sight, and the translator incurs great risk of overlooking it,
and of giving a prosaic effect to that which in the original
contains the very essence of poetry. It is probably this diffi-
culty that has deterred others from undertaking the task I
have set myself, and in which I do not pretend to do more
than attempt to give an idea of the minstrelsy of one so un-
rivalled, by as truthful an interpretation of it as lies in my
power.

The principles which have guided me on the present occa-
sion are the same as those followed in the translation of
Schiller's complete Poems that was published by me in 1851,
namely, as literal a rendering of the original as is consistent
with good English, and also a very strict adherence to the
metre of the original. Although translators usually allow
themselves great license in both these points, it appears to me
that by so doing they of necessity destroy the very soul of
the work they profess to translate. In fact, it is not a trans-
lation, but a paraphrase that they give. It may perhaps be
thought that the present translations go almost to the other
extreme, and that a rendering of metre, line for line, and word
for word, makes it impossible to preserve the poetry of the
original both in substance and in sound. But experience has
convinced me that it is not so, and that great fidelity is even
the most essential element of success, whether in translating
poetry or prose. It was therefore very satisfactory to me to
find that the principle laid down by me to myself in translat-
ing Schiller met with the very general, if not universal, ap-
proval of the reader. At the same time, I have endeavoured
to profit in the case of this, the younger born of the two
attempts made by me to transplant the muse of Germany to
the shores of Britain, by the criticisms, whether friendly or
hostile, that have been evoled or provoked by the appear-
ance of its elder brother.

As already mentioned, the latter contained the whole of
the Poems of Schiller. It is impossible, in anything like the
same compass, to give all the writings of Goethe comprised
under the general title of Gedichte, or poems. They contain
between 30,000 and 40,000 verses, exclusive of his plays, and
similar works. Very many of these would be absolutely
without interest to the English reader, -- such as those hav-
ing only a local application, those addressed to individuals,
and so on. Others again, from their extreme length, could
only be published in separate volumes. But the impossi-
bility of giving all need form no obstacle to giving as much
as possible; and it so happens that the real interest of Goethe's
Poems centres in those those classes of them which are not too

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