depressed and will look for a wife. He visits his old friends and their wives, whom he finds in unenviable relationships. Still not convinced that the life of a bachelor is one for him, he returns home, and without further ado proposes to his housekeeper. The following marriage proposal is, according to Busch biographer Joseph Kraus, one of the shortest in the history of German literature: "Mädchen", spricht er, "sag mir ob..." Und sie lächelt: "Ja, Herr Knopp!" "Wench," he stammers, "if I were..." And she smiles: "With pleasure, Sir!" According to Wessling, Busch became skeptical of marriage after writing the story. To Marie Anderson he wrote: "I will never marry(...) I am already in good hands with my sister". Last works Among Busch's last works were the stories, Clement Dove, the Poet Thwarted (Balduin Bählamm, der verhinderte Dichter) (1883) and Painter Squirtle (Maler Klecksel) (1884), both of which focus on artistic failure, and indirectly his own failure. Both stories begin with a preface, which, for biographer Joseph Kraus, were bravura pieces of "Komische Lyrik" — German comic poetry. Clement Dove ridicules the bourgeois amateur poet circle of Munich, "The Crocodiles" (Die Krokodile), and their prominent members Emanuel Geibel, Paul von Heyse, and Adolf Wilbrandt. Painter Squirtle criticizes the bourgeois art connoisseur who believes the worth of art is gauged by its price. Mit scharfen Blick nach Kennerweise Seh ich zunächst mal nach dem Preise, Und bei genauerer Betrachtung Steigt mit dem Preise auch die Achtung. Ich blicke durch die hohle Hand, Ich blinzle, nicke: "Ah, scharmant!" Das Kolorit, die Pinselführung, Die Farbentöne, die Gruppierung, Dies Lüster, diese Harmonie, Ein Meisterwerk der Phantasie. For just a minute comment lags, While secretly I note the tags. (I emulate the trade's elect: High price engenders high respect.) I form a spyglass with my hand, I squint, I nod, I back-step: "Grand!" What feeling, both naive and deep! What broad authoritative sweep! The thrill transmitted as one traces That lattice-work of patterned spaces! Those economical designs Of trailing asymptotic lines! The prose play Edwards Dream (Eduards Traum) was released in 1891, composed of several small grouped episodes, rather than one linear storyline. The work received mixed reception. Joseph Kraus felt it was the peak of the life works by Busch, his nephews called it a masterwork of world literature, and the publisher of a critical collective edition spoke of a narrative style that