A mock tragedy on the subject of
Esther, which forms part of the burlesque, is a malicious parody of
the French models which he had begun by imitating, but which were now
the sport of the youths who led the _Sturm und Drang_.
The _Jahrmarktsfest_ is a genial explosion of madcap humour. Not so
another succession of scenes produced about the same time. The subject
of them is that Leuchsenring whose acquaintance, we have seen, Goethe
had made under the roof of Sophie von la Roche. Since then,
apparently, Leuchsenring's proceedings had provoked a repugnance in
Goethe which displays itself in a strain of bitterness hardly to be
found in any other of his works. It was Leuchsenring's habit to
ingratiate himself with households where his pseudo-sentiment made him
acceptable, and by questionable methods to make mischief between their
members, and especially between the two sexes.[137] Goethe had seen
the results of these intrigues in circles with which he was
acquainted, and it was to punish the sinner that he wrote _Ein
Fastnachtspiel, auch wohl zu tragieren nach Ostern, vom Pater Brey dem
falschen Propheten_. Pater Brey, the false prophet, is Leuchsenring,
and his sugared speech and shifty ways are the main object of the
satire, but other persons are introduced into the piece and exhibited
in lights which are a singular commentary on the taste of the time.
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