There is an assiduous rival, but his addresses are coldly received.[24] In an ecstasy of delight, after a four hours' _tete-a-tete_ with Kaethchen, he treats Behrisch to some lines of English verse which may be produced here as exhibiting the state of his feelings and the extent of his acquaintance with the English language:-- What pleasure, God! of like a flame to born, A virteous fire, that ne'er to vice kan turn.
What volupty! when trembling in my arms, The bosom of my maid my bosom warmeth! Perpetual kisses of her lips o'erflow, In holy embrace mighty virtue show.
[Footnote 24: _Ib._ pp.

61-2.] In letters written to his sister Cornelia about the same date, however, we see another side of his life in Leipzig.

He has been excluded from the society in which he was formerly received, and he assigns as reasons that he is following the counsels of his father in refusing to engage in play, and that he cannot avoid showing a sense of his superiority in taste which gives offence.

But, as we learn that Behrisch was also excluded from the same society, and that he was dismissed from the charge of his pupils on the ground of his loose life, we may infer that Goethe does not state all the reasons for his own social ostracism.[25] [Footnote 25: _Ib._ pp.

81-2.] So things stood with him in October, 1766, and it is not till the following May that we hear of him again through his correspondence.