1817, April.
Mit Joseph Green Cogswell
Instead of the proud repelling giant for whom he was prepared he found a kind, benignant man who received the young foreigner with natural and unaffected heartiness. With a fine tact Goethe soon turned the conversation upon America and its hopes and promises, and astonished Cogswell through his minute knowledge of the physical and moral conditions of the country and its people. He spoke of Boston and its situation, of the productions of the American soil, of the large scale of its crystallizations as compared with those of other continents, and of the future of American literature. And during this whole conversation, says Cogswell, he made ›juster and more rational observations than I ever heard from any man in Europe.‹