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Hereditary Genius
233
reading. His character then was proud and fantastic. Goethe describes his
hereditary peculiarities in a pretty poem,¹ of part of which I give a translation
from his “Life” by Lewes:—” From my father I inherit my frame and the
steady guidance of my life; from dear little mother my happy disposition and
love of story-telling. My ancestor was a ' ladies' man,' and that haunts me now
and then; my ancestress loved finery and show, which also runs in the blood.”
To go more into particulars, I take the substance of the two following
paragraphs from Lewes's “Life of Goethe.”
f. One of the pleasantest figures in German literature, and one standing out with
greater vividness than almost any other. She was the delight of children, the
favourite of poets and princes. After a lengthened interview an enthusiastic
traveller exclaimed, “Now do I understand how Goethe has become the man he
is.” The Duchess Amalia corresponded with her as an intimate friend; a letter
from her was a small jubilee at the Weimar court. She was married aet. 17 to a
man for whom she had no love, and was only 18 when the poet was born.
[F.] “Was a cold, stem, formal, somewhat pedantic, but truth-loving, upright-
minded man.” From him the poet inherited the well-built frame, the erect
carriage, and the measured movement, which in old age became stiffness, and
was construed into diplomacy or haughtiness; from him also came that
orderliness and stoicism which have so much distressed those who cannot
conceive genius
“ Vom Vater hab' ich die Statur,
Des Lebens ernstes Fuehren ;
Von Muetterchen die Frohnatur,
Und Lust zu fabuliren.
Urahnherr war der Schoensten hold,
Das spukt so hin und wieder;
Urahnfraa liebte Schmuck und Gold,
Das zuckt wohl durch die Glieder.
Sind nun die Elemente nicht,
Aus dem Complex zu trennen
Was ist den an dem ganzen Wicht
Original zu nennen.”
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