CHAPTER I. GENESIS. In a psychological point of view, it is perhaps questionable whether from birth and genealogy, how closely scrutinised soever, much insight is to be gained. Nevertheless, as in every phenomenon the Beginning remains always the most notable moment; so, with regard to any great man, we rest not till, for our scientifie profit or not, the whole circumstances of his first appearance in this Planet, and what manner of Public Entry he made, are with utmost completeness rendered manifest. To the Genesis of our Clothes-Philosopher, then, be this First Chapter consecrated. Unhappily, indeed, he seems to be of quite obscure extraction; uncertain, we might almost say, whether of any so that this Genesis of his can properly be nothing but an Exodus (or transit out of Invisibility into Visibility); whereof the preliminary portion is nowhere forthcoming. In the village of Entepfuhl,' thus writes he, in the Bag Libra, on various Papers, which we arrange with difficulty, 'dwelt An'dreas Futteral and his wife; childless, in still seclusion, and 'cheerful though now verging towards old age. Andreas had 'been grenadier Sergeant, and even regimental Schoolmaster 'under Frederick the Great; but now, quitting the halbert and 'ferule for the spade and pruning-hook, cultivated a little Or'chard, on the produce of which, he Cincinnatus-like, lived not with'out dignity. Fruits, the peach, the apple, the grape, with other 'varieties came in their season; all which Andreas knew how 'to sell on evenings he smoked largely, or read (as beseemed a 'regimental Schoolmaster), and talked to neighbours that would 'listen about the Victory of Rossbach; and how Fritz the Only (der Einzige) had once with his own royal lips spoken to him 'had been pleased to say, when Andreas as camp-sentinel de 'manded the pass-word, "Schweig Hund (Peace hound)! "before 'any of his staff-adjutants could answer. "Das nenn' ich mir einen ( König, There is what I call a King," would Andreas exclaim: ""but the smoke of Kunersdorf was still smarting his eyes." 'Gretchen, the housewife, won like Desdemona by the deeds 'rather than the looks of her now veteran Othello, lived not in 'altogether military subordination; for, as Andreas said, "the wo'mankind will not drill (wer kann die Weiberchen dressiren):"ever'theless she at heart loved him both for valour and wisdom; to her 'a Prussian grenadier Sergeant and Regiment's Schoolmaster was 'little other than a Cicero and Cid: what you see, yet cannot see over, is as good as infinite. Nay, was not Andreas in very deed a 'man of order, courage, downrightness (Geradheit); that under"stood Büsching's Geography, had been in the victory of Rossbach, ' and left for dead in the camisade of Hochkirch? The good Gretch6 en, for all her fretting, watched over him and hovered around him, as only a true house-mother can: assiduously she cooked and sewed ' and scoured for him; so that not only his old regimental sword and 'grenadier-cap, but the whole habitation and environment, where on pegs of honour they hung, looked ever trim and gay; a 'roomy painted Cottage, embowered in fruit-trees and forest-trees. evergreens and honeysuckles; rising many-coloured from amid shaven grass-plots, flowers struggling in through the very win'dows; under its long projecting eaves nothing but garden-tools ' in methodic piles (to screen them from rain), and scats where, 'especially on summer nights, a King might have wished to sit 'and smoke, and call it his. Such a Bauergut (Copyhold) had 'Gretchen given her veteran; whose sinewy arms, and long-dis'used gardening talent, had made it what you saw. 6 'Into this umbrageous Man's-nest, one meek yellow evening or 'dusk, when the Sun, hidden indeed from terrestrial Entepfuhl, 'did nevertheless journey visible and radiant along the celestial 'Balance (Libra), it was that a Stranger of reverend aspect en'tered; and, with grave salutation, stood before the two rather ' astonished housemates. He was close-muffled in a wide mantle; 'which without farther parley unfolding, he deposited therefrom 'what seemed some Basket, overhung with green Persian silk; 'saying only: Ihr lieben Leute, hier bringe ein unschätzbares Ver 'leihen; nehmt es in aller Acht, sorgfältigst benützt es: mit hohem Lohn, oder wohl mit schweren Zinsen, wird's einst zurückgefordert. ""Good Christian people, here lies for you an invaluable Loan; 'take all heed thereof, in all carefulness employ it: with high recompense, or else with heavy penalty, will it one day be re'quired back" Uttering which singular words, in a clear, belllike, forever memorable tone, the Stranger gracefully withdrew; and before Andreas or his wife, gazing in expectant wonder, had 'time to fashion either question or answer, was clean gone. 'Neither out of doors could aught of him be seen or heard; he 'had vanished in the thickets, in the dusk; the Orchard-gate 'stood quietly closed: the Stranger was gone once and always. 'So sudden had the whole transaction been, in the autumn still'ness and twilight, so gentle, noiseless, that the Futterals could 'have fancied it all a trick of Imagination, or some visit from an 'authentic Spirit. Only that the green silk Basket, such as 'neither Imagination nor authentic Spirits are wont to carry, still 'stood visible and tangible on their little parlour-table. Towards 'this the astonished couple, now with lit candle, hastily turned 'their attention. Lifting the green veil, to see what invaluable it 'hid, they descried there amid down and rich white wrappages, 'no Pitt Diamond or Hapsburg Regalia, but in the softest sleep, 'a little red-coloured Infant! Beside it, lay a roll of gold Fried'richs the exact amount of which was never publicly known; also 'a Taufschein (baptismal certificate), wherein unfortunately noth'ing but the Name was decipherable; other documents or indica'tion none whatever. To wonder and conjecture was unavailing, then and always 'thenceforth. Nowhere in Entepfuhl, on the morrow or next 'day, did tidings transpire of any such figure as the Stranger; 'nor could the Traveller, who had passed through the neighbour'ing Town in coach-and-four, be connected with this Apparition, 'except in the way of gratuitous surmise. Meanwhile, for An'dreas and his wife, the grand practical problem was: What to 'do with this little sleeping red-coloured Infant? Amid amazeเ ments and curiosities, which had to die away without external 'satisfying, they resolved, as in such circumstances charitable 'prudent people needs must, on nursing it, though with spoon |