Goethe and Scott exchanged letters once in 1827,[339] and it was a personal grief to Sir Walter that the German poet's death prevented a visit Scott proposed to make him in 1832.

In _Anne of Geierstein_ Goethe is called "an author born to arouse the slumbering fame of his country";[340] and in the _Journal_ Scott characterizes him as "the Ariosto at once and almost the Voltaire of Germany."[341] The suggestion for the character of Fenella in _Peveril of the Peak_ was taken from Goethe, as we learn by Scott's acknowledgment in the Introduction.

Another German from whom Scott borrowed a suggestion--this time for the unlucky "White Lady of Avenel"-- was the Baron de la Motte Fouque.

Scott was evidently interested in his work, though he thought Fouque sometimes used such a profusion of historical and antiquarian lore that readers would find it difficult to follow the narrative.[342] Sir Walter asked his son to tell the Baroness de la Motte Fouque that he had been much interested in her writings and those of the Baron, and added, "It will be civil, for folks like to know that they are known and respected beyond the limits of their own country."[343] In the literary circles of Paris Scott more than once experienced the pleasure of finding himself "known and respected" by foreigners,[344] and he had intimate relations with men of letters in London.

On one of his visits there he saw Byron almost every morning for some time, at the house of Murray the publisher.