Goethe’s life was at no time complete without the influence of a noble-hearted woman.  This he found in Charlotte von Stein, a lady of the court, wife of the master of the horse.

The close of 1779 was occupied by a winter journey to Switzerland.  Two days were spent at Frankfort with Goethe’s parents.  Sesenheim was visited, and left with satisfaction and contentment.  At Strasburg they found as to Lessing.  The repertoire of the Weimar theater was stocked with pieces of solid merit, which long held their place.  In August, 1792, he accompanied the duke to the campaign in the Ardennes.  In 1793 he went with his master to the siege of Mainz.  Goethe took the old German epic of Reynard the Fox, with which he had long been familiar, and which, under the guise of animals, represents the conflicting passions of men, and rewrote it.

Thus far he had produced but little since his return from Italy.  His friendship with Schiller was now to begin, an alliance which, in the closeness of its intimacy and its deep effect on the character of both friends, has scarcely a parallel in literary history.  If Schiller was not at this time at the height of his reputation, he had written many of the works which have made his name famous.  He was ten years younger than Goethe.  The Raeuber plays the same part in his literary history as Goetz plays in that of Goethe.  This had been followed by Fiesco and Kabale und Liebe.  In 1787 he settled at Weimar.  The first effect of Schiller’s influence on Goethe was the completion of Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.  It stands in the first rank of Goethe’s writings.  A more solid result of the friendship between the poets was the production of Hermann und Dorothea.

The latter half of 1798 was occupied with a tour in Switzerland.  Before its commencement he visited his mother at Frankfort for the last time, and presented to her his wife and his son.  In the beginning of 1805 Goethe was convinced that either he or Schiller would die in that year.  In January they were both seized with illness.  Schiller was the first to recover, and, visiting Goethe in his sick room, fell on his neck and kissed him with intense emotion.  On April 29 they saw each other for the last time.  Schiller was on his way to the theater, whither Goethe was too ill to accompany him.  They parted at the door of Schiller’s house.  Schiller died on the evening of the 9th of May.  No one dared to tell Goethe the sad news, but he saw on the faces of those who surrounded him that Schiller must be very ill.  On the morrow of Schiller’s death, when his wife entered his room, he said, “Is it not true that Schiller was very ill yesterday?” She began to sob.  He then cried, “He is dead!” “Thou hast spoken it thyself,” she answered.  Goethe turned aside and covered his weeping eyes with his hands.  Since that time Schiller and Goethe have been inseparable in the minds of their countrymen.