The Sorrows of Young Werther

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J.W. von Goethe Thomas Carlyle and R.D. Boylan Edited by Nathen Haskell
Dole PREFACE I have carefully collected whatever I have been able to learn
of the story of poor Werther and here present it to you  knowing that
you will thank me for it. To his spirit and character you cannot refuse
your admiration and love to his fate you will not deny your tears.

And thou good soul who sufferest the same distress as he endured
once draw comfort from his sorrows and let this little book be thy
friend if  owing to fortune or through thine own fault thou canst
not find a dearer companion.

BOOK I

MAY 4. How happy I am that I am gone My dear friend  what a thing
is the heart of man  To leave you  from whom I have been inseparable
whom I love so dearly  and yet to feel happy I know you will forgive
me. Have not other attachments been specially appointed by fate to torment
a head like mine Poor Leonora  and yet I was not to blame. Was it
my fault that  whilst the peculiar charms of her sister afforded me
an agreeable entertainment a passion for me was engendered in her feeble
heart  And yet am I wholly blameless Did I not encourage her emotions
Did I not feel charmed at those truly genuine expressions of nature 
which  though but little mirthful in reality so often amused us 
Did I not  but oh  what is man that he dares so to accuse himself
My dear friend I promise you I will improve  I will no longer  as
has ever been my habit continue to ruminate on every petty vexation
which fortune may dispense I will enjoy the present  and the past
shall be for me the past. No doubt you are right my best of friends 
there would be far less suffering amongst mankind  if men  and God
knows why they are so fashioned  did not employ their imaginations
so assiduously in recalling the memory of past sorrow  instead of bearing
their present lot with equanimity. Be kind enough to inform my mother
that I shall attend to her business to the best of my ability  and shall
give her the earliest information about it. I have seen my aunt  and
find that she is very far from being the disagreeable person our friends
allege her to be. She is a lively  cheerful woman  with the best of
hearts. I explained to her my mother's wrongs with regard to that part
of her portion which has been withheld from her. She told me the motives
and reasons of her own conduct and the terms on which she is willing
to give up the whole and to do more than we have asked. In short I
cannot write further upon this subject at present  only assure my mother
that all will go on well. And I have again observed  my dear friend 
in this trifling affair  that misunderstandings and neglect occasion
more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events
the two latter are of less frequent occurrence.

In other respects I am very well off here. Solitude in this terrestrial
paradise is a genial balm to my mind and the young spring cheers with
its bounteous promises my oftentimes misgiving heart. Every tree every
bush is full of flowers  and one might wish himself transformed into
a butterfly  to float about in this ocean of perfume and find his
whole existence in it.

The town itself is disagreeable  but then  all around  you find
an inexpressible beauty of nature. This induced the late Count M to lay
out a garden on one of the sloping hills which here intersect each other
with the most charming variety and form the most lovely valleys. The
garden is simple and it is easy to perceive  even upon your first
entrance that the plan was not designed by a scientific gardener but
by a man who wished to give himself up here to the enjoyment of his own
sensitive heart. Many a tear have I already shed to the memory of its
departed master in a summer-house which is now reduced to ruins  but
was his favourite resort and now is mine. I shall soon be master of
the place. The gardener has become attached to me within the last few
days and he will lose nothing thereby.

MAY 10. A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul
like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart.
I am alone and feel the charm of existence in this spot  which was
created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy  my dear friend
so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence  that
I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke
at the present moment  and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist
than now. When while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me
and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage
of my trees  and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary
I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream and
as I lie close to the earth  a thousand unknown plants are noticed by
me when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks and grow
familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies
then I feel the presence of the Almighty who formed us in his own image
and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us  as
it floats around us in an eternity of bliss  and then  my friend
when darkness overspreads my eyes  and heaven and earth seem to dwell
in my soul and absorb its power  like the form of a beloved mistress
then I often think with longing  Oh  would I could describe these
conceptions  could impress upon paper all that is living so full and
warm within me that it might be the mirror of my soul  as my soul
is the mirror of the infinite God  O my friend but it is too much
for my strength  I sink under the weight of the splendour of these
visions 

MAY 12. I know not whether some deceitful spirits haunt this spot 
or whether it be the warm  celestial fancy in my own heart which makes
everything around me seem like paradise. In front of the house is a fountain
 a fountain to which I am bound by a charm like Melusina and her sisters.
Descending a gentle slope  you come to an arch where some twenty
steps lower down water of the clearest crystal gushes from the marble
rock. The narrow wall which encloses it above  the tall trees which
encircle the spot  and the coolness of the place itself  everything
imparts a pleasant but sublime impression. Not a day passes on which I
do not spend an hour there. The young maidens come from the town to fetch
water  innocent and necessary employment and formerly the occupation
of the daughters of kings. As I take my rest there the idea of the old
patriarchal life is awakened around me. I see them our old ancestors
how they formed their friendships and contracted alliances at the fountain-side
 and I feel how fountains and streams were guarded by beneficent spirits.
He who is a stranger to these sensations has never really enjoyed cool
repose at the side of a fountain after the fatigue of a weary summer day.

MAY 13. You ask if you shall send me books. My dear friend I beseech
you  for the love of God relieve me from such a yoke I need no more
to be guided agitated  heated. My heart ferments sufficiently of itself.
I want strains to lull me  and I find them to perfection in my Homer.
Often do I strive to allay the burning fever of my blood and you have
never witnessed anything so unsteady so uncertain  as my heart. But
need I confess this to you my dear friend  who have so often endured
the anguish of witnessing my sudden transitions from sorrow to immoderate
joy  and from sweet melancholy to violent passions I treat my poor
heart like a sick child  and gratify its every fancy. Do not mention
this again there are people who would censure me for it.

MAY 15. The common people of the place know me already and love
me particularly the children. When at first I associated with them
and inquired in a friendly tone about their various trifles  some fancied
that I wished to ridicule them and turned from me in exceeding ill-humour.
I did not allow that circumstance to grieve me I only felt most keenly
what I have often before observed. Persons who can claim a certain rank
keep themselves coldly aloof from the common people  as though they
feared to lose their importance by the contact whilst wanton idlers 
and such as are prone to bad joking  affect to descend to their level
only to make the poor people feel their impertinence all the more keenly.

I know very well that we are not all equal nor can be so but it
is my opinion that he who avoids the common people in order not to lose
their respect  is as much to blame as a coward who hides himself from
his enemy because he fears defeat.

The other day I went to the fountain and found a young servant-girl
who had set her pitcher on the lowest step and looked around to see
if one of her companions was approaching to place it on her head. I ran
down and looked at her. "Shall I help you  pretty lass" said I.
She blushed deeply. "Oh  sir" she exclaimed. "No ceremony " I replied.
She adjusted her head-gear and I helped her. She thanked me  and ascended
the steps.

MAY 17. I have made all sorts of acquaintances but have as yet found
no society. I know not what attraction I possess for the people  so
many of them like me and attach themselves to me and then I feel sorry
when the road we pursue together goes only a short distance. If you inquire
what the people are like here  I must answer "The same as everywhere."
The human race is but a monotonous affair. Most of them labour the greater
part of their time for mere subsistence  and the scanty portion of freedom
which remains to them so troubles them that they use every exertion to
get rid of it. Oh  the destiny of man 

But they are a right good sort of people. If I occasionally forget
myself and take part in the innocent pleasures which are not yet forbidden
to the peasantry and enjoy myself  for instance  with genuine freedom
and sincerity  round a well-covered table  or arrange an excursion
or a dance opportunely and so forth  all this produces a good effect
upon my disposition  only I must forget that there lie dormant within
me so many other qualities which moulder uselessly and which I am obliged
to keep carefully concealed. Ah  this thought affects my spirits fearfully.
And yet to be misunderstood is the fate of the like of us.

Alas that the friend of my youth is gone Alas  that I ever knew
her  I might say to myself "You are a dreamer to seek what is not
to be found here below." But she has been mine. I have possessed that
heart  that noble soul in whose presence I seemed to be more than
I really was because I was all that I could be. Good heavens did then
a single power of my soul remain unexercised In her presence could I
not display  to its full extent  that mysterious feeling with which
my heart embraces nature Was not our intercourse a perpetual web of
the finest emotions  of the keenest wit  the varieties of which 
even in their very eccentricity  bore the stamp of genius  Alas 
the few years by which she was my senior brought her to the grave before
me. Never can I forget her firm mind or her heavenly patience.

A few days ago I met a certain young V a frank open fellow
with a most pleasing countenance. He has just left the university  does
not deem himself overwise  but believes he knows more than other people.
He has worked hard as I can perceive from many circumstances and
in short possesses a large stock of information. When he heard that
I am drawing a good deal and that I know Greektwo wonderful things
for this part of the country he came to see me and displayed his
whole store of learning  from Batteaux to Wood from De Piles to Winkelmann
 he assured me he had read through the first part of Sultzer's theory
and also possessed a manuscript of Heyne's work on the study of the antique.
I allowed it all to pass. I have become acquainted also  with a very
worthy person  the district judge  a frank and open-hearted man. I
am told it is a most delightful thing to see him in the midst of his children
of whom he has nine. His eldest daughter especially is highly spoken of.
He has invited me to go and see him  and I intend to do so on the first
opportunity. He lives at one of the royal hunting-lodges which can be
reached from here in an hour and a half by walking and which he obtained
leave to inhabit after the loss of his wife  as it is so painful to
him to reside in town and at the court.

There have also come in my way a few other originals of a questionable
sort who are in all respects undesirable and most intolerable in their
demonstration of friendship. Good-bye. This letter will please you it
is quite historical.

MAY 22. That the life of man is but a dream  many a man has surmised
heretofore and I too am everywhere pursued by this feeling. When
I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties
are confined when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing
for mere necessities which again have no further end than to prolong
a wretched existence and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain
subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation
whilst we amuse ourselves painting our prison-walls with bright figures
and brilliant landscapes when I consider all this  Wilhelm I
am silent. I examine my own being  and find there a world  but a world
rather of imagination and dim desires  than of distinctness and living
power. Then everything swims before my senses  and I smile and dream
while pursuing my way through the world.

All learned professors and doctors are agreed that children do not
comprehend the cause of their desires  but that the grown-up should
wander about this earth like children  without knowing whence they come
or whither they go influenced as little by fixed motives but guided
like them by biscuits  sugar-plums and the rod this is what
nobody is willing to acknowledge and yet I think it is palpable.

I know what you will say in reply  for I am ready to admit that
they are happiest  who like children amuse themselves with their
playthings dress and undress their dolls and attentively watch the
cupboard where mamma has locked up her sweet things  and when at
last they get a delicious morsel eat it greedily and exclaim "More
" These are certainly happy beings but others also are objects of envy
who dignify their paltry employments and sometimes even their passions
with pompous titles  representing them to mankind as gigantic achievements
performed for their welfare and glory. But the man who humbly acknowledges
the vanity of all this who observes with what pleasure the thriving
citizen converts his little garden into a paradise and how patiently
even the poor man pursues his weary way under his burden and how all
wish equally to behold the light of the sun a little longer  yes
such a man is at peace and creates his own world within himself  and
he is also happy because he is a man. And then however limited his
sphere he still preserves in his bosom the sweet feeling of liberty 
and knows that he can quit his prison whenever he likes.

MAY 26. You know of old my ways of settling anywhere of selecting
a little cottage in some cosy spot and of putting up in it with every
inconvenience. Here  too I have discovered such a snug comfortable
place  which possesses peculiar charms for me.

About a league from the town is a place called Walheim. The reader
need not take the trouble to look for the place thus designated. We have
found it necessary to change the names given in the original.  It is
delightfully situated on the side of a hill  and by proceeding along
one of the footpaths which lead out of the village you can have a view
of the whole valley. A good old woman lives there  who keeps a small
inn. She sells wine  beer  and coffee  and is cheerful and pleasant
notwithstanding her age. The chief charm of this spot consists in two
linden-trees spreading their enormous branches over the little green
before the church  which is entirely surrounded by peasants' cottages
barns  and homesteads. I have seldom seen a place so retired and peaceable
 and there often have my table and chair brought out from the little
inn  and drink my coffee there and read my Homer. Accident brought
me to the spot one fine afternoon  and I found it perfectly deserted.
Everybody was in the fields except a little boy about four years of age
who was sitting on the ground  and held between his knees a child about
six months old he pressed it to his bosom with both arms which thus
formed a sort of arm-chair and notwithstanding the liveliness which
sparkled in its black eyes it remained perfectly still. The sight charmed
me. I sat down upon a plough opposite  and sketched with great delight
this little picture of brotherly tenderness. I added the neighbouring
hedge  the barn-door and some broken cart-wheels just as they happened
to lie and I found in about an hour that I had made a very correct and
interesting drawing  without putting in the slightest thing of my own.
This confirmed me in my resolution of adhering for the future  entirely
to nature. She alone is inexhaustible  and capable of forming the greatest
masters. Much may be alleged in favour of rules  as much may be likewise
advanced in favour of the laws of society  an artist formed upon them
will never produce anything absolutely bad or disgusting as a man who
observes the laws  and obeys decorum can never be an absolutely intolerable
neighbour  nor a decided villain but yet say what you will of rules
they destroy the genuine feeling of nature as well as its true expression.
Do not tell me "that this is too hard  that they only restrain and prune
superfluous branches etc." My good friend  I will illustrate this
by an analogy. These things resemble love. A warmhearted youth becomes
strongly attached to a maiden  he spends every hour of the day in her
company  wears out his health  and lavishes his fortune  to afford
continual proof that he is wholly devoted to her. Then comes a man of
the world  a man of place and respectability and addresses him thus
 "My good young friend love is natural but you must love within
bounds. Divide your time devote a portion to business  and give the
hours of recreation to your mistress. Calculate your fortune and out
of the superfluity you may make her a present  only not too often 
 on her birthday and such occasions." Pursuing this advice he
may become a useful member of society  and I should advise every prince
to give him an appointment but it is all up with his love  and with
his genius if he be an artist. O my friend why is it that the torrent
of genius so seldom bursts forth so seldom rolls in full-flowing stream
overwhelming your astounded soul Because on either side of this stream
cold and respectable persons have taken up their abodes  and forsooth
their summer-houses and tulip-beds would suffer from the torrent wherefore
they dig trenches  and raise embankments betimes in order to avert
the impending danger.

MAY 27. I find I have fallen into raptures declamation and similes
and have forgotten in consequence  to tell you what became of the
children. Absorbed in my artistic contemplations which I briefly described
in my letter of yesterday  I continued sitting on the plough for two
hours. Toward evening a young woman  with a basket on her arm  came
running toward the children  who had not moved all that time. She exclaimed
from a distance  "You are a good boy Philip " She gave me greeting
 I returned it rose  and approached her. I inquired if she were
the mother of those pretty children. "Yes " she said and giving
the eldest a piece of bread  she took the little one in her arms and
kissed it with a mother's tenderness. "I left my child in Philip's care
" she said  "whilst I went into the town with my eldest boy to buy
some wheaten bread some sugar  and an earthen pot." I saw the various
articles in the basket from which the cover had fallen. "I shall make
some broth to-night for my little Hanswhich was the name of the youngest
 that wild fellow  the big one broke my pot yesterday  whilst
he was scrambling with Philip for what remained of the contents." I inquired
for the eldest and she bad scarcely time to tell me that he was driving
a couple of geese home from the meadow when he ran up  and handed
Philip an osier-twig. I talked a little longer with the woman  and found
that she was the daughter of the schoolmaster  and that her husband
was gone on a journey into Switzerland for some money a relation had left
him. "They wanted to cheat him" she said "and would not answer his
letters  so he is gone there himself. I hope he has met with no accident
as I have heard nothing of him since his departure." I left the woman 
with regret  giving each of the children a kreutzer  with an additional
one for the youngest to buy some wheaten bread for his broth when she
went to town next  and so we parted. I assure you  my dear friend 
when my thoughts are all in tumult the sight of such a creature as this
tranquillises my disturbed mind. She moves in a happy thoughtlessness
within the confined circle of her existence  she supplies her wants
from day to day  and when she sees the leaves fall they raise no
other idea in her mind than that winter is approaching. Since that time
I have gone out there frequently. The children have become quite familiar
with me  and each gets a lump of sugar when I drink my coffee  and
they share my milk and bread and butter in the evening. They always receive
their kreutzer on Sundays  for the good woman has orders to give it
to them when I do not go there after evening service. They are quite at
home with me tell me everything  and I am particularly amused with
observing their tempers  and the simplicity of their behaviour when
some of the other village children are assembled with them.

It has given me a deal of trouble to satisfy the anxiety of the mother
lestas she says  "they should inconvenience the gentleman."

MAY 30. What I have lately said of painting is equally true with respect
to poetry. It is only necessary for us to know what is really excellent
and venture to give it expression  and that is saying much in few words.
To-day I have had a scene  which if literally related  would make
the most beautiful idyl in the world. But why should I talk of poetry
and scenes and idyls Can we never take pleasure in nature without having
recourse to art 

If you expect anything grand or magnificent from this introduction
you will be sadly mistaken. It relates merely to a peasant-lad who has
excited in me the warmest interest. As usual I shall tell my story badly
 and you as usual  will think me extravagant. It is Walheim once
more always Walheim  which produces these wonderful phenomena.

A party had assembled outside the house under the linden-trees to
drink coffee. The company did not exactly please me  and under one
pretext or another I lingered behind.

A peasant came from an adjoining house and set to work arranging
some part of the same plough which I had lately sketched. His appearance
pleased me and I spoke to him  inquired about his circumstances 
made his acquaintance  and as is my wont with persons of that class
was soon admitted into his confidence. He said he was in the service of
a young widow  who set great store by him. He spoke so much of his mistress
and praised her so extravagantly that I could soon see he was desperately
in love with her. "She is no longer young " he said  "and she was
treated so badly by her former husband that she does not mean to marry
again." From his account it was so evident what incomparable charms she
possessed for him  and how ardently he wished she would select him to
extinguish the recollection of her first husband's misconduct  that
I should have to repeat his own words in order to describe the depth of
the poor fellow's attachment truth and devotion. It would  in fact
require the gifts of a great poet to convey the expression of his features
the harmony of his voice and the heavenly fire of his eye. No words
can portray the tenderness of his every movement and of every feature
 no effort of mine could do justice to the scene. His alarm lest I should
misconceive his position with regard to his mistress or question the
propriety of her conduct touched me particularly. The charming manner
with which he described her form and person  which without possessing
the graces of youth  won and attached him to her is inexpressible 
and must be left to the imagination. I have never in my life witnessed
or fancied or conceived the possibility of such intense devotion such
ardent affections  united with so much purity. Do not blame me if I
say that the recollection of this innocence and truth is deeply impressed
upon my very soul  that this picture of fidelity and tenderness haunts
me everywhere  and that my own heart as though enkindled by the flame
glows and burns within me.

I mean now to try and see her as soon as I can or perhaps  on
second thoughts  I had better not  it is better I should behold her
through the eyes of her lover. To my sight perhaps she would not appear
as she now stands before me  and why should I destroy so sweet a picture

JUNE 16. "Why do I not write to you " You lay claim to learning 
and ask such a question. You should have guessed that I am well  that
is to say  in a word I have made an acquaintance who has won my
heart  I have  I know not.

To give you a regular account of the manner in which I have become
acquainted with the most amiable of women would be a difficult task. I
am a happy and contented mortal  but a poor historian.

An angel Nonsense  Everybody so describes his mistress and yet
I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is  or why she is so
perfect  suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.

So much simplicity with so much understauding  so mild and yet
so resolute  a mind so placid  and a life so active.

But all this is ugly balderdash  which expresses not a single character
nor feature. Some other time but no  not some other time now
this very instant  will I tell you all about it. Now or never. Well 
between ourselves  since I commenced my letter I have been three times
on the point of throwing down my pen of ordering my horse  and riding
out. And yet I vowed this morning that I would not ride to-day and yet
every moment I am rushing to the window to see how high the sun is.

I could not restrain myself  go to her I must. I have just returned
Wilhelm  and whilst I am taking supper I will write to you. What a delight
it was for my soul to see her in the midst of her dear beautiful children
 eight brothers and sisters 

But  if I proceed thus you will be no wiser at the end of my letter
than you were at the beginning. Attend then  and I will compel myself
to give you the details.

I mentioned to you the other day that I had become acquainted with
S  the district judge  and that he had invited me to go and visit
him in his retirement  or rather in his little kingdom. But I neglected
going  and perhaps should never have gone  if chance had not discovered
to me the treasure which lay concealed in that retired spot. Some of our
young people had proposed giving a ball in the country at which I consented
to be present. I offered my hand for the evening to a pretty and agreeable
but rather commonplace sort of girl from the immediate neighbourhood
 and it was agreed that I should engage a carriage and call upon Charlotte
with my partner and her aunt to convey them to the ball. My companion
informed me  as we drove along through the park to the hunting-lodge
that I should make the acquaintance of a very charming young lady. "Take
care" added the aunt "that you do not lose your heart." "Why" said
I. "Because she is already engaged to a very worthy man " she replied
"who is gone to settle his affairs upon the death of his father  and
will succeed to a very considerable inheritance." This information possessed
no interest for me. When we arrived at the gate  the sun was setting
behind the tops of the mountains. The atmosphere was heavy and the ladies
expressed their fears of an approaching storm  as masses of low black
clouds were gathering in the horizon. I relieved their anxieties by pretending
to be weather-wise although I myself had some apprehensions lest our
pleasure should be interrupted.

I alighted and a maid came to the door and requested us to wait
a moment for her mistress. I walked across the court to a well-built house
and  ascending the flight of steps in front  opened the door and
saw before me the most charming spectacle I had ever witnessed. Six children
from eleven to two years old were running about the hall and surrounding
a lady of middle height  with a lovely figure  dressed in a robe of
simple white trimmed with pink ribbons. She was holding a rye loaf in
her hand and was cutting slices for the little ones all around in
proportion to their age and appetite. She performed her task in a graceful
and affectionate manner  each claimant awaiting his turn with outstretched
hands  and boisterously shouting his thanks. Some of them ran away at
once to enjoy their evening meal whilst others of a gentler disposition
retired to the courtyard to see the strangers  and to survey the carriage
in which their Charlotte was to drive away. "Pray forgive me for giving
you the trouble to come for me and for keeping the ladies waiting 
but dressing and arranging some household duties before I leave  had
made me forget my children's supper  and they do not like to take it
from any one but me." I uttered some indifferent compliment  but my
whole soul was absorbed by her air her voice her manner  and I had
scarcely recovered myself when she ran into her room to fetch her gloves
and fan. The young ones threw inquiring glances at me from a distance
 whilst I approached the youngest  a most delicious little creature.
He drew back and Charlotte entering at the very moment said  "Louis
shake hands with your cousin." The little fellow obeyed willingly  and
I could not resist giving him a hearty kiss  notwithstanding his rather
dirty face. "Cousin " said I to Charlotte  as I handed her down 
"do you think I deserve the happiness of being related to you " She
replied  with a ready smile  "Oh I have such a number of cousins
that I should be sorry if you were the most undeserving of them." In taking
leave  she desired her next sister Sophy a girl about eleven years
old  to take great care of the children  and to say good-bye to papa
for her when he came home from his ride. She enjoined to the little ones
to obey their sister Sophy as they would herself upon which some promised
that they would  but a little fair-haired girl about six years old
looked discontented  and said  "But Sophy is not you Charlotte
and we like you best." The two eldest boys had clambered up the carriage
 and at my request she permitted them to accompany us a little way
through the forest upon their promising to sit very still  and hold
fast.

