slaughtering wants not an axe 7of wood71 nor puddings1 nor potted meat4--,about three o'clock the old ,gardener1 whom neighbors must call the ,professor of ,gardening1 takes his place on his large chair1 with his ,cologne tobacco-pipe2 and after this no mortal shall work a stroke4 ,he tells nothing but lies2 of the aeronautic ,christ-child1 and the jingling ,ruprecht with his bells4 ,in the dusk1 our little ,quintus takes an apple2 divides it into all the figures of stereometry1 and spreads the fragments in two heaps on the table2 then as the lighted candle enters1 he starts up in amazement at the unexpected present1 and says to his brother1 ,look what the good ,christ-child has given thee and me2 and ,i saw one of his wings glittering4 ,and for this same glittering he himself lies in wait the whole evening4 ,about eight o'clock--here he walks chiefly by the chronicle of his letter-drawer--both of them1 with necks almost excoriated with washing1 and in clean linen1 and in universal anxiety lest the ,holy ,christ-child find them up1 are put to bed4 ,what a magic night6 ,what tumult of dreaming hopes6--,the populous1 motley1 glittering cave of ,fancy opens itself1 in the length of the night1 and in the exhaustion of dreamy effort1 still darker and darker1 fuller and more grotesque2 but the awakening gives back to the thirsty heart its hopes4 ,all accidental tones1 the cries of animals1 of watchmen1 are1 for the timidly devout ,fancy1 sounds out of ,heaven2 singing voices of ,angels in the air1 church-music of the morning worship4-- ,ah6 it was not the mere ,lubberland of sweetmeats and playthings1 which then1 with its perspective1 stormed like a river of joy against the chambers of our hearts2 and which yet in the moonlight of memory1 with its dusky landscapes1 melts our souls in sweetness4 ,ah6 this was it1 that then for our boundless wishes there were still boundless hopes2 but now reality is round us1 and the wishes are all that we have left6 ,at last came rapid lights from the neighborhood playing through the window on the walls1 and the ,christmas trumpets1 and the crowing from the steeple1 hurries both the boys from their bed4 ,with their clothes in their hands1 without fear for the darkness1 without feeling for the morning-frost1 rushing1 intoxicated1 shouting1 they hurry down-stairs into the dark room4 ,fancy riots in the pastry and fruit perfume of the still eclipsed treasures1 and paints her air-castles by the glimmering of the ,hesperides-fruit with which the ,birch-tree is loaded4 ,while their mother strikes a light1 the falling sparks sportfully open and shroud the dainties on the table1 and the many-colored grove on the wall2 and a single atom of that fire bears on it a hanging garden of ,eden4---- --,on a sudden all grew light2 and the ,quintus got--the ,conrectorship1 and a table-clock4 ,,fourth ,,letter-,,box4 ,office-brokage4--,discovery of the ,promised ,secret4--,hans von ,fuechslein4 ,for while the ,quintus1 in his vapory chamber was thus running over the sounding-board of his early years1 the ,rathsdiener1 or ,city-officer1 entered with a lantern and the ,presentation2 and behind him the courier of the ,frau von ,aufhammer with a note and a table-clock4 ,the ,rittmeisterinn had transformed her payment for the ,dog-days sick-bed exhortation into a ,christmas present2 which consisted1 first1 of a table-clock1 with a wooden ape thereon1 starting out when the hour struck1 and drumming along with every stroke2 secondly1 of the ,conrectorate1 which she had procured for him4 ,as in the public this appointment from the private ,flachsenfingen ,council has not been judged of as it deserved1 ,i consider it my duty to offer a defence for the body corporate2 and that rather here than in the ,reichsanzeiger1 or ,imperial ,indicator4--,i have already mentioned1 in the ,second ,letter-,box1 that the ,town-,syndic drove a trade in ,hamburg candles2 and the then ,burgermeister in coffee-beans1 which he sold as well whole as ground4 ,their joint traffic1 however1 which they carried on exclusively1 was in the eight ,school-offices of ,flachsenfingen2 the other members of the ,council acting only as bale-wrappers1 shopmen1 and accountants in the ,council wareroom4 ,a ,council-house1 indeed1 is like an ,india-house1 where not only resolutions or appointments1 but also shoes and cloth1 are exposed to sale4 ,properly speaking1 the ,councillor derives his freedom of office-trading from that principle of the ,roman law1 ,cui jus est donandi1 eidem et vendendi jus est2 that is to say1 ,he who has the right of giving anything away has also a right to dispose of it for money1 if he can4 ,now as the ,council-members have palpably the right of conferring offices gratis1 the right of selling them must follow of course4 ,short ,extra-word on ,appointment-brokers in general4 ,my chief anxiety is lest the ,academy-product-sale-,commission#di of the ,state carry on its office-trade too slackly4 ,and what but the commonweal must suffer in the long run1 if important posts are distributed1 not according to the current cash which is laid down for them1 but according to connections1 relationships1 party recommendations1 and bowings and cringings8 ,is it not a contradiction1 to charge titulary offices dearer than real ones8 ,should one not rather expect that the real ,hofrath would pay higher by the alterum tantum than the mere titulary ,hofrath8--,money1 among ,european nations1 is now the equivalent and representative of value in all things1 and consequently in understanding2 the rather as a head is stamped on it2 to pay down the purchase-money of an office is therefore neither more nor less than to stand an examen rigorosum1 which is held by a good schema examinandi4 ,to invert this1 to pretend exhibiting your qualifications1 in place of these their surrogates1 and assignates1 and monnoie de confiance1 is simply to resemble the crazy philosophers in ,gulliver's ,travels1 who1 for social converse1 instead of names of things1 brought the things themselves tied up in a bag2 it is1 indeed1 plainly as much as trying to fall back into the barbarous times of trade by barter1 when the ,romans1 instead of the figured cattle on their leather money1 drove forth the beeves themselves4 ,from all such injudicious notions ,i myself am so far removed1 that often1 when ,i used to read that the ,king of ,france was devising new offices1 to stand and sell them under the booth of his ,baldaquin1 ,i have set myself to do something of the like4 ,this ,i shall now at least calmly propose2 not vexing my heart whether ,governments choose to adopt it or not4 ,as our ,sovereign will not allow us to multiply offices purely for sale1 nay1 on the contrary1 is day and night 7like managers of strolling companies7 meditating how to give more parts to one ,state-actor2 and thus to the ,three ,stage ,unities to add a ,fourth1 that of ,players2 as the above ,french method1 therefore1 will not apply1 could we not at least contrive to invent some ,virtues harmonizing with the offices1 along with which they might be sold as titles8 ,might we not1 for instance1 with the office of a ,referendary1 put off at the same time a titular ,incorruptibility1 for a fair consideration2 and so that this virtue1 as not belonging to the office1 must be separately paid for by the candidate8 ,such a market-title and patent of nobility could not but be ornamental to a ,referendary4 ,we forget that in former times such high titles were appended to all posts whatsoever4 ,the scholastic ,professor then wrote himself 7besides his official designation7 ,the ,seraphic1 ,the ,incontrovertible1 ,the ,penetrating2 the ,king wrote himself1 ,the ,great1 ,the ,bald1 ,the ,bold1 and so also did the ,rabbins4 ,could it be unpleasant to gentlemen in the higher stations of ,justice1 if the titles of ,impartiality1 ,rapidity1 c41 might be conferred on them by sale1 as well as the posts themselves8 ,thus with the appointment of a ,kammerrath1 or ,councillor of ,revenue1 the virtue of ,patriotism might fitly be conjoined2 and ,i believe few ,advocates would grudge purchasing the title of ,integrity 7as well as their common one of ,government-advocacy71 were it to be had in the market4 ,if1 however1 any candidate chose to take his post without the virtues1 then it would stand with himself to do so1 and in the adoption of this reflex morality ,government should not constrain him4 ,it might be that1 as1 according to ,tristram ,shandy1 clothes1 according to ,walter ,shandy and ,lavater1 proper names1 exert an influence on men1 appellatives would do so still more2 since1 on us1 as on testaceous animals1 the foam so often hardens into shell2 but such internal morality is not a thing the ,state can have an eye to2 for1 as in the fine arts1 it is not this1 but the representation of it1 which forms her true aim4 ,i have found it rather difficult to devise for our different offices different verbal-virtues2 but ,i should think there might many such divisions of ,virtue 7at this moment1 ,love of ,freedom1 ,public-spirit1 ,sincerity1 and ,uprightness occur to me7 be hunted out2 were but some well-disposed minister of state to appoint a ,virtue-board or ,moral ,address ,department1 with some half-dozen secretaries1 who1 for a small salary1 might devise various virtues for the various posts4 ,were ,i in their place1 ,i should hold a good prism before the white ray of ,virtue1 and divide it completely4 ,pity that it were not crimes we wanted--their subdivision ,i mean2--our country ,judges might then be selected for this purpose4 ,for in their tribunals1 where only inferior jurisdiction1 and no penalty above five florins ,frankish1 is admitted1 they have a daily training how out of every mischief to make several small ones1 none of which they ever punish to a greater amount than their five florins4 ,this is a precious moral ,rolfinkenism1 which our ,jurists have learned from the great ,sin-cutters1 ,st4 ,augustin and his ,sorbonne1 who together have carved more sins on ,adam's ,sin-apple than ever ,rolfinken did faces on a cherry-stone4 ,how different one of our ,judges from a ,papal ,casuist1 who1 by side-scrapings1 will rasp you down the best deadly sin into a venial6-- ,school-offices 7to come to these7 are a small branch of traffic certainly2 yet still they are monarchies1--school-monarchies1 to wit1--resembling the ,polish crown1 which1 according to ,pope's verse1 is twice exposed to sale in the century2 a statement1 ,i need hardly say1 arithmetically false1 ,newton having settled the average duration of a reign at twenty-two years4 ,for the rest1 whether the city ,council bring the young of the community a ,hamel's ,rat-and-,child-catcher2 or a ,weissen's ,child's-friend1--this to the ,council can make no difference2 seeing the ,schoolmaster is not a horse1 for whose secret defects the horse-dealer is to be responsible4 ,it is enough if ,town-,syndic and ,co4 cannot reproach themselves with having picked out any fellow of genius2 for a genius1 as he is useless to the ,state1 except for recreation and ornament1 would at the very least exclude the duller1 cooler head1 who properly forms the true care and profit of the ,state2 as your costly carat-pearl is good for show alone1 but coarse grain-pearls for medicine4 ,on the whole1 if a schoolmaster be adequate to flog his scholars1 it should suffice2 and ,i cannot but blame our ,commission of ,inspectors1 when they go examining schools1 that they do not make the schoolmaster go through the duty of firking one or two young persons of his class in their presence1 by way of trial1 to see what is in him4 ,end of the ,extra-word on ,appointment-brokers in general4 ,now again to our history6 ,the ,councillor ,heads of the ,firm had conferred the ,conrectorate on my hero1 not only with a view to the continued consumpt of candles and beans1 but also on the strength of a quite mad notion3 they believed the ,quintus would very soon die4 --,and here ,i have reached a most important circumstance in this ,history1 and one into which ,i have yet let no mortal look2 now1 however1 it no longer depends on my will whether ,i shall shove aside the folding-screen from it or not2 but ,i must positively lay it open1 nay1 hang a reverberating-lamp over it4 ,in medical history1 it is a well-known fact1 that in certain families the people all die precisely at the same age1 just as in these families they are all born at the same age 7of nine months72 nay1 from ,voltaire1 ,i recollect one family1 the members of which at the same age all killed themselves4 ,now1 in the ,fixleinic lineage1 it was the custom that the male ascendants uniformly on ,cantata-,sunday1 in their thirty-second year1 took to bed and died2 every one of my readers would do well to insert in his copy of the ,thirty ,years' ,war1 ,schiller having entirely omitted it1 the fact1 that1 in the course thereof1 one ,fixlein died of the plague1 another of hunger1 another of a musket-bullet2 all in their thirty-second year4 ,true ,philosophy explains the matter thus3 ,the first two or three times1 it happened purely by accident2 and the other times1 the people died of sheer fright3 if not so1 the whole fact is rather to be questioned4 ,but what did ,fixlein make of the affair8 ,little or nothing2 the only thing he did was1 that he took little or no pains to fall in love with ,thiennette2 that so no other might have cause for fear on his account4 ,he himself1 however1 for five reasons1 minded it so little1 that he hoped to be older than ,senior ,astmann before he died4 ,first1 because three ,gypsies1 in three different places1 and at three different times1 had each shown him the same long vista of years in her magic mirror4 ,secondly1 because he had a sound constitution4 ,thirdly1 because his own brother had formed an exception1 and perished before the thirties4 ,fourthly1 on this ground3 ,when a boy he had fallen sick of sorrow1 on the very ,cantata-,sunday when his father was lying in the winding-sheet1 and only been saved from death by his playthings2 and with this ,cantata-sickness1 he conceived that he had given the murderous ,genius of his race the slip4 ,fifthly1 the church-books being destroyed1 and with them the certainty of his age1 he could never fall into a right definite deadly fear3 ,it may be1 said he1 that ,i have got whisked away over this whoreson year1 and no one the wiser4 ,i will not deny that last year he had fancied he was two-and-thirty2 however1 said he1 if ,i am not to be so till1 ,god willing1 the next 7#agib71 it may run away as smoothly as the last2 am ,i not always in ,his keeping8 ,and were it unjust if the pretty years that were broken off from the life of my brother should be added to mine8 ,thus1 under the cold snow of the ,present1 does poor man strive to warm himself1 or to mould out of it a fair snow-man4 ,the ,councillor ,oligarchy1 however1 built upon the opposite opinion2 and1 like a ,divinity1 elevated our ,quintus all at once from the ,quintusship to the ,conrectorate2 swearing to themselves that he would soon vacate it again4 ,properly speaking1 by school-seniority1 this holy chair should have belonged to the ,subrector ,hans von ,fuechslein2 but he wished it not2 being minded to become ,hukelum ,parson2 especially1 as ,astmann's ,death-angel1 according to sure intelligence1 was opening more and more widely the door of this spiritual sheepfold4 ,if the fellow weather another year1 't is more than ,i expect1 said ,hans4 ,this ,hans was such a churl1 that it is pity he had not been a ,hanoverian ,post-boy2 that so1 by the ,mandate of the ,hanoverian ,government1 enjoining on all its ,post-officers an elegant style of manners1 he might have somewhat refined himself4 ,to our poor ,quintus1 whom no mortal disliked1 and who again could hate no mortal1 he alone bore a grudge2 simply because ,fixlein did not write himself ,fuechslein1 and had not chosen along with him to purchase a ,patent of ,nobility4 ,the ,subrector1 on this his ,patent triumphal chariot1 drawn by a team of four specified ancestors1 was obliged to see the ,quintus1 who was related to him1 clutching by the lackey-straps behind the carriage2 and to hear him1 in the most despicable raiment1 saying to the train3 ,he that rides there is my cousin1 and a mortal1 and ,i always remind him of it4 ,the mild1 compliant ,quintus never noticed this large wasp-poison-bag in the ,subrector1 but took it for a honey-bag2 nay1 by his brotherly warmness1 which the nobleman regarded as mere show1 he concreted these venomous juices into still feller consistency4 ,the ,quintus1 in his simplicity1 took ,fuechslein's contempt for envy of his pedagogic talents4 ,a ,catherinenhof1 an ,annenhof1 an ,elizabethhof1 ,stralenhof1 and ,petershof1 all these ,russian pleasure palaces1 a man can dispense with 7if not despise71 who has a room1 in which on ,christmas eve he walks about with a ,presentation in his hand4 ,the new ,conrector now longed for nothing but--daylight2 joys always 7cares never7 nibbled from him1 like sparrows1 his sleep-grains2 and to-night1 moreover1 the registrator of his glad time1 the clock-ape1 drummed out every hour to him1 which1 accordingly1 he spent in gay dreaming1 rather than in sound snoring4 ,on ,christmas morn he looked at his ,class-prodromus1 and thought but little of it2 he scarcely knew what to make of his last night's foolish inflation about his ,quintusship4 ,the ,quintus-post1 said he to himself1 is not to be named in the same day with the ,conrectorate2 ,i wonder how ,i could parade so last night before my promotion2 at present1 ,i had more reason4 ,to-day he eat1 as on all ,sundays and holidays1 with the ,master-,butcher ,steinberger1 his former ,guardian4 ,to this man ,fixlein was1 what common people are always1 but polished1 philosophical1 and sentimental people very seldom are1--thankful2 a man thanks you the less for presents1 the more inclined he is to give presents of his own2 and the beneficent is rarely a grateful person4 ,meister ,steinberger1 in the character of storemaster1 had introduced into the wire-cage of a garret1 where ,fixlein1 while a ,student at ,leipzig1 was suspended1 many a well-filled trough with good canary-meat1 of hung-beef1 of household bread1 and ,sauerkraut4 ,money indeed was never to be wrung from him2 it is well known that he often sent the best calf-skins gratis to the tanner1 to be boots for our ,quintus2 but the tanning-charges the ,ward himself had to bear4--,on ,fixlein's entrance1 as was at all times customary1 a smaller damask table-cloth was laid upon the large coarser one2 the arm-chair1 silver implements1 and a wine-soup were handed him2 mere waste1 which1 as the ,guardian used to say1 suited well enough for a ,scholar2 but for a ,flescher not at all4 ,fixlein first took his victuals1 and then signified that he was made ,conrector4 ,ward1 said ,steinberger1 if you are made that1 it is well4--,seest thou1 ,eva1 ,i cannot buy a tail of thy cows now2 ,i must have smelt it beforehand4 ,he was hereby informing his daughter that the cash set apart for the fatted cattle must now be applied to the ,conrectorate2 for he was in the habit of advancing all instalment-dues to his ,ward1 at an interest of four and a half per cent4 ,fifty gulden he had already lent the ,quintus on his advancement to the ,quintusship2 of these the interest had to be duly paid2 yet1 on the day of payment1 the ,quintus always got some abatement2 being wont every ,sunday after dinner to instruct his guardian's daughter in arithmetic1 writing1 and geography4 ,steinberger with justice required of his own grown-up daughter that she should know all the towns where he in his wanderings as a journeyman had slain fat oxen2 and if she slipped1 or wrote crookedly1 or subtracted wrong1 he himself1 as ,academical ,senate and ,justiciary1 was standing behind her chair1 ready1 so to speak1 with the forge-hammer of his fist to beat out the dross from her brain1 and at a few strokes hammer it into right ductility4 ,the soft ,quintus1 for his part1 had never struck her4 ,on this account she had perhaps1 with a few glances1 appointed him executor and assignee of her heart4 ,the old ,flescher--simply because his wife was dead--had constantly been in the habit of searching with mine-lamps and pokers into all the corners of ,eva's heart2 and had in consequence long ago observed--what the ,quintus never did--that she had a mind for the said ,quintus4 ,young women conceal their sorrows more easily than their joys2 to-day1 at the mention of this ,conrectorate1 ,eva had become unusually red4 ,when she went after breakfast to bring in coffee1 which the ,ward had to drink down to the grounds3 ,i beat ,eva to death if she but look at him1 said he4 ,then addressing ,fixlein3 ,hear you1 ,ward1 did you never cast an eye on my ,eva8 ,she can suffer you1 and if you want her1 you get her2 but we have done with one another2 for a learned man needs quite another sort of thing4 ,herr ,regiments-,quartermaster1 said ,fixlein1 7for this post ,steinberger filled in the ,provincial ,militia17 such a match were far too rich1 at any rate1 for a ,schoolman4 ,the ,quartermaster nodded fifty times2 and then said to ,eva1 as she returned1--at the same time taking down from the shelf a wooden crook1 on which he used to rack out and suspend his slain calves3 ,stop6--,hark1 dost wish the present ,herr ,conrector here for thy husband8 ,ah1 good ,heaven6 said ,eva4 ,mayst wish him or not1 continued the ,flescher2 with this crook thy father knocks thy brains out1 if thou but think of a learned man4 ,now make his coffee4 ,and so by the dissevering stroke of this wooden crook was a love easily smitten asunder1 which in a higher rank1 by such cutting through it with the sword1 would only have foamed and hissed the keenlier4 ,fixlein might now1 at any hour he liked1 lay hold of fifty florins ,frankish1 and clutch the pedagogic sceptre1 and become coadjutor of the ,rector1 that is1 ,conrector4 ,we may assert1 that it is with debts1 as with proportions in ,architecture2 of which ,wolf has shown that those are the best which can be expressed in the smallest numbers4 ,nevertheless1 the ,quartermaster cheerfully took learned men under his arm2 for the notion that his debtor would decease in his thirty-second year1 and that so ,death1 as creditor in the first rank1 must be paid his ,debt of ,nature1 before the other creditors could come forward with their debts--this notion he named stuff and old-wifery2 he was neither ,superstitious nor ,fanatical1 and he walked by firm principles of action1 such as the common man much oftener has than your vaporing man of letters1 or your empty1 dainty man of rank4 ,as it is but a few clear ,ladydays1 warm ,mayday-nights1 at the most a few odorous ,rose-weeks1 which ,i am digging from this ,fixleinic ,life1 embedded in the dross of week-day cares2 and as if they were so many veins of silver1 am separating1 stamping1 smelting1 and burnishing for the reader1--,i must now travel on with the stream1 his history to ,cantata-,sunday1 #agib1 before ,i can gather a few handfuls of this gold-dust1 to carry in and wash in my biographical gold-hut4 ,that ,sunday1 on the contrary1 is very metalliferous2 do but consider that ,fixlein is yet uncertain 7the ashes of the ,church-books not being legible7 whether it is conducting him into his thirty-second or his thirty-third year4 ,from ,christmas till then he did nothing1 but simply became ,conrector4 ,the new chair of office was a ,sun-altar1 on which1 from his ,quintus-ashes1 a young ,phoenix combined itself together4 ,great changes--in offices1 marriages1 travels--make us younger2 we always date our history from the last revolution1 as the ,french have done from theirs4 ,a colonel1 who first set foot on the ladder of seniority as corporal1 is five times younger than a king1 who in his whole life has never been aught else except a--crown-prince4 ,,fifth ,,letter-,,box4 ,cantata-,sunday4--,two ,testaments4--,pontac2 ,blood2 ,love4 ,the spring months clothe the earth in new variegated hues2 but man they usually dress in black4 ,just when our icy regions are becoming fruitful1 and the flower-waves of the meadows are rolling together over our quarter of the globe1 we on all hands meet with men in sables1 the beginning of whose ,spring is full of tears4 ,but1 on the other hand1 this very upblooming of the renovated earth is itself the best balm for sorrow over those who lie under it2 and graves are better hid by blossoms than by snow4 ,in ,april1 which is no less deadly than it is fickle1 old ,senior ,astmann1 our ,conrector's teacher1 was overtaken by death4 ,his departure it was meant to hide from the ,rittmeisterinn2 but the unusual ringing of funeral peals carried his swan-song to her heart2 and gradually set the curfew-bell of her life into similar movement4 ,age and sufferings had already marked out the first incisions for ,death1 so that he required but little effort to cut her down2 for it is with men as with trees1 they are notched long before felling1 that their life-sap may exude4 ,the second stroke of apoplexy was soon followed by the last2 it is strange that ,death1 like criminal courts1 cites the apoplectic thrice4 ,men are apt to postpone their last will as long as their better one2 the ,rittmeisterinn would perhaps have let all her hours1 till the speechless and deaf one1 roll away without testament1 had not ,thiennette1 during the last night before from sick-nurse she became corpse-watcher1 reminded the patient of the poor ,conrector1 and of his meagre1 hunger-bitten existence1 and of the scanty aliment and board-wages which ,fortune had thrown him1 and of his empty ,future1 where1 like a drooping1 yellow plant in the parched deal-box of the school-room1 between scholars and creditors1 he must languish to the end4 ,her own poverty offered her a model of his2 and her inward tears were the fluid tints with which she colored her picture4 ,as the ,rittmeisterinn's testament related solely to domestics and dependants1 and as she began with the male one1 ,fixlein stood at the top2 and ,death1 who must have been a special friend of the ,conrector's1 did not lift his scythe and give the last stroke1 till his protege had been with audible voice declared testamentary heir2 then he cut all away1--life1 testament1 and hopes4 ,when the ,conrector1 in a wash-bill from his mother1 received these two ,death's-posts and ,job's-posts in his class1 the first thing he did was to dismiss his class-boys1 and break into tears before reaching home4 ,though the mother had informed him that he had been remembered in the will 7,i could wish1 however1 that the ,notary had blabbed how much it was71 yet almost with every ,o which he masoretically excerpted from his ,german ,bible1 and entered in his ,masoretic ,work1 great drops fell down on his pen1 and made his black ink pale4 ,his sorrow was not the gorgeous sorrow of the ,poet1 who veils the gaping wounds of the departed in the winding-sheet1 and breaks the cry of anguish in soft tones of plaintiveness2 nor the sorrow of the ,philosopher1 who1 through one open grave1 must look into the whole catacomb-,necropolis of the ,past1 and before whom the spectre of a friend expands into the spectral ,shadow of this whole ,earth2 but it was the woe of a child1 of a mother1 whom this thought itself1 without subsidiary reflections1 bitterly cuts asunder3 ,so ,i shall never more see thee2 so must thou moulder away1 and ,i shall never see thee1 thou good soul1 never1 never any more6--,and even because he neither felt the philosophical nor the poetical sadness1 every trifle could make a division1 a break in his mourning2 and1 like a woman1 he was that very evening capable of sketching some plans for the future employment of his legacy4 ,four weeks after1 to wit1 on the #eth of ,may1 the testament was unsealed2 but not till the #fth 7,cantata-,sunday7 did he go down to ,hukelum4 ,his mother met his salutations with tears2 which she shed1 over the corpse for grief1 over the testament for joy4--,to the now ,conrector ,egidius ,zebedaeus was left3 ,in the first place1 a large sumptuous bed1 with a mirror-tester1 in which the giant ,goliath might have rolled at his ease1 and to which ,i and my fair readers will by and by approach nearer1 to examine it2 secondly1 there was devised to him1 as unpaid ,easter-godchild-money1 for every year that he had lived1 one ducat2 thirdly1 all the admittance and instalment dues1 which his elevation to the ,quintate and ,conrectorate had cost him1 were to be made good to the utmost penny4 ,and dost thou know1 then1 proceeded the mother1 what the poor ,fraeulein has got8 ,ah ,heaven6 ,nothing6 ,not one brass farthing6 ,for ,death had stiffened the hand1 which was just stretching itself out to reach the poor ,thiennette a little rain-screen against the foul weather of life4 ,the mother related this perverse trick of ,fortune with true condolence2 which in women dissipates envy1 and comes easier to them than congratulation1 a feeling belonging rather to men4 ,in many female hearts sympathy and envy are such near door-neighbors that they could be virtuous nowhere except in ,hell1 where men have such frightful times of it2 and vicious nowhere except in ,heaven1 where people have more happiness than they know what to do with4 ,the ,conrector was now enjoying on ,earth that ,heaven to which his benefactress had ascended4 ,first of all1 he started off--without so much as putting up his handkerchief1 in which lay his emotion--up-stairs to see the legacy-bed unshrouded2 for he had a female predilection for furniture4 ,i know not whether the reader ever looked at or mounted any of these ancient chivalric beds1 into which1 by means of a little stair without balustrades1 you can easily ascend2 and in which you1 properly speaking1 sleep always at least one story above ground4 ,nazianzen informs us 7,orat4 ,,xvi47 that the ,jews1 in old times1 had high beds with cock-ladders of this sort2 but simply because of vermin4 ,the legacy bed-,ark was quite as large as one of these2 and a flea would have measured it1 not in ,diameters of the ,earth1 but in ,distances of ,sirius4 ,when ,fixlein beheld this colossal dormitory1 with the curtains drawn asunder1 and its canopy of looking-glass1 he could have longed to be in it2 and had it been in his power to cut from the opaque hemisphere of ,night1 at that time in ,america1 a small section1 he would have established himself there along with it1 just to swim about1 for one half-hour1 with his thin lath figure1 in this sea of down4 ,the mother1 by longer chains of reasoning and chains of calculation than the bed was1 had not succeeded in persuading him to have the broad mirror on the top cut in pieces1 though his large dressing-table had nothing to see itself in but a mere shaving-glass2 he let the mirror lie where it was for this reason3 ,should ,i ever1 ,god willing1 get married1 said he1 ,i shall then1 towards morning1 be able to look at my sleeping wife1 without sitting up in bed4 ,as to the second article of the testament1 the godchild ,easter-pence1 his mother had1 last night1 arranged it perfectly4 ,the ,lawyer took her evidence on the years of the heir2 and these she had stated at exactly the teeth-number1 two-and-thirty4 ,she would willingly have lied1 and passed off her son1 like an ,inscription1 for older than he was2 but against this venia aetatis1 she saw too well the authorities would have taken exception1 that it was falsehood and cozenage2 had the son been two-and-thirty1 he must have been dead some time ago1 as it could not but be presumed that he then was4 ,and just as she was recounting this1 a servant from ,schadeck called2 and delivered to the ,conrector1 in return for a discharge and ratification of the birth-certificate given out by his mother1 a gold bar of two-and-thirty ducat age-counters1 like a helm-bar for the voyage of his life2 ,herr von ,aufhammer was too proud to engage in any pettifogging discussion over a plebeian birth-certificate4 ,and thus1 by a proud open-handedness1 was one of the best lawsuits thrown to the dogs2 seeing this gold bar might1 in the wire-mill of the judgment-bench1 have been drawn out into the finest threads4 ,from such a tangled lock1 which was not to be unravelled--for in the first place1 there was no document to prove ,fixlein's age2 in the second place1 so long as he lived1 the necessary conclusion was1 that he was not yet thirty-two#ej--;from such a lock might not only silk and hanging-cords1 but whole drag nets1 have been spun and twisted8 ,clients in general would have less reason to complain of their causes1 if these lasted longer4 ,philosophers contend for thousands of years over philosophical questions2 and it seems an unaccountable thing1 therefore1 that ,advocates should attempt to end their juristical questions in a space of eighty1 or even sometimes of sixty years4 ,but the professors of ,law are not to blame for this2 on the other hand1 as ,lessing asserts of ,truth1 that not the finding1 but the seeking of it profits men1 and that he himself would willingly make over his claim to all truths in return for the sweet labor of investigation1 so is the professor of ,law not profited by the finding and deciding1 but by the investigation of a juridical truth1--which is called pleading and practising1--and he would willingly consent to approximate to ,truth forever1 like an hyperbola to its asymptote1 without ever meeting it1 seeing he can subsist as an honorable man with wife and child1 let such approximation be as tedious as it likes4 ,the ,schadeck servant had1 besides the gold legacy1 a further commission from the ,lawyer1 whereby the testamentary heir was directed to sum up the mint-dues which he had been obliged to pay while lying under the coining-press of his superiors1 as ,quintus and ,conrector2 the which1 properly documented and authenticated1 were forthwith to be made good to him4 ,our ,conrector1 who now rated himself among the great capitalists of the world1 held his short gold-roll like a sceptre in his hand2 like a basket-net lifted from the sea of the ,future1 which was now to run on1 and bring him all manner of fed-fishes1 well-washed1 sound1 and in good season4 ,i cannot relate all things at once2 else ,i should ere now have told the reader1 who must long have been waiting for it1 that to the moneyed ,conrector his two-and-thirty godchild-pennies but too much prefigured the two-and-thirty years of his age2 besides which1 to-day the ,cantata-,sunday1 this ,bartholomew-night and ,second of ,september of his family1 came in as a further aggravation4 ,the mother1 who should have known the age of her child1 said she had forgotten it2 but durst wager he was thirty-two a year ago2 only the ,lawyer was a man you could not speak to4 ,i could swear it myself1 said the capitalist2 ,i recollect how stupid ,i felt ,cantata-,sunday last year4 ,fixlein beheld ,death1 not as the poet does1 in the uptowering1 asunder-driving concave-mirror of ,imagination2 but as the child1 as the savage1 as the peasant1 as the woman does1 in the plane octavo-mirror on the board of a ,prayer-book2 and ,death looked to him like an old white-headed man1 sunk down into slumber in some latticed pew4-- ,and yet he thought oftener of him than last year2 for joy readily melts us into softness2 and the lackered ,wheel of ,fortune is a cistern-wheel that empties its water in our eyes4444 ,but the friendly ,genius of this terrestrial1 or rather aquatic ,ball--for1 in the physical and in the moral world1 there are more tear-seas than firm land--has provided for the poor water-insects that float about in it1 for us1 namely1 a quite special elixir against spasms in the soul2 ,i declare this same ,genius must have studied the whole pathology of man with care2 for to the poor devil who is no ,stoic1 and can pay no ,soul-doctor1 that for the fissures of his cranium and his breast might prepare costly prescriptions of simples1 he has stowed up cask-wise in all cellarages a precious wound-water1 which the patient has only to take and pour over his slashes and bone-breakages--gin-twist1 ,i mean1 or beer1 or a touch of wine4444 ,by ,heaven6 it is either stupid ingratitude towards this medicinal ,genius on the one hand1 or theological confusion of permitted tippling with prohibited drunkenness on the other1 if men do not thank ,god that they have something at hand1 which1 in the nervous vertigoes of life1 will instantly supply the place of ,philosophy1 ,christianity1 ,judaism1 ,paganism1 and ,time2--liquor1 as ,i said4 ,the ,conrector had long before sunset given the village post three groschens of post-money1 and commissioned--for he had a whole cabinet of ducats in his pocket1 which all day he was surveying in the dark with his hand--three thalers' worth of ,pontac from the town4 ,i must have a ,cantata merry-making1 said he2 if it be my last day1 let it be my gayest too6 ,i could wish he had given a larger order2 but he kept the bit of moderation between his teeth at all times2 even in a threatened sham-death-night1 and in the midst of jubilee4 ,the question is1 whether he would not have restricted himself to a single bottle1 if he had not wished to treat his mother and the ,fraeulein4 ,had he lived in the tenth century1 when the ,day of ,judgment was thought to be at hand1 or in other centuries1 when new ,noah's ,deluges were expected1 and when1 accordingly1 like sailors in a shipwreck1 people boused up all1--he would not have spent one kreuzer more on that account4 ,his joy was1 that with his legacy he could now satisfy his head-creditor ,steinberger1 and leave the world an honest man4 ,just people1 who make much of money1 pay their debts the most punctually4 ,the purple ,pontac arrived at a time when ,fixlein could compare the red-chalk-drawings and red-letter-titles of joy1 which it would bring out on the cheeks of its drinker and drinkeresses1--with the ,evening-carnation of the last clouds about the ,sun4444 ,i declare1 among all the spectators of this ,history1 no one can be thinking more about poor ,thiennette than ,i2 nevertheless1 it is not permitted me to bring her out from her tiring-room to my historical scene before the time4 ,poor girl6 ,the ,conrector cannot wish more warmly than his ,biographer1 that1 in the ,temple of ,nature as in that of ,jerusalem1 there were a special door--besides that of ,death--standing open1 through which only the afflicted entered1 that a ,priest might give them solace4 ,but ,thiennette's heart-sickness over all her vanished prospects1 over her entombed benefactress1 over a whole life enwrapped in the pall1 had hitherto1 in a grief which the stony ,rittmeister rather made to bleed than alleviated1 swept all away from her1 occupations excepted2 had fettered all her steps which led not to some task1 and granted to her eyes nothing to dry them or gladden them1 save down-falling eyelids full of dreams and sleep4 ,all sorrow raises us above the civic ,ceremonial-law1 and makes the ,prosaist a ,psalmist2 in sorrow alone have women courage to front opinion4 ,thiennette walked out only in the evening1 and then only in the garden4 ,the ,conrector could scarcely wait for the appearance of his fair friend1 to offer his thanks1--and to-night also--his ,pontac4 ,three ,pontac decanters and three wineglasses were placed outside on the projecting window-sill of his cottage2 and every time he returned from the dusky covered-way amid the flower forests1 he drank a little from his glass1--and the mother sipped now and then from within through the opened window4 ,i have already said1 his ,life-laboratory lay in the southwest corner of the garden or park1 over against the ,castle-,escurial1 which stretched back into the village4 ,in the northwest corner bloomed an acacia grove1 like the floral crown of the garden4 ,fixlein turned his steps in that direction also2 to see if1 perhaps1 he might not cast a happy glance through the wide-latticed grove over the intervening meads to ,thiennette4 ,he recoiled a little before two stone steps leading down into a pond before this grove1 which were sprinkled with fresh blood4 ,on the flags1 also1 there was blood hanging4 ,man shudders at this oil of our life's lamp where he finds it shed2 to him it is the red death-signature of the ,destroying ,angel4 ,fixlein hurried apprehensively into the grove2 and found here his paler benefactress leaning on the flower-bushes2 her hands with her knitting-ware sunk into her bosom1 her eyes lying under their lids as if in the bandage of slumber2 her left arm in the real bandage of bloodletting2 and with cheeks to which the twilight was lending as much red1 as late woundings--this day's included--had taken from them4 ,fixlein1 after his first terror--not at this flower's sleep1 but at his own abrupt entrance--began to unroll the spiral butterfly's-sucker of his vision1 and to lay it on the motionless leaves of this same sleeping flower4 ,at bottom1 ,i may assert1 that this was the first time he had ever looked at her2 he was now among the thirties2 and he still continued to believe1 that1 in a young lady1 he must look at the clothes only1 not the person1 and wait on her with his ears1 not with his eyes4 ,i impute it to the elevating influences of the ,pontac1 that the ,conrector plucked up courage to--turn1 to come back1 and employ the resuscitating means of coughing1 sneezing1 trampling1 and calling to his ,shock1 in stronger and stronger doses on the fair sleeper4 ,to take her by the hand1 and with some medical apology1 gently pull her out of sleep1 this was an audacity of which the ,conrector1 so long as he could stand for ,pontac1 and had any grain of judgment left1 could never dream4 ,however1 he did awake her1 by those other means4 ,wearied1 heavy-laden ,thiennette6 how slowly does thy eye open6 ,the warmest balsam of this earth1 soft sleep has shifted aside1 and the night-air of memory is again blowing on thy naked wounds6--and yet was the smiling friend of thy youth the fairest object which thy eye could light on1 when it sank from the hanging-garden of ,dreams into this lower one round thee4 ,she herself was little conscious1--and the ,conrector not at all1--that she was bending her flower-leaves imperceptibly towards a terrestrial body1 namely1 towards ,fixlein4 ,she resembled an ,italian flower1 that contains cunningly concealed within it a new-year's gift1 which the receiver knows not at first how to extract4 ,but now the golden chain of her late kind deed attracted her as well towards him1 as him towards her4 ,she at once gave her eye and her voice a mask of joy2 for she did not put her tears1 as ,catholics do those of ,christ1 in relic-vials1 upon altars1 to be worshipped4 ,he could very suitably preface his invitation to the ,pontac festival with a long acknowledgment of thanks for the kind intervention which had opened to him the sources for procuring it4 ,she rose slowly1 and walked with him to the banquet of wine2 but he was not so discreet1 as at first to attempt leading her1 or rather not so courageous2 he could more easily have offered a young lady his hand 7that is1 with marriage ring7 than offered her his arm4 ,one only time in his life had he escorted a female1 a ,lombard ,countess from the theatre2 a thing truly not to be believed1 were not this the secret of it1 that he was obliged2 for the lady1 a foreigner1 parted in the press from all her people1 in a bad night1 had laid hold of him as a sable ,abbe by the arm1 and requested him to take her to her inn4 ,he1 however1 knew the fashions of society1 and attended her no farther than the porch of his ,quintus-mansion1 and there directed her with his finger to her inn1 which1 with thirty blazing windows1 was looking down from another street4 ,these things he cannot help4 ,but to-night he had scarcely1 with his fair1 faint companion1 reached the bank of the pond1 into which some superstitious dread of water-spirits had lately poured the pure blood of her left arm1--when1 in his terror lest she fell in1 with the rest of her blood1 over the brink1 he quite valiantly laid hold of the sick arm4 ,thus will much ,pontac and a little courage at all times put a ,conrector in case to lay hold of a ,fraeulein4 ,i aver that at the banquet-board of the wine1 at the window-sill1 he continued in the same conducting position4 ,what a soft group in the penumbra of the ,earth1 while ,night1 with its dusky waters1 was falling deeper and deeper1 and the silver-light of the ,moon was already glancing back from the copper ball of the steeple6 ,i call the group soft1 because it consists of a maiden that in two senses has been bleeding2 of a mother again with tears giving her thanks for the happiness of her child2 and of a pious1 modest man1 pouring wine1 and drinking health to both1 and who traces in his veins a burning lava-stream1 which is boiling through his heart1 and threatening piece by piece to melt it and bear it away4 ,a candle stood without among the three bottles1 like ,reason among the ,passions2 on this account the ,conrector looked without intermission at the window-panes1 for on them 7the darkness of the room served as mirror-foil7 was painted1 among other faces which ,fixlein liked1 the face he liked best of all1 and which he dared to look at only in reflection1 the face of ,thiennette4 ,every minute was a ,federation-festival1 and every second a ,preparation-,sabbath for it4 ,the ,moon was gleaming from the evening dew1 and the ,pontac from their eyes1 and the bean-stalks were casting a shorter grating of shadow4 ,the quicksilver-drops of stars were hanging more and more continuous in the sable of night4 ,the warm vapor of the wine set our two friends 7like steam-engines7 again in motion4 ,nothing makes the heart fuller and bolder than walking to and fro in the night4 ,fixlein now led the ,fraeulein in his arm without scruple4 ,by reason of her lancet-wound1 ,thiennette could only put her hand1 in a clasping position1 in his arm2 and he1 to save her the trouble of holding fast1 held fast himself1 and pressed her fingers as well as might be with his arm to his heart4 ,it would betray a total want of polished manners to censure his4 ,at the same time1 trifles are the provender of ,love2 the fingers are electric discharges of a fire sparkling along every fibre2 sighs are the guiding tones of two approximating hearts2 and the worst and most effectual thing of all in such a case is some misfortune2 for the fire of ,love1 like that of naphtha1 likes to swim on water4 ,two tear-drops1 one in another's1 one in your own eyes1 compose1 as with two convex lenses1 a microscope which enlarges everything1 and changes all sorrows into charms4 ,good sex6 ,i too consider every sister in misfortune as fair2 and1 perhaps1 thou wouldst deserve the name of the ,fair1 even because thou art the ,suffering sex6 ,and if ,professor ,hunczogsky in ,vienna modelled all the wounds of the human frame in wax1 to teach his pupils how to cure them1 ,i also1 thou good sex1 am representing in little figures the cuts and scars of thy spirit1 though only to keep away rude hands from inflicting new ones4444 ,thiennette felt not the loss of the inheritance1 but of her that should have left it2 and this more deeply for one little trait1 which she had already told his mother1 as she now told him4 ,in the last two nights of the ,rittmeisterinn1 when the feverish watching was holding up to ,thiennette's imagination nothing but the winding-sheet and the mourning-coaches of her protectress2 while she was sitting at the foot of the bed1 looking on those fixed eyes1 unconsciously quick drops often trickled over her cheeks1 while in thought she prefigured the heavy1 cumbrous dressing of her benefactress for the coffin4 ,once after midnight1 the dying lady pointed with her finger to her own lips4 ,thiennette understood her not2 but rose and bent over her face4 ,the ,enfeebled tried to lift her head1 but could not1--and only rounded her lips4 ,at last1 a thought glanced through ,thiennette1 that the ,departing1 whose dead arms could now press no beloved heart to her own1 wished that she herself should embrace her4 ,o then1 that instant1 keen and tearful1 she pressed her warm lips on the colder1--and she was silent like her that was to speak no more1--and she embraced alone and was not embraced4 ,about four o'clock1 the finger waved again2 she sank down on the stiffened lips1--but this had been no signal1 for the lips of her friend under the long kiss had grown stiff and cold4444 ,how deeply now1 before the infinite ,eternity's-countenance of ,night1 did the cutting of this thought pass through ,fixlein's warm soul3 ,o thou forsaken one beside me6 ,no happy accident1 no twilight hast thou1 like that now glimmering in the heavens1 to point to the prospect of a sunny day2 without parents art thou1 without brother1 without friend2 here alone on a disblossomed1 emptied corner of the ,earth2 and thou1 left ,harvest-flower1 must wave lonely and frozen over the withered stubble of the ,past4 ,that was the meaning of his thoughts1 whose internal words were3 ,poor young lady6 ,not so much as a half-cousin left2 no nobleman will seek her1 and she grows old so forgotten1 and she is so good from the very heart1--,me she has made happy1--,ah1 had ,i the presentation to the parish of ,hukelum in my pocket1 ,i should make a trial4 444 ,their mutual lives1 which a straitcutting bond of ,destiny was binding so closely together1 now rose before him overhung with sable1--and he forthwith conducted his friend 7for a bashful man may in an hour and a half be transformed into the boldest1 and then continues so7 back to the last flask1 that all these upsprouting thistles and passion-flowers of sorrow might therewith be swept away4 ,i remark1 in passing1 that this was stupid2 the torn vine is full of water-veins as well as grapes2 and a soft oppressed heart the beverage of joy can melt only into tears4 ,if any man disagree with me1 ,i shall desire him to look at the ,conrector1 who demonstrates my experimental maxim like a very syllogism4--,one might arrive at some philosophic views1 if one traced out the causes1 why liquors--that is to say1 in the long run1 more plentiful secretion of the nervous spirits--make men at once pious1 soft1 and poetical4 ,the ,poet1 like ,apollo his father1 is forever a youth2 and is1 what other men are only once1 namely1 in love1--or only after ,pontac1 namely1 intoxicated1--all his life long4 ,fixlein1 who had been no poet in the morning1 now became one at night2 wine made him pious and soft2 the ,harmonica-bells in man1 which sound to the tones of a higher world1 must1 like the glass ,harmonica-bells1 if they are to act1 be kept moist4 ,he was now standing with her again beside the wavering pond1 in which the second blue hemisphere of heaven1 with dancing stars and amid quivering trees1 was playing2 over the green hills ran the white1 crooked footpaths dimly along2 on the one mountain was the twilight sinking together1 on the other was the mist of night rising up2 and over all these vapors of life hung motionless and naming the thousand-armed lustre of the starry heaven1 and every arm held in it a burning galaxy4444 ,it now struck eleven4444 ,amid such scenes1 an unknown hand stretches itself out in man1 and writes in foreign language on his heart1 a dread ,mene ,mene ,tekel ,upharsin4 ,perhaps by twelve ,i am dead1 thought our friend1 in whose soul the ,cantata-,sunday1 with all its black funeral piles1 was mounting up4 ,the whole future ,crucifixion of his friend lay prickly and bethorned before him2 and he saw every bloody trace from which she lifted her foot1--she who had made his own way soft with flowers and leaves4 ,he could no longer restrain himself2 trembling in his whole frame1 and with a trembling voice1 he solemnly said to her3 ,if the ,lord this night call me away1 let the half of my fortune be yours2 for it is your goodness ,i must thank that ,i am free of debts1 as few ,teachers are4 ,thiennette1 unacquainted with our sex1 naturally mistook this speech for a proposal of marriage2 and the fingers of her wounded arm to-night for the first time pressed suddenly against the arm in which they lay2 the only living mortal's arm by which ,joy1 ,love1 and the ,earth were still united with her bosom4 ,the ,conrector1 rapturously terrified at the first pressure of a female hand1 bent over his right to take hold of her left2 and ,thiennette1 observing his unsuccessful movement1 lifted her fingers1 and laid her whole wounded arm in his1 and her whole left hand in his right4 ,two lovers dwell in the ,whispering-gallery1#ea where the faintest breath bodies itself forth into a sound4 ,the good ,conrector received and returned this blissful love-pressure1 wherewith our poor1 powerless soul1 stammering1 hemmed in1 longing1 distracted1 seeks for a warmer language1 which exists not2 he was overpowered2 he had not the courage to look at her2 but he looked into the gleam of the twilight1 and said 7and here for unspeakable love the tears were running warm over his cheeks73 ,ah1 ,i will give you all2 fortune1 life1 and all that ,i have1 my heart and my hand4 ,she was about to answer1 but1 casting a side glance1 she cried1 with a shriek3 ,ah1 ,heaven6 ,he started round1 and perceived the white muslin sleeve all dyed with blood2 for in putting her arm into his1 she had pushed away the bandage from the open vein4 ,with the speed of lightning1 he hurried her into the acacia-grove2 the blood was already running from the muslin2 he grew paler than she1 for every drop of it was coming from his heart4 ,the blue-white arm was bared2 the bandage was put on3 he tore a piece of gold from his pocket2 clapped it1 as one does with open arteries1 on the spouting fountain1 and bolted with this golden bar1 and with the bandage over it1 the door out of which her afflicted life was hurrying4-- ,when it was over1 she looked up to him2 pale1 languid1 but her eyes were two glistening fountains of an unspeakable love1 full of sorrow and full of gratitude4--,the exhausting loss of blood was spreading her soul asunder in sighs4 ,thiennette was dissolved into inexpressible softness2 and the heart lacerated by so many years1 by so many arrows1 was plunging with all its wounds in warm streams of tears1 to be healed1 as chapped flutes close together by lying in water1 and get back their tones4 ,before such a magic form1 before such a pure1 heavenly love1 her sympathizing friend was melted between the flames of joy and grief2 and sank1 with stifled voice1 and bent down by love and rapture1 on the pale1 angelic face1 the lips of which he timidly pressed1 but did not kiss1 till all-powerful ,love bound its girdles round them1 and drew the two closer and closer together1 and their two souls1 like two tears1 melted into one4 ,o now1 when it struck twelve1 the hour of death1 did not the lover fancy that her lips were drawing his soul away1 and all the fibres and all the nerves of his life closed spasmodically round the last heart in this world1 round the last rapture of existence4444 ,yes1 happy man1 thou didst express thy love2 for in thy love thou thoughtest to die4444 ,however1 he did not die4 ,after midnight1 there floated a balmy morning air through the shaken flowers1 and the whole spring was breathing4 ,the blissful lover1 setting bounds even to his sea of joy1 reminded his delicate beloved1 who was now his bride1 of the dangers from night-cold2 and himself of the longer night-cold of ,death1 which was now for long years passed over4--,innocent and blessed1 they rose from the grove of their betrothment1 from its dust broken by white acacia-flowers and straggling moonbeams4 ,and without1 they felt as if a whole wide ,past had sunk away in a convulsion of the world2 all was new1 light1 and young4 ,the sky stood full of glittering dew-drops from the everlasting ,morning2 and the stars quivered joyfully asunder1 and sank1 resolved into beams1 down into the hearts of men4--,the ,moon1 with her fountain of light1 had overspread and kindled all the garden1 and was hanging above in a starless blue1 as if she had consumed the nearest stars2 and she seemed like a smaller wandering ,spring1 like a ,christ's-face smiling in love of man4-- ,under this light they looked at one another for the first time after the first words of love2 and the sky gleamed magically down on the disordered features with which the first rapture of love was still standing written on their faces4444 ,dream1 ye beloved1 as ye wake1 happy as in ,paradise1 innocent as in ,paradise6 ,,sixth ,,letter-,,box4 ,office-impost4--,one of the ,most ,important of ,petitions4 ,the finest thing was his awakening in his ,european ,settlement in the giant ,schadeck bed6--,with the inflammatory1 tickling1 eating fever of love in his breast2 with the triumphant feeling that he had now got the introductory programme of love put happily by2 and with the sweet resurrection from his living1 prophetic burial2 and with the joy that now1 among his thirties1 he could1 for the first time1 cherish hopes of a longer life 7and did not longer mean at least till seventy87 than he could ten years ago2--with all this stirring life-balsam1 in which the living fire-wheel of his heart was rapidly revolving1 he lay here1 and laughed at his glancing portrait in the bed-canopy2 but he could not do it long2 he was obliged to move4 ,for a less