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    from tlie nature of art , and of mechanical processes , but still are not so easy to decipher as the laws of living nature . In works of art there is much that is traditional ; the works of nature are ever a freshly ^ utteted word of God . '—vol . ii . p . 263 .

    It is the contrast drawn between a work of nature and a work of art that is new . The mere consideration of a work of nature , as the word of God , lies on the surface of all speculation ; though , in consequence of the nearly exclusive preference given to the revealed word , this has been of late generally overlooked . We again add an anecdote to show how much this was in Goethe ' s mind a fixed idea .

    c I amused Goethe by an account of the Ultra-Catholic writings of De la Mennais , who demonstrates the right of the Pope to absolve subjects from their allegiance to kings . This was too strong even for the restored Bourbons ; and he was sentenced to a nominal punishment for a libel , in maintaining that the assertion of the privileges of the Gallic

    Church is heretical . In his proof he began , — " All truth comes from God ; and God speaks only by his written word , and through the Church . " " There ' s the hacken " [ hook ] , said Goethe , interrupting me . " No doubt all truth comes from God ; but then he speaks through this flower ( which he had been fondling for some time ) , and through this butterfly ( which had just alighted on the table ) ; and this is a language which the knaves [ spitzbuben ] do not understand . " '

    We must pass over the additional articles which form the text of these volumes . They consist of a memoir from the French of M . Dumont , a tutor to Goethe ' s grandchildren ; two funeral orations in honour of the late Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Louisa , whose names ought never to be separated from that of their friend ; an article on Goethe ' s Works , from the well-known Dictionary of Conversation ; and extracts from the posthumous number of Kunst und Alterthum . To all these Mrs . Austin has added a multitude of notes . Among these , we are especially grateful for the translations ot

    Goethe ' s exquisite memoir on Wieland , which we have already spoken of as a masonic oration ; and Goethe ' s review of Foss ' s Poems—specimens of generous skill quite unparalleled in critical literature . We say generous skill , because , at the same time that Goethe praises to the very utmost all that was really valuable in these writers , it is still to be seen , though faintly as through a veil , and at a distance , how far they were , in his judgment , removed from supreme or first-rate excellence . Further , we have a valuable selection of extracts from the

    Jaliresund Tages-heite . tor all which , and many others , being ' more or less useful contributions to our fragmentary knowledge , all the Btudents of German literature must be thankful . There is another series of notes to which we cannot extend our approbation . These are not critical , still less judicious , but judicial

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    186 Characteristics of Goelh e .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1834, page 186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2631/page/26/