He himself is our sole authority for its incidents, and he chose so to tell them that the exact truth of the whole history can never be known.[86] [Footnote 85: _Ib._ Band i.p.

250.] [Footnote 86: Subsequent investigation has proved that Goethe has committed several errors of fact in his narrative.

For example, he relates that on his first visit to the Sesenheim family he was vividly reminded of the family of the Vicar of Wakefield.

In point of fact, he was introduced to Goldsmith's work by Herder, who came to Strassburg subsequent to Goethe's first visit to Sesenheim.] The day following the writing of the letter just quoted, Goethe wrote another letter which proves that his heart was no longer "disengaged." This letter is, in fact, a declaration of love to the youngest daughter of the Sesenheim pastor, Friederike--name of pleasantest suggestions in the long list of Goethe's loves.

The letter, it may be said, does not strike us as a happy introduction to the relations that were to follow; it would not have been written had Friederike been the daughter of a house of the same social standing as his own.