happy man1 it would have been gratifying to have measured--as pilgrims measure with the length of their pilgrimage1 not so much by steps as by body-lengths1 like ,earth-diameters--the superficial content of the bed4 ,but ,fixlein1 for his own part1 had to launch from his bed into warm1 billowy life2 he had now his dear good ,earth again to look after1 and a ,conrectorship thereon1 and a bride to boot4 ,besides all this1 his mother down-stairs now admitted that he had last night actually glided through beneath the scythe of ,death1 like supple grass1 and that yesterday she had not told him1 merely out of fear of his fear4 ,still a cold shudder went over him--especially as he was sober now--when he looked round at the high ,tarpeian ,rock1 four hours' distance behind him1 on the battlements of which he had last night walked hand in hand with ,death4 ,the only thing that grieved him was1 that it was ,monday1 and that he must back to the ,gymnasium4 ,such a freightage of joys he had never taken with him on his road to town4 ,after four1 he issued from his house1 satisfied with coffee 7which he drank in ,hukelum merely for his mother's sake1 who1 for two days after1 would still have portions of this woman's-wine to draw from the lees of the pot-sediment71 into the cooling dawning ,may-morning 7for joy needs coolness1 sorrow sun72 his ,betrothed comes--not indeed to meet him1 but still--into his hearing1 by her distant morning hymn2 he makes but one momentary turn into the blissful haven of the blooming acacia-grove1 which still1 like the covenant sealed in it1 has no thorns2 he dips his warm hand in the cold-bath of the dewy leaves2 he wades with pleasure through the beautifying-water of the dew1 which1 as it imparts color to faces1 eats it away from boots 7but with thirty ducats1 a ,conrector may make shift to keep two pairs of boots on the hook74 ,and now the ,moon1 as it were the hanging seal of his last night's happiness1 dips down into the ,west1 like an emptied bucket of light1 and in the ,east the other overrunning bucket1 the ,sun1 mounts up1 and the gushes of light flow broader and broader4 ,the city stood in the celestial flames of ,morning4 ,here his divining-rod 7his gold-roll1 which1 excepting one sixteenth of an inch broken off from it1 he carried along with him7 began to quiver over all the spots where booty and silver-veins of enjoyment were concealed2 and our rod-diviner easily discovered that the city and the future were a true entire ,potosi of delights4 ,in his ,conrectorate closet he fell upon his knees and thanked ,god--not so much for his heritage and bride as--for his life2 for he had gone away on ,sunday morning with doubts whether he should ever come back2 and it was purely out of love to the reader1 and fear lest he might fret himself too much with apprehension1 that ,i cunningly imputed ,fixlein's journey more to his desire of knowing what was in the will1 than of making his own will in presence of his mother4 ,every recovery is a bringing back and palingenesia of our youth2 one loves the ,earth and those that are on it with a new love4 ,the ,conrector could have found in his heart to take all his class by the locks1 and press them to his breast2 but he only did so to his adjutant1 the ,quartaner1 who1 in the first ,letter-box1 was still sitting in the rank of a ,quintaner4444 ,his first expedition1 after school-hours1 was to the house of ,meister ,steinberger1 where1 without speaking a word1 he counted down fifty florins cash in ducats1 on the table3 ,at last ,i repay you1 said ,fixlein1 the moiety of my debt1 and give you many thanks4 ,ey1 ,herr ,conrector1 said the ,quartermaster1 and continued calmly stuffing puddings as before1 in my bond it is said1 payable at three months' mutual notice4 ,how could a man like me go on1 else8 ,however1 ,i will change you the gold-pieces4 ,thereupon he advised him that it might be more judicious to take back a florin or two1 and buy himself a better hat1 and whole shoes4 ,if you like1 added he1 to get a calf-skin and half a dozen hare-skins dressed1 they are lying up-stairs4 ,i should think1 for my own part1 that to the reader it must be as little a matter of indifference as it was to the ,butcher1 whether the hero of such a ,history appeared before him with an old tattered potlid of a hat1 and a pump-sucker and leg-harness pair of boots1 or in suitable apparel4 ,in short1 before ,st4 ,john's day1 the man was dressed with taste and pomp4 ,but now came two most peculiarly important papers--at bottom only one1 the petition for the ,hukelum parsonship--to be elaborated2 in regard to which ,i feel as if ,i myself must assist4444 ,it were a simple turn1 if now at least the assembled public did not pay attention4 ,in the first place1 the ,conrector searched out and sorted all the ,consistorial and ,councillor quittances1 or rather the toll-bills of the road-money1 which he had been obliged to pay before the toll-gates at the ,quintusship and ,conrectorship had been thrown open2 for the executor of the ,schadeck testament had to reimburse him the whole1 as his discharge would express it1 to penny and farthing4 ,another would have summed up his post-excise much more readily2 by merely looking what he--owed2 as these debt-bills and those toll-bills1 like parallel passages1 elucidate and confirm each other4 ,but in ,fixlein's case1 there was a small circumstance of peculiarity at work1 which ,i cannot explain till after what follows4 ,it grieved him a little that for his two offices he had been obliged to pay and to borrow no larger a sum than #ace florins1 #da kreuzers1 and one halfpenny4 ,the legacy1 it is true1 was to pass directly from the hands of the testamentary executor into those of the ,regiments-,quartermaster2 but yet he could have liked well had he--for man is a fool from the very foundation of him--had more to pay1 and therefore to inherit4 ,the whole ,conrectorate he had1 by a slight deposit of #ij florins1 plucked1 as it were1 from the ,wheel of ,fortune2 and so small a sum must surprise my reader2 but what will he say1 when ,i tell him that there are countries where the entry-money into school-rooms is even more moderate8 ,in ,scherau1 a ,conrector is charged only #hh florins1 and perhaps he may have an income triple of this sum4 ,not to speak of ,saxony 7what1 in truth1 was to be expected from the cradle of the ,reformation1 in ,religion and ,polite ,literature71 where a schoolmaster and a parson have nothing to pay1--even in ,baireuth1 for example1 in ,hof1 the progress of improvement has been such that a ,quartus1--a ,quartus1 do ,i say1--a ,tertius--a ,tertius1 do ,i say1--a ,conrector1--at entrance on his post1 is not required to pay down more than3-- ,fl4rhen4 ,kr4rhen4 #cj #di ,for taking the oaths at the ,consistorium4 #d #j ,to the ,syndic for the ,presentation4 #b #j ,to the then ,burgermeister4 #de #ga_/b ,for the ,government-sanction4 --------------- ,total1 #ha fl4 #efa_/b kr4 ,if the printing-charges of a ,rector do stand a little higher in some points1 yet1 on the other hand1 a ,tertius1 ,quartus1 c41 come cheaper from the press than even a ,conrector4 ,now1 it is clear1 that in this case a schoolmaster can subsist2 since1 in the course of the very first year1 he gets an overplus beyond this dockmoney of his office4 ,a schoolmaster must1 like his scholars1 have been advanced from class to class1 before these his loans to ,government1 together with the interest for delay of payment1 can jointly amount to so much as his yearly income in the highest class4 ,another thing in his favor is1 that our institutions do not--as those of ,athens did--prohibit people from entering on office while in debt2 but every man1 with his debt-knapsack on his shoulders1 mounts up1 step after step1 without obstruction4 ,the ,pope1 in large benefices1 appropriates the income of the first year1 under the title of ,annates1 or ,first-,fruits2 and accordingly he1 in all cases1 bestows any large benefice on the possessor of a smaller one1 thereby to augment both his own revenues and those of others2 but it shows1 in my opinion1 a bright distinction between ,popery and ,lutheranism1 that the ,consistoriums of the latter abstract from their school-ministers and church-ministers not perhaps above two thirds of their first yearly income2 though they too1 like the ,pope1 must naturally have an eye to vacancies4 ,it may be that ,i shall here come in collision with the ,elector of ,mentz1 when ,i confess1 that1 in ,schmausen's ,corp4 jur4 pub4 ,germ41 ,i have turned up the ,mentz-,imperial-,court-,chancery-tax-or dinance of the #fth ,january1 #afei1 and there investigated how much this same ,imperial-,court-,chancery demands1 as contrasted with a ,consistorium4 ,for example1 any man that wishes to be baked or sodden into a ,poet ,laureate1 has #ej florins tax-dues1 and #bj florins ,chancery-dues1 to pay down2 whereas1 for #bj florins more1 he might have been made a ,conrector1 who is a poet of this species1 as it were by the by and ex officio4 ,the institution of a ,gymnasium is permitted for #a1jjj florins2 an extraordinary sum1 with which the whole body of the teachers in the instituted ,gymnasium might with us clear off the entry-moneys of their school-rooms4 ,again1 a ,freiherr1 who1 at any rate1 often enough grows old without knowing how1 must purchase the venia aetatis with #bjj hard florins2 while1 with the half sum1 he might have become a schoolmaster1 and here age would have come of its own accord4 ,and a thousand such things6 ,they prove1 however1 that matters can be at no bad pass in our ,governments and ,circles1 where promotions are sold dearer to ,folly than to ,diligence1 and where it costs more to institute a school than to serve in one4 ,the remarks ,i made on this subject to a ,prince1 as well as the remarks a ,town-syndic made on it to myself1 are too remarkable to be omitted for mere dread of digressiveness4 ,the ,syndic--a man of enlarged views1 and of fiery patriotism1 the warmth of which was the more beneficent that he collected all the beams of it into one focus1 and directed them to himself and his family--gave me 7,i had perhaps been comparing the ,school-bench and the ,school-stair to the bench and the ladder1 on which people are laid when about to be tortured7 the best reply3 ,if a schoolmaster consume nothing but #cj reichsthalers2#eb if he annually purchase manufactured goods1 according as ,political ,economists have calculated for each individual1 namely1 to the amount of #e reichsthalers2 and no more hundred-weights of victual than these assume1 namely1 #aj2 in short1 if he live like a substantial wood-cutter1 then the ,devil must be in it if he cannot yearly lay by so much net profit as shall1 in the long run1 pay the interest of his entry debts4 ,the ,syndic must have failed to convince me at that time1 since ,i afterwards told the ,flachsenfingen ,prince3#ec ,illustrious sir1 you know not1 but ,i do1--not a player in your ,theatre would act the ,schoolmaster in ,engel's ,prodigal ,son1 three nights running1 for such a sum as every real ,schoolmaster has to take for acting it all the days of the year4 ,in ,prussia1 invalids are made ,schoolmasters2 with us1 ,schoolmasters are made invalids4 4444 ,but to our story6 ,fixlein wrote out the inventory of his ,crown-debts2 but with quite a different purpose than the reader will guess1 who has still the ,schadeck testament in his head4 ,in one word1 he wanted to be ,parson of ,hukelum4 ,to be a clergyman1 and in the place where his cradle stood1 and all the little gardens of his childhood1 his mother also1 and the grove of betrothment1--this was an open gate into a ,new ,jerusalem1 supposing even that the living had been nothing but a meagre penitentiary4 ,the main point was1 he might marry1 if he were appointed4 ,for1 in the capacity of lank ,conrector1 supported only by the strengthening-girth of his waistcoat1 and with emoluments whereby scarcely the purchase-money of a--purse was to be come at2 in this way he was more like collecting wick and tallow for his burial torch than for his bridal one4 ,for the ,schoolmaster class are1 in well-ordered states1 as little permitted to marry as the soldiery4 ,in ,conringius de ,antiquitatibus ,academicis1 where in every leaf it is proved that all cloisters were originally schools1 ,i hit upon the reason4 ,our schools are now cloisters1 and consequently we endeavor to maintain in our teachers at least an imitation of the ,three ,monastic ,vows4 ,the ,vow of ,obedience might perhaps be sufficiently enforced by ,school-,inspectors2 but the second vow1 that of ,celibacy1 would be more hard of attainment1 were it not that1 by one of the best political arrangements1 the third vow1 ,i mean a beautiful equality in ,poverty1 is so admirably attended to1 that no man who has made it needs any further testimonium paupertatis2--and now let this man1 if he likes1 lay hold of a matrimonial half1 when of the two halves each has a whole stomach1 and nothing for it but half-coins and half-beer6444 ,i know well1 millions of my readers would themselves compose this ,petition for the ,conrector1 and ride with it to ,schadeck to his ,lordship1 that so the poor rogue might get the sheepfold1 with the annexed wedding-mansion2 for they see clearly enough1 that directly thereafter one of the best ,letter-,boxes would be written that ever came from such a repository4 ,fixlein's ,petition was particularly good and striking2 it submitted to the ,rittmeister four grounds of preference3 #a4 ,he was a native of the parish2 his parents and ancestors had already done ,hukelum service2 therefore he prayed1 c4 #b4 ,the here documented official debts of #ace florins1 #da kreuzers1 and one halfpenny1 the cancelling of which a never-to-be-forgotten testament secured him1 he himself could clear1 in case he obtained the living1 and so hereby give up his claim to the legacy1 c4 ,voluntary ,note by me4 ,it is plain he means to bribe his ,godfather1 whom the lady's testament has put into a fume4 ,but1 gentle reader1 blame not without mercy a poor1 oppressed1 heavy-laden school-man and school-horse for an indelicate insinuation1 which truly was never mine4 ,consider1 ,fixlein knew that the ,rittmeister was a cormorant towards the poor1 as he was a squanderer towards the rich4 ,it may be1 too1 the ,conrector might once or twice have heard1 in the ,law ,courts1 of patrons by whom not indeed the church and churchyard--though these things are articles of commerce in ,england--so much as the true management of them1 had been sold1 or rather farmed to farming-candidates4 ,i know from ,lange1#ed that the ,church must support its patron1 when he has nothing to live upon2 and might not a nobleman1 before he actually began begging1 be justified in taking a little advance1 a fore-payment of his alimentary moneys1 from the hands of his pulpit-farmer8-- #c4 ,he had lately betrothed himself with ,fraeulein von ,thiennette1 and given her a piece of gold1 as marriage-pledge2 and could therefore wed the said ,fraeulein1 were he once provided for1 c4 ,voluntary ,note by me4 ,i hold this ground to be the strongest in the whole ,petition4 ,in the eyes of ,herr von ,aufhammer1 ,thiennette's genealogical tree was long since stubbed1 disleaved1 worm-eaten1 and full of millepedes2 she was his ,oeconoma1 his ,castle-,stewardess1 and ,legatess a ,latere for his domestics2 and with her pretensions for an alms-coffer1 was threatening in the end to become a burden to him4 ,his indignant wish that she had been provided for with ,fixlein's legacy might now be fulfilled4 ,in a word1 if ,fixlein become ,parson1 he will have the third ground to thank for it2 not at all the mad fourth4444 #d4 ,he had learned with sorrow1 that the name of his ,shock1 which he had purchased from an ,emigrant at ,leipzig1 meant ,egidius in ,german2 and that the dog had drawn upon him the displeasure of his ,lordship4 ,far be it from him so to designate the ,shock in future2 but he would take it as a special grace1 if for the dog1 which he at present called without any name1 his ,lordship would be pleased to appoint one himself4 ,my ,voluntary ,note4 ,the dog then1 it seems1 to which the nobleman has hitherto been godfather1 is to receive its name a second time from him6--,but how can the famishing gardener's son1 whose career never mounted higher than from the school-bench to the school-chair1 and who never spoke with polished ladies1 except singing1 namely in the church1 how can he be expected1 in fingering such a string1 to educe from it any finer tone than the pedantic one8 ,and yet the source of it lies deeper2 not the contracted situation1 but the contracted eye1 not a favorite science1 but a narrow plebeian soul1 makes us pedantic1--a soul that cannot measure and separate the concentric circles of human knowledge and activity1 that confounds the focus of universal human life1 by reason of the focal distance1 with every two or three converging rays2 and that cannot see all1 and tolerate all---- ,in short1 the true ,pedant is the ,intolerant4 ,the ,conrector wrote out his ,petition splendidly in five propitious evenings2 employed a peculiar ink for the purpose2 worked not indeed so long over it as the stupid ,manucius over a ,latin letter1 namely1 some months1 if ,scioppius's word is to be taken2 still less so long as another scholar at a ,latin epistle1 who--truly we have nothing but ,morhof's word for it--hatched it during four whole months2 inserting his variations1 adjectives1 feet1 with the authorities for his phrases1 accurately marked between the lines4 ,fixlein possessed a more thoroughgoing genius1 and had completely mastered the whole enterprise in sixteen days4 ,while sealing1 he thought1 as we all do1 how this cover was the seed-husk of a great entire ,future1 the rind of many sweet or bitter fruits1 the swathing of his whole after life4 ,heaven bless his cover2 but ,i let you throw me from the ,tower of ,babel1 if he get the parsonage2 can't you see1 then1 that ,aufhammer's hands are tied8 ,in spite of all his other faults1 or even because of them1 he will stand like iron by his word1 which he has given so long ago to the ,subrector4 ,it were another matter had he been resident at ,court2 for there1 where old ,german manners still are1 no promise is kept2 for as1 according to ,moeser1 the ,ancient ,germans kept only such promises as they made in the forenoon 7in the afternoon they were all dead-drunk71--so the ,court ,germans likewise keep no afternoon promise2 forenoon ones they would keep if they made any1 which1 however1 cannot possibly happen1 as at those hours they are--sleeping4 ,,seventh ,,letter-,,box4 ,sermon4--,school-,exhibition4--,splendi d ,mistake4 ,the ,conrector received his #ace florins1 #dc kreuzers1 one halfpenny ,frankish2 but no answer2 the dog remained without name1 his master without parsonage4 ,meanwhile the summer passed away2 and the ,dragoon ,rittmeister had yet drawn out no pike from the ,candidate breeding-pond1 and thrown him into the feeding-pond of the ,hukelum parsonage4 ,it gratified him to be behung with prayers like a ,spanish guardian ,saint2 and he postponed 7though determined to prefer the ,subrector7 granting any one petition1 till he had seven-and-thirty dyers'1 button-makers'1 tinsmiths' sons1 whose petitions he could at the same time refuse4 ,grudge not him of ,aufhammer this outlengthening of his electorial power6 ,he knows the privileges of rank2 feels that a nobleman is like ,timoleon1 who gained his greatest victories on his birthday1 and had nothing more to do than name some squiress1 countess1 or the like1 as his mother4 ,a man1 however1 who has been exalted to the ,peerage1 while still a foetus1 may with more propriety be likened to the spinner1 which1 contrariwise to all other insects1 passes from the chrysalis state1 and becomes a perfect insect in its mother's womb4-- ,but to proceed6 ,fixlein was at present not without cash4 ,it will be the same as if ,i made a present of it to the reader1 when ,i reveal to him1 that of the legacy1 which was clearing off old scores1 he had still #ce florins left to himself1 as allodium and pocket-money1 wherewith he might purchase whatsoever seemed good to him4 ,and how came he by so large a sum1 by so considerable a competence8 ,simply by this means2 every time he changed a piece of gold1 and especially at every payment he received1 it had been his custom to throw in1 blindly at random1 two1 three1 or four small coins1 among the papers of his trunk4 ,his purpose was to astonish himself one day1 when he summed up and took possession of this sleeping capital4 ,and1 by ,heaven6 he reached it too1 when1 on mounting the throne of his ,conrectorate1 he drew out these funds from his papers1 and applied them to the coronation charges4 ,for the present1 he sowed them in again among his waste letters4 ,foolish ,fixlein6 ,i mean1 had he not luckily exposed his legacy to jeopardy1 having offered it as bounty-money and luckpenny to the patron1 this false clutch of his at the knocker of the ,hukelum church door1 would certainly have vexed him2 but now1 if he had missed the knocker1 he had the luckpenny again1 and could be merry4 ,i now advance a little way in his ,history1 and hit1 in the rock of his ,life1 upon so fine a vein of silver1 ,i mean upon so fine a day1 that ,i must 7,i believe7 content myself even in regard to the twenty-third of ,trinity-term1 when he preached a vacation sermon in his dear native village1 with a brief transitory notice4 ,in itself the sermon was good and glorious2 and the day a rich day of pleasure2 but ,i should really need to have more hours at my disposal than ,i can steal from ,may1 in which ,i am at present living and writing2 and more strength than wandering through this fine weather has left me for landscape pictures of the same1 before ,i could attempt1 with any well-founded hope1 to draw out a mathematical estimate of the length and thickness1 and the vibrations and accordant relations to each other1 of the various strings1 which combined together to form for his heart a ,music of the ,spheres1 on this day of ,trinity-term1 though such a thing would please myself as much as another4444 ,do not ask me6 ,in my opinion1 when a man preaches on ,sunday1 before all the peasants1 who had carried him in their arms when a gardener's boy2 further1 before his mother1 who is leading off her tears through the conduit of her satin muff2 further1 before his ,lordship1 whom he can positively command to be blessed2 and finally before his muslin bride1 who is already blessed1 and changing almost into stone1 to find that the same lips can both kiss and preach2 in my opinion1 ,i say1 when a man effects all this1 he has some right to require of any ,biographer who would paint his situation1 that he--hold his jaw2 and of the reader who would sympathize with it1 that he open his1 and preach himself4---- ,but what ,i must ex officio depict1 is the day to which this ,sunday was but the prelude1 the vigil1 and the whet2 ,i mean the prelude1 the vigil1 and the whet to the ,martini ,actus1 or ,martinmas ,exhibition of his school4 ,on ,sunday was the sermon1 on ,wednesday the ,actus1 on ,tuesday the ,rehearsal4 ,this ,tuesday shall now be delineated to the universe4 ,i count upon it that ,i shall not be read by mere people of the world alone1 to whom a ,school-,actus cannot truly appear much better1 or more interesting1 than some ,investiture of a ,bishop1 or the opera seria of ,frankfort ,coronation2 but that ,i likewise have people before me1 who have been at schools1 and who know how the ,school-,drama of an ,actus and the stage-manager1 and the playbill 7the programme7 thereof are to be estimated1 still without overrating their importance4 ,before proceeding to the ,rehearsal of the ,martini ,actus1 ,i impose upon myself1 as dramaturgist of the play1 the duty1 if not of extracting1 at least of recording1 the ,conrector's ,letter of ,invitation4 ,in this composition he said many things2 and 7what an author likes so well7 made proposals rather than reproaches2 interrogatively reminding the public1 whether1 in regard to the well-known head-breakages of ,priscian on the part of the ,magnates in ,pest and ,poland1 our school-houses were not the best quarantine and lazar-houses to protect us against infectious barbarisms8 ,moreover1 he defended in schools what could be defended 7and nothing in the world is sweeter or easier than a defence72 and said1 ,schoolmasters1 who1 not quite justifiably1 like certain ,courts1 spoke nothing1 and let nothing be spoken to them1 but ,latin1 might plead the ,romans in excuse1 whose subjects1 and whose kings1 at least in their epistles and public transactions1 were obliged to make use of the ,latin tongue4 ,he wondered why only our ,greek1 and not also oar ,latin ,grammars1 were composed in ,latin1 and put the pregnant question1 whether the ,romans1 when they taught their little children the ,latin tongue1 did it in any other than in this same4 ,thereupon he went over to the ,actus1 and said what follows1 in his own words3-- ,i am minded to prove1 in a subsequent ,invitation1 that everything which can be said or known about the great founder of the ,reformation1 the subject of our present ,martini ,prolusions1 has been long ago exhausted1 as well by ,seckendorf as others4 ,in fact1 with regard to ,luther's personalities1 his table-talk1 incomes1 journeys1 clothes1 and so forth1 there can now nothing new be brought forward1 if at the same time it is to be true4 ,nevertheless1 the field of the ,reformation history is1 to speak in a figure1 by no means wholly cultivated2 and it does appear to me as if the inquirer even of the present day might in vain look about for correct intelligence respecting the children1 grandchildren1 and children's children1 down to our own times1 of this great ,reformer2 all of whom1 however1 appertain1 in a more remote degree1 to the ,reformation history1 as he himself in a nearer4 ,thou shalt not perhaps be threshing1 said ,i to myself1 altogether empty straw1 if1 according to thy small ability1 thou bring forward and cultivate this neglected branch of ,history4 ,and so have ,i ventured1 with the last male descendant of ,luther1 namely1 with the ,advocate ,martin ,gottlob ,luther1 who practised in ,dresden1 and deceased there in #agei1 to make a beginning of a more special ,reformation history4 ,my feeble attempt1 in regard to this ,reformationary ,advocate1 will be sufficiently rewarded1 should it excite to better works on the subject2 however1 the little which ,i have succeeded in digging up and collecting with regard to him ,i here submissively1 obediently1 and humbly request all friends and patrons of the ,flachsenfingen ,gymnasium to listen to1 on the #adth of ,november1 from the mouths of six well-conditioned perorators4 ,in the first place1 shall ,gottlieb ,spiesglass1 a ,flachsenfinger1 endeavor to show1 in a ,latin oration1 that ,martin ,gottlob ,luther was certainly descended of the ,luther family4 ,after him strives ,friedrich ,christian ,krabbler1 from ,hukelum1 in ,german prose1 to appreciate the influence which ,martin ,gottlob ,luther exercised on the then existing ,reformation2 whereupon1 after him1 will ,daniel ,lorenz ,stenzinger deliver1 in ,latin verse1 an account of ,martin ,gottlob ,luther's lawsuits2 embracing the probable merits of ,advocates generally1 in regard to the ,reformation4 ,which then will give opportunity to ,nikol ,tobias ,pfizman to come forward in ,french1 and recount the most important circumstances of ,martin ,gottlob ,luther's school-years1 university-life1 and riper age4 ,and now1 when ,andreas ,eintarm shall have endeavored1 in ,german verse1 to apologize for the possible failings of this representative of the great ,luther1 will ,justus ,strobel1 in ,latin verse according to ability1 sing his uprightness and integrity in the ,advocate profession2 whereafter ,i myself shall mount the cathedra1 and most humbly thank all the patrons of the ,flachsenfingen ,school1 and then further bring forward those portions in the life of this remarkable man1 of which we yet know absolutely nothing1 they being spared1 ,deo volente1 for the speakers of the next ,martini ,actus4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the day before the ,actus offered as it were the proof-shot and sample-sheet of the ,wednesday4 ,persons who on account of dress could not be present at the great school-festival1 especially ladies1 made their appearance on ,tuesday1 during the six proof-orations4 ,no one can be readier than ,i to subordinate the proof-,actus to the ,wednesday-,actus2 and ,i do anything but need being stimulated suitably to estimate the solemn feast of a ,school2 but1 on the other hand1 ,i am equally convinced that no one1 who did not go to the real ,actus of ,wednesday1 could possibly figure anything more splendid than the proof-day preceding2 because he could have no object wherewith to compare the pomp in which the ,primate of the festival drove in with his triumphal chariot and six--to call the six brethren-speakers coach-horses--next morning in presence of ladies and ,councillor gentleman4 ,smile away1 ,fixlein1 at this astonishment over thy today's ,ovation1 which is leading on to-morrow's ,triumph2 on thy dissolving countenance quivers happy ,self1 feeding on these incense-fumes2 but a vanity like thine1 and that only1 which enjoys without comparing or despising1 can one tolerate1 will one foster4 ,but what flowed over all his heart1 like a melting sunbeam over wax1 was his mother1 who after much persuasion had ventured in her ,sunday's clothes humbly to place herself quite low down1 beside the door of the ,prima class-room4 ,it were difficult to say who is happier1 the mother1 beholding how he whom she has borne under her heart can direct such noble young gentlemen1 and hearing how he along with them can talk of these really high things and understand them too2--or the son1 who1 like some of the heroes of ,antiquity1 has the felicity of triumphing in the lifetime of his mother4 ,i have never in my writings or doings cast a stone upon the late ,burchardt ,grossmann1 who1 under the initial letters of the stanzas in his song ,brich an1 du liebe ,morgenroethe1 inserted the letters of his own name2 and still less have ,i ever censured any poor herb-woman for smoothing out her winding-sheet1 while still living1 and making herself one twelfth of a dozen of grave-shifts4 ,nor do ,i regard the man as wise--though indeed as very clever and pedantic--who can fret his gall-bladder full because every one of us leaf-miners views the leaf whereon he is mining as a park-garden1 as a fifth ,quarter of the ,world 7so near and rich is it72 the leaf-pores as so many ,valleys of ,tempe1 the leaf-skeleton as a ,liberty-tree1 a ,bread-tree1 and ,life-tree1 and the dewdrops as the ,ocean4 ,we poor day-moths1 evening-moths1 and night-moths fall universally into the same error1 only on different leaves2 and whosoever 7as ,i do7 laughs at the important airs with which the schoolmaster issues his programmes1 the dramaturgist his playbills1 the classical variation-alms-gatherer his alphabetic letters1--does it1 if he is wise 7as is the case here71 with the consciousness of his own similar folly2 and laughs1 in regard to his neighbor1 at nothing but mankind and himself4 ,the mother was not to be detained2 she must off1 this very night1 to ,hukelum1 to give the ,fraeulein ,thiennette at least some tidings of this glorious business4-- ,and now the ,world will bet a hundred to one1 that ,i forthwith take biographical wax1 and emboss such a wax-figure cabinet of the ,actus itself as shall be single of its kind4 ,but on ,wednesday morning1 while the hope-intoxicated ,conrector was just about putting on his fine raiment1 something knocked4---- ,it was the well-known servant of the ,rittmeister1 carrying the ,hukelum ,presentation for the ,subrector ,fuechslein in his pocket4 ,to the last-named gentleman he had been sent with this call to the parsonage2 but he had distinguished ill betwixt ,sub and ,conrector2 and had besides his own good reasons for directing his steps to the latter2 for he thought1 ,who can it be that gets it1 but the parson that preached last ,sunday1 and that comes from the village1 and is engaged to our ,fraeulein ,thiennette1 and to whom ,i brought a clock and a roll of ducats already8 ,that his ,lordship could pass over his own godson never entered the man's head4 ,fixlein read the address of the ,appointment3 ,to the ,reverend the ,parson ,fixlein of ,hukelum4 ,he naturally enough made the same mistake as the lackey2 and broke up the ,presentation as his own2 and finding moreover in the body of the paper no special mention of persons1 but only of a ,schul-unterbefehlshaber1 or ,school-undergovernor 7instead of ,subrector71 he could not but persist in his error4 ,before ,i properly explain why the ,rittmeister's ,lawyer1 the framer of the ,presentation1 had so designated a ,subrector--we two1 the reader and myself1 will keep an eye for a moment on ,fixlein's joyful salutations--on his gratefully-streaming eyes--on his full hands so laden with bounty--on the present of two ducats1 which he drops into the hands of the mitre-bearer1 as willingly as he will soon drop his own pedagogic office4 ,could he tell what to think 7of the ,rittmeister71 or to write 7to the same71 or to table 7for the lackey78 ,did he not ask tidings of the noble health of his benefactor over and over1 though the servant answered him with all distinctness at the very first8 ,and was not this same man1 who belonged to the nose-upturning1 shoulder-shrugging1 shoulder-knotted1 toad-eating species of men1 at last so moved by the joy which he had imparted1 that he determined1 on the spot1 to bestow his presence on the new clergyman's ,school-,actus1 though no person of quality whatever was to be there8 ,fixlein1 in the first place1 sealed his letter of thanks2 and courteously invited this messenger of good news to visit him frequently in the ,parsonage2 and to call this evening1 in passing1 at his mother's1 and give her a lecture for not staying last night1 when she might have seen the ,presentation from his ,lordship arrive to-day4 ,the lackey being gone1 ,fixlein for joy began to grow sceptical--and timorous 7wherefore1 to prevent filching1 he stowed his ,presentation securely in his coffer1 under keeping of two padlocks72 and devout and softened1 since he thanked ,god without scruple for all good that happened to him1 and never wrote this ,eternal ,name but in pulpit characters1 and with colored ink2 as the ,jewish copyists never wrote it except ornamental letters and when newly washed2#ee--;and deaf also did the parson1 grow1 so that he scarcely heard the soft wooing-hour of the ,actus--for a still softer one beside ,thiennette1 with its rose-bushes and rose-honey1 would not leave his thoughts4 ,he who of old1 when ,fortune made a wry face at him1 was wont1 like children in their sport at one another1 to laugh at her so long till she herself was obliged to begin smiling--he was now flying as on a huge seesaw higher and higher1 quicker and quicker aloft4 ,but before the ,actus1 let us examine the ,schadeck ,lawyer4 ,fixlein instead of ,fuechslein#ef he had written from uncertainty about the spelling of the name2 the more naturally as in transcribing the ,rittmeisterinn's will the former had occurred so often4 ,von1 this triumphal arch1 he durst not set up before ,fuechslein's new name1 because ,aufhammer forbade it1 considering ,hans ,fuechslein as a mushroom1 who had no right to vons and titles of nobility1 for all his patents4 ,in fine1 the ,presentation-writer was possessed with ,campe's#eg whim of ,germanizing everything1 minding little though when ,germanized it should cease to be intelligible2--as if a word needed any better act of naturalization than that which universal unintelligibility imparts to it4 ,in itself it is the same--the rather as all languages1 like all men1 are cognate1 intermarried and intermixed--whether a word was invented by a savage or a foreigner2 whether it grew up like moss amid the ,german forests1 or like street-grass1 in the pavement of the ,roman ,forum4 ,the ,lawyer1 on the other hand1 contended that it was different2 and accordingly he hid not from any of his clients that ,tagefarth 7,day-turn7 meant ,term1 and that ,appealing was ,berufen 7,becalling74 ,on this principle1 he dressed the word ,subrector in the new livery of ,school-undergovernor4 ,and this version further converted the ,schoolmaster into ,parson2 to such a degree does our civic fortune--not our personal well-being1 which supports itself on our own internal soil and resources--grow merely on the drift-mould of accidents1 connections1 acquaintances1 and ,heaven or the ,devil knows what6-- ,by the by1 from a ,lawyer1 at the same time a ,country ,judge1 ,i should certainly have looked for more sense2 ,i should 7,i may be mistaken7 have presumed he knew that the ,acts1 or ,reports1 which in former times 7see ,hoffmann's ,german or un-,german ,law-practice7 were written in ,latin1 as before the times of ,joseph the ,hungarian1--are now1 if we may say so without offence1 perhaps written fully more in the ,german dialect than in the ,latin2 and in support of this opinion1 ,i can point to whole lines of ,german language to be found in these ,imperial-,court-,confessions4 ,however1 ,i will not believe that the ,jurist is endeavoring1 because ,imhofer declares the ,roman tongue to be the mother tongue in the other world1 to disengage himself from a language1 by means of which1 like the ,roman ,eagle1 or later1 like the ,roman ,fish-heron 7,pope71 he has clutched such abundant booty in his talons4---- ,toll1 toll your bell for the ,actus2 stream in1 in to the ceremony2 who cares for it8 ,neither ,i nor the ,ex-,conrector4 ,the six pygmy ,ciceros will in vain set forth before us in sumptuous dress their thoughts and bodies4 ,the draught-wind of ,chance has blown away from the ,actus its powder-nimbus of glory2 and the ,conrector that was has discovered how small a matter a cathedra is1 and how great a one a pulpit4 ,i should not have thought1 thought he now1 when ,i became ,conrector1 that there could be anything grander1 ,i mean a parson4 ,man1 behind his everlasting blind1 which he only colors differently1 and makes no thinner1 carries his pride with him from one step to another2 and on the higher step1 blames only the pride of the lower4 ,the best of the ,actus was1 that the ,regiments-,quartermaster and ,master ,butcher1 ,steinberg1 attended there1 embaled in a long woollen shag4 ,during the solemnity1 the ,subrector ,hans von ,fuechslein cast several gratified and inquiring glances on the ,schadeck servant1 who did not once look at him4 ,hans would have staked his head1 that1 after the ,actus1 the fellow would wait upon him4 ,when at last the sextuple cockerel-brood had on their dunghill done crowing1 that is to say1 had perorated1 the scholastic cocker1 over whom a higher banner was now waving1 himself came upon the stage2 and delivered to the ,school-,inspectorships1 to the ,subrectorship1 to the ,guardianship1 and the lackeyship1 his most grateful thanks for their attendance2 shortly1 announcing to them at the same time1 that ,providence had now called him from his post to another2 and committed to him1 unworthy as he was1 the cure of souls in the ,hukelum parish1 as well as in the ,schadeck chapel of ease4 ,this little address1 to appearance1 wellnigh blew up the then ,subrector ,hans von ,fuechslein from his chair2 and his face looked of a mingled color1 like red bole1 green chalk1 tinsel-yellow1 and vomissement de la reine4 ,the tall ,quartermaster erected himself considerably in his shag1 and hummed loud enough in happy forgetfulness3 ,the ,dickens6--,parson8---- ,the ,subrector dashed by like a comet before the lackey2 ordered him to call and take a letter for his master2 strode home1 and prepared for his patron1 who at ,schadeck was waiting for a long thanksgiving psalm1 a short satirical epistle1 as nervous as haste would permit1 and mingled a few nicknames and verbal injuries along with it4 ,the courier handed in to his master ,fixlein's song of gratitude and ,fuechslein's invectives with the same hand4 ,the dragoon ,rittmeister1 incensed at the ill-mannered churl1 and bound to his word1 which ,fixlein had publicly announced in his ,actus1 forthwith wrote back to the new ,parson an acceptance and ratification2 and ,fixlein is and remains1 to the joy of us all1 incontestible ordained parson of ,hukelum4 ,his disappointed rival has still this consolation1 that he holds a seat in the wasp-nest of the ,neue ,allgemeine ,deutsche ,bibliothek4#eh ,should the ,parson ever chrysalize himself into an author1 the watch-wasp may then buzz out1 and dart its sting into the chrysalis1 and put its own brood in the room of the murdered butterfly4 ,as the ,subrector everywhere went about1 and threatened in plain terms that he would review his colleague1 let not the public be surprised that ,fixlein's ,errata1 and his ,masoretic ,exercitationes1 are to this hour withheld from it4 ,in spring1 the widowed church receives her new husband2 and how it will be1 when ,fixlein1 under a canopy of flower-trees1 takes the ,sponsa ,christi in one hand1 and his own ,sponsa in the other1--this without an ,eighth ,letter-,box1 which1 in the present case1 may be a true jewel-box and rainbow-key1#ei can no mortal figure1 except the ,sponsus himself4 ,,eighth ,,letter-,,box4 ,instalment in the ,parsonage4 ,on the #aeth of ,april1 #agic1 the reader may observe1 far down in the hollow1 three baggage-wagons groaning along4 ,these baggage-wagons are transporting the house-gear of the new ,parson to ,hukelum2 the proprietor himself1 with a little escort of his parishioners1 is marching at their side1 that of his china sets and household furniture there may be nothing broken in the eighteenth century1 as the whole came down to him unbroken from the seventeenth4 ,fixlein hears the ,school-bell ringing behind him2 but this chime now sings to him1 like a curfew1 the songs of future rest2 he is now escaped from the ,death-valley of the ,gymnasium1 and admitted into the abodes of the ,blessed4 ,here dwells no envy1 no colleague1 no ,subrector2 here1 in the heavenly country1 no man works in the ,new ,universal ,german ,library2 here in the heavenly ,hukelumic ,jerusalem1 they do nothing but sing praises in the church2 and here the ,perfected requires no more increase of knowledge4444 ,here1 too1 one needs not sorrow that ,sunday and ,saint's day so often fall together into one4 ,truth to tell1 the parson goes too far2 but it was his way from of old never to paint out the whole and half shadows of a situation till he was got into a new one2 the beauties of which he could then enhance by contrast with the former4 ,for it requires little reflection to discover that the torments of a ,schoolmaster are nothing so extraordinary2 but1 on the contrary1 as in the ,gymnasium1 he mounts from one degree to another1 not very dissimilar to the common torments of ,hell1 which1 in spite of their eternity1 grow weaker from century to century4 ,moreover1 since1 according to the saying of a ,frenchman1 deux afflictions mises ensemble peuvent devener une consolation1 a man gets afflictions enow in a school to console him2 seeing out of eight combined afflictions--reckon only one for every teacher--certainly more comfort is to be extracted than out of two4 ,the only pity is1 that school-people will never act towards each other as court-people do3 none but polished men and polished glasses will readily cohere4 ,in addition to all this1 in schools--and in offices generally--one is always recompensed2 for1 as in the second life a greater virtue is the recompense of an earthly one1 so1 in the ,schoolmaster's case1 his merits are always rewarded by more opportunities for new merits2 and often enough he is not dismissed from his post at all4-- ,eight ,gymnasiasts are trotting about in the ,parsonage1 setting up1 nailing to1 hauling in4 ,i think1 as a scholar of ,plutarch1 ,i am right to introduce such seeming minutiae4 ,a man whom grown-up people love1 children love still more4 ,the whole school had smiled on the smiling ,fixlein1 and liked him-in their hearts1 because he did not thunder1 but sport with them2 because he said ,sie 7,they71 to the ,secundaners1 and the ,subrector said ,ihr 7,ye72 because his uprearing forefinger was his only sceptre and baculus2 because in the ,secunda he had interchanged ,latin epistles with his scholars2 and in the ,quinta had taught not with ,napier's ,rods 7or rods of a sharper description71 but with sticks of barley-sugar4 ,to-day his churchyard appeared to him so solemn and festive1 that he wondered 7though it was ,monday7 why his parishioners were not in their holiday1 but merely in their week-day drapery4 ,under the door of the ,parsonage stood a weeping woman2 for she was too happy1 and he was her--son4 ,yet the mother1 in the height of her emotion1 contrives quite readily to call upon the carriers1 while disloading1 not to twist off the four corner globes from the old ,frankish chest of drawers4 ,her son now appeared to her as venerable as if he had sat for one of the copperplates in her pictured ,bible2 and that simply because he had cast off his pedagogue hair-cue1 as the ripening tadpole does its tail2 and was now standing in a clerical periwig before her2 he was now a ,comet1 soaring away from the profane ,earth1 and had accordingly changed from a stella caudata into a stella crinita4 ,his bride also had1 on former days1 given sedulous assistance in this new improved edition of his house1 and labored faithfully among the other furnishers and furbishers4 ,but to-day she kept aloof2 for she was too good to forget the maiden in the bride4 ,love1 like men1 dies oftener of excess than of hunger2 it lives on love1 but it resembles those ,alpine flowers which feed themselves by suction from the wet clouds1 and die if you besprinkle them4 ,at length the ,parson is settled1 and of course he must--for ,i know my fair readers1 who are bent on it as if they were bridemaids--without delay get married4 ,but he may not2 before ,ascension-day there can nothing be done1 and till then are full four weeks and a half4 ,the matter was this4 ,he wished in the first place to have the murder-,sunday1 the ,cantata1 behind him2 not indeed because he doubted of his earthly continuance1 but because he would not 7even for the bride's sake7 that the slightest apprehension should mingle with these weeks of glory4 ,the main reason was1 he did not wish to marry till he were betrothed2 which latter ceremony was appointed1 with the ,introduction ,sermon1 to take place next ,sunday4 ,it is the ,cantata-,sunday4 ,let not the reader afflict himself with fears4 ,indeed1 ,i should not have molested an enlightened century with this ,sunday-,wauwau at all1 were it not that ,i delineate with such extreme fidelity4 ,fixlein himself--especially as the ,quartermaster asked him if he was a baby--at last grew so sensible that he saw the folly of it2 nay1 he went so far that he committed a greater folly4 ,for as dreaming that you die signifies1 according to the exegetic rule of false1 nothing else than long life and welfare1 so did ,fixlein easily infer that his death-imagination was just such a lucky dream2 the rather as it was precisely on this ,cantata-,sunday that ,fortune had turned up her cornucopia over him1 and at once showered down out of it a bride1 a presentation1 and a roll of ducats4 ,thus can ,superstition imp its wings1 let ,chance favor it or not4 ,a ,secretary of ,state1 a ,peace-,treaty writer1 a ,notary1 any such incarcerated ,slave of the ,desk1 feels excellently well how far he is beneath a ,parson composing his inaugural sermon4 ,the latter 7do but look at my ,fixlein7 lays himself heartily over the paper1--injects the venous system of his sermon-preparation with colored ink1--has a ,text-,concordance on the right side1 and a ,song-,concordance on the left2 is there digging out a marrowy sentence1 here clipping off a song-blossom1 with both to garnish his homiletic pastry2--sketches out the finest plan of operations1 not1 like a man of the world1 to subdue the heart of one woman1 but the hearts of all women that hear him1 and of their husbands to boot2 draws every peasant passing by his window into some niche of his discourse1 to co-operate with the result2--and1 finally1 scoops out the butter of the smooth1 soft hymn-book1 and therewith exquisitely fattens the black broth of his sermon1 which is to feed five thousand men4---- ,at last1 in the evening1 as the red sun is dazzling him at the desk1 he can rise with heart free from guilt2 and1 amid twittering sparrows and finches1 over the cherry-trees encircling the parsonage1 look toward the west1 till there is nothing more in the sky but a faint gleam among the clouds4 ,and then when ,fixlein1 amid the tolling of the evening prayer-bell1 slowly descends the stair to his cooking mother1 there must be some miracle in the case1 if for him whatever has been done or baked1 or served up in the lower regions1 is not right and good4444 ,a bound1 after supper1 into the ,castle2 a look into a pure loving eye2 a word without falseness to a bride without falseness2 and then under the coverlet1 a soft-breathing breast1 in which there is nothing but ,paradise1 a sermon1 and evening prayer4444 ,i swear1 with this ,i will satisfy a ,mythic ,god1 who has left his ,heaven1 and is seeking a new one among us here below6 ,can a mortal1 can a ,me in the wet clay of ,earth1 which ,death will soon dry into dust1 ask more in one week than ,fixlein is gathering into his heart8 ,i see not how4 ,at least ,i should suppose1 if such a dust-framed being1 after such a twenty-thousand prize from the ,lottery of ,chance1 could require aught more1 it would at most be the twenty-one-thousand prize1 namely1 the inaugural discourse itself4 ,and this prize our ,zebedaeus actually drew on ,sunday2 he preached1--he preached with unction1----he did it before the crowding1 rustling press of people2 before his ,guardian1 and before the ,lord of ,aufhammer1 the godfather of the priest and the dog2--a flock1 with whom in ,childhood he had driven out the ,castle herds about the pasture1 he was now1 himself a spiritual sheep-smearer1 leading out to pasture2--he was standing to the ankles among ,candidates and ,schoolmasters1 for to-day 7what none of them could7 at the altar1 with the nail of his finger1 he might scratch a large cross in the air1 baptisms and marriages not once mentioned4444 ,i believe ,i should feel less scrupulous than ,i do to checker this sunshiny esplanade with that thin shadow of the grave which the preacher threw over it1 when1 in the application1 with wet1 heavy eyes1 he looked round over the mute1 attentive church1 as if in some corner of it he would seek the mouldering teacher of his youth and of this congregation1 who without1 under the white tombstone1 the wrong-side of life1 had laid away the garment of his pious spirit4 ,and when he1 himself hurried on by the internal stream1 inexpressibly softened by the further recollections of his own fear of death on this day1 of his life now overspread with flowers and benefits1 of his entombed benefactress resting here in her narrow bed1--when he now1 before the dissolving countenance of her friend1 his ,thiennette1 overpowered1 motionless1 and weeping1 looked down from the pulpit to the door of the ,schadeck vault1 and said3 ,thanks1 thou pious soul1 for the good thou hast done to this flock and to their new teacher2 and1 in the fulness of time1 may the dust of thy god-fearing and man-loving breast gather itself1 transfigured as gold-dust1 round thy reawakened heavenly heart1--was there an eye in the audience dry8 ,her husband sobbed aloud1 and ,thiennette1 her beloved1 bowed her head1 sinking down with inconsolable remembrances1 over the front of the seat1 like kindred mourners in a funeral train4 ,no fairer forenoon could prepare the way for an afternoon in which a man was to betroth himself forever1 and to unite the exchanged rings with the ,ring of ,eternity4 ,except the bridal pair1 there was none present but an ancient pair2 the mother and the long ,guardian4 ,the bridegroom wrote out the marriage-contract or marriage-charter with his own hand2 hereby making over to his bride1 from this day1 his whole movable property 7not1 as you may suppose1 his pocket-library1 but his whole library2 whereas1 in the ,middle ,ages1 the daughter of a noble was glad to get one or two books for marriage-portion72--in return for which1 she liberally enough contributed--a whole nuptial coach or car1 laden as follows3 with nine pounds of feathers1 not feathers for the cap such as we carry1 but of the lighter sort such as carry us2--with a sumptuous dozen of godchild-plates and godchild-spoons 7gifts from ,schadeck71 together with a fish-knife2--of silk1 not only stockings 7though even ,king ,henry ,,ii4 of ,france could dress no more than his legs in silk71 but whole gowns2--with jewels and other furnishings of smaller value4 ,good ,thiennette6 in the chariot of thy spirit lies the true dowry2 namely1 thy noble1 soft1 modest heart1 the morning-gift of ,nature6 ,the ,parson--who1 not from mistrust1 but from the uncertainty of life1 could have wished for a notary's seal on everything2 to whom no security but a hypothecary one appeared sufficient2 and who1 in the depositing of every barleycorn1 required quittances and contracts--had now1 when the marriage-charter was completed1 a lighter heart2 and through the whole evening the good man ceased not to thank his bride for what she had given him4 ,to me1 however1 a marriage-contract were a thing as painful and repulsive1--,i confess it candidly1 though you should in consequence upbraid me with my great youth1--as if ,i had to take my love-letter to a ,notary ,imperial1 and make him docket and countersign it before it could be sent4 ,heavens6 to see the light flower of ,love1 whose perfume acts not on the balance1 so laid like tulip-bulbs on the hay-beam of ,law2 two hearts on the cold councillor and flesh-beam of relatives and ,advocates1 who are heaping on the scales nothing but houses1 fields1 and tin1--this1 to the interested party1 maybe as delightful as1 to the intoxicated suckling and nursling of the ,muses and ,philosophy1 it is to carry the evening and morning sacrifices he has offered up to his goddess into the book-shop1 and there to change his devotions into money1 and sell them by weight and measure4---- ,from ,cantata-,sunday to ,ascension1 that is1 to marriage-day1 are one and a half weeks--or one and a half blissful eternities4 ,if it is pleasant that nights or winter separate the days and seasons of joy to a comfortable distance2 if1 for example1 it is pleasant that birthday1 ,saint's-day1 betrothment1 marriage1 and baptismal day1 do not all occur on the same day 7for with very few do those festivities1 like ,holiday and ,apostle's day1 commerge71--then is it still more pleasant to make the interval1 the flower-border1 between betrothment and marriage1 of an extraordinary breadth4 ,before the marriage-day are the true honey-weeks2 then come the wax-weeks2 then the honey-vinegar-weeks4 ,in the ,ninth ,letter-,box our ,parson celebrates his wedding2 and here1 in the ,eighth1 ,i shall just briefly skim over his way and manner of existence till then2 an existence1 as might have been expected1 celestial enough4 ,to few is it allotted1 as it was to him1 to have at once such wings and such flowers 7to fly over7 before his nuptials2 to few is it allotted1 ,i imagine1 to purchase flour and poultry on the same day1 as ,fixlein did2--to stuff the wedding-turkey with hangman-meals2--to go every night into the stall1 and see whether the wedding-pig1 which his ,guardian had given him by way of marriage-present1 is still standing and eating2--to spy out for his future wife the flax-magazines and clothes-press-niches in the house2--to lay in new wood-stores in the prospect of winter2--to obtain from the ,consistorium directly1 and for little smart-money1 their ,bull of ,dispensation1 their remission of the threefold proclamation of banns2--to live not in a city1 where you must send to every fool 7because you are one yourself71 and disclose to him that you are going to be married2 but in a little angular hamlet1 where you have no one to tell aught1 but simply the ,schoolmaster that he is to ring a little later1 and put a knee-cushion before the altar4---- ,o1 if the ,ritter ,michaelis maintains that ,paradise was little1 because otherwise the people would not have found each other1--a hamlet and its joys are little and narrow1 so that some shadow of ,eden may still linger on our ,ball4---- ,i have not even hinted that1 the day before the wedding1 the ,regiments-,quartermaster came uncalled1 and killed the pig1 and made puddings gratis1 such as were never eaten at any ,court4 ,and besides1 dear ,fixlein1 on this soft1 rich oil of joy there was also floating gratis a vernal sun1--and red twilights1--and flower-garlands1--and a bursting half-world of buds6444 ,how didst thou behave thee in these hot whirlpools of pleasure8--,thou movedst thy ,fishtail 7,reason71 and therewith describedst