Prince adds constantly to the great number of his benefactions.

One may without vainglory recall the good that for us and for others has
been accomplished in our limited circle, the least significant aspects
of which cannot but excite the observer's admiration, which would be
greatly increased if a well informed writer should take the trouble to
describe its origin and growth.

[Illustration: PRINCESS AMALIA]

The intention of the benefactors was never selfish but was always
directed toward the good to be accomplished. The higher culture of this
land all the more deserves an annalist, since much formerly existed and
flourished of which all visible traces have now disappeared. May Your
Highness, in the consciousness of having been the prime mover and
constant participant in these enterprizes, attain that peculiar domestic
happiness, a hale and hearty old age, and long continue to enjoy the
brilliant period now opening for our circle, in which we hope that all
that has been accomplished will be further increased, unified and
strengthened, and thus handed down to posterity.

Cherishing the flattering hope that I shall continue to rejoice in that
inestimable favor with which Your Highnesses have deigned to adorn my
life, I am, with respectful devotion,

Your Most Serene Highness' obedient servant,

J. W. VON GOETHE.

PREFACE

The friends of art who have for several years been associated at Weimar
are surely privileged to speak of their relation to the general public,
because (and this is the final test) they have always expressed similar
convictions and have been guided by well tried principles. Not that,
limited to certain modes of apprehending matters, they have obstinately
maintained a single point of view. On the contrary, they willingly
confess that they have learned much from diverse expression of opinion,
all the more so as they now learn with pleasure that their efforts in
behalf of culture are constantly becoming more closely allied to the
general progress of higher education in Germany.

With much gratification they call attention to the _Propyloea_, to the
critical and descriptive programs of no less than six exhibitions of
painting and statuary, to the many expressions of opinion in the
_Jenaisische Litteraturzeitung, and to the published translation of the
Life of Benvenuto Cellini.

Although these writings have not been printed and bound in the same
volumes and do not form parts of a single work,