ABSTRACT
Goethe’s father makes one more attempt, his last, to determine his son’s career. He has observed Wolfgang’s new friends amiably enough and has extended hospitality to them. One of these, Schlosser, a colleague on the editorial staff of the Frankfurt paper, is a prosperous advocate, in addition to his literary activities, and has assigned a number of cases to the Goethe office; he is courting the daughter, Cornelia, whom he subsequently marries, a step that brings happiness to neither of them. But writing unpaid literary reviews and making sentimental trips to Darmstadt form a poor basis for a sound and settled existence, and, in view of Wolfgang’s inadequate legal training, the law practice does not hold out any permanent prospects either. So the father decides to send his son to Wetzlar, to the Reichskammergericht, the Supreme Court of Appeal of the Holy Roman Empire. There are family connections in Wetzlar. Grandfather Textor once worked there and, indeed, left his wig there when he had to beat a hasty retreat from some amorous visit. The grandson also is to leave his wig there, finally and for ever, in making his escape from a love affair.
