to procure again.—Kriegen is now not held admissible in an elevated style, in which we should substitute erhalten. 35. Wohl, 'but let it be'.—ter Mann may, perhaps, be generally said instead of ein Mann, but it is more probable that the definite article expresses the master of the house, in Scotch 'the gudeman'. 36. In this line the word Sürtout (which is of course of French origin) has its accent on the second syllable, but it is just as common to pronounce it with the accent on the first. Die Pekesche (an overcoat braided in a military manner) is of Polish origin: bekiesza (pronounced bekyésha) means in Polish a 'fur-coat' (bekes 'fur' in Hungarian). Goethe uses the same word in Dichtung und Wahrheit, book x: Die Frauenzimmer hatten......sich erinnert, daß eine schöne Pekesche eines Vettern im Schrank hänge, mit der er bei seinem Hiersein auf die Jagd zu gehen pflege. From this passage it appears that a Petesche was also used for hunting purposes. 37. gestiefelt, 'booted'. Mine host likes the old fashion which allowed him to be easy in his home-dress, which is now held to be less dignified. We should observe that the verb (ist) is in the singular, though there are two subjects; this is mainly due to the fact that the verb precedes the subject. It would, therefore, be correct to say Pantoffel und Müße sind verbannt, not ist, though even this might be defended with instances to be found in our best writers. 39. mit is an adverb, 'together with the others'. Those who are the first to return may indeed rather have been lookers-on, than helpers. muß denotes a cogent conclusion: 'I should think the train has passed by'. 40. Allen is the so-called dat. eth.; in E. we should say 'the shoes of all'. In German it might also be bei Allen.-find is used short, contrary to the modern rule which makes all radical syllables long. See the Introduc tion. But Goethe and Schiller do not always observe this rule very strictly, and are often guided by the ear and the accent; in the very next line Schnupftuch is treated as a trochee, while it ought to be a spondee. 42. nach solchem Schauspiel: the sight of misery is not sufficiently attractive to make the good old woman go out in such a heat. 43. Observe the effective alliteration in laufen und leiden.-ich habe genug am Erzählten 'I am satisfied with the (mere) narrative'; in prose an dem, was man mir erzählt. 44. mit Nachdruck, 'emphatically'. He is convinced that he is qualified to give an opinion on this head. So also below, v. 102. 46. Frucht, is the corn, comp. 4, 79. 47. kein Wölkchen, 'not even the smallest cloud'. 48. von Morgen, from the East. Morgen is more poetical than Osten. Mine host's statement that there is a cooling wind, is quite compatible with his wife's words; only she feels the heat more, the effects of which she observes in those that have been out and are now returning, while he enjoys the cooling breeze, as the heat would not molest him overmuch in his sitting posture. 49. beständiges Wetter, 'weather that will last'. 51. vermehrten sich immer, 'they kept enlarging'. 54. an die andere Seite: observe the accusative after the preposition; he drove to the other side of the market-place. An der anderen Seite would mean that he drove along the other side. erneuert, renovated. 55. 3. SI-84. See below the description of the new house, 56. Goethe wanted to express that the vehicle was what is commonly called ein Landauer, without using this somewhat prosaic appellation; but his expression has led him into an historical error. These vehicles received this name, because the Emperor Joseph I. was the first to use them during the siege of Landau in 1702. 57. wohl bevölkert, 'well-peopled'. 58. Sich einer Fabrik befleißen is a somewhat loose expression instead of sich der Anfertigung (Fabrication) einer Sache befleißen. In the same way it would be perverse in English to say 'they busied themselves with many factories' instead of 'manufactures'. 59. traulich is a more appropriate expression of old people than licbend; the proper meaning is that the two married people trusted each other completely, they had absolute confidence in each other. See below on 2, 5. 60. das wandernde Volf are the passers-by. ergeben is the etymological spelling of this word still used by Goethe; the more modern spelling (which is, however, contrary to the origin of the word) is ergößen. The sense is: she 61. Compare v. 68 sq. begann zuerst zu sprechen. made a beginning with, or started the conversation, by saying. 62. der Nachbar Apotheker, our neighbour, the apothecary. 64. Comp. her sentiment, v. 42. 65. In prose we always say Ehepaar. 66. In prose die hölzernen Bänke. The adjective thus placed after the noun is more vivid; the fact that these seats are wooden seems to strike the narrator the very monent the guests are about to sit down on them. 67. fich is dative; it would be more usual to say sich Luft zufächeln. The corresponding noun is ein Fächer, ‘a fan'. 69. The first dactyl of this line is somewhat uncouth, especially as we find the first syllable of Apotheker used long in other passages. 70. 'Such, to be sure, is the nature of man'. 71. gaffen (the same word as E. to gape) means to look on without thought or actual interest. (In prose we should, perhaps, prefer sich am Gaffen freuen or gerne gaffen.) The apothecary's observation is true of himself, who is very backward in charity (as we shall see by and by), but not of the clergyman, nor of others. But we generally judge others by ourselves, and no doubt very many had been like the apothecary.―befället is archaic and poetical instead of the shorter form befällt. Bestrebet v. 98 is unusual, but more correct than befället, because the e in est and et is, according to general rule, always omitted in those verbs of the strong declension, in which the radical vowel undergoes the process of modification and brechung. 