under the sheltering branch of Olive, the certain warrant of peace. Under its shadow, in the Garden of Life, Nature creates the Golden Ear for the one who desires the Beautiful in union with the Useful; and Fancy, or Art, creates a thousand wreaths for the other, who only takes delight in gay and graceful forms.”
Goethe’s maxim, throughout the whole of the Masquerade, seems to have been that of the Manager, in the “Prelude on the Stage”:—
“Who offers much, brings something unto many.”
I do not think it necessary, therefore, to load each detail with all the varieties of explanation. The reader, in any case, will find himself infected by the suggestiveness of the text, and thereby unconsciously led to interpret the forms according to his own individual taste.
19. What our name is, Theophrastus.
The reference is not to Theophrastus Paracelsus, but to Theophrastus of Lesbos, born B. C. 390, the disciple of Plato and the successor of Aristotle. Among his extant works is a “Natural History of Plants,” a translation of which, by Sprengel, was published at Altona, in 1822; and his name was probably thereby suggested to Goethe.
The “Fancy Nosegay” seems to be designed as a type of the wilful, artful, bewildering power of woman, which does not attract all of the opposite sex, but the more surely fascinates a portion of it. This version of the mask is certainly indicated by the “Challenge,” which next appears, and which is one with the “Rosebuds.” We are to suppose that the emblematic rosebuds which she carries are temporarily concealed, and then suddenly produced as a contrast, exhibiting the superior charms of sweet, timid, modest maidenhood over the glamour of acquired feminine art.
Hartung says: “The Fancy-Wreath and the Fancy Nosegay mean to unite Art and Poetry, which create a second artificial nature within Nature: and especially the latter, the poetic temperament, seeks a heart capable of recognition
