The Sun. — 1856-08-05 (London, England)

EWES' GOETHE. The Life and Works of a 7ethe ; With Sketches of his Age and Contemporar, ies. By G. H. Lewes. 2 vols. David Nutt. It is curious that, while t he most appreciative of all the commentators on Sh akspere was (A. W. Schlegel) a German—incompar. %bly the most gifted and intelligent of all the biograi lhers of Goethe is (G. H. Lewes) an Englishman. These two re markable volumes, commemorativ eof the greatest literary genius of the Teutonic race—volumes only given to the world at last aft. 3r two years of assiduous preparation—constitute b .enceforth, par excellence, we do conscientiously believe, TEE  "Life of Goethe," and, as such, assui `ne at Once a  high and unassailable position amoni our great classic masterpieces. Cordially—noi r that his labour of love is at length accompli shed—now that we have the fruition of it in our bands thus  substantially and satisfactorily—cordi: illy do we offer to Mr. Lewes our unaffected and most ear nest congratulations. Thus far, at let tst, he has fulfilled his ambition. Again and mor a triumphantly than hitherto he has passed anot ;her of the golden goals towards which his steps 1 have been reverently and ardently directed. In this last and worthiest of his various literary pro Auctions he has acquitted himself, we must protest at once, hardly less to our surprise than to our admiration. His brilliant imaginative sketch of the Young Author, " Ranthorpe," his charming historiette of " Rose, Blanche, •and Tiolev," his fiery and daring apostrophe to the shade of "Robespierre," his luminous and comprehensive " Biograpbical History of l'hilosophy" shall we acknowledge it ?—had hardly prepared us for the mellowed and perfected excellence of this really masterly memorial of Goethe and his Contem poraries. A biography not unmoor thy, in its way, of taking rank among the more admirable examples produceable through any age, or ill any tongue, in that, to us, we had nearly said, the' most fascinat ing of all the numerous departments of literature. The work—it is interesting.to remark' at once—is thus gracefully inscribed to Thomas (Jarlyle, the translator of " Wilhelm Meister," and LLS such the one " who first taught England to nPpreciate Goethe"—" As a memorial," writes Mx: Lewes, " Of gratitude for Intellectual Guidance), and of esteem for rare and noble qualities." Conspicuous among the various honours conferred upon the anther of " Sartor Resartus "—we take dedication to be about the one the most eminewtly well calculated to afford him a genuine and lasting sense of gratification. The motto selected by Mr. Lewes for his title-page.--resembling sottle; what the motto we ourselves should have chueOo for the title-page of a crowning biography of tha Great Napoleon (namely, the opinion uttered la regard to that extraordinary man by the Right Hon. Charles James Fox, to wit: "Ibelieve him , be one of the best, as I am sure he is the greatest of mankind")—is sententiously as follows :—" Goethe's heart, which few knew,' was as great as his intellect, which all know." Avroc ft7r£ll Jung Stilling ! And truthfully--judging from these dispassionate records, the _.• data of which, as the title-page again intimate ;=; have been industriously collected by our author,;:,, from sources both " published and unpublished." The former, namely, the published sources of information in regard to the life of Goethe, noi of course be readily enough enumerated. Foremost among them the brief biographical notices byDoring and by Schutz—succeeded, as those miniature mementoes were ultimately, by the ampler narratives of Viehoff and of Schafer—Tiehoff's Goethe's Leben extending to four, and Schafer's to two volumes : volumes as substantial in appearance, but by no means as meritorious in character, as these two tomes from the hand of G. H. Lewes. Besides the " Lives" of Goethe, penned by Daring, and Schutz, and Viehoff, and Schafer, there were—affording materials and hints to our author—Herr Falk's "Reminiscences of Goethe," and Mrs. Austin's "Goethe and his • Contemporaries," and Mr. Oxenforers translation of " Enckermanu's Conversations," and Goethe's own Letters, letters addressed now to the Countess Von Stotberg, now to Kestner, now to Charlotte—not forgetting various other Epistles, Memoirs, and Recollections, or (what Mr.. Lewes quite comprehensibly designates " as much of a stumbling-block as of a stepping-stone"), the renowned Wahrhfit and Dichtung, Goethe's - own , famous fragment of Autobiography I All these: fpublished sources of information in regard to his subject Mr. Lewes has wisely brought under contribution, has fairly sifted and ransacked. But with these he has scrutinised no less searchingly various unpublished sources of intelligence— sources imparting to his volumes very agreeably an air of undoubted novelty and originality. Speaking of this in his Preface he observes— " Besides the mass of printed testimony, I have endeavoured to get at the i;ruth by consulting- those who lived under the same roof with him, those who lived in friendly infiercourse with him, and those who have made his life and works a. special study." A Life, rumember, extending over the ample " span" comprised between 1749 and 1832—a life c onsequently embrac. ing eighty-two years a ltogether Johanns Wolfgang Goethe having been born in 1749,L about noonday on the 28th of August, and hav-r: ing expired at length full of! years and honours/hi in 1832, at about the sam4ihour of the day on the 22d of March. Wort es including among' their number—his maiden phantasy " Gotz von Berlichingen," his morbid t; ale of love and suicide " Werther," " Clavigo," " Egmont," "Stella,4, "Die Fischerin," "Trim eph der Empfindsam.i keit," " Iphigenia," "Ile ienau," " Tasso," hie " Theory of Colour," his " Treatise on the Metal morphoses of Plants ;" al Jove all, his wonderful., " Wilhelm Meister," his astonishing " Faust," and his exquisite " =an and Dorothea." What a genius ! W hat fecundity ! What depth ! What imag inatiou ! Remembering these works, do a we not surround our ideal of Goethe with the graceful and angelic forms of Charlotte, and Dorothea, and Mignon, and Marguerite ? Do-w e not marvel over the me- ,A mory of this giant intell Rd under the glamour of the Walpurgis Night, tt- ► the eltridch strain of the Erl King,"-to the Ivic rid glimmer of the sardonic and evil eye of that mocking phantom yonder in the dark br Lekground, the wily and diabolic Mephistopheles f Such is the memorable "Life," such are the.; marvellous " Works," recounted and analysed by Mr. G. H. Lewes' pen of sagacity and fascin; xtion. A masterpiece not unworthy of its theme —this noble biography-will • henceforth be regarde( 1, we rest assured, hardly less in Germany than in England, as the dorsi() authority commemora dve of all most worthy of commemoration in r egard- to Goethd and his contemporaries.  THE LARGES: r