CHAPTER VII.

Benefit derived from his sojourn in Italy; relieved of most of his ministerial duties; change in his relations to Frau von Stein; his informal marriage with Christiane Vulpius; character of Christiane; relations with Frau von Stein broken off; “Römische Elegien”; his new ideal in dramatic art; “Egmont”; “Iphigenie”; “Torquato Tasso”; “Faust: A Fragment,” published in 1790; his discovery of the metamorphosis of plants; visits Venice in 1790; his son August; his discovery of the true constitution of the skull; his opposition to Newton’s theory of colours; becomes director of the Weimar Court Theatre; receives from the Duke the house in which he spends the rest of his life; the outbreak of the French Revolution; Goethe’s position with regard to it; “Gross-Cophta”; “Die Aufgeregten”; accompanies the Duke during the campaign in Champagne; “Reineke Fuchs”; joins the Duke before Mainz; returns to Weimar 116