Page:Works of Thomas Carlyle - Volume 22 (US).djvu/143

 not escape his doom; for it is too true that he respects not the majesty of Use and Wont, and has said and thought much which is by no means usually said and thought. In England, however, such principles of literary jurisprudence are rarer. To many, I may hope, even this dim glimpse of a spirit like Richter's will be gratifying; and if it can hardly be expected that their first judgment of him will be favourable, curiosity may be awakened, and a second and a truer judgment, on ampler grounds and maturer reflection, may follow. His larger works must ultimately become known to us; they deserve it better than thousands which have had that honour.

Of the two Works here offered to the reader little special explanation is required. Schmelzle's Journey I have not found noticed by any of his German critics; and must give it on my own responsibility, as one of the most finished, as it is at least one of the simplest, among his smaller humorous performances. The Life of Fixlein no stepchild in its own country, seems nevertheless a much more immature, as it is a much earlier composition. I select it not without reluctance; rather from necessity than preference. Its faults, I am too sure, will strike us much sooner than its beauties; and even by the friendliest and most patient critic it must be admitted that among the latter, many of our Author's highest qualities are by no means exhibited in full concentration, nay, that some of them are wanting altogether, or at best, indicated rather than evinced. Let the reader accept it with such allowances; not as Richter's best novel, which it is far from being, but simply as his shortest complete one; not as a full impress of him, but as a faint outline, intended rather to excite curiosity than to satisfy it. On the whole, Richter's is a mind peculiarly difficult to represent by specimen; for its elements are complex and various, and it is not more by quality than by quantity that it impresses us.

Both Works I have endeavoured to present in their full dimensions, with all their appurtenances, strange as some of