erary fame.

Already, as has been seen, an exchange of courtesies, founded upon
mutual admiration, had taken place between Lord Byron and the great
poet of Germany, Goethe. Of this intercourse between two such
men,--the former as brief a light in the world's eyes, as the latter
has been long and steadily luminous,--an account has been by the
venerable survivor put on record, which, as a fit preliminary to the
letter I am about to give, I shall here insert in as faithful a
translation as it has been in my power to procure.

"GOETHE AND BYRON.

"The German poet, who, down to the latest period of his long life,
had been always anxious to acknowledge the merits of his literary
predecessors and contemporaries, because he has always considered
this to be the surest means of cultivating his own powers, could not
but have his attention attracted to the great talent of the noble
Lord almost from his earliest appearance, and uninterruptedly watched
the progress of his mind throughout the great works which he
unceasingly produced. It was immediately perceived by him that the
public appreciation of his poetical merits kept pace with the rapid
succession of his writings. The joyful sympathy of others would have
been perfect, had not the poet, by a life marked by
self-dissatisfaction, and the indulgence of strong passions,
disturbed the enjoyment which his infinite genius produced. But his
German admirer was not led astray by this, or prevented from
following with close attention both his works and his life in all
their eccentricity. These astonished him the more, as he found in the
experience of past ages no element for the calculation of so
eccentric an orbit.

"These endeavours of the German did not remain unknown to the
Englishman, of which his poems contain unambiguous proofs; and he
also availed himself of the means afforded by various travellers, to
forward some friendly salutation to his unknown admirer. At length a
manuscript Dedication of _Sardanapaius_, in the most complimentary
terms, was forwarded to him, with an obliging enquiry whether it
might be prefixed to the tragedy. The German, who, at his advanced
age, was conscious of his own powers and of their effects, could only
gratefully and modestly consider this Dedication as the expression of
an inexhaustible intellect, deeply feeling and creating its own
object. He was by no means dissatisfied when, after a long delay,
Sardanapaius appeared without the Dedica