Characteristically he did not take a formal
leave of her, a proceeding which was naturally resented both by
herself and her relatives. The quartette started on May 14th, and from
the first they made it appear that they meant to travel as four
geniuses who set at naught all accepted conventions.[220] Before
departing they all procured Werther costume--blue coat, yellow
waistcoat and hose and round grey hat; and in this array they
disported themselves throughout their travels. Darmstadt was their
first halting-place, and at the Court there they conducted themselves
with some regard to decorum. Outside its precincts, however, they gave
full rein to their eccentricities, and so scandalised the Darmstadters
by publicly bathing in a pond in the neighbourhood that they found it
advisable to beat a hasty retreat from the town. In Darmstadt Goethe
had met his old mentor, Merck, who with his usual caustic frankness
told him that he was making a fool of himself in keeping company with
such madcaps.[221] At Mannheim, their next stage, the whole party
signalised themselves by smashing the wine-glasses from which they had
drunk to the ladylove of the younger Stolberg.
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