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162 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
world is of the kind which Montaigne obferved in a man who refembled him ; it is in a
place which he knows where to find it in, and not in himfelf. The confcioufnefs of this has
fometimes made him a coward. To this caufe are to be attributed the frequent variations
in his way of thinking ; his flattery towards thofe who can ferve him; his fubmiffion to-
wards thofe who refift him; his toleration of thofe whofe opinions are oppofite to his
own; his love of party, and all the manceuvres to which he has had recourfe, whenever
he has thought his reputation in danger, for which reputation he would have had no-
thing to fear if he had but known his own ftrength. Before Gothe was known, Wie-
land ftood as he ought always to have done, at the top of the German Parnaflus. It fo
happened, that, contrary to his intention, he inferted a very fevere critique of Gothe’s
Play of Gofs of Berlichingen, in his review. Gothe revenged himfelf by a farce, written in
his ftrongeft manner. Wieland, ever ready to found a retreat when danger is nigh, en-
deavoured to make his peace in a fecond number, in which he was more civil. This,
however, would hardly have faved him, but fortunately for him, his pupil, the reigning
Duke, foon after went to Francfort, where he met with Gothe, whom he brought with
him to Weimar, and of courfe introduced him to his old tutor. Would you believe it ?
the cajoled Wieland not only took fomething of Gothe’s manner himfelf, but wrote apo-
logies for fome followers of his fchool, whom in his former writings he had fatyrized.
Upon the whole, he is one of the greateft fophifts of our days, who has always a fatire,
or an apology ready, and produces that which brings him the moft pence.
Gothe is the Duke’s favourite ; they are always together ; he pofleffes a full portion
of that which nature has refufed to Wieland. Formerly his felf-fufficiency led him into
abfurdities, but fince that time things have much changed. He is not only a genius,
but poflefles a great deal of learning. Many circumftances, for which he is not entirely
anfwerable, were the occafion of his giving the fignal to a horde of Calmucks, who
fome years fince made an inroad on the German Parnaffus, and laid it wafte. In all
things he is upon principle, for the natural, the extraordinary, the adventurous, the
ftriking, and the bold, and has as great an averfion to the common forms of govern-
ment, as tothe common rules of writing. His philofophy borders nearly upon that of
Roufleau. I fhall not {top here to compare them, but only obferve, that they have both
come two hundred years too late, and that the ntan who gives a flat contradiction to
the opinions of all his cotemporaries, abounds either in felf-opinion or felf-love.—When
Gothe firft began to feel his genius, he ufed to go about with a fhort hat, his hair about
his ears, an out of the way drefs; and, in fhort, affected a fingularity in every thing.
His looks, his gait, his fpeech, the whole of him befpoke an extraordinary man. Even
in his writings, he rather affected graceful-negligence than any laboured delicacy. He
fhortened all his periods in the moft extraordinary manner, ufed common and vulgar
words, and, what was of no great fervice to the poor German language, already fo bare
of them, cut off half of the vowels, and introduced paufes and {trokes of admiration at
every three words. His writings contain a great deal of that happy feizure of circum-
{tance which befpeaks a knowledge of mankind, united to a ftrong and fertile imagina-
tion, and a great vein of humour. You fee in every thing he writes, that he is able to
lay a plan and conneét the parts; this diftinguifhes him from the whole herd of his imi-
tators. Whenever it happens, as it fometimes does, that one part of his work does not
hang well with the other, you eafily difcover that the defect has not arifen from igno-
rance, but becaufe the author did not choofe to give himfelf the trouble to weave them
together. Gothe has read a great deal, is well acquainted with the belt ancient and mo-
dern writers, paints, underftands mufic, isa good companion and wit, and — Counfellor
of Legation to the Duke,
Doubtlefs,
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