We have the letters of friends who freely wrote their impressions of him, and from his own hand we have poems which record the passing feelings of the hour; we have two plays which reveal moods and experiences more or less permanent; and above all we have a considerable number of his own letters addressed to his sister and different friends, all of which, it may be said, appear to give genuine expression to the promptings of the moment.

The materials for forming our judgment, therefore, are even superabundant, but in their very multiplicity lies our difficulty.

The narrative in the Autobiography doubtless gives a correct general outline of his life in Leipzig and of its main results for his general development, but its cool, detached tone leaves a totally inadequate impression of the froward youth, torn to distraction by conflicting passions and conflicting ideals.

With the contemporary testimonies our difficulties are of another kind.

The testimonies of his friends regarding his personal traits are often contradictory, and equally so are his own self-revelations.