No More Learning

Abschrift, Hitzig to GOETHE. 1
In der heutigen Sitzung der Gesellschaft fu? r ausla? ndische2
Literatur wurde Herr Thomas Carlyle von Craigenputtock
in Schottland durch einmu? thigen Beschluss sa? mtlicher
anwesenden Mitglieder zum auswa? rtigen Mitgliede dieser
Gesellschaft ernannt. Dieselbe hofft mit Zuversicht, dass
dieser ausgezeichnete Gelehrte, der von Goethe an ihn
ergehenden Einladung entsprechend, zur Befo? rderung ihrer
Zwecke, so weit sie auf die Kenntniss und Verbreitung der
Englischen Literatur in Deutschland, und der Deutschen in
Grossbrittanien gerichtet sind, gern die Hand bieten, und
so zur Erreichung des gemeinsamen Zieles allgemeiner
Bildung tha? tig mitwirken werde.
1 For Goethe's Letter introducing Carlyle to the members
of this Society, see Appendix I. p. 299.
2 MS. , "vaterla? ndische. "
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? 220 GOETHE TO CARLYLF. 1830
Hr. Carlyle wird hiervon durch Abschrift dieser Ver-
handlung in Kenntniss gesetzt.
So geschehen Berlin in der Versammlung vom 2411.
Septbr. 1830.
Die Gesellschaft fur auslandische Literatur.
HlTZIG.
[TRANSLATION. ]
Once more, my dearest Sir, a little box is
going to you, and meantime, my letter of the
7th of June, and the box that was sent on the
13th have probably reached you some time
since, and I may now soon hope to have a
letter from you informing me of their arrival.
The present one (likewise committed to the
care of Messrs. Parish) contains at last the Life
of Schiller in the German translation, so long
in getting ready, and always delayed. I hope
you will be satisfied with the mode in which
I wished to see you and my Berlin friends in
active and fruitful communication. At my age
I cannot but be anxious to see the many rela-
tions, which have woven themselves around
me, knit up anew elsewhere, and to promote,
were it only by private efforts, often impeded,
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? 1830 GOETHE TO CARLYLE 221
what every good man desires, and must desire,
the diffusion of a certain morally liberal harmony
of sentiment throughout the world; so that by
this means many things may quietly adjust
themselves, instead of being scattered hither
and thither at first so as to make it almost impossible, after great loss, to set them right
again. May you succeed in making your nation
acquainted with the good points of the Germans,
as we on our part are always active in bring-
ing before our own people what is excellent in
foreign nations.
As you do not need to hurry in your History
of German Literature, Wachler's book will be
of the greatest importance in giving you further
insight into it. You will see clearly recorded
what exists in this field, and your intelligence
and genius will indicate to you, what you
should first take up, in all these matters.
Then you will find what will interest your
countrymen, either in full or in brief, so that
constantly at all epochs and in every place the
result may be to exhibit, transmit, and if pos-
sible, establish something beneficial to mankind.
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? 222 GOETHE TO CARLYLE 1830
The barbarous interruption of German culture,
especially from the beginning of the seven-
teenth century onwards into the eighteenth, will
sadden you. The gradual recovery of a nation,
however, is all the more striking. In this be all
good spirits and influences now called to aid.
Our Berlin friends have accepted my dedica-
tion of your Life of Schiller very favourably,
and are ready for all reciprocal communications.
They have sent me a Diploma, in which they
appoint Mr. Thomas Carlyle of Craigenputtock
a foreign honorary member. This valuable
document I will put into the next little box,
which will probably reach you before the winter.
It will contain the last Section of my Works, to
which I hope to add something more that is
interesting.
Since the letter post is not interrupted in
winter like other means of transport, let me
know something ot you from time to time,
before we are again completely snowed-in, in
respect to which for this winter, though I do
not like to predict the weather, there are once
more unfavourable signs.
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? 1830 GOETHE TO CARLYLE 223
In ending this letter, which I will send off
at once, that it may precede or directly follow
the little box that went to Messrs. Parish on
the 29th of August, I send my warmest regards
to the dear Pair.
Mr. Carlyle will, in accordance with my wish,
say a friendly word to the worthy Berliners.
Another letter will soon follow this. A young
man of much talent, and successful as a trans-
lator, is busy with Burns. 1 I take an eager
interest in his work. Fare you right well;
write soon, for days and weeks are becoming
more and more precious to me.
And so then, onward!
GOETHE.
WEIMAR, $th October 1830.
Copy, HITZIG to Goethe.
