the compendiums, about the sufficiency of which Hamlet had already whispered a word of caution into our ears, came more and more into suspicion.  We were directed to the contemplation of an active life, which we were so fond of leading; and to the knowledge of the passions, which we partly felt, partly anticipated, in our own bosoms, and which, if though they had been rebuked formerly, now appeared to us as something important and dignified, because they were to be the chief object of our studies; and the knowledge of them was extolled as the most excellent means of cultivating our mental powers.  Besides, such a mode of thought was quite in accordance with my own conviction,—­nay, with my poetical mode of treatment.  I therefore, without opposition, after I had thwarted so many good designs, and seen so many fair hopes vanish, reconciled myself to my father’s intention of sending me to Strasburg, where I was promised a cheerful, gay life, while I should prosecute my studies, and at last take my degree.

In spring I felt my health, but still more my youthful spirits, restored, and once more longed to be out of my father’s house, though with reasons far different from those on the first time.  The pretty chambers and spots where I had suffered so much had become disagreeable to me, and with my father himself there could be no pleasant relation.  I could not quite pardon him for having manifested more impatience than was reasonable at the relapse of my disease, and at my tedious recovery; nay, for having, instead of comforting me by forbearance, frequently expressed himself in a cruel manner, about that which lay in no man’s hand, as if it depended only on the will.  And he, too, was in various ways hurt and offended by me.

For young people bring back from the university general ideas, which, indeed, is quite right and good; but, because they fancy themselves very wise in this, they apply them as a standard to the objects that occur, which must then, for the most part, lose by the comparison.  Thus I had gained a general notion of architecture, and of the arrangement and decoration of houses, and imprudently, in conversation, had applied this to our own house.  My father had designed the whole arrangement of it, and carried out its construction with great perseverance; and, considering that it was to be exclusively a residence for himself and his family, nothing could be objected to it:  in this taste, also, very many of the houses in Frankfort were built.  An open staircase ran up through the house, and touched upon large ante-rooms, which might very well have been chambers themselves, as, indeed, we always passed the fine season in them.  But this pleasant, cheerful existence for a single family—­this communication from above to below—­became the greatest inconvenience as soon as several parties occupied the house, as we had but too well experienced on the occasion of the French quartering.  For that painful scene with the king’s lieutenant would not have happened,