The memory of her was the dearest which he
retained of his early days; and the words in which he recalls her in
his old age prove that she was an abiding memory to the end.
[Footnote 8: Goethe's letters addressed to Cornelia from Leipzig, when
he was in his eighteenth year, are in the tone at once of an
affectionate brother and of a schoolmaster. Their subsequent relations
to each other will appear in the sequel.]
It was an advantage on which Goethe lays special stress that, outside
his somewhat cramping home circle, he had a more or less intimate
acquaintance with a number of persons, who by their different
characters and accomplishments made lasting impressions on his
youthful mind. The impressions must have been deep, since, writing in
advanced age, he describes their personal appearance and their
different idiosyncrasies with a minuteness which is at the same time a
remarkable testimony to his precocious powers of observation. What is
interesting in these intimacies as throwing light on Goethe's early
characteristics is, that all these persons were of mature age, and all
of them more or less eccentric in their habits and ways of thinking.
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