Goethe on Manfred [1817] 1820

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) wrote a review of Manfred in 1817, which was not published until 1820. It was translated for Byron, at his eager request, by R. B. Hoppner, the British Consul at Venice. The following extract from his version is reprinted from LJ, V, 506. Byron was delighted by the favourable opinon of the ‘Greatest man of Germany—perhaps of Europe’ (LJ, V, 36), although he was amused by the ‘Florentine husband-killing story’ (op. cit., p. 113) which illustrates the wildly inaccurate accounts of Byron current in Europe before the publication of Moore's Life. For a detailed account of Goethe's views on Byron, and Byron's on Goethe, see E. M. Butler, Byron and Goethe,1956.