“In the old Stadtkirche, built in 1400, are the tombs of the ancient dukes, now forgotten. Among them is that of Duke Bernard, who died in 1639. He was the friend of Gustavus Adolphus, and one of the most powerful of the leaders of the Reformation.
“Goethe, the most gifted of the German poets, and the most accomplished man of his age, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1749. In 1775 he made the intimate acquaintance of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who induced him to take up his residence at Weimar, the capital. Here he held many public offices, and at last became minister of state. He died at the age of eighty-four.
“Goethe’s most popular work is a novel called The Sorrows of Werther, but his great and enduring work is Faust, a dramatic poem, in which his great genius struggles with the problems of good and evil.
“His life was full of beautiful friendships. In 1787 Schiller, the second in rank of great German poets, was invited to reside at Weimar. Goethe became most warmly attached to him, and the two pursued their high literary callings together. The literary circle now consisted of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder, and the Grand Duke. It was the golden age of German literature.
THE STRANGE STORY OF FAUST.
No myth of the Middle Ages has had so large a growth and so long a life as this.
It has been made the subject of books, pamphlets, and articles almost without number. The Faust literature in Germany would fill a library.
In painting, especially of the Holland school, the dark subject as prominently appears. It is also embodied in sculpture.
But it is in poetry and music that it found a place that carried it over the world. It was made the subject of Marlowe’s drama, of Goethe’s greatest poem, and it is sung in three of the greatest operas of modern times.
But to the legend.