Section 131. GOETHE’S DAILY LIFE AT WEIMAR. III.

He was fond of wine (S. 3, N. 2) and drank daily his two or three bottles. Lest⁠[1] this statement should convey a false impression, I hasten to⁠[2] recall to the reader’s recollection the very different habits of our fathers in respect to drinking. It was no⁠[3] unusual thing to be called “a three-bottle-man” in those days in England, when⁠[4] the three bottles were of port or Burgundy; and Goethe, a⁠[5] Rhinelander, accustomed from boyhood to wine, drank a wine which his English contemporaries would have called water. The⁠[6] amount he drank never did more than exhilarate him, and never made him unfit for work or for society. Over⁠[7] his wine, then, he sat some hours; no such thing as dessert was seen upon his table in those days; not even the customary coffee after dinner. His mode⁠[8] of living was extremely simple; and even when persons⁠[9] of very moderate circumstances burned wax⁠[10], two⁠[11] poor tallow candles were all that could be seen in his rooms. In the evening he often went to the theatre, and there⁠[12] his customary glass of punch was brought (S. 4, N. 4, man) at six o’clock (App. § 9). If (S. 27, N. 7) not at the theatre, he received friends at⁠[13] home. Between eight and nine a frugal supper was laid⁠[14], but⁠[15] he never took anything except a little salad or preserves. By⁠[16] ten o’clock he was usually in bed.—G. H. Lewes, “Life of Goethe.”