the epic,
and from a proverb to a tragedy, a mere list of his works would occupy
some columns. His first appearance in print was in the annuals and
literary journals. But his Gotz of the Iron Hand, published with his
name in 1773, and his Werther, in the year after, called at once the
attention of his country to the young master-mind. The influence of
these two works on the literature of Germany was electric. Hosts of
imitators sprung up among the fruitful fry of small authors, and
flourished until Goethe himself, by his wit, his irony, and his
eloquence, put an end to the sickly sentimentalism, which he had first
called into action. Gotz and Werther alone survive the creations of
which they formed the nucleii. Such a production as the first, indeed,
at the age of twenty-three, at once placed Goethe at the head of his
country's literature, a place which he preserved undisputed to the hour
of his death.

We have referred to the multitudinous nature of the works of Goethe.
Their variety was proportionate to their number. It has been well
observed that "his mind never seems to have grown old, but to have
presented a new phasis at each stage of his existence." Not satisfied by
taking his rank amongst the first poets of his time, his ardent genius
led him to study all the different branches of literature, physical
science, natural history, and the fine arts. He alike delighted in the
imaginative beauty of poetry, and the abstrusest problems in
science--the romantic and the real--the creative fancy and unwearied
research of a truly great mind. It is, however, a matter of regret that
Goethe was no politician. The character of his mind would not lead the
observer to expect this feature. "A chilling scepticism, as to the
progressive improvement of man, runs through all his writings, and, of
course, prevented all attempts to make human institutions more
productive of human happiness." Nevertheless, it may be urged, that
social amelioration may he effected by other means than by direct
problems of political economy, unfashionable as the doctrine may sound.
Chateaubriand has eloquently written "there is nothing beautiful, sweet,
or grand in life, but in its mysteries." Goethe probably entertained a
kindred sentiment. Thus, the calculator may reckon him "behind the age,"
or his favourite views of human improvement.

Goethe remained single till his fifty-eighth year, when he married his
housekeeper, by whom he had a family. His aff