And on his tomb may be inscribed, as is on that

of Raleigh

'Reader! should you reflect on his errors,

Remember his many virtues,

And that he was a mortal!" "

The high admiration in which Lord Byron was held in Germany may be appreciated by the following communication, and tribute to his memory, which I have just received from the illustrious and venerable Goethe, who, at the advanced age of seventy-five, retains all the warmth of his feelings, and fire of his immortal genius.

Weimar, 16th July, 1824.

"It is thought desirable that I should give some details relative to the intercourse that existed between Lord Noel Byron, alas! now no more and myself: a few words will suffice for this object.

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"Up to the time of my present advanced age, I have habituated myself to weigh with care and impartiality the merit of illustrious persons of my own time generally, as well as of my immediate contemporaries, from the consideration that it would prove a sure means of advancing myself in knowledge. I might well fix my attention on Lord Byron; and, having watched the dawn of his early and great talents, I could hardly fail to follow their progress through his important and uninterrupted career.

"It was easy to observe that the estimate of his poetical talent by the public increased progressively with the advancing perfection of his works, which so rapidly succeeded each other. The interest which they excited had been productive of more unmingled delight to his friends, if self-dissatisfaction and the restlessness of his passions had not in some measure counteracted the power of a most compre

hensive and sublime imagination, and thrown a blight over an existence which the nobleness of his nature gave him a more than common capacity for enjoying.

"Not permitting myself to come to a hasty and erroneous conclusion respecting him, I continued to trace, with undiminished attention, a life and a poetical activity alike rare and irreconcileable, which interested me the more forcibly, inasmuch as I could discover no parallel in past ages with which to compare them, and found myself utterly destitute of the elements necessary for calculating the movement of an orb so eccentric in its course.

"In the mean while, neither myself nor my occupations remained unknown or unnoticed by the English poet, who not only furnished unequivocal proofs of an acquaintance with my

works, but conveyed to me, through the medium of travellers, more than one friendly salutation.

"Thus I was agreeably surprised by indirectly receiving the original sheet of a dedication of the tragedy of ' Sardanapalus,' conceived in terms the most honourable to me, and accompanied by a request that it might be printed at the head of the work.

"Well knowing myself and my labours, in my old age, I could not but reflect with gratitude and diffidence on the expressions contained in this dedication, nor interpret them but as the generous tribute of a superior genius, no less original in the choice than inexhaustible in the materials of his subjects. I felt no disappointment when, after many delays, Sardanapalus' appeared without the preface: for I already thought myself fortunate in possessing

6

a fac-simile in autograph, and attached to it

no ordinary value.

"It appeared, however, that the Noble Lord had not renounced his project of shewing his contemporary and companion in letters a striking testimony of his friendly intentions, of which the tragedy of Werner' contains precious evidence.

6

"It might naturally be expected that the aged German poet, after receiving a kindness unhoped for, from so celebrated a person, (proof of a disposition thoroughly generous, and the more to be prized from its rarity in the world,) should also prepare, on his part, to express most clearly and forcibly a sense of the gratitude and esteem with which he was affected.

"But this task was great, and every day seemed to make it more difficult, for what