SEUME AND THE ENGLISH
57
Of peculiar interest are some casual lines to be found in the
poem “Fragment über den Kuβ,n in which Seume vainly tried to
achieve the lightness of touch of the Anacreontic poets. In his
memoirs he relates that upon his sudden departure from Leipzig
the rumor spread that he had taken flight in consequence of an
affair with the daughter of an honest artisan. He writes, “It was
definitely a lie, for the attraction to the fair sex came rather late
with me” (W, I, 58). We know of his later unhappy infatuation
for Wilhelmine Reder and Johanna Christiana Loth (PR, passim).
It is not impossible that we can discover an English girl or woman
in Canada as his first inamorata on the basis of this poem. The
verses in question read as follows :
Well, to tell the truth, I have ...
... I will confess, kissed in the old
And in the new world, too ...
It was a girl, superb and beautiful and rich
In every rarity of gifts divine.
Forsooth, I often swore
She would have conquered
With her soulful glance
The gods on Mount Olympus;
And if the fairy world had born her,
Urania would with pleasure
Have selected her as friend,
So much the graces had bestowed on her.
A girl she was who often, when
My fantasy ran riot
And lulled me into paradise,
Where I with joy in seven Heavens dwelled,
More strongly pulled me to Columbia
Than Washington and Franklin ever did.
Now think, my friends, a kiss like that
Which I at first stole from the haughty British girl,
And which she finally allowed altogether
And by herself returned, as I believed,
Was certainly a kiss
Of precious joy . . . (W, VII, 111-113).
These lines make it highly probable that there was an English girl
who attracted Seume in the new world.23
Having added some new details to Seume’s experiences in North
America, we can now return to the main theme of this study, his
meetings with Englishmen during his various tours. It was noted
that the first Englishman whom Seume met was Colonel William
Faucit. Next came the first mate, the good captain, and the