“‘I went yesterday to see the stony Schiller, from whom, as from a precipice, all strangers spring back. His form is worn, severely powerful, but angular. He is full of sharp-cutting power, but without love. His conversation is nearly as excellent as his writings. As I brought a letter from Göethe, he was unusually pleasant; he would make me a fellow-contributor to the _Horen_ (a periodical,) and would give me a naturalization act in Jena.’ “Notwithstanding this courtesy, Richter did not repeat his visit to Schiller, and his intimate union with Herder excluded all hope of his being drawn to the party of Göethe. The latter wrote to Schiller, ‘I am glad you have seen Richter. His love of truth and his wish for self-improvement have prepossessed me in his favour; but the social man is a sort of theoretical man, and I doubt if Richter will ever approach us in a practical way, although in theory he seems to have some pretensions to belong to us.’ They were never friends. Richter could not conceal his disappointment at the character of Göethe’s latter poetical works; and soon after his return to Hof he wrote to Knebel in relation to one of them, ‘that in such stormy times we needed a Tyrtæus rather than a Propertius.’ The remark reached Göethe’s ears; and Göethe, usually so indifferent to censure or criticism, showed himself deeply susceptible and offended at this so-called ‘manifestation of arrogance in Herr Richter.’”