1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 253
Letter, and the Public Journals, what has be-
fallen at Weimar; that you have lost him who
was the most precious to you in this world;
that your own life, threatened by violent disease,
has been in extreme danger.
Letter, and the Public Journals, what has be-
fallen at Weimar; that you have lost him who
was the most precious to you in this world;
that your own life, threatened by violent disease,
has been in extreme danger.
Thomas Carlyle
pfen und so ist denn Goethe von Tag
zu Tag seiner vollkommenen Genesung
entgegengeschritten, so dass Er jetzt schon
wieder auf, und in gewohnter Weise bescha? ftigt,
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? 244 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
ist, wie wohl Er sich noch stille bey Sich ha? lt
und wie billig noch alle a? ussere Anregung
vermeidet. Die Krankheit war also nicht
zum Tode sondern zur Ehre Gottes, und wir
scho? pfen aus diesem gla? nzenden Sieg Seiner
unvergleichlichen Natur die sicherste Hoffnung,
Ihn nunmehr noch manches scho? ne Jahr in
vollkommenen Kra? ften tha? tig voran zu sehen.
Vor allen freue ich mich nun auf die Vollen-
dung des Faust woran jetzt so viel gethan, dass
sie nicht ferner zu den Unmo? glichkeiten zu
rechnen ist. Ich freue mich dazu als zu einem
Werk das an Umfang und inneren Reichthum
nicht seines Gleichen haben wird, indem es nicht
allein nach allen Verha? ltnissen der geistigen
und sinnlichen Welt hinru? hrt, sondern auch
die menschliche Brust mit allen ihren Leiden-
schaften und Tha? tigkeiten, mit ihren Richtungen
auf das Wirkliche, so wie auf die imagina? ren
Regionen des Glaubens und Aberglaubens
vollkommen ausspricht, und zwar in allen
denkbaren Formen und Versen der Poesie.
Deutschland wird sich daran u? ben um es zu
verstehen und vollkommen zu geniessen, und
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 245
die Nachbarnationen werden es ihren vorzu? g-
lichsten Talenten danken, wenn sie dieses
Deutsche Product durch immer gelungenere
Versionen bey sich national machen.
Es steht mir zwar nicht zu Ihnen zu rathen,
wa? re ich jedoch an Ihrer Stelle, so wu? rde ich
sicher fu? r meine Nation etwas dankbares unter-
nehmen, wenn ich die scho? nsten Mussestunden
einiger Jahre auf eine treue Uebersetzung des
Faust verwendete. Die Proben Ihrer Helena
haben zur Genu? ge gezeigt, dass Sie nicht allein
das deutsche Original vollkommen verstehen,
sondern auch Ihre eigene Sprache genugsam in
Ihrer Gewalt haben, um das Empfundene und
Verstandene anmuthig und geistreich wieder
auszudru? cken. Die Uebersetzung des Lord L.
Gower mag denen genu? gen die das Original nicht
kennen, und man mag sie als Vorla? ufer eines Bes-
sern scha? tzen, allein genau besehen mag es ihm
gefehlt haben, beydes an Einsicht wie an Muth.
Man soll aber nie fragen ob eine Nation fu? r
ein Werk reif1 sey, bevor man wagen will es ihr
1 Two words here, likely to be torn by the seal, are re-
peated in the margin in Goethe's hand.
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? 246 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
zu bringen. In solcher Erwartung ha? tte Goethe
noch lange Zeit haben mo? gen. Die Nationen
aber reifen an ku? hnen Werken heran und man
soll ihnen daher das Beste nicht vorenthalten.
Ich hatte vor, Ihnen noch manches von
meiner Reise zu schreiben, ich wollte Ihnen
von manchem grossen Eindrucke erza? hlen den
ich gehabt, wie mich der Mont Blanc und
Monte Rosa so wie der Garda und Genfer See
in Bezug auf die Farbenlehre bescha? ftiget; auch
dass ich auf meiner Ru? ckreise mich der Ueber-
setzung Ihres Lebens von Schiller erfreut;
allein es fehlt mir heute an Raum wie an Zeit;
und ich schliesse fu? r diessmal, mit den herz-
lichsten Gru? ssen an Sie und Ihre Frau Gemalin,
und mit dem Wunsch recht bald wieder von
Ihnen zu ho? ren.
Ihr treuer Freund,
ECKERMANN.
WEIMAR, d. 6. Dcbr. 1830.
[Postscript by Goethe in his own handwriting. ]
Glu? cklicherweise kann ich eigenha? ndig hinzu-
fu? gen dass ich lebe, und hoffen darf noch eine
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? 183o ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 247
Zeitlang in der Nahe meiner Geliebten zu ver weilen. Gruss und Segen den theuern Gatten!
Ihre beyden Briefe sind angelangt, der nach Berlin bestellt.
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, d. 7. Dcbr. 1830.