We were hardly seated  and the ladies had scarcely exchanged compliments
making the usual remarks upon each other's dress and upon the company
they expected to meet  when Charlotte stopped the carriage and made
her brothers get down. They insisted upon kissing her hands once more
 which the eldest did with all the tenderness of a youth of fifteen 
but the other in a lighter and more careless manner. She desired them
again to give her love to the children and we drove off.

The aunt inquired of Charlotte whether she had finished the book she
had last sent her. "No" said Charlotte "I did not like it  you can
have it again. And the one before was not much better." I was surprised
upon asking the title  to hear that it was ____.We feel obliged to
suppress the passage in the letter to prevent any one from feeling aggrieved
 although no author need pay much attention to the opinion of a mere
girl or that of an unsteady young man.

I found penetration and character in everything she said every expression
seemed to brighten her features with new charms with new rays of
genius which unfolded by degrees as she felt herself understood.

"When I was younger " she observed "I loved nothing so much as
romances. Nothing could equal my delight when  on some holiday I could
settle down quietly in a corner  and enter with my whole heart and soul
into the joys or sorrows of some fictitious Leonora. I do not deny that
they even possess some charms for me yet. But I read so seldom that
I prefer books suited exactly to my taste. And I like those authors best
whose scenes describe my own situation in life and the friends who
are about me whose stories touch me with interest  from resembling
my own homely existence  which without being absolutely paradise
is on the whole  a source of indescribable happiness."

I endeavoured to conceal the emotion which these words occasioned 
but it was of slight avail for when she had expressed so truly her
opinion of "The Vicar of Wakefield" and of other works the names of
which I omitThough the names are omitted yet the authors mentioned
deserve Charlotte's approbation  and will feel it in their hearts when
they read this passage. It concerns no other person. I could no longer
contain myself but gave full utterance to what I thought of it and
it was not until Charlotte had addressed herself to the two other ladies
that I remembered their presence and observed them sitting mute with
astonishment. The aunt looked at me several times with an air of raillery
which  however I did not at all mind.

We talked of the pleasures of dancing. "If it is a fault to love it
" said Charlotte  "I am ready to confess that I prize it above all
other amusements. If anything disturbs me  I go to the piano play
an air to which I have danced  and all goes right again directly."

You  who know me can fancy how steadfastly I gazed upon her rich
dark eyes during these remarks how my very soul gloated over her warm
lips and fresh glowing cheeks  how I became quite lost in the delightful
meaning of her words so much so  that I scarcely heard the actual
expressions. In short  I alighted from the carriage like a person in
a dream  and was so lost to the dim world around me  that I scarcely
heard the music which resounded from the illuminated ballroom.

The two Messrs. Andran and a certain N. N.I cannot trouble myself
with the names who were the aunt's and Charlotte's partners  received
us at the carriage-door  and took possession of their ladies whilst
I followed with mine.

We commenced with a minuet. I led out one lady after another and
precisely those who were the most disagreeable could not bring themselves
to leave off. Charlotte and her partner began an English country dance
and you must imagine my delight when it was their turn to dance the figure
with us. You should see Charlotte dance. She dances with her whole heart
and soul her figure is all harmony elegance  and grace as if she
were conscious of nothing else and had no other thought or feeling
and  doubtless for the moment  every other sensation is extinct.

She was engaged for the second country dance but promised me the
third  and assured me  with the most agreeable freedom that she
was very fond of waltzing. "It is the custom here " she said "for
the previous partners to waltz together  but my partner is an indifferent
waltzer  and will feel delighted if I save him the trouble. Your partner
is not allowed to waltz  and indeed  is equally incapable  but
I observed during the country dance that you waltz well  so  if you
will waltz with me I beg you would propose it to my partner  and I
will propose it to yours." We agreed and it was arranged that our partners
should mutually entertain each other.

We set off and at first  delighted ourselves with the usual
graceful motions of the arms. With what grace  with what ease  she
moved  When the waltz commenced  and the dancers whirled around each
other in the giddy maze  there was some confusion  owing to the incapacity
of some of the dancers. We judiciously remained still  allowing the
others to weary themselves and when the awkward dancers had withdrawn
we joined in and kept it up famously together with one other couple 
 Andran and his partner. Never did I dance more lightly. I felt myself
more than mortal holding this loveliest of creatures in my arms  flying
with her as rapidly as the wind  till I lost sight of every other object
 and O Wilhelm I vowed at that moment  that a maiden whom I loved
or for whom I felt the slightest attachment  never never should waltz
with any one else but with me  if I went to perdition for it you
will understand this.

We took a few turns in the room to recover our breath. Charlotte sat
down and felt refreshed by partaking of some oranges which I had had
secured  the only ones that had been left  but at every slice
which  from politeness she offered to her neighbours I felt as though
a dagger went through my heart.

We were the second couple in the third country dance. As we were going
downand Heaven knows with what ecstasy I gazed at her arms and eyes 
beaming with the sweetest feeling of pure and genuine enjoyment  we
passed a lady whom I had noticed for her charming expression of countenance
 although she was no longer young. She looked at Charlotte with a smile
then holding up her finger in a threatening attitude repeated twice
in a very significant tone of voice the name of "Albert."

"Who is Albert" said I to Charlotte  "if it is not impertinent
to ask" She was about to answer  when we were obliged to separate 
in order to execute a figure in the dance  and as we crossed over
again in front of each other I perceived she looked somewhat pensive.
"Why need I conceal it from you " she said as she gave me her hand
for the promenade. "Albert is a worthy man to whom I am engaged." Now
there was nothing new to me in this for the girls had told me of it
on the way but it was so far new that I had not thought of it in connection
with her whom  in so short a time  I had learned to prize so highly.
Enough I became confused got out in the figure and occasioned general
confusion  so that it required all Charlotte's presence of mind to set
me right by pulling and pushing me into my proper place.

The dance was not yet finished when the lightning which had for some
time been seen in the horizon  and which I had asserted to proceed entirely
from heat  grew more violent and the thunder was heard above the music.
When any distress or terror surprises us in the midst of our amusements
it naturally makes a deeper impression than at other times either because
the contrast makes us more keenly susceptible  or rather perhaps because
our senses are then more open to impressions and the shock is consequently
stronger. To this cause I must ascribe the fright and shrieks of the ladies.
One sagaciously sat down in a corner with her back to the window and
held her fingers to her ears a second knelt down before her  and hid
her face in her lap  a third threw herself between them  and embraced
her sister with a thousand tears some insisted on going home others
unconscious of their actions wanted sufficient presence of mind to repress
the impertinence of their young partners who sought to direct to themselves
those sighs which the lips of our agitated beauties intended for heaven.
Some of the gentlemen had gone down-stairs to smoke a quiet cigar  and
the rest of the company gladly embraced a happy suggestion of the hostess
to retire into another room which was provided with shutters and curtains.
We had hardly got there  when Charlotte placed the chairs in a circle
 and when the company had sat down in compliance with her request 
she forthwith proposed a round game.

I noticed some of the company prepare their mouths and draw themselves
up at the prospect of some agreeable forfeit. "Let us play at counting
" said Charlotte. "Now pay attention I shall go round the circle from
right to left  and each person is to count one after the other the
number that comes to him and must count fast whoever stops or mistakes
is to have a box on the ear  and so on till we have counted a thousand."
It was delightful to see the fun. She went round the circle with upraised
arm. "One " said the first "two " the second "three " the third
 and so on till Charlotte went faster and faster. One made a mistake
instantly a box on the ear and amid the laughter that ensued came
another box  and so on faster and faster. I myself came in for two.
I fancied they were harder than the rest and felt quite delighted. A
general laughter and confusion put an end to the game long before we had
counted as far as a thousand. The party broke up into little separate
knots  the storm had ceased  and I followed Charlotte into the ballroom.
On the way she said  "The game banished their fears of the storm." I
could make no reply. "I myself" she continued  "was as much frightened
as any of them but by affecting courage  to keep up the spirits of
the others I forgot my apprehensions." We went to the window. It was
still thundering at a distance a soft rain was pouring down over the
country  and filled the air around us with delicious odours. Charlotte
leaned forward on her arm  her eyes wandered over the scene  she raised
them to the sky  and then turned them upon me  they were moistened
with tears she placed her hand on mine and said  "Klopstock " at
once I remembered the magnificent ode which was in her thoughts  I felt
oppressed with the weight of my sensations and sank under them. It was
more than I could bear. I bent over her hand kissed it in a stream of
delicious tears  and again looked up to her eyes. Divine Klopstock
why didst thou not see thy apotheosis in those eyes  And thy name so
often profaned would that I never heard it repeated 

JUNE 19. I no longer remember where I stopped in my narrative  I
only know it was two in the morning when I went to bed and if you had
been with me that I might have talked instead of writing to you  I
should in all probability  have kept you up till daylight.

I think I have not yet related what happened as we rode home from
the ball nor have I time to tell you now. It was a most magnificent
sunrise  the whole country was refreshed and the rain fell drop by
drop from the trees in the forest. Our companions were asleep. Charlotte
asked me if I did not wish to sleep also and begged of me not to make
any ceremony on her account. Looking steadfastly at her  I answered 
"As long as I see those eyes open  there is no fear of my falling asleep."
We both continued awake till we reached her door. The maid opened it softly
and assured her  in answer to her inquiries  that her father and the
children were well and still sleeping. I left her asking permission
to visit her in the course of the day. She consented and I went  and
since that time  sun moon  and stars may pursue their course I
know not whether it is day or night  the whole world is nothing to me.

JUNE 21. My days are as happy as those reserved by God for his elect
 and whatever be my fate hereafter I can never say that I have not
tasted joy the purest joy of life. You know Walheim. I am now completely
settled there. In that spot I am only half a league from Charlotte and
there I enjoy myself and taste all the pleasure which can fall to the
lot of man.

Little did I imagine when I selected Walheim for my pedestrian excursions
that all heaven lay so near it. How often in my wanderings from the hillside
or from the meadows across the river have I beheld this hunting-lodge
which now contains within it all the joy of my heart

I have often my dear Wilhelm reflected on the eagerness men feel
to wander and make new discoveries and upon that secret impulse which
afterward inclines them to return to their narrow circle conform to
the laws of custom and embarrass themselves no longer with what passes
around them.

It is so strange how when I came here first  and gazed upon that
lovely valley from the hillside  I felt charmed with the entire scene
surrounding me. The little wood opposite how delightful to sit under
its shade  How fine the view from that point of rock Then  that
delightful chain of hills  and the exquisite valleys at their feet
Could I but wander and lose myself amongst them  I went  and returned
without finding what I wished. Distance  my friend is like futurity.
A dim vastness is spread before our souls  the perceptions of our mind
are as obscure as those of our vision  and we desire earnestly to surrender
up our whole being that it may be filled with the complete and perfect
bliss of one glorious emotion. But alas  when we have attained our object
when the distant there becomes the present here  all is changed  we
are as poor and circumscribed as ever  and our souls still languish
for unattainable happiness.

So does the restless traveller pant for his native soil  and find
in his own cottage in the arms of his wife in the affections of his
children and in the labour necessary for their support that happiness
which he had sought in vain through the wide world.

When in the morning at sunrise I go out to Walheim and with
my own hands gather in the garden the pease which are to serve for my
dinner when I sit down to shell them and read my Homer during the
intervals  and then  selecting a saucepan from the kitchen fetch
my own butter  put my mess on the fire cover it up and sit down
to stir it as occasion requires  I figure to myself the illustrious
suitors of Penelope  killing dressing  and preparing their own oxen
and swine. Nothing fills me with a more pure and genuine sense of happiness
than those traits of patriarchal life which  thank Heaven  I can imitate
without affectation. Happy is it indeed  for me that my heart is capable
of feeling the same simple and innocent pleasure as the peasant whose
table is covered with food of his own rearing  and who not only enjoys
his meal but remembers with delight the happy days and sunny mornings
when he planted it the soft evenings when he watered it  and the pleasure
he experienced in watching its daily growth.

JUNE 29. The day before yesterday  the physician came from the town
to pay a visit to the judge. He found me on the floor playing with Charlotte's
children. Some of them were scrambling over me and others romped with
me and as I caught and tickled them  they made a great noise. The
doctor is a formal sort of personage he adjusts the plaits of his ruffles
and continually settles his frill whilst he is talking to you  and he
thought my conduct beneath the dignity of a sensible man. I could perceive
this by his countenance. But I did not suffer myself to be disturbed.
I allowed him to continue his wise conversation  whilst I rebuilt the
children's card houses for them as fast as they threw them down. He went
about the town afterward complaining that the judge's children were
spoiled enough before  but that now Werther was completely ruining them.
Yes  my dear Wilhelm nothing on this earth affects my heart so much
as children. When I look on at their doings  when I mark in the little
creatures the seeds of all those virtues and qualities which they will
one day find so indispensable  when I behold in the obstinate all the
future firmness and constancy of a noble character in the capricious
that levity and gaiety of temper which will carry them lightly over the
dangers and troubles of life their whole nature simple and unpolluted
 then I call to mind the golden words of the Great Teacher of mankind
"Unless ye become like one of these " And now  my friend these children
who are our equals whom we ought to consider as our models we treat
them as though they were our subjects. They are allowed no will of their
own. And have we then  none ourselves  Whence comes our exclusive
right  Is it because we are older and more experienced Great God
from the height of thy heaven thou beholdest great children and little
children and no others and thy Son has long since declared which afford
thee greatest pleasure. But they believe in him  and hear him not 
that too is an old story and they train their children after
their own image  etc. Adieu  Wilhelm I will not further bewilder
myself with this subject.

JULY 1. The consolation Charlotte can bring to an invalid I experience
from my own heart  which suffers more from her absence than many a poor
creature lingering on a bed of sickness. She is gone to spend a few days
in the town with a very worthy woman who is given over by the physicians
and wishes to have Charlotte near her in her last moments. I accompanied
her last week on a visit to the Vicar of S a small village in the
mountains  about a league hence. We arrived about four o'clock Charlotte
had taken her little sister with her. When we entered the vicarage court
we found the good old man sitting on a bench before the door under the
shade of two large walnut-trees. At the sight of Charlotte he seemed to
gain new life  rose  forgot his stick  and ventured to walk toward
her. She ran to him  and made him sit down again then  placing herself
by his side  she gave him a number of messages from her father and
then caught up his youngest child  a dirty ugly little thing the
joy of his old age and kissed it. I wish you could have witnessed her
attention to this old man how she raised her voice on account of
his deafness how she told him of healthy young people  who had been
carried off when it was least expected praised the virtues of Carlsbad
and commended his determination to spend the ensuing summer there  and
assured him that he looked better and stronger than he did when she saw
him last. I  in the meantime paid attention to his good lady. The
old man seemed quite in spirits  and as I could not help admiring the
beauty of the walnut-trees which formed such an agreeable shade over
our heads  he began  though with some little difficulty  to tell
us their history. "As to the oldest " said he  "we do not know who
planted it some say one clergyman  and some another  but the
younger one  there behind us is exactly the age of my wife fifty
years old next October her father planted it in the morning  and in
the evening she came into the world. My wife's father was my predecessor
here and I cannot tell you how fond he was of that tree  and it is
fully as dear to me. Under the shade of that very tree upon a log of
wood my wife was seated knitting when I  a poor student  came
into this court for the first time just seven and twenty years ago."
Charlotte inquired for his daughter. He said she was gone with Herr Schmidt
to the meadows and was with the haymakers. The old man then resumed
his story  and told us how his predecessor had taken a fancy to him 
as had his daughter likewise and how he had become first his curate 
and subsequently his successor. He had scarcely finished his story when
his daughter returned through the garden accompanied by the above-mentioned
Herr Schmidt. She welcomed Charlotte affectionately  and I confess I
was much taken with her appearance. She was a lively-looking good-humoured
brunette quite competent to amuse one for a short time in the country.
Her lover for such Herr Schmidt evidently appeared to be was a polite
reserved personage and would not join our conversation notwithstanding
all Charlotte's endeavours to draw him out. I was much annoyed at observing
by his countenance that his silence did not arise from want of talent
but from caprice and ill-humour. This subsequently became very evident
when we set out to take a walk and Frederica joining Charlotte with
whom I was talking the worthy gentleman's face which was naturally
rather sombre  became so dark and angry that Charlotte was obliged to
touch my arm and remind me that I was talking too much to Frederica.
Nothing distresses me more than to see men torment each other  particularly
when in the flower of their age  in the very season of pleasure  they
waste their few short days of sunshine in quarrels and disputes  and
only perceive their error when it is too late to repair it. This thought
dwelt upon my mind and in the evening  when we returned to the vicar's
and were sitting round the table with our bread end milk the conversation
turned on the joys and sorrows of the world  I could not resist the
temptation to inveigh bitterly against ill-humour. "We are apt" said
I  "to complain  but - with very little cause  that our happy days
are few  and our evil days many. If our hearts were always disposed
to receive the benefits Heaven sends us  we should acquire strength
to support evil when it comes." "But" observed the vicar's wife  "we
cannot always command our tempers  so much depends upon the constitution
 when the body suffers the mind is ill at ease." "I acknowledge that
" I continued  "but we must consider such a disposition in the light
of a disease and inquire whether there is no remedy for it." "I should
be glad to hear one " said Charlotte "at least I think very much
depends upon ourselves I know it is so with me. When anything annoys
me and disturbs my temper  I hasten into the garden  hum a couple
of country dances  and it is all right with me directly." "That is what
I meant " I replied  "ill-humour resembles indolence it is natural
to us  but if once we have courage to exert ourselves  we find our
work run fresh from our hands  and we experience in the activity from
which we shrank a real enjoyment." Frederica listened very attentively
 and the young man objected  that we were not masters of ourselves
and still less so of our feelings. "The question is about a disagreeable
feeling " I added  "from which every one would willingly escape 
but none know their own power without trial. Invalids are glad to consult
physicians and submit to the most scrupulous regimen the most nauseous
medicines  in order to recover their health." I observed that the good
old man inclined his head  and exerted himself to hear our discourse
 so I raised my voice  and addressed myself directly to him. We preach
against a great many crimes " I observed "but I never remember a sermon
delivered against ill-humour." "That may do very well for your town clergymen
" said he  "country people are never ill-humoured  though  indeed
it might be useful occasionally  to my wife for instance and the
judge." We all laughed as did he likewise very cordially till he fell
into a fit of coughing which interrupted our conversation for a time.
Herr Schmidt resumed the subject. "You call ill humour a crime" he remarked
"but I think you use too strong a term." "Not at all" I replied  "if
that deserves the name which is so pernicious to ourselves and our neighbours.
Is it not enough that we want the power to make one another happy  must
we deprive each other of the pleasure which we can all make for ourselves
Show me the man who has the courage to hide his ill-humour who bears
the whole burden himself without disturbing the peace of those around
him. No  ill-humour arises from an inward consciousness of our own want
of merit from a discontent which ever accompanies that envy which foolish
vanity engenders. We see people happy  whom we have not made so  and
cannot endure the sight." Charlotte looked at me with a smile  she observed
the emotion with which I spoke and a tear in the eyes of Frederica stimulated
me to proceed. "Woe unto those" I said "who use their power over a
human heart to destroy the simple pleasures it would naturally enjoy
All the favours  all the attentions  in the world cannot compensate
for the loss of that happiness which a cruel tyranny has destroyed." My
heart was full as I spoke. A recollection of many things which had happened
pressed upon my mind and filled my eyes with tears. "We should daily
repeat to ourselves " I exclaimed  "that we should not interfere with
our friends  unless to leave them in possession of their own joys 
and increase their happiness by sharing it with them But when their
souls are tormented by a violent passion or their hearts rent with grief
is it in your power to afford them the slightest consolation

"And when the last fatal malady seizes the being whose untimely grave
you have prepared  when she lies languid and exhausted before you 
her dim eyes raised to heaven  and the damp of death upon her pallid
brow there you stand at her bedside like a condemned criminal  with
the bitter feeling that your whole fortune could not save her  and the
agonising thought wrings you that all your efforts are powerless to
impart even a moment's strength to the departing soul  or quicken her
with a transitory consolation."

At these words the remembrance of a similar scene at which I had been
once present fell with full force upon my heart. I buried my face in my
handkerchief and hastened from the room  and was only recalled to
my recollection by Charlotte's voice who reminded me that it was time
to return home. With what tenderness she chid me on the way for the too
eager interest I took in everything  She declared it would do me injury
and that I ought to spare myself. Yes  my angel  I will do so for
your sake.

JULY 6. She is still with her dying friend and is still the same
bright beautiful creature whose presence softens pain  and sheds happiness
around whichever way she turns. She went out yesterday with her little
sisters  I knew it and went to meet them and we walked together.
In about an hour and a half we returned to the town. We stopped at the
spring I am so fond of and which is now a thousand times dearer to me
than ever. Charlotte seated herself upon the low wall  and we gathered
about her. I looked around and recalled the time when my heart was unoccupied
and free. "Dear fountain" I said "since that time I have no more come
to enjoy cool repose by thy fresh stream I have passed thee with careless
steps  and scarcely bestowed a glance upon thee." I looked down  and
observed Charlotte's little sister Jane  coming up the steps with
a glass of water. I turned toward Charlotte  and I felt her influence
over me. Jane at the moment approached with the glass. Her sister  Marianne
wished to take it from her. "No " cried the child  with the sweetest
expression of face "Charlotte must drink first."

The affection and simplicity with which this was uttered so charmed
me that I sought to express my feelings by catching up the child and
kissing her heartily. She was frightened and began to cry. "You should
not do that " said Charlotte I felt perplexed. "Come Jane " she
continued  taking her hand and leading her down the steps again 
"it is no matter wash yourself quickly in the fresh water." I stood
and watched them and when I saw the little dear rubbing her cheeks with
her wet hands  in full belief that all the impurities contracted from
my ugly beard would be washed off by the miraculous water  and how
though Charlotte said it would do  she continued still to wash with
all her might  as though she thought too much were better than too little
I assure you Wilhelm I never attended a baptism with greater reverence
 and when Charlotte came up from the well  I could have prostrated
myself as before the prophet of an Eastern nation.

In the evening I would not resist telling the story to a person who
I thought  possessed some natural feeling  because he was a man of
understanding. But what a mistake I made. He maintained it was very wrong
of Charlotte that we should not deceive children that such things
occasioned countless mistakes and superstitions  from which we were
bound to protect the young. It occurred to me then that this very man
had been baptised only a week before so I said nothing further but
maintained the justice of my own convictions. We should deal with children
as God deals with us we are happiest under the influence of innocent
delusions.

