Abschied vom Leser. Die Muse schweigt. Mit jungfräulichen Wangen, Tritt sie vor dich, ihr Urtheil zu empfangen : Des Guten Beifall wünscht sie zu erlangen, . Den Wahrheit rührt, den Flimmer nicht besticht. Nicht långer wollen diese Lieder leben, Zur fernen Nachwelt wollen sie nicht schweben, Des Augenblickes Luft hat sie geboren, Sie fliehen fort im leichten Tanz der Horen. Der Lenz erwacht, auf den erwärmten Triften Schießt frohes Leben jugendlich hervor, Die Staude würzt die Luft mit Nektardüften, Den Himmel füllt ein muntrer Sångerchor, Und Jung und Alt ergeht sich in den Lüften und freuet sich und schwelgt mit Aug' und Ohr. Der Lenz entflieht! Die Blume schießt in Samen und keine bleibt von allen, welche kamen. GOETHE'S LIFE, &C. DRAMATIC WRITINGS: "Laune des Verliebten," "Die Mitschuldigen;" "Stella;" "Claudine von Villa Bella;" "Clavigo;" "Iphigenia in Tauris;" "Torquato Tasso ;"" Egmont;" "Faust." PROSE WRITINGS: "Werthers Leiden;" "Wilhelm Meister;" "Wahrheit und Dichtung;" "Die Reisebeschreibung von Italien;"" Ueber Kunst und Alterthum." EPIC POEMS: "Reinecke Fuchs;" "Herrmann und Dorothea." POEMS: "Der Erlkönig;" "Spruch;" "Wandrers Nachtlied;" "Meeres-Stille;" "Gefunden;" "Der Fischer;" "Grenzen der Menschheit;" "Rath;" "Der Sänger;" Erinnerung." FRAGMENTS IN PROSE AND POETRY. 66 Der Genius. en schwachen Flügel reizet der Aether nicht! Im Felsenneste fühlt sich der Adler schon Boll seiner Urkraft! hebt den Fittig, Senkt sich, und hebt sich, und trinkt die Sonne! Du gabst, Natur, ihm Flug und den Sonnendurst! Wenn schon die Seelen werdender Lieder mir Du gabft mir Schwingen hoher Begeisterung! Won dir geleitet wird mir die Sternenbahn fr. Leopold Graf zu Stolberg. Part IV. EPOCH SEVENTH ; SECTION III.-GOETHE. THERE is, perhaps, no man who has occupied so high a place in the literature of the last half century, and that in such varied departments, as GOETHE. The author of "Faust," 66 Werther," "Götz von Berlichingen," and " Egmont," has effected a lasting impression on the genius of the age. The remarks from the pen of a writer in the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly', on reviewing the work "Briefe von und an Göthe"," will illustrate the never-ending interest which is taken in his life and writings. "Göthe und kein Ende (Göthe and no End)! may the reader well exclaim, at the sight of another book about the wonderful 'Weimarian.' And yet, in spite of the enormous mass of writing already published about this man, the public curiosity is unsated. Book after book, criticism after criticism, 1 Westminster Review. October, 1846. 2 "Letters to and from GOETHE," edited by Dr. F. W. Riemer. Leipzig, 1846. contribution after contribution, GOETHE as a man of science, GOETHE as an artist, GOETHE in his public life, GOETHE in his private life, GOETHE's opinions, and GOETHE's conversations-these are themes that have been played upon by skilful and unskilful hands, harmoniously and discordantly; with good result, with small result, and with no result at all; and yet the cry is Göthe und kein Ende! for hitherto we have not had the last word respecting the deep and intricate problem of his nature. Curiously enough, amidst the mass of publications there has been no biography; for DOERING's 'Briefe' and scanty memoir is rather a thread on which are strung the facts of GOETHE's life, than a biography. No German author has had the laudable ambition of writing a life of the greatest of German authors. This may in some measure be accounted for, by their having so many sources at hand through which to know GOETHE, that they do not need a biography." Similar are the remarks in an article of Fraser's Magazine, entitled "Göthe and his Critics": "There is no literature which has not largely contributed to the vast bulk of Göthian criticism. Nor have authors contented themselves with a simple translation of his works; they have discoursed about them, and never grown weary of the subject. We cannot name one English translator of "Faust," who, by way of preface, has not furnished |