Note 16 — Section 131. GOETHE’S DAILY LIFE AT WEIMAR. III.
Reading edition
[1] Lest — impression = In order that (Damit) this observation may (Present Subj. of mögen; read App. §§ 33 and 34) not make a false impression.—For the position of the verbs see App. § 18.
[2] to — drinking = to remind the reader of (an) the very different (ganz andern) habits of our fathers in respect of drinking.—To transl. ‘drinking’ form a noun of the infinitive of the verb ‘to drink’, and use it with the def. art., according to S. 3, N. 2, and S. 11, N. 7.
[3] no — thing, nichts Ungewöhnliches; in those days, damals, which place with ‘in England’ after ‘was’.
[4] ‘when’, here wo. Notice that: The relative conjunction ‘wo’ is often used in reference to time as a translation of ‘when’ in the sense of ‘at (in or during) which time’; as—Es geschah zu einer Zeit, wo (zu or in welcher) Sie abwesend waren, it happened at a time when you were absent. It is also used relatively, in reference to place, instead of a relative pronoun preceded by a preposition; as—Kennst du das Land, wo (in welchem) die Zitronen blühen? (Goethe) Know you the land where (in which) the citrons bloom? Dies ist das Haus, wo (in dem) er wohnt, this is the house where (in which) he lives.
[5] a — wine, als Rheinländer von Jugend auf an Wein gewöhnt.
[6] The — him = What he drank had never any (= an) other effect than (als) to exhilarate him; to exhilarate, angenehm an´regen.
[7] So he sat for hours (stundenlang) over his (beim) wine.
[8] Lebensweise, f.
[9] Leute; of = in.
[10] wax = wax candles.
[11] two — rooms = one saw in his rooms only two poor (dürftig) tallow candles.
[12] dahin.
[13] bei sich zu Hause.
[14] to lay a frugal supper, ein einfaches Abendessen auftragen; to lay the table (the cloth), den Tisch decken.
[15] Say ‘but he (himself) took (essen or genießen, S. 3, N. 8.) only a little salad or preserves’.
[16] Um.