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The Letters of Charlotte—An Antidote to Die Leiden Des Jungen Werthers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
The Letters of Charlotte was first published in London in 1786, seven years after Goethe's The Sorrows of Werter had been translated by W. Render. My acquaintance with this book was made the other day, when I discovered a copy of it, published in New York in 1797, among some volumes which had belonged to my great-grandfather.
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page 26 note 1 Leipziger Bücher-Auktion den 25. Oktober 1886: Verzeichnis der nachgelassenen Bibliothek des Herrn Verlagsbuchhändler Dr. Salomon Hirzel; no. 29—an English edition of The Sorrows of Werter translated by W. Render, 2 vols. Litchfield, 1779. See also Hiersemann's catalogue 42 (p. 12, no. 269) for an edition, translated by W. Render, Litchfield, 1789. Appell: Werther und seine Zeit (Oldenburg, 1882) does not mention any Litchfield edition, but notes the first English translation, as London, 1779 (p. 12 f., also p. 286 f.). This comes through the French (see below, p. 27, n. 5). He does not mention Render's name before the 1801 edition (p. 288).
page 26 note 2 The Letters of Charlotte during her connexion with Werter (Engraving of Charlotte at the Tomb of Werter, frontispiece) Grazia sola di su ne vaglia, inanti Che piu 'l desio d'amore al cor s'invecchi. Newyork: Printed by William A. Davis for E. Duyckinck & Co., T. Allen, T. & J. Swords, T. Greenleaf and J. Tiebout. 1797. 2 vols. (bound together) 240 pp.
page 26 note 3 S. H. Goodnight: German Literature in American Magazines Prior to 1846. Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 188. (Madison, 1907.) P. 23 f.
page 26 note 4 Idem, p. 24.
page 27 note 1 Pub. of English Goethe Society, No. iv, p. 56. (London, 1888.)
page 27 note 2 K. G. Alford, Goethe's Earliest Critics in England. Idem, No. vii, p. 8 f. (London, 1893.)
page 27 note 3 This should be 1779. (See above, note 1, p. 26.)
page 27 note 4 See the abstract of her paper on Werther, Publications of the English Goethe Society, ii, p. 29 (London, 1886.)
page 27 note 5 Appell remarks, p. 12, that the first English translation is nothing like the original. “Dieser ganze englische Werther ist nach einer französischen Übersetzung wiedergegeben.” He quotes from Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, i, 341.
page 27 note 6 Goethe's Earliest Critics in England, p. 13.
page 28 note 1 Alford, Goethe's Earliest Critics in England, p. 14.
page 28 note 2 Werther und seine Zeit (Oldenburg, 1882), pp. 15 f.; 310 f.
page 28 note 3 “The Letters of Charlotte, during her connexion with Werter. London: printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1786. 2 vols. x und 159 S. und 170 S. in 8. Mit einer Vorrede, worin Goethe im religiös-moralischen Ton abgekanzelt wird.
Auch New York, 1797. 2 vols. xii und 240 S. in 12, Mit einem Titelkupfer: Charlotte at the Tomb of Werter.
Ferner: London 1813. iii und 211 S. in 8.“
See the Oldenburg 1882 edition, p. 18 f., pp. 310, 311.
Goodnight (p. 23 f.), speaks of the “Werter fever” in America. He says it was nearly as violent here as elsewhere, but was not of long duration.
page 28 note 4 F. Meyer, Katalog der Goethe Bibliothek (Leipzig, 1910), p. 27, no. 188: “The Letters of Charlotte, during her Connexion with Werter. Grazia sola di su ne vaglia, inanti Che piu 'l desio d'amore al cor s'invecchi//vol. i, ii. London, Printed for T. Cadell in the Strand mdcc, lxxvi. 2 Blatt x 159 u 2 Blatt 170 Seiten 8° Halbfranzband.