[TRANSLATION. ]
MY DEAR SIR AND FRIEND ! -- Pardon me,
that my answer to your last valued letter
has been delayed until now. I received it
in April, the day before setting out for Italy
with Herr von Goethe, the son. I returned to
Weimar from this journey last week, but alone,
for that friend, as you perhaps have seen in the
newspapers, closed his earthly course in Rome. 1
1 Eckermann and August von Goethe set out on this journey
on the 22d of April 1830; but August, whose conduct had
made his absence from Weimar desirable even to his Father,
who was much attached to him, was soon galled by Ecker-
mann's restraint, and, with Goethe's permission, the two travel-
lers parted company at Genoa on the 12th of September;
August, after visits to Pompeii and to Naples, proceeded to
Rome, where a stroke of paralysis brought his life to a close on
the 27th of October 1830. He was buried near the Pyramid
of Cestius; Thorwaldsen (out of respect for August's Father)
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? 248 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
His family have keenly felt this loss of a be-
loved member, but they have gradually sub-
mitted to what has unalterably befallen, and
have now once more wholly turned back to the
living and their concerns. Above all, Goethe's
high task was not interrupted for a single day;
for on all occasions we have to revere in him
the principle of mastering useless sorrow by
useful activity.
I had returned, however, but a few days, when
on the night of the 25th-26th of November
Goethe awoke with so violent a hemorrhage of
the lungs, that his life was in danger, and was
only saved by a speedy blood-letting and by the
vigour of his constitution. You may imagine
that all Weimar was thrown by this into a state
of great emotion and no little anxiety. How-
ever, on the second day, the encouraging report
of his eminent physician, Hofrath Vogel, gave
designed and erected a monument to his memory. Eckermann
did not return to Weimar until the 23d of November. He
was most kindly received by Goethe, "who talked of many
things, only not a word of his son. "--See Diintzer's Life oj
Goethe, translated by Thomas W. Lyster (2 vols. , London,
1883), ii. pp. 416-421. 4
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 249
us the best hopes; and, from day to day, Goethe
has steadily advanced toward complete re-
covery, so that he is now again up and busy in
his usual ways, although he still remains quietly
at home, and avoids, as is desirable, all external
excitement. Thus the illness was not fatal,
but for the glory of God; and from this strik-
ing victory of his incomparable constitution,
we derive the most confident hope that we
shall yet see him at work, and in complete
possession of his powers, for many fair years
to come.
Above all, I now look forward to the com-
pletion of Faust, of which so much is finished,
that it is no longer to be counted among the
impossibilities. And I rejoice in the work as
one, which in compass and in richness of con-
tents will not have its like, touching as it does
not only on all the relations of the spiritual and
intellectual world, but also giving complete ex-
pression to the human heart, with all its passions
and energies, with its dispositions for action,
as well as for the imaginary regions of belief and
superstition; and this too, in every conceivable
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? 250 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
form and measure of poetry. Germany will try
its strength on the work, in order to understand
and fully enjoy it, and neighbouring nations
will be grateful to their men of most distin-
guished talent, if by versions, ever more and
more successful, they make this German pro-
duct one of their own national possessions.
It is indeed not for me to offer advice, but if
I were in your place, I should certainly under-
take something for which my country would
be grateful, by employing, for some years, my
best leisure hours on a faithful translation of
Faust. The specimens of your Helena have
sufficiently shown, that you not only completely
understand the German original, but have also
your own language sufficiently at command to
express in it the sentiment and meaning with
grace and spirit. Lord L. Gower's translation
may be sufficient for those who do not know
the original, and may be valued as the fore-
runner of a better version, but, critically ex-
amined, it seems to be lacking alike in insight
and in vigour.
But one should never ask if a Nation is
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 251
ready for a work, before one ventures to offer it.
Were that the case Goethe might still have had to
wait a long time. Nations are indeed matured
by means of daring works, and therefore the
best ought not to be withheld from them.
I had intended to write to you many things
of my journey. I wanted to tell you of the
many deep impressions I received; how Mont
Blanc and Monte Rosa, as well as the Lakes of
Garda and Geneva, had occupied me in refer-
ence to the Farbenlehre, and also that on my
homeward journey I was cheered by the trans-
lation of your Life of Schiller; but both time
and space fail me to-day, and I now conclude
with most cordial greetings to you and your
lady, and with the hope that I may soon hear
from you again.
Your faithful friend,
ECKERMANN.
WEIMAR, 6th December 1830.
Happily I can add with my own hand that I
am alive, and mayhope yet for a time to abide
with my loved ones. Greetings and blessings
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? 2J2 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
to the dear Pair. Your two letters have arrived,
and the one for Berlin has been forwarded.
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, Tth December 1830.
Carlyle, writing to his Mother on the 11 th Feb-
ruary 1831, told her of the receipt of the preceding
letter, and of his reply to it:--
"We had a letter from Goethe, or rather from Goethe's
secretary, with a short kind postscript from Goethe to tell
that he was 'still in the land of the living and beside his
loved ones. ' He has lost his only son (far from him,
travelling in Italy); and has had a violent fit of sickness
(a flux of blood), so that for two days his own life was
despaired of. He bore his son's death like a hero; 'did
not cease from his labours for a single day. ' I have written
to him all that was kind: engaged among other things to
translate his Poem of Faust, which I reckoned would be a
gratification to him. If my own Book1 were out, I would
begin it with alacrity. "
XXXIV. --Carlyle to GOETHE.
CRAIGENPUTTOCK, DUMFRIES,
iid January 1831.
MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND--I learn
with the truest sorrow, by Dr. Eckermann's
1 Sartor Resartus.
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?