for thyself a rectilineal course through the billows4 ,for even half as much would have hurried another ,parson from his study2 but the very crowning felicity of ours was1 that he stood as if rooted to the boundary-hill of ,moderation1 and from thence looked down on what thousands flout away4 ,sitting opposite the ,castle-windows1 he was still in a condition to reckon up that ,amen occurs in the ,bible one hundred and thirty times4 ,nay1 to his old learned laboratory he now appended a new chemical stove2 he purposed writing to ,nuernberg and ,baireuth1 and there offering his pen to the ,brothers ,senft1 not only for composing practical ,receipts at the end of their ,almanacs1 but also for separate ,essays in front under the copperplate title of each ,month1 because he had a thought of making some reformatory cuts at the common people's mental habitudes 444 ,and now1 when in the capacity of ,parson he had less to do1 and could add to the holy resting-day of the congregation six literary creating-days1 he determined 7even in these ,carnival weeks7 to strike his plough into the hitherto quite fallow ,history of ,hukelum1 and soon to follow the plough with his drill4444 ,thus roll his minutes1 on golden wheels-of-fortune1 over the twelve days1 which form the glancing star-paved road to the third heaven of the thirteenth1 that is1 to the ,,ninth ,,letter-,,box4 ,or to the ,marriage4 ,rise1 fair ,ascension and ,marriage day1 and gladden readers also6 ,adorn thyself with the fairest jewel1 with the bride1 whose soul is as pure and glittering as its vesture2 like pearl and pearl-muscle1 the one1 as the other1 lustrous and ornamental6 ,and so over the espalier1 whose fruit-hedge has hitherto divided our darling from his ,eden1 every reader now presses after him6-- ,on the #ith of ,may1 #agic1 about three in the morning1 there came a sharp peal of trumpets1 like a light-beam1 through the dim-red ,may-dawn2 two twisted horns1 with a straight trumpet between them1 like a note of admiration between interrogation-points1 were clanging from a house in which only a parishioner 7not the ,parson7 dwelt and blew2 for this parishioner had last night been celebrating the same ceremony which the pastor had this day before him4 ,the joyful tallyho raised our ,parson from his broad bed 7and the ,shock from beneath it1 who some weeks ago had been exiled from the white1 sleek coverlet71 and this so early1 that in the portraying tester1 where on every former morning he had observed his ruddy visage1 and his white bedclothes1 all was at present dim and crayoned4 ,i confess1 the new-painted room1 and a gleam of dawn on the wall1 made it so light1 that he could see his knee-buckles glancing on the chair4 ,he then softly awakened his mother 7the other guests were to lie for hours in the sheets71 and she had the city cook-maid to awaken1 who1 like several other articles of wedding-furniture1 had been borrowed for a day or two from ,flachsenfingen4 ,at two doors he knocked in vain1 and without answer2 for all were already down at the hearth1 cooking1 blowing2 and arranging4 ,how softly does the ,spring day gradually fold back its nun-veil1 and the ,earth grow bright1 as if it were the morning of a ,resurrection6--,the quicksilver-pillar of the barometer1 the guiding ,fire-pillar of the weather-prophet1 rests firmly on ,fixlein's ,ark of the ,covenant4 ,the ,sun raises himself1 pure and cool1 into the morning-blue1 instead of into the morning-red4 ,swallows1 instead of clouds1 shoot skimming through the melodious air 444 ,o1 the good ,genius of ,fair ,weather1 who deserves many temples and festivals 7because without him no festival could be held71 lifted an ethereal1 azure ,day1 as it were1 from the well-clear atmosphere of the ,moon1 and sent it down1 on blue butterfly-wings1--as if it were a blue ,monday1--glittering below the ,sun1 in the zigzag of joyful1 quivering descent1 upon the narrow spot of ,earth1 which our heated fancies are now viewing 4444 ,and on this balmy1 vernal spot stand1 amid flowers1 over which the trees are shaking blossoms instead of leaves1 a bride and a bridegroom4444 ,happy ,fixlein6 how shall ,i paint thee without deepening the sighs of longing in the fairest souls8 ,but soft6 we will not drink the magic cup of ,fancy to the bottom at six in the morning2 but keep sober till towards night6 ,at the sound of the morning prayer-bell1 the bridegroom1 for the din of preparation was disturbing his quiet orison1 went out into the churchyard1 which 7as in many other places71 together with the church1 lay round his mansion like a court4 ,here on the moist green1 over whose closed flowers the churchyard wall was still spreading broad shadows1 did his spirit cool itself from the warm dreams of ,earth2 here1 where the white flat gravestone of his ,teacher lay before him like the fallen-in door on the ,janus's-temple of ,life1 or like the windward side of the narrow house1 turned towards the tempests of the world2 here1 where the little shrunk metallic door on the grated cross of his father uttered to him the inscriptions of death1 and the year when his parent departed1 and all the admonitions and mementos1 graven on the lead2--there1 ,i say1 his mood grew softer and more solemn2 and he now lifted up by heart his morning prayer1 which usually he read2 and entreated ,god to bless him in his office1 and to spare his mother's life1 and to look with favor and acceptance on the purpose of to-day4 ,then over the graves he walked into his fenceless little angular flower-garden2 and here1 composed and confident in the ,divine keeping1 he pressed the stalks of his tulips deeper into the mellow earth4 ,but on returning to the house1 he was met on all hands by the bell-ringing and the ,janizary-music of wedding-gladness2--the marriage-guests had all thrown off their nightcaps1 and were drinking diligently2--there was a clattering1 a cooking1 a frizzling2--tea-services1 coffee-services1 and warm beer-services1 were advancing in succession2 and plates full of bride-cakes were going round like potters' frames or cistern-wheels4--,the ,schoolmaster1 with three young lads1 was heard rehearsing from his own house an ,arioso1 with which1 so soon as they were perfect1 he purposed to surprise his clerical superior4--,but now rushed all the arms of the foaming joy-streams into one1 when the sky-queen besprinkled with blossoms1 the bride1 descended upon ,earth in her timid joy1 full of quivering1 humble love2--when the bells began2--when the procession-column set forth with the whole village round and before it2--when the organ1 the congregation1 the officiating priest1 and the sparrows on the trees of the church-window1 struck louder and louder their rolling peals on the drum of the jubilee-festival4444 ,the heart of the singing bridegroom was like to leap from its place for joy1 that on his bridal-day it was all so respectable and grand4--,not till the marriage benediction could he pray a little4 ,still worse and louder grew the business during dinner1 when pastry-work and marchpane-devices were brought forward1--when glasses and slain fishes 7laid under the napkins to frighten the guests7 went round2--and when the guests rose1 and themselves went round1 and at length danced round2 for they had instrumental music from the city there4 ,one minute handed over to the other the sugar-bowl and bottle-case of joy2 the guests heard and saw less and less1 and the villagers began to see and hear more and more1 and towards night they penetrated like a wedge into the open door1--nay1 two youths ventured even1 in the middle of the parsonage-court1 to mount a plank over a beam1 and commence seesawing4 ,out of doors1 the gleaming vapor of the departed ,sun was encircling the ,earth1 the evening star was glittering over parsonage and churchyard2 no one heeded it4 ,however1 about nine o'clock1--when the marriage-guests had wellnigh forgotten the marriage-pair1 and were drinking or dancing along for their own behoof2 when poor mortals1 in this sunshine of ,fate1 like fishes in the sunshine of the sky1 were leaping up from their wet1 cold element2 and when the bridegroom1 under the star of happiness and love1 casting like a comet its long train of radiance over all his heaven1 had in secret pressed to his joy-filled breast his bride and his mother1--then did he lock a slice of wedding-bread privily into a press1 in the old superstitious belief1 that this residue secured continuance of bread for the whole marriage4 ,as he returned1 with greater love for the sole partner of his life1 she herself met him with his mother1 to deliver him in private the bridal-nightgown and bridal-shirt1 as is the ancient usage4 ,many a countenance grows pale in violent emotions1 even of joy2 ,thiennette's wax-face was bleaching still whiter under the sunbeams of ,happiness4 ,o never fall1 thou lily of ,heaven1 and may four springs instead of four seasons open and shut thy flower-bells to the sun6 ,all the arms of his soul as he floated on the sea of joy were quivering to clasp the soft1 warm heart of his beloved1 to encircle it gently and fast1 and draw it to his own4444 ,he led her from the crowded dancing-room into the cool evening4 ,why does the evening1 does the night1 put warmer love in our hearts8 ,is it the nightly pressure of helplessness2 or is it the exalting separation from the turmoil of life2 that veiling of the world1 in which for the soul nothing more remains but souls2--is it therefore1 that the letters in which the loved name stands written on our spirit appear1 like phosphorus-writing1 by night in fire1 while by day in their cloudy traces they but smoke8 ,he walked with his bride into the ,castle-garden2 she hastened quickly through the castle1 and past its servants'-hall1 where the fair flowers of her young life had been crushed broad and dry1 under a long1 dreary pressure2 and her soul expanded1 and breathed in the free open garden1 on whose flowery soil destiny had cast forth the first seeds of the blossoms which to-day were gladdening her existence4 ,still ,eden6 ,green flower-checkered chiaroscuro6--,the moon is sleeping under ground like a dead one2 but beyond the garden the sun's red evening-clouds have fallen down like rose-leaves2 and the evening-star1 the brideman of the sun1 hovers1 like a glancing butterfly1 above the rosy red1 and1 modest as a bride1 deprives no single starlet of its light4 ,the wandering pair arrived at the old gardener's hut2 now standing locked and dumb1 with dark windows in the light garden1 like a fragment of the ,past surviving in the ,present4 ,bared twigs of trees were folding1 with clammy1 half-formed leaves1 over the thick1 intertwisted tangles of the bushes4--,the ,spring was standing1 like a conqueror1 with ,winter at his feet4--,in the blue pond1 now bloodless1 a dusky evening-sky lay hollowed out1 and the gushing waters were moistening the flower-beds4--,the silver sparks of stars were rising on the altar of the ,east1 and falling down extinguished in the red sea of the ,west4 ,the wind whirred1 like a night-bird1 louder through the trees2 and gave tones to the acacia-grove1 and the tones called to the pair who had first become happy within it3 ,enter1 new mortal pair1 and think of what is past1 and of my withering and your own2 and be holy as ,eternity1 and weep not only for joy1 but for gratitude also6--,and the wet-eyed bridegroom led his wet-eyed bride under the blossoms1 and laid his soul1 like a flower1 on her heart1 and said3 ,best ,thiennette1 ,i am unspeakably happy1 and would say much1 and cannot4--,ah1 thou ,dearest1 we will live like angels1 like children together6 ,surely ,i will do all that is good to thee2 two years ago ,i had nothing1 no nothing2 ah1 it is through thee1 best love1 that ,i am happy4 ,i call thee ,thou1 now1 thou dear good soul6 ,she drew him closer to her1 and said1 though without kissing him3 ,call me ,thou always1 ,dearest6 ,and as they stept forth again from the sacred grove into the magic-dusky garden1 he took off his hat2 first1 that he might internally thank ,god1 and secondly1 because he wished to look into this fairest evening sky4 ,they reached the blazing1 rustling marriage-house1 but their softened hearts sought stillness2 and a foreign touch1 as in the blossoming vine1 would have disturbed the flower-nuptials of their souls4 ,they turned rather1 and winded up into the churchyard to preserve their mood4 ,majestic on the groves and mountains stood the ,night before man's heart1 and made it also great4 ,over the white steeple-obelisk the sky rested bluer and darker2 and behind it wavered the withered summit of the ,may-pole with faded flag4 ,the son noticed his father's grave1 on which the wind was opening and shutting1 with harsh noise1 the little door of the metal cross1 to let the year of his death be read on the brass plate within4 ,an overpowering sadness seized his heart with violent streams of tears1 and drove him to the sunk hillock1 and he led his bride to the grave1 and said3 ,here sleeps he1 my good father2 in his thirty-second year he was carried hither to his long rest4 ,o ,thou good1 dear father1 couldst thou to-day but see the happiness of thy son1 like my mother6 ,but thy eyes are empty1 and thy breast is full of ashes1 and thou seest us not4--,he was silent4 ,the bride wept aloud2 she saw the mouldering coffins of her parents open1 and the two dead arise and look round for their daughter1 who had stayed so long behind them1 forsaken on the ,earth4 ,she fell upon his heart1 and faltered3 ,o beloved1 ,i have neither father nor mother2 do not forsake me6 ,o thou who hast still a father and a mother1 thank ,god for it1 on the day when thy soul is full of joyful tears1 and needs a bosom wherein to shed them4444 ,and with this embracing at a father's grave1 let this day of joy be holily concluded4-- ,,tenth ,,letter-,,box4 ,st4 ,thomas's-,day and ,birthday4 ,an ,author is a sort of bee-keeper for his reader-swarm2 in whose behalf he separates the ,flora kept for their use into different seasons1 and here accelerates1 and there retards1 the blossoming of many a flower1 that so in all chapters there be blooming4 ,the goddess of ,love and the angel of ,peace conducted our married pair on tracks running over full meadows1 through the ,spring2 and on footpaths hidden by high corn-fields1 through the ,summer2 and ,autumn1 as they advanced towards ,winter1 spread her marble leaves under their feet4 ,and thus they arrived before the low1 dark gate of ,winter1 full of life1 full of love1 trustful1 contented1 sound1 and ruddy4 ,on ,st4 ,thomas's-day was ,thiennette's birthday as well as ,winter's4 ,about a quarter past nine1 just when the singing ceases in the church1 we shall take a peep through the window into the interior of the parsonage4 ,there is nothing here but the old mother1 who has all day 7the son having restricted her to rest1 and not work7 been gliding about1 and brushing1 and burnishing1 and scouring1 and wiping2 every carved chair-leg1 and every brass nail of the waxcloth-covered table1 she has polished into brightness2--everything hangs1 as with all married people who have no children1 in its right place1 brushes1 fly-flaps1 and almanacs2--the chairs are stationed by the room-police in their ancient corners2--a flax-rock1 encircled with a diadem1 or scarf of azure riband1 is lying in the ,schadeck-bed1 because1 though it is a half-holiday1 some spinning may go on2--the narrow slips of paper1 whereon heads of sermons are to be arranged1 lie white beside the sermons themselves1 that is1 beside the octavo paper-book which holds them1 for the ,parson and his work-table1 by reason of the cold1 have migrated from the study to the sitting-room2--his large furred doublet is hanging beside his clean bridegroom-nightgown2 there is nothing wanting in the room but ,he and ,she4 ,for he had preached her with him to-night into the empty ,apostle's-day church1 that so her mother1 without witnesses1--except the two or three thousand readers who are peeping with me through the window1--might arrange the provender-baking1 and whole commissariat department of the birthday-festival1 and spread out her best table-gear and victual-stores without obstruction4 ,the soul-curer reckoned it no sin to admonish1 and exhort1 and encourage1 and threaten his parishioners1 till he felt pretty certain that the soup must be smoking on the plates4 ,then he led his birthday helpmate home1 and suddenly placed her before the altar of meat-offering1 before a sweet title-page of bread-tart1 on which her name stood baked1 in true monastic characters1 in tooth-letters of almonds4 ,in the background of time and of the room1 ,i yet conceal two--bottles of ,pontac4 ,how quickly1 under the sunshine of joy1 do thy cheeks grow ripe1 ,thiennette1 when thy husband solemnly says3 ,this is thy birthday2 and may the ,lord bless thee1 and watch over thee1 and cause his countenance to shine on thee1 and send thee1 to the joy of our mother and thy husband especially1 a happy1 glad recovery4 ,amen6--,and when ,thiennette perceived that it was the old mistress who had cooked and served up all this herself1 she fell upon her neck1 as if it had been not her husband's mother1 but her own4 ,emotion conquers the appetite4 ,but ,fixlein's stomach was as strong as his heart2 and with him no species of movement could subdue the peristaltic4 ,drink is the friction-oil of the tongue1 as eating is its drag4 ,yet1 not till he had eaten and spoken much1 did the pastor fill the glasses4 ,then indeed he drew the corksluice from the bottle1 and set forth its streams4 ,the sickly mother1 of a being still hid beneath her heart1 turned her eyes1 in embarrassed emotion1 on the old woman only2 and could scarcely chide him for sending to the city wine-merchant on her account4 ,he took a glass in each hand1 for each of the two whom he loved1 and handed them to his mother and his wife1 and said3 ,to thy long1 long life1 ,thiennette6--,and your health and happiness1 ,mamma6--,and a glad arrival to our little one1 if ,god so bless us6 ,my son1 said the gardeneress1 it is to thy long life that we must drink2 for it is by thee we are supported4 ,god grant thee length of days6 added she1 with stifled voice1 and her eyes betrayed her tears4 ,i nowhere find a livelier emblem of the female sex1 in all its boundless levity1 than in the case where a woman is carrying the angel of ,death beneath her heart1 and yet in these nine months full of mortal tokens thinks of nothing more important than of who shall be the gossips1 and what shall be cooked at the christening4 ,but thou1 ,thiennette1 hadst nobler thoughts1 though these too along with them4 ,the still hidden darling of thy heart was resting before thy eyes like a little angel sculptured on a gravestone1 and pointing with its small finger to the hour when thou shouldst die2 and every morning and every evening thou thoughtest of death with a certainty of which ,i yet knew not the reasons2 and to thee it was as if the ,earth were a dark mineral cave1 where man's blood1 like stalactitic water1 drops down1 and in dropping raises shapes which gleam so transiently1 and so quickly fade away6 ,and that was the cause why tears were continually trickling from thy soft eyes1 and betraying all thy anxious thoughts about thy child2 but thou repaidst these sad effusions of thy heart by the embrace in which1 with new-awakened love1 thou fellest on thy husband's neck1 and saidst3 ,be as it may1 ,god's will be done1 so thou and my child are left alive6--,but ,i know well that thou1 ,dearest1 lovest me as ,i do thee4 444 ,lay thy hand1 good mother1 full of blessings1 on the two2 and thou1 kind ,fate1 never lift thine away from them6-- ,it is with emotion and good wishes that ,i witness the kiss of two fair friends1 or the embracing of two virtuous lovers2 and from the fire of their altar sparks fly over to me2 but what is this to our sympathetic exaltation when we see two mortals1 bending under the same burden1 bound to the same duties1 animated to the same care for the same little darlings1 fall on one another's overflowing hearts1 in some fair hour8 ,and if these1 moreover1 are two mortals who already wear the mourning weeds of life1 ,i mean old age1 whose hair and cheeks are now grown colorless1 and eyes grown dim1 and whose faces a thousand thorns have marred into images of ,sorrow2--when these two clasp each other with such wearied1 aged arms1 and so near to the precipice of the grave1 and when they say or think3 ,all in us is dead1 but not our love--,o we have lived and suffered long together1 and now we will hold out our hands to ,death together also1 and let him carry us away together1--does not all within us cry3 ,o ,love1 thy spark is superior to ,time2 it burns neither in joy nor in the cheek of roses2 it dies not1 neither under a thousand tears nor under the snow of old age1 nor under the ashes of thy--beloved4 ,it never dies2 and ,thou1 ,all-good6 if there were no eternal love1 there were no love at all4444 ,to the ,parson it was easier than it is to me to pave for himself a transition from the heart to the digestive faculty4 ,he now submitted to ,thiennette 7whose voice at once grew cheerful1 while her eyes time after time began to sparkle7 his purpose to take advantage of the frosty weather and have the winter meat slaughtered and salted4 ,the pig can scarcely rise1 said he2 and forthwith he fixed the determination of the women1 further the butcher1 and the day1 and all et ceteras2 appointing everything with a degree of punctuality1 such as the war-college 7when it applies the cupping-glass1 the battle-sword1 to the overfull system of mankind7 exhibits on the previous day1 in its arrangements1 before it drives a province into the baiting-ring and slaughter-house4 ,this settled1 he began to talk and feel quite joyously about the course of winter1 which had commenced to-day at two-and-twenty minutes past eight in the morning2 for1 said he1 new-year is close at hand2 and we shall not need so much candle to-morrow night as to-night4 ,his mother1 it is true1 came athwart him with the weapons of her five senses2 but he fronted her with his ,astronomical ,tables1 and proved that the lengthening of the day was no less undeniable than imperceptible4 ,in the last place1 like most official and married persons1 heeding little whether his women took him or not1 he informed them1 in juristico-theological phrase3 ,that he would put off no longer1 but write this very afternoon to the venerable ,consistorium1 in whose hands lay the jus circa sacra1 for a new ,ball to the church-steeple2 and the rather1 as he hoped before new-year's day to raise a bountiful subscription from the parish for this purpose4 ,if ,god spare us till spring1 added he1 with peculiar cheerfulness1 and thou wert happily recovered1 ,i might so arrange the whole that the ball should be set up at thy first churchgoing1 dame6 ,thereupon he shifted his chair from the dinner and dessert table to the work-table2 and spent the half of his afternoon over the petition for the steeple-ball4 ,as there still remained a little space till dusk1 he clapped his tackle to his new learned ,opus1 of which ,i must now afford a little glimpse4 ,out of doors among the snow1 there stood near ,hukelum an old ,robber-,castle1 which ,fixlein1 every day in ,autumn1 had hovered round like a revenant1 with a view to gauge it1 ichnographically to delineate it1 to put every window-bar and every bridle-hook of it correctly on paper4 ,he believed he was not expecting too much1 if thereby--and by some drawings of the not so much vertical as horizontal walls--he hoped to impart to his ,architectural ,correspondence of two ,friends concerning the ,hukelum ,robber-,castle that last polish and labor limae which contents ,reviewers4 ,for towards the critical ,star-chamber of the ,reviewers he entertained not that contempt which some authors actually feel--or only affect1 as1 for instance1 ,i4 ,from this mouldered ,robber-,louvre1 there grew for him more flowers of joy than ever in all probability had grown from it of old for its owners4--,to my knowledge1 it is an anecdote not hitherto made public1 that for all this no man but ,buesching has to answer4 ,fixlein had1 not long ago1 among the rubbish of the church letter-room1 stumbled on a paper wherein the ,geographer had been requesting special information about the statistics of the village4 ,buesching1 it is true1 had picked up nothing1--accordingly1 indeed1 ,hukelum1 in his ,geography1 is still omitted altogether2--but this pestilential letter had infected ,fixlein with the spring-fever of ,ambition1 so that his palpitating heart was no longer to be stilled or held in check1 except by the assafoetida-emulsion of a review4 ,it is with authorcraft as with love2 both of them for decades long one may equally desire and forbear2 but is the first spark once thrown into the powder-magazine1 it burns to the end of the chapter4 ,simply because winter had commenced by the ,almanac1 the fire must be larger than usual2 for warm rooms1 like large furs and bear-skin caps1 were things which he loved more than you would figure4 ,the dusk1 this fair chiaroscuro of the day1 this colored foreground of the night1 he lengthened out as far as possible1 that he might study ,christmas discourses therein2 and yet could his wife1 without scruple1 just as he was pacing up and down the room1 with the sowing-sheet full of divine word-seeds hung round his shoulder1--hold up to him a spoonful of alegar1 that he might try the same in his palate1 and decide whether she should yet draw it off4 ,nay1 did he not in all cases1 though fonder of roe-fishes himself1 order a milter to be drawn from the herring-barrel1 because his good-wife liked it better8-- ,here light was brought in2 and as ,winter was just now commencing his glass-painting on the windows1 his ice flower-pieces1 and his snow-foliage1 our ,parson felt that it was time to read something cold1 which he pleasantly named his cold collation2 namely1 the description of some unutterably frosty land4 ,on the present occasion1 it was the winter history of the four ,russian sailors on ,nova ,zembla4 ,i1 for my share1 do often in summer1 when the sultry zephyr is inflating the flower-bells1 append certain charts and sketches of ,italy1 or the ,east1 as additional landscapes to those among which ,i am sitting4 ,and yet to-night he further took up the ,weekly ,chronicle of ,flachsenfingen2 and amid the bombshells1 pestilences1 famines1 comets with long tails1 and the roaring of all the ,hell-floods of another ,thirty ,years' ,war1 he could still listen with the one ear towards the kitchen1 where the salad for his roast-duck was just a-cutting4 ,good-night1 old ,fixlein6 ,i am tired4 ,may kind ,heaven send thee1 with the young year #agid1 when the ,earth shall again carry her people1 like precious night-moths1 on leaves and flowers1 the new steeple-ball1 and a thick1 handsome--boy1 to boot6 ,,eleventh ,,letter-,,box4 ,spring2 ,investiture2 and ,childbirth4 ,i have just risen from a singular dream2 but the foregoing ,box makes it natural4 ,i dreamed that all was verdant1 all full of odors2 and ,i was looking up at a steeple-ball glittering in the sun1 from my station in the window of a little white garden-house1 my eyelids full of flower-pollen1 my shoulders full of thin cherry-blossoms1 and my ears full of humming from the neighboring beehives4 ,then1 methought1 advancing slowly through the beds1 came the ,hukelum ,parson1 and stept into the garden-house1 and solemnly said to me3 ,honored ,sir1 my wife has just brought me a little boy2 and ,i make bold to solicit your ,honor to do the holy office for the same1 when it shall be received into the bosom of the church4 ,i naturally started up1 and there was--,parson ,fixlein standing bodily at my bedside1 and requesting me to be godfather2 for ,thiennette had given him a son last night about one o'clock4 ,the confinement had been as light and happy as could be conceived2 for this reason1 that the father had1 some months before1 been careful to provide one of those ,klappersteins1 as we call them1 which are found in the aerie of the eagle1 and therewith to alleviate the travail2 for this stone performs1 in its way1 all the service which the bonnet of that old ,minorite monk in ,naples1 of whom ,gorani informs us1 could accomplish for people in such circumstances1 who put it on4444 --,i might vex the reader still longer2 but ,i willingly give up1 and show him how the matter stood4 ,such a ,may as the present 7of #agid7 ,nature has not1 in the memory of man--begun2 for this is but the fifteenth of it4 ,people of reflection have for centuries been vexed once every year1 that our ,german singers should indite ,may-songs1 since several other months deserve such a poetical night-music much better2 and ,i myself have often gone so far as to adopt the idiom of our market-women1 and instead of ,may butter1 to say ,june butter1 as also ,june1 ,march1 ,april songs4--,but thou1 kind ,may of this year1 thou deservest to thyself all the songs which were ever made on thy rude namesakes6--,by ,heaven6 when ,i now issue from the wavering1 checkered acacia-grove of the ,castle-garden1 in which ,i am writing this ,chapter1 and come forth into the broad1 living day1 and look up to the warming ,heaven1 and over its ,earth budding out beneath it1--the ,spring rises before me like a vast full cloud1 with a splendor of blue and green4 ,i see the ,sun standing amid roses in the western sky1 into which he has thrown his ray-brush1 wherewith he has to-day been painting the ,earth2--and when ,i look round a little in our picture-exhibition1 his enamelling is still hot on the mountains2 on the moist chalk of the moist ,earth1 the flowers full of sap-colors are laid out to dry1 and the forget-me-not with miniature colors2 under the varnish of the streams1 the skyey ,painter has pencilled his own eye2 and the clouds1 like a decoration-painter1 he has touched off with wild outlines and single tints2 and so he stands at the border of the ,earth1 and looks back upon his stately ,spring1 whose robe-folds are valleys1 whose breast-bouquet is gardens1 and whose blush is a vernal evening1 and who1 when she arises1 shall be--,summer4 ,but to proceed6 ,every spring--and especially in such a spring--,i imitate on foot our birds of passage2 and travel off the hypochondriacal sediment of winter2 but ,i do not think ,i should have seen even the steeple-ball of ,hukelum1 which is to be set up one of these days1 to say nothing of the ,parson's family1 had not ,i happened to be visiting the ,flachsenfingen ,superintendent and ,consistorialrath4 ,from him ,i got acquainted with ,fixlein's history1--every ,candidatus must deliver an account of his life to the ,consistorium1--and with his still madder petition for a steeple-ball4 ,i observed1 with pleasure1 how gayly the cob was diving and swashing about in his duck-pool and milk-bath of life2 and forthwith determined on a journey to his shore4 ,it is singular1 that is to say1 manlike1 that when we have for years kept prizing and describing some original person or original book1 yet the moment we see such1 they anger us2 we would have them fit us and delight us in all points1 as if any originality could do this but our own4 ,it was ,saturday1 the third of ,may1 when ,i1 with the ,superintendent1 the ,senior ,capituli1 and some temporal ,raths1 mounted and rolled off1 and in two carriages were driven to the ,parson's door4 ,the matter was1 he was not yet--invested1 and to-morrow this was to be done4 ,i little thought1 while we whirled by the white espalier of the ,castle-garden1 that there ,i was to write another book4 ,i still see the ,parson1 in his peruke-minever and head-case1 come springing to the coach-door and lead us out2 so smiling--so courteous--so vain of the disloaded freight1 and so attentive to it4 ,he looked as if in the journey of life he had never once put on the travelling-gauze of ,sorrow2 ,thiennette again seemed never to have thrown hers back4 ,how neat was everything in the house1 how dainty1 decorated1 and polished6 ,and yet so quiet1 without the cursed alarm-ringing of servants' bells1 and without the bass-drum tumult of stair-pedalling4 ,whilst the gentlemen1 my road-companions1 were sitting in state in the upper room1 ,i flitted1 as my way is1 like a smell over the whole house1 and my path led me through the sitting-room over the kitchen1 and at last into the churchyard beside the house4 ,good ,saturday6 ,i will paint thy hours as ,i may1 with the black asphaltos of ink1 on the tablets of other souls6 ,in the sitting-room1 ,i lifted from the desk a volume gilt on the back and edges1 and bearing this title3 ,holy ,sayings1 by ,fixlein4 ,first ,collection4 ,and as ,i looked to see where it had been printed1 the ,holy ,collection turned out to be in writing4 ,i handled the quills1 and dipped into the negro-black of the ink1 and ,i found that all was right and good4 ,with your fluttering gentlemen of letters1 who hold only a department of the foreign1 and none of the home affairs nothing 7except some other things about them7 can be worse than their ink and pens4 ,i also found a little copperplate1 to which ,i shall in due time return4 ,in the kitchen1 a place not more essential for the writing of an ,english novel than for the acting of a ,german one1 ,i could plant myself beside ,thiennette1 and help her to blow the fire1 and look at once into her face and her burning coals4 ,though she was in wedlock1 a state in which white roses on the cheeks are changed for red ones1 and young women are similar to a similitude given in my ,note2#fj--;and although the blazing wood threw a false rouge over her1 ,i guessed how pale she must have been2 and my sympathy in her paleness rose still higher at the thought of the burden which ,fate had now not so much taken from her1 as laid in her arms and nearer to her heart4 ,in truth1 a man must never have reflected on the ,creation-moment1 when the ,universe first rose from the bosom of an ,eternity1 if he does not view with philosophic reverence a woman1 whose thread of life a secret1 all-wondrous ,hand is spinning to a second thread1 and who veils within her the transition from ,nothingness to ,existence1 from ,eternity to time2--but still less can a man have any heart of flesh1 if his soul1 in presence of a woman1 who1 to an unknown1 unseen being1 is sacrificing more than we will sacrifice when it is seen and known1 namely1 her nights1 her joys1 often her life1 does not bow lower1 and with deeper emotion1 than in presence of a whole nun-orchestra on their ,sahara-desert2--and worse than either is the man for whom his own mother has not made all other mothers venerable4 ,it is little serviceable to thee1 poor ,thiennette1 thought ,i1 that now1 when thy bitter cup of sickness is made to run over1 thou must have loud festivities come crowding round thee4 ,i meant the ,investiture and the ,ball-raising4 ,my rank1 the diploma of which the reader will find stitched in with the ,dog-post-days1 and which had formerly been hers1 brought about my ears a host of repelling1 embarrassed1 wavering titles of address from her2 which people1 to whom they have once belonged1 are at all times apt to parade before superiors or inferiors1 and which it now cost me no little trouble to disperse4 ,through the whole ,saturday and ,sunday ,i could never get into the right track either with her or him1 till the other guests were gone4 ,as for the mother1 she acted1 like obscure ideas1 powerfully and constantly1 but out of view2 this arose in part from her idolatrous fear of us2 and partly also from a slight shade of care 7probably springing from the state of her daughter71 which had spread over her like a little cloud4 ,i cruised about1 so long as the moon-crescent glimmered in the sky1 over the churchyard2 and softened my fantasies1 which are at any rate too prone to paint with the brown of crumbling mummies1 not only by the red of twilight1 but also by reflecting how easily our eyes and our hearts can become reconciled even to the ruins of ,death2 a reflection which the ,schoolmaster1 whistling as he arranged the charnel-house for the morrow1 and the ,parson's maid singing1 as she reaped away the grass from the graves1 readily enough suggested to me4 ,and why should not this habituation to all forms of ,fate in the other world1 also1 be a gift reserved for us in our nature by the bounty of our great ,preserver8--,i perused the gravestones2 and ,i think even now that ,superstition#fa is right in connecting with the reading of such things a loss of memory2 at all events1 one does forget a thousand things belonging to this world4444 ,the ,investiture on ,sunday 7whose ,gospel1 of the ,good ,shepherd1 suited well with the ceremony7 ,i must despatch in few words2 because nothing truly sublime can bear to be treated of in many4 ,however1 ,i shall impart the most memorable circumstances1 when ,i say that there was--drinking 7in the ,parsonage71--music-making 7in the ,choir71--reading 7of the ,presentation by the ,senior1 and of the ,ratification-rescript by the lay ,rath71--and preaching1 by the ,consistorialrath1 who took the soul-curer by the hand1 and presented1 made over1 and guaranteed him to the congregation1 and them to him4 ,fixlein felt that he was departing as a high-priest from the church which he had entered as a country parson1 and all day he had not once the heart to ban4 ,when a man is treated with solemnity1 he looks upon himself as a higher nature1 and goes through his solemn feasts devoutly4 ,this indenturing1 this monastic profession1 our ,head-,rabbis and ,lodge-masters 7our ,superintendents7 have usually a taste for putting off till once the pastor has been some years ministering among the people1 to whom they hereby present him2 as the early ,christians frequently postponed their consecration and investiture to ,christianity1 their baptism namely1 till the day when they died4 ,nay1 ,i do not even think this clerical ,investiture would lose much of its usefulness1 if it and the declaring-vacant of the office were reserved for the same day2 the rather1 as this usefulness consists entirely in two items2 what the ,superintendent and his ,raths can eat1 and what they can pocket4 ,not till towards evening did the ,parson and ,i get acquainted4 ,the ,investiture officials and elevation pulley-men had1 throughout the whole evening1 been very violently--breathing4 ,i mean thus2 as these gentlemen could not but be aware1 by the most ancient theories and the latest experiments1 that air was nothing else than a sort of rarefied and exploded water1 it became easy for them to infer1 that1 conversely1 water was nothing else than a denser sort of air4 ,wine-drinking1 therefore1 is nothing else but the breathing of an air pressed together into proper spissitude1 and sprinkled over with a few perfumes4 ,now1 in our days1 by clerical persons too much 7fluid7 breath can never be inhaled through the mouth2 seeing the dignity of their station excludes them from that breathing through the smaller pores which ,abernethy so highly recommends under the name of air-bath2 and can the ,gullet in their case be aught else than door-neighbor to the ,windpipe1 the consonant and fellow-shoot of the ,windpipe8--,i am running astray2 ,i meant to signify that ,i this evening had adopted the same opinion2 only that ,i used air or ether1 not like the rest for loud laughter1 but for the more quiet contemplation of life in general4 ,i even shot forth at my gossip certain speeches which betrayed devoutness4 ,these he at first took for jests1 being aware that ,i was from ,court1 and of quality4 ,but the concave mirror of the wine-mist at length suspended the images of my soul1 enlarged and embodied like spiritual shapes1 in the air before me4--,life shaded itself off to my eyes like a hasty summer night1 which we little fireflies shoot across with transient gleam2--,i said to him that man must turn himself like the leaves of the great mallow1 at the different day-seasons of his life1 now to the rising sun1 now to the setting1 now to the night1 towards the ,earth and its graves2--,i said1 the omnipotence of ,goodness was driving us and the centuries of the world towards the gates of the ,city of ,god1 as1 according to ,euler1 the resistance of the ,ether leads the circling ,earth towards the ,sun1 c41 c4 ,on the strength of these entremets1 he considered me the first theologian of his age2 and had he been obliged to go to war1 would previously have taken my advice on the matter1 as belligerent powers were wont of old from the theologians of the ,reformation4 ,i hide not from myself1 however1 that what preachers call vanity of the world is something altogether different from what philosophy so calls4 ,when ,i1 moreover1 signified to him that ,i was not ashamed to be an ,author2 but had a turn for working up this and the other biography2 and that ,i had got a sight of his ,life in the hands of the ,superintendent2 and might be in case to prepare a printed one therefrom1 if so were he would assist me with here and there a tint of flesh-color1--then was my silk1 which1 alas6 not only isolates one from electric fire1 but also from a kindlier sort of it1 the only grate which rose between his arms and me2 for1 like the most part of poor country parsons1 it was not in his power to forget the rank of any man1 or to vivify his own on a higher one4 ,he said3 ,he would acknowledge it with veneration1 if ,i should mention him in print2 but he was much afraid his life was too common and too poor for a biography4 ,nevertheless1 he opened me the drawer of his ,letter-boxes1 and said1 perhaps he had hereby been paving the way for me4 ,the main point1 however1 was1 he hoped that his ,errata1 his ,exercitationes1 and his ,letters on the ,robber-,castle1 if ,i should previously send forth a ,life of the ,author1 might be better received2 and that it would be much the same as if ,i accompanied them with a ,preface4 ,in short1 when on ,monday the other dignitaries with their nimbus of splendor had dissipated1 ,i alone1 like a precipitate1 abode with him2 and am still abiding1 that is1 from the fifth of ,may 7the ,public should take the ,almanac of #agid1 and keep it open beside them7 to the fifteenth2 to-day is ,thursday1 to-morrow is the sixteenth and ,friday1 when comes the ,spinat-,kirmes1 or ,spinage-,wake1 as they call it1 and the uplifting of the steeple-ball1 which ,i just purposed to await before ,i went4 ,now1 however1 ,i do not go so soon2 for on ,sunday ,i have to assist at the baptismal ceremony1 as baptismal agent for my little future godson4 ,whoever pays attention to me1 and keeps the ,almanac open1 may readily guess why the christening is put off till ,sunday2 for it is that memorable ,cantata-,sunday1 which once1 for its mad1 narcotic hemlock-virtues1 was of importance in our ,history2 but is now so only for the fair betrothment1 which after two years we mean to celebrate with a baptism4 ,truly it is not in my power--for want of colors and presses--to paint or print upon my paper the soft1 balmy flower-garland of a fortnight which has here wound itself about my sickly life2 but with a single day ,i shall attempt it4 ,man1 ,i know well1 cannot prognosticate either his joys or his sorrows1 still less repeat them1 either in living or writing4 ,the black hour of coffee has gold in its mouth for us and honey2 here1 in the morning coolness1 we are all gathered2 we maintain popular conversation1 that so the parsoness and the gardeneress may be able to take share in it4 ,the morning service in the church1 where often the whole people#fb are sitting and singing1 divides us4 ,while the bell is sounding1 ,i march with my writing-gear into the singing ,castle-garden2 and seat myself in the fresh acacia-grove1 at the dewy two-legged table4 ,fixlein's ,letter-boxes ,i keep by me in my pocket2 and ,i have only to look and abstract from his what can be of use ,in my own4--,strange enough6 so easily do we forget a thing in describing it1 ,i really did not recollect for a moment that ,i am now sitting at the very grove-table of which ,i speak1 and writing all this4-- ,my gossip in the mean time is also laboring for the world4 ,his study is a sort of sacristy1 and his printing-press a pulpit1 wherefrom he preaches to all men2 for an ,author is the ,town-chaplain of the ,universe4 ,a man who is making a book will scarcely hang himself2 all rich lords'-sons1 therefore1 should labor for the press2 for1 in that case1 when you awake too early in bed1 you have always a plan1 an aim1 and therefore a cause before you why you should get out of it4 ,better off1 too1 is the author who collects rather than invents1--for the latter with its eating fire calcines the heart2 ,i praise the ,antiquary1 the ,heraldist1 ,note-maker1 ,compiler2 ,i esteem the ,title-perch 7a fish called ,perca-,diagramma1 because of the letters on its scales71 and the ,printer 7a chafer1 called ,scarabaeus ,typographus1 which eats letters in the bark of fir71--neither of them needs any greater or fairer arena in the world than a piece of rag-paper1 or any other laying apparatus than a pointed pencil1 wherewith to lay his four-and-twenty letter-eggs4--,in regard to the catalogue raisonne1 which my gossip is now drawing up of ,german ,errata1 ,i have several times suggested to him1 that it were good if he extended his researches in one respect1 and revised the rule by which it has been computed1 that1 e4 g4 for a hundred-weight of pica black-letter1 four hundred and fifty semicolons1 three hundred periods1 c41 are required2 and to recount1 and see whether1 in ,political writings and ,dedications1 the fifty notes of admiration for a hundred-weight of pica black-letter were not far too small an allowance1 and if so1 what the real quantity was4 ,several days he wrote nothing2 but wrapped himself in the slough of his parson's-cloak2 and so in his canonicals1 beside the ,schoolmaster1 put the few ,a-b-c shooters which were not1 like forest-shooters1 absent on furlough by reason of the spring1 through their platoon firing in the ,hornbook4 ,he never did more than his duty1 but also never less4 ,it brought a soft1 benignant warmth over his heart1 to think that he1 who had once ducked under a ,school-inspectorship1 was now one himself4 ,about ten o'clock we meet from our different museums1 and examine the village1 especially the ,biographical furniture and holy places1 which ,i chance that morning to have had under my pen or pentagraph2 because ,i look at them with more interest after my description than before it4 ,next comes dinner4-- ,after the concluding grace1 which is too long1 we both of us set to entering the charitable subsidies and religious donations1 which our parishioners have remitted to the sinking or rather rising fund of the church-box for the purchase of the new steeple-globe1 into two ledgers2 the one of these1 with the names of the subscribers1 or 7in case they have subscribed for their children7 with their children's names also1 is to be inurned in a leaden capsule1 and preserved in the steeple-ball2 the other will remain below among the parish ,registers4 ,you cannot fancy what contributions the ambition of getting into the ,ball brings us in2 ,i declare1 several peasants1 who had given and well once already1 contributed again when they had baptisms2 must not little ,hans be in the ,ball too8 ,after this book-keeping by double entry1 my gossip took to engraving on copper4 ,he had been so happy as to elicit the discovery1 that1 from a certain stroke resembling an inverted ,latin ,s1 the capital letters of our ,german ,chancery-hand1 beautiful and intertwisted as you see them stand in ,law-deeds and ,letters-of-nobility1 may every one of them be composed and spun out4 ,before you can count sixty1 said he to me1 ,i take my fundamental-stroke and make you any letter out of it4 ,i merely inverted this fundamental-stroke1 that is1 gave him a ,german ,s1 and counted sixty till he had it done4 ,this line of beauty1 when once it has been twisted and flourished into all the capitals1 he purposes1 by copperplates which he is himself engraving1 to make more common for the use of ,chanceries2 and ,i may take upon me to give the ,russian1 the ,prussian1 and a few other smaller ,courts1 hopes of proof impressions from his hand2 to under-secretaries they are indispensable4 ,now comes evening2 and it is time for us both1 here forking about with our fruit-hooks on the literary ,tree of ,knowledge1 at the risk of our necks1 to clamber down again into the meadow-flowers and pasturages of rural joy4 ,we wait1 however1 till the busy ,thiennette1 whom we are now to receive into our communion1 has no more walks to take but the one between us4 ,then slowly we stept along 7the sick lady was weak7 through the office-houses2 that is to say1 through stalls and their population1 and past a horrid lake of ducks1 and past a little milk-pond of carps1 to both of which colonies1 ,i and the rest1 like princes1 gave bread1 seeing we had it in view1 on the ,sunday after the christening1 to--take them for bread for ourselves4 ,the sky is still growing kindlier and redder1 the swallows and the blossom-trees louder1 the house-shadows broader1 and men more happy4 ,the clustering blossoms of the acacia-grove hang down over our cold collation2 and the ham is not stuck 7which always vexes me7 with flowers1 but beshaded with them from a distance4444 ,and now the deeper evening and the nightingale conspire to soften me2 and ,i soften in my turn the mild beings round me1 especially the pale ,thiennette1 to whom1 or to whose heart1 after the apoplectic crushings of a down-pressed youth1 the most violent pulses of joy are heavier than the movements of pensive sadness4 ,and thus beautifully runs our pure transparent life along1 under the blooming curtains of ,may2 and in our modest pleasure1 we look with timidity neither behind us nor before2 as people who are lifting treasure gaze not round at the road they came1 or the road they are going4 ,so pass our days4 ,to-day1 however1 it was different2 by this time1 usually1 the evening meal is over2 and the ,shock has got the osseous-preparation of our supper between his jaws2 but to-night ,i am still sitting here alone in the garden1 writing the ,eleventh ,letter-,box1 and peeping out every instant over the meadows1 to see if my gossip is not coming4 ,for he is gone to town1 to bring a whole magazine of spiceries2 his coat-pockets are wide4 ,nay1 it is certain enough that oftentimes he brings home with him1 simply in his coat-pocket1 considerable flesh-tithes from his ,guardian1 at whose house he alights2 though truly1 intercourse with the polished world and city1 and the refinement of manners thence arising--for he calls on the bookseller1 on school-colleagues1 and several respectable shop-keepers--does1 much more than flesh-fetching1 form the object of these journeys to the city4 ,this morning he appointed me regent-head of the house1 and delivered me the fasces and curule chair4 ,i sat the whole day beside the young1 pale mother2 and could not but think1 simply because the husband had left me there as his representative1 that ,i liked the fair soul better4 ,she had to take dark colors1 and paint out for me the winter landscape and ice region of her sorrow-wasted youth2 but often1 contrary to my intention1 by some simple elegiac word1 ,i made her still eye wet2 for the too full heart1 which had been crushed with other than sentimental woes1 overflowed at the smallest pressure4 ,a hundred times in the recital ,i was on the point of saying3 ,o yes1 it was with winter that your life began1 and the course of it has resembled winter6--,windless1 cloudless day6 ,three more words about thee the world will still not take amiss from me6 ,i advanced nearer and nearer to the heart-central-fire of the woman2 and at last they mildly broke forth in censure of the ,parson2 the best wives will complain of their husbands to a stranger1 without in the smallest liking them the less on that account4 ,the mother and the wife1 during dinner1 accused him of buying lots at every book-auction2 and1 in truth1 in such places1 he does strive and bid1 not so much for good or for bad books--or old ones--or new ones--or such as he likes to read--or any sort of favorite books--but simply for books4 ,the mother blamed especially his squandering so much on copperplates2 yet some hours after1 when the ,schultheis1 or ,mayor1 who wrote a beautiful hand1 came in to subscribe for the steeple-ball1 she pointed out to him how finely her son could engrave1 and said that it was well worth while to spend a groschen or two on such capitals as these4 ,they then handed me--for when once women are in the way of a full1 open-hearted effusion1 they like 7only you must not turn the stop-cock of inquiry7 to pour out the whole--a ring-case1 in which he kept a ,chamberlain's key that he had found1 and asked me if ,i knew who had lost it4 ,who could know such a thing1 when there are almost more ,chamberlains than picklocks among us8-- ,at last ,i took heart1 and asked after the little toy-press of the drowned son1 which hitherto ,i had sought for in vain over all the house4 ,fixlein himself had inquired for it1 with as little success4 ,thiennette gave the old mother a persuading look full of love2 and the latter led me up-stairs to an outstretched hoop-petticoat1 covering the poor press as with a dome4 ,on the way thither1 the mother told me she kept it hid from her son because the recollection of his brother would pain him4 ,when this deposit-chest of ,time 7the lock had fallen off7 was laid open to me1 and ,i had looked into the little charnel-house1 with its wrecks of a childlike1 sportful ,past1 ,i1 without saying a word1 determined1 some time ere ,i went away1 to unpack these playthings of the lost boy before his surviving brother4 ,can there be aught finer than to look at these ash-buried1 deep-sunk1 ,herculanean ruins of childhood1 now dug up and in the open air8 ,thiennette sent twice to ask me whether he was come4 ,he and she1 precisely because they do not give their love the weakening expression of phrases1 but the strengthening one of actions1 have a boundless feeling of it towards one another4 ,some wedded pairs eat each others lips and hearts and love away by kisses2 as in ,rome1 the statues of ,christ 7by ,angelo7 have lost their feet by the same process of kissing1 and got leaden ones instead2 in other couples1 again1 you may see1 by mere inspection1 the number of their conflagrations and eruptions1 as in ,vesuvius you can discover his1 of which there are now forty-three2 but in these two beings rose the ,greek fire of a moderate and everlasting love1 and gave warmth without casting forth sparks1 and flamed straight up without crackling4 ,the evening-red is flowing back more magically from the windows of the gardener's cottage into my grove2 and ,i feel as if ,i must say to ,destiny3 ,hast thou a sharp sorrow1 then throw it rather into my breast1 and strike not with it three good souls1 who are too happy not to bleed by it1 and too sequestered in their little dim village not to shrink back at the thunderbolt which hurries a stricken spirit from its earthly dwelling4---- ,thou good ,fixlein6 ,here comes he hurrying over the parsonage-green4 ,what languishing looks full of love already rest in the eye of thy ,thiennette6--,what news wilt thou bring us to-night from the town6--,how will the ascending steeple-ball refresh thy soul to-morrow6-- ,,twelfth ,,letter-,,box4 ,steeple-,ball ,ascension4--,the ,toy-,press4 ,how1 on this sixteenth of ,may1 the old steeple-ball was twisted off from the ,hukelum steeple1 and a new one put on in its stead1 will ,i now describe to my best ability2 but in that simple historical style of the ,ancients1 which1 for great events1 is perhaps the most suitable4 ,at a very early hour1 a coach arrived1 containing ,messrs4 ,court-,guilder ,zeddel and ,locksmith ,waechser1 and the new ,peter's-cupola of the steeple4 ,towards eight o'clock the community1 consisting of subscribers to the ,globe1 was visibly collecting4 ,a little later came the ,lord ,dragoon ,rittmeister von ,aufhammer1 as ,patron of the church and steeple1 attended by ,mr4 ,church-,inspector ,streichert4 ,hereupon my ,reverend ,cousin ,fixlein and ,i repaired1 with the other persons whom ,i have already named1 into the ,church1 and there celebrated1 before innumerable hearers1 a week-day prayer-service4 ,directly afterwards1 my ,reverend ,friend made his appearance above in the pulpit1 and endeavored to deliver a speech which might correspond to the solemn transaction2--and immediately thereafter1 he read aloud the names of the patrons and charitable souls1 by whose donations the ,ball had been put together2 and showed to the congregation the leaden box in which they were specially recorded2 observing that the book from which he had recited them was to be reposited in the ,parish ,register-office4 ,next he held it necessary to thank them and ,god1 that he1 above his deserts1 had been chosen as the instrument and undertaker of such a work4 ,the whole he concluded with a short prayer for ,mr4 ,stechmann the ,slater 7who was already hanging on the outside on the steeple1 and loosening the old shaft72 and entreated that he might not