Goethe in the Roman Campagna (1786)
Oil painting by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
From the blood which flowed from the chair, it could be inferred that he had committed the rash act sitting at his bureau, and that he afterward fell upon the floor. He was found lying on his back near the window. He was in full-dress costume.
The house, the neighbourhood, and the whole town were immediately in commotion. Albert arrived. They had laid Werther on the bed: his head was bound up, and the paleness of death was upon his face. His limbs were motionless; but he still breathed, at one time strongly, then weaker — his death was momently expected.
He had drunk only one glass of the wine. “Emilia Galotti” lay open upon his bureau.
I shall say nothing of Albert’s distress, or of Charlotte’s grief.
The old steward hastened to the house immediately upon hearing the news: he embraced his dying friend amid a flood of tears. His eldest boys soon followed him on foot. In speechless sorrow they threw themselves on their knees by the bedside, and kissed his hands and face. The eldest, who was his favourite, hung over him till he expired; and even then he was removed by force. At twelve o’clock Werther breathed his last. The presence of the steward, and the precautions he had adopted, prevented a disturbance; and that night, at the hour of eleven, he caused the body to be interred in the place which Werther had selected for himself.
The steward and his sons followed the corpse to the grave. Albert was unable to accompany them. Charlotte’s life was despaired of. The body was carried by labourers. No priest attended.
(Translation by R.D. Boylan)
Note
This epistolary novel was an early bestseller, brought its 25-year-old author early fame and caused major tear shedding.
A writer from the German Democratic Republic published a 20th-century version of the story in 1972.
Steer Forth! 
“Werther” is a dead giveaway, so “Werther” by Goethe. I am just reading the “Roots od Romanticism”, Isaiah Berlin, and he talks at great length about the origins of Romanticism in Germany and Werther is mentioned as leading to a rash of suicides among young men.
Thanks, suburbanlife. This is indeed the ending of “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe. Was that too easy?
By the way: The recent variant I mentioned is “The New Sorrows of Young W.” by Ulrich Plenzdorf.
PS: Apparently, Goethe’s Werther was quite controversial at the time because it seemed to condone suicide.
I’m sorry guys not to be serious but doesn’t Goethe in the painting above look like Spencer Tracy? (It must seem so to me because I was forced to watch “Fr. Flanagan’s boys Town” a few days ago).
It’s too bad Spencer Tracy is no longer alive. He would have made a great Goethe.
It is also known as Werthercide. One of my favorite references to the novel is in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – it’s what the “Monster” reads, as well.
-tgs-
Thanks for this funny bit of cross-information!
Never read Frankenstein, sorry to say. Suppose I should.