1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 253
Letter, and the Public Journals, what has be-
fallen at Weimar; that you have lost him who
was the most precious to you in this world;
that your own life, threatened by violent disease,
has been in extreme danger. My only con-
solation is that you yourself are still preserved
to us; that you bore your heavy stroke with
the heroic wisdom we should have anticipated
of you. It is a truth, which we are daily
taught in stern lessons, that here nothing has a
"continuing city;" that man's life is as a
"vapour which quickly fleeth away. " Within
the bygone Twelvemonth I too have lost no
fewer than five of my near relatives: the last,
a Sister, peculiarly endeared to me by worth and
kind remembrances, whom I now seem to have
loved almost more than any other of my kindred.
"We shall go to them, they shall not return to
us. " Meantime, while Days are given us, let
us employ them: "Our Field is Time," what
we plant therein has to grow through Eternity;
our Hope and Comfort is "to work while it is
called To-day. " And so: Forward! Forward!
What Dr. Eckermann mentions of your being
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? 254 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
busied with a Continuation of Faust could not be
other than great news for me. Pray tell him also
that his counsel and admonition about an English
version of Faust came in the right season; that
I had already long been meditating such an en-
terprise, and had well nigh determined, before
much time elapsed, on attempting it. The British
World is daily getting readier for a true copy of
Faust: already we everywhere understand that
Faust is no theatrical spectacle, but a Poem;
that they who know and can know nothing of
it, must also say nothing of it; which, within
the last four years, is an immense advancement.
Lord L. Gower's Translation is now universally
admitted to be one of the worst, perhaps the
very worst, of such a work, ever accomplished
in Britain; our Island, I think, owes you some
amends; would that I were the man to pay it!
As I said, however, I have as good as deter-
mined to make the endeavour ere long.
In an early number of the Edinburgh Review,
perhaps in the next, there is to appear, as I
learn, a criticism of the Briefwechsel, involving
most probably a delineation and comparison of
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 255
the two great Correspondents. I must warn
all German Friends to expect but little: the
Critic, I apprehend, will be the same who
criticised Faust and Lord Gower in the last
Number of that Periodical :J an admiring Dilet-
tantism, but no true insight or earnest criticism,
is to be looked for. --I too am again to speak
a word on that favourite subject, a word of
warning and direction, where the harvest is
great, and the reapers many and more zealous
than experienced. A certain William Taylor
of Norwich, the Translator of your Iphigenie,
has written what he calls a Historic Survey of
German Poetry; the tendency of which you
may judge of sufficiently by this one fact, that
the longest Article but one is on August von
Kotzebue. Taylor is a man of real talent, but
a Polemical Sceptic only; with no eye for
Poetry, who sees in the highest minds only
their relation to the Church Creed; whose book,
therefore, as likely to mislead many, I have felt
called upon to contradict, and, by such artillery
1 Mr. William Empson, Jeffrey's son-in-law, afterwards
editor of the Edinburgh Review. See infra, p. 282.
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? 2$6 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
as I had, batter down into its original rubbish.
I fear you will not like the satirical style: the
more agreeable will some concluding specula-
tions be on what I have named World-Litera-
ture, after you; and how Europe, in the
communion of these its chief writers, is again
to have a "Sacred College and Council of
Amphictyons," and become more and more one
universal Commonwealth. This, it seems to
me, is one of the most cheering signs of the
future that are yet discernible. Literature is
now nearly all in all to us; not our speech
only, but our Worship and Lawgiving; our
best Priest must henceforth be our Poet; the
Vates will in future be practically all that he
ever was in theory,--or else Nothing, which
last consummation we cannot consent to admit.
The Review of Taylor is not to appear for some
months:1 in the meanwhile, I am working at
another curious enterprise of my own, which is
yet too amorphous to be prophesied of. 2
1 It appeared in the Edinburgh Review, No. CV. , 1831.
See Miscellanies, vol. iii. , p. 283.
2 Sartor Resartus.
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 257
Leaving now these Paper Speculations, let
me descend a little to the solid Earth. We
have a mild winter here, are busy and
peaceable: often look into that Weimar House,
and figure our Friend and Master there, and
pray for all blessings on him. A little collec-
tion of Memorials, intended to cross the sea,
is also gathering itself together: we anticipate
that before the next 28th of August, at all events,
it will have saluted you. I have already got nearly
all my writings for the Foreign Review; and will
send them in the shape of A ushangebogen, since
they are yet in no other. Learning from your
Tag-und Jahresheft that you had no copy of the
English Iphigenie, I sent to London to procure
one; hitherto without effect; however, as the
work stands entire in this Taylor s Historic
Survey, I will study to send it in one or the
other form. Some weeks ago we heard of a
wandering Portrait-painter being at Dumfries,
who took what were called admirable likenesses,
in pencil, at two hours' sitting: whereupon we
drove down, and set the Artist to work; who
unhappily produced, by way of Portrait for me,
s
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? 258 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
a piece of beautiful pencilling, which had no feature of mine about it; so that it cannot be
sent to Weimar, being worth nothing: however,
my wife has undertaken to copy and rectify it;
at all events, to clip you some profile of me.
Would that there were aught else we could do
for you in our Island; had I but a true work of
my own writing to send!
The Saint Simonians in Paris have again
transmitted me a large mass of their perform-
ances: Expositions of their Doctrine; Pro-
clamations sent forth during the famous Three
Days; many numbers of their weekly Journal.
They seem to me to be earnest, zealous, and
nowise ignorant men, but wandering in strange
paths. I should say they have discovered and
laid to heart this momentous and now almost
forgotten truth, Man is still Man; and are
already beginning to make false applications of
it. 1 I have every disposition to follow your
advice, and stand apart from them; looking
1 Carlyle, in Sartor Rcsartus (Book III. , chapter xii. ),
speaking of the Saint-Simonian Society, expresses the same
idea in almost the same words.