break his neck1 or any of his members4 ,a short hymn was then sung1 which the most of those assembled without the church-doors sang along with us1 looking up at the same time to the steeple4 ,all of us now proceeded out likewise2 and the discarded ball1 as it were the amputated cock's-comb of the church1 was lowered down and untied4 ,church-,inspector ,streichert drew a leaden case from the crumbling ball1 which my ,reverend ,friend put into his pocket1 purposing to read it at his convenience2 ,i1 however1 said to some peasants3 ,see1 thus will your names also be preserved in the new ,ball1 and when1 after long years1 it shall be taken down1 the box lies within it1 and the then parson becomes acquainted with you all4--,and now was the new steeple-globe1 with the leaden cup in which lay the names of the by-standers1 at length full-laden1 so to speak1 and saturated1 and fixed to the pulley-rope2--and so did this the whilom cupping-glass of the community ascend aloft4444 ,by ,heaven6 the unadorned style is here a thing beyond my power3 for when the ,ball moved1 swung1 mounted1 there rose a drumming in the centre of the steeple2 and the ,schoolmaster1 who1 till now1 had looked down through a sounding-hole directed towards the congregation1 now stepped out with a trumpet at a side sounding-hole1 which the mounting ,ball was not to cross4--,but when the whole ,church rung and pealed1 the nearer the capital approached its crown1--and when the ,slater clutched it and turned it round1 and happily incorporated the spike of it1 and delivered down1 between ,heaven and ,earth1 and leaning on the ,ball1 a ,topstone-speech to this and all of us1--and when my gossip's eyes1 in his rapture at being ,parson on this great day1 were running over1 and the tears trickling down his priestly garment2--,i believe ,i was the only man--as his mother was the only woman--whose souls a common grief laid hold of to press them even to bleeding2 for ,i and the mother had yesternight1 as ,i shall tell more largely afterwards1 discovered in the little chest of the drowned boy1 from a memorial in his father's hand1 that1 on the day after the morrow1 on ,cantata-,sunday and his baptismal ,sunday1 he would be--two-and-thirty-years of age4 ,oh6 thought ,i1 while ,i looked at the blue heaven1 the green graves1 the glittering ball1 the weeping priest1 so1 at all times1 stands poor man with bandaged eyes before thy sharp sword1 incomprehensible ,destiny6 ,and when thou drawest it and brandishest it aloft1 he listens with pleasure to the whizzing of the stroke before it falls6-- ,last night ,i was aware of it2 but to the reader1 whom ,i was preparing for it afar off1 ,i would tell nothing of the mournful news1 that1 in the press of the dead brother1 ,i had found an old ,bible which the boys had used at school1 with a white blank leaf in it1 on which the father had written down the dates of his children's birth4 ,and even this it was that raised in thee1 thou poor mother1 the shade of sorrow which of late we have been attributing to smaller causes2 and thy heart was still standing amid the rain1 which seemed to us already past over and changed into a rainbow6--,out of love to him1 she had yearly told one falsehood1 and concealed his age4 ,by extreme good luck1 he had not been present when the press was opened4 ,i still purpose1 after this fatal ,sunday1 to surprise him with the party-colored relics of his childhood1 and so of these old ,christmas-presents to make him new ones4 ,in the mean while1 if ,i and his mother can but follow him incessantly1 like fishhook-floats1 and foot clogs1 through to-morrow and next day1 that no murderous accident lift aside the curtain from his birth-certificate1--all may yet be well4 ,for now1 in truth1 to his eyes1 this birthday1 in the metamorphotic mirror of his superstitious imagination1 and behind the magnifying magic vapor of his present joys1 would burn forth like a red death-warrant4444 ,but besides all this1 the leaf of the ,bible is now sitting higher than any of us1 namely1 in the new steeple-ball1 into which ,i this morning prudently introduced it4 ,properly speaking1 there is indeed no danger4 ,,thirteenth ,,letter-,,box4 ,christening4 ,to-day is that stupid ,cantata-,sunday2 but nothing now remains of it save an hour4--,by ,heaven6 in right spirits were we all to-day4 ,i believe ,i have drunk as faithfully as another4--,in truth1 one should be moderate in all things1 in writing1 in drinking1 in rejoicing2 and as we lay straws into the honey for our bees1 that they may not drown in their sugar1 so ought one at all times to lay a few firm ,principles and twigs from the tree of ,knowledge into the ,syrup of life1 instead of those same bee-straws1 that so one may cling thereto1 and not drown like a rat4 ,but now ,i do purpose in earnest to--write 7and also live7 with steadfastness2 and therefore1 that ,i may record the christening ceremony with greater coolness1--to besprinkle my fire with the night-air1 and to roam out for an hour into the blossom-and-wave-embroidered night1 where a lukewarm breath of air1 intoxicated with soft odors1 is sinking down from the blossom-peaks to the low-bent flowers1 and roaming over the meadows1 and at last launching on a wave1 and with it sailing down the moonshiny brook4 ,o1 without1 under the stars1 under the tones of the nightingale1 which seem to reverberate1 not from the echo1 but from the far-off down-glancing worlds2 beside that moon1 which the gushing brook1 in its flickering1 watery band1 is carrying away1 and which creeps under the little shadows of the bank as under clouds1--,o1 amid such forms and tones1 the heart of man grows serious2 and as of old an evening bell was rung to direct the wanderer through the deep forests to his nightly home1 so in our ,night are such voices within us and about us1 which call to us in our strayings1 and make us calmer1 and teach us to moderate our own joys1 and to conceive those of others4 99 99 99 ,i return1 peaceful and cool enough1 to my narrative4 ,all yesternight ,i left not the worthy ,parson half an hour from my sight1 to guard him from poisoning the well of his life4 ,full of paternal joy1 and with the skeleton of the sermon 7he was committing it to memory7 in his hand1 he set before me all that he had2 and pointed out to me the fruit-baskets of pleasures which ,cantata-,sunday always plucked and filled for him4 ,he recounted to me1 as ,i did not go away1 his baptisms1 his accidents of office2 told me of his relatives2 and removed my uncertainty with regard to the public revenues--of his parish1 to the number of his communicants and expected catechumens4 ,at this point1 however1 ,i am afraid that many a reader will in vain endeavor to transport himself into my situation1 and still be unable to discover why ,i said to ,fixlein1 ,worthy gossip1 better no man could wish himself4 ,i lied not1 for so it is4444 ,but look in the ,note4#fc ,at last rose the ,sunday1 the present2 and on this holy day1 simply because my little godson was for going over to ,christianity1 there was a vast racket made2 every time a conversion happens1 especially of nations1 there is an uproaring and a shooting2 ,i refer to the two ,thirty ,years' ,wars1 to the more recent one1 and to the earlier1 which ,charlemagne so long carried on with the heathen ,saxons2 thus1 in the ,palais ,royal1 the ,sun1 at his transit over the meridian1 fires off a cannon4#fd ,but this morning the little ,unchristian1 my godson1 was precisely the person least attended to2 for1 in thinking of the conversion1 they had no time left to think of the convert4 ,therefore ,i strolled about with him myself half the forenoon2 and in our walk1 hastily conferred on him a private baptism2 having named him ,jean ,paul before the priest did so4 ,at midday1 we sent the beef away as it had come2 the ,sun of happiness having desiccated all our gastric juices4 ,we now began to look about us for pomp2 ,i for scientific decorations of my hair1 my godson for his christening-shirt1 and his mother for her dress-cap4 ,yet before the child's-rattle of the christening-bell had been jingled1 ,i and the midwife1 in front of the mother's bed1 instituted ,physiognomical ,travels on the countenance of the small ,unchristian1 and returned with the discovery1 that some features had been embossed by the pattern of the mother1 and many firm portions resembled me2 a double similarity1 in which my readers can take little interest4 ,jean ,paul looks very sensible for his years1 or rather for his minutes1 for it is the small one ,i am speaking of4---- ,but now ,i would ask1 what ,german writer durst take it upon him to spread out and paint a large historic sheet1 representing the whole of us as we went to church8 ,would he not require to draw the father1 with swelling canonicals1 moving forward slowly1 devoutly1 and full of emotion8 ,would he not have to sketch the godfather1 minded this day to lend out his names1 which he derived from two ,apostles 7,john and ,paul71 as ,julius ,caesar lent out his names to two things still living even now 7to a month and a throne78--,and must he not put the godson on his sheet1 with whom even the ,emperor ,joseph 7in his need of nurse-milk7 might become a foster-brother1 in his old days1 if he were still in them8-- ,in my chamber1 ,i have a hundred times determined to smile at solemnities1 in the midst of which ,i afterwards1 while assisting at them1 involuntarily wore a petrified countenance1 full of dignity and seriousness4 ,for1 as the ,schoolmaster1 just before the baptism1 began to sound the organ--an honor never paid to any other child in ,hukelum1--and when ,i saw the wooden christening-angel1 like an alighted ,genius1 with his painted timber arm spread out under the baptismal ewer1 and ,i myself came to stand close by him1 under his gilt wing1 ,i protest the blood went slow and solemn1 warm and close1 through my pulsing head1 and my lungs full of sighs2 and to the silent darling lying in my arms1 whose unripe eyes ,nature yet held closed from the full perspective of the ,earth1 ,i wished1 with more sadness than ,i do to myself1 for his ,future also as soft a sleep as to-day2 and as good an angel as to-day1 but a more living one1 to guide him into a more living religion1 and1 with invisible hand1 conduct him unlost through the forest of ,life1 through its falling trees1 and ,wild ,hunters1#fe and all its storms and perils4444 ,will the world not excuse me1 if when1 by a side-glance1 ,i saw on the paternal countenance prayers for the son1 and tears of joy trickling down into the prayer2 and when ,i noticed on the countenance of the grandmother far darker and fast-hidden drops1 which she could not restrain1 while ,i1 in answer to the ancient question1 engaged to provide for the child if its parents died1--am ,i not to be excused if ,i then cast my eyes deep down on my little godson1 merely to hide their running over8--,for ,i remembered that his father might perhaps this very day grow pale and cold before a suddenly arising mask of ,death2 ,i thought how the poor little one had only changed his bent posture in the womb with a freer one1 to bend and cramp himself erelong more harshly in the strait arena of life2 ,i thought of his inevitable follies1 and errors1 and sins2 of these soiled steps to the ,grecian ,temple of our ,perfection2 ,i thought that one day his own fire of genius might reduce himself to ashes1 as a man that is electrified can kill himself with his own lightning4444 ,all the theological wishes1 which1 on the godson-billet printed over with them1 ,i placed in his young bosom1 were glowing written in mine4444 ,but the white feathered-pink of my joy had then1 as it always has1 a bloody point within it1--,i again1 as it always is1 went to nest1 like a woodpecker1 in a skull4444 ,and as ,i am doing so even now1 let the describing of the baptism be over for to-day1 and proceed again to-morrow4444 ,,fourteenth ,,letter-,,box4 ,oh1 so it is ever6 ,so does ,fate set fire to the theatre of our little plays1 and our bright-painted curtain of ,futurity6 ,so does the ,serpent of ,eternity wind round us and our joys1 and crush1 like the royal-snake1 what it does not poison6 ,thou good ,fixlein6--,ah6 last night1 ,i little thought that thou1 mild soul1 while ,i was writing beside thee1 wert already journeying into the poisonous ,earth-shadow of ,death4 ,last night1 late as it was1 he opened the lead box found in the old steeple-ball2 a catalogue of those who had subscribed to the last repairing of the church was there2 and he began to read it now2 my presence and his occupations having prevented him before4 ,o1 how shall ,i tell that the record of his birth-year1 which ,i had hidden in the new ,ball1 was waiting for him in the old one2 that in the register of contributions he found his father's name1 with the appendage1 given for his new-born son ,egidius8-- ,this stroke sunk deep into his bosom1 even to the rending of it asunder2 in this warm hour1 full of paternal joy1 after such fair days1 after such fair employments1 after dread of death so often survived1 here1 in the bright1 smooth sea1 which is rocking and bearing him along1 starts snorting1 from the bottomless abyss1 the sea-monster ,death2 and the monster's throat yawns wide1 and the silent sea rushes into it in whirlpools1 and hurries him along with it4 ,but the patient man1 quietly and slowly1 and with a heart silent1 though deadly cold1 laid the leaves together2 looked softly and firmly over the churchyard1 where1 in the moonshine1 the grave of his father was to be distinguished2 gazed timidly up to the sky1 full of stars1 which a white overarching laurel-tree screened from his sight2--and though he longed to be in bed1 to settle there and sleep it off1 yet he paused at the window to pray for his wife and child1 in case this night were his last4 ,at this moment the steeple-clock struck twelve2 but1 from the breaking of a pin1 the weights kept rolling down1 and the clock-hammer struck without stopping1--and he heard with horror the chains and wheels rattling along2 and he felt as if ,death were hurling forth in a heap all the longer hours which he might yet have had to live1--and now1 to his eyes1 the churchyard began to quiver and heave1 the moonlight flickered on the church-windows1 and in the church there were lights flitting to and fro1 and in the charnel-house was a motion and a tumult4 ,his heart fainted within him1 and he threw himself into bed1 and closed his eyes that he might not see2--but ,imagination in the gloom now blew aloft the dust of the dead1 and whirled it into giant shapes1 and chased these hollow1 fever-born masks alternately into lightning and shadow4 ,then at last from transparent thoughts grew colored visions1 and he dreamed this dream4 ,he was standing at the window looking out into the churchyard2 and ,death1 in size as a scorpion1 was creeping over it1 and seeking for his bones4 ,death found some arm-bones and thigh-bones on the graves1 and said1 ,they are my bones2 and he took a spine and the bone-legs1 and stood with them1 and the two arm-bones and clutched with them1 and found on the grave of ,fixlein's father a skull1 and put it on4 ,then he lifted a scythe beside the little flower-garden1 and cried3 ,fixlein1 where art thou8 ,my finger is an icicle and no finger1 and ,i will tap on thy heart with it4 ,the ,skeleton1 thus piled together1 now looked for him who was standing at the window1 and powerless to stir from it2 and carried in the one hand1 instead of a sand-glass1 the ever-striking steeple-clock1 and held out the finger of ice1 like a dagger1 far into the air4444 ,then he saw his victim above at the window1 and raised himself as high as the laurel-tree to stab straight into his bosom with the finger1--and stalked towards him4 ,but as he came nearer1 his pale bones grew redder1 and vapors floated woolly round his haggard form4 ,flowers started up from the ground2 and he stood transfigured and without the clamm of the grave1 hovering above them1 and the balm-breath from the flower-cups wafted him gently on2--and as he came nearer1 the scythe and clock were gone1 and in his bony breast he had a heart1 and on his bony head red lips2--and nearer still1 there gathered on him soft1 transparent1 rosebalm-dipped flesh1 like the splendor of an ,angel flying hither from the starry blue2--and close at hand1 he was an ,angel with shut snow-white eyelids4444 ,the heart of my friend1 quivering like a ,harmonica-bell1 now melted in bliss in his clear bosom2--and when the ,angel opened its eyes1 his were pressed together by the weight of celestial rapture1 and his dream fled away4---- ,but not his life2 he opened his hot eyes1 and--his good wife had hold of his feverish hand1 and was standing in room of the ,angel4 ,the fever abated towards morning2 but the certainty of dying still throbbed in every artery of the hapless man4 ,he called for his fair little infant into his sick-bed1 and pressed it silently1 though it began to cry1 too hard against his paternal1 heavy-laden breast4 ,then towards noon his soul became cool1 and the sultry thunder-clouds within it drew back4 ,and here he described to us the previous 7as it were1 arsenical7 fantasies of his usually quiet head4 ,but it is even those tense nerves1 which have not quivered at the touch of a poetic hand striking them to melody of sorrow1 that start and fly asunder more easily under the fierce hand of ,fate1 when with sweeping stroke it smites into discord the firm-set strings4 ,but towards night his ideas again began rushing in a torch-dance1 like fire-pillars round his soul2 every artery became a burning-rod1 and the heart drove flaming naphtha-brooks into the brain4 ,all within his soul grew bloody2 the blood of his drowned brother united itself with the blood which had once flowed from ,thiennette's arm1 into a bloody rain2--he still thought he was in the garden in the night of betrothment1 he still kept calling for bandages to stanch blood1 and was for hiding his head in the ball of the steeple4 ,nothing afflicts one more than to see a reasonable1 moderate man1 who has been so even in his passions1 raving in the poetic madness of fever4 ,and yet if nothing save this mouldering corruption can soothe the hot brain2 and if1 while the reek and thick vapor of a boiling nervous-spirit and the hissing water-spouts of the veins are encircling and eclipsing the stifled soul1 a higher ,finger presses through the cloud1 and suddenly lifts the poor bewildered spirit from amid the smoke to a sun1--is it more just to complain1 than to reflect that ,fate is like the oculist1 who1 when about to open to a blind eye the world of light1 first bandages and darkens the other eye that sees8 ,but the sorrow does affect me1 which ,i read on ,thiennette's pale lips1 though do not hear4 ,it is not the distortion of an excruciating agony1 nor the burning of a dried-up eye1 nor the loud lamenting or violent movement of a tortured frame1 that ,i see in her2 but what ,i am forced to see in her1 and what too keenly cuts the sympathizing heart1 is a pale1 still1 unmoved1 undistorted face1 a pale1 bloodless head1 which ,sorrow is as it were holding up after the stroke1 like a head just severed by the axe of the headsman2 for oh6 on this form the wounds1 from which the three-edged dagger had been drawn1 are all fallen firmly together1 and the blood is flowing from them in secret into the choking heart4 ,o ,thiennette1 go away from the sick-bed1 and hide that face which is saying to us3 ,now do ,i know that ,i shall not have any happiness on ,earth2 now do ,i give over hoping1--would this life were but soon done6 ,you will not comprehend my sympathy1 if you know not what1 some hours ago1 the too loud lamenting mother told me4 ,thiennette1 who of old had always trembled for his thirty-second year1 had encountered this superstition with a nobler one2 she had purposely stood farther back at the marriage-altar1 and in the bridal-night fallen sooner asleep than he2 thereby--as is the popular belief--so to order it that she might also die sooner4 ,nay1 she has determined1 if he die1 to lay with his corpse a piece of her apparel1 that so she may descend the sooner to keep him company in his narrow house4 ,thou good1 thou faithful wife1 but thou unhappy one6-- ,,chapter ,,last4 ,i have left ,hukelum1 and my gossip his bed2 and the one is as sound as the other4 ,the cure was as foolish as the malady4 ,it first occurred to me1 that1 as ,boerhaave used to remedy convulsions by convulsions1 one fancy might in my gossip's case be remedied by another2 namely1 by the fancy that he was yet no man of thirty-two1 but only a man of six or nine4 ,deliriums are dreams not encircled by sleep2 and all dreams transport us back into youth1 why not deliriums too8 ,i accordingly directed every one to leave the patient2 only his mother1 while the fiercest meteors were darting1 hissing before his fevered soul1 was to sit down by him alone1 and speak to him as if he were a child of eight years4 ,the bed-mirror also ,i directed her to cover4 ,she did so2 she spoke to him as if he had the small-pox fever2 and when he cried1 ,death is standing with two-and-thirty pointed teeth before me1 to eat my heart1 she said to him1 ,little dear1 ,i will give thee thy roller-hat1 and thy copy-book1 and thy case1 and thy hussar-cloak again1 and more too if thou wilt be good4 ,a reasonable speech he would have taken up and heeded much less than he did this foolish one4 ,at last she said1--for to women in the depth of sorrow dissimulation becomes easy1--,well1 ,i will try it this once1 and give thee thy playthings2 but do the like again1 thou rogue1 and roll thyself about in the bed so1 with the smallpox on thee6 ,and with this1 from her full apron she shook out on the bed the whole stock of playthings and dressing-ware1 which ,i had found in the press of the drowned brother4 ,first of all his copy-book1 where ,egidius in his eighth year had put down his name1 which he necessarily recognized as his own handwriting2 then the black velvet fall-hat or roller-cap2 then the red and white leading-strings2 his knife-case1 with a little pamphlet of tin leaves2 his green hussar-cloak1 with its stiff facings2 and a whole orbis pictus or fictus of ,nuernberg puppets4444 ,the sick man recognized in a moment these projecting peaks of a spring-world sunk in the stream of ,time1--these half shadows1 this dusk of down-gone days1--this conflagration-place and ,golgotha of a heavenly time1 which none of us forgets1 which we love forever1 and look back to even from the grave4444 ,and when he saw all this1 he slowly turned round his head1 as if he were awakening from a long1 heavy dream2 and his whole heart flowed down in warm showers of tears1 and he said1 fixing his full eyes on the eyes of his mother3 ,but are my father and brother still living then8--,they are dead lately1 said the wounded mother2 but her heart was overpowered1 and she turned away her eyes1 and bitter tears fell unseen from her down-bent head4 ,and now at once that evening1 when he lay confined to bed by the death of his father1 and was cured by his playthings1 overflowed his soul with splendor and lights1 and presence of the ,past4 ,and so ,delirium dyed for itself rosy wings in the ,aurora of life1 and fanned the panting soul1--and shook down golden butterfly-dust from its plumage on the path1 on the flowerage of the suffering man2--in the far distance rose lovely tones1 in the distance floated lovely clouds--,o his heart was like to fall in pieces1 but only into fluttering flower-stamina1 into soft sentient nerves2 his eyes were like to melt away1 but only into dew-drops for the cups of joy-blossoms1 into blood-drops for loving hearts2 his soul was floating1 palpitating1 drinking1 and swimming in the warm1 relaxing rose-perfume of the brightest delusion4444 ,the rapture bridled his feverish heart2 and his mad pulse grew calm4 ,next morning his mother1 when she saw that all was prospering1 would have had the church-bells rung1 to make him think that the second ,sunday was already here4 ,but his wife 7perhaps out of shame in my presence7 was averse to the lying2 and said it would be all the same if we moved the month-hand of his clock 7but otherwise than ,hezekiah's ,dial7 eight days forward2 especially as he was wont rather to rise and look at his clock for the day of the month1 then to turn it up in the almanac4 ,i for my own part simply went up to the bedside1 and asked him3 ,if he was cracked--what in the world he meant with his mad death-dreams1 when he had lain so long1 and passed clean over the ,cantata-,sunday1 and yet1 out of sheer terror1 was withering to a lath8 ,a glorious reinforcement joined me2 the ,flesher or ,quartermaster4 ,in his anxiety1 he rushed into the room1 without saluting the women1 and ,i forthwith addressed him aloud3 ,my gossip here is giving me trouble enough1 ,mr4 ,regiments-,quartermaster2 last night1 he let them persuade him he was little older than his own son2 here is the child's fall-hat he was for putting on4 ,the ,guardian deuced and devilled1 and said3 ,ward1 are you a parson or a fool8--,have not ,i told you twenty times1 there was a maggot in your head about this8-- ,at last he himself perceived that he was not rightly wise1 and so grew better2 besides the guardian's invectives1 my oaths contributed a good deal2 for ,i swore ,i would hold him as no right gossip1 and edit no word of his ,biography1 unless he rose directly and got better4444 --,in short1 he showed so much politeness to me that he rose and got better4--,he was still sickly1 it is true1 on ,saturday2 and on ,sunday could not preach a sermon 7something of the sort the ,schoolmaster read1 instead72 but yet he took ,confessions on ,saturday1 and at the altar next day he dispensed the ,sacrament4 ,service ended1 the feast of his recovery was celebrated1 my farewell-feast included2 for ,i was to go in the afternoon4 ,this last afternoon ,i will chalk out with all possible breadth1 and then1 with the pentagraph of free garrulity1 fill up the outline and draw on the great scale4 ,during the ,thanksgiving-repast1 there arrived considerable personal tribute from his catechumens1 and fairings by way of bonfire for his recovery2 proving how much the people loved him1 and how well he deserved it2 for one is oftener hated without reason by the many1 than without reason loved by them4 ,but ,fixlein was friendly to every child2 was none of those clergy who never pardon their enemies except in--,god's stead2 and he praised at once the whole world1 his wife1 and himself4 ,i then attended at his afternoon's catechizing2 and looked down 7as he did in the first ,letter-,box7 from the choir1 under the wing of the wooden cherub4 ,behind this angel1 ,i drew out my note-book1 and shifted a little under the cover of the ,black ,board1 with its white ,psalm-ciphers1#ff and wrote down what ,i was there--thinking4 ,i was well aware1 that when ,i to-day1 on the twenty-fifth of ,may retired from this ,salernic#fg spinning-school1 where one is taught to spin out the thread of life1 in fairer wise1 and without wetting it by foreign mixtures1--,i was well aware1 ,i say1 that ,i should carry off with me far more elementary principles of the ,science of ,happiness than the whole ,chamberlain piquet ever muster all their days4 ,i noted down my first impression1 in the following ,rules of ,life for myself and the press4 ,little joys refresh us constantly like house-bread1 and never bring disgust2 and great ones1 like sugar-bread1 briefly1 and then bring it4--,trifles we should let1 not plague us only1 but also gratify us2 we should seize not their poison-bags only1 but their honey-bags also2 and if flies often buzz about our room1 we should1 like ,domitian1 amuse ourselves with flies1 or1 like a certain still living ,elector1#fh feed them4--,for civic life and its micrologies1 for which the ,parson has a natural taste1 we must acquire an artificial one2 must learn to love without esteeming it2 learn1 far as it ranks beneath human life1 to enjoy it like another twig of this human life1 as poetically as we do the pictures of it in romances4 ,the loftiest mortal loves and seeks the same sort of things with the meanest2 only from higher grounds and by higher paths4 ,be every minute1 ,man1 a full life to thee6--,despise anxiety and wishing1 the ,future and the ,past6--,if the ,second-pointer can be no road-pointer into an ,eden for thy soul1 the ,month-pointer will still less be so1 for thou livest not from month to month1 but from second to second6 ,enjoy thy ,existence more than thy ,manner of ,existence1 and let the dearest object of thy ,consciousness be this ,consciousness itself6--,make not the ,present a means of thy ,future2 for this ,future is nothing but a coming ,present2 and the ,present1 which thou despisest1 was once a ,future which thou desiredst6--,stake in no lotteries1--keep at home1--give and accept no pompous entertainments1--travel not abroad every year6--,conceal not from thyself1 by long plans1 thy household goods1 thy chamber1 thy acquaintance6--,despise ,life1 that thou mayst enjoy it6--,inspect the neighborhood of thy life2 every shelf1 every nook of thy abode2 and nestling in1 quarter thyself in the farthest and most domestic winding of thy snail-house6--,look upon a capital but as a collection of villages1 a village as some blind-alley of a capital2 fame as the talk of neighbors at the street-door2 a library as a learned conversation1 joy as a second1 sorrow as a minute1 life as a day2 and three things as all in all3 ,god1 ,creation1 ,virtue6---- ,and if ,i would follow myself and these rules1 it will behoove me not to make so much of this ,biography2 but once for all1 like a moderate man1 to let it sound out4 ,after the ,catechizing1 ,i stept down to my wide-gowned and black-gowned gossip4 ,the congregation gone1 we clambered up to all high places1 perused the plates on the pews--,i took a lesson on the altar on its inscription incrusted with the sediment of ,time 7,i speak not metaphorically72 ,i organed1 my gossip managing the bellows2 ,i mounted the pulpit1 and was happy enough there to alight on one other rose-shoot1 which in the farewell minute1 ,i could still plant in the rose-garden of my ,fixlein4 ,for ,i descried aloft1 on the back of a wooden ,apostle1 the name ,lavater1 which the ,zurich ,physiognomist had been pleased to leave on this sacred ,torso in the course of his wayfaring4 ,fixlein did not know the hand1 but ,i did1 for ,i had seen it frequently in ,flachsenfingen1 not only on the tapestry of a ,court ,lady there1 but also in his ,hand-,library2#fi and met with it besides in many country churches1 forming1 as it were1 the ,directory and ,address-,calendar of this wandering name1 for ,lavater likes to inscribe in pulpits1 as a shepherd does in trees1 the name of his beloved4 ,i could now advise my gossip prudently to cut away the name1 with the chip of wood containing it1 from the back of the ,apostle1 and to preserve it carefully among his curiosa4 ,on returning to the parsonage1 ,i made for my hat and stick2 but the design1 as it were the projection and contour of a supper in the acacia-grove1 had already been sketched by ,thiennette4 ,i declared that ,i would stay till evening1 in case the young mother went out with us to the proposed meal4444 and truly the ,biographer at length got his way1 all doctors' regulations notwithstanding4 ,i then constrained the ,parson to put on his ,kraeutermuetze1#gj or ,herb-cap1 which he had stitched together out of simples for the strengthening of his memory3 ,would to ,heaven1 said ,i1 that ,princes instead of their ,princely ,hats1 ,doctors and ,cardinals instead of theirs1 and ,saints instead of martyr-crowns1 would clap such memory-bonnets on their heads6--,thereupon1 till the roasting and cooking within doors were over1 we marched out alone over the parsonage meadows1 and talked of learned matters1 we packed ourselves into the ruined ,robber-,castle1 on which my gossip1 as already mentioned1 has a literary work in hand4 ,i deeply approved1 the rather as this ,kidnapper-tower had once belonged to an ,aufhammer1 his intention of dedicating the description to the ,rittmeister2 that nobleman1 ,i think1 will sooner give his name to the ,book than to the ,shock4 ,for the rest1 ,i exhorted my fellow-craftsman to pluck up literary heart1 and said to him3 ,a fearless pen1 good gossip6 ,let ,subrector ,hans von ,fuechslein be1 if he like1 the ,dragon of the ,apocalypse1 lying in wait for the delivery of the fugitive ,woman1 to swallow the offspring2 ,i am there too1 and have my friend the ,editor of the ,litteraturzeitung at my side1 who will gladly permit me to give an anticritique on paying the insertion-dues6--,i especially excited him to new fillings and return-freights of his ,letter-,boxes4 ,i have not taken oath that into this biographical chest-of-drawers ,i will not in the course of time introduce another ,box4 ,neither to my godson1 worthy gossip1 will it do any harm that he is presented1 poor child1 even now to the reading public1 when he does not count more months than1 as ,horace will have it1 a literary child should count years1 namely1 nine4 ,in walking homewards1 ,i praised his wife4 ,if marriage1 said ,i to him1 is the madder which in maids1 as in cotton1 makes the colors visible1 then ,i contend1 that ,thiennette1 when a maid1 could scarcely be so good as she is now when a wife4 ,by ,heaven6 in such a marriage1 ,i should write ,books of quite another sort1 divine ones2 in a marriage1 ,i mean1 where beside the writing-table 7as beside the great voting-table at the ,regensburg ,diets1 there are little tables of confectionery72 where in like manner1 ,i say1 a little jar of marmalade were standing by me1 namely1 a sweetened1 dainty1 lovely face1 and out of measure fond of the ,letter-,box-writer1 gossip6 ,your marriage will resemble the acacia-grove we are now going to1 the leaves of which grow thicker with the heat of summer1 while other shrubs are yielding only shrunk and porous shade4 ,as we entered through the upper garden-door into this same bower1 the supper and the good mistress were already there4 ,nothing is more pure and tender than the respect with which a wife treats the benefactor or comrade of her husband2 and happily the ,biographer himself was this comrade1 and the object of this respect4 ,our talk was cheerful1 but my spirit was oppressed4 ,the fetters1 which bind the mere reader to my heroes1 were in my case of triple force2 as ,i was at once their guest and their portrait-painter4 ,i told the ,parson that he would live to a greater age than ,i1 for that his temperate temperament was balanced1 as if by a doctor1 so equally between the nervousness of refinement and the hot thick-bloodedness of the rustic4 ,fixlein said that if he lived but as long as he had done1 namely1 two-and-thirty years1 it would amount1 exclusive of the leap-year-days1 to #bhj1cbj seconds1 which in itself was something considerable2 and that he often reckoned up with satisfaction the many thousand persons of his own age that would have a life equally long4 ,at last ,i tried to get in motion2 for the red lights of the falling sun were mounting up over the grove1 and dipping us still deeper in the shadows of night2 the young mother had grown chill in the evening dew4 ,in confused mood1 ,i invited the ,parson to visit me soon in the city1 where ,i would show him not only all the chambers of the ,palace1 but the ,prince himself4 ,gladder there was nothing this day on our old world than the face to which ,i said so2 and than the other one which was the mild reflection of the former4--,for the ,biographer it would have been too hard1 if now in that minute1 when his fancy1 like mirror-telescopes1 was representing every object in a tremulous form1 he had been obliged to cut and run2 if1 ,i will say1 it had not occurred to him that to the young mother it could do little harm 7but much good7 were she to take a short walk1 and assist in escorting the ,author and architect of the present ,letter-,box out of the garden to his road4 ,in short1 ,i took this couple one in each hand1 instead of under each arm1 and moved with them through the garden to the ,flachsenfingen highway4 ,i often abruptly turned round my head between them1 as if ,i had heard some one coming after us2 but in reality ,i only meant once more1 though mournfully1 to look back into the happy hamlet1 whose houses were all dwellings of contented still ,sabbath-joy1 and which is happy enough1 though over its wide-parted pavement-stones there passes every week but one barber1 every holiday but one dresser of hair1 and every year but one hawker of parasols4 ,then truly ,i had again to turn round my head1 and look at the happy pair beside me4 ,my otherwise affectionate gossip could not rightly suit himself to these tokens of sorrow2 but in thy heart1 thou good1 so oft afflicted sex1 every mourning-bell soon finds its unison2 and ,thiennette1 ennobled with the thin trembling resonance of a reverberating soul1 gave me back all my tones with the beauties of an echo4---- ,at last we reached the boundary1 over which ,thiennette could not be allowed to walk2 and now must ,i part from my gossip1 with whom ,i had talked so gayly every morning 7each of us from his bed71 and from the still circuit of modest hope where he dwelt1 and return once more to the rioting1 fermenting ,court-sphere1 where men in bull-beggar tone demand from ,fate a root of ,life-,licorice1 thick as the arm1 like the botanical one on the ,wolga1 not so much that they may chew the sweet bean themselves1 as fell others to earth with it4 ,as ,i thought to myself that ,i would say1 ,farewell6 to them1 all the coming plagues1 all the corpses1 and all the marred wishes of this good pair1 arose before my heart2 and ,i remembered that little1 save the falling asleep of joy-flowers1 would mark the current of their ,life-day1 as it does of mine and of every one's4--,and yet is it fairer1 if they measure their years not by the ,water-clock of falling tears1 but by the ,flower-clock#ga of asleep-going flowers1 whose bells in our short-lived garden are sinking together before us from hour to hour4-- ,i would even now--for ,i still recollect how ,i hung with streaming eyes over these two loved ones1 as over their corpses--address myself1 and say3 ,far too soft1 ,jean ,paul1 whose chalk still sketches the models of ,nature on a ground of ,melancholy2 harden thy heart like thy frame1 and waste not thyself and others by such thoughts4 ,yet why should ,i do it1 why should ,i not confess directly what1 in the softest emotion1 ,i said to these two beings8 ,may all go right with you1 ye mild beings1 ,i said1 for ,i no longer thought of courtesies1 may the arm of ,providence bear gently your lacerated hearts1 and the good ,father1 above all these suns which are now looking down on us1 keep you ever united1 and exalt you still undivided to his bosom and his lips6 ,be you1 too1 right happy and glad6 said ,thiennette4 ,and to you1 ,thiennette1 continued ,i1 ,ah6 to your pale cheeks1 to your oppressed heart1 to your long cold maltreated youth1 ,i can never1 never wish enough4 ,no6 ,but all that can soothe a wounded soul1 that can please a pure one1 that can still the hidden sigh--,o1 all that you deserve--may this be given you2 and when you see me again1 then say to me1 ',i am now much happier6' ,we were all of us too deeply moved4 ,we at last tore ourselves asunder from repeated embraces2 my friend retired with the soul whom he loves1--,i remained alone behind him with the ,night4 ,and ,i walked without aim through woods1 through valleys1 and over brooks1 and through sleeping villages1 to enjoy the great ,night like a ,day4 ,i walked1 and still looked like the magnet to the region of midnight1 to strengthen my heart at the gleaming twilight1 at this upstretching ,aurora of a morning beneath our feet4 ,white night-butterflies flitted1 white blossoms fluttered1 white stars fell1 and the white snow-powder hung silvery in the high ,shadow of the ,earth1 which reaches beyond the ,moon1 and which is our ,night4 ,then began the ,a,eolian ,harp of the ,creation to tremble and to sound1 blown on from above1 and my immortal soul was a string in this ,harp4--,the heart of a brother everlasting ,man swelled under the everlasting ,heaven1 as the seas swell under the ,sun and under the ,moon4--,the distant village-clocks struck midnight1 mingling1 as it were1 with the ever-pealing tone of ancient ,eternity4--,the limbs of my buried ones touched cold on my soul1 and drove away its blots1 as dead hands heal eruptions of the skin4--,i walked silently through little hamlets1 and close by their outer churchyards1 where crumbled upcast coffin-boards were glimmering1 while the once bright eyes that had lain in them were mouldered into gray ashes4--,cold thought6 clutch not like a cold spectre at my heart2 ,i look up to the starry sky1 and an everlasting chain stretches thither1 and over and below2 and all is ,life1 and ,warmth1 and ,light1 and all is godlike or ,god4444 ,towards morning ,i descried thy late lights1 little city of my dwelling1 which ,i belong to on this side the grave2 ,i return to the ,earth2 and in thy steeples1 behind the by-advanced great ,midnight1 it struck half past two2 about this hour1 in #agid1 ,mars went down in the west1 and the ,moon rose in the east2 and my soul desired1 in grief for the noble warlike blood which is still streaming on the blossoms of ,spring3 ,ah1 retire1 bloody ,war1 like red ,mars2 and thou1 still ,peace1 come forth like the mild divided ,moon6-- ,,army-,,chaplain ,,schmelzle',s ,,journey ,,to ,f,l,ae,t,z2 ,,with ,a ,,running ,,commentary ,,of ,,notes4 ,,translated ,,by ,,thomas ,,carlyle4 ,,preface ,this1 ,i conceive1 may be managed in two words4 ,the first word must relate to the ,circular ,letter of ,army-,chaplain ,schmelzle1 wherein he describes to his friends his ,journey to the metropolitan city of ,flaetz2 after having1 in an ,introduction1 premised some proofs and assurances of his valor4 ,properly speaking1 the ,journey itself has been written purely with a view that his courageousness1 impugned by rumor1 may be fully evinced and demonstrated by the plain facts which he therein records4 ,whether1 in the mean time1 there shall not be found certain quick-scented readers1 who may infer1 directly contrariwise1 that his breast is not everywhere bomb-proof1 especially in the left side1--on this point ,i keep my judgment suspended4 ,for the rest1 ,i beg the judges of literature1 as well as their satellites1 the critics of literature1 to regard this ,journey1 for whose literary contents ,i1 as ,editor1 am answerable1 solely in the light of a ,portrait 7in the ,french sense71 a little ,sketch of ,character4 ,it is a voluntary or involuntary comedy-piece1 at which ,i have laughed so often1 that ,i purpose in time coming to paint some similar ,pictures of ,character myself4 ,and1 for the present1 when could such a little comic toy be more fitly imparted and set forth to the world than in these very days1 when the sound both of heavy money and of light laughter has died away from among us1--when1 like the ,turks1 we count and pay merely with sealed purses1 and the coin within them has vanished8 ,despicable would it seem to me1 if any clownish squire of the goose-quill should publicly and censoriously demand of me in what way this self-cabinet-piece of ,schmelzle's has come into my hands4 ,i know it well1 and do not disclose it4 ,this comedy-piece1 for which ,i1 at all events1 as my ,bookseller will testify1 draw the profit myself1 ,i got hold of so unblamably1 that ,i await1 with unspeakable composure1 what the ,army-,chaplain shall please to say against the publication of it1 in case he say anything at all4 ,my conscience bears me witness1 that ,i acquired this article at least by more honorable methods than are those of the learned persons who steal with their ears1 who1 in the character of spiritual auditory-thieves1 and class-room cut-purses and pirates1 are in the habit of disloading their plundered ,lectures1 and vending them up and down the country as productions of their own4 ,hitherto1 in my whole life1 ,i have stolen little1 except now and then in youth some--glances4 ,the second word must explain or apologize for the singular form of this little ,work1 standing as it does on a substratum of ,notes4 ,i myself am not contented with it4 ,let the world open1 and look1 and determine1 in like manner4 ,but the truth is1 this line of demarcation1 stretching through the whole book1 originated in the following accident3 certain thoughts 7or digressions7 of my own1 with which it was not permitted me to disturb those of the ,army-,chaplain1 and which could only be allowed to fight behind the lines1 in the shape of ,notes1 ,i1 with a view to conveniency and order1 had written down in a separate paper2 at the same time1 as will be observed1 regularly providing every ,note with its ,number1 and thus referring it to the proper page of the main ,manuscript4 ,but1 in the copying of the latter1 ,i had forgotten to insert the corresponding numbers in the ,text itself4 ,therefore1 let no man1 any more than ,i do1 cast a stone at my worthy ,printer1 inasmuch as he 7perhaps in the thought that it was my way1 that ,i had some purpose in it7 took these ,notes1 just as they stood1 pellmell1 without arrangement of ,numbers1 and clapped them under the ,text2 at the same time1 by a praiseworthy1 artful computation1 taking care1 at least1 that at the bottom of every page in the ,text there should some portion of this glittering ,note-precipitate make its appearance4 ,well1 the thing at any rate is done1 nay1 perpetuated1 namely1 printed4 ,after all1 ,i might almost partly rejoice at it4 ,for1 in good truth1 had ,i meditated for years 7as ,i have done for the last twenty7 how to provide for my digression-comets new orbits1 if not focal suns1 for my episodes new epopees1--,i could scarce possibly have hit upon a better or more spacious ,limbo for such ,vanities than ,chance and ,printer here accidentally offer me ready-made4 ,i have only to regret that the thing has been printed before ,i could turn it to account4 ,heavens6 what remotest allusions 7had ,i known it before printing7 might not have been privily introduced in every ,text-page and ,note-number2 and what apparent incongruity in the real congruity between this upper and under side of the cards6 ,how vehemently and devilishly might one not have cut aloft1 and to the right and left1 from these impregnable casemates and covered-ways2 and what laesio ultra dimidium 7injury beyond the half of the ,text7 might not1 with these satirical injuries1 have been effected and completed6 ,but ,fate meant not so kindly with me2 of this golden harvest-field of satire ,i was not to be informed till three days before the ,preface4 ,perhaps1 however1 the writing world1 by the little blue flame of this accident1 may be guided to a weightier acquisition1 to a larger subterranean treasure1 than ,i1 alas6 have dug up4 ,for1 to the writer1 there is now a way pointed out of producing in one marbled volume a group of altogether different works2 of writing in one leaf1 for both sexes at the same time1 without confounding them1 nay1 for the five faculties all at once1 without disturbing their limitations2 since now1 instead of boiling up a vile1 fermenting shove-together1 fit for nobody1 he has nothing to do but draw his note-lines or partition-lines2 and so on his five-story leaf give board and lodging to the most discordant heads4 ,perhaps one might then read many a book for the fourth time1 simply because every time one had read but a fourth part of it4 ,on the whole1 this ,work has at least the property of being a short one2 so that the reader1 ,i hope1 may almost run through it1 and read it at the bookseller's counter1 without1 as in the case of thicker volumes1 first needing to buy it4 ,and why1 indeed1 in this world of ,matter should anything whatever be great1 except only what belongs not to it1 the world of ,spirit8 ,jean ,paul ,fr4 ,richter4 ,bayreuth1 in the ,bay and ,peace ,month1 #agjg4 ,,schmelzle',s ,,journey ,,to ,f,l,ae,t,z4 ,circular ,letter of the proposed ,catechetical ,professor ,attila ,schmelzle to his ,friends2 containing some ,account of a ,holidays' ,journey to ,flaetz1 with an ,introduction1 touching his ,flight1 and his ,courage as former ,army-,chaplain4 ,nothing can be more ludicrous1 my esteemed ,friends1 than to hear people stigmatizing a man as cowardly and hare-hearted1 who perhaps is struggling all the while with precisely the opposite faults1 those of a lion2 though indeed the ,african lion himself1 since the time of ,sparrmann's ,travels1 passes among us for poltroon4 ,yet this case is mine1 worthy ,friends2 and ,i purpose to say a few words thereupon1 before describing my journey4 ------------------------ #ajh4 ,good princes easily obtain good subjects2 not so easily good subjects good princes2 thus ,adam1 in the state of innocence1 ruled over animals all tame and gentle1 till simply through his means they fell and grew savage4 ------------------------ ,you in truth are all aware that1 directly in the teeth of this calumny1 it is courage1 it is desperadoes 7provided they be not braggarts and tumultuous persons71 whom ,i chiefly venerate2 for example1 my brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon1 who never in his life bastinadoed one man1 but always a whole social circle at the same time4 ,how truculent was my fancy1 even in childhood1 when ,i1 as the parson was toning away to the silent congregation1 used to take it into my head3 ,how now1 if thou shouldst start up from thy pew1 and shout aloud1 ,i am here too1 ,mr4 ,parson6 and to paint out this thought in such glowing colors1 that1 for very dread1 ,i have often been obliged to leave the church6 ,anything like ,rugenda's battle-pieces2 horrid murder-tumults1 sea-fights or ,stormings of ,toulon1 exploding fleets2 and1 in my childhood1 ,battles of ,prague on the harpsichord2 nay1 in short1 every map of any remarkable scene of war2 these are perhaps too much my favorite objects2 and ,i read--and purchase nothing sooner2 and doubtless they might lead me into many errors1 were it not that my circumstances restrain me4 ,now1 if it be objected that true courage is something higher than mere thinking and willing1 then you1 my worthy friends1 will be the first to recognize mine1 when it shall break forth into not barren and empty1 but active and effective words1 while ,i strengthen my future ,catechetical ,pupils1 as well as can be done in a course of ,college ,lectures1 and steel them into ,christian heroes4 ------------------------ #e4 ,for a good ,physician saves1 if not always from the disease1 at least from a bad ,physician4 ------------------------ ,it is well known that1 out of care for the preservation of my life1 ,i never walk within at least ten fields of any shore full of bathers or swimmers2 merely because ,i foresee to a certainty1 that1 in case one of them were drowning1 ,i should that moment 7for the heart overbalances the head7 plunge after the fool to save him1 into some bottomless depth or other1 where we should both perish4 ,and if dreaming is the reflex of waking1 let me ask you1 true ,hearts1 if you have forgotten my relating to you dreams of mine1 which no ,caesar1 no ,alexander or ,luther1 need have felt ashamed of8 ,have ,i not1 to mention a few instances1 taken ,rome by storm2 and done battle with the ,pope and the whole elephantine body of the ,cardinal ,college1 at one and the same time8 ,did ,i not once on horseback1 while simply looking at a review of military1 dash headlong into a bataillon quarre2 and then capture1 in ,aix-la-,chapelle1 the ,peruke of ,charlemagne1 for which the town pays yearly ten reichsthalers of barber-money2 and carrying it off to ,halberstadt von ,gleim1 there in like manner seize the ,great ,frederick's ,hat2 put both ,peruke and ,hat on my head1 and yet return home1 after ,i had stormed their batteries and turned the cannon against the cannoneers themselves8 ,did ,i not once submit to be made a ,jew of1 and then be regaled with hams2 though they were ape-hams on the ,orinoco 7see ,humboldt78 ,and a thousand such things2 for ,i have thrown the ,consistorial ,president of ,flaetz out of the ,palace window2 those alarm-fulminators1 sold by ,heinrich ,backofen in ,gotha1 at six groschen the dozen1 and each going off like a cannon1 ,i have listened to so calmly that the fulminators did not even awaken me2 and more of the like sort4 ------------------------ #ajj4 ,in books lie the ,phoenix-ashes of a past ,millennium and ,paradise2 but ,war blows1 and much ashes are scattered away4 ------------------------ ,but enough6 ,it is now time briefly to touch that further slander of my chaplainship1 which unhappily has likewise gained some circulation in ,flaetz1 but which1 as ,caesar did ,alexander1 ,i shall now by my touch dissipate into dust4 ,be what truth in it there can1 it is still little or nothing4 ,your great ,minister and ,general in ,flaetz 7perhaps the very greatest in the world1 for there are not many ,schabackers7 may indeed1 like any other great man1 be turned against me2 but not with the ,artillery of ,truth2 for this ,artillery ,i here set before you1 my good ,hearts1 and do you but fire it off for my advantage6 ,the matter is this4 ,certain foolish rumors are afloat in the ,flaetz country1 that ,i1 on occasion of some important battles1 took leg-bail 7such is their plebeian phrase71 and that afterwards1 on the ,chaplain's being called for to preach a ,thanksgiving sermon for the victory1 no chaplain whatever was to be found4 ,the ridiculousness of this story will best appear1 when ,i tell you that ,i never was in any action2 but have always been accustomed1 several hours prior to such an event1 to withdraw so many miles to the rear1 that our men1 so soon as they were beaten1 would be sure to find me4 ,a good retreat is reckoned the masterpiece in the art of war2 and at no time can a retreat be executed with such order1 force1 and security as just before the battle1 when you are not yet beaten4 ------------------------ #ajb4 ,dear ,political or ,religious ,inquisitor6 ,art thou aware that ,turin tapers never rightly begin shining till thou breakest them1 and then they take fire8 ------------------------ ,it is true1 ,i might perhaps1 as expectant ,professor of ,catechetics1 sit still and smile at such nugatory speculations on my courage2 for if by ,socratic questioning ,i can hammer my future ,catechist ,pupils into the habit of asking questions in their turn1 ,i shall thereby have tempered them into heroes1 seeing they have nothing to fight with but children--7,catechists at all events1 though dreading fire1 have no reason to dread light1 since in our days1 as in ,london illuminations1 it is only the unlighted windows that are battered in2 whereas1 in other ages1 it was with nations and light as it is with dogs and water2 if you give them none for a long time1 they at last get a horror at it72--and on the whole1 for ,catechists1 any park looks kindlier1 and smiles more sweetly1 than a sulphurous park of artillery2 and the ,warlike ,foot1 which the age is placed on1 is to them the true ,devil's cloven-foot of human nature4 ------------------------ #hf4 ,very true6 ,in youth we love and enjoy the most ill-assorted friends1 perhaps more than1 in old age1 the best assorted4 ------------------------ ,but for my part ,i think not so2 almost as if the party spirit of my ,christian name1 ,attila1 had passed into me more strongly than was proper1 ,i feel myself impelled still further to prove my courageousness2 which1 dearest ,friends6 ,i shall here in a few lines again do4 ,this proof ,i could manage by mere inferences and learned citations4 ,for example1 if ,galen remarks that animals with large hind-quarters are timid1 ,i have nothing to do but turn round1 and show the enemy my back and what is under it1 in order to convince him that ,i am not deficient in valor1 but in flesh4 ,again1 if by well-known experiences it has been found that flesh-eating produces courage1 ,i can evince that in this particular ,i yield to no officer of the service2 though it is the habit of these gentlemen not only to run up long scores of roast-meat with their landlords1 but also to leave them unpaid1 that so at every hour they may have an open document in the hands of the enemy himself 7the landlord71 testifying that they have eaten their own share 7with some of other people's too71 and so put common butcher-meat on a ,war-footing1 living not like others by bravery1 but for bravery4 ,as little have ,i ever1 in my character of chaplain1 shrunk from comparison with any officer in the regiment1 who may be a true lion1 and so snatch every sort of plunder1 but yet1 like this ,king of the ,beasts1 is afraid of fire2 or who1--like ,king ,james of ,england1#gb that scampered off at sight of drawn swords1 yet so much the more gallantly1 before all ,europe1 went out against the storming ,luther with book and pen1--does1 from a similar idiosyncrasy1 attack all warlike armaments1 both by word and writing4 ,and here ,i recollect1 with satisfaction1 a brave sub-lieutenant1 whose confessor ,i was 7he still owes me the confession-money71 