and, as part of his son's education,
entrusted him with the superintendence of his commissions. Thus, in
accordance with modern ideas, were combined in Goethe's training the
practical and the theoretical--a combination which is the
distinguishing characteristic of his productive activity. Generally
considered, we see that the course of his studies was such as in any
circumstances he would himself have probably followed. Under no
conditions would Goethe have been content to restrict himself to a
narrow field of study and to give the necessary application for its
complete mastery. As it was, the multiplicity of his studies supplied
the foundation for the manifold productivity of his maturer years. In
no branch of knowledge was he ever a complete master; he devoted a
large part of his life to the study of Greek and Roman antiquity, yet
he never acquired a scholar's knowledge either of Greek or Roman
literature.[10] If on these subjects he has contributed many valuable
reflections, it was due to the insight of genius which apprehends what
passes the range of ordinary vision.

[Footnote 9: It was doubtless due to the absence of strict drill in
his youth that Goethe, as he himself tells us, never acquired the art
of punctuating his own writings.]

[Footnote 10: Goethe said of himself that he had no "grammatical
vein."]

A striking fact in Goethe's account of his early years is the emphasis
he lays on the religious side of his education. Judging from the
length at which he treats the subject, indeed, we are bound to assume
that in his own estimation religion was the most important element in
his early training, and in the case of one who came eventually to be
known as the "great Pagan" the fact is remarkable. Had he sat down to
write the narrative of these years at an earlier period of his
life--after his return, say, from his Italian journey--we may conceive
that in his then anti-Christian spirit he would have put these early
religious experiences in a somewhat different light, and would hardly
have assigned to them the same importance. But when he actually
addressed himself to tell the story of his development, he had passed
out of his anti-Christian phase, and was fully convinced of the
importance of religion in human culture. Regarding this portion of his
Autobiography, as regarding others, we may have our doubts as to how
far his record is coloured by his opinions when he wrote it. Yet,
after every reserve, there can