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PREFACE.

IT has been observed, by a very profound German critic✦ that the periods of Goethe's outward life are most intimately connected with the eras of his literary career; and they are generally divided into three principal periods, which have been designated as the sentimental and intense, the ideal, and the elegant. In the former, Goetz von Berlichingen and Werther are the chief illustrations. of his genius; and in those two works, Goethe found means to gratify his strongest youthful propensities-the one, for German things and manners; the other, for the delineation of joys and sorrows, common to humanity, which agitated his bosom. The character of his works, at this period, was national, full of that German spirit, for which Lessing fought so manfully, and which Goethe expressed with matchless felicity.

Between the first and second eras of his literary career, an interval of twelve years elapsed, during which he produced nothing very considerable, but it was, at this time, that he visited Italy. If, as it has been said, his taste had previously inclined to the Flemish school, it was after his visit to Italy that his eyes opened to the full perception of high art. His rich and fertile spirit, which embraced at once the Lofty, the Child-like, and the Lovely, now turned to the Noble and the Elevated. In place of his former principle of naturalness or reality, now arose that of Idealitythat pure Ideality which transports nature into the regions of Idea and pure Beauty. The three great works which fall within this era, are William Meister, Faust, and Hermann and Dorothea.

What Goethe really intended by the first of these performances must remain, to some degree, a mystery. Nevertheless, Wilhelin Meister must ever be considered as one of the Author's most

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* The writer of the article Goethe in the Conversations-Lexicon, elegantly presented to the English public by Mrs. Austin, in her Characteristics of Goethe.'

admirable works, for in that and Faust are combined all the universality of his genius. If, with reference to Goethe himself, we compare Werther with Wilhelm Meister, we shall see, that in the former he is still wrestling with life and destiny; in the latter, that he has vanquished them, and has found the remedy for evil, in the harmonious culture of his moral Being.

Those who read Wilhelm Meister for the mere attractions of incident, character, or description, will probably be disappointed in their expectations. But it will be found full of interest to him who considers it as deciphering, according to the Author's adopted conclusion, the riddle of human life, who loves to pursue the workings of his mind, to track the strange, enigmatical, tortuous wanderings of his genius, or to engage in the ever-baffled, yet attractive chase after his meaning, through the labyrinth of his flowing style, and multifarious imagery. The appearance of Wilhelm Meister gave rise to a species of novel, which had previously been unknown in Germany, but has since very generally prevailed, not only in that country, but in England and elsewhere. The Author takes up a fictitious or historical personage, and in the narrative of his life, in accordance with his own views and maxims, gradually developes the peculiar art, to which his hero has devoted himself. But Wilhelm Meister went somewhat beyond the sphere of such imaginary portraits. It could not have been the mere design of the Author, to describe the progress of a youth in the dramatic art, although a large portion of the work relates to the drama, for in the last four books that topic is wholly dismissed, and another object is brought prominently forward. We now acquire a faint perception of the Author's aim, to describe the general growth and ripening of a youth of talent into Man. His passion for the drama is only a transition state, and brings no permanent satisfaction. His education for life, for free and active exertion in a higher field, seems to be the true end.

It follows from this indistinct enunciatiou of the Author's meaning, that no book has been more generally misunderstood Some have rejected it, as an unintelligible treatise on metaphysics, under the garb of an ill-arranged fiction, whilst others have

praised it extravagantly, as displaying a wonderful knowledge of the actual world, and delineating a host of natural characters and situations. The characters, however, may be considered rather as personifications of distinct trains of thought, than as real beings, such as we meet with in the world. On the whole, it is a strange romance: it attracts us with an irresistible charm: during the perusal, we seem to wander from one half-resolved doubt to another, until, at the end of our pilgrimage, we begin tc suspect that the writer has been intentionally misleading us into the belief that there exists some deep mystery in his pages. Alternately attracted and repelled, we at last take refuge in the conviction that our Author is one of the Inspired, a true and original Genius, notwithstanding our inability to penetrate his views, or to comprehend why he is at times so obscure and unintelligible, and at others so profound.

We cannot conclude without bearing testimony to the merits of Mr. Carlyle's admirable version of the Lehrjahre, which is so faithful and vigorous, and altogether so satisfactory, that had Mr. Bohn been at liberty to introduce it into his Standard Library, there would have been no occasion for any other labourer in the same field.

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