JULY 8. What a child is man that he should be so solicitous about
a look What a child is man We had been to Walheim  the ladies went
in a carriage  but during our walk I thought I saw in Charlotte's dark
eyes I am a fool but forgive me  you should see them those
eyes.  However to be brieffor my own eyes are weighed down with
sleep  you must know when the ladies stepped into their carriage
again  young W. Seldstadt  Andran  and I were standing about the
door. They are a merry set of fellows  and they were all laughing and
joking together. I watched Charlotte's eyes. They wandered from one to
the other  but they did not light on me  on me who stood there motionless
and who saw nothing but her  My heart bade her a thousand times adieu
but she noticed me not. The carriage drove off and my eyes filled with
tears. I looked after her  suddenly I saw Charlotte's bonnet leaning
out of the window  and she turned to look back was it at me  My
dear friend  I know not  and in this uncertainty I find consolation.
Perhaps she turned to look at me. Perhaps  Good-night  what a child
I am

JULY lO. You should see how foolish I look in company when her name
is mentioned particularly when I am asked plainly how I like her. How
I like her I detest the phrase. What sort of creature must he be who
merely liked Charlotte whose whole heart and senses were not entirely
absorbed by her. Like her  Some one asked me lately how I liked Ossian.

JULY 11. Madame M  is very ill. I pray for her recovery  because
Charlotte shares my sufferings. I see her occasionally at my friend's
house  and to-day she has told me the strangest circumstance. Old M
 is a covetous miserly fellow  who has long worried and annoyed
the poor lady sadly  but she has borne her afflictions patiently. A
few days ago when the physician informed us that her recovery was hopeless
she sent for her husbandCharlotte was present  and addressed him
thus "I have something to confess  which after my decease  may
occasion trouble and confusion. I have hitherto conducted your household
as frugally and economically as possible but you must pardon me for
having defrauded you for thirty years. At the commencement of our married
life you allowed a small sum for the wants of the kitchen  and the
other household expenses. When our establishment increased and our property
grew larger  I could not persuade you to increase the weekly allowance
in proportion  in short  you know  that  when our wants were greatest
you required me to supply everything with seven florins a week. I took
the money from you without an observation  but made up the weekly deficiency
from the money-chest as nobody would suspect your wife of robbing the
household bank. But I have wasted nothing  and should have been content
to meet my eternal Judge without this confession if she  upon whom
the management of your establishment will devolve after my decease would
be free from embarrassment upon your insisting that the allowance made
to me  your former wife  was sufficient."

I talked with Charlotte of the inconceivable manner in which men allow
themselves to be blinded how any one could avoid suspecting some deception
when seven florins only were allowed to defray expenses twice as great.
But I have myself known people who believed  without any visible astonishment
that their house possessed the prophet's never-failing cruse of oil.

JULY 13. No  I am not deceived. In her dark eyes I read a genuine
interest in me and in my fortunes. Yes I feel it and I may believe
my own heart which tells me  dare I say it dare I pronounce
the divine words that she loves me

That she loves me  How the idea exalts me in my own eyes And
as you can understand my feelings  I may say to you  how I honour
myself since she loves me 

Is this presumption  or is it a consciousness of the truth I do
not know a man able to supplant me in the heart of Charlotte and yet
when she speaks of her betrothed with so much warmth and affection I
feel like the soldier who has been stripped of his honours and titles 
and deprived of his sword.

JULY 16. How my heart beats when by accident I touch her finger 
or my feet meet hers under the table I draw back as if from a furnace
 but a secret force impels me forward again  and my senses become
disordered. Her innocent unconscious heart never knows what agony these
little familiarities inflict upon me. Sometimes when we are talking she
Iays her hand upon mine  and in the eagerness of conversation comes
closer to me and her balmy breath reaches my lips  when I feel
as if lightning had struck me  and that I could sink into the earth.
And yet  Wilhelm with all this heavenly confidence if I know
myself and should ever dare  you understand me. No no  my heart
is not so corrupt  it is weak  weak enough but is not that a degree
of corruption 

She is to me a sacred being. All passion is still in her presence
 I cannot express my sensations when I am near her. I feel as if my
soul beat in every nerve of my body. There is a melody which she plays
on the piano with angelic skill  so simple is it and yet so spiritual
It is her favourite air  and when she plays the first note all pain
care and sorrow disappear from me in a moment.

I believe every word that is said of the magic of ancient music. How
her simple song enchants me  Sometimes when I am ready to commit suicide
she sings that air and instantly the gloom and madness which hung over
me are dispersed and I breathe freely again.

JULY 18. Wilhelm what is the world to our hearts without love 
What is a magic-lantern without light  You have but to kindle the flame
within and the brightest figures shine on the white wall and if
love only show us fleeting shadows we are yet happy  when  like
mere children  we behold them  and are transported with the splendid
phantoms. I have not been able to see Charlotte to-day. I was prevented
by company from which I could not disengage myself. What was to be done
I sent my servant to her house that I might at least see somebody to-day
who had been near her. Oh  the impatience with which I waited for his
return the joy with which I welcomed him I should certainly have caught
him in my arms and kissed him  if I had not been ashamed.

It is said that the Bonona stone when placed in the sun  attracts
the rays and for a time appears luminous in the dark. So was it with
me and this servant. The idea that Charlotte's eyes had dwelt on his countenance
his cheek  his very apparel  endeared them all inestimably to me
so that at the moment I would not have parted from him for a thousand
crowns. His presence made me so happy  Beware of laughing at me  Wilhelm.
Can that be a delusion which makes us happy 

JULY 19. "I shall see her today " I exclaim with delight when
I rise in the morning  and look out with gladness of heart at the bright
beautiful sun. "I shall see her today " And then I have no further wish
to form  all all is included in that one thought.

JULY 2O. I cannot assent to your proposal that I should accompany
the ambassador to _______. I do not love subordination and we all know
that he is a rough disagreeable person to be connected with. You say
my mother wishes me to be employed. I could not help laughing at that.
Am I not sufficiently employed And is it not in reality the same whether
I shell peas or count lentils  The world runs on from one folly to another
 and the man who solely from regard to the opinion of others and
without any wish or necessity of his own toils after gold  honour 
or any other phantom is no better than a fool.

JULY 24. You insist so much on my not neglecting my drawing  that
it would be as well for me to say nothing as to confess how little I have
lately done.

I never felt happier I never understood nature better  even down
to the veriest stem or smallest blade of grass and yet I am unable to
express myself my powers of execution are so weak  everything seems
to swim and float before me  so that I cannot make a clear bold outline.
But I fancy I should succeed better if I had some clay or wax to model.
I shall try  if this state of mind continues much longer and will
take to modelling  if I only knead dough.

I have commenced Charlotte's portrait three times  and have as often
disgraced myself. This is the more annoying  as I was formerly very
happy in taking likenesses. I have since sketched her profile  and must
content myself with that.

JULY 25. Yes dear Charlotte  I will order and arrange everything.
Only give me more commissions  the more the better. One thing  however
I must request use no more writing-sand with the dear notes you send
me. Today I raised your letter hastily to my lips  and it set my teeth
on edge.

JULY 26. I have often determined not to see her so frequently. But
who could keep such a resolution Every day I am exposed to the temptation
and promise faithfully that to-morrow I will really stay away  but
when tomorrow comes  I find some irresistible reason for seeing her
 and before I can account for it I am with her again. Either she
has said on the previous evening "You will be sure to call to-morrow
"  and who could stay away then or she gives me some commission
and I find it essential to take her the answer in person or the day
is fine  and I walk to Walheim and when I am there it is only
half a league farther to her. I am within the charmed atmosphere and
soon find myself at her side. My grandmother used to tell us a story of
a mountain of loadstone. When any vessels came near it they were instantly
deprived of their ironwork the nails flew to the mountain  and the
unhappy crew perished amidst the disjointed planks.

JULY 30. Albert is arrived and I must take my departure. Were he
the best and noblest of men  and I in every respect his inferior I
could not endure to see him in possession of such a perfect being. Possession
 enough  Wilhelm her betrothed is here a fine  worthy
fellow whom one cannot help liking. Fortunately I was not present at
their meeting. It would have broken my heart And he is so considerate
 he has not given Charlotte one kiss in my presence. Heaven reward him
for it I must love him for the respect with which he treats her. He
shows a regard for me  but for this I suspect I am more indebted to
Charlotte than to his own fancy for me. Women have a delicate tact in
such matters and it should be so. They cannot always succeed in keeping
two rivals on terms with each other  but when they do  they are
the only gainers.

I cannot help esteeming Albert. The coolness of his temper contrasts
strongly with the impetuosity of mine  which I cannot conceal. He has
a great deal of feeling  and is fully sensible of the treasure he possesses
in Charlotte. He is free from ill-humour which you know is the fault
I detest most.

He regards me as a man of sense  and my attachment to Charlotte 
and the interest I take in all that concerns her augment his triumph
and his love. I shall not inquire whether he may not at times tease her
with some little jealousies  as I know that  were I in his place
I should not be entirely free from such sensations.

But  be that as it may my pleasure with Charlotte is over. Call
it folly or infatuation  what signifies a name The thing speaks for
itself. Before Albert came I knew all that I know now. I knew I could
make no pretensions to her nor did I offer any that is as far as
it was possible  in the presence of so much loveliness not to pant
for its enjoyment. And now behold me like a silly fellow staring with
astonishment when another comes in and deprives me of my love.

I bite my lips and feel infinite scorn for those who tell me to
be resigned  because there is no help for it. Let me escape from the
yoke of such silly subterfuges I ramble through the woods  and when
I return to Charlotte  and find Albert sitting by her side in the summer-house
in the garden  I am unable to bear it  behave like a fool  and commit
a thousand extravagances. "For Heaven's sake" said Charlotte today
"let us have no more scenes like those of last night You terrify me
when you are so violent." Between ourselves  I am always away now when
he visits her  and I feel delighted when I find her alone.

AUGUST 8. Believe me dear Wilhelm  I did not allude to you when
I spoke so severely of those who advise resignation to inevitable fate.
I did not think it possible for you to indulge such a sentiment. But in
fact you are right. I only suggest one objection. In this world one is
seldom reduced to make a selection between two alternatives. There are
as many varieties of conduct and opinion as there are turns of feature
between an aquiline nose and a flat one.

You will therefore permit me to concede your entire argument
and yet contrive means to escape your dilemma.

Your position is this  I hear you say  "Either you have hopes
of obtaining Charlotte or you have none. Well  in the first case
pursue your course and press on to the fulfilment of your wishes. In
the second be a man  and shake off a miserable passion which will
enervate and destroy you." My dear friend  this is well and easily said.

But would you require a wretched being whose life is slowly wasting
under a lingering disease  to despatch himself at once by the stroke
of a dagger  Does not the very disorder which consumes his strength
deprive him of the courage to effect his deliverance

You may answer me  if you please with a similar analogy  "Who
would not prefer the amputation of an arm to the periling of life by doubt
and procrastination " But I know not if I am right and let us leave
these comparisons.

Enough There are moments Wilhelm when I could rise up and shake
it all off and when  if I only knew where to go  I could fly from
this place.

THE SAME EVENING.

My diary which I have for some time neglected  came before me
today  and I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself
step by step. To have seen my position so clearly  and yet to have acted
so like a child  Even still I behold the result plainly  and yet have
no thought of acting with greater prudence.

AUGUST lO. If I were not a fool  I could spend the happiest and
most delightful life here. So many agreeable circumstances and of a
kind to ensure a worthy man's happiness  are seldom united. Alas I
feel it too sensibly the heart alone makes our happiness To be
admitted into this most charming family  to be loved by the father as
a son  by the children as a father and by Charlotte  then the noble
Albert who never disturbs my happiness by any appearance of ill-humour
receiving me with the heartiest affection  and loving me next to Charlotte
better than all the world  Wilhelm you would be delighted to hear
us in our rambles  and conversations about Charlotte. Nothing in the
world can be more absurd than our connection and yet the thought of
it often moves me to tears.

He tells me sometimes of her excellent mother  how upon her death-bed
she had committed her house and children to Charlotte  and had given
Charlotte herself in charge to him how since that time a new spirit
had taken possession of her  how in care and anxiety for their welfare
she became a real mother to them how every moment of her time was devoted
to some labour of love in their behalf and yet her mirth and cheerfulness
had never forsaken her. I walk by his side pluck flowers by the way 
arrange them carefully into a nosegay  then fling them into the first
stream I pass  and watch them as they float gently away. I forget whether
I told you that Albert is to remain here. He has received a government
appointment  with a very good salary and I understand he is in high
favour at court. I have met few persons so punctual and methodical in
business.

AUGUST 12. Certainly Albert is the best fellow in the world. I had
a strange scene with him yesterday. I went to take leave of him  for
I took it into my head to spend a few days in these mountains  from
where I now write to you. As I was walking up and down his room  my
eye fell upon his pistols. "Lend me those pistols " said I "for my
journey." "By all means " he replied "if you will take the trouble
to load them for they only hang there for form." I took down one of
them and he continued  "Ever since I was near suffering for my extreme
caution  I will have nothing to do with such things." I was curious
to hear the story. "I was staying " said he  "some three months ago
at a friend's house in the country. I had a brace of pistols with me
unloaded and I slept without any anxiety. One rainy afternoon I was
sitting by myself  doing nothing when it occurred to me I do not know
how that the house might be attacked that we might require the pistols
that we might in short you know how we go on fancying  when we have
nothing better to do. I gave the pistols to the servant  to clean and
load. He was playing with the maid and trying to frighten her  when
the pistol went off  God knows how the ramrod was in the barrel
 and it went straight through her right hand and shattered the thumb.
I had to endure all the lamentation  and to pay the surgeon's bill
so since that time I have kept all my weapons unloaded. But  my
dear friend  what is the use of prudence We can never be on our guard
against all possible dangers. However "  now you must know I can
tolerate all men till they come to "however "  for it is self-evident
that every universal rule must have its exceptions. But he is so exceedingly
accurate that  if he only fancies he has said a word too precipitate
or too general or only half true he never ceases to qualify  to
modify and extenuate till at last he appears to have said nothing
at all. Upon this occasion Albert was deeply immersed in his subject
 I ceased to listen to him and became lost in reverie. With a sudden
motion I pointed the mouth of the pistol to my forehead  over the
right eye. "What do vou mean" cried Albert turning back the pistol.
"It is not loaded " said I. "And even if not" he answered with impatience
"what can you mean I cannot cornprehend how a man can be so mad as to
shoot himself  and the bare idea of it shocks me."

"But why should any one " said I "in speaking of an action venture
to pronounce it mad or wise  or good or bad  What is the meaning of
all this Have you carefully studied the secret motives of our actions
Do you understand  can you explain the causes which occasion them 
and make them inevitable If you can  you will be less hasty with your
decision."

"But you will allow " said Albert  "that some actions are criminal
let them spring from whatever motives they may." I granted it  and shrugged
my shoulders.

"But still my good friend " I continued  "there are some exceptions
here too. Theft is a crime but the man who commits it from extreme poverty
with no design but to save his family from perishing is he an object
of pity  or of punishment  Who shall throw the first stone at a husband
who  in the heat of just resentment  sacrifices his faithless wife
and her perfidious seducer or at the young maiden  who in her weak
hour of rapture  forgets herself in the impetuous joys of love Even
our laws cold and cruel as they are  relent in such cases  and withhold
their punishment."

"That is quite another thing" said Albert  "because a man under
the influence of violent passion loses alI power of reflection and is
regarded as intoxicated or insane."

"Oh  you people of sound understandings " I replied  smiling
"are ever ready to exclaim 'Extravagance and madness and intoxication
' You moral men are so calm and so subdued You abhor the drunken man
and detest the extravagant you pass by like the Levite and thank
God  like the Pharisee that you are not like one of them. I have been
more than once intoxicated my passions have always bordered on extravagance
 I am not ashamed to confess it  for I have learned  by my own experience
that all extraordinary men who have accomplished great and astonishing
actions  have ever been decried by the world as drunken or insane. And
in private life  too is it not intolerable that no one can undertake
the execution of a noble or generous deed  without giving rise to the
exclamation that the doer is intoxicated or mad  Shame upon you  ye
sages "

"This is another of your extravagant humours" said Albert  "you
always exaggerate a case and in this matter you are undoubtedly wrong
 for we were speaking of suicide which you compare with great actions
when it is impossible to regard it as anything but a weakness. It is much
easier to die than to bear a life of misery with fortitude."

I was on the point of breaking off the conversation  for nothing
puts me so completely out of patience as the utterance of a wretched commonplace
when I am talking from my inmost heart. However  I composed myself
for I had often heard the same observation with sufficient vexation 
and I answered him therefore with a little warmth  "You call this
a weakness beware of being led astray by appearances. When a nation
which has long groaned under the intolerable yoke of a tyrant  rises
at last and throws off its chains  do you call that weakness The man
who  to rescue his house from the flames finds his physical strength
redoubled  so that he lifts burdens with ease  which in the absence
of excitement  he could scarcely move  he who  under the rage of
an insult  attacks and puts to flight half a score of his enemies 
are such persons to be called weak My good friend  if resistance be
strength how can the highest degree of resistance be a weakness "

Albert looked steadfastly at me  and said  "Pray forgive me 
but I do not see that the examples you have adduced bear any relation
to the question." "Very likely" I answered "for I have often been
told that my style of illustration borders a little on the absurd. But
let us see if we cannot place the matter in another point of view  by
inquiring what can be a man's state of mind who resolves to free himself
from the burden of life  a burden often so pleasant to bear 
 for we cannot otherwise reason fairly upon the subject.

"Human nature " I continued  "has its limits. It is able to endure
a certain degree of joy  sorrow  and pain  but becomes annihilated
as soon as this measure is exceeded. The question  therefore is 
not whether a man is strong or weak  but whether he is able to endure
the measure of his sufferings. The suffering may be moral or physical
 and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys
himself  as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever."

"Paradox all paradox" exclaimed Albert. "Not so paradoxical as
you imagine " I replied. "You allow that we designate a disease as mortal
when nature is so severely attacked  and her strength so far exhausted
that she cannot possibly recover her former condition under any change
that may take place.

"Now my good friend  apply this to the mind  observe a man in
his natural  isolated condition  consider how ideas work and how
impressions fasten on him  till at length a violent passion seizes him
destroying all his powers of calm reflection and utterly ruining him.

"It is in vain that a man of sound mind and cool temper understands
the condition of such a wretched being in vain he counsels him. He can
no more communicate his own wisdom to him than a healthy man can instil
his strength into the invalid  by whose bedside he is seated."

Albert thought this too general. I reminded him of a girl who had
drowned herself a short time previously  and I related her history.

She was a good creature  who had grown up in the narrow sphere of
household industry and weekly appointed labour one who knew no pleasure
beyond indulging in a walk on Sundays  arrayed in her best attire 
accompanied by her friends or perhaps joining in the dance now and then
at some festival and chatting away her spare hours with a neighbour 
discussing the scandal or the quarrels of the village  trifles sufficient
to occupy her heart. At length the warmth of her nature is influenced
by certain new and unknown wishes. Inflamed by the flatteries of men
her former pleasures become by degrees insipid till at length she meets
with a youth to whom she is attracted by an indescribable feeling  upon
him she now rests all her hopes  she forgets the world around her 
she sees hears desires nothing but him and him only. He alone occupies
all her thoughts. Uncorrupted by the idle indulgence of an enervating
vanity her affection moving steadily toward its object she hopes to
become his and to realise  in an everlasting union with him  all
that happiness which she sought  all that bliss for which she longed.
His repeated promises confirm her hopes  embraces and endearments 
which increase the ardour of her desires overmaster her soul. She floats
in a dim delusive anticipation of her happiness  and her feelings
become excited to their utmost tension. She stretches out her arms finally
to embrace the object of all her wishes and her lover forsakes her. Stunned
and bewildered she stands upon a precipice. All is darkness around her.
No prospect  no hope no consolation  forsaken by him in whom her
existence was centred  She sees nothing of the wide world before her
thinks nothing of the many individuals who might supply the void in her
heart  she feels herself deserted  forsaken by the world and blinded
and impelled by the agony which wrings her soul  she plunges into the
deep to end her sufferings in the broad embrace of death. See here
Albert the history of thousands  and tell me is not this a case
of physical infirmity  Nature has no way to escape from the labyrinth
 her powers are exhausted  she can contend no longer and the poor
soul must die.

"Shame upon him who can look on calmly and exclaim 'The foolish
girl she should have waited  she should have allowed time to wear
off the impression her despair would have been softened  and she would
have found another lover to comfort her.' One might as well say  'The
fool to die of a fever why did he not wait till his strength was restored
till his blood became calm all would then have gone well and he would
have been alive now.'"

Albert who could not see the justice of the comparison offered
some further objections  and amongst others  urged that I had taken
the case of a mere ignorant girl. But how any man of sense of more enlarged
views and experience could be excused  he was unable to comprehend.
"My friend" I exclaimed  "man is but man and whatever be the extent
of his reasoning powers  they are of little avail when passion rages
within and he feels himself confined by the narrow limits of nature.
It were better then  but we will talk of this some other time 
" I said and caught up my hat. Alas  my heart was full and we parted
without conviction on either side. How rarely in this world do men understand
each other

AUGUST 15. There can be no doubt that in this world nothing is so
indispensable as love. I observe that Charlotte could not lose me without
a pang and the very children have but one wish that is that I should
visit them again to-morrow. I went this afternoon to tune Charlotte's
piano. But I could not do it for the little ones insisted on my telling
them a story and Charlotte herself urged me to satisfy them. I waited
upon them at tea and they are now as fully contented with me as with
Charlotte  and I told them my very best tale of the princess who was
waited upon by dwarfs. I improve myself by this exercise and am quite
surprised at the impression my stories create. If I sometimes invent an
incident which I forget upon the next narration  they remind one directly
that the story was different before  so that I now endeavour to relate
with exactness the same anecdote in the same monotonous tone which never
changes. I find by this  how much an author injures his works by altering
them even though they be improved in a poetical point of view. The first
impression is readily received. We are so constituted that we believe
the most incredible things and once they are engraved upon the memory
woe to him who would endeavour to efface them.

