[Footnote 207: _Stella_ and other German plays are wittily parodied in
_The Rovers; or, The Double Arrangement_.]
[Footnote 208: Goethe gives Fernando his own brown eyes and black
hair.]
Nauseous as _Stella_ must appear to the modern reader, it found wide
acceptance at the period it was written, though its moral was
generally condemned. Herder was enthusiastic in its praise, and on its
publication at the end of January, 1776, it passed through four
editions in a single week. In 1805, with its altered _denouement_, in
which the hero shoots himself, it was performed with applause in
Berlin, and was afterwards frequently produced. Goethe himself
continued to retain a singular affection for the most sickly
sentimental of all his literary offspring, and he subsequently sent a
copy of his work to Lili, accompanied by some lines which were worthy
of a better gift.[209]
[Footnote 209: After he had broken with her, and was settled in
Weimar.]
Im holden Thal, auf schneebedeckten Hoehen
War stets dein Bild mir nah!
Ich sah's um mich in lichten Wolken wehen;
Im Herzen war mir's da.
Empfinde hier, wie mit allmaecht'gem Triebe
Ein Herz das andre zieht,
Und dass vergebens Liebe
Vor Liebe flieht.
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