In to-day's meeting of the Society for Foreign Litera-
ture, Mr. Thomas Carlyle, of Craigenputtock, Scotland, was
elected, by the unanimous vote of the members present, a
Foreign Member of this Society. The Society confidently
hopes that this distinguished scholar, in response to the
invitation transmitted to him by Goethe, will readily give
his assistance to the furtherance of its objects, so far as
1 Philipp Kaufmann is the name of this young gentleman.
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? 224 GOETHE TO CARLYLE
they are directed to the knowledge and diffusion of English
literature in Germany, and of German in Great Britain, and
thus actively unite in the effort to attain the common end
of universal culture.
Mr. Carlyle is informed hereof by an extract from the
minutes.
Done at Berlin, at the Meeting on the 24th of Sep-
tember 1830.
For the Society for Foreign Literature,
Hitzig.
XXX. --Goethe to CARLYLE.
[lTth October 1830. ]
Mein letztes Schreiben vom 5. Octbr. wird
indessen zu Ihnen, mein Theuerster, gelangt
seyn, worin ich zugleich das Decret abschrift-
lich eingeschaltet habe, welche Sie zum aus-
wa? rtigen Mitgliede der Gesellschaft fu? r aus-
la? ndische Literatur zu Berlin ernennt. Ge-
genwa? rtig theil' ich das Schreiben gleichfalls
in Copia mit, wodurch jenes eingesendet ward.
Ich freue mich dass Sie durch diese Vermittlung
ein Verha? ltniss in Deutschland gewinnen das
Ihnen in der Folge in manchen Fa? llen nu? tzlich
werden kann.
Wenn uns die Zeit mit dem Verluste a? lterer
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? 1830 GOETHE TO CARLYLE 225
Freunde bedroht, so mu? ssen wir suchen uns
ju? ngeren anzuschliessen. Von der Societe
St. Simonienne bitte Sich fern zu halten. Auch
hieru? ber gelegentlich das Na? here.
Treulichst,
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, d. 17 Octbr. 1830.
Abschrift, Hitzig to GOETHE.
******
Herrn Th. Carlyle, der das unscha? tzbare Glu? ck geniesst,
seine literarische Tha? tigkeit durch Ihren Rath geleitet,
durch Ihre Mitwirkung gefo? rdert, durch Ihre Freundschaft
erho? ht und belebt zu sehen, und der dieser Gunst des
Geschicks so wu? rdig ist, glaubten wir unsre hohe Achtung
und den Wunsch einer na? hern Verbindung mit ihm am
deutlichsten dadurch zu beweisen, dass wir ihn einmu? thig
zum auswa? rtigen Mitgliede unsrer Gesellschaft ernannten.
Nachdem Ew. Excellenz diese Verbindung eingeleitet, ja
durch die Aneignung seines unserm unverga? nglichen Schiller
geweihten Werkes ihn gleichsam schon zu dem unsrigen
gemacht haben, du? rfen wir hoffen, dass er unsrer Einladung
zur gemeinsamen Fo? rderung des hohen Zweckes folgen
werde, und bitten Sie dieses unser lebhaftes Verlangen durch
Ihre gu? tige Vermittelung an ihn gelangen zu lassen.
Wir schliessen mit dem Wunsche, der fu? r jeden edelge-
sinnten Deutschen zum Gebet wird, dass der Himmel dem
Vaterland Ihr Leben noch lange Jahre erhalten mo? ge,
Q
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? 226 GOETHE TO CARLYLE 1830
dieses Leben, wovon jeder Moment ein befruchtender
Keim ist zur Veredlung und Erhebung fur Zeit und
Nachwelt.
Beschlossen Berlin in der Versammlung vom 24.
Septbr. 1830.
Die Gesellschaft fur auslandische Literatur.
HITZIG.
[TRANSLATION. ]
My last letter of the 5th of October, in
which I inserted a copy of the vote, nominat-
ing you, my dearest Sir, a member of the
Society of Foreign Literature at Berlin, will, I
trust, have reached you. I now send you a
copy of the letter in which that vote was trans-
mitted to me. I am glad that by this means
you have secured relations with Germany, which
may hereafter in many cases be useful to you.
When time threatens us with the loss of
older friends, we must seek to attach ourselves
to younger ones. From the St. Simonian
Society pray hold yourself aloof. More about
this on another occasion.
Most faithfully,
J. W. v. GOETHE.
WEIMAR, l7th October 1830.
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 227
Copy, Hitzig to GOETHE.
\2tfh September 1830. ]
******
As to Mr.
