The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther

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Title: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Release Date: February, 2001 [EBook #2527] [This file was last updated on April 13,
2003]
Edition: 11
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SORROWS OF YOUNG
WERTHER ***

Scanning and first edit by Michael Potter OCR with Caere OmniPage Limited Edition
2nd editing by Irene Potter [email protected]

The Sorrows of Young Werther by J.W. von Goethe Translated by R.D. Boylan Edited
by Nathen Haskell Dole
The Sorrows of Young Werther

PREFACE

I have carefully collected whatever I have been able to learn of the story of poor Werther,
and here present it to you, knowing that you will thank me for it. To his spirit and
character you cannot refuse your admiration and love: to his fate you will not deny your
tears.
And thou, good soul, who sufferest the same distress as he endured once, draw comfort
from his sorrows; and let this little book be thy friend, if, owing to fortune or through
thine own fault, thou canst not find a dearer companion.
BOOK I
MAY 4.
How happy I am that I am gone! My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man! To
leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel
happy! I know you will forgive me. Have not other attachments been specially appointed
by fate to torment a head like mine? Poor Leonora! and yet I was not to blame. Was it my
fault, that, whilst the peculiar charms of her sister afforded me an agreeable entertainment,
a passion for me was engendered in her feeble heart? And yet am I wholly blameless?
Did I not encourage her emotions? Did I not feel charmed at those truly genuine
expressions of nature, which, though but little mirthful in reality, so often amused us?
Did I not -- but oh! what is man, that he dares so to accuse himself? My dear friend I
promise you I will improve; I will no longer, as has ever been my habit, continue to
ruminate on every petty vexation which fortune may dispense; I will enjoy the present,
and the past shall be for me the past. No doubt you are right, my best of friends, there
would be far less suffering amongst mankind, if men -- and God knows why they are so
fashioned -- did not employ their imaginations so assiduously in recalling the memory of
past sorrow, instead of bearing their present lot with equanimity. Be kind enough to
inform my mother that I shall attend to her business to the best of my ability, and shall
give her the earliest information about it. I have seen my aunt, and find that she is very
far from being the disagreeable person our friends allege her to be. She is a lively,
cheerful woman, with the best of hearts. I explained to her my mother's wrongs with

regard to that part of her portion which has been withheld from her. She told me the
motives and reasons of her own conduct, and the terms on which she is willing to give up
the whole, and to do more than we have asked. In short, I cannot write further upon this
subject at present; only assure my mother that all will go on well. And I have again
observed, my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings and neglect
occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the
two latter are of less frequent occurrence.
In other respects I am very well off here. Solitude in this terrestrial paradise is a genial
balm to my mind, and