d suffered greatly in childhood from
fear. He was obliged by his father, who was a stern and somewhat
opinionated old man, to sleep alone, as a means of overcoming this fear;
and if he tried to steal from his own bed to that of his brothers, he
was frightened back by his father, who watched for him and chased him in
some fantastic disguise. That this did not tend to quiet his nerves may
well be imagined, and it was only through time and much suffering that
he overcame his childish terrors. His mother was a gay, cheerful woman,
much younger than his father, and as she was only eighteen years old
when Wolfgang was born, always said that they were young together. She
had married with little affection for her elderly husband, and it was in
her favorite son that she found all the romance and beauty of her life.
She was a woman of strong character, and presents one of the pleasantest
pictures in German literature. With a warm, genial nature, full of
spirit and enthusiasm, she retained to the last days of her life an
ardent interest in all the things which delighted her in youth. She read
much, thought much, and observed much, for one in her sphere of life,
and many great people who came to know her through her son learned to
value her very highly for herself alone. She corresponded long with the
Duchess Amalia, and her letters were much enjoyed at the Court of
Weimar. Princes and poets delighted to honor her in later life, and her
son was enthusiastic in his devotion to her till the last. She comforted
him through his rather fanciful and fantastic childhood as much as she
could without directly interfering with the discipline of the didactic
father. Goethe and his mother were both taught by this father, who
considered her almost as much of a child as the boy himself. She was
kept busy with writing, playing the clavichord, and singing, as well as
with the study of Italian, in which the father much delighted; and the
boy had grammar, and the Latin classics, and a geography in
memory-verses. The boy soon got beyond his teacher, but without being
well-grounded in anything, and learned, as such children are apt to do,
much more from his own desultory reading than from any instruction which
was given him. In the library were the beautiful Dutch editions of the
Latin classics and many works relating to Roman antiquities and
jurisprudence. There were also the Italian poets, and many books of
travel, and many dictionaries of various lan