[229] Werke, Briefe, ii. 272.
[230] Ib. p. 273.
[231] Ib. pp. 277-8.
[232] The two poems, Lilis Park and the song beginning "Ihr verblühet, süsse Rosen," which Goethe refers to this period, were really written at an earlier date. The latter, we have seen, appears in Erwin und Elmire.
[233] It was at this time that he translated the Song of Solomon, which he calls "the most glorious collection of love-songs God ever made."
[234] Werke, Briefe, ii. 294. In a letter to the Countess's brothers about the same date, Goethe writes: "Gustchen [the Countess] is an angel. The devil that she is an Imperial Countess."—Ib. p. 298.
[235] Biedermann, op. cit. i. p. 60.
[236] Max Morris, op. cit. v. 470.
[237] The Duke had previously passed through Frankfort on his way to Carlsruhe. On that occasion, also, Goethe had been in intercourse with him.
[238] This, as we have seen, is not consistent with certain of his former statements.—In June of 1776 Lili was betrothed to another, but, owing to his bankruptcy, marriage did not follow. In 1778, however, she was married to a Strassburg banker. Like all Goethe's loves, she retained a kindly memory of him. She is reported to have said that she regarded herself as owing her best self to him.—Max Morris, op. cit. v. 468.