ABSTRACT
When Marian Evans and G. H. Lewes came to Frankfurt on their first visit in 1854, the city was enjoying that period of independence, growth and prosperity which entered the books as the 'Golden Years'. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's father had extended, modernized and partly rebuilt two adjacent medieval houses during 1755–56. Goethe's paternal grandfather had been a Thuringian tailor of peasant stock who had amassed a fortune and eventually settled in Frankfurt. His son, Goethe's father, was given a university education and went on a grand tour to Rome, Naples, Milan, Paris and the Low Countries: steps in a carefully planned social ascent from the tradesman's world into which he was born. In 1775, he moved to Weimar, but never lost his Frankfurt accent. He was always proud of his birthplace. In 1775, he moved to Weimar, but never lost his Frankfurt accent. He was always proud of his birthplace.