Appell 359. Eine der frühesten und wohl die bekannteste englische Wertheriade, deren Verfasser bis auf den heutigen Tag unbekannt ist. Sie wurde zweimal ins Deutsche übertragen, einmal von Schillers Schwager, W. F. H. Reinwald, Hofrath und Bibliothekar in Meinigen.“
In Karl W. Hiersemann's catalogne 42 (Leipzig, December, 1888, p. 13, number 285), and again in catalogue 71, p. 58 (1890–91) under “Englische Sprache und Literatur,” number 1261, the book is listed: ‘Letters of Charlotte, during her acquaintance with Werter,‘ 5th edition w. 2 engravings. London 1815, Hfz.
In Hirzel's collection (see above, p. 26, n. 1), the translation by Reinwald is mentioned (p. 3, no. 78). “Lottens Briefe an eine Freundin während ihrer Bekanntschaft mit Werthern. A. d. Engl. (von W. F. H. Reinwald) 2 Thle. Mit Titelkpfr. Berlin 1788. pp.” Number 79 in this collection is another copy of the same work—“brosch., unbeschnitten.”
Cf. also F. Meyer, Verzeichnis einer Goethe Bibliothek, Leipzig, 1908, p. 42, No. 331: “ Lottens Briefe an eine Freundin, etc. Berlin und Stettin 1788 (Verfasser, W. Fr. H. Reinwald.)” Also, idem, p. 45, No. 360: “Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek 1790 [Ppbd. m. T.] Bd. 59, Stück 2, S. 460f. Lottens Briefe an eine Freundin … [Referat. Unterz.] Dm. [Verfasser: Sell in Stettin.]”
page 29 note 1 Cf. also Eugen Oswald, Goethe in England and America (Bibliography for the Goethe Society), London, 1909, p. 54:
“Anon: The Letters of Charlotte, during her connexion with Werter. L. 1786.
— the same. N. Y. 1797, ii, 12mo.
— the same. L. 1813, 8vo.
— the same. Fifth edition 1815.
Reinwald, W. Fr. H. Lottens Briefe (etc.), Berlin und Stettin 1788, und (wahrscheinlich dasselbe).
Gall, L. Lottens Geständnisse (etc.) … Aus dem englischen nach der 5ten amerikanischen Ausgabe. Trier, 1825. xiv. 241 pp. 16mo.“
page 29 note 2 This translation by Gall, just noted, is evidently the second translation.
On this second German translation, see Meyer, Katalog der Goethe Bibliothek, number 191: “Lottens Geständnisse, in Briefen, an eine vertraute Freundin, vor und nach Werthers Tode geschrieben. Aus dem Englischen, nach der fünften amerikanischen Ausgabe. Mit Lottens höchst ähnlichem Bildnisse, nach einem Familiengemälde, und einem Facsimile ihrer Handschrift, aus einem Erinnerungsbuche. Trier, 1825. Bei F. A. Gall. Titelkupfer xiv. 241 Seiten. 1 Seite Verbesserungen. 1 Blatt. Facsimile. Alter Halblederband. Die Originalumschläge mit eingebunden.
“Appell 360. Eine von Ludwig Gall besorgte Übersetzung des anonymen Romans ”The Letters of Charlotte during her connexion with Werter, 1786, “mit einem reizenden Porträt Lottens in englischer Punktiermanier.”
See also: Dr. Hirzel's collection (p. 3, no. 81). “Lottens Geständnisse in Briefen an e. vertr. Freundin vor u. nach Werthers Tode geschr. A. d. Engl. m. Portr. u. Facs. Trier 1825. 12 pp.” This edition is mentioned likewise in the Antiquarisches Bücherlager (Nr. 713, 1884) von Kirchhof & Wigand in Leipzig (p. 2, no. 32): “Lottens Geständnisse in Briefen, au e. vertraute Freundin vor u. nach Werthers Tode, geschrieben. Aus d. Engl. (v. L. Gall). 16. Trier 1825. Hldrbd. mit Portr. u. Facs. v. Charl. Kestner.”
Cf. also F. Meyer: Verzeichnis, etc. (Leipzig, 1908) p. 151, no. 1560: “Lottens Geständnisse … Trier, 1825. Bei F. A. Gall [Hfz.] [Verfasser: J. J. A. David de St. George. Uebersetzer: L. Gall?]”
