CHAPTER IV.

Goethe begins to write “Faust”; the work in its earliest form; the character of Faust; the story of Gretchen; Mephistopheles; Goethe expresses in the original “Faust” his own mood and one of the moods of his age; his study of Spinoza’s “Ethics”; Lavater; Basedow; Johanna Fahlmer; his friendship with Frederick Jacobi; the Counts Stolberg; Goethe’s engagement with Lili Schönemann; the engagement broken off; poems occasioned by his love for Lili; meets the Hereditary Prince of Weimar; the Prince becomes Duke; Goethe invited to Weimar; arrives there on November 7, 1775; a new home 72