AUGUST 18. Must it ever be thus  that the source of our happiness
must also be the fountain of our misery  The full and ardent sentiment
which animated my heart with the love of nature  overwhelming me with
a torrent of delight and which brought all paradise before me  has
now become an insupportable torment  a demon which perpetually pursues
and harasses me. When in bygone days I gazed from these rocks upon yonder
mountains across the river and upon the green  flowery valley before
me and saw alI nature budding and bursting around  the hills clothed
from foot to peak with tall  thick forest trees  the valleys in all
their varied windings  shaded with the loveliest woods and the soft
river gliding along amongst the lisping reeds  mirroring the beautiful
clouds which the soft evening breeze wafted across the sky when
I heard the groves about me melodious with the music of birds  and saw
the million swarms of insects dancing in the last golden beams of the
sun  whose setting rays awoke the humming beetles from their grassy
beds whilst the subdued tumult around directed my attention to the ground
and I there observed the arid rock compelled to yield nutriment to the
dry moss whilst the heath flourished upon the barren sands below me 
all this displayed to me the inner warmth which animates all nature 
and filled and glowed within my heart. I felt myself exalted by this overflowing
fulness to the perception of the Godhead and the glorious forms of an
infinite universe became visible to my soul  Stupendous mountains encompassed
me abysses yawned at my feet and cataracts fell headlong down before
me impetuous rivers rolled through the plain and rocks and mountains
resounded from afar. In the depths of the earth I saw innumerable powers
in motion  and multiplying to infinity whilst upon its surface and
beneath the heavens  there teemed ten thousand varieties of living creatures.
Everything around is alive with an infinite number of forms  while mankind
fly for security to their petty houses from the shelter of which they
rule in their imaginations over the wide-extended universe. Poor fool 
in whose petty estimation all things are little. From the inaccessible
mountains  across the desert which no mortal foot has trod far as
the confines of the unknown ocean  breathes the spirit of the eternal
Creator  and every atom to which he has given existence finds favour
in his sight. Ah how often at that time has the flight of a bird soaring
above my head  inspired me with the desire of being transported to the
shores of the immeasurable waters  there to quaff the pleasures of life
from the foaming goblet of the Infinite  and to partake  if but for
a moment even  with the confined powers of my soul the beatitude of
that Creator who accomplishes all things in himself  and through himself

My dear friend the bare recollection of those hours still consoles
me. Even this effort to recall those ineffable sensations  and give
them utterance exalts my soul above itself and makes me doubly feel
the intensity of my present anguish.

It is as if a curtain had been drawn from before my eyes and instead
of prospects of eternal life the abyss of an ever open grave yawned
before me. Can we say of anything that it exists when all passes away 
when time  with the speed of a storm carries all things onward
 and our transitory existence  hurried along by the torrent  is
either swallowed up by the waves or dashed against the rocks There is
not a moment but preys upon you  and upon all around you not a
moment in which you do not yourself become a destroyer. The most innocent
walk deprives of life thousands of poor insects  one step destroys the
fabric of the industrious ant  and converts a little world into chaos.
No it is not the great and rare calamities of the world  the floods
which sweep away whole villages  the earthquakes which swallow up our
towns  that affect me. My heart is wasted by the thought of that destructive
power which lies concealed in every part of universal nature. Nature has
formed nothing that does not consume itself  and every object near it
 so that surrounded by earth and air and all the active powers
I wander on my way with aching heart and the universe is to me a fearful
monster  for ever devouring its own offspring.

AUGUST 21. In vain do I stretch out my arms toward her when I awaken
in the morning from my weary slumbers. In vain do I seek for her at night
in my bed  when some innocent dream has happily deceived me  and placed
her near me in the fields  when I have seized her hand and covered it
with countless kisses. And when I feel for her in the half confusion of
sleep  with the happy sense that she is near tears flow from my oppressed
heart  and bereft of all comfort I weep over my future woes.

AUGUST 22. What a misfortune Wilhelm My active spirits have degenerated
into contented indolence. I cannot be idle and yet I am unable to set
to work. I cannot think  I have no longer any feeling for the beauties
of nature  and books are distasteful to me. Once we give ourselves up
we are totally lost. Many a time and oft I wish I were a common labourer
 that  awakening in the morning  I might have but one prospect
one pursuit  one hope  for the day which has dawned. I often envy
Albert when I see him buried in a heap of papers and parchments  and
I fancy I should be happy were I in his place. Often impressed with this
feeling I have been on the point of writing to you and to the minister
for the appointment at the embassy which you think I might obtain. I
believe I might procure it. The minister has long shown a regard for me
and has frequently urged me to seek employment. It is the business of
an hour only. Now and then the fable of the horse recurs to me. Weary
of liberty he suffered himself to be saddled and bridled and was ridden
to death for his pains. I know not what to determine upon. For is not
this anxiety for change the consequence of that restless spirit which
would pursue me equally in every situation of life

AUGUST 28. If my ills would admit of any cure  they would certainly
be cured here. This is my birthday and early in the morning I received
a packet from Albert. Upon opening it  I found one of the pink ribbons
which Charlotte wore in her dress the first time I saw her and which
I had several times asked her to give me. With it were two volumes in
duodecimo of Wetstein's "Homer" a book I had often wished for  to
save me the inconvenience of carrying the large Ernestine edition with
me upon my walks. You see how they anticipate my wishes  how well they
understand all those little attentions of friendship so superior to
the costly presents of the great which are humiliating. I kissed the
ribbon a thousand times  and in every breath inhaled the remembrance
of those happy and irrevocable days which filled me with the keenest joy.
Such Wilhelm is our fate. I do not murmur at it  the flowers of
life are but visionary. How many pass away and leave no trace behind
 how few yield any fruit and the fruit itself  how rarely does
it ripen And yet there are flowers enough  and is it not strange
my friend  that we should suffer the little that does really ripen
to rot decay and perish unenjoyed  Farewell  This is a glorious
summer. I often climb into the trees in Charlotte's orchard  and shake
down the pears that hang on the highest branches. She stands below and
catches them as they fall.

AUGUST 3O. Unhappy being that I am Why do I thus deceive myself 
What is to come of all this wild aimless endless passion I cannot
pray except to her. My imagination sees nothing but her  all surrounding
objects are of no account  except as they relate to her. In this dreamy
state I enjoy many happy hours till at length I feel compelled to tear
myself away from her. Ah Wilhelm to what does not my heart often compel
me When I have spent several hours in her company  till I feel completely
absorbed by her figure her grace the divine expression of her thoughts
my mind becomes gradually excited to the highest excess  my sight grows
dim  my hearing confused my breathing oppressed as if by the hand
of a murderer  and my beating heart seeks to obtain relief for my aching
senses. I am sometimes unconscious whether I really exist. If in such
moments I find no sympathy and Charlotte does not allow me to enjoy
the melancholy consolation of bathing her hand with my tears I feel
compelled to tear myself from her  when I either wander through the
country  climb some precipitous cliff  or force a path through the
trackless thicket  where I am lacerated and torn by thorns and briers
 and thence I find relief. Sometimes I lie stretched on the ground
overcome with fatigue and dying with thirst  sometimes late in the
night  when the moon shines above me I recline against an aged tree
in some sequestered forest to rest my weary limbs  when  exhausted
and worn I sleep till break of day. O Wilhelm  the hermit's cell
his sackcloth  and girdle of thorns would be luxury and indulgence compared
with what I suffer. Adieu  I see no end to this wretchedness except
the grave.

SEPTEMBER 3. I must away. Thank you  Wilhelm for determining my
wavering purpose. For a whole fortnight I have thought of leaving her.
I must away. She has returned to town  and is at the house of a friend.
And then Albert  yes I must go.

SEPTEMBER 1O. Oh what a night  Wilhelm I can henceforth bear
anything. I shall never see her again. Oh  why cannot I fall on your
neck and with floods of tears and raptures give utterance to all
the passions which distract my heart Here I sit gasping for breath
and struggling to compose myself. I wait for day and at sunrise the
horses are to be at the door.

And she is sleeping calmly little suspecting that she has seen me
for the last time. I am free. I have had the courage in an interview
of two hours' duration not to betray my intention. And O Wilhelm what
a conversation it was 

Albert had promised to come to Charlotte in the garden immediately
after supper. I was upon the terrace under the tall chestnut trees and
watched the setting sun. I saw him sink for the last time beneath this
delightful valley and silent stream. I had often visited the same spot
with Charlotte and witnessed that glorious sight and now I was
walking up and down the very avenue which was so dear to me. A secret
sympathy had frequently drawn me thither before I knew Charlotte and
we were delighted when in our early acquaintance we discovered that
we each loved the same spot  which is indeed as romantic as any that
ever captivated the fancy of an artist.

From beneath the chestnut trees  there is an extensive view. But
I remember that I have mentioned all this in a former letter and have
described the tall mass of beech trees at the end  and how the avenue
grows darker and darker as it winds its way among them till it ends
in a gloomy recess which has all the charm of a mysterious solitude.
I still remember the strange feeling of melancholy which came over me
the first time I entered that dark retreat at bright midday. I felt
some secret foreboding that it would one day be to me the scene of
some happiness or misery.

I had spent half an hour struggling between the contending thoughts
of going and returning when I heard them coming up the terrace. I ran
to meet them. I trembled as I took her hand  and kissed it. As we reached
the top of the terrace the moon rose from behind the wooded hill. We
conversed on many subjects and without perceiving it approached
the gloomy recess. Charlotte entered and sat down. Albert seated himself
beside her. I did the same but my agitation did not suffer me to remain
long seated. I got up  and stood before her  then walked backward
and forward  and sat down again. I was restless and miserable. Charlotte
drew our attention to the beautiful effect of the moonlight  which threw
a silver hue over the terrace in front of us beyond the beech trees.
It was a glorious sight  and was rendered more striking by the darkness
which surrounded the spot where we were. We remained for some time silent
when Charlotte observed  "Whenever I walk by moonlight it brings to
my remembrance all my beloved and departed friends and I am filled with
thoughts of death and futurity. We shall live again  Werther" she
continued  with a firm but feeling voice "but shall we know one another
again what do you think  what do you say"

"Charlotte" I said as I took her hand in mine  and my eyes filled
with tears "we shall see each other again  here and hereafter we
shall meet again." I could say no more. Why  Wilhelm should she put
this question to me  just at the monent when the fear of our cruel separation
filled my heart 

"And oh  do those departed ones know how we are employed here 
do they know when we are well and happy  do they know when we recall
their memories with the fondest love In the silent hour of evening the
shade of my mother hovers around me  when seated in the midst of my
children I see them assembled near me  as they used to assemble near
her  and then I raise my anxious eyes to heaven  and wish she could
look down upon us  and witness how I fulfil the promise I made to her
in her last moments  to be a mother to her children. With what emotion
do I then exclaim  'Pardon dearest of mothers  pardon me if I
do not adequately supply your place  Alas  I do my utmost. They are
clothed and fed  and still better  they are loved and educated.
Could you but see  sweet saint the peace and harmony that dwells amongst
us you would glorify God with the warmest feelings of gratitude  to
whom in your last hour you addressed such fervent prayers for our
happiness.'" Thus did she express herself  but O Wilhelm who can do
justice to her language  how can cold and passionless words convey the
heavenly expressions of the spirit Albert interrupted her gently. "This
affects you too deeply my dear Charlotte. I know your soul dwells on
such recollections wlth intense delight  but I implore " "O Albert
" she continued  "I am sure you do not forget the evenings when we three
used to sit at the little round table  when papa was absent  and the
little ones had retired. You often had a good book with you  but seldom
read it  the conversation of that noble being was preferable to everything
 that beautiful  bright  gentle  and yet ever-toiling woman.
God alone knows how I have supplicated with tears on my nightly couch 
that I might be like her."

I threw myself at her feet and seizing her hand  bedewed it
with a thousand tears. "Charlotte " I exclaimed  "God's blessing and
your mother's spirit are upon you." "Oh  that you had known her "
she said with a warm pressure of the hand. "She was worthy of being
known to you." I thought I should have fainted never had I received
praise so flattering. She continued  "And yet she was doomed to die
in the flower of her youth when her youngest child was scarcely six
months old. Her illness was but short  but she was calm and resigned
 and it was only for her children  especially the youngest that
she felt unhappy. When her end drew nigh she bade me bring them to her.
I obeyed. The younger ones knew nothing of their approaching loss  while
the elder ones were quite overcome with grief. They stood around the bed
 and she raised her feeble hands to heaven and prayed over them 
then kissing them in turn  she dismissed them  and said to me 
'Be you a mother to them.' I gave her my hand. 'You are promising much
my child' she said 'a mother's fondness and a mother's care  I have
often witnessed  by your tears of gratitude  that you know what is
a mother's tenderness  show it to your brothers and sisters  and be
dutiful and faithful to your father as a wife  you will be his comfort.'
She inquired for him. He had retired to conceal his intolerable anguish
 he was heartbroken  "Albert you were in the room. She heard some
one moving she inquired who it was and desired you to approach. She
surveyed us both with a look of composure and satisfaction expressive
of her conviction that we should be happy  happy with one another."
Albert fell upon her neck  and kissed her  and exclaimed "We are
so and we shall be so " Even Albert  generally so tranquil had
quite lost his composure and I was excited beyond expression.

"And such a being " She continued  "was to leave us  Werther
Great God  must we thus part with everything we hold dear in this world
Nobody felt this more acutely than the children  they cried and lamented
for a long time afterward  complaining that men had carried away their
dear mamma."

Charlotte rose. It aroused me  but I continued sitting and held
her hand. "Let us go" she said "it grows late." She attempted to withdraw
her hand I held it still. "We shall see each other again" I exclaimed
 "we shall recognise each other under every possible change  I am
going " I continued  "going willingly  but should I say for ever
perhaps I may not keep my word. Adieu  Charlotte adieu Albert. We
shall meet again." "Yes  tomorrow  I think" she answered with a
smile. Tomorrow  how I felt the word Ah  she little thought  when
she drew her hand away from mine. They walked down the avenue. I stood
gazing after them in the moonlight. I threw myself upon the ground and
wept I then sprang up  and ran out upon the terrace  and saw under
the shade of the linden-trees  her white dress disappearing near the
garden-gate. I stretched out my arms and she vanished.

BOOK II.

OCTOBER 2O. We arrived here yesterday. The ambassador is indisposed
and will not go out for some days. If he were less peevish and morose 
all would be well. I see but too plainly that Heaven has destined me to
severe trials  but courage a light heart may bear anything. A light
heart  I smile to find such a word proceeding from my pen. A little
more lightheartedness would render me the happiest being under the sun.
But must I despair of my talents and faculties whilst others of far
inferior abilities parade before me with the utmost self-satisfaction 
Gracious Providence  to whom I owe all my powers why didst thou not
withhold some of those blessings I possess and substitute in their place
a feeling of self-confidence and contentment

But patience all will yet be well  for I assure you  my dear
friend you were right  since I have been obliged to associate continually
with other people  and observe what they do  and how they employ themselves
I have become far better satisfied with myself. For we are so constituted
by nature  that we are ever prone to compare ourselves with others
and our happiness or misery depends very much on the objects and persons
around us. On this account nothing is more dangerous than solitude
there our imagination  always disposed to rise taking a new flight
on the wings of fancy  pictures to us a chain of beings of whom we seem
the most inferior. All things appear greater than they really are  and
all seem superior to us. This operation of the mind is quite natural
we so continually feel our own imperfections and fancy we perceive in
others the qualities we do not possess attributing to them also all
that we enjoy ourselves  that by this process we form the idea of a
perfect  happy man a man however who only exists in our own
imagination. But when  in spite of weakness and disappointments  we
set to work in earnest and persevere steadily  we often find that
though obliged continually to tack we make more way than others who
have the assistance of wind and tide and in truth  there can be
no greater satisfaction than to keep pace with others or outstrip them
in the race.

NOVEMBER 26. I begin to find my situation here more tolerable  considering
all circumstances. I find a great advantage in being much occupied and
the number of persons I meet and their different pursuits  create
a varied entertainment for me. I have formed the acquaintance of the Count
C  and I esteem him more and more every day. He is a man of strong
understanding and great discernment  but though he sees farther than
other people he is not on that account cold in his manner  but capable
of inspiring and returning the warmest affection. He appeared interested
in me on one occasion  when I had to transact some business with him.
He perceived at the first word that we understood each other and
that he could converse with me in a different tone from what he used with
others. I cannot sufficiently esteem his frank and open kindness to me.
It is the greatest and most genuine of pleasures to observe a great mind
in sympathy with our own.

DECEMBER 24. As I anticipated  the ambassador occasions me infinite
annoyance. He is the most punctilious blockhead under heaven. He does
everything step by step  with the trifling minuteness of an old woman
 and he is a man whom it is impossible to please because he is never
pleased with himself. I like to do business regularly and cheerfully
and  when it is finished to leave it. But he constantly returns my
papers to me saying  "They will do" but recommending me to look
over them again  as "one may always improve by using a better word or
a more appropriate particle." I then lose all patience and wish myself
at the devil's. Not a conjunction  not an adverb must be omitted
he has a deadly antipathy to all those transpositions of which I am so
fond and if the music of our periods is not tuned to the established
official key he cannot comprehend our meaning. It is deplorable to be
connected with such a fellow.

My acquaintance with the Count C is the only compensation for
such an evil. He told me frankly the other day that he was much displeased
with the difficulties and delays of the ambassador that people like
him are obstacles  both to themselves and to others. "But " added
he "one must submit  like a traveller who has to ascend a mountain
 if the mountain was not there the road would be both shorter and
pleasanter but there it is and he must get over it." The old man perceives
the count's partiality for me  this annoys him and he seizes every
opportunity to depreciate the count in my hearing. I naturally defend
him  and that only makes matters worse. Yesterday he made me indignant
for he also alluded to me. "The count " he said  "is a man of the
world  and a good man of business  his style is good and he writes
with facility  but like other geniuses he has no solid learning."
He looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask if I felt the blow.
But it did not produce the desired effect  I despise a man who can think
and act in such a manner. However  I made a stand  and answered with
not a little warmth. The count I said  was a man entitled to respect
alike for his character and his acquirements. I had never met a person
whose mind was stored with more useful and extensive knowledge who
had  in fact mastered such an infinite variety of subjects and who
yet retained all his activity for the details of ordinary business. This
was altogether beyond his comprehension  and I took my leave lest
my anger should be too highly excited by some new absurdity of his.

And you are to blame for all this  you who persuaded me to bend
my neck to this yoke by preaching a life of activity to me. If the man
who plants vegetables  and carries his corn to town on market-days
is not more usefully employed than I am  then let me work ten years
longer at the galleys to which I am now chained.

Oh the brilliant wretchedness  the weariness that one is doomed
to witness among the silly people whom we meet in society here The ambition
of rank  How they watch  how they toil to gain precedence  What
poor and contemptible passions are displayed in their utter nakedness 
We have a woman here for example who never ceases to entertain the
company with accounts of her family and her estates. Any stranger would
consider her a silly being whose head was turned by her pretensions
to rank and property but she is in reality even more ridiculous  the
daughter of a mere magistrate's clerk from this neighbourhood. I cannot
understand how human beings can so debase themselves.

Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by
ourselves  and I have so much trouble with myseif  and my own heart
is in such constant agitation  that I am well content to let others
pursue their own course  if they only allow me the same privilege.

What provokes me most is the unhappy extent to which distinctions
of rank are carried. I know perfectly well how necessary are inequalities
of condition and I am sensible of the advantages I myself derive therefrom
 but I would not have these institutions prove a barrier to the small
chance of happiness which I may enjoy on this earth.

I have lately become acquainted with a Miss B  a very agreeable
girl who has retained her natural manners in the midst of artificial
life. Our first conversation pleased us both equally and at taking
leave  I requested permission to visit her. She consented in so obliging
a manner that I waited with impatience for the arrival of the happy
moment. She is not a native of this place  but resides here with her
aunt. The countenance of the old lady is not prepossessing. I paid her
much attention addressing the greater part of my conversation to her
 and in less than half an hour I discovered what her niece subsequently
acknowledged to me that her aged aunt  having but a small fortune 
and a still smaller share of understanding enjoys no satisfaction except
in the pedigree of her ancestors no protection save in her noble birth
and no enjoyment but in looking from her castle over the heads of the
humble citizens. She was no doubt  handsome in her youth and in
her early years probably trifled away her time in rendering many a poor
youth the sport of her caprice in her riper years she has submitted
to the yoke of a veteran officer who in return for her person and
her small independence has spent with her what we may designate her
age of brass. He is dead and she is now a widow  and deserted. She
spends her iron age alone  and would not be approached except for
the loveliness of her niece.

JANUARY 8  1772. What beings are men whose whole thoughts are
occupied with form and ceremony  who for years together devote their
mental and physical exertions to the task of advancing themselves but
one step and endeavouring to occupy a higher place at the table. Not
that such persons would otherwise want employment  on the contrary
they give themselves much trouble by neglecting important business for
such petty trifles. Last week a question of precedence arose at a sledging-party
and all our amusement was spoiled.

The silly creatures cannot see that it is not place which constitutes
real greatness since the man who occupies the first place but seldom
plays the principal part. How many kings are governed by their ministers
 how many ministers by their secretaries Who in such cases is
really the chief He  as it seems to me who can see through the others
and possesses strength or skill enough to make their power or passions
subservient to the execution of his own designs.

JANUARY 20. I must write to you from this place  my dear Charlotte
from a small room in a country inn where I have taken shelter from a
severe storm. During my whole residence in that wretched place D
where I lived amongst strangers  strangers indeed  to this heart
 I never at any time felt the smallest inclination to correspond with
you  but in this cottage in this retirement  in this solitude 
with the snow and hail beating against my lattice-pane you are my first
thought. The instant I entered your figure rose up before me and the
remembrance  O my Charlotte  the sacred  tender remembrance  Gracious
Heaven restore to me the happy moment of our first acquaintance.

Could you but see me my dear Charlotte in the whirl of dissipation
 how my senses are dried up  but my heart is at no time full. I
enjoy no single moment of happiness  all is vain nothing touches
me. I stand  as it were  before the raree-show I see the little
puppets move and I ask whether it is not an optical illusion. I am amused
with these puppets or  rather  I am myself one of them but when
I sometimes grasp my neighbour's hand  I feel that it is not natural
 and I withdraw mine with a shudder. In the evening I say I will enjoy
the next morning's sunrise and yet I remain in bed in the day I promise
to ramble by moonlight and I nevertheless  remain at home. I know
not why I rise nor why I go to sleep.

The leaven which animated my existence is gone the charm which cheered
me in the gloom of night and aroused me from my morning slumbers is
for ever fled.

I have found but one being here to interest me a Miss B  She
resembles you  my dear Charlotte if any one can possibly resemble
you. "Ah" you will say "he has learned how to pay fine compliments."
And this is partly true. I have been very agreeable lately as it was
not in my power to be otherwise. I have  moreover  a deal of wit
and the ladies say that no one understands flattery better or falsehoods
you will add since the one accomplishment invariably accompanies the
other. But I must tell you of Miss B She has abundance of soul
which flashes from her deep blue eyes. Her rank is a torment to her 
and satisfies no one desire of her heart. She would gladly retire from
this whirl of fashion  and we often picture to ourselves a life of undisturbed
happiness in distant scenes of rural retirement  and then we speak of
you  my dear Charlotte for she knows you and renders homage to your
merits but her homage is not exacted but voluntary she loves you
and delights to hear you made the subject of conversation.

Oh that I were sitting at your feet in your favourite little room
with the dear children playing around us If they became troublesome
to you I would tell them some appalling goblin story and they would
crowd round me with silent attention. The sun is setting in glory  his
last rays are shining on the snow  which covers the face of the country
 the storm is over and I must return to my dungeon. Adieu  Is
Albert with you  and what is he to you God forgive the question.