Cf. also Appell: Werther und seine Zeit (Oldenburg, 1882), pp. 22 f., 310 f.
page 30 note 1 Meyer: Katalog … (p. 27, nos. 189, 190): “Lettres de Charlotte, pendant sa liaison avec Werther. Traduites de L'Anglais par M. D. D. S. G. Avec un extrait d' Eléonore, autre ouvrage Anglais contenant les premières aventures de Werther; // Grazia sola di su ne vaglia inanti Che piu 'l desio d'amore al cor sinvecchi // A Londres, Et se trouve à Paris chez Royez, libraire, Quai des Augustins à la descente du Pont Neuf mdcclxxxvii. 2 Blatt 64 u. 120 Seiten und 2 Blatt xix und 135 Seiten. 8°. Hfz.
“Appel 359. ”Schönes Exemplar auf Velinpapier dieser sehr seltenen Übersetzung J. J. A. David de St. George's mit zwei Kupfervignetten nach Chodowiecki …“ etc.
“190. Dasselbe. A Londres, et se trouve chez les Libraires des Nouveautés mdcclxxxvii. 2 Blatt xii 79 und 2 Blatt 96 und 48 Seiten,” etc.
Cf. also Hirzel's collection, number 80: “ Lettres de Charlotte pend. sa liaison av. Werther, trad. del'Angl. 2 vols. Av. un extrait d' Eléonore. Av. 2 portr. Londres 1787. 16. Hfz.”
Cf. F. Meyer, Verzeichnis, etc … p. 39, nos. 312, 313. (Lettres de Charlotte, 1787.) Idem, p. 41, no. 330.
F. Baldensperger: Bibliographie Critique de Goethe en France (Paris, 1907), p. 7, no. 47, notes “ Lettres de Charlotte à Caroline, son amie, pendant sa liaison avec Werther, traduites de l'anglais (d'Arkwright) Paris, 1787.” Oswald, Goethe Bibliography, p. 54, also notes the translation by Arkwright.
Professor Baldensperger, in the same bibliography, mentions, no. 48: “Lettres de Charlotte pendant sa liaison avec Werther, traduites de l'anglais par M. D. S-G (David de Saint-George) avec un Extrait d'Eléonore, autre ouvrage anglais, contenant les premières aventures de Werther. Londres et Paris, 1787, 2 vol.” In his Goethe en France (Paris, 1904) he says, (p. 17): “Un peu plus tard on traduit de l'anglais les Lettres de Charlotte pendant sa liaison avec Werther, et la critique regrette que cet ouvrage ne soit pas ‘entrelacé’ avec le roman primitif. L'éditeur prévient le public qu'il en a tiré des exemplaires de même format que celui-ci, pour la commodité des lecteurs qui seraient désireux d'associer ainsi par la reliure les deux ouvrages.”
page 31 note 1 J. W. Appell: Werther und seine Zeit (Oldenburg 1882), p. 21. “ Lottas bref till en van under sin bekantskap med Werther. Öfversättning 2 delen. Stockholm, 1794, in 12.” (Idem, p. 311.)
page 31 note 2 That the book was read in America as early as 1793 is shown by A Catalogue of Books for Sale or Circulation by William P. Blake at the Boston Book Store, no. 59 Cornhill. Boston, Printed for William P. Blake, … mdccxciii, in which occurs, on p. 11, the entry: ‘Charlotte's Letters during her connection with Werter, a novel (1 vol.)‘.
The book is also listed at 75 cents, in a Catalogue of American Editions of books for sale, wholesale and retail, William P. and Lemuel Blake, at the Boston Bookstore, no. 1 Cornhill, now preserved at the Grolier Club of New York, which dates it circa 1800.
See also Watt: Bibliotheca Britannica, Edinburgh, 1824, Arts. Charlotte and Werter for mention of this work.
page 31 note 3 Werter and Charlotte. The Sorrows of Werter, a German story. To which is annexed, The Letters of Charlotte to a female friend during her connexion with Werter. The whole of both works complete in one volume. Boston: for Thomas and Andrews. Sold at their bookstore, no. 45 Newbury Street: by I. Thomas, Worcester: by Thomas, Andrews and Penniman, Albany: and by Thomas, Andrews and Butler, Baltimore. October, 1798.
page 31 note 4 The Sorrows of Werter, translated from the German of Baron Göethe (sic). By William Render, D. D.
