MAY 17.
I have made all sorts of acquaintances, but have as yet found no society.
I know not what attraction I possess (拥有) for the people, so many of them like me, and attach themselves to me; and then I feel sorry when the road we pursue together goes only a short distance.
If you inquire (询问) what the people are like here, I must answer, "The same as everywhere." The human race is but a monotonous (单调的) affair.
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Most of them labour the greater part of their time for mere subsistence; and the scanty (少量的；仅有的) portion of freedom which remains to them so troubles them that they use every exertion (努力) to get rid of it. Oh, the destiny of man!
But they are a right good sort of people. If I occasionally forget myself, and take part in the innocent pleasures which are not yet forbidden to the peasantry (农民), and enjoy myself,
for instance, with genuine freedom and sincerity, round a well-covered table, or arrange an excursion (郊游) or a dance opportunely, and so forth, all this produces a good effect upon my disposition (性格，性情); {1}
only I must forget that there lie dormant (静止的) within me so many other qualities which moulder uselessly, and which I am obliged to keep carefully concealed.
Ah! this thought affects my spirits fearfully. And yet to be misunderstood is the fate of the like of us.
Alas, that the friend of my youth is gone! Alas, that I ever knew her!
I might say to myself, "You are a dreamer to seek what is not to be found here below." But she has been mine.
I have possessed that heart, that noble soul, in whose presence I seemed to be more than I really was, because I was all that I could be.{2}
Good heavens! did then a single power of my soul remain unexercised?
In her presence could I not display, to its full extent, that mysterious feeling with which my heart embraces nature?
Was not our intercourse (交往) a perpetual (永恒的) web of the finest emotions, of the keenest wit, the varieties of which, even in their very eccentricity (反常行为), bore the stamp of genius?
Alas! the few years by which she was my senior brought her to the grave before me. Never can I forget her firm mind or her heavenly patience.
A few days ago I met a certain young V--, a frank, open fellow, with a most pleasing countenance (容貌). He has just left the university, does not deem himself overwise, but believes he knows more than other people.
He has worked hard, as I can perceive from many circumstances, and, in short, possesses a large stock of information.
When he heard that I am drawing a good deal, and that I know Greek (two wonderful things for this part of the country), he came to see me, and displayed his whole store of learning, from Batteaux to Wood, from De Piles to Winkelmann:
he assured me he had read through the first part of Sultzer's theory, and also possessed a manuscript (手稿) of Heyne's work on the study of the antique.{3}
I allowed it all to pass. I have become acquainted, also, with a very worthy person, the district judge, a frank and open-hearted man.
I am told it is a most delightful thing to see him in the midst of his children, of whom he has nine.
His eldest daughter especially is highly spoken of. He has invited me to go and see him, and I intend to do so on the first opportunity.
He lives at one of the royal hunting-lodges (猎庄), which can be reached from here in an hour and a half by walking, and which he obtained leave to inhabit after the loss of his wife, as it is so painful to him to reside in town and at the court.
There have also come in my way a few other originals of a questionable sort, who are in all respects undesirable, and most intolerable in their demonstration of friendship. Good-bye. This letter will please you: it is quite historical.
MAY 22.
That the life of man is but a dream, many a man has surmised (猜测；认为) heretofore (在这以前); and I, too, am everywhere pursued by this feeling.
When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined;
when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched (可怜的) existence;
and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation,
whilst we amuse ourselves painting our prison-walls with bright figures and brilliant landscapes, -- when I consider all this, Wilhelm, I am silent.{4}
I examine my own being, and find there a world, but a world rather of imagination and dim desires, than of distinctness and living power.
Then everything swims before my senses, and I smile and dream while pursuing my way through the world.{5}
All learned professors and doctors are agreed that children do not comprehend the cause of their desires; but that the grown-up should wander about this earth like children, without knowing whence they come,
or whither they go, influenced as little by fixed motives, but guided like them by biscuits, sugar-plums, and the rod, -- this is what nobody is willing to acknowledge; and yet I think it is palpable (明显的).
I know what you will say in reply; for I am ready to admit that they are happiest, who, like children, amuse themselves with their playthings, dress and undress their dolls, and attentively watch the cupboard, where mamma has locked up her sweet things,
and, when at last they get a delicious morsel (一口), eat it greedily, and exclaim, "More!"
These are certainly happy beings; but others also are objects of envy, who dignify their paltry (无价值的) employments, and sometimes even their passions, with pompous (自大的) titles, representing them to mankind as gigantic (巨大的) achievements performed for their welfare and glory.
But the man who humbly (谦逊地) acknowledges the vanity of all this, who observes with what pleasure the thriving citizen converts his little garden into a paradise, and how patiently even the poor man pursues his weary way under his burden,
and how all wish equally to behold the light of the sun a little longer, -- yes, such a man is at peace, and creates his own world within himself; and he is also happy, because he is a man.
And then, however limited his sphere, he still preserves in his bosom the sweet feeling of liberty, and knows that he can quit his prison whenever he likes.
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MAY 26.
You know of old my ways of settling anywhere, of selecting a little cottage in some cosy spot, and of putting up in it with every inconvenience.
Here, too, I have discovered such a snug (舒适温暖的地方), comfortable place, which possesses peculiar charms for me.
About a league from the town is a place called Walheim. (The reader need not take the trouble to look for the place thus designated. We have found it necessary to change the names given in the original.)
It is delightfully situated on the side of a hill; and, by proceeding along one of the footpaths which lead out of the village, you can have a view of the whole valley. A good old woman lives there, who keeps a small inn.
She sells wine, beer, and coffee, and is cheerful and pleasant notwithstanding her age.
The chief charm of this spot consists in two linden-trees, spreading their enormous branches over the little green before the church, which is entirely surrounded by peasants' cottages, barns, and homesteads (宅地).
I have seldom seen a place so retired and peaceable; and there often have my table and chair brought out from the little inn, and drink my coffee there, and read my Homer.
Accident brought me to the spot one fine afternoon, and I found it perfectly deserted (荒芜的).
Everybody was in the fields except a little boy about four years of age, who was sitting on the ground, and held between his knees a child about six months old: he pressed it to his bosom with both arms, which thus formed a sort of arm-chair;
and, notwithstanding (尽管) the liveliness which sparkled in its black eyes, it remained perfectly still. The sight charmed me. I sat down upon a plough opposite, and sketched with great delight this little picture of brotherly tenderness.
I added the neighbouring hedge, the barn-door, and some broken cart-wheels, just as they happened to lie; and I found in about an hour that I had made a very correct and interesting drawing, without putting in the slightest thing of my own.
This confirmed (确定) me in my resolution of adhering (坚持), for the future, entirely to nature. She alone is inexhaustible (取之不尽的), and capable of forming the greatest masters.
