Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship; A Novel - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ... BOOK VIII. CHAPTER I. Felix sprang into the garden. Wilhelm followed him with rapture. A beautiful morning had clad every object with new charms, and Wilhelm felt indescribably happy. Felix was a stranger in the new and glorious world, and his father was not much better acquainted with the various objects about which the boy made such repeated and incessant inquiries. At length they joined the gardener, who informed them of the names and of the uses of a multitude of plants. "Wilhelm beheld nature in a new aspect, and the inquisitive curiosity of the child occasioned him now to feel how slight an interest he had hitherto taken in external things, and how limited was his real knowledge. "Upon this day, the very happiest of his life, it appeared as if his education was actually beginning, and he felt the necessity of instructing his own mind, now that he was called upon to teach. Jarno and the Abbe did not return till evening, when they were accompanied by a stranger. Wilhelm received him with astonishment, and scarcely believed his eyes when he saw Werner, who for a moment was equally surprised at recognizing him. They embraced each other affectionately, and each expressed his opinion that he thought the other considerably altered. Werner declared that his friend was taller, stouter, more erect, more polished in his bearing, and more pleasing in his manner. "And yet I miss something of your old true-heartedness," he added. "It will appear again," replied Wilhelm, "when we have recovered a little from our first astonishment." Werner, however, had not made so favourable an impresretrograded than advanced. He 'was thinner than formerly, his sharp features appeared to have grown finer, his nose was longer, his head had become bald, his voice...