You weep,—you love the youth,—revere his name.
And wish from censure to defend his fame
But hark! ‘Be Man,‘ his spirit seems to say,
‘Nor let my weakness tempt thy feet astray.‘
To which is annexed The Letters of Charlotte to a female friend during her connexion with “Werter. Boston, etc., 1807.
I may note that the above quatrain (a poor translation fron Goethe) is also on the title page of the London, 1801, edition. Cf. Appell, Werther und seine Zeit (Oldenburg, 1882), p. 288. Cf. also n. 1 below.
The Italian couplet which appears on the title page of the New York 1797 edition, is absent from that of the Boston 1798 edition.
page 32 note 1 F. H. Wilkens: Early Influence of German Literature in America (Reprinted from Americana Germanica, iii, 2), mentions the 1797 and 1798 editions on pp. 70, 71, and the 1807 edition (“reprinted from the London, 1801, edition”), p. 87.
page 32 note 2 The English story of Eleanora, which was published with the French translations (cf. above, p. 30, n. 1) is obviously based on the hint in the first letter of The Sorrows of Werther: “Poor Leonora! and yet I was not to blame,” etc. Cf. Appell, Werter und seine Zeit (Oldenburg, 1882), p. 17.
page 33 note 1 Cf. above, p. 29, note 2: also the entry under Meyer (Verzeichnis), p. 29, note 2, and under Meyer (Katalog), p. 30, n. 1.
page 33 note 2 Its name does not occur in the index, nor does that of Reinwald.
page 33 note 3 Bielschowsky: Life of Goethe, New York, 1905–08, i, 201.
page 33 note 4 See above, p. 28, and p. 30, n. 1, last paragraph.
page 33 note 5 Wilkens, Early Influence of German Literature in America, p. 37.
page 34 note 1 From the Boston, 1798 and 1807 editions of Werter and the Letters.
page 34 note 2 That is, Werther!.
page 34 note 3 Cf. Appell's “dieser ganze englische Werther ” (p. 27, n. 5, above).
page 34 note 4 Printed, as far as I know, whenever the book was. It is in the New York, 1797, as well as the Boston, 1798 and 1807 editions.
page 35 note 1 See below, p. 36.
page 35 note 2 See the Sorrows of Werter, Letter lxviii. [“ Editor's ” reference.]
page 36 note 1 Qy.: London. (Does this imply the author lives in ‘the provinces’? The' 79 translation came from Litchfield).
page 36 note 2 Cf. Appell (1882), p. 113.
page 36 note 3 Needless to say, not Goethe's famous preface—but the one already quoted from the Boston edition of Werter, which seems to show that this preface had been used before, in the English editions of Werter, and that the author of the Letters was familiar with it.
page 37 note 1 Cf. above, p. 36. ‘The regard Charlotte expresses for the English language,‘ etc.
page 37 note 2 Cf. above, p. 27.
page 37 note 3 Cf. the last paragraph quoted from the Preface, p. 36 above. This is a well-worn trick at best. Cf. e. g. Milgenwater, the parody of Hiawatha, “translated from the Feejee.”
page 37 note 4 German Literature in America, p. 25.
page 37 note 5 Ibid. “There are some books which no parent should put into the hands of her child; which no bookseller should sell. Among these I shall mention the Sorrows of Werter, a book more read than any of its kind by the young, and which has proved the bane of more than one family.” Goodnight notes the appearance of the 1807 edition, but says nothing of the 1798 edition; both of them were published with the “antidote.”
page 38 note 1 It is interesting to note that these references are to letter and number, not to a date. Charlotte's letters are numbered; “as the dates of these letters only specified the week days on which they were written, it was thought needless to notice them,” says the “editor.”
