An Age of Expectation

And now follow the beautiful words: “And so the Emperor understood Goethe. Goethe was not only the great poet, the great thinker of his epoch, but the splendor of historical princely heights was associated with his person. I recall the end of the above writing, where the Emperor mentions the personal enjoyment he has drawn from the book. What was this enjoyment? Hardly in anything that would benefit its literary value. I do not know of the Emperor ever mentioning Goethe in conversation, but he had, I am told, had passages read to him from the book. I see in this the expression of an emotion in him that could not be described merely as an interest in Goethe. Goethe was a bygone power that had a claim on the participation of the German Emperor. Something like the holders of the highest Italian order, “Cousins du Roi”