Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 13.djvu/64

42 ings which the jeweller possessed. Nothnagel, the painter, had established an oilcloth manufactory; and the boy not only learned all the processes, but lent a helping hand.

Besides these forms of life, there were others whose influence must not be overlooked; one of these brings before us the Fräulein von Klettenberg, of whom we first get a glimpse in connection with his confirmation, which took place at this period, 1763. The readers of "Wilhelm Meister" are familiar with this gentle and exquisite character, where she is represented in the "Confessions of a Beautiful Soul," In the "Confessions" we see that the "piety" and retirement are represented less as the consequences of evangelical illumination than of moral serenity and purity shrinking from contact with a world of which it has been her fate to see the coarsest features. The real Fräulein von Klettenberg it is perhaps now impossible to separate from the ideal so beautifully painted by Goethe. On him her influence was avowedly very great, both at this period and subsequently. It was not so much the effect of religious discussion, as the experience it gave him of a deeply religious nature. She was neither bigot nor prude. Her faith was an inner light which shed mild radiance around her. Moved by her influence, he wrote a series of "Religious Odes," after the fashion of that day, and greatly pleased his father by presenting them copied neatly in a quarto volume. His father begged that every year he would present him with such a volume.