[120] In the Kronprinz, the principal hotel in the town.
[121] Goethe's own lodging (still shown) was in the Gewandsgasse, a narrow, dirty street, whence sun or moon could be seen at no season of the year.
[122] In his contemporary letters, Goethe does not always speak of Gotter so favourably as he does in his Autobiography.
[123] An exhaustive account of Goethe's sojourn in Wetzlar will be found in W. Herbst's Goethe in Wetzlar, 1772. Vier Monate aus des Dichters Jugendleben, Gotha, 1881.
[124] This is the expression of Kestner, Lotte's betrothed.
[125] Such abrupt departures were characteristic of Goethe. We shall find him taking similar unceremonious leave of another of his loves. Goethe, wrote Frau von Stein to her son (May, 1812), "kann das Abschied nehmen nicht leiden, er ging ohne Abschied neulich von mir."
[126] Kestner's characterisation of Goethe will be found in Biedermann, op. cit. i. pp. 21-3.
[127] Goethe had made Jerusalem's acquaintance in Leipzig. Jerusalem called Goethe a Geck, a coxcomb, a description which, as we have seen, was not inapplicable to him in his Leipzig days. Jerusalem was a friend of Lessing, who highly esteemed him, and after his death published his MSS.
[128] In point of fact, Goethe announced himself. Merck arrived after him.
[129] In a letter to Schiller (July 24th, 1799) Goethe gives a much less favourable estimate of Frau von la Roche, whom he had just met: "Sie gehört zu den nivellierenden Naturen, sie hebt das Gemeine herauf und zieht das Vorzügliche herunter...."