Thomas Carlyle, who enjoys the inestimable
good fortune of having his literary labours guided by your
advice, furthered by your co-operation, and quickened and
elevated by your friendship, and who so well deserves
this favour of fate, we have unanimously chosen him a
Foreign Member of our Society, believing that thereby we
could best prove our high esteem for him and our desire
for a closer relation with him. Since your Excellency has
brought about this connection, nay more, has, through the
adoption of his Work consecrated to our immortal Schiller,
as it were, already made him one of us, we trust he will
comply with our invitation to join us in the promotion of
our high aim, and we beg of you to permit this, our sincere
desire, to reach him through your kind mediation.
We conclude with the wish, which in every noble-minded
German becomes a prayer, that Heaven will spare your
life to our country for many years to come,--a life whose
every moment is a fruitful seed of ennoblement and eleva-
tion for the present time and future ages.
Done at Berlin at the Meeting on the 24th of September
1830.
For the Society for Foreign Literature, Hitzig
XXXI. --Carlyle to GOETHE.
CRAIGENPUTTOCK, DUMFRIES,
23*3? October 1830.
MY HONOURED FRIEND--From the first
sentence of your otherwise most welcome Letter,
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? 228 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
I draw the unpleasant apprehension that mine
of August last has failed to reach you. The
like, it is true, never happened in our past cor-
respondence: nevertheless to such accidents
we are ever liable; at all events, this suspicion
of neglect, under which I may have fallen, is of
such a sort that I lose not a moment in remov-
ing it. Did no letter for you, then, arrive in the
beginning of September announcing that your
Packet of the 13th June, and Letter of the 7th
had both happily come to hand; and been
received with the old feelings of thankfulness
and gladness, which such expressions of your
regard must ever merit from us ? 1 I will still
hope [it did]: for the Letter, of which unluckily
I have kept no memorandum, and cannot more
accurately specify the date, was without any
doubt despatched hence, and safely committed
to the Post-Office; after which, so punctual are
the rules and arrangements of that Establish-
ment, there seems no probability of miscarriage
on this side the German shore; except, indeed,
one of our Mail Ships had been wrecked; of 1 This is Letter XXVIII. See supra, p. 207.
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 229
which in the Newspapers I observed no notice.
If such hope, which I still cherish, prove well-
founded, let the present Letter be considered
as a conscientious supererogation: in all things
touching my duties of gratitude towards you, I
would willingly make assurance doubly sure.
When the Packet, which we are now permitted
shortly to expect, reaches us, I will write again.
Meanwhile be pleased to entertain the convic-
tion that our regard, our love for you is not
susceptible of change or interruption; that few
days, none perhaps wherein I am well employed,
pass over me in these solitudes, without affec-
tionate remembrances and thoughts full of
kindly veneration for the Friend v/ho/ern im
Lande sometimes also thinks of us.
In this Letter are two prophetic allusions
breathing a noble pathetic dignity, which
nevertheless affect me with alarm and pain.
Far distant be that day so mournful for us, and
for millions! It is true, I might ask myself
what are you to me but a Voice; and is not
that Voice one of those that cannot die? Will
not also, when we are still more inaccessibly
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? 230 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
parted, the memory of past kindness abide,
perennially sweet, with the survivor? Neither
in any case do we sorrow as those that have no
Hope. He who has seen into the high meaning
of "Entsagen" cherishes even here a still
Faith in quite another Future than the vulgar
devotee believes, or the vulgar sceptic denies.
"God is Great," say the Orientals; to which we
add only, "God is good," as the beginning and
end of all our Philosophy. But let us look
away from these solemnities, which, however,
the wise man at no moment forgets : the blessed-
ness of Life is not in living, but in working
well; and he to whom a Task, rarely exampled
in the history of men, was given, and who has
done it, and is still doing it, "looks both before
and after" with calm eyes, though the dew of
"natural tears" may gather there. We will
hope and pray that a life so precious may be
lengthened, in peaceful activity, to the utmost
term; that long years of kind earthly brother-
hood are still appointed us.