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 259
on their Society and its progress neverthe-
less as a true and remarkable Sign of the
Times.
In our own country, too, the political atmos-
phere grows turbid, and great things are
fermenting and will long ferment. To which
also I reckon that my proper relation is that
chiefly of Spectator: the world is heavily
struggling out into the new era; the struggle
has lasted centuries, and may yet last centuries:
let him who has seed-corn, or can borrow seed-
corn, cast it into these troubled Nile-waters,
where, in due season, it will be found after
many days. Some of our friends are high in
the new Ministry, especially the Edinburgh
Reviewer of Meister, a good man and bad
critic :l but the Sun and Seasons are the only
changes that visit the wilderness. Mein Acker
ist die Zeit.
Perhaps ere long a letter will come from
Weimar, to tell us that you are still well, and
nobly occupied. Meanwhile, know always that
we love you and reverence you. To your dear
1 Jeffrey.
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? 26o HITZIG TO CARLYLE 1831
Ottilie speak peace, and from us, all that is
kind and sympathising. "God is great, God
is good. "--I remain ever, your affectionate,
grateful Friend, THQMAS CARLYLE
Please to return Dr. Eckermann my friend-
liest thanks, and encourage him to repeat his
kind favour: I will surely reply to it.
XXXV. --Hitzig to CARLYLE.
[28A4 January 1831. ]
Ew. Wohlgeborn waren uns schon vor dem
Erscheinen Ihrer Lebensbeschreibung unsers
grossen Landmannes zu ehrenwerth bekannt, als
dass letztere nicht in uns den Wunsch erregen
sollen, mit Ihnen in na? here Beziehung zu treten.
Dies zu bewirken schien uns die geeigneteste
Weise, Sie zur Mitgliedschaft unserer an-
spruchlosen literarischen Verbru? derung einzu-
laden, und wir statten Ihnen unsern verbind-
lichsten Dank ab, dass Sie unsere freundliche
Einladung eben so freundlich angenommen.
Dagegen fu? rchten wir, dass Ew. Wohlgeborn
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? 1831 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 261
in einem Irrthum sich befinden, wenn Sie der
Ansicht wa? ren, dass unsere Gesellschaft eine
besondere Wirksamkeit nach aussen wu? nsche.
Ihr Hauptzweck besteht in dem Genuss
ausla? ndischer Geisteswerke und in der
gewu? nschten Verbindung mit ausla? ndischen
Dichtern und Aesthetikern, um sich solche
na? her der Quelle zu verschaffen und eine
bewa? hrtere Bekanntschaft mit dem reellen
Neuen, als durch die getru? btere der Journale
zu erlangen. Die Gesellschaft, noch zu jung,
besitzt bis jetzt keine Diplome und wu? nschte
auch, wenn diese einst ausgefertigt werden,
dass ihre Mitglieder davon keinen o? ffentlichen
Gebrauch machten. Der Deutsche lebt einmal
--auch nach 1831 \_sic\--mehr fu? r die Familie,
als fu? r die Oeffentlichkeit, er tra? gt das Familien-
leben gern in die Literatur u? ber, wo es sich
thun la? sst. Ew. Wohlgeborn werden aus
diesen Gru? nden die Bitte entschuldigen, von
dem Titel eines Ehrenmitgliedes unserer Gesell-
schaft keinen o? ffentlichen Gebrauch zu machen,
indem er einen Schein des Anspruchs auf die
Gesellschaft werfen wu? rde, den diese gern
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? 262 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 1831
vermiede. Beifolgend theilen wir Ihnen vor-
la? ufig, nebst einer Anzeige Ihres Werks vom
Herrn Dr. Seidel, unsere Statuten, und ein
a? lteres Namensverzeichniss unserer Mitglieder,
deren Zahl sich seit der Zeit auf eine erfreuliche
Weise vermehrt hat, nach Ihrem Wunsche mit.
Der unsere ist, dass uns recht bald Gelegenheit
wu? rde, wozu Sie uns Hoffnung gemacht, Sie
perso? nlich in unserer Mitte zu sehen.
Hochachtungsvoll,
Ew. Wohlgeborn,
ergebenste,
Die Gesellschaft fu? r ausla? ndische Literatur,
HITZIG.
BERLIN, beschlossen in der
Sitzung vom 28len Januar 1831.
[Translation. ]
Sir--You were already, before the appear-
ance of your Biography of our great countryman,
too honourably known to us for this work to fail
in exciting in us the wish to enter into closer
relation with you. The fittest means of accom-
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? 1831 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 263
plishing this was, it seemed to us, to invite you
to become a Member of our unpretending
Literary Brotherhood, and we offer you our
most grateful thanks for having accepted, in so
friendly a manner, our friendly invitation.