FEBRUARY 8. For a week past we have had the most wretched weather
 but this to me is a blessing  for during my residence here  not
a single fine day has beamed from the heavens  but has been lost to
me by the intrusion of somebody. During the severity of rain sleet
frost  and storm I congratulate myself that it cannot be worse indoors
than abroad  nor worse abroad than it is within doors  and so I become
reconciled. When the sun rises bright in the morning and promises a
glorious day I never omit to exclaim "There  now they have another
blessing from Heaven which they will be sure to destroy  they spoil
everything health  fame  happiness amusement and they do
this generally through folly ignorance or imbecility and always 
according to their own account with the best intentions " I could
often beseech them on my bended knees  to be less resolved upon their
own destruction.

FEBRUARY 17. I fear that my ambassador and I shall not continue much
longer together. He is really growing past endurance. He transacts his
business in so ridiculous a manner that I am often compelled to contradict
him  and do things my own way  and then  of course he thinks them
very ill done. He complained of me lately on this account at court and
the minister gave me a reprimand a gentle one it is true but still
a reprimand. In consequence of this  I was about to tender my resignation
when I received a letter to which I submitted with great respect on
account of the high  noble and generous spirit which dictated it.
He endeavoured to soothe my excessive sensibility  paid a tribute to
my extreme ideas of duty of good example and of perseverance in business
as the fruit of my youthful ardour an impulse which he did not seek
to destroy but only to moderate  that it might have proper play and
be productive of good. So now I am at rest for another week  and no
longer at variance with myself. Content and peace of mind are valuable
things I could wish  my dear friend  that these precious jewels
were less transitory.

FEBRUARY 20. God bless you my dear friends and may he grant you
that happiness which he denies to me

I thank you  Albert  for having deceived me. I waited for the
news that your wedding-day was fixed and I intended on that day  with
solemnity  to take down Charlotte's profile from the wall  and to
bury it with some other papers I possess. You are now united and her
picture still remains here. Well let it remain Why should it not
I know that I am still one of your society that I still occupy a place
uninjured in Charlotte's heart that I hold the second place therein
 and I intend to keep it. Oh I should become mad if she could forget
Albert that thought is hell  Farewell  Albert farewell angel of
heaven farewell  Charlotte

MARCH 15. I have just had a sad adventure  which will drive me away
from here. I lose all patience Death It is not to be remedied
 and you alone are to blame  for you urged and impelled me to fill
a post for which I was by no means suited. I have now reason to be satisfied
and so have you  But that you may not again attribute this fatality
to my impetuous temper I send you  my dear sir a plain and simple
narration of the affair  as a mere chronicler of facts would describe
it.

The Count of O likes and distinguishes me. It is well known 
and I have mentioned this to you a hundred times. Yesterday I dined with
him. It is the day on which the nobility are accustomed to assemble at
his house in the evening. I never once thought of the assembly nor that
we subalterns did not belong to such society. Well I dined with the
count  and after dinner  we adjourned to the large hall. We walked
up and down together and I conversed with him  and with Colonel B
 who joined us and in this manner the hour for the assembly approached.
God knows  I was thinking of nothing when who should enter but the
honourable Lady accompanied by her noble husband and their silly scheming
daughter with her small waist and flat neck  and with disdainful
looks and a haughty air they passed me by. As I heartily detest the whole
race I determined upon going away  and only waited till the count
had disengaged himself from their impertinent prattle  to take leave
when the agreeable Miss B  came in. As I never meet her without experiencing
a heartfelt pleasure I stayed and talked to her  leaning over the
back of her chair  and did not perceive  till after some time  that
she seemed a little confused and ceased to answer me with her usual
ease of manner. I was struck with it. "Heavens" I said to myself "can
she  too be like the rest " I felt annoyed and was about to withdraw
 but I remained  notwithstanding forming excuses for her conduct
fancying she did not mean it and still hoping to receive some friendly
recognition. The rest of the company now arrived. There was the Baron
F  in an entire suit that dated from the coronation of Francis I.
 the Chancellor N  with his deaf wife  the shabbily-dressed
I  whose old-fashioned coat bore evidence of modern repairs  this
crowned the whole. I conversed with some of my acquaintances but they
answered me laconically. I was engaged in observing Miss B and did
not notice that the women were whispering at the end of the room that
the murmur extended by degrees to the men  that Madame S addressed
the count with much warmththis was all related to me subsequently by
Miss B till at length the count came up to me  and took me to
the window. "You know our ridiculous customs" he said. "I perceive the
company is rather displeased at your being here. I would not on any account
" "I beg your excellency's pardon " I exclaimed. "I ought to have
thought of this before but I know you will forgive this little inattention.
I was going " I added  "some time ago  but my evil genius detained
me." And I smiled and bowed  to take my leave. He shook me by the hand
in a manner which expressed everything. I hastened at once from the illustrious
assembly sprang into a carriage  and drove to M  I contemplated
the setting sun from the top of the hill and read that beautiful passage
in Homer where Ulysses is entertained by the hospitable herdsmen. This
was indeed delightful. I returned home to supper in the evening. But few
persons were assembled in the room. They had turned up a corner of the
table-cloth  and were playing at dice. The good-natured A  came
in. He laid down his hat when he saw me  approached me and said in
a low tone "You have met with a disagreeable adventure." "I " I exclaimed.
"The count obliged you to withdraw from the assembly" "Deuce take the
assembly" said I. "I was very glad to be gone." "I am delighted "
he added "that you take it so lightly. I am only sorry that it is already
so much spoken of." The circumstance then began to pain me. I fancied
that every one who sat down  and even looked at me was thinking of
this incident  and my heart became embittered.

And now I could plunge a dagger into my bosom  when I hear myself
everywhere pitied  and observe the triumph of my enemies who say that
this is always the case with vain persons  whose heads are turned with
conceit  who affect to despise forms and such petty  idle nonsense.

Say what you will of fortitude but show me the man who can patiently
endure the laughter of fools when they have obtained an advantage over
him. 'Tis only when their nonsense is without foundation that one can
suffer it without complaint.

MARCH 16. Everything conspires against me. I met Miss B  walking
to-day. I could not help joining her and when we were at a little
distance from her companions I expressed my sense of her altered manner
toward me. "O Werther " she said in a tone of emotion  "you  who
know my heart  how could you so ill interpret my distress  What did
I not suffer for you from the moment you entered the room  I foresaw
it all a hundred times was I on the point of mentioning it to you. I
knew that the S s and T s  with their husbands would quit
the room rather than remain in your company. I knew that the count would
not break with them  and now so much is said about it." "How" I exclaimed
and endeavoured to conceal my emotion  for all that Adelin had mentioned
to me yesterday recurred to me painfully at that moment. "Oh how much
it has already cost me" said this amiable girl while her eyes filled
with tears. I could scarcely contain myself  and was ready to throw
myself at her feet. "Explain yourself " I cried. Tears flowed down her
cheeks. I became quite frantic. She wiped them away  without attempting
to conceal them. "You know my aunt" she continued  "she was present
 and in what light does she consider the affair  Last night  and
this morning Werther I was compelled to listen to a lecture upon my
acquaintance with you. I have been obliged to hear you condemned and depreciated
 and I could not I dared not say much in your defence."

Every word she uttered was a dagger to my heart. She did not feel
what a mercy it would have been to conceal everything from me. She told
me in addition all the impertinence that would be further circulated
and how the malicious would triumph  how they would rejoice over the
punishment of my pride over my humiliation for that want of esteem for
others with which I had often been reproached. To hear all this  Wilhelm
uttered by her in a voice of the most sincere sympathy awakened all
my passions  and I am still in a state of extreme excitement. I wish
I could find a man to jeer me about this event. I would sacrifice him
to my resentment. The sight of his blood might possibly be a relief to
my fury. A hundred times have I seized a dagger  to give ease to this
oppressed heart. Naturalists tell of a noble race of horses that instinctively
open a vein with their teeth when heated and exhausted by a long course
in order to breathe more freely. I am often tempted to open a vein to
procure for myself everlasting liberty.

MARCH 24. I have tendered my resignation to the court. I hope it will
be accepted  and you will forgive me for not having previously consulted
you. It is necessary I should leave this place. I know all you will urge
me to stay and therefore I beg you will soften this news to my mother.
I am unable to do anything for myself  how then  should I be competent
to assist others It will afflict her that I should have interrupted
that career which would have made me first a privy councillor  and then
minister and that I should look behind me  in place of advancing.
Argue as you will  combine all the reasons which should have induced
me to remain I am going  that is sufficient. But that you may not
be ignorant of my destination  I may mention that the Prince of 
is here. He is much pleased with my company  and having heard of my
intention to resign  he has invited me to his country house  to pass
the spring months with him. I shall be left completely my own master
and  as we agree on all subjects but one I shall try my fortune 
and accompany him.

APRIL l9. Thanks for both your letters. I delayed my reply and withheld
this letter  till I should obtain an answer from the court. I feared
my mother might apply to the minister to defeat my purpose. But my request
is granted my resignation is accepted. I shall not recount with what
reluctance it was accorded nor relate what the minister has written
 you would only renew your lamentations. The crown prince has sent me
a present of five and twenty ducats  and indeed  such goodness has
affected me to tears. For this reason I shall not require from my mother
the money for which I lately applied.

MAY 5. I leave this place to-morrow  and as my native place is
only six miles from the high road  I intend to visit it once more 
and recall the happy dreams of my childhood. I shall enter at the same
gate through which I came with my mother when  after my father's death
she left that delightful retreat to immure herself in your melancholy
town. Adieu  my dear friend  you shall hear of my future career.

MAY 9. I have paid my visit to my native place with all the devotion
of a pilgrim and have experienced many unexpected emotions. Near the
great elm tree which is a quarter of a league from the village I got
out of the carriage  and sent it on before that alone  and on foot
I might enjoy vividly and heartily all the pleasure of my recollections.
I stood there under that same elm which was formerly the term and object
of my walks. How things have since changed Then  in happy ignorance
I sighed for a world I did not know  where I hoped to find every pleasure
and enjoyment which my heart could desire  and now on my return from
that wide world  O my friend how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful
plans have I brought back 

As I contemplated the mountains which lay stretched out before me 
I thought how often they had been the object of my dearest desires. Here
used I to sit for hours together with my eyes bent upon them ardently
longing to wander in the shade of those woods  to lose myself in those
valleys  which form so delightful an object in the distance. With what
reluctance did I leave this charming spot  when my hour of recreation
was over and my leave of absence expired I drew near to the village
 all the well-known old summerhouses and gardens were recognised again
 I disliked the new ones and all other alterations which had taken
place. I entered the village and all my former feelings returned. I
cannot my dear friend  enter into details  charming as were my sensations
 they would be dull in the narration. I had intended to lodge in the
market-place near our old house. As soon as I entered  I perceived
that the schoolroom  where our childhood had been taught by that good
old woman  was converted into a shop. I called to mind the sorrow 
the heaviness  the tears and oppression of heart which I experienced
in that confinement. Every step produced some particular impression. A
pilgrim in the Holy Land does not meet so many spots pregnant with tender
recollections  and his soul is hardly moved with greater devotion. One
incident will serve for illustration. I followed the course of a stream
to a farm  formerly a delightful walk of mine  and paused at the spot
where  when boys we used to amuse ourselves making ducks and drakes
upon the water. I recollected so well how I used formerly to watch the
course of that same stream following it with inquiring eagerness forming
romantic ideas of the countries it was to pass through but my imagination
was soon exhausted while the water continued flowing farther and farther
on till my fancy became bewildered by the contemplation of an invisible
distance. Exactly such my dear friend  so happy and so confined 
were the thoughts of our good ancestors. Their feelings and their poetry
were fresh as childhood. And when Ulysses talks of the immeasurable
sea and boundless earth  his epithets are true natural deeply felt
and mysterious. Of what importance is it that I have learned with every
schoolboy  that the world is round Man needs but little earth for
enjoyment  and still less for his final repose.

I am at present with the prince at his hunting lodge. He is a man
with whom one can live happily. He is honest and unaffected. There are
however  some strange characters about him whom I cannot at all understand.
They do not seem vicious and yet they do not carry the appearance of
thoroughly honest men. Sometimes I am disposed to believe them honest 
and yet I cannot persuade myself to confide in them. It grieves me to
hear the prince occasionally talk of things which he has only read or
heard of and always with the same view in which they have been represented
by others.

He values my understanding and talents more highly than my heart
but I am proud of the latter only. It is the sole source of everything
of our strength  happiness and misery. All the knowledge I possess
every one else can acquire but my heart is exclusively my own.

MAY 25. I have had a plan in my head of which I did not intend to
speak to you until it was accomplished now that it has failed  I may
as well mention it. I wished to enter the army and had long been desirous
of taking the step. This indeed  was the chief reason for my coming
here with the prince as he is a general in the service. I communicated
my design to him during one of our walks together. He disapproved of it
and it would have been actual madness not to have listened to his reasons.

JUNE 11. Say what you will I can remain here no longer. Why should
I remain Time hangs heavy upon my hands. The prince is as gracious to
me as any one could be and yet I am not at my ease. There is indeed
nothing in common between us. He is a man of understanding but quite
of the ordinary kind. His conversation affords me no more amusement than
I should derive from the perusal of a well-written book. I shall remain
here a week Ionger and then start again on my travels. My drawings are
the best things I have done since I came here. The prince has a taste
for the arts and would improve if his mind were not fettered by cold
rules and mere technical ideas. I often lose patience  when  with
a glowing imagination  I am giving expression to art and nature  he
interferes with learned suggestions  and uses at random the technical
phraseology of artists.

JULY 16. Once more I am a wanderer a pilgrim through the world.
But what else are you 

JULY 18. Whither am I going  I will tell you in confidence. I am
obliged to continue a fortnight longer here  and then I think it would
be better for me to visit the mines in But I am only deluding myself
thus. The fact is  I wish to be near Charlotte again that is all.
I smile at the suggestions of my heart and obey its dictates.

JULY 29. No  no  it is yet well all is well  I her husband
O God  who gave me being if thou hadst destined this happiness for
me my whole life would have been one continual thanksgiving  But I
will not murmur  forgive these tears forgive these fruitless wishes.
She  my wife Oh  the very thought of folding that dearest of Heaven's
creatures in my arms Dear Wilhelm  my whole frame feels convulsed
when I see Albert put his arms around her slender waist 

And shall I avow it  Why should I not  Wilhelm She would have
been happier with me than with him. Albert is not the man to satisfy the
wishes of such a heart. He wants a certain sensibility he wants 
in short their hearts do not beat in unison. How often my dear friend
im reading a passage from some interesting book  when my heart and Charlotte's
seemed to meet and in a hundred other instances when our sentiments
were unfolded by the story of some fictitious character  have I felt
that we were made for each other But dear Wilhelm  he loves her
with his whole soul  and what does not such a love deserve

I have been interrupted by an insufferable visit. I have dried my
tears  and composed my thoughts. Adieu my best friend 

AUGUST 4. I am not alone unfortunate. All men are disappointed in
their hopes  and deceived in their expectations. I have paid a visit
to my good old woman under the lime-trees. The eldest boy ran out to meet
me his exclamation of joy brought out his mother but she had a very
melancholy look. Her first word was  "Alas dear sir  my little John
is dead." He was the youngest of her children. I was silent. "And my husband
has returned from Switzerland without any money  and if some kind
people had not assisted him  he must have begged his way home. He was
taken ill with fever on his journey." I could answer nothing but made
the little one a present. She invited me to take some fruit  I complied
and left the place with a sorrowful heart.

AUGUST 21. My sensations are constantly changing. Sometimes a happy
prospect opens before me but alas  it is only for a moment and then
when I am lost in reverie  I cannot help saying to myself  "If Albert
were to die  Yes she would become  and I should be"  and
so I pursue a chimera  till it leads me to the edge of a precipice at
which I shudder.

When I pass through the same gate  and walk along the same road
which first conducted me to Charlotte  my heart sinks within me at the
change that has since taken place. All all is altered  No sentiment
no pulsation of my heart is the same. My sensations are such as would
occur to some departed prince whose spirit should return to visit the
superb palace which he had built in happy times  adorned with costly
magnificence and left to a beloved son but whose glory he should find
departed and its halls deserted and in ruins.

SEPTEMBER 3. I sometimes cannot understand how she can love another
how she dares love another when I love nothing in this world so completely
so devotedly as I love her when I know only her  and have no other
possession.

SEPTEMBER 4. It is even so As nature puts on her autumn tints it
becomes autumn with me and around me. My leaves are sere and yellow 
and the neighbouring trees are divested of their foliage. Do you remember
my writing to you about a peasant boy shortly after my arrival here 
I have just made inquiries about him in Walheim. They say he has been
dismissed from his service and is now avoided by every one. I met him
yesterday on the road  going to a neighbouring village. I spoke to him
and he told me his story. It interested me exceedingly as you will easily
understand when I repeat it to you. But why should I trouble you Why
should I not reserve all my sorrow for myself  Why should I continue
to give you occasion to pity and blame me  But no matter this also
is part of my destiny.

At first the peasant lad answered my inquiries with a sort of subdued
melancholy which seemed to me the mark of a timid disposition  but
as we grew to understand each other  he spoke with less reserve  and
openly confessed his faults  and lamented his misfortune. I wish my
dear friend  I could give proper expression to his language. He told
me with a sort of pleasurable recollection that  after my departure
his passion for his mistress increased daily until at last he neither
knew what he did nor what he said  nor what was to become of him. He
could neither eat nor drink nor sleep  he felt a sense of suffocation
 he disobeyed all orders and forgot all commands involuntarily he
seemed as if pursued by an evil spirit till one day  knowing that
his mistress had gone to an upper chamber  he had followed or  rather
been drawn after her. As she proved deaf to his entreaties he had recourse
to violence. He knows not what happened  but he called God to witness
that his intentions to her were honourable and that he desired nothing
more sincerely than that they should marry and pass their lives together.
When he had come to this point he began to hesitate  as if there was
something which he had not courage to utter  till at length he acknowledged
with some confusion certain little confidences she had encouraged  and
liberties she had allowed. He broke off two or three times in his narration
and assured me most earnestly that he had no wish to make her bad  as
he termed it for he loved her still as sincerely as ever that the
tale had never before escaped his lips and was only now told to convince
me that he was not utterly lost and abandoned. And here  my dear friend
I must commence the old song which you know I utter eternally. If I could
only represent the man as he stood and stands now before me  could
I only give his true expressions you would feel compelled to sympathise
in his fate. But enough  you who know my misfortune and my disposition
can easily comprehend the attraction which draws me toward every unfortunate
being  but particularly toward him whose story I have recounted.

On perusing this letter a second time  I find I have omitted the
conclusion of my tale  but it is easily supplied. She became reserved
toward him at the instigation of her brother who had long hated him 
and desired his expulsion from the house fearing that his sister's second
marriage might deprive his children of the handsome fortune they expected
from her as she is childless. He was dismissed at length and the whole
affair occasioned so much scandal  that the mistress dared not take
him back even if she had wished it. She has since hired another servant
with whom  they say  her brother is equally displeased and whom
she is likely to marry but my informant assures me that he himself is
determined not to survive such a catastrophe.

This story is neither exaggerated nor embellished  indeed  I have
weakened and impaired it in the narration  by the necessity of using
the more refined expressions of society.

This love  then  this constancy  this passion  is no poetical
fiction. It is actual  and dwells in its greatest purity amongst that
class of mankind whom we term rude uneducated. We are the educated
not the perverted. But read this story with attention  I implore you.
I am tranquil to-day for I have been employed upon this narration 
you see by my writing that I am not so agitated as usual. I read and re-read
this tale  Wilhelm it is the history of your friend  My fortune
has been and will be similar and I am neither half so brave nor half
so determined as the poor wretch with whom I hesitate to compare myself.

SEPTEMBER 5. Charlotte had written a letter to her husband in the
country  where he was detained by business. It commenced "My dearest
love return as soon as possible  I await you with a thousand raptures."
A friend who arrived brought word  that  for certain reasons he
could not return immediately. Charlotte's letter was not forwarded and
the same evening it fell into my hands. I read it  and smiled. She asked
the reason. "What a heavenly treasure is imagination" I exclaimed 
"I fancied for a moment that this was written to me." She paused and
seemed displeased. I was silent.

SEPTEMBER 6. It cost me much to part with the blue coat which I wore
the first time I danced with Charlotte. But I could not possibly wear
it any longer. But I have ordered a new one  precisely similar even
to the collar and sleeves  as well as a new waistcoat and pantaloons.

But it does not produce the same effect upon me. I know not how it
is but I hope in time I shall like it better.

SEPTEMBER 12. She has been absent for some days. She went to meet
Albert. To-day I visited her she rose to receive me  and I kissed
her hand most tenderly.

A canary at the moment flew from a mirror  and settled upon her
shoulder. "Here is a new friend " she observed while she made him
perch upon her hand  "he is a present for the children. What a dear
he is  Look at him When I feed him he flutters with his wings 
and pecks so nicely. He kisses me  too only look"

She held the bird to her mouth and he pressed her sweet lips with
so much fervour that he seemed to feel the excess of bliss which he enjoyed.

"He shall kiss you too" she added  and then she held the bird
toward me. His little beak moved from her mouth to mine  and the delightful
sensation seemed like the forerunner of the sweetest bliss.

"A kiss " I observed "does not seem to satisfy him he wishes
for food and seems disappointed by these unsatisfactory endearments."

"But he eats out of my mouth" she continued  and extended her
lips to him containing seed  and she smiled with all the charm of a
being who has allowed an innocent participation of her love.

I turned my face away. She should not act thus. She ought not to excite
my imagination with such displays of heavenly innocence and happiness 
nor awaken my heart from its slumbers  in which it dreams of the worthlessness
of life  And why not Because she knows how much I love her.

SEPTEMBER 15. It makes me wretched Wilhelm to think that there
should be men incapable of appreciating the few things which possess a
real value in life. You remember the walnut trees at S under which
I used to sit with Charlotte during my visits to the worthy old vicar.
Those glorious trees the very sight of which has so often filled my
heart with joy how they adorned and refreshed the parsonage yard with
their wide-extended branches and how pleasing was our remembrance of
the good old pastor  by whose hands they were planted so many years
ago  The schoolmaster has frequently mentioned his name. He had it from
his grandfather. He must have been a most excellent man  and under
the shade of those old trees his memory was ever venerated by me. The
schoolmaster informed us yesterday with tears in his eyes  that those
trees had been felled. Yes cut to the ground I could in my wrath
have slain the monster who struck the first stroke. And I must endure
this I who if I had had two such trees in my own court and
one had died from old age  should have wept with real affliction. But
there is some comfort left such a thing is sentiment the whole village
murmurs at the misfortune  and I hope the vicar's wife will soon find
by the cessation of the villagers' presents  how much she has wounded
the feelings of the neighborhhood. It was she who did it the wife of
the present incumbent our good old man is dead a tall  sickly
creature who is so far right to disregard the world  as the world totally
disregards her. The silly being affects to be learned  pretends to examine
the canonical books  lends her aid toward the new-fashioned reformation
of Christendom moral and critical  and shrugs up her shoulders at
the mention of Lavater's enthusiasm. Her health is destroyed on account
of which she is prevented from having any enjoyment here below. Only such
a creature could have cut down my walnut trees I can never pardon it.
Hear her reasons. The falling leaves made the court wet and dirty  the
branches obstructed the light  boys threw stones at the nuts when they
were ripe  and the noise affected her nerves and disturbed her profound
meditations  when she was weighing the diffculties of Kennicot Semler
and Michaelis. Finding that all the parish particularly the old people
were displeased  I asked "why they allowed it " "Ah  sir" they
replied  "when the steward orders  what can we poor peasants do 
" But one thing has happened well. The steward and the vicarwho  for
once thought to reap some advantage from the caprices of his wife 
intended to divide the trees between them. The revenue-office  being
informed of it revived an old claim to the ground where the trees had
stood  and sold them to the best bidder. There they still lie on the
ground. If I were the sovereign  I should know how to deal with them
all  vicar steward and revenue-office. Sovereign did I say I
should in that case  care little about the trees that grew in the
country.

