in sending a good painter to Germany in the eighteenth
or nineteenth century. German artists of the
period must be classified not as sheep and goats, but
as bad goats and worse goats. But if he was not
a fine painter he was what is better, or, at any rate,
more useful to the rest of human kind, a fine character:
a noble, generous, self-sacrificing man. In haste
on hearing of Carl Friedrich’s death he came
from Dresden to attend to the burying of the dead
and the nourishing of the living. The details
of this first period of Richard’s ill-fortune
do not amount to a great deal and are unimportant,
since our subject is Richard, and his mother, brother
and sisters only so far as their lives and characters
influenced Richard. Albert, the eldest of the
children, was now fourteen years old; he was at the
Royal school in Meissen, and there he remained.
Rosalie went to dwell with a friend of Geyer’s,
a lady who lived at Dresden. Louise was adopted
by a Frau Hartwig, also at Dresden. Richard in
his cradle remained with his mother and the younger
members of the tribe in Leipzig.
And so presently life began to move on as before,
while the dead man slept in his grave. But immediately
fresh troubles came. Albert fell dangerously
ill and was threatened with a total breakdown of his
health; Richard was an ailing infant; and a change
in the arrangements of the theatrical company which
provided Geyer with a portion of his income compelled
him to remain in Dresden continuously. This proved
really a stroke of good fortune. Glasenapp, basing
his calculations on I know not what authorities or
documents, computes that his earnings as an actor
at this time came to L156 a year, and there seems
every reason to think he was at least fairly well paid
for his portraits. It was not enough to be shared
between two families, or, we had better say, to be
devoted to the up-keep of two homes. He determined
rapidly on a bold stroke. That he was in love
with Frau Wagner is more than any one can declare
with confidence; but she was an amiable, bright woman,
a good mother and thrifty housekeeper; and it is likely
enough that she had inspired a deep affection in a
singularly loving man. After the recovery of Albert
the widow had gone for a change to Dresden; and there
Geyer resolved to marry her—and resolved
quickly; for Carl Friedrich died in November 1813,
and early in 1814 the marriage took place. Soon
after, the new Frau Geyer returned to Leipzig; then
the whole family migrated to Dresden, where Richard
was to pass from babyhood into boyhood and spend the
first fourteen years of his life.
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