72. verderblich, 'causing ruin'. The same statement would be in prose: jeder läuft, um einen verderblichen Brand zu sehen. Or the relative sentences here and in the next line might be expressed by wenn: jeder läuft um (es) zu sehn wenn die Flamme emporschlägt und wenn ein armer Verbrecher zum Tode geführt wird. 73. arm expresses commiseration (comp. armer Sünder and Armesünderglocke); peinlich is the word used of criminal judgment and capital sentence. (In a German edition this is properly explained durch Urtheilsspruch des peinlichen Gerichts; in an English translation I find it wrongly rendered, 'who sadly to death gets conducted'.) Comp. Bürger's still more emphatic expression in his famous ballad, ‘Der Kaiser und der Abt': Kein armer Verbrecher fühlt mehr Schwulität, der vor hochnothpeinlichem Halsgericht steht; No wretched criminal feels less at ease when he stands before the tribunal on a matter of life and death. 74. spaziert, strolls out'. People take this sad occurrence merely as an occasion for a leisurely walk to satisfy their curiosity. 76. vielleicht zunächst, perhaps immediately as the very next; or if misfortune does not come directly, it may come in some future time. 77. The apothecary blames Nature for engrafting the vice of thoughtless curiosity in the character of man. It is a vice not to be pardoned, and yet we cannot help being tainted with it; it lies in our nature. Comp. the clergyman's answer, v. 84 sq. 78. Pfarrherr is more dignified than the prosaic form Pfarrer. (The origin of the word is this. Die Pfarre, 'an incumbency', comes from the medieval Latin parra, an abbreviated form of parochia, which word occurs in the earliest documents alongside of paroccia, i.e. Tapoikia, 'a dwelling by', perhaps from the fact of the pastor's house being commonly built by the side of the church. From parra we get pfarre, and der pfarrere, der Pfarrer.) 79. The clergyman is still young, and thus feels more generously than the other two. 80. der Hörer is again instead of seiner Hörer (or rather Zuhörer); he understood how to adapt his preaching to the requirements of his audience. He was one of those clergymen who have succeeded in extracting from the Scriptures their bearing upon the present life as well as upon the future state of man. 82. It is not necessary to understand this of only a limited part of Holy Writ, as some of the German commentators do. Few works are better adapted to teach us the ways and fates of mankind than the sacred writings of the Bible; and of course in this connexion of ideas the poet could not be expected to dwell on another side of the teaching of the Bible, viz. the lessons it contains of eternity. Goethe represents his pastor above a as an eminently practical man, who is no stranger to actual life, and ever ready to help the distressed and exert himself in the cause of practical Christianity. For this reason he is likewise said to be well acquainted with the best works of temporal literature. 84. We should connect was immer für (whatever) unschädliche Triebe. 85. The expression, die gute Mutter Natur is rather poetical than classical: but, under the circumstances, the clergyman is obliged to use it in order to refute the apothecary's assertion, v. 77. 87. ein Hang, der unwiderstehlich uns leitet (a bent that irresistibly leads us on') is a way of expressing 'instinct'; a happy instinct is often more powerful than reason and intellect. 88. Observe the shortened conditional clause, instead of wenn tie Neugier nicht den Menschen-lockte. 90. gegen einander, lit. 'towards one another'. The pastor means that curiosity leads man to investigate the mutual connexion of things, and thus teaches him to understand the harmonious order of the world at large.-erst, in the first place'. 91. unermüdet here=unermüdlich, ‘indefatigable'. It is a peculiarity of poetic diction in all languages to use the past participle instead of such adjectives as end in lich in German, in able or ible in French and English, in abilis and ibilis in Latin. 92. endlich, 'last of all'. 93. The following passage from Goethe's Tasso, II. 4, is appropriately quoted by one of the German commentators: Wir Menschen werden wunderbar geprüft; Wir könnten's nicht ertragen, hätt' uns nicht Den holden Leichtsinn die Natur verliehen. In this sense Goethe uses ver leichte Sinn in a significant passage, which deserves to be quoted in full : Der Zufriedene. Vielfach ist der Menschen Streben, Ihre Unruh, ihr Verdruß; Auch ist manches Gut gegeben, Doch das größte Glück im Leben Ist ein guter, leichter Sinn. This occurs in a poem entitled Antworten bei einem gesellschaftlichen Frage, sriel (Poems, edited by F. Strehlke, I p. 28). Compare also a sentiment from Immermann's novel, Die Epigonen (p. 114 Reclam's edition): &s scheint fast, daß man mit einem gewissen Leichtsinn handeln müsse, um eigentliche Resultate zu erblicken. In 94. heilsam should be understood as adj., while geschwinde is the adverb. In this, however, the final e would be omitted in prose. English we might translate as if it were in German, und geschwinde das schmerzliche Uebel heilt und seine Spuren vertilgt. 95. The genitive des schmerzlichen Uebels is separated from the noun by which it is governed, tie Spuren. This is a poetical licence which would not be admissible in prose. So below, v. 109.-sobald es nur irgend vorbeizeg, if it may but be said to have just passed by'. Here again, the imperfect vorbeizog is incorrect, instead of the perf. vorbeigezogen ist. 96. er ist zu preisen, 'he deserves praise'. This part of the clergyman's speech is a kind of concession which he makes to the apothecary. 97. In der gesezte Verstand the adj. is used de effectu, i. e. his intellect develops in such a way as to become geseßt, ‘steady'. 99. ersehen, 'to make up for', 'to remedy'. 100. The hostess is, like most women, averse to philosophical discussions; she is impatient to hear of facts. 101. begehrte is not the indicative: it should be understood, 'I should like to know'. Comp. v. 149. 102. See above, on v. 44. |