"When Goethe came among us girls when we were at work in the barn," related one who had seen him, "his jests and droll stories almost made work impossible."[90] [Footnote 88: It is recorded that his voice trembled as he dictated the passages referring to Sesenheim and Friederike.] [Footnote 89: In reality, there were four daughters, but Goethe omits mention of the other two in order to make more striking the resemblance between the family of the Vicar of Wakefield and that of Sesenheim.] [Footnote 90: Biedermann, _op.

cit._ i.pp.

16-17.] The beginning of disillusion came on the occasion of a visit made by the two sisters to Strassburg.

In a world that was alien to her Friederike lost something of the charm which was derived from her perfect fitness to her native surroundings, and it was brought home to Goethe that there must be a rude awakening from the dream of the last few months.

In May, 1771, he paid a visit to Sesenheim which lasted several weeks, and the picture we have of his state of mind during his visit shows that he felt that the time of reckoning had come.