If my last Letter were not lost, it would con-
vey to you in warm terms the admiration I felt
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 231
for the Schillersche Briefwechsel, which I was
then on the point of finishing. A singularly
kind chance brought two such men into neigh-
bourhood: their relation, so full of generous
Helpfulness, and the highest Endeavour, is one
which, especially in these times, it does us good
to look upon; to you especially, as the more
independent of the two, and by whom the sick,
retiring, almost monastic Schiller was still held
in some communion with the world, the lovers of
Genius will feel deeply indebted; first for your
friendly ministerings to this noble man; and
now for perpetuating this record of so rare a
union. In Schiller himself there is almost a
spirit-like abstraction and elevation; yet a pain-
ful isolation, except from you, is also manifest:
we could figure him as some Prometheus: steal-
ing fire, indeed, from Heaven; but to whom also
the Gods as punishment had sent chains and
a gnawing vulture. How different was his fate
from that of our own poor Burns, blest with an
equal talent, as high a spirit; but smitten with
a far heavier curse, and to whom no guiding
Friend, warmly as his heart could love, and
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? 232 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
still long for wisdom, was ever given! One such
as you might have saved him, and nothing else
could; but only the vain, the idle, the dissipated
gathered round him; he was alone among his
kind, and courage and patience at last failed
him, and he lost all that made him Man. He
was of Schiller's age; in the second year of that
fair Weimar union, Burns perished miserably,
deserted and disgraced, in that same Dumfries,
where they have erected Mausoleums over him,
now that it is all unavailing, and would buy a
scrap of his handwriting, as if it were Bank-
paper; such is the sad history which, in genera-
tion after generation, is too often repeated to us.
Having here come upon Burns, I will add
my heartiest wishes, not unmixed with consider-
able fears of a negative result, that your young
Translator may be successful with him. The
changeful, too fugitive expressiveness of his
diction is one great charm with Burns; at all
times hard to seize by a Translator, and no
doubt doubly so, when hidden in the rough
guise of our Scottish provincial dialect. Be-
sides his chief, indeed almost his only, true
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 233
Poetical writings are Songs, which are of all
the most unmanageable. Otherwise Burns is
only a Volksdichter, more notable for shrewd
sense, passionate attachment, and a certain
rustic humour than any higher qualities. I
shall be full of curiosity to see your country-
man's version, the first, I believe, into any
foreign tongue: if he fail, beyond the due limits
of Poetical and Translatorial license, the highest
kindness we can do him here will be to forget
him; the whole British nation is passionately
attached to Burns; the very Inn-windows where
he chanced to scribble in idle hours, with his
versifying and often satirical Diamond, have all
been unglassed, and the scribbled panes sold into
distant quarters, there to be hung up in frames!
There is an infinite Dilettantism in the world;
but also a certain universal Love for Spiritual
Light, and " Reverence for what is above us. "
Quitting Burns, I must not omit to thank
you, were it even a second time, for Wachler,
whom I find, in my Historical Studies, a solid,
trustworthy and useful help. I mentioned last
time, that my German Literary History was,
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? 234 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
so far as concerned Publication, standing in a
state of abeyance, the original Bibliopolic
Scheme, of which it formed part, having fallen
to the ground. There is now another possi-
bility of its being sent forth; as a separate
work; which I shall like better. The negotia-
tion is not in my hands: but perhaps before
the next letter, I may have it in my power to
communicate the issue. Meanwhile I have
been engaged a little in other more ambitious
enterprises: but whether the result may be a
Book, or only a pair of Magazine Essays, I
cannot yet predict; but will mention in due
time, if it prove worthy of mention.
The news from Berlin, full particulars of which,
with so many other interesting things, I expect
by your Packet, could not be other than gratify-
ing. To Friends recommended by you my best
services must be always due. One of these men,
if the name Hitzig belongs to the Biographer of
Hoffmann and Werner, is already favourably
known to me. 1 A letter, according to your wish,
1 Carlyle had spoken approvingly of Hitzig, in the Life
and Writings of Werner {Miscellanies, i. p. 105).
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 235
with offer of heartiest co-operation in a work which
I also reckon so important, shall not be wanting.
There is much more to be said, were not the
unstretchable paper too near an end. For the
Farbenlehre I shall afterwards thank you more
at large. To your Ottilie express our kindest
wishes every way; hope also for prosperity in
her Editorship of that fair Chaos1 (like the grace 1 Eckermann says, under date 5th April 1830 :--"We
came at length to speak of the 'Chaos,' which is a Weimar
Periodical conducted by Madame von Goethe, in which not
only the German ladies and gentlemen of this place take part,
but also, more especially, the young English, French, and other
Foreigners who are staying here; so that nearly every num-
ber of it is a medley of almost every known European language.
'It is very pretty of my daughter,' said Goethe, 'and she ought
to be commended and thanked for having established a journal
which is in the highest degree original, and for having so
stimulated the individual members of our community, that it
should now have survived almost a twelvemonth. It is, indeed,
but a dilettante pastime, and I know right well that nothing
great or lasting will come of it; still it is pretty, and it is
to a certain extent a mirror of the intellectual standing of
our present Weimar society. And then, too, which is the
main thing, it gives our young ladies and gentlemen, who
often don't know what to do with themselves, some occupa-
tion. And also it is an intellectual centre, which offers them
opportunities for conversation and entertainment, and thus
keeps them from mere inanity and hollow gossip. I read
every page as it comes fresh from the press, and can say that
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? 236 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
ful one of a Lady's portfolio), for which, among
these mountains, new materials, I believe, are
preparing. Forget not your kind resolution of
soon writing again. Through the winter you
shall duly hear of me: it is a deep snow, through
which Mail-guards will not either drive or ride;
and now steam carries men and ships across the
water in all seasons. My friendly regards to Dr.
