I FEEL no small reluctance in venturing to give to the public
a work of the character of that indicated by the title-page to
the present volume, for, difficult as it must always be to ren-
der satisfactorily into one's own tongue the writings of the
bards of other lands, the responsibility assumed by the trans-
lator is immeasurably increased when he attempts to transfer
the thoughts of those great men, who have lived for all the
world and for all ages, from the language in which they were
originally clothed, to one to which they may as yet have
been strangers. Pre-eminently is this the case with Goethe,
the most masterly of all the master minds of modern times,
whose name is already inscribed on the tablets of immortal-
ity, and whose fame already extends over the earth, although
as yet only in its infancy. Scarcely have two decades passed
away since he ceased to dwell among men, yet he now stands
before us, not as a mere individual, like those whom the
world is wont to call great, but as a type, as an emblem --
the recognised embleni and representative of the human mind
in its present stage of culture and advancement.

Among the infinitely varied effusions of Goethe's pen, per-
haps there are none which are of as general interest as his
Poems, which breathe the very spirit of Nature, and embody
the real music of the feelings. In Germany, they are uni-
versally known, and are considered as the most delightful of
his works. Yet in this country, this kindred country, sprung
from the same stem, and so strongly resembling her sister in
so many points, they are nearly unknown. Almost the only
poetical work of the greatest Poet that the world has seen
for ages, that is really and generally read in England, is
Faust the translations of which are almost endless; while
no single person has as yet appeared to attempt to give, in
an English dress, in any collective or systematic manner,
those smaller productions of the genius of Goethe which it is
the object of the present volume to lay before the reader,
whose indulgence's requested for its many imperfections.
In addition to the beauty of the language in which the Poet
has given utterance to his thoughts, there is a depth of mean-
ing in those thoughts which is not easily discoverable at first

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