The Sorrows of Young Werther
none to relieve you, Daura.
"Her voice came over the sea. Arindal, my son, descended from the hill,
rough in the spoils of the chase. His arrows rattled by his side; his
bow was in his hand, five dark-gray dogs attended his steps. He saw
fierce Erath on the shore; he seized and bound him to an oak. Thick wind
the thongs of the hide around his limbs; he loads the winds with his
groans. Arindal ascends the deep in his boat to bring Daura to land.
Armar came in his wrath, and let fly the gray-feathered shaft. It sung,
it sunk in thy heart, O Arindal, my son! for Erath the traitor thou
diest. The oar is stopped at once: he panted on the rock, and expired.
What is thy grief, O Daura, when round thy feet is poured thy brother's
blood. The boat is broken in twain. Armar plunges into the sea to rescue
his Daura, or die. Sudden a blast from a hill came over the waves; he
sank, and he rose no more.
"Alone, on the sea-beat rock, my daughter was heard to complain;
frequent and loud were her cries. What could her father do? All night I
stood on the shore: I saw her by the faint beam of the moon. All night
I heard her cries. Loud was the wind; the rain beat hard on the hill.
Before morning appeared, her voice was weak; it died away like the
evening breeze among the grass of the rocks. Spent with grief, she
expired, and left thee, Armin, alone. Gone is my strength in war, fallen
my pride among women. When the storms aloft arise, when the north lifts
the wave on high, I sit by the sounding shore, and look on the fatal
rock.
"Often by the setting moon I see the ghosts of my children; half
viewless they walk in mournful conference together."
A torrent of tears which streamed from Charlotte's eyes and gave relief
to her bursting heart, stopped Werther's recitation. He threw down the
book, seized her hand, and wept bitterly. Charlotte leaned upon her
hand, and buried her face in her handkerchief: the agitation of both was
excessive. They felt that their own fate was pictured in the misfortunes
of Ossian's heroes, they felt this together, and their tears redoubled.
Werther supported his forehead on Charlotte's arm: she trembled, she
wished to be gone; but sorrow and sympathy lay like a leaden weight upon
her soul. She recovered herself shortly, and begged Werther, with broken
sobs, to leave her, implored him with the utmost earnestness to comply
with her request. He trembled; his heart was ready to burst: then,
taking up the book again, he recommenced reading, in a voice broken by
sobs.
"Why dost thou waken me, O spring? Thy voice woos me, exclaiming,
I refresh thee with heavenly dews; but the time of my decay is
approaching, the storm is nigh that shall whither my leaves. Tomorrow
the traveller shall come, he shall come, who beheld me in beauty: his
eye shall seek me in the field around, but he shall not find me."
The whole force of these words fell upon the unfortunate Werther. Full
of despair, he threw himself at Charlotte's feet, seized her hands, and
pressed them to his eyes and to his forehead. An apprehension of
his fatal project now struck her for the first time. Her senses were
bewildered: she held his hands, pressed them to her bosom; and, leaning
toward him with emotions of the tenderest pity, her warm cheek touched
his. They lost sight of everything. The world disappeared from their
eyes. He clasped her in his arms, strained her to his bosom, and covered
her trembling lips with passionate kisses. "Werther!" she cried with a
faint voice, turning herself away; "Werther!" and, with a feeble hand,
she pushed him from her. At length, with the firm voice of virtue, she
exclaimed, "Werther!" He resisted not, but, tearing himself from her
arms, fell on his knees before her. Charlotte rose, and, with disordered
grief, in mingled tones of love and resentment, she exclaimed, "It is
the last time, Werther! You shall never see me any more!" Then, casting
one last, tender look upon her unfortunate lover, she rushed into the
adjoining room, and locked the door. Werther held out his arms, but
did not dare to detain her. He continued on the ground, with his head
resting on the sofa, for half an hour, till he heard a noise which
brought him to his senses. The servant entered. He then walked up and
down the room; and, when he was again left alone, he went to Charlotte's
door, and, in a low voice, said, "Charlotte, Charlotte! but one word
more, one last adieu!" She returned no answer. He stopped, and listened
and entreated; but all was silent. At length he tore himself from the
place, crying, "Adieu, Charlotte, adieu for ever!"
Werther ran to the gate of the town. The guards, who knew him, let him
pass in silence. The night was dark and stormy,—it rained and snowed.
He reached his own door about eleven. His servant, although seeing him
enter the house without his hat, did not venture to say anything; and;
as he undressed his master, he found that his clothes were wet. His hat
was afterward found on the point of a rock overhanging the valley; and
it is inconceivable how he could have climbed to the summit on such a
dark, tempestuous night without losing his life.
He retired to bed, and slept to a late hour. The next morning his
servant, upon being called to bring his coffee, found him writing. He
was adding, to Charlotte, what we here annex.
"For the last, last time I open these eyes. Alas! they will behold the
sun no more. It is covered by a thick, impenetrable cloud. Yes, Nature!
put on mourning: your child, your friend, your lover, draws near his
end! This thought, Charlotte, is without parallel; and yet it seems
like a mysterious dream when I repeat—this is my last day! The last!
