30 MARCH 1867, Page 23

Dr. Goethe's Courts*. A Tale of Domestic Life. From the

German. (Routledgo.)—The subject of this story was important enough for the world, as but for it Goethe could hardly have been born. But the book was scavely worth writing, and still less worth translating. It is one of those offerings on the shrine of the great poet of which the Germans are so lavish, and which so seldom repay the trouble of reading them. The translation seems fair, but there is one solitary point in the dialogue, and that is spoiled by an exchange of pronouns. When a father talks of "the case about which I am going to speak further with you," hia daughter would not be likely to ask, "Who is this Mr. Case ?" But the mistako would be quite natural in German.