202e. Gottlieb Hufeland to Wilhelm Schlegel in Dresden: Jena, 2 August 1798 [*]
Jena, 2 August 1798
I have, my dear friend, just packed up 5 rthl. 8 gr. Saxon for the Gotha messenger (accordingly 11 gr. Saxon Tusehr) and 4 rthl. Saxon (without duceur) for Coburg, since I do not recall that I myself provided any douceur as an extraordinarius. [1] Everything will be sent tomorrow [Friday] and Sunday. I made note of it all, for I hear you have no payments on account due from the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung.
I am quite curious about Novalis’s essay, which I have not yet seen. [2] Many thanks for the second issue of Athenaeum. I have already had quite a bit of entertainment reading it; I have not yet read all the fragments, [3] since they do not really lend themselves to being read all at once. I have urged a review be done soon.
My wife and child are doing quite well. Although the little boy was not doing well for one day, it was nothing significant, though his mother was very worried. But now he is doing as well as can be. From among your family names, are you crediting me solely “Adolph” as something, not August Wilhelm as well? [4]
The rescripts for your professorship are all here; you may perhaps already have the written notification from the university.
You already know that Goethe’s “Excellency” is still in petto at least for now. [5]
The courts of Weimar and Meiningen demand no fees from professors. It has been eliminated in Gotha and Coburg only for regular professorships, though people have already spoken often enough about abuses in that regard.
This coming winter I am lecturing from 8:00 till 10:00 and from 11:00 till 12:00. Nothing has yet been claimed among the other times, and since Woltmann will not be living at least in our house, you would naturally be the first one with the option. [6]
Your announcement to the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung has been taken care of. You will soon receive a response and hopefully also books; so also your brother.
The bookseller’s announcement of Athenaeum has been taken care of. [7] Many thanks for the poem you sent, [8] which truly need not shy away from a public appearance at such a tribute ceremony.
Unfortunately the proximity of the postal time allows nothing extra other than my kind regards from all of us to you, your Madam Godparent, Miss Auguste, and your brother. [9]
Hufeland
Please extend my profound compliments to the latter for his essay on Wilhelm Meister. [10]
Notes
[*] Source: Körner, (1930), 80–81. Hufeland’s response to Wilhelm’s letter on 22 July 1798 (letter 202c). Back.
[1] Fr., douceur (here Hufeland also spells it: Duceur; Germ. phonetic orthograpghy Tusehr): tip, gratuity. — Hufeland had become professor extraordinarius of law in Jena in 1788. Back.
[2] Friedrich von Hardenberg “Glauben und Liebe oder der König und die Königin.” Jahrbücher der preussischen Monarchie unter der Regierung Friedrich Wilhelms des Dritten (1798) 2 (May, June, July, August), 269–86. Back.
[3] “Fragmente,” Athenaeum (1798) 179–322. Back.
[4] See Hufeland’s letter to Wilhelm on 5 July 1798 (letter 201e) with note 1. The child’s full name is uncertain. Back.
[5] In petto, Latin, “in secret, private, not disclosed.” Goethe did not become a “real privy councillor (wirklicher Geheimer Rath), which included the predicate “Excellency,” until 13 September 1804. Back.
[6] Wilhelm had inquired about the availability of the auditorium in the house at Leutragasse 5 in his letter to Hufeland on 15 July 1798 (letter 202a.1). Back.
[7] See the Intelligenzblatt of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1798) 115 (11 August 1798) 953:
Athenaeum
A periodical by Aug. Wilh. and Friedr. Schlegel, Berlin, Friedrich Vieweg the Elder.
This journal will appear annually in 4 to 6 issue of between 10 and 12 printer’s sheets each.The journal will offer treatises variously in the form of letters, dialogues, rhapsodic observations, and aphoristic fragments, and its content will vary between specific assessments and more broadly themed essays; theory and historical portrayals; examinations of the various striving of our nation and age and then also of foreign countries and the past, especially classical antiquity. Whatever has no connection with art and philosophy — both taken in their broadest meaning — will be excluded, as will essays that are part of larger works.
This description is followed by the table of context for issues 1 and 2, i.e., for the entire volume 1798. The price was set at 16 Groschen. Back.
[8] “Am Tage der Huldigung. Berlin 6. Juli 1798,” Jahrbücher der preussischen Monarchie unter der Regierung Friedrich Wilhelms des Dritten (1798) 2 (May, June, July, August), unpaginated following p. 95 of the Anzeiger, which follows the normal p. 268 (Sämmtliche Werke 1:160–61). See the translation of this poem of homage to Friedrich Wilhelm III. Back.
[9] “Miss (Miß) Auguste in English in original; “Madam Godparent” is Caroline. Back.
[10] Friedrich Schlegel, “Über Goethe’s Meister,” Athenaeum (1798) 323–54 (KFSA 2:126–46; Jugendschriften 2:165–82). For Goethe’s reaction, see Caroline’s letter to Friedrich on 14 October 1798 (letter 204). Back.
Translation © 2012 Doug Stott