At the same time we fear that you, Sir, may
have misapprehended us, if you have thought
our view was to gain for our society any par-
ticular outside agency. Its chief aim consists
in the enjoyment of foreign intellectual works,
and in desiring a connection with foreign poets
and aesthetic writers, for the sake of providing
ourselves with this enjoyment nearer the source,
and of securing more authentic information con-
cerning what is really new than the dim medium
of the Periodicals affords. The Society is still
too young to issue Diplomas, and, if in future
it should do so, it would desire its members to
make no public use of them. It is the way of
the German--even in 1831--to live more for
the family than for the public, and he likes, where
it is possible, to carry the habits of family life
into Literature. You will therefore pardon the
request, that you will make no public use of
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zu Tag seiner vollkommenen Genesung
entgegengeschritten, so dass Er jetzt schon
wieder auf, und in gewohnter Weise bescha? ftigt,
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? 244 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
ist, wie wohl Er sich noch stille bey Sich ha? lt
und wie billig noch alle a? ussere Anregung
vermeidet. Die Krankheit war also nicht
zum Tode sondern zur Ehre Gottes, und wir
scho? pfen aus diesem gla? nzenden Sieg Seiner
unvergleichlichen Natur die sicherste Hoffnung,
Ihn nunmehr noch manches scho? ne Jahr in
vollkommenen Kra? ften tha? tig voran zu sehen.
Vor allen freue ich mich nun auf die Vollen-
dung des Faust woran jetzt so viel gethan, dass
sie nicht ferner zu den Unmo? glichkeiten zu
rechnen ist. Ich freue mich dazu als zu einem
Werk das an Umfang und inneren Reichthum
nicht seines Gleichen haben wird, indem es nicht
allein nach allen Verha? ltnissen der geistigen
und sinnlichen Welt hinru? hrt, sondern auch
die menschliche Brust mit allen ihren Leiden-
schaften und Tha? tigkeiten, mit ihren Richtungen
auf das Wirkliche, so wie auf die imagina? ren
Regionen des Glaubens und Aberglaubens
vollkommen ausspricht, und zwar in allen
denkbaren Formen und Versen der Poesie.
Deutschland wird sich daran u? ben um es zu
verstehen und vollkommen zu geniessen, und
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 245
die Nachbarnationen werden es ihren vorzu? g-
lichsten Talenten danken, wenn sie dieses
Deutsche Product durch immer gelungenere
Versionen bey sich national machen.
Es steht mir zwar nicht zu Ihnen zu rathen,
wa? re ich jedoch an Ihrer Stelle, so wu? rde ich
sicher fu? r meine Nation etwas dankbares unter-
nehmen, wenn ich die scho? nsten Mussestunden
einiger Jahre auf eine treue Uebersetzung des
Faust verwendete. Die Proben Ihrer Helena
haben zur Genu? ge gezeigt, dass Sie nicht allein
das deutsche Original vollkommen verstehen,
sondern auch Ihre eigene Sprache genugsam in
Ihrer Gewalt haben, um das Empfundene und
Verstandene anmuthig und geistreich wieder
auszudru? cken. Die Uebersetzung des Lord L.
Gower mag denen genu? gen die das Original nicht
kennen, und man mag sie als Vorla? ufer eines Bes-
sern scha? tzen, allein genau besehen mag es ihm
gefehlt haben, beydes an Einsicht wie an Muth.
Man soll aber nie fragen ob eine Nation fu? r
ein Werk reif1 sey, bevor man wagen will es ihr
1 Two words here, likely to be torn by the seal, are re-
peated in the margin in Goethe's hand.
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? 246 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
zu bringen. In solcher Erwartung ha? tte Goethe
noch lange Zeit haben mo? gen. Die Nationen
aber reifen an ku? hnen Werken heran und man
soll ihnen daher das Beste nicht vorenthalten.
Ich hatte vor, Ihnen noch manches von
meiner Reise zu schreiben, ich wollte Ihnen
von manchem grossen Eindrucke erza? hlen den
ich gehabt, wie mich der Mont Blanc und
Monte Rosa so wie der Garda und Genfer See
in Bezug auf die Farbenlehre bescha? ftiget; auch
dass ich auf meiner Ru? ckreise mich der Ueber-
setzung Ihres Lebens von Schiller erfreut;
allein es fehlt mir heute an Raum wie an Zeit;
und ich schliesse fu? r diessmal, mit den herz-
lichsten Gru? ssen an Sie und Ihre Frau Gemalin,
und mit dem Wunsch recht bald wieder von
Ihnen zu ho? ren.
Ihr treuer Freund,
ECKERMANN.
WEIMAR, d. 6. Dcbr. 1830.
[Postscript by Goethe in his own handwriting. ]
Glu? cklicherweise kann ich eigenha? ndig hinzu-
fu? gen dass ich lebe, und hoffen darf noch eine
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? 183o ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 247
Zeitlang in der Nahe meiner Geliebten zu ver weilen. Gruss und Segen den theuern Gatten!
Ihre beyden Briefe sind angelangt, der nach Berlin bestellt.
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, d. 7. Dcbr. 1830.
[TRANSLATION. ]
MY DEAR SIR AND FRIEND ! -- Pardon me,
that my answer to your last valued letter
has been delayed until now. I received it
in April, the day before setting out for Italy
with Herr von Goethe, the son. I returned to
Weimar from this journey last week, but alone,
for that friend, as you perhaps have seen in the
newspapers, closed his earthly course in Rome. 1
1 Eckermann and August von Goethe set out on this journey
on the 22d of April 1830; but August, whose conduct had
made his absence from Weimar desirable even to his Father,
who was much attached to him, was soon galled by Ecker-
mann's restraint, and, with Goethe's permission, the two travel-
lers parted company at Genoa on the 12th of September;
August, after visits to Pompeii and to Naples, proceeded to
Rome, where a stroke of paralysis brought his life to a close on
the 27th of October 1830. He was buried near the Pyramid
of Cestius; Thorwaldsen (out of respect for August's Father)
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? 248 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
His family have keenly felt this loss of a be-
loved member, but they have gradually sub-
mitted to what has unalterably befallen, and
have now once more wholly turned back to the
living and their concerns. Above all, Goethe's
high task was not interrupted for a single day;
for on all occasions we have to revere in him
the principle of mastering useless sorrow by
useful activity.