OCTOBER 10. Only to gaze upon her dark eyes is to me a source of happiness
And what grieves me  is  that Albert does not seem so happy as he
 hoped to be as I should have been if  I am no friend
to these pauses  but here I cannot express it otherwise  and probably
I am explicit enough.

OCTOBER 12. Ossian has superseded Homer in my heart. To what a world
does the illustrious bard carry me To wander over pathless wilds surrounded
by impetuous whirlwinds  where by the feeble light of the moon we
see the spirits of our ancestors to hear from the mountain-tops  mid
the roar of torrents their plaintive sounds issuing from deep caverns
and the sorrowful lamentations of a maiden who sighs and expires on the
mossy tomb of the warrior by whom she was adored. I meet this bard with
silver hair  he wanders in the valley  he seeks the footsteps of his
fathers  and alas  he finds only their tombs. Then contemplating
the pale moon  as she sinks beneath the waves of the rolling sea the
memory of bygone days strikes the mind of the hero days when approaching
danger invigorated the brave and the moon shone upon his bark laden
with spoils  and returning in triumph. When I read in his countenance
deep sorrow  when I see his dying glory sink exhausted into the grave
as he inhales new and heart-thrilling delight from his approaching union
with his beloved and he casts a look on the cold earth and the tall
grass which is so soon to cover him  and then exclaims "The traveller
will come  he will come who has seen my beauty and he will ask
'Where is the bard where is the illustrious son of Fingal ' He will
walk over my tomb  and will seek me in vain " Then O my friend
I could instantly  like a true and noble knight  draw my sword and
deliver my prince from the long and painful languor of a living death 
and dismiss my own soul to follow the demigod whom my hand had set free

OCTOBER 19. Alas the void the fearful void which I feel in my
bosom  Sometimes I think if I could only once but once press her
to my heart  this dreadful void would be filled.

OCTOBER 26. Yes  I feel certain  Wilhelm and every day I become
more certain that the existence of any being whatever is of very little
consequence. A friend of Charlotte's called to see her just now. I withdrew
into a neighbouring apartment  and took up a book  but finding I
could not read I sat down to write. I heard them converse in an undertone
 they spoke upon indifferent topics  and retailed the news of the
town. One was going to be married  another was ill very ill  she
had a dry cough  her face was growing thinner daily  and she had occasional
fits. "N is very unwell too " said Charlotte. "His limbs begin to
swell already " answered the other and my lively imagination carried
me at once to the beds of the infirm. There I see them struggling against
death  with all the agonies of pain and horror and these women Wilhelm
talk of all this with as much indifference as one would mention the death
of a stranger. And when I look around the apartment where I now am
when I see Charlotte's apparel lying before me and Albert's writings
and all those articles of furniture which are so familiar to me  even
to the very inkstand which I am using  when I think what I am to
this family  everything. My friends esteem me  I often contribute
to their happiness and my heart seems as if it could not beat without
them and yet if I were to die  if I were to be summoned from the
midst of this circle would they feel or how long would they feel
the void which my loss would make in their existence How long  Yes
such is the frailty of man that even there where he has the greatest
consciousness of his own being where he makes the strongest and most
forcible impression  even in the memory  in the heart  of his beloved
there also he must perish  vanish  and that quickly.

OCTOBER 27. I could tear open my bosom with vexation to think how
little we are capable of influencing the feelings of each other. No one
can communicate to me those sensations of love joy rapture and delight
which I do not naturally possess and though my heart may glow with
the most lively affection  I cannot make the happiness of one in whom
the same warmth is not inherent.

OCTOBER 27 Evening. I possess so much  but my love for her absorbs
it all. I possess so much  but without her I have nothing.

OCTOBER 30. One hundred times have I been on the point of embracing
her. Heavens what a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing
and repassing before us  and yet not dare to lay hold of it  And laying
hold is the most natural of human instincts. Do not children touch everything
they see And I

NOVEMBER 3. Witness  Heaven  how often I lie down in my bed with
a wish and even a hope that I may never awaken again. And in the morning
when I open my eyes  I behold the sun once more  and am wretched.
If I were whimsical  I might blame the weather or an acquaintance 
or some personal disappointment  for my discontented mind  and then
this insupportable load of trouble would not rest entirely upon myself.
But  alas  I feel it too sadly. I am alone the cause of my own woe
am I not Truly my own bosom contains the source of all my sorrow
as it previously contained the source of all my pleasure. Am I not the
same being who once enjoyed an excess of happiness who at every step
saw paradise open before him and whose heart was ever expanded toward
the whole world  And this heart is now dead  no sentiment can revive
it my eyes are dry and my senses no more refreshed by the influence
of soft tears  wither and consume my brain. I suffer much  for I have
lost the only charm of life  that active sacred power which created
worlds around me it is no more. When I look from my window at the
distant hills  and behold the morning sun breaking through the mists
and illuminating the country around  which is still wrapped in silence
whilst the soft stream winds gently through the willows  which have
shed their leaves  when glorious nature displays all her beauties before
me and her wondrous prospects are ineffectual to extract one tear of
joy from my withered heart I feel that in such a moment I stand like
a reprobate before heaven  hardened  insensible  and unmoved. Oftentimes
do I then bend my knee to the earth  and implore God for the blessing
of tears as the desponding labourer in some scorching climate prays
for the dews of heaven to moisten his parched corn. But I feel that God
does not grant sunshine or rain to our importunate entreaties. And oh 
those bygone days  whose memory now torments me  why were they so
fortunate  Because I then waited with patience for the blessings of
the Eternal  and received his gifts with the grateful feelings of a
thankful heart.

NOVEMBER 8. Charlotte has reproved me for my excesses  with so much
tenderness and goodness  I have lately been in the habit of drinking
more wine than heretofore. "Don't do it " she said. "Think of Charlotte
" "Think of you " I answered "need you bid me do so  Think of you
 I do not think of you you are ever before my soul This very morning
I sat on the spot where  a few days ago  you descended from the carriage
and " She immediately changed the subject to prevent me from pursuing
it farther. My dear friend my energies are all prostrated  she can
do with me what she pleases.

NOVEMBER 15. I thank you Wilhelm for your cordial sympathy for
your excellent advice  and I implore you to be quiet. Leave me to my
sufferings. In spite of my wretchedness  I have still strength enough
for endurance. I revere religion you know I do. I feel that it can
impart strength to the feeble and comfort to the afflicted but does
it affect all men equally  Consider this vast universe you will see
thousands for whom it has never existed  thousands for whom it will
never exist  whether it be preached to them  or not  and must it
then necessarily exist for me  Does not the Son of God himself say
that they are his whom the Father has given to him Have I been given
to him What if the Father will retain me for himself as my heart sometimes
suggests I pray you  do not misinterpret this. Do not extract derision
from my harmless words. I pour out my whole soul before you. Silence were
otherwise preferable to me but I need not shrink from a subject of which
few know more than I do myself. What is the destiny of man but to fill
up the measure of his sufferings and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness
And if that same cup proved bitter to the God of heaven  under a human
form why should I affect a foolish pride and call it sweet Why should
I be ashamed of shrinking at that fearful moment when my whole being
will tremble between existence and annihilation  when a remembrance
of the past  like a flash of lightning will illuminate the dark gulf
of futurity  when everything shall dissolve around me  and the whole
world vanish away  Is not this the voice of a creature oppressed beyond
all resource self-deficient  about to plunge into inevitable destruction
and groaning deeply at its inadequate strength "My God my God  why
hast thou forsaken me " And should I feel ashamed to utter the same
expression Should I not shudder at a prospect which had its fears 
even for him who folds up the heavens like a garment

NOVEMBER 21. She does not feel she does not know that she is preparing
a poison which will destroy us both  and I drink deeply of the draught
which is to prove my destruction. What mean those looks of kindness with
which she often  often no  not often but sometimes regards
me that complacency with which she hears the involuntary sentiments
which frequently escape me and the tender pity for my sufferings which
appears in her countenance

Yesterday  when I took leave she seized me by the hand and said
"Adieu dear Werther." Dear Werther It was the first time she ever
called me dear the sound sunk deep into my heart. I have repeated it
a hundred times  and last night  on going to bed and talking to
myself of various things I suddenly said "Good night dear Werther
" and then could not but laugh at myself.

NOVEMBER 22. I cannot pray "Leave her to me " and yet she often
seems to belong to me. I cannot pray "Give her to me" for she is another's.
In this way I affect mirth over my troubles  and if I had time I
could compose a whole litany of antitheses.

NOVEMBER 24. She is sensible of my sufferings. This morning her look
pierced my very soul. I found her alone  and she was silent  she steadfastly
surveyed me. I no longer saw in her face the charms of beauty or the fire
of genius  these had disappeared. But I was affected by an expression
much more touching a look of the deepest sympathy and of the softest
pity. Why was I afraid to throw myself at her feet Why did I not dare
to take her in my arms and answer her by a thousand kisses She had
recourse to her piano for relief and in a low and sweet voice accompanied
the music with delicious sounds. Her lips never appeared so lovely they
seemed but just to open  that they might imbibe the sweet tones which
issued from the instrument and return the heavenly vibration from her
lovely mouth. Oh who can express my sensations I was quite overcome
and  bending down  pronounced this vow "Beautiful lips which the
angels guard never will I seek to profane your purity with a kiss."
And yet  my friend oh  I wish  but my heart is darkened by doubt
and indecision could I but taste felicity  and then die to expiate
the sin  What sin 

NOVEMBER 26. Oftentimes I say to myself  "Thou alone art wretched
 all other mortals are happy none are distressed like thee" Then
I read a passage in an ancient poet  and I seem to understand my own
heart. I have so much to endure  Have men before me ever been so wretched

NOVEMBER 30. I shall never be myself again Wherever I go some
fatality occurs to distract me. Even to-day alas for our destiny
alas for human nature 

About dinner-time I went to walk by the river-side for I had no
appetite. Everything around seemed gloomy  a cold and damp easterly
wind blew from the mountains and black heavy clouds spread over the
plain. I observed at a distance a man in a tattered coat he was wandering
among the rocks  and seemed to be looking for plants. When I approached
he turned round at the noise and I saw that he had an interesting countenance
in which a settled melancholy  strongly marked by benevolence  formed
the principal feature. His long black hair was divided and flowed over
his shoulders. As his garb betokened a person of the lower order I thought
he would not take it ill if I inquired about his business  and I therefore
asked what he was seeking. He replied  with a deep sigh  that he was
looking for flowers  and could find none. "But it is not the season 
" I observed with a smile. "Oh there are so many flowers" he answered
as he came nearer to me. "In my garden there are roses and honeysuckles
of two sorts one sort was given to me by my father they grow as plentifully
as weeds I have been looking for them these two days and cannot find
them. There are flowers out there  yellow  blue  and red and that
centaury has a very pretty blossom but I can find none of them." I observed
his peculiarity  and therefore asked him with an air of indifference
what he intended to do with his flowers. A strange smile overspread his
countenance. Holding his finger to his mouth he expressed a hope that
I would not betray him and he then informed me that he had promised
to gather a nosegay for his mistress. "That is right" said I. "Oh 
" he replied "she possesses many other things as well  she is very
rich." "And yet " I continued  "she likes your nosegays." "Oh  she
has jewels and crowns " he exclaimed. I asked who she was. "If the states-general
would but pay me" he added "I should be quite another man. Alas 
there was a time when I was so happy but that is past  and I am now
" He raised his swimming eyes to heaven. "And you were happy once 
" I observed. "Ah  would I were so still" was his reply. "I was then
as gay and contented as a man can be." An old woman  who was coming
toward us  now called out  "Henry  Henry where are you We have
been looking for you everywhere  come to dinner." "Is he your son 
" I inquired as I went toward her. "Yes " she said "he is my poor
unfortunate son. The Lord has sent me a heavy affliction." I asked whether
he had been long in this state. She answered "He has been as calm as
he is at present for about six months. I thank Heaven that he has so far
recovered  he was for one whole year quite raving  and chained down
in a madhouse. Now he injures no one but talks of nothing else than
kings and queens. He used to be a very good  quiet youth and helped
to maintain me he wrote a very fine hand but all at once he became
melancholy was seized with a violent fever grew distracted and is
now as you see. If I were only to tell you sir" I interrupted her
by asking what period it was in which he boasted of having been so happy.
"Poor boy " she exclaimed  with a smile of cormpassion "he means
the time when he was completely deranged a time he never ceases to regret
when he was in the madhouse  and unconscious of everything." I was thunderstruck
 I placed a piece of money in her hand and hastened away.

"You were happy " I exclaimed  as I returned quickly to the town
"'as gay and contented as a man can be'" God of heaven and is this
the destiny of man Is he only happy before he has acquired his reason
or after he has lost it  Unfortunate being And yet I envy your fate
 I envy the delusion to which you are a victim. You go forth with joy
to gather flowers for your princess  in winter and grieve
when you can find none and cannot understand why they do not grow. But
I wander forth without joy without hope  without design  and I return
as I came. You fancy what a man you would be if the states general paid
you. Happy mortal  who can ascribe your wretchedness to an earthly cause
You do not know  you do not feel that in your own distracted heart
and disordered brain dwells the source of that unhappiness which all the
potentates on earth cannot relieve.

Let that man die unconsoled who can deride the invalid for undertaking
a journey to distant healthful springs where he often finds only a
heavier disease and a more painful death or who can exult over the despairing
mind of a sinner who to obtain peace of conscience and an alleviation
of misery  makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. Each laborious
step which galls his wounded feet in rough and untrodden paths pours a
drop of balm into his troubled soul  and the journey of many a weary
day brings a nightly relief to his anguished heart. Will you dare call
this enthusiasm  ye crowd of pompous declaimers  Enthusiasm  0 God
thou seest my tears. Thou hast allotted us our portion of misery must
we also have brethren to persecute us  to deprive us of our consolation
of our trust in thee and in thy love and mercy For our trust in the
virtue of the healing root or in the strength of the vine  what is
it else than a belief in thee from whom all that surrounds us derives
its healing and restoring powers Father  whom I know not who
wert once wont to fill my soul but who now hidest thy face from me
 call me back to thee  be silent no longer thy silence shall not
delay a soul which thirsts after thee. What man  what father could
be angry with a son for returning to him suddenly  for falling on his
neck and exclaiming  "I am here again  my father forgive me if
I have anticipated my journey  and returned before the appointed time
The world is everywhere the same a scene of labour and pain  of
pleasure and reward  but what does it all avail  I am happy only where
thou art and in thy presence am I content to suffer or enjoy." And wouldst
thou heavenly Father banish such a child from thy presence

DECEMBER 1. Wilhelm  the man about whom I wrote to you that
man so enviable in his misfortunes was secretary to Charlotte's father
 and an unhappy passion for her which he cherished concealed and
at length discovered caused him to be dismissed from his situation.
This made him mad. Think whilst you peruse this plain narration  what
an impression the circumstance has made upon me  But it was related
to me by Albert with as much calmness as you will probably peruse it.

DECEMBER 4. I implore your attention. It is all over with me. I can
support this state no longer. To-day I was sitting by Charlotte. She was
playing upon her piano a succession of delightful melodies with such
intense expression Her little sister was dressing her doll upon my lap.
The tears came into my eyes. I leaned down and looked intently at her
wedding-ring my tears fell immediately she began to play that favourite
that divine  air which has so often enchanted me. I felt comfort from
a recollection of the past of those bygone days when that air was familiar
to me  and then I recalled all the sorrows and the disappointments which
I had since endured. I paced with hasty strides through the room my
heart became convulsed with painful emotions. At length I went up to her
and exclaimed With eagerness "For Heaven's sake  play that air no
longer" She stopped  and looked steadfastly at me. She then said
with a smile which sunk deep into my heart "Werther  you are ill
your dearest food is distasteful to you. But go  I entreat you and
endeavour to compose yourself." I tore myself away. God  thou seest
my torments  and wilt end them

DECEMBER 6. How her image haunts me  Waking or asleep  she fills
my entire soul Soon as I close my eyes here  in my brain where
all the nerves of vision are concentrated  her dark eyes are imprinted.
Here I do not know how to describe it  but if I shut my eyes
hers are immediately before me dark as an abyss they open upon me 
and absorb my senses.

And what is man  that boasted demigod  Do not his powers fail
when he most requires their use  And whether he soar in joy  or sink
in sorrow  is not his career in both inevitably arrested And whilst
he fondly dreams that he is grasping at infinity does he not feel compelled
to return to a consciousness of his cold monotonous existence 

THE EDITOR TO THE READER.

It is a matter of extreme regret that we want original evidence of
the last remarkable days of our friend and we are  therefore obliged
to interrupt the progress of his correspondence  and to supply the deficiency
by a connected narration.

I have felt it my duty to collect accurate information from the mouths
of persons well acquainted with his history. The story is simple and
all the accounts agree except in some unimportant particulars. It is
true that  with respect to the characters of the persons spoken of
opinions and judgments vary.

We have only then  to relate conscientiously the facts which our
diligent labour has enabled us to collect  to give the letters of the
deceased and to pay particular attention to the slightest fragment from
his pen  more especially as it is so difficult to discover the real
and correct motives of men who are not of the common order.

Sorrow and discontent had taken deep root in Werther's soul  and
gradually imparted their character to his whole being. The harmony of
his mind became completely disturbed a perpetual excitement and mental
irritation which weakened his natural powers produced the saddest
etfects upon him and rendered him at length the victim of an exhaustion
against which he struggled with still more painful efforts than he had
displayed  even in contending with his other misfortunes. His mental
anxiety weakened his various good qualities  and he was soon converted
into a gloomy companion  always unhappy and unjust in his ideas  the
more wretched he became. This was  at least  the opinion of Albert's
friends. They assert moreover  that the character of Albert himself
had undergone no change in the meantime  he was still the same being
whom Werther had loved honoured  and respected from the commencement.
His love for Charlotte was unbounded he was proud of her and desired
that she should be recognised by every one as the noblest of created beings.
Was he however to blame for wishing to avert from her every appearance
of suspicion or for his unwillingness to share his rich prize with another
even for a moment  and in the most innocent manner It is asserted
that Albert frequently retired from his wife's apartment during Werther's
visits but this did not arise from hatred or aversion to his friend 
but only from a feeling that his presence was oppressive to Werther.

Charlotte's father who was confined to the house by indisposition
was accustomed to send his carriage for her  that she might make excursions
in the neighbourhood. One day the weather had been unusually severe 
and the whole country was covered with snow.

Werther went for Charlotte the following morning in order that
if Albert were absent  he might conduct her home.

The beautiful weather produced but little impression on his troubled
spirit. A heavy weight lay upon his soul deep melancholy had taken possession
of him and his mind knew no change save from one painful thought to
another.

As he now never enjoyed internal peace the condition of his fellow
creatures was to him a perpetual source of trouble and distress. He believed
he had disturbed the happiness of Albert and his wife  and whilst
he censured himself strongly for this  he began to entertain a secret
dislike to Albert.

His thoughts were occasionally directed to this point. "Yes " he
would repeat to himself  with ill-concealed dissatisfaction  "yes 
this is  after all the extent of that confiding  dear  tender 
and sympathetic love that calm and eternal fidelity  What do I behold
but satiety and indifference Does not every frivolous engagement attract
him more than his charming and lovely wife Does he know how to prize
his happiness  Can he value her as she deserves  He possesses her 
it is true I know that as I know much more and I have become accustomed
to the thought that he will drive me mad or  perhaps murder me.
Is his friendship toward me unimpaired Does he not view my attachment
to Charlotte as an infringement upon his rights  and consider my attention
to her as a silent rebuke to himself I know  and indeed feel that
he dislikes me that he wishes for my absence that my presence is hateful
to him."

He would often pause when on his way to visit Charlotte  stand still
as though in doubt and seem desirous of returning  but would nevertheless
proceed  and engaged in such thoughts and soliloquies as we have described
he finally reached the hunting-lodge with a sort of involuntary consent.

Upon one occasion he entered the house and inquiring for Charlotte
he observed that the inmates were in a state of unusual confusion. The
eldest boy informed him that a dreadful misfortune had occurred at Walheim
 that a peasant had been murdered  But this made little impression
upon him. Entering the apartment he found Charlotte engaged reasoning
with her father  who in spite of his infirmity insisted on going
to the scene of the crime  in order to institute an inquiry. The criminal
was unknown  the victim had been found dead at his own door that morning.
Suspicions were excited  the murdered man had been in the service of
a widow  and the person who had previously filled the situation had
been dismissed from her employment.

As soon as Werther heard this  he exclaimed with great excitement
"Is it possible  I must go to the spot I cannot delay a moment
" He hastened to Walheim. Every incident returned vividly to his remembrance
 and he entertained not the slightest doubt that that man was the murderer
to whom he had so often spoken and for whom he entertained so much regard.
His way took him past the well-known lime trees  to the house where
the body had been carried  and his feelings were greatly excited at
the sight of the fondly recollected spot. That threshold where the neighbours'
children had so often played together was stained with blood love and
attachment the noblest feelings of human nature  had been converted
into violence and murder. The huge trees stood there leafless and covered
with hoarfrost the beautiful hedgerows which surrounded the old churchyard
wall were withered and the gravestones half covered with snow  were
visible through the openings.

As he approached the inn in front of which the whole village was
assembled  screams were suddenly heard. A troop of armed peasants was
seen approaching and every one exclaimed that the criminal had been
apprehended. Werther looked  and was not long in doubt. The prisoner
was no other than the servant  who had been formerly so attached to
the widow  and whom he had met prowling about  with that suppressed
anger and ill-concealed despair  which we have before described.

"What have you done  unfortunate man" inquired Werther as he
advanced toward the prisoner. The latter turned his eyes upon him in silence
and then replied with perfect composure  "No one will now marry her 
and she will marry no one." The prisoner was taken into the inn  and
Werther left the place. The mind of Werther was fearfully excited by this
shocking occurrence. He ceased however to be oppressed by his usual
feeling of melancholy  moroseness  and indifference to everything
that passed around him. He entertained a strong degree of pity for the
prisoner and was seized with an indescribable anxiety to save him from
his impending fate. He considered him so unfortunate he deemed his crime
so excusable and thought his own condition so nearly similar that
he felt convinced he could make every one else view the matter in the
light in which he saw it himself. He now became anxious to undertake his
defence  and commenced composing an eloquent speech for the occasion
 and on his way to the hunting-lodge he could not refrain from speaking
aloud the statement which he resolved to make to the judge.

