ad no fancy for a
part so poor as that which Voltaire had played, within his memory, at
the court of King Frederick. But the office was tempting to the young
author, and he accepted the invitation. This ended in his receiving
from the duke a home at Weimar and recognized position. To those who
study the inducements and encouragements of authorship, it is
interesting to know that through all the success, before the public
and with the booksellers, of "Goetz von Berlichingen" and "Werther,"
neither book had paid back to Goethe the money he had spent for their
publication. Fame, and fame only, had been, thus far, his reward.

He went to Weimar as the friend of its young sovereign, who was just
entering on a career which may fairly be called illustrious. Weimar
was and is "more like a village bordering a park than a capital with a
court, having all courtly environments." The representation it gave of
the formalities, the "fuss and feathers" of a court, was on the most
minute scale. But with a certain pride, well understood, a German
historian has said, that after Berlin there is no one of the countless
courts of Germany of which the nation is so proud. Such pride is born
from the distinction which this grand duke, Karl August, gave to it,
by calling into what was called his service, such men as Klopstock,
Wieland, Goethe, and Schiller. This grand duke was himself a
remarkable man for one "in his unfortunate position." He now owes all
the place he has in history to the fortunate decision by which he
offered to Goethe a home in the little city of Weimar, when he was
himself a boy.

After a gay, not to say wild, introduction to the little social circle
of this funny little court, Goethe settled down quite seriously to the
work which belonged to a member of the administration. He had accepted
the post of Counsellor of the Home Department, with a seat in the
council. This carried with it a yearly salary of about nine hundred of
our dollars. And in the modest habits of that little court this seems
to have been regarded as a competency. With this income it is certain
that Goethe kept house, fulfilled the demands which etiquette made on
his position, and remitted a sixth part of his money to a poor,
broken-winded, and apparently worthless author, whose very name is
unknown, who maintained with him a begging correspondence.

Goethe proved himself a thorough man of business in the discharge of
his official duties. His interest in