it is full of curious facts relative to Goëthe and the German writers with whom he has associated and corresponded, and that, in this respect, it is highly interesting, inasmuch as it shews how he has been influenced by the authors and the literature of his country, as well as by the events and opinions of his time; and, on the other hand, how his own powerful talents have reacted on the literature of Germany, and on its writers, of whom he may now be regarded as the Prince and Patriarch.
As many of the distinguished individuals alluded to in the course of these Memoirs are not generally known in this country, a variety of explanatory Biographical Notices are given as an appendix to the second Volume. In order that they may be readily consulted, they are arranged alphabetically, and it is presumed that these illustrations will not prove unacceptable to the English reader.