I had returned, however, but a few days, when
on the night of the 25th-26th of November
Goethe awoke with so violent a hemorrhage of
the lungs, that his life was in danger, and was
only saved by a speedy blood-letting and by the
vigour of his constitution. You may imagine
that all Weimar was thrown by this into a state
of great emotion and no little anxiety. How-
ever, on the second day, the encouraging report
of his eminent physician, Hofrath Vogel, gave
designed and erected a monument to his memory. Eckermann
did not return to Weimar until the 23d of November. He
was most kindly received by Goethe, "who talked of many
things, only not a word of his son. "--See Diintzer's Life oj
Goethe, translated by Thomas W. Lyster (2 vols. , London,
1883), ii. pp. 416-421. 4
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 249
us the best hopes; and, from day to day, Goethe
has steadily advanced toward complete re-
covery, so that he is now again up and busy in
his usual ways, although he still remains quietly
at home, and avoids, as is desirable, all external
excitement. Thus the illness was not fatal,
but for the glory of God; and from this strik-
ing victory of his incomparable constitution,
we derive the most confident hope that we
shall yet see him at work, and in complete
possession of his powers, for many fair years
to come.
Above all, I now look forward to the com-
pletion of Faust, of which so much is finished,
that it is no longer to be counted among the
impossibilities. And I rejoice in the work as
one, which in compass and in richness of con-
tents will not have its like, touching as it does
not only on all the relations of the spiritual and
intellectual world, but also giving complete ex-
pression to the human heart, with all its passions
and energies, with its dispositions for action,
as well as for the imaginary regions of belief and
superstition; and this too, in every conceivable
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? 250 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 1830
form and measure of poetry. Germany will try
its strength on the work, in order to understand
and fully enjoy it, and neighbouring nations
will be grateful to their men of most distin-
guished talent, if by versions, ever more and
more successful, they make this German pro-
duct one of their own national possessions.
It is indeed not for me to offer advice, but if
I were in your place, I should certainly under-
take something for which my country would
be grateful, by employing, for some years, my
best leisure hours on a faithful translation of
Faust. The specimens of your Helena have
sufficiently shown, that you not only completely
understand the German original, but have also
your own language sufficiently at command to
express in it the sentiment and meaning with
grace and spirit. Lord L. Gower's translation
may be sufficient for those who do not know
the original, and may be valued as the fore-
runner of a better version, but, critically ex-
amined, it seems to be lacking alike in insight
and in vigour.
But one should never ask if a Nation is
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? 1830 ECKERMANN TO CARLYLE 251
ready for a work, before one ventures to offer it.
Were that the case Goethe might still have had to
wait a long time. Nations are indeed matured
by means of daring works, and therefore the
best ought not to be withheld from them.
I had intended to write to you many things
of my journey. I wanted to tell you of the
many deep impressions I received; how Mont
Blanc and Monte Rosa, as well as the Lakes of
Garda and Geneva, had occupied me in refer-
ence to the Farbenlehre, and also that on my
homeward journey I was cheered by the trans-
lation of your Life of Schiller; but both time
and space fail me to-day, and I now conclude
with most cordial greetings to you and your
lady, and with the hope that I may soon hear
from you again.
Your faithful friend,
ECKERMANN.
WEIMAR, 6th December 1830.
Happily I can add with my own hand that I
am alive, and mayhope yet for a time to abide
with my loved ones. Greetings and blessings
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? 2J2 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
to the dear Pair. Your two letters have arrived,
and the one for Berlin has been forwarded.
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, Tth December 1830.
Carlyle, writing to his Mother on the 11 th Feb-
ruary 1831, told her of the receipt of the preceding
letter, and of his reply to it:--
"We had a letter from Goethe, or rather from Goethe's
secretary, with a short kind postscript from Goethe to tell
that he was 'still in the land of the living and beside his
loved ones. ' He has lost his only son (far from him,
travelling in Italy); and has had a violent fit of sickness
(a flux of blood), so that for two days his own life was
despaired of. He bore his son's death like a hero; 'did
not cease from his labours for a single day. ' I have written
to him all that was kind: engaged among other things to
translate his Poem of Faust, which I reckoned would be a
gratification to him. If my own Book1 were out, I would
begin it with alacrity. "
XXXIV. --Carlyle to GOETHE.
CRAIGENPUTTOCK, DUMFRIES,
iid January 1831.
MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND--I learn
with the truest sorrow, by Dr. Eckermann's
1 Sartor Resartus.
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?
1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 253
Letter, and the Public Journals, what has be-
fallen at Weimar; that you have lost him who
was the most precious to you in this world;
that your own life, threatened by violent disease,
has been in extreme danger. My only con-
solation is that you yourself are still preserved
to us; that you bore your heavy stroke with
the heroic wisdom we should have anticipated
of you. It is a truth, which we are daily
taught in stern lessons, that here nothing has a
"continuing city;" that man's life is as a
"vapour which quickly fleeth away. " Within
the bygone Twelvemonth I too have lost no
fewer than five of my near relatives: the last,
a Sister, peculiarly endeared to me by worth and
kind remembrances, whom I now seem to have
loved almost more than any other of my kindred.
