in sending a good painter to Germany in the eighteenth or nineteenth century.  German artists of the period must be classified not as sheep and goats, but as bad goats and worse goats.  But if he was not a fine painter he was what is better, or, at any rate, more useful to the rest of human kind, a fine character:  a noble, generous, self-sacrificing man.  In haste on hearing of Carl Friedrich’s death he came from Dresden to attend to the burying of the dead and the nourishing of the living.  The details of this first period of Richard’s ill-fortune do not amount to a great deal and are unimportant, since our subject is Richard, and his mother, brother and sisters only so far as their lives and characters influenced Richard.  Albert, the eldest of the children, was now fourteen years old; he was at the Royal school in Meissen, and there he remained.  Rosalie went to dwell with a friend of Geyer’s, a lady who lived at Dresden.  Louise was adopted by a Frau Hartwig, also at Dresden.  Richard in his cradle remained with his mother and the younger members of the tribe in Leipzig.

And so presently life began to move on as before, while the dead man slept in his grave.  But immediately fresh troubles came.  Albert fell dangerously ill and was threatened with a total breakdown of his health; Richard was an ailing infant; and a change in the arrangements of the theatrical company which provided Geyer with a portion of his income compelled him to remain in Dresden continuously.  This proved really a stroke of good fortune.  Glasenapp, basing his calculations on I know not what authorities or documents, computes that his earnings as an actor at this time came to L156 a year, and there seems every reason to think he was at least fairly well paid for his portraits.  It was not enough to be shared between two families, or, we had better say, to be devoted to the up-keep of two homes.  He determined rapidly on a bold stroke.  That he was in love with Frau Wagner is more than any one can declare with confidence; but she was an amiable, bright woman, a good mother and thrifty housekeeper; and it is likely enough that she had inspired a deep affection in a singularly loving man.  After the recovery of Albert the widow had gone for a change to Dresden; and there Geyer resolved to marry her—­and resolved quickly; for Carl Friedrich died in November 1813, and early in 1814 the marriage took place.  Soon after, the new Frau Geyer returned to Leipzig; then the whole family migrated to Dresden, where Richard was to pass from babyhood into boyhood and spend the first fourteen years of his life.

II