Section 129. GOETHE’S DAILY LIFE AT WEIMAR. I.
Reading edition
Passing through an ante-chamber, where, in cupboards, stand his mineralogical collections, we enter (App. § 14) the study, a low-roofed, narrow room (Gemach, n.), somewhat dark (S. 128, N. 11), for it is (S. 2, N. 1) lighted only through two tiny windows, and[1] furnished with a simplicity quite touching to behold.
In the centre[2] stands a plain oval table of unpolished oak[3]. No arm-chair is to be seen, no sofa, nothing which (S. 3, N. 7) speaks[4] of comfort. A plain hard chair has[5] beside it the basket in which he used[6] to place his handkerchief. Against[7] the wall, on the right, is a[8] long pear-tree table, with book-shelves, on which stand lexicons and manuals. Here hangs a pincushion, venerable in[9] dust, with the visiting-cards, and other trifles which[10] death had made sacred. Here[11] also a medallion of Napoleon, with this[12] circumscription: “Scilicet[13] immenso superest ex nomine multum.” On the side-wall again, a book-case, with some works of poets. On the wall to the left is a long desk of soft wood, at[14] which he was wont[6] to write. A sheet of paper with notes of[15] contemporary history is fastened near[16] the door, and behind[17] this door tables[18] of music and geology.