The last group of poems to be mentioned refers to Goethe's novel, _Die Leiden des jungen Werthers_. This was evidently popular in America, though by no means causing the widespread delirium and sentimentality that had been rife in Germany. During our period the book was published here six times in translation, and an English imitation, _The Letters of Charlotte, during her Connexion with Werter_, had three American reprints.[31] These, together with translations imported from England, must have made Werter well known in this country. It is not surprising, therefore, to find in the magazines eight poems on the subject: _Narcissa_, containing a reference to Werter in the third stanza (1787), _Charlotte's Soliloquy--to the Manes of Werter_ (1787), _Death of Werter_ (1787), _Werter's Epitaph_ (1787, 1791, 1805), _On Reading the Sorrows of Werter_ (1790), _Letter LXI of the Sorrows of Werter, Versified_ (1791), _Werter's Farewell to Charlotte_ (1798) and _Charlotte at the Tomb of Werter_ (1809). [Footnote 31: Wilkens, _op. cit._, p. 164 seq.] The early American magazines, then, were instrumental in making German literature and especially German poetry known in America. It was possible for them to print translations of individual poems of an author long before there was a demand for them in book form. Gessner, Bürger, Gellert, Lessing and others have already been mentioned in this connection. It is interesting to note just what poets were introduced to the American public by means of the magazines. Gessner and Bürger were the most popular, the former appearing twenty-five times and the latter ten times before 1811. Gessner was perhaps the German poet best known in America. During this period his _Death of Abel_ had no less than sixteen American imprints and four imitations, while translations of his _Idyls_ appeared in book form twice in 1802 and once in 1807.[32] Bürger, on the other hand, was known only through these poems in the magazines, or perhaps through imported books. No volume of translations of his poems belongs to this period of American printing. [Footnote 32: Wilkens, _op. cit._, p. 108 seq. and 164 seq. In England, likewise, the _Idyls_ were constantly on the book-market and _The Death of Abel_ had 20 editions before 1800. Cf. Herzfeld, _op. cit._, p. 6.]