page 38 note 2 Cf. letter xlvi: “Music may soothe, but cannot subdue the passions; it is indeed a medicine of the mind, and perhaps the most efficacious: but though it may administer temporary relief, it seldom removes the disease … It gives me great pleasure to find it mentioned as a sovereign remedy' in diseases more immediately affecting the mind, by the author of the two medical volumes which formed a part of your acceptable and obliging English present, and which I had before read in a German translation.” And the “editor” notes: “‘Medical Observations on Diseases peculiar to Women,‘ by Dr. John Leake, of Cravenstreet; translated into the German, etc.”
page 38 note 3 Cf. Goodnight, German Literature in America, p. 26, and p. 192. This book could naturally not be regarded as an obvious satire, an earlier Sorrows of Skwerter.
page 39 note 1 Cf. letter xiii, where, after quoting from Shakspere a couple of pages before, the “editor” brings Mrs. Barbauld to the support of Charlotte's argument that love “ has as much influence in this age as in the age of romance,” though “we are to distinguish the true from the false.”
“None of the poets,” says the ‘editor's’ note, “have displayed more happy talents on this subject [of love] than Mrs. Barbauld; and I cannot resist gratifying the reader of taste with the following very elegant and truly poetic stanzas by that lady, so immediately applicable to Charlotte's observation.” Then follows an eight-stanza poem, beginning:
“Come here, fond youth, whoe'er thou be
That boasts to love as well as me.“
page 39 note 2 Cf. above, p. 37, n. 1; and n. 1 above. Cf. also the “ editor's” footnote in letter xliii: “ The leading idea of Charlotte's observation is beautifully expressed by Goldsmith:
“Vain, very vain my weary search to find
That bliss which only centres in the mind.
Traveller.“
and again, in letter xlix, “In this, as well as several other passages, the language is too poetical for epistolary composition. It may, however, with justice be remarked, that this is a prevailing fault among young writers, to give into this kind of diction, especially those whose reading, like Charlotte's, has be'en chiefly confined to the poets.”
page 39 note 3 “ … the next time Werter went away, he repeated two lines of our favorite English poet:
'My gloom is scatter'd, sprightly spirits flow,
Tho' wither'd is my vine, and harp unstrung.'“
page 40 note 1 Cf. for example, the famous “Klopstock incident” after the ball—though it does not gain in the retelling. “The morning approached, and we returned home. The scene was truly delightful. We heard the thunder roll afar off; and whilst the sun was rising in the east, a beautiful rainbow gave splendour to the west. ‘Ah!’ I said, ‘what magnificent simplicity is here!—what vivid colours in the skies!—what emulation in the fields!—O, Klopstock! who, besides thee, can paint a scene like this?’—The tear started in my eye, and my heart glowed;—but who can describe angelic luxury?—Werter said, ‘How the splendour of our ball fades away before this!’” (Letter iii.) She may have a true love of nature, but she is too loquacious to avoid a charge of artificiality.
Cf. also letter xxiii. “‘How beautifully,’ I said, ‘do the moonbeams dance on the waters!’—‘But the waters, he replied, are ruffled: so Charlotte's goodness plays upon my heart, and’—‘Why, Werter, I said, why will you let fond imagination destroy your peace? Is this becoming Werter? Werter, whose mind should be calmed by the superiority of its powers? or does philosophy aid passion?’”
page 41 note 1 Letter v.
page 41 note 2 Letter xx.
page 41 note 3 Letter xliii. Cf. Donne, Verses to Sir Henry Wotton: “Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail”—a verse that the “editor” could have quoted here.
Cf. also above, p. 38, n. 2.
page 42 note 1 Letter xvii: Theresa having recovered from a severe illness, comes to Walheim. “ Since her arrival here, she has found a tenth muse in Hygeia, the goddess of health. And the following are her effusions.” I shall not quote all seven of the stanzas, which begin:
“O shades of Walheim! and ye streams that give
Melodious murmurs to the passing gale,
Once more I breathe among your healthy groves,
Once more I drink the music of the vale.
“Hygeia! goddess of the smiling hours!
Daughter of temp'rance and of chaste desire!
