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"SORROWS OF WERTHER. "Werther had a love for Charlotte

Such as words could never utter; Would you know how first he met her? She was cutting bread and butter.

"Charlotte was a married lady,

an altogether different class from the per- | hours so much later, in fashionable London sons he may have sometimes met at "Caves society; for it was easy to see that his tastes of Harmony," or the like, in his more famil-in this respect were simple enough, and that iar home life in London, sitting up till four his personal wants were easily satisfied. We o'clock in the morning and singing his "Rev- had wine, commonly sherry, of which he moderend Dr. Luther." But among his casual erately partook, to which was not unfreacquaintances were two or three whose so- quently added a modest half bottle of Chamciety he occasionally enjoyed, and who, I pagne. As our talk at table turned a good think, were as likely to have become de- deal on literary subjects, he inquired of me, picted in those future novels which, alas! one day, if I had ever seen some verses of his we long for in vain, as any persons with upon Charlotte and Werther; to which I whom he became acquainted in English life. was ashamed to make a negative reply, but They were persons with whom he might begged him to repeat them; which he did, have been on easy terms at the "Cave" with unmoved gravity of tone and feature, aforesaid, had there been any such place as if it were some especially solemn reciin Boston (though there are lower dens tation, though relieved a little by the sly enough), where gentlemen of slightly Bohe- twinkle of his eyes through his spectacles. mian tastes and manners might resort for As I wish to say a word, in this connection, occasional relaxation, and of which we may about a striking act of courtesy and kindinfer from some of his descriptions he had ness on his part, I will copy the verses, in his youth learned something. He ap- which may now also be found in the volpeared to like their society once in a while ume of his poems already mentioned, with better than that of persons in Boston of some slight changes, not, I think, for the more formal ways and habits. One of these better: acquaintances of his possessed a good deal of native shrewdness, and was fully alive to public events and the gossip of the day; the other, with no small share of Yankee wit and dry humor, had a capital storytelling faculty, which must have afforded Thackeray a fund of amusement. I am sure he made studies of them both. They got up small supper parties for him, and sometimes they did me the honor to invite me to form one of a small party with him at Porter's to partake of game, for which that place of entertainment in the neighborhood of Boston was then famous. Other engagements always prevented my attendance upon symposia which would doubtless have proved highly eventful for hilarity, and I expressed my honest liking for these odd would have exhibited our genial friend in stanzas, and ventured to ask for a copy. He some of his merriest moods, and perhaps said nothing, but at tea-time-that is, about have procured me the privilege, which I half past six or seven o'clock-he came down should have prized, of hearing "Dr. Lu- with a sheet of paper in his hand, and a litther" itself. At the time of his return to tle bustle, as though he had accomplished the United States, events were impending something, and handed me the verses, copied in our country, though still apparently dis-out in his wonderfully fine handwriting, iltant, which filled the minds of thoughtful lustrated at the top by one of his incommen with a sense of danger to our institutions, and were the subject of more or less conversation between us. He could not be expected to possess any considerable information upon the political complications of the country; but I am sure that he wished well to the republic and to its fortunes, though it was evident that he had not the slightest sympathy with the sentimental causes which finally led to such a tremendous revolution in our national affairs.

Our primitive dinner hour at the Tremont House was half past two o'clock. On these occasions we generally had the company of an excellent lady, already referred to; and I believe he really preferred these not very pretentious repasts to the formal feasts, at

And a moral man was Werther,
And, for all the wealth of Indies,
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
"So he sighed and pined and ogled,

And his passion boiled and bubbled,
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And by them no more was troubled.
"Charlotte, having seen his body

Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a well-conducted person,

Went on cutting bread and butter."

I looked upon it parable ink drawings. with the most unaffected admiration. I was astonished at the rapidity as well as the excellence of the execution, and certainly I have no article of curiosity in my possession which I value so highly. There is nothing in the recently published "Thackerayana," or even in the far better exhibition of his artistic skill from the later collection of his daughter, to be compared with it. Charlotte is standing at the table, "cutting bread and butter"-an operation eagerly watched by several youngsters who surround it, whose expectant interest is admirably depicted by an effective mark of the pen or a dot; while Werther, dressed in the fashion of the day, obsequiously enters the

MISS TRUEPENNY'S F

room, cocked hat in hand, manifesting his profound interest in the domestic scene before him, which, strangely enough, led to such tragic results. Charlotte, however, looks as serenely composed as she subsequently did when Werther was "borne before her on a shutter." It is the same which is copied at the head of this paper.

Like all the rest of the world, I was deeply shocked and grieved at the intelligence, so unexpected, of Thackeray's sudden death, and sincerely mourned that such a great light should have gone out of the world. For I think there has been no one else, in his line of writing, who could penetrate so keenly into the sources of human action; who could so faithfully portray the errors and eccentricities of his fellow-mortals; who showed such a high sense of the virtues which sometimes adorn human nature; who more humanely held up virtue as an example to be followed; who made persistent folly more ridiculous, or more relentlessly assigned to vice its fitting retribution.

Harper's Magazine for 1877.

The Fifty-fourth Volume of HARPER'S MAGAZINE, begun with the December Number, will be distinguished by those features which have made this periodical the most popular of the monthlies, and will in several important respects surpass its predecessors. The Publishers will spare no expense necessary to attain the greatest possible excellence in the pictorial embellishment and in the literary contents of the Magazine.

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66

series of papers on Contemporary Art in Europe," begun in the present Number;

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*The

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***

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VOLUME 54 HARPER'S MAGAZINE. JAN., 1877

NUMBER 320.

WITH the December Number was begun the Fifty-fourth Volume of HARPER's Magazine.

For

W the artistic excellence, as for the number of its illustrations, HARPER'S MAGAZINE is unsurpassed.

Each Number contains Serial and short Stories from the best writers in Europe and America, contributed expressly for HARPER'S MAGAZINE; richly illustrated articles of Travel; carefully prepared papers of a Historical and Scientific character, a large number of which are profusely illustrated; timely articles upon important Current Topics; lighter papers upon an infinite variety of subjects; Poems from our most brilliant and popular writers; and five Editorial departments. in the December Number was begun a new Serial Story, entitled "Erema," by R. D. BLACKMORE, Author of "Lorna Doone," "Alice Lorraine,' "The Maid of Sker," etc. "The Woman-Hater," the most brilliant society novel of the season, will be continued through the volume. Published Monthly, with profuse Illustrations.

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VOLUME

XXI.

H

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HARPER'S WEEKLY.

For 1877.

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VOLUME
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