“In religious, scientific, and political matters, I generally brought trouble upon myself, because I was no hypocrite, and had the courage to express what I felt.

“I believed in God and in Nature, and in the triumphs of good over evil; but this was not enough for pious souls; I was also required to believe other points, which were opposed to the feeling of my soul for truth; besides, I did not see that these would be of the slightest service to me.

“It was also prejudicial to me that I discovered Newton’s theory of light and color to be an error, and that I had the courage to contradict the universal creed.  I discovered light in its purity and truth, and I considered it my duty to fight for it.  The opposite party, however, did their utmost to darken the light; for they maintained that shade is a part of light.  It sounds absurd when I express it; but so it is:  for they said that colors, which are shadow and the result of shade, are light itself, or, which amounts to the same thing, are the beams of light, broken now in one way, now in another.”

Goethe was silent, whilst an ironical smile spread over his expressive countenance.  He continued—­

“And now for political matters.  What trouble I have taken, and what I have suffered, on that account, I cannot tell you.  Do you know my ‘Aufgeregten?’"[11]

“Yesterday, for the first time,” returned I, “I read the piece, in consequence of the new edition of your works; and I regret from my heart that it remains unfinished.  But, even as it is, every right-thinking person must coincide with your sentiments.”

“I wrote it at the time of the French Revolution,” continued Goethe, “and it may be regarded, in some measure, as my political confession of faith at that time.  I have taken the countess as a type of the nobility; and, with the words which I put into her mouth, I have expressed how the nobility really ought to think.  The countess has just returned from Paris; she has there been an eye-witness of the revolutionary events, and has drawn, therefore, for herself, no bad doctrine.  She has convinced herself that the people may be ruled, but not oppressed, and that the revolutionary outbreaks of the lower classes are the consequence of the injustice of the higher classes.  ’I will for the future,’ says she, ’strenuously avoid every action that appears to me unjust, and will, both in society and at court, loudly express my opinion concerning such actions in others.  In no case of injustice will I be silent, even though I should be cried down as a democrat.’

“I should have thought this sentiment perfectly respectable,” continued Goethe; “it was mine at that time, and it is so still; but as a reward for it, I was endowed with all sorts of titles, which I do not care to repeat.”

“One need only read Egmont,” answered I, “to discover what you think.  I know no German piece in which the freedom of the people is more advocated than in this.”