Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 5.djvu/106

92 toward which, so long as they merely stand above the horizon, our eye is turned, and feels strengthened and cultivated, if it is only allowed to take such perfections into itself. Bountiful Nature had given Schöpflin an advantageous exterior, a slender form, kindly eyes, a ready mouth, and a thoroughly agreeable presence. Neither had she been sparing in gifts of mind to her favourite; and his good fortune was the result of innate and carefully cultivated merits, without any troublesome exertion. He was one of those happy men who are inclined to unite the past and the present, and understand how to connect historical knowledge with the interests of life. Born in the Baden territory, educated at Basle and Strasburg, he quite properly belonged to the paradisiacal valley of the Rhine, as an extensive and well-situated fatherland. His mind being directed to historical and antiquarian objects, he readily seized upon them with a felicitous power of representation, and retained them by the most convenient memory. Desirous as he was, of both learning and teaching, he pursued a course of study and of life which equally advanced. He soon emerges, and rises above the rest, without any kind of interruption; diffuses himself with ease through the literary and citizen world, for historical knowledge passes everywhere, and affability attaches itself everywhere. He travels through Germany, Holland, France, Italy; he comes in contact with all the learned men of his time; he amuses princes; and it is only when, by his lively loquacity, the hours of the table or of audience are lengthened that he is tedious to the people at court. On the other hand, he acquires the confidence of the statesmen, solves for them the most profound legal questions, and thus finds everywhere a field for his talent. In many places they attempt to retain him, but he remains faithful to Strasburg and the French court. His immovable German honesty is recognised even there: he is