Eckermann, if he is with you. My wife joins
me in sincerest prayers that all good may be
with you. God have you in His keeping! --I
am ever, your affectionate Friend and Servant,
THOMAS CARLYLE.
XXXII. --CARLYLE to GOETHE.
CRAIGENPUTTOCK, 1$th November 1830.
MY HONOURED FRIEND--With the truest
pleasure we received your Letter of the 17th
October, some ten days ago, and, strangely
enough, that same evening, by another con-
veyance, arrived the long-looked-for Hamburg
in the whole I have seen nothing that was inept, and indeed
some things in it that were even very pretty. '"--Gesprache
mit Goethe.
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 237
Box, with all its precious contents in perfect
order. Already, on the 23d of last Month, I
had written to you, chiefly in regard to a former
letter, which I then feared might have been
lost: now, however, by a certain phrase, I dis-
cover that such fear was groundless; that
hitherto our messages pass safely, over rough
seas and tumultuous lands, and do not once
miss their road. Among the many wonders of
modern society, such a benefit is not the least
wonderful; and ought, indeed, as you once re-
marked, to make amends for much that we
could wish otherwise. Not knowing the par-
ticular Address of our Berlin Friends, and
thinking better, at all events, that you, who had
planted the seed of that relation, should also
witness its germinating, I have enclosed a few
lines under this cover, and shall employ your
kindness to forward them as you see fittest.
I hope also that the footing you have procured
me on the German soil will prove a lasting one,
and pleasant to my neighbours: for me the re-
membrance of him to whom I owe it will render
the connection doubly valuable.
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? 238 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
Concerning the Box and its Books, I must
first mention that wonderful Life of Schiller, with
its proud Introduction,1 fitter to have stood at the
head of some Epic Poem of my writing than
there. That I should see myself, before all the
world, set forth as the Friend of Goethe, is an
honour of which, some few years ago, I could
not, in my wildest flights, have dreamed; of
which I should still desire no better happiness
than to feel myself worthy. For the rest the
book is nearly the most beautiful I have ever
seen; the Preface graceful and pertinent, as
well as highly flattering: these House-pictures
themselves seem more appropriate than I could
have fancied. On the whole, as one of our
rhymers says: "Tis distance lends enchant-
ment to the view"; had this Craigenputtock
mansion stood among the Harz Mountains or
the Vosges, this authentic image of it would
have interested me as well as another. But that
our remote Scottish Home should stand here,
faithfully represented by a German burin under
your auspices, this is a fact which we shall
1 See supra, p. 204 n.
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? 1830 CARLYLE TO GOETHE 239
never get to understand. The King's palace
of Holyrood was not dealt with so royally; and
that our rough-cast Dwelling, with its humble
Sycamores and unfrequented hills, should have
such preferment! We repeat often: a House,
like a Prophet, save in its own country, is not
without Honour.
For that matchless copy of your Poems,
the more precious for the memorable Day it
was inscribed on,1 my wife, whose gratifica-
tion is of the highest, requests a little space
here to thank you in her own words. The
last Lieferung I have already gone over;
especially the Tag-und Jahresheft, in the like
of which I could read without limit. --Here,
however, let me mention an accident and
omission, which, as important to me, you
will gladly rectify: namely, that the fore-last
Lieferung was not sent; that from volume 25
1 Goethe's Gcdichte (Cotta 1829), two volumes, in blue silk
cover, and with autograph inscription, "Der entfernten theuren
Freundin Jane W. Carlyle, mit freundlichstem Gruss, am 28
Aug. 1830, W. Goethe, Weimar. " ["To my dear, far-distant
friend Jane W. Carlyle, with kindest greeting, on the 28th of
August, 'Goethe's Birthday,' 1830. "]
? ? 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
? 24o CARLYLE TO GOETHE 1830
to volume 31,of that beautiful Edition, there is a
blank. Let me trust, also, that your task is not
yet finished; that from among your valuable
Papers, copious Selections, and Completions
of many sorts are yet in store for us. My room
here is exhausted, otherwise there were in-
numerable things to say. In No.