. The autobiography of Goethe : truth and fiction relating to my life . nedupon my father, when, through Klopstocks Messiah,verses, which seemed to him no verses, became an objectof public He had taken good care not to buythis book; hut the friend of the family, Councillor Schnei-der, smuggled it in, and slipped it into the hands of mymot her and her children. On this man of business, who read but little, The Mes-siah, as soon as it appeared, made a powerful pious feelings, so naturally expressed, and yet sobeautifully elevated ; that pleasant diction, even if con
. The autobiography of Goethe : truth and fiction relating to my life . nedupon my father, when, through Klopstocks Messiah,verses, which seemed to him no verses, became an objectof public He had taken good care not to buythis book; hut the friend of the family, Councillor Schnei-der, smuggled it in, and slipped it into the hands of mymot her and her children. On this man of business, who read but little, The Mes-siah, as soon as it appeared, made a powerful pious feelings, so naturally expressed, and yet sobeautifully elevated ; that pleasant diction, even if consideredmerely as harmonious prose, — had so won the otherwise dryman of business, that he regarded the first ten cantos, ofwhich alone we are properly speaking, as the finest bookof devotion, and once every year in Passion Week, when hemanaged to escape from business, read it quietly through byhimself, and thus refreshed himself for the entire year. Inthe beginning he thought to communicate his emotions to his 1 Ill. Messiah is written in hexameter verse. — —Lbr== RELATING TO MY LIFE. 67 old friend ; but he was much shocked when forced to per-ceive an incurable dislike cherished against a book of suchvaluable substance, merely because of what appeared to himan indifferent external form. It may readily be supposedthat their conversation often reverted to this topic ; but bothparties diverged more and more widely from each other,there were violent scenes: and the compliant man was at lastpleased to be silent on his favorite work, that he might notlose, at the same time, a friend of his youth, and a goodSunday meal. It is the most natural wish of every man to make prose-lytes ; and how much did our friend find himself rewardedin secret, when he discovered in the rest of the family heartsso openly disposed for his saint. The copy which he usedonly one week during the year was given over to our edifi-cation all the remaining time. My mother kept it secret ;and we
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