and who1 in respect of stout-heartedness1 had in him perhaps something of that ,indian dog which ,alexander had presented to him as a sort of ,dog-,alexander4 ,by way of trying this crack dog1 the ,macedonian made various heroic or heraldic beasts be let loose against him2 first a stag2 but the dog lay still2 then a sow2 he lay still2 then a bear2 he lay still4 ,alexander was on the point of condemning him2 when a lion was let forth2 the dog rose1 and tore the lion in pieces4 ,so likewise the sub-lieutenant4 ,a challenger1 a foreign enemy1 a ,frenchman1 are to him only stag1 and sow1 and bear1 and he lies still in his place2 but let his oldest enemy1 his creditor1 come and knock at his gate1 and demand of him actual smart-money for long bygone pleasures1 thus presuming to rob him both of past and present2 the sub-lieutenant rises1 and throws his creditor down-stairs4 ,i1 alas6 am still standing by the sow2 and thus1 naturally enough1 misunderstood4 ------------------------ #abh4 ,in ,love there are ,summer ,holidays2 but in ,marriage also there are ,winter ,holidays1 ,i hope4 ------------------------ ,quo1 says ,livy1 xii4 #e1 and with great justice1 quo timoris minus est1 eo minus ferme periculi est1 ,the less fear you have1 the less danger you are likely to be in4 ,with equal justice ,i invert the maxim1 and say1 ,the less the danger1 the smaller the fear2 nay1 there may be situations in which one has absolutely no knowledge of fear2 and among these mine is to be reckoned4 ,the more hateful1 therefore1 must that calumny about hare-heartedness appear to me4 ,to my ,holidays' ,journey ,i shall prefix a few facts1 which prove how easily foresight--that is to say1 when a person would not resemble the stupid marmot1 that will even attack a man out on horseback--may pass for cowardice4 ,for the rest1 ,i wish only that ,i could with equal ease wipe away a quite different reproach1 that of being a foolhardy desperado2 though ,i trust1 in the sequel1 ,i shall be able to advance some facts which invalidate it4 ------------------------ #adc4 ,women have weekly at least one active and passive day of glory1 the holy day1 the ,sunday4 ,the higher ranks alone have more ,sundays than work-days2 as1 in great towns1 you can celebrate your ,sunday on ,friday with the ,turks1 on ,saturday with the ,jews1 and on ,sunday with yourself4 ------------------------ ,what boots the heroic arm1 without a hero's eye8 ,the former readily grows stronger and more nervous2 but the latter is not so soon ground sharper1 like glasses4 ,nevertheless1 the merits of foresight obtain from the mass of men less admiration 7nay1 ,i should say1 more ridicule7 than those of courage4 ,whoso1 for instance1 shall see me walking under quite cloudless skies with a wax-cloth umbrella over me1 to him ,i shall probably appear ridiculous1 so long as he is not aware that ,i carry this umbrella as a thunder-screen1 to keep off any bolt out of the blue heaven 7whereof there are several examples in the history of the ,middle ,ages7 from striking me to death4 ,my thunder-screen1 in fact1 is exactly that of ,reimarus4 ,on a long walking-stick ,i carry the wax-cloth roof2 from the peak of which depends a string of gold-lace as a conductor2 and this1 by means of a key fastened to it1 which it trails along the ground1 will lead off every possible bolt1 and easily distribute it over the whole superficies of the ,earth4 ,with this ,paratonnerre ,portatif in my hand1 ,i can walk about for weeks under the clear sky1 without the smallest danger4 ,this ,diving-bell1 moreover1 protects me against something else2 against shot4 ,for who1 in the latter end of ,harvest1 will give me black on white that no lurking ninny of a sportsman somewhere1 when ,i am out enjoying ,nature1 shall so fire off his piece1 at an angle of #de deg41 that1 in falling down again1 the shot needs only light directly on my crown1 and so come to the same as if ,i had been shot through the brain from a side8 ,it is bad enough1 at any rate1 that we have nothing to guard us from the ,moon2 which at present is bombarding us with stones like a very ,turk2 for this paltry little ,earth's train-bearer and errand-maid thinks1 in these rebellious times1 that she too must begin1 forsooth1 to sling somewhat against her ,mother6 ,in good truth1 as matters stand1 any young ,catechist of feeling may go out o' nights1 with whole limbs1 into the moonshine1 a meditating2 and erelong 7in the midst of his meditation the villanous ,satellite hits him7 come home a pounded jelly4 ,by ,heaven6 new proofs of courage are required of us on every hand6 ,no sooner have we1 with great effort1 got thunder-rods manufactured1 and comet-tails explained away1 than the enemy opens new batteries in the ,moon1 or somewhere else in the ,blue6 ------------------------ #ba4 ,schiller and ,klopstock are ,poetic ,mirrors held up to the ,sun-god2 the ,mirrors reflect the ,sun with such dazzling brightness1 that you cannot find the ,picture of the ,world imaged forth in them4 ------------------------ ,suffice one other story to manifest how ludicrous the most serious foresight1 with all imaginable inward courage1 often externally appears in the eyes of the many4 ,equestrians are well acquainted with the dangers of a horse that runs away4 ,my evil star would have it that ,i should once in ,vienna get upon a hack-horse2 a pretty enough honey-colored nag1 but old and hard-mouthed as ,satan2 so that the beast1 in the next street1 went off with me2 and this in truth--only at a walk4 ,no pulling1 no tugging1 took effect2 ,i at last1 on the back of this ,self-riding-horse1 made signals of distress1 and cried3 ,stop him1 good people6 for ,god's sake stop him6 my horse is off6 ,but these simple persons seeing the beast move along as slowly as a ,reichshofrath lawsuit1 or the ,daily ,postwagen1 could not in the least understand the matter1 till ,i cried as if possessed3 ,stop him then1 ye blockheads and joltheads6 don't you see that ,i cannot hold the nag8 ,but now1 to these noodles the sight of a hard-mouthed horse going off with its rider step by step seemed ridiculous rather than otherwise2 half ,vienna gathered itself like a comet-tail behind my beast and me4 ,prince ,kaunitz1 the best horseman of the century 7the last71 pulled up to follow me4 ,i myself sat and swam like a perpendicular piece of drift-ice on my honey-colored nag1 which stalked on1 on1 step by step2 a many-cornered1 red-coated letter-carrier was delivering his letters1 to the right and left1 in the various stories1 and he still crossed over before me again1 with satirical features1 because the nag went along too slowly4 ,the ,schwanzschleuderer1 or ,train-dasher 7the person1 as you know1 who drives along the streets with a huge barrel of water1 and besplashes them with a leathern pipe of three ells long from an iron trough71 came across the haunches of my horse1 and1 in the course of his duty1 wetted both these and myself in a very cooling manner1 though1 for my part1 ,i had too much cold sweat on me already to need any fresh refrigeration4 ,on my infernal ,trojan ,horse 7only ,i myself was ,troy1 not beridden1 but riding to destruction71 ,i arrived at ,malzlein 7a suburb of ,vienna71 or perhaps1 so confused were my senses1 it might be quite another range of streets4 ,at last1 late in the dusk1 ,i had to turn into the ,prater2 and here1 long after the ,evening ,gun1 to my horror1 and quite against the police-rules1 keep riding to and fro on my honey-colored nag2 and possibly ,i might even have passed the night on him1 had not my brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon1 observed my plight1 and so found me still sitting firm as a rock on my runaway steed4 ,he made no ceremonies2 caught the brute2 and put the pleasant question1 why ,i had not vaulted1 and come off by ground-and-lofty tumbling2 though he knew full well that for this a wooden horse1 which stands still1 is requisite4 ,however1 he took me down2 and so1 after all this riding1 horse and man got home with whole skins and unbroken bones4 ------------------------ #hd4 ,women are like precious carved works of ivory3 nothing is whiter and smoother1 and nothing sooner grows yellow4 ------------------------ ,but now at last to my ,journey6 ,,journey ,,to ,f,l,ae,t,z4 ------------------------ #gb4 ,the ,half-learned is adored by the ,quarter-learned2 the latter by the ,sixteenth-part-learned2 and so on3 but not the ,whole-learned by the ,half-learned4 ------------------------ ,you are aware1 my friends1 that this ,journey to ,flaetz was necessarily to take place in ,vacation time2 not only because the ,cattle-market1 and consequently the ,minister and ,general von ,schabacker1 was there then2 but more especially because the latter 7as ,i had it positively from a private hand7 did annually1 on the #bc;d of ,july1 the market-eve1 about five o'clock1 become so full of gaudium and graciousness1 that in many cases he did not so much snarl on people as listen to them1 and grant their prayers4 ,the cause of this gaudium ,i had rather not trust to paper4 ,in short1 my ,petition1 praying that he would be pleased to indemnify and reward me1 as an unjustly deposed army-chaplain1 by a ,catechetical ,professorship1 could plainly be presented to him at no better season than exactly about five o'clock in the evening of the first dog-day4 ,in less than a week ,i had finished writing my ,petition4 ,as ,i spared neither summaries nor copies of it1 ,i had soon got so far as to see the relatively best lying completed before me2 when1 to my terror1 ,i observed that in this paper ,i had introduced above thirty dashes1 or breaks1 in the middle of my sentences6 ,now-a-days1 alas6 these stings shoot forth involuntarily from learned pens1 as tails of wasps4 ,i debated long within myself whether a private scholar could justly be entitled to approach a minister with dashes1--greatly as this level interlineation of thoughts1 these horizontal note-marks of poetical music-pieces1 and these rope-ladders or ,achilles'-tendons of philosophical see-pieces1 are at present fashionable and indispensable2 but1 at last1 ,i was obliged 7as erasures may offend people of quality7 to write my best proof-petition over again2 and then to afflict myself for another quarter of an hour over the name ,attila ,schmelzle1 seeing it is always my principle that this and the address of the letter1 the two cardinal points of the whole1 can never be written legibly enough4 ------------------------ #he4 ,bien ecouter c'est presque repondre1 says ,marivaux justly of social circles2 but ,i extend it to round ,councillor-tables and ,cabinet-tables1 where reports are made1 and the ,prince listens4 ------------------------ ,first ,stage2 from ,neusattel to ,vierstaedten4 ,the #bb;d of ,july1 or ,wednesday1 about five in the afternoon1 was now1 by the way-bill of the regular ,post-coach1 irrevocably fixed for my departure4 ,i had still half a day to order my house2 from which1 for two nights and two days and a half1 my breast1 its breastwork and palisado1 was now1 along with my ,self1 to be withdrawn4 ,besides this1 my good wife ,bergelchen1 as ,i call my ,teutoberga1 was immediately to travel after me1 on ,friday the #bdth1 in order to see and to make purchases at the yearly ,fair2 nay1 she was ready to have gone along with me1 the faithful spouse4 ,i therefore assembled my little knot of domestics1 and promulgated to them the ,household ,law and ,valedictory ,rescript1 which1 after my departure1 in the first place before the outset of my wife1 and in the second place after this outset1 they had rigorously to obey2 explaining to them especially whatever1 in case of conflagrations1 housebreakings1 thunder-storms1 or transits of troops1 it would behoove them to do4 ,to my wife ,i delivered an inventory of the best goods in our little ,registership2 which goods she1 in case the house took fire1 had1 in the first place1 to secure4 ,i ordered her in stormy nights 7the peculiar thief-weather7 to put our ,a,eolian harp in the window1 that so any villanous prowler might imagine ,i was fantasying on my instrument1 and therefore awake2 for like reasons1 also1 to take the house-dog within doors by day1 that he might sleep then1 and so be livelier at night4 ,i further counselled her to have an eye on the focus of every knot in the panes of the stable-window1 nay1 on every glass of water she might set down in the house2 as ,i had already often recounted to her examples of such accidental burning-glasses having set whole buildings in flames4 ,i then appointed her the hour when she was to set out on ,friday morning to follow me2 and recapitulated more emphatically the household precepts which1 prior to her departure1 she must afresh inculcate on her domestics4 ,my dear1 heart-sound1 blooming ,berga answered her faithful lord1 as it seemed very seriously3 ,go thy ways1 little old one2 it shall all be done as smooth as velvet4 ,wert thou but away6 ,there is no end of thee6 ,her brother1 my brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon1 for whom1 out of complaisance1 ,i had paid the coach-fare1 in order to have in the vehicle along with me a stout swordsman and hector1 as spiritual relative and bully-rock1 so to speak2 the ,dragoon1 ,i say1 on hearing these my regulations1 puckered up 7which ,i easily forgave the wild soldier and bachelor7 his sun-burnt face considerably into ridicule1 and said3 ,were ,i in thy place1 sister1 ,i should do what ,i liked1 and then afterwards take a peep into these regulation-papers of his4 ------------------------ #ag4 ,the ,bed of ,honor1 since so frequently whole regiments lie on it1 and receive their last unction1 and last honor but one1 really ought from time to time be new-filled1 beaten1 and sunned4 ------------------------ ,oh6 answered ,i1 misfortune may conceal itself like a scorpion in any corner2 ,i might say1 we are like children1 who1 looking at their gayly painted toy-box1 soon pull off the lid1 and1 pop6 out springs a mouse who has young ones4 ,mouse1 mouse6 said he1 stepping up and down4 ,but1 good brother1 it is five o'clock2 and you will find1 when you return1 that all looks exactly as it does to-day2 the dog like the dog1 and my sister like a pretty woman2 allons donc6 ,it was purely his blame that ,i1 fearing his misconceptions1 had not previously made a sort of testament4 ------------------------ #abj4 ,many a one becomes a free-spoken ,diogenes1 not when he dwells in the ,cask1 but when the ,cask dwells in him4 ------------------------ ,i now packed in two different sorts of medicines1 heating as well as cooling1 against two different possibilities2 also my old splints for arm or leg breakages1 in case the coach overset2 and 7out of foresight7 two times the money ,i was likely to need4 ,only here ,i could have wished1 so uncertain is the stowage of such things1 that ,i had been an ,ape with cheek-pouches1 or some sort of ,opossum with a natural bag1 that so ,i might have reposited these necessaries of existence in pockets which were sensitive4 ,shaving is a task ,i always go through before setting out on journeys2 having a rational mistrust against stranger bloodthirsty barbers2 but1 on this occasion1 ,i retained my beard2 since1 however close shaved1 it would have grown again by the road to such a length that ,i could have fronted no ,minister and ,general with it4 ,with a vehement emotion1 ,i threw myself on the pith-heart of my ,berga1 and with a still more vehement one1 tore myself away2 in her1 however1 this our first marriage-separation seemed to produce less lamentation than triumph1 less consternation than rejoicing2 simply because she turned her eye not half so much on the parting1 as on the meeting1 and the journey after me1 and the wonders of the ,fair4 ,yet she threw and hung herself on my somewhat long and thin neck and body1 almost painfully1 being1 indeed1 a too fleshy and weighty load1 and said to me3 ,whisk thee off quick1 my charming ,attel 7,attila71 and trouble thy head with no cares by the way1 thou singular man6 ,a whiff or two of ill luck we can stand1 by ,god's help1 so long as my father is no beggar4 ,and for thee1 ,franz1 continued she1 turning with some heat to her brother1 ,i leave my ,attel on thy soul2 thou well knowest1 thou wild fly1 what ,i wilt do1 if thou play the fool1 and leave him anywhere in the lurch4 ,her meaning here was good1 and ,i could not take it ill2 to you1 also1 my ,friends1 her wealth and her open-heartedness are nothing new4 ------------------------ #h4 ,culture makes whole lands1 for instance ,germany1 ,gaul1 and others1 physically warmer1 but spiritually colder4 ------------------------ ,melted into sensibility1 ,i said3 ,now1 ,berga1 if there be a reunion appointed for us1 surely it is either in ,heaven or in ,flaetz2 and ,i hope in ,god1 the latter4 ,with these words1 we whirled stoutly away4 ,i looked round through the back-window of the coach at my good little village of ,neusattel1 and it seemed to me1 in my melting mood1 as if its steeples were rising aloft like an epitaphium over my life1 or over my body1 perhaps to return a lifeless corpse4 ,how will it all be1 thought ,i1 when thou at last1 after two or three days1 comest back8 ,and now ,i noticed my ,bergelchen looking after us from the garret-window2 ,i leaned far out from the coach-door1 and her falcon eye instantly distinguished my head2 kiss on kiss she threw with both hands after the carriage1 as it rolled down into the valley4 ,thou true-hearted wife1 thought ,i1 how is thy lowly birth1 by thy spiritual new-birth1 made forgetable1 nay1 remarkable6 ------------------------ #a4 ,the more ,weakness the more ,lying4 ,force goes straight2 any cannon-ball with holes or cavities in it goes crooked4 ------------------------ ,i must confess1 the assemblage and conversational picnic of the stage-coach was much less to my taste2 the whole of them suspicious1 unknown rabble1 whom 7as markets usually do7 the ,flaetz cattle-market was alluring by its scent4 ,i dislike becoming acquainted with strangers2 not so my brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon2 who now1 as he always does1 had in a few minutes elbowed himself into close quarters with the whole ragamuffin posse of them4 ,beside me sat a person1 who1 in all human probability1 was a ,harlot2 on her breast a ,dwarf intending to exhibit himself at the ,fair2 on the other side was a ,rat-catcher gazing at me2 and a ,blind ,passenger1#gc in a red mantle1 had joined us down in the valley4 ,no one of them1 except my brother-in-law1 pleased me4 ,that rascals among these people would not study me and my properties and accidents1 to entangle me in their snares1 no man could be my surety4 ,in strange places1 ,i even1 out of prudence1 avoid looking long up at any jail-window2 because some losel1 sitting behind the bars1 may in a moment call down out of mere malice3 ,how goes it1 comrade ,schmelzle8 or1 further1 because any lurking catchpole may fancy ,i am planning a rescue for some confederate above4 ,from another sort of prudence1 little different from this1 ,i also make a point of never turning round when any booby calls1 ,thief6 after me4 ------------------------ #hh4 ,epictetus advises us to travel1 because our old acquaintances1 by the influence of shame1 impede our transition to higher virtues2 as a bashful man will rather lay aside his provincial accent in some foreign quarter1 and then return wholly purified to his own countrymen4 ,in our days1 people of rank and virtue follow this advice1 but inversely2 and travel because their old acquaintances1 by the influence of shame1 would too much deter them from new sins4 ------------------------ ,as to the ,dwarf himself1 ,i had no objection to his travelling with me whithersoever he pleased2 but he thought to raise a particular delectation in our minds1 by promising that his ,pollux and ,brother in ,trade1 an extraordinary ,giant who was also making for the ,fair to exhibit himself1 would by midnight1 with his elephantine pace1 infallibly overtake the coach1 and plant himself among us1 or behind on the outside4 ,both these noodies1 it appeared1 are in the habit of going in company to fairs1 as reciprocal exaggerators of opposite magnitudes2 the ,dwarf is the convex magnifying-glass of the ,giant1 the ,giant the concave diminishing-glass of the ,dwarf4 ,nobody expressed much joy at the prospective arrival of this ,anti-dwarf1 except my brother-in-law1 who 7if ,i may venture on a play of words7 seems made1 like a clock1 solely for the purpose of striking1 and once actually said to me1 that if in the ,upper world he could not get a soul to curry and towzle by a time1 he would rather go to the ,under1 where most probably there would be plenty of cuffing and to spare4 ,the ,rat-catcher--besides the circumstance that no man can prepossess us much in his favor1 who lives solely by poisoning1 like this ,destroying ,angel of rats1 this mouse-,atropos2 and also1 which is still worse1 that such a fellow bids fair to become an increaser of the vermin kingdom the moment he may cease to be a lessener of it--besides all this1 ,i say1 the present ,rat-catcher had many baneful features about him4 ,first1 his stabbing look1 piercing you like a stiletto2 then the lean1 sharp1 bony visage1 conjoined with his enumeration of his considerable stock of poisons2 then 7for ,i hated him more and more7 his sly stillness1 his sly smile1 as if in some corner he noticed a mouse1 as he would notice a man6 ,to me1 ,i declare1 though usually ,i take not the slightest exception against people's looks1 it seemed at last as if his throat were a ,dog-grotto1 a ,grotta del cane1 his cheekbones cliffs and breakers1 his hot breath the wind of a calcining furnace1 and his black1 hairy breast1 a kiln for parching and roasting4 ,nor was ,i far wrong1 ,i believe2 for soon after this1 he began quite coolly to inform the company1 in which were a dwarf and a female1 that1 in his time1 he had1 not without enjoyment1 run ten men through the body2 had with great convenience hewed off a dozen men's arms2 slowly split four heads1 torn out two hearts1 and more of the like sort2 while none of them1 otherwise persons of spirit1 had in the least resisted4 ,but why8 added he with a poisonous smile1 and taking the hat from his odious baldpate2 ,i am invulnerable4 ,let any one of the company that chooses lay as much fire on my bare crown as he likes1 ,i shall not mind it4 ,my brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon1 directly kindled his tinder-box1 and put a heap of the burning matter on the ,rat-catcher's pole2 but the fellow stood it1 as if it had been a mere picture of fire1 and the two looked expectingly at one another2 and the former smiled very foolishly1 saying3 ,it was simply pleasant to him1 like a good warming-plaster2 for this was always the wintry region of his body4 ,here the ,dragoon groped a little on the naked scull1 and cried with amazement1 that it was as cold as a knee-pan4 ------------------------ #cb4 ,our ,age 7by some called the ,paper ,age1 as if it were made from the rags of some better dressed one7 is improving in so far as it now tears1 its rags rather into ,bandages than into ,papers2 although1 or because1 the ,rag-hacker 7the ,devil as they call it7 will not altogether be at rest4 ,meanwhile1 if ,learned ,heads transform themselves into ,books1 ,crowned ,heads transform and coin themselves into ,government-paper4 ,in ,norway1 according to the ,universal ,indicator1 the people have even paper-houses2 and in many good ,german ,states1 the ,exchequer ,collegium 7to say nothing of the ,justice ,collegium7 keeps its own paper-mills1 to furnish wrappage enough for the meal of its wind-mills4 ,i could wish1 however1 that our ,collegiums would take pattern from that ,glass ,manufactory at ,madrid1 in which 7according to ,baumgaertner7 there were indeed nineteen clerks stationed1 but also eleven workmen4 ------------------------ ,but now the fellow1 to our horror1 after some preparations1 actually lifted off the quarter-skull and held it out to us1 saying3 ,he had sawed it off a murderer1 his own having accidentally been broken2 and withal explained1 that the stabbing and arm-cutting he had talked of was to be understood as a jest1 seeing he had merely done it in the character of ,famulus at an ,anatomical ,theatre4 ,however1 the jester seemed to rise little in favor with any of us2 and for my part1 as he put his brain-lid and sham-skull on again1 ,i thought to myself3 ,this dung-bed-bell has changed its place1 indeed1 but not the hemlock it was made to cover4 ,further1 ,i could not but reckon it a suspicious circumstance1 that he as well as all the company 7the ,blind ,passenger too7 were making for this very ,flaetz1 to which ,i myself was bound4 ,much good ,i could not expect of this2 and1 in truth1 turning home again would have been as pleasant to me as going on1 had ,i not rather felt a pleasure in defying the future4 ,i come now to the red-mantled ,blind ,passenger2 most probably an ,emigre or ,refugie2 for he speaks ,german not worse than he does ,french2 and his name1 ,i think1 was ,jean ,pierre or ,jean ,paul1 or some such thing1 if indeed he had any name4 ,his red cloak1 notwithstanding this his identity of color with the ,hangman1 would in itself have remained heartily indifferent to me2 had it not been for this singular circumstance1 that he had already five times1 contrary to all expectation1 come upon me in five different towns 7in great ,berlin1 in little ,hof1 in ,coburg1 ,meiningen1 and ,bayreuth71 and1 each of these times1 had looked at me significantly enough1 and then gone his ways4 ,whether this ,jean ,pierre is dogging me with hostile intent or not1 ,i cannot say2 but to our fancy1 at any rate1 no object can be gratifying that thus1 with corps of observation1 or out of loop-holes1 holds and aims at us with muskets1 which for year after year it shall move to this side and that1 without our knowing on whom it is to fire4 ,still more offensive did ,redcloak become to me1 when he began to talk about his soft mildness of soul2 a thing which seemed either to betoken pumping you or undermining you4 ,i replied3 ,sir1 ,i am just come1 with my brother-in-law here1 from the field of battle 7the last affair was at ,pimpelstadt71 and so perhaps am too much of a humor for fire1 pluck1 and war-fury2 and to many a one1 who happens to have a roaring waterspout of a heart1 it may be well if his clerical character 7which is mine7 rather enjoins on him mildness than wildness4 ,however1 all mildness has its iron limit4 ,if any thoughtless dog chance to anger me1 in the first heat of rage ,i kick my foot through him2 and after me1 my good brother here will perhaps drive matters twice as far1 for he is the man to do it4 ,perhaps it may be singular2 but ,i confess1 ,i regret to this day1 that once when a boy ,i received three blows from another1 without tightly returning them2 and ,i often feel as if ,i must still pay them to his descendants4 ,in sooth1 if ,i but chance to see a child running off like a dastard from the weak attack of a child like himself1 ,i cannot for my life understand his running1 and can scarcely keep from interfering to save him by a decisive knock4 ,the ,passenger meanwhile was smiling1 not in the best fashion4 ,he gave himself out for a ,legations-,rath1 and seemed fox enough for such a post2 but a mad fox will1 in the long run1 bite me as rabidly as a mad wolf will4 ,for the rest1 ,i calmly went on with my eulogy on courage2 only that1 instead of ludicrous gasconading1 which directly betrays the coward1 ,i purposely expressed myself in words at once cool1 clear1 and firm4 ,i am altogether for ,montaigne's advice1 said ,i3 ',fear nothing but fear4' ,i again1 replied the ,legations-man1 with useless wire-drawing1 ,i should fear again that ,i did not sufficiently fear fear1 but continued too dastardly4 ,to this fear also1 replied ,i1 coldly1 ,i set limits4 ,a man1 for instance1 may not in the least believe in or be afraid of ghosts2 and yet by night may bathe himself in cold sweat1 and this purely out of terror at the dreadful fright he should be in 7especially with what whiffs of epilepsies1 falling-sicknesses1 and so forth1 he might be visited71 in case simply his own too vivid fancy should create any wild fever-image1 and hang it up in the air before him4 ,one should not1 therefore1 added my brother-in-law the ,dragoon1 contrary to his custom1 moralizing a little1--one should not bamboozle the poor sheep1 man1 with any ghost-tricks2 the henheart may die on the spot4 ------------------------ #b4 ,in his ,prince1 a soldier reverences and obeys at once his ,prince and his ,generalissimo2 a ,citizen1 only his ,prince4 ------------------------ ,a loud storm of thunder overtaking the stage-coach altered the discourse4 ,you1 my ,friends1 knowing me as a man not quite destitute of some tincture of ,natural ,philosophy1 will easily guess my precautions against thunder4 ,i place myself on a chair in the middle of the room 7often1 when suspicious clouds are out1 ,i stay whole nights on it71 and by careful removal of all conductors1 rings1 buckles1 and so forth1 ,i here sit thunder-proof1 and listen with a cool spirit to this elemental music of the cloud-kettledrum4 ,these precautions have never harmed me1 for ,i am still alive at this date2 and to the present hour ,i congratulate myself on once hurrying out of church1 though ,i had confessed but the day previous2 and running1 without more ceremony1 and before ,i had received the sacrament1 into the charnel-house1 because a heavy thunder-cloud 7which did1 in fact1 strike the churchyard linden-tree7 was hovering over it4 ,so soon as the cloud had disloaded itself1 ,i returned from the charnel-house into the church1 and was happy enough to come in after the ,hangman 7usually the last71 and so still participate in the ,feast of ,love4 ------------------------ #de4 ,our present writers shrug their shoulders most at those on whose shoulders they stand2 and exalt those most who crawl up along them4 ------------------------ ,such1 for my own part1 is my manner of proceeding2 but in the full stage-coach ,i met with men to whom ,natural ,philosophy was no philosophy at all4 ,for when the clouds gathered dreadfully together over our coach-canopy1 and sparkling1 began to play through the air1 like so many fireflies1 and ,i at last could not but request that the sweating coach-conclave would at least bring out their watches1 rings1 money1 and such like1 and put them all into one of the carriage-pockets1 that none of us might have a conductor on his body2 not only would no one of them do it1 but my own brother-in-law the ,dragoon even sprang out1 with naked drawn sword1 to the coach-box1 and swore that he would conduct the thunder all away himself4 ,nor do ,i know whether this desperate mortal was not acting prudently2 for our position within was frightful1 and any one of us might every moment be a dead man4 ,at last1 to crown all1 ,i got into a half altercation with two of the rude members of our leathern household1 the ,poisoner and the ,harlot2 seeing1 by their questions1 they almost gave me to understand1 that1 in our conversational picnic1 especially with the ,blind ,passenger1 ,i had not always come off with the best share4 ,such an imputation wounds your honor to the quick2 and in my breast there was a thunder louder than that above us4 ,however1 ,i was obliged to carry on the needful exchange of sharp words as quietly and slowly as possible2 and ,i quarrelled softly1 and in a low tone1 lest in the end a whole coachful of people1 set in arms against each other1 might get into heat and perspiration2 and so1 by vapor steaming through the coach-roof1 conduct the too near thunderbolt down into the midst of us4 ,at last ,i laid before the company the whole theory of ,electricity in clear words1 but low and slow 7striving to avoid all emission of vapor72 and especially endeavored to frighten them away from fear4 ,for1 indeed1 through fear1 the stroke--nay1 two strokes1 the electric or the apoplectic--might hit any one of us2 since in ,erxleben and ,reimarus it is sufficiently proved that violent fear1 by the transpiration it causes1 may attract the lightning4 ,i accordingly1 in some fear of my own and other people's fear1 represented to the passengers that now1 in a coach so hot and crowded1 with a drawn sword on the coach-box piercing the very lightning1 with the thunder-cloud hanging over us1 and even with so many transpirations from incipient fear2 in short1 with such visible danger on every hand1 they must absolutely fear nothing1 if they would not1 all and sundry1 be smitten to death in a few minutes4 ------------------------ #ajc4 ,the ,great perhaps take as good charge of their posterity as the ,ants2 the eggs once laid1 the male and female ,ants fly about their business1 and confide them to the trusty working-,ants4 ------------------------ ,o ,heaven6 cried ,i1 ,courage6 only courage6 ,no fear1 not even fear of fear6 ,would you have ,providence to shoot you here sitting1 like so many hares hunted into a pinfold8 ,fear1 if you like1 when you are out of the coach2 fear to your heart's content in other places1 where there is less to be afraid of2 only not here1 not here6 ,i shall not determine--since among millions scarcely one man dies by thunder-clouds1 but millions perhaps by snow-clouds1 and rain-clouds1 and thin mist--whether my ,coach-sermon could have made any claim to a prize for man-saving2 however1 at last1 all uninjured1 and driving towards a rainbow1 we entered the town of ,vierstaedten1 where dwelt a ,postmaster1 in the only street which the place had4 ,second ,stage2 from ,vierstaedten to ,niederschoena4 ,the ,postmaster was a churl and a striker2 a class of mortals whom ,i inexpressibly detest1 as my fancy always whispers to me1 in their presence1 that by accident or dislike ,i might happen to put on a scornful or impertinent look1 and hound these mastiffs on my own throat2 and so1 from the very first1 ,i must incessantly watch them4 ,happily1 in this case 7supposing ,i even had made a wrong face71 ,i could have shielded myself with the ,dragoon2 for whose giant force such matters are a tidbit4 ,this brother-in-law of mine1 for example1 cannot pass any tavern where he hears a sound of battle1 without entering1 and1 as he crosses the threshold1 shouting1 ,peace1 dogs6--and therewith1 under show of a peace deputation1 he directly snatches up the first chair-leg in his hand1 as if it were an ,american peace-calumet1 and cuts to the right and left among the belligerent powers1 or he gnashes the hard heads of the parties together 7he himself takes no side71 catching each by the hind-lock4 ,in such cases the rogue is in ,heaven6 ------------------------ #aj4 ,and does ,life offer us1 in regard to our ideal hopes and purposes1 anything but a prosaic1 unrhymed1 unmetrical ,translation8 #gh4 ,our ,german frame of ,government1 cased in its harness1 had much difficulty in moving1 for the same reason why ,beetles cannot fly1 when their wings have wing-shells1 of very sufficient strength1 and--grown together4 ------------------------ ,i1 for my part1 rather avoid discrepant circles than seek them2 as ,i likewise avoid all dead or killed people4 ,the prudent man easily foresees what is to be got by them2 either vexatious and injurious witnessing1 or often even 7when circumstances conspire7 painful investigation1 and suspicions of your being an accomplice4 ,in ,vierstaedten nothing of importance presented itself1 except--to my horror--a dog without tail1 which came running along the town or street4 ,in the first fire of passion at this sight1 ,i pointed it out to the passengers1 and then put the question1 whether they could reckon a system of ,medical ,police well arranged1 which1 like this of ,vierstaedten1 allowed dogs openly to scour about1 when their tails were wanting4 ,what am ,i to do1 said ,i1 when this member is cut away1 and any such beast comes running towards me1 and ,i cannot1 either by the tail being cocked up or being drawn in1 since the whole is snipt off1 come to any conclusion whether the vermin is mad or not8 ,in this way1 the most prudent man may be bit1 and become rabid1 and so make shipwreck purely for want of a tail compass4 ------------------------ #h4 ,constitutions of ,government are like highways2 on a new and quite untrodden one1 where every carriage helps in the process of bruising and smoothing1 you are as much jolted and pitched1 as an old worn-out one1 full of holes4 ,what is to be done then8 ,travel on4 ------------------------ ,the ,blind ,passenger 7he now got himself inscribed as a ,seeing one1 ,god knows for what objects7 had heard my observation2 which he now spun out in my presence almost into ridicule1 and at last awakened in me the suspicion1 that1 by an overdone flattery in imitating my style of speech1 he meant to banter me4 ,the ,dog-tail1 said he1 is1 in truth1 an alarm-beacon1 and finger-post for us1 that we come not even into the outmost precincts of madness2 cut away from ,comets their tails1 from ,bashaws theirs1 from ,crabs theirs 7outstretched it denotes that they are burst72 and in the most dangerous predicaments of life1 we are left without clew1 without indicator1 without hand in margine2 and we perish not so much as knowing how4 ,for the rest1 this stage passed over without quarreling or peril4 ,about ten o'clock1 the whole party1 including even the ,postilion1 myself excepted1 fell asleep4 ,i indeed pretended to be sleeping1 that ,i might observe whether some one1 for his own good reasons1 might not also be pretending it4 ,but all continued snoring2 the moon threw its brightening beams on nothing but downpressed eyelids4 ,i had now a glorious opportunity of following ,lavater's counsel1 to apply the physiognomical ellwand specially to sleepers1 since sleep1 like death1 expresses the genuine form in coarser lines4 ,other sleepers not in stage-coaches ,i think it less advisable to mete with this ellwand2 having always an apprehension lest some fellow1 but pretending to be asleep1 may1 the instant ,i am near enough1 start up as in a dream1 and deceitfully plant such a knock on the physiognomical mensurator's own facial structure1 as to exclude it forever from appearing in any ,physiognomical ,fragments 7itself being reduced to one71 either in the stippled or line style4 ,nay1 might not the most honest sleeper in the world1 just while you are in hand with his physiognomical dissection1 lay about him1 spurred on by honor in some cudgelling-scene he may be dreaming2 and in a few instants of clapperclawing1 and kicking1 and trampling1 lull you into a much more lasting sleep than that out of which he was awakened8 ------------------------ #h4 ,in ,criminal ,courts1 murdered children are often represented as still-born2 in ,anticritiques1 still-born as murdered4 ------------------------ ,in my ,adumbrating ,magic-lantern1 as ,i have named the ,work1 the whole physiognomical contents of this same sleeping stage-coach will be given to the world4 ,there ,i shall explain to you at large how the ,poisoner1 with the murder-cupola1 appeared to me devil-like2 the ,dwarf old-child-like2 the ,harlot languidly shameless2 my ,brother-in-law peacefully satisfied1 with revenge or food2 and the ,legations-,rath1 ,jean ,pierre1 ,heaven only knows why1 like a half angel1--though1 perhaps1 it might be because only the fair body1 not the other half1 the soul1 which had passed away in sleep1 was affecting me4 ------------------------ #aja4 ,not only were the ,rhodians1 from their ,colossus1 called ,colossians2 but also innumerable ,germans are1 from their ,luther1 called ,lutherans4 ------------------------ ,i had almost forgotten to mention1 that1 in a little village1 while my ,brother-in-law and the ,postilion were sitting at their liquor1 ,i happily fronted a small terror1 ,destiny having twice been on my side4 ,not far from a ,hunting ,box1 beside a pretty clump of trees1 ,i noticed a white tablet1 with a black inscription on it4 ,this gave me hopes that perhaps some little monumental piece1 some pillar of honor1 some battle memento1 might here be awaiting me4 ,over an untrodden flowery tangle ,i reach the black on white2 and to my horror and amazement ,i decipher in the moonshine1 ,beware of ,spring-guns6 ,thus was ,i standing perhaps half a nail's breadth from the trigger1 with which1 if ,i but stirred my heel1 ,i should shoot myself off1 like a forgotten ramrod1 into the other world1 beyond the verge of ,time6 ,the first thing ,i did was to slutch down my toe-nails1 to bite1 and1 as it were1 eat myself into the ground with them2 since ,i might1 at least1 continue in warm life so long as ,i pegged my body firmly in beside the ,atropos-scissors and hangman's block1 which lay beside me4 ,then ,i endeavored to recollect by what steps the ,fiend had led me hither unshot1 but in my agony ,i had perspired the whole of it1 and could remember nothing4 ,in the ,devil's village1 close at hand1 there was no dog to be seen and called to1 who might have plucked me from the water2 and my ,brother-in-law and the ,postilion were both carousing with full can4 ,however1 ,i summoned my courage and determination2 wrote down on a leaf of my pocket-book my last will1 the accidental manner of my death1 and my dying remembrance of ,berga2 and then1 with full sails1 flew helter-skelter through the midst of it the shortest way2 expecting at every step to awaken the murderous engine1 and thus to clap over my still long candle of life the bonsoir1 or extinguisher1 with my own hand4 ,however1 ,i got off without shot4 ,in the tavern1 indeed1 there was more than one fool to laugh at me2 because1 forsooth1 what none but a fool could know1 this ,notice had stood there for the last ten years without any gun1 as guns often do without any notice4 ,but so it is1 my ,friends1 with our game-police1 which warns against all things1 only not against warnings4 ------------------------ #hh4 ,hitherto ,i have always regarded the ,polemical writings of our present philosophic and aesthetic ,idealist ,logic-buffers1--in which1 certainly1 a few contumelies1 and misconceptions1 and misconclusions do make their appearance1--rather on the fair side2 observing in it merely an imitation of classical ,antiquity1 in particular of the ancient ,athletes1 who 7according to ,schoettgen7 besmeared their bodies with mud1 that they might not be laid hold of2 and filled their hands with sand1 that they might lay hold of their antagonists4 ------------------------ ,for the rest1 throughout the whole stage1 ,i had a constant source of altercation with the coachman1 because he grudged stopping perhaps once in the quarter of an hour1 when ,i chose to come out for a natural purpose4 ,unhappily1 in truth1 one has little reason to expect water-doctors among the postilion class1 since ,physicians themselves have so seldom learned from ,haller's large ,physiology that a postponement of the above operation will precipitate devilish stone-ware1 and at last precipitate the proprietor himself2 this stone-manufactory being generally concluded1 not by the ,lithotomist1 but by ,death4 ,had postilions read that ,tycho ,brahe died like a bombshell by bursting1 they would rather pull up for a moment2 with such unlooked-for knowledge1 they would see it to be reasonable that a man1 though expecting some time to carry his death-stone on him1 should not incline1 for the time being1 to carry it in him4 ,nay1 have ,i not often1 at ,weimar1 in the longest concluding scenes of ,schiller1 run out with tears in my eyes2 purely that1 while his ,minerva was melting me on the whole1 ,i might not by the ,gorgon's head on her breast be partially turned to stone8 ,and did ,i not return to the weeping play-house1 and fall into the general emotion so much the more briskly1 as now ,i had nothing to give vent to but my heart8 ------------------------ #ajc4 ,or are all ,mosques1 ,episcopal-churches1 ,pagodas1 ,chapels-of-,ease1 ,tabernacles1 and ,pantheons1 anything else than the ,ethnic ,forecourt of the ,invisible ,temple and its ,holy of ,holies8 ------------------------ ,deep in the dark we arrived at ,niederschoena4 ,third ,stage2 from ,niederschoena to ,flaetz4 ,while ,i am standing at the ,posthouse musing1 with my eye fixed on my portmanteau1 comes a beast of a watchman1 and bellows and brays in his night-tube so close by my ear that ,i start back in trepidation1 ,i whom even a too hasty accosting will vex4 ,is there no medical police1 then1 against such efflated hour-fulminators and alarm-cannon1 by which notwithstanding no gunpowder cannon are saved8 ,in my opinion nobody should be invested with the watchman-horn but some reasonable man1 who had already blown himself into an asthma1 and who would consequently be in case to sing out his hour-verse so low that you could not hear it4 ------------------------ #dj4 ,the common man is copious only in narration1 not in reasoning2 the cultivated man is brief only in the former1 not in the latter2 because the common man's reasons are a sort of sensations1 which1 as well as things visible1 he merely looks at2 by the cultivated man1 again1 both reasons and things visible are rather thought than looked at4 ------------------------ ,what ,i had long expected1 and the ,dwarf predicted1 now took place2 deeply stooping1 through the high ,posthouse door1 issued the ,giant1 and raised in the open air a most unreasonably high figure1 heightened by the ell-long bonnet and feather on his huge jobbernowl4 ,my ,brother-in-law1 beside him1 looked but like his son of fourteen years2 the ,dwarf like his lap-dog waiting for him on its two hind legs4 ,good friend1 said my bantering ,brother-in-law1 leading him towards me and the stagecoach1 just step softly in1 we shall all be happy to make room for you4 ,fold yourself neatly together1 lay your head on your knee1 and it will do4 ,the unseasonable banterer would willingly have seen the almost stupid ,giant 7of whom he had soon observed that his brain was no active substance1 but in the inverse ratio of his trunk7 squeezed in among us in the post-chest1 and lying kneaded together like a sand-bag before him4 ,won't do6 ,won't do6 said the ,giant1 looking in4 ,the gentleman perhaps does not know1 said the ,dwarf1 how big the ,giant is2 and so he thinks that because ,i go in-- ,but that is another story2 ,i will creep into any hole1 do but tell me where4 ,in short1 there was no resource for the ,postmaster and the ,giant1 but that the latter should plant himself behind1 in the character of luggage1 and there lie bending down like a weeping willow over the whole vehicle4 ,to me such a back-wall and rear-guard could not be particularly gratifying2 and ,i may refer it 7,i hope7 to any one of you1 ye ,friends1 if with such ware at your back you would not1 as clearly and earnestly as ,i1 have considered what manifold murderous projects a knave of a ,giant behind you1 a pursuer in all senses1 might not maliciously attempt2 say1 that he broke in and assailed you by the back-window1 or with ,titanian strength laid hold of the coach-roof and demolished the whole party in a lump4 ,however1 this ,elephant 7who indeed seemed to owe the similarity more to his overpowering mass than to his quick light of inward faculty71 crossing his arms over the top of the vehicle1 soon began to sleep and snore above us2 an ,elephant1 of whom1 as ,i more and more joyfully observed1 my ,brother-in-law1 the ,dragoon1 could easily be the tamer and bridle-holder1 nay1 had already been so4 ------------------------ #i4 ,in any national calamity the ancient ,egyptians took revenge on the god ,typhon1 whom they blamed for it1 by hurling his favorites1 the ,asses1 down over rocks4 ,in similar wise have countries of a different religion now and then taken their revenge4 ------------------------ ,as more than one person now felt inclined to sleep1 but ,i1 on the contrary1 as was proper1 to wake1 ,i freely offered my seat of honor1 the front place in the coach 7meaning thereby to abolish many little flaws of envy in my fellow-passengers71 to such persons as wished to take a nap thereon4 ,the ,legation's man accepted the offer with eagerness1 and soon fell asleep there sitting1 under the ,titan4#gd ,to me this sort of coach-sleeping of a diplomatic charge d'affaires remained a thing incomprehensible4 ,a man1 that in the middle of a stranger and often barbarously-minded company permits himself to slumber1 may easily1 supposing him to talk in his sleep and coach1 7think of the ,saxon minister#ge before the ,seven ,years' ,war67 blab out a thousand secrets1 and crimes1 some of which1 perhaps1 he has not committed4 ,should not every minister1 ambassador1 or other man of honor and rank1 really shudder at the thought of insanity or violent fevers2 seeing no mortal can be his surety that he shall not in such cases publish the greatest scandals1 of which1 it may be1 the half are lies8 ------------------------ #gj4 ,let ,poetry veil itself in ,philosophy1 but only as the latter does in the former4 ,philosophy in poetized ,prose resembles those tavern drinking-glasses1 encircled with party-colored wreaths of figures1 which disturb your enjoyment both of the drink1 and 7often awkwardly eclipsing and covering each other7 of the carving also4 ------------------------ ,at last1 after the long ,july night1 we passengers1 together with ,aurora1 arrived in the precincts of ,flaetz4 ,i looked with a sharp yet moistened eye at the steeples4 ,i believe1 every man who has anything decisive to seek in a town1 and to whom it is either to be a judgment-seat of his hopes1 or their anchoring-station1 either a battle-field or a sugar-field1 first and longest directs his eye on the steeples of the town1 as upon the indexes and balance-tongues of his future destiny2 these artificial peaks1 which1 like natural ones1 are the thrones of our ,future4 ,as ,i happened to express myself on this point perhaps too poetically to ,jean ,pierre1 he answered with sufficient want of taste3 ,the steeples of such towns are indeed the ,swiss ,alpine peaks1 on which we milk and manufacture the ,swiss cheese of our ,future4 ,did the ,legations-,peter mean with this style to make me ridiculous1 or only himself8 ,determine6 ,here is the place1 the town1 said ,i in secret1 where to-day much and for many years is to be determined1 where thou this evening1 about five o'clock1 art to present thy petition and thyself4 ,may it prosper6 ,may it be successful6 ,let ,flaetz1 this arena of thy little efforts among the rest1 become a building-space for fair castles and air-castles to two hearts1 thy own and thy ,berga's6 ,at the ,tiger ,inn ,i alighted4 ,first ,day in ,flaetz4 ,no mortal in my situation at this ,tiger-hotel would have triumphed much in his more immediate prospects4 ,i1 as the only man known to me1 especially in the way of love 7of the runaway ,dragoon anon671 looked out from the windows of the overflowing ,inn1 and down on the rushing sea of marketers1 and very soon began to reflect1 that1 except ,heaven and the rascals and murderers1 none knew how many of the latter two classes were floating among the tide2 purposing1 perhaps1 to lay hold of the most innocent strangers1 and in part cut their purses1 in part their throats4 ,my situation had a special circumstance against it4 ,my brother-in-law1 who still comes plump out with everything1 had mentioned that ,i was to put up at the ,tiger4 ,o ,heaven6 when will such people learn to be secret1 and to cover even the meanest pettinesses of life under mantles and veils1 were it only that a silly mouse may as often give birth to a mountain as a mountain to a mouse6 ,the whole rabble of the stagecoach stopped at the ,tiger2 the ,harlot1 the ,rat-catcher1 ,jean ,pierre1 the ,giant1 who had dismounted at the ,gate of the town1 and carrying the huge block-head of the ,dwarf on his shoulders as his own 7cloaking over the deception by his cloak71 had thus1 like a ninny1 exhibited himself gratis by half a dwarf more gigantic than he could be seen for money4 ------------------------ #aeh4 ,governments should not too often change the penny-trumps and child's drums of the ,poets for the regimental trumpet and fire-drum2 on the other hand1 good subjects should regard many a princely drum-tendency simply as a disease1 in which the patient1 by air insinuating under the skin1 has got dreadfully swoln4 ------------------------ ,and now for each of the ,passengers1 the question was how he could make the ,tiger1 the heraldic emblem of the ,inn1 his prototype2 and so what lamb he might suck the blood of1 and tear in pieces1 and devour4 ,my brother-in-law too left me1 having gone in quest of some horse-dealer2 but he retained the chamber next mine for his sister2 this1 it appeared1 was to denote attention on his part4 ,i remained solitary1 left to my own intrepidity and force of purpose4 ------------------------ #hi4 ,in great towns1 a stranger1 for the first day or two after his arrival1 lives purely at his own expense1 in an inn2 afterwards1 in the houses of his friends1 without expense2 on the other hand1 if you arrive at the ,earth1 as for instance ,i have done1 you are courteously maintained1 precisely for the first few years1 free of charges2 but in the next and longer series--for you often stay sixty--you are actually obliged 7,i have the documents in my hands7 to pay for every drop and morsel1 as if you were in the great ,earth ,inn1 which indeed you are4 ------------------------ ,yet among so many villains1 encompassing if not even beleaguring me1 ,i thought warmly of one far distant1 faithful soul1 of my ,berga in ,neusattel2 a true heart of pith1 which perhaps with many a weak marriage-partner might have given protection rather than sought it4 ,appear1 then1 quickly to-morrow at noon1 ,berga1 said my heart2 and if possible before noon1 that ,i may lengthen thy market paradise so many hours as thou arrivest earlier6 ------------------------ #ajg4 ,germany is a long lofty mountain--under the sea4 #add4 ,the ,reviewer does not in reality employ his pen for writing2 but he burns it1 to awaken weak people from their swoons with the smell2 he tickles with it the throat of the plagiary1 to make him render back2 and he picks with it his own teeth4 ,he is the only individual in the whole learned lexicon that can never exhaust himself1 never write himself out1 let him sit before the ink-glass for centuries1 or tens of centuries4 ,for while the ,scholar1 the ,philosopher1 and the ,poet produce their new book solely from new materials and growth1 the ,reviewer merely lays his old gauge of taste and knowledge on a thousand new works2 and his light1 in the ever-passing1 ever-differently-cut glass-world1 which he elucidates1 is still refracted into new colors4 ------------------------ ,a clergyman1 amid the tempests of the world1 readily makes for a free harbor1 for the church2 the church-wall is his casement-wall and fortification2 and behind are to be found more peaceful and more accordant souls than on the market-place2 in short1 ,i went into the ,high ,church4 ,however1 in the course of the psalm1 ,i was somewhat disturbed by a ,heiduc1 who came up to a well-dressed young gentleman sitting opposite me1 and tore the double opera-glass from his nose1 it being against rule in ,flaetz1 as it is in ,dresden1 to look at the ,court with glasses which diminish and approximate4 ,i myself had on a pair of spectacles1 but they were magnifiers4 ,it was impossible for me to resolve on taking them off2 and here again1 ,i am afraid1 ,i shall pass for a foolhardy person and a desperado2 so much only ,i reckoned fit1 to look invariably into my psalm-book2 not once lifting my eyes while the ,court was rustling and entering1 thereby to denote that my glasses were ground convex4 ,for the rest1 the sermon was good1 if not always finely conceived for a ,court-church2 it admonished the hearers against innumerable vices1 to whose counterparts1 the virtues1 another preacher might so readily have exhorted us4 ,during the whole service1 ,i made it my business to exhibit true1 deep reverence1 not only towards ,god1 but also towards my illustrious ,prince4 ,for the latter reverence ,i had my private reason4 ,i wished to stamp this sentiment strongly and openly as with raised letters on my countenance1 and so give the lie to any malicious imp about ,court1 by whom my contravention of the ,panegyric on ,nero1 and my free ,german satire on this real tyrant himself1 which ,i had inserted in the ,plaetz ,weekly ,journal1 might have been perverted into a secret characteristic portrait of my own ,sovereign4 ,we live in such times at present1 that scarcely can we compose a pasquinade on the ,devil in ,hell1 but some human ,devil on ,earth will apply it to an angel4 ------------------------ #ga4 ,the ,youth is singular from caprice1 and takes pleasure in it2 the ,man is so from constraint1 unintentionally1 and feels pain in it4 ------------------------ ,when the ,court at last issued from church1 and were getting into their carriages1 ,i kept at such a distance that my face could not possibly be noticed1 in case ,i had happened to assume no reverent look1 but an indifferent or even proud one4 ,god knows1 who has kneaded into me those mad1 desperate fancies and crotchets1 which perhaps would sit better on a ,hero ,schabacker1 than on an ,army-chaplain under him4 ,i cannot here forbear recording to you1 my ,friends1 one of the maddest among them1 though at first it may throw too glaring a light on me4 ,it was at my ordination to be ,army-chaplain1 while about to participate in the ,sacrament1 on the first day of ,easter4 ,now1 here while ,i was standing1 moved into softness1 before the balustrade of the altar1 in the middle of the whole male congregation1--nay1 ,i perhaps more deeply moved than any among them1 since1 as a person going to war1 ,i might consider myself a half-dead man1 that was now partaking in the last ,feast of ,souls1 as it were like a person to be hanged on the morrow1--here1 then1 amid the pathetic effects of the organ and singing1 there rose something--were it the first ,easter-day which awoke in me what primitive ,christians call their ,easter-laughter1 or merely the contrast between the most devilish predicaments and the most holy1--in short1 there rose something in me 7for which reason ,i have ever since taken the part of every simple person who might ascribe such things to the ,devil71 and this something started the question3 ,now1 could there be aught more diabolical than if thou1 just in receiving the ,holy ,supper1 wert madly and blasphemously to begin laughing8 ,instantly ,i took to wrestling with this hell-dog of a thought2 neglected the most precious feelings1 merely to keep the dog in my eye1 and scare him away2 yet was forced to draw back from him1 exhausted and unsuccessful1 and arrived at the step of the altar with the mournful certainty that in a little while ,i should1 without more ado1 begin laughing1 let me weep and moan inwardly as ,i liked4 ,accordingly1 while ,i and a very worthy old ,burgermeister were bowing down together before the long parson1 and the latter 7perhaps kneeling on the low cushion1 ,i fancied him too long7 put the wafer in my clenched mouth1 ,i felt all the muscles of laughter already beginning sardonically to contract2 and these had not long acted on the guiltless integument1 till an actual smile appeared there2 and as we bowed the second time1 ,i was grinning like an ape4 ,my companion the ,burgermeister justly expostulated with me1 in a low voice1 as we walked round behind the altar3 ,in ,heaven's name1 are you an ordained ,preacher of the ,gospel1 or a ,merry-,andrew8 ,is it ,satan that is laughing out of you8 ------------------------ #aih4 ,the ,populace and ,cattle grow giddy on the edge of no abyss2 with the ,man it is otherwise4 #aa4 ,the ,golden ,calf of ,self-love soon waxes to be a burning ,phalaris's ,bull1 which reduces its father and adorer to ashes4 #ajc4 ,the male ,beau-crop1 which surrounds the female ,roses and ,lilies1 must 7if ,i rightly comprehend its flatteries7 most probably presuppose in the fair the manners of the ,spaniards and ,italians1 who offer any valuable1 by way of present1 to the man who praises it excessively4 ------------------------ ,ah1 ,heaven6 who else8 said ,i2 and this being over1 ,i finished my devotions in a more becoming fashion4 ,from the church 7,i now return to the ,flaetz one7 ,i proceeded to the ,tiger ,inn1 and dined at the table-d'hote1 being at no time shy of encountering men4 ,previous to the second course1 a waiter handed me an empty plate1 on which1 to my astonishment1 ,i noticed a ,french verse scratched in with a fork1 containing nothing less than a lampoon on the ,commandant of ,flaetz4 ,without ceremony1 ,i held out the plate to the company2 saying1 ,i had just1 as they saw1 got this lampooning cover presented to me1 and must request them to bear witness that ,i had nothing to do with the matter4 ,an officer directly changed plates with me4 ,during the fifth course1 ,i could not but admire the chemico-medical ignorance of the company2 for a hare1 out of which a gentleman extracted and exhibited several grains of shot1 that is to say1 therefore1 of lead alloyed with arsenic1 and then cleaned by hot vinegar1 did1 nevertheless1 by the spectators 7,i expected7 continue to be pleasantly eaten4 ------------------------ #aii4 ,but not many existing ,governments1 ,i believe1 do behead under pretext of trepanning2 or sew 7in a more choice allegory7 the people's lips together1 under pretence of sewing the harelips in them4 ------------------------ ,in the course of our table-talk1 one topic seized me keenly by my weak side1 ,i mean by my honor4 ,the law custom of the city happened to be mentioned1 as it affects natural children2 and ,i learned that here a loose girl may convert any man she pleases to select into the father of her brat1 simply by her oath4 ,horrible6 said ,i1 and my hair stood on end4 ,in this way may the worthiest head of a family1 with a wife and children1 or a clergyman lodging in the ,tiger1 be stript of honor and innocence1 by any wicked chambermaid whom he may have seen1 or who may have seen him1 in the course of her employment6 ,an elderly officer observed3 ,but will the girl swear herself to the ,devil so readily8 ,what logic6 ,or suppose1 continued ,i1 without answer1 a man happened to be travelling with that ,vienna ,locksmith1 who afterwards became a mother1 and was brought to bed of a baby son2 or with any disguised ,chevalier d',eon1 who often passes the night in his company1 whereby the ,locksmith or the ,chevalier can swear to their private interviews2 no delicate man of honor will in the end risk travelling with another2 seeing he knows not how soon the latter may pull off his boots1 and pull on his women's-pumps1 and swear his companion into ,fatherhood1 and himself to the ,devil6 ------------------------ #fg4 ,hospitable ,entertainer1 wouldst thou search into thy ,guest8 ,accompany him to another ,entertainer1 and listen to him4 ,just so1 wouldst thou become better acquainted with ,mistress in an hour1 than by living with her for a month8 ,accompany her among her female friends and female enemies 7if that is no pleonasm71 and look at her6 ------------------------ ,some of the company1 however1 misunderstood my oratorical fire so much1 that they1 sheep-wise1 gave some insinuations as if ,i myself were not strict in this point1 but lax4 ,by ,heaven6 ,i no longer knew what ,i was eating or speaking4 ,happily1 on the opposite side of the table1 some lying story of a ,french defeat was started4 ,now1 as ,i had read on the street corners that ,french and ,german ,proclamation1 calling before the ,court ,martial any one who had heard war rumors 7disadvantageous1 namely71 without giving notice of them1--,i1 as a man not willing ever to forget himself1 had nothing more prudent to do in this case1 than to withdraw with empty ears1 telling none but the landlord why4 ,it was no improper time2 for ,i had previously determined to have my beard shaven about half past four1 that so1 towards five1 ,i might present myself with a chin just polished by the razor smoothing-iron1 and sleek as wove-paper1 without the smallest root-stump of a hair left on it4 ,by way of preparation1 like ,pitt before ,parliamentary debates1 ,i poured a devilish deal of ,pontac into my stomach1 with true disgust1 and contrary to all sanitary rules2 not so much for fronting the light stranger ,barber1 as the ,minister and ,general von ,schabacker1 with whom ,i had it in view to exchange perhaps more than one fiery statement4 ------------------------ #hj4 ,in the ,summer of life1 men keep digging and filling ice-pits1 as well as circumstances will admit2 that so1 in their ,winter1 they may have something in store to give them coolness4 #bh4 ,it is impossible for me1 amid the tendril-forest of allusions 7even this again is a tendril-twig71 to state and declare on the spot whether all the ,courts or ,heights1 the 7,bougouer7 ,snowline of ,europe1 have ever been mentioned in my writings or not2 but ,i could wish for information on the subject1 that1 if not1 ,i may try to do it still4 ------------------------ ,the common ,hotel ,barber was ushered in to me2 but at first view you noticed in his polygonal1 zigzag visage1 more of a man that would finally go mad1 than of one growing wiser4 ,now1 madmen are a class of persons whom ,i hate incredibly2 and nothing can take me to see any madhouse1 simply because the first maniac among them may clutch me in his giant fists if he like2 and bet cause1 owing to infection1 ,i cannot be sure that ,i shall ever get out again with the sense which ,i brought in4 ,in a general way1 ,i sit 7when once ,i am lathered7 in such a posture on my chair as to keep both my hands 7the eyes ,i fix intently on the bartering countenance7 lying clenched along my sides1 and pointed directly at the midriff of the barber2 that so1 on the smallest ambiguity of movement1 ,i may dash in upon him1 and overset him in a twinkling4 ,i scarce know rightly how it happened2 but here1 while ,i am anxiously studying the foolish1 twisted visage of the shaver1 and he just then chanced to lay his long whetted weapon a little too abruptly against my bare throat1 ,i gave him such a sudden bounce on the abdominal viscera1 that the silly varlet had wellnigh suicidally slit his own windpipe4 ,for me1 truly1 nothing remained but to indemnify the man2 and then1 contrary to my usual principles1 to tie round a broad stuffed cravat1 by way of cloak to what remained unshorn4 ,and now at last ,i sallied forth to the ,general1 drinking out the remnant of the ,pontac1 as ,i crossed the threshold4 ------------------------ #cf4 ,and so ,i should like1 in all cases1 to be the ,first1 especially in ,begging4 ,the first prisoner-of-war1 the first cripple1 the first man ruined by burning 7like him who brings the first fire-engine71 gains the head-subscription and the heart2 the next comer finds nothing but ,duty to address2 and at last1 in this melodious mancando of sympathy1 matters sink so far1 that the last 7if the last but one may at least have retired laden with a rich ,god help you67 obtains from the benignant hand nothing more than its fist4 ,and as in ,begging the first1 so in ,giving ,i should like to be the last2 one obliterates the other1 especially the last the first4 ,so1 however1 is the world ordered4 ------------------------ ,i hope there were plans lying ready within me for answering rightly1 nay for asking4 ,the ,petition ,i carried in my pocket1 and in my right hand4 ,in the left1 ,i had a duplicate of it4 ,my fire of spirit easily helped over the living fence of ministerial obstructions2 and soon ,i unexpectedly found myself in the ante-chamber1 among his most distinguished lackeys2 persons1 so far as ,i could see1 not inclined to change flour for bran with any one4 ,selecting the most respectable individual of the number1 ,i delivered him my paper request1 accompanied with the verbal one that he would hand it in4 ,he took it1 but ungraciously4 ,i waited in vain till far in the sixth hour1 at which season alone the gay ,general can safely be applied to4 ,at last ,i pitch upon another lackey1 and repeat my request2 he runs about seeking his runaway brother1 or my ,petition1 to no purpose2 neither of them could be found4 ,how happy was it that in the midst of my ,pontac1 before shaving1 ,i had written out the duplicate of this paper2 and therefore--simply on the principle that you should always keep a second wooden leg packed into your knapsack when you have the first on your body--and out of fear1 that1 if the original petition chanced to drop from me in the way between the ,tiger and ,schabacker's1 my whole journey and hope would melt into water1--and therefore1 ,i say1 having stuck the repeating work of that original paper into my pocket1 ,i had1 in any case1 something to hand in1 and that something truly a ,ditto4 ,i handed it in4 ------------------------ #acf4 ,if you mount too high above your time1 your ears 7on the side of ,fame7 are little better off than if you sink too deep below it2 in truth1 ,charles up in his ,balloon1 and ,halley down in his ,diving-bell1 felt equally the same strange pain in their ears4 ------------------------ ,unhappily six o'clock was already past4 ,the lackey1 however1 did not keep me long waiting2 but returned with--,i may say1 the text of this whole ,circular--the almost rude answer 7which you1 my ,friends1 out of regard for me and ,schabacker1 will not divulge71 that3 ,in case ,i were the ,attila ,schmelzle of ,schabacker's ,regiment1 might lift my pigeon-liver flag again1 and fly to the ,devil1 as ,i did at ,pimpelstadt4 ,another man would have dropt dead on the spot2 ,i1 however1 walked quite stoutly off1 answering the fellow3 ,with great pleasure indeed1 ,i fly to the ,devil2 and so ,devil a fly ,i care4 ,on the road home1 ,i examined myself1 whether it had not been the ,pontac that spoke out of me 7though the very examination contradicted this1 for ,pontac never examines72 but ,i found that nothing but ,i1 my heart1 my courage perhaps1 had spoken2 and why1 after all1 any whimpering8 ,does not the patrimony of my good wife endow me better than ten ,catechetical ,professorships8 ,and has she not furnished all the corners of my book of ,life with so many golden clasps1 that ,i can open it forever without wearing it8 ,let henhearts cackle and pip2 ,i flapped my pinions1 and said3 ,dash boldly through it1 come what may6 ,i felt myself excited and exalted2 ,i fancied ,republics1 in which ,i1 as a hero1 might be at home2 ,i longed to be in that noble ,grecian time1 when one hero readily put up with bastinadoes from another1 and said1 ,strike1 but hear6 and out of this ignoble one1 where men will scarcely put up with hard words1 to say nothing of more4 ,i painted out to my mind how ,i should feel1 if1 in happier circumstances1 ,i were uprooting hollow ,thrones1 and before whole nations mounting on mighty deeds as on the ,temple-steps of ,immortality2 and1 in gigantic ages1 finding quite other men to outman and outstrip1 than the mite-populace about me1 or1 at the best1 here and there a ,vulcanello4 ,i thought and thought1 and grew wilder and wilder1 and intoxicated myself 7no ,pontac intoxication therefore1 which1 you know1 increases more by continuance than cessation of drinking71 and gesticulated openly1 as ,i put the question to myself3 ,wilt thou be a mere state-lapdog8 ,a dog's-dog1 a pium desiderium of an impium desiderium1 an ,ex-,ex1 a ,nothing's-,nothing8--,fire and ,fury6 ,with this1 however1 ,i dashed down my hat into the mud of the market4 ,on lifting and cleaning this old servant1 ,i could not but perceive how worn and faded it was2 and ,i therefore determined instantly to purchase a new one1 and carry the same home in my hand4 ------------------------ #be4 ,in youth1 like a blind man just couched 7and what is birth but a couching of the sight871 you take the ,distant for the ,near1 the starry heaven for tangible room-furniture1 pictures for objects2 and1 to the young man1 the whole world is sitting on his very nose1 till repeating bandaging and unbandaging have at last taught him1 like the blind patient1 to estimate ,distance and ,appearance4 ------------------------ ,i accomplished this4 ,i bought one of the finest cut4 ,strangely enough1 by this hat1 as if it had been a ,graduation-hat1 was my head tried and examined in the ,ziegengasse or ,goat-gate of ,flaetz4 ,for as ,general ,schabacker came driving along that street in his carriage1 and ,i 7it need not be said7 was determined to avenge myself1 not by vulgar clownishness1 but by courtesy1 ,i had here got one of the most ticklish problems imaginable to solve on the spur of the instant4 ,you observe1 if ,i swung only the fine hat which ,i carried in my hand1 and kept the faded one on my head1--,i might have the appearance of a perfect clown1 who does not doff at all2 if1 on the other hand1 ,i pulled the old hat from my head1 and therewith did my reverence1 then two hats1 both in play at once 7let me swing the other at the same time or not71 brought my salute within the verge of ridicule4 ,now do you1 my ,friends1 before reading further1 bethink you how a man was to extricate himself from such a plight1 without losing his presence of mind6 ,i think1 perhaps1 by this means2 by merely losing his hat4 ,in one word1 then1 ,i simply dropped the new hat from my hand into the mud1 to put myself in a condition for taking off the old hat by itself1 and swaying it in needful courtesy1 without any shade of ridicule4 ,arrived at the ,tiger1--to avoid misconstructions1 ,i first had the glossy1 fine1 and superfine hat cleaned1 and some time afterwards the mud-hat or rubbis-hat4 ,and now1 weighing my momentous ,past in the adjusting balance within me1 ,i walked in fiery mood to and fro4 ,the ,pontac must--,i know that there is no unadulterated liquor here below--have been more than usually adulterated2 so keenly did it chase my fancy out of one fire into the other4 ,i now looked forth into a wide1 glittering life1 in which ,i lived without post1 merely on money2 and which ,i beheld1 as it were1 sowed with the ,delphic caves1 and ,zenonic walks1 and ,muse-hills of all the ,sciences1 which ,i might now cultivate at my ease4 ,in particular1 ,i should have it in my power to apply more diligently to writing ,prize-essays for ,academies2 of which 7that is to say1 of the ,prize-essays7 no author need ever be ashamed1 since1 in all cases1 there is a whole crowning ,academy to stand and blush for the crownee4 ,and even if the ,prize-marksman does not hit the crown1 he still continues more unknown and more anonymous 7his ,device not being unsealed7 than any other author1 who indeed can publish some nameless ,long-ear of a book1 but not hinder it from being1 by a ,literary ,ass-burial 7sepultura asinina71 publicly interred1 in a short time1 before half the world4 ------------------------ #abf4 ,in the long run1 out of mere fear and necessity1 we shall become the warmest cosmopolites ,i know of2 so rapidly do ships shoot to and fro1 and1 like shuttles1 weave ,islands and ,quarters of the ,world together4 ,for let but the political weather-glass fall to-day in ,south ,america1 to-morrow we in ,europe have storm and thunder4 #ai4 ,it is easier1 they say1 to climb a hill when you ascend back foremost4 ,this1 perhaps1 might admit of application to political eminences2 if you still turned towards them that part of the body on which you sit1 and kept your face directed down to the people2 all the while1 however1 removing and mounting4 ------------------------ ,only one thing grieved me by anticipation2 the sorrow of my ,berga1 for whom1 dear tired wayfarer1 ,i on the morrow must overcloud her arrival1 and her shortened market-spectacle1 by my negatory intelligence4 ,she would so gladly 7and who can take it ill of a rich farmer's ,daughter87 have made herself somebody in ,neusattel1 and overshone many a female dignitary6 ,every mortal longs for his parade-place1 and some earlier living honor than the last honors4 ,especially so good a lowly-born housewife as my ,berga1 conscious perhaps rather of her metallic than of her spiritual treasure1 would still wish at banquets to be mistress of some seat or other1 and so in place to overtop this or that plucked goose of the neighborhood4 ------------------------ #bf4 ,few ,german writers are not original1 if we may ascribe originality 7as is at least the conversational practice of all people7 to a man who merely dishes out his own thoughts without foreign admixture4 ,for as1 between their ,memory1 where their reading or foreign matter dwells1 and their ,imagination or ,productive ,power1 where their writing or own peculiar matter originates1 a sufficient space intervenes1 and the boundary-stones are fixed in so conscientiously and firmly that nothing foreign may pass over into their own1 or inversely1 so that they may really read a hundred works without losing their own primitive flavor1 or even altering it1--their individuality may1 ,i believe1 be considered as secured2 and their spiritual nourishment1 their pancakes1 loaves1 fritters1 caviare1 and meat-balls1 are not assimilated to their system1 but given back pure and unaltered4 ,often in my own mind1 ,i figure such writers as living but thousand-fold more artificial ,ducklings from ,vaucasson's ,artificial ,duck of ,wood4 ,for in fact they are not less cunningly put together than this timber ,duck1 which will gobble meat and apparently void it again1 under show of having digested it1 and derived from it blood and juices2 though the secret of the business is1 the artist has merely introduced an ingenious compound ejective matter behind1 with which concoction and nourishment have nothing to do1 but which the ,duck illusorily gives forth and publishes to the world4 ------------------------ ,it is in this point of view that husbands are so indispensable4 ,i therefore resolved to purchase for myself1 and consequently for her1 one of the best of those titles which our ,courts in ,germany 7as in a ,leipzig saleroom7 stand offering to buyers1 in all sizes and sorts1 from ,noble and ,half-noble down to ,rath or ,councillor2 and once invested therewith1 to reflect from my own ,quarter-nobility such an ,eighth-part-nobility on this true soul1 that many a ,neusattelitess 7,i hope7 shall half burst with envy1 and say and cry3 ,pooh1 the stupid farmer thing6 ,see how it wabbles and bridles6 ,it has forgot how matters stood when it had no money-bag and no ,hofrath6 ,for to the ,hofrathship ,i shall before this have attained4 ,but in the cold solitude of my room1 and the fire of my remembrances1 ,i longed unspeakably for my ,bergelchen2 ,i and my heart were wearied with the foreign busy day2 no one here said a kind word to me1 which he did not hope to put in the bill4 ,friends6 ,i languished for my friend1 whose heart would pour out its blood as a balsam for a second heart2 ,i cursed my over-prudent regulations1 and wished1 that1 to have the good ,berga at my side1 ,i had given up the stupid houseware to all thieves and fires whatsoever4 ,as ,i walked to and fro1 it seemed to me easier and easier to become all things1 an ,exchequer-,rath1 an ,excise-,rath1 any ,rath in the world1 and whatever she required when she came4 ,see thou take thy pleasure in the town6 had ,bergelchen kept saying the whole week through4 ,but how1 without her1 can ,i take any8 ,our tears of sorrow friends dry up1 and accompany with their own2 but our tears of joy we find most readily repeated in the eyes of our wives4 ,pardon me1 good ,friends1 these libations of my sensibility2 ,i am but showing you my heart and my ,berga4 ,if ,i need an ,absolution-merchant1 the ,pontac-merchant is the man4 ,first ,night in ,flaetz4 ,yet the wine did not take from me the good sense to look under the bed1 before going into it1 and examine whether any one was lurking there2 for example1 the ,dwarf1 or the ,rat-catcher1 or the ,legations-,rath2 also to shove the key under the latch 7which ,i reckon the best bolting arrangement of all71 and then1 by way of further assurance1 to bore my night-screws into the door1 and pile all the chairs in a heap behind it2 and1 lastly1 to keep on my breeches and shoes1 wishing absolutely to have no care upon my mind4 ,but ,i had still other precautions to take in regard to sleep-walking4 ,to me it has always been incomprehensible how so many men can go to bed1 and lie down at their ease there1 without reflecting that perhaps1 in the first sleep1 they may get up again as ,somnambulists1 and crawl over the tops of roofs and the like2 awakening in some spot where they may fall in a moment and break their necks4 ,while at home1 there is little risk in my sleep2 because1 my right toe being fastened every night with three ells of tape 7,i call it in jest our marriage tie7 to my wife's left hand1 ,i feel a certainty that1 in case ,i should start up from this bed-arrest1 ,i must with the tether infallibly awaken her1 and so by my ,berga1 as by my living bridle1 be again led back to bed4 ,but here in the ,inn1 ,i had nothing for it but to knot myself once or twice to the bed-foot1 that ,i might not wander2 though in this way1 an irruption of villains would have brought double peril with it4--,alas6 so dangerous is sleep at all times1 that every man1 who is not lying on his back a corpse1 must be on his guard lest with the general system some limb or other also fall asleep2 in which case the sleeping limb 7there are not wanting examples of it in ,medical ,history7 may next morning be lying ripe for amputation4 ,for this reason1 ,i have myself frequently awakened1 that no part of me fall asleep4 ,having properly tied myself to the bed-posts1 and at length got under the coverlid1 ,i now began to be dubious about my ,pontac ,fire-bath1 and apprehensive of the valorous and tumultuous dreams too likely to ensue2 which1 alas1 did actually prove to be nothing better than heroic and monarchic feats1 castle-stormings1 rock-throwings1 and the like4 ,this point also ,i am sorry to see so little attended to in medicine4 ,medical gentlemen1 as well as their customers1 all stretch themselves quietly in their beds1 without one among them considering whether a furious rage 7supposing him also directly after to drink cold water in his dream71 or a heart-devouring grief1 all which he may undergo in vision1 does harm to life or not4 ,shortly before midnight1 ,i awoke from a heavy dream1 to encounter a ghost-trick much too ghostly for my fancy4 ,my brother-in-law1 who manufactured it1 deserves for such vapid cookery to be named before you without reserve1 as the maltmaster of this washy brewage4 ,had suspicion been more compatible with intrepidity1 ,i might perhaps1 by his moral maxim about this matter1 on the road1 as well as by his taking up the side-room1 at the middle door of which stood my couch1 have easily divined the whole4 ,but now1 on awakening1 ,i felt myself blown upon by a cold ghost-breath1 which ,i could nowise deduce from the distant bolted window2 a point ,i had rightly decided1 for the ,dragoon was producing the phenomenon through the key-hole by a pair of bellows4 ,every sort of coldness in the night-season reminds you of clay-coldness and spectre-coldness4 ,i summoned my resolution1 however1 and abode the issue2 but now the very coverlid began to get in motion2 ,i pulled it towards me2 it would not stay2 sharply ,i sit upright in my bed1 and cry1 ,what is that8 ,no answer2 everywhere silence in the ,inn2 the whole room full of moonshine4 ,and now my drawing-plaster1 my coverlid1 actually rose up1 and let in the air2 at which ,i felt like a wounded man whose cataplasm you suddenly pull off4 ,in this crisis1 ,i made a bold leap from this ,devil's-torus1 and leaping1 snapped asunder my somnambulist tether4 ,where is the silly human fool1 cried ,i1 that dares to ape the unseen sublime him8 ,but on1 above1 under the bed1 there was nothing to be heard or seen1 ,i looked out of the window2 everywhere spectral moonlight and street-stillness2 nothing moving except 7probably from the wind71 on the distant ,gallows-hill1 a person lately hanged4 ------------------------ #ae4 ,after the manner of the fine polished ,english folding-knives1 there are now also folding-war-swords1 or1 in other words--,treaties of ,peace4 ------------------------ ,any man would have taken it for self-deception as well as ,i2 therefore ,i again wrapped myself in my passive lit de justice and air-bed1 and waited with calmness to see whether my fright would subside or not4 ,in a few minutes the coverlid1 the infernal ,faust's-mantle1 again began flying and towing2 also1 by way of change1 the invisible bed-maker again lifted me up4 ,accursed hour6--,i should beg to know whether1 in the whole of cultivated ,europe1 there is one cultivated or uncultivated man1 who1 in a case of this kind1 would not have lighted on ghost-devilry8 ,i lighted on it1 under my piece of 7self7 movable property1 my coverlid2 and thought ,berga had died suddenly1 and was now1 in spirit1 laying hold of my bed4 ,however1 ,i could not speak to her1 nor as little to the ,devil1 who might well be supposed to have a hand in the game2 but ,i turned myself solely to ,heaven1 and prayed aloud3 ,to thee ,i commit myself2 thou alone heretofore hast cared for thy weak servant2 and ,i swear that ,i will turn a new leaf1--a promise which shall be kept nevertheless1 though the whole was but stupid treachery and trick4 ------------------------ #ac4 ,omnibus una salus ,sanctis1 sed gloria dispar2 that is to say 7as ,divines once taught71 according to ,saint ,paul1 we have all the same ,beatitude in ,heaven1 but different degrees of ,honor4 ,here1 on ,earth1 we find a shadow of this in the writing world2 for the ,beatitude of authors once beatified by ,criticism1 whether they be genial1 good1 mediocre1 or poor1 is the same throughout2 they all obtain the same pecuniary ,felicity1 the same slender profit4 ,but1 ,heavens6 in regard to the degrees of ,fame1 again1 how far 7in spite of the same emolument and sale7 will a ,dunce1 even in his lifetime1 be put below a ,genius6 ,is not a shallow writer frequently forgotten in a single ,fair8 while a deep writer1 or even a writer of genius1 will blossom through fifty ,fairs1 and so may celebrate his ,twenty-five ,years' ,jubilee1 before1 late forgotten1 he is lowered into the ,german ,temple of ,fame2 a ,temple imitating the peculiarity of the ,padri ,lucchesi churches in ,naples1 which 7according to ,volkmann7 permit burials under their roofs1 but no tombstone4 ------------------------ ,my prayer had no effect with the unchristian ,dragoon1 who now1 once for all1 had got me prisoner in the dragnet of a coverlid2 and heeded little whether a guest's bed were1 by his means1 made a state-bed and death-bed or not4 ,he span out my nerves1 like gold-wire through smaller and smaller holes1 to utter inanition and evanition1 for the bed-clothes at last literally marched off to the door of the room4 ,now was the moment to rise into the sublime1 and to trouble myself no longer about aught here below1 but softly to devote myself to death4 ,snatch me away1 cried ,i1 and1 without thinking1 cut three crosses2 quick1 dispatch me1 ye ghosts2 ,i die more innocent than thousands of tyrants and blasphemers1 to whom ye yet appear not1 but to unpolluted me4 ,here ,i heard a sort of laugh1 either on the street or in the side-room4 ,at this warm human tone1 ,i suddenly bloomed up again1 as at the coming of a new ,spring1 in every twig and leaf4 ,wholly despising the winged coverlid1 which was not now to be picked from the door1 ,i laid myself down uncovered1 but warm and perspiring from other causes1 and soon fell asleep4 ,for the rest1 ,i am not the least ashamed1 in the face of all refined capital cities1--though they were standing here at my hand1--that1 by this ,devil-belief and ,devil-address1 ,i have attained some likeness to our great ,german ,lion1 to ,luther4 ,second ,day in ,flaetz4 ,early in the morning1 ,i felt myself awakened by the well-known coverlid2 it had laid itself on me like a nightmare2 ,i gaped up2 quiet1 in a corner of the room1 sat a red1 round1 blooming1 decorated girl1 like a full-blown tulip in the freshness of life1 and gently rustling with gay ribbons as with leaves4 ,who's there--how came you in8 cried ,i1 half-blind4 ,i covered thee softly1 and thought to let thee sleep1 said ,bergelchen2 ,i have walked all night to be here early2 do but look6 ,she showed me her boots1 the only remnant of her travelling-gear which1 in the moulting process of the toilette1 she had not stript at the gate of ,flaetz4 ,is there1 said ,i1 alarmed at her coming six hours sooner1 and the more1 as ,i had been alarmed all night and was still so1 at her mysterious entrance2 is there some fresh woe come over us1 fire1 murder1 robbery8 ,she answered3 ,the old ,rat thou hast chased so long1 died yesterday2 further there was nothing of importance4 ,and all has been managed rightly1 and according to my ,letter of ,instructions1 at home8 inquired ,i4 ,yes1 truly1 answered she2 only ,i did not see the ,letter2 it is lost2 thou hast packed it among thy clothes4 ,well1 ,i could not but forgive the blooming1 brave pedestrian all omissions4 ,her eye1 then her heart was bringing fresh cool morning air and morning red into my sultry hours4 ,and yet1 for this kind soul1 looking into life with such love and hope1 ,i must in a little while overcloud the merited ,heaven of to-day1 with tidings of my failure in the ,catechetical ,professorship6 ,i dallied and postponed to the utmost4 ,i asked how she had got in1 as the whole chevaux-de-frise barricado of chairs was still standing fast at the door4 ,she laughed heartily1 courtesying in village fashion1 and said1 she had planned it with her brother the day before yesterday1 knowing my precautions in locking1 that he should admit her into my room1 that so she might cunningly awaken me4 ,and now bolted the ,dragoon with loud laughter into the apartment1 and cried3 ,slept well1 brother8 ,in this wise truly the whole ghost-story was now solved and expounded1 as if by the pen of a ,biester or a ,hennings4 ,i instantly saw through the entire ghost-scheme which our ,dragoon had executed4 ,with some bitterness ,i told him my conjecture1 and his sister my story4 ,but he lied and laughed2 nay1 attempted shamelessly enough to palm spectre-notions on me a second time1 in open day4 ,i answered coldly1 that in me he had found the wrong man1 granting even that ,i had some similarity with ,luther1 with ,hobbes1 with ,brutus1 all of whom had seen and dreaded ghosts4 ,he replied1 tearing the facts away from their originating causes3 ,all he could say was1 that last night he had heard some poor sinner creaking and lamenting dolefully enough2 and from this he had inferred it must be an unhappy brother set upon by goblins4 ------------------------ #gi4 ,weak and wrong heads are the hardest to change2 and their inward man acquires a scanty covering2 thus capons never moult4 ------------------------ ,in the end1 his sister's eyes also were opened to the low character which he had tried to act with me2 she sharply flew at him1 pushed him with both hands out of his and my door1 and called after him3 ,wait1 thou villain1 ,i will mind it6 ,then hastily turning round1 she fell on my neck1 and 7at the wrong place7 into laughter1 and said3 ,the wild fool6 ,but ,i could not keep my laugh another minute1 and he was not to see it4 ,forgive the ninny1 thou a learned man1 his ass-pranks2 what can one expect8 ,i inquired whether she1 in her nocturnal travelling1 had not met any spectral persons2 though ,i knew that to her a wild beast1 a river1 a half abyss1 are nothing4 ,no1 she had not2 but the gay-dressed town's-people1 she said1 had scared her in the morning4 ,o1 how ,i do love these soft ,harmonica-quiverings of female fright6 ,at last1 however1 ,i was forced to bite or cut the coloquinta-apple1 and give her the half of it2 ,i mean the news of my rejected petition for the ,catechetical ,professorship4 ,wishing to spare this joyful heart the rudeness of the whole truth1 and to subtract something from a heavy burden1 more fit for the shoulders of a man1 ,i began3 ,bergelchen1 the ,professorship affair is taking another1 though still a good enough course2 the ,general1 whom may the ,devil and his ,grandmother teach sense1 will not be taken except by storm2 and storm he shall have1 as certainly as ,i have on my nightcap4 ,then thou art nothing yet8 inquired she4 ,for the moment1 indeed1 not6 answered ,i4 ------------------------ #hi4 ,in times of misfortune1 the ,ancients supported themselves with ,philosophy or ,christianity2 the moderns again 7for example1 in the reign of ,terror7 take to ,pleasure2 as the wounded ,buffalo1 for bandage and salve1 rolls himself in the mire4 #aha4 ,god be thanked that we live nowhere forever except in ,hell or ,heaven2 on ,earth otherwise we should grow to be the veriest rascals1 and the ,world a ,house of ,incurables1 for want of the dog-doctor 7the ,hangman71 and the issue-cord 7on the ,gallows71 and the sulphur and chalybeate medicines 7on ,battle-fields74 ,so that we too find our gigantic moral force dependent on the ,debt of ,nature which we have to pay1 exactly as your politicians 7for example1 the author of the ,new ,leviathan7 demonstrate that the ,english have their ,national ,debt to thank for their superiority4 ------------------------ ,but before ,saturday night8 said she4 ,not quite1 said ,i4 ,then am ,i sore stricken1 and could leap out of the window1 said she1 and turned away her rosy face1 to hide its wet eyes1 and was silent very long4 ,then1 with painfully quivering voice1 she began3 ,good ,christ1 stand by me at ,neusattel on ,sunday1 when these high-prancing prideful dames look at me in church1 and ,i grow scarlet for shame6 ,here in sympathetic woe ,i sprang out of bed to the dear soul1 over whose brightly blooming cheeks warm tears were rolling1 and cried3 ,thou true heart1 do not tear me in pieces so6 ,may ,i die1 if yet in these dog-days ,i become not all and everything that thou wishest6 ,speak1 wilt thou be ,mining-raethin1 ,build-raethin1 ,court-raethin1 ,war-raethin1 ,chamber-raethin1 ,commerce-raethin1 ,legations-raethin1 or ,devil and his ,dam's raethin2 ,i am here1 and will buy it1 and be it4 ,to-morrow ,i send riding posts to ,saxony and ,hessia1 to ,prussia and ,russia1 to ,friesland and ,katzenellenbogen1 and demand patents4 ,nay1 ,i will carry matters further than another1 and be all things at once1 ,flachsenfingen ,court-rath1 ,scheerau ,excise-rath1 ,haarhaar ,building-rath1 ,pestitz#gf ,chamber-rath 7for we have the cash72 and thus1 alone and singlehanded1 represent with one podex and corpus a whole ,rath-session of select ,raths2 and stand1 a complete ,legion of ,honor1 on one single pair of legs2 the like no man ever did4 ,o1 now thou art angel-good6 said she1 and gladder tears rolled down2 thou shalt counsel me thyself which are the finest ,raths1 and these we will be4 ,no1 continued ,i1 in the fire of the moment1 neither shall this serve us2 to me it is not enough that to ,mrs4 ,chaplain thou canst announce thyself as ,building-raethin1 to ,mrs4 ,town-parson as ,legations-raethin1 to ,mrs4 ,burgermeister as ,court-raethin1 to ,mrs4 ,road-and-toll-surveyor as ,commerce-raethin1 or how and where thou pleasest---- ,ah6 my own too good ,attelchen6 said she4 --,but1 continued ,i1 ,i shall likewise become corresponding member of the several ,learned ,societies in the several best capital cities 7among which ,i have only to choose72 and truly no common actual member1 but a whole honorary member2 then thee1 as another honorary member1 growing out of my honorary-membership1 ,i uplift and exalt4 ,pardon me1 my ,friends1 this warm cataplasm1 or deception-balsam for a wounded breast1 whose blood is so pure and precious1 that one may be permitted to endeavor1 with all possible stanching-lints and spider-webs1 to drive it back into the fair heart1 its home4 ------------------------ #fc4 ,to apprehend danger from the ,education of the ,people is like fearing lest the thunderbolt strike into the house because it has windows2 whereas the lightning never comes through these1 but through their lead framing1 or down by the smoke of the chimney4 ------------------------ ,but now came bright and brightest hours4 ,i had conquered ,time1 ,i had conquered myself and ,berga2 seldom does a conqueror1 as ,i did1 bless both the victorious and the vanquished party4 ,berga called back her former ,heaven1 and pulled off her dusty boots1 and on her flowery shoes4 ,precious morning beverage1 intoxicating to a heart that loves6 ,i felt 7if the low figure may be permitted7 a double-beer of courage in me1 now that ,i had one being more to protect4 ,in general it is my nature--which the honorable ,premier seems not to be fully aware of--to grow bolder not among the bold1 but fastest among poltroons1 the bad example acting on me by the rule of contraries4 ,little touches may in this case shadow forth man and wife without casting them into the shade4 ,when the trim waiter with his green silk apron brought up cracknels for breakfast1 and ,i told him1 ,johann1 for two6 ,berga said3 ,he would oblige her very much1 and called him ,herr ,johann4 ,bergelchen1 more familiar with rural burghs than capital cities1 felt a good deal amazed and alarmed at the coffee-trays1 dressing-tables1 paper-hangings1 sconces1 alabaster inkholders1 with ,egyptian emblems1 as well as at the gilt bell-handle1 lying ready for any one to pull out or to push in4 ,accordingly1 she had not courage to walk through the hall1 with its lustres1 purely because a whistling1 whiffling ,cap-and-feather was gesturing up and down in it4 ,nay1 her poor heart was like to fail when she peeped out of the window at so many gay1 promenading town's people 7,i was briskly that in a little while1 at my side1 she must break into whistling a ,gascon air down over them72 and thought the middle of this dazzling courtly throng4 ,in a case like this1 reasons are of less avail than examples4 ,i tried to elevate my ,bergelchen1 by reciting some of my nocturnal dream-feats2 for example1 how1 riding on a whale's back1 with a three-pronged fork1 ,i had pierced and eaten three eagles2 and by more of the like sort2 but ,i produced no effect2 perhaps1 because to the timid female heart the battle-field was presented rather than the conqueror1 the abyss rather than the overleaper of it4 ------------------------ #gf4 ,your economical1 preaching ,poetry apparently supposes that a surgical ,stone-cutter is an ,artistical one2 and a ,pulpit or a ,sinai a ,hill of the ,muses4 ------------------------ ,at this time a sheaf of newspapers was brought me1 full of gallant1 decisive victories4 ,and though these happen only on one side1 and on the other are just so many defeats1 yet the former somehow assimilate more with my blood than the latter1 and inspire me 7as ,schiller's ,robbers used to do7 with a strange inclination to lay hold of some one1 and thrash and curry him on the spot4 ,unluckily for the waiter1 he had chanced even now1 like a military host1 to stand a triple bell-order for march1 before he would leave his ground and come up4 ,sir1 began ,i1 my head full of battle-fields1 and my arm of inclination to baste him2 and ,berga feared the very worst1 as ,i gave her the well-known anger and alarm signal1 namely1 shoved up my cap to my hindhead1--,sir1 is this your way of treating guests8 ,why don't you come promptly8 ,don't come so again2 and now be going1 friend6 ,although his retreat was my victory1 ,i still kept briskly cannonading on the field of action1 and fired the louder 7to let him hear it71 the more steps he descended in his flight4 ,bergelchen1--who felt quite horror-struck at my fury1 particularly in a quite strange house1 and at a quality waiter with silk apron1 mustered all her soft words against the wild ones of a man-of-war1 and spoke of dangers that might follow4 ,dangers1 answered ,i1 are just what ,i seek2 but for a man there are none2 in all cases he will either conquer or evade them1 either show them front or back4 ------------------------ #aae4 ,according to ,smith1 the universal measure of economical value is ,labor4 ,this fact1 at least in regard to spiritual and poetical value1 we ,germans had discovered before ,smith2 and to my knowledge1 we have always preferred the learned poet to the poet of genius1 and the heavy book full of labor to the light one full of sport4 ------------------------ ,i could scarcely lay aside this indignant mood1 so sweet was it to me1 and so much did ,i feel refreshed by the fire of rage1 and quickened in my breast as by a benignant stimulant4 ,it belongs certainly to the class of ,unrecognized ,mercies 7on which1 in ancient times1 special sermons were preached71 that one is never more completely in his ,heaven and ,monplaisir 7a pleasure-palace71 than while in the midst of right hearty storming and indignation4 ,heavens6 what might not a man of weight accomplish in this new walk of charity6 ,the gall bladder is for us the chief swimming-bladder and ,montgolfier2 and the filling of it costs us nothing but a contumelious word or two from some bystander4 ,and does not the whirlwind ,luther1 with whom ,i nowise compare myself1 confess1 in his ,table-,talk1 that he never preached1 sung1 or prayed so well1 as while in a rage8 ,truly1 he was a man sufficient of himself to rouse many others into rage4 ,the whole morning till noon now passed in viewing sights1 and trafficking for wares2 and indeed1 for the greatest part1 in the broad street of our ,hotel4 ,berga needed but to press along with me into the market throng2 needed but to look1 and see that she was decorated more according to the fashion than hundreds like her4 ,but soon1 in her care for household gear1 she forgot that of dress1 and in the potter-market the toilette-table faded from her thoughts4 ------------------------ #d4 ,the ,hypocrite does not imitate the old practice1 of cutting fruit by a knife poisoned only on the one side1 and giving the poisoned side to the victim1 the cutter eating the sound side himself2 on the contrary1 he so disinterestedly inverts this practice1 that to others he shows and gives the sound moral half1 or side1 and retains for himself the poisoned one4 ,heavens6 compared with such a man1 how wicked does the ,devil seem6 ------------------------ ,i1 for my share1 full of true tedium1 while gliding after her through her various marts1 with their long cheapenings and chafferings1 merely acted the ,philosopher hid within me4 ,i weighed this empty ,life1 and the heavy value which is put upon it1 and the daily anxiety of man lest it1 this lightest down-feather of the ,earth1 fly off'1 and feather him1 and take him with it4 ,these thoughts1 perhaps1 ,i owe to the street-fry of boys1 who were turning their market-freedom to account1 by throwing stones at one another all round me2 for in the midst of this tumult ,i vividly figured myself to be a man who had never seen war2 and who1 therefore1 never having experienced that often of a thousand bullets not one will hit1 feels apprehensive of these few silly stones lest they beat in his nose and eyes4 ,o1 it is the battle-field alone that sows1 manures1 and nourishes true courage1 courage even for daily1 domestic1 and smallest perils4 ,for not till he comes from the battle-field can a man both sing and cannonade2 like the canary-bird1 which1 though so melodious1 so timid1 so small1 so tender1 so solitary1 so soft-feathered1 can yet be trained to fire off cannon1 though cannon of smaller calibre4 ,after dinner 7in our room7 we issued from the ,purgatory of the market-tumult1--where ,berga1 at every booth1 had something to order1 and load her attendant maid with1--into ,heaven1 into the ,dog ,inn1 as the best ,flaetz public and pleasure-house without the gates is named1 where1 in market time1 hundreds turn in1 and see thousands going by4 ,on the way thither1 my little wife1 my elbow-tendril1 as it were1 had extracted from me such a measure of courage1 that1 while going through the ,gate 7where ,i1 aware of the military order1 that you must not pass near the sentry1 threw myself over to the other side71 she quietly glided on1 close by the very guns and fixed bayonets of the ,city ,guard4 ,outside the wall1 ,i could direct her1 with my finger to the bechained1 begrated1 gigantic ,schabacker-,palace1 mounting up even externally on stairs1 where ,i last night had called and 7it may be7 stormed3 ,i had rather take a peep at the ,giant1 said she1 and the ,dwarf2 why else are we under one roof with them8 ------------------------ #fg4 ,individual ,minds1 nay1 ,political ,bodies1 are like organic bodies2 extract the interior air from them1 the atmosphere crushes them together2 pump off under the bell the exterior resisting air1 the interior inflates and bursts them4 ,therefore let every ,state keep up its internal and its external resistance both at once4 ------------------------ ,in the pleasure-house itself we found sufficient pleasure2 encircled as we were1 with blooming faces and meadows4 ,in my secret heart1 ,i all along kept looking down1 with success1 on ,schabacker's refusal2 and till midnight made myself a happy day of it4 ,i had deserved it1 ,berga still more4 ,nevertheless1 about one in the morning1 ,i was destined to find a windmill to tilt with2 a windmill1 which truly lays about it with somewhat longer1 stronger1 and more numerous arms than a giant1 for which ,don ,quixote might readily enough have taken it4 ,on the market place1 for reasons more easily fancied than specified in words1 ,i let ,berga go along some twenty paces before me2 and ,i myself1 for these foresaid reasons1 retire without malice behind a covered booth1 the tent most probably of some rude trader2 and lingered there a moment according to circumstances4 ,lo6 steering hither with dart and spear1 comes the ,booth-watcher1 and coins and stamps me on the spot1 into a filcher and housebreaker of his ,booth-street2 though the simpleton sees nothing but that ,i am standing in the corner1 and doing anything but--taking4 ,a sense of honor without callosity is never blunted for such attacks4 ,but how in the dead of night was a man of this kind1 who had nothing in his head--at the utmost beer1 instead of brains--to be enlightened on the truth of the matter8 ,i shall not conceal my perilous resource2 ,i seized the fox by the tail1 as we say2 in other words1 ,i made as if ,i had been muddled1 and knew not rightly1 in my liquor1 what ,i was about4 ,i therefore mimicked everything ,i was master of in this department2 staggered hither and thither2 splayed out my feet like a dancing-master2 got into zigzag in spite of all efforts at the straight line2 nay1 ,i knocked my good head 7perhaps one of the clearest and emptiest of the night7 like a full one1 against real posts4 ,however1 the ,booth-bailiff1 who probably had been oftener drunk than ,i1 and knew the symptoms better1 or even felt them in himself at this moment1 looked upon the whole exhibition as mere craft1 and shouted dreadfully3 ,stop1 rascal2 thou art no more drunk than ,i6 ,i know thee of old4 ,stand1 ,i say1 till ,i speak to thee6 ,wouldst have thy long finger in the market1 too8 ,stand1 dog1 or ,i'll make thee6 ------------------------ #h4 ,in great ,saloons1 the real stove is masked into a pretty ornamented sham stove2 so1 likewise1 it is fit and pretty that a virgin ,love should always hide itself in an interesting virgin ,friendship4 ------------------------ ,you see the whole nodus of the matter4 ,i whisked away zigzag among the booths as fast as possible1 from the claws of this rude ,tosspot2 yet he still hobbled after me4 ,but my ,teutoberga1 who had heard somewhat of it came running back2 clutched the tipsy market-warder by the collar1 and said 7shrieking1 it is true1 in village wise73 ,stupid sot1 go sleep the drink out of thy head1 or ,i'll teach thee6 ,dost know1 then1 whom thou art speaking to8 ,my husband1 ,army-chaplain ,schmelzle under ,general and ,minister von ,schabacker at ,pimpelstadt1 thou blockhead6--,fie6 ,take shame1 fellow6 ,the watchman mumbled1 ,meant no harm1 and reeled about his business4 ,o thou ,lioness6 said ,i1 in the transport of love1 why hast thou never been in any deadly peril1 that ,i might show thee the ,lion in thy husband6 ,thus lovingly we both reached home2 and perhaps in the sequel of this ,fair day might still have enjoyed a glorious after-midnight1 had not the ,devil led my eye to the ninth volume of ,lichtenberg's ,works1 and the #bjfth page1 where this passage occurs3 ,it is not impossible1 that1 at a future period1 our ,chemists may light on some means of suddenly decomposing the ,atmosphere by a sort of ,ferment4 ,in this way the world may be destroyed4 ,ah6 true indeed6 ,since the ,earth-ball is lapped up in the larger ,atmospheric ball1 let but any chemical scoundrel1 in the remotest scoundrel-island1 say in ,new ,holland1 devise some decomposing substance for the ,atmosphere1 like what a spark of fire would be for a powder-wagon2 in a few seconds1 the monstrous devouring world-storm catches me and you in ,flaetz by the throat2 my breathing1 and the like1 in this choke-air is over1 and the whole game ended6 ,the ,earth becomes a boundless gallows1 where the very cattle are hanged2 worm-powder1 and bug-liquor1 ,bradly ant-ploughs1 and rat-poison1 and wolf-traps are1 in this universal world-trap and world-poison1 no longer specially needful2 and the ,devil takes the whole1 in the ,bartholomew-night1 when this cursed ,ferment is invented4 ------------------------ #ab4 ,nations--unlike rivers1 which precipitate their impurities in level places and when at rest--drop their baseness just whilst in the most violent motion2 and become the dirtier the farther they flow along through lazy flats4 ------------------------ ,from the true soul1 however1 ,i concealed these deadly ,night ,thoughts2 seeing she would either painfully have sympathized in them1 or else mirthfully laughed at them4 ,i merely gave orders that next morning 7,saturday7 she was to be standing booted and ready1 at the outset of the returning coach2 if so were she would have me speedily fulfil her wishes in regard to that stock of ,rathships which lay so near her heart4 ,she rejoiced in my purpose1 gladly surrendering the market for such prospects4 ,i too slept sound1 my great toe tied to her finger the whole night through4 ,the ,dragoon next morning twitched me by the ear1 and secretly whispered into it that he had a pleasant fairing to give his sister2 and so would ride off somewhat early1 on the nag he had yesterday purchased of the horse-dealer4 ,i thanked him beforehand4 ------------------------ #bh4 ,when ,nature takes the huge old ,earth-round1 the ,earth-loaf and kneads it up again1 for the purpose of introducing1 under this piecrust1 new stuffing and ,dwarfs--she then1 for most part1 as a mother when baking will do to her daughters1 gives in jest a little fraction of the dough 7two or three thousand square leagues of such dough are enough for a child7 to some ,poetical or ,philosophical1 or ,legislative polisher1 that so the little elf may have something to be shaping and manufacturing beside its mother4 ,and when the other young ones get a taste of sisterkin's baking1 they all clap hands1 and cry1 ,aha1 ,mother6 canst bake like ,suky here8 ------------------------ ,at the appointed hour all gayly started from the ,staple1 ,i excepted2 for ,i still retained1 even in the fairest daylight1 that nocturnal ,devil's-,ferment and ,decomposition 7of my cerebral globe as well as of the ,earth-globe7 fermenting in my head2 a proof that the night had not affected me1 or exaggerated my fear4 ,the ,blind ,passenger1 whom ,i liked so ill1 also mounted along with us1 and looked at me as usual1 but without effect2 for on this occasion1 when the destruction not of myself only1 but of worlds1 was occupying my thoughts1 the ,passenger was nothing to me but a joke and a show2 as a man1 while his leg is a-sawing off1 does not feel the throbbing of his heart2 or amid the humming of cannon1 does not guard himself from that of wasps2 so to me any ,passenger1 with all the firebrands he might throw into my near or distant ,future1 could appear but ludicrous1 at a time when ,i was reflecting that the ,ferment might1 even in my journey between ,flaetz and ,neusattel1 be1 by some ,american or ,european man of science1 quite guiltlessly experimenting and decomposing1 lighted upon by accident and let loose4 ,the question1 nay prize-question now1 however1 were this3 ,in how far1 since ,lichtenberg's threatening1 it may not appear world-murderous and self-murderous1 if enlightened ,potentates of chemical nations do not enjoin it on their chemical subjects1--who in their decompositions and separations may so easily separate the soul from their body and unite ,heaven with ,earth1--not in future to make any other chemical experiments than those already made1 which hitherto have profited the ,state rather than harmed it8 ,unfortunately1 ,i continued sunk in this ,doomsday of the ,ferment with all my thoughts and meditations1 without1 in the whole course of our return from ,flaetz to ,neusattel1 suffering or observing anything1 except that ,i actually arrived there1 and at the same time saw the ,blind ,passenger once more go his ways4 ,my ,bergelchen alone had ,i constantly looked at by the road1 partly that ,i might still see her1 so long as life and eyes endured2 partly that1 even at the smallest danger to her1 be it a great1 or even all-over-sweeping ,deluge and ,world's-doom1 ,i might die1 if not for her1 at least by her1 and so1 united with that stanch1 true heart1 cast away a plagued and plaguing life1 in which1 at any rate1 not half of my wishes for her have been fulfilled4 ,so then were my ,journey over--crowned with some ,historiola2 and in time coming1 perhaps1 still more rewarded through you1 ye ,friends about ,flaetz1 if in these pages you shall find any well-ground pruning-knives1 whereby you may more readily outroot the weedy tangle of ,lies1 which for the present excludes me from the gallant ,schabacker--,only this cursed ,ferment still sits in my head4 ,farewell1 then1 so long as there are ,atmospheres left us to breathe4 ,i wish ,i had that ,ferment out of my head4 ,yours always1 ,attila ,schmelzle4 ,p4 ,s4--,my brother-in-law has kept his promise well1 and ,berga is dancing4 ,particulars in my next6 ,analects ,from ,richter4 ,,translated ,,by ,,thomas ,,de ,,quincey4 ,,analects ,,from ,,richter4 ,,the ,,happy ,,life ,,of ,a ,,parish ,,priest ,,in ,,sweden4 ,sweden apart1 the condition of a parish priest is in itself sufficiently happy3 in ,sweden1 then1 much more so4 ,there he enjoys summer and winter pure and unalloyed by any tedious interruptions3 a ,swedish spring1 which is always a late one1 is no repetition1 in a lower key1 of the harshness of winter1 but anticipates1 and is a prelibation of1 perfect summer1--laden with blossoms1--radiant with the lily and the rose3 insomuch1 that a ,swedish summer night represents implicitly one half of ,italy1 and a winter night one half of the world beside4 ,i will begin with winter1 and ,i will suppose it to be ,christmas4 ,the priest1 whom we shall imagine to be a ,german1 and summoned from the southern climate of ,germany upon presentation to the church of a ,swedish hamlet lying in a high polar latitude1 rises in cheerfulness about seven o'clock in the morning2 and till half past nine he burns his lamp4 ,at nine o'clock1 the stars are still shining1 and the unclouded moon even yet longer4 ,this prolongation of star-light into the forenoon is to him delightful2 for he is a ,german1 and has a sense of something marvellous in a starry forenoon4 ,methinks1 ,i behold the priest and his flock moving towards the church with lanterns3 the lights dispersed amongst the crowd connect the congregation into the appearance of some domestic group or larger household1 and carry the priest back to his childish years during the winter season and ,christmas matins1 when every hand bore its candle4 ,arrived at the pulpit1 he declares to his audience the plain truth1 word for word1 as it stands in the ,gospel3 in the presence of ,god1 all intellectual pretensions are called upon to be silent2 the very reason ceases to be reasonable2 nor is anything reasonable in the sight of ,god but a sincere and upright heart4 99 99 99 99 99 ,just as he and his flock are issuing from the church the bright ,christmas sun ascends above the horizon1 and shoots his beams upon their faces4 ,the old men1 who are numerous in ,sweden1 are all tinged with the colors of youth by the rosy morning-lustre2 and the priest1 as he looks away from them to mother earth lying in the sleep of winter1 and to the churchyard1 where the flowers and the men are all in their graves together1 might secretly exclaim with the poet3 ,upon the dead mother1 in peace and utter gloom1 are reposing the dead children4 ,after a time1 uprises the everlasting sun2 and the mother starts up at the summons of the heavenly dawn with a resurrection of her ancient bloom3--,and her children8--,yes3 but they must wait awhile4 ,at home he is awaited by a warm study1 and a long-levelled rule of sunlight upon the book-clad wall4 ,the afternoon he spends delightfully2 for1 having before him such perfect flower-stand of pleasures1 he scarcely knows where he should settle4 ,supposing it to be ,christmas-day1 he preaches again3 he preaches on a subject which calls up images of the beauteous eastern-land1 or of eternity4 ,by this time1 twilight and gloom prevailed through the church3 only a couple of wax-lights upon the altar throw wondrous and mighty shadows through the aisles3 the angel that hangs down from the roof above the baptismal font is awoke into a solemn life by the shadows and the rays1 and seems almost in the act of ascension3 through the windows1 the stars or the moon are beginning to peer3 aloft1 in the pulpit1 which is now hid in gloom1 the priest is inflamed and possessed by the sacred burden of glad tidings which he is announcing3 he is lost and insensible to all besides2 and from amidst the darkness which surrounds him1 he pours down his thunders1 with tears and agitation1 reasoning of future worlds1 and of the heaven of heavens1 and whatsoever else can most powerfully shake the heart and the affections4 ,descending from his pulpit in these holy fervors1 he now1 perhaps1 takes a walk3 it is about four o'clock3 and he walks beneath a sky lit up by the shifting northern lights1 that to his eye appear but an ,aurora striking upwards from the eternal morning of the south1 or as a forest composed of saintly thickets1 like the fiery bushes of ,moses1 that are round the throne of ,god4 ,thus1 if it be the afternoon of ,christmas-day3 but if it be any other afternoon1 visitors1 perhaps1 come and bring their well-bred1 grown-up daughters2 like the fashionable world in ,london1 he dines at sunset2 that is to say1 like the un-fashionable world of ,london1 he dines at two o'clock2 and he drinks coffee by moonlight2 and the parsonage-house becomes an enchanted palace of pleasure gleaming with twilight1 starlight1 and moonlight4 ,or1 perhaps1 he goes over to the schoolmaster1 who is teaching his afternoon school3 there by the candlelight1 he gathers round his knees all the scholars1 as if--being the children of his spiritual children--they must therefore be his own grandchildren2 and with delightful words he wins their attention1 and pours knowledge into their docile hearts4 ,all these pleasures failing1 he may pace up and down in his library1 already1 by three o'clock1 gloomy with twilight1 but fitfully enlivened by a glowing fire1 and steadily by the bright moonlight2 and he needs do no more than taste at every turn of his walk a little orange marmalade1--to call up images of beautiful ,italy1 and its gardens and orange groves1 before all his five senses1 and as it were to the very tip of his tongue4 ,looking at the moon1 he will not fail to recollect that the very same silver disk hangs at the very same moment between the branches of the laurels in ,italy4 ,it will delight him to consider that the ,a,eolian harp1 and the lark1 and indeed music of all kinds1 and the stars1 and children1 are just the same in hot climates and in cold4 ,and when the post-boy1 that rides in with news from ,italy1 winds his horn through the hamlet1 and with a few simple notes raises up on the frozen window of his study a vision of flowery realms2 and when he plays with treasured leaves of roses and of lilies from some departed summer1 or with plumes of a bird of paradise1 the memorial of some distant friend2 when1 further1 his heart is moved by the magnificent sounds of ,lady-day1 ,salad-season1 ,cherry-time1 ,trinity-,sundays1 the rose of ,june1 c41 how can he fail to forget that he is in ,sweden by the time that his lamp is brought in2 and then1 indeed1 he will be somewhat disconcerted to recognize his study in what had now shaped itself to his fancy as a room in some foreign land4 ,however1 if he would pursue this airy creation1 he need but light at his lamp a wax-candle-end1 to gain a glimpse through the whole evening into that world of fashion and splendor1 from which he purchased the said wax-candle-end4 ,for ,i should suppose1 that at the court of ,stockholm1 as elsewhere1 there must be candle-ends to be bought of the state-footmen4 ,but now1 after the lapse of half a year1 all at once there strikes upon his heart something more beautiful than ,italy1 where the sun sets so much earlier in summertime than it does at our ,swedish hamlet3 and what is that8 ,it is the longest day1 with the rich freight that it carries in its bosom1 and leading by the hand the early dawn blushing with rosy light1 and melodious with the carolling of larks at one o'clock in the morning4 ,before two1 that is1 at sunrise1 the elegant party that we mentioned last winter arrive in gay clothing at the parsonage2 for they are bound on a little excursion of pleasure in company with the priest4 ,at two o'clock they are in motion2 at which time all the flowers are glittering1 and the forests are gleaming with the mighty light4 ,the warm sun threatens them with no storm nor thunder-showers2 for both are rare in ,sweden4 ,the priest1 in common with the rest of the company1 is attired in the costume of ,sweden2 he wears his short jacket with a broad scarf1 his short cloak above that1 his round hat with floating plumes1 and shoes tied with bright ribbons3 like the rest of the men1 he resembles a ,spanish knight1 or a ,provencal1 or other man of the south3 more especially when he and his gay company are seen flying through the lofty foliage luxuriant with blossom1 that within so short a period of weeks has shot forth from the garden plots and the naked boughs4 ,that a longest day like this1 bearing such a cornucopia of sunshine1 of cloudless ether1 of buds and bells1 of blossoms and of leisure1 should pass away more rapidly than the shortest1--is not difficult to suppose4 ,as early as eight o'clock in the evening the party breaks up2 the sun is now burning more gently over the half-closed sleepy flowers3 about nine he has mitigated his rays1 and is beheld bathing as it were naked in the blue depths of heaven3 about ten1 at which hour the company reassemble at the parsonage1 the priest is deeply moved1 for throughout the hamlet1 though the tepid sun1 now sunk to the horizon1 is still shedding a sullen glow upon the cottages and the window-panes1 everything reposes in profoundest silence and sleep3 the birds even are all slumbering in the golden summits of the woods3 and at last1 the solitary sun himself sets1 like a moon1 amidst the universal quiet of nature4 ,to our priest1 walking in his romantic dress1 it seems as though rosy-colored realms were laid open1 in which fairies and spirits range2 and he would scarcely feel an emotion of wonder1 if1 in this hour of golden vision1 his brother1 who ran away in childhood1 should suddenly present himself as one alighting from some blooming heaven of enchantment4 ,the priest will not allow his company to depart3 he detains them in the parsonage garden1--where1 says he1 every one that chooses may slumber away in beautiful bowers the brief1 warm hours until the reappearance of the sun4 ,this proposal is generally adopted3 and the garden is occupied3 many a lovely pair are making believe to sleep1 but1 in fact1 are holding each other by the hand4 ,the happy priest walks up and down through the parterres4 ,coolness comes1 and a few stars4 ,his night-violets and gillyflowers open and breathe out their powerful odors4 ,to the north1 from the eternal morning of the pole1 exhales as it were a golden dawn4 ,the priest thinks of the village of his childhood far away in ,germany2 he thinks of the life of man1 his hopes1 and his aspirations3 and he is calm and at peace with himself4 ,then all at once starts up the morning sun in his freshness4 ,some there are in the garden who would fain confound it with the evening sun1 and close their eyes again3 but the larks betray all1 and awaken every sleeper from bower to bower4 ,then again begin pleasure and morning in their pomp of radiance2 and almost ,i could persuade myself to delineate the course of this day also1 though it differs from its predecessor hardly by so much as the leaf of a rose-bud4 ,,dream ,,upon ,,the ,,universe4 ,i had been reading an excellent dissertation of ,krueger's upon the old vulgar error which regards the space from one earth and sun to another as empty4 ,our sun together with all its planets fills only the #ca1dai1dfj1jjj1jjj1jjjth part of the whole space between itself and the next solar body4 ,gracious ,heavens6 thought ,i1--in what an unfathomable abyss of emptiness were this universe swallowed up and lost1 if all were void and utter vacuity except the few shining points of dust which we call a planetary system6 ,to conceive of our earthly ocean as the abode of death1 and essentially incapable of life1 and of its populous islands as being no greater than snail-shells1 would be a far less error in proportion to the compass of our planet than that which attributes emptiness to the great mundane spaces3 and the error would be far less if the marine animals were to ascribe life and fulness exclusively to the sea1 and to regard the atmospheric ocean above them as empty and untenanted4 ,according to ,herschel1 the most remote of the galaxies which the telescope discovers lie at such a distance from us1 that their light1 which reaches us at this day1 must have set out on its journey two millions of years ago2 and thus by optical laws it is possible that whole squadrons of the starry hosts may be now reaching us with their beams which have themselves perished ages ago4 ,upon this scale of computation for the dimensions of the world1 what heights and depths and breadths must there be in this universe--in comparison of which the positive universe would be itself a nihility1 were it crossed--pierced--and belted about by so illimitable a wilderness of nothing6 ,but is it possible that any man can for a moment overlook those vast forces which must pervade these imaginary deserts with eternal surges of flux and reflux1 to make the very paths to those distant starry coasts voyageable to our eyes8 ,can you lock up in a sun or in its planets their reciprocal forces of attraction8 ,does not the light stream through the immeasurable spaces between our earth and the nebula which is farthest removed from us8 ,and in this stream of light there is as ample an existence of the positive1 and as much a home for the abode of a spiritual world1 as there is a dwelling-place for thy own spirit in the substance of the brain4 ,to these and similar reflections succeeded the following dream3-- ,methought my body sank down in ruins1 and my inner form stepped out apparelled in light3 and by my-side there stood another form which resembled my own1 except that it did not shine like mine1 but lightened unceasingly4 ,two thoughts1 said the form1 are the wings with which ,i move2 the thought of ,here1 and the thought of ,there4 ,and behold6 ,i am yonder2--pointing to a distant world4 ,come1 then1 and wait on me with thy thoughts and with thy flight1 that ,i may show to thee the universe under a veil4 ,and ,i flew along with the ,form4 ,in a moment our earth fell back1 behind our consuming flight1 into an abyss of distance2 a faint gleam only was reflected from the summits of the ,cordilleras2 and a few moments more reduced the sun to a little star2 and soon there remained nothing visible of our system except a comet which was travelling from our sun with angelic speed in the direction of ,sirius4 ,our flight now carried us so rapidly through the flocks of solar bodies--flocks1 past counting unless to their heavenly ,shepherd1--that scarcely could they expand themselves before us into the magnitude of moons1 before they sank behind us into pale nebular gleams2 and their planetary earths could not reveal themselves for a moment to the transcendent rapidity of our course4 ,at length ,sirius and all the brotherhood of our constellations and the galaxy of our heavens stood far below our feet as a little nebula amongst other yet more distant nebulae4 ,thus we flew on through the starry wildernesses3 one heaven after another unfurled its immeasurable banners before us1 and then rolled up behind us3 galaxy behind galaxy towered up into solemn altitudes before which the spirit shuddered2 and they stood in long array through which the ,infinite ,being might pass in progress4 ,sometimes the ,form that lightened would outfly my weary thoughts2 and then it would be seen far off before me like a coruscation amongst the stars--till suddenly ,i thought again to myself the thought of ,there1 and then ,i was at its side4 ,but1 as we were thus swallowed up by one abyss of stars after another1 and the heavens above our eyes were not emptier--neither were the heavens below them fuller2 and as suns without intermission fell into the solar ocean like water-spouts of a storm which fall into the ocean of waters2--then at length the human heart within me was overburdened and weary1 and yearned after some narrow cell or quiet oratory in this metropolitan cathedral of the universe4 ,and ,i said to the ,form at my side1 ,o ,spirit6 has then this universe no end8 ,and the ,form answered and said1 ,lo6 it has no beginning4 ,suddenly1 however1 the heavens above us appeared to be emptied1 and not a star was seen to twinkle in the mighty abyss1--no gleam of light to break the unity of the infinite darkness4 ,the starry hosts behind us had all contracted into an obscure nebula3 and at length that also had vanished4 ,and ,i thought to myself1 ,at last the universe has ended3 and ,i trembled at the thought of the illimitable dungeon of pure1--pure darkness which here began to imprison the creation3 ,i shuddered at the dead sea of nothing1 in whose unfathomable zone of blackness the jewel of the glittering universe seemed to be set and buried forever2 and through the night in which we moved ,i saw the ,form which still lightened as before1 but left all around it unilluminated4 ,then the ,form said to me in my anguish1 ,o creature of little faith6 ,look up6 the most ancient light is coming6 ,i looked2 and in a moment came a twilight1--in the twinkling of an eye a galaxy1--and then with a choral burst rushed in all the company of stars4 ,for centuries gray with age1 for millennia hoary with antiquity1 had the starry light been on its road to us2 and at length out of heights inaccessible to thought it had reached us4 ,now then1 as through some renovated century1 we flew through new cycles of heavens4 ,at length again came a starless interval2 and far longer it endured1 before the beams of a starry host again had reached us4 ,as we thus advanced forever through an interchange of nights and solar heavens1 and as the interval grew still longer and longer before the last heaven we had quitted contracted to a point1--and as once we issued suddenly from the middle of thickest night into an ,aurora ,borealis1--the herald of an expiring world1 and we found throughout this cycle of solar systems that a day of judgment had indeed arrived2 the suns had sickened1 and the planets were heaving--rocking1 yawning in convulsions1 the subterraneous waters of the great deeps were breaking up1 and lightnings that were ten diameters of a world in length ran along--from east to west--from ,zenith to ,nadir2 and here and there1 where a sun should have been1 we saw instead through the misty vapor a gloomy--ashy--leaden corpse of a solar body1 that sucked in flames from the perishing world--but gave out neither light nor heat2 and as ,i saw1 through a vista which had no end1 mountain towering above mountain1 and piled up with what seemed glittering snow from the conflict of solar and planetary bodies2--then my spirit bent under the load of the universe1 and ,i said to the ,form1 ,rest1 rest3 and lead me no farther3 ,i am too solitary in the creation itself2 and in its deserts yet more so3 the full world is great1 but the empty world is greater2 and with the universe increase its ,zaarahs4 ,then the ,form touched me like the flowing of a breath1 and spoke more gently than before3 ,in the presence of ,god there is no emptiness3 above1 below1 between1 and round about the stars1 in the darkness and in the light1 dwelleth the true and very ,universe1 the sum and fountain of all that is4 ,but thy spirit can bear only earthly images of the unearthly2 now then ,i cleanse thy sight with euphrasy2 look forth1 and behold the images4 ,immediately my eyes were opened2 and ,i looked1 and ,i saw as it were an interminable sea of light1--sea immeasurable1 sea unfathomable1 sea without a shore4 ,all spaces between all heavens were filled with happiest light3 and there was a thundering of floods3 and there were seas above the seas1 and seas below the seas3 and ,i saw all the trackless regions that we had voyaged over3 and my eye comprehended the farthest and the nearest3 and darkness had become light1 and the light darkness3 for the deserts and wastes of the creation were now filled with the sea of light1 and in this sea the suns floated like ash-gray blossoms1 and the planets like black grains of seed4 ,then my heart comprehended that immortality dwelled in the spaces between the worlds1 and death only amongst the worlds4 ,upon all the suns there walked upright shadows in the form of men3 but they were glorified when they quitted these perishable worlds1 and when they sank into the sea of light3 and the murky planets1 ,i perceived1 were but cradles for the infant spirits of the universe of light4 ,in the ,zaarahs of the creation ,i saw--,i heard--,i felt--the glittering--the echoing--the breathing of life and creative power4 ,the suns were but as spinning-wheels1 the planets no more than weavers' shuttles1 in relation to the infinite web which composes the veil of ,isis2 which veil is hung over the whole creation1 and lengthens as any finite being attempts to raise it4 ,and in sight of this immeasurability of life1 no sadness could endure2 but only joy that knew no limit1 and happy prayers4 ,but in the midst of this great vision of the ,universe the ,form that lightened eternally had become invisible1 or had vanished to its home in the unseen world of spirits3 ,i was left alone in the centre of a universe of life1 and ,i yearned after some sympathizing being4 ,suddenly from the starry deeps there came floating through the ocean of light a planetary body2 and upon it there stood a woman whose face was as the face of a ,madonna2 and by her side there stood a child1 whose countenance varied not--neither was it magnified as he drew nearer4 ,this child was a king1 for ,i saw that he had a crown upon his head3 but the crown was a crown of thorns4 ,then also ,i perceived that the planetary body was our unhappy earth3 and1 as the earth drew near1 this child who had come forth from the starry deeps to comfort me threw upon me a look of gentlest pity and of unutterable love--so that in my heart ,i had a sudden rapture of joy such as passes all understanding2 and ,i awoke in the tumult of my happiness4 ,i awoke3 but my happiness survived my dream3 and ,i exclaimed1 ,o how beautiful is death1 seeing that we die in a world of life and of creation without end6 and ,i blessed ,god for my life upon earth1 but much more for the life in those unseen depths of the universe which are emptied of all but the ,supreme ,reality1 and where no earthly life nor perishable hope can enter4 ,,complaint ,,of ,,the ,,bird ,,in ,a ,,darkened ,,cage4 ,ah6 said the imprisoned bird1 how unhappy were ,i in my eternal night1 but for those melodious tones which sometimes make their way to me like beams of light from afar1 and cheer my gloomy day4 ,but ,i will myself repeat these heavenly melodies like an echo1 until ,i have stamped them in my heart2 and then ,i shall be able to bring comfort to myself in my darkness6 ,thus spoke the little warbler1 and soon had learned the sweet airs that were sung to it with voice and instrument4 ,that done1 the curtain was raised2 for the darkness had been purposely contrived to assist in its instruction4 ,o man6 how often dost thou complain of overshadowing grief and of darkness resting upon thy days6 ,and yet what cause for complaint1 unless indeed thou hast failed to learn wisdom from suffering8 ,for is not the whole sum of human life a veiling and an obscuring of the immortal spirit of man8 ,then first1 when the fleshly curtain falls away1 may it soar upwards into a region of happier melodies6 ,,on ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,young ,,children4 ,ephemera die all at sunset1 and no insect of this class has ever sported in the beams of the morning sun4 ,happier are ye1 little human ephemera6 ,ye played only in the ascending beams1 and in the early dawn1 and in the eastern light2 ye drank only of the prelibations of life2 hovered for a little space over a world of freshness and of blossoms2 and fell asleep in innocence before yet the morning dew was exhaled6 ,,the ,,prophetic ,,dew-,,drops4 ,a delicate child1 pale and prematurely wise1 was complaining on a hot morning that the poor dewdrops had been too hastily snatched away and not allowed to glitter on the flowers like other happier dewdrops that live the whole night through and sparkle in the moonlight1 and through the morning onwards to noonday3 ,the sun1 said the child1 has chased them away with his heat--or swallowed them in his wrath4 ,soon after came rain and a rainbow2 whereupon his father pointed upwards3 ,see1 said he1 there stand thy dew-drops gloriously re-set--a glittering jewelry--in the heavens2 and the clownish foot tramples on them no more4 ,by this1 my child1 thou art taught that what withers upon earth blooms again in heaven4 ,thus the father spoke1 and knew not that he spoke prefiguring words3 for soon after the delicate child1 with the morning brightness of his early wisdom1 was exhaled1 like a dewdrop1 into heaven4 ,,on ,,death4 ,we should all think of death as a less hideous object1 if it simply untenanted our bodies of a spirit1 without corrupting them2 secondly1 if the grief which we experience at the spectacle of our friends' graves were not by some confusion of the mind blended with the image of our own2 thirdly1 if we had not in this life seated ourselves in a warm domestic nest1 which we are unwilling to quit for the cold blue regions of the unfathomable heavens2 finally1--if death were denied to us4 ,once in dreams ,i saw a human being of heavenly intellectual faculties1 and his aspirations were heavenly2 but he was chained 7methought7 eternally to the earth4 ,the immortal old man had five great wounds in his happiness--five worms that gnawed forever at his heart3 he was unhappy in springtime1 because that is a season of hope--and rich with phantoms of far happier days than any which this aceldama of earth can realize4 ,he was unhappy at the sound of music1 which dilates the heart of man into its whole capacity for the infinite1 and he cried aloud1--,away1 away6 ,thou speakest of things which throughout my endless life ,i have found not1 and shall not find6 ,he was unhappy at the remembrance of earthly affections and dissevered hearts3 for love is a plant which may bud in this life1 but it must flourish in another4 ,he was unhappy under the glorious spectacle of the starry host1 and ejaculated forever in his heart1--,so then ,i am parted from you to all eternity by an impassable abyss3 the great universe of suns is above1 below1 and round about me3 but ,i am chained to a little ball of dust and ashes4 ,he was unhappy before the great ideas of ,virtue--of ,truth--and of ,god2 because he knew how feeble are the approximations to them which a son of earth can make4 ,but this was a dream3 ,god be thanked1 that in reality there is no such craving and asking eye directed upwards to heaven--to which death will not one day bring an answer6 ,,imagination ,,untamed ,,by ,,the ,,coarser ,,realities ,,of ,,life4 ,happy is every actor in the guilty drama of life1 to whom the higher illusion within supplies or conceals the external illusion2 to whom1 in the tumult of his part and its intellectual interest1 the bungling landscapes of the stage have the bloom and reality of nature1 and whom the loud parting and shocking of the scenes disturb not in his dream6 ,,satirical ,,notice ,,of ,,reviewers4 ,in ,swabia1 in ,saxony1 in ,pomerania1 are towns in which are stationed a strange sort of officers1--valuers of author's flesh1 something like our old market-lookers in this town4 ,they are commonly called tasters 7or ,praegustatores7 because they eat a mouthful of every book beforehand1 and tell the people whether its flavor be good4 ,we authors1 in spite1 call them reviewers3 but ,i believe an action of defamation would lie against us for such bad words4 ,the tasters write no books themselves2 consequently they have the more time to look over and tax those of other people4 ,or1 if they do sometimes write books1 they are bad ones3 which again is very advantageous to them3 for who can understand the theory of badness in other people's books so well as those who have learned it by practice in their own8 ,they are reputed the guardians of literature and the literati for the same reason that ,st4 ,nepomuk is the patron saint of bridges and of all who pass over them1--namely1 because he himself once lost his life from a bridge4 ,,female ,,tongues4 ,hippel1 the author of the book ,upon ,marriage1 says1 ,a woman1 that does not talk1 must be a stupid woman4 ,but ,hippel is an author whose opinions it is more safe to admire than to adopt4 ,the most intelligent women are often silent amongst women2 and again the most stupid and the most silent are often neither one nor the other except amongst men4 ,in general the current remark upon men is valid also with respect to women1--that those for the most part are the greatest thinkers who are the least talkers2 as frogs cease to croak when light is brought to the water edge4 ,however1 in fact1 the disproportionate talking of women arises out of the sedentariness of their labors3 sedentary artisans1--as tailors1 shoemakers1 weavers1--have this habit as well as hypochondriacal tendencies in common with women4 ,apes do not talk1 as savages say1 that they may not be set to work3 but women often talk double their share--even because they work4 ,,forgiveness4 ,nothing is more moving to man than the spectacle of reconciliation3 our weaknesses are thus indemnified1 and are not too costly--being the price we pay for the hour of forgiveness3 and the archangel1 who has never felt anger1 has reason to envy the man who subdues it4 ,when thou forgivest1--the man1 who has pierced thy heart1 stands to thee in the relation of the sea-worm that perforates the shell of the muscle1 which straightway closes the wound with a pearl4 99 99 99 ,the graves of the best of men1 of the noblest martyrs1 are like the graves of the ,herrnhuters 7the ,moravian brethren7--level1 and undistinguishable from the universal earth3 and1 if the earth could give up her secrets1 our whole globe would appear a ,westminster ,abbey laid flat4 ,ah6 what a multitude of tears1 what myriads of bloody drops have been shed in secrecy about the three corner-trees of earth1--the tree of life1 the tree of knowledge1 and the tree of freedom1--shed1 but never reckoned6 ,it is only great periods of calamity that reveal to us our great men1 as comets are revealed by total eclipses of the sun4 ,not merely upon the field of battle1 but also upon the consecrated soil of virtue--and upon the classic ground of truth1 thousands of nameless heroes must fall and struggle to build up the footstool from which history surveys the one hero1 whose name is embalmed1 bleeding--conquering--and resplendent4 ,the grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy4 ,and1 because history records only the self-sacrifices of the male sex1 and because she dips her pen only in blood1--therefore is it that in the eyes of the unseen spirit of the world our annals appear doubtless far more beautiful and noble than in our own4 ,,the ,,grandeur ,,of ,,man ,,in ,,his ,,littleness4 ,man upon this earth would be vanity and hollowness1 dust and ashes1 vapor and a bubble1--were it not that he felt himself to be so4 ,that it is possible for him to harbor such a feeling1--this1 by implying a comparison of himself with something higher in himself1 this is it which makes him the immortal creature that he is4 ,,night4 ,the earth is every day overspread with the veil of night for the same reason as the cages of birds are darkened1--namely1 that we may the more readily apprehend the higher harmonies of thought in the hush and quiet of darkness4 ,thoughts1 which day turns into smoke and mist1 stand about us in the night as lights and flames3 even as the column which fluctuates above the crater of ,vesuvius1 in the daytime appears a pillar of cloud1 but by night a pillar of fire4 ,,the ,,stars4 ,look up1 and behold the eternal fields of light that lie round about the throne of ,god4 ,had no star ever appeared in the heavens1 to man there would have been no heavens2 and he would have laid himself down to his last sleep1 in a spirit of anguish1 as upon a gloomy earth vaulted over by a material arch--solid and impervious4 ,,martyrdom4 ,to die for the truth--is not to die for one's country1 but to die for the world4 ,truth1 like the ,venus del ,medici1 will pass down in thirty fragments to posterity3 but posterity will collect and recompose them into a goddess4 ,then also thy temple1 ,o eternal ,truth6 that now stands half below the earth--made hollow by the sepulchres of its witnesses1 will raise itself in the total majesty of its proportions2 and will stand in monumental granite2 and every pillar on which it rests will be fixed in the grave of a martyr4 ,,the ,,quarrels ,,of ,,friends4 ,why is it that the most fervent love becomes more fervent by brief interruption and reconciliation8 and why must a storm agitate our affections before they can raise the highest rainbow of peace8 ,ah6 for this reason it is--because all passions feel their object to be as eternal as themselves1 and no love can admit the feeling that the beloved object should die4 ,and under this feeling of imperishableness it is that we hard fields of ice shock together so harshly1 whilst all the while under the sunbeams of a little space of seventy years we are rapidly dissolving4 ,,dreaming4 ,but for dreams1 that lay ,mosaic worlds tessellated with flowers and jewels before the blind sleeper1 and surround the recumbent living with the figures of the dead in the upright attitude of life1 the time would be too long before we are allowed to rejoin our brothers1 parents1 friends3 every year we should become more and more painfully sensible of the desolation made around us by death1 if sleep--the ante-chamber of the grave--were not hung by dreams with the busts of those who live in the other world4 ,,two ,,divisions ,,of ,,philosophic ,,minds4 ,there are two very different classes of philosophical heads--which1 since ,kant has introduced into philosophy the idea of positive and negative quantities1 ,i shall willingly classify by means of that distinction4 ,the positive intellect is1 like the poet1 in conjunction with the outer world1 the father of an inner world2 and1 like the poet also1 holds up a transforming mirror in which the entangled and distorted members as they are seen in our actual experience enter into new combinations which compose a fair and luminous world3 the hypothesis of ,idealism 7i4 e4 the ,fichtean system7 the ,monads and the ,pre-established ,harmony of ,leibnitz--and ,spinozism are all births of a genial moment1 and not the wooden carving of logical toil4 ,such men therefore as ,leibnitz1 ,plato1 ,herder1 c41 ,i call positive intellects2 because they seek and yield the positive2 and because their inner world1 having raised itself higher out of the water than in others1 thereby overlooks a larger prospect of island and continents4 ,a negative head1 on the other hand1 discovers by its acuteness--not any positive truths1 but the negative 7i4 e4 the errors7 of other people4 ,such an intellect1 as for example ,bayle1 one of the greatest of that class1--appraises the funds of others1 rather than brings any fresh funds of his own4 ,in lieu of the obscure ideas which he finds he gives us clear ones3 but in this there is no positive accession to our knowledge2 for all that the clear idea contains in development exists already by implication in the obscure idea4 ,negative intellects of every age are unanimous in their abhorrence of everything positive4 ,impulse1 feeling1 instinct--everything1 in short1 which is incomprehensible1 they can endure just once--that is1 at the summit of their chain of arguments as a sort of hook on which they may hang them1--but never afterwards4 ,,dignity ,,of ,,man ,,in ,,self-,,sacrifice4 ,that for which man offers up his blood or his property must be more valuable than they4 ,a good man does not fight with half the courage for his own life that he shows in the protection of another's4 ,the mother1 who will hazard nothing for herself1 will hazard all in defence of her child3--in short1 only for the nobility within us--only for virtue1 will man open his veins and offer up his spirit3 but this nobility--this virtue--presents different phases3 with the ,christian martyr1 it is faith2 with the savage1 it is honor2 with the republican1 it is liberty4 ,,fancy4 ,fancy can lay only the past and the future under her copying-paper3 and every actual presence of the object sets limits to her power3 just as water distilled from roses1 according to the old naturalists1 lost its power exactly at the periodical blooming of the rose4 99 99 99 ,the older1 the more tranquil1 and pious a man is1 so much the more holy does he esteem all that is innate1 that is1 feeling and power2 whereas in the estimate of the multitude whatsoever is self-acquired1 the ability of practice and science in general has an undue pre-eminence2 for the latter is universally appreciated1 and therefore even by those who have it not1 but the former not at all4 ,in the twilight and the moonshine the fixed stars1 which are suns1 retire and veil themselves in obscurity2 whilst the planets1 which are simply earths1 preserve their borrowed light unobscured4 ,the elder races of men1 amongst whom man was more1 though he had not yet become so much1 had a childlike feeling of sympathy with all the gifts of the ,infinite--for example1 with strength--beauty--and good fortune2 and even the involuntary had a sanctity in their eyes1 and was to them a prophecy and a revelation3 hence the value they ascribed1 and the art of interpretation they applied1 to the speeches of children--of madmen--of drunkards--and of dreamers4 99 99 99 ,as the blind man knows not light1 and through that ignorance also of necessity knows not darkness1--so likewise1 but for disinterestedness we should know nothing of selfishness1 but for slavery nothing of freedom3 there are perhaps in this world many things which remain obscure to us for want of alternating with their opposites4 99 99 99 ,derham remarks in his ,physico-theology that the deaf hear best in the midst of noise1 as1 for instance1 during the ringing of bells1 c4 ,this must be the reason1 ,i suppose1 that the thundering of drums1 cannons1 c41 accompany the entrance into cities of princes and ministers1 who are generally rather deaf1 in order that they may the better hear the petitions and complaints of the people4 ,,miscellaneous ,,pieces4 ,,reminiscences ,,of ,,the ,,best ,,hours ,,of ,,life ,,for ,,the ,,hour ,,of ,,death4 ,give me1 said ,herder to his son1 as he lay in the parched weariness of his last illness1--give me a great thought1 that ,i may quicken myself with it4 ,it marks a strange perversity in human nature1 that we are wont to offer nothing but images of terror--no stars of cheering light--to those who lie imprisoned in the darkness of a sick-bed1 when the glitter of the dew of life is waxing gray and dim before them4 ,it is indeed hard that lamentations and emotions are frequently vented upon the dying1 which would be withheld from the living in all their vigor2 as if the sick patient was to console those in health4 ,there stands no spirit in the closeness of a sick-chamber to awaken a cheering smile on that nerveless1 colorless countenance2 but only confessors1 lawyers1 and doctors1 who order everything1 and relatives who lament at everything4 ,there stands no lofty spirit1 elevated above the circumstance of sorrow1 to conduct the prostrate soul of the sufferer1 thirsty for the refreshment of joy1 back to the old springtide waters of pious recollection2 and so to mingle these with the last ecstasies of life1 as to give the dying man a foreboding of his transition to another state4 ,on the contrary1 the death-bed is narrowed into a coffin without a lid4 ,the value of life is enhanced to the departing one by lies which promise cure1 or words which proffer consolation2 the bier is represented as a scaffold1 the harsh discord of life is trumpeted into the ears which survive long after the eyes are dead1 instead of letting life ebb away like an echo in sounds ever deeper1 though fainter4 ,nevertheless1 man has this of good in him1 that he recalls the slightest joy which he has shared with a dying person1 far rather than a thousand greater pleasures given to a person in health2 perhaps because1 in the latter case1 we hope to repeat and redouble our attentions1--so little do mortals reflect that every pleasure they give or they receive may be the last4 ,our exit from life would therefore be greatly more painful than our entrance into it1 were it not that our good mother ,nature had previously mitigated its sufferings1 by gently bearing her children from one world into another when they are already heavy with sleep4 ,for in the hour before the last she allows a breastplate of indifference toward the survivors to freeze about the heart of the lamented one2 and in the hour immediately preceding dissolution 7as we learn from those who have recovered from apparent death1 and from the demeanor of many dying persons71 the brain is1 as it were1 inundated and watered by faint eddies of bliss1 comparable to nothing upon earth better than to the ineffable sensations felt by a patient under magnetic treatment4 ,we can by no means know how high these sensations of dying may reach1 as we have accounts of them from none but those in whom the process has been interrupted2 nor can we ascertain whether it is not these ecstatical transports which exhaust life more than the convulsions of pain1 and which loosen the tie of this terrestrial state in some unknown heaven4 ,the history of the dying is a serious and prodigious history1 but on earth its leaves will never be unrolled4 ,in the little village of ,heim1 ,gottreich ,hartmann resided with his old father1 who was a curate2 and although the old man had wellnigh outlived all those whom he had loved1 he was made happy by his son4 ,gottreich discharged his duties for him in the parish1 not so much in aid of his parent's unflinching vigor1 as to satisfy his own energy1 and to give his father the exquisite gratification of being edified by his child and companion4 ,in ,gottreich there thrilled a spirit of true poetry2 he was not1 like the greater number of poetical young men1 a bulbous plant1 which1 when it has sent forth its own flower1 fattens its unseemly fruit underground2 but he was a tree which crowned its variegated blossoms with sweet and beautiful fruits2 and these buds were as yet coiled up from the warmth of the earliest springtide of a poet's life4 ,his father had had in his youth a poet's ardor of like intensity1 but it was not favored by the times2 for in the last century many a spirit which might have soared was engaged to the pulpit or the law-court1 because the old-fashioned middle classes were convinced that their offspring would find richer pasture on the meadow and in the valley than on the peaks of the mountain of the ,muses4 ,nevertheless1 the repressed spirit of a poet1 when it cannot exhale itself in creation1 recoils but the more closely into the depths of his heart4 ,his unuttered feelings speak in his motions as with a voice1 and his actions express his imagery1 and in this manner the poet may live as long as the man2 just as the short-lived butterfly may last out the long1 hard winter in its chrysalis state1 if it has not burst its prison in the preceding summer4 ,such had been the life of the elder ,hartmann2 and yet more beautiful was it1 because the virginal soul of the poet lives in the offices of religion1 as in a nun's cell2 and the twin sisters ,piety and ,poetry are wont to dwell together and stand by one another4 ,how beautiful and how pure is the position of ,god's ministers6 ,all that is good dwells around them1--religion1 poetry1 and the life of a shepherd of souls2 whilst other professions oft serve only to choke up this goodly neighborhood4 ,son and father seemed to live in one another1 and on the site of filial and paternal love there arose the structure of a rare and singular friendship4 ,gottreich not only cheered his father by the new birth of his lost poet's youth1 but by the still more beautiful similarity of their faith4 ,in days gone by1 a minister who sent his son to the public theological schools might expect him to return the sworn antagonist of all that he had himself daily prayed to at the altar in the discharge of his office3 the son returned to his father's roof as a missionary sent to convert the heathen1 or as an antichrist4 ,there may have been sorrows of a father1 which1 though all unspoken1 were deeper than a mother's sorrows4 ,but times are perhaps better now4 ,gottreich1 though he entered the high schools with his share of the uppish1 quibbling of early youth1 returned with the faith of his ancestors and of his father4 ,for he had studied under instructors who had taught him to cling rather to the teachings of the old faith than to the ingenious explanations of the commentators1 and who had exposed to the light alone what is serviceable to man1 as to a plant1 and to its outward growth1 but not the roots perniciously4 ,thus the father found again his old ,christian heart sending forth new shoots in the bosom of his ,gottreich1 and moreover the best justification of the convictions of his life and of his love4 ,if it be pain to us to love and at the same time to contradict1 to refuse with the head what the heart grants1 it is all the sweeter to us to find ourselves and our faith transplanted forwards in a younger being4 ,life is then a beautiful night1 in which not one star goes down but another rises in its place4 ,gottreich possessed a paradise1 in which he labored as his father's gardener2 he was at once the wife1 the brother1 the friend1 the all that is to be loved by man1 of his parent4 ,every ,sunday brought him a new pleasure1 that of preaching a sermon before his father4 ,he displayed so much power in his pulpit eloquence1 that he seemed to labor more for the elevation and edification of his father than for the enlightenment of the common people2 though he held a maxim1 which ,i take to be far from erroneous1 that the highest subjects of intellectual speculation are good for the people as for children1 and that man can only learn to rise1 from the consideration of that which he cannot surmount4 ,if the eye of the old man was moistened1 or if his hands were suddenly folded in an attitude of prayer1 the ,sunday became the holiest of festivals2 and many a festival has there been in that quiet little parsonage1 whose festivity no one understood and no one perceived4 ,he who looks upon sermon-preaching and sermon-hearing as a dull pleasure1 will but little understand the zest with which the two friends conversed on discourses delivered1 and on those yet to come1 as if pulpit-criticism was as engrossing as the criticism of the stage4 ,the approbation and the love of an energetic old man like ,hartmann1 whose spiritual limbs had by no means stiffened on the chilly ridge of years1 could not but exercise a powerful influence on a young man like ,gottreich1 who1 more tenderly and delicately formed both in body and mind1 was wont to shoot forth in loftier and more rapid flame4 ,to these two happy men was added a happy woman also4 ,justa1 an orphan1 sole mistress of her property1 had entirely left and sold the trading-house which had been her father's1 in the town1 and had removed into the upper part of a good peasant's cottage1 to live entirely in the country4 ,justa did nothing in the world by halves1 but she often did things more than most would deem completely1 at least in all that touched her generosity4 ,she had not long resided in the village of ,heim1 and had seen the meek ,gottreich1 and listened to some of his springtide sermons1 ere she discovered that he had won her heart1 filled as it was with the love of virtue2 she nevertheless refused to grant him her hand until the conclusion of the great peace1 after which they were to be married4 ,she was ever fonder of doing what is difficult than what is easy4 ,i wish that it was here the place to tell of the ,may-time life they led1 which seemed to blossom in the low parsonage-house hard by the church-door under ,justa's hand2 how she came in the morning from her own cottage1 to order matters in the little dwelling for the day2 how the evenings were passed in the garden1 ornamented with few1 but pretty flower-beds1 and commanding a view of many a well-watered meadow and distant hill1 and stars without number2 how these three hearts played into one another1 no one of which in this most pure and intimate intercourse knew or felt anything which was not of the fairest2 and how good and gay intention marked the passage of their lives4 ,every bench was a church chair1 all was peaceful and holy1 and the firmament above an infinite church dome4 ,in many a village and in many a house a true ,eden may be hid1 which has neither been named nor marked down2 for joy is fond of covering over and concealing her tenderest flowers4 ,gottreich reposed in such a fulness of bliss and love1 of poetry and religion1 of springtime1 of the past and of the future1 that he feared in the bottom of his heart to speak his happiness out1 save in prayer4 ,in prayer1 thought he1 man may say all1 his happiness and his misery4 ,his father was very happy also2 there came over him a warm old age1--no winter night1 but a summer evening1 without frost or darkness3 albeit the sun of his life was sunk pretty deep below the mound of earth under which his wife was lain down to sleep4 ,nothing recalls the close of life to a noble-hearted young man so much as precisely the happiest and fairest hours which he passes4 ,gottreich1 in the midst of the united fragrance and beauty of the flowers of joy1 even with the morning-star of life above him1 could not but think on the time when the same should appear to him as the evening star1 warning him of sleep4 ,then said he to himself3 ,all is now so certain and so clear before me1--the beauty and the holiness of life1 the splendor of the universe1 the ,creator1 the dignity and the greatness of man's heart1 the bright images of eternal truth1 the whole starry firmament of ideas1 which enlightens1 instructs1 and upholds man6 ,but when ,i am grown old1 and in the obstruction of death1 will not all that now rustles so bloomingly and livingly about me appear gray and dull8 ,just when man is approaching that heaven which he has so long contemplated1 ,death holds the telescope inverted before his dim eye1 and lets him see only what is empty1 distant1 shadowy4 ,but is this indeed true8 ,shall ,i be more likely to be right when ,i only feel and think and hope1 with half a life1 incapable of a keen glance or an intense sensation1--or am ,i right now1 that my whole heart is warm1 that my whole head is clear1 and my strength fresh8 ,i acknowledge that the present is the fittest season1 and that precisely because ,i do acknowledge it to be the fittest4 ,i will then live through this daytime of truth attentively1 and bear it away with me to the evening dusk1 that it may lighten my end4 ,in these sweetest ,may-hours of youth1 when heaven and earth and his own heart were beating together in harmony1 he gave ardent words to his ardent thoughts1 and kept them written down under the title of ,reminiscences of the best ,hours of ,life for the ,hour of ,death4 ,he meant to cheer himself at his last hour with these views of his happy life1 and to look back from the glow of the evening to the brightness of the morning of his youth4 ,thus lived these three beings1 ever rejoicing more deeply in one another and in their genial happiness1 when at last the chariots of the struggle and the victories of the holy ,war#gg began to roll over the land4 ,now ,gottreich became another man2 like a young bird of passage1 which1 though it know nothing of summer climates1 frets in its warm cage that it cannot fly away with the older birds of its kind4 ,the active powers of his nature1 which had heretofore been the quiet audience of his poetical and oratorical powers1 arose2 and it seemed to him as if the spirit of energy1 which hitherto had wasted itself like the flames of a bituminous soil on the empty air1 were now seeking an object to lay hold of4 ,he dared not1 however1 risk to propose a separation to his father1 but he by turns tormented and refreshed himself inwardly with the idea of laboring and combating with the rest4 ,to ,justa alone he confided his wishes1 but she did not give them encouragement1 because she thought the old man's solitude would be too great for him to bear4 ,at last the old man himself1 inspirited for war by ,gottreich and his betrothed one1 said that his son had better go1 that he had long desired it1 and had only been silent through love for him4 ,he hoped1 with ,god's aid1 to be able to discharge his pastoral duties for a twelvemonth2 so that he1 too1 should be doing something for his country4 ,gottreich departed1 trusting to the autumnal strength of his father's life4 ,he enlisted as a common soldier1 and preached also wherever he was able4 ,the entrance on a new career awakens new energies and powers1 which rapidly unfold into life and vigor4 ,although fortune spared him the wounds which he would so willingly have brought back with him into the peaceful future of his life1 in memory as it were of the focus of his youth1 yet it was happiness enough to take part in the battles1 and1 like an old republican1 to fight together with a whole nation for the common cause4 ,when at length1 in the most beautiful month of ,may which ever ,germany had won by conquest1 the festivals of victory and of peace began in more than one nation4 ,gottreich was unwilling to pass those days of rejoicing so far from those who were dearest to him2 he longed for their company1 that his joy might be doubled3 so he took the road to ,heim4 ,thousands1 before and after him1 journeyed at that time over the liberated land1 from a happy past to a happy future2 but few there were who saw1 like ,gottreich1 so pure a firmament over the mountains of his native valleys1 in which not a star was missing1 but every one of them was twinkling and bright4 ,justa had already sent him the little annals of the parsonage2 had told him how she longed for his return1 and how his father rejoiced2 how well the old man stood the labors of his office1 and how she had still better secrets of joy in store for him4 ,to these latter belonged1 perhaps1 one which he had not forgotten1 namely1 her promise to give him her hand after the great peace4 ,with such prospects he enjoyed in thought1 ever from ,whitsuntide forwards1 that holy evening when he should unexpectedly relieve the old man from all his labors1 and begin to prepare the tranquil festivities of the village4 ,as he was thus thinking upon that day's meeting1 and as the mountains above his father's village1 in which he was so soon to clasp those fond hearts to his own1 were seen more and more clearly in relief against the blue sky1 his ,reminiscences of the best ,hours of ,life for the ,hour of ,death re-echoed in his soul1 and he could not refrain from noting amongst them1 as he went along1 the joy of meeting again here below4 ,behind him there was coming up a storm from the east1 in the direction of his home1 before which he seemed to come a happy messenger2 for the storms of war1 which he had seen upon the earth1 had reconciled to him and made him love those of heaven2 and the parched ground1 the dropping flowers1 and the ears of corn had long been thirsting for the waters of the warm clouds4 ,a parishioner of ,heim1 who was laboring in the fields1 saluted him as he passed1 and expressed his joy that the rain and ,gottreich had both come at last together4 ,and now he caught sight of the low church-steeple1 peeping from the clustered trees1 and he entered upon that tract of the valley where the parsonage lay1 all reddened by the evening sun4 ,at every window he hoped to see his betrothed one1 if perchance she might be looking out on the sunset before the storm came on2 and as he came nearer1 he hoped to see the lattice open1 and ,whitsuntide brooms in the chief apartment2 but he found nothing of all this4 ,at last he entered quietly the parsonage-house1 and slowly opened the well-known door4 ,the room was empty1 but he heard a noise overhead4 ,when he opened the door of his upper chamber1 which was filled with a glow from the west1 ,justa was kneeling before the bed of his father1 who1 sitting half upright1 was looking with a haggard1 stiff1 and bony countenance toward the setting sun before him4 ,a clasp of her lover to her breast1 and one exclamation1 was all his reception4 ,but his father stretched his wizened hand slowly out1 and said1 with difficulty1 ,thou art come at the right time6 without adding whether he spoke of the preachings or of their separation4 ,justa hastily related how the old man had overworked himself1 till body and spirit had given way together1--so that he no longer took a share in anything1 though he longed to be with the sharers1--and how he lay prostrate with broken wings1 looking upwards like a needy child4 ,the old man was grown hard of hearing1 and she could say all this in his presence4 ,gottreich soon confirmed it to himself4 ,he would fain have infused the fire of conquest1 reflected in his own bosom1 which1 like a red evening cloud1 was announcing a fair dawn to ,europe1 into that old and once strong heart2 but he heard neither wish nor question of it4 ,the old man gazed steadily upon the sun1 until at last it was hid by the storm4 ,nevertheless