To thee once more I lift the cheerful eye,
To thee once more I strike the sylvan lyre.“
Charlotte expects “ these verses to have no small influence with Werter, I assure you.” Perhaps they are the real reason for his departure: with his artistic soul, he probably preferred even diplomacy to Theresa!
page 42 note 2 Letter xix. In a footnote, the “editor” adds: “It is rather extraordinary that this lady is not mentioned in Werter's letters; but Charlotte engrossed all his serious thoughts—all his literary attention.”
page 42 note 3 Letter xxviii.
page 43 note 1 This may be shown, as well as a single quotation can show it, by a passage from letter xv,—where the Miss Howe side, is, perhaps, uppermost.
“… ‘Do not,’ I said, ‘do not subject your imagination to fictitious distress; it is thus you weary your spirits, and not only darken but shorten your days.’ He sighed, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven; ‘Alas!’ he said, ‘when I cannot bear to think of the time, when there will be no Charlotte, what days of misery must I count, when—but thou art here my Charlotte, and I will be composed.’ ‘Werter,’ I replied, ‘it is ungenerous to distress me thus; you know Charlotte's friendship is—’ ‘It is,’ said he, ‘beyond all price: it binds me to the earth, and gives me a foretaste of heaven.’ ‘There was a time,’ I said, ‘when Charlotte was unknown to Werter; recollect those days, and be happy.’ ‘Alas!’ he replied, ‘the recollection of past pleasures, however innocent, makes us melancholy. I never yet felt content so absolute, but that hope flattered me with unknown prospects; and now the paradise, the blooming Eden, is revealed: one moment I feast on celestial delicacies; the landscape shows nothing but perennial brilliancy: it vanishes the next; just as the sun this moment sinks behind the hills, and, like him, leaves a few rays of hope to keep me from despair.’ ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘but you remember the poet:
Sitting (sic) suns shall rise in glory—
And to-morrow, Werter, I shall expect your promised translation of a song of Ossian. It is now time to bid the children good-night.'
“We went, and after kissing the children all round, I played some lively airs on my harpsichord; and, soon after my father came, Werter went away, I thought, in tolerable spirits.
“ You see, my dear Carolina, you see there is a wild enthusiam in the friendship and sentiments of Werter, that must subject him to perpetual extremes of happiness or misery. That spark of divinity which animates his frame, resembles one of those glaring meteors that sometimes cross the hemisphere, at once exciting dread and pleasure. I thank heaven, the soul of Albert more resembles a fixed star.”
page 44 note 1 “I shall say nothing of Albert's distress or of Charlotte's grief … The steward and his sons followed the corpse to the grave. Albert was unable to accompany them. Charlotte's life was despaired of.” End of Goethe's Sorrows of Werther.
page 44 note 2 Letter 1.
page 44 note 3 Letter lvii. Cf. also, letter lx: “Chance, no, it is not chance; for what, Father of lights, what has chance to do in a world governed by thy Providence?”
page 44 note 4 Letter lxiii, and last. In letter xiv, she had drawn Werter's character: “It seldom happens that the language of panegyric is just; yet so excellent is your judgment, that I cannot withhold my assent to the character you have drawn of Werter; but give me leave to tell you, the picture is not finished, and that another dash of the pencil, a dark shade, is wanting to perfect the likeness.
“… Notwithstanding his philosophic reasonings, and the apparent complaisancy of his disposition, he is the very slave of a temper naturally impetuous, and, if I may so express it, rarefied by irritability of nerves, and extreme delicacy, or, at least, peculiarity of taste. …
“I cannot call Werter a synic; but his infirmity of temper is augmented by his delicacy of taste, and the most trifling occurrences make lasting impressions on his mind. He has little command over himself; and whilst his natural temper thus overpowers him, how will he stem the torrent of passion? Like the exuberance of his imagination, it will know no bounds: as the one is the source of his most exalted pleasures, so the other, I fear, will prove the cause of his severest afflictions.”
page 45 note 1 Cf. letter xiv. Cf. also the quatrain quoted above, p. 31, n. 4.