After I had finished the work I have mentioned the survey of a small private property was put into my hands to carry out.  From this engagement ensued consequences which were most important for me.  I note only one point here.  One of the joint owners of this property was a young doctor of philosophy, who leaned towards the new school of Schelling.  It could hardly be expected but that we should talk over things which stirred our mental life, and so it came about that he lent me Schelling’s “Bruno, oder ueber die Welt-seele"[26] to read.  What I read in that book moved me profoundly, and I thought I really understood it.  The friendly young fellow, not much older than myself—­we had already met in Jena,—­saw the lively interest I was taking in the book, and, in fact, I talked it over with him many a time.  One day, after we had been to see an important picture-gallery together, he addressed me in these words, which from his mouth sounded startlingly strange, and which at the time seemed to me inexplicable:—­

“Guard yourself against philosophy; she leads you towards doubt and darkness.  Devote yourself to art, which gives life, peace, and joy.”

It is true I retained the young man’s words, but I could not understand them, for I regarded philosophy as a necessary part of the life of mankind, and could not grasp the notion that one could be verging towards darkness and doubt when one calmly investigated the inner life.  Art, on the other hand, lay much further from me than philosophy; for except a profound enjoyment in works of art (for which I could give no clear reason), no glimmering of an active aesthetic sense had yet dawned upon me.  This remark of my friend the doctor’s called my attention to myself, however, and to my life and its aim, and made me aware of two very different and widely separate systems of life.

My friend, the tutor of the Government official under whom I had served at Bamberg, had in the meantime left his situation.  He told me before leaving that he had it in his mind to go to Frankfurt, and thence into France.  I saw his departure with regret, little dreaming that life would in a few years bring us together again, and that he would indirectly decide my future career.  But, as it so often happens in life, parting in this instance but led up to meeting, and meeting to parting.

The occurrences I have named had little result upon my outward life, which for the time ran its peaceful course.  I pass over many circumstances important to the uplifting and development of my character and my moral life, and come at once to the close of my stay in Bamberg.