"A few days ago" (in the beginning of March,
1772), she writes to Herder, "I made the acquaintance of your friend
Goethe and Herr Schlosser.... Goethe is such a good-hearted, lively
creature, without any parade of learning, and has made such a to-do
with Merck's children that my heart has quite gone out to him.... The
second afternoon we spent in a pleasant stroll and over a bowl of
punch in our house. We were not sentimental, but very merry, and
Goethe and I danced a minuette to the piano. Thereafter he recited an
excellent ballad of yours [the Scottish ballad _Edward_, translated by
Herder]." On the occasion of a later visit (April) of Goethe to
Darmstadt, she again writes to Herder: "Our Goethe has come on foot
from Frankfort[110] on a visit to Merck. We have been together every
day, and once, when we had gone together into the wood, we were soaked
to the skin. We took refuge under a tree, and Goethe sang a little
song, 'Under the Greenwood Tree,' which you translated from
Shakespeare. Our common plight made us very confidential. He read
aloud to us some of the best scenes from his _Gottfried von
Berlichingen_.... Goethe is choke-full of songs.
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