"We shall go to them, they shall not return to
us. " Meantime, while Days are given us, let
us employ them: "Our Field is Time," what
we plant therein has to grow through Eternity;
our Hope and Comfort is "to work while it is
called To-day. " And so: Forward! Forward!
What Dr. Eckermann mentions of your being
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? 254 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
busied with a Continuation of Faust could not be
other than great news for me. Pray tell him also
that his counsel and admonition about an English
version of Faust came in the right season; that
I had already long been meditating such an en-
terprise, and had well nigh determined, before
much time elapsed, on attempting it. The British
World is daily getting readier for a true copy of
Faust: already we everywhere understand that
Faust is no theatrical spectacle, but a Poem;
that they who know and can know nothing of
it, must also say nothing of it; which, within
the last four years, is an immense advancement.
Lord L. Gower's Translation is now universally
admitted to be one of the worst, perhaps the
very worst, of such a work, ever accomplished
in Britain; our Island, I think, owes you some
amends; would that I were the man to pay it!
As I said, however, I have as good as deter-
mined to make the endeavour ere long.
In an early number of the Edinburgh Review,
perhaps in the next, there is to appear, as I
learn, a criticism of the Briefwechsel, involving
most probably a delineation and comparison of
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 255
the two great Correspondents. I must warn
all German Friends to expect but little: the
Critic, I apprehend, will be the same who
criticised Faust and Lord Gower in the last
Number of that Periodical :J an admiring Dilet-
tantism, but no true insight or earnest criticism,
is to be looked for. --I too am again to speak
a word on that favourite subject, a word of
warning and direction, where the harvest is
great, and the reapers many and more zealous
than experienced. A certain William Taylor
of Norwich, the Translator of your Iphigenie,
has written what he calls a Historic Survey of
German Poetry; the tendency of which you
may judge of sufficiently by this one fact, that
the longest Article but one is on August von
Kotzebue. Taylor is a man of real talent, but
a Polemical Sceptic only; with no eye for
Poetry, who sees in the highest minds only
their relation to the Church Creed; whose book,
therefore, as likely to mislead many, I have felt
called upon to contradict, and, by such artillery
1 Mr. William Empson, Jeffrey's son-in-law, afterwards
editor of the Edinburgh Review. See infra, p. 282.
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? 2$6 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
as I had, batter down into its original rubbish.
I fear you will not like the satirical style: the
more agreeable will some concluding specula-
tions be on what I have named World-Litera-
ture, after you; and how Europe, in the
communion of these its chief writers, is again
to have a "Sacred College and Council of
Amphictyons," and become more and more one
universal Commonwealth. This, it seems to
me, is one of the most cheering signs of the
future that are yet discernible. Literature is
now nearly all in all to us; not our speech
only, but our Worship and Lawgiving; our
best Priest must henceforth be our Poet; the
Vates will in future be practically all that he
ever was in theory,--or else Nothing, which
last consummation we cannot consent to admit.
The Review of Taylor is not to appear for some
months:1 in the meanwhile, I am working at
another curious enterprise of my own, which is
yet too amorphous to be prophesied of. 2
1 It appeared in the Edinburgh Review, No. CV. , 1831.
See Miscellanies, vol. iii. , p. 283.
2 Sartor Resartus.
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 257
Leaving now these Paper Speculations, let
me descend a little to the solid Earth. We
have a mild winter here, are busy and
peaceable: often look into that Weimar House,
and figure our Friend and Master there, and
pray for all blessings on him. A little collec-
tion of Memorials, intended to cross the sea,
is also gathering itself together: we anticipate
that before the next 28th of August, at all events,
it will have saluted you. I have already got nearly
all my writings for the Foreign Review; and will
send them in the shape of A ushangebogen, since
they are yet in no other. Learning from your
Tag-und Jahresheft that you had no copy of the
English Iphigenie, I sent to London to procure
one; hitherto without effect; however, as the
work stands entire in this Taylor s Historic
Survey, I will study to send it in one or the
other form. Some weeks ago we heard of a
wandering Portrait-painter being at Dumfries,
who took what were called admirable likenesses,
in pencil, at two hours' sitting: whereupon we
drove down, and set the Artist to work; who
unhappily produced, by way of Portrait for me,
s
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? 258 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1831
a piece of beautiful pencilling, which had no feature of mine about it; so that it cannot be
sent to Weimar, being worth nothing: however,
my wife has undertaken to copy and rectify it;
at all events, to clip you some profile of me.
Would that there were aught else we could do
for you in our Island; had I but a true work of
my own writing to send!
The Saint Simonians in Paris have again
transmitted me a large mass of their perform-
ances: Expositions of their Doctrine; Pro-
clamations sent forth during the famous Three
Days; many numbers of their weekly Journal.
They seem to me to be earnest, zealous, and
nowise ignorant men, but wandering in strange
paths. I should say they have discovered and
laid to heart this momentous and now almost
forgotten truth, Man is still Man; and are
already beginning to make false applications of
it. 1 I have every disposition to follow your
advice, and stand apart from them; looking
1 Carlyle, in Sartor Rcsartus (Book III. , chapter xii. ),
speaking of the Saint-Simonian Society, expresses the same
idea in almost the same words.
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? 1831 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 259
on their Society and its progress neverthe-
less as a true and remarkable Sign of the
Times.
