not more frank. There he tells her that Annette is now
his muse, and that, as Herodotus names the books of his History after
the nine muses, so he has given the name of Annette to a collection of
twelve poetical pieces, magnificently copied in manuscript.[27] But,
he significantly adds, Annette had no more to do with his poetry than
the Muses had to do with the History of Herodotus.[28] To what extent
this statement expressed the truth we shall presently see.

[Footnote 26: _Ib._ p. 86. The passage is in French.]

[Footnote 27: This was the work of Behrisch, who was a virtuoso in
calligraphy.]

[Footnote 28: _Werke, Briefe_, i. 96-7.]

In October, 1767, Goethe resumed his correspondence with Behrisch, and
it is in this part of it that we have the fullest revelation of his
state of mind during the last year of his residence in Leipzig. With
the exception of occasional digressions these letters are solely
concerned with his relations to Kaethchen, and their outpourings
afterwards received their faithful echo in the incoherences of
Werther. Here is the beginning of a letter to Behrisch (October 13th),
in which he described his feelings as evoked by the appearance of two
rivals for the favours of Kaethchen. "Another night like this,
Behrisch, and, in spite of all my sins, I shan't have to go to hell.
You may have slept peacefully, but a jealous lover, who has drunk as
much champagne as is necessary to put his blood in a pleasant heat and
to inflame his imagination to the highest point! At first I could not
sleep, I tossed about in my bed, sprang up, raved; then I grew weary
and fell asleep." And he proceeds to relate a wild dream in which
Kaethchen was the distracting image; and he concludes: "There you have
Annette. She is a cursed lass!"[29] Yet on the same day or the day
following he could thus describe his mode of life in a letter to his
sister: "It is very philosophical," he writes; "I have given up
concerts, comedies, riding and driving, and have abandoned all
societies of young folks who might lead me into more company. This
will be of great advantage to my purse."[30] Very different is the
picture of his mode of life in his subsequent letters to Behrisch at
the same period. If we are to take him literally, it was the life of a
veritable Don Juan who had learned all the lessons of his instructor.
"Do you recognise me in this tone, Behrisch?" he writes; "it is the
tone of a conquering young lord.... It is comic.