the war of the elements seemed to touch him but little2 the glare of life broke dimly through the thickening ice of death4 ,a dying man knows no present1--nothing but the future and the past4 ,on a sudden the landscape grew dark1 all the winds stood pent1 the earth oppressed2 then there came a gush of rain and a crash of thunder4 ,the lightning streamed around the old man1 and he looked up altered and astonished4 ,hist6 said he2 ,i hear the rain once more2--speak quickly1 children1 for ,i shall soon depart4 ,both his children clung to him1 but he was too weak to embrace them4 ,and now1 as the warm1 healing springs of the clouds bathed the sick earth1 down from the dripping tree to the blades of grass1 and as the sky glistened mildly as with a tear of joy1 and the thunder went warring away behind the distant mountains1 the sick man pointed upwards1 and said1 ,seest thou the lordliness of ,god8 ,my son1 strengthen now at the last my weary soul with something holy1 in the spirit of love1 and not of penance2 for if our hearts condemn us not1 then have we confidence toward ,god4 ,say something rich in love to me of ,god and of his works4 ,then the eyes of his son overflowed1 to think that he should read the ,reminiscences which he had prepared for his own death-bed at the death-bed of his father4 ,when he said this to him1 the old man answered1 ,hasten1 my son6 and with a faltering voice1 ,gottreich began to read3-- ,remember1 in the darkening hour1 that the glow of the universe once filled thy breast1 and that thou hast acknowledged the magnitude of existence4 ,hast thou not looked forth into one half of infinity by night1 and into the other half by day8 ,think away the nothingness of space1 and the earth which is around thee2 worlds above1 around1 and beneath arch thee about as a centre1 all impelling and impelled1 splendor within splendor1 magnitude within magnitude2 all brightness centring in the universal ,sun4 ,carry thy thoughts forwards through eternity1 toward that universal ,sun2 thou shalt not arrive at darkness nor emptiness4 ,what is empty dwells only between the worlds1 not around the world4 ,remember1 in the dark hour1 those times when thou hast prayed to ,god in ecstasy1 and when thou hast thought on him1--the greatest thought of finite man1--the ,infinite ,one6 ,here the old man clasped his hands1 and prayed low4 ,hast thou not known and felt the existence of that ,being1 whose infinity consists not only in his strength1 in his wisdom1 and his eternity1 but also in his love and in his justice8 ,canst thou forget the time when the blue sky by day and the blue sky by night opened on thee1 as if the mildness of ,god was looking down on thee8 ,hast thou not felt the love of the ,infinite1 when it veiled itself in its image1 in loving hearts of men2 as the sun1 which casts its light not on our moon alone1 for our nights1 but on the morning and evening star also1 and on every little twinkler1 even to the farthest from the earth8 ,remember1 in the dark hour1 how in the spring of thy life the mounds of earth which are graves appeared to thee only as the mountain-tops of another far and new world2 and how in the midst of the fulness of life thou didst acknowledge the value of death4 ,the snow of the grave shall warm the frost-bitten limbs of age to life again4 ,as a navigator who suddenly disembarks from the cold1 wintry1 and lonely sea1 upon a coast which is laden with the warm1 rich blossoms of spring1 so with one leap from our little bark we pass at once from winter to an eternal springtime4 ,rejoice1 in this dark hour1 that thy life dwells in the midst of a wider and larger life4 ,the earth-clod of the globe has been divinely breathed upon4 ,a world swarms with life1--for the leaf of every tree is a land of souls2 and every little life would freeze and perish1 if it were not warmed and borne up by the eddies of life about it4 ,the sea of time glitters1 like the sea of space1 with countless beings of light3 death and resurrection are the valleys and mountains of the ever-swelling ocean4 ,there exists no dead anatomy2 what seems to be such is only another body4 ,without a universal living existence1 there would be nothing but a wide1 all-encompassing death4 ,we cling like mosses to the ,alps of nature1 drawing life from the high clouds4 ,man is the butterfly which flutters up to ,chimborazo1 but above the butterfly soars the condor3 however many1 small or great1 the giant and the child are free wanderers in one garden2 and the fly of a day may retrace its infinite series of progenitors to those first beings of its kind which played over the waters of ,paradise before the evening sun4 ,never forget the thought1 which is now so clear to thee1 that the individuality of man lasts out the greatest suffering and the most entrancing joy alike unscathed1 while the body crumbles away in the pains and pleasures of the flesh4 ,herein are souls like marsh-lights1 which shine in the storm and the rain unextinguishable4 ,canst thou forget1 in the dark hour1 that there have been mighty men amongst us1 and that thou art following after them8 ,raise thyself like the spirits which stood upon their mountains1 having the storm of life only about and never above them4 ,call back to thee the kingly race of sages and of poets1 who have inspirited and enlightened nation after nation4 ,speak of our ,redeemer6 said the father4 ,remember ,jesus ,christ1 in the dark hour1--remember ,him who also passed through life1--remember that soft ,moon of the infinite ,sun1 given to enlighten the night of the world4 ,let life be hallowed to thee1 and death also1 for he shared both of them with thee4 ,may his calm and lofty form look down on thee in the last darkness1 and show thee his ,father6 ,a low roll of thunder was now heard to pass over the dun clouds which the tempest had left1 and the setting sun filled the entire vault of heaven with the magnificence of his fire4 ,remember1 in the last hour1 how the heart of man can love4 ,canst thou forget the love wherewith one heart repays a thousand hearts1 and the soul during life is nourished and vivified from another soul1 as the oak of a hundred years clings fast to the same spot with its roots1 and derives new strength1 and sends forth new buds during its hundred springs8 ,dost thou mean me8 said the father4 ,i mean my mother also1 replied the son4 ,justa wept1 when she heard how her lover would console himself in his last hours with the reminiscence of the days of her love2 and the father said1 but very gently1 thinking on his wife1 ,to meet again1 to meet again6 ,remember then1 in the last hour1 continued ,gottreich1 that pure being with whom thy life was beautiful and great1--with whom thou hast wept tears of joy1 with whom thou hast prayed to ,god1 and in whom ,god appeared unto thee1 in whom thou didst find the first and last heart of love1--and then close thine eyes in peace6 ,on a sudden the clouds were cleft into two huge1 black mountains1 and the deep sun looked forth from between them1 as it were out of a valley between buttresses of rock1 gazing upon the earth with its joy-glistening eye4 ,see6 said the dying man1 what a glare6 ,it is the evening sun1 father4 ,ay1 this day shall we see one another again6 continued the old man2 but he spoke of his wife1 who was long since dead4 ,the son was unable1 from his emotion1 to paint to his father the blessedness of meeting again upon the earth1 which he had that very day enjoyed by anticipation and described upon his journey2 or to say to him how it comes1 that meeting again is a renewal of love in a better state2 and that1 if the first meeting was apt to overflow into the future1 reminiscence binds the flowers of the present and the fruits of the past upon one stem4 ,who could have courage to speak of the joys of earthly meeting to one who seemed to be already in the contemplation of a meeting in heaven8 ,startled1 he asked1 ,father1 what ails thee8 ,i do think thereon in the dark hour2 ay1 thereon and thereupon again2 and death is also beautiful1 and the parting in ,christ1 murmured to himself the old man1 as he tried to take ,gottreich's hand1 which he had not strength to press4 ,it was but the usual nervous snatching of the fingers of the dying4 ,he continued to think that his son was still speaking to him1 and said1 more and more distinctly and emphatically1 ,o thou blessed ,god6 until all the other luminaries of life were extinguished1 and in his soul there stood nothing but the one sun1--,god6 ,at length he raised himself1 and1 stretching out his arm forcibly1 exclaimed3 ,there are three fair rainbows over the evening sun2 ,i must go after the sun1 and pass through with him6 ,he then fell back1 and all was over4 ,at that moment the sun went down1 and there glimmered at his setting a broad rainbow in the east4 ,he is gone6 said ,gottreich to ,justa1 in a voice choked with grief2 but he is gone from us unto his ,god1 in the midst of great1 pious1 and unmingled joy2 then weep no more1 ,justa6 ,at that moment his own hitherto restrained tears found a vent1 and he pressed the dead hand against his face4 ,it grew dark1 and a warm rain distilled gently over the earth4 ,the children left his motionless form alone1 and wept more tranquilly for that sun of their love1 which1 with its pure light1 had withdrawn from the clouds and tempests of the world to another dawn4 ,,the ,,new-,,year',s ,,night ,,of ,,an ,,unhappy ,,man4 ,an old man stood in the ,new-,year's night at the window1 and gazed with a look of restless despair upon the immutable1 ever-blooming heaven1 and out over the still pure white earth whereupon there was now no one so joyless and sleepless as he4 ,for his grave stood near to him4 ,it was covered only with the snow of age1 not with the green of youth2 and he brought with him thither out of his whole rich life nothing but errors and sins and sickness2 a ruined body1 a desolated soul1 a breast full of poison1 an old age full of remorse4 ,the fair days of his youth wandered about him now like ghosts1 and they bore him back again to that clear morning when his father first placed him at the cross-road of life1 the right hand leading by the sunny ways of virtue into a wide1 peaceful land1 full of light and of harvests2 the left1 down into the mole-ways of vice towards a black cavern1 full of down-dropping poison1 full of darting serpents and dark sultry damps4 ,ah6 the serpents hung about his breast1 and the poison-drops upon his tongue1 and he knew now where he was4 ,knowing not what he did1 and with unspeakable grief1 he cried out to ,heaven3 ,give me my youth once more6 ,o father1 place me again upon the cross-road1 that ,i may choose otherwise6 ,but his father and his youth were long gone4 ,he saw wandering lights dancing on the marshes1 and dying out upon ,god's ,acre1 and he said1 ,these are my sinful days6 ,he saw a star fly out from heaven1 to glimmer in its fall1 and to be extinguished on the earth4 ,that is ,i1 said his bleeding heart2 and the serpent-teeth of remorse gnawed again into his wounds4 ,his burning fancy showed him creeping night-wanderers upon the roofs1 and the windmill threw up its arms threatening to crush him1 and a mask left behind in the dead-house assumed by degrees his own feature4 ,suddenly1 in the midst of this tumult1 music for the ,new ,year flowed down from the tower1 like distant church-song4 ,he was deeply moved4 ,he looked around the horizon and over the wide earth1 and thought of his youthful friends1 who now1 happier and better than he1 were teachers for the world1 fathers of happy children1 and favored men1 and he said1 ,o1 ,i also could be happy1 dear parents1 had ,i fulfilled your ,new-,year's wishes and instructions4 ,in the feverish memories of his youth1 it seemed to him that the mask with his features raised itself up in the dead-house2 finally1 through the superstition which discerns spirits and the future on ,new-,year's night1 it became a living youth1 in the position of the beautiful boy of the ,capitol1 pulling out a thorn1 and his formerly blooming face danced weird and bitter before him4 ,he could look no more3 he covered his eyes3 hot tears streamed down upon the snow2--again he softly sighed1 hopeless and unconscious1 ,come again1 ,o youth1 come again6 ,and it came again2 for on that ,new-,year's night he had only dreamed thus fearfully4 ,he was still a youth2 yet his errors had been no dream4 ,but he thanked ,god that he1 still young1 might turn aside from the foul ways of vice1 and could follow the sunny path which leads to the fair land of harvests4 ,turn aside with him1 ,o youth1 if thou standest upon his wandering way4 ,this frightful dream will in future be thy judge2 but if thou shouldst one day call out1 full of grief1 ,come again1 ,o beautiful youth6 so shall it never return again4 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,an ,,angel4 ,the tenderest and kindest angel1 the ,angel of the last hour1 whom we harshly call ,death1 is sent to us1 that he may mildly and gently pluck away the sinking heart of man from life1 and bear it unhurt in his warm hands out of the cold breast into high1 warming ,eden4 ,his brother is the ,angel of the first hour1 who twice kisses man1--once when he begins this life2 and again1 when he awakes on high1 without wounds1 and enters smiling upon the other life1 as he came weeping into this4 ,as the ,angel of the last hour saw the battle-fields stretched before him1 full of blood and tears1 and drew the trembling souls away1 his mild eyes melted1 and he said3 ,ah6 ,i will once die like man1 that ,i may enter into his last agony1 and soothe it when ,i dissolve the ties of life6 ,the boundless circle of angels1 who love each other above1 pressed around the sympathetic one1 and promised their beloved to surround him with heavenly rays after the instant of his death2 thereby he might know that death had been2 and his brother1 whose kiss opens our cold lips1 as the morning light does the chill flowers1 gently touched his forehead1 and said3 ,when ,i kiss thee again1 my brother1 thou shalt have died upon the earth1 and will be again with us4 ,loving and moved1 the ,angel descended to the battlefield1 where only one beautiful1 ardent ,youth still panted1 and heaved his shattered breast4 ,near the hero stood his ,betrothed alone4 ,he could no longer feel her hot tears1 and her sorrow passed him unrecognized1 like a distant battle-cry4--,then the ,angel quickly clothed himself in her dear form1 rested by him1 drew the wounded soul with one hot kiss out of the cloven breast1 and gave it to his brother on high1 who kissed it for the second time1 when suddenly it smiled4 ,the ,angel of the last hour passed like a lightning-flash into the deserted frame1 shone through the body1 and stirred the warm life-stream again with the strengthened heart4 ,but how was he affected by this new clothing of the body6 ,his clear eye became confused in the whirl of unwonted1 nervous life2--his once flying thought waded now slowly through the atmosphere of his brain1--the moist1 faint-hued vapor dried away from all objects which formerly hung1 autumnal-like1 floating over them2 now they pierced him out of the hot air with burning1 painful spots of color1--all sensations became more gloomy1 yet stormier and more nearly allied to self2 and they seemed to him to be like instinct1 as those of the beasts appear to us4 ,hunger tore him1 thirst consumed him1 pain stabbed him4 ,alas6 his breast1 torn and bleeding1 heaved upward1 and his first breath drawn was his first sigh after the heaven he had left6 ,is this the death of man8 he thought2 but as he did not see the promised token of death1 neither angel nor the surrounding heavenly flame1 therefore he perceived this to be only the life of man4 ,in the evening1 the earthly strength of the ,angel declined1 and a crushing globe seemed to revolve about his head4 ,then ,sleep sent his messengers4 ,images of the mind shifted out of the sunshine into a misty fire2 the shadows of the day were thrown upon his brain2 they came confused1 and colossal1 one upon another1 and the world of sense reared itself uncontrolled and poured in upon him4 ,then ,dream sent his messengers4 ,finally the funereal veil of ,sleep wrapped itself thickly about him1 and1 sunk in the vault of night1 he lay there lonely and motionless1 like us poor mortals4 ,but then1 thou1 heavenly ,dream6 didst descend1 with thy thousand reflecting-glasses before his soul1 and didst show in all of them a circle of angels and a radiant heaven2 and the earthly body seemed to fall away from him with all its thorns4 ,ah6 said he1 in vain rapture1 my sleep was also my death4 ,yet when he awoke again1 with his compressed heart full of heavy human blood1 and looked out upon the earth and upon the night1 he cried1 ,i saw the angels and the starry heavens2 but it was only the image of ,death1 and not his presence4 ,the ,betrothed of the translated hero did not mark that an angel only dwelt in the breast of her beloved2 yet she loved the purified aspect of the wounded soul1 and still gladly held the hand of him who had past so far away4 ,but the ,angel loved her deceived heart with the love of a man's soul in return2 jealous of his own nature1 he wished that he might not die before her1 but love her so long that she might forgive him1 when they met again in heaven1 for having clasped together upon her breast an angel and a lover4 ,yet she died sooner2 the late sorrow had bowed the head of this flower too low1 and it lay broken upon the grave4 ,she sank before the weeping ,angel1 not like the sun1 who before all-beholding ,nature casts himself so gorgeous into the sea that its red waves strike the very heaven1 but like the tranquil moon1 who1 in the midnight1 silvers the vaporous air1 and sinks down unseen behind its dim veil4 ,death sent his gentler sister ,unconsciousness before2 she touched the heart of the ,betrothed1 and chilled the warm countenance2 the flowers of her cheek withered2 the pale snow of winter1 under which the spring of eternity grows green1 clothed her forehead and her hands4 ,then a burning tear broke from the swelling eye of the ,angel1 and1 while he thought his heart loosed itself in the form of a tear as a pearl from the brittle shell1 his ,betrothed1 awaked to the last delirium1 moved her eyes once again1 drew him close to her heart1 and died as she kissed him1 and said1 ,now ,i am with thee1 my brother6 ,then the ,angel believed his heavenly brother had given him the sign of the kiss and death4 ,yet no radiant heaven surrounded him1 nor aught but funereal darkness1 and he sighed because this was not his death1 only the anguish of man over the death of another4 ,o ye afflicted mortals6 he cried1 how can ye weary ones survive this6 ,how can ye become old when the circle of youthful forms breaks and lies at length altogether scattered around1--when the graves of your friends lead down like steps to your own1--and when age becomes like the silent1 blank evening hour of a cold battle-field6 ,o ye poor mortals6 how can your hearts endure it8 ,the body of the translated hero-soul placed the gentle ,angel among hard men1 their injustice1 and the distortions of ,vice and of ,passion2 about his figure1 also1 was laid the thorny girdle of sceptres bound together1 which compresses the hemispheres with its stings1 and which is always laced more tightly by the great2 he saw the claws of crowned and emblazoned beasts fasten themselves on their displumed prey1 and heard it panting with enfeebled beating of the wings2 he saw the whole terrestrial globe encircled in the winding swarthy folds of the giant-serpent1 ,vice1 plunging and concealing its poisonous head deep in the breast of man4 ,then the hot sting of enmity was made to shoot through that tender heart1 which1 during a long eternity1 had lain in the warmth of angelic love1 and the holy love-fed spirit was forced to shudder over an inward dissolution4 ,ah6 said he1 the death of man is full of woe6 ,yet this was not death2 for no angel appeared4 ,thus in a few days he became weary of this life which we bear for half a hundred years1 and he longed to go back4 ,the evening sun attracted his kindred spirit4 ,the wounds of his shattered breast exhausted him with pain4 ,he went out with the evening glow upon his pale cheeks to ,god's ,acre1 that green background of our life1 where the forms which he had once stripped of all their beautiful souls were now crumbling away4 ,he placed himself with sorrowful longing upon the bare grave of his unspeakably beloved and departed bride1 and looked towards the fading evening sun4 ,seated on this dear knoll1 he regarded his suffering body1 and thought3 ,thou also1 tender breast1 wouldst be lying here in decay1 and wouldst give no more pain1 did ,i not support thee4 ,then he reflected upon the grievous life of man1 and the throbs of the wounded breast showed him the pangs with which mortals purchase their virtue and their death1 and which he had joyfully spared the noble soul of this body4 ,deeply touched by human virtue1 he wept out of his boundless love for men1 who1 amid the craving of their own needs1 under low-hung clouds1 behind mists which stream over the sharp-cutting paths of life1 never turn away from the lofty star of duty1 but in their darkness stretch out loving arms towards every suffering breast they encounter1 while around them nothing glimmers but the hope of setting like the sun in the old world1 in order to arise in the new4 ,just then the ecstasy opened his wounds1 and blood1 the tear of the soul1 flowed from his heart upon the cherished knoll1--the dissolving body sank quietly towards his beloved1--tears of rapture broke the sunset light into1 a rosy1 swimming sea1--distant echoing tones1 as of the earth passing wide through ringing ether1 played in the vaporous lustre4 ,then a dark cloud or short night shot by the ,angel1 and was full of sleep2 and now a radiant heaven opened and overspread him1 and a thousand angels shone around4 ,art thou again here1 thou deceiving dream8 he said4 ,but the ,angel of the first hour stepped through the rays to him1 and gave the sign of the kiss1 and said3 ,that was death1 thou immortal brother and heavenly friend6 ,and the ,youth and his beloved softly repeated the words4 ,a ,,dream ,,and ,,the ,,truth4 ,,written ,,on ,,the ,,death ,,of ,a ,,mother ,,following ,,that ,,of ,,her ,,husband4 ,sleep buries the first world1 its nights and sorrows1 and brings to us a second world1 with the forms we have loved and lost1 and scenes too vast for this little earth4 ,i was in the ,isle of the ,blest1 in the second world4 ,this ,i dreamed4 ,the stars were nearer2 the heaven-blue lay on the flowers2 all the breezes were melodious tones2 and repose and ravishment1 which with us are sundered1 there dwelt conjoined4 ,and the dead1 from around whom had fallen that mist of life which veiled the higher heaven before1 rested like mild evening suns in the azure ether4 ,then1 behold1 the earth rose out of the deep beneath1 on her course1 and the ,spring had covered her with his blossoms and buds4 ,as she drew nearer to the ,isle of the ,blest1 a voice full of love cried1 ,look down1 ye dead1 on your old home1 and see the beloved who have lost1 but not forgotten you4 ,for in the spring the earth always passes by the eternal ,world of the ,blest1 whose off-cast husk sinks into its clods2 and therefore it is1 that in the spring poor mortals experience such a profound longing1 so powerful a presentiment1 and so many haunting recollections of their lost beloved4 ,after the voice1 all the ,blest stepped forward on the shore of the ,supernal ,isle1 and each one sought on the wan earth the heart which had remembered him4 ,one noble being gazed down1 seeking after his spouse and after his children1 around whom the glad spring-tide of earth was flowing2 but they had no spring4 ,alas6 the father now saw his wife racked with anguish1 and his children dissolved in tears4 ,he discerned1 in the strangling hand of ,pain1 the pallid form whose convulsed heart now reposes1 and whose moistened eyes are now shut and cold2 and beside it he recognized the loving companion of his former life fatally bleeding on the thorns of earthly martyrdom4 ,and as sorrow1 with glowing iron stylus1 graved in the crumbling image life's farewell letter1 and as she lost hope1 but not yet patience1 and as her fading eye desired no further happiness save that of her children1 and as these could only share1 but not remove1 the sleepless nights of their mother1 the affectionate father sank down1 weeping1 and prayed3 ,eternal ,one1 suffer her to die6 ,break the agonized bosom1 and give me my friend again1 and heal the wounded form at last under the earth4 ,eternal ,one1 suffer her to die6 ,and as he prayed1 the weary heart here in its martyr-life heard him1 and his faithful wife returned forever to his heart4 ,why weep ye1 tender children1 that your parents1 after the same sufferings1 should now have the same joys8 that now1 after their winter of life1 an everlasting ,may has dawned on their souls8 ,does the painted spring-house under the earth trouble you1 or the black boundary-hill on the earth1 or the dread hand of decay1 which extinguishes earthly scars and wounds and the whole body8 ,no1 let the ,spring scatter his flowers on their cold faces1 and dry the tears on yours2 and when you think painfully of them1 comfort yourselves with saying1 ,we tenderly loved them1 and no one has wounded1 save ,he who now heals them4 ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,,death ,,in ,,the ,,bloom ,,of ,,youth4 ,in the lives both of men and of women1 the period of the deepest happiness will be found to be1 not that of childhood1 but of youth4 ,the joys of childhood are like the spring flowers1--beautiful1 but small2 like the tinted forget-me-not1--pretty1 but without fragrance4 ,the higher and more brilliant joys of knowledge and the affections are as yet undeveloped2 the world of the ideal lies wrapped1 as it were1 in a dark-green bud4 ,with what other and what brighter radiance is the period of youth encircled6--that heavenly time of our first friendship and our first love1--of our first poem and our first philosophy1--of our first full enjoyment of nature and music and the drama1--of our first castles in the air1 and our first vigorous training for active life4 ,and this period is not simply irrecoverable1--that is the case with all past time1--but for the very reason that in its perfect bloom its only office is to minister to the fruits it so beautifully enfolds1 it is the highest and the culminating period2 for there is necessarily a greater productive force present in the process than in the results of development1 in the flower of youth than in the ripeness of manhood4 ,in his more advanced years1 one is seldom led to enter upon a new path of knowledge or a higher moral life2 but in his youth1 one gives himself up1 with inextinguishable fire1 to some system of philosophy1 or some total change in his moral life4 ,it calls for more strength in a man to be converted than to stand still4 ,as the highest bodily strength and the most perfect health1 the probability of the longest life and the greatest beauty1--in short1 the best bodily attributes1--belong to the period of youth1 so1 and for that very reason1 the intellectual wealth which comes not by acquisition1 but by inheritance1 is the largest4 ,great attainments1 experience1 and skill are certainly the fruits of age and of labor2 but what are these things1 compared with the ideal enjoyments which come of the first sciences we study1 when the tree of knowledge1 grafted upon the tree of life1 puts forth its branches1--compared with the delight with which the new truths of geometry1 or of philosophy1 or of any favorite science new-born to us1 fill the soul8 ,for even in science1 however far its limits may be pushed1 one is ever descending from the height of the ideal to the vulgar level of reality4 ,youth is the full moon1 illumined by the magic light of the sun4 ,age is the new moon1 upon which the day-earth 7life7 throws a meagre light4 ,a ,,dream ,,of ,a ,,battle-,,field4 ,i dreamed that from far off in the darkness ,i heard groans which seemed to come from every quarter to which ,i turned4 ,at length they came only out of the gate of a valley which led between two1 rocky ridges1 where the darkness was illumined only by the red light of a comet1 with its sparkling eye1 and its tail sweeping back and forth like that of a tiger thirsty for blood4 ,then several wagons1 filled with amputated hands grasping one the other either in prayer or struggle1 came softly towards me on unrevolving wheels2 and one small wagon also1 full of eyes without eyelids1 which grimly gazed upon and mirrored one another4 ,a long metal coffin1 mounted on the wheels of a gun-carriage1 was with difficulty pulled along by iron elephants4 ,on it was inscribed1 ,the ashes of the tenth army4 ,with frightful exertion it was dragged like a tall tree round the corner of the narrow1 rocky valley1--forced to bend by the weight of its contents1 and the end of it seeming never to come4 ,over the earth1 and the sorrow of it1 was a round ball of fire like a sun1 whence came incessant flashes of lightning4 ,and thirsty people opened vessels full of vipers1 which darted out1 and stung them to more burning thirst4444 ,a crown1 great like a shield1 and red-hot1 came whirling down with circular motion into a group of soldiers dancing1 and scattered them4 ,upon still-gaping wounds it rained down thistles1 which took root quickly and grew2 and upon every fallen corpse struck a thunderbolt1 and slew it again4 ,i looked up to the heavens for consolation2 but there1 in the place of the sunset's glow1 and the colors of the dawn1 and the northern lights1 was smoking blood4 ,swift as an arrow1 villages and cities shot through the air like long clouds of ashes2 some few streets only1 which had been blown up by mining1 hanging fast in the sky1 with the remnants of houses and of men clinging to them4 ,on a neighboring mountain were glaciers and ice-peaks1 upon which children were transfixed2 and on the distant summits1 whence one could look down upon the battle-field1 were parents and children and brides1 eagerly gazing upon a mirror held over it4 ,at length the gate sprang open1 and broke in pieces on the battle-field1 and the storm of woe burst forth4 ,then ,i looked in upon that terrible world1 and fell senseless to the earth2 for what ,i saw was too horrible for man to look upon or to remember4 ,gradually it seemed to me in my swoon as if this frightful field was moving further and further off1 while its sounds of horror died away into songs of swans4 ,and out of the distance floated up to me1 on the gentle breezes1 the tones of shepherd's flutes1--now far off1 now near1--breaking1 at length1 with full sound upon my ear4 ,and then ,i was lifted up and borne along on wings of ether1 with the light breaking through my closed eyelids4 ,and a creative finger touched me1 and high in heaven1 upon a green cloud1 ,i opened my eyes4 ,above me was the blue abyss of the stars2 below me stretched a blue ocean1 on whose horizon glittered1 in the glow of the sunset1 the countless islands of the blessed2 around me floated scattered cloudlets1 tinted with the red and white of roses and of lilies1 and with the many colors of manifold flowers4 ,who1 ,o ,god1 has brought me to life out of my woe8 ,i cried4 ,child of man1 it is my ,father who has done it1 answered a soft voice very near me4 ,but ,i saw no form of any person2 only a halo of glory hovering near me indicated the place of the invisible being4 ,under the stare now1 on high1 rose again1 like the songs of the spheres1 the old mournful tones4 ,the islands on the horizon began to move1 and swim in joy around one another4 ,many of them dipped into the dark waves1 and came up again brilliant as the colors of the morning4 ,some went down into the sea1 and reappeared covered with pearls4 ,but one of them1 crowned with cedars and palms and oaks1 with strong young giants on its shores1 went straight out into the ocean1 toward the east4 ,am ,i upon earth8 ,i inquired4 ,ask me not1 replied the voice1 for ,i know all thy thoughts1 and will answer thee in thy heart4 ,thou wilt be upon the earth when it rises in the east from the sea2 beneath the sea it circles swiftly round the sun4 ,the sea of time is the wave on the ocean of eternity4 ,as if borne upon a stream1 the cedar island came ever nearer to the green cloud4 ,youths greater than those of earth looked down upon the blue sea1 and sang songs of gladness1--or gazed in rapture upon the heavens1 and folded their hands in prayer1--or slumbered in arbors of rainbows and tears of joy4 ,behind them stood lions2 above them circled eagles4 ,upon the cedar island dwell men who1 like me1 have died for the earth2 but in earthly faces shall it be revealed to thee how the ,infinite ,father rewards those who have shed their blood for their country4 ,the youths who are looking down into the waves have a nearer view of their old earth moving in the waters1 as the island moves with it4 ,they see only happy countries1 and their friends who rejoice in their deeds1 and posterity which praises them4 ,and every flower which sprang from their blood is shown to them of ,god4 ,those who are gazing up to heaven1 and praying1 see an altar upon every sun1--and greater brethren who make higher sacrifices to the ,highest2 and they are entreating the ,father to summon them also to still higher sacrifices4 ,and when he thunders1 he calls them4 ,those who are slumbering in tears of joy are seeing their brother soldiers dying bravely1 and are comforting them in death1 and welcoming them in tearful recognition as they pass from the earth to the island4 ,and now white flowers floated up from the earth to the surface of the sea1 and all the sleepers awoke4 ,the flowers were the souls of their mothers1 who in death were following their sons fallen upon the battle-field2 and the flowers became angels and flew towards the youths4 ,it was an endless dying of endless joy4 ,the soft murmurs of love from those who thus again found one another stirred the lilies and the roses to sounds as of harps4 ,but as the mothers breathed the vibrating air and their hearts beat tremulously in harmony with the sound1 they died away and exhaled into a flower-cloud4 ,and the cloud arose and floated along the heavens to the distant islands where dwell the good mothers and the happy brides1 longing still for the time when all the islands of the blessed were one fixed land of promise4 ,ye sons of men1 joy is an eternity older than pain1 and ever will be so1--for that has scarcely existed4 ,sacrifice ye1 then1 time to eternity4 ,a noble old man with the martyr's crown on his head looked up to the green cloud and prayed to the voice near me4 ,then saw ,i mirrored in the old man's eyes the form of the being near me4 ,and my heart was humbled before the greatest man of earth as he repeated to me again the words1 ,sacrifice time to eternity4 ,and now there came up from the sea near the cedar island a smoke as of a volcano1 but throwing out only crowns of oak-leaves and palm-branches and streams of light4 ,and at length a vast altar covered with young men and old1 sleeping1 rose from the waves4 ,but when the light of heaven touched the sleepers they awoke suddenly1 and1 rushing upon the island1 fell upon the breasts of their old comrades in arms4 ,and the stars of heaven shone over them in glad1 undying token of their union4 ,the oak-forests rustled and the lions roared and the eagles1 circling in the air1 bathed themselves for joy in the fire and the lightning which shot from the stars4 ,and the storm spread itself over the universe1 and scattered balls of fire like suns1 and thundered as with the noise of many worlds1 and mingled its hot tears of joy with those of the heroes4 ,and from below the sea came a dull echo from the earth4 ,then the cloud sank upon the island1 and with a rushing sound received up into itself the heroes who had prayed to the ,father to permit them to sacrifice in higher worlds4 ,when the storm had disappeared with them behind the stars1 the vastness of creation appeared4 ,all being rejoiced in eternity4 ,the worlds lay along the heavens like an ,alpine chain2 the suns encircled the primal source of light2 and covering all was the ,throne of ,god4 ,pray before thou wakest1 for the earth1 too1 will disappear1 said the voice near me4 ,and my whole heart was filled with prayer by the very nearness of this higher being4 ,but the green cloud now moved more rapidly with me eastward toward the approaching earth2 and the cedar island floated with its happy multitudes towards the other islands4 ,the sea glowed in the east as with the colors of the dawn2 and deeper and deeper sank the green cloud into the aurora of earth4 ,suddenly1 then1 the halo of glory round the head of the invisible being became as a great rainbow1 and was absorbed in an infinite radiance which filled the heavens4 ,and the earth passed away like a summer night4 ,i awoke1 and instead of the cloud there was a green meadow around me1 and above me glittered the stars4 ,the first night of summer had followed the last night of spring4 ,the moon was rising like a silver bow in the ghostly air4 ,and in the north the sunset colors of the spring were changing upon the mountain-tops into the morning glow of the summer4 ,my heart still clung to the eternal stars1 where now awake ,i lingered in my dream1 and ,i sighed1 ,alas6 each day above is the beginning of spring4 ,then ,i heard the voice in me repeat the old words1 ,child of man1 sacrifice time to eternity1--and ,i sighed no more4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,i need not tell any one that the valley itself is situated in the departments of the ,upper ,pyrenees4 ,footnote #b3 ,it is well known that the ,symplegadian rocks continually dashed against each other1 and destroyed every passing ship1 until ,orpheus's lyre subdued and tranquillized them4 ,footnote #c3 ,alluding to a painting by ,reynolds1 in which ,garrick1 invited by both ,muses1 follows ,thalia4 ,footnote #d3 ,a kind of jelly-fish4 ,footnote #e3 ,ten drops of this instantly sweeten half a pound of sour beer4 ,footnote #f3 ,the cave is twenty feet high1 but the entrance only five feet4 ,footnote #g3 ,french miles4 ,the valley is about two ,german miles--ten ,english miles--long4 ,footnote #h3 ,the ,hoefersche heaven-path1 or how to learn the way to eternal salvation in twenty-four hours4 ,footnote #i3 ,a market-place in ,rome where deformed beings were sold1 and fetched a higher price the uglier they were4 ,footnote #aj3 ,a ,parisian dentist wrote this over his door4 ,footnote #aa3 ,in the same ,sec4 ,kant says3 ,everything that ,newton has written in his immortal ,principia1 though such a large head was required to invent it1 can be learned2 but to compose spirited poems cannot be taught1 however complete the instructions for learning the art may be4 ,the reason is1 that ,newton can explain all the steps he had to take1 from the first elements of geometry to his grandest and most profound inventions2 he can explain them1 not alone to himself1 but to others1 even to the remote descendants1 while no ,homer or ,wieland can show how his ideally rich1 and yet thoughtful characters1 came forth from his brain2 for he knows it not himself1 and therefore cannot teach it others4 ,i had hoped that ,i could depend upon ,kant1 who has a million times more intelligence than ,i have1 as upon a mental ,charge d',affaires2 but when ,i came to this passage 7and to those upon repentance1 music1 the origin of evil1 c71 ,i saw ,i must myself follow him1 and not only pray after him1 as ,i had before done1 but reflect4 ,but to return6 ,certainly ,newton's ,principles can be learned1 that is1 the new ones may be repeated1 but that also can happen to the invented poems2 yet you can be taught to invent them as little as ,newton's ,principles4 ,a new philosophic idea seems1 after its birth1 to lie more clearly in its former seed-vessels and organic molecules than a poetic one2 but why was ,newton the first to see it8 ,he and ,kant can discover1 no better than ,shakespeare or ,leibnitz1 how the beginning of a new idea suddenly bursts from the cloud of old ones2 they can show their ,nexus 7else they would not be human ones7 with the old ones1 but not their conception from it2 the same holds of the poetic4 ,let ,kant teach us to invent systems and truths 7not to prove them1 though1 strictly speaking1 the one is closely allied to the other71 then he shall be taught to invent epics1 and ,i will be responsible for it4 ,he seems to me to confound the difficulty of forming ideas with the less important one of forming new ones2 the difficulty of transition with the inexplicability of the matter4 ,i fear and wonder at the latent almightiness with which man orders1 that is1 creates his range of ideas4 ,i know no better symbol of creation than the regularity and causality of the creation of ideas in us1 which no will and no mind can regulate and create1 for any such arrangement and intention would presuppose the unborn idea4 ,and in this creation the grand enigma of our moral freedom is veiled4 ,footnote #ab3 ,gold dissolved in strong acid1 mixed with a small quantity of quicksilver in a vial1 forms a tree with foliage4 ,footnote #ac3 ,the male glowworms are black4 ,footnote #ad3 ,rameses caused his son to be fastened to the topmost point of an obelisk1 that they who had to raise it should risk a more valuable life than their own4 ,footnote #ae3 ,it lives more than two years1 though it does not long survive the period of its leaving the grub-state1 just as other insects1 to whom nature has given the rose period of youth1 only after the thorny age of reproduction4 ,footnote #af3 ,it is well known that the sight of blood damps courage1 and that the ,jews are not permitted to eat blood4 ,footnote #ag3 ,beauty in this connection1 ,i adopt in the same sense which ,schiller gives to it in his aesthetic critique1 a prize essay of his genius on ,beauty1 which here1 like ,longinus1 is at once the subject and the delineator of the exalted4 ,footnote #ah3 ,if he had been1 ,i would have read page #bbd in the third part of ,hesperus to him4 ,footnote #ai3 ,the sun reflected in the water4 ,footnote #bj3 ,at a circumcision1 the ,jews place one chair for the operator1 and another for the prophet ,elias1 who is supposed invisibly to occupy it4 ,footnote #ba3 ,these animals shine by night4 ,care must be taken not to draw them into the brain from the flower calyxes with the perfume4 ,footnote #bb3 ,the ,guernsey lily from ,japan has its name from the ,island of ,guernsey1 on which some roots of it were cast by a wrecked vessel4 ,footnote #bc3 ,for the climatic dissimilarity of the planets must produce1 as the climatic difference between the zones1 ,negroes1 ,greeks1 ,indians1 etc41 but always human beings4 ,footnote #bd3 ,one ought1 therefore1 not to say mundus intelligibilis1 but mundus intellectus4 ,footnote #be3 ,it may be said1 that in this manner every ,utopia1 which is also a copy1 must be realized1 for the original of all dreams and ,utopias does indeed exist1--though partially and disconnectedly2 but the ,original of the ,eternal cannot exist in pieces and by parcels4 ,footnote #bf3 ,this applies chiefly to the higher and richer orders1 with whom the saturation of the five camel stomachs1 the senses1 and the starving of ,psyche or the soul1 at last determines into a horrible horror of life1 and into a repulsive mingling of high aspirations and grovelling desires4 ,the savage1 the beggar1 and the provincialist far surpass the rich and high in spiritual enjoyment1 for in these1 as in the houses of the ,jews1 7in memory of the destruction of ,jerusalem7 there must always be something incomplete1 and the poor have too many of their earthly wants assuaged to be overwhelmed and pained by the demands of their ethereal nature4 ,footnote #bg3 ,the new moon always rises with the sun1 although dark and invisible4 ,footnote #bh3 ,there are three kinds of men4 ,to some1 a heaven is granted even on this earth2 to others1 a limbus patrum in which joy and sorrow reign equally2 and1 lastly1 to some a hell in which grief predominates4 ,beings who have suffered for twenty years on the sick-bed of bodily pain1 which is not1 like mental sorrow1 worn out by time1 have certainly had more unhappiness than happiness1 and1 but for immortality1 would be an eternal reproach to the highest moral being4 ,and if there exists no such unhappy being1 it is yet in the power of a tyrant to make one1 on a clinical torture-bed1 with the assistance of a physician and a philosopher4 ,such a one1 at least1 has a right to demand a future indemnity for his sufferings1 because the ,creator cannot have formed a creature to mourn more than it can rejoice4 ,besides1 though the object of our grief may seem but a deception in the eyes of the ,eternal ,one1 our grief itself cannot4 ,human suffering is also distinguished from brutish pain1 because the animal only feels the wound1 as we perhaps do in sleep1 but it sees it not4 ,its pain is not trebled and increased by anticipation1 recollection1 and sensibility2 it is an evanescent sting1 and nothing more4 ,therefore tears were only given to human eyes4 ,footnote #bi3 ,ignorance concerning our connection with the body and our connection with the second world4 ,footnote #cj3 ,the yearly destruction of the slowly developed1 beautiful flower-world does not argue against this2 for to the tangible world each condition of its parts is as indifferent and perfect as the other1 and rose-ashes are as good as rose-buds 7without1 of course1 considering the organic soul74 ,nothing is beautiful but our appreciation of the beautiful1 not the object itself4 ,if it should be said that nature destroys so many developments1 for whose growth she had already provided1 that she breaks many thousand eggs1 tears so many buds1 crushes men in all stages of life with her blind tread1 ,i would reply that the interrupted development is yet a condition of the perfected one1 and that every position of its parts is indifferent to material objects1 and1 as coverings of the spiritual being1 they still testify to a compensating immortality of the latter4 ,footnote #ca3 ,methinks the folly of spiritual mortality has not been sufficiently considered from this point of view4 ,the living or spiritual whole 7for the lifeless one has no other object than to be a means for the living71 as such1 can attain no object which each portion of it does not attain1 for each one is one whole1 and every other whole can only exist as a collective idea1 and not as a reality4 ,to consider the untenability of a progress contained in a course of vanishing shadows more vividly1 one might shorten the life of a soul so that he1 e4 g4 could only read one page of ,kant's ,critic1 and then die4 ,for the second page another soul must be created1 and so for the new edition #hhd souls4 ,the mistake will perhaps become perceptible to most people by the increasing moonlight of liberality which has gradually risen over the past centuries2 but the necessity for compensation demands immortality4 ,footnote #cb3 ,raphael died when he had finished the painting of the resurrection1 and ,haman died while his essay on resurrection and disembodiment was being printed4 ,footnote #cc3 ,so are the ,vampires called4 ,footnote #cd3 ,fixlein stands in the middle of the volume2 preceded by ,einer ,mustheil fuer ,maedchen 7,a ,jelly-course for young ,ladies72 and followed by ,some ,jus ,de ,tablette for ,men4 ,a small portion of the ,preface relating to the first ,i have already omitted4 ,neither of the two have the smallest relation to ,fixlein4--,ed4 ,footnote #ce3 ,j4 ,p4 ,h41 ,jean ,paul ,hasus1 ,jean ,paul1 c41 have in succession been ,richter's signatures4 ,at present even1 his ,german designation1 either in writing or speech1 is never ,richter1 but ,jean ,paul4--,ed4 ,footnote #cf3 ,for understanding many little hints which occur in this ,life of ,fixlein1 it will be necessary to bear in mind the following particulars3 ,a ,german ,gymnasium1 in its complete state1 appears to include eight ,masters2 ,rector1 ,conrector1 ,subrector1 ,quintus1 ,quartus1 ,tertius1 c41 to the first or lowest4 ,the forms1 or classes1 again1 are arranged in an inverse order2 the ,primaner 7boys of the ,prima1 or first form7 being the most advanced1 and taught by the ,rector2 the ,secundaner1 by the ,conrector1 c42 and therefore the ,quartaner by the ,quintus4 ,in many cases1 it would seem1 the number of ,teachers is only six2 but in this ,flachsenfingen ,gymnasium we have express evidence that there was no curtailment4--,ed4 ,footnote #cg3 ,a university beer4 ,footnote #ch3 ,from ,peter ,i will copy one or two of these privileges2 the whole of which were once1 at the origin of universities1 in full force4 ,for instance1 a student can compel a citizen to let him his house and his horse2 an injury1 done even to his relations1 must be made good fourfold2 he is not obliged to fulfil the written commands of the ,pope2 the neighborhood must indemnify him for what is stolen from him2 if he and a non-student are living at variance1 the latter only can be expelled from the boarding-house2 a ,doctor is obliged to support a poor student2 if he is killed1 the next ten houses are laid under interdict till the murderer is discovered2 his legacies are not abridged by falcidia1 c41 c4 ,footnote #ci3 ,literary ,germany1 a work 7,i believe of no great merit7 which ,richter often twitches in the same style4--,ed4 ,footnote #dj3 ,see ,schmelzle's ,journey1 p4 #bhi--;,ed4 ,footnote #da3 ,as in the ,state4--,v4 or ,von1 de1 of1 being the symbol of the nobility1 the middle order of the ,state4--,ed4 ,footnote #db3 ,in ,erlang1 my petition has been granted4 ,the ,bible ,institution of that town have found instead of the #aaf1cja ,as1 which ,fixlein at first pretended with such certainty to find in the ,bible-books 7which false number was accordingly given in the first ,edition of this ,work1 p4 #ha71 the above-mentioned #cbc1jae2 which 7uncommonly singular7 is precisely the sum of all the letters in the ,koran put together4 ,see ,luedeke's ,beschr4 des ,turk4 ,reichs 7,luedeke's ,description of the ,turkish ,empire4 ,new edition1 #aghj74 ,footnote #dc3 ,paravicini ,singularia de viris claris1 ,cent4 ,i4 #b4 ,footnote #dd3 ,ejusd41 ,cent4 ,,ii4 ,philelphus quarrelled with the ,greek about the quantity of a syllable2 the prize or bet was the beard of the vanquished4 ,timotheus lost his4 ,footnote #de3 ,their prayer-barrel1 ,kueruedu1 is a hollowed shell1 a calabash1 full of unrolled formulas of prayer2 they sway it from side to side1 and then it works4 ,more philosophically viewed1 since in prayer the feeling only is of consequence1 it is much the same whether this express itself by motion of the mouth or of the calabash4 ,footnote #df3 ,in ,german1 as in some other languages1 the common mode of address is by the third person2 plural1 it indicates respect2 singular1 command2 the second person is also used2 plural1 it generally denotes indifference2 singular1 great familiarity1 and sometimes its product1 contempt4 ,dutzenfreund1 ,thouing-friend1 is the strictest term of intimacy2 and among the wild ,burschen 7,students7 many a duel 7happily however1 often ending like the ,polemo-,middinia in one drop of blood7 has been fought1 in consequence of saying ,du 7thou7 and ,sie 7they7 in the wrong place4--,ed4 ,footnote #dg3 ,these antique ,christmas festivities ,richter describes with equal gusto in another work 7,briefe und ,zukuenftige ,lebenslemf72 where the ,christ-child 7falsely reported to the young ones to have been seen flying through the air1 with gold wings72 the ,birch-bough fixed in a corner of the room1 and by him made to grow2 the fruit of gilt sweetmeats1 apples1 nuts1 which 7for good boys7 it suddenly produces1 c41 c41 are specified with the same fidelity as here4--,ed4 ,footnote #dh3 ,which he purposed to make for his ,island of ,st4 ,pierre in the ,bienne ,lake4 ,footnote #di3 ,borrowed from the ,imperial ,mine-product-sale-,commission1 in ,vienna4 ,in their very names these ,vienna people show taste4 ,footnote #ej3 ,as1 by the evidence at present before us1 we can found on no other presumption1 than that he must die in his thirty-second year2 it would follow1 that1 in case he died two-and-thirty years after the death of the testatrix1 no farthing could be claimed by him2 since1 according to our fiction1 at the making of the testament he was not even one year old4 ,footnote #ea3 ,in ,st4 ,paul's ,church at ,london1 where the slightest whisper sounds over1 across a space of #adc feet4 ,footnote #eb3 ,so much1 according to ,political ,economists1 a man yearly requires in ,germany4 ,footnote #ec3 ,this singular tone of my address to a ,prince can only be excused by the equally singular relation wherein the ,biographer stands to the ,flachsenfingen ,sovereign1 and which ,i would willingly unfold here were it not that1 in my ,book1 which1 under the title of ,dog-post-days1 ,i mean to give to the world at ,easter-fair1 #agie1 ,i hoped to expound the matter to universal satisfaction4 ,footnote #ed3 ,his ,clerical ,law1 p4 #eea4 ,footnote #ee3 ,eichhorn's ,einleitung ins ,a4 ,t4 7,introduction to the ,old ,testament71 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,footnote #ef3 ,both have the same sound4 ,fuechslein means ,foxling1 ,fox-whelp4--,ed4 ,footnote #eg3 ,campe1 a ,german philologist1 who1 along with several others of that class1 has really proposed1 as represented in the text1 to substitute for all ,greek or ,latin derivatives corresponding ,german terms of the like import4 ,geography1 which may be ,erdbeschreibung 7,earth-description71 was thenceforth to be nothing else2 a ,geometer became an ,earth-measurer1 c41 c4 ,school-undergovernor1 instead of ,subrector1 is by no means the happiest example of the system1 and seems due rather to the ,schadeck ,lawyer than to ,campe1 whom our ,author has elsewhere more than once eulogized for his project in similar style4--,ed4 ,footnote #eh3 ,new ,universal ,german ,library1 a reviewing periodical1 in those days conducted by ,nicolai1 a sworn enemy to what has since been called the ,new ,school4--,ed4 ,footnote #ei3 ,superstition declares1 that on the spot where the rainbow rises a golden key is left4 ,footnote #fj3 ,to the ,spring1 namely1 which begins with snow-drops1 and ends with roses and pinks4 ,footnote #fa3 ,this ,christian superstition is not only a ,rabbinical1 but also a ,roman one4 ,cicero de ,senectute4 ,footnote #fb3 ,for1 according to the ,jurists1 fifteen persons make a people4 ,footnote #fc3 ,a long philosophical elucidation is indispensably requisite2 which will be found in this ,book1 under the title1 ,natural ,magic of the ,imagination4 ,a part of the ,jus de ,tablette appended to this ,biography1 unconnected with it1 and not given here4--,ed4 ,footnote #fd3 ,this pygmy piece of ordnance1 with its cunningly devised burning-glass1 is still to be seen on the south side of the ,paris ,vanity-,fair2 and in fine weather1 to be heard1 on all sides thereof1 proclaiming the conversion 7so it seems to ,richter7 of the ,day from ,forenoon to ,afternoon4--,ed4 ,footnote #fe3 ,the ,wild ,hunter1 ,wilde ,jaeger1 is a popular spectre of ,germany4--,ed4 ,footnote #ff3 ,indicating to the congregation what ,psalm is to be sung4--,ed4 ,footnote #fg3 ,salerno was once famous for its medical science2 but here1 as in many other cases1 we could desire the aid of ,herr ,reinhold with his ,lexicon-,commentary4--,ed4 ,footnote #fh3 ,this hospitable ,potentate is as unknown to me as to any of my readers4--,ed4 ,footnote #fi3 ,a little work printed in manuscript types2 and seldom given by him to any but ,princes4 ,this piece of print-writing he intentionally passes off to the great as a piece of hand-writing2 these persons being both more habituated and inclined to the reading of manuscript than of print4 ,footnote #gj3 ,thus defined by ,adelung in his ,lexicon3 ,kraeutermuetze1 in ,medicine1 a cap with various dried herbs sewed into it1 and which is worn for all manner of troubles in the head4--,ed4 ,footnote #ga3 ,linne formed in ,upsal a flower-clock1 the flowers of which1 by their different times of falling asleep1 indicated the hours of the day4 ,footnote #gb3 ,the good ,professor of ,catechetics is out here4 ,indignor quandoque bonus dormitat ,schmelzle4--,ed4 ,footnote #gc3 ,passenger so placed in the huge ,german ,postwagen1 that he cannot look out4--,ed4 ,footnote #gd3 ,titan is also the title of this ,legations-,rath ,jean ,pierre or ,jean ,paul 7,friedrich ,richter7's chief novel4--,ed4 ,footnote #ge3 ,bruehl1 ,i suppose2 but the historical edition of the matter is1 that ,bruehl's treasonable secrets were come at by the more ordinary means of wax impressions of his keys4--,ed4 ,footnote #gf3 ,cities of ,richter's romance kingdom4 ,flachsenfingen he sometimes calls ,klein-,wien1 ,little ,vienna4--,ed4 ,footnote #gg3 ,the campaign of #ahac-ad was the holy war of ,germany1 or ,freiheitskampf1 to which ,jean ,paul here alludes4--,translator4 ,,the ,,end ,cambridge3 ,stereotyped and ,printed by ,welch1 ,bigelow1 ,co4