Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/393

Rh nearer view, you discover to be cemented together out of different bowls, cups, saucers, etc. Not a corner but some whim peeps out of it. Even the unequalled prospect over the promontory into the sea is spoiled by coloured glass, which, by its false lights, gives either a cold or a fiery tint to the neighbouring scenes. I must also mention a cabinet, which is inlaid with old gold frames, cut in pieces. All the hundredfold carvings, all the endless varieties of ancient and modern, more or less dust-stained and time-injured, gilding, closely huddled together, cover all the walls, and give you the idea of a miniature lumber-room.

To describe the chapel alone would require a volume. Here one finds the solution of the whole folly, which could never have reached such a pitch in any but a bigoted mind. How many monstrous creations of a false and misled devotion are here to be found, I must leave you to guess for yourself. However, I cannot refrain from mentioning the most outrageous: a carved crucifix is fastened flat to the roof, painted after nature, lackered and gilded; into the navel of the figure attached to the cross, a hook is screwed, and from the latter hangs a chain which is fastened to the head of a man who, in a kneeling and praying posture, is suspended in the air, and, like all the other figures in the church, is painted and lackered. In all probability it is imtended to serve as a type of the owner's unceasing devotion.

Moreover, the house is not finished within. A hall built by the father, and intended to be decorated with rich and varied ornaments, but not tricked out in a false and offensive taste, is still incomplete; so that, it would seem, even the boundless madness of the possessor is at a standstill.

Kniep's artistic feeling was almost driven to desperation in this madhouse; and, for the first time in my life, I found him quite impatient. He hurried me