Charlotte, no word can adequately express this thought. The last! To-day
I stand erect in all my strength to-morrow, cold and stark, I shall lie
extended upon the ground. To die! what is death? We do but dream in our
discourse upon it. I have seen many human beings die; but, so straitened
is our feeble nature, we have no clear conception of the beginning or
the end of our existence. At this moment I am my own—or rather I am
thine, thine, my adored! and the next we are parted, severed—perhaps
for ever! No, Charlotte, no! How can I, how can you, be annihilated? We
exist. What is annihilation? A mere word, an unmeaning sound that fixes
no impression on the mind. Dead, Charlotte! laid in the cold earth, in
the dark and narrow grave! I had a friend once who was everything to me
in early youth. She died. I followed her hearse; I stood by her grave
when the coffin was lowered; and when I heard the creaking of the cords
as they were loosened and drawn up, when the first shovelful of earth
was thrown in, and the coffin returned a hollow sound, which grew
fainter and fainter till all was completely covered over, I threw myself
on the ground; my heart was smitten, grieved, shattered, rent—but I
neither knew what had happened, nor what was to happen to me. Death!
the grave! I understand not the words.—Forgive, oh, forgive me!
Yesterday—ah, that day should have been the last of my life! Thou
angel! for the first time in my existence, I felt rapture glow within
my inmost soul. She loves, she loves me! Still burns upon my lips the
sacred fire they received from thine. New torrents of delight overwhelm
my soul. Forgive me, oh, forgive!
"I knew that I was dear to you; I saw it in your first entrancing look,
knew it by the first pressure of your hand; but when I was absent from
you, when I saw Albert at your side, my doubts and fears returned.
"Do you remember the flowers you sent me, when, at that crowded
assembly, you could neither speak nor extend your hand to me? Half the
night I was on my knees before those flowers, and I regarded them as the
pledges of your love; but those impressions grew fainter, and were at
length effaced.
"Everything passes away; but a whole eternity could not extinguish the
living flame which was yesterday kindled by your lips, and which now
burns within me. She loves me! These arms have encircled her waist,
these lips have trembled upon hers. She is mine! Yes, Charlotte, you are
mine for ever!
"And what do they mean by saying Albert is your husband? He may be so
for this world; and in this world it is a sin to love you, to wish
to tear you from his embrace. Yes, it is a crime; and I suffer the
punishment, but I have enjoyed the full delight of my sin. I have
inhaled a balm that has revived my soul. From this hour you are mine;
yes, Charlotte, you are mine! I go before you. I go to my Father and to
your Father. I will pour out my sorrows before him, and he will give me
comfort till you arrive. Then will I fly to meet you. I will claim you,
and remain your eternal embrace, in the presence of the Almighty.
"I do not dream, I do not rave. Drawing nearer to the grave my
perceptions become clearer. We shall exist; we shall see each other
again; we shall behold your mother; I shall behold her, and expose to
her my inmost heart. Your mother—your image!"
About eleven o'clock Werther asked his servant if Albert had returned.
He answered, "Yes;" for he had seen him pass on horseback: upon which
Werther sent him the following note, unsealed:
"Be so good as to lend me your pistols for a journey. Adieu."
Charlotte had slept little during the past night. All her apprehensions
were realised in a way that she could neither foresee nor avoid. Her
blood was boiling in her veins, and a thousand painful sensations rent
her pure heart. Was it the ardour of Werther's passionate embraces that
she felt within her bosom? Was it anger at his daring? Was it the sad
comparison of her present condition with former days of innocence,
tranquillity, and self-confidence? How could she approach her husband,
and confess a scene which she had no reason to conceal, and which she
yet felt, nevertheless, unwilling to avow? They had preserved so long a
silence toward each other and should she be the first to break it by so
unexpected a discovery? She feared that the mere statement of Werther's
visit would trouble him, and his distress would be heightened by her
perfect candour. She wished that he could see her in her true light, and
judge her without prejudice; but was she anxious that he should read her
inmost soul? On the other hand, could she deceive a being to whom all
her thoughts had ever been exposed as clearly as crystal, and from whom
no sentiment had ever been concealed? These reflections made her anxious
and thoughtful. Her mind still dwelt on Werther, who was now lost to
her, but whom she could not bring herself to resign, and for whom she
knew nothing was left but despair if she should be lost to him for ever.
A recollection of that mysterious estrangement which had lately
subsisted between herself and Albert, and which she could never
thoroughly understand, was now beyond measure painful to her. Even the
prudent and the good have before now hesitated to explain their mutual
differences, and have dwelt in silence upon their imaginary grievances,
until circumstances have become so entangled, that in that critical
juncture, when a calm explanation would have saved all parties, an
understanding was impossible. And thus if domestic confidence had been
earlier established between them, if love and kind forbearance had
mutually animated and expanded their hearts, it might not, perhaps, even
yet have been too late to save our friend.
But we must not forget one remarkable circumstance. We may observe from
the character of Werther's correspondence, that he had never affected
to conceal his anxious desire to quit this world. He had often discussed
the subject with Albert; and, between the latter and Charlotte, it had
not unfrequently formed a topic of conversation. Albert was so opposed