[Footnote 22: _Werke, Briefe_, Band i. 159.]
[Footnote 23: _Ib._ pp. 60-3.]
The letters to Behrisch begin in October, 1766, and present Goethe in
the light of a happy lover. There is an assiduous rival, but his
addresses are coldly received.[24] In an ecstasy of delight, after a
four hours' _tete-a-tete_ with Kaethchen, he treats Behrisch to some
lines of English verse which may be produced here as exhibiting the
state of his feelings and the extent of his acquaintance with the
English language:--
What pleasure, God! of like a flame to born,
A virteous fire, that ne'er to vice kan turn.
What volupty! when trembling in my arms,
The bosom of my maid my bosom warmeth!
Perpetual kisses of her lips o'erflow,
In holy embrace mighty virtue show.
[Footnote 24: _Ib._ pp. 61-2.]
In letters written to his sister Cornelia about the same date,
however, we see another side of his life in Leipzig. He has been
excluded from the society in which he was formerly received, and he
assigns as reasons that he is following the counsels of his father in
refusing to engage in play, and that he cannot avoid showing a sense
of his superiority in taste which gives offence.
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