Upon his arrival he found Albert had been before him and he was
a little perplexed by this meeting but he soon recovered himself and
expressed his opinion with much warmth to the judge. The latter shook 
his head doubtingly  and although Werther urged his case with the utmost
zeal feeling and determination in defence of his client  yet as
we may easily suppose  the judge was not much influenced by his appeal.
On the contrary  he interrupted him in his address reasoned with him
seriously  and even administered a rebuke to him for becoming the advocate
of a murderer. He demonstrated that  according to this precedent
every law might be violated  and the public security utterly destroyed.
He added moreover  that in such a case he could himself do nothing
without incurring the greatest responsibility  that everything must
follow in the usual course and pursue the ordinary channel.

Werther  however did not abandon his enterprise  and even besought
the judge to connive at the flight of the prisoner. But this proposal
was peremptorily rejected. Albert  who had taken some part in the discussion
coincided in opinion with the judge. At this Werther became enraged 
and took his leave in great anger  after the judge had more than once
assured him that the prisoner could not be saved.

The excess of his grief at this assurance may be inferred from a note
we have found amongst his papers and which was doubtless written upon
this very occasion.

"You cannot be saved unfortunate man I see clearly that we cannot
be saved"

Werther was highly incensed at the observations which Albert had made
to the judge in this matter of the prisoner. He thought he could detect
therein a little bitterness toward himself personally  and although 
upon reflection  it could not escape his sound judgment that their view
of the matter was correct  he felt the greatest possible reluctance
to make such an admission.

A memorandum of Werther's upon this point  expressive of his general
feelings toward Albert has been found amongst his papers.

"What is the use of my continually repeating that he is a good and
estimable man  He is an inward torment to me and I am incapable of
being just toward him."

One fine evening in winter when the weather seemed inclined to thaw
Charlotte and Albert were returning home together. The former looked from
time to time about her as if she missed Werther's company. Albert began
to speak of him  and censured him for his prejudices. He alluded to
his unfortunate attachment and wished it were possible to discontinue
his acquaintance. "I desire it on our own account " he added "and
I request you will compel him to alter his deportment toward you and
to visit you less frequently. The world is censorious  and I know that
here and there we are spoken of." Charlotte made no reply  and Albert
seemed to feel her silence. At least from that time he never again spoke
of Werther and when she introduced the subject he allowed the conversation
to die away  or else he directed the discourse into another channel.

The vain attempt Werther had made to save the unhappy murderer was
the last feeble glimmering of a flame about to be extinguished. He sank
almost immediately afterward into a state of gloom and inactivity  until
he was at length brought to perfect distraction by learning that he was
to be summoned as a witness against the prisoner who asserted his complete
innocence.

His mind now became oppressed by the recollection of every misfortune
of his past life. The mortification he had suffered at the ambassador's
and his subsequent troubles  were revived in his memory. He became utterly
inactive. Destitute of energy  he was cut off from every pursuit and
occupation which compose the business of common life and he became a
victim to his own susceptibility and to his restless passion for the
most amiable and beloved of women  whose peace he destroyed. In this
unvarying monotony of existence his days were consumed and his powers
became exhausted without aim or design until they brought him to a sorrowful
end.

A few letters which he left behind and which we here subjoin afford
the best proofs of his anxiety of mind and of the depth of his passion
as well as of his doubts and struggles and of his weariness of life.

DECEMBER 12. Dear Wilhelm  I am reduced to the condition of those
unfortunate wretches who believe they are pursued by an evil spirit. Sometimes
I am oppressed not by apprehension or fear but by an inexpressible
internal sensation which weighs upon my heart  and impedes my breath
Then I wander forth at night even in this tempestuous season and feel
pleasure in surveying the dreadful scenes around me.

Yesterday evening I went forth. A rapid thaw had suddenly set in
I had been informed that the river had risen that the brooks had all
overflowed their banks and that the whole vale of Walheim was under
water  Upon the stroke of twelve I hastened forth. I beheld a fearful
sight. The foaming torrents rolled from the mountains in the moonlight
 fields and meadows  trees and hedges  were confounded together
 and the entire valley was converted into a deep lake  which was agitated
by the roaring wind  And when the moon shone forth and tinged the
black clouds with silver and the impetuous torrent at my feet foamed
and resounded with awful and grand impetuosity I was overcome by a mingled
sensation of apprehension and delight. With extended arms I looked down
into the yawning abyss and cried "Plunge'" For a moment my senses
forsook me in the intense delight of ending my sorrows and my sufferings
by a plunge into that gulf And then I felt as if I were rooted to the
earth  and incapable of seeking an end to my woes  But my hour is
not yet come I feel it is not. O Wilhelm how willingly could I abandon
my existence to ride the whirlwind or to embrace the torrent and then
might not rapture perchance be the portion of this liberated soul 

I turned my sorrowful eyes toward a favourite spot where I was accustomed
to sit with Charlotte beneath a willow after a fatiguing walk. Alas 
it was covered with water  and with difficulty I found even the meadow.
And the fields around the hunting-lodge  thought I. Has our dear bower
been destroyed by this unpitying storm And a beam of past happiness
streamed upon me as the mind of a captive is illumined by dreams of
flocks and herds and bygone joys of home But I am free from blame. I
have courage to die  Perhaps I have  but I still sit here  like
a wretched pauper  who collects fagots and begs her bread from door
to door  that she may prolong for a few days a miserable existence which
she is unwilling to resign.

DECEMBER 15. What is the matter with me  dear Wilhelm  I am afraid
of myself  Is not my love for her of the purest  most holy and most
brotherly nature Has my soul ever been sullied by a single sensual desire
but I will make no protestations. And now  ye nightly visions  how
truly have those mortals understood you  who ascribe your various contradictory
effects to some invincible power This night I tremble at the avowal
 I held her in my arms locked in a close embrace I pressed her
to my bosom  and covered with countless kisses those dear lips which
murmured in reply soft protestations of love. My sight became confused
by the delicious intoxication of her eyes. Heavens is it sinful to revel
again in such happiness  to recall once more those rapturous moments
with intense delight Charlotte Charlotte I am lost My senses are
bewildered my recollection is confused mine eyes are bathed in tears
 I am ill  and yet I am well I wish for nothing  I have
no desires it were better I were gone.

Under the circumstances narrated above a determination to quit this
world had now taken fixed possession of Werther's soul. Since Charlotte's
return this thought had been the final object of all his hopes and wishes
 but he had resolved that such a step should not be taken with precipitation
but with calmness and tranquillity and with the most perfect deliberation.

His troubles and internal struggles may be understood from the following
fragment which was found without any date  amongst his papers 
and appears to have formed the beginning of a letter to Wilhelm.

"Her presence  her fate  her sympathy for me have power still
to extract tears from my withered brain.

"One lifts up the curtain  and passes to the other side  that
is all And why all these doubts and delays Because we know not what
is behind  because there is no returning and because our mind
infers that all is darkness and confusion  where we have nothing but
uncertainty."

His appearance at length became quite altered by the effect of his
melancholy thoughts  and his resolution was now finally and irrevocably
taken  of which the following ambiguous letter which he addressed
to his friend  may appear to afford some proof.

DECEMBER 2O. I am grateful to your love  Wilhelm for having repeated
your advice so seasonably. Yes you are right it is undoubtedly better
that I should depart. But I do not entirely approve your scheme of returning
at once to your neighbourhood  at least  I should Iike to make a little
excursion on the way particularly as we may now expect a continued frost
and consequently good roads. I am much pleased with your intention of
coming to fetch me only delay your journey for a fortnight and wait
for another letter from me. One should gather nothing before it is ripe
and a fortnight sooner or later makes a great difference. Entreat my mother
to pray for her son  and tell her I beg her pardon for all the unhappiness
I have occasioned her. It has ever been my fate to give pain to those
whose happiness I should have promoted. Adieu  my dearest friend. May
every blessing of Heaven attend you  Farewell.

We find it difficult to express the emotions with which Charlotte's
soul was agitated during the whole of this time  whether in relation
to her husband or to her unfortunate friend  although we are enabled
by our knowledge of her character  to understand their nature.

It is certain that she had formed a determination  by every means
in her power to keep Werther at a distance and if she hesitated in
her decision it was from a sincere feeling of friendly pity  knowing
how much it would cost him indeed  that he would find it almost impossible
to comply with her wishes. But various causes now urged her to be firm.
Her hushand preserved a strict silence about the whole matter  and she
never made it a subject of conversation  feeling bound to prove to him
by her conduct that her sentiments agreed with his.

The same day which was the Sunday before Christmas after Werther
had written the last-mentioned letter to his friend  he came in the
evening to Charlotte's house and found her alone. She was busy preparing
some little gifts for her brothers and sisters which were to be distributed
to them on Christmas Day. He began talking of the delight of the children
and of that age when the sudden appearance of the Christmas-tree decorated
with fruit and sweetmeats  and lighted up with wax candles causes
such transports of joy. "You shall have a gift too if you behave well
" said Charlotte  hiding her embarrassment under sweet smile. "And
what do you call behaving well What should I do  what can I do my
dear Charlotte" said he. "Thursday night" she answered "is Christmas
Eve. The children are all to be here and my father too there is a
present for each do you come likewise  but do not come before that
time." Werther started. "I desire you will not it must be so" she
continued. "I ask it of you as a favour  for my own peace and tranquillity.
We cannot go on in this manner any longer." He turned away his face walked
hastily up and down the room muttering indistinctly  "We cannot go
on in this manner any longer" Charlotte  seeing the violent agitation
into which these words had thrown him  endeavoured to divert his thoughts
by different questions but in vain. "No  Charlotte" he exclaimed
 "I will never see you any more " "And why so " she answered. "We
may  we must see each other again  only let it be with more discretion.
Oh why were you born with that excessive that ungovernable passion
for everything that is dear to you" Then taking his hand she said
"I entreat of you to be more calm  your talents  your understanding
your genius  will furnish you with a thousand resources. Be a man 
and conquer an unhappy attachment toward a creature who can do nothing
but pity you." He bit his lips and looked at her with a gloomy countenance.
She continued to hold his hand. "Grant me but a moment's patience  Werther
" she said. "Do you not see that you are deceiving yourself  that you
are seeking your own destruction Why must you love me  me only who
belong to another  I fear  I much fear that it is only the impossibility
of possessing me which makes your desire for me so strong." He drew back
his hand whilst he surveyed her with a wild and angry look. "'Tis well
" he exclaimed "'tis very well Did not Albert furnish you with this
reflection It is profound  a very profound remark." "A reflection
that any one might easily make" she answered "and is there not a woman
in the whole world who is at liberty and has the power to make you happy
Conquer yourself look for such a being and believe me when I say that
you will certainly find her. I have long felt for you  and for us all
 you have confined yourself too long within the limits of too narrow
a circle. Conquer yourself make an effort  a short journey will be
of service to you. Seek and find an object worthy of your love then
return hither  and let us enjoy together all the happiness of the most
perfect friendship."

"This speech" replied Werther with a cold smile  "this speech
should be printed  for the benefit of all teachers. My dear Charlotte
allow me but a short time longer and all will be well." "But however
Werther " she added  "do not come again before Christmas." He was
about to make some answer  when Albert came in. They saluted each other
coldly and with mutual embarrassment paced up and down the room. Werther
made some common remarks Albert did the same and their conversation
soon dropped. Albert asked his wife about some household matters and
finding that his commissions were not executed he used some expressions
which  to Werther's ear  savoured of extreme harshness. He wished
to go  but had not power to move and in this situation he remained
till eight o'clock his uneasiness and discontent continually increasing.
At length the cloth was laid for supper  and he took up his hat and
stick. Albert invited him to remain  but Werther fancying that he
was merely paying a formal compliment  thanked him coldly  amd left
the house.

Werther returned home  took the candle from his servant  and retired
to his room alone. He talked for some time with great earnestness to himself
wept aloud walked in a state of great excitement through his chamber
 till at length  without undressing  he threw himself on the bed
where he was found by his servant at eleven o'clock  when the latter
ventured to enter the room and take off his boots. Werther did not prevent
him  but forbade him to come in the morning till he should ring.

On Monday morning  the 21st of December  he wrote to Charlotte
the following letter which was found sealed  on his bureau after
his death  and was given to her. I shall insert it in fragments  as
it appears from several circumstances  to have been written in that
manner.

"It is all over  Charlotte I am resolved to die  I make this
declaration deliberately and coolly  without any romantic passion 
on this morning of the day when I am to see you for the last time. At
the moment you read these lines  O best of women the cold grave will
hold the inanimate remains of that restless and unhappy being who  in
the last moments of his existence  knew no pleasure so great as that
of conversing with you I have passed a dreadful night or rather  let
me say a propitious one  for it has given me resolution  it has
fixed my purpose. I am resolved to die. When I tore myself from you yesterday
my senses were in tumult and disorder  my heart was oppressed  hope
and pleasure had fled from me for ever and a petrifying cold had seized
my wretched being. I could scarcely reach my room. I threw myself on my
knees  and Heaven  for the last time granted me the consolation
of shedding tears. A thousand ideas  a thousand schemes  arose within
my soul  till at length one last fixed final thought took possession
of my heart. It was to die. I lay down to rest and in the morning 
in the quiet hour of awakening the same determination was upon me. To
die  It is not despair it is conviction that I have filled up the
measure of my sufferings that I have reached my appointed term and
must sacrifice myself for thee. Yes  Charlotte why should I not avow
it One of us three must die  it shall be Werther. O beloved Charlotte
this heart excited by rage and fury  has often conceived the horrid
idea of murdering your husband you myself  The lot is cast at
length. And in the bright  quiet evenings of summer  when you sometimes
wander toward the mountains  let your thoughts then turn to me recollect
how often you have watched me coming to meet you from the valley then
bend your eyes upon the churchyard which contains my grave and by
the light of the setting sun mark how the evening breeze waves the tall
grass which grows above my tomb. I was calm when I began this letter
but the recollection of these scenes makes me weep like a child." About
ten in the morning Werther called his servant  and whilst he was
dressing told him that in a few days he intended to set out upon a journey
and bade him therefore lay his clothes in order  and prepare them for
packing up call in all his accounts  fetch home the books he had lent
and give two months' pay to the poor dependants who were accustomed to
receive from him a weekly allowance.

He breakfasted in his room and then mounted his horse  and went
to visit the steward who however was not at home. He walked pensively
in the garden  and seemed anxious to renew all the ideas that were most
painful to him.

The children did not suffer him to remain alone long. They followed
him  skipping and dancing before him and told him  that after to-morrow
and tomorrow and one day more  they were to receive their Christmas
gift from Charlotte  and they then recounted all the wonders of which
they had formed ideas in their child imaginations. "Tomorrow and tomorrow
" said he  "and one day more" And he kissed them tenderly. He was
going  but the younger boy stopped him to whisper something in his
ear. He told him that his elder brothers had written splendid New-Year's
wishes so large  one for papa  and another for Albert and Charlotte
and one for Werther  and they were to be presented early in the morning
on New Year's Day. This quite overcame him. He made each of the children
a present  mounted his horse left his compliments for papa and mamma
and  with tears in his eyes  rode away from the place.

He returned home about five o'clock  ordered his servant to keep
up his fire  desired him to pack his books and linen at the bottom of
the trunk  and to place his coats at the top. He then appears to have
made the following addition to the letter addressed to Charlotte

"You do not expect me. You think I will obey you and not visit you
again till Christmas Eve. O Charlotte  today or never  On Christmas
Eve you will hold this paper in your hand  you will tremble  and moisten
it with your tears. I will I must  Oh  how happy I feel to be
determined"

In the meantime  Charlotte was in a pitiable state of mind. After
her last conversation with Werther she found how painful to herself
it would be to decline his visits  and knew how severely he would suffer
from their separation.

She had  in conversation with Albert mentioned casually that Werther
would not return before Christmas Eve  and soon afterward Albert went
on horseback to see a person in the neighbourhood  with whom he had
to transact some business which would detain him all night.

Charlotte was sitting alone. None of her family were near  and she
gave herself up to the reflections that silently took possession of her
mind. She was for ever united to a husband whose love and fidelity she
had proved to whom she was heartily devoted  and who seemed to be
a special gift from Heaven to ensure her happiness. On the other hand 
Werther had become dear to her. There was a cordial unanimity of sentiment
between them from the very first hour of their acquaintance  and their
long association and repeated interviews had made an indelible impression
upon her heart. She had been accustomed to communicate to him every thought
and feeling which interested her and his absence threatened to open
a void in her existence which it might be impossible to fill. How heartily
she wished that she might change him into her brother  that she
could induce him to marry one of her own friends or could reestablish
his intimacy with Albert.

She passed all her intimate friends in review before her mind  but
found something objectionable in each  and could decide upon none to
whom she would consent to give him.

Amid all these considerations she felt deeply but indistinctly that
her own real but unexpressed wish was to retain him for herself  and
her pure and amiable heart felt from this thought a sense of oppression
which seemed to forbid a prospect of happiness. She was wretched a dark
cloud obscured her mental vision.

It was now half-past six o'clock and she heard Werther's step on
the stairs. She at once recognised his voice as he inquired if she were
at home. Her heart beat audibly  we could almost say for the first
time at his arrival. It was too late to deny herself and as he
entered  she exclaimed with a sort of ill concealed confusion  "You
have not kept your word " "I promised nothing " he answered. "But
you should have complied at least for my sake " she continued. " I
implore you  for both our sakes."

She scarcely knew what she said or did and sent for some friends
who  by their presence might prevent her being left alone with Werther.
He put down some books he had brought with him then made inquiries about
some others  until she began to hope that her friends might arrive shortly
entertaining at the same time a desire that they might stay away.

At one moment she felt anxious that the servant should remain in the
adjoining room then she changed her mind. Werther  meanwhile walked
impatiently up and down. She went to the piano and determined not to
retire. She then collected her thoughts  and sat down quietly at Werther's
side who had taken his usual place on the sofa.

"Have you brought nothing to read " she inquired. He had nothing.
"There in my drawer " she continued  "you will find your own translation
of some of the songs of Ossian. I have not yet read them as I have still
hoped to hear you recite them  but for some time past  I have not
been able to accomplish such a wish." He smiled  and went for the manuscript
which he took with a shudder. He sat down  and with eyes full of tears
he began to read.

"Star of descending night  fair is thy light in the west thou
liftest thy unshorn head from thy cloud  thy steps are stately on thy
hill. What dost thou behold in the plain The stormy winds are laid.
The murmur of the torrent comes from afar. Roaring waves climb the distant
rock. The flies of evening are on their feeble wings the hum of their
course is on the field. What dost thou behold  fair light  But thou
dost smile and depart. The waves come with joy around thee they bathe
thy lovely hair. Farewell  thou silent beam  Let the light of Ossian's
soul arise

"And it does arise in its strength I behold my departed friends.
Their gathering is on Lora as in the days of other years. Fingal comes
like a watery column of mist his heroes are around and see the bards
of song  gray-haired Ullin stately Ryno  Alpin with the tuneful
voice  the soft complaint of Minona  How are ye changed  my friends
since the days of Selma's feast  when we contended like gales of spring
as they fly along the hill and bend by turns the feebly whistling grass.

"Minona came forth in her beauty with downcast look and tearful
eye. Her hair was flying slowly with the blast that rushed unfrequent
from the hill. The souls of the heroes were sad when she raised the tuneful
voice. Oft had they seen the grave of Salgar the dark dwelling of white-bosomed
Colma. Colma left alone on the hill with all her voice of song Salgar
promised to come but the night descended around. Hear the voice of Colma
when she sat alone on the hill

"Colma. It is night  I am alone  forlorn on the hill of storms.
The wind is heard on the mountain. The torrent is howling down the rock.
No hut receives me from the rain forlorn on the hill of winds 

"Rise moon from behind thy clouds. Stars of the night  arise
Lead me  some light  to the place where my love rests from the chase
alone  His bow near him unstrung his dogs panting around him But
here I must sit alone by the rock of the mossy stream. The stream and
the wind roar aloud. I hear not the voice of my love Why delays my Salgar
 why the chief of the hill his promise Here is the rock and here the
tree here is the roaring stream  Thou didst promise with night to
be here. Ah  whither is my Salgar gone With thee I would fly from
my father  with thee from my brother of pride. Our race have long been
foes we are not foes O Salgar 

"Cease a little while  O wind  stream  be thou silent awhile
let my voice be heard around let my wanderer hear me Salgar  it
is Colma who calls. Here is the tree and the rock. Salgar  my love
I am here  Why delayest thou thy coming  Lo  the calm moon comes
forth. The flood is bright in the vale. The rocks are gray on the steep.
I see him not on the brow. His dogs come not before him with tidings of
his near approach. Here I must sit alone

"Who lie on the heath beside me  Are they my love and my brother
Speak to me  O my friends  To Colma they give no reply. Speak to me
 I am alone  My soul is tormented with fears. Ah they are dead
Their swords are red from the fight. O my brother  my brother  why
hast thou slain my Salgar  Why O Salgar  hast thou slain my brother
Dear were ye both to me  what shall I say in your praise Thou wert
fair on the hill among thousands he was terrible in fight  Speak to
me hear my voice hear me sons of my love They are silent silent
for ever Cold  cold  are their breasts of clay Oh  from the
rock on the hill from the top of the windy steep speak ye ghosts
of the dead  Speak I will not be afraid  Whither are ye gone to
rest In what cave of the hill shall I find the departed  No feeble
voice is on the gale no answer half drowned in the storm

"I sit in my grief I wait for morning in my tears  Rear the tomb
ye friends of the dead. Close it not till Colma come. My life flies away
like a dream. Why should I stay behind Here shall I rest with my friends
by the stream of the sounding rock. When night comes on the hill when
the loud winds arise my ghost shall stand in the blast and mourn the
death of my friends. The hunter shall hear from his booth  he shall
fear but love my voice For sweet shall my voice be for my friends
 pleasant were her friends to Colma.

