Leonora, too, is Woman, as we see her now, pure, thoughtful, refined
by much acquaintance with grief.

Iphigenia he speaks of in his journals as his "daughter," and she is
the daughter [Footnote: Goethe was as false to his ideas, in practice,
as Lord Herbert. And his punishment was the just and usual one of
connections formed beneath the standard of right, from the impulses of
the baser self. Iphigenia was the worthy daughter of his mind; but the
son, child of his degrading connection in actual life, corresponded
with that connection. This son, on whom Goethe vainly lavished so much
thought and care, was like his mother, and like Goethe's attachment
for his mother. "This young man," says a late well-informed writer (M.
Henri Blaze), "Wieland, with good reason, called the son of the
servant, _der Sohn der Magd_. He inherited from his father only
his name and his _physique_."] whom a man will wish, even if he
has chosen his wife from very mean motives. She is the virgin,
steadfast, soul, to whom falsehood is more dreadful than any other
death.

But it is to Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Wandering Years that
I would especially refer, as these volumes contain the sum of the
Sage's observations during a long life, as to what Man should do,
under present circumstances, to obtain mastery over outward, through
an initiation into inward life, and severe discipline of faculty.

As Wilhelm advances into the upward path, he becomes acquainted with
better forms of Woman, by knowing how to seek, and how to prize them
when found. For the weak and immature man will, often, admire a
superior woman, but he will not be able to abide by a feeling which is