Mittag bei Goethe

When Madame de Stael returned from Berlin, and brought A. W. Schlegel in her train, I [Robinson] dined at Goethe's with Schlegel, Tieck the sculptor, and Riemer. No one else but Madame Goethe was present. I was struck by the contrast between Schlegel and Goethe. Nothing could exceed the repose of Goethe, whereas on Schlegel's part there was an evident striving after pun and point. Of these I recollect nothing but that Böttiger was his butt, whom he compared to Bardolph. From Goethe I remember a word or two of deep significance. He said to Schlegel: »I am glad to hear that your brother means to translate the ›Sakontala‹. I shall rejoice to see that poem as it is, instead of as it is represented by the moral Englishman« [Wilson]. And there was a sarcastic emphasis on the word »moralischen«. He then went on: »Eigentlich aber hasse ich alles Orientalische.« By which, probably, he meant rather that be infinitely preferred the Greek to the Oriental mind. He continued: [278] »I am glad there is something that I hate; for, otherwise, one is in danger of falling in the dull habit of literally finding all things good in their place, – and that is destructive of all true feeling.«