"Such was thy song Minona  softly blushing daughter of Torman.
Our tears descended for Colma  and our souls were sad  Ullin came
with his harp  he gave the song of Alpin. The voice of Alpin was pleasant
the soul of Ryno was a beam of fire  But they had rested in the narrow
house  their voice had ceased in Selma Ullin had returned one day
from the chase before the heroes fell. He heard their strife on the hill
 their song was soft but sad They mourned the fall of Morar  first
of mortal men  His soul was like the soul of Fingal  his sword like
the sword of Oscar. But he fell  and his father mourned  his sister's
eyes were full of tears. Minona's eyes were full of tears  the sister
of car-borne Morar. She retired from the song of Ullin like the moon
in the west  when she foresees the shower  and hides her fair head
in a cloud. I touched the harp with Ullin  the song of morning rose 

"Ryno. The wind and the rain are past  calm is the noon of day.
The clouds are divided in heaven. Over the green hills flies the inconstant
sun. Red through the stony vale comes down the stream of the hill. Sweet
are thy murmurs  O stream  but more sweet is the voice I hear. It
is the voice of Alpin  the son of song mourning for the dead Bent
is his head of age red his tearful eye. Alpin  thou son of song 
why alone on the silent hill why complainest thou  as a blast in the
wood as a wave on the lonely shore

"Alpin. My tears O Ryno  are for the dead my voice for those that
have passed away. Tall thou art on the hill  fair among the sons of
the vale. But thou shalt fall like Morar the mourner shall sit on thy
tomb. The hills shall know thee no more  thy bow shall lie in thy hall
unstrung

"Thou wert swift O Morar as a roe on the desert  terrible as
a meteor of fire. Thy wrath was as the storm. Thy sword in battle as lightning
in the field. Thy voice was as a stream after rain like thunder on distant
hills. Many fell by thy arm  they were consumed in the flames of thy
wrath. But when thou didst return from war how peaceful was thy brow.
Thy face was like the sun after rain like the moon in the silence of
night  calm as the breast of the lake when the loud wind is laid.

"Narrow is thy dwelling now  dark the place of thine abode With
three steps I compass thy grave  O thou who wast so great before Four
stones with their heads of moss  are the only memorial of thee. A
tree with scarce a leaf  long grass which whistles in the wind mark
to the hunter's eye the grave of the mighty Morar. Morar thou art low
indeed. Thou hast no mother to mourn thee  no maid with her tears of
love. Dead is she that brought thee forth. Fallen is the daughter of Morglan.

"Who on his staff is this  Who is this whose head is white with
age  whose eyes are red with tears who quakes at every step  It
is thy father  O Morar the father of no son but thee. He heard of
thy fame in war  he heard of foes dispersed. He heard of Morar's renown
why did he not hear of his wound Weep  thou father of Morar  Weep
but thy son heareth thee not. Deep is the sleep of the dead  low their
pillow of dust. No more shall he hear thy voice  no more awake at thy
call. When shall it be morn in the grave to bid the slumberer awake 
Farewell thou bravest of men thou conqueror in the field but the
field shall see thee no more nor the dark wood be lightened with the
splendour of thy steel. Thou has left no son. The song shall preserve
thy name. Future times shall hear of thee they shall hear of the fallen
Morar 

"The grief of all arose  but most the bursting sigh of Armin. He
remembers the death of his son who fell in the days of his youth. Carmor
was near the hero  the chief of the echoing Galmal. Why burst the sigh
of Armin he said. Is there a cause to mourn  The song comes with its
music to melt and please the soul. It is like soft mist that rising
from a lake  pours on the silent vale  the green flowers are filled
with dew but the sun returns in his strength and the mist is gone.
Why art thou sad O Armin chief of sea-surrounded Gorma

"Sad I am  nor small is my cause of woe  Carmor  thou hast lost
no son thou hast lost no daughter of beauty. Colgar the valiant lives
and Annira fairest maid. The boughs of thy house ascend  O Carmor 
but Armin is the last of his race. Dark is thy bed O Daura deep thy
sleep in the tomb  When shalt thou wake with thy songs with all thy
voice of music

"Arise winds of autumn arise blow along the heath. Streams of
the mountains  roar  roar  tempests in the groves of my oaks Walk
through broken clouds  O moon  show thy pale face at intervals bring
to my mind the night when all my children fell when Arindal the mighty
fell when Daura the lovely failed. Daura my daughter thou wert
fair fair as the moon on Fura  white as the driven snow  sweet as
the breathing gale. Arindal  thy bow was strong  thy spear was swift
on the field thy look was like mist on the wave  thy shield a red
cloud in a storm Armar renowned in war came and sought Daura's love.
He was not long refused  fair was the hope of their friends.

"Erath son of Odgal  repined his brother had been slain by Armar.
He came disguised like a son of the sea  fair was his cliff on the wave
white his locks of age calm his serious brow. Fairest of women he
said lovely daughter of Armin  a rock not distant in the sea bears
a tree on its side red shines the fruit afar. There Armar waits for
Daura. I come to carry his love  she went she called on Armar. Nought
answered but the son of the rock. Armar  my love my love why tormentest
thou me with fear  Hear  son of Arnart hear  it is Daura who calleth
thee. Erath  the traitor fled laughing to the land. She lifted up
her voice  she called for her brother and her father. Arindal  Armin
none to relieve you  Daura.

"Her voice came over the sea. Arindal  my son  descended from
the hill rough in the spoils of the chase. His arrows rattled by his
side his bow was in his hand five dark-gray dogs attended his steps.
He saw fierce Erath on the shore he seized and bound him to an oak.
Thick wind the thongs of the hide around his limbs he loads the winds
with his groans. Arindal ascends the deep in his boat to bring Daura to
land. Armar came in his wrath  and let fly the gray-feathered shaft.
It sung  it sunk in thy heart  O Arindal my son  for Erath the
traitor thou diest. The oar is stopped at once he panted on the rock
and expired. What is thy grief O Daura when round thy feet is poured
thy brother's blood. The boat is broken in twain. Armar plunges into the
sea to rescue his Daura  or die. Sudden a blast from a hill came over
the waves  he sank and he rose no more.

"Alone on the sea-beat rock  my daughter was heard to complain
 frequent and loud were her cries. What could her father do  All night
I stood on the shore I saw her by the faint beam of the moon. All night
I heard her cries. Loud was the wind the rain beat hard on the hill.
Before morning appeared  her voice was weak  it died away like the
evening breeze among the grass of the rocks. Spent with grief  she expired
and left thee  Armin alone. Gone is my strength in war fallen my
pride among women. When the storms aloft arise when the north lifts
the wave on high I sit by the sounding shore and look on the fatal
rock.

"Often by the setting moon I see the ghosts of my children half
viewless they walk in mournful conference together."

A torrent of tears which streamed from Charlotte's eyes and gave relief
to her bursting heart  stopped Werther's recitation. He threw down the
book seized her hand and wept bitterly. Charlotte leaned upon her
hand and buried her face in her handkerchief the agitation of both
was excessive. They felt that their own fate was pictured in the misfortunes
of Ossian's heroes they felt this together and their tears redoubled.
Werther supported his forehead on Charlotte's arm  she trembled  she
wished to be gone  but sorrow and sympathy lay like a leaden weight
upon her soul. She recovered herself shortly and begged Werther  with
broken sobs  to leave her  implored him with the utmost earnestness
to comply with her request. He trembled  his heart was ready to burst
 then  taking up the book again  he recommenced reading  in a
voice broken by sobs. "Why dost thou waken me  O spring  Thy voice
woos me  exclaiming  I refresh thee with heavenly dews but the time
of my decay is approaching the storm is nigh that shall whither my leaves.
Tomorrow the traveller shall come  he shall come who beheld me in
beauty his eye shall seek me in the field around but he shall not
find me."

The whole force of these words fell upon the unfortunate Werther.
Full of despair  he threw himself at Charlotte's feet  seized her
hands  and pressed them to his eyes and to his forehead. An apprehension
of his fatal project now struck her for the first time. Her senses were
bewildered she held his hands  pressed them to her bosom and leaning
toward him with emotions of the tenderest pity her warm cheek touched
his. They lost sight of everything. The world disappeared from their eyes.
He clasped her in his arms strained her to his bosom and covered her
trembling lips with passionate kisses. "Werther " she cried with a faint
voice  turning herself away  "Werther " and  with a feeble hand
she pushed him from her. At length with the firm voice of virtue she
exclaimed  "Werther " He resisted not  but tearing himself from
her arms fell on his knees before her. Charlotte rose  and with
disordered grief in mingled tones of love and resentment she exclaimed
"It is the last time Werther You shall never see me any more" Then
casting one last tender look upon her unfortunate lover  she rushed
into the adjoining room  and locked the door. Werther held out his arms
but did not dare to detain her. He continued on the ground with his
head resting on the sofa for half an hour  till he heard a noise which
brought him to his senses. The servant entered. He then walked up and
down the room  and when he was again left alone  he went to Charlotte's
door and in a low voice  said  "Charlotte  Charlotte but one
word more  one last adieu " She returned no answer. He stopped and
listened and entreated but all was silent. At length he tore himself
from the place crying  "Adieu  Charlotte adieu for ever "

Werther ran to the gate of the town. The guards  who knew him 
let him pass in silence. The night was dark and stormy it rained
and snowed. He reached his own door about eleven. His servant  although
seeing him enter the house without his hat did not venture to say anything
 and as he undressed his master  he found that his clothes were
wet. His hat was afterward found on the point of a rock overhanging the
valley and it is inconceivable how he could have climbed to the summit
on such a dark tempestuous night without losing his life.

He retired to bed  and slept to a late hour. The next morning his
servant  upon being called to bring his coffee found him writing.
He was adding  to Charlotte  what we here annex.

"For the last  last time I open these eyes. Alas they will behold
the sun no more. It is covered by a thick  impenetrable cloud. Yes
Nature put on mourning your child  your friend your lover  draws
near his end This thought  Charlotte is without parallel and yet
it seems like a mysterious dream when I repeat this is my last day
The last Charlotte no word can adequately express this thought. The
last To-day I stand erect in all my strength to-morrow cold and stark
I shall lie extended upon the ground. To die what is death We do but
dream in our discourse upon it. I have seen many human beings die  but
so straitened is our feeble nature we have no clear conception of the
beginning or the end of our existence. At this moment I am my own 
or rather I am thine thine my adored and the next we are parted 
severed  perhaps for ever  No  Charlotte no  How can I how
can you  be annihilated  We exist. What is annihilation  A mere
word an unmeaning sound that fixes no impression on the mind. Dead
Charlotte  laid in the cold earth  in the dark and narrow grave 
I had a friend once who was everything to me in early youth. She died.
I followed her hearse  I stood by her grave when the coffin was lowered
 and when I heard the creaking of the cords as they were loosened and
drawn up when the first shovelful of earth was thrown in and the coffin
returned a hollow sound  which grew fainter and fainter till all was
completely covered over  I threw myself on the ground  my heart was
smitten  grieved shattered rent  but I neither knew what had
happened nor what was to happen to me. Death the grave I understand
not the words. Forgive oh  forgive me  Yesterday ah  that
day should have been the last of my life Thou angel  for the first
time in my existence I felt rapture glow within my inmost soul. She
loves  she loves me  Still burns upon my lips the sacred fire they
received from thine. New torrents of delight overwhelm my soul. Forgive
me oh  forgive

"I knew that I was dear to you I saw it in your first entrancing
look knew it by the first pressure of your hand  but when I was absent
from you when I saw Albert at your side  my doubts and fears returned.

"Do you remember the flowers you sent me when  at that crowded
assembly you could neither speak nor extend your hand to me  Half
the night I was on my knees before those flowers and I regarded them
as the pledges of your love  but those impressions grew fainter  and
were at length effaced.

"Everything passes away  but a whole eternity could not extinguish
the living flame which was yesterday kindled by your lips  and which
now burns within me. She loves me  These arms have encircled her waist
these lips have trembled upon hers. She is mine  Yes Charlotte you
are mine for ever 

"And what do they mean by saying Albert is your husband  He may
be so for this world and in this world it is a sin to love you to
wish to tear you from his embrace. Yes it is a crime and I suffer
the punishment but I have enjoyed the full delight of my sin. I have
inhaled a balm that has revived my soul. From this hour you are mine
yes  Charlotte you are mine  I go before you. I go to my Father
and to your Father. I will pour out my sorrows before him  and he will
give me comfort till you arrive. Then will I fly to meet you. I will claim
you  and remain your eternal embrace in the presence of the Almighty.

"I do not dream  I do not rave. Drawing nearer to the grave my perceptions
become clearer. We shall exist we shall see each other again we shall
behold your mother I shall behold her  and expose to her my inmost
heart. Your mother your image "

About eleven o'clock Werther asked his servant if Albert had returned.
He answered  "Yes " for he had seen him pass on horseback  upon
which Werther sent him the following note  unsealed 

"Be so good as to lend me your pistols for a journey. Adieu."

Charlotte had slept little during the past night. All her apprehensions
were realised in a way that she could neither foresee nor avoid. Her blood
was boiling in her veins and a thousand painful sensations rent her
pure heart. Was it the ardour of Werther's passionate embraces that she
felt within her bosom  Was it anger at his daring  Was it the sad
comparison of her present condition with former days of innocence  tranquillity
and self-confidence  How could she approach her husband  and confess
a scene which she had no reason to conceal and which she yet felt 
nevertheless unwilling to avow They had preserved so long a silence
toward each other and should she be the first to break it by so unexpected
a discovery  She feared that the mere statement of Werther's visit would
trouble him  and his distress would be heightened by her perfect candour.
She wished that he could see her in her true light and judge her without
prejudice  but was she anxious that he should read her inmost soul
On the other hand  could she deceive a being to whom all her thoughts
had ever been exposed as clearly as crystal  and from whom no sentiment
had ever been concealed  These reflections made her anxious and thoughtful.
Her mind still dwelt on Werther  who was now lost to her but whom
she could not bring herself to resign  and for whom she knew nothing
was left but despair if she should be lost to him for ever.

A recollection of that mysterious estrangement which had lately subsisted
between herself and Albert and which she could never thoroughly understand
was now beyond measure painful to her. Even the prudent and the good have
before now hesitated to explain their mutual differences and have dwelt
in silence upon their imaginary grievances until circumstances have
become so entangled  that in that critical juncture  when a calm explanation
would have saved all parties an understanding was impossible. And thus
if domestic confidence had been earlier established between them if
love and kind forbearance had mutually animated and expanded their hearts
it might not perhaps even yet have been too late to save our friend.

But we must not forget one remarkable circumstance. We may observe
from the character of Werther's correspondence that he had never affected
to conceal his anxious desire to quit this world. He had often discussed
the subject with Albert  and between the latter and Charlotte  it
had not unfrequently formed a topic of conversation. Albert was so opposed
to the very idea of such an action that  with a degree of irritation
unusual in him he had more than once given Werther to understand that
he doubted the seriousness of his threats  and not only turned them
into ridicule  but caused Charlotte to share his feelings of incredulity.
Her heart was thus tranquillised when she felt disposed to view the melancholy
subject in a serious point of view though she never communicated to
her husband the apprehensions she sometimes experienced.

Albert upon his return was received by Charlotte with ill-concealed
embarrassment. He was himself out of humour  his business was unfinished
 and he had just discovered that the neighbouring official with whom
he had to deal was an obstinate and narrow-minded personage. Many things
had occurred to irritate him.

He inquired whether anything had happened during his absence and
Charlotte hastily answered that Werther had been there on the evening
previously. He then inquired for his letters and was answered that several
packages had been left in his study. He thereon retired  leaving Charlotte
alone.

The presence of the being she loved and honoured produced a new impression
on her heart. The recollection of his generosity kindness  and affection
had calmed her agitation a secret impulse prompted her to follow him
 she took her work and went to his study as was often her custom.
He was busily employed opening and reading his letters. It seemed as if
the contents of some were disagreeable. She asked some questions he
gave short answers and sat down to write.

Several hours passed in this manner  and Charlotte's feelings became
more and more melancholy. She felt the extreme difficulty of explaining
to her husband under any circumstances the weight that lay upon her
heart  and her depression became every moment greater  in proportion
as she endeavoured to hide her grief and to conceal her tears.

The arrival of Werther's servant occasioned her the greatest embarrassment.
He gave Albert a note  which the latter coldly handed to his wife 
saying at the same time  "Give him the pistols. I wish him a pleasant
journey " he added turning to the servant. These words fell upon Charlotte
like a thunderstroke she rose from her seat half-fainting  and unconscious
of what she did. She walked mechanically toward the wall took down the
pistols with a trembling hand  slowly wiped the dust from them and
would have delayed longer  had not Albert hastened her movements by
an impatient look. She then delivered the fatal weapons to the servant
without being able to utter a word. As soon as he had departed she folded
up her work  and retired at once to her room her heart overcome with
the most fearful forebodings. She anticipated some dreadful calamity.
She was at one moment on the point of going to her husband throwing
herself at his feet  and acquainting him with all that had happened
on the previous evening  that she might acknowledge her fault  and
explain her apprehensions  then she saw that such a step would be useless
as she would certainly be unable to induce Albert to visit Werther. Dinner
was served and a kind friend whom she had persuaded to remain assisted
to sustain the conversation  which was carried on by a sort of compulsion
till the events of the morning were forgotten.

When the servant brought the pistols to Werther  the latter received
them with transports of delight upon hearing that Charlotte had given
them to him with her own hand. He ate some bread drank some wine sent
his servant to dinner  and then sat down to write as follows

"They have been in your hands you wiped the dust from them. I kiss
them a thousand times  you have touched them. Yes  Heaven favours
my design  and you Charlotte provide me with the fatal instruments.
It was my desire to receive my death from your hands and my wish is
gratified. I have made inquiries of my servant. You trembled when you
gave him the pistols but you bade me no adieu. Wretched  wretched
that I am  not one farewell  How could you shut your heart against
me in that hour which makes you mine for ever  Charlotte ages cannot
efface the impression  I feel you cannot hate the man who so passionately
loves you "

After dinner he called his servant desired him to finish the packing
up destroyed many papers and then went out to pay some trifling debts.
He soon returned home  then went out again notwithstanding the rain
walked for some time in the count's garden and afterward proceeded farther
into the country. Toward evening he came back once more  and resumed
his writing.

"Wilhelm I have for the last time beheld the mountains the forests
and the sky. Farewell  And you my dearest mother forgive me  Console
her  Wilhelm. God bless you  I have settled all my affairs Farewell
We shall meet again  and be happier than ever."

"I have requited you badly Albert  but you will forgive me. I
have disturbed the peace of your home. I have sowed distrust between you.
Farewell I will end all this wretchedness. And oh  that my death may
render you happy Albert  Albert  make that angel happy and the
blessing of Heaven be upon you"

He spent the rest of the evening in arranging his papers he tore
and burned a great many  others he sealed up and directed to Wilhelm.
They contained some detached thoughts and maxims some of which I have
perused. At ten o'clock he ordered his fire to be made up  and a bottle
of wine to be brought to him. He then dismissed his servant  whose room
as well as the apartments of the rest of the family  was situated in
another part of the house. The servant lay down without undressing that
he might be the sooner ready for his journey in the morning  his master
having informed him that the post-horses would be at the door before six
o'clock.

"Past eleven o'clock All is silent around me and my soul is calm.
I thank thee O God that thou bestowest strength and courage upon me
in these last moments  I approach the window my dearest of friends
 and through the clouds  which are at this moment driven rapidly along
by the impetuous winds I behold the stars which illumine the eternal
heavens. No  you will not fall celestial bodies  the hand of the
Almighty supports both you and me  I have looked for the last time upon
the constellation of the Greater Bear  it is my favourite star for
when I bade you farewell at night  Charlotte and turned my steps from
your door  it always shone upon me. With what rapture have I at times
beheld it  How often have I implored it with uplifted hands to witness
my felicity  and even still  But what object is there  Charlotte
which fails to summon up your image before me  Do you not surround me
on all sides and have I not  like a child  treasured up every trifle
which you have consecrated by your touch "Your profile which was so
dear to me I return to you and I pray you to preserve it. Thousands
of kisses have I imprinted upon it and a thousand times has it gladdened
my heart on departing from and returning to my home.

"I have implored your father to protect my remains. At the corner
of the churchyard  looking toward the fields there are two lime-trees
 there I wish to lie. Your father can  and doubtless will  do
this much for his friend. Implore it of him. But perhaps pious Christians
will not choose that their bodies chould be buried near the corpse of
a poor unhappy wretch like me. Then let me be laid in some remote valley
or near the highway  where the priest and Levite may bless themselves
as they pass by my tomb  whilst the Samaritan will shed a tear for my
fate.

"See Charlotte I do not shudder to take the cold and fatal cup
from which I shall drink the draught of death. Your hand presents it to
me and I do not tremble. All all is now concluded  the wishes and
the hopes of my existence are fulfilled. With cold unflinching hand
I knock at the brazen portals of Death. Oh that I had enjoyed the bliss
of dying for you how gladly would I have sacrificed myself for you
Charlotte  And could I but restore peace and joy to your bosom with
what resolution  with what joy would I not meet my fate  But it
is the lot of only a chosen few to shed their blood for their friends 
and by their death to augment  a thousand times  the happiness of
those by whom they are beloved.

I wish Charlotte to be buried in the dress I wear at present
it has been rendered sacred by your touch. I have begged this favour of
your father. My spirit soars above my sepulchre. I do not wish my pockets
to be searched. The knot of pink ribbon which you wore on your bosom the
first time I saw you surrounded by the children  Oh  kiss them
a thousand times for me  and tell them the fate of their unhappy friend
I think I see them playing around me. The dear children  How warmly
have I been attached to you  Charlotte Since the first hour I saw
you  how impossible have I found it to leave you. This ribbon must be
buried with me it was a present from you on my birthday. How confused
it all appears Little did I then think that I should journey this road.
But peace  I pray you  peace

"They are loaded the clock strikes twelve. I say amen. Charlotte
Charlotte  farewell  farewell "

A neighbour saw the flash  and heard the report of the pistol 
but  as everything remained quiet  he thought no more of it.

In the morning at six o'clock  the servant went into Werther's
room with a candle. He found his master stretched upon the floor weltering
in his blood and the pistols at his side. He called  he took him in
his arms but received no answer. Life was not yet quite extinct. The
servant ran for a surgeon  and then went to fetch Albert. Charlotte
heard the ringing of the bell  a cold shudder seized her. She wakened
her husband  and they both rose. The servant bathed in tears faltered
forth the dreadful news. Charlotte fell senseless at Albert's feet.

When the surgeon came to the unfortunate Werther he was still lying
on the floor and his pulse beat  but his limbs were cold. The bullet
entering the forehead  over the right eye  had penetrated the skull.
A vein was opened in his right arm the blood came  and he still continued
to breathe.

From the blood which flowed from the chair it could be inferred
that he had committed the rash act sitting at his bureau and that he
afterward fell upon the floor. He was found lying on his back near the
window. He was in full-dress costume.

The house  the neighbourhood and the whole town were immediately
in commotion. Albert arrived. They had laid Werther on the bed his head
was bound up and the paleness of death was upon his face. His limbs
were motionless  but he still breathed at one time strongly  then
weaker his death was momently expected.

He had drunk only one glass of the wine. "Emilia Galotti" lay open
upon his bureau.

I shall say nothing of Albert's distress or of Charlotte's grief.

The old steward hastened to the house immediately upon hearing the
news he embraced his dying friend amid a flood of tears. His eldest
boys soon followed him on foot. In speechless sorrow they threw themselves
on their knees by the bedside  and kissed his hands and face. The eldest
who was his favourite  hung over him till he expired and even then
he was removed by force. At twelve o'clock Werther breathed his last.
The presence of the steward  and the precautions he had adopted  prevented
a disturbance  and that night  at the hour of eleven he caused the
body to be interred in the place which Werther had selected for himself.

The steward and his sons followed the corpse to the grave. Albert
was unable to accompany them. Charlotte's life was despaired of. The body
was carried by labourers. No priest attended.

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