In our own country, too, the political atmos-
phere grows turbid, and great things are
fermenting and will long ferment. To which
also I reckon that my proper relation is that
chiefly of Spectator: the world is heavily
struggling out into the new era; the struggle
has lasted centuries, and may yet last centuries:
let him who has seed-corn, or can borrow seed-
corn, cast it into these troubled Nile-waters,
where, in due season, it will be found after
many days. Some of our friends are high in
the new Ministry, especially the Edinburgh
Reviewer of Meister, a good man and bad
critic :l but the Sun and Seasons are the only
changes that visit the wilderness. Mein Acker
ist die Zeit.
Perhaps ere long a letter will come from
Weimar, to tell us that you are still well, and
nobly occupied. Meanwhile, know always that
we love you and reverence you. To your dear
1 Jeffrey.
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? 26o HITZIG TO CARLYLE 1831
Ottilie speak peace, and from us, all that is
kind and sympathising. "God is great, God
is good. "--I remain ever, your affectionate,
grateful Friend, THQMAS CARLYLE
Please to return Dr. Eckermann my friend-
liest thanks, and encourage him to repeat his
kind favour: I will surely reply to it.
XXXV. --Hitzig to CARLYLE.
[28A4 January 1831. ]
Ew. Wohlgeborn waren uns schon vor dem
Erscheinen Ihrer Lebensbeschreibung unsers
grossen Landmannes zu ehrenwerth bekannt, als
dass letztere nicht in uns den Wunsch erregen
sollen, mit Ihnen in na? here Beziehung zu treten.
Dies zu bewirken schien uns die geeigneteste
Weise, Sie zur Mitgliedschaft unserer an-
spruchlosen literarischen Verbru? derung einzu-
laden, und wir statten Ihnen unsern verbind-
lichsten Dank ab, dass Sie unsere freundliche
Einladung eben so freundlich angenommen.
Dagegen fu? rchten wir, dass Ew. Wohlgeborn
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? 1831 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 261
in einem Irrthum sich befinden, wenn Sie der
Ansicht wa? ren, dass unsere Gesellschaft eine
besondere Wirksamkeit nach aussen wu? nsche.
Ihr Hauptzweck besteht in dem Genuss
ausla? ndischer Geisteswerke und in der
gewu? nschten Verbindung mit ausla? ndischen
Dichtern und Aesthetikern, um sich solche
na? her der Quelle zu verschaffen und eine
bewa? hrtere Bekanntschaft mit dem reellen
Neuen, als durch die getru? btere der Journale
zu erlangen. Die Gesellschaft, noch zu jung,
besitzt bis jetzt keine Diplome und wu? nschte
auch, wenn diese einst ausgefertigt werden,
dass ihre Mitglieder davon keinen o? ffentlichen
Gebrauch machten. Der Deutsche lebt einmal
--auch nach 1831 \_sic\--mehr fu? r die Familie,
als fu? r die Oeffentlichkeit, er tra? gt das Familien-
leben gern in die Literatur u? ber, wo es sich
thun la? sst. Ew. Wohlgeborn werden aus
diesen Gru? nden die Bitte entschuldigen, von
dem Titel eines Ehrenmitgliedes unserer Gesell-
schaft keinen o? ffentlichen Gebrauch zu machen,
indem er einen Schein des Anspruchs auf die
Gesellschaft werfen wu? rde, den diese gern
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? 262 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 1831
vermiede. Beifolgend theilen wir Ihnen vor-
la? ufig, nebst einer Anzeige Ihres Werks vom
Herrn Dr. Seidel, unsere Statuten, und ein
a? lteres Namensverzeichniss unserer Mitglieder,
deren Zahl sich seit der Zeit auf eine erfreuliche
Weise vermehrt hat, nach Ihrem Wunsche mit.
Der unsere ist, dass uns recht bald Gelegenheit
wu? rde, wozu Sie uns Hoffnung gemacht, Sie
perso? nlich in unserer Mitte zu sehen.
Hochachtungsvoll,
Ew. Wohlgeborn,
ergebenste,
Die Gesellschaft fu? r ausla? ndische Literatur,
HITZIG.
BERLIN, beschlossen in der
Sitzung vom 28len Januar 1831.
[Translation. ]
Sir--You were already, before the appear-
ance of your Biography of our great countryman,
too honourably known to us for this work to fail
in exciting in us the wish to enter into closer
relation with you. The fittest means of accom-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015030186517 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 1831 HITZIG TO CARLYLE 263
plishing this was, it seemed to us, to invite you
to become a Member of our unpretending
Literary Brotherhood, and we offer you our
most grateful thanks for having accepted, in so
friendly a manner, our friendly invitation.
At the same time we fear that you, Sir, may
have misapprehended us, if you have thought
our view was to gain for our society any par-
ticular outside agency. Its chief aim consists
in the enjoyment of foreign intellectual works,
and in desiring a connection with foreign poets
and aesthetic writers, for the sake of providing
ourselves with this enjoyment nearer the source,
and of securing more authentic information con-
cerning what is really new than the dim medium
of the Periodicals affords. The Society is still
too young to issue Diplomas, and, if in future
it should do so, it would desire its members to
make no public use of them. It is the way of
the German--even in 1831--to live more for
the family than for the public, and he likes, where
it is possible, to carry the habits of family life
into Literature. You will therefore pardon the
request, that you will make no public use of
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015030186517 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust.
